TMNT 2003 S1: Four Turtles More

by Fanficteller

Fifteen years have passed since the accident. Now, eight turtles, six brothers and two sisters, born as mutants in the sewers and trained as ninjas by a rat, are forced to leave their destroyed underground home and take the first step into a surface world where they face many adventures and meet new friends and foes, until they meet their toughest opponent ever, The Shredder.

71. Notes From The Underground, Part 1, P1

CT311998: Yeah, I'm glad of that I've finally finished my original three-part saga. I had planned for Louie and Angel to get together since Angel's debut in Fallen Angel where I gave a little hints of it. And I'm kinda looking forward to make the same thing to each turtle, whether OC or canon, though some of them might be a way complicated than others. And I hope you'll enjoy of my version of the Notes From the Underground where Scalebreath will appear, thanks.

Guest: Well, some of them are actually nice inspiring ideas for the other original episodes/sagas, though.

animegamefanatic: Yeah. Happy ending and everybody got what they wanted in the end. Louie got a girfriend from Angel, Wendy and the children a new home from Professor Garey's island, and Edward too got a resting place from home where no one can disturb his rest.

Guest: Well, the next chapter is coming right up here! Enjoy!

---

In a dark, underground tunnel beneath the New York City, Leonardo, Marietta, Raphael, Lorenzo, Donatello, Domenico, Michelangelo, Artemisia and Angel are walking along the old rail lines and past an abandoned train car, while using the flashlights to see where they are going.

"My name is Mikey. And yeah, I know you might be asking yourself, what would any sane turtle or a human be doing in an abandoned subway tunnel deep under the city?"

As the turtles and Angel were looking around while walking down the tunnel, they stop abruptly when the tunnel suddenly began to rumble and shake, with the rocks and dust falling down from the ceiling.

"A tunnel so decayed, it's going to collapse from just one little noise."

As the other seven turtles have their eyes on the rumbling ceiling, both Mikey and Angel look forward into the dark tunnel, until they both saw something in the darkness that made both of them to gasp in shock and horror.

"Not a mention of a huge weird thing howling at us at the top of its lungs."

Out of the tunnel's darkness approaches a huge and monstrous stone-skinned creature, before it raised its huge arms up and let out the tremendous roar, freaking the turtles and Angel up.

The creature: "RRRRROOOOAAAARRRR!"

The creature's roar caused the vibration which only worsens the rumbling and shaking, to the point where the ceiling began to collapse on them and the old rotten support beams began to break off here and there.

"Funny, I'm asking myself the same question."

The ceiling's collapse led into the massive cave-in, making the turtles and the Angel to back away as an increasing mass of rocks and earth fell from the ceiling.

Angel:"AHH! The tunnel is caving-in!"

Leonardo: "C'mon! Let's get out of here!"

Screaming, the turtles and Angel turned around and ran away as fast as they could as the cave-in followed right on their heels down the tunnel, threatening to catch up with them and bury them alive before they could reach to safety.

---

(The screen pulls away from New York City as the light beams ripple above the buildings, illuminating the four towering green letters that form the word TMNT.)
"TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES"

(The screen raises up and we see eight turtles standing on the edge of the building. First Leonardo, second Marietta, third Raphael who bent down, fourth Domenico, fifth Artemisia, sixth Lorenzo who was crouching down, seventh Donatello and eight Michelangelo. As the light beam passes them, all eight turtles leap off the edge.)
"TURTLES COUNT IT OFF"

(The screen then splits from right to left into four narrow screens.)
"ONE, TWO"
(In the first, Michelangelo is holding his Nunchucks over his head. In the second, Raphael is holding one of his Sais above his head while pointing the other downwards.)
"THREE, FOUR"
(In the third, Donatello is holding Bo-staff in front of him. In the fourth, Leonardo has crossed his arms over his chest while wielding his swords.)
(TURTLES!)

(Leonardo is seen fighting two Foot Ninja. He slices their staves in two with his swords before kicking the ninja on his right and then the one on his left away.)
"MUTANT CHAIN REACTION"
(TURTLES!)

(Donatello is seen driving a speedy vehicle down the sewer tunnel, before the turtle in purple smirks to the camera and holds a thumb up.)
"LIVIN' UNDERGROUND"
(TURTLES!)

(Raphael is seen jumping over the fence, landing on his hands. Then he pushes up and lands on his feet, crouched, before he kicks the screen black with his foot.)
"NINJUTSU ACTION"
(TURTLES!)

(Widely grinning Michelangelo is seen riding on the Battle Shell as it speeds down the street, while spinning his Nucnhaku wildly in the air.)
"IT'S A SHELL OF THE TOWN!"

(Michelangelo leaps off as the Battle Shell flies across the street. Then its back doors fly open and Raphael and Lorenzo jump out on the red and green bikes before skidding sideways to a stop.)

(In the alleyway, next to the blue truck, the eight turtles crouch down before leaping towards the camera, and Michelangelo kicks the screen black with his foot.)
"TURTLES COUNT IT OFF"

(The screen splits into two horizontal screen.)
(The upper screen shows Leonardo's narrowed gaze. The lower screen shows all eight turtles standing in front of Master Splinter.)
(Second one.)
(The lower screen shows Donatello's light frown. The upper screen shows Master Splinter swinging his staff down at two attacking Mousers, destroying them.)
("ONE!")
"LIVE BY THE CODE OF THE MARTIAL ARTS"

(Third one)
(The upper screen shows Raphael's deep frown. The lower screen shows Hun leading a silhouetted Purple Dragons from the ablaze background.)
(Fourth one.)
(The lower screen shows Michelangelo's the soft stare. The upper screen shows Hun sneering before he throws a punch at the camera.)
("TWO!")
"NEVER FIGHT UNLESS SOMEONE ELSE STARTS"

(April O'Neil winks at the camera as she pilots a helicopter past the Foot Tower, where Donatello and Domenico are fighting six Foot Ninja on the ledge until they're knocked off. Falling down, Domenico grabs to the rope hanging from the helicopter and catches Donatello's arm and they're both lifted up.)
("THREE!")
"ALWAYS STICK TOGETHER NO MATTER WHAT"

(In the dark alley, the eight turtles are standing shell-to-shell under the spotlight as they're surrounded by a dozens of heavily armed Foot Ninja that emerge from the darkness and leap down from the rooftops. The turtles fearlessly take their respective battle stances and prepare to face the ninjas.)
("FOUR!")
"IF ALL ELSE FAILS, THEN IT'S TIME TO KICK BUTT!"

(Screen rises up to the tall buildings.)
(Artemisia jumps from the left with her legs hooked under her, and spinning around, she slashes forward with her Tessenes.)
(Michelangelo then jumps from the right with the flip and smirks at the camera as he falls down, spinning his Nunchucks wildly.)

(Donatello jumps from the left, spinning his Bo-staff in his left hand over his head before he swings it down with both hands.)
(Marietta then jumps from the right, spinning her Naginata in the right hand, before turning around and slashes horizontally forward.)

(Domenico jumps from the left, spinning his Tonfas in his hands before thrusting first his right and then his left Tonfa forward.)
(Leonardo then jumps from the right with his Katanas crossed, before he pulls them aside and kicks his right foot down.)

(Raphael jumps from the left and crossed his arms in front of him before pulling them back, making his Sais flash.)
(Lorenzo then jumps from the right and slashes his left Butterfly sword horizontally forward and swings his right Butterfly sword down, slicing the air.)

(Angel Bridge then jumps from the left and throws a punch towards the screen with her left fist.)
(Casey Jones then jumps from the right and whacks the screen with his hockey stick.)

(Leonardo is seen landing onto one ninja, knocking him down.)
(Donatello is seen whacking with his Bo the second ninja off his feet.)
(Raphael is seen blocking the third ninja's kick with his left wrist.)
(Michelangelo is seen punching fourth in the face with his right fist.)
(Marietta is seen kicking the fifth in the chest.)
(Domenico is seen back-handing the sixth with his left hand's Tonfa)
(Lorenzo is seen blocking seventh's sword with his crossed swords.)
(Artemisia, surrounded by ninjas, is seen holding her Tessens horizontally open in her crossed arms.)
(Raphael is seen again, this time surrounded by several Foot, but he spins around and knocks them all away.)

(Cut to the wide shot.)
(Seven silhouettes of the turtles are seen running, jumping and flipping along the rooftops as the camera follows them. One of the turtles swings over them by the chain like Tarzan.)
(Then two narrower screens appear above and beneath of the rooftop screen, showing the repeating line of blue and purple masked faces above and the line of red and orange masked faces beneath, moving to the opposite direction.)
"I LOVE BEING' A..."
"I LOVE BEING' A..."
"I LOVE BEING' A TURTLE!"

(The turtles then land to the ground in front of the building. Leonardo in the middle, Donatello, Marietta and Domenico on his right and Michelangelo, Lorenzo and Artemisia on his left. All seven run towards the camera that moves through them between Leonardo's legs.)
"TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES!"

(Then, Raphael races over the building on the back of the bike and jumps off towards and past the camera.)
"TURTLES COUNT IT OFF:"

(The screen splits into four narrow screens again, this time from left to right.)
"FIVE, SIX"
(In the first, Marietta is pointing her Naginata at the camera. In the second, Lorenzo is holding Butterfly Swords upside down in his hand and horizontally in front of him.)
"SEVEN, EIGHT"
(In the third, Domenico is thrusting his Tonfa at the camera. In the fourth, Artemisia is holding one Tessen in front of her face, partially covering it, while other one is closed.)
(TURTLES!)

(Marietta is seen in a dead end, spinning her Naginata before she pulls it behind her shell and holds her left hand out as two arms holding a knife and a fire axe appear in the view.)
"AT NIGHTFALL, WE'RE COMING"
(TURTLES!)

(Lorenzo is seen crouching on the roof of a moving subway car that brings him closer to the screen. The turtle in black smirk at the camera before his face fills the screen.)
"FROM THE UNDERGROUND"
(TURTLES!)

(Domenico is seen stabbing the practice dummy with his Tonfas before spin-kicking the other dummy with his foot. Then he turns to whack the camera with his Tonfa.)
"BEWARE THE BADDIES!"
(TURTLES!)

(The screen pulls back to show Artemisia roller skating on the roof while being pursued by Foot. She looks at them over her shoulder, smirks, and picks up the pace as camera pans behind her.)
"CAUSE THE TURTLE TIME IS ON!"

(Artemisia skates towards the Large Foot Ninja who tries to strike her with the sword, but is caught by his wrists by the turtle in bink who turns around and flips him over her shoulder, throwing him face-first at the camera.)

(Artemisia then drops off the building as the screen pans down to a boarded doorway before the Battle Shell crashes through it, allowing the turtle in pink land onto its roof.)

(The screen then pans to the back of the truck as it is been pursued by two Foot Ninja on the bikes, until the back doors fly open and Lorenzo jumps out, landing onto his shell to the ground, somersaulting back to his feet and then diving towards the ninjas, knocking them both off the bikes as he flies towards the camera.)
"TURTLES COUNT IT OFF"

(The screen splits into two horizontal screens again.)
(The upper screen shows Marietta's light glare, while lower screen shows turtles in the snowy woods, staring at five silhouetted canine-like humanoids with the face paints: dark purple, light blue, crimson, silver and green.)
(Second one.)
(The lower screen shows Domenico's deep frown, while upper screen shows the silhouetted canine-like humanoid with dark purple face-paint, snarling while slashing a single Kama at two hunters, forcing them to back off.)
("FIVE!")
"WE'RE ALWAYS FIGHTING AGAINST EVIL!"

(Third one.)
(The upper screen shows Lorenzo's wide eyes, while the lower screen shows Jennika, with her mask off, standing on the edge of the rooftop, flanked by several Foot Ninja.)
(Fourth one.)
The lower screen shows Artemisia's soft stare, while the upper screen shows Jennika glaring at the camera before she wields two Katana to slice across the screen.)
("SIX!")
"WE'LL STRIKE HARD, AND VANISH INTO NIGHT"

(In the next shot, Donatello and Marietta are seen running along the roofs, the former jumping and the latter pole-vaulting over a gap. We then see Leonardo leading Raphael, Artemisia and Domenico forward at street level. Michelangelo is then seen zipping along the line and Lorenzo swinging by the chain in Tarzan-style after them.)
("SEVEN!")
"WE'RE ALWAYS THERE TO HAVE EACH OTHERS' SHELLS."

(In the next shot, we see all eight turtles standing under the spotlight in a dark space with their shells to the camera as it pulls away. They then turn to face the camera, drawing out their weapons and taking their individual stances, ready to face whoever is standing before them.)
("EIGHT!")
"WE'LL NEVER LEAVE OUR BUDDIES BEHIND!"

(First we see Baxter Stockman surrounded by dozens of Mousers. With the glare, Stockman points at the camera and the Mousers lunge forward, snarling viciously.)

(The camera pans to the right to show Tatsu. Backed up by Foot Ninja, the man pulls out a sword and raises it next to his face, pointing the tip at the camera with a dark glare.)

(Camera pans to the right again to show a strange and ugly goblin-like female creature floating in the air while grinning mischievously at the camera. The creature raises its hands up as the glowing supernatural light began to flow through them, as if magic.)

(Camera pans to the right once more to show William Dandelion with a cigar in his mouth. Backed up by several goons, Dandelion takes the cigar out of his mouth and points at the camera with the nasty sneer.)

(The screen pans back to the turtles, showing Donatello whacking several Mousers away with his staff.)
(Raphael lands onto one, crushing it, and stabs his Sais through the heads of other two Mousers.)
(Domenico strikes one Foot Ninja in the guts with his Tonfa, before turning around to whack the second ninja with his other Tonfa.)
(Artemisia slices the third Foot Ninja's staff in half with her Tessens before spin-kicking him away with her foot.)
(The goblin-creature flies over and strikes the turtles with the magical lightning bolts, until Artemisia pole-vaults upwards and kicks the creature away.)
(Three Dandelion mobsters charge at the turtles, but simultaneously first one on the left is kicked away by Michelangelo, the second one on the right is knocked down by Lorenzo, and the third in the middle is kicked away by Leonardo, who spins around before crossing his swords in front of his face.)

(Cut to the wide three-leveled shot. The sever level.)
(The silhouettes of two turtles are first seen running down the pipe: One turtle on foot while another one on the skateboard.)
"I LOVE BEING' A..."

(Screen pans up to the street level.)
(The silhouettes of three turtles are seen moving down the street: One running on foot, the second one riding on the bike and third one hopping along the driving and parked cars.)
(Then two narrower screens appear above and beneath of the street screen, showing the repeating line of turquoise and white masked faces above and the line of pink and black masked faces beneath, moving to the opposite direction.)
"I LOVE BEING' A..."

(Screen pans up to the rooftop level.)
(The silhouettes of two turtles are running and either jumping or pole-vaulting along the rooftops.)
"I LOVE BEING' A TURTLE!"

(Raphael, Leonardo, Domenico run on the street level, before Artemisia and Michelangelo jump out the manholes and Marietta and Donatello land down from the roofs to join them. All seven then: Raphael, Artemisia, Michelangelo, Leonardo, Marietta, Donatello and Domenico then run towards the camera that goes between Leonardo's legs again.)
"TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES!"

(The camera then pans upwards, showing Lorenzo jumping off the rooftop before throwing his chain away and then swings by it over the camera in Spiderman-style.)
"TURTLES COUNT IT OFF:"

(A small square screen then appears from the left, showing Leonardo's shadowy yet calm face. Another appears next to it from above, showing Donatello's shadowy yet determined face.)
"ONE! TWO!"

(Third appears from beneath, showing Michelangelo's shadowy goofy face. Then the fourth appears from the right, showing Raphael's shadowy yet fierce face with the gritted teeth.)
"THREE! FOUR!"

(A fifth square then screen then appears from the left, showing Marietta's shadowy calm face. Sixth then appears next to it from above, showing Domenico's shadowy yet deeply frowning face.)
"FIVE! SIX!"

(Seventh appears from beneath, showing Lorenzo's shadowy wildly smirking face. Then eighth appears from the right, showing Artemisia's shadowy yet determined face with the smile.)
"SEVEN! EIGHT!"
(TURTLES!)

(All eight turtles are seen jumping down from the Foot Tower. The weapons in hands, the turtles spin in a circle (First Leonardo, Marietta, Donatello, Domenico, Raphael, Lorenzo, Michelangelo and Artemisia) as they fall towards the camera)
"THERE'S NO ONE BETTER"
(TURTLES!)

(In the ledge of the tower, above the Foot symbol, the Shredder is seen staring down after them, as his black cape blows in the wind and the lightning flashes in the sky behind him. The camera moves close of his face, before he turns towards the camera and raises his left arm with the gauntlet armed with two sharp claws.)
"WATCH OUT FOR THE SHREDDER"
(TURTLES!)

(The turtles are seen standing in middle of the rooftop, with the weapons in hand. They briefly demonstrate their skills before taking their individual poses: Donatello stands in the middle, pointing his staff at the camera, while Raphael and Lorenzo stand on his right, Marietta and Michelangelo on his left and Domenico, Artemisia and Leonardo behind them.)
"THEY'RE LIKE NO OTHERS!"
(TURTLES!)

(The turtles are seen riding/skating on the various human equipment along the tunnel. Donatello is in the lead, wheeling past the camera with the foldaway bike.)
(Leonardo follows on foldaway kick scooter, hopping over the handlebar with his hands.)
(Marietta follows right behind on her roller skis, making the backward flip over the camera.)
(Domenico follows on the road bicycle, while giving the wave at the camera.)
(Raphael and Artemisia roller-skate along the wall of the tunnel with their roller blades and roller-skates.)
(Lorenzo skates after them with his longboard skateboard with the pair of rocket boosters.)
(Last but not least, Michelangelo skates up along the wall with his skateboard, before he jumps off and lands in front of the camera with the smirk before skating away.)
"THOSE TEENAGE SIBLINGS!"

(All turtles, first Donatello then Domenico, then Leonardo, then Marietta, then Raphael, then Lorenzo, then Michelangelo, and finally aftemisia, land onto the roof, weapons in hands.)
"ONE! TWO! THREE! FOUR!"
"FIVE! SIX! SEVEN! EIGHT!"

(Either spinning or waving their weapons, the turtles then charge towards the camera, with turtle in blue taking the lead and slashing his swords forward.)
"TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES"

Then the logo of "TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES" appears, with the silhouetted figures of the eight turtles with the glowing eyes behind of it.
"TURTLES! TURTLES!"

---

=Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003=
=Notes From the Underground Part 1, Part 1=

Lots of time has passed since the turtles and Angel's fight with William Dandelion and his criminal organization.

One night in late November, in the turtles' Lair, Mikey was sitting cross-legged in middle of the common area's floor while watching from the TVs an old black-and-white monster movie with the bag of chips resting on his lap.

Sitting on the couch with him were Louie and Angel, with the latter leaning against Louie while the turtle in black's right hand was resting on Angel's shoulders.

The reason for Angel's presence in the Lair was that she was visiting there for a weekend-long sleepover arranged by him and Louie, after receiving permission from both Angel's grandmother and Master Splinter, especially from him, to come to come down to their Lair, where she spent the nights in Louie's room.

In the movie that was playing the scene in some trashed up laboratory, a male scientist holding a handgun was stading next to the woman, who looked terrified. That was because the pair was cornered by some big hairy monster with the breathing helmet over its white head. The monster growled at them, making the woman scream and wrap her arms around the scientist, as the monster kept coming closer.

"Doctor, I've never seen anything like it." the woman said, terrified.

"Me neither, Velma." the scientist said, shaking his head. "I'm rapidly becoming convinced of one thing."

"There are some things man was never meant to temper with./There are some things man was never meant to temper with." both the movie's scientist and Mikey quoted.

The monster in the movie then growled again and approached the scientist and Velma maliciously, reaching out to them with his nasty long claws, making the scientist to lower his gun, ready to put the monster down in self-defense.

"Alright! Here we go!" Louie said and leaned forward, shaking with excitement. "The showdown!"

"I don't really see what the scientist can do against that creature?" Angel pointed out as she leaned forward too. "Many have already tried to destroy that thing before him and they've all ended up suffering the horrifying death."

"Well, that's the point of the horror movies' final showdown, Angel." Mikey said as he looked at the pair over his shoulder. "To build up the tension, especially when there are only two last survivors who apparently have no hope of surviving against a powerful monster."

"SHH! Quiet you two!" Louie hushed to them.

The turtles in black and orange kept watching as the screen first flashed to the attacking monster, then to the pair of survivors.

Then to the monster again. then to the pair again, then to the monster again, then to the pair again, then to the monster again, then to the scientist who lowered his gun and pointed it at the monster, then to the monster again, then to the scientist again, then to the monster again, then to the scientist again, then to the monster's fierce face, then to the scientist's face with sweat pouring down his forehead, then to the monster again as it opened its mouth and roared, then to the weapon shaking in the scientist's hand as he pulled the safety off, then to the monster's teeth, then to the scientist's trembling gun's barrel.

Mikey, Angel, and Louie stared at the scene with wide eyes as tension kept building up in their systems.

However, right when the monster was about to attack and the scientist to fire his gun at the beast, the movie ended abruptly and changed to a commercial program, with the commercial guy in brown coat and cowboy hat appearing on the screen.

"WHAT?!" Angel gasped in shock.

"Oh, no! Come on!" Mikey whined.

"Argh! No again one of these boring and weird commercials!" Louie whined, collapsing to the back of the couch. "We were just getting to the best part!"

"I must be insane. Friends, I'd eat a bug to sell you a car." commercial said as he held up the red bug in between of his fingers before he ate it, much to Louie's, Angel's and Mikey's disgust. "Mm-mmm, now that's good eating. If that don't tell you I've got the best used car deal in town..."

"Thanks, but no thanks for, what, the 1,000,000,000th time! Thanks for ruining our movie night! Thanks for nothing! Goodbye! Bye, bye! FOREVER!" Louie said as he kicked the remote from the table, caught it from the air and turned the TVs off.

"I really hate that guy!" the turtle in black complained.

"Well, no kidding! He really had to ruin everything when we were in the best part of the movie." Angel agreed.

Mikey put his hand into the bag to scarf down another handful of chips, only to find out that the bag was nearly empty with only few left in the bottom. He lifted the bag up and emptied whatever was left into his mouth before wiping his mouth clean and tossing the bag away.

The turtle in orange then stood up and stretched out, as he let out a loud yawn. "What time is it?"

Angel looked down to check the time from her watch. "Pretty late already."

Louie leaned forward to see it himself. "Yeah. I guess that we should all head for the bed already."

"I'm a way ahead of you, bro." Mikey said, before he turned around and left the common area, heading towards his own room, with Louie and Angel standing up from the couch, stretching out a bit and then followed after Mikey out of the common room and towards the turtle in black's room.

However, as they reached to the Lair's middle circle, the turtles in orange and black and Angel caught the light coming from next to Donnie's subway car lab, with the turtle in purple standing on his working desk under the several lights.

"Is Donnie still up this late?" Angel questioned as she turned to Louie and Mikey.

"Not the first time, though, Angel-cake." Louie said rather dismissively. "Donnie hasn't left his working desk for almost two weeks now that his interest in scientific projects has been rekindled by what he is working on now."

"Hmm." Mikey muttered, finger on his chin as the turtle in orange was getting mischievously curious.

Mikey had always had a big problem with his curiosity whenever it came to his temptations to see what new cool things Donnie had developed again or what new project he was working on again.

"I suggest we pay Donnie a little visit." Mikey said and began making his way towards Donnie's lab, with Louie and Angel, who got nothing to say against it, walked after him.

Once there, the turtles in orange and black and Angel saw that Donnie was studying the three identical blue crystals which Arcee had long ago found from the secret locker in her room. The turtle in purple read through the books about the minerals and different rock types before he looked at one crystal through a microscope.(1)

"Hey Donny, whatchya doing?" Mikey asked.

"Why are you still up at this time of night?" Angel asked.

"I'm checking out these crystals Arcee found from her room when we moved in here." Donnie explained without looking at his brothers and Angel. "I'm trying to classify them, but I can't find anything like them in the books."

"Could it be some completely new type of mineral that hasn't even been discovered yet?" Angel asked as she walked up next to Donnie and picked one of the crystals from the table, looking at it closely, though she didn't find anything extraordinary about it.

"Most likely, Angel. But here's what's most interesting about these crystals." Donnie said, lifting his gaze up in thought. "The microscopic crystal structures are linked, almost like... mutated brain cells."

Angel turned to look at Donnie with the shocked and almost a disgusted look on her face, before she hurriedly placed the crystal back on the table. "Eww, gross!" she groaned.

"Like brain cells?" Louie inquired. "You're saying that these things are like, what, living things?"

""Semi-sentient, I think." Donnie said before he shook his head. "But no. These crystals are still nothing but dead minerals without anything like the pulse of their own. Them being a living things would be straight out of some sci-fi movie."

"Ooh-wee-ooh!" Mikey said in Donnie's face, with his hands near his head and and moving his fingers up and down.

"I beg your pardon." Donnie questioned.

"Yeah, Mikey. What were you doing with that "Ooh-wee-ooh!" stuff?" Louie questioned.

"From the late night monster movies, of course." Mikey said, before he grabbed to the table lamp on Donnie's desk and turned so that it was shining his face. ""Perhaps there are some things man was never meant to tamper with"." he quoted with the deep voice.

Louie, Donnie and Angel were giving the turtle in orange a rather unimpressed looks.

Mickey chuckled as he picked the other crystal from the desk and the other one from under Donnie's microscope. "Ha-ha, nothing says a turtle can't tamper though." he said and clinked the crystals together.

CLINK

Annoyed with Mikey's antics, Donnie rolled his eyes and put his hand on his chin, while both Louie and Angel were still staring at the turtle in orange with unimpressed looks.

"Come on. Let's just go to the bed and..." Louie said with the wave of his hand and was about to leave Donnie's desk and go to his room to sleep with Angel.

However, he didn't have time to finish his sentence because shortly after Mikey had put the crystals together, they lit up with the bright blue glow and produced a high-pitched whirring sound that echoed in the Lair.

"HUH?!" all three turtles and Angel gasped and turned to the crystals, staring at them in amazement.

"What happened? What are they doing?" Angel asked in utter astonishment.

Master Splinter then walked out of his room, alerted by the echoing sound.

"Donatello? What is it? What is happening?" Master Splinter demanded as he made his way up to Donnie's lab.

In the upstairs, Leo, Mary, Raph and Dom - whose arm had been healed - walked out of their respective rooms, waken up by the ringing sound.

"What's up with the blue light?" Mary asked as she and Dom jumped down to the floor of the middle circle.

"What up with the noise?" Raph asked as he and Leo jumped down as well, before they all made their way to Donnie's lab after their father.

"I'm... I'm not quite sure." Donnie answered honestly.

The whole mutant family and Angel then gathered together around of Donnie's desk and stared at the glowing and echoing crystals in speechless wonderment.

###

Meanwhile, unknowingly to the turtles, Splinter or Angel, the echo of the crystals reached deep, deep down into the dark underground caverns beneath the New York City, including to the seven separate caves. There was a low growling, as from each cave exited some shadow-clad weird but a monstrous creature, as if they were awoken by the sound.

One monster was a big and red scorpion-like creature with the glowing yellow eyes, big claws for hands, three-clawed feet and two big stingers coming from out of its back.

Second monster was a huge creature with the glowing red eyes and a grey rock-like hard skin. In fact, the creature itself resembled a living giant rock. There was even a one smaller version of this monster that came out of the cave.

Third monster was a more humanoid-like blue creature with the glowing yellow eyes and a long grayish-blue hair, but it had two antennae-like horns on its forehead and pincers on either side of its mouth. And like with the rock-skinned monster, there was even the smaller version of this one that came out of the cave.

Fourth monster was a huge quadruped reptilian- or dragon-like creature with the glowing blue eyes, amber-colored scales with dark stripes, and it had its neck, back and the tail full of spikes.(2)

Fifth monster was a hulking grayish-white creature with the glowing red eyes, black spikes producing from the back, long thick arms and a huge broad claws.

Sixth monster was a huge turquoise dinosaur/dog-like creature with glowing amber eyes, a small upper head but a massive lower jaw, and a huge mouth with enormous teeth.

And seventh monster was a tall pear-shaped emerald creature with the glowing green eyes, small praying mantis-like head, legs and four arms with a single huge claw in each.

The seven monsters, including the two little ones, then looked up to the ceiling and the higher ledges of the cavern, where they sensed the echo coming from.

###

Back in the Lair, the the whirring sound continued as the crystals rested on Donnie's desk still connected to each other, until Donnie picks the crucible tong and picked one of them up. And once the crystals were disconnected, the whirring sound stopped and the crystals stopped glowing.

"Are we in any danger, Donatello?" Splinter asked.

"Yeah. Does this bring any sort of harm to us?" Dom asked as well.

Donnie looked at the crystal he was holding up in front of his face before he turned to his father and brother.

"Maybe the harmonics of the energy signature of the crystalline structure..." Donnie said unsurely.

"Be honest, Donnie." Raph cut his short. "You don't know, do you?"

"Not a clue." Donnie answered honestly with the shrug. "I've never seen something like this before."

"Well, I started the whole thing." Mikey said proudly as the turtle in orange wrapped his hands over Donnie's and Raph's shoulders.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

The turtles, Master Splinter and Angel flinched with surprise when the alarm all of the sudden went on.

"What now?" Angel asked as she and the mutants looked up in the ceiling of the Lair.

"Now what is it?" Leo asked.

"Don't worry. It's not our alarm system." Donnie calmed them down as the turtle in purple turned to the computer on his desk.

Of course, this information didn't bring much comfort to anyone, because they knew that whenever the alarm started going off, it always meant that something was wrong and that someone was where they shouldn't be.

"Then where is this blaring coming from, Donnie?" Mary asked as the rest of the mutants and Angel gathered behind him.

"Something tripped a perimeter alarm in one of the old subway tunnels." Donnie explained and began to press the buttons. "I'll hack into the security cameras of those tunnels. Let's see if we can find the cause of it."

Everybody looked into the screen as it showed a few places in the sewers, like the entrances of two side-by-side tunnels, a two-way intersection, a long tunnel - until something blurry suddenly and swiftly dashed past the screen.

"Wow!" Louie gasped in surprise.

"Huh?! Did you guys see that?!" Arcee exclaimed as she pointed at the screen.

"Yeah! I saw that too, Arcee." Angel said, nodding in confirmation that she saw it too.

"What in the...?" Leo muttered.

"What was that thing?" the turtle in pink asked.

"I don't know, sis. It moved too fast." Mary said, shaking her head.

"That speed was beyond the natural speed of a human, so it certainly couldn't have been human." Dom deduced.

Raph then pulled out his Sais. "Then I guess that the second guess would be the sewer rats having gone bigger." the turtle in red said.

"Yeah. Then it's time to cut the cheese." Mikey declared with his fist clenched into the fists.

Louie, Arcee, Angel, Dom, Raph, Leo and Mary gave their younger brother the "seriously?" looks, before Leo shook his head in annoyance while Mary facepalmed herself.

Seeing this, the turtle in orange shrugged. "I know what are you guys thinking, but that's not what I meant."

"We better go to check it out. Let's roll!" Leo said.

"TURTLE FAMILY! TO THE SEWER MOBILE!" Louie declared dramatically.(3)

The turtles then ran from Don's desk towards the workshop, heading to the Sewer Slider to visit the site where the blurry figure had been spotted on the screen, but not before Donnie grabbed his duffel bag with him before he ran after the others.

"Angel tried to ran after them to join them, but was immediately stopped when Master Splinter grabbed from her shoulder to stop her and kept her still with his firm hold.

"HEY!" Angel complained, turning around to face Master Splinter.

"Not you, young Miss Bridge." Master Splinter said strictly as he let fo of her. "You will stay here where it's safe from whatever is out there. And after all, you shouldn't be getting caught in dangerous situations anymore, like your grandmother said."

"But I'll be with the turtles out there, Master Splinter. I'll be with Louie out there." Angel protested. "Nothing bad would ever happen to me as long as Louie and them are there around me."

"I'm sorry, my dear, but we're not going to take any chances now that we're aware that there is something down here in the tunnels that might be dangerous." Master Splinter said. "You're staying here. That's my final word."

With that, Master Splinter walked off to meditate somewhere until his children would come back, leaving Angel to look after him with the disappointed frown on his face.

Then she felt someone wrapping his arm over her shoulders from behind her before the arm pulled her closer all of the sudden.

Looking down at the arm and hand over her right shoulder, Angel then turned to look to the left and saw Louie standing there with the sympathetic look on his face.

"I'm sorry, Angel-cake, but you heard Master Splinter. It's better for you to stay here where it is safe. And trust me, it's only for your own good." the turtle in black said almost aloud for Master Splinter to hear as if he was actually agreeing with him.

Angel raised her eyebrow at him, thinking, suspecting, maybe even knowing full well that Louie was only pulling up an act to cover up his true intentions.

And she was proven right when Louie leaned his head a little closer before cupping the left side of his mouth with his hand, and began to whisper something in her ear.

"Don't worry. I'm going to make sure that you come along with us next time. Count on it."

But before Angel could even ask how he could make sure of that and when would be the next time he could come along, Louie already left from his side and dashed after the others.

###

Later, all eight turtles were in the Sewer Slider, heading towards the tunnel near the subway tunnels where the creature on the screen had been sighted, with Donnie at the wheel and Mary on the passanger's seat, while the other six turtles rode on the platform, holding up from the metal rod.

On their way, the turtles passed the rat that was sniffing the old empty mug, before the little rodent scuacked in fright of the Sewer Slider's headlights and ran off as the turtles skimmed through the sewer tunnels.

"Leo?" Arcee called.

"What?" Leo said, turning to Arcee to see what she wanted.

"Whatever this creature is, it may have good hearing and might actually hear us coming a long before we even reach the tunnel where we saw it on screen." the turtle in pink said. "So I think we shouldn't announce ourselves to it." the turtle in pink said.

Leo thought it for a moment before he nodded to his sister. "Well thought, Arcee. And I agree with you."

Leo then turned to Donnie. "Donnie? Switch to stealth mode."

Donnie nodded before the brainy turtle reached out to the lever and switched gears, turning off the engine so that the Slider becomes nearly silent but allowing it still move along the sewer.

After turning around the corner, the Sewer Slider finally reached to the tunnel where the creature had been spotted on the screen, before Donnie stopped the vehicle and turned off the engine.

The turtles then hopped off the Slider and began looking around the dark tunnel for any sign of the creature, but they found none.

"Nothing." Raph said with his hands on his hips.

"Yeah. Absolutely nothing." Louie agreed, sounding disappointed that they came all the way here to find, as he'd said, absolutely nothing.

"Hmmm... Maybe we just saw non-existent things." Dom deduced.

"Nah-ah! No we didn't." Arcee argued. "We all saw something dashing past the camera at lightning speed. Don't try to pretend you didn't see it either, Dom."

"Well, then there should be at least some kind of signs of the creature's presence here. And so far there's nothing." the turtle in white shot back as he turned to Arcee.

"Don't be so sure, Dom." Donnie said, as he held the flashlight and pointed it up at the ceiling of the tunnel. "This is odd."

"What did you got, Donnie?" Leo asked as he walked up to Donnie.

Donnie pointed up with his flashlight, beckoning others to look.

The other turtles looked up at where Donnie was pointing his flashlight and saw at least two trails of the weird four-toed footprints going along the ceiling and the wall. The first trail's footprints were big and the other one's were small.

"Some kind of weird tracks. Dug deep into the stone like in the warm butter." Donnie said.

"And there's even two trails of them." Leo realized.

"Which means that we're dealing with not just one but two creatures on the loose." Louie deduced.

"Great. That's what we need. Two such of weird creatures that can move fast and climb in the wall and the ceiling like it's nothing." Dom said as he looked up at the trails.

"You guys think that's weird enough?" Mary's voice called to them from a little further ahead, making her siblings to turn to her. "Well, I dare to check on this!"

"What did you find, Mary?" Leo asked as Donnie pointed his flashlight at his sister, who then pointed her finger to the wall next to her.

"I found the tunnel, or more likely a burrow." the turtle in turquoise said as Donnie moved his flashlight from Mary to the wall to shed light on his sister's discovery. "But this is not made by a man or any animal. I don't think it's even been dug in ordinary way. It looks more like being..."

Thanks to Donnie's flashlight, the turtles saw there a round hole in the tunnel's wall, below which was some solidified cement, like molten rock in a solidified form.

"... melted right into the stone." Donnie finished.

All but Mikey then walked up to inspect the hole that was melted into the wall.

"Whatever these things are, they tunneled right through the cement." Raph said, amazed.

"Wow! Cool!" Louie said with awe.

"What kind of natural creature could make such a mark as this, if this creature is even natural?" Dom asked, though no one couldn't answer to that, not at least correctly.

Donnie peered into the dark hole with the flashlight to see if there was any movement. But when there was none, he handed the flashlight to Raph, before he knelt down and took a small hammer and a plastic bag out of his duffel bag. Then the turtle in purple began to hammer the molten cement.

"Looks like the molecules have become unbonded." Donnie said as he managed to chip off a chunk of rock, which he stored in the bag. "Maybe some kind of catalyst or an acid?"

"Well, it must be shell strong stuff to be able to melt even stone and cement." Arcee pointed out.

Mikey was starting to freak out by all of this. "Okay." he gulped and began backing away towards the Slider. "This is the part in the monster movie where the first attack happens. The first guy's gonna die, need I say more?!"

"Mikey! Stop that nonsense and let's focus on finding out what this is!" Dom said sternly.

"What is this, Donnie?" Leo asked as Donnie lifted his bag over his shoulder.

"Another mystery." Donnie answered as he turned to his brother and sisters. "One thing's for sure though,"

"And that is?" Louie asked, raising his brow.

"That I've never seen anything like it./That I've never seen anything like it." Donnie said at the same time as Mikey quoted Velma's line from the monster movie, panic clear in his voice.

"THAT'S IT! I'M OUT OF HERE!" Mikey panicked and jumped onto the Sewer Slider's platform, where he took out his Nunchucks and began to spin them wildly, whimpering in complete fear.

The other turtles looked at Mikey casually.

"Oh, boy! Mikey has been watching way too much late night monster movies again." Arcee said with the shake of her head.

"Hey, you guys wanna hear a joke?" Raph asked from others. "What do you get when you cross a turtle and a chicken?"

The turtles looked at the turtle in red as if knowing who he meant exactly, but none of them said anything to answer to it, prompting Raph to answer for them.

"Mikey." he said.

"HAH! Good one, bro!" Louie laughed as the only turtle in the group who actually found Raph's joke humorous even the slightest bit.

Louie then turned to Mikey. "Hey, Mikey! Are you the turtle or a chicken? Bawk! Bawk, bawk, bawk, bawk, bawk, bawk, bawk, bawk, bawk, bawk, bawk! Bawk! Bawk! Chicken!" the turtle in black teased.

"Not funny, Louie!" Mikey called, annoyed.

"So, Donnie? What shall be our next move in this mystery on the mystery?" Mary asked as she turned to her brother.

"Well..." Donnie said as he began to walk back towards the Sewer Slider. "At first I need to get back my lab to analyze this sample and find out just what we're dealing with here. Afterwards we can think of our next move."

Raph, Leo, Dom, Mary and Louie began to walk after Donnie.

However, as Arcee was about to follow her brothers and sister back to the Sewer Slider, she halted abruptly when she suddenly caught some pebbles falling off the wall... right inside the creatures' tunnel!

"Huh?" Arcee muttered as she turned to look back in the hole, and heard again some pebbles moving in there, indicating that there was something.

Overcome with curiosity, the turtle in pink walked to the hole and peered into the pitch black darkness, and she narrowed her eyes a little to see better in the darkness, to see if there was anything else there other than just darkness.

And so far, she saw absolutely nothing but darkness, and she didn't hear anymore pebbles falling off inside the tunnel.

But as she continued to stare into the darkness, both the eerie silence and the unawareness of what they're dealing with here gave Arcee a really unnerving feeling within her gut that there was indeed something lurking in the tunnel even though she couldn't see it: Something really weird and creepy, that was secretly staring back at her with its invisible eyes.

"Arcee!" Mary called, snapping the turtle in pink from her thoughts with a start, before she turned to the others. "We're leaving! C'mon!"

"Okay, okay. I'm coming. I'm coming." Arcee said rather rapidly while nodding her head lightly frantically.

Arcee then paid a one last look into the hole and the darkness, still having this unsettling feeling in her guts that there was something, before the turtle in pink shook her head and rather quickly brushed these silly thoughts out of her mind, before she turned away from the hole and ran up to the others.

With everybody onboard, Donnie started the engine and turned the Sewer Slider around and back towards home.

However, after the turtles were gone, a pair of glowing red eyes appeared within the tunnel's darkness, followed by the low growl.

###

Back at the lair, Donnie was in his lab analysing the fragment of molten cement he'd chipped off. Wearing a protective mask on his face, the brainy turtle performed some experiments with the fragment by pouring some acid on it and waiting to see if the results would be similar to what he had seen in the tunnel, but all he got was steam coming out of it, while the fragment remained intact. With that, Donnie removed the mask and put it on his desk, before he put his hand on his chin and looked at the fragment thoughtfully.

"Hmm." he muttered.

The other turtles, as well as Master Splinter and Angel, either sat or stood around the lab while waiting for the answers from their brainy brother, until Mikey ran up to Donnie.

"Was that a good "hmm" or a bad "hmm"?!" Mikey asked, making everyone turn to him. "'Cause this is the part in the movie where we should be looking for the monsters one weakness or we can kiss our shells good-bye!" he said, already fraking out at the increasing rate.

Raph, who was drinking some water from the glass, saw this and turned to Mary, who was leaning against the wall.

Catching his gaze, the turtle in turquoise's own gaze visited briefly in Mikey as he kept ranting frightened, before she returned to Raph's gaze and nodded her head.

Go ahead.

"Trust me, you don't want to UNDERESTIMATE A MONSTER!" Mikey screamed.

Raph then threw the water from his glass right on Mikey's face. The turtle in orange stood there a moment with the dumbfounded look on his drenched face before he shook his head to remove the liquid.

"Thanks." he said more calmly.

"You're welcome." Raph shrugged.

Meanwhile, Louie had already told to Angel what they had discovered from that tunnel so far, which left the purple-haired girl astonished.

"No way, Louie! A monster, you say? Even two of them? And they have this wicked cool capability to melt the rock and cement? Wow!" Angel said in disbelief, simply repeating everything she had heard so far.

"That's right, Angel-cake. Cool, isn't it." Louie said, both teasingly and even deliberately temptingly.

Master Splinter then walked towards Donnie. "What can you tell us, Donatello?" he asked.

"Well, it looks like that those creatures melted right through the stone. Being able to liquefy stone is the perfect ability for a subterranean life form." Donnie explained.

"Are you sure, Donnie? You really think that there are life deep in underground?" Angel asked.

"This is exactly what many scientists have wondered about for years, Angel. Of course, deep underground there are all kinds of life forms, from microbes to insects and invertebrates and from fish to lizards and even mammals like bats. But something like this, a stone-liquefying lifeform, is a very extraordinary." Donnie explaining.

"I am hearing answers that raise more questions." Splinter said to his children. "A wise strategist gathers all his information before deciding on a course of action."

Leo got up from the floor. "Anybody up for a fact-finding mission?" the turtle in blue asked from his siblings.

"You mean that... you are saying that... we're going after this thing to find out that what it is and where it came from? Like going deep underground? Way deeper than the sewers or subway tunnels?" Dom asked, sounding uncertain about this.

"Well, if something's out there looking for us, I say we find it first." Raph pointed out.

"Exactly!" Leo said.

"Oooohhhh! This is so cool that I can barrely keep hold of myself!" Louie said, with his hands shaking from increasing excitement.

"Well, why not? We haven't had anything exciting happening for the past few months." Arcee said, agreeing with her brother. "It would be nice to get out of the Lair for a while."

"Yeah. And by the way, Arcee. Thanks to you, it looks like we're about to have another adventure." Raph said as he walked up to Arcee and put his hand on his sister's shoulder.

The turtle in pink was taken aback by this. "What? Me?" she gasped in disbelief.

"Yeah. After all, you were the one who found those still-intact crystals which, by the coincidence, led us into this mystery-solving mission." Raph said, before the turtle in red turned to the others. "I say we applaud Arcee for that, what do you say?"

"YEAH!" Leo, Donnie, Mary, Louie and Angel said with one voice as they began to applaud to the turtle in pink, while Louie gave her a praising whistle, and Master Splinter gave his daughter a proud smile.

However, Dom didn't share his brothers' and sisters' enthusiasm, like always.

"Sheesh! I don't know. We don't even know what is down there besides those creatures." the turtle in white said, rubbing the back of his neck with uncertainty.

"Well, that's the best part of exploration, Dom," Donnie said. "Going into the unknown, solving mysteries, making discoveries, and most of all, having adventures."

"Yeah. So don't go getting chicken on us now, Dom. This is gonna be fun." Louie told to his brother, earning a glare from the turtle in white.

"Chicken, you say?! ME!" Dom exclaimed, offended by Louie's remark. "Who are you to call me chicken here?!"

"GUYS! ENOUGH!" Leo said, getting in between of Louie and Dom before the two brothers could quarrel with each other.

"Alright!" The turtle in blue then said aloud, getting everybody's attentions. "All in favor of this mission say 'Aye'."

"AYE!" the six turtles out of the eight said in unison as they clasped their hands together.

Dom, rolling his eyes still offended by Louie calling him a chicken, but not wanting to give him an opportunity to never let him live it down if he now backed away from the mission, clasped his own hand over everybody's hands.

"Aye!" the turtle in white said aloud, while casting a narrowed look at Louie's direction, warning him to call him a chicken again-

However, Louie merely smirked and winked his eye on him as if saying in his mind "I knew you got the guts, bro."

Then they all turned to look at Mikey with the frowns on their faces, because he was the only turtle who hadn't say "Aye".

Mikey gulped. "Uh... meep." he muttered, reluctantly raising his hand, but didn't clasped it over the others'.

"Close enough." Leo said.

Then the turtles felt a ninth - but technically an eighth - hand clasping over theirs. Donnie, Mary, Raph, Arcee, Leo, Louie and Dom looked down at the hand - a human hand - resting over their own before they looked up at the hand's owner.

"ANGEL!" they all gasped.

"Aye." Angel said with determination. "I'm coming with you guys."

"WHAT?!" they all gasped in shock, save for Louie, who gave her a proud and happy smile along with the accepting nod, to which Angel returned in kind.

"I don't know, Angel." Leo said honestly. "This journey underground may take much longer than just a couple of days for us to get back."

"Not the mention that we're hunting down a monsters." Mary added.

"And besides, underground there can be all sorts of dangers, like ravines where you could fall in, cave-ins, falling boulders and stalactites, a possibility to get lost in the dark tunnels, and flowing underground streams." Donnie listed.

"And what about the promise you made to your grandmother?" Arcee reminded. "We are not supposed to drag you into anymore dangerous situations after what happend with you, Louie and that Dandelion-guy."

"Guys, guys, guys!" Louie said, stepping up in Angel's defense. "The Dandelion-incident has nothing to do with this. Besides, the promise me and Angel gave to Ellie was only about ME not taking Angel into dangerous situations anymore, but it never concerned about Angel HERSELF choosing whether she goes into them or not."

Master Splinter sighed at facepalmed himself when his son brought up that loophole-thing he'd discovered.

"And so, Angel has chosen to come with us to this mission by her own free will. And she comes." Louie declared.

"Oh, no, Louie!" Dom protested aloud. "No deal, Louie! Angel doesn't come! It's for her own safety we're talking about here."

"Yes she comes, Dom!" Louie argued back, turning to his brother. "She made her own choice and that choice holds!"

"No!" Dom refused. "She doesn't come!"

"She comes!" Louie shot back.

"She doesn't come!" Dom shot back!

"She comes!" Louie argued, getting in Dom's face.

"She doesn't come!" Dom argued, getting in Louie's face as well.

"She comes!"

"She doesn't come!"

"She comes!"

"She doesn't come!"

"SHE COMES!" Louie argued, raising his voice.

"SHE DOESN'T COME!" Dom argued, raising his own voice as well.

"SHE COMES!"

"SHE DOESN'T COME!"

The other turtles, Angel and Master Splinter watched the brothers quarrel with the annoyed frowns on their faces.

"Why can't they quarrel about whether I should come or not." Mikey said hopefully. "I'd vote for the one who votes that I'd stay behind."

"Don't even think about it, goofball." Raph warned.

All the while, the turtles in black and white continued their quarrel about Angel.

"SHE COMES!"

"SHE DOESN'T COME!"

"SHE COMES!"

"SHE DOESN'T COME!"

"SHE COMES!"

"SHE DOESN'T COME!"

"SHE DOESN'T COME!" Louie said all of the sudden.

"OH, YES, SHE COMES!" Dom said.

It didn't take long when the turtle in white actually realized what he'd just said.

"Wait! What?!" Dom said in complete confusion, unable to believe why he had all of the sudden agreed for Angel to come along with them despite having been completely against it a moment ago.

It didn't take long from him to realize that Louie had suddenly and completely unbeknownst to him turned negative towards taking Angel along, and he had instinctively turned positive about it.

Louie had tricked him!

However, before he could even correct his mistake, Louie, having seen that his little trick had worked and taking full advantage of it, took his brother's hand into his own rather hastily and shook it as if sealing the agreement between of them.

"Thank you, Dom! Thank you! I couldn't agree more with you." Louie said with the smile on his face, though the turtle in black gave Son a quick and mischievous wink with his eye.

"Gotcha, sucker!"

With that, Louie let go of Dom's arm and left the turtle in white to gap at him as the turtle in black walked smugly up to Angel and gently grabbed from his girlfriend's shoulder, eager to break the news to her.

"Angel-cake! Good news! It's been decided! You're coming with us!" the turtle in black said happily.

"YYYEEESSS!" Angel cheered, jumping up and throwing her fist up in the air. And upon landing, she and Louie made the high-five/three with each other.

The other turtles watched Louie and Angel's celebration with almost complete neutrality, knowing that they couldn't make either of them change their minds.

But Dom in the other hand, angered over Louie having tricked him without his notice, once again, scowled at Louie darkly behind his shell.

"I will remember this, bro. I will remember this." he muttered under his breath, swearing one day a sweet vengeance against his brother for this.

Louie and Angel kept celebrating with themselves, until it was cut short by Master Splinter.

"Ahem!" he cleared his throat, catching the two's attentions to him.

"Very well, you can go with my children, young Miss Bridge, even if it is more than enough against my better judgement." Master Splinter told the two of them, disappointment, reluctance and disapproval clear in his voice.

This time neither of them celebrated, knowing that Splinter definitely wasn't in the mood of that after having begrudgingly allowed Angel to go along with the turtles to this possibly dangerous journey and missing after the unknown creature and into the unknown territories deep underground.

"And Lorenzo." Master Splinter said as he turned to his son. "I put YOU fully responsible for young Miss Bridge's safety down there, my son. Is this clear!"

"Abso-lutely clear, Sensei, Sir!" Louie said, standing tall and straight like the candidate in the army, nodding his head to each word that left his mouth. "Nothing bad will ever happen to her when I stand by her side, sir! You have my word on that, sir!"

"Good." Master Splinter said, half-satisfied, before he turned to the rest of his children. "Good luck, my children. May you return safely."

Leo, Donnie, Mary, Arcee, Louie and Angel then left the lab to prepare for the journey. Raph and Dom were about to follow them, until they saw Mikey lounging behind deliberately.

"Yes, my siblings." Mikey said, mimicking Splinter's voice while waving at his brothers and sisters, wanting so desperately be left out ot this. "Good luck to you."

"Come on, you!" Raph said as he grabbed from Mikey's shoulder, while Dom grabbed him from the other shoulder.

"If even Angel can brave whatever is down there, so can you! No exceptions!" Dom added.

The turtles in red and white then pulled Mikey along, dragging him to make the preparations for the journey just like the others.

###

In different places of the Lair, each turtle was gathering both provisions and supplies they needed for their journey to underground.

In the kitchen, Leo and Mary gathering canned foods and water bottles from the cupboards for at least nine people before throwing it into backpacks on the floor behind them.

In the workshop, Louie, Dom and Angel were tossing into backpacks the supplies such as bundles of ropes, grappling hooks, flashlights, batteries, sleeping bags and so on.

In her room, Arcee packed her own personal duffel bag with the necessary first aid supplies, such as bandages, medicine, stethoscope, splints for broken bones or compound fractures and even a scalpel for a real emergencies such as serious surgial operations.

In the common area Mikey tried to make an escape from going after the monsters to underground by hiding himself behind of the comic book he was pretending to be reading.

The said comic, however, read about the monsters, which only made his teeth chatter even more worriedly.

"Mikey!" he called Raph's voice and peeked over the pages, seeing Raph standing there with his arms crossed while giving him an angry look.

Mikey chuckled nervously as he put the comic in his own backpack.

In his lab, Donnie picked two of the three crystals up from his desk and crossed them over each other, causing them both to glow and echo for a moment before he separated them. The brainy turtle then put the crystals into his own duffel bag before he lifted it over his shoulder and ran up to the others.

###

Later, all eight turtles and Angel - who was wearing a purple and white cap on her head - returned with the Sewer Slider to the tunnel where they had found the creatures' trail of tracks and the molten burrow in the wall.

"Wow!" Angel gasped in awe upon seeing the creatures' tracks and the hole in the wall.

As Donnie shined the hole with his flashlight to show the way, Leo climbed up into the hole, followed closely by Donnie, then Mary and then Arcee.

"Ladies first." Louie said, gesturing towards the tunnel as he looked up at Angel.

Angel scoffed at the turtle in black. "What's the matter, Lover-boy. Scared of the bogeymen lurking in the darkness?" Angel teased as she climbed up in the hole.

"Nah, Angel-cake! I ain't afraid of the monsters." Louie scoffed as he followed after Angel into the hole. "I was just being polite."

However, Angel's mention of the bogeymen made Mikey's fingers tremble.

"Uhh... after you two." Mikey said to Raph and Dom, while mimicking Louie by politely gesturing to the hole.

Both the turtles in red and white looked at the turtle in orange for the second, before they made their way into the tunnel and after the others.

However, once Mikey thought Raph and Dom were both down in the tunnel, Mikey turned around to began tiptoeing back to the Sewer Slider as the last ditch of effort to avoid of going after the "scary" monsters.

However, before he could've gone far, both Raph's and Dom's hands emerged out from the tunnel and grabbed him from the top of his shell.

"Huh? Uh, oh!" Mikey gulped, realizing that he was caught.

"Nice try, bro." Raph snarled in annoyance.

"And Louie called me a chicken." Dom growled.

The turtles in white and red then pulled Mikey back together. "Whoa!" Mikey screamed as he was being dragged into the hole.

TO BE CONTINUED...

---

TRIVIA

1) = I mentioned much earlier of Arcee having found the intact crystals from the secret locker in her room during "Meet Casey Jones" saga, and this time, there's three of them rather than just two like in the show.

2) = The design of the fourth monster in question was originally created by the author CT311998, who has given me the permission to use one of his OC monsters from his story named Scalebreath.

3) = Louie shouting "Turtle family! To the Turtle mobile!" is a reference to the Batman TV show.