Guest: Perhaps, if one of the turtles gets some serious injury that needs Arcee's treatment by stitching up the wounds. And I bet that when we get to the part where the Shredder attacks both Leo and the other turtles at April's building, there's going to be some serious injuries, like when the Shredder broke Louie's arm the last time.

Guest: Very unlikely.

Guest: Well, I haven't read those stories just yet.

CT311998: I had the idea of Quarry A/Sydney and Stonebiter A/Richard being a married couple a long before I even started with the Notes From The Underground saga, including their smaller versions being their children. And yeah, due to giving one of the Underground Monsters the name Dogpound, the temptation of using Chris Bradford's name and design for my OC character's human form was too great. And I also needed to keep Stella with the other humans in the Underground City, because she is the only one capable to leave the cavern and fetch the food and supplies from the old Foot Lab while the other crystal-bound humans were unable to.

Guest: I'm planning to make Leo's recovery a little longer, yeah, though in the way you won't expect.

animegamefanatic: Chris Bradford might be a hero (or on the side of the heroes) here, but still just a background character. And yeah, we shall see whether Tessa and Donnie will become a thing, or if Sydney's upcoming child will have some unique mutant abilities inherited from her mother when she's born, or if the turtles will be accepted by the human society a long before the Fast Forward season or if they still decide to hide in the shadows as normally. Because don't forget, not all the humans share the one individual's understanding towards abnormality.

THIS EPISODE WAS DEDICATED TO JACK KIRBY "KING OF THE COMICS" - 1917 - 1994

In a strange world, that most certainly wasn't an Earth, with a pink-black sky filled with planets of various colors, shapes and sizes, along with the bright sun-like stars, while purple shooting stars streaked across the sky. In a world where there as a beautiful floating city in the end of the pink arching bridge.

"My name is Marietta. And yeah, in my life as a Ninja Turtle, I've seen a lot of unsusual things during of this year: From ninjas to robots, from Nanobots to magic swords, and even from underground monsters to magic crystals."

In a world, where Donnie and Mary had found themselves standing in the defense of the bridge leading up to the city.

"But so far, this is beyond of everything!"

In front of the turtles stood a horde of weird-looking creatures, of which there were at least dozens of ten types.

One type of these monsters was a brown insect-like monster with the long horns, long teeth and sharp claws, and who was wearing a purplish armor. (Dieskrad)

Second type was a grey-skinned muscular monster with claws and yellow horned heads, who wore the heavy-looking shoulder-guards. (Yellow-head)

Third type was a blue insect-like monster with the horns and sharp teeth, who was wearing the silver-grey/white armor. (Insector)

Fourth type was a hulking green ogre-like monster with the white beard and horns, who was wearing the gauntlets and the spiked clubs. (Clobber)

Fifth type was a black monster with the bat-like wings, horns and a sharp teeth. (Man-bat)

Sixth type was a green-skinned, yellow-striped and red-armored monster that had the features of both the man and the great cat. (Kittynator)

Seventh type was a turquoise-colored dinosaur-like monster with the row of spikes in the back and a long tail with the club in the end. (Ankylodon)

Eight type was a pinkish-grey monster that resembled almost featherless giant chickens with vulture-like heads and atrophied wings on the back. (Skrerrior)

Ninth type was a brown-skinned monster in black armor and horned helmet covering the face, only with one large eye-hole for the big glowing yellow eye. (Cyclonys)

And tenth type was a gray-skinned monster with the white long hair and beard, long curved horns and the face and legs of the goat. (Goat-man)

"Me and Donnie never thought that we'd end up into this strange world, where we would find ourselves fighting against this bunch of weirdos in the defense of the city behind us. At first, we thought we were just dreaming."

The monsters growled, roared or screeched at both Mary and Donnie, brandishing their weapons, while the turtles in purple and turquoise prepared themselves.

"Then we really wished we were."

The monsters then charged at them.

Donnie polevaulted with his Bo-staff over Clobber's swing at him and kicked Man-bat away and into Skerrior before landing to the ground with one knee bent. Then he tripped Dieskrad with his Bo and blocked Clobber's swing before sweeping its legs from under. Mary meanwhile jumped over Yellow-head's swing and landed onto Cyclonys, pinning it to the ground and stabbing her Naginata through of its chest, killing it, before she spun around and spin-kicked Yellow-head, Kittynator, Ankylodon and Clobber away.

Donnie then kicked Insector and Goat-man in the chest, knocking it to the ground, before he dodged Dieskrad's attempt to stab him in the face with the khopesh-like sword, and them bowed his head down as the monster tried to decapitate him. As he dodged another swing from it as the Kittynator came charging at him with the broadsword, Donnie spun his staff before he spun around and whacked both monsters across their chest, knocking them back.

Mary stabbed Skrerrior in the chest with her weapon's blade before she struck with its blunt end Man-bat in the stomach, knocking it down before she spun around and kicked from behind charging goat-man in the face, senting it flying away and into Dieskrad. Mary then dodged under the war hammer wielded by Ankylodon, and then the turtle in turquoise jumped over the monster's attempt to swing its tail's club at her, before Mary roundhouse kicked it in the face.

Both Donnie and Mary then back-flipped back to the bridge, both of them landing with one knee bent.

"But this was no dream but a nightmare."

Mary and Donnie looked up worriedly, as the monsters advanced towards them.

"A really, really bad nightmare!"

The monsters, growling, then lunged at the two of them in vast numbers.

(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=
=The King, Part 1=

Five days later.

Ever since the turtles and Splinter were forced to leave the sewers after finding out that the tunnels were crawling with Foot Ninjas like cockroaches looking for them after their underground adventure, the mutants have been bunked in April's apartment for almost a week now, while keeping an eye on the situation in the sewers for any sign of improvement, such as a hopeful decreasing of the Foot activity and whether it would be safer for them to return to their Lair without being detected by the Foot.

Today, April and Arcee were sitting on the couch while Splinter was sitting cross-legged by the windows. Mikey, Louie and Donnie were sitting on the floor opposite to each other with the bunch of nacho bags and cheese, barbecue, cream and chili dips while Raph and Leo were staring at the windows like impatiently waiting for someone, without realizing that they were both blocking the TV as April and Arcee were trying to watch something.

Soon enough, Mary and Dom came in through the apartment's windows, having returned from their patrol to check up the situation in the sewers.

"About time you guys to get here!" Raph snapped at the turtles in white and turquoise. "You've been about two hours longer away than last time!"

Dom scowled at Raph for his rude welcome. "Well, throwing a tantrum won't make us to come any faster from our patrol, Raph!" the turtle in white snapped back.

"Well, anything new?" Leo asked, facing his sister and brother.

"Nothing." Mary said, shaking her head as she and Dom walked up to Leo and Raph. "The Foot activity in the sewers has not progressed in the direction we hoped for at all, Leo."

"Yeah. It seems that their numbers have been increased, and their patrols have been doubled as well. We barely were able to get any further than a couple pipes without risking of being boxed in." Dom added.

"And... were you followed?" Splinter questioned.

"I don't think so, Master Splinter." Dom answered. "As a precaution in case our presence was noticed, we had to come here by a completely different route."

Utterly frustrated by such of bad news, again, Raph made Leo to turn to him before the turtle in red got into his brother's face.

"This is pointless, Leo, even you must see it! It's been five days since we left the sewers and still no sign of improvement of the situation!" Raph snapped. "Well, I've had enough! I think we need to go back down there and flush those stinkin' Foot ninjas outta our sewers. And when I mean flush, I mean flush!" he added, punching his fist.

"Raph, we don't even know how many of them are or what they're doing down there." Leo argued with the point.

"I DON'T CARE ABOUT THAT!" Raph snapped, raising his voice.

"WELL, YOU SHOULD!" Leo snapped back, angrily.

"LOOK! EITHER THE SITUATION CHANGES NOW OR I'LL TAKE MATTERS INTO MY OWN HANDS!" Raph swore.

"NOBODY'S! GOING! ANYWHERE!" Leo snapped again.

"My sons." Splinter called, catching Leo's and Raph's attentions. "Do not forget that you have thwarted too many of their schemes and defeated their master. Clearly, they are searching for our Lair."

"Yeah. It's obvious that it is vendetta in their minds for the Shredder's well-deserved downfall." Mary agreed.

Mikey, Louie and Donnie, who had been eating nachos, turned to the rest of their family.

"Isn't it weird that the Foot Clan is still around even if the Shredder is gone?" Louie asked, finding it odd that the Foot was still active in New York, even without Shredder around to lead them.

Mikey couldn't agree more. "Yeah. I thought, with the Shredder gone, we'd seen the last of those bozos." the turtle in orange pointed out, before he slowly began to panic at the thought that just came to his mind. "Do you really think they could find our Lair? I just got my room the way I like it. And my famous ninja trading card collection is just lying out in the open. If they take that, I'll—I'll..."

"And what about my wall of collections?!" Louie added in, growing worried as well. "It took me months to reassemble my collection after Stockman destroyed my previous one along with our old Lair. And right when I got it right, with the few new extra additions to it, I'm going to lose it again if the Foot manages to find our place!"

"Relax, guys. With all the techno camouflage and security devices I've installed, there's no way they'll find our place." Donnie told them.

The turtle in purple then dug his hand into the bag and pulled out the chip, holding it up in front of his brothers. "A chip with or without barbecue soy?"

"With." Mikey said.

"Without." Louie said.

"With it is." Donnie nodded before he dipped the chip in the barbecue soy. "Fire away." he added as he tossed the chip into Mikey's mouth, who ate it then.

Raph then turned back to Leo. "Those ninjerks are keeping us from our home. We should be down there smacking heads!"

"And what is your plan, Mister Raphael? Going into a suicidal charge against, what, one thousand heavily armed Foot Ninja like an ox stung by the bee?" Mary questioned.

"Either that or another way!" Raph snapped.

"Running into battle without knowledge or preparation is foolish!" Splinter told him sternly. "Sometimes it is best to sit still and wait. The answers will come in time."

"Master Splinter's right." Leo agreed. "Besides, our home is where we're all together as a family. That's what really matters."

"So now is not a good time to loose our cool, Raph." Dom added, holding a scolding finger at his brother. "And don't even try to sneak out on your own! With the apartment this small, and with me and Leo on the watch, you'll find out sneaking out to be impossible, far more so than in our place."

Raph growled in annoyance but relented, albeit begrudgingly. "Grrrr! Fine! But I don't have to like this!"

"Never expected anything less, bro." Dom added.

April then cleared her throat, catching both Leo's and Raph's attentions. "You guys are more than welcome to stay with me for as long as you need to. Just as long as you don't stand in front of the TV."

"Yeah, guys, so move your shells, will ya! Me and April are trying to watch TV, and you're ruining it!" Arcee agreed.

Realizing their mistake, Leo and Raph moved away from the TV.

"Oops. Sorry, guys." Raph apologized.

"Our bad." Leo added as well.

Then, all of the sudden...

DING-DONG!

At the sound of the door bell, all nine mutants gasped at this in alarm.

"Oh, no. Who could that be?" April wondered as she got up from the couch and walked up to the door to open it, but not before turning back to the turtles and Splinter. "You guys can't be seen. You'd better all..."

However, she was met with the surprising sight of the entire apartment being empty, with no Turtles or Splinter in sight, who had "disappeared" without leaving a trace as if they were never even here.

April couldn't help but smile, not only because they did as she was about to say, but also because she was impressed by their speed, silence and stealthiness.

However, though impressed, she was unaware that where each turtle or Splinter were hiding.

She then opened the door - unaware that Leo was perched right above the door, while Mary was standing behind the potted palm next to the door, and Master Splinter was standing behind the curtain next to the door into April's bedroom - to see a delivery boy standing outside.(1)

"Good evening, miss. Chinese takeout as ordered." he said, holding up a bag full of Chinese food up - as Raph was hiding in the swinging dome ceiling chandelier, and Louie was hiding under the rug, having piled up the pillows he, Mikey and Donnie had been sitting on over himself to make them look like a pile - "That takes $29,90, thank you."

April was, however, confused by this. "But I didn't order any..." she said, shaking her head.

"Psst!"

April's attention was momentarily drawn to Donnie, who was peeking from behind of the side table next to the couch, before the turtle in purple ducked down. Next to his hiding place, Arcee had huddled behind the dining table and the chairs, staying very still.

Upon realizing that someone, or someones, or her friends must have ordered the food, April hastily turned back to the delivery boy to explain herself.

"Oh, of course, I did. I just forgot it." April made up an excuse before she left the door. "One moment. I'll get my purse."

While waiting for April to come back with the payment, the delivery boy looked into the apartment - until his eyes landed on Mikey as he was peeking from behind the armchair.

Dom, who was hiding in the spiral stairs leading down from April's apartment to her shop, peeked out and noticed Mikey foolishly peeking out from his hiding spot... and that the delivery boy was staring right at him!

"Oh, crud!" the turtle in white cursed, irritated by Mikey's curiosity.

Wha...!" the delivery boy gasped in surprise and disbelief. He closed his eyes and shook his head, thinking that he was hallucinating, but when he opened his eyes and looked at the armchair again, he saw no Mikey there but a purplish teddy bear.

Unbeknownst to him, Dom had sprinted out of the spiral stairs and pulled Mikey out of the sight, before he hid behind the back of the armchair while pressing Mikey's head behind the arm of the chair with his foot, scowling down at him disapprovingly for nearly exposing them.

"What?" Mikey whispered, shrugging innocently. "I just wanted to make sure he had brought everything as requested."

"Some ninja you are for thinking with your stomach rather than with your brains, Mikey!" Dom hissed.

At the door, the delivery boy blinked his eyes in confusion, because he could've sworn he saw something at the armchair. He was just about to walk into the apartment to investigate when April all of the sudden came back with the payment.

"Uh, thanks." April said as she gave the money in the deliver boy's hand and took the takeout. "Thank you so much. Bye-bye now." she added, before closing the door rather hastily on him.

The delivery boy just stood there staring at the door for a moment, confused by both seeing a strange green man and April's rather strange behavior... before he just shrugged at it and moved along with the money.

"Phew!" April sighed with relief as she turned around and leaned against the door.

But when she looked up, to her surprise, Splinter and the turtles were all sitting or standing exactly same spots they were in before the delivery boy had showed up.

"Wow, you guys are good." she remarked, impressed.

"It's our job." Leo told her with the bow, while Raph folded his arms and both Mary and Dom put their hands on their hips, all four of them smiling proudly.

"The years of training pays off whenever you need it, sister." Mary added with the shrug.

"We're ninja." Donnie reminded.

"Yeah. Check out my ninja stealth action." Mikey said, smirking, as the turtle in orange picked up the chip bag.

"Now you see me." he said, before he put the bag in front of his face. "Now you don't."

Mikey then took the bag away. "Now you see me." he said barely able to hold back a chuckle, before he put the bag in front of his face again. "Now you don't."

"Bro, bro, bro, bro, bro! That's not the way how you even do it." Louie reprimanted him.

"Yeah! Give me that, Houdini!" Donnie snapped, snatching the bag out of his hands. "You been hoggin' the nachos all afternoon."

"So put away the snacks and let Uncle Louie to show you how it's done, shell-for-brains." Louie said to Mikey, before the turtle in black turned towards April to explain. "Like Master Splinter has always said, to be a true ninja, you must rely heavily on mystery, speed, stealth, distractions, and..."

Louie then put up the alarmed face as he pointed past April at the door. "HEY! HE CAME BACK!" he alerted.

Startled, alarmed and worried that her friends might be seen by the delivery boy who, according to Louie, had come back snooping around, April hastily turned to the door, only to frown with confusion when she saw it locked with no sight of the delivery boy even peeking in through the gap of the door.

Realizing the deception, April turned back to Louie. "Louie, why did you...?" she was about to say.

However, she blinked with surprise upon noticing that Louie's spot next to Mikey's and Donnie's was completely empty.

"Uhh... where did he go?" she asked as she looked up at the rest of the turtles.

However, the other turtles acted like they didn't even know, putting their hands behind of their shells, looking away and shrugging their shoulders in "I dunno" manner, while Mikey tried to hold his laughter back with his best.

Frowning at their confusing behavior, April failed to notice the certain turtle's hand appearing slowly from behind her back and over her left shoulder.

The hand then gently tapped her in the shoulder with the finger to get her attention, causing April to turn around to her left until she saw the turtle in black coming into view from behind her back.

"Guess who?" Louie said with sing-song voice, before he withdrew with the hearty chuckle back to his spot next to his brothers.

"Wow." April gasped, once again impressed. "You guys just keep surprising me every time."

"Yeah. And if you had just a little more space in your apartment, I could show you how well I can juggle with the two dozen swords." Louie boasted as he sat down next to Mikey.

"Don't go there, Louie." Arcee said sternly and she got up from the couch before walking up to her brothers and sat down beside Donnie. "Your audacity with juggling with the knives caused so many cuts in your fingers, palms and arms that it took me over an hour to disinfect and stitch all of them."

"Hrrrr!" Louie shuddered at the mere word and the thought of "stitching". "Don't take the subject to that, Arcee. It makes my skin awfully itchy!"

"Ahem." April said, clearing her throat as she stood over the turtles in purple, pink, black and orange, holding the takeout bag up in the air. "Your fours' order, I presume?"

"No, no, no! I didn't order anything! They did it!" Mikey, Louie, Arcee and Donnie all argued, pointing at each other.

"And... May I have the privilege of getting you anything else, m'lords?" she said teasingly.

"No, we're fine." Donnie said as he took the bag from her. "Thanks."

"We owe you $29,90 for these." Arcee remembered. "But don't worry, April. We'll pay back to you as soon as we return to our place."

"Well, let's hope that dude brought everything we'd ordered? I'm starving!" Louie said impatiently, rubbing his palms together while licking his chops.

"Alright, let's see." Mikey said as he began to search through the bag. "Noodles for Donnie." Mikey said as he handed Donnie the box of noodles. "Sushi for Louie." he said as he handed Louie the box of sushi. "Fried vegetables for Arcee." he said as he handed Arcee the box of fry vegetable. "And fried chicken and rice for me." Mikey said as he picked uop the box of rice and fried chicken for himself.

"Qǐng xiǎngyòng." Arcee told her brothers, before she, Donnie, Mikey and Louie began to scarf down their respective foods.(2)

April let out the sigh. "Uh. I feel like I've gone from happily single to mother of eight overnight." she said.

"Tell me about it, Miss O'Neil." Splinter said, knowing exactly how she felt about it.

Raph then let out a yawn, before he made his way towards the bathroom. "Well, I'm hitting the shower." he said tiredly.

###

A little later, while Raph was in the shower, Donnie was sitting at the dining table soldering some wires with the protective goggles on, while Louie and Dom had challenged each other to a tense arm wrestling at the other end of the dinner table to pass some time (though Dom had accepted Louie's challenge reluctantly and only because Louie had allowed him to take support from the table to give him some advantage while he himself kept his own hand behind his shell). Arcee was leaning against the wall next to the book shelf while reading the medical book she had found from the shelf, Mikey was relaxing in the armchair while scarfing down some chips, while Splinter, Mary and April were watching the news from TV, and Leo was meditating in April's bedroom.

"La-da-di, la-da-da. La da-" Raph sang in the shower, until he suddenly gasped. "WHOA! WHOA!"

The turtle in red then came out of the steamy bathroom, wearing nothing but the towel around his waist.

"Yo, Donny! Can you do something about the hot water? A turtle can't even get a decent shower in this joint!" Raph complained.

"Been there, done that." Donnie said, not taking his eyes away from what he was working with.

Raph then came over to him. "Well, go there and do it again!" he said rudely.

"Geez, Raph!" Arcee said as she looked up from her book. "Can't you just ask Donnie nicely?"

"What for?" Raph snapped, turning to the turtle in pink. "I hate it when hot showers are interrupted because the water heater won't work properly. And it's Donnie's fault."

"It's Donnie's fault that I can't get a decent shower just because the water heater won't work properly." Donnie said sarcastically while mimicking Raph's deep voice. "Well, too bad, Raph. Can't you see that I'm right now really busy?" Donnie said while trying his best to focus on his work.

"Well, you gotta use the shower too, Donnie. So get on with it already!" Raph demanded.

Everybody turned away from their activities to look at the scene between Raph and Donnie.

"Always me! Why is it always me?!" Donnie complained as he took the goggles off. "Why don't you ask somebody else like Mikey to fix something once in a while?"

"Sure. Go ahead and ask him yourself, Donnie." Louie said knowingly, as he rested his right cheek to his knuckles while gesturing towards Mikey.

Donnie turned with an annoyed glare to Mikey, as the turtle in orange was humming to himself while still scarfing chips, grinning as he did.

"Wha?" he asked, seeing that Donnie was glaring at him.

"Ugh! You know what? Never mind." Donnie sighed as he took the goggles off and put them to the table as he got up from the table. "I'll go fix the water heater...again."

"I really appreciate that, Don." April said gratefully as Donnie walked past the couch and everybody on it. "If you can fix that piece of junk hot water heater, I won't have to call the repair man."

"No problem." Donnie said as he made his way to the door.

"Hey, Donnie! Wait up!" Mary said as the turtle in turquoise got up from the couch and followed Donnie to the door. "You mind if I come and help you a little? I know that you're far more into the machines than what I am, but two heads is better than one, don't you think?"

"Sure. Tag along, sis." Donnie said, accepting his big sister's sincere request of being his assistant.

"Oh, by the way. Keep an eye out for Kirby. You know, the guy I leased the basement apartment to? I don't need you scaring my new tenant."

"Don't worry, April. We're a ninja, remember?" Donnie said with the smirk.

"We'll be in and out before this Kirby-guy even notices our presence. Piece of cake." Mary added.

"There's cake?!" Mikey gasped excitedly, his mouth full of muched chips. "I love cake!"

"Greedy pig." Dom sighed with the facepalm, as Donnie and Mary left the apartment.

"Not to mention his worrying love of junk food." Arcee said as she returned to her book.

###

Later, Donnie and Mary opened the door to the pitch-black basement floor before they carefully walked down the stairs, which creaked at every step they made.

"I appreciate you coming down here to help me to fix that blasted water heater, Mary." Donnie said, as he held his hands out in front of him as if searching for something from the dark. "Sometimes Raph can really be a pain in my shell."

"Well, you know, Donnie, how cranky Raph can get just because he hates the cold showers." Mary told her brother. "Just ignore him. And the sooner he gets that hot water, the sooner he'll leave you alone."

"The sooner the better." the turtle in purple agreed. "The sooner I find that switch of that light I know is around here somewhere."

Donnie then felt the switch cord in his finger tips, before the turtle in purple grabbed to it and pulled it down, turning the light on, enlightning the basement.

"Ah! That's better." he said.

However, before the turtles in purple and turquoise could go to look for the water heater, a strange-shaped shadow appeared all of the sudden from around the corner against the wall at the end of the basement.

"WHA?! WHAT'S THAT?!" Donnie gasped in alarm.

"HOLLY SHELL!" Mary gasped frantically.

A large black bat-like creature then flew out from around the corner and screeched savagely as it caught the sight of both Donnie and Mary, who backed away from this thing, both confused and terrified of it.

"REEAWK!" the strange monster screeched before it lunged at them.

Donnie and Mary pulled out their weapons in self-defense, but the creature was already upon them before they could move and attacked Donnie, knocking the turtle in purple off his feet and pinning him on his shell to the ground.

"DONNIE!" Mary gasped.

The monster screeched at Donnie as it snapped its sharp teeth at his face while Donnie kept it at bay with his Bo-staff against its neck, grunting from the strained effort, for the creature was surprisingly both strong and resilient.

"HEY, YOU!" the voice called, causing the creature to cease it's attack on Donnie's face and look up to see Mary standing next to it, spinning her Naginata in her left with both hands while glaring at the monster angrily.

"LEAVE MY BROTHER ALONE!"

Mary then swung her Naginata at the creature, with her weapon's blade slicing off one of its horns and the impact knocking the creature off Donnie and sent it flying back, before the screeching beast was left hovering in the air.

The monster tried to lunge at Mary, but the turtle in turquoise, standing protectively between downed and shaken Donnie and the savage beast, swung her Naginata wildly at it to keep the beast at bay, with her weapon's blade whistling in the air.

The creature screeched angrily, for it was unable to get to the turtles with Mary swinging her weapon at it so wildly that getting any closer would result it getting seriously injured by the weapon's blade... or even killed.

"GET BACK! I SAID, BACK!" Mary demanded, before she angrily lunged at the creature. "HYYAAAAAA!" she screamed as she swung her Naginata at the beast, though her weapon's blade missed its chest by inches.

This counterattack and that one close call apparently made the creature to realize that the turtles weren't worth of it, before it turned around and dashed towards the other side of the basement and flew around the corner where it had came from.

After the beast was gone, Mary immediately went to help Donnie

"Are you alright, Donnie?" Mary asked worriedly as she offered him her hand.

"Yeah. I am. A little shaken, though, but fine nonetheless." Donnie he said, panting, before he accepted his sister's hand.

Mary then pulled her brother up from the floor. And once he was back on his feet, they both turned to the direction where the beast had gone.

"What the heck was that thing?" Donnie asked.

"I don't know." Mary answered, shaking her head. "But it looked some kind of ugly cross between the man and a bat. But I do wonder what it was doing in April's basement."

This was followed by an eerie silence. The beast was most likely still stalking them around the corner, and like before it launched its attack, it was lying low, likely recovering from the previous failed attack and waiting till it would be ready to attack them again.

Cautiously and wary of another attack from the beast, thus holding their weapons at ready, Donnie and Mary followed after the beast. They then peeked around the corner, but much to their surprise, they saw no sign of the creature, just the dark dead end.

"Whatta?!" Mary gasped, confused, as she and Donnie came out from the corner.

"I could've sworn it went this way." Donnie said, confused.

"But where did it go? There's no other way out of here." Mary pointed out.

"Good point, sister." Donnie said, putting his hand on his chin as he thought it over. "There's no doors, no windows, and the walls are solid. There's no way it couldn't have just gotten past us without our notice. So how could it just... vanish like that?"

Something then caught Mary's attention in the corner of her left eye, which made her turn her head to the left and the other end of the basement. Upon seeing what had caught her attention, Mary lightly elbowed Donnie in the arm to get his attention. And as the turtle in purple turned to his sister, Mary held a finger over her lips to signal him to be quiet before he pointed her finger at what she saw.

An open door down the corridor, out of which was peeking the light.

Deciding to investigate, Mary and Donnie walked up to the door and peeked inside the small one-room apartment through the gap, to see a man with the grayish-brown hair sitting at a drawing board, humming to himself.

"That guy must be Kirby, April's new tentant." Donnie assumed. "What he's doing?"

"He looks like he's... drawing something on that sketchbook of his." Mary said, seeing that this Kirby-guy was holding a pen - with something pink glowing attached to it - while drawing in a sketchbook lying open on the drawing board.

Looking a little closer, the turtles in purple and turquoise saw that the man was drawing a weird-looking ball-shaped bug on the page

And after he was finished, much to the two's amazement, the bug drawing literally pulled itself out of the page, coming to life, and flew around the room.

"Whoa!" both turtles gasped in amazement as they pushed the door open and stepped inside, completely forgetting the stealth and risk of being exposed.

"Incredible!" Mary said with wide-eyed disbelief. "But how'd he do that?"

The buzzing bug then flew towards them, causing both turtles to duck down as it flew out of the door and into the shadows.

Kirby, who had been watching the bug's fly off the moment it came to life, then noticed the two turtles standing by the door.

"What? A two green monsters? I don't remember drawing any of you. So you must be... a real things!" Kirby gasped in shock, making both Mary and Donnie to look at each other in confusion.

Kirby then got up from the drawing board. "You must... You must be here for your crystal." he assumed, starting to panic.

Kirby then stepped back as Donnie and Mary walked closer to him "Look, guys, I was only borrowing it for a while. Just take it but put those sticks down, please!" he pleaded frantically.

"Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow! Calm down, friend!" Mary said, holding her hand out. "We do know must look weird to you, but we give you our word of honor that we're not here to hurt you."

"Yeah. We're friends of your lessor, April O'Neil, and we're down here just to fix the water heater to to get the hot-headed brother off my shell." Donnie assured, as he and Mary put their weapons away.

"My name is Donatello, and this is my sister, Marietta. And we don't know anything about any crystal." he added. "But what we really want to know is how you just did what you did."

"That bug drawing of yours." Mary reminded. "How exactly you brought it ot life with that?" she asked, pointing at Kirby's pen with the weird glowing thing attached to it.

Kirby held up his pencil, showing to the two turtles a small, pink crystal that was tied to the end near the eraser.

"It wasn't really me. I-I mean, I can draw, sure. Been doing it for years." Kirby said, gesturing towards the several drawings of some human-like warriors as well as various monstrous figures - including the bat-like thing which Donnie and Mary just encountered, making the two cringe uncomfortably.

"But it's this crystal. It supplies my pen with the magic." Kirby explained, showing the crystal to them more closely.

"Crystals. It had to be crystals. Nothing new." Donnie mopped, touching his head.

"What do you mean?" Kirby inquired, confused.

"Well, let's just say that Donnie and me have had our fair share of magic crystals lately." Mary explained simply, remembering the whole Underground City incident a few days back. "It's quite a long story, though, so don't bother to ask."

"You both should really try this. Here, let me find you a clean page each." he said before he turned back to his drawing board and began to search for the clean page from his sketchbook.

"Say, doesn't our appearances freak you out a little?" Donnie asked, surprised.

"Usually humans tend to run away from us in fear because we, well, look like a freaks in their eyes." Mary added.

"Fellas, since my sketches started leaping off the page, I've seen freakier, believe me." Kirby assured with the chuckle, before he turned back to the turtles and held his hand over his chest. "By the way, where's my manners. My name is Jack Kirby.

Both Donnie and Mary blinked their eyes in surprise at Kirby's full name.

"Jack Kirby?! As if, the "King of the Comic Books"?" Mary gasped, surprised, upon recognizing the name of the said legendary comic artist.

"Yes." Kirby said, confirming this. "That's at least what my fans used to call me."

"Cool! Our little brother Mikey reads a lot of your comics: Fantastic Four, Fourth World, Thor, Captain America, Eternals, New Gods, Black Panther and so on." Donnie listed. Even if he wasn't into the comic books with such of passion like Mikey, Donnie at least knew which comics or comic book series Mikey liked the most.

However, after thinking it through, Mary caught something that really confused her. "But I thought you had already passed away since 1994, and it's 2003. So how come you're still alive?" she asked, wondering.

"Well, technically speaking, I'm dead, alright." Kirby said with the shrug. "But just before I slept away, I drew myself in my sketchbook, based on pictures of my younger self, which came to life the moment I died, and I came back with all of my memories of my old life, my passion in drawing, and perhaps even an eternal life, I don't know."

"So you're not really a human being but just a living drawing of yourself?" Donnie assumed. "No offense, though."

"None taken. To be honest, it took me a while to get used to the fact that I am just a creation created and designed by my original self." Kirby said.

"Yeah, we know what you mean. Believe me." Mary said, nodding in understantment.

She and Donnie knew very well what it feels like to realize to be existing due to being nothing more but a mere creation made by someone's hand... or in their case, a freak of nature created by accident.

"Anyway, my friends call me Kirby." he said and held out his hand.

"You can call me just Donnie or just Don." Donnie said as he shook the hands with Kirby.

"Mary." Mary said as she too shook the hands with him.

"So, uh, where did you get that crystal, Kirby?" Donnie asked curiously.

"Well, I found it in a pile of coal, of all places a few decades back. And accidentally discovered what it could do." Kirby explained, before he offered the crystal-pen to them. "Here, draw something."

Donnie took the crystal-pen from him. "I'm not much of an artist since I do my blueprints with my computers, but this is too good to pass up." he said excitedly.

Donnie then sat down to the drawing board while Mary and Kirby stood behind him. But before Donnie could draw anything, he inspected the crystal in the pen curiously.

"I wonder if there's some sort of biomolecular energy transfer involved that turns the drawings into a living 3-D characters." he wondered.

"Don, just draw something, will ya?" Kirby said.

Donnie chuckled. "Okay, okay. I just, as the turtle of science, am always intrigued by anything new that I can study to find out its secrets."

"Is he always like this, Mary?" Kirby asked as he turned to the turtle in turquoise.

"Well, Donnie's kinda the brains of our family." Mary said with the shrug. "And he has a tendency to get lost anything involving mechanics and science, even in ways that the rest of us don't always really understand. Trust me, I've seen this many times over for the past fifteen years."

"I see." Kirby said before turning back to Donnie. "Well, Don. You gonna draw something or not."

"Okay, but I'm afraid a stick person is the best I can do by hand." Donnie said as he began to draw, and the moment the pen touched the page, the crystal lit up.

"Aw, don't worry. It takes a few years of practice before you can really have fun." Kirby said, understanding as he patted Donnie on the shoulder. "Not a bad stick guy, though."

"Yeah, pretty good one, bro." Mary commented.

"There." Donnie said, finishing the drawing. "Finished."

The moment he was finished, the stick figure with the face peeled itself off the page and hopped up in the air.

"Wow." Donnie gasped in amazement.

"Cool." Mary remarked.

All three of them looked on as the stick figure flew across the room until it landed on Kirby's bed, where it bounced for a moment before leaping off and landed onto the desk, where it kicked the spray can off the table. And all the while, the stick figure let out a squeaky "HEEHEE! HEEHEE WHEE! DUM DEE! DUM DEE! DA-DA-DEE!"

Donnie chuckled at this. "This is too wild!"

"Told ya." Kirby said with the smile.

"LET ME! LET ME!" Mary said, wanting to try the crystal-pen herself.

She practically snatched the pen from Donnie's hand and sat down to drawing board, before she took out a clean page and began to make the drawing of her own. She turned out to be a slightly better and more creative draftsman than Donnie, for her work wasn't a stick figure but a bit crude drawing of a bird.

And as she worked with her own drawing, Donnie's stick figure jumped off the desk and ran to Donnie, before it kicked the turtle in purple in the right leg.

"OW!" Donnie yelped, touching his leg as he hopped on his left, only for the stick figure to kick him in the left leg. "OW!" Donnie yelped again, touching it while hopping on his right leg.

"Hey, now cut that out!" Donnie snapped, pulling out his Bo, making the stick figure to back away from him.

"What's the matter, Donnie? Your own stick figure doesn't like you?" Mary teased her brother. "Too bad, though, for my own drawing does seem to like me just fine." she boasted, before she revealed her crude bird drawing, who had come to life, and was now perched on her outstretched finger, chirping as it did.

"Peep-peep! Peep-peep!"

"Very funny, Mary." Donnie said sarcastically.

"Not bad bird, Mary." Kirby commented, impressed. "I see you're a little more skilled and creative than Don."

"Thanks, Kirby." Mary said, flattered. "I don't draw much by hand either, but at least that bit won't be done by the computers."

Then, to both Donnie's and Mary's surprise, the former's stick figure and the latter's bird all of the suddenly vanished with the "poof".

"Wha?!" Mary gasped. "What just happened?"

"They just... vanished?" Donnie gasped as well, turning to Kirby for an explanation.

"They all do. Everything I draw just vanishes no more than a minute or so after coming to life, and I don't even know where they go afterwards. Strange, isn't it?" Kirby explained.

"There is one exception, though. A thing I drew a couple of weeks ago. Like myself, it didn't go away. And it was too heavy to move so I covered it with this tarp." Kirby explained, as he began walking over to a tarp that was covering something in the corner of the room, before he pulled the tarp away.

"WOW!" Both Donnie and Mary both gasped in astonishment when Kirby revealed a strange futuristic-looking doorway from under the tarp.

"There. I can't rightly tell you what it is." Kirby said, turning to them.

"You sure got a wild imagination, Kirby." Mary commented. "Truly ahead of our time, if you ask from me."

Donnie walked up to the door to have a closer look of it. "Looks like a weird kind of doorway. A teleportal device of some kind." he theorized.

Donnie them stretched out his hand towards the doorway, and gasped in surprise when it went straight through of it, before he pulled his hand back.

"Incredible!" Donnie said, amazed. "I could feel the empty air in the other side. Maybe there is something in the other side of this portal."

"You're not actually planning to go right through that door, Donnie?" Mary asked, growing worried. "We do not even know what is out there."

"Only one way to find that out." Donnie said determinedly.

"Hey, be careful!" Kirby cautioned.

Donnie nodded and boldly walked through of the door, vanishing from the sight, which freaked both Mary and Kirby out.

"Uh... Don?" Kirby called.

They waited for Donnie to call back to them for a moment. However, there was no answer from Donnie, which caused both Mary and Kirby to get worried.

"Donnie?" Mary called, worry in her voice. "DONNIE?!"

"DON, CAN YOU HEAR US?!" Kirby called.

They waited again for the answer from Donnie for a moment, but still nothing from the missin g turtle in purple, making them both to fear the worst.

"What has happened to him?" Kirby asked anxiously.

"I don't know." Mary whispered, shaking her head, fearing for her brother's safety.

Then, all of the sudden, Donnie peeked through the portal, which scared both Mary and Kirby so that they both jumped back from the door and the turtle in purple with alarm.

"AGH!" they gasped, until they realized that it was just Donnie, still alive and well.

"DONNIE! DON'T SCARE US LIKE THAT!" Mary snapped, not finding Donnie's supposed trick funny at all. "FOR A MOMENT WE THOUGHT THAT SOMETHING BAD HAD HAPPENED TO YOU!"

However, Donnie looked too enthusiastic of something to even notice Mary throwing a tantrum at him.

"Guys, you're not gonna believe this! You've gotta see what's on the other side of this thing!" Donnie urged, pointing at the door.

"Are you sure that it's safe?" Mary asked, still feeling uncertain despite the relief that Donnie had came back all well and all.

"Yes, yes, yes, sister! It's quite safe. Now come on!" Donnie urged again.

Both Kirby and Mary thought about it for a moment, but since nothing bad had happened to Donnie after he went through the portal and then came back, very eager to show them what was in the other side, the two of them decided to give it a go.

"Well, if you say so, brother." Mary said with the shrug.

"Yeah, what the heck." Kirby shrugged as well, as he puthis crystal-pen behind his ear. "Let me just grab my sketchbook. It might become useful on this expedition."

Kirby then took his sketchbook from his drawing table and then turned back top the portal as Donnie went back through of it.

"Ladies first." Kirby said, beckoning Mary to go ahead.

"Whatta gentleman." Mary commented, flattered, before she dived into the portal after Donnie.

"GERONIMO!" Kirby shouted as he ran into the portal after his turtle friends.

The basement apartment was then left all empty, with only the teleportal device serving as the only doorway between the earth and wherever the portal led.

TO BE CONTINUED...

TRIVIA

1) = It was never really explained in the original episode that where examply Splinter hid when the delivery boy visited to bring Donnie's and Mikey's ordered Chinese takeout, so I made him to hide behind of the red curtains by the window next to the door of April's bedroom.

2) = Arcee's line "Qǐng xiǎngyòng." means in English "Enjoy your meal."

Author's note: I decided to make Kirby a real Jack Kirby, or at least a copy of the real but by this point already deceased Jack Kirby, who had indirectly brought himself back to life by drawing a younger version of himself with the crystal-pen of his, with the memories and the passion to the drawing of his past-self. So he's not technically alive but just a living drawing, i.e. practically immortal.

PS: Kirby being a living human drawing (known as homunculus in the Mirage comics, an artificial human, usually created via alchemy, magic, or science) is actually at the last minute noted reference to April O'Neil herself being a living human drawing in the Mirage comics, created by her father using the Warp Crystal, which Kirby would rediscover in the Second Time Around's basement in Kirby and the Warp Crystal.