Tag: sonic

“Could someone explain what’s happening to Shred-head?” asked Michaelangelo.

“Mikey, what happens when you leave your phone on the charger for extended periods of time?” asked Donatello.

“Well, the battery becomes so…” Michaelangelo realized what Donatello was driving at. “…so dependant on the cable and it can’t hold a charge all that good anymore! Dude, are you telling me the sword’s stand-?!”

“Was its charging dock!” realized Leonardo.

“Exactly! Their batteries probably aren’t lithium-ion ones,” confirmed Donatello, “but it looks like the Utroms still had the same problem as us in Ancient Japan! Probably still do today!”

“BAH!” dismissed the Shredder. “Batteries or not, I still know how to use a sword!” The Shredder swung wildly…not exactly proving his boast. Leonardo easily intercepted the sword swings with his katanas and knocked Tengu no Ken out of the Shredder’s hands.

“Looks like Leo knows how to use two swords better than you can use one,” snarked Raphael.

“MOVE ASIDE!” called Kamen Rider Ichigō. He front-flipped into the air, then stuck his foot out. “RIDER KICK!” he shouted. He then sailed towards the Shredder at high speeds, foot first! The kick connected with the Shredder’s face and knocked the helmet and face mask off of his head!

---

While that went on, Shockwave, Jazz, and Nightbird were dealing with their Terrorcon opponents. Shockwave noticed how Jazz and Nightbird were fighting. “Learned one another’s styles, have we?” she asked.

“An agreement between us,” replied Nightbird.

“How better to teach our respective schools?” continued Jazz. He then combined Circuit-Su with Five Servos of Doom to take down Straxus. Shockwave pursed her lips as she arched an eyebrow under her visor. She then combined Metallikato with Crystalocution, shattering Rodimus Unicronus’ arm completely. Rodimus Unicronus screamed in pain as he fell, clutching his stump as it leaked Dark Energon.

“Fascinating,” said Shockwave.

---

“Grgh! Stupid, back-stabbing ape!” snapped Tormo. “Why is Yamta the only sane human I know?!” His ears then twitched when he heard a certain phrase.

“Final attack!” called Sengoku’s belt.

“Uh oh,” gulped Tormo.

“RIDER SENGOKU KICK!” announced Sengoku as he performed his Rider Kick. He slammed his foot straight into Tormo’s nose! Sengoku then landed and posed as an explosion engulfed Tormo. The fires of the explosion died and a singed Tormo picked himself up while holding his broken nose. The Lords he called in were all battered and beaten, as were his allies. Taking Order now would be suicide.

“RETREAT!” he ordered. “WE GOTTA GET OUT OF HERE!” He then glared at Sengoku. “Mark my words, those responsible for this humiliation will pay with their lives! And when next we meet, I will collect the fee…PERSONALLY!”

“Hey, that’s my line!” snapped Straxus as he opened a rift. Tormo and his forces then retreated.

“Dudes, we got Order,” remarked Michaelangelo, “let’s boogie out of here!”

“Michaelangelo is right,” agreed Splinter. “Let’s go.” He pulled out a smoke bomb and threw it at the ground. In the smoke, Donatello grabbed Tengu no Ken. Once the smoke cleared, the only one standing was a maskless Shredder. He roared to the heavens once he saw the damage. When his roar died down, he heard sirens and the click of safeties being unlocked on guns. He turned to see New York State Police leveling their guns at him.

“Oroku Saki?!” yelped an officer.

“I don’t believe it!” shouted another. “He’s the Shredder!”

“Hands in the air!” ordered a third. The Shredder snarled and threw a smoke bomb, vanishing in the night.

---

“State Police were baffled when it was discovered that Oroku Saki, the head of the Technological Cosmic Research Institute,” said the newswoman once everyone made it back to the Lair, “was, in reality, the Shredder, the villainous head of the criminal agency known as the Foot Clan. In response to all that was revealed, the Governor called for TCRI to be thoroughly investigated and brought under state control. The preliminary investigation also turned up the body of Big Mama Joro, the once head of the Yokai Mafia. Many Yokai families are expressing relief that such a criminal element has been cut off.” The camera turned to a Kappa in a hoodie.

“Let me tell you,” he said, “when I heard that the spider was killed, I found myself sleeping easier at night. She wanted us Yokai to conquer humans, but the majority of us don’t swing that way. We just wanna work with humans. WITH humans, not FOR them.” The broadcast turned back to the newswoman.

“Unfortunately, what this will mean for the future is up to conjecture as many pundits believe that the death of Big Mama Joro will create a power vacuum for her underlings to try and sieze control. On top of that, with the Shredder evading custody, it is more than likely that the Foot Clan would take advantage of any Yokai Mafia civil war. Irma Langenstein, Channel 6 News.” Raphael then turned off the TV.

“Still a gloomy lady, ain’t she?” he muttered.

“She has a point,” remarked Hiroki. “Who’s to say that the power vacuum won’t result in civil war?”

“It’s not as bad as that,” replied Hongo. “The Shredder will be scrambling to try and recover the power he lost and the Yokai Mafia families will be keeping out of human affairs for a while so they can build up their own power bases. Either way, the problem has made itself into manageable chunks.”

“You are quite right, Hongo-san,” agreed Splinter. “The power evil has over New York may not have gone away totally, but it IS diminished.”

“…Speaking of things diminishing,” remarked Donatello, “so’s my stomach! Where’s Mikey with those pizzas?”

“And Jazz too,” agreed Hiroki.

“They sure are taking their sweet time!” muttered Leonardo.

“You can’t rush art, my dudes,” called Michealangelo as he and Jazz brought out a couple of pizza box towers, enough for everyone to have a slice. “You’d get crap art otherwise. We’re all named after artists in the first place anyways, we should all know that.” Raphael took a sniff and his mouth watered.

“Oooohhh, I missed the smell of good, home-made pizza!” he said.

“And I had Jazz as my student, so we’ll start on his first,” said Michaelangelo. Jazz took four boxes off one of the towers.

“Just scope out these babies!” he said as he opened the boxes. The Turtles…goggled in horror!

“Babies?!” yelped Raphael. “These things ain’t even been born yet!”

“Whoa, bogus!” called Michaelangelo. The pizzas were the size of a man’s fist instead of the usual 14 inches!

“Jazz, I don’t believe it!” snapped Donatello.

“Is this your idea of a sick joke?!” snarled Leonardo. The Turtles growled at Jazz as they advanced menacingly on him.

“And after I took you under my wing as a pizza student?!” growled Michaelangelo.

“Whoa, chill out! No way!” protested Jazz. “Ask your dad! It was his idea!”

“Throwing our pops under the bus, huh?!” snarled Raphael.

“It WAS my idea,” interjected Splinter. The Turtles goggled at their father. “I had Jazz make them especially for you boys to remind you that the small victories are just as important as the two big ones achieved tonight.”

“…Two?” asked Raphael. “I mean, what we did to the Shredder’s a big one, but what’s the other?”

“You coming back, you dingus,” replied Donatello.

“Raphael, there was no way we could do anything without you,” said Leonardo.

“…Yeah, me running out on you guys was a pretty big mistake, wasn’t it?” muttered Raphael. “Well, I ain’t making that mistake again!”

“And I say that’s worth celebrating,” said Splinter. “Now, there ARE normal pizzas in there.”

“That’s all we wanna know!” said Michaelangelo. “Let’s dig in, folks! COWABUNGA!” The pizza party then began!

Everyone picked themselves up, the heroes being more sympathetic to each other and helping one another. The only one standing was a changed Oroku Saki, the Shredder! His armor now covered more of his body and looked more frightening. All you could see were his eyes! In his hand was the very sword he sought. “…The power!” he whispered. “I had almost forgotten the legends! Tengu no Ken! The very sword with which my first ancestor, Oroku Sansho, laid villages to waste, brought castles to ground, vanquished armies! The sword that he used to conquer Japan and control the Tokugawa Shogunate as well as the Emperor! Now…this power is MINE!”

“Ours, my hubby-husband,” corrected Big Mama Joro. “That WAS the deal, was it not? And if you wanted to go outside, you really must learn to use the dimbly-door.”

“…And you, Big Mama Joro, would be wise to use the last few minutes of your life to use REAL words, not nonce,” growled the Shredder.

“Last few-?” Big Mama Joro’s eyes went wide, then she snarled, her fangs dripping with venom. “You picked a hell of a time to divorce me!” She leapt at the Shredder, but he side-stepped and fired an energy wave from the sword. The energy wave knocked Big Mama Joro onto her back, then the Shredder jumped onto her and ran the sword through her abdomen. She screeched in pain and thrashed as the Shredder stabbed multiple times…then her arm-pedipalps went limp, her face froze in a look of pain, and her legs curled up.

“…Huh,” said Donatello, rightfully horrified about how Big Mama Joro was executed. “…So…her vital organs are in the abdomen, just like a normal spider.”

“Perhaps I should figure out where a turtle’s heart is!” cackled the Shredder.

“Shredder, you reneged on our deal!” challenged Tormo. “You’ll regret it!”

“You said so yourself! I’m an entrepreneur! I see an opportunity and I sieze it!”

“Where you see opportunity, I see impulsiveness!” Tormo pulled out a communicator and spoke into it. “The Shredder has betrayed us! All hands, to my position!” The Lords then appeared.

“THE BORG?!” yelped Leonardo.

“No, the Lords!” replied Sengoku.

“More free-thinking than the Borg,” explained Jazz. The Lords then attacked.

“I’ll have your hide for this!” called Tormo as the Lords swarmed the Shredder.

“Try and take it!” The Shredder then cut down his attackers. …Well, there WAS one that was giving him trouble.

“Hiroki!” called the Lord. “Hurry! The Keystone! Shrink Leonardo!”

“Keystone?” asked Sengoku. He then remembered. “The Scale Keystone!”

“What?!” asked Leonardo.

“Leo-san, hold on!” warned Sengoku. “Scale Keystone, activate! Lessen scale of Leonardo!” Leonardo then shrank.

“WHAT THE?!” he yelped.

“Find a weak spot!” urged Sengoku. “Any weak spot!” He then threw the tiny Leonardo at the Shredder. He then turned to the renegade Lord. “As for you, call me a petty fanboy, but I preferred your usual suit instead of all that Borg kit.”

“I’m not going to insult you like that,” replied the renegade Lord, “because you’re right in how much better the suit is.” He then put his left hand to his waist and stuck his prosthetic right arm out past his left shoulder. He then moved the prosthetic in an arc towards his right. “Rider…” he said. A bulky area around his waist shattered as a cover split open to reveal a wind turbine that spun as the wind blew into it. He then pulled his prosthetic to his waist and thrust his left hand past his right shoulder. “…HENSHIN!” He then jumped high into the air and the Borg kit was destroyed as a green suit and helmet appeared. A red scarf then appeared on his neck as he landed. His suit looked a little bulky, but the helmet…dark green with red compound eyes, a pair of antennae, and a mouth plate to resemble a grasshopper’s mouth…that was all that was needed to confirm his identity.

“Takeshi Hongo!” cheered Sengoku.

“…The first…Kamen Rider?!” breathed Splinter.

“Dude! Dad used to obsess over him like Leo does with Star Trek!” said Michaelangelo. Speaking of which…

“Hey! Could stand to be big again!” called Leonardo.

“Normalize scale of Leonardo!” directed Sengoku. Leonardo then grew and almost toppled the Shredder, but was thrown off easily. His brothers helped him up.

“No dice!” he said. “The armor even covers the joints!”

“There’s gotta be something!” replied Raphael.

“Bah!” scoffed the Shredder. “A television hero tries to save the day?! I’m not a villain from your world!”

“But you ARE a villain!” retorted Kamen Rider Ichigō.

“Bringing order by any means necessary is NOT evil!” The Shredder attacked, but Ichigō, being the genetically altered cyborg he is, leapt out of the way. He then went on the offensive, throwing punches and kicks alongside the Turtles. Unfortunately, the Shredder could hit back hard, especially with the sword in his hands.

“It’s no good, Hongo-san!” protested Leonardo. “That sword’s made him too powerful!”

“We have to find a way to get it away from him,” said Sengoku.

“That won’t stop him,” replied Splinter. “Once the sword is reunited with the armor, the wearer will have untold power, even if the sword is separated from him.”

“His first ancestor attested to that?” asked Shockwave.

“That story’s been passed down the Foot Clan since it was first founded,” confirmed Splinter.

“Well, we gotta do something!” growled Raphael. “We can’t-! …Donnie?” Raphael turned to see Donatello looking at something.

“…Donatello, will you please pay attention to the situation at hand?!” snapped Sengoku.

“I am, Hishikawa-san. Look at the sword.” Donatello pointed at Tengu no Ken. Sengoku looked harder and blinked.

“Are those…are those runes dimmer?” he asked.

“I think so.” Donatello turned to Tormo. “Hey, Big Nose! Where did you find that sword?”

“How should I know?!” protested Tormo. “Rodimus Unicronus, where’d you find the sword?!”

“It was in the museum, on a sword stand you’d usually see Japanese swordsmen putting their weapons on,” replied Rodimus Unicronus.

“Do you remember any details about it?!” asked Donatello as he and his brothers rolled out of the way of the Shredder’s newest attack. “Hurry, man! The fate of the world depends on it!”

“Th-There was a plug in the stand! It was connected to the sword just under that alien octopus thing at the end of the handle-!”

“Hey, call me crazy, but are those runes getting dimmer?” asked Raphael.

“BINGO!” called Donatello. The Shredder looked down at the sword and realized Donatello and Raphael were right.

“What?! NO!” he shouted. As the runes dimmed, the armor slowly morphed from its mystic state back into its normal state.

“…Raphael,” asked Karai as she and Raphael restrained Miyoko, “who are they?”

“War and Pestilence,” replied Raphael. “Yes, from the Horsemen of the Apocalypse. They’re Order’s sisters.”

“…Okay.” Karai seemed to take it in stride.

“Now, War, Pestilence,” Raphael said to the two Apocalypse Horsemen, “explanations?”

“Primordial forces like us,” said War, “cannot be contained without consequences. Once there’s just that little chance of freedom after prolonged imprisonment, the results can be catastrophic and world-ending.”

“If I were freed after being contained,” explained Pestilence, “there would be a plague that would wipe out at least 85% of a planet. War, well, World War III wouldn’t even come close to the devastation that would be wrought on a planet. In Order’s case, everyone would turn to stone.”

“So how do we free her without her going Medusa on us?” asked Raphael.

“Well, thankfully, a Horseman of Flourishment or of the Apocalypse can do that,” said War.

“You just stay out of the way,” warned Pestilence.

“Come on, Raphael Nii-san,” said Karai. “Let’s move Miyoko out of the way.”

“Getting casual, huh?” snarked Raphael as he helped Karai with moving Miyoko away from the door. Once they were clear, War and Pestilence opened the door and had to push their way through the energy Order was putting out.

“ORDER!” called War over the noise. “ORDER, IT’S US! WAR AND PESTILENCE! WE’RE HERE TO GET YOU OUT!”

“ORDER, CHANNEL YOUR ENERGY INTO US!” shouted Pestilence. “THIS PLANET ISN’T READY TO BE PETRIFIED!” The two Horsemen then each grabbed their sister’s hand and drew Order’s energy wave into their bodies. The process was painful, according to their expressions. After a good long while, Order’s eyes started to dim. A little while longer, they were back to normal…as normal as a primordial being’s eyes could be. She collapsed into War and Pestilence.

“Take it easy, sister,” soothed War. “You’re safe now.” Order then slowly looked up.

“…Still wearing that damaged armor, I see,” chuckled Order. War smiled.

“There’s the Order I remember!” she said. She looked outside the cell. “It’s safe!” she said to Raphael and Karai. The two ninjas then cautiously went into the cell. “Raphael, Karai, meet Order.”

“Order and I technically already met,” said Karai.

“So I DID hear you promise to get me out of here,” remarked Order. “Well, it’s a good thing you didn’t do that on your own or it would have been disastrous.”

“Yeah, a Karai statue wouldn’t be good on anyone’s lawn,” snarked Raphael.

“Why are you two here, though?” Order asked her sisters.

“Someone is after your Source,” replied Pestilence. “That person has the Tome!”

“What?! Then I must go home immediately!”

“What about your Source?” asked War. Order then pulled a Crystal Sphere in her colors out from her skirts.

“I always keep it with me,” she explained. “Subspace pockets and all that.”

“What about our friends?” asked Raphael.

“Friends?” asked Order.

“We have a team holding off the Shredder’s forces, but the Tome-user’s forces are coming with Tengu no ken!” explained War.

“…All right, so we beat the Shredder, beat the Tome-user’s forces, party a bit, THEN we go home? That’s the plan?” asked Order.

“That’s the general plan, yes,” replied Pestilence.

“Excellent! Let’s go help it unfold that way!”

---

Oroku Saki had donned his armor, becoming the Shredder, and was engaged in a duel with Splinter. “It’s bad enough that your family steals my daughter away by poisoning her mind against me, now you would invade my home?!” roared the Shredder.

“You stole her from me first, Saki!” replied Splinter. “She made her own choices when she learned the truth!”

“You and I both know that the truth is malleable!” The Shredder delivered punches and kicks worthy of a master, but so did Splinter. He also incorporated some rat fighting behaviors such as biting. …Not his favorite maneuver, but needs must.

---

Hiroki, meanwhile, was in his own armor as Kamen Rider Sengoku and trying to grab Tormo. “WATCH OUT WITH THAT TOE-STABBER!!” yelped Tormo as Sengoku swung his sword.

“What are you, Shemp Howard?!” retorted Sengoku. “Well, if we’re gonna be quoting various franchises!” Sengoku then swapped in an ID tag.

“Hanzo Hasashi Steel!” announced his belt. The wardrobe then attached armor pieces that evoked Scorpion from Mortal Kombat. He then fired a rope spear into the goblin’s shoulder.

“GET OVER HERE!” he shouted as he yanked Tormo towards him, pulling the rope spear out in the process. He then decked Tormo right in his nose! Tormo clutched his shoulder with one hand and held his bleeding nose in the other.

“Now I’m mad!” hissed the Goblin. He then drew a wand. “DRASKALDA!” He fired fists made of fire from his wand and pummeled Sengoku with them.

“What kind of nonsense was that?!” yelped Sengoku.

“It’s a special magic language!” retorted Tormo. Just then, Nightbird called up Sengoku.

“Sengoku, we have a problem!” she said. “The Terrorcons are returning to the estate! They have the sword!”

“Because, of COURSE, it’s never easy!” complained Sengoku. “Hold them off as best you can! We’ll aid you when we finish things!”

“You might want to hurry, because-!” The call cut out.

“Nightbird?! NIGHTBIRD?!” Nightbird then ended up crashing through the ceiling, dented and battle-scarred. Rodimus Unicronus then landed near her.

“Well, well, well, Megsy’s little wifey!” cackled the Terrorcon.

“His partner in every way!” hissed Nightbird as she dueled him. The duel then knocked something out of his hand. It looked like a tachi with some sort of brain-like creature with tentacles, two eyes, and a mouth at the end of the handle. Two tentacles wrapped around the entire handle and there were strange symbols that were NOT Japanese human in origin. The Shredder saw the object and goggled.

“…Tengu no Ken!” he whispered. Sengoku and Tormo goggled.

“…That’s what-?!” gulped Sengoku.

“IDIOT!” Tormo shouted at Rodimus Unicronus. “WE DON’T HAVE ORDER YET!”

“Ah, you’re out of order!” came Raphael’s voice. He, Order, War, Pestilence, and Karai arrived.

“And now you have Order!” called the Shredder.

“Oh no, you don’t!” retorted Tormo. “We ain’t surrendering the sword until you personally hand us Order!”

“Bah! You do not dictate terms anymore!” The Shredder threw a smoke bomb, then used the confusion to throw a flashbang grenade at Rodimus Unicronus. It exploded and blinded the Terrorcon. Rodimus Unicronus dropped the sword in the confusion and the Shredder grabbed it! He then unsheathed it and, in the process, unleashed an energy wave that leveled the building and knocked everyone to the ground.

“Where is he?!” grumbled Shockwave.

“Relax, Shockwave,” soothed Nightbird. “This is New York City on a Friday night. He’s bound to be caught up in traffic.”

“If he’s pulled over-!”

“Then he just transforms and spooks whatever bigoted cop decides that he’s the next black guy to be ticketed for driving while black.” That was when they heard an engine and saw Jazz travelling down the tracks. He stopped and let his passengers off.

“Have you encountered law enforcement on your return?” asked Shockwave.

“Well, yeah,” replied Jazz, “but that was because I sped. The officer was actually a friendly guy that seemed to know the Mad Dogz and the Turtles, so I only got a warning.”

“So he was just doing his job properly,” said Karai. “Now, I must go. Saki will want to know how my mission went.”

“Stay safe, will you?” remarked Raphael.

“As safe as I can be among the Foot Clan,” replied Karai. She headed out of the sewers.

“Jazz told me he and his boys made peace with you guys,” Raphael said to Shockwave.

“Our factions did, yes,” replied Shockwave, “but there’s still the occasional skirmish between Autobot and Decepticon.”

“Still, that’s not why we’re here,” remarked Nightbird. “Raphael, your family’s inside the living room.” Raphael gulped.

---

“His estate’s out in the country?” Hiroki asked the Turtles and Splinter.

“His TCRI funds are to blame for that,” replied Donatello.

“These are just reconstructions of what Karai told us,” said Leonardo.

“They’re really detailed,” remarked Hiroki.

“That’s where I came in!” chimed in Michaelangelo.

“Michaelangelo is probably the most artistic out of all my children,” Splinter said with pride.

“Funny how we were ALL named after Renaissance artists,” said a voice, “and Mikey’s the only one that does any art.” Everyone whirled around to see…

“RAPHAEL!” said Splinter excitedly.

“RAPH!” cheered Michaelangelo.

“Dude, you snuck up on all of us!” said Leonardo.

“When did you get here?!” asked Donatello.

“…About a minute ago,” replied Raphael.

“Well, dude, what are you standing in the doorway for?!” asked Leonardo. “We’re gonna need you on this! The four of us, together again!”

“Yeah, man!” agreed Michaelangelo. “You know how empty the Lair was without you?!”

“Michaelangelo speaks the truth, Raphael,” said Splinter. “The Lair…and our hearts felt empty without you.”

“…Guys, Pops, I screwed up by thinking I was too dangerous for you,” said Raphael. “I guess I didn’t trust that you wouldn’t let me go that far. …If you’ll let me, I’d like to come back and work on that with you.”

“Of course, my son,” replied Splinter. “This is your home and we are your family. As long as you make sure none of us turn to the path of the Shredder, we will do the same for you.”

“Turtle power?” asked Leonardo as he, Donatello, and Michaelangelo held their fists out for a fist-bump.

“…Turtle power!” replied Raphael as he fist-bumped his brothers. “All right, here’s what Karai managed to get from Shred-head…”

---

Saki and Tormo met in the Oroku estate. It was styled to look like a traditional Japanese Lord’s home. “Looks almost like a First Age Kitsune dwelling,” remarked Tormo.

“You have kitsunes in the Realms?” asked Saki.

“Yep. From one tailed to the most powerful nine tailed. My employer’s greatest enemy has nine-tail Kitsune blood in her veins.” That was when something fell from the ceiling. Saki and Tormo looked at the object and…Tormo went pale. “…That’s a man’s head…” he gulped. Saki picked up the head and examined it, then groaned.

“…KARAI!” he barked.

“You mean Miwa,” replied Karai’s voice. Saki shut his eyes and breathed in.

“…So it WAS you and the Turtles that I saw all those years ago when I took you in as a baby,” he said.

“You kidnapped me from my father!” snarled Karai. “And all because Tang Shen chose him! You chose attachment over a proper relationship!”

“And you chose poorly after learning the truth.”

“Well, trying to keep someone like Order locked up was a mistake!”

“That’s a man’s…wait, locked up?” said Tormo.

“I did say she was in my possession, did I not?” asked Saki.

“She won’t be for long!” challenged Karai.

“I would prefer it if you stayed away from Order’s cell,” hissed Saki.

“No, this has gone on long enough!” replied Karai. “This deal of yours MUST fall through!”

“You won’t get past the guards!”

“We’ll see!” Saki and Tormo heard footsteps on the roof. Saki then pulled out a communicator. He selected a channel that said “Miyoko”.

“Okaa-san!” he said into the communicator. “Karai is not to rescue Order! She is a traitor to the Foot Clan!”

---

Karai dispatched all that stood in her way between her and Order. The only one she was rightfully scared of was Saki’s mother, Oroku Miyoko. Why? It’s rare for a ninja to reach old age and Miyoko was in her mid-70’s. Karai approached a cell with a green woman in a green dress. Her eyes were glowing green. “I have the distinct feeling,” muttered Karai, “you need to be free before whatever will happen happens.” She then heard a whistling noise and rolled out of the way before throwing a kunai in the direction of the one thrown at her. It struck the beam running across the ceiling and broke, bringing the assassin to the floor. The assassin picked herself up and darted to the shadows. “…You know this has gone too far!” Karai insisted to the assassin.

“You mean you betraying your father, Karai?” hissed an old woman’s voice.

“Please, listen to me!” urged Karai. “That woman is quite literally power incarnate! Keeping her contained may lead to catastrophic results! No one would succeed, not even the Foot!”

“I’ve spent too long fulfilling the Foot Clan’s goals! We WILL control this entire planet!”

“…You’re that dead-set, then? …I’m sorry the conversation has to end this way.” Karai leapt onto the beam and charged at her assassin, Oroku Miyoko! The two dueled for a while, using every trick they learned. …Unfortunately, Miyoko learned more tricks than Karai. She managed to bring Karai to the floor hard!

“You fought as well as an Oroku, I’ll give you that,” said Miyoko, “but you made a terrible decision in throwing in your lot with that rat!”

“At least, unlike you,” said Karai, “Hamato Yoshi still has his humanity!”

“What you incorrectly call humanity, I call weakness!” Miyoko readied a knife…then a sai hooked around her arm and its owner threw her aside.

“I dunno,” grunted the sai owner. “Pops’ teachings helped me become stronger.”

“Raphael!” gasped Karai. Raphael helped his half-sister up.

“Listen, we ain’t got much time!” warned Raphael. “Pops is leading the charge here with the rest of our brothers, the Mad Dogz, and Jazz and his team! But Shred-head’s new business partners have the sword and are on their way here! We gotta free Order!”

“That might be difficult. Look at her.” Karai pointed out Order.

“…Hoo boy, this needs a delicate touch and me and my brothers do NOT do delicate.”

“Hey, what’s the hold up, Raaaaaaa…” War had arrived and trailed off when she saw Order’s state.

“War,” wheezed Pestilence when she arrived, “why did yooooOH NUTS!”

Hiroki and his team were stunned at what happened. “That’s…that’s just…wow!” muttered Hiroki.

“We’re…we’re sorry you had to go through that,” said Endea.

“…We’re gonna need Raph for this one,” muttered Jazz.

“He’s not in the right state of mind for that,” argued War.

“Oh, I think he is,” replied Jazz. “He just doesn’t know it yet. Donnie, can you call one of the Mad Dogz to see where Raph is?”

“Sure, I can do that,” answered Donatello. “But…what do you have in mind?”

“Let’s just say, he’s a bit like my best friend from when we first landed on Mobius.”

---

Jazz got the coordinates and temporarily changed his alt-mode to a coupe-styled Porsche 718 Cayman. He then changed his holo-form to a human of African ancestry with dreadlocks and a blue visor. Tom arched an eyebrow. “…Erm, Jazz,” he said, “this is 21^st Century New York City. The cops aren’t exactly nice to black dudes, especially ones that drive nice cars. Their first thought will be ‘That black dude stole it! Arrest him!’”

“That’s why Donnie’s gonna be guiding me away from those guys,” said Jazz. “Donnie, sync your T-Phone with my comms on my mark.”

“Got it,” replied Donatello.

“And…Mark!” The communications devices synced. “All right. Let’s go!” Jazz’s holoform hopped inside behind the wheel and he took off. Donnie guided him away from the police officers on patrol all the way to an apartment building in the rough part of Brooklyn. He stepped out and made his way to the apartment Raph would be in. Once he arrived, he knocked on the door.

“What do you want?!” called a voice.

“Just here to conduct Hamato Clan business,” replied Jazz. A young human in street hockey gear opened the door.

“…You must be new,” he said. “No one in the entire state’s heard of the Hamato Clan.”

“Combined interests,” replied Jazz. “May I come in. Mister…?”

“Casey Jones, and sure.” Casey let Jazz in. The other guys in the apartment, Raphael, a young woman with her hair dyed neon red, and a Japanese woman in ninja-gear about Raphael’s age all stared at Casey in disbelief.

“Dude, what the hell?!” protested Raphael.

“Casey,” said the ninja woman, “we’re supposed to be undercover!”

“You can’t just let any old guy in-!” snapped the woman with neon red hair.

“Guys, I know what this looks like,” interrupted Jazz, “but I’m here on Hamato Clan business.”

“Are you, indeed?” asked the ninja woman.

“…Wait, are you some Human Jazz cosplayer?” asked the woman with neon-red hair.

“…Come outside and I’ll show you all something more,” replied Jazz.

---

After a bit of convincing, Jazz pulled up in an alley with Raphael and the Mad Dogz watching. “You guys ready?” asked Jazz.

“Just do it,” grunted Raphael. Jazz shrugged, then his holo-form vanished and he transformed to robot mode. “…Y…You’re actually one of those robots from one of those TV shows Leo watches!” said Raphael, his eyes wide.

“Is your name really Jazz?” asked the woman with neon-red hair.

“Sure am, little lady!” replied Jazz. “So, Raph and Casey, I know them. But what about you two?”

“You can call me either Karai or Hamato Miwa,” replied the ninja woman.

“…You’re that little girl in the photo on Splinter’s altar,” realized Jazz.

“I was taken from him as a baby,” replied Karai. “Taken by Oroku Saki himself. Let’s just say time travel revealed the truth to me and I’ve been looking for ways to shut Saki down. April’s been a big help.”

“That’s me,” said the woman with the neon-red hair.

“Well, I’m here because me and my team kinda roped Raph’s brothers into a case,” said Jazz. “We’re looking for a lady called Order and Splinter said that she’s currently the Shredder’s prisoner.”

“It seems we’re working the same case,” said Karai. “That settles it. We have to band together and-!”

“Ixnay!” hissed Raphael. “That’s…look, I already told you how tense the situation is with my brothers.”

“From what they told me and my team,” replied Jazz, “the situation is only tense because you’re not back with them.”

“No, the situation is tense,” argued Raphael, “because I was ready to kill Leo because I was so angry about what he did a while ago!”

“I think you’re misreading the whole thing,” remarked Jazz. “They’ve already forgiven you, from what I’ve heard. …And from what I’m seeing, you haven’t forgiven yourself.”

“What are you, a ninja master like my dad?!”

“Well, a Cyber-ninja Grandmaster, yes, but not one as experienced as your dad. But even then, I’m seeing parallels between you and my best friend, Optimus Prime.” Raphael saw where this was going and wasn’t interested in a story.

“Hey, did I just see a mugger-?” April grabbed Raphael’s shell.

“Sit your shelled butt down, Raph,” she said. “I wanna hear this.” Raphael grumbled and sat down.

“This took place on the planet of Mobius, once known as Earth,” began Jazz. “After us Autobots got settled in, Optimus got a little cuckoo in the head with power. The Matrix of Leadership bricked itself to him and he reverted back to his pre-Prime form, Orion Pax. In a move that still baffles me to this day, he went on a solo-journey around the world to try and fix it, but a witch (yes, magic’s a thing on Mobius) gave him a kick in the pants, saying that he was starting to abuse that power. In the meantime, he left a holographic clone of himself, but the clone got worse, so we had to stage a mutiny against it. Given that the hologram was made of lights and forcefields, we were put on the backfoot, but Optimus managed to come back and shut it down…through a YuGiOh duel.”

“You’re joking,” grunted Raphael.

“I’m not! And it was as convoluted as any YuGiOh duel can get! …But even so, Optimus felt guilty about the whole thing, leaving us with a psycho version of himself. But, over time, he forgave himself.”

“Forgave himself? Even if that thing wasn’t really him, it was based on him, wasn’t it?! How could he forgive himself from that?!”

“It wasn’t an easy path for him, I’ll be the first to admit. But, like you said, it WASN’T him. And, if I heard the story right about you and your brothers, it was the Shredder that made you lose control to a degree.”

“To a degree?! I was gonna kill Leo!”

“And yet I saw him alive and well, so my point still stands.”

“Besides, you heard how much of a monster I am!”

“…Monster or merely a teenager that’s trying to settle his head?”

“Raph, I gotta agree with Jazz here,” interjected April. “You said that you didn’t want to pose a danger to your brothers, right?”

“Right,” replied Raphael.

“I heard the same thing,” said Jazz. “But they want you back. You wanna know why I stuck with Optimus?”

“…Why?”

“Because, deep down, I know he can rely on me to not let him turn evil. He said so himself when he became Optimus Prime again. I will bet you any money your family will do the same.”

“Raphael,” said Karai, “Jazz would have won that bet. Take it from me, I wouldn’t let you turn evil and neither will our brothers.”

“That goes for me,” said Casey.

“And me,” agreed April. Raphael said nothing, then he wiped his eyes.

“…You softies!” he grunted, trying to keep up the tough guy act. “Making me cry like that! Come on! This case is too big for us! Let’s get to the lair!”

After the shouting match, the Turtles split up. Raphael stood by the home gym, poised to spring. Donatello was working on the T-Phones alone. Michaelangelo was trying to meditate, but the fight was still fresh on his mind. Leonardo was in a dark corner for a while. He then stepped out after a while. “…Guys, we gotta talk,” he said.

“Whoever you are,” snarled Raphael, “there ain’t nothing left TO talk about!”

“I want to apologize,” said Leonardo. “You’re all free to not trust me. After everything that’s happened, that’s more than fair. Right now, I know that I AM who I say I am. And I have to trust that you’re all who you say you are. This thing doesn’t wanna show itself. It wants to hide and make us want to kill one another. If it IS hiding, that suggests that it’s vulnerable out in the open. If we fight and kill each other, then it won’t have any enemies left and would be celebrating its victory.”

“Even if you ARE Leonardo,” growled Raphael, “it doesn’t change the fact that we’re still stuck here and the dope with the oversized stick still hasn’t figured out a way to get us outta here!”

“Bite me, Raphael!” snapped Donatello.

“And,” continued Raphael, “it don’t change all the things YOU did by leaving us with Slash!”

“It WAS a mistake,” said Leonardo. “I’m sorry. I should have-.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, you should have! I’m hearing a lotta that woulda-coulda-shoulda crap, but not a lotta what you DID!”

“Damn it, Raphael! I’m trying to get us-!”

“Oh, you’re trying to-!” At that point, Leonardo and Raphael got into another shouting match.

“Stupid intellectual dwarves!” grunted Donatello to himself. “Don’t know why I bother with them!” Michaelangelo simply gave them a sour expression since his meditation was going nowhere…then he saw a shadowy figure. Donatello then looked at Michaelangelo. “Look at him!” he continued to himself. “All the intellect of a-!” He then saw the shadowy figure. He then noticed that Michaelangelo was trying to get his attention. Donatello then pointed at the shadowy figure while maintaining eye contact with Michaelangelo.

“Uh, guys?!” Michaelangelo called to the still shouting Leonardo and Raphael. No dice. The two were still wrapped up in their shouting match. Donatello then pointed at a small, black ball on his belt, then pointed at Michaelangelo. Michaelangelo nodded and reached for his own. The two quiet Turtles then moved their hands to their weapons. Michaelangelo counted down from three with his fingers, then threw the ball at the ground, creating a smoke screen. He then appeared at the figure’s side and swung his nunchaku while Donatello swung his bo. The figure grabbed both weapons and threw the two Turtles into the wall at high speeds! Leonardo and Raphael stopped arguing when they heard what happened. Raphael then saw the figure.

“WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!” he shouted as he charged at the figure, drawing his sai. Leonardo drew his katanas and the two Turtles attacked, but the figure threw them into each other, making them drop their weapons. A katana and a sai landed near Leonardo.

“MIKEY, CATCH!” he shouted as he threw the weapons at Michaelangelo. Michaelangelo caught the weapons and stuck the sai into the figure’s chest. The figure roared an electronic roar.

“YEAH, SCREW YOU TOO!” replied Michaelangelo as he swung the katana through the figure’s neck, decapitating it and dispelling the shadow. The Turtles could now see that it was a humanoid machine.

“…The hell IS that thing?!” spluttered Leonardo. Donatello picked up the head.

“It looks like an Utrom-droid,” he said.

“Then where’s the brainy-toy surprise that’s supposed to pop out?” asked Raphael.

“Um, Donnie, should the eyes be flashing now?” asked Michaelangelo. The eyes of the machine were blinking.

“So, are we done fighting?” asked a voice through the machine.

“SHREDDER!!” snarled Leonardo.

“But, why?!” asked Donatello.

“Because your master didn’t teach you a lesson he taught me all those years ago,” replied the Shredder.

“What lesson?!” growled Raphael.

“That brotherhood is fragile in the heat of conflict. I had my technical staff alter this Utrom-droid to create an illusion that would stir up conflict in all of you and simply let you try and destroy each other. Since you’re still alive, I can see that they failed in that regard. No matter. They still achieved my aims. Now you understand what I learned when your master killed Oroku Nagi all those years ago. Brotherhood is nothing. It is weak in the pursuit of power. …I’ll see you again when you’ve mastered that lesson.” The eyes switched off. It was then that they heard a banging on the door.

“MY SONS!” called Splinter’s voice.

“SENSEI!” called Leonardo. He ran to the door and pulled it open to let in Splinter and their human friends! The Turtles goggled.

“…Dudes, we couldn’t open that thing, right?” asked Michaelangelo.

---

After a few explanations, Raphael was sitting alone in his room, feeling ashamed of himself. He heard a knock on the door. “Raphael?” asked Splinter.

“…Come in,” mumbled Raphael. Splinter entered the room.

“You missed the meeting, my son,” he said.

“…I didn’t think it was a good idea for me to be there right now. …Did Donnie and April figure out what happened?”

“They couldn’t find anything wrong. Donatello believes that everything was most likely working as it should be and the four of you couldn’t hear anything over your own yelling.”

“…Great.” Splinter sensed something else in Raphael’s emotional state.

“…Raphael, this is probably a stupid question, but are you all right?”

“No, Pops, I ain’t,” muttered Raphael. “Is Leo near here?”

“Right here, Raph,” replied Leo as he stepped into the room.

“…Leo, it don’t matter if it came from the Shredder’s toy,” muttered Raphael. “All those things I said, they were real. I WAS that angry about Slash. …I was ready to put a sai in your eye.”

“But you didn’t. That’s the important thing.”

“No, the fact that I was even thinking about that about my own brother is the point! I…” Raphael sighed. “I-I need to get away from here. I need some time to think. The Mad Dogz are working a case and offered me a slot in their team.”

“…Will you be home in time for Mutation Day?” asked Splinter.

“…I wouldn’t hold my breath about it, Pops.”

“…Very well, my son.” Splinter put a reassuring hand on Raphael’s shoulder.

“Raph,” said Leonardo, “for what it’s worth, I AM sorry about Slash. Last month, I said you guys were my greatest strength. That opinion hasn’t changed.” There wasn’t much to say now. After a few seconds, Leonardo and Splinter left Raph so he could pack.

A few months ago, T-M-N-T time-scale, there WERE four brothers living in the Lair. Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, and Michaelangelo. It was one of the rare moments where the four Turtles had the Lair all to themselves. Michaelangelo was drawing a comic, Donatello was upgrading a robot named Metalhead, and Leonardo was spotting Raphael as he was doing some bench-pressing with New York City manholes as weights. “Hey, Raph,” said Leonardo.

“What?” grunted Raphael.

“What’s a barista’s favorite exercise?” asked Leonardo.

“…If the answer’s French Press, do NOT tell Kappa Joe that!” warned Raphael. “You know he’s still trying to get over his breakup with his barista boyfriend.”

“Dude, why do you think I’m telling YOU that joke? I don’t wanna put up with a moody Kappa Joe!”

“…Probably a good thing, because it’s sad that I have to-.” The alarms then started blaring. Leonardo helped Raphael return the weight bar back to its rest position.

“Donnie?” asked Leonardo as they and Michaelangelo approached their brother as he sat down at the computer.

“Looks like we got an intruder here,” replied Donatello.

“What?! Where?!” asked Raphael.

“I can’t tell. It’s concealed.”

“Dude, another ninja?!” gulped Michaelangelo.

“Wait, something’s going-!” Donatello’s computer blacked out. “No! NO! Our computer systems! They’re offline!”

“Let’s get out of here!” said Leonardo. “I don’t want to stay here without those emergency protocols you cooked up! Mikey, get the door!” Michaelangelo nodded and put his hands on the door and…tried to open it.

“…Um, dudes!” he called. “I think there’s a problem in the ol’ escape plan!”

“Please do not tell me you’re pushing on it,” groaned Raphael.

“Guys, the door won’t open!” Michaelangelo WAS pulling on it. “And it’s unlocked!” Raphael tried the door, but to no avail.

“…Donnie, pool! I’m the cue-ball!” he called.

“Got it!” replied Donatello. Raphael retreated into his shell and red lightning spouted from his shell holes. Donatello then twirled his bo as purple lightning sparked from both ends. He then jabbed one end into Raphael’s shell and sent him flying across the floor like a pool ball. Raphael then struck the door and created an explosion…then was sent flying back to his brothers, crashing into them all. The smoke cleared and the door was unscathed.

“…Crap!” swore Leonardo as he and his brothers picked themselves up. “The protection spells Kappa Joe set up!”

“Dang it! I forgot!” complained Raphael.

“It was a good shot anyways,” said Leonardo.

“Then we’ll get an axe and chop it down,” suggested Michaelangelo.

“Won’t work,” replied Leonardo. “The spell works on normal attacks too.” He then snapped his fingers. “Donnie! The upgrade you and Mortu made to the T-Phones! You said that if you hit the button three times, it will open an emergency portal!”

“Unfortunately,” reported Donatello with a wince on his face, “the exit point of that portal leads to my lab. It won’t help our current situation.”

“Well, then we try and call our friends!” suggested Raphael.

“Not possible,” replied Leonardo. “The computer’s systems are tied to our T-Phones’ actual phone functions. Without it, we can’t call anyone.”

“Dudes, let me see if I’m reading the situation right,” said Michaelangelo. “We’re stuck in the Lair, we’ve got no way of booking it outta here, no way of calling for help, and there’s some…THING in here with us!”

“Yeah, that about sums it up,” confirmed Leonardo. He then drew his katanas. “Arm yourselves, guys.”

A few hours later, Leonardo checked in with his brothers. “Any luck?” he asked Donatello. The poor tech Turtle ran his three-fingered hand down his face as he set down what he was working on.

“Unfortunately, no,” he said. “It’s not a question of if it’s possible for me to link several communications devices together. I can do that in my sleep. But I keep running into the same problem; there just isn’t enough power to reach out to our friends and family.”

“And that’s assuming that whatever’s happening isn’t blocking the communications channels,” sighed Leonardo. “After all, April helped you in making half the tech here, whatever backdoor she made should have alerted her about all this going down.”

“That’s my theory too,” said Donatello.

“How’s things going in getting the protection spells down on your end, Leo?” asked Michaelangelo. “I’m hitting a wall here.”

“Sadly, you and I likely have the same problem,” replied Leonardo. “We only know how to cast it, but not how to take it down.”

“I tried taking the hinges off,” said Raphael. “Thought we needed to think about a simple solution, but no dice. The screws wouldn’t budge. I think I stripped them too.”

“It was an idea worth trying, Raph,” soothed Leonardo. He looked back at Donatello. “What about the main computer?” he asked. “Didn’t you say you had something to bring it back online?”

“I tried for two hours before giving up on it,” answered Donatello. “The main relays are just too badly damaged to bypass.”

“Yeah, I bet you’re working REAL hard on fixing it,” muttered Raphael. “I mean, you’ve been a big help so far.”

“…And that means what, pray tell?” asked Donatello.

“Oh, nothing,” grunted Raphael. “But I ain’t the tech boy and I never really learned much about Leo and Mikey’s mystic mojo, so I had a lotta time to stand around and think for a while! I just find it funny that the guy that’s supposed to have a way with machines seems pretty crappy at his job, hobby, whatever!”

“Kindly elaborate on that statement!” snapped Donatello.

“You were the one that told Leo to go on a wild goose chase when his mystic power went haywire despite Pops saying that’s a bad idea! You started working on a weapon for him, but you never got it to work right! And it was your crappy communicator that went kaput when we needed to call him! For someone who’s supposed to be a scientific teen prodigy, you don’t do much around here but screw up!”

“There’s always a margin for error in science, you musclebound meathead!”

“Not to mention that, ever since Utrom Shredder was found guilty and exiled to the coldest parts of space, YOU haven’t had any incentive to help us anymore!”

“Raph,” interjected Leonardo, “Donnie’s had a close eye on him since Ch’Rell was finally brought to justice. And even then, we still have Bishop to help should Donnie go crazy again.”

“Yeah, Bishop was watching him,” replied Raphael, “until all our systems got switched off! He’s been alone in the Lair lots of times! He could have screwed around with the circuits at any time!” Raphael then got an idea. “…Assuming, of course…” he then drew his sai, “he’s who he says he is, at least mentally!”

“What the hell are you talking about?!” protested Donatello.

“It happened with the idiot last year!” replied Raphael as he pointed his thumb at Michaelangelo. “Cyber-Shredder possessed him and it wasn’t that doofus at the controls!”

“…I’m not an idiot!” hissed Michaelangelo.

“Maybe Saki was right and Cyber-Shredder DIDN’T die in the idiot!” continued Raphael as he got into a combat stance. “Maybe he just jumped ship!”

“I’M NOT AN IDIOT!” shouted Michaelangelo.

“Raph, stop!” protested Leonardo. “That doesn’t make any sense!”

“I am NOT an idiot, Raphael!” snarled Michaelangelo. “And you’re not half as smart as you think you are!”

“He’s right!” agreed Donatello. “For someone who throws around words like ‘idiot’, YOU haven’t been particularly helpful to the cause! All you do is wave your sai around!” He then recalled something. “…In fact, when this all started, those salad tongs were the first thing you went for instead of a key!”

“SALAD TONGS?!” roared Raphael.

“WILL ALL OF YOU COOL IT?!” shouted Leonardo.

“You gonna listen to Donnie?!” protested Raphael. “He could be tricking us! He could be Cyber-Shredder! He could be a shape-shifter mutant under his control!”

“Dudes, Cyber-Shredder is dead! He’s, like, FRIED!” insisted Michaelangelo.

“Oh yeah?!” growled Raphael. “And you’d be the expert, wouldn’t you?! You know, maybe Cyber-Shredder DIDN’T jump ship! Maybe we should be looking at the guy who WAS possessed last year and almost killed us all!”

“You leave the Lair all the time to go on ‘patrol’ with the Mad Dogz!” snapped Michaelangelo. “And, yeah, I bet street gangs are real popular since NINJAS still got like six decades on them!”

“Do you even listen to the crap coming out of your beak?!”

“Better than the crap coming out of YOUR beak, Raphael!” Michaelangelo then got into his own combat stance with a nunchaku in his hands. “Assuming that’s who YOU are!”

“This isn’t getting us anywhere!” snapped Leonardo. “We have to work toge-!”

“AND YOU!” shouted Raphael as he pointed at Leonardo. “You left us alone for three months with that psycho, Slash, and he almost killed us! Did you even think about switching off his combat program?!”

“There WAS a way to make him docile!” snapped Leonardo. “You could have turned him off at any time!”

“Yeah, right! …Or maybe YOU’RE not who you say you are!”

“What kind of weed are you smoking?!”

“The remote for Slash’s cybernetics vanished after you got back!”

“An intruder got inside and took it! Master Splinter didn’t feel anything that night and Metalhead never identified who it was! Even then, Slash wasn’t switched on in the Lair!”

“Yeah, somebody got in! But you’ll recall that the intruder alarms didn’t start blaring when he got in! Maybe somebody LET him in!”

“I should be accusing all the rest of you!” Leonardo was addressing everyone now. “After all, I was gone for three months, any one of you could have let that intruder in here!”

“And that’s assuming you came back at all!” snarled Raphael.

“WHAT?!” protested Leonardo.

“We couldn’t contact Leonardo during those three months! Maybe he never made it home! Maybe you’re something else entirely!”

“And yet, YOU’RE the one flinging accusations against everyone else left, right, and center, Raphael! Michaelangelo’s right! You DO leave the Lair for days at a time without a word of explanation!”

“And YOU’RE the one trying to pit us all against each other!” interjected Donatello.

“But he DOES have a point, Donatello!” snapped Leonardo. “YOU have been remarkably unhelpful! You know, maybe I should outsource the science support!” By then, it was a four-way shouting match between the Turtles.

The limo was being fixed as the Orokus talked with Tormo and his Terrorcon friends. “A shame,” sighed Tormo. “I had just figured out the market value of those…Corinthian leather seats, I believe they are.”

“What do you want?” grunted Oroku Saki.

“I sense we’re kindred spirits, you and I,” replied Tormo. “Oh, there are differences, like how we accomplish our goals, but we’re both entrepreneurs at heart. We see an opportunity and we grab it, yes?”

“And what opportunity, pray tell,” said Oroku Kumiko, “do your senny-senses tell you?”

“Well, let me give you a bit of backstory first,” answered Tormo. “In the past few days, my association has been running into a string of bad luck. Autobots and Decepticons working together, the races of my home, …and karate bug-men that use belts to summon their armor!”

“Kamen Riders?” asked Saki.

“That’s them! Thanks to this particular group of Kamen Riders, all our operations have been shut down!” Tormo snarled in annoyance…then calmed down. “But you have a quartet of four half-shelled juvenile delinquents, right? Which brings me to my little…proposition.”

“Continue,” directed Saki.

“Surrender Order to me and me and my guys will give you ninja weapons specifically designed to slay the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.” Saki laughed at Tormo’s proposition.

“That’s just too rich,” he said. “One, Order is in my possession for a reason until I find Tengu no Ken. Two, what makes you think you can take on the turtles when you can’t even defeat mere children’s television superheroes from my homeland?” Tormo stood up quickly.

“There’s nothing childish about THESE particular ‘superheroes’!” he snapped. “Besides, like I said, I have ninja weapons specifically designed to target their…weakness.”

“That ‘pizza’ nonsense they have an obsession for?” scoffed Saki.

“Not that, something more…biological. Big Mama Joro, is there someone I can demonstrate this on? Someone that stumbled into mutagen like the Turtles?” Tormo pulled out a kunai.

“…Well, there IS one,” replied Kumiko. She used her natural mystic arts to open a portal and pull a humanoid cockroach through. “This one hasn’t paid me in a while.”

“B-B-B-BIG MAMA JORO!” squeaked the cockroach. “Look, Big Mama! I swear! I got the money! I just need to pay off-!” Tormo stabbed the guy in the heart. As he fell dying, the cockroach man lost many of his insectoid features until he was now a normal red-headed man…as normal as a corpse can be.

“The weapons are capable of deploying retromutagen into the body,” explained Tormo. “Dead or alive, makes no difference.”

“…Perhaps…we can use them for a further purpose,” said Saki. “If you want Order, I need a specific sword. Tengu no Ken, it’s called. The Sword of Tengu. Built with Yōkai mysticism, Utrom technology, and human ingenuity. My first ancestor, Oroku Sansho, was known to wield it on top of wearing the armor I wear as the Shredder. Using these weapons to make sure I’ll dine on turtle soup will be a bonus.”

“Ooh! That DOES sound more promising!” replied Tormo.

“But you must understand this,” continued Saki, “you are dealing with the Shredder and Big Mama Joro. Oroku Saki and Oroku Kumiko cannot be involved in this in any way.”

“Oh, trust me! The Orokus will be Mr. and Mrs. Clean!” assured Tormo. “Deal?” He held his hand out for a handshake.

“…Deal,” replied Saki as he shook Tormo’s hand.

---

Leonardo, Donatello, and Michaelangelo led Hiroki and his team to a part of New York’s sewer system that was once a subway station. “So you dudes are trying to save all the universes by stopping a guy that has some magic book that makes what he writes come true?” asked Michaelangelo.

“That’s the general gist of it, Michaelangelo,” replied Hiroki. “We need to find a woman that calls herself Order.”

“Erm, this Order woman,” interjected Donatello, “is she green and usually carries a crystal sphere?”

“That’s the one!” confirmed Jazz. “Dude, where is she?” The Turtles winced.

“In the hands of Oroku Saki and Oroku Kumiko,” replied Leonardo. “The Shredder and Big Mama Joro.”

“Okay, I have to ask, since Yōkai are a thing in this universe,” said Nightbird, “is Big Mama Joro a Jorōgumo?”

“Yes,” said Leonardo.

“Just to make sure I got my Japanese mythology right,” said Shockwave, “Jorōgumo is a shape-shifter that can turn from a beautiful woman to a giant spider that targets men that have no control over their lust, correct?”

“Bingo!” said Michaelangelo.

“…Well,” muttered Shockwave.

“Now, I have a question for you boys,” said Hiroki, “where are you taking us?”

“To our home,” replied Leonardo. “We need Master Splinter’s insight into all this.”

“Are you sure that’s a wise idea? Introducing Splinter to all of us?”

“We’re not introducing all of you,” replied Donatello, “just you, Hishikawa-san.”

“…Fair point,” conceded Hiroki. They entered the Lair and Leo pointed out a set of Japanese sliding doors.

“There’s the dojo,” he said. “Master Splinter’s usually in there either practicing or meditating.” Hiroki nodded.

---

A man-sized rat in Japanese clothes was kneeling in front of a makeshift altar with a photo of a young Japanese couple in traditional clothing and holding a baby in cloth. Incense was burning and the rat’s eyes were closed as he breathed slowly. His ears twitched as he heard a foot on the bamboo flooring. “…You hesitate to disturb me,” said the rat.

“This…seems too important,” replied Hiroki’s voice. “I am Hishikawa Hiroki. I presume you are Master Splinter?”

“That is what my sons have nicknamed me, yes,” replied the rat. “Though, if you wish for my original name…I am Hamato Yoshi.”

“A pleasure, Hamato-san,” said Hiroki as he bowed.

“Please, Hishikawa-san, sit,” directed Splinter. Hiroki knelt next to Splinter. “I sense there’s another issue?”

“Well, I’m afraid of rats, but a talking rat manages to calm down my fear,” admitted Hiroki.

“Not that,” said Splinter.

“…Yes, I’m dodging the question here. I came from another universe.” Splinter sighed as his ears flattened in annoyance and his eyes opened to reveal brown, human eyes instead of a rat’s usual black orbs. “I can understand your frustrations, given what your sons told me and my team about the renegade Utroms under Ch’Rell’s command, but this goes beyond what the ‘Demon’ Shredder had planned. A person is using a book called the Tome-.” Splinter gave Hiroki his full attention.

“THE Tome?” he asked. “How did he get that? The Utrom Queen assured me and my family that such a task was impossible.”

“This person tricked the guardians of the Tome into serving him and now he’s collecting the Sources of the Apocalypse and Flourishment as well as three powerful first-place prizes from a tournament known as the 3V2R. He plans on combining them with the Tome to literally rewrite reality into his image. We have the Apocalypse and four of the five Flourishment Sources secured and we came here to retrieve the last one.”

“Order.”

“Exactly, Hamato-san,” said Hiroki. “Your sons said that Order is in the tender mercies of the Shredder.”

“She is, sadly,” replied Splinter. “I will do what I can to assist you and your team.”

“…Just like that?” asked Hiroki.

“Surprised?”

“A little, yeah. I thought you’d want to test me or something.”

“Even if I did, you have already passed it. See, I overheard my sons talking outside the Lair and they intended to introduce me to yourself and your team slowly. I doubt you have anything devious on your mind. If you crept in here, I’d have been in a better position to do something about it.” Splinter could hear the gulp.

---

The team met in the garage, given the size of the Transformers. As they planned, Tom seemed distracted by something. “TOM!” called Hiroki. Tom snapped out of it.

“Yes, Hiroki?!” he said.

“I was asking what you thought of the plan to get Order out of the Shredder’s private palace,” said Hiroki, “but you seem distracted.”

“…Sorry, Hiroki,” sighed Tom. “It’s just…in most universes centered around the Turtles, they’re supposed to number four. …Where’s Raphael?” The Turtles winced.

“Dudes…you probably wanna stay sitting,” said Michaelangelo.

“It started like this…” began Leonardo.

Hiroki meditated for a bit before his mission. He just sat in the middle of the room, breathing in and out slowly, settling his nerves. Once done, he opened his eyes and stood up. “Here we go,” he said. As he was leaving, Xiomara kissed him.

“Good luck, mi amor,” she said.

“Always, my dear,” replied Hiroki.

“Oto-san,” called Sora. “If you need hope, don’t hesitate to call me or Gabriella, okay?”

“Will do, son,” promised Hiroki. He headed out to meet his team, consisting of Agus, Barbara, Elgrad, Endea, Fordelam, Jazz, Katrina, Laserbeak, Leemii, Michael, Nightbird, Pestilence, Ravage, Shade, Shockwave, Silver, Sweemar, Teefmanam, Tom, Twaldar, and War. “Minna, we’re the last team,” he said to everyone. “We NEED to secure Order and her Source. And once we do…we’ll frustrate the Author’s plans even further. And we WILL win! I can see it!” Everyone cheered at the speech.

“Rift’s open for T-M-N-T!” called Rosadera.

“Minna, ikuze!” called Hiroki. Everyone followed him into the rift!

---

The team ended up in New York City, Times Square specifically. It was nighttime, but that didn’t really matter for the City That Never Sleeps. People saw the rift! “ALIENS!” yelped one.

“It’s gotta be those Triceratons!” said another.

“No way! That was a portal!” replied a third. “It’s another Utrom invasion! Kraang must have sent them!”

“I though Ch’Rell was in charge!” called a fourth.

“I think we better get out of here!” Jazz advised Hiroki.

“Minna, hide!” called Hiroki. Everyone ran from the gathering mob to find some cover. They found it in an abandoned garage with enough space for all Transformers to rest in vehicle mode and switch on their holo-forms.

“…Triceratons?” muttered Nightbird as everyone caught their breath. “Utrom? …I swear I heard those words before.”

“Same here,” replied Agus.

“We’ll figure out that mystery later,” said Hiroki. “Right now, we need to get information on Order and her Source. …And I’m sorry to say, my Transformer friends, your alt-modes are too advanced for this era. This is definitely 21^st century New York.”

“Tovarishchi,” said Ravage, “I’ve found a news article from about a week ago.” He started reading the online article’s title aloud. “‘Yōkai Mafia panic city! Police Shakeup as Big Mama Joro strikes again!’”

“Big Mama Joro? Yōkai?” asked Hiroki. “Wait, so they’re NOT just myths from my home?!”

“Not in this universe, apparently,” replied Ravage. “Big Mama Joro is the head of a whole Mafia gang consisting of Yōkai. Like many of Asian descent, Yōkai are the subject of mockery, so the Yōkai Mafia was formed in an attempt to protect Yōkai. But, nowadays, they’re giving the impression that all Yōkai are criminals.”

“Great, more racism to deal with,” muttered Hiroki.

“A staple of the human race,” remarked Shockwave, “and not exclusive to straight, white, male Americans.”

“…Explain the Organiphobes in our respective factions,” replied Jazz.

“Now’s not the time to discuss this,” interjected Hiroki. “We need to find Order and…War?”

“Someone’s in here with us,” replied War. Everyone stood up and the Riders brought their belts out…which were promptly knocked out of their hands by kunai.

“…Ninjas. Lovely,” muttered Hiroki. He was then grabbed from behind and pulled into the shadows. Everyone else assumed a combat form.

---

Hiroki managed to wiggle himself free in the shadows and face his attacker. “If you’re a ninja that runs wild like Shuriken Sentai-!”

“What?! Dude!” protested the ninja in a distinctly surfer-dude voice. “No way! Those guys are a TERRIBLE Sentai team! And terrible ninjas!”

“…Okay, but now your accent-.” Hiroki didn’t get very far as he had to leap out of the way of the ninja’s nunchucks. “Questions for later!” Hiroki fought off his attacker as best he could. He then grabbed his attacker’s full-face mask and yanked it off. “All right, let’s see who you are, you c-c-c-c-k-k-k………KAME?!” Looking right at him was a green turtle’s head complete with beak!

“Well, you got that right,” said the turtle. “You know how many people call me a Kappa? Do I have a pie dish on my head?!”

“Wait a minute…ninjas…humanoid turtles…you have nunchuks…” Hiroki then looked at the mask and saw orange highlights around the eye holes of the mask. “…Michaelangelo?!”

“…You…know me?!” yelped the turtle.

“…I think our teams made a big mistake!” Hiroki rushed out to see his team fighting two other ninja turtles, one with two katanas and blue around the eye holes, the other with a bo staff and purple around the eyeholes. “MINNA! YAME!” shouted Hiroki. The fighting stopped.

“Stop?! What for?! We were just attacked!” protested Silver.

“By a team that thought us a threat to the people they’re protecting in the first place!” replied Hiroki.

“Yeah, bros,” Michaelangelo addressed his teammates, “I don’t think they’re bad guys here. We just got a mondo misunderstanding here.”

“You’re sure about that?” asked the bo-wielder.

“Donnie, this is Mikey we’re talking about,” said the katana-wielder as he sheathed his weapons. “He’s the guy in tune with emotions. He’s our best read on the subject. Even Raph turns to him at times.” The katana-wielder then removed his mask. “I’m Hamato Leonardo, and these are my brothers, Michaelangelo and Donatello.”

“Hey, dudes and dudettes!” called Michaelangelo. The bo-wielder, Donatello, removed his mask.

“Salutations,” he said.

“…No way!” realized Tom.

“Yes!” replied Hiroki. “Universe T-M-N-T!”

“Then this is the home universe for the Adolescent Genetically altered Shinobi Terrapins,” remarked Shockwave.

“We just met the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!” cheered Jazz.

“I believe I just said that,” said Shockwave.

“So, you’re NOT Kraang’s minions or Foot Ninjas?” asked Leonardo.

“No, but our quest DOES lead us across the multiverse,” replied Hiroki.

---

In another part of the city, a Japanese businessman and his elegantly-dressed wife approached their limo. They were known as Mr. and Mrs. Oroku, heads of the New York Branch of the Technological Cosmic Research Institute. On the surface, they did much for their American home. But, much like their marriage, it was all a front. Mr. Oroku kissed his wife as he helped her into the limo, but there was no love in either of their eyes. Mr. Oroku sat in the limo after he helped his wife into it. “The office,” he directed the driver.

“Away we go, Mr. O!” replied the driver. The Orokus blinked.

“…‘Mr. O’?” asked Mrs. Oroku. “Sampson?”

“Oh, Sampson had a little…accident.” The limo driver then shimmered and turned into…well, the Orokus could only assume some form of green person. The person hit the gas and sped through New York! An impressive feat, given the traffic there that particular Friday night!

“All right, mister!” snarled Mrs. Oroku as her teeth sharpened and dripped with a vile, green liquid. “I don’t know what your gimmy-game is, but I promise you’ll pay dearly for this!”

“You’re dead, DO YOU HEAR ME?!” roared Mr. Oroku as he slipped on a pair of blades mounted to the back of his hand. He punched through the window separating him from the driver and yanked on the steering wheel. The limo went careening into a junkyard, then was surrounded! The person unlocked the limo’s doors and Mr. and Mrs. Oroku jumped out. The attackers stepped into the light to reveal Deceptitran, Rodimus Unicronus, Sideways, and Straxus in robot mode.

“Oh, lovely, some of those…those Shape-formers to rip limb from limbity-limb!” said Mrs. Oroku.

“Transformers,” corrected Mr. Oroku. “Possibly of that Decepticon variety.”

“Not DECEPTI-cons,” corrected the green person, Tormo, as he stepped out of the limo. “TERROR-cons. I do apologize for this, Oroku Saki and Oroku Kumiko…or rather, Shredder and Big Mama Joro, but I believe I have a deal for you.”

Everyone returned to Beyond City in grand style. The TARDIS arrived the instant the Transformers exited the rift and Health and Death were the first ones out. “Lady Health, welcome!” greeted Megumi. “I’m Megumi Hishikawa, head of the Feudal Nerd Society!”

“A pleasure to meet a friendly face,” said Health. “And a welcome change from having to deal with the Daleks.”

“Daleks?” asked Megumi. “What happened?”

“I think,” called the Doctor, “you’re in for quite a story.”

“In the meantime,” said Death, “I need to reacquaint Health with our sisters and introduce her to Lacey.”

“You go ahead,” replied Megumi. “And after the story, Doctor, could you PLEASE convince my husband his project needs a lot of work!”

“…Project?” asked the Doctor with trepidation.

---

Death and Health arrived at the Horsemen’s mansion. Health took a deep breath, then released it slowly. “…Home, sweet home,” she sighed happily.

“All that’s left is Order,” said Death, “then the sisterhood is reunited!”

“Minus Chaos,” remarked Health.

“Minus the original Chaos, yes, but there’s a new Chaos.”

“There is?!” Health opened the door. She almost crashed into Pestilence.

“Hey, easy there, la-!” Pestilence stopped when she saw her opposite. “HEALTH!” By now, everyone heard her voice.

“Health, welcome back!” said Bounty.

“Great to have you back!” greeted Life.

“It’s great to BE back, girls!” replied Health. She then saw Lacey. “…A human?”

“FORMER human,” said Lacey. “I’m Lacey Thanatos Atmadja, the new Chaos.”

“You’ve clearly adjusted well to being the new Chaos!”

“It took some training, but I used to come from The Simpsons and-.”

“That world with mustard yellow people with overbites?” asked Health. “The chaos there must have helped you adjust.”

“Never really liked my old home,” remarked Lacey, “and was raised by an asshole dad, so it wasn’t that big of a decision to leave my old life.”

“Ah, that makes sense. …So, why the Indonesian surname?”

“That would be because I’m married to a Mobian Komodo Dragon, Dr. Agus Atmadja.”

“…And…he’s okay with you not being a normal-?” Health stopped her question abruptly when she saw Famine trying to stealthily accept something. Everyone else turned to see that Famine was still getting pasta dishes! Once Famine shut the door, she turned and realized everyone saw the whole thing.

“What?!” she protested as she tried to hide the comically tall stack of pasta dishes behind her.

“‘What?’” Death repeated mockingly. “Got a boyfriend delivering it all to you?!”

“How many has she had?” asked Health.

“20 dozen stacks that tall, so far,” muttered Lacey. “We’re gonna go bankrupt at this rate!”

---

“Richard, this looks like it was built by Ogrons!” The Doctor said once she examined the Spectacular. Batman, Gandalf, and Wyldstyle were standing next to Megumi’s Legacy.

“Oh, come on!” protested Richard. “I thought you of all people would appreciate it!”

“Because of the jury-rigs she used to fix the TARDIS on numerous occasions?” snarked Batman. “At least they work until she can make proper repairs!”

“Yeah, there’s no way this thing should move at all!” agreed the Doctor.

“Your assessment, Doctor?” asked Megumi when she joined the group.

“Well-,” said the Doctor. Richard didn’t let her finish.

“While the Doctor found a few minor issues,” he said, “she agreed that if I were to put the Spectacular into production, I would make a fortune!”

“…Doctor?” asked Megumi incredulously.

“No, I didn’t say that,” replied the Doctor.

“Look, I did the math!” protested Richard. “The Grand Caravan was 2,500 studs, the Chrysler Pacifica was 3,000, the Tesla was 60,000, and the work was 70,000, that’s 135,500 studs in total. I could sell this thing for 500,000 a pop.”

“No, you couldn’t,” muttered Wyldstyle.

“I could!” insisted Richard.

“I must agree with Wyldstyle,” remarked Gandalf. “You couldn’t.”

“Yes, I could! A 2023 Phantom sells for almost 500,000 studs here!”

“A 2023 Phantom,” argued Batman, “is a proper car built by Rolls-Royce!”

“Exactly! What you have, Richard,” said the Doctor, “is three scrap cars glued together by a Muppet with no engineering know-how!”

“Look, the van isn’t designed for people like you!” snapped Richard.

“What, people with eyes?” asked Megumi.

“People who dress themselves in the morning?” asked the Doctor.

“I’ll tell you exactly who’ll buy this!” declared Richard.

“Orcs from Núrn?” asked Gandalf.

“No, baseball players!”

“No, they won’t!” protested Wyldstyle.

“Baseball players like Fords and Chevies!” agreed Batman. “Especially their respective lines of pick-up trucks! Not that hunk of junk!”

“What’s going on here?” asked a voice. A Jaguar Mark X then arrived, and Michael stepped out of the driver’s side.

“See, THAT’S a proper car!” said Batman.

“Ah, discussing the Spectacular, hm?” guessed Michael. “Oh, good lord, and you brought the Doctor.”

“Didn’t exactly give it a ringing endorsement,” remarked the Doctor. “…Now, your Jaguar…” Michael smiled and opened the hood (excuse me, bonnet) so the Doctor could see what’s underneath. “Is that a bi-radial catalyst engine?!” she asked, clearly impressed.

“It IS a bi-radial catalyst engine!” replied Michael. “I took some design ideas from your car, Bessie.”

“And you paid homage to her really well!” said the Doctor. “Though that engine’s not a cheap one.”

“No, building my Jag wasn’t cheap. But it wasn’t as expensive as I thought. In all, it took me about 385,000 studs.”

“What?!” yelped Megumi and Richard.

“I know! That’s a lot of car for only 38 and a half purple studs! Look at the size of it!”

“Michael, that’s about 150,000…” Richard rechecked his math. “No, 250,000 studs more than I paid to get the Spectacular built!”

“That people carrier you cobbled together,” replied Michael, “is your embarrassing attempt to reinvent the wheel, the classic pitfall of American technology! My Jag is definitive, your van…is derivative!”

“Michael, not to give Richard any leeway here,” said Megumi, “but a Jaguar, especially a Mark X, that’s something a Bond Villain would drive.”

“Well, I got the goatee and the dark clothing,” replied Michael, “so why not indulge in a bit of that feeling?”

“…Your car, your attitude, I guess,” muttered the Doctor.