Again, I heard a swish of movement, but this time behind me. All of us turned around, but it was empty. Then I heard a cry of a weird sound.

“I’m not so sure about that…” Kirby continued with a worried voice.

“There was one mutant that came in the same time as me…” Julie said strained, like she was trying to remember.

“What?” I asked, turning to her as a shadow of a movement rushed behind her. I blinked then got in front of the both of them, grabbing my staff once again. “Okay, don’t worry. Whatever it is, I’m sure I can ha--”

“Look out!” Julie screeched, pushing us back as a giant black blur crashed down where we were just standing.

We all looked at the large and black mutant with Kraang tech on it’s shoulders and body. My eyes widened as it stood up and made this sound between a hiss, roar, and snarl. I was shocked as we all backed up in fear.

“Actually, you two, you may want to worry just a little bit…” I started out, a little nervous.

Then the Newt-like mutant pointed a fist at us and started shooting these yellow balls that reminded me of Kraang blaster bullets. We all dodged them, miraculously, while jumping behind a post lining the walls to keep rocks from tumbling in the tunnels.

“What is that thing?” Julie cried, covering her head instinctively.

“You must’ve accidentally released one of the Kraang’s alien experiments!” Mr. O’Neil said, keeping closer to the wall while I peeked out to see if he left because the shooting had ceased.

When I peeked, a few more bullets smashed the beam, making me ground my teeth. I ushered Kirby and Julie down the hall more quickly. “It looks like from the family Salamandridae if I’m not mistaken.”

“With that precocious? It’s clearly a pleurodelinae,” Kirby argued. “A Newt.”

“Newtralizer is more like it!” Julie wailed as a disc shot past our heads.

We stopped and watched as a red light flash like a bomb would as it was slammed into the wall. Scared, Julie ran into a different tunnel while I turned to see the mutant click a button. I snatched April’s dad and pushed him and myself away into the next tunnel as the bomb boomed and left a dark cloud of ash behind.

As Kirby and I stood up, Julie looked at us worried. I looked at her, “You named the mutant Newtralizer?”

“Seemed fitting…” she muttered, looking away. I noticed her fluff quivering in fright.

“Then don’t tell Mikey… He’s sensitive about giving names to new mutants…” I sighed softly as we continued down the tunnel to try and find the way out. After a while of walking, an alarm sounded. I looked around, shocked, unsure if we did it or that Newtralizer did. Julie stiffened and I looked around. “We gotta move!”

We started running down the hallways, shocked and uncertain. We had to backtrack once because it was a dead end. It was worse because when we did backtrack, Kraang bots were waiting. We all skid to a stop and paused at the bots.

I looked at Julie and Kirby and ordered, “Other way!” But when we all turned, the Newtralizer was walking up with his face set in a snarl. I paused, gulping then said quietly to myself, “Okay… Maybe the solo mission wasn’t such a good idea…”

Then the Newtralizer and the Kraang pointed their guns at us and I grabbed both Mr. O’Neil’s and Julie’s wrists and drug them in a cell door, closing it after they both entered.

Breathing out in relief, Julie looked at me concerned then April’s dad spoke up, “You do realize this is a detention facility.” I paused, blinking, gritting my teeth. “You just locked us in a cell.”

“Uhh… firmative…” I sighed, looking at the door. “Uhm… I think I can get us out…” But then a slam to the door and a Newtralizer looking at us through the glass made me jump back, “Ayyyeeventually!”

So I looked at the door and made a control panel open after a few minutes. I looked at the flashing lights and said, “Okay, so if I jump the resistors--” but I was interrupted by a boom and the door exploding open. I looked behind me at Julie and Kirby, worried if they were hurt. They weren’t. So I continued, “The door should open...”

“Donnie!” I heard Sophie cry with delight.

“Found him,” Naomi groaned.

“Mr. O’Neil!” Leo exclaimed.

Kirby and I left the cell, Julie staying behind in fright. I looked at her and I could tell my face drooped in hurt because she finally came out.

“Who’s that?” Natasha asked. I looked at all who went. They brought everyone besides Melanie and Mikito strangely enough.

“I’m Julie…” Julie said softly, looking down.

“What kind of mutant is she?” Kyoto asked.

“Something from Dimension X, I think…” I answered.

“Guys?” Mikey said, pointing over. “Giant beady eye lizard thingy with weapons!”

Newtralizer roared at us in the strange way only he could. We all backed up, even though with the numbers we had, we could’ve knocked him out. But we had two people I just saved.

It felt good saying that I saved them and not Raph or Leo or even Naomi.

“Julie called it the Newtralizer,” Kirby tattled on her.

I looked at him unamused before I heard Mikey say, “You named something? That’s my job!”

But he quickly ignored it when we were getting shot at once again. Everyone was already in front of us going to the Kraang control room. I had Julie in front of me, trying to protect her from the shots.

The door opened and we jumped in, protecting ourselves from the lizard outside. I watched Mikey come up to Julie to complain about the name, but I stepped in front of him, “She doesn’t know that. Don’t yell at her about it.”

“Guys, be quiet…! We gotta figure out how to get out of this prison,” Leo ordered.

“Actually, it’s a detention center,” Kirby explained. “The difference being--”

Raph came up and growled, “Not now, Donn… Oh… Sorry Mr. O’Neil…” he looked at Naomi and muttered something inaudible. Naomi just shook her head and rolled her eyes, smiling softly.

A sound of a door behind us all made me turn around. Kraang started walking in and shooting. We all started attacking while Natasha helped April’s dad and Julie behind the control panel to avoid the blasts.

“A little help!” I heard Mikey yell.

Thinking about the Newtralizer outside, I stopped after I took out two Kraang and went to the control panel and started pressing buttons, “How ‘bout some big help?”

“Now’s not the time to check your email, Donnie!” Kyoto growled as he jumped over the panel.

“I’m guessing that they had the Newtralizer locked up because he wasn’t a friend!” I pressed a button and the door that the Newtralizer was in front of opened. Looking over, a robot head flew by while a Kraang body fell from in front of Newtralizer. He roared and looked the room, snarling.

“Looks like he likes trashing Kraang,” Raph said impressed.

“Who doesn’t?” Sophie smiled, holding her Wakizashi in hand.

As the new and dark mutant started firing, the rest of us hid where Kirby and Julie were with Natasha. Sophie had her sword blasted out her hand and was now weaponless. Leo gave her one of his swords. She took it with a smile.

When all the Kraang were taken out, we waited a few seconds before everyone besides Natasha and Julie stood up and cheered. Newtralizer growled and aimed his guns at us, making all yell out, “No!”

He shot out a few missiles and exploded the door behind us. We all got up and ran, Natasha and Julie the first ones out. We finally found where we got in at and everyone got on the red car.

“We gotta access the control panel!” I said, trying to press on the button to go up.

“I got it!” Raph said, about to slam his Sai down on it.

I stopped him, “Raph, I got it.”

He gave me this smart aleck look and gave me his Sai while saying, “Oh really?”

“Just do it, Donnie!” Naomi shouted. “I’m tired of being down here!”

I slammed the Sai where the central nerve cord was in the panel and the lift shuddered before shooting up. We all cried out, and fell to the actual leveled floor of the car shop above. We all covered our heads from the falling cars, the one that was with us and the second that looked like how the others got down.

When we got up, we all breathed out in relief until we heard the familiar snarl of the Newtralizer. He jumped on the car that the others made fall and snarled, looking at us as we regrouped.

I looked at Leo as he started giving out orders, “Donnie, you get Mr. O’Neil out of here. Naomi, Natasha, you get Julie. The rest of us will get the Newtralizer.”

“All the girls besides Sophie?” Naomi said a little annoyed that she probably was left out of the fight, but she didn’t argue as Newtralizer threw two discs that made a stack of tires fall.

We all separated and I helped O’Neil toward the garage door. We were almost there when Newtralizer started shooting at random, making us back up against the cars. I saw him looking around and i helped Kirby up on the higher level of cars. A garage door closing made me relax since I knew it was Naomi, Natasha and Julie leaving. Newtralizer looked at me and Kirby and jumped over just as I was climbing up. We hid behind the car as he followed us with his yellow and piercing gaze.

As we switched between cars, he slipped between them and lunged. I pushed Mr. O’Neil out of the way, yelling, “No!” He roared at us and I grabbed a smoke bomb and tossed it at his face, making him hiss in annoyance. We took the chance and got down from the second level and started toward the door again.

I left Mr. O’Neil out and let him wait with the girls as I watched Leo, Sophie and Raph fight the Newtralizer off a little. But they got knocked to the level floor with a sweep of his tail. He jumped down and aimed his blasters at them.

I was about to jump in to help when I heard a cars’ tires screech and Mikey scream out, “Booyakashaaa!!” A car slammed into the Newtralizer and it took a second for all of us to pause and run up to the car. But Mikey came out, smiling, “Don’t worry, dudes, I wore my seat belt.”

We left the car shop with the mess it was in and the girls met us and smiled. Julie came up and hugged me, her tail wagging like a blur. I paused and blinked, unsure what to do. “It’s been so long since I’ve seen daylight!”

I smiled and then I heard snickers as my brothers watch me. My face flushed in embarrassment and I tried prying Julie away, “Well… You’re welcome, but our lair is almost the same thing…”

Her face looked at me in horror until Mikey came up, “But it’s way cooler.”

“How so?” she asked, following us back to the lair.

Smiling, I watched Julie as she asked so many questions, almost like a child, and the others answering as calmly as possible, even when they had to repeat their answer. Maybe having another mutant wasn’t going to be so bad...