Cleo's POV:
It's been two months since we defeated the Kraang, and boy have we been loving it. Things haven't been this peaceful and fun for us since before we first went up to the surface. So, other than a lot of relaxing, partying, and less training than before, that's about all that's happened. Nothing extraordinary at all happened beyond that. No way, José. After a few days of being cooped up in the lair, the guys and I decided to go out for a run. Not for training, not for patrol, just for some good, old-fashioned fun.

We had been running over the tops of buildings all over Manhattan, jumping, flipping, just having fun with it. Mikey was having even more fun as he was skating across the rooftops and grinding over the edges, laughing and hollering like the happy boy he was. "Did you see the way I took down those Kraang droids that were about to blast me?" Mikey called out to us. I grinned.

The guys were reminiscing on our excellent victory against the Kraang once more. Well, no point in stopping them. "Pfft, that was nothing!" said Raph, who had leaped down and was sitting on a large air conditioner. "I was surrounded by, like, 10 of them! I took them all down easily, but there was one sneaking up behind me. And then I took my sai, and shortened that Kraang droid's skull. So cool! HA!"

He emphasized his point by stabbing the conditioner with his sai. Somebody's going to be angry about that later. Mikey yelled happily as he swung around a street light and landed in the street. Donnie, who was sitting on the edge of a window next to Raph, smirked up at him. "Sure, Raph. But, I used my uncanny scientific knowledge to bring down an interdimensional portal! Equally as awesome!" "No kidding," I slid down to hang off of the same window as Donnie.

"But, you gotta admit- and I don't mean to toot my own horn here- me distracting that giant Kraang thing so that you guys could get away was pretty wicked and heroic." "And what about Master Splinter!" Leo's voice was full of wonder and excitement. "I wish I could've seen him take out the Shredder!" "You and me both," I told him.

Mikey did a quick grind on a nearby bench before he swerved and stopped right in front of us. "And, let's not forget Cottage Cheese Demon! If we didn't stuff him in that microwave, the earth would be drowned in living cheese!" I rolled my eyes as I face palmed. Not this again. "For the twenty-second time, Mikey," Raph said angrily. "There was no Cottage Cheese Demon, ever!"

Mikey folded his arms and stuck up his nose. "Did you see him?" "No!" "Then, how do you know?" "What? I-tha-that doesn't even ma-ugh..." Raph looked like he was about to smack himself, but then he smiled faintly and said, "Sure man. Cheese Demon. Whatever you say." "Well, cheese demon or not," I walked up and put my arm around Donnie's shoulders. "We really knew how to bring it to the table on those freaks." "Yeah, we did!" Leo shouted. "We-are-awesome!" "Yeah we are!" "High-three!"

After laughing it off for a bit we quickly hopped onto the nearest building and continued on our run, like before. Until... "Hey, are we gonna stop by April's?" At once, we all skidded to a halt before we could jump to the next building. We all stopped and turned to look at Donnie. "We are 1.3 blocks, and 6-no no, 7 meters away from her apartment." "You calculated the distance?" I asked. "Of course!"

Raph raised his eyes at him. "Yeah, that's not weird or anything, Donnie." "Well, it has been a little while since we've seen her," said Leo. "Maybe we should visit." "Aw yeah, randevue at April's!" Mikey yelled happily. And with that, we changed course and immediately started to head towards April's apartment. It didn't take long. Like Donnie said, we weren't that far away. Within no time, we were all standing on the fire escape in front of her bedroom window. Donnie walked up to the window confidently and knocked on the glass.

"Handsome-gram, for April O'Neil!" he said cheerfully. I snickered. He was so adorable sometimes. Raph groaned as he slapped his own forehead. "Ugh! Did you really just say that?!" Donnie rolled his eyes, but otherwise ignored him. A second later April appeared and opened her window. "Guys! Um... great to see you!" The others and I walked forward, but April stopped us in our tracks. I raised an eyebrow. She seemed a bit off. "Y-yeah, um... you mind staying on the fire escape?" she asked awkwardly.

"Oh, is someone else inside?" I asked. "No, but... well..." "Seems like you've been avoiding us lately, April," said Leo. April sighed, leaning against the windowpane. "It's not my fault," she lowered her voice to almost a whisper. "Dad's alien abduction nightmares are getting worse. He's so freaked out he won't let me out at night." I raised an eyebrow. "At all?" "At all." "But he knows about your training, right?" I asked. "Doesn't he know you can defend yourself better now?" "Yeah, but... he's still too scared."

"I'm sorry, April." I flinched and looked up. Mr. O'Neil had suddenly walked out of the darkness. It seemed he was listening in on our conversation. "It's just... what if the Kraang are still out there? Waiting... working... I'll do anything to protect you." "Dad, I can take care of myself now," April told him. "And I'll be with Cleo and the guys! I couldn't be more safe." Mr. O'Neil glanced up at us. He still seemed a bit unsure. "Trust us, Mr. O'Neil. Shredder and those squishy brain freaks are long gone." Kirby looked from us to April in silence. April looked up at him pleadingly. He sighed. "Alright... just be careful." April beamed. "Thanks, dad." She kissed his cheek before stepping out into the night.

(-)

(Theme song)

♫ Teenage Mutant Ninja Team ♫
♫ Teenage Mutant Ninja Team ♫
♫ Teenage Mutant Ninja Team ​​​​​​♫
♫ Heroes in the shadows ♫
♫ Ninja power! ♫

♫ Here we go! It's the lean, skilled, ninja team ♫
♫ On the scene, cool teens doing ninja things ♫
♫ So extreme, out the sewers like laser beams ♫
♫ Get rocked with the pizza kings and queen ♫
♫ Can't stop these dudes and dudette ♫
♫ The secret of the ooze made the chosen few ♫
♫ Emerge from the shadows to make their move ♫
♫ The good guys win, and the bad guys lose ♫

♫ Leonardo's the leader in blue, ♫
♫ Does anything it takes to get his ninjas through ♫
♫ Donatello is a fellow, has a way with machines ♫
♫ Raphael has the most attitude on the team ♫
♫ Cleopatra, she's a special girl, ♫
♫ Does anything to protect everyone she loves ♫
♫ Michelangelo, he's one of a kind, ♫
♫ And you know just where to find him when it's party time ♫
♫ Master Splinter taught them every single skill they need ♫
♫ To be one lean, mean, skilled incredible team ♫

♫ Teenage Mutant Ninja Team ♫
♫ Teenage Mutant Ninja Team​​​​​​​ ♫
♫ Teenage Mutant Ninja Team ♫
♫ Heroes in the shadows ♫
♫ Ninja power! ♫

(-)

Cleo's POV:
The lair got pretty crazy later that night. The guys and I immediately started playing around, tearing the place up quite a bit. I knew I'd be irritated when I had to clean it up later, but I didn't really care at that moment. After playing some Super Smash Bros, Donnie decided that he had had enough madness for one night and barricaded himself in his lab with Timothy. April offered to go get us some pizza and left afterward. That just left the guys, I in the living room. And how did I occupy myself?

With some good, old-fashioned- "Ninja dodgeball! Wooohooo!" Mikey cheered. Yep, Ninja Dodgeball. One of the many 'ninja alternate' games that we often played in the lair or on the surface. I brought speakers from my room, and the T-Pod was blasting my playlist of hark rock and metal music. The giant Kraang communication device, which the others had decided to use as the ball, came flying towards Mikey, but he leapt up and caught it without fail.

"Miss me again, Leo! Ha!" He threw it forward, and it went straight towards Leo, who reared around and kicked away from him. "Eat this!" It went towards Raph, who caught it in front of him. "Stick it in your shell!" he called out. "Think fast, Cleo!" I was ready before the ball even came my way. I did a huge backflip, and as I landed in a crouched position, I extended my arms out, and the ball landed in them perfectly. "Not fast enough, dude!" I laughed.

We all turned to see April standing by the turnstiles, each with a total of three pizza boxes in her hands. "I leave for 5 seconds, and you guys go nuts," said April. "It's dodgeball, what did you expect?" asked Raph. I smirked as I picked up the ball, and with all of my strength, threw it at Mikey. He ducked to avoid it, and it bounced off the pinball machine, off the wall, through the dojo and back, crashed through Donnie's lab for a few seconds, I heard him let out a surprised scream, and then came shooting out.

It went past Leo, and I saw it just barley graze his knee before it continued on, still bouncing all over the room. "Ha! You're out Leo!" "It doesn't count on a bounce!" "It touched you." "It doesn't count." "Leo-" "Don't even, Cleo!" I couldn't help but laugh at how flustered Leo was getting. He looked so silly. "What are you guys doing?!" I turned to see Donnie standing outside of his lab. He was looking very annoyed. "Playin' dodgeball, fool!" said Mikey. A second later the ball bounced back, and this time he wasn't ready for it. It smacked him right in his gut, and he grunted before toppling to the ground. "You're out!" I cried happily.

"With the Kraang communication orb?!" Donnie yelled, taking the orb away from us. "This is a rare and fragile piece of alien tech, you guys can't just-!" "Aw, don't get your shell undies in a tangle Donnie, the Kraang are toast," Raph said, waving him off. "Yeah, lighten up, dude!" Mikey threw an arm around his shoulder. "This is a party! Wow!" "My children," we all turned to see father walking towards us from the dojo. "I know you are still joyously reveling in the defeat of our enemies, but a great question remains."

"What if cupcakes could talk?" Mikey asked. Father ignored him and continued, "Are our enemies truly defeated? The Shredder is a crafty and patient foe who bides his time." "But, Sensei, you said Shredder lost whatever shred of honor he had left," said Leo. "We'd never see him again." "Yeah, and if he shows up, we got it all taken care of," Raph said, swinging his sai's around skillfully. With that, all of the boys walked past him, heading for the kitchen. Father glanced down at me, and I merely shrugged. They all had good points, but I was more with the boys on this one. 

Father glanced down, then suddenly snapped in Japanese. At once, the guys froze. "You all have become lazy, overconfident, you shun your training. This party ends. Now!" He slammed his staff onto the ground, and the boys stood at attention. I froze, standing in shock rather than in respect. Father noticed this, but merely walked past me. I kept my eyes on him until he was far away, and only then did I relax my shoulders as I slowly shuffled towards the others.

"Dude, talk about harsh," Mikey said grumpily. "Maybe Master Splinter's right," said Leo. "Maybe we are getting too cocky." "Ha!" Raph laughed. "It's not cockiness when you've got the skills to kick massive-" But he was cut off by a heavy beeping sound. It was coming from the Kraang devise. It was flashing pink and was making a lot of racket. "That thing's working again?" said April. Donnie frowned. "It's been quiet for over a month. It must've received an incoming signal, which can mean only one thing..." "Cupcakes can talk!" Mikey said excitedly. "The Kraang are back," Leo said firmly. Mikey slumped down. "Guess the party really is over."

(-)

"The encryption's tough to crack, but it seems like the Kraang are transporting some kind of cargo." Donnie turned and started to type away on his computer. He gasped. "They're using the stealth ship!" "We gotta find out what that cargo is," said Leo. "So, how do we track a ship that's completely invisible?" asked Raph. Mikey quickly whipped around. "We cover it in honey 'til it attracts bees, then... we follow the bees." Raph facepalmed as the others stared at him.

"We would still have to find it in order to put honey on it, Mikey," I explained. Mikey opened his mouth to respond, but then his face fell, and he sighed sadly. "We can track it with this," Donnie reached up and held up a device that kind of looked like an old-school Gameboy. "It's an online with the radar dishes we placed throughout the city. It'll create a triangulating pulse-" "English, Professor Braini-off," Raph cut him off. Donnie glared. "I will detect the Kraang spaceship," he turned to April and placed the device in her hands. 

"April, can you stake out a rooftop and feed us the ships coordinates?" "Me?! I-I don't know anything about radar!" "What about your dad?" asked Leo. "My dad...?" April glanced away. "He barely lets me out of the house anymore, he's never gonna go for this." "Please, April! Your dad's a scientist, we really need his help!" Donnie begged. April sighed. "I'll... I'll see what I can do."

She glanced at us before turning and walking away. "The bigger question is; how do we stop that ship?" asked Raph. "Yeah," I said. "Last time we ran into one of those things, we needed a missile launcher. And, last I checked, we don't have one of those." "We'll also need something fast to catch it," Raph added. Donnie smirked. I had a bad feeling about that look of his.

(-)

"I call it... the T-Rocket!" I was correct. We were all standing at the other end of the lair, dressed in our robotic wings and our helmets. On the tracks was what looked like a giant rocket with five seats inside. How Donnie finds the time to build this is still beyond me. "You want us to fly in that?" asked Raph. "Where're we going? Jupiter?" "Jupiter?! But that place is infested with space yeast!" Mikey cried. We stared at him. "Time's up, team," said Leo. "Better move." We all started to head to the rocket. Leo pulled out his phone.

"April, you guys in position?" "Um... roger, I think..." April whispered over the other line. "We're on it," Leo said before hanging up. I quickly got into the seat between Raph and Mikey, strapping myself in with the buckles. I suddenly felt like my biker helmet wasn't good enough for this journey. "Coordinates, locked! This is it!" Donnie said excitedly. "If we explode, I swear, I'll slap the green off you," Raph threatened. "Launch!" Leo yelled.

A split second later the rocket shot forward. We were going so fast my head was being force against the headrest. I could hardly hear the boys yelling over my own screams of surprise. We seemed to have been going for several minutes before we finally went through the surface. I could only imagine what was going through the bystanders' minds at the sight of a giant rocket just appearing out of the ground.

We tilted up and started going up into the sky. At a certain point the rocket stopped, and we were all suddenly ejected from our seats. I yelled as I started to fall, but I quickly pulled the string on my flight suit and my wings flung out, catching me in the air. The others did too, and they quickly joined me in the air. "Booyakasha-!" Mikey's cry was cut off as he appeared to have suddenly slammed into midair.

A few seconds later Donnie and Leo did the same as well. Unable to stop myself, I joined them as I smashed into the invisible object. "Ugh... I'm gonna need pain killers after this..." I groaned. "I think we found the ship..." mumbled Leo. There was a loud grunt as Raph then slammed into the ship along with us. I turned to look up at him, and he had gone cross eyed.

"Couldn't think to stop when you saw us hit something, did you?" I said, smirking. He shook his head and then glared at me before shoving me in the shoulder. "Let's move," said Leo. We all began climbing up the ship, though it was a bit difficult with it being invisible still. Once at the top we discarded our wings and searched for the hatch to get inside. I found it within seconds and immediately started to turn it open. Once it was, we all jumped up and went through the hole, landing on our feet.

I got the feeling we looked pretty impressive at that point. There were a total number of three kraang aliens in front of us. Nothing too troubling. They weren't even in their Kraang droid uniforms. "It is the ones who call themselves 'the turtles and the girl,'," one alien said. "Kraang, we must alert Kraang." Raph grinned. "Ha! Three little floatin' blobs of brains and that's it?" "We can take these guys in our sleep," said Leo. "We can take these guys in our sleep and with our eyes closed!" Mikey said, trying to sound impressive. "Woo!"

At that point there was a loud, deep sound, like an animal moaning. We all froze for a second before pulling out our weapons and turning around, landing in a stance. I gripped my tessen tightly, looking through the mist covered door. The mist suddenly disappeared, and there stood a giant... well, I assumed it was a robot, but it looked like a tall blue monkey, without a head. "Aw, sewer apples," Mikey groaned. "Uh, where's it head?" asked Raph.

Suddenly, the headless robot started stomping toward us quickly. As it ran past it knocked each of us off of our feet. I raised my arms to block, but it sent me flying into the other side of the room. I sat up and saw one of the floating aliens had floated up and connected itself to the top of the money robot, now acting as its head. It turned to face us, then it raised its arms and roared as what looked like blades attached to cords shot out from its chest. "Okay," said Donnie. "Maybe we were a little cocky..."

The hands came down to smash us, and we jumped out of the way. The blades from its chest shot out towards Leo, and he blocked them with his katanas. But one of them wrapped around his outstretched arm and tossed him back. The blades turned on Raph, who held them back with his sais. Then Mikey jumped up and slammed his nunchucks on the robots' arms. Nothing happened. The kraang turned its head to glare at Mikey, who looked a little nervous now. The robot reared its giant fist back and punched Mikey, sending him flying into the wall.

The robot marched towards him, but I ran out and leapt up onto its back, wrapping the handle around the kraang's head to try to pry it off. It didn't work. The robot grabbed me and threw me away. I slammed against the wall, upside-down, and slid down onto my head. "Ow..." Suddenly, the wall I was leaning on seemed to slide open, and my feet fell down. I quickly sat up and looked into the new room that had appeared. The fog cleared, and in front of me were many, many glass canisters of glowing green ooze.

"The shipment! It's mutagen-!" But Leo was cut off as he was punched by the robot. He landed onto the control panel, and suddenly the ship started going much faster. I slipped on my way to standing up, and suddenly, Donnie and Mikey were thrown back and landed beside me. "Gah! This thing's too tough!" "Well, I got this!" Mikey ran forward, smirk on his face, and happily kicked one of the kraang aliens manning the control panel. It screeched as it bounced around the ship like a pinball before landing and slamming onto the panel. There was a buzzer, and then a hatch in the floor opened.

The giant robot, who had been spinning Leo and Raph around for the past five minutes, finally stopped and threw them off. They landed on either side of the mutagen storage, and as they did the walls shook, and suddenly the canisters started falling and rolling towards the open hatch. "Guys!" I yelled, jumping to my feet and running forward. It was too late. One by one, all of the canisters started rolling out of the hatch and falling down into the city below. "NO!" We all ran forward, kneeling down by the hatch.

I watched as dozens of glowing cans, every last one of them, fell down to earth. "No..." I breathed. "All that mutagen..." Raph glared up at Donnie and Mikey. "You two are the biggest screw-ups ever!" "Well, you could've grabbed one single canister!" Donnie snapped back. I glared. "Will you guys stop yelling for five seconds!" "Me! They're the ones who didn't even try-" "Um, guys? You wanna focus?!" Leo yelled.

We all turned and saw that he was currently trying to hold back the robots' chest blades on his own. We all sprinted forward as the robot leaned back and roared. Donnie advanced first, withdrawing his Bo staff and managing to slip around the robot. Then he yelled as he swiftly slammed his staff against the robots' back. All that happened was that a hatch on the 'bots rear-end fell open to reveal two long gun barrels. "Butt cannons...? It has butt cannons?!"

The only answer he received was the said butt cannons immediately firing at him, and the rest of us. I did a fast cartwheel to the left and immediately jumped off the wall to the opposite side to avoid all of the lasers. Raph ran forward in front of the robot and tried to attack it, but it dodged and kicked him, quickly pinning him down on his shell, now dangerously close to falling out of the still open floor hatch. "Uh, little help?" he grunted. "Any ideas, Donnie?" I asked.

Donnie didn't answer immediately as he looked around the whole ship. Then his eyes landed on the two little Kraang aliens that were currently trying to fix the now broken control panel. "I do now," Donnie whipped around. "Mikey, drop those Kraang!" "Done and done!" Mikey cracked his knuckles before reaching behind him. "Throwing star time! Whaa-hooo!" He flung the stars at the aliens' hover pads, causing them to spark and suddenly fly out of control.

Donnie whacked them out of the way with his Bo staff before jumping up onto the control panel. He pressed the blade out of the staff and jabbed it into the panel, giving it a hard pull as the ship suddenly made a sharp right. I slipped and slid out to one side of the ship until I hit the wall, pretty soon the others and the monkey robot did too.

We continued to go back and forth across the ship floor, hitting the walls as Donnie continuously turned this way and that to avoid the buildings outside. "How about we set a new course, like the moon!" he yelled. He then yanked his staff all the way back, and suddenly we were going completely vertically upward, spinning in the process. As we landed on the bottom of the ship, the robot got back up and immediately started swinging at Mikey, who jumped back to avoid the blow. Raph jumped up onto his shoulders, embedding his sais into the robots' back.

The robot tried to throw him off but failed. Mikey and I took this opportunity to run forward, drawing our blades out. I reached up and started slicing at the robot, putting a few good gashes into the metal. I knocked his arms out of the way and stabbed them, sparks flying out of the fur. I kept the blades in the arms as I held them down out of the way, and Mikey quickly reached up and grabbed the Kraang alien, yanking him out. The alien screeched as Leo suddenly started running forward, katana blade held out in front of him. The blade went straight through, and the robot exploded.

"We gotta go!" Leo yelled. At once, we all ran towards the open hatch. I reached behind me and grabbed my grappling hook as I jumped out, spinning it over my head. I threw it forward and it caught onto the ledge of a roof. I swung down and up, the boys following my lead. I let go of the rope and landed on the building in front of me, the others landing around me. As I looked forward, I saw the building were April and Mr. O'Neil had been.

Except, Mr. O'Neil wasn't there anymore. Instead, there was a giant, disgusting-looking mutant with a growth-like head, stubby arms, and huge purple bat wings with hands on the end. "Let's move!" Raph yelled. We all leapt forward and landed in protective stances in front of the other three, drawing out our weapons before running forward. The bat screeched as it flew forward at us, but we were ready.

"Don't hurt him!" "Wait, what?!" At once we all froze, turning our heads to stare at April. "What did she just say?" But before we could ask, the mutant bat shot forward, knocking us all over. There was a loud 'whooshing' sound, a scream, and I heard Donnie cry out, "April!" I looked up from the ground. The mutant had grabbed April and was now flying off with her.

"Ugh! Can this night get any worse?" Raph grumbled as he stood up. We all turned. Leo had his head down, and we all saw he was looking at what was unmistakably a broken glass canister, surrounded by a small puddle of mutagen. "I think that mutant was Mr. O'Neil," said Leo. "How could you tell?" Mikey asked. "You see many giant, red bearded, middle-aged bats lately?" I looked at Raph. "I think it just got worse."

"We gotta go after her!" Donnie said hurriedly. "But, what about all that mutagen?" Raph asked. "We got canisters spread out all over the city!" "The canisters aren't going anywhere, Raph," I told him. "But Mr. O'Neil basically kidnapped April, and who knows what'll happen? We gotta help them now." "She's right," said Leo. "The mutagen is gonna have to wait. April's dad comes first." We all nodded. With that, we turned and started to run off the roof to the next one.

(-)

"I can't think, I can't think! I'm seriously stressing here!" Donnie panicked as he paced around the room. "What if he hurts her? What if he drops her? What if?!" "Whoa, easy there, boy," I said, grabbing Donnie's shoulders to keep him still. "You ain't doin' yourself any favors by freaking out. Try takin' some deep breaths, calm down..." Donnie gulped, and nodded. "Y-yeah, you're right," he breathed heavily. "Okay... think calm thoughts..."

"You think he's a vampire!" Mikey piped up. "You think he'll drink her blood and turn her into the undead?" I face palmed as Donnie stomped over to Mikey, his eyes blazing with anger. "Are you TRYING TO FREAK ME OUT?!" "Okay, knock it off you two," I said, walking in-between them. "Mikey, now's not the time to joke like that, okay?" Mikey raised his hands in surrender as he walked over to sit in the beanbag chair.

At that moment, I saw father started to walk our way. Immediately, I sat down on the couch, trying to look like everything was normal. "Sensei," Leo spoke up. "say we're, um... trying to catch a stray pet. Like... a cat." "A cat?!" Father snapped. He was never particularly fond of cats, probably due to the whole him being a rat thing.

"O-or maybe, like... a parrot?" Leo suggested, trying to cover up his mistake. "Um, what's the best strategy?" Father sighed. "Food, of course. Any animal can be lured by food," he stroked his beard, looking suspicious. "So, what is this truly about?" "Trying-" Raph suddenly leapt forward and covered Leo's mouth with his hand. "Uh, nothing, Sensei! Just... talking about parrots like we usually do!" Father raised an eyebrow at him. He didn't look convinced. But he turned and walked quietly away.

"Food!" Leo said as soon as father was out of earshot. "It's so simple, it's brilliant!" "Rodents and other small invertebrates," Donnie answered. "Oh yeah, and bugs! The bigger, the better." "So, where are we gonna find a huge bug?" Mikey asked. "Dress up some sorry sucker in a giant fly costume?" He chuckled as he folded his arms. At that moment, everyone turned to smirk at him. "Bad choice of words, bro." Mikey stared at us, looking confused. "What?"

About 20 minutes later, Mikey was dressed up in this bright, flashy, butterfly-like costume, complete with extra fake limbs and bug binoculars. Once the binoculars were on, Mikey looked down at himself, examining his new outfit. "Kinda feel like bait," Mikey admitted to us. "Poor Mikey." "Oh, don't think of yourself as bait, Mikey," Raph said with false encouragement. "This is your new superhero costume! You could call yourself, um..." "Turflytle!" Mikey exclaimed, suddenly happy.

"Tur-fly-tle. Oh yeah! Oh, too awesome! What're my powers?" "Um, y-you can, ehh... hang from a rope..." Leo said in an unsure voice. "You can cause joy and laughter in a single second," I laughed as Raph shook his head, smiling. "Ooh, I like that one!" Mikey beamed. "This is sweet!" "Guys, we don't have much time," Donnie said in a worrying voice. "We need to find Mr. O'Neil and April now!" "Alright, let's do this," said Leo.

(-)

Later that night, we were up in the air with our wing packs. Donnie had attached a rope to Raph's pack so that Mikey could hang from it to help pull off the bug affect. "Turflytle is on the patrol, buzz buzz. His bug eyes spot every crime, buzz buzz." Raph groaned from above him. "Ugh, would you stop saying 'buzz buzz' after every sentence?" "I could do that, buzz buzz. But I probably won't, buzz buzz." Raph growled before turning downward quickly, forcing Mikey into a billboard.

Mikey yelled and flailed his arms around and had to kick against the billboard to keep from crashing into it. "Woah dude! Be kind to insects, buzz buzz," he turned to look up at me. "Cleo, make him stop, buzz buzz!" I looked up at Raph, who was still glaring at Mikey. I laughed. "C'mon Raph, he's just having fun." "He's annoying." "If he's annoying, then what does that make you?" "Wha-?" Raph whipped his head around to look at me, and I laughed as I force myself ahead of him. "Ooh, you just got burned son, buzz buzz!" Mikey jeered.

"Donnie, any sign of Kirby?" Leo asked. Donnie was keeping a look out below, looking through his telescope. He shook his head. "Nothing yet," he lowered his telescope. "Raph, shake Mikey around a bit more. He needs to mimic a fly's flight pattern." "He looks more like a butterfly then a regular fly, to be honest," I whispered to him. Raph chuckled as he began to shake Mikey around in all kinds of directions, doing some flips and loop-da-loops. It was a wonder he didn't fall off at all. "Whoa-ho, buzz buzz!"

I laughed at his obvious joy as I flew nearby them. I watched Mikey for a moment before looking up at Raph. He was obviously enjoying tossing his brother around. Suddenly, Donnie gasped. "Kirby at 4 o'clock!" I turned my head in time to see a set of long, mutant fangs before they flew past, knocking into Donnie. He spun out of control for a moment but caught his balance soon after. "He's heading straight for Mikey!" Leo yelled. "Pull up, pull up!"

Raph started cranking the ropes, trying to pull Mikey upward out of range. But Kirby was coming too fast, he wouldn't make it. In a split second I pulled up towards Raph until I was above him, grabbed him by his shell, and yanked him up as high as I could. I heard Mikey yelp, and I looked down to see Kirby speed by, at least a foot underneath Mikey. He had missed. "Phew..." I sighed as I released Raph.

"He's coming around again!" Donnie warned. Raph glared down at Kirby before turning and heading down towards an ally. Kirby started to catch up to me, the others and I following close behind. "Time for Turflytle to take out his arch nemesis... Wingnut!" Mikey laughed at his "ingenious" name as he reared his nunchucks back and smacked Kirby in the face, knocking him back several feet. "You are not giving Mr. O'Neil a monster name!" Donnie yelled angrily.

Kirby screeched, flapping his wings as fast as he could towards Mikey. From up above, I saw Leo hovering over him. I saw his hands move, and suddenly he was falling out of his flight pack and down towards the mutant bat. He landed on him, and immediately Kirby started to freak out. He started spinning and flopping, trying to buck Leo off with all his might, but somehow Leo managed to stay on, grabbing the mutant by his large ears. "Stick to the plan!" Leo shouted. "There's a plan?" Raph and Mikey asked together.

"The warehouse! We trap him in the warehouse!" Kirby was freaking out even more now. He was spinning and looping so wildly and rashly it was a wonder how Leo could stay on. Suddenly, in the mutant bat's effort to throw Leo off, he slammed right into Donnie. Donnie's flight pack stopped working, and he screamed as he began to fall. "Donnie!" Raph yelled. "No!" "Keep going!" I told him. "We'll meet you at the warehouse!" I grabbed the handles of my pack and pulled forward, going towards Donnie. He was spinning out of control, heading towards the ground. "Donnie!" I hollered. "Drop your wings! Drop them now!"

Thankfully, he had heard me, and soon his flight pack fell off his shell and to the ground. I sped up as fast as my pack would let me, reaching my arms out. Just as Donnie was about to hit the ground, I grabbed him by his arms and pulled up, going up towards a nearby building. As soon as we were over the roof I lowered down until our feet hit the surface. Donnie fell to his knees, breathing heavily. "Th-thanks, Cleo," he sighed. "I owe you one!" "Don't mention it, bro," I said as I unclipped my wings and let them fall off.

"Donnie! Cleo!" We both whipped around. April was standing on the ledge of the building next to us, waving her arms around. "Up here! I'm over here!" "April! Hold on!" Donnie hollered. He reached behind him and pulled out a grappling hook, spinning and tossing it out towards her. April shuffled over before grabbing the rope and slowly making her way over to us.

(-)

We've been running after the others on foot for the past 10 minutes now. Just as we were rounding the corner, I saw Leo and the other suddenly dive downward. The warehouse was only a few feet ahead of us. "C'mon!" I spoke. Just as I reached door lift, I heard the sound of glass shattering. I ducked under the door and looked up. Kirby and the guys had fallen into a huge pile. The others quickly jumped back as Leo shouted, "Guys, now!"

I pulled the giant lever on the wall. There was the sound of squeaking wheels, and a large metal cage slammed down, trapping Kirby. "Sorry Kirby, it's only temporary," said Leo solemnly. I walked up to the others, looking sadly at Kirby. He screeched and wailed as he fought to break free. At that moment April and Donnie finally caught up, coming up through the door. April gasped as she sprinted towards the cage. Donnie quickly pulled the door down before running up to us.

"Yo, we did it, Don!" Mikey said happily, raising his hands and waging his tongue. "We caught the Kirby-bat! Waahh-OW!" "Mikey...!" Mikey stopped playing as Donnie elbowed him hard in the chest. "Dad!" April dropped to her knees, holding onto the bars of the cage. "Dad..." Kirby, for the first time all night, looked calm. And sad. April reached her hand in and placed it on his forehead. He closed his eyes, looking a bit peaceful. "What're we gonna do with him?" April asked.

"I mean, keep him caged forever? Feed him a steady diet of mice and flies?" "Actually, bats love moths and spiders too, s-" April gasped, looking close to tears. I elbowed Donnie's arm, shaking his head. Donnie chocked as he hung his head in shame. "Sorry..." I walked up and put a hand on April's shoulder. "April...?" April looked so sad; she was almost leaning against me for support. "This is all my fault," she said. "If I hadn't lied to dad..." "April, you didn't do anything wrong," I assured her.

"Yeah April," Mikey walked up, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. "Don't blame yourself, it was our fault. We spilled the mutagen, we'll fix it." April seemed to suddenly straighten up. "What? You guys... you guys spilled the mutagen?" Her face had fallen and was suddenly looking angry. From behind her, the guys were making various 'stop talking now' gestures at Mikey, but he didn't seem to notice. I gulped, my chest starting to feel heavy. "Um, Mikey..."

"Yeah. We are accidently unleased all that mutagen all over the city, but don't worry. We'll get it back." Mikey folded his arms, looking very proud of himself. Cautiously, I turned to look at April. I could see her face, and she was shaking. "Mikey, we didn't actually spill it," I tried to correct him, ignoring the tension building up in my chest. "A fight broke out, the Kraang opened the door and-"

April suddenly stepped back so that my hand fell from her shoulder. I looked at her again, and I felt my heart drop. She looked furious. "April...?" I said cautiously. April turned to face the guys. "You... You...!" See seemed to angry for words. Kirby then hissed loudly, and Mikey and I quickly backed away from the cage. "I swear," Donnie vowed. "By Darwin's beard, we'll cure him!"

"YOU MUTATED MY FATHER!" Kirby screeched loudly as he gripped the bars of the cage and started to tear them apart. We all gasped; April cried out. "What? No!" Kirby spun in a circle and flew straight at us, and we all jumped to avoid him. He quickly circled back, and immediately made a beeline for April. She screamed in fear, and Donnie ran up and smacked Kirby away with his staff. The mutant screeched in pain before shooting upward, flying through the hole in the glass ceiling. "Dad!" April cried out.

But Kirby was gone within seconds. April whipped around, giving us a soul crushing glare. The boys all lowered their heads in shame, I looked at her with pleading eyes. She seemed to be avoiding my gaze. Donnie raised his hand out to her, but she stepped back. "Don't!" she snapped. "Don't touch me! Keep away from me! I never wanna see your faces ever again!" With that, she turned and sprinted for the door. "April!" "Let her go, man," Raph said calmly. "Give her some space." Donnie gazed after April as she ran out the door, looking as though he were about to cry.

In fact, all of the guys looked heartbroken. I've never seen them so sad. "She can't do this..." "Cleo, wait!" I ignore Leo as I ran to the door, ducked under it, and ran outside. I gazed all around, trying to see if I could catch her. I heard footsteps to my right, and I ran in that direction. I followed the footsteps until they lead me to an abandoned parking lot. And in the center of the parking lot was April. She had slowed down to a walk, and I could hear her breathing heavily.

"April!" She whipped around. Her face was still red with anger, and when she saw me, she glared before she continued to walk away. "Leave me alone, Cleo." I continued to follow her. "April, I am so, so sorry that this happened," I told her as sincerely as I could. "You have no idea. But, please, don't walk away like this." "I'm going home, Cleo." "You can't do this to them. They didn't mean for this to happen-" "You guys let it happen! You let that mutagen spill out!" 

"It was an accident. Do you honestly think we'd do this on purpose?" She started to walk faster, her feet making large splashes in the puddles from yesterday's rain. I shook my head as I sped up to catch up to her. Why was she doing this? "April, please..." "Stop it, Cleo." "April, you're our best friend, don't do this to them." "I said stop!" "Just give us a chance, please," I reached up to try to grab her arm. "Donnie will find a cure for your dad and we-" "SHUT UP!"

Just as I had managed to touch her arm, April spun around and suddenly pushed me hard in the chest. For a moment, time slowed down. I saw the furious, bloodshot look on April's face as I slowly fell backward off of my feet. Then, it sped up again. There was a loud splash as I fell painfully hard on my back. I had fallen in a very large puddle. For a moment, I didn't even notice that I was almost completely soaked. I was too shocked.

I tried to push myself up, my whole body shaking from shock. I slowly raised my head to look up at April and found myself surprised. Her anger was now replaced with a look of shock, and if I was right, regret. "Cleo, I... I didn't..." But she just couldn't get the words out. She reached out, as though she were going to help me up, but I felt my body flinch and she froze. Why did I do that? I wasn't scared of her, was I? I didn't answer. I just stared up at April. Then something suddenly happened because the next thing I knew actually scared me after I flinched.

Flex!

An invisible force pushed her a few feet from me, causing her to yelp in surprise, and onto the ground hard. I look at April, who sat up, both of us looking at each other in shock and confusion. What the heck was that?! Where did that come from?! April didn't say anything. She just sat there, staring at her hands, looking disgusted at something. "I... I'm sorry..." And just like that, she got up and sprinted away. I remember opening my mouth to scream for her to come back, but my voice seemed to be lost.

(-)

Mikey's POV:
Dude, this is not how this was supposed to go. First Kirby gets mutated, now April leaves. Man, me and my big mouth. "This is all very grave news," Sensei said as he listened to what had happened. "Very grave indeed." "I can't believe this is happening," Donnie said lowly. "Poor April..." "Do not dwell on the past," Sensei turned to face us. "You must find every last canister of mutagen. You must search every street, every park and playground, every building and rooftop, before we have even more mutants on our hands."

"You're right, Sensei," Leo stood up, still looking as bummed as the rest of us, but still said strongly, "We need to start figuring out a plan now. Donnie, you got a map of the area where we were tonight?" "Yeah," Donnie seemed to force himself up to his feet. "In my lab. C'mon." We all got up and started to head to Donnie's lab. As I looked around and noticed that dudette wasn't anywhere around.

"Where's Cleo?" I asked. "She's probably still in her room," said Raph. "She's been in there since she came back from walking home." "I'll get her." I went towards the bedrooms as the others went into Donnie's lab. I marched up to Cleo's room and was about to knock, when I heard it. Sniffing... I froze, placing the side of my head against the door so I could hear better. Crying... Cleo was crying. 

Without thinking I immediately opened the door. Cleo was sitting on the floor against her bed, arms folded over her knees, crying softly. She was obviously trying to stay quiet. But the second I opened the door she stopped crying and snapped her head up to look up at me. Her eyes were red, and her face was totally wet. "Mikey..." Cleo wiped her face off. "Don't you knock?" "Cleo... what's wrong?" "Nothing! Just... please, go away."

I slowly walked over until I was in front of her and then kneeled down. I grabbed her hands and pulled them away to look at her. Her eyes looked like they had more tears coming. Also, her skin was freezing! "Geez dudette, did you go swimming before you came back?" Cleo didn't say anything. I could feel her starting to shake in my hands. A second later she took a deep breath and then started to cry, thick tears falling from her face.

I immediately scooted forward and pulled her into my arms. She hugged me back before she started to sob, her noises muffled as she cried into my chest. I cradled her in my arms as I sat down, and she practically fell into me. I held her close as I kissed the top of her head. What I didn't know is, some of her stuff is trembling and shaking on their own, as if like something's moving them.