A/N: Eclipse belongs to GeekyCookie1.

Cameron [mentioned] belongs to MariChat3.

Enjoy!

"If there's one thing that I learnt while being in this life, it's that there's always gonna be a lot of sacrifices whenever it's from a loved one or yourself. But, of course, that's the thing about sacrifices; you don't want them to happen because you never know if you'll lose the person or not. I guess, that's why I'm such a risk-taker with all the sacrifices I do."

"STAY ON THEM, Leo! My Kranng app's tripping out!" Donatello shouted, as the seven of teenagers were sitting within the patrol buggy chasing after a helicopter that the alien robots were in. "It's picking up a signal from the power cell!"

"Again?" Leonardo asked skeptically. "Last time that thing led us to a burrito in a microwave."

"Left!" Leonardo made a sharp turn, swerving to drive into an alley. "Left again!" He turned left out of the alley and onto the road again. "They're getting away! Right!" He made another sharp turn.

"Look out!" Raphael shouted.

The headlights of a car was coming straight for them. "Left, right! Left, right!" Donatello yelled in fear as the car came closer.

"Split up!" Boy Danger called as he and Leonardo pulled their levers and they separated. Each one of the seven teenagers now driving their own go-kart, moving out of the way to avoid the car.

Michelangelo laughed gleefully. "Haha, yeah! This is more fun that a Shriners' parade!"

Eclipse raised a brow at him. "What are you saying?"

"Right!" Donatello called out.

Each one of them immediately took a sharp turn into an alley, only to be met with a dead end as they all quickly swerved and stopped their carts.

"We lost them," Donatello said, they stepped out of their carts and took their helmets off. The purple masked mutant turtle checked his phone to see that the screen was black and cracked; the phone wasn't broken but the tracker most definitely was. "No way of tracking them now."

"Okay, that's it," Leonardo said firmly. "We're going to see Leatherhead."

Immediately, Donatello's head snapped up as he whipped around in a mixed of terror and shock. "Uh, Leatherhead...?"

"Leo's right," Boy Danger said in agreement. "Leatherhead's the one who took the power cell from the Kranng. He's the one who might know where to find it."

"He's also the one who likes to grab my face and shake me like a ragdoll!" Donatello whined angrily.

Michelangelo chuckled. "Haha, good times."

"Zip it!" Donatello snapped.

"Aw, come on, Donnie," Captain Violet said. "He's not so bad once you get to know him."

Donatello shook his head. "Vi, Little Genius, like it or not, that guy is crazy!"

"Oh, he's nothing but a big sweetheart." Captain Violet said with a grin.

"Violet's right, dude," Michelangelo said as he hopped off the dumpster he'd been sitting on. "Leatherhead's a pussy cat... who likes to grab your face and shake you like a ragdoll! Haha!" Donatello turned and snarled at his brother, eyes white with anger. Michelangelo leaned back slightly as his older brother leaned over him, still glaring. "Right... let's move!" He said, marching away, quickly hiding behind Boy Danger, the closest to him, as he just wanted to get away from the fuming Donatello.

👑👑👑

ONE THING ABOUT swimming that Briana hated was that she couldn't breath underwater like her older brothers and sister can since they're technically mutant turtles. Although it was thanks to the ninja training that they all had, both Briana and Henry were able to hold their breath underwater for thirty minutes while technically, Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, Michelangelo, and Eclipse didn't have to worry about that due to being mutant turtles. However, in this situation, that wasn't the case...

Briana's head broke surface as she gasped for air, swimming towards the ledge where she and the others pulled themselves on top of. They've been underwater longer than they excepted since someone—namely, Michelangelo—kept swimming off to pick up trash, which didn't make holding their breaths any easier.

"Who can hold their breath? We can!" Michelangelo said proudly.

"We wouldn't have had to if you hadn't kept swimming off to pick up trash." Raphael stated.

"One man's trash is another man's treasure." Michelangelo said, holding a hunk of trash against his face while petting it.

"Yeah, I'm sure that's every man's trash." Eclipse said bluntly.

There was a loud snarl from the other side of the room and they all turned to find the mutant alligator in the shadowed corner, sleeping.

"There he is," Leonardo whispered. "We don't wanna alarm him, so no one make any sudden moves."

"Aww!" Michelangelo cooed. "Look how cute!"

Leatherhead opened his jaws and let out a yawn that sounded more like a loud roar, causing the mutant turtle to yelp and leap back.

"W-who's gonna wake him up?" Donatello asked.

"Not it!" He, Raphael, Eclipse, Henry, and Leonardo said before running off and hiding in corners.

"Yes, we win!" Michelangelo said happily.

Briana blinked. "I don't know if that's a good thing this time."

The two of them slowly approached the giant, sleeping mutant alligator as they stood there for a few seconds, staring at him and then at each other.

"You go first." Michelangelo told his little sister.

Briana nodded and slowly took a few steps forward. She knelt down a little, reaching forward as she softly shook his arm in a way that she's done many times back when she was little and had gone to wake her brothers and sister up back when they were kids.

"Hey, Leatherhead, buddy, wake up." She said.

Leatherhead shifted around, his large arm accidentally knocking into Briana, who yelped and fell into the water with a splash. She pushed herself back to the surface as she spit out water, looking up at her brother as she swam towards the edge. "Your turn." She said, grabbing onto the edge to keep herself above the water.

Michelangelo nodded. He looked down at the gator before taking a step forward, lifting his foot, and poking the mutant's side with it. "Leatherhead... wakey, wakey, eggs and bakey..."

Leatherhead's eyes opened, thin, clouded slits. He sprang to his feet, opened his jaws, and roared in the mutant turtle's face.

"Can we make sudden moves now?" Donatello cried out. Leatherhead roared again and ran off in the direction of the other four. He grabbed Donatello by the head, lifted him up in the air, and started shaking him around. Donatello released a muffled yell. "He's grabbing me by the face again!"

Leatherhead slammed his hand on the ground, knocking Leonardo, Raphael, Eclipse, and Henry aside. He swung his tail back and knocked Michelangelo against the wall.

"Leatherhead, don't!" Michelangelo yelled. "He must be having a nightmare!"

"That makes two of us!" Donatello yelled.

Dripping wet, Briana climbed out of the water but before she could tried to help out, the mutant alligator's tail slammed into her and knocked her back into the water. Her head broke the surface as she once again spit water out. "Oh, come on!" She said.

"Leatherhead!" Michelangelo said. "Come on, dude. It's Michelangelo. Turn off the crazy eyes, buddy."

Leatherhead leapt from the opposite corner and crawled over to Michelangelo. He snatched him up in his grip and roared in his face. Leatherhead raised his other hand, claws out.

"Leatherhead, stop!" Briana shouted.

Leatherhead turned his slits towards her as he glared at her for a few seconds before his eyes turned clear. "Michelangelo?" He breathed. "Briana?" She smiled warmly at him before swimming back to the edge and pushing herself out, grabbing her hair to squeeze the water out. Leatherhead gently set Michelangelo down as the others cautiously walked back towards him. "My friends... oh, no." He hung his head in shame. "I got angry again, didn't I?"

"Yes, you did it again!" Donatello snapped. "Why do you keep grabbing my face? What is wrong with my face!?"

"Would you like the list alphabetically or in descending order of grossness?" Raphael asked.

"I am sorry," Leatherhead growled sadly. "You are my friends, the only ones I can truly trust. That's why I gave you the power cell for safe keeping."

Raphael cleared his throat while Eclipse, Donatello, Henry, and Leonardo looked uneasy. Both Briana and Michelangelo looked nervous.

"Uh, about that..." Henry started.

"Funny story," Michelangelo said. "True story."

"But," Donatello piped up. "Before we tell it, why don't you sit down, and I, and my face, will take one big step backwards?" He then took several steps backward to stand at the opposite corner. "Okay, go ahead!"

Leonardo cleared his throat. "Well, about the power cell, we sorta lost it..." he, Raphael, Eclipse, and Henry took a few steps back. "To the kranng." He finishes quickly.

Leatherhead roared with anger, eyes clouded again, and suddenly ran across the room at Donatello, who screamed as he was grabbed by the face again.

Leatherhead had already pinned him to the ground before he calmed down. "No, Leatherhead," he told himself. "These are your friends."

Leatherhead sighed as he placed the mutant turtle back on his feet again. "Obviously, you did everything you could to protect it—"

"Well, um, to be honest, I was—"

Eclipse leaped forward and slapped a hand on her twin brother's mouth. "Yes! That's exactly what happened!"

"Leatherhead, we need to get it back." Leonardo told him.

Leatherhead sat down on the floor. "With the power cell, the Kranng can open the portal to Dimension X! And when it opens..."

"They can use it to bring anything from their home here!" Donatello finished.

Leatherhead nodded. "Things so horribly, they terrify even me."

"We need to keep that portal from opening," Henry said. "Can you tell us where it is?"

Leatherhead paused. "All I remember is this..." he took one of his claws and started to draw a symbol on the gray, tilted floor; an image of six hexagons surrounding a seventh set in the middle, all connected like a puzzle.

Donatello pulled his phone out and took a picture of the symbol.

👑👑👑

"I KNOW I'VE seen this symbol before," Donatello muttered as they were all gathered in the lab, staring at the photo on his phone. "It's so familiar."

"The Olympics!" Michelangelo piped up.

Donatello shook his head. "No."

"I got it! The Olympics!"

"Stop guessing," Donatello told him with a frown. "Obviously, it's a Kranng symbol."

"But from where?" Leonardo asked.

"The Olympics!" Michelangelo yelled.

"QUIT IT!" Donatello yelled angrily. "There's something here and I can figure it out, if you'll all just go away and let me THINK!"

Everyone slowly backed out of the lab, letting the mutant turtle think. A few seconds later, it doesn't take long for them to hear him calling out, "I got it! I know where I've seen this symbol!"

👑👑👑

"DONNIE, HOLD ON!" Leonardo calls as they were all sprinting and leaping from rooftop to rooftop, trying to keep up with the purple masked mutant turtle that was in a rush to get there.

"Just hurry!" Donatello shouted.

With Donatello sprinting and leaping from roof to roof, the others were barely able to keep up with him. "I hate when you're like this!" Raphael snapped.

None of them tried to stop Donatello since they all knew that it wouldn't work as they continued to follow him in their pursuit. They continued to run and leap from rooftop to rooftop until they reached a particular one where they finally stopped.

"I've figured where else we've seen this symbol," Donatello said, pulling out his phone with the symbol on the screen.

"Where?" Henry asked.

Donatello lowered the phone and several blocks away laid a building with the same symbol at the top with four letters above it. "TCRI?" Eclipse asked. "They're behind the Kranng plot?"

"The invasion?" Leonardo added.

The Olympics?" Raphael reached up and slapped the back of Michelangelo's head. Michelangelo rubbed the back of his head, looking up at his brother. "What was that?"

"A new Olympic event."

Michelangelo lowered his head and frowned at his brother, eyebrows raised.

"They've been in plain sight the whole time," Donatello said. "We just never realized it."

"I think it's pretty obvious what we have to do," Leonardo said, meeting Henry's eyes. "We're going in, and we're taking down that portal."

👑👑👑

LUCKILY, APRIL WAS able to get some blueprints for the TCRI building. Donatello was watching over the homemade bomb he made with Michelangelo peeking over his shoulder while the others and Splinter surrounded the table, looking down at the blueprints.

"I managed to download the blueprints to TCRI," April said as she pointed to a spot on the map. "Now, the bottom two thirds are just normal office building, and from what I can tell, normal humans work there."

"Imagine if they knew who they were working for." Leonardo said before he adopted a Kranng-like voice. "The ones who are working for this place must punch the card that is known as the time card in the clock that is known as the clock of time."

Silence filled the room as they all stared at him with blank faces.

Leonardo laughed sheepishly. "Sorry, where were we?"

"Hm, what about the upper floors?" Splinter asked.

"Well, that's the thing," April pointed to the top half of the print. "The top third is completely blank."

"Whatever they build there, they didn't want anyone to know about it." Henry said.

"Which means, that is exactly where you have to go." Splinter said.

"First, we gotta figure how to get past security in the lobby." Leonardo said.

"Tricky," April said. "It's not like we can pack you in a box and send it special delivery."

Leonardo then grinned thoughtfully. "Actually..."

👑👑👑

BEING STUFFED INSIDE a box with Leatherhead to get past the security wasn't the best considering how the mutant alligator was way bigger than all of them, taking up most of the space inside the box. From the outside, they can hear April call out, "Special delivery!" Then she whispered, "Good luck, guys!"

There was a soft thud that made them shift before coming to a stop and a 'ding' sound as the elevator door closed. After a few seconds, the door opened again, obviously the Kranng, but the moment that the doors opened, Leatherhead burst through the box, roaring as he charged at the surrounding Kranng while the seven teenagers climbed up the remains of the box and through the door on the elevator roof.

"I kinda feel bad for leaving Leatherhead down there," Michelangelo said sadly as they were all climbing the elevator shaft.

"Me too." Captain Violet said.

The others glanced at each other. "I think he'll be fine." Leonardo said certainly.

"So, how far to the top?" Raphael asked. They all looked up, seeing what looked like miles and miles of metal and wires that led into darkness. "Yikes..."

As they were all climbing in silence, the sound of a mutant turtle's humming grabbed their attention. "Mikey, are you... humming the Olympics theme?" Eclipse asked.

"It seemed appropriate."

Raphael then jumped up to the ledge of the next set of elevator doors, snagging ahold of the edge and pulling himself up. He pulled opened the doors and looked inside to see several kranng bots in the middle of putting their human suits on. He yelped and quickly closed the doors before muttering, "I'm gonna need to wash my eyes now."

Sure enough, the loud sound of an alarm went off. "Alright!" Michelangelo cheered.

"What?" Boy Danger asked.

"Finally, someone set off an alarm and it wasn't me." Michelangelo said.

The doors above them opened and a kranng droid appeared and started firing at them. They all jumped from wire to wire to avoid getting shot and finally, Michelangelo leapt into the air and used his chain to wrap it around the droid, dragging him off the floor. He gripped the wires tightly as the droid fell and smashed to the top of the elevator below.

"Aw, darn it!" Michelangelo groaned. "Forgot to say, 'see ya next fall.' Eh, next elevator shaft fight."

Suddenly, the sound of something powering up and they looked to see the elevator coming up—seven more kranng droids on it too. The seven teenagers leapt off the walls and drew their weapons as they fell, each one of them taking out their own kranng droid.

"Okay," Leonardo said. "Let's get inside where it's safe." He reached for the door but when they looked inside, they saw that it was filled with kranng droids. Boy Danger quickly closed the door just as the kranng began firing at them.

They turned to Leonardo with annoyed looks. "You gotta stop jinxing everything." Eclipse told him.

Captain Violet reached into her belt and pulled out a smoke bomb. Opening the door, she dropped the bomb inside. The lights went off as the elevator was filled with purple smoke, giving them the chance to jump down inside and take out the alien robots. The lights slowly came back on to show the seven teenagers catching their breaths with a huge pile of sliced droids all over the floor.

"Can we please just ride this thing to the top?" Raphael asked.

Donatello stepped over to the pile of kranng and over to where the buttons were. He pressed the number for the top floor but nothing happened. "We can't, there's a rectal scanner."

"I'm on it." Eclipse said as she took the severed Kranng head that Michelangelo had been examining and pressed it to the dark screen above the button.

The screen lit, and a female voice said, "That which is known as access is granted to kranng." And finally, the elevator started moving up.

"Well, this is easier." Captain Violet said.

"Yeah," Raphael said. "Finally a chance to catch our breath."

A second later, the elevator made a loud 'ding' and they all took a stance with their weapons, ready for a fight. Then, as the doors opened, green smoke filled the area. Immediately, they all dropped their weapons and started coughing.

"P-poisoned gas!" Leonardo choked out just as the seven of them passed out.

👑👑👑

THE SEVEN TEENAGERS soon woke up to find themselves trapped in a giant, glass tube. "Well, the good news is that we're alive." Donatello said.

"What's the bad news?" Boy Danger asked.

"That."

Following his gaze, it was seen that the whole floor was filled with the same green smoke from earlier, as well as tons of Kranng droids and alien brains floating around in little silver holders. There was even screens with large aliens on them, conversing with the same ones.

"We are deep in Kranng country." Donatello said.

"We're not in Kansas anymore." Leonardo said.

"I thought we were in New York!" Michelangelo cried, earning a smack in the back of the head from Raphael.

"The portal!"

They looked over to see a massive piece of machinery sitting in the middle of the room.

Donatello gasped, hands pressed against the glass. "It's beautiful..."

"Isn't that what you said about April?" Eclipse questioned.

"I meant scientifically."

"Well, if you love it so much, why don't you marry it?" Raphael asked while Captain Violet giggle, imaging the sight of her brother marrying the portal in her head.

Michelangelo beamed. "Do you, Donatello, take this portal to be your—"

"Knock it off, all of you!" Leonardo said. "We need to figure out how we're gonna destroy Donnie's bride over there."

"Yeah, not likely." Raphael said.

"We're stuck in here, our weapons are over there in a room filled with poison gas." Boy Danger added.

"If it's poisoned, how can they breathe that stuff?" Michelangelo said.

"I think it's what the air is like in Dimension X." Captain Violet said.

"Well, that's nasty." Eclipse said simply.

Raphael frowned. "Well, that's stupid. Why would you invade a place where you can't even breathe the air?"

"Yeah!" Michelangelo piped up. "What are they gonna do? Mutate the whole planet so they can live here and we can't?"

Silence filled the area as they all stared at him, completely stunned. "What? What'd I say?" Michelangelo asked, staring at them.

"Mikey's right! The kranng are trying to transform the planet into something they can live on."

"And we can't," Leonardo finished. "We have to stop them."

"How are we supposed to get out of here with those guys watching our every move?" Eclipse asked, gesturing to the peeping aliens watching them.

"We need a distraction." Leonardo said.

There was a loud, rumbling sound from outside the tube, and the kranng left them, moving to the center of the room as the portal began starting up.

"Uh, like the portal?" Captain Violet asked.

"That might do it." Raphael agreed.

"Once that thing opens up, anything can come through there." Donatello said.

Making sure none of the kranng are watching, Boy Danger stepped up to the glass and reached into his belt, taking out his kunai knife as he makes a small incision on the glass then puts the knife back into his belt. "Hey, Mikey," he said. "You said you can hold your breath?"

"Like a turtle do!" Michelangelo said proudly.

"Now's your choice."

At once, they all took a big breath in unison and held it. Michelangelo leapt into the air, spun around, and shot into his shell. Both Leonardo and Raphael caught his shell, took a step back, and lunged forward. Michelangelo's shell hit the glass where the incision was, and made a large crack. They stepped back and lunged again, and the crack widened. They stepped back, carefully aim, and ran at full speed, causing his shell to hit the glass, which busted, and he broke through.

At once, they all jumped out and landed on the floor below. They quickly got their weapons back and began fighting against the kranng. Throughout the fight, Donatello swung his staff and hit one of the pods that the alien was floating in. The pod shot across the room and smashed through a window. The poisonous green gas began emptying out of the room and into the outdoors. When the room was finally clear, the seven teenagers released their held breath.

"We're good!" Leonardo said. "Let's go!"

"The portal!" Donatello shouted. "We're too late!"

"Something's coming through!" Leonardo exclaimed.

Sure enough, a large, glowing sphere in the center of the portal before there was a flash and it vanished. In its place was what looked like a giant pile of black rock and the top of the rock moved up to reveal what looked like a face that was glowing red like fire as the rock being then stood up.

"Welcome to Earth, giant rock man." Michelangelo said slowly.

The rock giant roared loudly, stomping over to them and lifting its foot when it reached them.

"Scatter!"

They all had enough time to jump out of the way as the giant stomped its foot down where they were once standing two seconds ago.

"Wow, an entity made of living rock!" Donatello said excitedly. "I wish I could study him!"

"Study him after we smash him into a billion pieces." Leonardo said, swinging his katana against the giant's foot only for the blade to snap in two. "Or not." He jumped out of the way as the giant swung down at him.

As they charged at the giant, the giant opened its mouth and pure lava spewed out, causing them to quickly swerved away to avoid it. The giant then threw Raphael so that he slammed into the portal and fell onto the ground. Then, the giant shifted and swung down towards the others, knocking Leonardo, Donatello, Eclipse, Michelangelo, and Captain Violet off their feet and into the air, sliding and falling into a pile where Raphael was beside the portal.

Boy Danger darted in front of the giant, standing in the middle of both sides. He reached into his belt and pulled out three smoke bombs that he tossed into the giant's face. They exploded, and the giant roared in pain and anger before running after Boy Danger, who led it away from them.

He dodged the swings that were aimed at him as he jumped into the air, landing onto the upper level. The giant pulled back and aimed a punch at him but at the last second, Boy Danger jumped into the air and the giant's fist smashed a hole into the wall behind him. He landed back onto the ground.

"BOOYAKASHA!"

The moment that the giant had turned around, the other teenagers had shot forward and kicked him straight in the chest. As they landed, the giant fell on his back, making the floor creak. A few seconds later, it got back onto its feet.

"Please tell me we have something that can hurt this thing." Eclipse said irritably.

"What about the explosives?" Captain Violet asked as Boy Danger hopped down onto the ground.

"Yeah, the explosives might do it, but then we wouldn't be able to take down the portal." Donatello said.

"Unless..." Leonardo said. "We do both at the same time. Hand them over."

Donatello took off the bag of explosives and handed them to his brother. The giant marched over to them, towering over them all. Michelangelo then threw a smoke bomb and as soon as the smoke erupted, by the time it vanished, they had already moved. With the giant distracted, Leonardo leapt off the upper level and landed on the giant's shoulders. He wrapped the bag around the giant's neck before leaping off and landing beside the others.

"So, how do we get him to the portal?" Raphael asked.

Leonardo and Boy Danger traded looks. "Uh... I kinda hadn't thought that far ahead." Leonardo admitted.

"Me either." Boy Danger said.

Suddenly, a 'ding' was heard and the elevator doors opened. A few destroyed kranng droids were shoved out, one of the alien popped out from its body and scurried away, and then, a familiar giant mutant alligator emerged from the shaft.

"Leatherhead!" Michelangelo and Captain Violet said happily.

Leatherhead roared loudly, getting the attention of the giant. He threw a severed torso of a kranng droid at the giant before leaping at him and knocking him onto the ground. He grabbed the giant by the legs and started throwing him against the floor and the walls.

"Leatherhead, get him by the portal!" Donatello shouted.

Leatherhead roared before swinging the giant around and throwing him out. The giant landed in the center of the portal, and Donatello quickly lifted his phone and pressed a button. The bombs exploded into a mass of fire and black smoke, shattering the giant into massive pieces.

Just when the seven of them were celebrating, their celebration was cut to a stop when the smoke cleared and revealed that the portal was still in perfect condition.

"What the—?" Boy Danger questioned.

"It's still standing?" Eclipse questioned.

"High-three canceled." Michelangelo said with a frown.

"What are we supposed to do now?" Donatello asked.

"I can punch it a few times, but I don't think that's gonna do it." Raphael said.

"Uh... guys?" Captain Violet asked, pointing towards the portal. From there, they can see the giant coming back together.

"Well, this day can't get any worse," Raphael said. But then, the portal started back up again and the glowing sphere appeared. "And it just did..."

"Something else might come through!" Donatello panicked. "What do we do now?"

At the sound of a loud roar, Leatherhead suddenly came running and leaped at the giant. He brought the monster to the ground  and started clawing at the stone face.

"Leatherhead, something else is coming through!" Michelangelo warned.

"Not if I can help it!" Leatherhead picked up the giant and threw it over his shoulders. "Farewell, my friends." He growled sadly.

"Leatherhead, no!" Both Captain Violet and Michelangelo shouted, neither one of them wanting him to go through with this.

Leatherhead vanished into the portal as the sphere glowed brightly and disappeared. The force threw them all back, knocking them off their feet. They looked up as they got back into their feet to see the portal off and Leatherhead gone.

"Leatherhead," Michelangelo said while Captain Violet frown sadly. "I can't believe he's gone."

"We gotta get out of here!" Leonardo said.

"We can't just leave!" Donatello snapped. "With that portal operational, the kranng are more dangerous than ever! We have to destroy it!"

The elevator opened again to reveal a dozen kranng droids coming out, firing at them.

"Maybe later!" Boy Danger said. "For now, let's get out of here!"

They all jumped up and leapt out of the way of the lasers, up to the broken window. Leonardo then took out a grappling hook gun and aimed at the rooftop closest to them. He pulled the trigger, the rope unwinding from the shaft as it launched through the air.

"We'll be back." Leonardo said.

The rope stopped unraveling when it hit its target of the opposite roof beside them, acting as a zipline for them. And with that, they started sliding down the zipline one at a time—all of them making it out as they headed their way back to the lair.

👑👑👑

MAKING IT BACK to the lair, the seven of them walked inside with the loss of Leatherhead hanging above their heads. "Oh, you're okay!" April said, spotting them coming through the turnstiles.

Nobody said anything, sitting down on the couch in the pit. "Welcome home, my children," Splinter said as he stood. "Was your mission successful?"

"Afraid not, sensei," Leonardo said sadly. "Leatherhead's... gone."

Silence filled the room again, making the loss of Leatherhead feel even more and Captain Violet hated it. She hated the feeling of her heart being crushed at the thought of the mutant alligator. She hated it so much that a small part of her wished that he hadn't done it in the first place so he'd still be here.

"Yeah... but he saved us," Michelangelo said. "And I found this!"

"Oh, good," Raphael said. "Now you're picking up alien trash."

Donatello took the silver box from him, examining it. "Looks like a Kranng version of a USB flash drive. Which means it probably has Kranng data stored on it! If I can decode it, maybe it can help us find a way to stop them!" He sprinted off into his lab.

👑👑👑

"THIS JUST DOESN'T make sense," April said. "If the kranng were trying to transform earth, what do they need my dad for?"

"Well, he is a scientist." Eclipse said reasonably.

"Yeah, but he's a phycologist; he studies rats running through mazes," April said before her gaze turns to her teacher. "No offense."

"I like a good maze." Splinter said simply.

"But, if they didn't need your dad, why were they after him in the first place?" Raphael asked.

"I don't think they were."

They all turned to see that the purple masked mutant turtle came out of his lab. "You might wanna see this." He told them.

It didn't take long for them to stand by his desk while he was on the computer.

"I used the kranng processor inside Metalhead to access that storage drive," Donatello said, typing on the keyboard. "A lot of the files are damaged, but I think I've found what they're after."

Donatello pressed the 'enter' button and several images of a familiar red-head appeared on the screen.

April gasped. "They're after me?"

"That's not all." Donatello said, pressing the 'enter' button again.

Now, the images of April disappeared only to be replaced with images of a familiar dark-haired boy. "They're after Kaz too?" Briana said.

👑👑👑

BRIANA PULLED OUT her phone when she felt it buzzed and glanced down at it to find a message from a unknown number.

Unknown
Hey.
You still up for learning more about yourself?

'Cameron.' Briana thought secretly to herself, already knowing who was behind the message.

She stares at it for a bit, debating if she should reply or not. She knows that she promised the others that she wouldn't see him anymore since they couldn't trust him but the urge—the temptation to find out more about herself... she had to know because whenever or not she wanted to admitted it, deep down she knew that Splinter was hiding something from her. He had to be; she noticed it every time she caught her adoptive father staring at her with a small hint of fear in his eyes and it killed her every time she said it because she had no idea if he was afraid for her or of her.

All she knew was that she had to know why.

Taking in a deep breath, Briana typed out a reply.

Briana
I'll meet you on the rooftop where we first met.

Then, she hit the 'send' button and quickly placed her phone away. Heading towards the entrance, she called out, "I'm heading to Mr. Murakami's! I'll be back later with some pizza gyozas!" She made herself a mental note to stop by to get some after she was done with Cameron.

👑👑👑

HENRY COULDN'T FOCUS. He was trying to mediate while the others were trying to find something to watch but he couldn't find himself focusing. Not with everything that was on his shoulders; all he could feel was Splinter's little secret suffocating him to the point where he felt like he couldn't breathe. It was like he was drowning and there was nobody there to help him out, making it feel like that little secret was cutting off his oxygen as he struggled to get out from underneath it. There was so much pressure on his shoulders and he swears that it's getting to the point where he just wants to blurt out so that way, he can breathe easily again.

Henry shifted as he held back a groan, trying to focus on mediating but frowned lightly when it wasn't working.

"Henry?"

Henry opened his eyes and saw the five mutant turtles staring at him with concern looks on their faces.

"You okay, bro?" Michelangelo asked. "You look like something's bothering you."

'Because there is, and it's killing me.' Henry thought secretly to himself, wondering if this was his chance right here to tell them.

He knows Splinter had forbid him from telling them but he doesn't know how much longer he can go on keeping it to himself.

If anything, he knew he couldn't do it anymore.

Not on his own, at least.

Not when it was making him feel like he was drowning.

Not when it felt like he couldn't breathe anymore.

"Henry?"

"Come on," Henry said as he stood. "I'll tell you guys in the lab."

It didn't take long for them to get into the lab where they closed the doors after getting in as Henry hoped that they'd be done before Splinter finishes mediating. "What is it?" Donatello asked.

"I..." Henry started before he trailed off. His shoulders felt tensed and heavy—his entire body felt tense and he knows that they must've spotted it by the soft expressions on their faces.

"Whatever it is, we can handle it, Henry." Eclipse assured him.

"Yeah, I mean, we're all in this together." Raphael agreed.

"I... I have to tell you guys something," Henry said. "Something that Sensei told me about Bri."

"What is it?" Leonardo asked.

And taking in one deep breath, Henry told them everything that Splinter told him, unable to keep it hidden anymore. For the first time, Henry didn't care if Splinter told him not to said anything. All he knew was that he couldn't do it anymore—he had to tell them, even if it meant facing Splinter's disappointment.

"So, the whole lost princess myth and the prophecy of the Last Destroyer are real? They're not myths?" Leonardo asked.

"Apparently, according to Sensei." Henry confessed.

"And that's Bri?" Eclipse asked, earning a nod from Henry.

"So, that's why we found her in the sewers that day when she was a baby? Cause her parents sent her to Sensei to keep her safe?" Raphael said. "She was so small though, and I mean, way smaller than babies are supposed to be."

"She was probably a newborn that day," Donatello told him. "She must've had just been born. Though, it could've been a premature birth, which would explain why she was always so skinny and shorter than all of us."

"Uh, premature?" Michelangelo questioned.

"It means her mother must've gone into labor with her before she was supposed too." Donatello explained.

"Should we tell Bri any of this? It's not like Sensei told you not to said anything," Michelangelo added before noticing the tensed and nervous expression on his face—one that gave it away. "Oh. Oh."

"Sensei told you not to tell us?" Eclipse questioned.

"Yeah," Henry admitted. "I've been trying to get him budge from that decision cause I think he should but he won't. He keeps saying that it's safer this way but I—I can't do it. I can't keep it anymore. I swear, it's—just keeping it from all of you just makes me feel like I can't breathe anymore."

Raphael frowns slightly at his brother's tensed figure. He isn't blind. He swears that he's seen Henry struggling under pressure since they were kids and he knows that the others must've been seeing it since their entire lives too. Although he quite assumes that half of the pressure that Henry struggles with comes from his parents with what Henry's said about them but he isn't blind to the fact that the other half of that very pressure comes from Splinter. He doesn't even think that Splinter realizes what he's doing.

For as long as he's known Henry—and that's pretty much his entire life, Henry's always been the most responsible, first to Leonardo and Eclipse, person that he's met since Henry has always looked out for them, starting from the moment that they first met as kids, he's always made sure that they were safe—asides from Leonardo and Eclipse, he didn't think that there was anyone more responsible than Henry and if he was being honest, but never admit out loud, Raphael admired that about his brother; the fact that he could always depend and rely on him, the fact that he knew he could trust his brother with anything, and the fact that he knew his brother would always be there for him.

Another thing that he—and he's sure that the others have too—realized about Henry is that he doesn't like being seen as weak.

Maybe that's why Henry hides the fact whenever he's under pressure.

"Hey, we'll figure this out together, you're not on your own anymore." Raphael assured him. "Family first, always and forever. That's our rule."

And just like that, Henry wasn't alone in his situation anymore because now, he had his family there right by his side.

And just like it was said, always and forever.

"You guys don't think Leatherhead's gone for good now, right? Don't worry, he comes back! Eventually..."