#tried some new brushes yipee

[bogdoom]

Why does he look so scary in low light 😭

[remmushound]

@brightlotusmoon @errorfreak88 Part 3 of my bay/rise crossover.

Leonardo didn't know where he was, and frankly he wasn’t sure he cared. He was more concerned about not knowing where April and Splinter and Donatello and Raphael were. His brothers— his family! He had reached out to them, felt his fingers brush against Splinters, and then they were being pulled apart again. Pulled away from each other. Then Leonardo was flying out of the rift, clinging with all his might to the only one he had managed to protect. Michelangelo. He landed hard, skipping across metal with solid thuds like a rock on water as he clung to the box turtle’s shell, his baby brother still hiding within. The bouncing eventually turned into a slide that brought Leonardo to crash against a wall. Pain shot through his extremities, but it only made him hold on to Michelangelo even tighter.

The minute they stopped, Michelangelo popped out his shell with a sharp yipe, his arms shooting out and wrapping around Leonardo to cling to him like a security blanket. Leonardo couldn’t help but smile and rubbed the younger mutants head in a comforting motion.

“It’s okay, hermano. Just a little bit of a bumpy ride.”

Michelangelo whimpered and his nose went back into his shell.

“Oh come on! Don’t be like that!”

Michelangelo pulled his arms and legs back in as well.

“Awww, come on~” Leonardo pushed himself away from the wall to lean over Michelangelo and peek into the shell as his shadowed face. “You know you wanna come out!”

“Where is out?” Michelangelo asked, his voice carrying a strange echo.

“Er…” Leonardo looked around. He didn't recognize the place, a giant metal ball with a spiraling floor design and a high ceiling, a blinking light at the top of it. He hummed and narrowed his eyes at the luring draw of the light, but didn't acknowledge it Past that. “Pokeball?”

“What? No we’re not!”

“Well how you gonna know if you don’t come out?”

Leonardo smirked and leaned back to give Michelangelo enough space to emerge. Michelangelo peeked his nose out once more.

“That’s it! Just a little more!” Leonardo encouraged.

Michelangelo’s full head poked out, and his neck too so he could look around at their surroundings. “Woah. This is so cool!”

“Cool isn’t exactly the word I’d use.” Leonardo whistled and stood up, reaching for his sword naturally. It was nowhere on his body.

“Hey uh— you don’t happen to have your yoyo, do you Miguel?”

“Um…” Michelangelo reached to his belt and frowned. “No. It’s gone somewhere… do you have your swords?”

“No.”

The structure gave a powerful groan and Michelangelo yelped, attaching himself to Leonardo’s side like glue. “It’s spooky here…”

Leonardo would be lying if he said that a similar anxiety hadn’t grown in his gut the moment they entered this strange place. Cold, dark, mechanical— everything Donatello loved, except without the eccentric nature. But he couldn’t be scared now. He has Michelangelo to look after, and right now his baby brother needed him.

“Hey hey hey, don’t get soft on me now!” Leonardo beamed, leaning down to Michelangelo’s level. “We just escaped the mother-freaking Shredder and you’re scared of a dingy little metal ball?”

“It’s not very little, Leo…”

Leonardo scoffed and waved a hand dismissively. “Potato potahto! Tomato tomatoh! Shredder, Giant Metal Ball of Doom! What’s the difference?”

Michelangelo didn't answer.

“The only one I can think of is that Shredder was waaaay scarier!”

“Oh really?”

Both turtles froze at the new voice. Leonardo gently placed his brother down, keeping an arm still wrapped around him to keep them both close.

“Well? What are you waiting for?” The new voice laughed in a mocking, wheezing tone, “Turn around.”

Leonardo could see no other option other than to obey. He gave Michelangelo a reassuring pat and held his brother just a little tighter before turning to face whoever it was that had called out to them.

The creature was big, a body near as broad as Raphael’s carapace and a shape that was loosely spherical. It’s entire body gleamed with a layer of slime that oozed out from folds on the sides of it’s head, and every so often a tentacle would reach up to gather the accumulating mucus and spread it throughout its body to keep itself moist. There was a crown on its head, a ridge higher than the rest of its body that slightly resembled the crown of certain dinosaurs. Leonardo could almost swear that whatever it was, was the brain of some massive creature, escaped from its body to do whatever it is that giant, tentacle-having brains do.

“Well?” The creature stroked feelers on it’s face, what could pass as lips parting to reveal tiny, dolphin-like teeth.

Leonardo only allowed himself enough time to blink before he forced his smile to come back and meet the strangers smirk. “Well what?”

The creature lunged forward, supported by pipes that extended out from the misproportioned battle suit, bringing it within inches of touching Leonardo. “Aren’t you scared?”

“Scared of what? A chewed up wad of bubble gum that gained sentience?”

It growled and one of its tentacles came down upon Leonardo, covering him in the thick, viscous coating of it’s body.

“Oh I’m sorry! Did I get some slime on you?”

Leonardo didn't flinch. He reached out a hand and poked the creature on the nose. “It is not slime, it is mucus!”

It growled and swatted Leonardo before pulling back again closer to its suit. “Who said you could touch me with your foul, disease-ridden hands?!”

“Hey hey hey!” Leonardo threw his hands up in surrender, “I bathe regularly! It’s Raphael you gotta look out for.”

“You think you’re funny, do you?” It squinted its eye at Leonardo.

“I think I’m adorable. Don’t you?” Leonardo put his hands under his chin and batted his eyes.

“I think you’re an obnoxious freak of nature.” It tried to draw forth a violent reaction, but Leonardo remained cool.

“Eh, aren’t we all?” Leonardo shrugged, “But this obnoxious freak of nature has a name. Do you?”

The creature seemed to consider Leonardo’s question for a moment before saying, “It’s Krang.”

Leonardo snickered.

“What?” Krang snapped, almost defensively, “What’s so funny?”

“Sorry— sorry!” Leonardo almost keeled over laughing.

“What’s so funny— what’s so funny, it’s just my name!”

“It’s just— ahahaha— did your mom hate you or something?”

Michelangelo started to finally get in on the laughing, and soon both brothers were almost falling over.

“I chose my own name— the Queen doesn’t have time to name all of us!” Krang defended, grunting as its features scrunched up.

“So you’re saying you have a face not even a mother could love?” Leonardo smirked, recovering from his laughter at will. “Man, that is depressing!”

“ENOUGH!” Krang shot two wired pipes forward to grab Michelangelo and Leonardo, squeezing them harshly. “Now you listen here, little turtles! I am not in the mood for games.” It’s eyes glanced between the brothers in an almost alien way, “And if all you’re going to do is play with me, then I’m going to put you away in my toybox.”

“Sounds fun!” Michelangelo piped.

“Fun?” Krang shifted to look at Michelangelo.

“Yeah! In a big box with a whole bunch of other people, having slumber parties every night!” Michelangelo hummed and sighed.

“Well, I’m glad you’re going to enjoy yourself. It’s an extended stay.”

Krang shifted slightly, its armor suit slow and topheavy, and at the press of a button on the suit the floor began to open up and reveal a spiraling display case. Rows upon rows of small, frozen containers. A thick layer of frosty smoke escaped through the opening and filtered out through vents. Krang hung the two brothers over the drop and loosened his grip just to feel the fear of his prisoners. Looking down into the endless abyss of bodies distorted by frost and age, Leonardo felt a sense of vertigo overtake him. It seemed Krang latched onto the fear almost immediately, judging by the evil expression on its face.

“Not so eager to visit the other toys now, are you?” Krang laughed and pulled Michelangelo and Leonardo back over solid ground, putting them down as the ground closed once more. “Now maybe you’ll play nicely.”

“Where are my brothers?” Leonardo demanded, “My family?”

“They’re fine. They were spit out somewhere or other. Does it really matter?”

“Yes.” Leonardo snarled.

“Hmm…” Krang rubbed their folds in concentration, “Then why don’t we make a deal, little turtle?”

“What kinda deal?” Leonardo returned to hugging his brother as Michelangelo cowered against him.

“I didn't just call you here to chat.”

“Well you’re sure doing a lot of talking anyway.” Leonardo grumbled under his breath.

“I brought you here for a far more important reason.” It folded its tentacles over its mouth.

“Care to share with the class?”

Krang huffed. “You have something that interests me— or more like had. You see, a year ago today I tried to take over the earth.”

Leonardo laughed. “Didn't do a good job— you didn't even make the news! I’m sure I would know if there was a broadcast about a giant brain in a robot suit tried to take over the planet.”

“Not your earth. A different earth.”

“There’s more than one?” Michelangelo asked.

“Oh, there is a plethora of earths, all slightly different from the last! But yours… intrigues me. It’s one of the more recent ones, and the use of your ‘mystic magic’ caught my attention.” Krang circled Leonardo like a cat with a mouse, “The way you teleport around with such ease, even without a beacon to guide you~”

“Spit it out, Gellatinous, I haven’t got all day.”

“You’re very impatient for someone whose at the mercy of one far smarter.”

“Eh, I can handle Donnie, but that has nothing to do with this.” Leonardo snarked off, “What do you want?”

“I have you, and I have your family, and I have your sword.”

“Great. And what does that have to do with the price of jelly doughnuts?”

“I want you to show me how to use the magic you possess, and afterwards I will let you and your brothers go back on your merry way!”

“I thought you were all knowing or whatever.”

“I never claimed that. I too need to learn like every creature does.”

“How do we know you’re not lying about letting us go?” Michelangelo pouted, sticking out his lip.

“Do I look like the lying type to you?”

“Yes.” Michelangelo and Leonardo said as one.

“Mm. Clever boys. Well, the answer is that you don’t know. But you don’t really have many choices either.”

“Mm. Fair.” Leonardo shrugged. “Whatchu need me to show you?”

“How to activate the rift that you’ve seemed to master.” Krang tapped its tentacles together.

“Oh that’s easy! You just take the sword and go woosh woosh,” Leonardo made vague gesture, “Then it goes all whoooooo whaaaaa bwaaaaa!” He made a motion of a rift opening. “Then you go all ‘take me so and so’ and badda bing badda boom, you’re done! That work?” Leonardo clicked his tongue and wink.

“What.” Krang narrowed his eyes.

“Well, you take the pointy part and go whish woosh, then slish slash, hundred yard dash, and you’re in Paris!”

“I— I don’t understand what you’re saying!”

“Well you take the thing and do the thing so it makes a thing then you go through the thing and bam: the thing is done! Take a break and get yourself a pizza for your hard work.”

“You’re getting on my nerves.”

“Exactly how many nerves does a brain have anyway?”

“I’M NOT A BRAIN I’M AN UTROM!”

“A who-trom?” Michelangelo tilted his head.

“AN UTROM!”

“You-tron?” Leonardo asked with a smirk.

“GRRR— just show me how to do it!” Krang pulled Leonardo’s sword out of thin air and dropped it into Leonardo’s hands. “And don’t think you can outsmart me!”

“Wouldn’t dream of it, K-Pop.” Leonardo took the sword and pointed it, dragging it to make a circle. His face illuminated the glow and he smiled.

“Yes!” Krang cheered, smilingly widely and holding out its tentacles to Leonardo. “Give it to me!”

“Yeeeeah, no.” Leonardo stared a moment and then winked before stepping through the blue and disappearing along with the mystic portal.

“NO!” Krang launched himself forward and grabbed at the space where the turtles had once been, “GET BACK HERE!”

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

The Trip

Warning: allusions to nonconcent sex

I would like to ask for a Dark! Drabble Requests - July 28-31, 2020: Vacation AUs: - The reader goes for a midnight swim but isn't the only one with the idea, with Loki, please… @scorpionchild81 and @ladyacrasia

.-.-.-.

You hadn't been on a family trip since you were just a kid. Since then, your father had cycled through three different jobs and moved you all around until you were off to college.

Now, fresh out off graduation and hoping he could use he new favourable position to your advantage, this trip would be your chance. You hoped to convince him to get you a spot at the company that had given him a bonus big enough to see your family to a whole week at the upscale resort in the Carribean.

It was unlike any family vacation you'd taken before. Most of your childhood had been road trips and camping but now you could bask in the pristine pool and the mini-bar on your father's dime.

Your mother messaged you to come meet the family for the breakfast that would mark the true beginning and you were all too eager to have it done with. Your sister could take her brats elsewhere while you took your mimosa to the pool.

You were the last to arrive, your sunglasses pulled cooly over your eyes and a sunhat that made you feel like some old Hollywood actress, though your leopard print cover-up might have screamed Jersey Shore. You sat and ordered your first drink of the day and didn't miss the disapproving look from your father. Well, maybe you should try to butter him up before you got too wild.

"So dad," You smiled at him. "What I was saying at the airport..."

"I just don't know that it's for you, honey," He shrugged. "It's pretty cutthroat."

"Yeah, but you do it. Dad, come one, you used to be an accountant!" You argued. "I did that internship and I have experience."

"I'd hate for anyone to think--"

"Fred?" A voice interrupted your father and had you frowning beneath your wide-brimmed hat.

A dark haired man approached, tall and at least a decade and a half younger than your father. He smiled at you as he neared but focused on your father.

"So I see you took my recommendation," He slithered.

"Oh, yeah," Your dad shifted his chair. "It's a nice place. As always, you have good taste."

You glanced back at the rest of the table and your family tried not to stare at the stranger. You turned to him again and sighed at your father.

"Oh, my bad," He chuckled. "This," He looked back at the rest, "Is Loki. We work together." He turned back to the man. "This is the family. My wife, Talulah, my eldest, Riane, her children, Dana and Dora, her husband, Anthony, and my younger daughter." He introduced you last and you gave a wry wave.

"A wonderful family," He smirked. "I do hate to disturb you, just wanted to say hello."

"No problem. We'll have to grab a drink later," You dad rested his hand on the back of your chair. "Actually," He peeked over at you. "My daughter just got her business degree. We were talking about possible openings. No pressure or anything but maybe you could give her a few tips about getting a good job."

"I could offer a few pointers," He replied. "You know, Lorelai is leaving. She got an offer from Sterling so I will need a replacement."

"There ya go," Your dad announced. "Daddy's done his part."

You blanched, embarrassed, and smiled sheepishly at the man. He considered you a moment before tilting his head and refocusing on your father.

"I hope it wouldn't be remiss of me but we could discuss now," Loki ventured. "I was only just about to sit down and I would have her back shortly enough for your breakfast to arrive."

"You'd be doing me a favour," Your dad guffawed. "Take her. I have enough kids badgering me and this is supposed to be a break!"

Loki snicked and nodded. "Very well. Miss, if it isn't interrupting your own plans, shall we?"

"Sure," You said with fake glee as you stood. "Thanks," You grabbed your dad's shoulder and squeezed, "Daddy."

Loki waved you past to a table not very far and you sat across from him. He waved over the waiter and ordered a latte, you assured him you already had a drink waiting for you with your family.

"Do you mind working your way up?" He began. "I'm afraid the position is entry level but it does have room for upward movement."

"Of course, I would expect..." You took your hat off, feeling absolutely ridiculous. "I didn't expect to have like a private office. I'm a hard worker. I worked in a mailroom for a while and did some secretary work."

"Great," He said. "Unfortunately you would be little more than a glorified secretary at first but as I said, not forever."

"I could... send a copy of my resume. I'd hate to be thought of as using my dad to--"

"Not at all. Send it so we can file the paperwork but frankly, you're making it so much easier on me. I have interviews," He paused as the waiter set down his drink and thanked him. "Well, perhaps I shall see you around but I won't keep you from enjoying your vacation."

"Well, thanks," You stood slowly. "Enjoy your breakfast."

"I think I will," He smiled. "Though, we might just run into each other again. It's a rather exclusive resort."

;P

You were relieved to have something to look forward to on your return home. No more schlupping it in the bookstore, you would be on your way to something legitimate. Or you hoped, at least.

You spent your day lounging by the pool, the sun draining you as the alcohol seeped deep into your veins. It was the ideal day; lazy and careless. You didn't even dip your toe in the pool but there was always tomorrow.

Or tonight. You got back to your room, restless despite all the tequila. You were actually starting to sober up the longer you laid across the bed and stared at the ceiling.

So you got up and grabbed your room key and sandals and snuck down the hallways. The pool was closed so you kept on past it and ventured down the the beach where the dark waters crashed beneath the moonlight.

You giggled as you realised you only had on your tacky night gown with the pineapples printed all over it. You shrugged and tore it over your head as you slipped out of your sandals and dropped the card in the folds of the pajamas.

You ran into the waves as they flowed in and dove into the waters with the ebb. You swirled beneath the surface and came back up with a gasp. The water was brisk and revitalizing. You swayed with the quell and basked in the delicious coolness as your body adjusted to the temperature.

You dipped beneath the water again and as you bobbed back up, a figure came into sight along the shoreline. Naked and still slightly tipsy, you watched the man come into focus. You dove back under in an effort to hide and when you came back up, we was gone.

You looked around, searching for him along the beach. He might have just passed you by but he was no where to be seen. He couldn't have gone that quickly.

Then the surface broke beside you and you yiped as you turned to face the stranger. He smiled at you, his long nose and green eyes glowed in the moonlight. It was Loki and he was just as bare as you.

"Oh my god," You backed up and tripped on the silt. "What are you--"

"Seems like I wasn't the only one with a good idea," He cooed. "Don't worry, dear, can't see much..."

"Jesus," You crossed your arms over your chest and your teeth chattered. "You might think this is funny but--"

"I don't," He snickered. "In fact..." He got closer. "I think it's pretty hot."

"Wha- uh, look, I don't know what impression you got earlier--"

"Earlier? Oh no, but I like what I'm seeing now," He purred and caught you before you could get any further. His arm wrapped around you and he drew you close. You could feel his arousal against you. "Come on, this job could be a great opportunity and it does come with some amazing perks."

"Job?" You spat as you struggled against him. "I'm not-- I'll find something else. Let me go."

"Darling," He pushed his hand against your cunt and you squeezed your legs together. "Should I tell Daddy what you offered to do for this foot in the door, hmm? Your doting father wouldn't give you a job so you thought maybe you could coerce me."

"What do you-- No, you--"

"Shhhh," He forced his fingers between your legs and twirled you around. "We have all week to get you ready for your position..." He brushed his nose against yours, his lips tickled, "Oh, we can try many positions indeed."

[ask-these-fantrolls]

Stray Dogs Lie

A Yandere!Belshn/Reader drabble written on request a long time ago.  I’ve cleaned it up a bit for your enjoyment!

Note: This is NOT canon in any way, shape, or form.  This is from a set of drabbles where our favorite cowboy daddy is just a liiiiittle less stable than he is in canon!

You wince as you try to pry the metal trap from your leg. 

He insisted that they were meant for the coyotes that frequented his property, but you never did believe him. Not fully.  You especially didn’t believe him now. A muffled yipe escapes your throat when your blood-wet fingers slip from the trap, causing it to snap back into the muscle of your shin.

The sound of boots crunching on gravel alerts you to his approach, causing you to start to panic ever so slightly.  You grasp at the chained trap binding you to the ground, cursing the fact that you’re not strong enough to rip it from its inset concrete post. His chipper whistled tune echoing through the cold desert night somehow chills you more than the actual drop in temperature. He was getting closer.  And to think… that same tune sounded like a beacon of hope just a few perigees prior.

You had gotten lost- horribly lost. After your car broke down on a desolate back road and you found your palmhusk without signal, walking really was your only option.  But… after hours, you realized that your surroundings had changed completely, with the road no longer in sight.  You were sure you were going die with the impossibly hot summer sun beating down on you.  And… Soon enough, dehydration and tiredness took their hold in your poor body, leaving you a heap in the middle of nowhere.  You accepted this death- nobody would even notice you were gone.  Just another one of the nightdropper zombies that absently roamed Alternia.

But, that’s when you met him. You don’t know how long you’d been face-down in the dirt and sage brush.  It could have been a few minutes, or it could have been hours, but the faint sound of a cheery tune carried through the air finally pulled you back to your senses.  Ah, right.  There was music that played in the afterlife, right?  This was that- you’d died out alone in the desert and buzzards would be feasting on your corpse by morning.  Or… at least, that’s what you first assumed.  

“You alive darlin'?” A deep voice called from above you, making you struggle to turn your head to see its source. The figure knelt beside you, gently brushing some hair from your face, “It’s okay, don’t move too much,” his voice jovial, yet calm.  Maybe you were just delirious… but he sounded safe, and comforting- your savior from the wilderness!

You couldn’t have been any more wrong.

Soon enough, you felt something beneath you; a pair of strong arms lifting you into the air and adding a strange twang to your pusher and a disgustingly romantic element to the terrible scenario.  “Yer safe now,” His voice sounded distant, your eyes closing without you wanting them to, “I ain’t gonna let nothin’ hurt ya...”  The next thing you remembered was the inside of a cozy room and the sounds of cooking coming from further into the house.  

You made you way to the center of the hive, finding Belshn Lloane humming away in the little country kitchen as he piled heaps of hashbrowns from his skillet and on to a plate.  He greeted you and wiped his hands on the apron covering his chest, urging you to sit and eat.  The morning was spent peacefully- the bronzeblood stuffing you full of carbs and liquids and encouraging you to tell him a little more about yourself.  Everything about him felt a little fake- just a bit too good to be true. Every warning alarm was flashing in your head… but he was just so nice. Surely it wouldn’t hurt to stay just for a little while?  

You were a fool.  You were smitten at first sight.  You told him everything about yourself.  

You told him about having just gotten your degree and about moving to a brand new town for a new life. You told him of your estranged relationship with your lusus and how you didn’t think you’d even told them when you were leaving.  You told him of how reclusive you had been in during your education and how you appreciated what he did, but honestly didn’t think anyone would have missed you if you’d never made it out of that desert. Stupid.

His grin only ever wavered when you yourself seemed to falter- when you broke down at his kitchen counter.  When you lamented to him about feeling worthless.  You didn’t know what it was about this troll that made you so at ease- was it that sultry southern drawl?  Or maybe it was his large and unassuming brown eyes?  He looked kind, if not having been through a life of hard work.  The bronzeblood stood from his seat, clapping you gently on the back.

“I can’t right put someone so down on yer luck out in th’ cold, now can I?” He spoke with a conviction that seemed so charming at the time- like he just wanted to take care of you and wouldn’t take no for an answer, “I got an extra room here! Why don’t y’all stay here while yer car’s fixed? ‘M Sure it’d be a lot better’n payin’ fer a hotel all th’way in th’city,”

Stupid.  Did you even ask if he’d called someone to fix your car?  Did you even bat an eyelash when he pet your hair like some sort of doll?  Did you even fucking question it when he gave you new clothes to wear like some southern belle housewife, even when they weren’t your style at all?  No.  Because when you were met with kindness, you always ate it up.  First came excuses- the sun being too hot or your car not being done, or it being too late in the day for you to reasonably go out!  Just stay with him another day.  Stay in his bed another night- he’d be good to you.  But… then came the orders to stay in and his cold glances when you tried to go, the way he clung to you so possessively and how rough he became with you at night on days you mentioned leaving.  After a while, you just stopped asking about it.  Belshn knew best.  He would let you know when you were ready to go…

  But now that he had found you again, out bleeding into the dirt, having escaped for the second time over the past five perigees of being cooped up in his cozy little farm hive… You knew he would never let you go.

“Now, why’d y’all go an’ do a plum fool thing like that, sugar?” He asked in his same happy little tone, but you no longer heard kindness in that tender southern drawl, “It’s okay, don’t move too much.  We’ll get y’all patched up in no time,”

[calliecat93]

Callie Reviews: TMNT 2012 Season One (Part One)

Ever since 1984, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise has gone form a cult-status indie comic to a massive mass market. There have been various comics, movies, video games, merchandise, and of course cartoons. And it’s easy to see why. TMNT’s concept, a group of mutated teen turtles fighting evil in New York, is both incredibly bizarre and incredibly appealing to a mass audience. You have action, science fiction, martial arts, and of course plenty of mutant ideas to make toys out of. The fact that this Fall will be releasing the fourth animated TMNT series and that a new movie series is in production shows that even over 30 years later, this is a franchise that is far from losing it’s power.

As a kid, I of course knew that Turtles as a thing and I even watch parts of 2k3. But I was never really a fan until the day I stumbled upon the 2012 show. I fell in love with it and, since it started when I was just starting this blog, it was a huge focus for me for several years. I have since moved on and while I’m going to check out the 2018 show, I don’t think I’m going to be as crazy as I was with this show (but never say never). Back in 2012, I was someone who... lets say ignored the flaws and defended the show far too passive aggressively to the point that looking at my older stuff makes me want to blow up by blog. 

Nowadays, while some of my opinions hold true (like the ‘Donnie is a stalker’ accusations are still bullshit), I am more willing to admit the shows problems, especially now that I can take the show in fully. I also like to believe that I’ve become a better reviewer since I was 19 years old, plus it had been far too long since I went back over the show form the very beginning. So does the show still hold up? Will 25 year old Callie feel differently than 19 year old Callie did? Well we’re about to find out. This is the TMNT 2012 Season One Review!

The Premiere (Episodes 1-2)

Our story begins with a training sequence that introduces us to the titular Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo. Along with some minor character establishment, like Mikey being the funny one and Raph the violent one, the biggest thing here is one of the shows strengths: the choreography. It’s best exhibited in Leo and Raph’s duel. The movements are very fluid and well-paced. It’s fast, but not too fast, it’s enough to move things along but still let you take in all the impacts. It’s very well done. Raph ends up winning and we are introduce to the boys mentor and father, Master Splinter. Aka, the best written character int he show, but we’ll get to that later.

After the opening theme, we cut to the boys 15th Mutation Day where we get our backstory. Borrowing from the 80′s show origin, Splinter was once a young man named Hamato Yoshi. He had just bought four pet turtles when he stumbled across a shady dealing. Being a ninja master, he was able to fight back, but he ended up getting splattered with a strange green substance. This turned him into a rat, as one brushed his ankle while the baby Turtles become anthropomorphic. Yoshi, taking on the name Splinter, fled to the sewers and raised the four turtles as his own as well as taught them ninjutsu. It’s a simple, but still solid telling of the origin that pays tribute to previous origins, leaves some mystery about the substance and who was dealing it, and is told with use of comic-style panels reminiscent of the original comics.

The Turtles, having lived in the sewers since their mutation, are hoping to convince Splinter to let them finally go to the surface. After some begging, Splinter reluctantly agrees. We then cut to Leo watching a Star Trek: The Animated Series parody where we learn of his desire to become a great hero and leader. This is interesting for several reasons. One, it establishes that Leo isn’t the leader of the group yet, a departure form normal as he’s normally put into that role automatically. And second, ti does a great job at character establishment. In previous versions, Leo is often seen as the boring, overly leader type. Not a bad character mind you, but he lacks the quirkiness that the tough Raph, genius Donnie, and wild child Mikey present. Here? Leo is shown to be an idealistic, naive, but good-intention kid who aspires to be a great hero like he sees on TV as well as give shim some dorky characteristics, like quoting cheesy one-liners to sound more heroic. It helps make him more relateable, funny, and sets up a character arc for when he does inevitably become the leader. Very well done.

The boys finally go to the surface, and are in awe of what they see. They even discover their trademark favorite food, pizza. Given that they only ever ate worms and algae until this point, it makes their love of it all the more understandable. But not all goes well as they soon witness a group of business men kidnapping a red-haired teenager and her father. They attempt to help, but end up only beating each other up and the bad guys get away with their captives. Mikey ends up beating up one and discovers... a brain with tentacles... yipe... he tries to tell the other three, but they don’t believe him. A common trend in the show.

Upon returning home, the boys try to blame each other for the failure before Splinter accepts it for not giving them proper training as a team. While he considers keeping them down below for another year, Donnie convinces him to let them go help the girl due to seeing how terrified she was and how they failed to help her... and because of the crush he developed in a record five seconds. Splinter agrees, but first assigns Leo as the official leader, much to the ire of Raph. They’re eventually able to find the kidnappers vehicle and wreck it, capturing the driver named Snake and they discover a vat of a glowing green substance. A vat that they recognize as the same one that caused their original mutation.

Snake, after Raph threatens to mutate him, leads the boys to the facility where the captives are... and uses the boys bickering as a chance to escape. Leo uses this to trick the crook into thinking that they’re going to plow his van into the place as he conducts a plan to sneak in. All while Roah is an asshole who refuses to listen and outright undermines Leo’s orders. Yeah, Raph is a real jerk during this season. FYI. When Leo shows hesitance about his plan, Splinter tells him of his final confrontation against his rival Oroku Saki, aka The Shredder. It ended in his wife being killed, his house burning down, and his infant daughter nowhere to be found. Well, that won’t be important in any way, shape, or form later! The point being that he lost everything, but gained the boys, easing Leo’s worries about how much is riding on the plan.

So yeah the boys crash the van, Snake gets mutated, the boys break in, fight some guards, and Mikey proves that he isn’t crazy about the aliens.. and then trips an alarm. Smooth Mikey, smooth. They find the captives, that being this version of April O’Neil and her scientist father. Now in most versions, April is an adult woman. Here? She is aged down and is around sixteen years old. We’ll talk more about that later. The bad guys, aka The Kraang, take the captives away and as the boys give chase,t hey are confronted by the mutant Snake... who is a weed monster. Hey, that’s breaking supervillain rules writers! If you have an evil sounding name, that’s what you turn into! Donnie is sent to rescue the O’Neil’s as the other three face Snakeweed... Mikey’s idea, not mine.

The boys eventually defeat Snake via Leo’s direction and mass electrocution while Donnie is able to rescue April, but her father is taken away. April plans to find him however, no matter what it takes with the boys promising to help in whatever way they can. Once home, Leo finds out the complex reasoning for why he was named the leader over everyone else... because he asked. Ming-boggling, right? Well there is actually another reason, but we’ll talk about this in S4. The boys also made the news as their shruriken got found, but come on, what could one tiny news story do that would be bad? Well... being seen by your master’s worst enemy and re-igniting his lust for vengeance might count! Woopsie!

Overall, a solid two parter. It establishes the characters well, has fun fight scenes, the animation is a little dated now but still pretty good, the dialogue is funny, and it does a good job setting up future plotlines while fulfilling it’s own plot. It started 2k12 off on the right foot and was still enjoyable over five years since it’s initial premiere.

The Beginning (Episodes 3-8)

The episodes following the premiere create a steady flow of creating the status quo. You have episodes like Turtle Temper, Metalhead, and Monkey Brains (kinda) that have the boys dealing with the Kraang’s Plan of the Week as they continue their mutagen experiments. It helps with character development and some minor plot progression, such as Raph learning how dangerous his anger can be and Donnie learning to rely on his instincts rather than on his mind 100% of the time. Some are going to want me to comment on the shipping stuff, But I’m gonna save that for later. The biggest issue with these episodes, aside from Monkey Brains, is the Kraang. They are not interesting as villains at all. As great a VA as Nolan North is, the Kraang’s way of talking just gets... annoying. It doesn't help that the threat ultimately becomes either an accidental mutant or Donnie’s robot... well okay a Kraang possessed the later, but it shows that those are more interesting villains than the Kraang themselves and they exist mroe to just have an excuse for a plot. It’s really irking after awhile.

As far as plot goes, it’s mostly your usual ‘Monster of the Week’ stuff. But it has some small things that have a larger impact later. For one, in Monkey Brains, April begins to tap into what looks like some strong emphatic abilities. More on this next season. But due to this, Splinter decides to take April on as a student and train her to be a kunoichi (a female ninja). This will be the largest part of her character for the remainder of the series. April herself... is not utilized as well as she could have been in these early episodes. She’s described as the boys guide to the outside world, and she does serve that in some respects. For example, introducing Mikey to social media in New Friend, Old Enemy to let him make friends without exposing his mutant identity. And in Never Say Xever she takes them to a blind man’s shop so that they can actually experience life topside for once. The issue is we never see April establish bonds with the boys or Splinter after her introduction. In New Friend, Old Enemy she just acts like she’s been friends with the guys for awhile and after showing Mikey the net, doesn’t appear or is even mentioned in the episode again. She disappears after her importance in Metalhead as well, but she is given mroe to work with there at least. I glossed over this when I was watching the show and April does get mroe time with the guys, her relationship with Splinter being one of my favorites. Still, they didn’t do a lot with having April become part of the group or really act on her role as their ‘guide’ and I feel they just wanted to ignore it to get to the other stuff. Which is just a bummer.

So you’re probably wondering about Shredder stuff, right? Well thankfully the Foot Episodes are also the most plot relevant episodes. It starts with New Friend, Old Enemy where Shredder arrives in New York and assigns one of his lieutenants, a famous martial artist named Chris Bradford, to find out about Splinter. The Foot end up encountering the Turtles, with Bradford later using this to manipulate Mikey after accidentally becoming online friends with him. He captures him and use shim as bait to lure out the other three and then follow them to where Splinter is hiding. It fails with the boys using their knowledge of the sewers to literally wash Bradford and his partner, Xever, away. Along with the dangers of meeting people you don’t really know on social media, the episode presents a very unique lesson. In a fight for your life, screw fairness, You fight by any means necessary to stay alive, including fighting dirty. Most shows emphasize on being fair, but this one actually acknowledges that if your life is on the line, you do what it takes to get out alive. It’s a unique message for a kids show and one that I really appreciate.

Next is Never Say Xever where Xever gets to lead the charge. After the boys track down the two and get beat up, Xever receives inlet from the Purple Dragons, who int his version are pretty much a trio of teen thugs. The Turtles fought them off earlier at the shop April took them to, with Leo sparing the leader as an act of mercy. Something that Raph takes umbridge with... as he does with most anything that Leo does in the first half of the series. It’s no surprise that Leo and Raph butt heads, as they do in most series, and it follows their respective arcs. Leo having to deal with being leader as well as realizing that it’s much more pressuring and unforgiving than he thought, while Raph act son his jealousy that Leo got the position even though he’s the better fighter and therefore questioning Leo’s orders or outright just being an asshole for no good reason. But after the shop owner is kidnapped to lure the Turtles out, Leo’s act of mercy ends up saving them as the lead Dragon repays the favor by throwing him back his discarded sword. Which Leo uses to break a water tower to wash the bad guys away again. Angered, The Shredder decides to handle the Turtles himself.

The episodes do a good job in establishing a solid status quo. Bad guy does a thing, one character has their B-Plot to deal with, there’s a clash, the plots intertwine, bad guy gets defeated, and the lesson of the day is learned. A simple routine, but it works here. Plus we get plenty of character establishment and moments which makes you care about them. For example even though Raph is a massive jerk, the end of New Friend, Old Enemy has his comfort Mikey after the deceit and have him see that he’s a good kid who simply got duped as anyone else would. With this being after Raph mocked him wanting to make friends throughout the episode, it helped show that he does have a caring side. Leo frequently has issues with being a leader, such as dealing with Raph and moments like in ITHNiBS where the guys outright refuse to listen to him when he tries to remind them that they’re grounded. Even Splinter has a lot of moments, being a stern but fair parental figure and wise mentor, but is also snarky as Hell. We also see hints to how much the past has affected him, like after April agrees to undergo kunoichi training and leaves the dojo, there’s just a brief moment where he looks down with a forlorn expression. As though wishing that he was telling this to his own MIA daughter. It’s so subtle, but it speaks volumes about his emotional state. 

The characters are ultimately what makes these episodes works and what I would say is the strongest part of the series. You are likely going to relate to or like someone from this show and their progression. But now that we have a fully formed status quo, it’s time to shake it up a little bit and have the Turtles experience their first hard dose of reality.

The Escalation (Epsidoes 9-13)

Episode 9 begins as a typical ‘Mutant of the Week’ plot with the guys trying to catch a pigeon mutant that was after April. But when they do, they discover that he was simply trying to deliver a message... from her father. The message warns her to get out of the city due to a mutagen bomb, but she refuses to leave without him. As such,t he Turtles... somehow... find where Mr. O’Neil is and try to save him. While they get him out of the cell and get the location of the bomb, Mr. O’Neil sacrifices himself when the Kraang outnumber them so that the boys can protect April. All while poor April can only watch, helpless to do anything. Ouch...

The Turtles can only go to where the bomb is to disarm it, but things get further complicated when Bradford and Xever attack, wanting payback from before. Fortunately Donnie disarms the bomb and the four corner the two, but Bradford refuse sot go down quietly and stabs the bomb, but all it does is mutate himself and Xever. But ti also washes them away.... again. I should also point out that this point,t he Turtles have gotten incredibly over-confident since they’ve beaten every bad guy so far, feeling unstoppable. So then... Shredder arrives. Yep. And he kicks their shells HARD. Liek he holds no punches, he easily over-powers all four of them and almost stabs Leo int he head. The only reason that they escape is Shredder getting distracted by his now mutated lieutenants. But the boys retreat, badly beaten up and completely demoralized.

The next episode focuses on the fallout. The four are mostly feeling better, but their fears are being escalated by, of all people, Splinter. This is due to the boys nearly getting killed by his long-time rival re-igniting his own trauma and having nightmares over losing them, causing him to again keep them in the sewers and be far more harsh with his training. The only one doing moderately well is April, who gets intel about the Foot planning to destroy the sewers. The Turtles try to stop it, but get pounded by Bradford, who is now a giant dog mutant named Dogpound. This forces April to get the inlet herself, but she gets caught an captured by the Foot. This further brings Leo down, but to his surprise Raph actually encourages him to pull himself together and lead the team. The Turtles manage to both save April and stop the Foot from destroying the sewers with Splinter apologizing for allowing his fears to affect both himself and his sons. Overall, a solid pair of episodes that bring the boys down a bit, finally has all the plots meet somewhere, and deliver a strong message about not letting fear control you or the others around you.

After a filler episode where the only importance is Shredder forcibly recruiting Stockman to his forces, we get some more Kraang stuff with Episode 12. Where we actually show them being dangerous. Shocker, right?! It also introduces us to long-time supporting character within the franchise  Leatherhead. Here he is an alligator mutant who the Kraang experimented on and it causes him to have violent fits of rage if he so much as hears the word ‘Kraang’. The Turtles end up saving him when the Kraang try to re-capture him, but find his angry bursts, well... dangerous. But Mikey is able to befriend him and it becomes more clear that LH is actually a rather intelligent, good-hearted mutant who has been put through Hell. He gets run off by Splinter though when one of his trauma-induced bursts causes him to attack the boys, forcing the rat master to intervene. Mikey, and by proxy the other three, give chase to an old subway car where LH reveals how the Kraang took him to their home, Dimension X, and experimented on him. He escaped and also took their Power Cell, cutting them off form Dimension X, in hopes of saving humanity from them. The Kraang want it back and act like a zombie swarm as they break through the car. LH fights them off, leaving the Power Cell in the Turtles care.

While Episode 11 sucks (to put it simply Leo and Raph are overbearing assholes while Donnie and Mikey are just made to be as weak as possible), the other three do a good job at making the villains more solid threats. Shredder was built up as intimidating and powerful, and boy did he deliver. The Turtles face their first major loss and have to deal with the fallout, Leo especially dealing with his first real failure as a leader. Even the Kraang come off as a scarier hivemind and we get mroe stuff on them, like Dimension X and their plans to mutate the Earth. Add that with a strong supporting character like Leatherhead, who is understandably traumatized but is an intelligent being who is trying to prevent others form suffering like him. and it helps make some strong episodes.

The first half of the season concludes with the 13th episodes... that aired as the 14th for some reason. But I’m going in order of my DVD’s and this was after Episode 12, so it’s what I’m going with. It both concludes a lot and opens up a lot for the future. The episode I am talking about is, of course New Girl in Town.

TBC in Part Two....

[cartoonloverstuff]

Haunted or Hunted

Yeeeeeeeeeah... so this is really late but here's a spooky-ish fic about the Sing teen trio for Halloween. Please let me know what you think! (Also, im on mobile and don't know how to make long post 'read more', im so sorry) ------------ The "I'm telling ya this is the wrong place!" Johnny insisted as him and Meena followed a curious Ash around the abandoned and poorly cared for property. Moon had sent the three out to an old theater to collect some props the other theater owner no longer needed. After turning off the main road and driving in what seemed like the middle of nowhere for a good 20 minutes, Johnny became suspicious. Once they arrived at the location Google maps had directed them to when he typed the address Moon gave him in, he was convinced there was some mistake. The building they pulled up to vaguely looked like a theater, but it was clearly abandoned and was falling apart. It reminded him of a haunted castle in those mystery cartoons he watched as a kid. The doors and windows were boarded up and as the cherry on top of it all, the sun had long since gone down by the time they arrived and it was shaping up to be a dreary night. Johnny was half expecting an ominous bolt of light to strike behind the building. Johnny had wanted to turn tails and leave as soon as they got close enough to get a good look at the destination, but Ash insisted they look around. "What are the odds Moon happened to write down a wrong address that just happened to also be a theater?" Ash reasoned as she examined the boarded up building. "Maybe the owner left the prop out here somewhere. Or maybe there's still inside and were forgotten about." Ash pressed her face up against a widow trying to see in, a giddy smile on her face. "We need to find a way in!" "Ash." The gorilla sighed, unsure why the porcupine was so taken with the creepy old building. "Come on, there's no way in. Let's just go, yeah?" He tried to reason. Ash turned to cock an eyebrow at him. "You scared?" She smirked knowing. "No!" Johnny huffed red-faced. "Yes!" Meena's answer overlapped Johnny and had no shame. She gave the porcupine a wide-eyed, stricken look. "I'm not exactly jumping at the chance to go in another rickety, falling apart theater." Her voice wavered and and her gaze fell nervously. Ash stopped for moment and gave her friend a concerned look before shaking her head and giving the elephant an encouraging smile. "Deep breathes, Meena. This place isn't gonna up and fall down on us." Ash's voice was gentle and reassuring as she became sensitive to her large friend's fears. "There's no bear gang or crazy water works show here to knock it down, okay?" Ash got Meena to look up at her and give the porcupine a soft smile. "Doesn't even look likes its got workin' plumbin'." Johnny added as he gave the building a disapproving look. "Why would ya want t' find a way into this place? From the looks of it, ya' think there be dead bodies stashed here or somethin'." "As a matter a fact..." Ash dragged out with a huge grin on her face, causing both her companions give look at in slight horror. "I googled the name of this place when we passed a sign for it. Apparently, some goat singer died here 50-some years ago." She said with excitement in her voice as she continued to scan the building for a way in. "That sounds like a dumb internet rumor." Johnny quipped unconvinced. "No, seriously! There's like news articles and records and stuff. Her name was Madame Florence Capra and apparently she was murdered here right after a performance." Ash's eyes lite up as she was practically bouncing in spot pressed against the window. "They found her decapitated body, but never found the killer." The was a brief, horrified silence before Meena spoke up. "That's awful! Is that why this theater is closed?" She gave the building a fearful look. Ash spoke without looking away from the window. "Naw, it only closed a couple of years ago. But there's a bunch of rumors saying she haunts the place. Some say they saw her headless body walking around back stage! Or that they could hear her screaming!" The porcupine grinned eagerly and pushed back from the window to continue her search for a way in. Johnny and Meena exchange a disturbed glance. "Ash, can ya maybe not sound so excited 'bout some lady's death?" Johnny asked looking back at the building uneasily. "And, not to be obvious, but ya know there no such thing as ghos-" "Found a way in!" The larger two heard Ash cut in and looked just in time to see the porcupine squeeze through a missing chunk of a boarded up door. "Ash!" Meena darted to look through the hole in the door, knowing there was no way her or Johnny would fit. Johnny grabbed the door handle and tried to push in open, but it felt solidly in place. "Er, Ash, ya know we can't follow ya, right? The door's boarded up and I think somethin's blocking it." Johnny called out from his side as he sized up the door. "There's nothing blocking it." Ash's muffled voice commented from the other side. Johnny raised an eyebrow as he look over the door again. It didn't look that sturdy. After slamming his shoulder against the door twice and wincing in pain a little after the second attempt, Meena nervously voiced. "Uh, Johnny..." "Nawnawnaw, its fine. Da' worry bout it." He brushed out her concern quickly before she could say anything. He shot the door a glare, taking it as a personal challenge. After half a moment of contemplation, he decided all he needed was a running start. From the other side of the boarded up door and a good distance away, Ash heard running footsteps, the sound of something slamming against he door, and a groan of painful regret. Ash rolled her eyes as she heard Meena fuss over Johnny to make sure he was okay. Turning on her heels, the porcupine decided she was done waiting and wanted to look around. The interior of the old theater looked just as one would have expected from the outside. It was decaying and covered in dust and cobwebs. Ash squinted and blinked frantically as she turned a corner, both trying to avoid dust in her eyes and adjust to her very dark surroundings. After a few moments of not being able to see anything but shadows and vague shapes; she pulled out her phone, switched the flashlight on, and pointed it in front of her. What she saw made her heart stop. Frozen in place, all she could was give a short, chilling scream as shock took control. She barely had time register that she wasn't in actual danger before she heard the splintering sound of thick wood being broken and heavy footsteps on creaky floor boards. Meena appeared around the corner skittering to a stop when she found Ash hunched over and silently wheezing with shocked laughter. The elephant approached slowly trying to decipher what the strained noises Ash was making were. Once Meena realized it was laughter, her panic face morphed into a look of frustration. "Seriously?! I was actually worried about you!" Meena turned to storm back but Ash grabbed her pant leg, the porcupine still trying to gain control her breathing. Between scattered breaths and laughter, Ash tried to convey what happened and pointed in the direction of what scared her. "I-heh-I promise, I w-wasn't messing with you!" She finally managed to pant out just as Johnny turned the corner to find them. He had previously been frozen gawking at the remains of the boarded up door. After recovering and making a mental note not to stay on Meena's good side, he pulled out his phone's flashlight and quickly found the others, with Meena looking rightly ticked off and Ash wheezing and pointing behind. His flashlight flickered up in the direction of Ash's pointing and he and Meena tried to see what it was. Johnny gave out a very unmanly yipe and Meena's heart stopped dead for a moment. Before them was a huge, ghastly wooden cut painted to look like a clown bear. The clown had beady yellow eyes and the most unsettled painted smile the three had ever seen "Wot. The. Hell is the that?!" Johnny stamped out, looking at the clown in something akin to disgust. "What nightmares are made of." Ash quipped before turning back to Meena. "That's why I screamed. Sorry for scaring you. But hey, look on the bright side. You guys got through the door!" "She got through the door." Johnny corrected with a smile, jabbing his thumb at Meena. "I got a sore shoulde'." "Dawww, Meena was worried about meeee!" Ash teased as she leaned on her largest friend's leg affectionately. The elephant wasn't paying either of them any mind, still staring at the clown. "Why would anyone make that?" Meena wondered out loud as she stared in horrified amazement, her frustration thoroughly scared out of her. "Right, I'm callin' it. Moon sent us t' the wrong place. Let's get outta here." Johnny jerked his head in the direction them came in as he spoke. Meena nodded eagerly and turn to follow his out. "Wait, hold on! Can bring this?" Ash said as she went over to the prop to see if it could be moved. "What? Why would you want to bring that?" Meena's attention was back on Ash as she tried to understand the porcupine's motives. "To show Moon we tried. We don't want go emptied-handed, right?" Ash reasoned soundly to the puzzled elephant, giving her large friend an innocent smile. Johnny, however, saw right through it. "Ya' wanna stick that thing in Moon's office and scare the livin' crap outta 'im, don't cha?" He stated exasperatedly. "Yep!" Ash stood next to the clown expectantly with a huge grin on her face. Meena and Johnny traded looks briefly before Meena sighed and caved, walking over to the prop and an excited Ash. The prop was heavy, which wasn't normally a problem for Meena, but it was also large and awkwardly shaped, making it difficult for the elephant to get a good hold on it and carry it. She struggled with it for a few moments before she felt Johnny come over and lift the other side. "Just sayin', I'm pretty sure this is theft." Johnny added as he and Meena made slow progress back around the corner. "You honestly think anyone's gonna miss it?" Ash retorted as she tried not to be underfoot. Johnny didn't answer, his focus on moving the ugly prop and trying to ignore threatening creaking from the floor boards. They were clear of the corner and about halfway to the door when hear a loud crack. All three froze, wide-eyed and scared to move. Johnny and Meena looked at each each other, realizing then that they were two very large mammals, carrying a very heavy prop, on a very rickety floor. This wasn't good. After a beat, Ash took a few cautious steps in front of the other two. She then carefully turned around to address them. "Okay, maybe this was a bad idea. Just leave the clown and get away from each other to spread out the weight." Ash's ordered shooing them in opposite directions. Them fumbled briefly trying to carefully set down the prop before it clattered to the floor. All three stiffened and waited once it felt. When nothing creaked or broke, the larger two cautiously stepped backward and away from each other. They only made it a few feet each before a sickening snap came from below Meena as her foot fell through the floor. She yelled in surprise as she fell against the ground. The other two present immediately forgot their plan as they quickly went to help her up, only realizing their mistake too late. Both were within reach of her when more cracking from all around made them aware of their mistake. Before anyone of them could think of what to do, there was the applause of wooden beams breaking and the floor beneath them gave. The trio fell. To them, it felt like they hit every wooden beam, support and odd bit of cloth on the way down but nothing was strong enough to stop their fall, only break and slow their decent. Finally, Meena hit something something solid and land on her stomach with an 'oof.' Almost immediately, she felt Johnny land heavily on his back on top of her. Half a beat later, she could feel Ash plop on top of Johnny. A chorus of groans emanated from the pile of animals. Johnny was first to make an attempt to get up, helping Ash off of him and on to the ground before quickly turning around to make sure Meena was alright and help her up. While Johnny was busy apologizing profusely for falling on the elephant and said elephant assured him that she was fine, Ash looked up and around at their predicament. It looked like they had fallen about 30 some feet, or about three stories from what Ash could see. The gaping hole left by them in the floor above was followed by a path of broken beams and other building parts from their fall, none of which looked stable enough to climb back upwards. Looking around, Ash saw they were in a large, meandering basement storage area with a relatively high ceiling. There were tons of old theater props and broken equipment were in large, unkept piles covered haphazardly with worn tarps. It was somehow even dustier down there, so much so that the air was thick with dust. What little light there was came from cracks in the floorboards above and where bits of moonlight fit through. Ash sneezed from the dust and shook her head. "Welp, doesn't look like we're goin' that way." Johnny huffed out a sigh and he pointed his phone's light up at the wreckage left from their fall. "There's gotta be stairs goin' up somewhere through, right?" He looked over at Ash who was looking around with a dismal look on her face. "Yeah... yeah, there has to be." She muttered more to herself than to anyone else. Johnny took the lead to find a way out, picking a direction at random, with Meena in tow and Ash close behind. After wandering around the dank and dreary halls formed on decaying walls piles of junk unfruitfully, Ash got impatient and wanted to take the lead. Johnny begrudging humored her for a bit, but soon after got annoyed they were still getting nowhere. Ash quickly snipped that he hadn't gotten them anywhere either. Johnny snapped that she was the reason they were in this mess in the first place. Emotions were running high considering they were all scared and it was coming out in angry arguing between the rocker and rebel. "It's not like I forced you to carry the stupid clown out!" Ash hissed Johnny grumbled back. "Well I wasn't gonna leave Meena to deal with it! Even though she shoulda' just left it-" "Where is Meena?" Ash's sour mood stopped short, wide eyed at the fact Meena was not in sight. Johnny looked back and froze. "...Meena?" Suddenly, Johnny's voice seemed to echo more in a way that made his stomach drop and the dark area seemed so much scarier to the two. "Meena!" He shouted with more force and panic in his voice. He was a rational animal, but being trapped in a creepy old building that looked like it was straight out of a horror film, alleged to be haunted, and losing a member of their group was quickly becoming too much for his nerve to handle. "Meenaaaaa? Come on, this isn't funny!" Ash called out and she meandered back the way they had came. "We're sorry for fighting!" Trying to remain calm, the two double back, their voices loud and unrestrained as their fear built up in them. Suddenly, a massive form appeared behind them and swiftly grabbed them from behind. Both their heart stopped dead the moment two strong hands covered their mouths and wrenched them back. Ash was yanked off the ground and kicked the air helplessly. Johnny was able to put more of a fight but was clearly out sized. The two struggled and tried to scream through their covered mouths until a familiar voice hissed at them. "Will you guys shut up?!" Meena had pulled them back against her so her harsh whisper only made it to their ears and didn't cause an echo. Johnny and Ash stopped struggling, both out of relief it was Meena and shock at her gripping tone. Meena shifted so was properly carrying Ash and not holding the porcupine hostage and released Johnny as well, hoping they both got silencing look she was shooting them through all the darkness. Noise in the distance made her ears flare up and grab Johnny's sleeve to pull the gorilla with her and Ash around a corner just as the noises got close enough for the other to hear. Both Johnny and Ash were confused as to why they were hiding, but neither had the chance to speak up before they heard approaching voices. "They were coming from over here!" An unfamiliar and frantic voice called out. Another, gruffer voice answered. "It was probably just pipe breaking. Again." "No! I'm telling you I heard voices this time! And they were at least two! I know there's someone else down here!" Meena had a death grip on the other two. Johnny was listening intensity, trying to figure out what anyone would be doing down there. Ash was trying to wrap her heard around why they were hiding in the first place. If there were others down there with them, the means there's was a way in and out which the others must know about. So why were they hiding and not asking for help? Ash knew Meena was nervous around strangers, but this seemed excessive to the porcupine. That last thought died in Ash's head when she heard the mechanical clinking of a gun being cocked. All three stiften, now well aware of the real danger they were in. Out of the blue, another sneering voice called out from farther away. "What the hell are you morons doin'?" The new voice bombed with authority. "Sorry, boss. Sammie said he heard something again." The gruffer voice droned in a bored tone. "I did hear something!" Sammie insisted desperately. "I know I did! That's the whole reason you hired me!" "Yeeeah," The boss spoken in a chilling tone. "I hired a jackrabbit to keep an ear out and not let anything surprise us." He pause in a menacing manner. "And yet all you've done is send out false alarms and waste my time. You're lucky the jobs already over Sammie-boy, cuz I've just about had it with you." The leader seemed to growl out the last bit, then their heard retreating foot steps with one final order. "Now get get back to work and start being useful." The other two voice followed their boss, leaving three horrified teenagers afraid for their lives. Ash was the first to speak, her words coming out as sharp, fearful whispers. "What the hell was that about? Why did he have a gun?!" Meena carefully put the porcupine on the ground as she explained. "I think they're hiding something here. Earlier I heard what sounded kinda like drilling. When I tried to find where it came from, I saw them digging up a bunch dirt like they were trying to bury something." She looked down nervously. "I didn't get a good look at what they looked like, through. I saw the guns, panicked, and came looking for you guys." All color had gone from Ash's face. "Oh my god, there actually stashing bodies here!" She squeaked out in dread. Meena looked doubtful. "They were calling it a 'hot stash.'" The elephant added, hoping that meant something to one of the others. Johnny whisper from where he was focused on his phone. "M'kay, so it's not bodies then. They're just hidin' somethin' that they stole and can't sell yet. Or maybe they're diggin' up something they stole awhile back." Glaring at his phone, he sighed angrily. He had already checked to see if he could get a signal and knew it was hopeless, but he had hoped by some miracle, he might be able to call or contact someone. He had no such luck. None of them had had any service since stepping foot into the cursed building. "Right, we can't just go walkin' around 'ere lookin' for a way out. Meena, when ya' hear 'em start drillin' again we'll go back to the hole we fell through." He hushed. Ash gave him a puzzled look. "Johnny, there's no way we can all get up that way! I'm not even sure any of us-" "We don't all have to." Johnny cut off Ash's whispering with his own. "We just need one of us to make it up and get to where they can call someone. The others just need to hold out til help comes." It was a very flawed plan and Johnny knew it, but it was the best he had at the moment. He looked at Ash half expecting her to argue or shoot down his plan with a better one, but she must have also been coming up blank because she just gave a little nod. Meena's ears were already flared out and she was clearly concentrating on listening to the gangsters' operation. After a minute, Meena gave a little nod. "They're drilling again." She breathed out. Ash peaked around the wall they were hidden behind them motioned the others to follow her. A few suspenseful minutes later, they were back below the gaping hole in the floor above, squinting up through dust filled air skeptically. It was just as they had left it, dangerously rickety and what wood remained intact look precarious at best. There was no clear path up, just a lot of unstable looking wooden bits that one could theoretically climb up. It was incredibly unsafe looking, so Johnny of course volunteered himself to do it in the hopes of keeping his friends from harm. Fifteen or so strenuous minutes later, Johnny was less than half way up and not make great progress. "He's not gonna make it." Ash quipped plainly. "He can still do it." Meena argued absentmindedly, her attention split between worriedly watching Johnny and listening to ensure the gangsters were still drilling. They both got their breath caught in their throats when Johnny's grip slipped and he was left dangling by one hand. To make matters worse, the chuck of wood he had been holding came loose and fell all the way to the concert floor below with an echoing clatter. All three tensed and waited silently. After a moment Meena began to relax and whispered to over to Ash. "I think we're okay. There's still-" She froze mid sentence, her ears flared out more and her face filled with dread. "The drilling stopped." Ash went wide-eyed and gave a panicked look up. She knew Johnny won't make it before they had company and waved him to come down. Making a split moment decision, she gave an order. "Meena, throw me." "... Come again?" As Johnny was trying to make something between a rushed and carefully quiet way down again, he heard a whoosh and what sounded like a muffled squeaked of surprise. Snapping his head back upwards, he looked just in time to see Ash airborne and land haphazardly on the slanted piece of wood at the edge of the hole. Both he and Meena held their breath while they saw Ash struggle to find anything to grab on to as she slid backwards on the slanted wood. She scratched at it with her claws frantically before quickly pulling out a quill and stabbing the wood with it. She stopped sliding backwards and breathed a sigh of relief before yanking out another quill and using them to scale up the wood on to more sturdy flooring. Once on stable ground, she turned to look back at her friends and watch as Johnny practically fall the last few feet down. He was barely able to regain balance and stand properly before Meena grabbed his arm and pulled him behind her as she ran out of Ash's sight. Ash's heart was pounding as she starred desperately at where her friends had just been before shaking her head and forcing herself to focus. Shakily, the porcupine turned and ran frantically for the exit hoping her weight didn't cause noticeable creaking. 'You two better still be alive when I get back!' She worried to herself as her running synced up with her pounding heart rate. Meena had heard faint sounds of someone approaching and had grabbed Johnny as soon as he was within reach to drag him out sight of the of whoever was coming. Once they had ducked around a decrepit wall, she hesitated and Johnny took the lead. He didn't have any more clue of where to go or what to do than her, and ended up hiding them amidst a number of large piles of equipment parts in a particularly shadowy corner. Cramped together and facing one another, both were two scare to try and make a get away out of fear of making noise. Both were focused on trying to hear the gangsters, Johnny much less successfully than Meena judging from the strained look on his face. Meena gave it a sparing glance as she tried not to let her mounting panic take control. She had to stay focused. She wasn't sure just how sensitive the rabbit's hearing was or how it rivaled with hers but she wasn't taking any chances, their main advantage right now was that they were trying to keep quiet while the two approaching animals were speaking without fear of being heard. From what she could hear, Sammie was with the gruffer sounding animal (whom she had heard be called Chuck) and was once again trying to convince Chuck they weren't alone. She strained to hear the details of Sammie's frantic babbling, but her concentration was interrupted by Johnny's whisper. "Wot's goin' on? Can ya' hear anythin'?" His curiosity finally got the better of him and poor gorilla couldn't hear anything useful. Meena blinked at him a few times before once again putting all her effort into listening. "I can only hear two of them. The rabbit and I think the other's a sheep, I keep hearing bleating." She reportedly diligently in a soft voice, slightly frustrated she couldn't said anything more useful. "I don't know if they have any guns or anything. But their not very close ye-" "WHAT THE-" Both teens froze up at the exclamation that was plenty loud enough for both to hear. "When did this happen!" The rougher voice bellowed out. Johnny felt his stomach drop as he realized the thug was right where they had been and was almost definitely referring to the massive hole where the trio had fallen through the floor. Wide eyed, he looked up at Meena and saw the same look of dread on her face. "I told you!" Sammie was practically screeching. "I told you I heard something was going on! But nooooo! You were all 'it's just an old building, Sammie,' 'You're overreacting, Sammie,' 'Boss'll be mad if we don't finish working, Sammie.' Well how mad do ya think he'll be if someone got down here and found out about-" The rabbit was shushed and the two gangsters started talking in more hushed tones. Johnny couldn't hear a thing they were saying and gave up quickly opting to instead trying to see if he could read Meena well enough to clue himself in on what she was hearing. Her scared, still expression didn't tell him much and did nothing to ease his nerves. His hands were shaking as he tried to keep a level head, but fear was tampering with his rational. What was the rabbit going to say before being cut off? What if he been wrong earlier and they really were hiding bodies or something sinister? Johnny took a shaky breath and wished is father were there with them. The gang leader gorilla would know what to and probably wouldn't even be phased by the creepy building or whatever these lesser gangsters were hiding. As it was, Big Daddy was not there and all Johnny had was himself on the brink of a panic attack and Meena whom, for all her good qualities, wasn't a very calm animal to begin with. Johnny mentality steadied himself, reminding his scattered brain that they just had to hold out until Ash came back with help. He glanced back up at Meena to check on her. To his surprise, the frightful look on her face had been replace with one of interest. Prompted be curiously, he leaned in, silently asking what she was hearing. After a moment more of careful listening, Meena whispered. "They're really superstitious." She hushed hoping this was something they could use. "The rabbit said something about ghosts being here." Johnny gathered up his courage and peeked around the edge of the wall. "Well maybe we can scare 'em off 'n buy us some time." He breathed as he looked around. He could see the vague shadows of two figures in the distance and counted his blessing the two dangerous animals were in a place where they could see him. Yet. His eyes had long since gotten use to the dark and he could see a few more details about their surroundings. One thing that caught his eye was the thick and falling apart piping that was lining the walls. His eyes followed the pipes over them, an idea formulating in his head. It was interrupted be the sound of the two figures getting close. Johnny yanked himself back so he was properly hidden behind the wall, panic starting to rise. He glanced around and up when that idea that had been trying to get to him finally struck. Looking up, he saw a piece of piping that was disconnected. Nudging Meena to silently get attention, which had be focused on praying to whatever powers might be listening, he shot her clever smile and pointing up to the piping. Meena gave him a confused look, but still complied and reach her trunk up to retrieve the bit of piping. It creaked louder than either liked as the elephant maneuvered the pipe end down, but nevertheless, Johnny got ahold of it and brought it close to his face. He waited for a minute, trying to listen and figure out how close the two gangsters were to them. A ghastly groaning sound echoed throughout the dingy part of the basement the gangsters were searching. Both thugs jumped and their anxiousness skyrocketed. "W-w-w-what was that?!" Sammie stuttered, his voice a few octaves higher than normal. "It was probably nothing." Chuck's response lacked sureness. Just then, another bone chilling groan rattled the very piping of the old theater storage, sounding as though it was coming from everywhere all at once. Sammie looked around frantically before shaking his head. "Oh hell no! I'm not dyin' here! Not me, not today!" He all but muttered to himself as he hurriedly doubled back, Chuck silently following close behind. From his hiding place around one of the walls, Johnny moved the piping away from his mouth and placed a hand over the opening. He chuckled soften to himself when he heard the two thugs practically scream from fright. If his life hadn't been in danger, he would have considered this fun. Meena was listening almost gleefully, smiling for the first time since entering the retched building. She caught Johnny's attention and gave him a million watt smile. "They're leaving! They're going back to the dig site!" She her voice was a little louder and less restrained as relief rushed through her. Johnny leaned around the edge of the wall again to watch their retreating shadows. "They'll probably be back soon. We need a game plan." Despite being incredibly relieved to see the other two animals leave, he stayed focused. Johnny wasn't about to lose sight of how dangerous their situation was. He turned back to face Meena. "Right, think we should find a bette' place to hide or try to find a way out?" "We could go back to the hole. Maybe you can make it up before they get back." Meena offered. Johnny gave her an perplexed look, trying to figure out why she'd suggest that. After a moment of processing, he spoke up. "... But you'd still be here." "Better than both of us being stuck down here." She reasoned shyly as she wrung her hands. Guilt had long since settled in her stomach, and an evil little voice in the back of her mind blamed her for this hold ordeal. She had been one to cause the floor to break. And now Johnny was trapped down here with her despite having a fighting chance of climbing out. It was just like flooded theater incident all over again. 'You got stuck and nearly drowned everyone! Now you've fallen into this mess and dragged your friends with you. If it weren't your fat ass,-' "No." The mean little voice was silenced by Johnny's sure voice. Both to Meena's relief and disappointment, continued. "No way in hell I'm leavin'. Will figure somethin' else out, yeah?" He words had a harsh edge to them, as if scolding her for having even suggesting it. The stern glare he was giving her clue her in that he would probably shoot down any idea that involved them being separated. Meena's gaze fell out to the side sheepishly. She glanced around breifly before her ears flared out as an inspiration hit. "I have an idea." The idea had been fairly straightforward; use the creepy old props and whatnot in the basement to make it seem haunted, scare the superstitious gangsters away from the building, use their method of escaping to leave the building. When the two teenagers started looking around, they equally amazed and disturbed at the props they were able to find. They put their experience as stagehands to good use, quickly setting up ugly wooden cut outs around every turn. Johnny climbed up on some wooden supports above to hang chains that he could shake ominously while Meena used her hearing to make sure no one was close. As soon as she heard approaching footsteps, she signaled Johnny who was sat up on a wooden beam and hidden in shadows. From his hiding spot, Johnny could see Meena below where she was hidden from the gangsters behind piles of discarded machine pieces and other odds and ends, but he couldn't see the gangsters themselves. That was probably a good thing, it meant he was most likely out of their sight as well. With the pipe end positioned up next to him and chains well with in his reach, the gorilla was all set up to give those thugs the scare of their lives. Johnny leaned over and cupped his hands around the pipe end, giving a low, ghostly sounding groan. He heard a couple of surprised yelps from far off a grinned. He glanced down and saw Meena smiling as well before she waved another signal at him. This continued for a good few minutes, and Johnny really was getting into it. He started putting more of his body weight into shaking the chains hung up and was confident the two thugs were close to there breaking point. Unfortunately, so was the wooden support he was sat on. With out warning, there was a sudden snap from under him and the gorilla yelled as he fell, clattering in the cruelly ungiving cement floor below. "Johnny!" Meena gasped and at side in a heartbeat, picking him off the floor and straining in the poor light to check him for injury. The fall had knocked the wind out of the gorilla but hadn't done much damage, and was currently the least of his problems. "Over there!" Johnny just barely heard a voice coming in their direction and hoped against hope he heard wrong. One glance at Meena's terror stricken face made it clear he had not. The nook that Meena have hidden in had had many barriers as to keep her out of sight, but now it met they were trapped. As running footsteps came their way, Johnny accepted his fate and stood up defensively in front of Meena, as if he could somehow shield her from whatever was about to come next. Heart pounding like a jackhammer, Johnny mentality prepared himself for what was coming, his whole body went shaking in full on 'fight or flight' mode when he saw two vaguely shaped shadows from around the bend getting closer and closer. He held his breath was tense up in anticipation for whatever was going to happen. "Ahhhhhhhhh!" Both teens jumped at the sound of a frightful scream. Squinting in what little light there was, they saw the shadows scatter into shapeless movement, neither able to make out what was going on. Johnny heard something clatter to the floor as if someone was knocking stuff over and heard general panicked commotion. "...wot's goin' on?" He finally whispered to Meena. Looking behind him, he saw the elephant looked just as befuddled as him. "I don't know. I just hear a lot of screaming and bleating. Wait, hang on, ...they're running away again." Her face scrunched up in confusion and concentration as she softly spoke. Her mind tried to piece together what on earth scared the thugs off. She focused on listening as hard as she could for a few more seconds before her attention was stolen and her eyes suddenly lite up. She looked at Johnny with a beaming smile that nearly split her face. "I hear sirens!" Ash thanked the powers that be when she saw the one bar of service on her phone. She was out of the building and most of the way to Johnny's car when she saw it. Which was good cause she didn't realize until she was nearly at the car that she couldn't drive it away, she didn't have the keys or the ability to reach the petals with her short legs. Nevertheless, her shaking hands managed to dial 911 and her scattered words got the address and situation through to the poor, confused animal on the other end. Twenty painstakingly long minutes later, Ash saw the flashing blue and red light approaching. What happened next was a blur of police radios and officers setting up to block the gangsters from making a run for it. An cheetah officer kept Ash behind one of the cars with her as the porcupine intensely watched the other officers go in. Ash almost screeched with delight when she caught sight of a familiar lighting bolt green sweater, followed by a glint of baby was close behind. Meena and Johnny were being led out by officers with their hands behind their heads. Ash was jumping behind the cop car. "That's them! Those are my friends! They're not dangerous! They were the ones in trouble!" Ash grabbed the cheetah's arm as she babbled almost desperately. The cheetah glance at her before waving the officers with the other two teens over. As soon as the larger two teens were told they could put their arms down, Ash threw herself at them to hug them. The three were a mess of hugs and teary relief. "We're bring three more out." The police radio scratched out. The trio separated a bit while still staying close to one another to watch the gangsters as they were bought out and led to police cars. The officers brought out a glaring kangaroo, soon followed by a jackrabbit and large wolf, all of whom were already in handcuffs. As the walked by to be stuffed into police cars, the kangaroo growled to himself. "Twenty grand. I pay you both twenty grand each and ya get outsmarted by a couple of kids." He shot deathly glares at his hired help as he was pushed into a nearby police car. Ash grinned proudly as she heard this, but both Johnny and Meena looked concerned. "Excuse me, officer?" Meena got the attention of a rhino cop near by. "Are you sure that's everyone who was inside?" The rhino tilted his head to the side as he spoke. "That's everyone we've found. Did you see anyone else in there?" He cocked an eyebrow at Meena and she pulled her ears close to her face and shook her head a little. "Chief, we found what they were digging up!" A bull called out and the cheetah looked up. The bull came over with a dirt cover brief case. All three teens looked over with interest from where they were huddled together. The case opened with a click and Johnny immediately shut in his tight, his imagination getting too carried away with what it might be. After hearing a small gasp, he tenses up and started talking. "Wot is it? Is it body parts." His voice was rushed and slightly panicked. Judging from that fact he could hear Ash snickering at him, he was guessing it wasn't body parts. Peeking an eye open, he saw the case was completely full white crystal looked things. "They kinda' look like uncut diamonds." Meena thought out loud. "Indeed they are. Good eye." The cheetah grinned. Meena smiled shyly and felt her ears pull close to her head again, bashful from the chief's praise. Closing up the case, the cheetah continued. "We're going to have to keep you three around for questioning, but after that you're free to go-" "How ya do?!" All three teens jumped at the shrill voice and turned to see the rabbit and wolf by the police car next to them. Chuck, the wolf, was being shoved in first and the rabbit was looking right at them, his hands behind his back and an officer behind him. After a moment, Johnny tried to answer. "Wot, ya mean the noises and whatnot? We just snuck around and used pipes 'n chains." He shrugged a little with a gloating smile. The rabbit looked entirely unsatisfied with that answer. "What about the goat, huh?!" His voice was desperate and demanding. Johnny and Meena both looked confused. "The wot?" "The goat! That-th-that screaming headless go-" "Okay, that's enough." The rhino officer behind Sammie had lost his patience and took his turn to stuff the rabbit into the cop car as the three teens watch. Ash had a huge grin plasters on her face. "Damn, you guys really scare the hell out of him." She chuckled and turned to look up at her friends, asking causally. "So how did ya pull it off?" She was meet with two blank, horrified looks. Both were still staring at where the rabbit had just been, unblinking and unmoving. Ash's smile slowly faltered as she looked between the two and suddenly had a very unsettling feeling. True to the cheetah chief's promise, the three teens were thoroughly questioned and sent on their way home. During the drive back, the three sat in a heavy silence, save for the sound of the trucks tires on the gravelly road. Each was completely wrapped up in their own thoughts. After a long while, Ash's voice finally broke the silence. "At least it was on our side." The porcupine thought out loud, getting the other two passenger to look her way. "Wot you goin' on about?" Johnny asked lightly, quickly glancing at her before returning to the road ahead. "The ghost." Ash calmly brought up what they were all thinking about. "It didn't show up or do anything until you guys were in trouble, right? It helped you guys out so maybe it was on our side." She reasoned coolly as she stared ahead with heavy eyes. The porcupine's comments brought a soft smile to Meena's features and caused all of them to relax a little. They fell back into silence, but this time it was a comforting silent. All three felt a little better. -------- Sorry this is long, I didn't bother separating the chapters.