The Turtle Charm

The Key

Somewhere in the distance, someone was getting interrogated. Meanwhile, I was waking up in an unfamiliar bedroom. As I got up from the bed, my stomach gurgled. "Gha...Necesito...comida..." I made my way from the room. As I got closer to where the integration was, someone said, "Master Leonardo drew it on the back of that picture."

"It's that thing the Foot was trying to steal earlier!"

"You have it already? That's great!" As I entered the room the sight of the hockey mask-wearing Casey Jones tied to a chair greeted me. The turtles, Splinter, and April O'Neil all surrounded him.

Leo looked tense as he said, "Well...not really," as everyone seemed to become more annoyed with him he quickly amended, "But the girl in the other..."

I found myself crashing down again, crashing into things. "Holy shell, she okay?" asked the yellow blur of April. 

"My scanners are indicating it's her blood sugar," said a blurry Donnie, "We kind of used all the leftovers earlier, but we should still have some juice boxes in the fridge.

"On it," red blur Raph zoomed off somewhere. 

"I'll order some pizza," said blurry Mikey "Quick, girl, what's you're favorite?"

"Ha-wa-iian," I croaked, "Con chile verde..." Then I passed out again. 

It was the sweet entwined scent of pineapple, infused with the intoxicating scent of chile that brought me back. In my state, I was bound to attack it, paying little mind to the bursts of flavor I usually would savor or the weakness of the chile's spice. I almost choked on a slice until a carton of orange juice was handed to me and then proceeded to wolf down the rest. After polishing it off, I felt a bit sad as I gave out a bit of a hiccup.

A chuckle rang from behind me, "Oh my shell, that was cute. Wasn't that cute, guys?" Remembering my situation, I bounded up and faced where the 'cute' remark came from. "So... how's the pizza?" said Leo, "Sounds like it was pretty good."

"How could it be good? It has pineapple of all things on it," said Donnie.

"Hey, she asked for it. Everyone has their own preferences, Don," said Mikey.

"She must be alien then..." The purple-clad turtle narrowed his eyes at me. Though...If I wasn't just dreaming and I really was in an alternate universe, Donnie wasn't wrong about that...

"Never mind about any of that, you guys said she was the last person with the key?" asked Casey, who was still tied up.

"Oh, right," said Raph, "Umm, first...Hi, how are you doing?" You would expect any other Raphael to burst into bad cop mode, but this guy...he gave off big old teddy bear vibes. For some reason, I just burst into tears, shocking the big guy who said, "Whoa! It's okay we're not gonna hurt you. We're the good guys."

"Sorry, I know, but the thing is, I was back home in Burque one moment, then I was here the next. And can't even call mi mama..."

For some reason, everyone gave Leonardo a look, again, to which he replied, "What? I didn't portal her from...where was it?"

"Burque. Albuquerque, New Mexico."

"You're from Mexico? My friend Hueso is from there too...I think?" 

"New Mexico is a state, Dumb dumb," said Donnie before his eyes glided back to me, "Now, what's your name?

"Tina. My name is Valentina Tortuga," I sniffled, wiping away some tears.

"Okay, Tina, do you remember this thingy?" Raph handed me a rough sketch of the cylinder from before.

"Si, I do."

"Do you know where it is?"

"In the ally dumpster where I landed," I said, hoping my involvement in these cartoon shenanigans would be short, "I don't know how it happened or even remember where it was, though..."

"You dumped her in the trash?" said Raph turning to Leo with a scowl before sighing, "Do you at least remember where it was you portaled her?"

"No..." said the blue-clad turtle before the stares intensified, "What? We were in the heat of battle with the Foot!"

"Oh, man," said Casey, "We got to get that key back before they do..."

Confused the entire time, I asked, "Will somebody please tell me what's going on? What are even the stakes here?"

"Oh, it just means the end of everything we know and love," said Mikey seemingly nonchalant.

"Look Tina," said Casey, "If we don't keep that key from the Foot, if they don't already have it that is, a very bad group that calls themselves the Krang are going to destroy the world as you know it. You won't have a home to return to."