Complete Turtle Overload (TMNT Book 5)

Of Kraang and Turtles

Just as we all thought Leo was a goner, Raph glided over with Leo clutched under his armpits. When he came into sight, I relaxed and let out a relieved sigh.

"Leo!" Sophie exclaimed, shooting over to him.

He smiled with a relieved face and Sophie gave me over to Julie who smiled and continued on with Donnie, Melanie and Mikey. I smiled up at Mikey who smiled back down at me. I raised my arms up to him and he took me from Julie who nearly let me slip down into the streets below.

Sophie took Leo from Raph when she zoomed up to them. She took Leo with some difficulty being aloft, but soon gathered her balance again and held him close. Raph came up with the rest of us and Melanie whacked Raph on the back of his head with a wing. Raph glared at her and Melanie giggled, gliding off to be behind Donnie who only smiled.

That's when I heard the scream.

We all turned around and a giant circular flying Kraang tech with pimple-like protrusions coming out of its shiny hide. In the smack dap center was an eye-looking device. We all slowed and stopped, unsure what to make of it.

"They got the Technodrome through the portal..." Donnie finally let out. It sounded as if he voice cracked for a second.

"So we fly?" I mentioned.

"Fly!" Sophie screeched, turning around and zipping toward us as a high pitched whining came from the drone and a pink electric bolt shot out, aiming for her. It missed Sophie by inches but hit Melanie's wings, making her plummet with a scream.

Raph dived down and snatched Melanie up before making a safe landing on the roofs. Julie dived down so suddenly I was surprised I hadn't lost my lunch. Another pink bolt of lightning flashed at the corner of my vision and I grounded my teeth together, clutching onto Julie. She landed a few rooftops away from Raph and Melanie. I stood up then turned my attention back up to the skies.

Leo and Sophie were getting close to landing when a lightning bolt hit Sophie's backpack. I thought I her jerk about as if she got hit but she clung onto Leo and they landed in the alley near us. I started to jump down to join them when Donnie flashed by my vision, landing with a roll and breaking his set of wings.

When I saw everyone safely land, I went to check on Leo and Sophie. They were behind a dumpster and when I came up, Leo was carrying Sophie rather than the other way around.

"What happened?" I asked, eyes widening.

"The bolt," Leo panted. "It hit her backpack and some of it hit her... She was conscious for a while, but when we landed, she wasn't awake..."

"Then we gotta get her back," Julie said behind me as she came up.

"And ask Splinter on what to do.." I muttered.

Everyone nodded. "Mikito's right," Leo huffed. "Julie, could you take Sophie?" Julie nodded and came up, picking Sophie up like she was a doll. "Now lets go cautiously. We don't know if we'll be followed or not."

We all nodded and followed Leo to a manhole cover and began to head back to the lair. We took a while even because we backtracked and sidetracked to make sure nobody was following us.

When we got there, Julie took Sophie to the lab with Donnie close behind her along with Leo even. I looked around for Naomi but didn't see her. So I went with Raph, Melanie and Mikey to explore around. It was all quiet, actually.

"Naomi?" Raph called out. "Sensei? April?"

"Don't you think Naomi would at least be welcoming us?" I asked.

"Maybe she's sleeping...?" Mikey offered.

"I highly doubt that," Raph grumbled.

I decided to branch off from the two arguing and look around by myself. Melanie did decide to follow me though and I smiled at her thankfully. We went to the dojo to look around and noticed it was all quiet there to. Sensei wasn't even meditating.

"Agh!" Melanie wailed. I turned around and saw Kirby pinning her down. I came up and dragged him off. Naomi's daughter looked at him in shock as he elbowed me in the stomach. I coughed and loosened my grip.

"Help!" I cried out as Kirby kicked me away. I was on the ground and looked up at April's father before Raph and Mikey came from nowhere and pinned the man down.

Melanie came up to him with a growl before pausing. "Wait! Look..." She crouched down and pointed at something on the back of his neck. I crawled over, too lazy to get up then crouch down again, and looked where Melanie was pointing. Sure enough, there was a small device on the back of his neck flashing purple in the center.

"Weird..." Mikey muttered.

"I'll get Donnie," I offered. "We don't know if it'll hurt him to take it out..."

"Hurry then," Raph muttered.

Nodding, I got up and rushed to the lab. When I walked in, Sophie was sitting up on the table, holding her head. Donnie looked over at me while Leo was talking softly to Soph. Julie was in a chair relaxing.

"What're you needing, Mikito?" Donnie asked.

"Kirby has something on the back of his neck. He attacked Melanie and I," I responded. Donnie and Julie blinked widely before hurrying past me and going to the dojo where everyone was waiting.

I turned back to Leo and Sophie who was getting up off the lab table. Leo helped her stand while I came up to give some encouragement. Sophie smiled at me and I hugged her, "Glad you're okay."

"It scared me was all," Sophie chuckled nervously, hugging back. "It was quite a shock, let me tell you."

"I bet!" I grinned. "But you were really awesome the way you handled the situation."

Sophie smiled her gratitude and looked at Leo who was smiling softly as well. Leo then looked toward the lab door and sighed, "Lets see what went wrong with Kirby..."

Sophie and I both nodded and followed Leo out to the main room and toward the dojo where Kirby was sitting up and holding the back of his neck. Donnie was holding the small device that was in Kirby and sighed.

"Kraang..." he muttered.

"They were controlling him?" Julie asked.

"By the looks of it, yes."

"But how?" Melanie asked. "He's been with us for a few days. If the Kraang found our hideout, then they would have sent soldiers by now."

"Maybe they had it on him when they returned him to us," Sophie offered. "But didn't turn on the attack mode until it was the right time."

"Makes sense..." I muttered. "Kraang... Always stupidly smart."

"Nice way to negate the sentence," a new voice spoke up. We all turned around to see a bruised Naomi. She frowned behind her black mask and sighed as she stepped up. Nobody said a word. Naomi broke the silence, "Shredder has April..."

"What!?" we all shouted.

Naomi only nodded. "Kirby left with April... Then came back with a mouser to give the message to Sensei. Sensei and I left to confront Shredder about April, but he sent me home before he entered the chapel..."

"Then how are you bruised?" Raph asked.

Her sharp blue gaze turned directly to him. "Because we did fight a few foot ninjas... He saw me injured and sent me home to wait for you all."

"So he went to confront Shredder by himself?" I asked. Naomi looked at me this time and nodded slowly. "Will he be okay?"

"This time, yes."

"This time?" Leo spoke up. "What do you mean, 'this time'?"

Naomi shook her head and then Kirby started shuffling around now. We were all paying attention to him at this point. He hadn't said anything while we were all discussing things. He looked at all of us with a saddened expression.

"Naomi is right," he sighed. "Shredder has taken April."

"I feel like you're going to say more," I added in.

"Because Shredder has given April away to the Kraang."