Total Turtle Transformation (TMNT Book 4)

Not-So-Scared Turtle Raphael

Before I could ask what that look was for, something cut right through from below the Shell Raiser and almost cut Raph in half if he hadn’t scooted back in time.

“He has a saw!?” Raph asked, a pure look of shock and fright written on his face. “The cockroach has a saw!”

“Obviously!” Sophie said as Leo slashed the saw’s cord in half. It continued wiggling around grossly, still trying to cut something. “Gross…”

“Not any more,” Leo breathed. “Donnie stay here and fix the Shell Raiser while we distract the roach.”

“I’m not coming,” Raph shook his head.

Grabbing his arm and dragging him out, Naomi didn’t say a word. Only Leo did and he said, “Yeah you are.”

We followed them out and when I came out, Raph was on the ground, sitting up against Naomi like a little kid, holding her hand. Naomi didn’t seem to mind, but then again, she looked like she was concentrating.

“Hey Spy Roach!” Leo called out. “Raph’s right here!”

“You’re using him as bait?” Natasha asked.

“Yep,” Leo nodded. “Come and get him!”

“Stop it!” Raph snapped as threatening he could, but it failed.

Naomi looked under the Shell Raiser as the roach crawled out from under it. Screaming, Raph got up and ran, Naomi not even stopping him. Instead, she made Mikey go after him first as we tried to slow the roach down. No, he jumped over us and started walking where Raph and Mikey went to.

“I’m gonna help Donnie,” Naomi announced, walking in the Shell Raiser. “I just came out to get Raph out.”

So we continued toward the roach, but he was faster than he looked. When we found Raph and Mikey, Raph was cowering in a corner and Mikey looked like he was whispering something to him. We passed a frozen roach on the way, so we decided to watch.

“On one condition!” Mikey said in a rusty voice.

Screaming, Raph agreed, “Anything!”

Sophie nudged me and I nearly laughed. Raph didn’t know Mikey was talking to him. Then again, his shell was to us, but it was funny.

Answering Mikey said, “Be good to Michelangelo!”

Still screaming, he calmed it down a little and asked, “Uh, what?”

“Let him read your comics every once in a while,” Mikey held back in his own laughter.

That’s when Raph turned around and got up, yelling in his usual Raph-like self, “Mikey!” then kicked him over to us.

“Ow!” Mikey whined. “Guess you didn’t learn your lesson!”

We blocked Mikey from Raph as he tried to get at Mikey for doing that to him. While we were doing that, we were laughing our shells off, at least the girls were.

“Where’s the roach?” Raph demanded, giving up trying to get to Mikey.

Moving aside, we showed him the roach stuck in time. He was standing on wet cement, so it looked like he was trapped in there. Laughing, Raph came up and kept poking him with a Sais.

“Oh, ho.” Raph chuckled. “Not so tough now, roachy? You’re just a--” he tapped the roach’s head and it all fell apart. “--Hollow shell… What the…?”

“Nice going, Raph,” I said. “You killed it while it was standing there, being frozen.”

“No, no,” Leo said. “He molted.”

“Molted?” everyone asked.

“Yeah,” Leo nodded. “See, cockroaches shed their skin whenever they get to big.”

Turning around, Mikey said, “You weren’t kidding.”

The rest of us turned around and a slightly bigger cockroach was standing there. It was about a few inches taller than the other one. Also, he was a pale, very pale, blue-green and slimy.

“That is gross…” Sophie moaned.

“A cockroach…” Raph muttered. “Why did it have to be a cockroach?”

Suddenly, it jumped in the air and started flying. My jaw dropped and Mikey took my hand.

“And it flies!” Raph exclaimed.

Lurching forward, all of us jumped out of the way as it grabbed Raph and took to the air.

“Raph!” Leo called.

“Do you think Naomi would be disappointed if we don’t return him?” Sophie asked, getting up with my help.

“That a trick question, Sophie? Really?” I asked.

“Depends on what you think of it,” she smirked.

“We gotta follow them!” Leo said, running off. The rest of us followed. It was convenient because the roach was going back to the Shell Raiser with Raph. Suddenly, Raph got loose and fell on the Shell Raiser. We all climbed in and Naomi slammed down something on the battery, and had the Shell Raiser jump forward. Leo took the wheel and we drove off.

“We still have that Kraang drill to worry about, right?” Natasha asked, looking at the computer screen.

“Yeah,” Leo nodded.

“Well, we gotta hurry, then!” Sophie exclaimed.

“Uh, guys,” Donnie interrupted. “We got company.”

“Again?” Naomi moaned.

“Make it go away,” I said.

“I tried.” Naomi growled. “It’s a mix of machine and roach. The machine part won’t let me through.”

“Well, it molted,” Sophie shuddered.

“It still has the thinking of a machine.” Naomi snapped, crossing her arms and leaning against the wall.

Suddenly, the top of the Shell Raiser popped open and the roach’s hand reached in. Mikey pushed me out of the way and he got grabbed. “Mikito!”

“Mikey!” I cried, trying to reach for him.

On the computer screens, Mikey screamed out and everyone was on their feet.

“It’s got Mikey!” I cried.

“That’s it…” Raph growled, pushing his small desk away from him. “I’m going after him.”

“You don’t have to do this to prove you’re not afraid,” Leo said.

“I am afraid,” Raph admitted, making the rest of us in the back look at each other with a semi-shocked look. “That’s why I’m doing this…” he moved his equipment and looked down at the Stealth Bike’s area saying, “I’m coming, Mikey. No seven foot cockroach is gonna eat my brother.” and he jumped down.

Then he shot off and we waited while driving to the Kraang facility, me giving off direction. “Left… Straight for three blocks, then another left… Right! Wait…. That should’ve been four blocks from now… Just take another left and continue going straight.”

Around that time, Mikey banged on top of the Shell Raiser and Raph still hadn’t made it back. We continued though, ignoring the fact that the creepiest of us was saying nothing, again. I think we were getting used to that…

When the Kraang facility came up, Raph was finally seen behind us. We charged right through, but then the big door started to shut, so Leo stepped on it. The doors were closing quickly and I thought we shot between them, but, instead, we were stuck between them.

Now we couldn’t get through, and the drill was already a few feet in the crust.