Casey and Michelangelo stand side by side, peering out the slit in their cage's wall. Casey has his mask flipped down although it does little to hide how angry he is. His eyes tell all.
"I don't want to say I told you so about Mondo," he starts. "No, wait, I totally want to say I told you so!" he snaps.
"Psst, guys!"
"Mondo?" Michelangelo asks.
Mondo's face appears, upside-down, in the gap. "Sorry about all this, dudes. Fishface is bogus!" he says. He opens his mouth to reveal that he has his tongue wrapped around a key. "Totally getting you out of here."
He scuttles down to the lock and jams the key inside, twisting his tongue as much as possible. Before he gets too far, a spotlight turns on and Mondo squeaks, falling off the wall and making the spectating boys flinch.
There's the brief shrieking of microphone feedback before Fishface's voice is heard. "Oh, Jason, Jason, Jason. You were one of my most promising errand boys, but helping the enemy escape? You are dead to me. In fact, let's make that official, eh? You're going to compete in the race!"
Mondo's tail curls against him as a light switches on, showing a viewing room jam-packed with mutant baddies from all over New York.
"Right now!" Fishface continues.
Mondo plasters himself against the cage wall. "Double bogus."
"Totally," Michelangelo squeaks.
More spotlights switch on as the cage doors swing open. Casey and Michelangelo walk out into the light as Fishface swings down from the ceiling, microphone in one hand and the other securely gripping the rope holding him up.
"Ladies and gentlemutants! In tonight's race: five competitors, one survivor! No rules!" he bellows. "Whoever crosses the finish line first wins in Mr. X's X-treme Skate to the Death Death-a-thon 5000!" The words light up on the wall behind him as he says it. "Can you dig it?" Cheers and hollers sound from the audience.
"Dude, you see that audience?" Casey asks.
"It's like a who's who of evil jerkfaces," Michelangelo agrees.
They can see Tiger Claw, Emery, Rahzar, Baxter Stockman, Bebop, Rocksteady, the Purple Dragons, some Italian gang members, a giant weed mutant and spider from the turtles' previous adventures, there's even a cackling pizza slice. It's enough to unnerve them all.
"Meet tonight's racers!" Fishface calls. "First, we have Michelangelo, the dumbest of all the stupid, pathetic turtles!"
"Hey, I'm smart!" Michelangelo calls. "I'm just the party dude!"
There's laughter from the audience as Fishface continues. "Next, we have Casey Jones, vigilante and obligatory human ally."
"I am not obli—oblidary!" Casey shouts. More mocking laughter.
"Third, Jason, the gecko boy, a traitor to mutants everywhere!"
Instead of laughter, there's loud boos and roars from the crowd. Mondo makes a choked noise in his throat and backs up. Fishface swings around to face the spectators.
YOU ARE READING
Forest Mutation (Book Two)
Fanfiction"In Saskatchewan, when I couldn't fall asleep, I'd watch the moon and think about how across the country and over the border, you were probably out on a rooftop beneath the same moon. You were the first person I enjoyed the moon with. Every other ti...
