by 3 Ninja Tales (The Rise of Tiger Claw; The Casey Chronicles; Mutants in Space!) (retail) (epub)
Once in Donnie’s laboratory, April was excited to demonstrate the unusual Kraang object she found in the alley. All four Turtles had gathered in the lab for the demonstration. Donnie wasn’t all that thrilled to see Casey, but he was always happy to see April.
“Then you press this button,” April said, pressing the center of the strange disk, “and … portable portal!”
The glowing magenta triangle was projected from the device to the floor of the lab. Inside the triangle, the light pulsed and shifted. Patches of white and blue swirled around, too, though most of it remained magenta.
The Turtles stared at the triangle. They had never seen anything like it.
Donnie leaned forward to take a closer look. “Wow! The Kraang are always one step ahead!”
“How do you know it’s a portal?” Leo asked.
“Simple,” Casey said. “We saw those robot dudes walking into it. They didn’t come out the other side. They just disappeared!”
Donnie put his hand to his chin, thinking. “I wonder if this Kraang device is what’s behind the earthquakes. We’re going to have to test it.”
But Leo wasn’t sure. He questioned whether testing an alien technology they knew nothing about was really wise—especially if the tech might have something to do with the recent earthquakes. “Think that’s a good idea, Donnie?”
Donnie hesitated. On the one hand, he respected Leo’s opinions and knew that caution was always smart. On the other hand, he was so intrigued by the mysterious portal that he couldn’t wait to start analyzing it.
Waiting wasn’t Casey’s strong suit, either. “If you Turtles are going to be slow about it …”
“Slow? Turtles?” Raph said. “What’s THAT supposed to mean?”
“It means,” Casey said defiantly, “I’m going through that portal! Right now!” He walked toward the glowing triangle, but Raph stopped him.
“You’re crazy!” he said, poking Casey in the chest. “Nuts! Outta your gourd!” Using both hands, he shoved Casey, knocking him onto his butt. “I’M goin’ first!” He turned, jumped right into the swirling light of the portal, and disappeared!
“Raph!” Leo shouted. But he was already gone.
There was no way Casey was going to miss out on this adventure. “Come on, Red!” he said, grabbing April’s hand. He ran straight into the triangle, pulling April in with him.
“April!” Donnie cried. When he saw his secret crush disappear with Casey, Donnie didn’t hesitate for a second. He refused to be left behind. “Wait for me!”
He jumped into the portal and disappeared.
Mikey and Leo were left standing there in the lab, staring at the magenta triangle. Leo wasn’t sure what to do. He couldn’t abandon his friends, but he had a bad feeling about just leaping through a Kraang portal. Who knew where they’d end up?
Mikey turned to Leo. For him, the decision was simple. “Can’t let ’em go alone, dude!” Taking a deep breath and putting his hands together over his head as though he were diving into a swimming pool, he ran straight into the triangle and vanished. The portal rippled like a pond that had had a rock thrown into it.
“Mikey!” Leo called after his brother. He sighed and slapped his forehead. Then he ran into the glowing triangle himself.
For a moment, the empty lab was still. Then it started shaking. Another earthquake! The lights flickered, and chunks of cement fell from the ceiling. One chunk hit the Kraang device, knocking it to the floor. It slid into the wall, and the impact shut the device off. It stopped projecting the glowing magenta triangle.
The portal was closed!
Leo jumped out of the portal and landed on … nothing. He took a few steps forward. It was as though he were walking on an invisible floor, high in the sky, with puffy white clouds floating below.
In front of him he saw two long rows of magenta triangles, stretching into the distance as far as he could see. He realized they were actually three-dimensional pyramids, not flat triangles.
The others stood in front of him, staring at the bizarre surroundings. “Okay,” Raph said slowly. “This is … weird.”
Mikey and April approached one of the magenta pyramids and looked through it. They saw an alien world, with shiny spheres hanging in the atmosphere.
“Wow,” Donnie marveled. “It’s like the Grand Central Station of dimensional travel!” He put his fist to his chin, thinking. “The Kraang must use it as a gateway between realities….”
Behind Mikey, the magenta portal made an odd electronic sound and … disappeared! Mikey whipped around. When he saw what had happened, he grabbed his head and yelled, “Guys, the door’s gone! We’re trapped!”
“There are thousands of doors,” Leo pointed out, trying to reassure everyone that they weren’t trapped. “Everyone start searching for a way home!”
Donnie was amazed by the beauty of the alien world he saw through the first pyramid and wanted to share it with April. “Wow, look at this, April!”
She came over and looked into the pyramid Donnie was staring into. She saw an astonishing, snowy world. “Amazing,” she gasped. “It’s so beautiful….” Donnie leaned his head closer to April’s….
But Casey saw what his rival was doing. “Check THIS out, Red!” he called. April left to join Casey in front of a different pyramid. Donnie scowled, and then walked over to see what Casey had found—a way back home?
But when the Turtles and April peered into the pyramid, they saw something very surprising….
“It’s US!” Mikey exclaimed. “But why do we look like dorks?”
The four Turtles, Casey, and April were all recognizable, but they looked like flat cartoon characters walking down the street together!
While Donnie, Raph, and Mikey stared at these bizarre cartoon versions of themselves, Leo moved on to another pyramid, searching for one that would take them back to their own world. But he found something very different….
“Guys, look!” he called. “I think it’s Dimension X!”
The others quickly joined him. “Home of the Kraang,” Raph hissed as he stared through the pyramid at the strange magenta world with spiked spheres and flying crafts buzzing through the sky.
“This place is makin’ my brain melt!” Mikey cried. April quickly covered his mouth with her hand and closed her eyes. “Shhh,” she whispered. She was getting one of her psychic feelings. “I sense something … coming!”
As they stared into Dimension X, the Turtles were horrified to see a platform with two large Kraang-droids fly into view. But they didn’t look like businessmen in suits. They looked like huge blue-green apes controlled by the Kraang sitting on top of them!
The droids growled and headed straight toward the pyramid portal!
“They’re on to us!” Casey cried.
A bolt of energy blasted out of the pyramid! The Turtles, Casey, and April ducked as it crackled over their heads. Two Kraang crafts came whizzing out of the portal!
Piloted by Kraang aliens, the small ships kept blasting magenta lightning bolts at the Turtles, who dove to dodge the zaps of energy.
“Biotroid, destroy!” commanded a robotic voice. Two of the blue-green ape-droids leaped out of the portal, swinging their gigantic fists. Mikey dodged the blows, and Donnie used his bo staff to knock the first ape-droid aside.
Wielding his two katana swords, Leo faced off against the other ape-droid. If only he could get a good, clear shot at the Kraang riding on top, sitting where a real ape’s brain would be …
ZWIZZZZ! The ape-droid shot two sharp clip-on wires out of its chest, straight at Leo. He flipped, somersaulted, and twisted away from the droid, avoiding the deadly clips. But the ape-droid kept chasing him….
“HYUNH!” Raph grunted as he vaulted onto the ape-droid’s shoulders from behind. He slammed his sais down into the robot’s shoulders, hoping to shut him down. But the ape-droid whirled around, punched Raph and sent him flying!
Casey saw one of the small Kraang ships flying toward him. “Casey
Jones shoots …,” he said, calling his own moves like a sports announcer. He batted the ship away with his hockey stick. WHACK! The ship hurtled into one of the pyramids and disappeared. “He scores!”
The ape-droid that punched Raph held him down with his foot and drew back his fist, ready to deal Raph a punishing blow. But then … CRACK! April’s sharp-edged fan smacked the droid in the head and spun right back into her hand! The ape-droid fell back, seeing stars.
But now it was mad—or maybe the Kraang controlling the droid was mad. It thumped its chest like an angry gorilla!
Leo flipped his way up onto the shoulders of the other ape-droid and plunged his swords into the device the Kraang was riding in, breaking it. The droid crashed to the ground, and the Kraang alien scrambled away on its tentacles.
The angry ape-droid who was beating its chest charged right at Mikey, Leo, and Raph!
“Here it comes!” Mikey yelled.
“LOOK OUT!” Raph warned.
The ape-droid launched itself through the air with both feet and both fists flying. “YAAAUUUUGH!” screamed Leo, Raph, and Mikey as they were knocked into one of the magenta pyramids.
Donnie, Casey, and April ran up to the pyramid. “Guys! Let’s follow ’em!” Donnie yelled. But a Kraang flew up in a tiny craft and hit a button on a remote control. The pyramid disappeared!
“They’re gone!” April cried.
Knowing he was too high for them to reach, the Kraang taunted them, showing them the remote control.
“We gotta get that remote!” Casey said.
But the Kraang tossed the remote from one tentacle to another and into a different pyramid! The remote control was gone now, too!
Before Donnie, Casey, and April had any time to even think about this latest problem, another ape-droid dropped down in front of them. It turned around and its butt opened on a hinge, revealing the barrels of two big guns!
“Butt cannons!” Donnie said in disbelief. “RUN!”
The three friends turned and fled, dodging the blasts from the butt cannons.
In a New York City alley, a cat dug through a garbage can. When it heard the humming sound of a large, glowing triangle that appeared several feet up in the air, it meowed and ran off.
Leo, Raph, and Mikey fell out of the portal right into the garbage bin. “WHOOOAAA!”
Mikey popped up out of the garbage container with a lampshade on his head. “Whoa, guys,” he said, trying to see through the lampshade. “What dimension are we in?”
Raph knocked the lampshade off Mikey’s head. Leo vaulted out of the garbage container and stared up into the starry night sky. “The others are trapped over there,” he said.
“Yeah,” agreed Raph, climbing out of the bin. “And the smart member of the team is trapped with ’em!” Mikey glared at Raph, figuring the insult was aimed at him, and grunted. He followed Raph out of the garbage container.
Raph confronted Leo. “This is your fault, Leo! If you hadn’t gotten us— Whoaaa!”
The ground was vibrating again, throwing them off-balance. When the shaking stopped, Leo said, “We gotta find the source of these quakes!” The three Turtles ran off down the alley.
Tiger Claw loomed above them on a nearby roof and watched them go. He turned to Karai, who was kneeling at the base of a water tower. “You have your instructions,” he growled to her. She nodded. She still didn’t like taking orders from Tiger Claw, but she had to obey Shredder.
The three Turtles were still running farther down the block when suddenly, Tiger Claw jumped in front of them and blocked their way. “Who the heck is that?” Raph asked, stopping in his tracks.
The assassin drew himself up to his full height, towering over the teenagers. “You may call me … TIGER CLAW!” he roared.
“I knew it!” Mikey said. “I was totally going to name him Tiger Claw!”
Tiger Claw pulled one of his blasters out of its holster, spun it in his hand, and aimed its big, triangular barrel right at the Turtles. A red glow shone from inside the barrel as the weapon powered up. “I ask only once,” he snarled. “Summon your rat master!”
“Sorry, pal,” Raph said as he drew out his sais and advanced on the huge mutant. “I’m not a cat person!”
The sentence was barely out of Raph’s mouth before Tiger Claw fired. The Turtles leaped out of the way as the heat blast hit the pavement. Raph dodged another burst by flipping off a garage door, but then he fell to the ground.
“Raph!” Leo yelled. He ran straight toward Tiger Claw, whipping his katana blades out of their sheaths. He swung the swords, but Tiger Claw ducked, leaped over Leo, and hit him with a blast.
Mikey twirled his nunchucks. Tiger Claw aimed both of his blasters at him, stopping him cold. “You are nothing but cubs,” the assassin said, growling.
“Heh, heh,” Mikey said. “Nice kitty! Lemme see if I have some catnip on me….”
Tiger Claw’s growl became a roar! He fired his other blaster. Mikey jumped out of the way just as a cluster of sharp crystals formed where he’d been standing. While the red blaster shot heat, the blue blaster seemed to be shooting intense cold.
Mikey jumped up onto a fire escape and started to climb. “C’mon, bros!” he called. “We gotta get to high ground!”
Leo and Raph got up and followed him as Tiger Claw blasted the side of the building they were climbing. Then he fired up the jetpack on his back and zoomed up after them!
Back in the inter-dimensional space, Donnie, Casey, and April were running down the corridor of magenta pyramids, trying to escape from the ape-droid. Suddenly, it vaulted over them. The ape-droid was in the perfect position to fire his butt cannons again!
“I got this!” Casey said, hitting the ape-droid with his hockey stick. The droid pitched forward, and his head went into one of the pyramids.
Donnie and April ran up behind the droid, pushed as hard as they could, and managed to shove the massive robot through the portal!
“That was too close,” April said.
Casey immediately challenged Donnie. “All right, Donnie—how do we get outta here? You’re the ‘expert,’ gap-tooth!”
Donnie and Casey got nose to nose, glaring into each other’s eyes. “‘Gap-tooth’?” Donnie said. “Look in the mirror lately, cave mouth?”
April was looking through another pyramid. “Guys, stop!” she said. “Check this out!”
Casey and Donnie hurried over and stared into the pyramid she was pointing to. “Wow,” Donnie said. “Looks like another part of Dimension X!”
Inside that dimension, Kraang-droids were using some kind of energy prods to move a huge worm creature through a portal.
Casey thought the worm looked incredibly disgusting. “Ew! What is that?” he said loudly.
Unfortunately, the Kraang-droids heard him.
They turned and stared at Casey, April, and Donnie. One of them said in a robotic voice, “Kraang is aware of spies in that doorway where Kraang is not, but soon will be!”
“I think we’re in serious trouble,” April said.
Suddenly, they were surrounded by six Kraang-droids, whose weapons were aimed right at them.
All three raised their hands slowly. “For the record,” Casey said defiantly, “I don’t count this as a surrender!”
Back in New York City, Leo, Mikey, and Raph reached higher ground—the rooftop of a multi-story building.
It didn’t do them much good, though.
Tiger Claw jetted up to the roof and started firing his blasters the second he touched down. He shot his red heat blaster first. As Raph flew past him, he dodged the sais attack and switched to his blue cold blaster to fire another round.
Holding his katana swords, Leo launched himself at Tiger Claw, who ducked, fired a blue blast, and twirled his blaster around his finger.
The Turtles may have outnumbered him three to one, but Tiger Claw’s skill in martial arts exceeded their own. He was just too experienced for them to defeat.
But they weren’t giv
ing up. No way.
Spinning his nunchucks, Mikey launched himself at Tiger Claw just as he was catching one of his blasters behind his back. The huge mutant whirled around and fired another blast of cold in Mikey’s direction.
Then Tiger Claw aimed both of his weapons at Leo and alternated red and blue blasts as Leo somersaulted away from him. Sharp clusters of cold crystals formed where the blue blasts hit.
The Turtles fought their tough opponent the way their sensei taught them, taking turns drawing his fire while the others tried to attack. They kept watching for some weakness on Tiger Claw’s part, waiting for him to make a mistake.
And waiting, and waiting …
Suddenly, Tiger Claw fired up his jetpack.
He fired both weapons as he rose into the night air above the roof, knocking Mikey to the ground. “Mikey!” Leo called to his brother.
Raph grew enraged. It was okay for him to mess with Mikey, but someone else? No! When Tiger Claw zoomed back down to the roof, Raph ran straight at him, swinging his sais. For a moment, it looked as though Raph, through sheer anger, was gaining the advantage over Tiger Claw.
But the wily assassin had more tricks up his sleeve. He used his jetpack to blast away from Raph and loaded his weapon with a special cartridge. He took aim at Raph and fired….
A spinning rope sliced through the air and wrapped around Raph! He fell to the ground, bound by the rope, helpless. He struggled to get free, but the rope was too tight.
Tiger Claw flew over to Mikey, who was still lying on the ground in a daze. Tiger Claw lifted him by one foot and held him upside-down over an open chimney. Sparks flew up into the night air. Mikey groaned.
“You are defeated!” Tiger Claw growled. “Summon your master, or the little one goes into the furnace!”
Even though he was upside-down, Mikey held up his hands with his palms facing out, making a STOP gesture. “Don’t do it, Leo!” he cried.
Still holding one of his katana swords in front of him, Leo glared at Tiger Claw.