Chapter Text
As Mikey nears the battlefield, he catches a birds-eye view of the action.
Leo appears to be dancing in place circling one of his swords in the sky, the captivating blue light which emits from his katanas seems to lul the bug towards him.
Donnie takes that opportunity to press a button on his new staff, firing a laser beam from the top of it at the beast.
It backs away disoriented, getting a solid hit from Raph to its eye. Though, to Mikey’s surprise, Raph’s wings seem to have gone away.
With the turtles hammering away, Mikey lands in front of the high structure with a loud thud. The three turn their heads, at first, startled, but when they see their little bro’s radiant smile, that instantly changes into unwavering confidence.
“Way to make an entrance there, lil’ Mike!” Leo laughs, zapping the oozequito with the electricity from his swords.
“Yeah! Don’t hog all the spotlight though. You know how cranky Leo can get.” Donnie says while pushing yet another button. The staff opens, releasing a bomb that plummets on the bug from above. “And BOOM goes the Donniemite!”
“Explosions are cute and all-“ Raph shoves the two aside while knacking his knuckles and neck, he walks towards the beast which is lost in the smoke. “But hand-to-hand combat is way more fun!” Raph reels back his arm, hitting the bug without batting an eye.
It's launched backward. As it’s desperately trying to keep itself from sliding off the paper, its eyes go from red to deep crimson.
“Show off,” Leo murmurs under his breath.
“Is that coming from you?” Donnie jabs Leo in the side of his shell, which Leo replies to with an annoyed harrumph.
“Thanks for these awesome weapons, Mikey! This oozequito is no threat to us with these bad boys!” Raph pops his Sai blades in and out of his brass knuckles before giving Mikey a gentle noogie on the head.
“True that! How do you do it?” Donnie takes another close look at his staff, still impressed by the number of buttons and creativity that’s packed into it.
“I wish I had these in the real world!” Leo spins his neon blue swords. They release small sparks while he does so.
“Aw shucks, you guys!” Blushing, Mikey scratches the back of his head. “It really is nothing!”
“Say, what do you have there?” Leo points curious at the medium-sized gun with three shells in the reservoir, which are moving around skittishly. It’s splattered with paint and has Mikey’s favorite number: “5000” written on it.
“Oh, this? This is— Watch out!”
“Watch out? I thought you’d have a better name for it.” Leo then ponders, counting on his fingers. “Like The Bugsquasher 5000 or-“
“Leo move your shell!” Raph raises his voice.
Before Leo could finish his sentence, he’s forced aside by his brothers.
The boiling mad oozequito crashes in the Pisa building like an angry bull. It tears the bottom of it, causing the structure to tumble like a tree, falling in the outer space below.
As it slowly twists his body to face the turtles, Leo whimpers.
“Uhm.” Leo pushes his finger into Raph’s cheek. “It was his fault?” He snickers, filled with anxiety, getting a glare from not only Raph, but also Mikey and Donnie. “What?” Leo shrugs, a drip of sweat splashing on the ground.
Something in the oozequito snaps. It cranes its head upward, buzzing loud to the sky, its wings vibrating on a high frequency. The weapons in the turtles' possession are now glitching in their hands, flipping in and out of existence.
“My… ears!” Mikey collapses to the ground, his wings poofing away. To cover his ears, he lets go of the gun. “Make it stop!” He cries out, shaking his head.
The sound is annoying to hear, but it didn’t affect the other three turtles the same way. Though they can’t help but visualize their grown-up Mikey suffering the same way before they headed into his mind.
“Stop doing that, you jerk!” Raph smashes the stinger with pend-up vexation.
Donnie and Leo inhale sharply as they see the stinger snap. The beast howls in agony and rage.
“Oef… that’s gotta hurt,” Leo says, squinting one eye shut.
“You okay, Mikey?” Donnie wraps his arm around the shaking turtle.
“Yeah…” Mikey sways to his feet, holding his head with one hand and the gun in the other. ‘’I think so.’’
With the green mutagen now leaking from its broken stinger, the oozequito is breathing heavily. The acid-like substance burns holes in the ground.
‘’Shouldn’t have pissed Raphael off.’’ Donnie steps away from toddler Mikey in a nonchalant manner.
‘’Yep, big mistake. I should tell you that making Raph mad equals all of us being pissed too, my dude.’’ Leo now stands next to Donnie, narrowing his eyes. A hint of wrath is evident in his scowl. He then stretches his arm by rolling it.
‘’Mad Dogs. ATTACK!’’ Raph roars as he gives the beast an uppercut to the stomach with his popped-out Sai’s.
Donnie signs to Leo, which Leo sees and nods back to. They then both run into battle with Mikey still behind them as a backup.
As Donnie holds his staff horizontally in his two extended hands, Leo jumps on it.
‘’Going up!’’ Leo says as he bounces off the spring that Donnie made magically appear out of his Tech Bo.
Leo is now flying above the oozequito, which notices his presence too late. With an elegant somersault, Leo’s swords shine bright among the stars.
‘’It’s time for you to stop bugging us!’’ Leo laughs at his own joke as he slices each wing with his katana.
After a final attempt to keep itself aloft. The oozequito plunges to the paper with a loud bang.
Though, the oozequito pushes its massive body up by digging its legs into the ground.
‘’Urgh, seriously?’’ Leo moans, landing safely next to Raph and Donnie.
‘’One tough bug!’’ Raph says, punching his palm with his fist. ‘’But I’m tougher!’’
Raph dashes in for another eager strike, but is stopped by Donnie’s arm.
‘’Hey, what gives?’’ Raph rotates his head to Donnie, who has his eyes pinned to the beast with a somewhat terrifying look.
‘’D?’’ Raph questions as he turns his head back to the oozequito. Raph’s voice heightens as he points at the behind of the bug. ‘’Uhm, D? What’s it doing?’’
‘’Something not good,’’ Donnie answers with clenched teeth, his body tensing up.
The liquid in the now pulsating lower body of the oozequito is flickering in a glow, increasing in brightness with every blink.
‘’You don’t think it’s gonna-’’ Leo gets interrupted by Donnie with a hand to the mouth.
‘’According to my ‘’being right streak’’ and knowledge on situations like this. Yes. I do think it’s going to explode.’’
‘’Uhm...And what happens to us when he blows?’’ Leo gulps grimly.
‘’Hm? Oh, it will hurt. Like, real bad. After that our minds will collapse and cease to exist, leaving our bodies in the real world a hollow shell.’’ Calm as he analyzed the situation and notified his bro’s of the danger, the sweaty face of Donnie doesn’t lie.
‘’So.’’ Raph shares a look with his brothers. ‘’Any ideas on how to not be blown to bits?’’
‘’Oh, maybe we could just hit it real hard!’’ Leo readies his swords with a cheeky grin.
‘’Yeah, definitely do that, if you want to be the first to die.’’ Donnie tilts his head, giving him an unamused look.
‘’Oh yeah? Then what’s your plan, genius?’’ Leo crosses his arms in a huff, scowling at him.
‘’Well, I don’t have one but,’’ Donnie’s eyes stray off to Mikey. ‘’I bet Mikey can think of one.’’
Hopeful, the other two brothers turn to the small turtle, who’s whispering something to the three shells in the reservoir.
‘’Oh, I got a plan alright!’’ Mikey beams a smile looking up to his brothers. ‘’And it’s going to be awesome!’’ Mikey’s eyes spark that special orange hue.
‘’Lead the way, lil’ bro!’’ Leo gestures with a bow as he scuffles aside.
With paint gun in hand, Mikey marches forward, twirling the gun in one hand before focussing it on the beast. Below him, an orange blob circle appears, spreading out in size.
‘’Time to put the PAINgun 5000 in action!’’
‘’Now that’s a great name for it!’’ Leo finger guns from the back.
With a short giggle, he holds his finger above the trigger. A targeting screen extends out of the gun, which Mikey peeks through with one eye. He sticks his tongue out sideways, trying to pinpoint the oozequito.
With his brother’s cheering and wooing from behind, Mikey fires three shots from his paint gun.
The shells are launched from the reservoir, hitting the oozequito in the stinger, eye, and lastly, the stomach. The three brothers are struck with disbelief as each shell causes the oozequito to shrink in size. The shells ricochet back to the others, popping out of their shell.
‘’I’m not scared of you anymore, you nasty bug!’’ Mikey laughs, pointing at the now blinking insect-sized mosquito.
Mikey then goes into deep thought, making small paintballs take shape and fly into the reservoir of the gun.
‘’You know, green isn’t really your color. Let me help ya with that!’’ Mikey says, reloading his gun.
Mikey growls, unleashing a stream of paint bullets at the small fry. Though, as if it’s making fun of him, it dodges them swiftly at the last second.
‘’Why you little-!’’ Mikey’s frustration piles up as he makes a giant orange fly swatter appear out of thin air. He almost falls over when he takes hold of it.
‘’Need some help?’’ Raph’s reassuring voice draws near.
Mikey’s face lights up as his big and small turtle brothers unite to assist. They each grasp the grip of the swatter, leaning back.
‘’1!’’ Toddler Leo and grown-up Leo shout.
‘’2!’’ Small Raph and current Raph bawl.
‘’2.5!’’ Little Donnie and big Donnie snicker.
‘’3!’’ Mikey finishes off the count with a keen squeal.
The seven turtles join forces to bring down the enormous fly swatter. It slaps on the ground, creating a loud bang and a whirlwind that knocks them back.
After the pressure dies down and the paper stabilizes below them, they open up their eyes.
‘’Is it… over?’’ Toddler Leo asks, peeking through his fingers.
Adult Donnie sneaks over to the spot the bug was flying, casting his gaze down. He pokes something at the ground with his staff. Spinning his body back to the group, he holds up his thumb and grins.
“Shell yeah!” Raph raises his fist in the air with glee. Bringing his arm around the neck of Leo and Donnie when he rejoins. “We did it!”
The toddlers all gather, embracing the big turtles with the brightest of smiles.
“Way to go, Mikey!” Leo hoots, clapping his hands together.
“I couldn’t have done it without you.” Donnie caresses his Tech Bo, shunning the others.
Raph lifts Mikey off his feet, throwing him up in the air.
‘’Three cheers for Mikey!’’ Raph bellows merrily.
As Mikey exclaims with pure joy while the turtles celebrate their victory, the scenery around them turns white. They feel themselves getting pulled by some mysterious force. Not being able to fight it, they’re tugged outside the empty world.
Opening their eyes, they find themselves laying on the ground in Donnie’s lab.
“Ow, my head!” Leo nags as he stands up straight and stretches out.
“Wow, I can’t believe that actually worked.” Donnie gets up as well, staring proudly at the device they used.
“Yeah, me neither.” Raph rises to his feet, stroking his aching head.
“Wait, how’s Mikey?” Raph asks, all of the brother’s eyes shift over to the observation table.
Mikey lets out a pained groan. “What…happened?” Confused, his eyes open, blinded by the monitoring light above him.
“Hey, Mikey. How are you feeling?” Donnie presses his hand against his forehead.
“I’m good. I just had the craziest dream. You all were there and this big oozequito was there, giving me a headache and-“
A buzz catches Mikey’s attention. A small oozequito tries to sneak away from his view. It jolts when it gets noticed.
“Say what?! That was real?! You were in my head?!” Anger consumes him as he swipes the bug in his hand. ‘’Why you little!-’’
Mikey leaps off the table, throwing the oozequito to the ground as he smashes it with his weapon.
“Take that! And that!” He blows out air through his nose, venting out his mad side to return to his chirpy self.
“Sooo, who wants pizza?” Leo cuts the mood.
“Oh me! I do!” Mikey moves up his arm to wave his hand at him. Completely neglecting the now squashed bug.
“Let’s bake some this time, I want Mikey’s cooking to actually fill my stomach.” Raph pets his rumbling belly.
“I second that,” Donnie adds, marching to the kitchen after Leo.
Mikey follows suit, but a sudden hand on his shell makes him look over his shoulder.
“Hey, Mikey?” Raph forms a soft smile.
“Yeah?”
“I’m proud to have you as my brother.'' His face shies away. ''You’re an amazing turtle.” He pets Mikey’s shell three times before moving to the exit of the lab.
“Raph.” Mikey chokes up, rushing to Raph and swinging himself around his shell. “Thank you.” He buries his face into Raph’s neck.
With a little chuckle, Raph manages to keep his tears at bay.
“No problem, big man.”
With that, Raph and Mikey head to the kitchen. Having seen Mikey’s mind up close, they are overjoyed to have such an imaginative little bro like Mikey.
It makes them learn a valuable lesson:
If you can dream it, you can do anything. As long as you put your mind to it, nothing is impossible.