Archive of Our Own

On Halloween, you always hear about ghosts and ghouls, vampires and zombies, but one spirit in particular is brought to you by the Hamato siblings:

The Competitive Spirit.

Every Halloween, they have the chance to safely leave the lair, and compete to find The Best Treat.

Now, ‘treat’ is a term used very loosely.

It used to mean a full-sized candy bar or light up toy, but one year, Mikey won by finding a stray pink cat on Halloween.

They really had to up their game after that.

And with access to the Hidden City? The hunt has only increased in both difficulty and reward.

We begin our story on the night before Halloween, on a moonlit rooftop in the city…

“Spooky scary skeletons…” Mikey sang with the music in his headphones, bobbing his head to the beat. It was dark, so he didn’t have to worry about rando New Yorkers seeing him on the roof. He could safely spray paint his costume and avoid ‘killing his family with fumes’ or whatever.

“...send shivers down your spine!” He held up the Spidey suit to admire his handiwork and grinned, “Shrieking skulls will shock your soul, seal your doom tonight!”. Mikey tucked the suit under his arm and darted back to the sewers.

“I’M DONE!” Mikey called into the lair.

“HURRY UP, I WANNA SEE,” Leo’s voice shouted back.

Mikey pulled the suit on as he walked down the hallway while also trying to shove his feet in his new red nike hightops. He took a deep breath and then jumped through the archway, striking a superhero pose at the top of the ramp and pretending to shoot webs out of his hands.

At the bottom of the ramp, Leo stood up and gave an exaggerated gasp, “MILES MORALES? Is that you? I am such a big fan!” He clambered up the ramp towards Mikey and grabbed the edge with one finger, barely holding on, “Oh Spiderman, please help, I’m gonna fallllll,”

“Let him.” Donnie deadpanned.

Mikey giggled and offered a gloved hand to Leo.
“Nooooo, my friendly neighborhood Spiderman would never,” Leo cried, grabbing Mikey’s hand and pulling himself into Mikey’s arms.

Mikey humored his dramatic brother, who was now draped across his arms, “So, you like my costume?”

“Like it? I love it, man! You look just like him!”

“Woo-woo!” Donnie added supportively. Behind him, partially buried in swatches of various costume-making supplies, Raph gave an enthusiastic thumbs up.

April’s hands were busy sewing LEDs into a pink jumpsuit, but she paused to look up, “WOAH! I'm so glad you spray painted it yourself, it looks wayyy better!”

Mikey grinned proudly. He tightened his hold on Leo and slid down the ramp to join the others. (Leo didn’t yelp he just made a ‘surprised noise’ because he forgot Mikey is freakishly agile) “Thank you! Do you need any help with the sewing, April?”

“YES please, if Sir Clings-a-lot will let you.”

Leo made a face at April and detached himself from Mikey, “How dare you ruin my moment with The Spiderman.”

“You see him everyday.”

“You’re just jealous that I saw his costume first!”

“You’re a moron.”

“Oh, wow, real creative insult there April O’range peel”

“What does that even mean, Leo-nimrod-o?”

“HEY”

(Mikey and Donnie snorted, Leo-nimrod-o? They’d be using that again later)

Raph interrupted their sibling bickering, “Hey, Leo, which eyepatch is better, this one? or this one?”

“Why not both?” Leo joked, successfully distracted, and moved over by Raph to look over his shoulder.

Mikey sat cross legged next to April and worked on threading a needle, closing one eye and sticking his tongue out in concentration.

“So where are you going first in the Hidden City tomorrow?” he asked casually.

“Nice try, Mikey,” April smiled wryly, “But I’m not saying anything.”

Behind her, Donnie made a disgruntled face and slowly put his notepad away. He was hoping Mikey could have gotten some info for him.

“All you need to know is that I am going to win again, just like last year,” April grinned.

“Winning?” Leo perked up, nearly knocking Mayhem off his pillow, “Yep! That’s us. Winners!”

“Wait, you’re teaming up with LEO?” Donnie gasped, looking up from whatever he was welding, “GASP.”

April crossed her arms defensively, “I told you we were teaming up last week! You agreed that it would be fun! We are literally making team costumes right now! How could you not know?”

“Hm, that is odd. You told me last week?”

“Yes.”

“What day”

“Thursday.”

“Thursday..Thursday..hm let me see..oh.”

“Oh?”

“I pulled an all-nighter Wednesday evening to perfect the Doc Ock arms.”

“Ah. So you didn’t process anything I said on Thursday?”

“Nope.”

“You didn’t even know I was in your lab.”

“Correct.”

“Donnieee!” Mikey scolded, looking up from sewing, “I just said that it would be cool if the arms moved like your battle shell arms, not that you had to do it!”

Donnie gave him a wicked grin, “Oh, but it will be so worth it my dear Angelo, especially when WE win.”

Leo snorted, “Aren’t Spiderman and Doc Ock enemies? At least April and I work together and win in our movie.”

April gave Leo a fist bump, “Heck yeah, SharkBoy and LavaGirl are going to kick your butts!”

“Oh yeah? Then why does your team already need my help with sewing?” Mikey waved the needle at April to punctuate his words.

“BECAUSE SOMEBODY GOT HIMSELF BANNED FROM USING NEEDLES!” April cast a sour look at Leo.

“Woah woah woah, we just fist bumped you can’t betray me like this.” Leo put his hands on his hips, “Besides we all decided that me sewing Donnie into his bed was funny and necessary.”

“You decided.” April rolled her eyes, “Mikey, do you see what I have to put up with?”

“Hmm,” Mikey hummed, “Skill issue.”

April’s eyes glinted viciously, “YOU-“

Suddenly, a loud snore caused them all to jump.

(Phew, Mikey thought, saved by the bell)

Raph had fallen asleep laying on his stomach, where he had been petting Mayhem from as far away as possible with a single finger. Mayhem looked disgruntled, but had enjoyed the attention enough to allow it.

“Aww Raph stops our arguments even when he’s sleeping,” Leo whispered fondly.

The others quietly finished their costumes so as not to disturb Raph.

Leo painted the fins on his suit grey, April got all the LEDs sewn in, and Donnie tested his Doc Ock arms. Mikey helped April sew (out of fear and respect for April’s wrath) and made Mayhem a parrot beak to go with Raph’s pirate costume.

After they were done, Leo and Mikey cleared away the costume supplies while Donnie and April helped move Raph to his bed.

“Come on, boss man, you’ll be way more comfortable sleeping on a mattress than the floor,” Donnie lifted Raph’s arm over his shoulder.

April did the same on his other side, “Pff, that sounds like something he has told you before.”

Raph chuckled sleepily, eyes closed, “That’s because I have.”

“If I can’t sleep on my desk, you can’t sleep on the floor.”

“Fair enough.”

The Hamato siblings made their way to their respective rooms, costumes ready. That night, they all slept on comfy mattresses, preparing their bodies and minds for the Hunt.

May the best Hamato win.

“doo doo doo bee-dee bee bee-dee bee Bee-dee Bee Bee-dee Bee”

“Blargh,” Raph groaned, turning off his ‘By the Seaside’ alarm.

Then he froze.

Wait.

Today was The Day.

He jumped out of bed, scrambling to the closet, the blanket falling to the floor in his rush.

Raph flung open the closet door, eyes falling on his red pirate coat and fancy pirate boots. A wide grin spread across his face. Oh yeah, Raph was winning today.

He crept out of his room as quietly as he could, light jingles coming from the metal clasps and chains of his costume. Being the earliest riser, he wanted to use the extra time to his advantage.

(Raph would have woken up earlier, but they had made a rule of starting at 8am after Donnie and Leo just didn’t go to bed one year and started at 12am.)

“Mayhem!” Raph whispered loudly, “Hey, Mayhem, we gotta go!”

Mayhem was curled up on a pillow on the couch, he flicked an ear and gave Raph an unenthused look.

“Okay, you keep sleeping, I’ll drive.”

Mayhem closed his eyes again, satisfied with this response.

Raph scooped up the pillow and carried Mayhem to the garage like royalty. He saw April headed to Leo’s room to wake him up. Good luck with that, he thought, snickering to himself.

Raph tucked Mayhem securely into the sidecar on the motorcycle, and they zoomed off to the Hidden City.

The motorcycle rumbled to a stop in front of an imposing metal gate with pointy points on top and a glowing sign announcing a pumpkin carving contest.

“Best Pumpkin Carving wins the Giant Popcorn Ball,” Raph read, “What do you say, Mayhem? Think we can do it?”

Mayhem scrunched his nose, giving Raph a look that meant “How giant is giant? Because if it's just basketball-sized giant then that’s lame”

“It's boat-sized giant,” Raph grinned, opening his arms for emphasis.

Mayhem gave a subtle approving nod and headed towards the gate. Raph did a very quiet happy dance behind him, Mayhem doesn’t give out many approving nods to anyone other than April.

At the registration booth, a blue and yellow frog yokai was holding a clipboard and looking rather bored considering they were being yelled at by none other than Cassandra Jones.

“DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH COOKIE SCOUTS EAT, I HAVE TO FEED THEM SO THAT THEY CAN CONTINUE MY PLANS. I NEED THAT POPCORN.”

“I understand that, but you have to have a team, which means at least two people.”

“I AM CASEY JONES AND I HAVE THE POWER OF A THOUSAND PEOPLE.”

The frog yokai sighed and looked up at Raph, “Hello, how can I help you.”

“DO NOT IGNORE ME.”

Raph ignored her, “Hi, we’d like to sign up for the contest.”

The frog yokai sighed and rubbed their eyes, “As I was explaining before, you have to have a team of at least two people.” They glanced at Mayhem who bristled, “Dog things do not count.”

Raph gasped and covered Mayhem’s ears, “How could you?”

The frog yokai yawned, “Whatever. If only there was someone nearby who also needed a team. Oh no.”

Raph and Casey regarded each other apprehensively.

They were not on bad terms per say, she had helped with the Kraang and ultimately didn’t assist in Splinter’s death, but they had foiled each other’s plans enough that teaming up wasn’t ideal.

“Fine.” Raph held out his hand to Casey, “We split the prize?”

Casey scowled, “I suppose it is necessary, VERY WELL,” she banged her fists down on the registration table, “I HAVE ACQUIRED A TEAM, now let us be SIGNED.”

The frog yokai wrote on their clipboard, “Uh-huh and what is your team name?”

“Red Angels?”
“CASEY JONES DEATH DEFYING SQUADRON”

The yokai rolled their eyes, “Yeah, okay, I’m writing down Red Angels because what you said was too many words.”

Raph adjusted his pirate hat proudly and helped Mayhem put on his red parrot beak, “Welcome to the Red Angels, Casey.”

“NOOOOOO”

They made their way into the pumpkin patch where about a dozen other yokai teams were already preparing.

Mayhem was observing from his spot on Raph’s shoulder, enjoying the elevated view. He went back and forth between swatting at the tails of Raph’s bandana and teleporting right by Casey’s feet so she would trip.

“Okay, so they said that we have to wait until the bell sounds before we can pick the pumpkins, so let’s stand by the one we want so no one steals it,” Raph suggested.

“Or we could ELIMINATE the competition, and take what is RIGHTFULLY OURS.” Casey punched the air glaring at a nearby yokai who backed away.

…

“That can be plan B,” Raph agreed.

“DEAL.”

They searched for a while, when Mayhem suddenly disappeared from Raph’s shoulder (Casey glanced warily at her feet) and reappeared on a pumpkin to their left.

They rushed over to find the biggest pumpkin they had seen yet.

“PERFECT” both Raph and Casey grinned.

Raph sat down next to the pumpkin, while Casey stomped at anyone who dared look their way.

He did find it a little odd that the yokai were not even attempting to take the pumpkin, or any of the large ones around it. But, hey, Casey was pretty intimidating.

The bell sounded and Raph jumped up…

… only to immediately lose his footing as the dirt beneath him churned and shifted.

The pumpkins in the field rose from their places in the ground, vines whipping and whistling through the air.

Raph, Casey, and Mayhem watched in shock as their biggest pumpkin became the biggest monster in the field: a Pumpkin King.

The announcer’s voice echoed across the field, “LET THE PUMPKIN CARVING COMMENCE!”

Raph shrugged and charged the King, his fists glowed as he thundered, “RED ANGELS, AHOY!”

Casey unsheathed her kunai, “Now THIS is more like it, PREPARE TO BE CARVED,” she cackled.

The King snarled and sent vines whipping over Raph’s head. Raph ducked and slammed a punch into the King’s side causing it to slide right into Casey’s blade.

SHING

Casey twisted the kunai, leaving a deep score mark in the hull of the pumpkin. The King howled and vines wrapped around her foot, lifting her into the air.

“RELEASE ME, GOURD! Or you will taste my WRATH,” she screeched, swinging her blades wildly at the vines as she swung upside-down.

Mayhem swatted at the vine ferociously. Attacking Casey’s feet was his job.

“JONES!” Raph called for her attention, “LOOK!” He pointed at the deep cut she had made. It was glowing. “You cut the pattern, and I’ll punch it out!”

Casey nodded and made one last violent swipe at the vine, successfully chopping it off her leg, and dove into a roll before popping up on her feet. She darted up a vine, using its momentum to leap into the air and stab down at the King, cutting a slanted half-circle shape to look like an angry eye. “AHAHA, SLICE!” she laughed.

“ANNNND DICE,” Raph added and punched the center of the cut half-circle, blasting it to pieces and revealing a glowing eye. The Pumpkin King’s head lolled back from the force and snapped back, looking very angry for a pumpkin with only one eye.

A vine hit Raph square on his chest, knocking him into Casey and sending them both flying. Casey hit the ground first and Mayhem graciously teleported her a little to the left before Raph fell on top of her.

“Thank you.” Casey saluted Mayhem. Mayhem liked being saluted and gave Casey a head nod.

Raph jumped to his feet, looked Casey dead in the eyes, and very seriously said, “Can I pick you up and throw you at the Pumpkin King?”

Casey stared off into the distance dramatically, “It would be an honor, Captain.” She raised her kunai above her head, putting her feet together to stand as javelin-like as possible.

Then, true to his word, Raph picked her up like a spear and chucked his new pointy friend at the pumpkin.

She torpedoed straight through the vines, completely obliterating any in her path. Her blades glinted as she focused in on her target.

SHING SHING went Casey’s blades.

“ROAAARRR,” went the Pumpkin King.

“…” went Mayhem as he teleported Raph right in front of the King’s face. (He didn’t say anything, but his smug look said more than words ever could)

BOOM

Raph punched out the other eye, blasting it to bits.

“Hey Cass, now we just have to cut out a mouth!” Raph called over his shoulder, “Easy!”

“AAAAAUGH,” Casey replied.

Raph turned to see yokai sprinting away from the field, as the other pumpkin monsters sprinted towards the King, climbing up and forming a mech-like body around the King. They created arms and legs and even a giant pumpkin club with vines holding everything in place. The King was now hidden in the head of the Mech.

“AAAAAUGH!” Raph agreed.

The King Mech smashed its club into the ground causing rocks to explode into the air.

Raph blocked his face and sent two Raph copies to shield Mayhem and Casey from the debris.

Since his face was covered, Raph was unable to dodge a heavy blow from the Mech. He staggered back, shaking his head to get his bearings.

Casey was at his side in a flash, putting a hand on his shoulder to steady him.

A panicked screech pierced their ears, and their heads whipped towards the King Mech. It had Mayhem trapped in a swathe of swarming vines.

Mayhem’s eyes were wide as he tried repeatedly to teleport, half-glitching instead. He was breathing fast, limply struggling in the Mech’s hold as he disappeared into the body of pumpkins and vines.

In that moment, Raph and Casey felt a twin surge of protective power heighten their senses. A red spark flashing behind their eyes.

Casey’s hand tightened on Raph’s shoulder and they both immediately knew what to do. They were totally in sync, driven by their shared goal and relentless energy.

The field was bathed in a flash of red light as Raph’s own mech-like mystic form burst from him. He used a giant hand of his projection to throw a punch directly at the Mech’s head.

However, the Mech anticipated the punch and chomped on Raph’s mystic fist, trapping it in place. From inside the maw, the Pumpkin King felt victorious having trapped the threat.

Raph grinned wickedly, “Like a boss,” he winked and opened the mystic fist trapped in the maw.

The Pumpkin King’s satisfied look quickly changed to one of horror as the mystic fist opened to reveal the one and only Cassandra Jones.

“SKADOOSH,” Casey drug her blades along the hull, cutting out a glowing mouth for the King.

The Mech roared in anger as it bucked and shook to try and throw her out, but Raph used his power to hold it still.

At the final cut, the maw of the Mech opened wide in rage. Vines shot outwards forming a monstrous silhouette around the creature. Casey spotted Mayhem as the vines moved away and raced over, frantically pulling pieces of pumpkin out of the way.

The Mech was falling apart around them, but Casey kept going, “I’m not leaving you behind. I’m never leaving anyone behind again,” she muttered under her breath.

“CASEY,” Raph called, “HURRY!”

Finally, she pulled Mayhem from the vines and carried him back to the mystic hand in the Mech’s mouth, “GOT HIM!” she called back.

Raph carefully extracted them as the Mech continued to thrash. It let out one last rumble before the glowing yellow from the King spread to the rest of the Mech like lightning. As the light crackled, the Mech froze in place as stone replaced pumpkin.

The three of them stood awestruck as the giant Mech, now a giant statue, loomed above them, vines reaching to the sky.

“…Woah,” Raph said.

The blue and yellow frog yokai walked by with a clipboard and slapped a blue ribbon on the statue. “You win! By default. Everyone else forfeited. Congrats! The winners ceremony is in, oh…five minutes.”

Casey and Raph looked at each other, and then at Mayhem, and then they all fell to the ground, hysterical with laughter.

“DID YOU SEE-“
“I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU-“
“THE LOOK ON HIS FACE-“
“JUST CUT HIM OPEN-”
“WHEN YOU TELE-”
“FROM INSIDE!”
“-PORTED AND WHACKED HIM”
“THAT WAS SO COOL”
“THAT WAS SO COOL”

Mayhem licked their faces, both as a sign of gratitude and a sign to “please stop yelling”.

Raph wiped his eyes and chuckled, “Well, good job team, but I think they want us to get on stage now.”

Sure enough, the frog yokai had set up a stage and mic on the field, complete with little pumpkin decorations.

“CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNERS OF TODAY’S CARVING COMPETITION!” boomed the announcer through a speaker as they crossed the stage, “THAT SCARY PART HAS NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE, BUT HEY WHO DOESN’T LIKE SURPRISES? WHAT ARE YOUR NAMES CHAMPIONS?”

Casey grabbed the mic and gestured towards Raph, “This is CAPTAIN RAPHAEL and his TELEPORTING VIP (Very Important Parrot).” Mayhem stood on Raph’s shoulder proudly.

Raph gave Casey his extra eyepatch and then took the mic, “and this is my DEATH DEFYING FIRST MATE CASSANDRA JONES”

They both leaned in, “and WE ARE THE RED ANGELS!”

The frog yokai hit a button on their keyboard and the sounds of a crowd going wild played. “Woooo. Anyways, please pick up your prize at the front.”

Captain Raphael pulled First Mate Casey Jones onto his shoulders and the VIP stood on her head, “Red Angels, Roll Out!” Raph declared.

Mayhem’s beak was a little crushed, and they both had their fair share of bruises, but their smiles were brighter than the King Pumpkin’s still glowing grin.

“Ohoh Do (Do!) What you’ve a mind to”

April slammed a hand down on her phone to stop the alarm, and then immediately cradled it in her hand and apologized.

After sufficient apology, she glanced at the date on her phone and gasped in excitement, shaking her hand that wasn’t holding the phone.

Today was The Day! Time to get to work!

She just had to go wake Leo up real quick, no biggie, Raph did it all the time.

April tip-toed through the hall, spotting Raph from across the lair. Was he already leaving? It was only 8 am!

Marching up to Leo’s room she knocked on the wall, and heard a very loud snore. “Hey, Leo, I’m coming in,” she whispered. Another snore answered her.

Rolling her eyes, she poked her head in. Leo was passed out face down, blankets on the floor, his pillow under his foot instead of his head, and a drool stain next to his mouth.

April didn’t know whether to gag or laugh.

“Hey, Leo?” she called.

SNORE

“LEO?”

“mmyeah?lo..q..se..don..ijo..” he mumbled into his mattress.

“Get ready, we are leaving at nine, okay?”

“mmm,”

April sighed. Maybe letting him sleep more would be a better plan anyways. He should be well rested so they could have a fun day (and win) she reasoned.

…

At nine, April was finished getting into her costume, so she went to go check on her sleepy teammate.

“Leooo!” She huffed. He had not even budged an inch from when she had left him last. The drool stain was bigger though.

“mmm?”

“What’s up, did you sleep okay last night?”

“mm,”

“…That’s not an answer.”

“m,”

“Fine, we can leave at ten, but NO LATER!” she warned.

Finishing first wasn’t important for this competition anyways, she reasoned. They just had to find a ‘treat’ in the time limit.

…

At ten, April turned off the video game she had been playing to keep herself busy. “If he isn’t awake, I’m gonna hit him,” she muttered to herself.

“Trying to wake up Sleeping Beauty?” Donnie asked smugly, leaning on the doorway and sipping his coffee.

April glared at him, “At least our team is half ready to go, you guys just woke up.”

“Yeah, but we are going somewhere at night,” Mikey piped up from somewhere in the kitchen, “we don’t have to be on time.”

Scowling, April stormed through the kitchen, stealing Mikey’s pot of water off the stove before he could heat it up. (“HEY”)

“LEO!” She slammed the door open. To her dismay, Leo was still in bed.

(To his credit, or lack thereof, he had woken up. Although he had simply picked his blanket up off the floor and promptly conked out again.)

“Alright, Sharkboy, sink or swim.” April tossed the water from the pot at Leo.

The water arced through the air before splashing her sleeping victim in the face.

Sputtering Leo sat up, pulling off his eye mask. He peered blearily at the figure in his doorway. “April?” He rubbed his eyes, “Wha’s goin on?” Then he looked down at his soaked sleep shirt, “and why am I wet?”

“Uh, you drool,” April hid the pot behind her back, “Get ready fast, okay? It's almost 10:30 already.”

“10:30?!” Leo exclaimed, scrambling to his costume which was draped on a chair, “April! Why didn’t you wake me?”

April mentally patted herself on her back for not strangling her dumb brother with absolutely no brain cells. “Thought you needed the sleep, won’t make that mistake again.” she said through gritted teeth.

“Good. Because winning is utmost important!”

“You don’t know what ‘utmost’ means, do you?”

“Nope!” Leo grinned, “Now, get out, you’re gonna make us late,” and he pushed her out his door.

“I’m gonna make you late?” April said indignantly, allowing him to push her out.

“APRIL! GIVE IT BACK!” Mikey hollered from the kitchen.

Oh yeah, Mikey had been trying to cook something. Whoops. She headed back to the kitchen and handed back the empty pot, “Thanks, Mikey.”

Mikey held the pot upside down to show his disdain at it being empty, “Excuse me?” he raised an eyebrow at her.

“You’re excused,” April shrugged, “Believe me, it went to a noble cause.”

Donnie choked on his coffee, “You didn’t!”

“He wouldn’t wake up, what else was I supposed to do?” she wailed.

“And you didn’t film it?” Donnie gasped dramatically, clutching his chest, “Oh, the pain!”

A loud slam caught their attention as Leo burst into the kitchen and posed in his costume, “PRESENTING: Moi as Sharkboy! Please, don’t save your applause.”

“FINALLY,” April grabbed Leo’s arm to drag him to the garage, “I thought you might sleep forever.”

As she pulled him away, Leo dropped his head back to look at his brothers upside down, “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do, capiche?” and winked.

Once April and Leo got to the garage, they argued for a bit about who would get to drive the motorcycle…

(“I’m taller.” “I’m a better driver.” “I’m taller.” “Donnie trusts me with his tech more.” “I’m taller.”)

…before eventually agreeing to just take two motorcycles.

“WOO-HOO!” echoed through the streets of New York as they raced out of the sewers, wheels squealing.

April skidded to a stop in front of the hidden wall entrance to El Hueso’s. Leo skidded past April and straight through the wall.

The resulting crash made April cringe, and was followed by the sound of pots and pans clattering to the floor.

“I MEANT TO DO THAT,” Leo called from behind the wall.

April shook her head exasperatedly, set her helmet on the bike, and walked it through the wall, “Uh-huh, knocking everything over was your stellar plan?”

Leo stuck his nose in the air and stubbornly crossed his arms, “Yeah, I only knocked over a few things, but only because a shark told me to keep moving forward.”

“Sure, sure.” April chuckled. It was difficult to take Leo seriously when he was sprawled on the ground amidst a collection of kitchen utensils with a pan on his head. Then, she looked around, confused, “Wait, where is Señor Hueso? And why are all the lights off?”

Leo got up from his spot on the floor, holding one of the ladles like a sword and peering out into the dark from under the pan that was still balanced on his head.

He handed April a bread knife, “I don’t know, but Sharkboy and Lavagirl are on the case.”

They shared a nod before starting to look for clues. April tip-toed around the room, moving along the wall and glaring side to side suspiciously. Leo walked with his face smushed into the floor, looking underneath tables until he saw a scrap of paper and gasped.

“April! I found something…” he started.

April looked up.

“…that someone forgot to throw away! Silly yokai, littering is bad, kids.” he crumpled the paper up and tossed it towards the trash.

“Wait!” April darted to catch the crumpled ball, “It could be a clue!” She carefully spread it out on a nearby table and used her phone light to read:

Leo squinted at the letter, “Mm, she wouldn’t like, unalive him or anything, right? Because we are kinda busy today…could we rescue him tomorrow?”

“Hang on, there is a note attached to the bottom,” April continued:

“Well that’s that then, let’s save Señor Hueso!” Leo cheered.

“And get a pizza named after us!” April agreed.

(Elsewhere, Señor Hueso felt a chill run down his spine at having his safety in the hands of children, especially these children)

Leo lifted the letter up to look underneath, “She didn’t leave us a pen. Rude.”

“Don’t worry,” April pulled a blue and pink pen with Warren Stone’s head on the cap, “A reporter never leaves without a pen!”

She signed and Leo took the pen, examining it curiously, “Who is this?”

“Warren Stone! The news anchor!”

“Huh. Never met him.”

Their signatures glowed a deep purple, and in a flash they disappeared from the restaurant. An ominous clang ringing out as a ladle and a bread knife hit the floor.

…

“Sooooo, how are things?” Leo drawled as they appeared in a room with a very menacing looking Big Mama on a TV screen.

“See any, uh, good…fights recently?” April tried.

A sly smile spread across Big Mama’s face, “Things have been dreadfully slow, I’m afraid, but you know? I have a phantasmagorical feeling about today.” She pushed a button and two steaming cups of apple cider rose up from the desk, “Now, drink up!”

“Drink, what now?” April put her hands on her hips and raised a very skeptical eyebrow.

Leo moved behind April and peeked warily over her shoulder at the cider like it might explode, “Yeah, Big M? Can I call you Big M? I just wanted to let you know that I am poison intolerant, it sets my insides on fire.”

Big Mama gave a high-pitched (yet still menacing) chortle, “Ohoho! Do not fret, my turtley-boo, my viewership did not vote for poison in today’s poll! No, this is just a warm drink to help you enter the mystic corn maze!”

“A maize maze? Nice.” Leo grinned.

Big Mama ignored him and addressed a crowd they could not see, “Hello my dear viewers! And welcome to today’s production: Sharkboy and Lavagirl: Recurring Nightmares!” She turned back to Leo and April, “And if they make it through the maze, they will get to rescue their skeletal friend!”

The image on the screen changed and showed Señor Hueso clinging to a rope that was dangling over a volcano.

“Don’t worry Señor Hueso!” Leo clenched his fist, “We will rescue you!”

“That does NOT help my stress levels.” Hueso glanced down at the lava before squeezing his eyes shut, “Oh why do I even associate with you anymore,” he groaned.

“Because no one can resist Leon’s charm!” Leo finger-gunned.

Hueso’s eyes were still shut, “Did he just finger-gun at me? Please don’t tell me he finger-gunned at me when I AM ABOUT TO DIE.”

“Just hang on, Señor Hueso, you’ll be back at your restaurant before you can say ‘Bone appetit’!” April declared.

“BONE-“ Señor Hueso’s yell was cut off by Big Mama returning to the screen. She gestured to the apple cider, “You should drink it while it is still poppizalatingly hot! And while you still have time.”

Leo side-eyed April, he knew Big Mama was not to be trusted, but he really was worried about Señor Hueso. If April thought this was a bad idea though, he’d listen.

“To Señor Hueso!” April said and chugged the apple cider.

Leo gawked at her.

“What? It’s really good apple cider.”

Leo grinned and quickly followed suit “To Señor Hueso!“.

And then they fell to the floor.

Don’t worry, Big Mama said it wasn’t poison.

They are just sleeping!

Or to be more specific: dreaming.

April opened her eyes first. She was outside, the sky was a dark burnt orange and the dirt beneath her feet was a deep navy blue. She pinched some between her fingers. It crumbled like charcoal, staining her fingers. A few yards away, endless rows and rows of corn stood, obscuring even the horizon.

Next to her, Leo stirred awake, “Whatsistapen?” he blurted incomprehensibly, eyes bleary.

“I think this is the maze Big Mama was talking about,” April motioned to the rows of corn, “but I don’t see an entrance?”

As the words left her mouth, the rows of corn opened up and formed three entrances.

Big Mama’s lilting voice came from a screen that popped out of nowhere, “Welcome, silly-billys! You have entered my mystic maze of nightmares! The spell used to conjure this maze is quite persnickity, but dreams are usually full of flim-flam. You know the drill by now: find the exit or the skeleton gets it! Toodles!” And the screen disappeared with a pop.

April walked over to one of the three entrances, “A dream, huh,” she mused.

She made a fist and punched a nearby corn stalk, and it immediately caught fire. Her fist had turned into molten lava that was eating away at the burning stalk.

“Cool.” she grinned, admiring her work.

“LET ME TRY!” Leo hopped up and down. He put his fingers on his temples and squinted in concentration.

POOF

A rainbow unicorn hood appeared on his head.

Leo dabbed, “Nailed it.”

“So if we can do anything, what’s stopping us from just leaving?” April wondered aloud, “What if I just made an exit?”

The corn maze shifted until it formed a single path and she could see all the way to a glowing green exit door.

Then the corn shifted again, back to where it was with three paths. Except now there was a pink notecard floating to the ground.

Leo picked it up and read it in his best Big Mama impression, “Because I can control the dream too, silly billy!” he twirled a nonexistent strand of hair, “plus you wouldn’t want to leave your precious skellington behind!”

“BWAHAHA,” April cackled, holding her sides as Leo continued to prance around, “Big Ma- Big Mama’s going to be-hehe, be so mad!” she said breathlessly.

Leo grinned evilly, “What? Are you worried she’ll come here with her spider legs annnnnnd GET YOU?” He bolted towards April, wiggling his fingers to imitate spider legs.

“NoouahahaHAHA!” April dodged and darted away, picking the leftmost path into the cornfield.

Leaves grazed their arms and legs as they raced through the maze half-hazardly. The path twisted and turned as April and Leo chased each other. At one point, Leo teleported in front of April to catch her, but she retaliated.

Leo’s eyes went wide as he saw April smirking with clasped hands, “April, what do YOU HAVE?”

“SPIDERS!”

“NO!” Leo tried to roll back into his portal, but it had already blipped away, so instead he crashed into the wall of corn stalks. Scrambling, he brushed at his entire body, trying to get the ‘spiders’ away.

“PFFFFAAHAHAAA!” April had tears streaming down her face, practically rolling with laughter, “THERE ARE NO SPIDERS, YOU FOOL!”

“NOO THE BETRAYAL!”

(The crowd was loving their antics, so Big Mama was only slightly annoyed that they were enjoying this so much. At the end of the day, a better show meant a bigger check.)

Catching their breath, April and Leo looked around to see where they had ended up.

Leo shaded his eyes and looked towards the brighter region of the orange sky, “Maybe we should keep heading…West? I think that's the West. Whatever that bright thing is, I’m assuming that it is this world’s ‘sun’? I’m not a hundred percent s-“

“Leo.” April whispered, and pointed to their left.

Sensing her urgency, Leo felt his muscles tense.

He looked to where she was pointing.

Hidden by leaves and stalks, a figure was crouched about ten rows of corn away.

They stood frozen for a moment.

Waiting to see if it would move.

The wind rustled through the dry leaves.

Without taking his eyes off of the figure, Leo lightly tapped April’s hand, tip tip tap tip.

It was their signal for ‘Fight’: an ‘F’ in morse code.

tap tip tap tap, April returned, signaling that yes (‘Y’), she thought fighting was their best option too.

Everyone always blames Donnie for the family learning morse code, but real ones know that Leo learned it from a Jupiter Jim comic and taught everyone strictly for communication purposes. (‘Communication’ meaning ‘talking past bedtime without getting caught by Splinter’)

They stalked towards the unmoving figure on either side, pushing through stalks of corn.

It didn’t move.

They got closer, hands tightening on weapons and hearts pounding in their chests.

Leo felt his stomach drop as the figure jerked its head toward him.

Then the figure came crashing through the corn. Stalks snapping and breaking as the figure trampled its way towards Leo.

It was fast.

But Leo was faster.

He jumped straight up into the air, twirled, and landed on the figure’s shoulders, the force knocking them to the ground.

Leo pinned the figure down, holding his katana to their throat. They were wearing a burlap bag mask, overalls over a red flannel, and (most notably) had straw sticking every which way out of their clothes.

“Are you a scarecrow?” Leo asked incredulously.

“A scarecrow? I am the Scarecrow!” the Scarecrow scowled, voice scratchy and whiny, “This is my field! Go away!”

“Oh cool!” April said, joining them, “Can you tell us how to find our friend so we can leave your field then?”

“CHEATER!” cried the Scarecrow. They pulled a small book from their pocket and started casting a spell at April.

“Oh no you don’t!” Leo stabbed the book all the way through, ending the magic.

The Scarecrow gasped, horrified. “YOU RUINED MY DREAM JOURNAL! BIG MAMA! HAVE HIM EXPELLED!”

April and Leo shared a look and snickered.

Then a burst of light came from nowhere, blasting Leo in the back of the head, causing him to fall to his knees.

“What are you afraid of turtley-boo?” a voice whispered too close to his head, Leo flinched away from it.

“LEO! Are you okay? What happened?” April was holding his head in her hands, frantically checking him for injuries, “What did she do?”

Leo didn’t respond.

He couldn’t.

His eyes focused on something behind her.

He was shaking all over, “no. no. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry”.

“Leo?” April turned and felt cold, icy dread stop her in her tracks.

Four figures revealed themselves, stepping out from the corn.

Four familiar figures.

Four kraangified figures.

April swallowed hard, and turned back to Leo, ignoring every instinct telling her to run.

“Leo. They aren’t real. They are not your brothers, and that is not me. I’m right here, okay?”

Leo met her gaze, it helped anchor him, keeping him from slipping into memories. “Not real,” he said, like he was trying out the words for the first time.

“Not real.” April confirmed.

“But we will still have to fight…them.” Leo said in a small voice.

April’s mind raced desperately. Then, she put her hands on Leo’s unicorn hood, “I have an idea,” she said, and pulled the hood over his eyes.

Leo was so surprised he forgot to be scared for a second. “Uh, April?” he asked, confused.

April’s voice came from his right, she was pulling him away and further into the maze, “Pretend you are playing a video game, and I am reading you the playthrough to help you beat it. Okay? You won’t have to look at anything.”

Leo felt a little silly, but that was way better than how he felt seeing his family kraangified. He took a deep breath and put on a smile, “Alright, bet. Let’s do this.”

April stopped at a large clearing, with enough space that they could fight and she wouldn’t lose sight of Leo. Right on their tail, the kraangified April, Raph, Donnie, and Mikey also barged into the clearing.

“Alright, so there are four targets in front of us, one of them is coming towards you! Dodge right!”

Leo jumped to the right, and swung his blades down to the left as he felt movement go past him.

As soon as his blades made contact, he felt it crumble into nothing.

“NICE! Two down! These are definitely fakes because I just set ‘myself’ on fire and they immediately died. What? Can’t handle a little lava? Walk it off!”

Leo grinned for real this time. Yeah, his real siblings would never go down so easily, kraangified or otherwise. Time to have some fun.

“HEY, Leo! Heads up, 3 o’clock!”

Leo listened for the heavy squelching footsteps, and once they got close enough he conjured a stairway of dream sharks, “PARKOUR!” He bounded up the line of floating sharks and then sat on the back of the top shark.

“RIGHT UNDER YOU!” April called.

Riding atop the shark, he dove down towards his target, bringing the other sharks with him in a spiral.

“SHARK FRENZY!” Leo shouted.

Like homing missiles, the sharks flew after their targets, crunching them into dust.

He lifted the unicorn hood up just in time to see April crashing into him for a hug, worry lines all over her face.

“Sharknado is real, April, I have proof.”

She put a hand over his mouth, “Shut up, we’re having a moment.”

…

“Licking my hand won’t work.”

April gave him one last squeeze before she let go and moved her hands to Leo’s shoulders, “We are all safe. The Kraang are never coming back. You made sure of that.”

A tension left Leo’s shoulders that he hadn’t realized was still there. “Yeah,” he breathed, “okay.”

“And, wow, you really are Sharkboy, huh?” April grinned, graciously releasing Leo from the serious moment.

(Honestly, he was just as bad as his twin with emotions. They just avoid them in different ways.)

Leo proudly patted the shark he was still sitting on, “His name is Champ-Chomp.”

“Think Champ-Chomp and his gang will take us to Señor Hueso?”

“Deffo.”

There was a squealing tires sound effect as Leo and April raced off on their sharky steeds.

Big Mama took her manicured finger off the sound board and checked her viewer polls. Champ-Chomp was a new crowd favorite. His merch was already sold out!

With the sharks, it took them about ten minutes to find the volcano and Señor Hueso.

(They had tried to swim/fly over the maze but Big Mama kept making the walls taller)

“Pepino!” Señor Hueso called, relieved. Then he remembered he was supposed to be grumpy with Leo for the finger-gun thing and grumbled, “What took you so long?”

“Don’t you trust me, Señor! I would never, and I mean never, leave you behind!”

“What if I hadn’t offered you a prize for your stupid competition?”

Leo pulled a face, “Ehhhhhhh.”

Señor Hueso scowled at him.

“I’m joking, I’m joking!” Leo laughed, “You know I can’t live without you!”

Señor Hueso scoffed, “That’s real sweet. Can I please go home now?”

Then, the TV screen popped into existence again. “Ohoho, I’m afraid not, Señor,” Big Mama smirked knowingly, “For I have changed the terms-“

“-of agreement at the last minute blah blah,” April finished for her, “A bit predictable to be honest.”

“HOW DARE YOU-“

Leo interrupted her with a yawn, “It’s almost like we know how this movie ends,” and winked at April.

April nodded. Plan acquired!

Big Mama fumed, “Tittering turtle! I will show you predictable!” The volcano below them started to rumble.

“Oh no! Not the volcano!” April pretended to faint in horror, “Whatever shall we do?”

The volcano rumbled louder, the lava bubbling and throwing sparks into the air.

Leo got closer to Señor Hueso and helped him onto a flying shark, “Okay, you gotta trust me.”

Señor Hueso was clinging to the shark’s fin, “You ask too much, Pepino. You just angered Big Mama who is currently erupting the volcano.”

“This is a dream, Señor Hueso, and it’s not Big Mama’s dream, or my dream, or April’s dream. We are only mystic magically here, but you are actually dreaming. So you gotta fall asleep here to wake us all up in the real world.”

“Fall asleep? On a shark? In the sky? Above a VOLCANO?”

“Yeah! Exactly! Glad we are on the same page! Knew I could count on ya!”

Señor Hueso put his hand over his external acoustic meatus (Hehe ear holes, Leo thought), “No, I can’t, es imposible.”

“Don’t worry! Yours truly will sing you to sleep!” Leo grinned.

“What.”

“Close your eyes, shut your mouth, dream a dream and get us out. Dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream.”

Below, April was fist fighting the lava to keep it from getting too high, “EAT THIS SUCKAAAAAAA,”

“Hit the hay, fast asleep, dream a dream you little bleep. Dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream.”

Señor Hueso’s eyes drifted shut, not because the lullaby was particularly good, but because his brain was shutting down from sheer dumbfoundedness. At least that’s what Hueso will tell you.

“IT’S WORKING LEO, KEEP IT UP!” April yelled, holding back a wall of lava.

“Just relax, lay about, or my fist will put you out. Dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream.”

The mystic dreamscape shimmered as it began to fade.

“Take your time, but beware, there’s darkness in the air. Dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream.”

Fast asleep, Señor Hueso slipped off of the shark and tumbled down as the volcano erupted and the dream broke.

…

Señor Hueso sat up, breathing heavily. He was just falling! What happened?

He looked himself over.

Okay, all 206 bones were accounted for.

“Ugh. My mouth feels so dry,” Leo said, stretching his arms about ten feet away.

“That’s because you snore so loud,” April responded from the other side of the room.

“Nuh-uh.”

“Uh-huh.”

Niños. Why do they torment him so?

“Heyo, Señor Hueso, you good?” Leo asked, “We kinda got forcibly thrown back into your restaurant by Big Mama, the scary spider lady in case you are unfamiliar. All the stuff that's knocked over was all her by the way.”

They were bothersome. However, they did save him. He supposed he would humor them a bit longer.

“I’m okay, thank you, Pepino. You too, Abril.”

“Anytime!” April smiled.

“Yeah, whatever you need, Bone-man!” Leo finger-gunned at him and then he paused. “Sooo, about naming pizzas after us…”

Señor Hueso laughed, “Of course, let’s make some pizzas, shall we?”

April and Leo followed him into the kitchen excitedly chattering about their ideas for pizzas.

…

“WHY ARE MY GOOD KITCHEN UTENSILS ON THE FLOOR?”

“DONNIE,” Mikey whisper shouted, “YOU GOTTA GET OUT HERE AND HELP ME, I THOUGHT APRIL WAS GONE BUT SHE STILL HASN’T LEFT YET.”

“Grumble,” Donnie grumbled, “Okay, you keep working on what’s in the kitchen, and I’ll distract her and get her to leave.”

Donnie set down his tools and flipped his goggles up. “Now let’s see what the problem is…” He pressed a few buttons on his wrist gadget to pull up camera feeds in the lair, “Ah, Leo is sleeping, I should've guessed.”

Sipping his coffee, Donnie made his way to the TV room where April was playing video games. As discreetly as possible, he hacked into her phone with his wrist gadget and changed the time on her phone to 10:00 am. He assumed she would check on Leo again at the hour, and everyone knows that time is an illusion when video games are involved.

He watched April glance at her phone and turn the game off, “If he isn’t awake, I’m gonna hit him,” she muttered.

Oh right, she was going to see him. Donnie quickly hid his wrist behind him and took a totally not suspicious sip of coffee as she turned, “Trying to wake up Sleeping Beauty?” he asked.

April glared at him, “At least our team is half ready to go, you guys just woke up.”

“Yeah, but we are going somewhere at night,” Mikey piped up from the kitchen, “we don’t have to be on time.”

April stormed towards the kitchen, and Donnie panicked internally while following close behind. Hopefully Mikey had put away anything too incriminating.

She stole the pot of ‘water’ off the stove, causing Mikey to let out an indignant “HEY!” and she left.

Mikey crossed his arms, annoyed, “I just finished that!”

Donnie tapped the counter excitedly, “Does it work?”

“How am I supposed to know, I just finished it.”

Donnie was unsure of how to respond to his youngest brother’s sass this early in the morning, so he decided to just drink his coffee.

Mikey tapped his foot impatiently before cupping his hands around his mouth and hollering down the hallway, “APRIL! GIVE IT BACK!”

Footsteps drew closer to the kitchen as April reappeared and handed back the pot, it was empty.

“Thanks, Mikey.”

Donnie and Mikey shared a ‘Oh no’ look. Why was it empty? Did she know what it was already?

“Excuse me?” Mikey tried to call on his Dr. Delicate Touch persona to cover up his nervousness.

“You’re excused,” April shrugged.

Alarm bells went off in their heads, SHE KNEW SHE KNEW SHE KNEW.

“Believe me, it went to a noble cause.”

Donnie nearly spat out his coffee, “You didn’t!”

Mikey breathed a sigh of relief.

Okay so April didn’t know that the ‘water’ was actually a mystic recipe for a magical drink that would identify the supernatural. She also did not know that they had stolen a jar from Splinter’s ‘DO NOT TOUCH’ shelf because they needed it for the recipe. They were safe.

Wait.

What would it do to Leo?

“He wouldn’t wake up, what else was I supposed to do?” April wailed.

“And you didn’t film it?” Donnie gasped, horrified at the loss of important data, “Oh, the pain!”

A loud slam caught their attention as Leo burst into the kitchen and posed in his costume, “PRESENTING: Moi as Sharkboy! Please, don’t save your applause.”

Several things happened at once as Leo spoke:

One, the mystic water slipped out of Leo’s hands and slid back over to Mikey, who set the pot down for it to climb into.

Two, Leo was looking right at Donnie with a horrible horrible no good terrible smirk, and Donnie felt sweat roll down from his temple from being under Leo’s scrutiny.

And three, April did not notice the mystic water or that Leo was magically dry because of Leo’s dramatics.

“FINALLY,” April grabbed Leo’s arm to drag him to the garage, “I thought you might sleep forever.”

As she pulled him away, Leo dropped his head back to look at his brothers who were pleading him to not say anything with their eyes. You owe me, he mouthed silently, and they both nodded furiously.

Fine, fine, whatever, just as long as he didn’t tell Splinter.

“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do, capiche?” Leo winked before he and April disappeared around the corner.

Mikey and Donnie let out a breath.

“Leo is the worst.”

“Right?”

Mikey put the mystic water into a plastic water bottle, “Perfect!” he grinned, “Now we’re cooking with gas, baby!”

“We have an electric oven, Mikey.”

“Po-tay-to, Po-ta-to, To-may-to, Ha-ma-to.”

They spent the rest of the afternoon packing ghost hunting tech, making more water bottles of mystic water, and finally, putting on their costumes.

Donnie made crab motions, snapping at the air, with his Doc Ock arms making a satisfying clicking noise.

Mikey, armed to the teeth with cameras, spirit boxes, and spray paint, bounded out of his room in his Miles Morales Spiderman costume, “I’m ready! Let’s go let’s go let’s go!”

Donnie turned towards Mikey, but kept making the crab noises instead of responding. Mikey copied him and put his arms out like a crab too. They clicked, clacked, and crab walked all the way to the garage.

They climbed into the Turtle Tank, because someone had taken all the motorcycles Donnie so graciously built. Donnie took the driver’s side and Mikey sat criss-cross applesauce in the passenger seat.

“We’re goin’ ghost hunting, ghost hunting, can’t wait to go ghost hunting, gonna find a ghost cuz we’re doin the most! lalalala ghost hunting!” Mikey sang.

Donnie turned a corner and scowled, “No, we are hoax hunting, ghosts aren’t real.”

“Who you gonna call?” Mikey ignored him, “GHOSTBUSTERS!”

“Hoax, Mikey, Hoaxes. Someone has to be behind the ‘haunting’, mansions don’t have ghosts.”

“Ghosts are real Donnie! Besides wouldn’t it be way cooler to find a ghost over some tech dweeb, no offense.”

“I am so very offended,” Donnie said flatly.

“You’ll get over it!” Mikey beamed and hopped out of the tank as they rolled up to a fancy gate with yokai lion statues guarding the sides.

“WAIT UNTIL I PARK…annnnnd he’s gone.”

Donnie joined Mikey at the gate, already hacking into the security system.

Mikey watched him for a moment, and then simply jumped over the gate.

Hearing Mikey land on the other side, Donnie looked up, “I’m still going to hack it,” he said stubbornly.

“I’ll wait!” Mikey grinned, rocking back and forth on his heels.

Donnie narrowed his eyes, but continued and a few moments later the gate popped open and he joined Mikey on the other side.

“Donnie! I haven’t seen you in forever!” Mikey teased, hugging his brother, “Have you grown?”

Using his new Doc Ock arms, Donnie lifted Mikey above his head, “Shut it.”

“Jokes on you, I like it up here,” Mikey crowed, getting comfortable.

Donnie rolled his eyes and carried Mikey up the path to a very spooky looking mansion.

Imagine the spookiest mansion you have ever seen, and multiply that by Avogadro’s number. It was that spooky.

Donnie pushed open the front door, a huge oak door carved with intricate designs, and stepped inside.

Lightning flashed. Bats flew. An organ played.

Mikey gulped behind his mask, clinging a little tighter to the Doc Ock arms.

“Ghosts aren’t real,” Donnie reminded him, carefully setting Mikey down so he could start setting up.

“Then why are so many other people here hunting ghosts too?” Mikey asked, looking out the window.

Sure enough, a large group of yokai joined them in the foyer of the mansion, all wearing costumes and carrying all sorts of ghost hunting machines.

“Because they are all fools,” Donnie hissed, “Brainless dum-dums.”

“Man, I could go for a dum-dum right now,” Mikey sighed, “Like a butterscotch dum-dum? Yes please!”

“Focus, Mikey. We need to make sure none of these dum-dums find the person behind this hoax before we do.”

“You mean find the ghost before we do,”

“I said what I said.”

They slipped away from the bustling group of ghost hunting enthusiast yokai, and up the stairs of the mansion.

Cobwebs decorated the bannister along with a heavy coating of dust.

ACHOO

“Gesundheit.”
“Oranges!”

Donnie and Mikey stopped cold in their tracks.

“If you didn’t sneeze, and I didn’t sneeze, then who-?” Mikey asked, voice wavering.

“Who indeed!” Donnie grinned maniacally, rubbing his hands together, “Come out come out wherever you are!”

Mikey pulled his phone out, ready to take a picture of a ghost and/or call for help.

ACHOO

Their heads swiveled wildly, looking back and forth for the source. Mikey backed up into Donnie and they stood back to back, cameras and nets held out.

“Uh hello?” came a voice from the ground.

“AAAUAHAHUA!” Mikey scrambled up Donnie like a Spiderman and clambered onto his head with his eyes squeezed shut, taking pictures with wild abandon.

Donnie, secure in his belief that ghosts did not exist, also screamed (albeit quieter than his banshee brother) and jumped back from a ghostly figure laying on the floor.

“Hey dudes, what’s popping? Other than your eyes out of their sockets, that is.” Donnie face-palmed as he realized that this particular ghost was actually some kid yokai wearing a sheet with eyes cut out.

“DONNIEEEEEE I’M TOO YOUNG TO LOSE MY EYES!” Mikey wailed.

“It's a costume, Mikey, ghosts aren’t real,” Donnie assured him, patting his head with his Doc Ock arm.

Mikey narrowed his eyes at the newcomer, “Then how did they float up through the floor?”

The not-ghost answered, “I was actually on the floor and you guys stepped on me, ow, by the way. Also ghosts are def real, weird stuff happens here all the time.”

Mikey released Donnie’s head, and flung his arm around the not-ghost’s shoulders “Yeah ghosts are real, Donnie. We say so.”

“Scoff,” Donnie scoffed and gave the not-ghost a once over, “So who are you, what do you want, and are you the one who is in charge of all the hoaxes here.”

The not-ghost’s eyes crinkled like they were smiling, “My name is Waylan, I want to not be bored, and no.”

Donnie looked at Mikey.

Mikey shrugged, “Based on their tone, I’d say they are telling the truth, sorry Donnie, not this one!”

Donnie slipped the mystic trap handcuffs that inhibit magic back into his pocket.

“My name is Mikey!” Mikey held out his hand, “And this is my brother, Donnie!”

“Well, Mike-ster, you and D-man have some pretty sick costumes, nice to meet ya! Want to go see the best room to use the spirit box?”

“Abso-hecking-lutely!” Mikey skipped after Waylan.

Donnie’s eyes lit up, the best room for the spirit box sounded to him like the best room to catch a hoax in the act!

Waylan led them into what used to be a study, with bookshelves lining the walls and a huge desk covered in papers (and dust of course).

“Cooooooooool,” Mikey said, craning his neck to look up at the books.

Waylan helped Donnie set up the spirit boxes. “You know, people who don’t believe in ghosts don’t usually own this many spirit boxes.”

“Hrm,” Donnie side-eyed Waylan, “I mostly just set them up around my room and use them as white noise when the dubstep isn’t dubstepping enough.”

“WhaaaAAAaaat? That’s genius!” Waylan sat on a nearby chair and kicked their feet.

“I am, thank you.”

Mikey gasped loudly, “OMIGOSH, DO YOU HAVE HEELYS?”

“Yep!” Waylan kicked their feet out a little more, revealing pink heelys with silver skulls on the toes.

“DONNIE WHEN WE GET BACK I NEED YOU TO MAKE ME SOME HEELYS.”

“I am drawing the same conclusion, Angelo.” Donnie made a note on his tech bracelet before continuing hooking more wires together, “There! All the spirit boxes are online!”

GSH GSH GSH GSH GSH GSH

The study was filled with a cacophony of static noises.

“Ask your ‘ghost’ some questions so I can find out who is behind this,” Donnie directed.

“Okidoki!” Mikey thought for a moment, “What are your thoughts on cows?”

GSH GSH GSH GSH GSH GSH

“Really, that’s your first question?” Waylan laughed.

“Mikey always loses Twenty Questions because he refuses to ask normal things that would be helpful.” Donnie ranted. (He had been stuck on Mikey’s team for that game one too many times)

“Shut up, nonbeliever,” said Mikey, “Okay, how about, Do you wear wigs?”

GSH 1-800 GSH w GSH Next up GSH GSH No wind resistance GSH

“DID YOU HEAR THAT, THEY SAID NO!” Mikey grabbed Waylan’s shoulders and shook him.

“I HEARD IT, I HEARD IT,” Waylan said excitedly.

Donnie waved his heat source detector (fancy thermometer) back and forth, “ASK AGAIN ASK AGAIN!”

“UHHH,” Mikey fumbled with his hands, “HAVE YOU WORN WIGS?”

GSH GSH You’re listening to GSH GSH I don’t want no GSH ay GSH

“AGAIN,”

Mikey looked over at Waylan for help. They quickly shouted, “WILL YOU WEAR WIGS?”

GSH me maybe GSH GSH doodoo GSH la GSH GSH

“ONE MORE, I’M SO CLOSE!”

Waylan was still bent over laughing from the last question, so Mikey blurted out, “WHEN WILL YOU WEAR WIGS?”

GSH GSH GSH n GSH GSH GSH

“I think that we-hehe scared the ghost away,” Waylan snickered into their hand.

“NOOO,” Donnie shook his heat detection gadget furiously, “It just stopped working!”

“The ghost left, Donnie.”

“Ghosts are not real, Micheal,” Donnie shot back, cursing his tech for betraying him.

Suddenly, the room was plunged into darkness.

Only the glow from Donnie’s screens lit up the room.

Mikey clapped his hands twice.

The room stayed dark.

“Oh bananas, I thought that would work.”

Donnie handed out flashlights, holding his own with a Doc Ock arm.

CLUNK

Waylan tilted his head, surprised. When he stepped forward the floor sounded…

“Hollow! Of course! That’s how this ‘ghost’ is getting around!” Donnie cried, pulling back the rug to reveal a trap door.

“Ooooooooooo,” Mikey and Waylan said appreciatively.

“Onward!” Donnie pumped his fist in the air and they all descended down the ladder and into the floor.

“AAAAAAA,” Waylan cowered, “A GHOST!”

“That’s just your reflection,” Donnie rolled his eyes, “Someone lined this tunnel with mirrors.”

“Oh, right, thanks D-man,” Waylan said, ducking their head.

Mikey peeked over Waylan’s shoulder, his Spidey eyes wide in the dark, “We should keep going, I am not a big fan of wherever this is.”

Donnie looked over his shoulder, “Do you want to leave?”

“Nonono I want to find a ghost and prove you wrong.”

“Okay, just checking, let me know if you change your mind.”

Mikey appreciated Donnie’s thoughtfulness, but his youngest-sibling-stubbornness won out, “I won’t, nyeh.”

They all jumped when a strange warbling noise came from up ahead.

Donnie rubbed his head, this tunnel was not made for someone his height. Good thing Raph wasn’t here. Actually, Donnie kind of wished Raph was here because now he had to go investigate the weird noise. Ghosts weren’t real, but serial killers were. What if this was the mansion that the game Clue was based off of? Donnie liked Clue.

Another high pitched warble interrupted his train of thought.

“What do we do, what do we dowhatdowedowhatdowedo,” Mikey whispered frantically.

A hand slammed into the mirror right by Waylan’s head.

But it was on the other side of the mirror, and the hand wasn’t connected to an arm (or a body for that matter).

Waylan screamed and fell back into Mikey, knocking them both into the mirror on the other side.

Donnie quickly unscrewed a mystic water bottle and chucked its contents at the hand.

The hand glowed green for a moment and then scurried away.

“What does green mean?” Mikey asked, still catching his breath.

“It means that it's…supernatural.”

“Like mystic supernatural, right?”

“No…and I can’t believe I’m about to say this…but, I- I was wrong.”

Mikey’s eyes widened in realization, “So-”

Another hand hit the mirror, and started pushing through to their side.

“Uhheuhhh,” Waylan tried to scoot away, “Gross, gross, gross.”

Another splash of glowing green chased the hand away, “Get!” Mikey called.

They raced through the tunnel as more hands kept hitting the mirrors and forcing their way through. They flung the mystic water all around them, trying to drive them away, but they kept multiplying.

A hand grabbed Mikey’s ankle, but Waylan rolled over its fingers with their heelys. Another hand landed on Waylan’s shoulder and grabbed their costume, pulling. Donnie fought off as many hands as he could since he currently had the most arms, but even he was getting overwhelmed.

“The exit!” Mikey cried, pointing to a ladder up ahead.

The trio pushed and fought their way to the ladder, hands swarming them, barely affected by the mystic water anymore.

Climbing up, they forced open the trapdoor and burst into a hallway. Donnie whacked the last few hands attempting to follow them out and slammed the trapdoor shut.

The three of them just stood there for a moment, breathing heavily.

…

A door creaked at the end of the dark hallway.

“Oh, come on,” someone said. Maybe they all said it. Didn’t they deserve a break? Guess not.

As a figure emerged from the door, the lights in the hallway slowly brightened.

They caught a glimpse of a white mask, with sunken eyes and a wide smile. The dark holes boring into them. It seemed to morph in front of them, translucent one second, then solid the next. Its mouth dropped open, down, down, down, all the way to the floor before its feet pounded toward them at inhuman speed.

Donnie snapped a picture.

Mikey went into his shell.

Waylan stood frozen.

Down the hallway it ran. Arms and legs flopping loosely, jaw still unhinged to the floor, scooping towards them like a horrific parody of a humanoid bulldozer.

“I CHANGE MY MIND I CHANGE MY MIND,” Mikey screamed, “ I WANNA LEAVE!”

Donnie grabbed Mikey’s shell and picked up Waylan with his Doc Ock arms (they really do come in handy quite often) and jet packed away at faster than inhuman speeds.

He burst out a window in the hallway, glass flying everywhere. The horror behind him leapt out of the window too, head lolling and limbs stretching toward them.

SPLASH

A bright green enveloped the horror, blinding it for just long enough that Donnie was able to throw his brother and new friend into the turtle tank and drive off to safety.

Back in the lair, Raph, Cassandra, and Mayhem had taken over the couch.

(They were the first ones back, so they had dibs)

Leo and April were covered in flour, laying their heads down at the table.

And last, but not least, Mikey, Donnie, and Waylan just came in the door looking like they just…well, you know.

“Heyyyy you’re back,” Leo lifted his head tiredly, “yayyyyy.”

“Barely!” Mikey waved his arms, “We almost DIED.”

“You say that every year,” Raph pointed out.

“Yeah but this year, it’s true.”

“Well you can tell me all about it…when it's your turn.” Raph grinned, “Raph gets to go first.”

The strange group of family, friends, and frenemies gathered in a circle. Mikey introduced everyone to Waylan. April lit a few candles and Donnie dimmed the lights.

“So…Mayhem and I went to a pumpkin carving contest, and ended up battling a Pumpkin King Mech with Casey. We beat it, and it became a super cool 20 ft tall glowing statue.”

“Woah,” said Waylan.

“I do not know who this child with the blanket is, but they are correct, it was very ‘woah’,” Casey said proudly.

Mayhem curled up contentedly in Raph’s lap. (Everyone was in awe and a little jealous that Mayhem was getting along so well with the oldest brother)

“So what did you win?” asked Leo.

Raph smirked and paused for effect, “A pirate boat made of caramel corn.”

“How big?”

“Boat-sized, and yes, it floats.”

Impressed murmurs rose up around the circle.

“Okay, Leo and April? Beat that,” Raph grinned.

“With pleasure, dear brother,” Leo returned the grin, “April and I rescued Señor Hueso from a volcano in a dream world corn maze created by Big Mama with nothing but sharks and lava powers.”

“That was so many words,” gaped Mikey.

“Annnnnnd, Señor Hueso gifted us with pizzas named after us and added to his menu AND we are now framed on his wall as hero-champions-of-eternal-glory,” April added, “Leo picked that name, if you couldn’t tell.”

“Ooooh tough call, tough call,” Donnie mused, “those are both very, how you say, ‘kewl’, but we have something far more valuable.”

“Okay, okay,” April laughed, “Out with it then.”

Donnie examined his nails, “We have a bonafide picture of a ghost.”

Silence fell over the circle.

Then:

“DONNIE’S ADMITTING GHOSTS ARE REAL? SOMEONE CALL AN EXORCIST.”
“Are you feeling okay? Did you sleep last night?”
“A GHOST? Show me Dee, show me right now.”
“I WOULD LIKE TO SEE THIS GHOST.”

Obliging his captive audience, Donnie pulled out his cellphone. It was wet.

Uh oh.

“No,” Mikey gasped, “No it was real! We really saw it! It was horrible! We went to this haunted house to find ghosts and it was creepy and we spoke to a ghost through the spirit boxes! Then we went down a mirror tunnel where these zombie hands came at us from all directions! And then we were chased away by this-”

“We believe you, Mikey,” Raph patted his shell, “Buuuuuut, if you don’t bring anything back…”

“...it doesn’t count,” Donnie finished, “That’s the game.”

“Ugh,” Mikey groaned, throwing his hands up over his face, “this sucks.”

“Uh, M-mikey?” Leo stuttered, “Who did you say your friend was again?”

Mikey looked over at Waylan, “Oops sorry, I didn’t mean to knock off…your…costume,” Mikey trailed off.

Sitting next to him, was a kid about Mikey’s size with short, pink, tightly coiled hair. Their ghost sheet in a pile next to them and their pink heelys reflecting the candlelight. They were also translucent. That’s probably the important part.

…

Donnie tossed some mystic water at them.

They glowed a bright green, filling the room.

…

Waylan waved, “Howdy!”

…

“This means we win, right?”