The Pizza Game (Chp 6)
Chapter 6: The Final Time
Ao3 Link
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Summary:
[Inserts the first 5 minutes of the movie]
:')
Words: 1967
Leonardo had known it was over the second he got hit in the side.
The war was over even before that. It had probably been over the second their base of almost 15 years was destroyed. They had held onto hope that they could change things.
Leo still desperately held onto hope though.
Maybe if he could just get himself and Casey to Mikey, they could figure out something.
“Michelango! Meet at Location 19Tau NOW.” He shouted into his communicator and didn’t wait for a response.
His side throbbed in pain as he reached into his belt to pull out a stained and faded photo with creased and worn edges.
Little Casey Jones, who wasn’t so little anymore, fell to his knees next to Leo and pushed himself under one of Leo’s arms.
“Sensei! We’ve got to get out of here!” Casey shouted as he began to lift Leo.
“We need to get to Location 19Tau!”
Leo rose with Casey’s help, and guided the kid in the right direction.
Leo looked at the photo of his family again. At all the things he had lost in this damned war.
It was a little hard to focus with battle going on around them, and the throbbing pain of his wound making it difficult to run.
“I gotchya Sensei, stay with me!”
“Casey Jones, you’re a life saver.” Leo looked at the boy, knowing he had no idea just how true that statement was about to be.
“I learned from the best. Come on we’re almost there.”
Shit, the krangazoids were getting closer. The wound was slowing them both down.
Leo stumbled, and he was sure they were about to get jumped by the krang monsters.
“BAD DOGGIES!”
Glowing golden chains swiped the krang out of the air.
“Impeccable timing little brother. Very dramatic.” Michelangelo’s mystic powers never failed to impress him.
Mikey blasted the rest of the krang away, giving them a moment of breathing room.
“Help him Michelangelo, he’s hurt bad!” Casey pleaded after Leo was rested on the ground. His side throbbed again, and when he pulled his hand away it was covered in more blood than he expected.
Leo looked around at the hundreds of Krang that had taken over the battlefield, at the last bits of the resistance falling under the attack.
They had lost so much. April, their closest allies, and now almost all of the resistance was gone.
“That’s it. The resistance failed. The Krang won.” Leo hated to admit it.
There was just one last chance. One last little piece of hope. One thing that could possibly right all the wrongs. One last chance to save his family. One last chance to save everyone.
“But, but it isn’t over. We’ve still got a ninja’s greatest weapon. Hope.”
Leo turned to his little brother.
“That, and a Badass Mystic Warrior.”
They had come to the Very Last Resort.
---
“Mikey, when you tried to open a time gateway that one time. You said you were close, just how close did you say you were to actually making it?” Leo had asked.
“I mean…Not actually that close. It was taking a lot of energy to push back in time,” Mikey said trying to recall the experience, “I think I had technically made it to the time frame I wanted, But my gateway also wasn’t very big. I’m not sure how much more out of me it would have taken to get it big enough and to stay open. I don’t know if I would have had enough power to get it open.”
Mikey looked at his brother, his face had a slight frown, brow furrowed in thought. It was what they called his Planning Leader face. Mikey wasn’t sure where he was going with this, “Why are you asking, Leo?”
Leo didn’t turn to meet his brother’s eyes. He stared at the maps that showed dwindling numbers of fighters, supplies, and land held by the resistance. The loss of the Headquarters had tipped things in the Krang’s favor, causing them to retreat to a cave in Upstate New York.
“Just making… contingency plans.” Leo finally answered after a moment.
“You really think things have gotten that bad?”
“Not quite yet, I hope we can still turn things around. But I think we should have an actual plan if worse comes to worst.”
“And you think time travel is the answer?” Mikey asked, eyebrow raised.
“You did,” Leo pointed out with a small smirk, referring to Michelangelo’s attempt at it 3 years previous. He grew serious again and continued, “I think if we’re going to use time travel…. It should only be as the very last resort. When there’s no other way we can turn it around. Only if there’s nothing we can do to stop the Krang.”
“And just when are you thinking of time traveling to?”
“We might as well go for broke and stop it before it even starts,” Leo said with a melancholic smile.
“You mean-“ Mikey’s eyes were wide.
“I mean stopping the key from ever being stolen, so that the Krang never even get out of the prison dimension. It might not change anything for us, but at least then, somewhere, some TIME will have a better future than we did.
“That is of course,” Leo continued, “if you choose to. I can’t make you, and I’m not going to order you either-“
“I’ll do it.” Mikey stated. “As a last resort I’ll do it”
---
“Mikey, we need a Time Gateway.” Leo saw his brother’s eyes widen before they narrowed in resolution. Mikey knew what Leo was asking him to do.
---
“But Leo,” Mikey looked at his hands, aware of the scars that were hiding under the wraps. “I can’t be sure I’ll have the power to make the gateway without losing part or ALL of me. I’ve gotten stronger since… the last time… and maybe by the time we do this, if we have to, I’ll be strong enough to make the gateway and survive. But I can’t guarantee that I will. I’ll still do it, but keep that in mind.”
---
“It will take everything I have.”
Leo knew what that meant. He feared it more than he cared to admit. He had already lost the rest of his family, he didn’t want to lose Mikey too. But then again, this was supposed to fix all that.
“I know.” He still hated it. “But this is our last chance. It’s our only chance.”
They both knew the risks and they needed to hurry.
Mikey floated a short distance away to begin.
“Wait, what’s going on, where is he going?” Casey asked frantically.
---
“Who is going to go?”
“I guess who ever is still here when it’s decided that it’s the end of the world. But I think I need to go.”
“Not that I’m arguing with you, Leo, but why?”
“I’m the one who remembers best about what happened that day-“
“Only because you keep beating yourself up about it! Stop that!”
“I know what needs to be done and why it needs to be done.”
---
Leo couldn’t go. He would love to be able to fix the mistake he made years ago. But he couldn’t do it with a bleeding wound in his side. The past wouldn’t be able to offer the medical attention he would need, and a dying and dead mutant turtle would just slow Casey down and cause him more problems.
(There was also a small part of him that didn’t want to leave this time, this was where his family had died. He wasn’t sure what happened to a soul if it died in a different timeline, but he didn’t want to possibly lose the chance to reunite with his family that was here.)
Now he had to just had to tell Casey what to do.
He took out the one piece of paper he had, the photo he had carried for over 15 years, and drew the Key on the back as he told Casey of how the krang first arrived.
“Why are you telling me this?” Casey asked as he took the drawing.
“Because Mikey’s about to send you back in time to the day that the key was stolen.”
“Wait, he’s gonna WHAT?”
---
“I think Casey should get to go too. He had to grow up in this hell, he should be allowed to live in a time of peace. He’ll know how important it is to stop the invasion. He’s smart and fast and skilled. If no one else is able to go, He could do it.” Leo had said.
“And He probably wouldn’t be here without the invasion happening in the first place. Circumstances and all that. So there’s a chance he won’t have to deal with whatever time problems there could be with living in the same time as your past self. Counterpart or whatever.” Mikey mused.
---
He didn’t like the idea of sending Casey alone through the gateway, but there was no other choice.
He had to get Casey to understand WHY it was so important that he go back in time. To make sure he would do it.
And Leo believed in him. He just had to get the kid to believe in himself too.
“Find the key, stop the Krang.” He commanded.
“But sensei-”
“Say it!” Leo needed to know that Casey knew what he had to do. If not, then it was all in vain.
“Find the Key, Stop the Krang” he repeated dutifully. He had the same sad face that he used to make when he was 5 and told he had to go to sleep instead of training more. Leo couldn’t help but smile at the kid and patted his shoulder. Yeah, the kid would do just fine.
“I don’t want to lose you.” Casey pleaded.
“Casey, it’s not about me.” It was about saving everyone and everything that had been lost all over the world. About everything that would continue to be stolen. It was about stopping the Krang no matter what.
Leo didn’t get the chance to explain any of that as the giant Krang bots appeared above them.
“Mikeeey,” Leo called, and saw that Mikey was still working on creating the gateway.
Leo could only watch as his brother pushed beyond his limit to tear open the gateway, glowing mystic cracks extending over his whole body.
“Master Michelangelo, NO! You’re gonna-“
Mikey turned his head and winked at them with a smile.
Leo watched as Michelangelo shattered into mystical energy.
He hung his head as his heart broke. He lost his final brother.
Leo couldn��t help but remember an old conversation and smiled. At least one of his brothers got to die the way they wanted.
And he was so, SO proud of Mikey.
Mikey had done it. He made the Time Gateway.
The krang were closing in.
“Casey,“
Leo rested a hand on Casey’s shoulder.
“When you’re done saving the world, do me a favor-”
He just had one regret about the situation.
---
“Hey, one good thing about possibly going back in time!”
“You mean besides saving the world? What’s that?”
“Finally get to have pizza again!”
---
“-Grab a slice!” and he tossed Casey toward the gateway.
Leo ran from the gateway, knocking back any krang that tried to get close, head turned to make sure Casey got through the gateway okay.
He turned away from the gateway, Casey’s tear-filled eyes were the last thing he’d ever see of the boy he practically raised.
Leonardo could only hope that Casey’s new life in the past wouldn’t make him cry like that ever again.
---
“HA! I guess that’s one way to make sure Casey gets his pizza party!”
Funny Bonus because this chapter is so sad
Somewhere in the afterlife-
Mikey: So you told him to get the key to stop the krang?
Leo; YUP! He’ll do great
Mikey: And you told him where he had to go?
Leo:…. Uh
Mikey: you told him where it’d be right??
Leo: uuummmmmmmm
Mikey: HOWS HE SUPPOSED TO STOP THE KEY FROM BEING STOLEN IF HE DOESN’T KNOW WHERE TO GO??? WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU TOLD HIM???
Leo: …. mumbles I told him to get pizza….
Mikey:….. okay that’s understandable
Donnie: HA. NARDO LOST THE GAME! LAST PLACE!
Leo: WAA- WAIT THAT’S NOT HOW IT WORKS! AND GET BACK HERE I HAVE A BONE TO PICK WITH YOU!
And then they all have a giant reunion hug. :)
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Next Chapter is the final chapter! The +1 !!! :D
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