"The Hunt for the Doctor" - Part Three

 

Part Three

            Well…here we go again.

            The ape and Silurian turncoats (not that they wear coats) went by the names of “Koba” (the ape) and “Lelnon” (the Silurian). Their motive for betraying each of their own kind, as well as the peace treaty between their two species, was – believe it or not – me. Apparently, Shredder and Krang arrived in Craig’s world much, much earlier than Ryan, Yaz, Graham, and I did. And they managed to recruit the two most treacherous members of the ape and Silurian factions, just for the purpose of capturing me.

            Once again, I was brought to the Technodrome – and so was poor little Craig.

            “Let him go,” I beseeched to Koba and Lelnon. “He has nothing to do with this.”

            They ignored my plea, forcing Craig and I inside. I gave him a look of reassurance, hoping that it would calm him. But, from what I saw, the lad was plenty calm the entire time. He must’ve been through far more perilous situations than this before with Neas.

            I should mention that the Technodrome looked a lot different than when I last saw it. Sometime between now and then, it had received a massive upgrade, appearing more intimidating in design.

            This change reflected on Shredder and Krang.

            The two commanders of the Foot were more menacing than ever. Shredder’s armor was darker in style and his blades were sharper than ever. Krang’s android body now lacked the human features it had before, looking entirely automated with four arms instead of two. The belly region where he was ported had become a glass bubble that incased him with some sort of amniotic fluid.

            “Welcome, Doctor!” he greeted me, no longer from his own body but a speaker built into his android body that sounded like a cross between a Dalek and a Cyberman.

            “I see you boys got a makeover…I don’t like it,” I snapped at them.

            “Too bad,” Shredder told me, his voice much hoarser this time. “It was all made possible through a sample of symbiote, spawned by your venomous friend.” He showed me a canister that contained the same black liquid substance Venom’s whole body was made of, swirling with life and trying to get free.

            After this presentation of “Show and Tell,” Krang ordered Lelnon, “Confiscate her sonic screwdriver.” It seemed the symbiote made the living brain more intelligent – that or he just learned from past experience.

            While Lelnon took my sonic out of my coat, Koba asked in regard to Craig, “What about the human child?”

            “I scanned him, just as you entered,” Krang said. “His trinkets pose no threat.”

            I could swear I heard Craig softly scoff after Krang made that last claim.

            While Krang took my sonic from Lelnon and slotted it into his android body (no gonna say where he slotted it), Shredder operated the Technodrome to leave Craig’s dimension and go to Dimension X. Even though I couldn’t see what it looked like from the windowless interior of the Technodrome, just from the name, I assumed it to be a rather exotic place (in alien terms).

            A moment later, Craig and I witnessed a platoon of Foot soldiers escorting a team of Ninja Turtles that I’d not encountered before. They were a bit more dynamic in appearance than the ones I met in the first world Ryan, Graham, Yaz, and I arrived within the infinite D.C. And yet, somehow, they were more animated.

            “Behold, Doctor, the last of those pesky Ninja Turtles to exist in the entire multiverse,” Shredder declared. “You scoured countless worlds to find ones to help you, only to find each and every one ravaged to its core! How does it feel to know your efforts to survive the hunt for you were all in vain?”

            “They aren’t in vain,” I boldly contended. “I still have friends out there who’ll come for me.”

            “You’ll be dead by the time they find you,” Krang invalidated my assertion.

            “Dimension X is between dimensions – virtually unreachable,” Shredder said. “No sonic, no TARDIS, no friends, and no escape. Again, I ask you, Doctor: how does it feel to be utterly devoid of all hope?”

            I wanted to come up with a snarky retort…something to show him that he was wrong. But he was right.

            Without my sonic, without my TARDIS, without my fam…I was hopeless.

            “I wouldn’t sound so smug, if I were you,” I heard Craig say, right before I noticed him give a couple of taps against the chrome-tiled floor with the base of his staff. I had no idea why he did it at first, until the Technodrome was suddenly hit with a massive tremor.

            And then, a giant metal fist busted through the nearest wall!

            I later discovered that giant metal fist to have belonged to a Megazord, the Power Rangers’ humanoid battle robot. Both it and the team themselves arrived in Dimension X with tons of reinforcements that included Caesar and the apes, the Silurians, and even Venom and the Spider-Squad! All of them stormed right into Shredder and Krang’s fortress, tearing away at their Foot soldiers with assistance from the last surviving Ninja Turtles team.

            Venom did the most damage of them all, barreling through a cavalcade of Foot soldiers like they were bowling pins. He snatched one by the leg and proceeded in swinging him around like a ragdoll and swatting at the soldier’s comrades. I would’ve thought this maneuver was a bit excessive and even inhumane, if the soldiers weren’t androids that broke apart as one body smashed against another.

            The Spider-Squad and the apes utilized their combined agility, leaping and kicking the Foot soldiers every which way. Ironically, the Homo sapiens worked together, just like the Homo reptilia and Homo amphibia did. The Silurians assisted the Turtles in downing more than a few Foot soldiers – the former gunning down every one in their sights and the latter using their signature ninja prowess and weaponry.

            In the midst of the fight, I looked to Craig and asked, “What did you do?”

            “The Byzinium crystal,” Craig indicated the item at the top of his staff. “Neas gave it back to me after the war. It’s super-sonic-powered now and can bust through any dimensional barriers…like, say, the ones around this dimension.”

            If Neas were here right now, I’d hug him. But, since he wasn’t, Craig sufficed.

            We disengaged from our embrace when Venom landed with a loud stomp right beside us; a few of the chrome tiles reverberated beneath our very feet. “Doctor,” he said before spitting out the head of a Foot soldier he bit off.

            “Mr. Venom,” I responded with a smile. “Still committing to your cause, I see.”

            Venom chuckled at my reference.

            Craig was a little confused. “What cause you guys talkin’ about?”

            “I’ll explain later,” I promised him. I then turned back to Venom and curiously queried, “How did you lot manage to know exactly where we are?”

            “Our offspring – the symbiote,” he explained. “We could sense it beyond our reality. So we had the Parkers recalibrate the Collider to bring us to it…that’s how we reunited with your friends in the blue box.”

            “My fam?” I shouldn’t have sounded so surprised they were there, too, since they did succeed in bringing the Power Rangers. I didn’t see them or the TARDIS among the cavalry, so I assumed they were somewhere safe.

            “TRAITOR!” Someone roared in the midst of battle – only after the fact did I realize that someone to have been Caesar. He, Hinlema, and their ape and Silurian clans had Koba and Lelnon cornered. Neither of the traitors put up any resistance, proving to be the cowards they were when they surrendered almost instantly.

            Shredder and Krang were all who were left in the conflict.

            Fighting them proved to be a challenge for the last surviving Ninja Turtles, presumably due to this being a Shredder and Krang more powerful and vicious than the ones to come from their world. They wouldn’t last much longer, unless I came up with a plan.

            Luckily, I did.

            First, I told Venom that since Shredder, Krang, and the Technodrome itself were powered by the same symbiotic substance his body was made of, he would know its weaknesses. I had the biggest, brightest smile on my face when he told me that the symbiote was vulnerable to high sonic energy – the same type of energy that powered Craig’s little staff.

            Knowing that what I was about to have Craig do would affect Venom, I allowed him to retreat with the rest of the Spider-Squad, as well as the apes and the Silurians. As soon as they were away, I instructed Craig to tap the base of his staff against the floor – just like he did earlier – only this time with much greater force.

            The lad followed my instruction with flawless effort.

            Before we knew it, the entire foundation of the Technodrome began to fall apart from the emitted wave of super-sonic energy that rendered the symbiote unstable. Shredder and Krang dropped to their knees in agony – the latter’s android body crumbled to pieces. Within those pieces was my sonic screwdriver, which I retrieved straightaway.

            Craig, the Turtles, and I escaped the rapidly corroding Technodrome before the whole thing deteriorated into nothingness, along with the two Foot commanders, thus ending the hunt for me.

-------------------

            Once E.T. returned the TARDIS (and my fam) back to me, I worked in bringing all the allies I made in this journey back to their respective worlds. Apparently, E.T. managed to link the TARDIS with something known as the “Morphing Grid,” under the advisement of the Blue Power Ranger, Billy Cranston. This Morphing Grid was a true wonder to behold. It was twice as powerful as the infinite D.C. with multiversal energy, just with a little less potency that wouldn’t overwhelm my TARDIS.

            Craig’s world was the last that we landed in, dropping him, Caesar, Hinlema, and their clans off to give Koba and Lelnon the proper trial they deserved for their crimes against me.

            “Thank you, Craig,” I told my new friend. “You truly are amazing. Neas would be proud of what you’ve done for me.”

            “If you see him…I mean, if you see her anywhere, can you let her know that I look forward to another adventure in the infinite D.C.?”

            I didn’t want him to know how unlikely that would be.

            Neas and I followed different paths – me in time and space and Neas beyond it.

            “I have a feeling she’ll find you before I find her.” It was enough of a guarantee for Craig to eagerly accept.

            And like so, I returned to the infinite dimensional corridor with Ryan, Yaz, Graham, and E.T., unsure of whether our next destination will be back in our own dimension or somewhere else…beyond the vortex.

NEXT WEEK...