Previously...

As Bebop and Rocksteady widened their stances, tears came to their eyes, soon they were doing more blubbering than eating, their fatter frames sinking to their knees as they sobbed around mouthfulls of pizza.

"Bawwww, we surrender! We give up!" cried the blubbery boar

"Yeah, youse guys win! We're through wit this!" heaved the rotund rhino.

"Foist it's every time we fight, yer always winnin'. we can never catch a break, and we're always gettin' punished. We ain't never had a pat on the back, or heard a 'Good try, bebop!' or 'Maybe next time, Rocksteady!'"

"An' now ya made us all fat 'n heavy-like! It just ain't fair! Tha humilation's worse 'n the food in the technodrome's cafeteria! Please forgive us an' stuff! We don't wanna fight youse anymore!"

This... was definitely something different from the two mutant henchman. No one seemed to know what to make of it. Ronnie had stopped throwing the pizzas, and Mikey turned his fat face to see what Leo had to say about it.

The older brother rubs his chin, idly noting how soft it felt, a second one coming in. "I dunno... this may be some kind of trap or something..."

Mikey looked like he usually did when he walked by a pet store and wanted to adopt all the cats in the window. "But Leo, I think they're really sorry. I mean, they actually crying and stuff..."

"And I am no tactitian," Ronnie interjected, "but I can see the advantage of having these two as friends, rather than enemies."

"And they can't be so bad if they like Ronnie's pizza!" agreed Mikey.

"Well..." Leo thought it over a bit more. The pair -did- look genuinely sorry, getting what was left of their shirts wet with tears, and they certainly didn't seem as much of a threat, fat as they'd gotten. he finally smmiled and shrugged. "Why not? Truce."

Mikey cheered, jumping a bit in excitement and causing his whole frame to shake and bounce. "Awesome! new friends to hang out with!"

Ronnie's electronic display smiled as well, the robot procuring even more pizzas. "May I suggest we celebrate the occasion with another pizza or four?"

Everyone seemed to be in eager agreement on that, sitting together and enjoying the robo-chef's culinary skills. Leo could feel his bel pressing tight against his bulging belly, so he removed it. he could always worry about that later. Not like he needed his swords now anyway, right?

Meanwhile, two other figures carefully made their way through the maze of hallways that made up the Technodrome's interior.

"Man, that was so slick thinking, grabbing the rail with your tail while we were swinging back and forth, LH!" Mondo smiled, glad to have escaped that particular predicament.

Leatherhead grunted, seemingly distracted by their surroundings, eyeing every shadow suspiciously. "We are not safe yet, Mondo. we still have to find the exit, and warn the turtles about --"

He stopped, suddenly pushing the startled gecko behind him and baring his multitude of teeth at the looming figure that blocked the other end of the hallway.

"What rude guests," a voice burbled merrily. "And here I thought all you disgusting mutant reptiles enjoyed 'hanging out'!"

The figure stepped closer, heavy frame hefting a large rifle that was pointed straight at the pair. From within its chest cavity, the pink basketball-sized blob of tissue and tendrils known as Krang leered, controlling his mobile suit with sheer brain power. "Now, you can either start moving back to the holding cells, or things will get a bit messy!"

"What do you want with us??" Leatherhead snapped. "We won't help you, whatever your scheme is!"

Mondo piped up from behind the scaley brute, sticking out his tongue. "Yeah, you can suck an egg, Princess Bubblegum!"

Krang merely chuckled, moving closer to the duo, who had yet to budge. "I don't need you for anything now, fools. Your usefulness as bait was at an end the moment we sent that message to your turtle friends. What I really want is that IRON Chef program they stole from me. It's the final piece of the puzzle that will power the Technodrome's new reactor, bringing its weapon systems back online!"

The mutant alligator growled, hunching low, ready to strike if he had to. "You're crazy. There's nothing on the planet that can provide you with that much energy. Donatello told me so himself."

Again the alien burbled merrily. "I believed the same thing only a week ago, until I discovered a fascinating little thing capable of so much energy, given the right applications... you call them snack cakes. I can hardly believe you actually -eat- them!"

"Say what?" Mondo was sure he'd heard wrong, peeking out from behind Leatherhead again. "Dude, you're using -Twinkies- to power the Technodrome? What do they do, give it a sugar high?"

"On the contrary, you slimy simpleton! Their unique chemical structure makes your disgusting earth snacks perfect for powering my dimension's technology, everything from my lovely Technodrome, to something as simple as this laser cannon." Krang's suit pulled the charging lever, the barrels of the gun glowing brightly. "Time to see just how powerful this new energy really is!"

ZAKK!

1) Leatherhead isn't about to let Mondo get hurt! He takes the full brunt of the energy blast!

2) Mondo can't let his big boyfriend always be the hero! He leaps into the energy blast's path to protect Leatherhead.

3) Fortunately, it seems Krang is a bad shot! The energy blast misses both of them, bounces off a conveniently-placed reflective surface, and smashes right back into the fleshy little alien!


Whew, this one took longer than expected, but we've got five panels with multiple characters and a few new things I haven't drawn before, so... ta da! Considering the time it took, I'm proud how this page came out. I'll be interested to see just how you guys vote on this one!