A/N: I am so sorry for not updating, but I honestly thought I'd updated! I'd put it as 'completed' and everything! Wow I'm so dumb, sorry!

This is the final chapter, so thank you to everyone who's reviewed and enjoy the last of the story!

Splinter walked back to the dojo and sat under the tree, getting ready to meditate. He had looked around the lair, but had found no trace of his sons. He knew they would come back in their own time, but couldn't stop the nagging in the back of his head telling him to go and find them.

"Splinter," Splinter gasped and his eyes shot open. I know that voice. "Splinter,"

"No," he said. "Leave me alone, I have defeated you once and I will not hesitate to do it again!"

"Join me, Splinter. You can do so much better than this"

"No, I will never join you!"

"I have your sons, join me and I will free them."

"You lie!" shouted Splinter, even though he knew deep down that the Rat King was telling the truth.

"If you're so sure, then don't come, but I can assure you they won't be coming home."

Splinter stayed seated and closed his eyes, trying to find any trace of the Rat King still in his head, but there was none. He sighed and looked at his family photo, sitting on a shelf on the wall. He walked over to it and picked up the picture and stroked the face of his wife lovingly. "I have already lost one family. I refuse to lose another." Splinter placed the photo back on the shelf before leaving the dojo.

"Ah, I knew you would come." said the Rat King. He had been waiting for Splinter in his last lair, and wasn't surprised in the slightest to see the ninja master enter.

"Where are my sons?" demanded Splinter, his frown deepening.

"If you give me your word that you will be loyal to me, then I will let them go." replied the Rat King, holding his hands behind his back.

"I will do no such thing until I see them."

"Very well. Follow me." The Rat King turned and left the lair, followed by hundreds of his rat followers. Splinter hesitated, but followed him out.

"Splinter!" cried Donnie, jumping up from his place on the floor.

"My sons!" said Splinter, running to the cage. He looked at each of them in turn; quickly assessing them for damage and was relieved when he found none, although the absence of his youngest son worried him. "Where is Michelangelo?"

"Here Sensei," called Mikey from his place tied to the pipe. Mikey smiled at his sensei, but Splinter did not return the smile, instead turning to the Rat King.

"Remember your promise?" The Rat King asked, his rotting teeth showing as he sneered at the ninja master. Splinter frowned and looked back to each of the turtles in turn, his gaze landing on Leo last. Leo's lips twitched up in a smile and he nodded briefly at his sensei, who mirrored his nod.

"I do," Splinter replied. He walked to the far side of the room, making sure to take his time, and the Rat King followed him.

"Good," he said. "Now, swear to me that you will have undying loyalty to me and I shall let those – oof!" he cried out as a whack on the back of the head from one of Raph's sais sent him sprawling to the ground. He tried to get up, but Mikey and Donnie did a double roundhouse kick to his stomach, sending him flying into the wall. He groaned and held his head, before calling for his mutant creatures. "Come, your master needs you!"

Immediately, shrieking could be heard and before long the Ratnips appeared, angrily snarling at the turtles and their father. As soon as he saw them, Leo jumped forward and grabbed the Rat King, holding him in front of him and his family as a shield while holding his katana blade to the villain's neck. "Back off," he threatened, narrowing his eyes.

"Do as he says!" shouted the Rat King.

"Coward," Raph spat.

Slowly, the Ratnips backed away and disappeared from sight, and Leo only let the Rat King go when he was sure they were gone.

"H-how did you get free?" asked the Rat King, looking at each of the turtles as if he'd seen a ghost.

"Simple really," said Leo.

"Hurry Mikey!" he whispered. "Someone's coming!" Mikey's eyes widened, and he worked faster, knowing that this could be their only chance to get free.

"Done!" exclaimed Mikey, jumping down from the cage. He put his hands on the bars, about to pull them off but Leo stopped him.

"Wait!" said Leo. "Let him think he's still got us. We'd have a better chance of escaping then. If we get out now he'll probably see us and get the Ratnips on us,"

"Uh, okay," said Mikey, letting go of the bars.

"Tie yourself up again!"

"What?" he crossed his arms.

"Mikey," growled Raph angrily. They could all hear the Rat King's sickening voice, and knew they didn't have much time. "Get back in the web!"

"Okay!" Mikey ran to the pipe and sat back down. He then, with great difficulty, brought the sticky strands of web back around himself and sighed in relief as Splinter and Rat King walked through the entrance with barely a beat to spare.

"And then," said Leo, "we just had to wait for Master Splinter to get you to the other side of the room, before we broke free."

"Pretty smart, huh?" said Mikey, grinning.

"Indeed, my sons." said Splinter. "But how did you know I was coming as well?"

"Well...we didn't," confessed Leo, smiling sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his neck. "We were just gonna escape when the Rat King had his back turned, but this works too."

"We have to do something about the Ratnips, Sensei." said Raph. "They could come back!"

"I have an idea," said Donnie. "But we need someone to lure them here." Leo, Donnie and Raph turned to Mikey, and the youngest turtle looked around in confusion.

"Why's everyone looking at me?"

"I think we found our bait!" said Raph, grinning.

"What? Why do I always have to be bait?!"

"Because you have that 'punch me really hard' air about you," replied Raph.

"Hey!"

"Just go, Mikey! We don't have time!" said Leo in annoyance.

"Fine, but you guys owe me!" he ran out of the door and Donnie and Leo pulled the extremely angry Rat King over to the pipe Mikey was tied to. They wrapped the webbing around him and made sure it was tied properly, before Donnie used the blade on his bo staff to make the hole in the pipe much bigger.

"If I'm right about what gas this is, the sparks from their electric webbing should cause a huge explosion." said Donnie, moving to the side of the entrance with the others close behind him.

Screaming could be heard, and the turtles and Splinter got ready to move. Before long, Mikey appeared through the entrance and stopped. "Guys?" he called shakily and seconds later, the Ratnips burst through the entrance. Mikey's eyes widened like saucers, and he grunted as something tackled him from the left just as one of the Ratnips shot a string of webbing. Leo jumped off of Mikey and grabbed his brother's hand, dragging him out of the room and down a passageway in the sewers where the others were waiting.

"Get down!" Leo shouted, and pushed Mikey into the wall, curling himself over him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Raph do the same to Donnie, or at least attempt to, given the fact the Donnie was taller. He felt Splinter's strong arms wrap protectively around all of them, and milliseconds later, a huge explosion could be heard, the heat hot against them as they struggled to stay where they were. Pieces of concrete flew into them, although most of it was stopped by Master Splinter. They stayed like that for a couple of seconds, huddled together with their eyes squeezed shut before Master Splinter moved, sending pieces of debris rolling off of his back and onto the floor and allowing his sons to get up.

Leo looked down and saw Mikey grinning up at him. He got to his feet and helped his little brother up, before doing the same with Raph. "Nice job, Donnie," Leo said to the younger turtle.

"Thanks," Donnie replied, grinning. Leo turned and patted Mikey on the head, before heading over to where Master Splinter and Raph were standing, looking at the remains of the Rat King's lair.

"He could have escaped," said Raph.

"Unlikely," said Donnie.

"Was that all of them Mikey?" asked Leo.

"Yep!" he replied. "And now there's none."

The family smiled at each other, tired and dirty, but happy and excited, knowing that they would have no more problems with the Rat King, or the Ratnips.

"What happened to the spare mutagen?" asked Leo. They'd been back in the lair for a while, and Leo and Donnie had decided to sit down and watch Space Heroes. Ironically, the same episode Leo had been watching was on, but he was too exhausted to change it. You couldn't have too much of a good thing, right?

"Master Splinter went to wash it away." replied Donnie. "Something about it being too dangerous for me to experiment with."

"Looks like we'll need to find some more mutagen then," said Leo, grinning.

"Hey Mikey." said Raph, sitting down next to Mikey, who was sitting cross legged on the ground by the pool of water.

"Hey," Mikey replied, uncharacteristically quiet.

"What's up?" Raph asked, in a rare show of compassion.

"Do you really think all this was my fault?" asked Mikey, looking up at his brother. Raph smiled; Mikey was never one for keeping his emotions bottled up for too long.

"No, Mikey. I was just frustrated that we got caught so easily. I shouldn't have taken it out on you."

"So...it wasn't my fault?" his face began to break into a smile and Raph gave him a light punch on the arm.

"No, knucklehead. It wasn't your fault."

Mikey grinned and punched him back, a little harder. "Thanks, Raph."

"Don't mention it." he got up to leave, but paused and looked down at his orange clad brother. He rubbed Mikey's head affectionately and the smaller turtle smiled, "Glad we got you back, little brother."

Mikey grinned and got up, before stepping back a few paces with his hands behind his back. Raph watched his brother curiously with raised eyebrows. "Me too," said Mikey, and pulled out a red water balloon from who-knows-where, wasting no time in throwing it at his elder brother. It hit Raph square in the face and Mikey 'whooped' with joy. "Doctor Prankenstein's back!" he shouted, before turning and running away from the fuming red clad turtle.

"MIKEY!" Raph's angry shout echoed through the lair, followed by a squeal from Mikey and then the crash of furniture being knocked over.

Leo looked over at Donnie, who rolled his eyes, grinning. The blue clad turtle looked back to the TV, just as the final scene began to play.

The characters were about to get on the ship, and were sharing a heartfelt moment. "Glad we got you back," said Captain Ryan. He grinned at his team mate, who grinned back. They began to walk back onto the ship, but unbeknownst to them, two yellow eyes gleamed in the darkness behind them, setting the scene for the next episode; Return of the Creatures of the Caves.