Parasitica

**Parasitica** is the 23rd episode of the series. It was scheduled on June 29, 2013, but was replaced with ***The Alien Agenda.*** For UK, it is scheduled to air on June 15, 2013, but instead, ***Pulverizer Returns*** was aired. Officially, it aired on June 22, 2013 in UK. It at last aired in the US July 20th 2013.

***"It's not the egg that's haunted, but the terror that goes viral is."***

## Official Description

Michelangelo must fight his brothers when they fall under the control of a parasitic wasp.

## Plot

The episode starts with the Turtles riding in the Shell-Raiser. While Leo is driving, Raph is in charge of the weapons and Donnie is searching for the Kraang's secret lab, Mikey spins around in his chair in boredom. Then, he decides to annoy Raph. He tries to convince him to fire the weapons. When he refuses Mikey says that if he were in charge of the weapons he would fire them all the time at random objects. This leads Leo to say that this is exactly why Mikey is not in charge of the weapons. He then asks Mikey for directions and Mikey they should have turned right three blocks ago. Cut to the Kraang's secret laboratory. The guys find that someone has destroyed them first. Kraangdroids litter the floor broken and empty. Donnie remarks that it seems that they were experimenting on insects. Suddenly, an enormous wasp appears and tackles Raph.

They manage to fend off the insect long enough to hide and make plan. Mikey suggests that he catch it using his kusarigama chain to pull the wasp. Leo believes that the wasp is to strong and decides that Mikey should distract the wasp while they stop it. Mikey complains why they never use his plans but Leo insists that Mikey's plans never work. Just as the three attack the wasp, Mikey goes ahead with his plan and catches it with his kusarigama chain...which fails miserably ending in the wasp stinging Leo and losing it's stinger in his arm. Without it, the wasp then dies. Donnie pulls the stinger out of Leo, who then goes and finds the wasps egg. At first the boys think they should get rid of it, but Leo thinks it would be a good clue to finding out what the Kraang are up to, thus the turtles take it back to the lair. Leo is strangely protective of it. Leo stares at the egg like a hawk all day without even moving, not even letting Donnie go near it to examine the egg. The three younger brothers were worried. Splinter and April have gone topside for a training exercise so the boys are on their own. They decide to do all they can to get Leo away from the egg. At First they try to lure him away with pizza, then they watch an episode where Captain Ryan fell under the control of a villain and finally, Mikey even threaten to use Leo's valuable Space Heroes comic as toilet paper. Nothing works and Leo doesn't even flinch. Raph then decides that he should destroy the egg that very night. At the next scene, we see Raph trying to get to the egg. Before he can however, he is confronted by Leo who's eyes have gone black.

He attacks Raph and, during the struggle, he bites his brother. Raph is shocked by this but Leo only gives him an eerie smile. The next day, Donnie and Mikey go to see if Raph destroyed the egg. When they sneak inside the lair, they see both Raph and Leo staring the egg with blackened eyes. Leo and Raph attack them causing Mikey and Donnie to lock the doors to the lab and garage. Donnie researches about parasitic wasps. It turns out that the wasp stings animals and infects them with virus that brainwashes them into watching over its egg. Mikey asks if their older brothers would go back to normal once the egg hatches, but Donnie answers no as he shows him a picture of the caterpillar watching the parasitic egg. At the last picture, the wasp hatches and eats the caterpillar. Donnie thinks he can make up an antidote if he can get a sample from the egg. Unfortunately Leo and Raph break out and attack their younger brothers. In the end, Mikey flips Raph into the water and ties Leo up in his chain before he can bite Donnie. Raph manages to get away taking the egg with him. In the lab, the two youngest barricade the door. Leo awakens and begins to act normally but Donnie sees through this as a trick. Leo is still infected. Donnie uses his blood to make the cure. Unfortunately, Mikey notices a bite mark on Donnie's neck meaning Leo bit him during the struggle.

Donnie panics as he tries to make the antidote and asks Mikey to finish the antidote for him. Before he can even finish the instructions, he succumbs to the control. Donnie bites Mikey and he loses consciousness. Later, Raph comes out with the egg. He asks about Mikey, and Donnie reassures him that he bit him. The three turtles continue to watch the egg. Mikey approaches and seems to be turned but injects them all with the antidote. He explains that after he was bitten, he managed to remember Donnie's instructions and keep his mind long enough to finish making the antidote. The guys go back to normal and are surprised that Mikey saved them. Mikey then mentions that the antidote may cause drowsiness and his brothers all faint. This proves to be very bad timing as the egg hatches and three parasitic wasps emerge. Mikey tries to wake his brothers but fails, as the wasps chase him away from his unconscious brothers. Just as the newborns are about to kill the three eldest, Mikey shoos them away with his skateboard and he leads the parasitic wasps outside the lair. Mikey locks himself in the Shellraiser and tries to turn it on but it doesn't respond. Just then his brothers arrive and fight the parasitic wasps. After a long battle the wasps eventually have them cornered. Just when they think they are doomed Mikey fires a missile from the Shellraiser causing the wasps to explode, covering his brothers in goo. They still can't believe that Mikey saved their lives twice. Mikey boasts about him being a hero but, unfortunately, it all ends when Leo reminds Mikey about using his comic for toilet paper. The episode ended with Mikey being attacked by Leo.

## Trivia

* Parasitica is an order of parasitic wasps.

## Errors

* When Raph and Leo turn around to fight Donnie and Mikey, the front of Raph's belt is missing.
* When Leo, Raph, and Donnie were laying on the ground knocked out, their laying positions changed throughout the scenes.
* When Leonardo attempts to convince Michelangelo and Donatello that he is back to normal, his eyes have their regular appearance, with blue eyes and a white sclera, rather then appearing completely black, though this could have been to fully convince Donnie and Mikey that Leo is back to normal.

## Quotes

* *Leo: (sarcastically) Thanks a lot, Mikey.*
* *Mikey: Hey, sorry, dude.*
* *Donnie: Let me see that. (Inspects the sting. Removes the stinger from his shoulder.)*
* *Leo: Ow!!*
* *Donnie: Are you okay?*
* *Leo: Pretty sore, but I-I think I'll be (Leo strangely twitches as Donnie inspects the stinger.)...fine.*

* *Leo (In a Demon like Voice) **IT IS USELESS TO RESIST! IT IS ONLY A MATTER OF TIME BEFORE THE EGG BURSTS! AND THE HATCHLING WILL FEED ON US ALL!**(Gets Slapped by Donnie)*

* *Donnie: Here it is. The parasitic wasp infects other invertebrates with a virus that brainwashes them into protecting it's eggs.*
* *Mikey: Do you think this is the wasp that stung Leo? (hears Leo and Raph trying to open the door and panics).*
* *Donnie: A mutant version...then Leo bit Raph, and passed the virus to him.*
* *Mikey: So, once the egg hatches, will the guys go back to normal?*
* *Donnie: Um - Not quite. (Shows a picture of a caterpillar watching the parasitic egg) Look what happens to the caterpillar that gaurds the egg. (The wasp hatches in the picture, comes closer to the caterpillar and eats it.)*
* *Mikey: It's eating him!...IT'S EATING HIM! (screams). What are we gonna do?*
* *Donnie: Well, I might be able to create some kind of antibody. But, first, I need a sample of the virus from the egg.*

* *Donnie: Holy mackerel, he took the egg! He's out there somewhere...Waiting...*
* *Mikey: You mean, he could be there? Or there?! OR THERE?! OR EVEN (Donnie slaps him) - Oww!*
* *Leo : You did save our lives. But YOU ALSO USED MY FAVOURITE COMIC BOOK AS TOILET PAPER!*

* *Mikey: **I'm a herooooooooo!***