#baron draxum sucks

[dandylovesturtles]

Trick: Leo and Draxum

Had an idea here for an End Game AU where:

the boys don't escape, and for whatever reason Splinter can't break out either

Draxum reads the room a little better on what will happen when he puts that Dark Armor on

the boys did a better repair job on the helmet

idk what specific warnings to put on this but uh Leo is straight up not having a good time

---

Leo sees Draxum coming toward their cage, and knows they've run out of time to try for an escape attempt. Instinctively he moves closer to his brothers. He feels them closing ranks beside him, too.

"Now now, there's no need for such ugly looks." Draxum looks entirely too smugly satisfied as he surveys them, just outside of striking range on his side of the bars. "You should feel honored. I have a place for each of you in my glorious army."

"Thanks, but we're too young to enlist," says Leo automatically. He feels Raph shift behind him.

"And yet that hasn't stopped you from interfering with my plans at every turn. But that ends now."

Draxum crosses his arms behind his back, looking over each of them in turn. Leo doesn't like it at all; it makes him feel like a piece of meat being considered for grilling.

"Each of you will have your use," Draxum continues. "Snapping turtle, you are incredibly strong, both physically and mystically. And I have seen you lead your team. Rough around the edges to be sure, but you will make a fine general.

"Box turtle, you have an unusually high amount of untapped mystical energy. Under my instruction, you will become someone truly formiddable.

"And softshell, you are clearly highly intelligent. A shame you have wasted your talents on the human schools of invention, but rest assured, I can teach you all you need to know.

"And finally, the red-eared slider."

"Don't forget my winning personality and gorgeous smile," Leo quips.

In response, Draxum regards him coolly.

"Compared to your brothers, you are mediocre in every way. Your mystic potential is above average, but much weaker than the rest. You are not nearly so strong or intelligent, and while you have some physical talent, it's outweighed by your insufferable attitude."

It shouldn't sting. It shouldn't. Draxum's just a crummy villain, who cares what he has to say?

Leo chuckles nervously, shuffling back. "Mediocre? No way, I'm the best! Come on, guys, tell 'im."

This is where his brothers should chime in. Donnie should say, "No, he's right." Or Mikey should back Leo up, shouting down Draxum.

None of that happens. Instead, Raph is the one who moves, putting a hand on Leo's shoulder and physically moving him to the back, putting himself bodily between Leo and Draxum.

"None of us are joinin' your army," Raph growls.

"This is not something you have a choice in." Draxum waves a hand. "Now, I will be taking the slider with me."

Abruptly the bottom of the cage under Leo starts to sink, and he yelps, flailing his hands out for his brothers. Donnie and Mikey grab on, trying to hold him, but as the bottom of the cage falls out a strong vine grips his ankle and yanks, pulling him out of their grasp.

"Leo!" they yell after him.

Outside the cage, Leo hangs suspended in vines that grip him by every limb and around the middle. Draxum turns on his heel and walks away, and the vines carry him along after.

He tries to turn back and see his brothers, who are still making a racket, tries to smile reassuringly, but the vines hold him too tightly, and he can't.

"Hey, hey," he says. "If I'm so mediocre, what do you even need me for, huh?"

"Relaaax," says Draxum, with an easygoing tone that Leo doesn't like at all. "I said I had a place for each of you, and I meant it."

The first thing Leo sees as they enter the next room is the Dark Armor, standing fully complete at the top of a dais. The next thing he sees is his dad, trapped inside a similar cage - the moment he sees Leo, he rushes to the bars, slamming at them hard.

It doesn't even make a dent.

"Draxum!" he roars. "You said you would let them go!"

Draxum looks over at Splinter, shrugging.

"I lied."

Leo doesn't have to wonder what kind of deal his father made for their release. That helmet wasn't there before.

"I kept wondering why the Foot Clan was so eager for me to get inside the Dark Armor when before they had been so adamantly against me getting anywhere near it," says Draxum, talking about things Leo frankly couldn't care less about. "And then I realized... there is... a hunger in this armor. It will not awaken to its full strength until it is fed."

He looks back at Leo with a smile. "That's where you come in."

"Oh no, it doesn't want me," says Leo fast. "I'm way too lean! At least fatten me up for a few weeks first."

"It does not want you flesh, fool. It wants your mystic energy."

Leo grimaces. "Well, you just said I'm pretty mediocre in that department, soooo..."

"I said you are weaker than your brothers. But you still have plenty to sate the armor."

"You sure? I mean, maybe you should find someone with more, uh, mystic energy juice."

Draxum pauses, turning to look him in the eyes. "Very well. I suppose I could go get the box turtle-"

Leo swallows hard. "No," he says, voice resolute. "Not him."

"Good. Then we are agreed."

"No!" shouts Splinter, and he sounds so terrified that it shakes Leo. His dad has never sounded like that. "Draxum, please! He is just a child!"

"Again with this objection when it never seemed to matter before," says Draxum, like he's bored. He begins pulling Leo toward the armor.

"Please! Don't do this!" Splinter slams into the bars again, but they don't budge. "Take me instead! Just do not do this to him!"

"Shut up, you doddering old rat," snaps Draxum, and vines wrap around Splinter, silencing him. "I still have my uses for you, too. Don't worry - I can always make you a replacement son."

"No replacing perfection," says Leo, feeling lightheaded and nonsensical, and a vine around his mouth silences him, too.

He's pulled on the dais. Draxum slides each piece of the armor onto his body, one by one. It's too big for him, and he feels like he's being swallowed by some gaping maw, sliding down into the stomach of a fearsome beast.

This is where the rescue is supposed to happen. His brothers are supposed to burst in, having made a daring escape. His dad is supposed to display some heretofore unseen power and kick Draxum's butt. Divine intervention from his ancestors is supposed to shield him, and he should be free to go home, where he can laugh with his family about the whole crazy incident and how he's apparently good for nothing but a blood sacrifice to a demonic spirit.

The rescue doesn't happen. Instead, he watches, eyes wide and full of fear, breathing too fast against his gag, as Draxum smiles gleefully and puts the helmet on.

The pain is indescribable. The vines finally fall away from his mouth, and it doesn't matter because all he can do is scream.

Draxum was right; there's something hungry in the armor. It's eating him alive now, not his flesh but his spirit, ripping the energy right out of his veins, peeling him apart at the seams. It feeds on him, on every part of his flagging mind - even his fear is delicious to it. And when he feels like he has no more he can give, when he's certain that this is the end, when the darkness starts to roll over his consciousness, pulling him down, he hears a voice - one full of hatred and rage and a dark satisfaction.

Thank you, Hamato.

[tangledinink]

Chapter Thirteen of I'm Sorry, Teenage Mutant What Now? is up! The gang journeys through the Hidden City to investigate the Battle Nexus. They journey through and investigate old memories on the way. Read it on ao3 or below the cut!

[ prev ]

"BARON DRAXUM!"

Everyone in the room winced, including Baron Draxum, who awoke with a start, sitting stark upright and snarling in response as he swayed.

"Jeez, Recruit... Love the enthusiasm, but tone it down a bit, maybe," Lieutenant bit out, rubbing his ears, still reeling from the volume of her wake-up call. Casey flushed just the tiniest bit.

"My apologies, sensei!" She cried, immediately falling into a bow, but privately she thought to herself it worked, didn't it? Nothing else that they had tried had even begun to stir the yokai, who they had found tied up and in an unconscious heap inside his own underground lab. They had arrived expecting to help transport the Hamato children to their main hideout, certain they would be, of course, apprehended neatly by Draxum by now... but evidently this was not the case.

"What in the world happened?" The Lieutenant voiced Casey's own thoughts aloud, holding his hands out exasperatedly. "You said you were going to get the Hamatos."

"Yes, well, things were a bit more complicated than I anticipated..." Draxum hissed, gritting his teeth.

"You said you could handle them on your own! We offered to send you back-up, but you didn't want to wait! Surely four children didn't overpower you--"

"They did not overpower me," Draxum snapped, turning to snarl as he dragged himself back up to his feet. "Some damned witch placed a protection spell on them," he seethed, absolutely bristling. "I can't touch them..." He grit his teeth. "... I will simply have to account for this in the future..."

Lieutenant and Brute seemed somewhat unimpressed, Cassandra noted, glancing at them from the corners of her eyes as the two exchanged looks.

"Yes, well," Lieutenant mused, his hands on his hips. "I'm sure there will be other opportunities to kidnap children in the future. However, the Dark Armor remains our priority. Come on. We've wasted enough time here, and we have a new lead to investigate..."

"Don't worry. You'll get 'em next time," Brute tried to encourage, patting Draxum's shoulders, to which he snarled and batted his hands away, grumbling to himself as he stalked off after them, discussing as they went.

Cassandra sighed softly, rolling her shoulders back and forth a few times before she trailed after her three superiors.

Yes.... The Dark Armor was the priority.

---

The collective shriek of their group was cut off by a loud thud, immediately followed by a chorus of groans. Okay, so, travel by teleportation was... a little disorientating. The fact that most of them currently sucked at staying on their own two damn feet didn't help matters. Some more than others.

"Sorry!" Raph immediately bit out, wriggling from atop the heap, an awkward chuckle escaping him. 

"Raph, my wonderful brother," Leo grit out. "You know I love you dearly. But I'm really gonna need you to stop knocking us all over like bowling pins."

"Well, look, you try walkin' around with a giant tail you ain't used to! It's not as easy as it looks!" He defended, throwing his hands up. "I'm doin' my best over here!"

"Whoa!" Mikey effectively ended their squabble with his gasp, sitting up quickly in order to give a wild gesture. "Guys, look!"

And damn. Whoa was right.

Raph was a New Yorker, so he wasn't easy to impress. He wasn't immediately awed by big, sprawling cityscapes or towering skyscrapers, but this place was... something else. It looked somewhere between an actual city and some sort of mystic ruin, residing as 'neither' and 'both' all at the same time. The buildings themselves seemed to grow from the stone landscape, curving and sliding to match the terrain. Glowing mushrooms, crystals, and occasionally the eyes of massive statues provided brightly colored lighting, leaving the various neon signs and backlit advertisements of the city seeming pale in comparison. Street vendors, kiosks, and tents lined the bustling streets, and each and every creature making up the massive crowds was something completely alien that Raph had never seen nor imagined before. Yokai, he thought to himself. That's what April said they were called.

Rather than sharp, straight lines and confident corners, this place seemed built from jagged outlines and curving bends, looping and winding around itself as if the entire city were hanging on, clinging to itself, holding hands, nestled in between the hulking forms of unmoving stone creatures that Raph was unsure how to categorize. He didn't feel confident saying that they weren't alive after the day they had had, despite their frozen forms and their dead, unseeing eyes.

"This must be the Hidden City," Mikey said, and Leo let out a low whistle as the five of them took in the view.

"Good job, little guy. Knew you could get us here," April hummed, giving the little yellow creature they had rescued a squeeze. His tail wagged wildly in reply, snuggling up in her embrace.

"Alright, now we just gotta get to the Battle Nexus from here," Leo said with a sigh, shifting his weight onto one leg, hand on his hip as he glanced over at the yellow critter. "Any idea where that is?"

The creature chirred in response, nodding excitedly and scrambling down from April's arms in order to lead the way. Leo grinned. 

"Okay, I take back all my earlier doubts and hesitations. Bringing this guy with us was a great idea," Leo declared as the group set off.

Though the acquisition of weapons, all tucked or stowed away in backpacks or belt loops or pockets, had helped a bit, Raph had still been, admittedly, pretty nervous about entering the city, a pool of anxiety swirling around in his gut. Given the day they had had so far, he couldn't help but imagine a hoard of devious yokai dogpiling him and his siblings the moment they set foot into unknown territory. But, to his quiet surprise, no one spared them even a second glance, all seeming far too occupied with their own errands and lives to glance over at their ragtag group.

Somehow, this made Raph feel a bit better. For several reasons. He supposed that, at the very least, they didn't seem to be freaks here.

"Don't worry, Dad, we're on our way," Mikey chirped, and despite his current relief, Raph still couldn't quite understand how his little brother could be so cheerful. Mikey always amazed him with his emotional resilience. Wished he had some of that.

"Eugh, is he even gonna recognize us when we get there?" Leo said with a wince, wrinkling up his face a bit. "We look, uh... a little different than when he last saw us."

"I'm pretty sure he knows, Leo," Donnie remarked. "He's the one who put the bracelets on us in the first place. He knows." 

Raph glanced dimly down at the little golden bracelet still encircling his wrist, the red gem now seeming a bit duller somehow, and he frowned. So this little trinket was mystic all along, huh? Now that he knew, it seemed stupidly obvious. He wondered anxiously if they still worked anymore, or if they were broken forever.

"No wonder he didn't want us to take these things off," Leo muttered, looking over his own, holding his arm up to examine it. "Jeez. I can't believe he kept this a secret from us. How did we not know?"

Mikey gave a thoughtful hum. "Do you guys remember when we were really little? Before we moved? And we used to pretend we were turtles all the time?"

"Somehow I don't think that was pretend, Mikey," Donnie said with a roll of his eyes.

"That's what I'm saying!" Mikey insisted. "But you guys do remember that, right? I just... I always thought that that was just us playing a game or something, but it must have been real! So we knew at some point!"

"And then we forgot..." Donnie mumbled, tilting his head to the side thoughtfully, already obviously doing calculations in his head. 

"You guys were pretty weird when you first moved here," April remarked.

"Oh come on. How do you just forget that you're a turtle?" Leo argued, glancing over his shoulder at the others. "That seems like the kind of thing that'd stick with you."

"I dunno," Mikey shrugged. "But obviously we did!"

"You're not implyin' that Dad did somethin', are ya?" Raph questioned, narrowing his eyes, and Leo immediately huffed.

"No! Of course not!" He frowned. "It's just... I dunno. It's weird, is all. It's crazy to think about how much stuff that we just... forgot."

"Well, what do you remember?" Donnie nudged. "Like, from before the move."

"Not much," Leo admitted, scrunching up his nose. "Everything from back then is fuzzy. I don't even know where we moved from."

"I think..." Donnie hesitated a moment. "I think we moved from there."

"Where. The Hidden City?" Mikey questioned.

"No, no, back there. I mean. The sewer we were in before," Donnie pressed. "Didn't it seem... kind of familiar to you guys?"

"Well..." Raph frowned.

"Mikey! Wait!" Raph laughed, stumbling as he chased after his littlest brother. He still didn't walk with a terrible amount of grace, but he crawled like a madman, and Raph took great joy in chasing him around. Mikey did, too, giggling maniacally as he attempted to dodge the other.

Raph could feel, reaching back into the memory, that the bottoms of his feet were cold. The ground was hard beneath them, like stone. Like concrete. He remembered worrying about Mikey's knees. And, thinking back on it now, he swore he could almost hear the sound of running water in the background.

"I go’chyu!" Raph declared, grabbing Mikey, who squealed in response, wriggling against him.

Everything from back then was blurred; cobbled together like pieces of glass glued into a mosaic, appearing in his mind’s eye as a series of blotted, wrinkled images. Were they turtles or people back then? He wasn't sure. Where were they?

"I remember it was dark..." He said. "And cold a lot. The ground was stone or somethin.’"

"I remember that, too!" Mikey gasped.

"Whoa, wait!" Mikey squirmed his way out of Raph's arms again, attempting an escape, and a flare of panic flashed through him for a moment. He dove for Mikey for real this time, not playing anymore, grabbing his brother before he could get too far.

"We can't go that way, Mikey. Daddy said 's not safe yet," he explained when his brother whined in complaint, hoisting him back the way they came, his footsteps clumsy while trying to drag his brother along. "We gotta stay in these tunnels."

"And... I think I remember there being… tunnels," he continued. "Or somethin' like that. It was really big, wherever we were, but we could only go into certain places. And the rest was off-limits, ‘cause Dad said he hadn’t checked them all to make sure they were okay yet. I remember keepin' Mikey from wanderin' off."

"I remember tunnels!" Mikey exclaimed. "I remember yelling into them when we were little and listening to them echo. I remember doing it until Leo made me stop!"

"I don't remember that," Leo protested, crossing his arms.

"You did!" Mikey insisted. "You said I had to play something else because it was bothering Donnie."

"That would be in character for you," April remarked with a tiny grin. 

"Sounds like sewers to me," Donnie said with a shrug.

"Maybe," Leo conceded. "But why the hell would Dad keep us in the sewers?"

"There’s probably limited options when your kids are literally part-turtle," Raph reasoned with a grumble.

"Yeah, but abandoned sewers?" Leo pressed. "Come on. Was that really the only choice? Couldn't he have just... kept us inside or something?"

"I don't think so," Donnie said, frowning a bit, shaking his head. Leo sighed.

"Why not?"

"Leo, Dad has one of these bracelets, too," Donnie said. "Remember?"

---

The rest of their journey through the Hidden City went about the same way. One of the boys would bring up some old memory, and they'd discuss for a while, before the conversation would peter out and they'd walk in silence for a bit before the cycle started all over again. April pointed out that they had all regularly chirped and clicked and made other odd noises when she had first met them, but eventually, they grew out of it (mostly.) Raph discussed his memories of watching his younger brothers when they were very little, waiting somewhere dark and quiet for their dad to get back from wherever he was going. Donnie and Leo both remembered sleeping together as toddlers, somewhere very small and curled up, like a nest of some kind, both agreeing that it didn't quite seem like a crib or a bed. Mikey mentioned how many times he got in trouble for painting or drawing on walls when they first moved into the apartment, and how much it had upset and confused him in the beginning-- was that because their dad hadn't bothered to correct the behavior when they lived in the sewers? 

"When we first started swim team," Donnie mused, tilting his head back to stare up at the sky. "I remember sometimes, we would have contests with the other kids to see how long we could hold our breaths."

"I remember that," Leo agreed. "And we'd always win!"

"Yes, but..." Donnie hummed. "I think we probably could have won by a lot more if we wanted."

"What do you mean?" Raph questioned.

"Well," Donnie explained. "I recall, or, at least, I think I do, that… that when we first started partaking in those contests, it was... it was easy. Everyone else would have already come up to breathe, but I'd feel completely fine. I'd only come up because I had won and the contest was over. But after a while, people started being weird about it," he frowned. "To be fair, people were weird about a lot of things I did. And I will admit I didn’t always catch on, but I noticed this one,” he said, laughing dryly and giving a wave of his hands. “And at the time, I just wrote it off as one of many! Just another thing that I did that made me different from my peers. But I started coming up earlier so I'd be more... normal," he confessed. "And I'd pretend like I was out of breath when I wasn't, so people would stop looking at me like that. Or, well. People stopped looking at me like that for that particular reason. And I guess eventually I just... I got so used to pretending that it just became second nature, and I didn’t even realize I was pretending anymore."

Leo nodded slowly, looking thoughtful, his arms crossed over his chest. “Yeah… Yeah, that sounds… that sounds right, actually…”

"I remember thinking the same thing!" Raph exclaimed, his eyes wide at the realization. "Except I felt bad that all the other kids kept losin' so bad! I started pretendin' 'cause I didn't want everyone else to get discouraged, and I just did it for so long...!"

"But you're the best swimmer, Dee," Leo remarked, nudging his twin slightly with a tiny smile. "So I wouldn't be surprised if you can hold your breath the longest, too. I mean, christ, you literally have webbed fingers now."

April glanced down at her brother’s hands, noting quietly to herself that it was true. If she was being totally honest with herself, it was a bit alien to look at, so she drew her eyes back away after a moment.

"That does make sense," April hummed. "And it'd explain why you guys are so good at swim meets and stuff, too."

The other three paused, and Leo frowned a bit. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I mean. If you're turtles, then... obviously you're gonna be good at swimming," she reasoned with a shrug. "It makes sense. Of course you’re gonna win!"

"Mikey doesn't swim," Donnie pointed out.

"Maybe he's a different kind of turtle who doesn't swim?"

"A terrestrial turtle..." Donnie hummed, resting his chin in his hand, brows furrowed. "Maybe a box turtle or something..."

"You think I'm a box turtle?!" Mikey gasped, his eyes lighting up.

"But obviously the rest of you would be good at swimming if you're, like, aquatic," she continued. "So I'm not surprised you all always kicked so much butt at swim meets and stuff!"

"... Yeah. I guess so," Raph said, but he seemed kind of... dejected, almost. Like he was upset. The conversation shifted shortly after, focus shifting to Mikey’s new identity as a box turtle, but April's mind lingered.

 Why did she feel like she had just said something wrong? 

---

“This is the Battle Nexus?!"

 Raph gawked slightly, suddenly feeling a lot less confident. He could feel the various winces and mumbles around him. "It's a goddamn fortress! We're never gettin' in there!"

"Oh, come on. What were you expecting? To just walk in?" Leo scoffed. "It's not that bad!"

"Not that bad?!" Raph squawked, turning to gesture wildly to the massive walls, the towering, heavily guarded entrances, the watch towers perched on nearly every corner... Christ, was that a blimp overhead!? "Are you crazy?! There’s no way!!!"

"Well, not with that attitude," Leo said, crossing his arms over his chest. 

"Yeah! We're basically ninjas, Raph, we got this!" Mikey cheered, ever optimistic.

"We’re not ninjas, Mikey. And there's no way in hell we're sneakin' in there. You two are out of your mind," Raph said with a scowl. 

"We don't gotta sneak!" Leo insisted, waving away the other's concerns. "Don't worry! I'll talk us in there, no problem! Leon's got this. I'm an actor, remember? I just gotta charisma our way past one of those guards."

"You wanna talk your way in?" April questioned, raising a brow. "Leo, are you sure about this?"

"Of course I'm sure! This'll be a piece of cake. C'mon-- watch and be amazed!"

They were not amazed.

"Seriously, Leo?" Raph hissed, no more than five minutes later, the group slinking back into the same alley they had started from with a few new bumps and bruises and their metaphorical (literal?) tails between their legs. "Caravaggio? The awards show host? From the Bloodsporties?"

"I thought it'd work!" Leo cried, throwing up his hands. "Everyone likes to be flattered! People love it when you bring them awards!"

"Why do you need four assistants to drop off an award?" Donnie hissed.

"It's a very important award!" Leo insisted.

"That no one's ever heard of?!"

"Yet," Leo huffed. "Okay, look, it's fine. Leon's still got this. We just gotta switch over to plan B."

"Plan B had better not be at all similar to Plan A," Raph said, crossing his arms. "Or involve any of us being strong-armed off the premises by a massive yokai guard!"

"It won't, it won't, I promise!" Leo assured, getting to his feet again. "Okay. Watch and be amazed! Again!"

Leo shook out his limbs, straightening his posture, rolling his shoulders back, and setting his feet apart. And then, for just a moment, he was completely still. His chest didn't even twitch with a single breath. All at once, he inhaled sharply--

 ... And nothing happened.

"Wow. Amazing," Donnie said dryly.

"Well, just, gimme a minute! You're breaking my concentration!" Leo snapped, repeating the motion-- and then again, and then a few more times, until he was basically flailing in place, repeatedly thrashing in the same spot. "Come-- ON! Work already!"

"Leo, what the hell are you doin'?" Raph sighed. Leo groaned loudly in frustration.

"I am trying to use my mystic teleportation powers! Obviously!"

"Your what?" Donnie scoffed.

"I'm sorry, you mean the weird mystic things that we've been doin' completely against our will for the past two weeks and have absolutely zero control over? That one?" Raph grit out.

"Well, I'm starting to get the hang of the pattern..." Leo muttered.

"You've gotta be kiddin' me!!!"

"Well, maybe he can really do it!" Mikey chipped in with a bit of tentative encouragement. 

"So, let me get this straight," Donnie said, rubbing his temples. "You are trying to teleport all six of us inside of the Battle Nexus... using your mind. Is that correct?"

Leo scowled. He shuffled his feet at the dirt, his lower lip poked out.

"It could happen," he huffed.

"You're an idiot."

"Leo, there's no way this is ever gonna work! We barely even know anything about these powers!" Raph insisted. "What if it's dangerous?!"

"I'm getting the hang of it!" Leo repeated. "I could do it! And how would you know, anyway? You don't even have any powers yet!"

"Guys!" April yelled over the chaos, and the rest of the group paused to glance over.

Scowling, she gestured wildly to the little yellow yokai creature that had led him here.

Oh, right. The one who teleported.

There was a long beat of silence.

"Yeah, that's probably a better plan," Leo reluctantly conceded, though he was still pouting. 

"Thank you," April said, scooping the yokai up, who purred and waved his tail, seemingly happy to help. "Okay, come on guys, huddle up. And try not to fall over this time!"

The whole group obeyed, scrunching up around each other and grabbing onto various hands and elbows to make sure everyone would make it to where they needed to go. But something Leo had said nagged at the edges of Raph's mind, gnawing at him even as a bright flash of cyan light overtook them, the world going out from under their feet as they teleported once again.

Why didn't he have any powers yet?

---

Donatello wasn’t exactly sure what he was expecting the inside of the Battle Nexus to look like, but it wasn’t ‘literal sports stadium.’

Though they stumbled a bit, they all managed to keep their footing this time once they teleported inside the halls of the Battle Nexus, thankfully in a quiet, unoccupied corner just outside of a stairwell. Perhaps it had been naive of him, but he hadn’t expected the inside of this place to so closely resemble the inside of a modern football arena. 

“Nice job, little guy,” April whispered to the little yellow yokai, who looked just a bit more tired than he had before, Donnie noted, panting softly. “We’ll take it from here. You rest,” she instructed gently, tucking the critter into her jacket. 

“Anyone have any idea where we’re going?” Leo questioned, looking around suspiciously.

“No,” Raph admitted. “But everyone stick close. And… act casual. This place has gotta be crawling with yokai!” Donnie concurred; he could hear the roars of the crowd from here. “If we don’t call any attention to ourselves, we can just blend in. Dad has be around here somewhere.”

“You got it, bossman,” Leo hummed. “Come on. I think the main stadium is over there. Let’s check that out first and see what the deal is.” 

Now, Donnie may be a theater kid, but he was not exactly an actor the way Leo was, (or claimed to be, anyway,) and so ‘acting casual’ was a bit of a demand. He was very focused on trying to make his body language ‘casual,’ in keeping his muscles untensed and his expression neutral, to the extent that he was not especially paying that much attention to their surroundings as the group trailed after Leo. He followed his siblings’ lead into the main seating area of the arena, adjusting the settings of his headphones slightly as they moved to join the edges of the crowd, hoping to keep out the excited screams of the fans.

As a result, he was a bit taken aback when he did look up to take in the scene of the ring below them.

And oh. Oh my god.

This really was fucking bloodsport, huh?

“Jesus christ--”

He was vaguely aware of Raph’s hand hurriedly slapping over Mikey’s eyes before he could get a good look at the scene not just in the battle ring below, but also projected onto the massive jumbotron, and the younger immediately gave a yelp of protest.

“Hey! Raph--”

“Mikey, I know that you don’t wanna be babied and you’re gonna complain, but I really need you to just trust your big brother on this one,” Raph hissed out, his voice tight. “Don’t. Look.”

April had her hands over her mouth, and Leo bristled, mumbling a few curses. Donnie really, really didn’t want to be watching this, but he couldn’t quite take his eyes away. There was a wet, crunching noise, so loud that they could hear it even from up here in the balconies (were they mic’ed up? Sweet baby Galileo--) and the entire party winced around him as the crowds roared in delight.

“What happened?!” Mikey cried from behind Raph’s hands.

“Donnie?” April said, glancing over at him.

He swallowed hard, his stomach flipping. No, no, no. Come on. Keep it together, Vomitello. Not the time, not the place, not at all casual…! 

Leo, to his credit, caught on pretty quickly, paling a bit at the realization and jumping forward to bodily whip Donnie away from the scene, beginning to herd the group away.

“Okay, well, Dad’s definitely not down there!” He bit out with a nervous laugh. “Thank fucking god… Look. Obviously, we’re up super high. Let’s find the stairs, start heading down, and see if we find anything on the way,” he said hurriedly, not slowing his pace until they were basically back out where they started, in the near-abandoned outside hallways. 

“Sounds like a plan,” Raph said, finally releasing his grip on Mikey’s head. “Uh. Don…?”

“I’m good,” he squeaked out, leaning over slightly, his hands on his knees as he coughed a few times. “All good, no problem…! Just… gimme a second…!”

“Donald,” Leo said through gritted teeth, clapping his hands together decisively. “I am literally begging you not to puke right now.”

“I am doing my best, thank you!” Donnie snapped in response, squeezing his eyes shut. “Oh my god, why was it so lumpy? It looked like cottage cheese!”

“What are you doing!? Stop thinking about it!” Leo cried. 

“Think about something else instead! Like… the periodic table! You love that thing,” Mikey suggested brightly. “Like, uhhh, what’s the symbol for chlorine?”

“C-L,” Donnie bit out, flapping his hands a bit and letting out a slow breath through a clenched jaw. “Come on, Mikey, that’s way too easy.”

“Okay, uhhm, what’s the atomic number for iodine?”

“Fifty-three.”

“Yeah! And what’s the atomic mass of titanium?”

“Forty-seven-point-eight-six-seven.”

“Yep! And uranium?”

“Oh, uranium, my beloved, my white whale…! Two-hundred and thirty-eight-point-zero-two-eight-nine.”

“AHHH!” Mikey imitated a buzzer. “Wrong!”

Donnie’s head snapped up. “What?!”

“Just kidding!” Mikey chirped happily. “I don’t actually know the answer. You’re probably right.”

“Oh, you evil genius,” Donnie said, shaking his head. “I’m never helping you study for science class ever again.”

“Pshhhh, yeah you will. Plus you feel better now, don’t you?” Mikey pressed, grinning wide.

“Yes, okay, fine. I owe you one,” Donnie sighed deeply, offering just the smallest of smiles and rubbing the other’s head as though tousling hair, (not that he had any anymore. Ugh, don’t think about that, either,) eliciting a giggle from the other. At least the nausea had backed off now. “Okay. Come on. Leo’s right, shockingly enough. Let’s head downstairs and see if we can find anything.” 

“Oh thank god,” Leo whispered, yanking the door to the stairwell open and gesturing to his siblings. “Okay, c’mon, let’s go! Vamanos!” 

The trip down through the Battle Nexus was long and boring, but admittedly, calming. Donnie had always been a fan of repetitive actions, and so far, every new floor they investigated they found much of the same, not uncovering much save for more seating for screaming, cheering yokai along with the occasional food court or souvenir stand. Any guards they found they made sure to steer clear of, slowly working their way down through the stadium.

“This is going nowhere,” Raph hissed softly, leaning into Leo as they did a lap through yet another floor of stadium seating. Quite frankly, Donnie was beginning to wonder if all these floors were exactly the same. “Where the heck do you think they’re keepin’ Dad?”

“I don’t know! How would I know?” Leo questioned, bristling a bit.

“This was your plan!”

“Yeah, ‘cause no one else had a plan!” He bit back, scowling. “Look, we’ve just gotta… uh… we’ve gotta…” He looked around for a moment, floundering for just a second before he lit up, pointing.

“We’ve just gotta follow one of those guys!” 

Everyone glanced over, and April frowned a bit.

“Follow one of the guards?”

“Yeah!” Leo nodded excitedly. “Look, if anyone’s gonna know how to get into the secret, spooky parts of the Nexus, it’ll be an employee! There’s no way Dad’s just in the stands somewhere or in any of the other public bits of this place. And we’re just walking in circles.” He said with a roll of his wrist. “But I bet if we tail one of those dudes, they’ll lead us straight to him! We just gotta be sneaky.”

“He does have a pretty good point,” Mikey reasoned.

“I dunno. It seems kinda dangerous,” April said, raising a brow. 

“Yeah, but we don’t have any other ideas…” Raph said, crossing his arms over his chest.

The three of them glanced over at Donnie, and he sighed, tilting his head back and forth for a moment to do some rapid calculations.

“I do agree that the risk associated with this plan of action is… significant,” he said, frowning a bit. “Butttttt… just wandering around aimlessly isn’t going to get us anywhere. Following someone has a much higher probability of success.” 

“That sounds good enough to me!” Raph said, giving a nod. “Alright. Let’s do this then. Everyone’s just gotta be ninja-level sneaky. Got it?”

“Got it,” the group agreed, giving a nod.

Would this go horribly wrong? Only one way to find out.

Finding their target was easy enough. This place was crawling with guards, quite frankly, they just had to pick one. After rejecting the first few targets, as they were all rather beefy, they settled on a slightly smaller, less-deadly-looking Nexus employee to follow.

“Okay,” Leo said. “We’ve just gotta tail him for a while and see where he goes. Everyone stick close, and be quiet.”

“Obviously! You don’t have to tell us to be quiet!” Donnie hissed back.

“Both of you shut up!” Raph whispered. “Look, come on, pay attention! He’s on the move. Mad Dogz, roll out! We can’t lose this guy.” 

Donnie huffed and grumbled a bit, resisting the urge to hipcheck Leo as the group began picking their way through the halls, taking care to stick to the shadows. At first, Donnie thought that this was just another waste of their time, and they would end up doing even more laps around the stadium. He dared to get his hopes up, however, when the fox-like yokai paused in front of an unassuming wall. It looked about the same as any other portion of wall in this place, but once the Yokai placed his hand (paw?) to it, it lit up white, and suddenly, there was a door that wasn’t there before.

“Whoa! Lookit that!” Mikey gasped.

“We’re all already looking at it, Mikey, be quiet,” Donnie hissed. 

“What’d Raph say!? Shut it! And come on! Quick and quiet, before the door closes!” Raph whispered with a hurried wave of his arm, and the five took off, closing the gap between themselves and the guard in order to slip inside the secret panel, quiet as ninjas-- just like Dad taught them. Even April was surprisingly quiet, and Donnie was privately impressed. It took them years of lessons with their dad (and ill-advised shenanigans that they wished not to face consequences for,) to get this good at sneaking.

All five of them made it in, and the guard was already halfway down the hall by the time they joined them, seemingly none the wiser. Donnie didn’t make a sound, but silently, he fucking whooped and cheered. Yes!!! He had been really fifty-fifty on whether or not this was going to work out. 

At the end of the hall, the fox guard clicked a button on the wall, and about five seconds later, the wall opened up like an elevator.

The elevator had about eight other yokai inside. These yokai did not have their backs on them.

“HEY!” One of them immediately shouted, pointing at their group, as they had not yet managed to find a proper hiding space in the long, but sparse hallway. Every single other yokai snapped around to look at them. “What’re you doing in here!? This is employees only!”

Fuck.

“Uhhh…” A pained smile spread on Leo’s face. “We’re looking for the bathroom?” 

 “Sure,” the fox scoffed, turning to face them properly now, beginning to make his way back down the short hall to meet them. “Alright, lemme see your tickets. I’ll escort you back to your seats.”

“Our tickets? Uhhh… Sure…” Raph spluttered for a moment, laughing nervously. “Let’s see, uh, where did we put--”

April yanked her club from her backpack and promptly slammed it into the yokai’s head with a loud thunk.

“APRIL!” Raph screamed, jumping in surprise. “What the hell!?”

“Well, there’s nowhere to run!” She shouted in response, and, ah, welp, there she went. Full charge ahead, then? “Come on, we gotta get into that elevator!”

Donnie sighed deeply. Well, he had predicted fifty-fifty. 

He set his jaw, rolling his shoulders a few times before whipping his bo staff from his back. “Alright, well. Here we go.”

“COWABUNGA!” Raph shouted as he charged forward, and Donnie resisted the urge to roll his eyes. They were gonna have to work on battle formations and plans later.

But he was prepared this time. He wasn’t gonna freeze up and back down.

Yes, this was a fight. An actual, for real fight, which he had never been in before! But he hadn’t trained for nothing. 

He got this. They’d be fine. They got this.

Leo laughed, sliding forward with quick, practiced ease, his odachi flashing forward to smack the blunt of the blade against the ankles of the nearest yokai and send them tumbling to the ground while he darted past them. April was right on his tail, beaning anyone who got too close and following her younger brother’s lead. “Come on, guys, keep up!”

 “Right behind yah!” Mikey cheered, both him and Raph rushing forward at a matching pace. Despite the size difference, the two easily kept up with one another. Where Raph elbowed his opponents out of the way, clearing himself a path by bodily throwing their enemies to the side, Mikey darted and danced his way around them, a zig-zagged ballet to Raph’s straight, unyielding path. He whooped loudly as he went, always just out of reach with each step.

“Hot Soup!” Donnie noted their eldest brother howled out another battle cry (wasn’t that copyrighted?) Mikey’s kusari-fundo whipped about to fling him forward, tackling the largest of the guards to the ground and sending them both tumbling down the hall. 

Like… Both of them tumbling.

Also, Mikey was in the mix too, still attached by the chains of his kusari-fundo.

Well, at least it was still forward momentum! 

Donnie inhaled deeply, his muscles coiling.

Couldn’t get left behind. 

He darted down the hallway, jumping over and dodging around anyone already on the ground. At one point, a hand flashed out, grabbing at his ankle, and Donnie bit out a series of curses. He wrenched himself out of their grip, stumbling slightly, and nearly ran straight into one of the other (quite large) yokai in the hallway. A rapid equation darted through his head, however, and he just barely managed to correct his footing at the last second, turning sharply on his heel to transfer the momentum into his staff. The weapon curled around to slam into the guard with a heavy, satisfying thawk, sending them sprawling to the ground, and the entire hallway shuddered at the impact.

Well, that was a close one. He hopped over their fallen form and surged ahead, reaching down to grab Mikey’s hand as he went, dragging both him and Raph to their feet behind him, “Come on!”

The two found their footing quickly with the assist, falling back into a sprint-- smacking and dodging enemies as they went with about a seventy-five-percent success rate. Jesus, had this hallway always been this long? It felt like it was taking a stupid amount of time to get to the other end of it! Out of the very corners of his eyes, Donnie just barely spotted one of the larger guards rising back up to their feet, lunging at him from behind-- only for a neon green club to come whipping out of nowhere at the very last second, colliding with the side of his assailant’s head and throwing him right back to the ground.

“Hey! Only I get to hit my little brothers!” April shrieked, her face set in a furious scowl. The guard, a huge, stocky, lion-like creature snarled in reply, lashing out with his legs to send her sprawling to the floor with a yelp.

“Oh, you did not just do that to our friend!” Mikey snapped, flashing forward to stand protectively in front of their sister, his kusari-fundo whizzing around them, filling the air with a barely-there whine. “Back off!”

He lashed out with the weapon, his arm whipping forward with the movement-- only to blink in surprise when physics failed to behave as expected. Which, uh, was pretty unusual for physics. Physics were typically pretty reliable. But the weight at the end of his weapon spun wildly in place, suspended in air for several long seconds, before it promptly lit up in a blazing flame.

“Ooh!” Mikey shrieked in delight. “Magic weapon! Guys, loo-- ACK!”

And there they were, Donnie thought dimly to himself. 

The uncontrolled variables.

Donnie gasped, immediately ducking down and covering his head as his brother flew about the room like a deranged bird, still hanging onto his (seemingly demonic) mystic weapon. He all but pinballed off the walls, screaming the whole time. The lion just barely managed to leap out of the way before Mikey crashed into the wall, flopping down with a small squeak on impact, luckily seeming shaken but not injured.

“WHOA! Mikey! That was awesome!” Raph gaped, his eyes widening. “Dude, how did you do that?!”

“I dunno!” Mikey said, stumbling to his feet and kind of wavering a bit with dizziness. “I was just swinging my weapon around and it just-- did it!”

“Let me try!” Raph said, shaking his tonfas about like they were goddamn maracas. “Come on, magic weapon, magic weapon, magic weapon-- OOH!” He yelped in surprise as one of the remaining guards crashed into him, snarling as they all but whipped him from his feet. But Raph held his ground. “Okay, alright-- magic weapon tests later! Fight now!”

“Can’t wait to see what mine does!” Leo laughed as he leaped over the group, diving towards an oncoming yokai. He swung his blade forward, slicing through the air with a loud crackle of near-electric energy--

A bright blue circle of mystic energy promptly opened up beneath Leo, and he yelped in surprise as he went plunging downward.

And downward.

And downward.

And downward.

And downward.

“Hm,” Donnie remarked. “I guess he can teleport.” 

“GET! ME! OFF! THIS! RIDE!” Leo howled, flailing as he plummeted endlessly through the two parallel portals he had sliced through reality, one below his feet and the other up above his head, only picking up the pace the longer he fell. 

Donnie sighed loudly. He was sure someone else would get him. Eventually. In the meantime, someone was gonna have to take care of the remaining yokai guards. Luckily, this one was suitably distracted by his twin brother’s infinite falling.

“And that’s why I like fighting the old-fashioned way,” Donnie hummed, slipping past the yokai’s side and into his blind spot, watching their eyes widen in surprise as he jabbed sharply at them with his bo staff. They were just barely able to dodge out of the way of Donnie’s attacks. “Though the portal does make for some quality entertainment, I must admit--”

They jumped out of Donnie’s range, swiping forward with a clawed arm, and Donnie’s body immediately, instinctively moved in response, his bo staff flashing upward to block the move and force them off-kilter. He hardly even had to think. His body already knew what to do when he needed it.

It’s just like a tournament. No different from a tournament. You’ve won thousands of fights. This is exactly the same thing. Just keep your head, do the math-- You’re good at this, remember?

Bouncing off the yokai’s arm, Donnie’s staff whipped back around to ricochet into the side of their head, earning him a frustrated and perhaps pained snarl in response. See? Donnie grinned, just for a second, ducking easily out of the way of the guard’s counterattack and leaping to the side, finding himself the space once more to adjust his stance and run rapid calculations. Numbers danced in front of his eyes, and he quickly zeroed in on the equation with the best probability of success, building his plan of action around that.

The yokai snarled, leaping after him-- exactly as he expected. Donnie’s entire body instantly snapped downward and out of their path in response, ducking away from their attack. At the same time, they pitched themselves to the left, whipping their bo staff around as they went to find their mark. The guard made a short, strangled noise of surprise as the weapon collided with their throat, sending them reeling in the opposite direction. They were almost immediately on their knees, choking and spluttering as Donnie darted away, just the tiniest bit breathless as he went.

“Just like I planned it--!” He had laughed, quietly delighted that it had, in fact, gone the way he planned it, and why had he been worried? He could do this, he knew how to do this!-- when his youngest sibling went flying into his side with a yelp. 

The pair of them tumbled across the hallway before slamming into the wall, bringing their unexpected trip to a sudden and grinding halt. Donnie groaned softly, wincing as he slowly forced himself back up, stars all but dancing in front of his eyes, Mikey flopped over beside him and seeming just as dazed. Ow. Okay. That hadn’t been in his calculations.

He just barely caught sight of the lion yokai diving for them, catching on about half a second before the attack landed. 

He didn’t run any numbers this time. He didn’t have the chance.

His muscles moved quicker than even his brain could, throwing himself bodily over top of his baby brother to shield him from the coming impact.

[ next ]

[darth-sonny]

Me checking abt the regency turtles au, seeing that theres nothing

Me: That wont do-

So im curius how bad of a parent is Baron Draxum? like level of "Oh my god die- Fuck you" or to "damm you suck but you tried" type?

Also what happend to splinter is he even alive?

Whats Big Mama relationship with the turtles?

Who is Leo marrying to?

Hope i dont anoy you with my questions-

-🌺

Draxum is. .................................. Not. The Best.

he cares a lot more for social standings and status than he does his children. yeah, sure, he taught Raph and Donnie everything they know, but that's only because they're the oldest (and even then, he was more focused on rising to be Duke). he didn't give that same attention to Leo or Mikey, and when he did, he married one off

unknown if he'll get better, but for now, he's solely in the "Damn You Suck" stage

Big Mama in this AU is the Queen!! (i am actively in love with this woman so might as well) so she's familiar with the family because of Leo's debuet, but aside from that, she has no relationship with them at all (yet. maybe.....)

and Splinter is alive, yes. he's in Japan

[bambiraptorx]

Related to this post

[I.D. A short comic. In panel one, Mikey is wearing a cardboard box with paper towel tubes attached to the side so that it resembles Draxum's helmet. He holds one hand up in a dramatic point and says "Look at me, I'm Baron Draxum! Humans suck! They will never have masks as cool as mine!"

In panel two, Draxum asks "are you mocking me" with a look of irritation on his face.

In panel three, Mikey responds, "Absolutely not, I'm Baron Draxum." end i.d.]

[thedawningofthehour]

In tandem with my ramblings about doth being an actual separated au instead of a 'Donnie thinks it's a separated au' au and some conversation with @dryad-druid about that and Big Mama being an actual mama-yeah, I think I've thought up a pretty cool au idea.

(this is long. you will regret this)

So the classic Donnie gets separated from his brothers, Lou takes the other kids in the divorce and Draxum gets left with Donnie, but unlike other separated aus, Lou very clearly sees Draxum save him from the flames. But Lou's hurt, choking on smoke, holding three babies and Draxum is holding his baby and OH YEAH HE'S LITERALLY IN THE PROCESS OF MUTATING. Lou has to flee for the safety of his other kids.

But he fought Draxum and took the turtles for a reason, and every moment he spends with his three babies just renews his conviction. He can't let Draxum keep even one of the turtles, and he will not leave his child to the mercy of that monster.

He needs to return to reclaim his last baby...but he barely got out alive the first time. Not only that, but he has three little lives that depend on him now. Even if he was successful, they couldn't be left alone for long. And he cannot fail. He can't leave his purple baby with Draxum, and he can't leave his other children alone.

So he returns to the Battle Nexus. He tells Big Mama he'll stay, he'll do whatever she wants him to do, provided two things: she provides for his children, feed them and educate them and keep them safe from anyone who might try to harm them or use them for their own ends, including herself. And second, help him reclaim his child from Draxum.

Big Mama is ecstatic. She has Lou back right where she wants him, his boys are just the most adorable turtles she's ever seen, and she really doesn't like Draxum anyway. They get married, she gets the boys birth certificates or whatever and sets them up in luxury accommodations, and hires mercenaries to capture Baron Draxum and his remaining creation and bring them to her-unharmed, she stresses. The baby must be kept safe, at all costs.

Meanwhile, Draxum just watched his entire life's work go up in flames as he was violently divorced by the guy he sort of-totally had a crush on, who was also the father of his kids and kidnapped 3/4's of them, and is now left with whatever meager possessions survived the blaze, his gargoyles, and a single turtle.

And yes, this turtle fusses constantly and keeps pulling his hair and doesn't let him sleep for more than two hours at a time, but...he, weirdly, really enjoys it. Yes, he's exhausted and hungry and hasn't been able to take a leisurely poop in a week because the second he sits down someone starts to cry, but when he stares up at Draxum with those big eyes while he takes a bottle, when he refuses to settle down and fall asleep until he's in Draxum's arms, he just...can't help it. He's completely taken with this kid. He'd do anything for him. He's all that Draxum has left.

So when the bounty hunters come looking for him, intending to take his son away, Draxum runs.

Homeless, penniless, not daring to use even his name, Draxum goes into hiding with only what he can carry on his back and the baby in his arms. He unfortunately has to get rid of the gargoyles-he won't be able to pay them and they're too stupid to keep anything a secret, plus they sucked as nannies. So they go back to the gargoyle agency, and Draxum goes off into the night.

Hiding in the Hidden City proves difficult, considering there's only so many goat Yokai, and Big Mama's goons are nothing if not thorough. I thought maybe he could live in some fantasy-esque cottage out in the middle of the mushroom forest or something, and maybe he does for the first few years, but as Galois grows so do his needs, and he becomes increasingly harder to keep hidden. So Draxum retreats to the only place left he has a prayer of disappearing into-NYC.

Life on the surface is hard and forces Draxum to deal with-shudders-humans, but he soon finds himself benefitting from their kindness. A coat draped over his shoulders when the temperatures start to dip, leftovers from a restaurant worker who is supposed to throw them away but puts it all in a to-go box instead. He likes to think of it as fate, choosing the alleyway right outside their apartment the night before he was stumbled upon, but after the shock had worn off the couple was eager to help him, and neither they nor their daughter April treated his son any differently.

The O'Neils help Draxum get a settled in a recently vacated apartment in their building and things begin looking up. Galois and April become attached at the hip almost immediately, and though neither of them completely understand why Gale has to stay hidden, they listen to the adults. Draxum can pass for human even without his cloaking brooch, so he gets a part-time job in the evenings to at least cover some of what the O'Neils are doing for him. April goes to his apartment when she gets done with school and he watches her until her own parents get home, and the O'Neils watch Galois while his father is at work.

It's not perfect, but they have so many more opportunities on the surface. April struggles in school so Draxum offers to homeschool her alongside Galois, and her parents agree to do that for at least her elementary years. When April is twelve and Galois is ten, Draxum gives him his own cloaking brooch so he can attend middle school with her. It comes with a long lecture on how he can't let anyone know his secret, that Draxum was asking a lot from the both of them, but he felt like they were mature enough to understand how important it was.

So they go to school, then come home and learns alchemy and Yokai history from Draxum, Galois sets his curtains on fire multiple times performing experiments in his bedroom, and always seems to be learning a new subject from Youtube tutorials. Draxum gets a day job as a lunch lady and starts thinking about getting a human degree, so he can go back to doing science things or practicing medicine. Two decades ago he would have recoiled in horror if someone showed him his future, but he finds himself...weirdly content.

MEANWHILE. The rest of the boys grow up in a life of luxury, tailored clothing and endless servants and world-class tutors. Lou settles himself into being Big Mama's part-time champion and full-time trophy husband. True to his word, he does whatever Big Mama asks of him, so long as it doesn't compromise his sons. He fights, he smiles and poses for the press, he sleeps in her bed when she wants him and makes himself scarce when she doesn't. And he does what he can to ensure his boys don't get too spoiled. Taking care of them is the only thing in his life that makes him happy now.

But the deal he made with Big Mama chafes him at every turn. She said she'd never force his children to fight, but when Raphael begs her to put him in some of the smaller, no-kill fights...well, that certainly wasn't against the terms of their contract, and how could she ever say no to one of her turtley-boos?! Leonardo is clever, far cleverer than any of his nannies or tutors, with a skill in manipulation that would put most car salesmen to shame. Not to mention he's definitely the most handsome of his sons, with his bold markings and charismatic personality. Big Mama delights in parading him around, using him as arm-candy when Lou isn't available. And worst of all, she's taken to teaching him business at her side. She fixates on Michelangelo as well, but Lou can't really find anything to object to when she hangs up his artwork and brags to her dinner guests about their meal being planned and cooked by one of her sons. Still, he keeps his last baby close, so she'll have all the more trouble finding something to exploit in him.

All the while, he can't bring himself to truly be angry with Big Mama. She took him back, kept him and his boys safe when they needed it. She's his children's mother, they love her, look at all she provides them. He was the one that left those loopholes in, he was the one who failed his sons. He was the one who left one of them behind. He can't be angry with her, no.

But he knows who he can be angry with.

So that's how he passes the years. Watching his wife exploit the children she claims to love, reading report after report of every failed mission to locate Draxum and his missing child, taking his fury out on every mercenary that returns without them. He thinks about his last baby, what hell their life must be. How they must feel, knowing their father left them with a monster. He thinks about Draxum, the source of all his misery, who has eluded him and kept his child captive for thirteen long years. Lou waits. He plans. While inside him, a simmering hatred plants its roots deeper and deeper, and slowly begins to boil.

[cray-cray-anime]

Who to submit and vote for pluralsswagbracket?

RISE MIKEY

What makes him plural?

Well ofc his alters! And he has not 1, not 2

BUT FOUR OFFICIAL ALTERS/PERSONAS

And they all swag with the best scene of them

Dr feelings

Donnie: Uh, what is happening?

Mikey: Good Morning. I'm Dr Feelings. Welcome to my seminar, "Hug it out"!

Donnie: Dr Feelings? I thought you were Dr Delicate Touch.

Mikey: (evilly) Dr Delicate Touch feels nothing.(back to normal) Lesson one: Because I said so is not an answer. You need to learn a healthy way to express your feelings to your family.

Donnie: Yes, feelings. Hot, cold, sleepy, hungry - -

Mikey: (intterupts donnie by wacking donnie with his pointing stick)

Mikey: No. Feelings like anger. Remind you of anyone? (Shows a picture of donnie yelling at SHELLDON)

Donnie: Nope!

(Ominous music plays as Mikey gives him a suspicious look as he changes the channel to Splinter yells at Donnie, then he starts changing them all over as donnie slowly realises in horror)

Dr delicate touch:

Mikey: Bullhop, we're friends. So this will be easy to say. YOU'VE GOT TO GO! HIT THE BRICKS SLOPPY!

Bullhop:What? You’re kicking me out?

Mikey:That’s right! You have been working a nerve hozer!

Honestly just have the whole compliations

Dr positive

Draxum:Baron Draxum needs the help of no one!

Mikey:Oh really? When I found you, were you or were you not living on the street?

Draxum: Maybe.

Mikey:Powerless because your soul got sucked out by the dark armor, wanted for crimes in the Hidden City and who set you up in style?

Draxum:(sighs) Dr. Positive.

Miley:That’s right. Dr. Positive. The one who’s gonna turn you from bad guy to glad guy. From sad heep to happy sheep. From devil to A level baby.

Dr rude (IT WASN'T EVEN AIRED YET WE LOVE IT so just watch the whole thing (def not cos I'm too lazy to type the transcript)

A couple even made fics on him having DID disorder

This is my favourite which even mentions one not said in the show of "ninja mode"

and this one mentions mikey's DID

Why would he have DID

"There are a variety of triggers that can cause switching between alters, or identities, in people with dissociative identity disorder. These can include stress, memories, strong emotions, senses, alcohol and substance use, special events, or specific situations"

Which MIKEY DOES (quote from rottmnt wiki)

"To deliver a harsh truth in his "Doctor Delicate Touch" method, Mikey often starts off being sweet, but quickly becomes angry and frank ("Man VS. Sewer").

Doctor Feelings uses his emotional intelligence to advise others ("Breaking Purple"),

and Mikey faces issues with determined optimism as Doctor Positive ("Repairin' the Baron").

And well dr rude wasn't aired and was only when he was pretending to be a villain

BUT myyyy personal hc is that mikey gets burnt out from his alters trying to keep the dysfunctional family together and try to stop the distancing and fighting, as well as, the villains.

So to cope, another alter slowly comes out as dr rude

But hey why would he have DID, isn't it usually from trauma?

Ya telling me

a family raised in the sewers

who hasn't seen anyone like them in several years

with a traumatised dad that's not emotionally available

and villains trying to kill you and your brothers regularly

not traumatising?!

As for the swag, honestly he speaks for them self (or selves). LIKE LITERALLY NOT EVEN THERE THAT LONG AND WE ALREADY LOVE THEM

So y'all submit for mikey TO GET HIM IN FOR THE VOTES

@pluralswagbracket

Edit: MIKEY GOT IN

This is gonna be pinned till the whole thing over

Edit 2: IF MIKEY AT LEAST WINS AGAINST YOU KNOW WHO THAT BEAT OUR AUTISTIC TURTLE I WILL PUT MY DRAWING OF MIKEY ON MY SIDEBLOG @cray-who-nah-im-just-crazy-a-wip

[s0fti3w1tch]

ROTTMNT Leo-Focus fics I like

Gen fics, no ships edition

Ongoing:

Two Souls by Virgilisspidey (18/?, 105k words)

Leonardo has a friend that nobody else can see. "Aoi" has been beside him for as long as he could ever remember. AKA: A ROTTMNT rewrite where 2k12!Leonardo's soul is attached to Rise Leo's and "acts like a weird imaginary friend."

Personal note: the fic I loved so much I decided to make a ficlet of it. No serious, I love this one a lot.

Shell Shocked (Literally) by Pachinko_Lessons_101 (12/? chapters, 19k words)

Leonardo gets transported to Bayverse after a lab mishap with Donnie. Emotions ensue.

Personal Notes: Literally the story that got me into reading and writing fanfic again in 2022 after 4 years.

Every Night the Longest Day by ashtreelane (16/17 chapters, 42k words)

Leonardo gets hit with a curse that doesn't allow him to sleep. With sleep deprivation getting to him with each passing day, his family desperately searches for a fix.

Personal note: I unfortunately know from personal experience this fic is very accurate to bad sleep deprivation. Not to the extent in the fic, but damn I've stayed up.

You Are Not My Brothers by Marien0_0StrawberryMilk (3/? chapters, 2.5k words)

We have Baron "I wanted to make weapons of war but the tiny red-eared slider called me dad and I'm experiencing a moral dilemma" Draxum. In which Lou Jitsu lost one of the turtles, and Draxum accidentally becomes Leonardo's parent.

Completed, Multi-chapter:

waiting on a miracle by lydiasgrace (11 chapters, 29k words)

Leo watches 'Encanto' and he gets inspired to pull another Leo "it's not about me" move and carry the weight of his family post-kraang healing by himself. It's ow.

His World by SkylerSkyhigh (25 chapters, 124k words)

After the events of the Kraang, Leonardo starts to "hallucinate" other versions of himself, guiding him on leadership. AKA, 2k12!Leo and Future!Rise Leo work through very Leo issues with Rise Leo. Oh BTW, it turns into a musical by the midpoint. Do not be fooled, there's still ouch.

Warning: Disability erasure of a canonically disabled character in the final chapter. Something that I, as a disabled reader, care deeply about and have felt really genuinely hurt by in a fic I liked everything else about. Please remember to educate and not harass the author about this if you wish to call it out (note that I have -spoilers contained- commented about it already).

Proud Hermanos by HellsTrojanHorse (9 chapters, 8k words)

Señor Hueso teaches Leonardo how to play guitar. Leonardo expresses his emotions and love through music. ( w/ Songs from Disney's Coco. )

Cradled Close by Poppyseed20 (2 chapters, 2.9k words)

2 different points in time where Splinter takes care of sick Leonardo.

One Shots:

Tiger and Turtle by Dream_En (1.9k words)

Tigerclaw stumbled upon a crying tot!Leo. He keeps him company 'til Leo's family could find him.

a month or two by anonymous user (9k words)

5 times Leonardo comforts his family post-Kraang, and the 1 time he gets it back.

No Use Crying Over Spilt Milk by SIverfandweedo (879 words)

Leonardo drops a glass of milk and it's overwhelming.

Personal note: he's just like me!!!

"Anytime" by zesty_lemony (Lemons_are_just_cake) (711 words)

Leonardo has a breakdown and his brothers are there to comfort him.

Freezing heart by Sweet_bubbs (1.9k words)

It's winter, and the heating in Leo's room sucks. He doesn't tell anyone.

Creative title goes here by callmesummon (460 words)

Baby Leo has a nightmare and Splinter's there to help

I Don't Dance by SkylersSkyhigh (2.4k words)

A diegetic musical number between Rise Leo, Future!Rise Leo, 12!Leo fighting against the Sando Brothers in the span of a 4-minute High School Musical 2 song.

all the things that i could live without by taizi (1.3k words)

Just some family fluff with Donatello and an injured Leonardo, post-Kraang.

[turtle-tot-tournament]

Nameless au (name suggestions welcome) By @tired-o-fighter

The turtles discover what Bishop's been doing with their DNA samples and why he helped to save Donatello. Hundreds of experiments lost to his cruelty, but now they have the opportunity to save one.

(art by @crownedcrowrow)

Ink Herbs and Eggshells (IHE) By @itsnotillegalyet07

Ink Herbs and Eggshells is a three-part TMNT AU. I’ve entered Eggshells specifically into the turtle-tot-tournament. (Each story goes between character perspectives) IHE Description: Baron Draxum had several experiments before creating the turtles. Only one of those experiments survived; Experiment 01Beta, a four year old calico map turtle. A failure. One the Baron is careful not to repeat. Leo, Donnie, Raph, and Mikey are raised by Splinter in the sewers of New-York City. They often go out at night to have fun and/or escape one of their father’s episodes. They fight goons for the fun of it and have zero qualms breaking and entering to have a good time or nab something of interest. Their best friend and fellow chaos-lover April O’Neil provides them with plenty of gossip and info on crooks. She’s always looking for a new job, something the boys playfully tease her for. All’s well and fun away from home, the boys and their friend happy to mess with the humans all night long. Till they find the Hidden City at least. Eggshells Description: Anyone with a kid of their own will go on and on about the struggles of parenthood and how the little moments make it all worth it. It’s hard, but worth it with every little moment. But did you ever stop to even think about asking the kid? Being a turtle mutant is weird and has its difficulties. But having a father who isn’t always your dad is worse. Getting sick all the time sucks. Living in a smelly sewer all the time sucks! So does being hungry or getting yelled at! But there’s fun stuff too. Like going on adventures in the sewers! Or sneaking out when dad get weird. Painting on the walls with no one to tell you not to do that! Raising a kid is one thing. Being the kid is another.

[maizethecorn]

Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Baron Draxum and Splinter Fanfiction Stories

I watched two seasons of Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles until 4 a.m in the morning. This cartoon is the second reboot to be shown on Nickelodeon. The animation isn’t the best but I really loved the writing and humor for this cartoon. I really followed this cartoon for two characters: Baron Draxum and Splinter/Lou Jitsu. Draxum is a goat yokai/scientist/warrior who wants to see humanity destroyed. He also wants the four ninja turtles to become super solider weapons that will destroy humanity. The dad of the four ninja turtles is Splinter/Lou Jitsu. Splinter used to be a great human warrior/movie star until Draxum turned him into a rat in his lab. Draxum also injected the mutant ninja turtles as babies with Splinter’s DNA. Enraged, Splinter broke free of his prison, broke some lab items (Draxum’s gargoyle minions unintentionally did this as well), resulting in the lab catching fire. With everything going up in flames, Splinter grabbed the ninja turtle babies, fled to the sewers and was not seen again for sometime. Draxum assumed Splinter and the turtles died in the lab fire. He left his old lab with his gargoyle minions and found a new lab. Life went on.

Years passed and the turtles grew up to be teenagers. Draxum met the turtles and realized they along with Splinter must have survived the fire. In the first season, Draxum is either asking the turtles to join him or attempting to kill them when they say no. He and Splinter meet face to face again when Splinter has to rescue his boys from Draxum. Splinter and Draxum fight which results in Splinter losing. Most likely, Splinter would have won if Draxum didn’t have the big armor upgrade which gave him an unfair advantage. Despite losing the fight, Splinter survives and gets to go home with his sons. Draxum on the other hand, loses the armor, his powers due to the samurai ghost Shredder sucking out his life force and the other villains abandoning him. 

In season two, Draxum is revealed to be homeless in New York City. He can’t go back to the yokai world because he is a wanted criminal. So, Draxum sits out on the streets as a beggar in the human world. There, Mikey one of the ninja turtles finds him and takes pity on him. Mikey sets Draxum up in a human apartment where April O Neal lives. Miserable, Draxum broods in the apartment wearing a fuzzy bath robe and slippers. With good intentions, Mikey sets up a dinner between Draxum, Splinter, his brothers and April. The dinner is very tense with Splinter bringing up old history of how Draxum turned him into a rat. He also rudely comments on how Draxum could just mutate the dinner potatoes into cream corn since Draxum is obsessed with mutating/experimenting everything. Of course, Draxum bristles at Splinter and Mikey turns the dinner conversation to the idea of taking Draxum to an amusement park. 

Later, Mikey, Splinter and Draxum go to an amusement park. Draxum has to go disguised as a teddy bear so the yokai police won’t recognize him. By this point, Draxum is employed as a cafeteria worker in April’s high school. Snidely, Splinter refers to Draxum as an insane scientist and that he should go home in case the spell wears off. Draxum agrees saying he can go back to work but Mikey begs  Draxum to stay. Mikey reminds both Splinter and Draxum that he wanted to spend the day with both of them. Reluctantly, the two of them attempt to be pleasant to each other in Mikey’s presence. However, tension boils with Splinter and Draxum making quips at each other behind Mikey’s back.

Annoyed, Draxum asks Splinter what his issues are. Frustrated, Splinter yells at Draxum that his life was ruined when he was turned into a rat. The two engage in hitting each other which results in the magic spell wearing off, revealing Draxum’s true form. Awkwardly, Mikey, Draxum and Splinter have to hide in a dumpster away from the police. Draxum points out Splinter wouldn’t have his kids if he and the turtles hadn’t been mutated. Clenching his fists, Splinter concludes Draxum is right. He wouldn’t have his sons if he hadn’t been turned into a rat and his sons hadn’t been mutated with his DNA. Clearing his throat, Draxum apologizes for experimenting on Splinter without his consent and trying to turn the teenage turtles into weapons. Happily, Mikey hugs both Splinter and Draxum, saying he is happy his two dads are finally getting along. Throughout the rest of season two, Draxum goes on a few outings with Splinter, the turtles and April. No longer do Draxum and Splinter fight, and the two appear to be in a comfortable friendship. The most touching evidence of their relationship at the end of the show is when Draxum attempts to use his powers on the samurai villain Shredder to protect Splinter and the turtles. Draxum looks at Splinter and says: My life was alot easier when I didn’t like your family. What he is saying is true. Life was easier when Draxum only lived for himself and now that he has let Splinter and the turtles into his life, things will never be easy for him again. The rat and the goat yokai started out as enemies. By the end of the show, the two of them had grown to be friends/family. 

Here are some fanfiction stories of these two:

 https://archiveofourown.org/works/45212338 This story is called It’s never to late to come back to my side by Under_the_red_ beanie. This story is a complete one shot about how Draxum eventually becomes part of the ninja turtle family through his interactions with each of the characters. This story was very sweet and fluffy. 

https://archiveofourown.org/works/42333618/chapters/106304550 This story is called Stepping Up Dads by Behind_Snake Eyes. This story has a couple of chapters and is complete. The story is mainly told from Draxum’s perspective until the end. This is the best story I read. The emotional growth Draxum goes through with the ninja turtle kids is really well written. Draxum is figuring out how to be a father and his feelings towards Splinter.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/41819853 This story is called punch buddies by johnchurch. This story is a complete one-shot. Draxum is sitting watching television with Splinter. Draxum is analyzing how Splinter is making him feel while talking to him. This story is cute and short. 

https://archiveofourown.org/works/41606289 This story is called If he makes you happy by strawberystars. Splinter tells his sons that he is dating Draxum and the boys have hilarious reactions to this news. The story is a complete, one shot.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/17545694 This story is called Is Hot Soup really the best attack name he could come up with? by constantconfinement. This story is a really short piece written about Draxum’s thoughts as he watches human Splinter fight onscreen. This takes place before Splinter becomes a rat.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/45453724 This story is called Just a little reminder by iam57311. This story is a one shot told from Splinter’s perspective. Splinter sees Draxum is becoming a second dad to the ninja turtle teenagers. Sitting in his arm chair, Splinter reflects on his feelings about these changes. Draxum walks in, sits in the chair with Splinter and offers emotional support. This is a very touching story of what happens when kids are growing up and parents face becoming empty nesters of sorts. 

https://archiveofourown.org/works/25645945 This story is called A place to start by Tench. The fic is a complete one shot about the evolution of Splinter and Draxum’s relationship from enemies to holding hands. The fic is very well done with a fan art picture of Splinter and Draxum holding hands.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/43678140/chapters/109833981 This story is called To Win Her Favor by SparkleDragon. This story is 25 chapters long and is complete. The story highlights the failed romance of Lou Jitsu and Big Mama the spider yokai. Big Mama is the antagonist in this story. Draxum moves in with Splinter and helps him take care of the ninja turtle kids. The author does a great job of building up the relationship between Draxum and Splinter. There are also fluffy, family moments with the turtle kids.

Thoughts on Big Mama/Splinter pairing: These two were not going to work out. Big Mama and Lou Jitsu met while he was still a human movie star and they dated for awhile. Eventually, Lou Jitsu decides Big Mama is the one for him. Lou Jitsu pulled out an engagement ring, got down on one knee and asked her to marry him. Her response? She turns into a spider yokai, kidnaps him and throws him in a fighting ring to fight a bunch of other yokai/monsters. In her actions, Big Mama is showing Lou Jitsu she can’t mix business and pleasure. Heartbroken, Lou Jitsu decides he will never fight again and Big Mama throws him in a prison cell. He escapes when Draxum’s gargoyles fly him out to Draxum’s lab. During the show, Big Mama is shown to have kept a picture of her and Lou Jitsu together from when they dated in a dresser drawer. So, she had feelings for him but chose business, money and fame over love. Is she happy with the choice she made all those years ago? My opinion is most likely not and that's why she threw herself into the business of running fighting tournaments. Draxum got the better end of the stick in choosing Splinter and the turtles over fame, power and glory. 

Why Draxum and Splinter?  I didn’t even think of them as a ship until season two. Both of them had stopped being enemies and seemed to mellow out enjoying each other’s company. Draxum had gotten rid of his warrior mask and armor in favor of his kimono outfit and topknot. His outfit looked very similar to Splinter. Also, Draxum was shown to be wearing a few human outfits such as his cafeteria worker uniform, implying he was becoming more comfortable in the human world. Draxum went on a few outings with Splinter’s family. If more seasons of the show had been made, Draxum possibly would have moved in with Splinter and the turtles. Both of them are fathers who are interested in taking care of the turtles. I think Draxum is ambiguously gay. He isn’t shown to be attracted to Big Mama (who is supposed to have an attractive human form) or any other characters. There is no love life mentioned for him in the show. The closest time there is to Draxum showing any attraction to anyone is when he gets eye sparkles watching human Splinter fight. Of course, Draxum constantly denied being a fan of Lou Jitsu despite watching him fight. Some people may say Draxum just saw Splinter as the perfect lab specimen. He did get eye sparkles when first seeing the turtles. I think this is because Draxum was drawn to the turtles since they are his sons. Draxum was also drawn to Splinter observing him fight but denied his feelings in the name of science, war, glory, etc. Now, science, war, and glory no longer matter to Draxum as much has his relationship with Splinter and the turtles. Splinter still likes Big Mama but she always puts her business first. Eventually, Splinter would get tired of Big Mama’s antics and move unto someone else. Splinter and Draxum getting together would happen slowly and gradually. Heck, I think they would be dating without realizing they are dating. In their later years, Splinter and Draxum would be an old married couple together reflecting on their adventures/fights.

[animated-worlds-worst-dad]

DDT AU! Family Inheritance

Hear me out:

Baron Donatello Draxum

(during the present timeline or the Post-Apocalyptic timeline)

Yes, you finally get your Villain!Donnie arc. I see you.

Here is my reasoning on why this would theoretically work:

Donnie is insecure

All the Rise fandom can see that Donnie has a bit of an insecurity complex (remind you of anyone?) and he has a tendency to lash out when it's probed (see Donnie vs. Witch Town). He felt that his worth was tied to his abilities, to what he can do. Here, it's turned up to eleven thousand. Basically, Donnie is trying to prove his superiority to Leo, to prove Draxum was wrong to disregard him, while also trying to prove that he never needed Leo or Draxum. Here, it's not about what he can do, it's about proving he isn't a burden. Draxum has completely destroyed his sense of self-worth.

Disaster Twins are disastrous

In many Sep!au fics, Draxum is a terrible father. In many cases of domestic abuse, abusers try to control their victims and turn them against each other. Guess what happens to Leo and Donnie. Leo being praised and Donnie being disregarded come hand in hand. It keeps them insecure and dependent on Draxum, while also framing the other twin as an enemy. Leo gets scraps of approval, while given a front row seat to see what happens to failures. Donnie is jealous of Leo's status and pushes harder towards earning Draxum's approval. As a result, Leo and Donnie don't like being vulnerable. They're both worried that the other will turn their "weakness" against them, so they instead lash out at each other. When Donnie becomes Baron Draxum, he not only succeeds his father, but he also takes his brother's "inheritance", finally "winning" for once.

Donnie wants power

Victims of abuse see power as a way to stay safe (e.i.: see Catra, Azula, Cersei, Nebula). Donnie wants power, whether it'd be scientific, mystic, political (he is called Baron for a reason), if it offers a feeling of protection, and he wants it. He isn't thinking about his happiness or health, he's concerned with his security. Guess what happens when the Foot Clan introduces him to the Dark Armor. Imagine finding out he has the blood of Oroku Saki, making him the heir of the Shredder.

Leo would want him to be happy

Leo isn't blind to Donnie's mistreatment, and he did try to protect him, but there is only so much that a child can do. Sadly, this means there are times where Leo stays quiet for his own safety, but not out of malice, it's out of fear. They did try to protect each other, but two children aren't capable of doing much against a Warring Warrior Scientist with an armory of mystic weapons. Unfortunately, Donnie would read this as pity, and this only furthers his hatred towards his brother. He wants to prove he earned Draxum's mantle, not because the true heir decided to abdicate.

TL;DR: Draxum sucks, miscommunication kills, twins suffer, Donnie needs Dr. Delicate Touch/Feelings

[tmnt-obsessed-ace]

Guess who's having ANOTHER new au thought?

So the premise: The 2012 boys all get captured and brainwashed by the Shredder with the sole purpose of forcing THEM to kill Splinter. (Because beig murdered by your own children would be the cruelest death of all) But during the rescue attempt, Splinter April and Casey all get sucked into an interdimensional portal (you already know where this is going) to the Rise verse (during season 1, post Evil League Of Mutants) so Shredder and the turtles follow them.

Basically the entire plot focuses on the aforementioned trio trying to rescue and undo the brainwashing of the turtles, stop a potential alliance between Baron Draxum and The Shredder and stop the Foot Clan from summoning Rise Shredder.

And 2012 Splinter is also trying not to lose his mind, poor guy is STRESSED™️

[a-lamb-lady]

My sis and I were hyperfixating over our respective ships and she and I have the same ideas about eachothers ships

Like she looked at some Draxum fanart and went "just gimme those man milkers" and I simply passed away( Tbf I did that with one of her characters lmao)

And now im imagining the rise boys on a Hidden City Twitter page or smth and someone just says "Y'know that baron who was wanted as a war criminal? Lemme suck on them man titties"

And Mikey sees it and is like ??? That is my father???

And the other person goes "Don't care. DILF"

[bambiraptorx]

Draxum and the turtles sit down over some tea and Draxum's all like "I am deeply sorry I took all of the momentum out of my villainous dramatics"

-🔮🕸

I had. a thought. Welp, here goes.

-- -- --

"Cookies, anyone?" one of the flappy shoulder-pad-thingy guys offers, holding a platter out to Donnie, his brothers, and April as they sit awkwardly around the kitchen table in the what's only the third kitchen they've ever been in their entire lives. (Minus April, of course.)

"Soooo... you're serious about making us? Serious-serious?" Leo drawls, his fingers rubbing idly at the hilt of his (brand new, recently stolen) sword.

"Of course I made you! I would recognize my best work anywhere," answers Baron Draxum, the... yokai, if Donnie understood him correctly. "I'd thought you'd been destroyed with my lab, all those years ago, but to find you survived... it's incredible!"

The man moves his hands along with the first half of his speech before remembering they don't recognize his sign language--and that's a whole other level of crazy to this situation, that there are entire languages in use here that Donnie's never even heard of. He'd always hoped that there was more intelligent life somewhere in the universe, but to think it was right under New York this whole time--!

"Can confirm! Huginn and I were here when he made you!" chirps the other flappy shoulder guy, this one fulfilling his duties as a shoulder pad and looking rather smug for being such a tiny guy on a very large goat-man's shoulder.

"And that was with-- just to double check here-- the DNA of the missing action star Lou Jitsu?" April asks incredulously, accepting a cookie from the tray.

A nod.

She whistles. "Man, this would make that conspiracy girl from school absolutely freak."

Baron Draxum tilts his head and makes a vaguely conversational noise. Probably didn't quite hear her, then, Donnie knows the signs. April doesn't quite seem to notice, because she moves on with a new question:

"So why did you make four mutant turtles anyway?"

"I need them to destroy humanity with me," Draxum says evenly, and wow, that's a statement to suck all the energy out of the room if Donnie's ever heard one. Everyone seems to still like a deer caught in the headlights (except for Raph, busily stuffing cookies in his mouth, and glancing around in confusion when the room goes silent).

"It wouldn't be easy, necessarily, or quick, but with the aid of my recently developed mosquitos to aid in creating more mutants, I would have a viable army in a matter of months," Draxum continues. "You could be my generals, my righteous warriors! I will lead the yokai to freedom and glory with the four of you at my side!"

And Donnie doesn't know this guy at all, but he happens to be fluent enough in 'morally grey mad scientist' to recognize that this guy is dead serious.

"Oh. So you're crazy crazy," Mikey mutters behind a hand, at a volume far to close too normal for that kind of comment. Baron Draxum tilts his head slightly, narrowing his eyes, and fuck, Donnie can't tell for the life of him if that's a "didn't quite catch that" face or a "you've got ten seconds to run" face.

"...you'll join me, won't you?" he asks, and something in his voice is suddenly sharp and dangerous under his pleasant tone, like there's a very clear right answer here. Donnie's heart sinks as he realizes which one it is.

"Ye-yeah, sure!" Raph jumps in nervously, coughing cookie dust as he rubs the crumbs off his face. "Raph thinks we'll just be leaving now, we, uh, we gotta get home before--"

A flick of the man's wrist and the kitchen doorway is completely blocked by writhing purple vines.

"--and we have so much to talk about, so you aren't going anywhere," the Baron continues, a strained pretense of pleasantry still clinging to his words. "Besides, I have finally recovered you after thirteen years. I can't just let you go."

-- -- --

I have no idea where I would actually go from here, but it's certainly an idea to mess around with.

(Based on this post for context)

[thedawningofthehour]

Welp, at least it's reassuring to know that when the can of worms is opened Tigerclaw will take Donnie's side.

Baron Draxum and the audacity of that bitch is my new favorite band.

I really hope this encounter pays off and helps cass realize the truth later on, but considering we're talking about the same girl who agreed to release a demon to enslave humanity.... I think we'd better sit tight and wait.

Speaking of which, way to call the kettle black, cass.

I must admit, I'm scared, I have no idea what Galois plans to do, and I'm scared. On the other hand, Galois setting up listening devices to spy on the fam is something I've been thinking about since literally the first kidnapping attempt. I'm surprised it hasn't happened sooner. On the other hand, I wonder if this is how the bitches faction will figure out that Bella is working with the fam.

I've been thinking a lot about why Cass would decide to do something like that, and I'm split on a few things. My first assumption was that she just fucking hates people. Cass hasn't exactly had a lot of good role models throughout her life, her mom cared more about getting high than taking care of her and her dad has his own host of issues. And there's the whole systemic thing in play as well, she grew up impoverished in a poor area with a ton of crime, and all the bullshit that comes with being poor. I think I cut this but I had a line where she mentions her dad's mom being a really stabilizing presence in her life, and her dad had his shit mostly together until she died when Cass was eleven. (which is when she started getting taken away by CPS and stuck in foster homes while he got his act together) There could have totally been an event there, maybe her nana received extremely poor medical care and Cass believes that she would have lived if they'd been wealthy? I think about what a teenage girl her age with her background could be going through and I feel like she'd be incredibly disillusioned. She's realizing that society sucks, and she's mad. She wants to tear it down, and maybe she doesn't care what goes up in its place.

But I also think about the fact like...she's seventeen at the start of the show. A seventeen-year-old in a gang, who's been training in martial arts for a decade and sees this as the cumulation of her skills and efforts. She would be incredibly easy to manipulate. This is even before you factor in any daddy issues and longings for parental approval; the foot husbands could have told her to jump off a cliff and she would have done it. I mean, she would have done it anyway because she's Cass, but you know what I mean.

Oh, no, Gale found the bug on Cass. Was that not clear? I can go back and edit it if it was confusing, lol.

[bigdvmnhero]

summary:

Leo scrubbed the grime out of his shell, thinking about how this sucked, but like a movie. How the flop was always darkest before the slay. And what if he did kind of deserve this anyway? The thorn became a seed became a flower. And the glass beads on his bracelet bled from blue to black.

The disaster twins come of age, try to build a life, and wear fun matching bracelets that are definitely not haunted by yokai brothers with bad blood.

word count: 2647

chapter 1: spin you until the groove's gone

All year they were reigning champions of Hidden City’s dance hall until Donnie went and took that from Leo, too. 

So he was being a little dramatic. 

But one day Donnie put on the cloaking brooch and badda bing badda boom—there he was, Mr. College Boy in the making, and can you imagine all the conferences I can legally attend now, Nardo?  There went Leo’s dance partner and his street cred. Two birds, one mystic-enhanced stone. Rumor had it there was a new duo coming for the Hamato legacy, but Leo would bet an arm and leg they didn’t have anything on Bootyyyshaker9000’s musicality and his own general MCE (Main Character Energy). It was a twin thing; there was no competing with the twin thing.

Leo kept telling that to himself, anyway. 

He was going to be the backbone of the family, even when most days Raph was off supporting Casey on her new career in vigilantism, or when Mikey started mystic training with Draxum, and finally when Donnie disappeared on weekends to go topside, exploding beakers and bunsen burners with friends, as one does. 

Leo wasn’t invited, which was super fine. Again: super fine. Cooping himself in a library had zero appeal next to the wealth of odd jobs at the Hidden City’s community board, which he often took in exchange for coin, but mostly medic lessons at the city clinic. 

If it felt a little like penance after the whole Kraang situation, nobody had to know.

But Donnie was late to movie night again, and Leo wanted to tell him how he stitched some yokai’s stomach closed today, which was  subaramazing. 

“Penetrating abdominal trauma,” Dr. Masamune explained, teaching him to work the needle with mystic thread; steady hands now, steady. What could college teach that Leo couldn’t? Would college ever let Donnie do something as badass as touching a real liver? There was no way. 

Then came the giggling in the living room; Donnie and April were back, and they just had the most exciting road trip, just a spur-of-the-moment thing with the boys, and Leo should’ve seen it, did he know how cute turtle hatchlings were? Donnie built them forcefield backpacks to fend off the birds looking for a late-night snack, everyone loved it, and what was Leo doing here, all alone in the lair?

“Leo?” Donnie’s blissed out, almost tipsy grin began to slide off his face—Lou Jitsu’s face, if he was sixteen and had a little extra forehead. “Uh, you there, pal?”

“Leo?” someone repeated, and the scene changed; it was Raph, cocking his head at Leo while his birthday candles burned, and right, it was their eighteenth birthday. The room pulled back into focus. Leo stared at his cake, and that was how he realized that two years had passed, and while he’d spent them in a sort of cryogenic sleep, his family hadn’t. 

Raph said his name again. He was flanked by Casey—when did they get matching tattoos?—and Mikey, two of his yokai friends floating around his head, chattering with Baron Draxum, who stood at a concerningly intimate distance to Splinter. And Donnie—

“Leonardo? Leader in blue? Unequal sibling?” Donnie called; on his lap was a DIY Atomic Lass chest plate, a gift from his college nerd friends that April helped organize. The bracelet Leo prepared felt flimsy now. It burned a shameful hole in his pocket. 

“Sorry, I know it’s not much—" Leo fixed the clasp around Donnie’s wrist, purple to his blue one, and dodged his eyes, "but you always said you wanted some funky matching bling. So. Tried to find the exact shade of your bandana but—”

“I love it,” Donnie said, fingering the glass beads with soft eyes. “Genuinely. Thank you, Leo. Got you something, too.”

It’s a jacket with a failsafe feature. 

“Probably a jacket with a secret failsafe,” Leo echoed. Surprise broke open on Donnie's face. It would hit them later, what was happening, but until then there were candles to blow, twins to dunk into birthday cakes—Donnie, obvi, Leo would keep his streak up or die trying.

There was an ending to this story that Leo could predict. They were careening towards it; by the doorstep of the kitchen, Leo froze with his armful of plates and listened to his family laugh and laugh like they could hear it coming too: the inevitable crash, the moment when Leo’s family stopped being all his—and where would that leave him?  

full story on ao3

[brightlotusmoon]

You know that TMNT RP crossover I've been turning into a fic with @remmushound with a document that's literally 244145 words? I've been editing the document and I found a scene I wanted to share just because. Bay Mikey and Rise Leo having a chat.

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A huge grin spread across Mikey’s face. “You know what, I bet our April would have done the exact same thing as your April at that age. But then she’d have to tell her dad because it’s his project.”

Leonardo hummed. “I don’t think I’ve ever met April’s dad. Or her mom. Or anyone in her family.”

Mikey pondered this. “Well. Humans are good at lying to each other, especially to protect others. She’s probably kept you guys away from them for her own reasons.”

“Yeah, Most likely. She helped Donnie get back home when night came, and she’s kept our secret since.”

“That’s our hogosha,” Mikey beamed. “In every world, April’s always our first human friend, our first real friend.”

“It’s good to know she’s a constant. I wouldn’t want a world without my sister.”

“Ditto,” Mikey said. “She’s our sister, our mom, our best friend. Casey gets there, in his own way. And hers.”

“She’s your sister-mom? Does she know about this?” Leonardo tried not to laugh.

Mikey chortled. “Yeah, we joked about it.”

“Heh. Of course! You gotta joke with your sister/mother about her status in the family!”

“Well, when she’s the first of her kind that you really get to know across all your timelines, you gotta figure out a bunch of different emotional boundaries. And by you I mean me. And sometimes Donnie. One time really Donnie.”

“Oooo? Spill!”

Mikey hummed. “Weeelll… in one reality she was a teenager like us and Donnie got this huge huge crush on her. Raph too, but it faded. Donnie just kept being awkward for, like, three years.”

“Ooooff. Ouch. Not your Donnie right?”

“Nah. Though me, I totally felt a little crush. Maybe he did too, but now they’re just best friends. Nerds.”

“Awww, you had a crush? That’s adorable. Try anything with my April and we won’t hesitate to send you to a Yokai ER.” Leonardo only half-joked.

Mikey held his hands up. “Dude, she could do that by herself. Don’t worry, no attraction.”

“Better not be, or she’ll turn you into Kame no sūpu! And Miguel will season you well!”

Mikey crossed his arms. “Bet I’d make a good soup, anyway, I know flavor.”

“Eh, mutagen might throw off the taste.”

“I bet it totally would.”

“What does mutagen even taste like…?”

Mikey tilted his head. “Vinegar,” he said distantly.

“…. That’s oddly specific.”

“I know. One of my past selves thought it tasted like vinegar.”

“….. he tasted it?”

Mikey sucked in a breath. “He… didn’t really mean to.”

“How does one do that accidentally?”

“He, uh…” Mikey was trying not to laugh. “He rubbed it on his face. He misread the label.”

“…that poor dude. But at least we know we can make deviled eggs with mutagen if we ever run out of vinegar.”

Mikey wrinkled his nose. “I guess…”

“…would eating mutagen turn someone into mutant? Or is it just blood-to-mutagen contact?”

Blinking, Mikey frowned. “Ya know what, I think it depends on the type and where it came from.”

“Yeah, let’s not tell Baron Draxum about that.”

“Not a fucking word.”

Leonardo made the motion of zipping his lips.

“That dude creeps all of me out.”

“He could make an army of cows by infecting the steak supply. We don’t need any more mutant pigs either.”

“Ugh, that’s a horror movie waiting to happen.”

“Night of the living steak. Ewhhhh.”

“Okay, now I’m grossed out.”

“You should be! That would just be horrifying!”

Mikey sighed. “A couple of our past selves would have called it Saturday morning.”

“You mean there’s worlds crazier than mine?”

Mikey grinned. “Just barely.”

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