#teeange mutant ninaj turtles

[tmnt-obsessed-ace]

Since apparently my brain cannot shut up it decided to make ANOTHER au scenario (I decided that I am not touching When The World Crumbles until January because everytime I open the google doc my mind goes fucking blank, meanwhile Sunshine of The Woods and Lost But Never Found continue to mock me)

The 2012 boys all die in the final battle against the Super Shredder (except Leo he dies a month later) and are reincarnated in the rise universe

However unlike most reincarnation aus the reborn 2012 boys arent adopted by the rise boys, no these poor kids are basically street orphans for the first 8 years of their lives. Then they meet the rise boys (I would put their meeting a few days after the events of Todd Scouts)

They dont remember their past lives except through nightmares.

They have the marks of their causes of death as birth marks

The age order has also changed with the oldest turtles being the ones who died first (so the new age order from oldest to youngest would be: Mikey, Raph, Donnie and Leo)

This would definitely be the au that is mostly crack and fluff that gets darker and darker as we go :)

And I am not touching this au again until Sunshine Of The Woods is completed because Im not that insane

[tmnt-obsessed-ace]

When The World Crumbles: Chapter 19, Pulled Against The Grain

[tmnt-obsessed-ace]

When The World Crumbles: Chapter 14, Breaking News: These Turtles Are Orphans!

"If you are hearing this then that means that Neon Leon is far too busy doing awesome ninja bullshit and or I saw a guy way too hot for me to ignore to answer the phone right now. Leave a message! And if it's my wonderful amazing brother Donald...I didn't do it! It's all Mikey's fault Buh Bye!" The prerecorded message ended, leaving Raph to stare at his phone.

Another call went to voicemail.

Just like the last six or seven. It was getting hard to tell. Today had gotten off to a rough start to say the least. It all began last night when Leo was throwing up in the bathroom. Not because he ate something weird, no, the cause was a nightmare.

A horrible, horrible nightmare that scared him so bad he didn't want to sleep in his own room. And of course Leo refused to talk about it, letting only one detail slip.

That he dreamt about burning alive.

Which is naturally horrifying. Then things started getting weird when Leonardo came to check on them, apparently he had a nightmare too. His didn't seem quite as severe as Leo's but still both of them having nightmares at the same time completely unprompted. That is…strange.

And then there was the disaster of a team meeting. One of Leo's katanas tore through the portal generator Donnie had been working on, and it almost took Leonardo's head clean off. Then he got knocked out and while he was fine that was still terrifying.

Worst part was that Leo knew something was wrong with his katana, apparently it's been happening all week. He didn't tell anyone, plugged it into the generator and just hoped for the best.

Once the truth was out, Leo portaled away to go follow their older counterparts. Said counterparts cut the meeting short when Splinter came in.

Raph didn't know why. But the looks in their eyes terrified him. It was like they'd seen something horrific, something you would never want anyone to see.

Something no one should know.

But he's getting off topic. The snapper shook his head, banishing the thoughts as he glanced at Mikey and Donnie.

Mikey was fidgeting nervously in his seat, small and quiet whimpers occasionally coming from his mouth. Raph frowned, wanting to scoop his youngest brother into a good ole classic 'Raph hug.' Of course he couldn't do that right now, he was driving the turtle tank. This morning was a rocky one and it obviously left the box turtle frazzled.

Stressed and so clearly worried about their older counterparts. They were close to tears when they stormed off.

A metal pincer emerged from the back of Donnie's battle shell. It reached over to Mikey, gently patting him on the head. Raph shifted his eyes towards the purple clad turtle.

Donnie sat rigid, his entire body had gone taut. Earlier he was cursing up a storm, calling his twin every name in the book while he clawed at the tank's dashboard. He was obviously pissed that months of work was suddenly ruined because Leo failed to mention his katana was on the fritz.

Now he was no longer cussing so much that Raph was seriously considering a swear jar. Of course he was still furious, given how his hands were tightly clenched into fists but at least he was quiet. For now, once they find Leo all hell will break loose.

"Leo still isn't answering?" Mikey asked, tapping his fingers against his knee pads.

"Nope! No answer." Mikey pouted while Donnie clenched his fists even tighter, causing his arms to tremble.

"Coward. That is what my loathsome twin is, a coward." The softshell grumbled, making Raph frown at him in dread. It's not like Leo can hide forever. It's only a matter of when they find him so Donnie can begin his rant.

"Look, maybe Leo is just busy helping the guys on the recon mission! Yeah that's probably it." Neither of the two younger turtles look convinced by Raph's attempt at reassurance.

"Or more likely he is ignoring us because he knows what's coming to him." Donnie added with a scowl.

"If only our counterparts had phones!" Mikey whined. Then he could call Michelangelo and ask what's wrong. Then he could help.

Donnie pulled out four custom made cell phones from his battle shell. Each one was in the same color as the older turtles' masks. "Once we find them they will have phones, which means Angelo you can send them as many memes and pictures of Mayhem as you want!" Mikey perked up at that.

Raph smiled a bit, pressing the call button again. The phone rang, causing the turtle tank to fall silent as the trio held their breath. Another ring and no answer, the tension only growing.

On the third ring, instead of hearing the voicemail message again, there was a huff of breath. Leo picked up. Finally.

"Put him on speaker!" Donnie hissed, eyes filled with malice. Raph gave him a quick look of 'Don't start yelling' but obliged.

"Hey Leo where have you been we've been trying to call-" Suddenly the snapper was cut off.

"HELP!" Four voices yelled at once "WE NEED HELP!" Leo, Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo.

Raph stopped the tank, Mikey and Donnie crowding around him.

"What do you mean? Guys what happened? What's wrong?" The panic was clear in their voices, making Raph's heart start to race.

Then the chaos started.

"Ok so we went back to the sawmill-" "Donnie's hurt he bleeding real bad dudes-" "Leo's in some kind of freaky trance-" "The foot clan ambushed us-" "We were doing fine till more of them fucking came-" "Should I pull the arrow out-" "No! Not till we can stop the bleeding OW-" "What the fuck did you do to my brother-" "Oh shut the fuck up shorty-" "SHORTY-" "I was trying to help him-" "OW MIKEY STOP MOVING THE ARROW-" "I was wiping the blood away-" "Leon I swear to god I will throw you off this building-" "Do it no balls-"

Mikey suddenly grabbed Raph's phone. "This is a job for Dr. Delicate Touch!" He said with a smile. He took a breath and then…

"STOP FUCKING YELLING AT EACH OTHER YOU IDIOTS AND TELL US WHAT HAPPENED!" He shouted into the phone, making the turtles go silent. Raph and Donnie stared at their youngest brother. Donnie covered his mouth with one hand, whispering a soft 'gasp' while Raph just looked mortified.

"My angel swore at me!" Leo said, faking a dramatic gasp.

"Fuck yeah little dude!" Michelangelo exclaimed, you could almost picture him making a peace sign.

"Holy shit little Mikey swore, ain't that damn fucking hilarious!" Raphael added with a tired laugh.

"I can almost hear Big Raph's blood pressure rising!" Donatello said, his voice pained.

"Ok! Ignoring the foul language, Mikey's right. Everyone that isn't Leo, can you please be quiet so my little brother can calmly explain what happened?" An audible gulp was heard.

"Do I have to? Ugh fine! We went to the sawmill and all the Kraang stuff was gone! ¡No había nada allí! Then the Foot Clan showed up and we were doing great until more of them came." Raphael made a growling sound in the background.

"It was an ambush," Leo continued. "We got our asses whooped and then Lee got hurt by the Lieutenant. I was trying to help him when he snatched my katana to keep fighting but it's got him in a freaky trance I think."

"Oh really, first your katana breaks the portal generator I spent months working on-"

"DONNIE NOT HELPING!" Practically all three turtles, minus the three older counterparts, yelled at the softshell. Donnie held up his hands.

"Donald, can we please discuss that when we are back home and when your counterpart doesn't have an arrow in his shoulder!"

"Wait he's what!" Raph yelled, older brother instincts flaring. The other turtles all groaned.

"As I was saying, then taller Donnie got hit in the shoulder by an arrow because those foot faces had to bring archers! Then we portaled away and here we are!"

"Where is 'here' exactly?"

"Uh, it looks like the roof of April's highschool!"

"Seriously Leon you portaled us to a highschool of all places? In the middle of the day!"

"I panicked!"

"So apparently when you panic do you always make really stupid desicions?"

"Shut the fuck up!"

"Make me! Bitch!"

Two splashes that sounded like water balloons cut off the growing argument between Leo and Raphael.

"Will you both chill out!" Michelangelo yelled. Seems like he was also embracing the Dr. Delicate Touch.

"So older Nardo is in a trance, is he showing response to any outside stimuli, such as touch or sound."

"Well he seems to be aware that I'm touching him since he keeps trying to squirm away but I don't think he can hear-will you stop it!" Raphael said, clearly struggling.

"Fascinating, this is completely unprecedented!"

"Donnie, focus!"

"Alright guys you just gotta stay calm and stay hidden, and we'll come pick you up!" Raph said, starting up the turtle tank again.

"Oh by the way Big Mikey we got your nunchucks and kusari-gama chain from the construction site!" Mikey added, his counterpart's cheer made him smile.

"Well I'm gonna hang up and maybe try to deal with this whole situation, also bring a first aid kit. I forgot to restock my fanny pack!"

Raph sighed, pinching his beak. "Got it we'll be there soon-"

The red clad turtle was cut off by a loud yowling screech. It almost sounded like a cat being startled.

"DID YOU JUST BITE ME? LEE FUCKING BIT ME!" Leo screamed, while the other three turtles started snickering.

"Maybe don't wave your hand in front of his face then."

"FUCK OFF DONNIE!"

"Uh Leo-" And with that Leo hung up.

"I might sound a bit mean by saying this but Nardo totally deserved that bite." Raph and Mikey turned towards Donnie.

"Donnie I get that you're mad at Leo but can you please put that aside until everyone is safe and at home."

At Mikey's puppy dog eyes, the softshell sighed and nodded.

"Fine I will save my undying fury for afterwards, might be fun to let Nardo sweat it out for a bit. Besides I want to run some tests on Lee-"

"Donnie…"

Raph groaned, his heart pounding against his ribs. It's not even noon and he already wants to scream.

Leo was holding his hand, the black wrappings pulled up to expose the bite. Thankfully the skin hadn't been broken, but it was going to leave a nasty bruise for sure.

"He bit me! I can't believe he bit me!" The slider whined with all the dramatics of a broadway star.

"Oh calm down he's bit me like five times already!" Raphael grunted, glancing at the almost ring shaped bruises from his struggling brother. Not like he was complaining.

For the brief time they have been sitting on the highschool rooftop, Leonardo has not calmed down. He was held tight in Raphael's arms, trying to break free while his heart was racing. Not once has he made a sound outside of breathing. His blue eyes were still covered by the white third eyelid, making him look almost feral in a sense.

Leo's katana was still in his hands, his knuckles snow white around the handle.

He didn't let go of it even once.

"So what are we gonna do about Leo?" Michelangelo asked while he pressed some of his removed wrappings to Donatello's shoulder, slowing the blood that was running around the arrow.

"I have no clue!"

"Neither do I mi amigo."

"Maybe you should try to get the sword out of his hands? Ever thought of that?" Donatello suggested, not even trying to hide the sarcasm.

"Yup you are definitely DeeDee's counterpart."

"Well it just makes sense! He didn't fall into this trance until he had your katana in his hands so if you remove the katana he should wake up."

"Wow I can't believe I didn't think of that!" Raphael retorted with an equal amount of sarcasm.

"Maybe if you used more than the two brain cells you have for punching things-" Michelangelo smacked a water balloon into Donatello's face, shushing the purple clad turtle.

"Just get the sword away from Leo, got it thanks Donnie!" Donatello rolled his eyes, his breathing was a bit heavy from the pain.

Leo rolled the black fabric back over his arm and rubbed his hands together. He grabbed as much of the handle as he could.

"Watch and learn boys! It's time for Neon Leon to prove that he is sword of the best ninja in New York!" The other three turtles groaned at the pun.

Leo pulled the katana with all his strength, but it didn't budge even a little bit. He tried pulling again and still nothing. "Dude, will you let go of my sword?" Still nothing. "Oh come on let go let go let go!"

"Uh Leon you might wanna-"

Suddenly Leo started hollering in pain. On the last tug his hands slipped from the handle and were dragged across the blade. Blood started soaking through the black wrappings with the turtle hissing like an angry cat.

"Ow ow ow that fucking hurt! Zero out of ten stars do not recommend augh!"

"Maybe you should've put the sheath over the blade first?" Once again Donatello came in with the oh so needed sarcasm.

"Fuck off!"

"Let me try!" Michelangelo popped up, rubbing his hands.

"Mikey don't I don't want you to cut yourself!" Raphael warned but his brother didn't listen.

He grabbed the handle and took a deep breath.

"Someone count me down?" He asked, Leo rolled his now slightly teary eyes, one of his cut hands was balled up into a fist to try and slow the bleeding. Donatello was trying to wrap the other one with some of his own wrappings.

"Fine! Three, Two, One!" Once the countdown was over Michelangelo began to pull.

He kept his grip iron tight, gritting his teeth all the way. He kept pulling and pulling and it seemed like he was either gonna give up or have the same accident as Leo.

"Mikey seriously you're gonna hurt yourself-"

"BOOYAKASHA!" Michelangelo screamed into the sky, a loud shing echoing through the air. The katana was in his hands, held high above his head. The other turtles' jaws dropped.

The recoil sent the orange clad turtle falling backwards, landing on his shell.

"Wha ha ha what? How did you-"

"I got the magic touch bro! The magic touch!"

Leonardo sat up, quicker than a bullet. He was panting heavily, choking on the air as he struggled to breathe.

"Woah woah, easy Leo easy. Deep breaths ok? Deep breaths…" Raphael cooed, rubbing his older brother's shell.

It took about a minute for the blue clad turtle to catch his breath. When he did he started looking around, weren't they just at the sawmill?

"W-where…"

"The roof of April's highschool, apparently."

"I panicked!"

Leonardo nodded, shielding his eyes from the bright light of the sun. It hurt so much, made his head throb like an open wound.

"You good?"

"Too b-bright…" Raphael carefully scooped him up by the waist and dragged him over to an air conditioning box that was giving some shade.

"That better?" Leonardo nodded, or tried to. That simple action made his stomach lurch.

"So what happened?" Donatello asked, Leo leaning against his uninjured shoulder.

"Hmm?"

"What do you remember?" With Michelangelo's clarification Leonardo began to think.

"We were fighting against the foot clan, the scrawny one kicked me, more ninjas showed up so I grabbed Leon's katana…I can't think of anything else…it feels like a blur, god my head is killing me." Leonardo finished, massaging his temples.

"Oh so you don't remember biting me?" Dark blue eyes went wide.

"I bit you?"

"Yuppers!"

Then his eyes landed on Donatello's shoulder, with an arrow straight through it.

He tried to stand up, his right knee exploding with pain causing Leonardo to nearly fall until Raphael caught him.

"Easy, easy, don't strain yourself."

"Donnie come here let me check that out." He gestured for the purple clad turtle to come over. Michelangelo helped Donatello stand and sat him down in front of the eldest.

"Dude chill, Raph, DeeDee and Miguel are coming in the turtle tank with medical stuff, we can patch Dee up then!" Leo said, now leaning against Michelangelo.

Leonardo ignored him completely, gently inspecting the wound. The arrow had gone straight through with the arrow head on the other side of Donatello's shoulder. That's good, all they'd have to do is cut off the arrow head and they could pull the rest of the arrow out no problem. Then it's only a matter of cleaning and repairing the wound.

"Can you move your arm?" Donatello nodded, it hurt a lot but he was sure the arrow hadn't gone through bone. Then it would be so much worse.

Leonardo leaned in, nuzzling his younger brother's cheek with his own. It was something all four of them did to show affection.

Donatello nuzzled back just as a powerful rumbling came from the streets below.

"Our ride's here so that means it's portal time!" Leo grabbed his katana, it was downright painful to hold.

"What happened to your hands?"

"He was stupid and tried to pull his katana our of yours and he cut his hands on the blade when he lost his grip." Michelangelo said with a frown.

Leo ignored them and opened a portal to the nearby alleyway. "Time to hold hands again. The poor slider practically yelped when Michelangelo grabbed his hand, though he was sure to keep his touch as light as possible. Donatello took his hand and offered his hand to the eldest.

"I'm coming!" He hissed when he stood up, his bad knee was practically throbbing. It was dislocated, it hadn't been dislocated since the Farmhouse.

"Oh hell no!" Raphael scooped his brother up and slung him over his shoulders. He grabbed Donatello's hand.

"Raph I can walk!"

"Leo I will slap the green off you if you try to walk anymore today! Let me carry you, you moron!" They were pulled through the portal, appearing in the alleyway.

The first turtle to emerge from the tank was Donnie, making Leo nervously gulp.

"Hello my dearest, most amazing, wonderful brother!" Leo whined, dreading the softshell's wrath. Donnie glared daggers at his twin.

"Sigh, I will deal with your dum-dum self later. For now let's get you patched up." He took Donatello's hand, gently leading him to the tank with Michelangelo following close behind.

Mikey and Raph came over, worry painted on their faces. Especially Raph's.

"Sup!" Leo said with a nervous smile, causing Raph to pinch his beak in frustration. He turned to Raphael and Leonardo.

"So how's Leonardo? Is he ok?"

"Mhm good head hurts." Leonardo mumbled, pulling his hood over his eyes.

"Well he's not in the trance anymore but he's not walking for the rest of the day." Raphael replied, ignoring his older brother's grumbling.

"Yeah he might have a dislocated knee so no more walking!"

"Leo what happened to your hands?" Mikey asked, turning over his brother's hands. Crimson was leaking through the makeshift bandages.

"He was stupid and cut them on his katana." Raphael said, lightly shoving the slider. A raspberry was the response.

"Relax, the cuts aren't that deep, they just hurt like hell!" Raph shook his head.

The snapper picked up the two older turtles and carried them to the tank with ease, causing Leonardo and Raphael to look at each other like frightened cats. Did they weigh nothing to the massive turtle?

Mikey snapped a photo, that was funny. The two younger turtles went to the tank so everyone could get patched up and hopefully get some explanations as well.

"There really wasn't any Kraang tech?" Donnie asked, rocking in his seat.

"Nope! Everything was already gone bro!" Michelangelo replied while he leaned against Raphael. The arrow in Donatello's shoulder had been removed pretty easily, all they had to do was cut off the arrow head and pull the shaft out. Then the wound was cleaned and bandaged courtesy of Leo.

"Someone beat us to it and took everything!" Donatello added, bandaging Leo's sliced palms with clean proper bandages.

"Sigh, my disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined." Michelangelo snickered, playfully shoving the softshell.

"From the looks of it there was more fighting going on, presumably over the Kraang parts, will you stop it!" Donatello continued, flicking Leo in the head when he kept squirming.

"So who do you think has them now?" Mikey piped up.

"This dimension's villains I think, which means they are gonna get a whole lot more dangerous." Raphael snarled, one arm slung over Michelangelo protectively.

"Well if that does happen we'll just smash 'em hard and fast like we always do!" Raph said with a fake smile, trying to be reassuring. It wasn't working.

The older turtles went quiet, looking at each other in a silent exchange of words while the younger turtles were left with the steadily growing tension.

"Raph's right! We got badass mystic powers! Those bozos won't stand a chan-ow ow ow OW!" Leo yelped, jerking his arm when the disinfectant was dabbed into the cuts.

"Hold still damn it!"

"Yeah well Don that's pretty hard when you're causing me immeasurable amounts of-OW!"

And the two went back to bickering, opting out of the conversation.

"Damn recon mission was a total bust!" Michelangelo groaned tiredly. Apparently their luck wasn't turning around despite being in an alternate dimension.

"What did you expect Mikey, we've always had fucking terrible luck." Raphael retorted. The orange clad turtle simply nodded.

"Not entirely, you did confirm that the Kraang parts are not in the sawmill as well as giving me some new…data." Donnie looked over at Leonardo.

He was sitting on the other side of Raph, eyes closed, hands folded, his right leg out straight and propped up on a large plastic crate they found in the alleyway. Once Leo's hands were fixed it was the eldest turtle's turn, as he insisted on going last. Leonardo opened one eye to look at Donnie.

"Once I get back to my lab I have several tests to run, this should give us much more informative data on everything concerning Nardo's katanas and the effects they seem to have on Lee." Donnie finished as Raph's phone buzzed.

"And done, there you can stop fighting me now." Donatello hissed at Leo, only getting a smirk in response. He got up and sat in front of his older counterpart so they could discuss the tests together.

"Your turn buddy!" Leonardo sighed and nodded, already proving he was a much better patient than the slider as he could at least sit still. Leo pulled off the knee pad first, then took off the knee brace. All the turtles with the exception of Raph winced.

On the left side of Leonardo's knee was a massive dark bruise. An ugly bluish-purplish black against the dark green skin.

"Damn the lieutenant kicked you hard!" Leo exclaimed and began working on resetting the joint.

"It's just a bruise, it will fade."

"How about we go find that stupid fucking Lieutenant and kick his fucking ass all the way to New Jersy!" Raphael hissed, punching one hand. Michelangelo and Donnie both smirked evilly, vengeance on their minds.

"Yeah, let's rip their insides out!" Michelangelo added, no one messes with their family.

"Don't even think about it." Leonardo warned, gritting his teeth as his bad knee was being moved this way and that to try and ease the joint back into the socket.

"So Raph who texted?" Mikey asked, a stifled whimper coming from Leonardo as his knee was finally relocated. Some of the tension left his body.

"It was Pops, he just wanted an update on everything. And he really needs to learn how to text properly."

The four older turtles stiffened like they had been slapped.

It seems it was time to address the massive elephant in the room. Why exactly did the four older turtles storm off in the first place?

Their faces fell, going from kinda relaxed to that same haunted look from earlier. Michelangelo pulled his knees up to his chest, really leaning into Raphael now. Said red clad turtle held him tighter, avoiding everyone else's gazes.

Donatello now sat between Leonardo and Raphael, both older turtles leaning on him as he started fidgeting.

Leonardo seemed to forget about his apparent migraine, wrapping his arms around his brothers. He was quietly whispering to them in what sounded like Japanese.

They all looked so tired all of a sudden.

For a few minutes no one spoke, the tension levels rising like pressure in a gauge. Finally the silence was broken.

"Is everything ok?" Raph asked, putting the turtle tank into autopilot so the older turtles had his full attention. It was then that Michelangelo started crying, burying his face into his hands. The others weren't that far behind anymore if the glossy eyes were anything to go by.

The Mad Dogz all looked at each other, their confusion shared amongst the four.

Clearly something was wrong to upset the four turtles so quickly. But what was that? What was driving them to the point of tears.

Leo glanced over at Raph, eyes flashing glowing red. The snapper's eyes flashed glowing blue in turn.

*When I first caught up with them, they were all crying on a rooftop* Leo's voice echoed through Raph's mind, a ninja mind meld. Something they scarcely used outside of battle since using it for too long causes headaches. *They didn't tell me why though! I guess it's the same issue now.*

Raph frowned, trying to figure out how to ask the burning question. Luckily, Mikey is much better at these kinds of things.

"This is clearly a very touchy subject for you guys so you don't have to talk about it right now. We just want to help you, or at least give some comfort but we can't exactly do that without knowing what's wrong. So if you do decide you want to talk about it, we will gladly listen, okay?" Thank you Dr.Feelings!

The hooded turtles looked at each other, whispering in Japanese. They were talking so quietly you had to strain to hear it over the constant buzzing of the turtle tank's machinery.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Leonardo spoke up.

"Well since we're not going back to our dimension anytime soon, you might as well know what happened." As he spoke the words became more strained. "It's not you guys, it's just…we…" Leonardo was practically choking out the words now, until all that came out of his mouth were only sounds instead of coherent words. He went quiet, cheeks growing hot.

Raphael put a hand on his shoulder, ever since the farmhouse there were times where the fearless leader just couldn't speak. Whether it was because of his throat or his own mind refusing to form words, rendering him temporarily mute. When this happens, it's better not to try and force it.

With a heavy sigh, Raphael said one sentence that shattered the last of the peace in the turtle tank.

"You see, Master Splinter...our Master Splinter…he was killed."

A heavy silence fell over the turtle tank. The four older turtles scooted closer together, suddenly feeling exposed.

Being exposed was never a good thing. It left you vulnerable to an attack, all your weak points turned into targets. Ninjas were supposed to stick to the shadows, but now it felt like they'd been dragged into the light. No matter how much they kicked and screamed they were out of hiding, awaiting their judgment.

"W-what?" Mikey stuttered out, his voice a tiny squeak. Leonardo wrapped his free arm around the box turtle's shoulders as he began shaking. "Your dad…pops is…" Fat tears poured down Mikey's cheeks as he went full koala mode on Leonardo's side.

"No no no this can't be possible!" Donnie murmured, going off on a quiet tangent about interdimensional irregularities and improbilities or something like that. His hands were holding his head as he tried to rationalize this. His eyes started shining with unshed tears.

Leo had gone ghostly pale, tears running down his cheeks. He wrapped his arms around himself, trying to keep his breathing steady. And not to think about the old lair in flames or the collapsing ceiling or worse Gram-Gram…

Raph just stood there, the weight of those ten simple yet so vicious words threatening to crush them all. Pops…dead? How is that possible? The man that fed them, clothed them, hugged them, introduced them to Lou Jitsu, cared for them, loved them and he was just gone? Just thinking about his father being gone in the most permanent way possible made the biggest turtle feel sick. That scenario was unimaginable.

And he wasn't just 'gone' no, the word choice made the situation so much worse. Raphael specifically said "killed" not gone, not died but "killed." This implies that the cause of death was less likely an accident, less likely natural causes and most likely…murder. Something or someone killed their father.

Tears pooled in Raph's eyes, his breath hiccupping slightly. Without thinking he pulled the four older turtles, plus Mikey, into a tight 'Raph hug.'

"W-when did this happen?" Donnie asked, furiously wiping his eyes dry.

"Two months ago." Donatello said quietly, sniffling.

More shocked gasps echoed through the tank. Two months? It was only two months?

"We're…ok." Michelangelo mumbled. "Things were slowly starting to go back to normal."

"And then we found out about the invasion." Leonardo added, finally regaining his voice. The four younger turtles grew even more horrified. It was only two months since their counterparts lost their father. They hadn't even had a chance to properly grieve before the universe decided to fuck with them in the worst way possible.

Raph held them tighter, more tears running down his cheeks as he looked down at the worn out turtles in his arms. He was the biggest and the oldest, it was his job to keep the smaller and younger turtles safe from any and all harm. No matter what the world throws at them.

Surprisingly, Donnie joined in on the hug, leaning against Michelangelo as he wrapped his arms around the older turtles. Leo joined in last, arms wrapping around Leonardo and Mikey to finish the hug.

No one moved for a moment until harsh sobs started coming from the four hooded turtles. The Mad Dogz were quick to follow, there was no point in trying to stop the tears, it was easier to just let them out. Hell even Donnie was crying now, even though he will deny it to hell and back later.

All eight turtles were crying inside the turtle tank for a long time, grief for a father taken so cruelly and far too soon filled the vehicle. And while the younger turtles had never met their counterparts' father, he was still a version of their father. Making the pain feel all the more real. However, while the father lost wasn't theirs, they were familiar with the searing pain of losing loved ones. They nearly lost their two fathers and they had lost their Gram-Gram during the attack on their home. Then they were so dangerously close to losing their dad when the Shredder tried to steal his Hamato Energy. If they were only a second too late.

And to make matters worse, only two short months later the counterparts had to deal with a planetary invasion. Two months was nowhere near enough time to even begin grieving for a lost parent. They needed something nice…

Raph narrowed his eyes, resolve was shining past the tears. The four older turtles hadn't even gotten a chance to rest before their dimension ruined it. So the snapper was going to give them a well deserved break. When they got home they were going to grab as much pizza and ice cream as they could, drag all the pillows and blankets into the living room and have a Jupiter Jim marathon.

The hooded turtles deserved a night to simply rest. Maybe he couldn't bring back their father but at least he could offer a distraction, if only for one day.

However, there were two small jolts, followed by one of the many monitors on the tank blinking. Donnie went over to inspect it as a third jolt shook the tank, a furious growl forming in his throat.

"Something punctured the tank's tires!" He practically spat, wiping the tears from his now bloodshot eyes. The turtle tank was parked, with Donnie stepping out to assess the damage. A moment later he came back, a massive spike strip dangling from one of his battle shells metal pincers. The spikes were at least twice the length of normal ones.

"We have to patch ALL of the tires because some low life son of a bitch had the audacity to put this on the road!" Donnie shook the spike strip. "And when I find them…" The softshell made a cut throat motion with his finger. He didn't have the energy to come up with a proper threat.

"Will the tires last till we get home?" Raph asked, wiping his red and puffy eyes. Donnie shrugged.

"It would be better to seal the punctures now so then the tires will stay inflated until we are back in the lair." Donnie grabbed a van of silicone spray and went back outside, grumbling the entire time.

"We should probably help so Deedee doesn't blow a blood vessel in his big forehead!." Leo joked, trying to hide his sniffles. The air in the tank was getting stuffy, grief hanging over their heads like a heavy fog.

"Yeah some air would be good." Mikey said, hiccuping from crying. He and Leo went outside the tank. Raph stayed, the four older turtles still in his arms.

Michelangelo pulled away first, an idea popping into his head.

"I got some water balloons!" He pulled out said water balloons from his shell. It was a poor attempt at steering the subject away from the sadness of the tank but it was a welcome one. They would take any distraction at this point.

Raphael took two water balloons and handed another to Donatello and Leonardo.

Raph chuckled nervously, wondering who exactly was going to end up getting soaked. At the same time he smiled at Michelangelo, it seems no matter the dimension, the orange clad turtle will always try to make his family smile.

The four hooded turtles left the tank, with Raphael supporting Leonardo so he wouldn't put weight on his bad leg. Raph followed, deciding to keep their plot a secret. It might be funny.

As the older turtles climbed onto the roof of the turtle tank so they could have a high view of any potential targets, there was loud almost manic sounding laughter.

"Breaking news!" A voice suddenly yelled. "Four idiot turtles fell right into my trap!" The voice exclaimed again, coming from the roof of a nearby car. On the car's roof was a small mutant worm with a massive blonde pompadour on his head and a navy blue suit jacket on his body.

"Who is that and why is he here now? Today already sucks!" The slider groaned miserably. The worm grit his teeth, face scrunched up in a scowl.

"Well it's about to get much worse! For I am Warren Stone! Your greatest foe!" The worm, Warren, shouted before flinging himself off the car roof towards the turtles. He was failing his arms about like a child with zero combat experience.

"Warren who?" Mikey asked as he and Donnie finished patching one of the tires.

Warren stopped in place, one eye twitching furiously.

"Warren Stone, your greatest foe! I am here to destroy you all!" Donnie nudged the small worm aside, grabbing the silicone spray again. Raph just shrugged at Warren, causing his anger to grow tenfold.

"Look little guy, today really isn't a good day for your little shenanigans." Warren let out an offended scoff at Raph's words. "We just gotta fix the tires and head home for a much deserved movie marathon.

"How dare you! Our top story tonight will be how four stupid mutant ninja turtles were-" The worm was cut off by a water balloon to the face.

"Dr.Prankenstein for the win!" Michelangelo shouts, playing with another water balloon.

Warren looked up to see four more turtles sitting on the roof of the turtle tank, armed with water balloons.

"There's more of you?" Warren suddenly squawked, backing away a bit. "Is this some kind of family reunion or something?" Leo glanced up at the water balloon armed turtles, a devilish smirk on his face. He unsheathed his katana and sliced open a portal before popping inside. That can't be good.

"What on earth is that tiny thing?" Donatello asked, throwing a water balloon at Mikey, hitting the youngest turtle's shell. Said box turtle yelped, shaking the water off.

Warren smoothed his pompadour with his tiny worm hands. "No matter, four more turtles change nothing, I will just have to destroy the rest of you! Like I already said, I am Warren Stone, your greatest foe and the bringer of your demise!"

With that said the anchor worm flung his small body at the hooded turtles, ready to destroy them all! However he only managed to smack into Michelangelo's left leg before sliding off and landing on the pavement with a wet thud.

Raph and Mikey were snickering while Donnie simply scowled at the disgusting worm slime on his prized creation.

The four counterparts were silent for a moment, mouths slightly agape as their brains processed the situation.

Then they started laughing. Not just normal laughter, no. They were laughing loud and hard enough to leave them wheezing in a few minutes.

Given how rough they had it, they wholeheartedly deserved it.

"Oh man!" Leonardo wheezed with a smile on his face. "And here I thought we had the worst luck in the world! Clearly not!"

"E-Excuse me?"

"Out of all the things to get mutated into a worm?" Donatello added, already clutching his side as the four laughed even harder. Warren's eye was twitching dangerously.

"Dude, that is so lame! You don't even have legs!" Michelangelo wiggled one of his legs for emphasis. Poor Warren was absolutely fuming.

"Somehow this is worse than those four clowns forgetting I exist!"

"Come on man you gotta at least breathe fire to make up for the whole worm thing right?" Raphael asked curiously. Warren pouted, looking dejected.

"No, I don't breathe fire."

"Do you poison your victims into protecting and eventually becoming food for your babies?" Leonardo asked, throwing a water balloon at Raph.

"Uh…no"

"Do you invade people's dreams and steal their life force?" Was Michelangelo's addition.

"No why would I-"

"Do you crawl down a victim's throat and asexually reproduce in their stomach?" Warren looked straight up horrified at Donatello's suggestion.

"N-no? I don't know!"

"Those are oddly specific scenarios." Donnie said with a raised brow. He noticed how Raphael had gone tense.

"We agreed never to talk about that last one again. That was horrific!" He groaned a full body shudder overtaking him.

"Wait what happened?"

"A mutant squirrel multiplied in his stomach." Leonardo was shoved by his red clad brother while Mikey was blinking in astonishment.

"I'm sorry a mutant squirrel climbed down your throat and reproduced inside your stomach?"

"You don't wanna know."

"You say that like it's the weirdest thing that ever happened to us." Leonardo added with a nonchalant shrug.

"So little guy! Since you're here…" Michelangelo wore a devilish smile, holding up his water balloons. His brothers did the same, even giving a few balloons to Raph and Mikey.

"Wait, what are you doing? I am here to destroy you-" The anchor worm's voice was drowned out by constant splashing of water balloons. Warren shrieked, trying to squirm away from the assault of cold water and rubber.

"Sup!" A flash of blue light caused Warren to stop in his tracks. Out from the swirling vortex came Leo, a massive water gun in his arms, two smaller ones tied to his belt. The big gun was pointed at Warren's forehead.

The worm visibly gulped. "Uh oh."

"Breaking News! Looks like this story is just worming up to go down the drain!" The slider pulled the trigger, a thick jet of water colliding with the anchor worm. Warren was sent flying, slamming into a mailbox.

"Yo double pun!" Leo turned to the four older turtles, raising the massive water gun again. They raised their water balloons with devious smirks.

"If any of you scratch the paint I will surgically implant a live grenade into your spinal cords." Donnie warned as he was patching tire number four. The water gun was pointed at the back of the softshell's neck.

"Nardo don't. I can hear you thinking it so don't you dare."

"Do it! Do it! Do it!" Michelangelo and Raphael began to chant.

"Did you forget that I am still extremely pissed off that you ruined my portal generator and I will make you feel my fury. If you pull that trigger I will grant you no mercy."

"Uh Leo, maybe you shouldn't." Raph warned, already smelling blood in the water.

"Yeah I guess you're right…" The chanting turned into booing. "But there's one thing you are forgetting, my twin…you can't tell me what to do. SIKE!" The gun was fired at full blast, soaking Donnie's neck and battle shell. He whipped his head around, eyes burning with reignited rage. Leo sprinted off, water balloons soaking his body.

"I REGRET NOTHING!" He yelled at top volume while his fellow disaster twin's shrieks of rage followed close behind. Mikey followed them, his phone out and ready to film while the older turtles continued to pelt the twins with water balloons.

Raph smiled a bit and turned towards the mailbox. Warren had climbed out, his pompadour soaked and hanging in front of his face.

"What do you want?"

"I wanted to say thank you."

"Excuse me?"

"Yeah they…we. We really needed a good laugh, a distraction from the bad stuff that happened. At least for a few minutes. If you hadn't shown up we'd still be crying by now." The worm looked up at the massive turtle, confusion painted all over his face.

The snapper watched his brothers and their counterparts with a relieved smile. He then pulled out his wallet, handing a five dollar bill to Warren. "For your troubles."

Warren cautiously took the bill, holding it away from his small body like it would explode. When it didn't he rolled it up and left. He did have to help his roommate/best friend/partner in crime with his magic show after all, even though being sliced into ten pieces was not at all pleasant.

Raph watched him go, feeling glad that the worm had shown up when he did. He had offered a brief distraction from the cruel reality that their counterparts had suffered so much. Had lost even more.

If they could go a few minutes without having to think about it, without having to face reality and try to grieve, then Raph was happy. Once they get back home, the four hooded turtles will get a proper, longer break.

Leo's distant screaming made the biggest turtle sigh, he might wanna intervene before things got out of hand.

What the seven turtles didn't know was that when Leo was filling the water guns some of the water had gotten on him. Not at all an issue for a red eared slider. So why did he furiously shake the water off, rubbing his hands with a towel so harshly it was painful? Why was his breath coming out in strangled huffs while his heart thundered in his chest? Why was he filled with an overwhelming sense of fear? Alarm bells he never knew existed were blaring in his mind, urging him to get somewhere warm.

The simple answer is: the water had been cold.

Perhaps Leo should just keep this to himself. Nobody needs to know…

[tmnt-obsessed-ace]

Sunshine Of The Woods: Chapter 5, Familiar Aftermath

"What just happened?" Raph shouted, pushing a large piece of metal away while making a mad dash for the machine.

Or what remained of it.

The metal frame was half scorched, cracked and bent at disturbing angles. Metal shouldn't even be able to bend like that. Orange fire licked at the door frame, casting the entire room in a vibrant glow.

The only thing still remotely intact was the control panel in front of the door, with Leo's odāchi still plugged in.

The blade had a crack in it, shaped like a thin lightning bolt just below the hilt.

However when Raph raced over to the torched remains of the door, he didn't notice that the crack had started glowing.

"Mikey! MIKEY!" There was nothing on the other side of the portal, no burnt Mikey bits or shreds of his gear.

But that was the thing. There was no trace of the box turtle.

No orange fabric.

No Kusari-fundo.

No phone.

No Mikey.

He was gone!

"Mikey are you ok? Mikey where are you!" The eldest turtle continued to shout regardless of all the evidence saying that Mikey wasn't here.

Or lack of evidence to be exact.

"Where is he!" Leo screamed as more rubble began to fall, shaking the warehouse with each crash.

Raph dared to look up, his heart jumping to his throat.

The rubble was coming from the ceiling.

The warehouse was starting to collapse!

He looked towards the portal, Mikey was gone!

Where was he?

"Raph we need to go now!" Donnie yelled, a metal pincer grabbing his mask tails. It yanked the snapper back with full force, causing him to nearly stumble.

He was almost dragged back through the warehouse by Donnie until his legs finally got with the program so he could run.

The same metal-on-metal screaming suddenly started up again, just as loud as it was when the machine was activated. The warehouse began to shake, whining under the stress.

The ceiling caved in, forcing the two ninjas to stop dead in their tracks. Metal pipes and parts of the ceiling crashed down, electrical cables sparking overhead. Raph suddenly noticed that someone else was missing. "Where's Leo! Leo?"

Donnie looked behind, brows pinching together "Nardo what are you doing? Just leave it!" Raph dared to turn his head.

Leo was still at the control panel, trying to pull his Odāchi out from the metal.

The weapon was glowing. A bright blue hue that clashed with the orange flames that grew stronger by the second. The screaming was shaking the building as Leo struggled to keep a grip on the handle.

"LEAVE IT!" Both turtles shouted in sync, Leo whipped his head around.

"NO WAY!"

"LEO!"

"WE NEED IT! WE GOTTA FIND MIKEY!"

"WE WILL!"

"LEO PLEASE WE'LL COME BACK FOR IT!" Donnie interjected as the sparks made the fire grow stronger, singing his legs.

"IT'S ALMOST OUT!" Raph could see tears rolling down Leo's cheeks.

The glow turned white, every other noise drowned out by the Odāchi's wailing.

Raph grabbed Donnie as tightly as possible, surrounding the two of them with a hologram from his tonfas. And for the second time that day there was an explosion.

Burning flames.

Heavy black smoke.

Falling metal.

Shattering glass.

A wail of agony.

Then there was silence.

"...aph?"

"..raph?"

"Raph?"

"Raph!"

"RAPH!"

The first thing the snapper saw when he opened his eyes were two brown ones.

Two panicked brown eyes.

Donnie was sitting to his left, his purple bandana torn up, sharpie eyebrows smudged, bits of broken glass embedded in his right shoulder. His skin was coated in a layer of ash and sweat, far grimier than Donnie would usually tolerate. "Raph are you ok how many fingers am I holding up?" The softshell held up two fingers, though they were blurry.

Raph blinked the haze from his vision "Two? What happened?" Donnie whimpered, looking around at the remains of the warehouse. There was almost nothing left. The walls and ceiling were completely gone. Flames burned every surface with metal and concrete everywhere.

With a pained grunt the red clad turtle sat up, noticing a deep gash on Donnie's right forearm, staining the limb crimson.

"Leo's over there but I can't reach him!" Donnie gestured in the direction of the portal, which was now blocked off by massive metal pipes. The softshell hiccupped, furiously rubbing his eyes dry. "That dum dum! It's common sense that you leave the building that is about to explode! Not run back in! What was he thinking!" There were tear tracks on the younger turtle's cheeks.

The elder turtle stood up, ignoring how everything began to sway and grabbed one of the pipes. He chucked it away, doing the same thing with the rest of the pipes.

A pained whimper sounded from behind the rubble. It was Leo!

When the last pipe was moved…

Leo!

"RAPH!" The slider yelled, though it sounded like a sickening cross between a gasp and a sob. Donnie sprinted over and grabbed Leo.

He gasped, slapping a hand over his mouth. "Raph! Raph he can't walk you'll have to carry him!" When he came over and scooped Leo into his arms, he suddenly understood why.

His eyes widened in horror at the sight of Leo's right leg. The knee was clearly broken, bone jutting through the skin. It was bloody and mangled in a jagged scrape that covered the joint.

Oh god.

Oh fucking god.

"I-I-I'm sorry!" Leo sobbed pitifully in Raph's arms, fear painted all over his bruised, ash covered face.

"It's alright! You're gonna be just fine! Right Donnie?" The purple clad turtle gave Raph an incredulous look as if to say 'Are you joking?' Donnie simply shrugged. Not exactly an answer.

"But M-M-Mikey! We gotta find him!" Leo tried to wiggle out of his big brother's arms, to run back to the control panel and get his Odāchi so they could portal Mikey back home! Maybe…hopefully.

But as soon as he tried to move a scream erupted from his throat as his leg was moved. The slider suddenly went limp in Raph's arms, eyes rolling back into his head.

"Leo! LEO WAKE UP!"

"Raph! The fire's getting worse!" Donnie yelled, trying to shove the larger turtle away. "We! Got! To! Go! NOW!"

The two stumbled out of the remains of the warehouse and into the streets, fire engines could be heard rapidly approaching. Time to book it!

Raph threw open the door to the turtle tank, climbing inside with Donnie close behind. Once the door was shut the purple clad turtle took control of the tank, speeding down the streets. Opposite of the firetrucks they would have to take the long way around to avoid the humans.

"Move it! Outta the way bitch! Watch it!" Donnie yelled, swerving left and right through the road at top speed. Earning dozens of angry honks in response. Raph gulped, his stomach churning heavily.

The constant swaying of the turtle tank did not help matters. One hand was gripping the armrest of his chair so tightly that his knuckles had gone snow white.

The other hand was cradling Leo close to the snapper's plastron, like he would shatter if he dared to let go. Leo's pulse was rapid, but frankly Raph didn't care.

It meant that his younger brother was still alive.

Leo whimpered, shifting around in his sleep, face clenched into a tight grimace. Raph nuzzled his brother's head, churring softly to try and soothe him. It didn't seem to have an effect. "Just hang in there Leo, we'll be home soon and Pops can patch you up!" Those words were supposed to be encouraging, but they felt hollow on his lips.

"Will you fuck off you motherfucking cunt! This is an emergency you bitch ass whore so fucking MOVE!" The turtle tank's horn was slammed, the sound echoing across the city streets. Raph sighed tiredly, normally he would reprimand Donnie for swearing so much.

But after everything that happened today…first Mikey then Leo…

He gets a pass.

There was a soft buzzing from Donnie's side. Donnie grabbed the cellphone, glaring furiously at the screen. From where Raph was sitting, he could see April's profile.

Donnie hit call and put it on speaker "What!" He hissed through gritted teeth before honking the horn yet again.

"Dude what the hell?" April whispered through the phone. "You're scaring my parents!" Donnie suddenly tensed up, looking at one of the cars in front of the one he was furiously honking at.

That car was a blue sudan. A very familiar blue sudan. It belonged to April's parents! The phone fell from his hand and clacked on the floor.

"Donnie! Hello? Answer the phone!" April's voice went up a few pitches at the silence. Using one tonfa, a red hologram overtook Raph's free arm and gently grabbed the phone.

"Hi April! We can't talk now but Donnie's very sorry for abusing the horn. Just come over as soon as you get the chance, ok?" He heard April mumble something under her breath.

"Ok! Just don't do that! My mother nearly had a heart attack!" She hissed, voice barely audible on the phone. Raph nodded and hung up, his heart pounding against his ribs. Donnie whimpered, sending the snapper an apologetic look.

"It's fine Donnie, we'll explain everything when April comes over later!" The softshell looked a little comforted by that.

There was a sputtering noise from the tank, smoke puffing out from the engine.

"What the!"

"Shit! She must've been damaged in the explosion! Of fucking course!" The engine continued to sputter and whine, making Raph cringe nervously.

Donnie turned off the road, ducking into an alley before parking the tank. He climbed out, grabbing a box of tools on the way out. "Shit shit shit fucking son of whore I swear to fucking god." The door to the tank closed, leaving Raph and Leo alone.

The snapper gulped, rocking in his chair while holding his younger brother.

Leo's eyes were half open, completely dull and not at all focused on anything. Raph pressed their foreheads together, tears welling up in his eyes. This day was a complete disaster from start to finish.

First Leo's odāchi was stolen, then a fight against the Foot Clan ended with Mikey straight up disappearing! Gone! Blip! Bye bye!

Then the warehouse exploded. Twice!

Now Leo was hurt, the tank was damaged and they were still so far from home.

Tears dripped down onto Leo's face, Raph shaking as he held his brother. He failed.

He failed.

He couldn't protect his brothers.

He should've got them out of the warehouse faster!

Should've got Leo's odāchi back before it was plugged into that god damn machine!

Should've kept everyone inside for the day so this entire clusterfuck would have never happened!

But he didn't!

He failed!

He failed!

He failed!

He failed!

He failed!

He didn't know how long he was sitting there crying on Leo before there was a knock on the tank door.

Leo was gently laid in his brother's chair. Donnie must've forgotten something.

However when he opened the door he was met with April's worried face.

"Raph what happened?" She asked, taking note of the scrapes and bruises. The layer of ash, the tear tracks. The bloodshot eyes. Her gaze softened before she wrapped her arms around the snapper.

"A…a lot happened, April." He hugged the girl, tears falling into her hair. "Leo's hurt really bad…Mikey's missing." April pulled away, eyes wide.

"What do you mean Mikey's missing?" She asked looking around the tank for the orange clad box turtle. But he wasn't there. Her eyes landed on Leo and she gasped, running over to him.

"Oh my god! How did this happen? Who did this?" She asked, venom clear in her voice. As soon as April found out what hurt her brother there would be hell to pay. Raph shrugged. Where could he even begin? Exhaustion began to cling to his bones. God he was tired.

Raph scooped Leo up, yet again holding him protectively in his arms. "Donnie's fixing up the Turtle Tank, it got a little busted in the blast.

A cloud of black smoke puffed out from the front of the tank, directly into Donnie's face, earning a string of curses that would make a sailor blush.

"What blast?"

"A warehouse exploded. Twice" April's jaw dropped as she gave her brother a confused deadpan stare. God what did she miss?

"Ok, Ok start from the beginning. How did you four get into a double warehouse explosion?" She sat down on the arm rest next to Raph, one arm slung over his shoulders.

The weight was comforting, giving the red clad turtle the strength to actually smile a bit. With a sharp inhale he looked at April. "Ok so it started when the Foot Clan stole Leo's Odāchi from him in the park."

The snapper told April everything, from the fight at the warehouse to the portal opening and swallowing Mikey right up, then the two explosions and how everyone got so banged up.

Once the story was finished, Donnie came back, motor oil coating his upper body and head, much to his obvious displeasure.

"I can't fix the tank." The softshell slumped into his chair, furiously wiping the motor oil from his face.

"You can't?" April asked.

"How bad is it Donnie?" Donnie's face said it all. It was really really bad.

"First of all, hey April, sorry for scaring your parents. I was just in a hurry to get home…for obvious reasons." He pointed at Leo who was still mostly unconscious. April nodded in understanding. It was a stressful situation after all.

"So how are you two gonna get home without the Tank and Leo's sword?" Neither turtle had an answer to their big sister's question.

"We could take the Shell Hogs but I don't want to leave the Tank here exposed. Plus it might not be good to jostle Nardo anymore than he's already been." That was true, all the moving around could make Leo's injuries worse.

"Maybe we could make a sling of some kind on the Shell Hog so Leo isn't getting moved around so much?"

"Perhaps, if I can find the right materials." And with that Donnie left the tank, muttering under his breath.

April's phone buzzed, making her cringe. "I'm sorry it's my mom, I gotta go back."

"Wait, you left your parents?"

"We were going grocery shopping and I've been gone too long. I swing by the lair as soon as I can!" She bounded out of the tank and sprinted off into the streets. Leaving Raph alone yet again.

There was a mumble from the turtle in his arms. "Did anyone get the number of that bus? Ow…" Raph chuckled, nuzzling Leo's forehead.

"Are you feeling ok?"

"No I feel like I got pummeled by a bus, what the fuck happened?" Raph gently covered Leo's knee with his hand. His hand wasn't touching the injury, just hovering above it enough so the blue clad turtle wouldn't see how bad it was and pass out again.

"I'll tell you when we get home ok buddy?" Leo groaned, lifting his head up to look around the tank.

"Donnie's working on something outside…and Mikey's helping him." It was a lie, obviously. But right now Leo needs to rest, not work himself into a panic looking for Mikey.

"Where's the noodle?" Raph blinked at the question.

"What?"

"Y'know the noodle!"

"Leo, are you just hungry? Do you want some ramen or something?" The blue clad turtle shook his head, trying to sit up.

"Oh come on Raphie the scaly noodle! It bites and it hurty!" He gestured with his arms, making biting motions with his hands.

After a few moments the older turtle spoke. "Do you mean a snake?" Leo nodded so hard he almost looked like a bobble head.

"Big! White! Half metal! Baby noodles for arms! She was going to Coney Island! How sick is that!" Raph just stared at his younger brother. Was he serious? The words were half slurred together, the slider's eyes not even focused on anything.

He most likely has a concussion.

"Uh yeah sure buddy." A downright offended gasp came from Leo's mouth. He pouted, crossing his arms. Or at least attempting to.

"You don't believe me! Unbelievable! Our sister is a mutant noodle going to Coney Island and you don't believe me!" Leo pulled his head into his shell with a soft pop. Mumbling the entire time.

"Buddy, April's not a mutant snake-"

"Our other sister, genius!" But they didn't have other sisters. April was the only one!

Donnie came back in, a few bite marks on his arms.

"Stupid fucking raccoons, I got a sling ready on the Shellhog. You get Nardo back home and I'll see if I can get the Turtle Tank underground."

There was a thick sling tied to the side of the Shellhog, big enough for Leo to lay in without being jostled too much. Raph nodded. "Alright thanks Donnie." The snapper carried Leo outside and laid him gently in the sling, even putting his helmet on him. Just in case.

Once Raph got on he looked at Donnie one more time. "Promise you call me if you need any help, ok?"

"I can assure you Raphael that I will not require assist-" At the deadpan stare coming from the eldest brother, Donnie went quiet.

"Promise."

"Alright, I promise that I will call you on the slim chance that I do need assistance, now please get Leo back home or I will start biting." Raph chuckled and drove off, weaving through the back alleys to avoid being spotted.

Leo whined from the sling, his head pulled back out from his shell and once again wearing the pained expression on his face.

Raph frowned as he drove, they would be home soon.

Then this nightmare of a day could be over.

"Ow…ow ow ow…OW!" Another piece of glass was pulled from Donnie's arm.

It was laid down in the tray with the other bloody pieces. A rag was pressed to the cut, stopping the bleeding so it could be bandaged.

"That looks like the last big one." A grumble was the softshell's response. Raph ignored it, covering the wound with gauze once the bleeding had stopped.

"Oh joy, only about a hundred more small shards to go! Fantastic, he said sarcastically."

There was a small laugh from the nearby cot where Leo was laying. His right knee was in a thick blue cast, propped up by thick pillows.

"Aw come on DeeDee! Now you're all spiky like Raphie!" The slider cooed, words all jumbled together and mixed with giggles. So the pain killers are working.

When Raph pulled up to the garage, he didn't even bother to park the Shellhog before scooping Leo out.

"Pops! Pops!" He shouted, so loud that the walls shuddered.

He ran through the garage, his heart in his throat! "Pops! Leo's hurt really bad!" He almost sobbed, holding Leo as tightly as possible. On the ride here Leo had gone quiet, passing out again.

His breathing was shallow, pulse was weak.

And Raph was so scared.

Rapid footsteps echoed across the lair. A door was shoved open, revealing Splinter.

"Red what-" As soon as he saw Leo, Splinter gasped, covering his mouth as he hurried over. A hand was pressed to his neck, feeling for a pulse before resting on his forehead. "Take him to the medbay, now!" Raph didn't need to be told twice.

Once Leo was laid down in the medbay cot, Splinter rushed in with a massive first aid kit. While he got to work he glanced at his eldest.

"Where are Donatello and Michelangelo?"

"Donnie's trying to fix the Turtle Tank…and Mikey's gone."

Splinter froze.

"What do you mean Mikey's gone?"

With a heavy heart Raph once again told the story of what happened, and Mikey's disappearance.

"He just got swallowed up into the glowing portal! He could be anywhere!" Raph buried his face into his hands, hoping to god that the tears welling in his eyes would go away! "Is he ok? What if he's all alone? What if he's hurt? This is all my fault!"

"Red." Splinter's voice stopped the spiral before it could begin. "You couldn't have known what the Foot Clan was planning, or what that doorway would do. This is their fault and their fault alone. Not yours my son." Raph didn't exactly believe those words.

It's hard to believe it when you know you messed up. Your little brothers got hurt and got hurt bad, and the youngest one got sucked into a portal to who knows where.

Was Mikey even alive?

"We'll find him." Raph suddenly said, smothering all the doubt and anxiety. It won't do anyone any good if he worries himself sick. They will find Mikey and bring him home.

"Ok so, how are we going to find our little brother?" Raph asked the twins. Well he really asked Donnie, as Leo was still far too high on pain meds to be of any help right now.

Donnie's eyes narrowed, brows pinching together in what Mikey called his "thinking face." The purple clad turtle grabbed a nearby notebook and pencil and began sketching. "Well obviously that device from the foot clan was some kind of portal generator, using Leo's mystic odāchi as a power source. Or perhaps it was an amplifier to make the odāchi's portals stronger. Either one."

Raph nodded, pulling out a few small shards of glass. "Ok so where did the portal lead to?"

"Who fucking knows? It could've lead to New Jersey-"

"Gross."

"Or it could've led all the way to Asia or something. And that's assuming that the other end of the portal was still on earth. If not…anywhere in the galaxy, The universe?"

"Donnie not helping!"

"That's not even including the possibility that Mikey is even still in this universe!" A flick to the forehead silenced the turtle before he could go off further.

"Maybe Mikey's in Tahiti?"

"Or maybe Mikey's with the noodle!" Leo cooed, waving his arms around while making hissing noises.

Donnie scoffed. "For the twentieth time, there is no snake in Coney Island, you were simply hallucinating after hitting your head when you stupidly went back for your weapon." A raspberry came from the slider.

"No, I saw her when I grabbed my odāchi!" Donnie rolled his eyes.

Raph sighed as he put another bandage on Donnie. "Can you make some kind of tracking thingy to find Mikey?"

A shrug was his answer. "If we can find the odāchi and the control panel, perhaps. Assuming that Mikey is still on Earth and in this universe.

"He is."

The softshell looked up at Raph. "And how do you know that? That portal could have sent him literally anywhere! You have no proof to support your claim!"

"Do you have any proof that he isn't?" Donnie looked taken aback. Leo was laughing.

"Touché."

"Damn lmfao get told!" Of course Leo had to add in his oh so helpful commentary.

"Look until we have proof that Mikey isn't still on Earth, we assume that he is. Ok?"

"Schrödinger's Mikey. He is both here and not here at the same time! What an enigma!" Raph patted his younger brother's shoulder, but it was too late Donnie already went off into a tangent. Leo was staring at him, mouth agape as his mushy brain struggled to process any of the words.

Once Raph finished patching up Donnie, mind you he was still very much ranting by this point and didn't seem like stopping, Raph left the twins alone and climbed on the Shellhog.

He rode off as the sun was rising over the city, thank god that dreadful day was over.

His phone buzzed, a text from Pops.

"Red, where are you?"

"Just checking something out, I'll be back as soon as I can."

"Alright, but please be careful my son."

"Will do!"

Eventually he parked in front of his destination, Coney Island.

The amusement park stood tall overhead, the metal reflecting the rising sun like crystals. Rides and games as far as the eye can see. And not a single Albearto in sight! Mikey would love it here.

Could he? Was he?

Maybe he was just being paranoid.

Maybe this was just a stupid idea.

But maybe Leo was right.

And if he was right, that Mikey somehow ended up at Coney Island, could Raph live with himself if he didn't at least look?

Besides, if there really is nothing then Leo can rest a little easier.

The snapper entered the amusement park, hoping and praying that Mikry could be here.

And that the white snake wasn't.

[tmnt-obsessed-ace]

When The World Crumbles: Chapter 18, Just Like Him

[tmnt-obsessed-ace]

Issue one part one

:)

[tmnt-obsessed-ace]

Have a fun little factoid about Lost But Never Found

2012 Leo will regain his memories (that is honestly a given) the issues is that he regains ALL of his memories ALL AT ONCE

THAT VERY MUCH INCLUDES ALL THE TRAUMA!

From nearly drowning in the Technodrome to slicing off the Super Shredder's head he gets hit with EVERYTHING IN ONE TIME

That will BREAK him

:)

[tmnt-obsessed-ace]

Sunshine of The Woods: Chapter 4, Getting To Know Each Other

Mikey's life was weird.

That's practically a given at this point. He and his brothers were mutant turtles that live in the sewers.

They were created to be weapons for a war against humankind by a warrior alchemist using the DNA of famed action star Lou Jitsu.

They were…sorta mostly trained in the art of ninjutsu and all four of them sans Donnie use mystic weapons. They fight mutants, yokai, an evil cult hellbent on world domination, hell they even fought an entire suit of evil armor and sent it back to its prison dimension!

Their lives were like a story ripped straight from a comic book!

And somehow, lost in a completely different universe…dimension? Standing in front of a possible different version of his family, in front of a different version of himself!

Mikey's life just got a whole lot weirder.

"Dude…what?" The human boy asked, mouth agape. The duo of turtles plus the ginger girl looked equally as stunned.

The only one who didn't look like their brain was currently exploding was the orange clad turtle, Mikey's apparent counterpart.

Said turtle slung a warm arm over Mikey's shoulders, yanking the box turtle close to his side.

"This is the coolest thing to ever happen in a million years! I always wanted an awesome twin brother! What's your favorite pizza? It's jelly bean, jalapeno and anchovy right? Do you like to skateboard? Are you friends with Leatherhead? What about Ice Cream Kitty? What's your favorite comic book?" All the rapid fire questions started blurring together in a jumbled mess. And with the sudden ringing in Mikey's ears it was near impossible to understand.

His vision began to swim, blurring in and out of focus as more muffled voices joined in. The box turtle's legs were trembling, suddenly struggling to support his weight. His lungs began to ache, a harsh cough tearing through his throat.

And so the turtle coughed and coughed, flem in his throat refusing to come out while his lungs kept begging for some precious air. After what felt like hours, though was not even two minutes, the coughing eased up. That left Mikey a wheezing, shaking mess.

Brown eyes rapidly blinked away the last of his blurred vision as he slowly made up for the air he lost. When Mikey came to he realized that he was sitting on a swivel chair, the five strangers around him.

"Give him some space." The purple clad turtle said, gesturing for everyone else to back up a bit. "Are you alright?" Calloused hands covered in scars were examining Mikey. First one was laid across his forehead, then both cupped his cheeks before trailing down to feel his chin and neck.

"I'm good!" Leo often went through the same motions when one of them got sick and needed an exam.

Leo…Donnie…Raph…

Thinking about his older brothers made Mikey's chest hurt. Were they here in this strange world with him? Did they get seperated?

Loud, furious, clucking from outside the barn broke Mikey's train of thought. All eyes turned towards the barn doors where a brown and white hen was throwing an absolute tantrum.

"Aw a little chicken!" Mikey cooed, smiling at the hen. Everyone else in the room tensed up as the hen charged into the barn. Mikey carefully climbed off the swivel chair and sat on the barn floor. The hen came over, making the box turtle smile. "Aren't you just the cutest!"

The hen stared at him for a moment before she strutted over to Mikey's outstretched hand. He just wanted to pet her!

Unfortunately the hen pecked at his hand, hard enough to make Mikey yelp in pain. The hen began to cluck, pecking at his legs like there was no tomorrow! Each peck hurt more than the last.

"Ow! Ow ow ow ow! Stop it! Go away! Go away!" The hen turned her attention to the human boy, charging toward him like a mad bull. The boy screamed and sprinted out of the barn, the hen in pursuit.

"Why does Brenda always go after me!" The boy shouted as he ran in the yard. The purple clad turtle was clutching his sides in laughter at the comical sight.

"Bye Casey!" The orange clad turtle shouted as the boy, Casey, ran behind the farmhouse. His screams echoed around the property, causing the box turtle to gulp.

"Is he gonna be ok?" Mikey dared to ask, his legs aching from the hen's ruthless assault. Christ that hen was vicious!

"Against Brenda? Eh fifty fifty." The red clad turtle said, making a so-so gesture with his hand as the four of them walked to the farmhouse.

"Why is something so cute looking so mean!" Mikey couldn't help but whine as another coughing fit took hold.

"There is a very high chance that Brenda is actually a demon in the body of a chicken." The girl said nonchalantly, as if that statement wasn't as baffling as it was terrifying.

"Or the soul of an entitled, middle aged white woman." The purple clad turtle added in a deadpan voice. That at least got a good laugh out of Mikey.

"Like she said, Don, a demon." The red clad turtle added, giving the taller turtle a small shove.

Mikey snickered at the pure shudder that shook the girl's body. He definitely heard a few horror stories from April's retail jobs. The only reason she never ended up on an episode of criminal minds was because she had "extremely good self control." From being full on screamed at because she was even a little bit slow on the register to having to remake a drink five times because it simply wasn't good enough.

One of the good parts of being a mutant turtle, Mikey didn't have to get a retail job.

"So just to clarify, your name's Mikey. Correct?" Asked the girl.

"Yup! But who are you…" Mikey trailed off, looking at the girl supporting his weight. He never met anyone who looks like this girl.

"April! Do you not know me where you're from?" The box turtle's eyes went wide as dinner plates. A dumb smile spread across his face before he burst out into a fit of giggles.

At the confused looks on their faces, he forced himself to stop and smiled.

"Sorry it's just…you are so much different from my April!"

"Different how?" One of the four asked, it was most likely other Mikey.

"Well first of all my April is black. She's also shorter than you and wears red glasses." The group of four looked stunned for a second as the new information set in.

Then other April laughs a bit, brushing her bangs out of her face with her free hand.

"Didn't expect that but she sounds really cool."

"The coolest!" A few playful mumbles of disagreement came from the trio of turtles before Mikey looked at them. Time to put names to semi familiar but not really faces.

"You're Raph, the freckled one is also Mikey and the lanky one is Donnie?"

"I am not lanky." Said turtle mumbled with a huff.

"You got it little dude!" Other Mikey practically bounced as he walked.

"And the one you threw over the couch like a damn football is Leo, speaking of which." Other Raph roughly flicked Mikey in the forehead, earning a small yelp.

"Ow! Rude!"

"Like flinging our brother, who was the one that took care of you the most over the past week, over the couch, further aggravating his barely healed injuries wasn't rude?" The box turtle wilted a bit under Other Donnie's sarcasm.

"I'm sorry. I panicked and kinda sorta acted on instinct." Mikey hung his head, guilt filling his mind. It was an honest mistake! He didn't know where he was and freaked out!

"Your first instinct when panicking is to throw someone?" Other Raph said in disbelief.

Ok when you put it like that it does sound pretty absurd. Hell under normal circumstances he would've probably thrown something at the stranger. Whether that be one of his brothers, April, a dumpster, a school bus or even one time an entire cargo ship.

Throwing things with his Kusari-Fundo is just so much fun. He can pick up things that not even Raph cna lift and throw them like tennis balls.

"Throwing things is fun!" Other Mikey smirks like a Cheshire cat, it honestly makes a chill run down Mikey's spine. His counterpart suddenly grabs other Raph by the waist and throws the short turtle into a nearby bush.

"You're right, that is fun!"

"Mikey!" Other Raph practically screams, lunging from the bush at the freckled turtle. Other Mikey bolts off into the woods, laughing up a storm as other Raph gives chase.

Other Donnie and other April snicker, while Mikey just watches in mild confusion. As his counterpart's howls of laughter grow fainter the now trio approach the farmhouse.

The very same farmhouse Mikey ran out of, what maybe close to fifteen minutes ago. After he threw another version of Leo over the couch and bolted. Like a coward. And apparently other Leo might've actually gotten hurt when Mikey oh so rudely chucked him over the couch full force.

Shame bubbled up in Mikey's gut, you don't do something like that to your siblings. Alternate versions or not they were still family.

And he hurt Leo… a tiny whine escaped from Mikey's mouth.

"Is something wrong?" Other April asked. She stopped dead in her tracks, both hands now holding Mikey with the box turtle facing her. Mikey started coughing again, thankful for the convenient timing. He could feel both other April and other Donnie rubbing his shell in an attempt to soothe him. Truth be told it was helping some.

"Is he alright?" A familiar harsh voice asked right when the coughing fit was nearing its end. Mikey kept his eyes to the ground, after all the grass was suddenly incredibly interesting to look at.

There was a dull tap tapping sound and before the box turtle had a chance to question what it was he felt a warm hand cup his cheek, gently lifting his head up.

For the second time today, brown eyes locked with dark blue ones. The blue clad turtle smiled softly at him, only further cementing his guilt.

"Let's get him inside." Other Leo said, walking back inside the farmhouse. There it was again, the tap tapping sound. Other Donnie and other April didn't seem to react to the sound. It only took a few seconds for Mikey to realize what it was, and then immediately want to both punch himself in the head and sink into the ground.

It was a wooden crutch tapping against the floor with each step other Leo took. A crutch to support his right knee, which from what Mikey could gather, was wrapped in thick layers of fabric and gauze.

That must've been one of the injuries that he had aggravated when he chucked other Leo over the couch. It had to be an older injury! Because there was no way in hell that he hurt the blue clad turtle enough to warrant a makeshift crutch and cast.

Right?

The trio went inside, with other Donnie coaxing other Leo to sit down on the couch, right leg out straight and propped up under a pillow. Mikey was sat down next to the blue clad turtle, causing his already queasy stomach to clench and tighten with even more guilt.

It wasn't his fault. It wasn't his fault…

"I'm gonna hit up some leftovers for lunch, you guys want some?" Other April asked, when both of the bigger turtles nodded, Mikey felt a bit awkward. He was technically intruding on them, not to mention his little stunt earlier was not at all how introductions were supposed to go.

Luckily his stomach answered for him, a particularly loud grumble made him blush while his stomach continued to whine for food. He was so hungry…

"I'll take that as a yes, we got some leftover Japanese food if that's alright?" Mikey could only nod, perhaps to spare himself the embarrassment. With that other April disappeared into the kitchen, ginger ponytail swishing with each step.

Then there were three.

"I'm sorry about earlier. Just got a little freaked out is all." Mikey finished with an awkward laugh, utterly nervous on how exactly this alternate version of his stubborn dramatic brother would react.

Oh for crying out loud Leo is still going on about how Draxum threw him off a building, even though it's old news and Draxum is at least trying to be nicer. Well…nicer isn't exactly an accurate term. He hasn't tried to kill them and he might be coming around to humans! Baby steps!

"It's alright," Other Leo said, pulling Mikey closer. "You woke up in a place you've never been before with no clue how you got here. That's pretty nerve wracking at first. I know the feeling…" The box turtle relaxed a bit, some of the tension finally leaving his body.

"We didn't get a formal introduction! Hi I'm Mikey!" Other Donnie fondly rolled his eyes, while other Leo chuckled.

"I'm Leo, though I think it was obvious from this." Other Leo held a dark blue mask tail between his fingers.

"Yeah that's about the only reason, you're so different from my Leo!" Mikey boasted as the door was pushed open. Other Mikey and Other Raph came back in, covered in small scrapes and bruises from their apparent scuffle.

Other Mikey trudged over to the couch, flopping down into Other Leo's lap.

"Moooom!" The orange clad turtle droned in obviously dramatic fashion. Going hard on the puppy eyes too. "Raph bit me!" He held up his wrist, revealing a large bite mark. It didn't look hard enough to leave a permanent mark, or even bruise really badly. Other Raph scoffed, showing off two bite marks of his own.

"Don't act all innocent when you bit me twice! What's wrong can't take what you dish out!"

The oh so elegant and well thought out response to such an accusation? A raspberry of course!

Other Leo sighed, pushing other Mikey onto the floor, where he landed with a soft "oof"

"It is too early for you two."

"Yeah it's only noon you two boneheads are not allowed to kill each other till after lunch!" Other Donnie added, claiming one of the recliners.

"Remember when we used to stay up past midnight?"

"Remember when you dressed up as a fairy princess for halloween?" Was other Mikey's reply, causing the red clad turtle to snap his head towards his brother.

"That was one time!" With a shout other Raph tried to once again lunge at other Mikey, who climbed back onto other Leo's lap, hugging the blue clad turtle tightly. Ah yes, use a brother as a shield. Classic.

Mikey laughed at their antics, watching sith glee as other Raph tried yanking other Mikey off of other Leo, while the orange clad turtle screamed and hollered like he was being murdered. It was all an act, he was smiling the entire time.

"Yeah get him shorty! Make him scream!" Mikey taunted, it was like watching a classic moment between the disaster twins that usually ended with chaos.

Suddenly everyone turned to stare at Mikey, which made him slink into his shell. What had he said?

"Shorty?" Other Raph echoed, a confused look on his face. "I'm taller than you!"

"Well you're shorter than my Raph!" Now that statement right there caught the red clad turtle's attention. He sat on the arm rest of the recliner other Donnie claimed, waiting for an elaboration.

"How tall is your Raph?" Other Donnie asked curiously. Other April was peeking out from the kitchen, not wanting to be left out of drama.

"Six feet tall, though I think he might be taller than that now, it's been awhile since we checked." Everyone's mouths fell open.

After a few tense seconds, other Raph buried his head into his hands, groaning the entire time.

"That is so not fucking fair! Fuck! Come on!"

The other three turtles and other April started laughing, further aggravating the short red clad turtle.

"Wow shorty, jealous much?

"Shut the fuck up Dee! No one asked you for an opinion."

Other Donnie simply shrugged as the door of the farmhouse opened once again.

Casey stumbled in, his face covered in small scratches from the evil hen. He claimed the other recliner, groaning dramatically.

"How do I keep losing to a fucking chicken! That's messed up!" Mikey snickered, it seems the feud between chicken and boy was a long standing one.

"Hey armpit, where little Mikey is from Raph is six feet tall!" Casey sputtered like an old car engine before bursting out laughing, wildly kicking his legs about.

"I wonder what else is different." Mikey perked up, sitting cross legged next to other Leo.

"First of all we're all different turtle species!" At the baffled looks he received, Mikey continued. "Alligator snapping turtle, spiny softshell, red eared slider, ornate box turtle." He pointed at other Raph, other Donnie and other Leo respectively before pointing to himself when he finished.

"That's so cool!" Other Mikey gasped, rocking excitedly. Suddenly he bounded towards the kitchen, leaving Mikey a bit stunned. Okay then…

Other Donnie was staring at his short red clad brother, eyes wide and hell.

"Alligator snapping turtle…how are you alive?" He mumbled, earning a shove from other Raph.

"Don't those turtles get really big?"

"Yup, big and spiky."

"This is so not fair!"

"Raph you can sulk about being the second shortest later, right now we have more pressing issues." Other Leo said calmly, causing Mikey to get whiplash.

It wasn't the words themselves, but the way they were said. There was a calm but inherent sense of authority behind those words, because almost instantly the room quieted down, not a single groan or protest. The only sounds were other April and other Mikey in the kitchen.

Mikey felt a bit stunned, not even Raph could quiet a room down that fast. He didn't even have to raise his voice to do it! It was clear that other Leo was in charge. Which is really weird, shouldn't other Raph be in charge? He's the oldest sibling after all!

"How did you end up here in the first place?" Mikey frowned, trying to rack his brain for answers.

"Well it started when Leo lost his odāchi in a game of paintball tag, then the Footclan stole it so we went after them." The box turtle was so wrapped up in his story that he didn't notice how everyone's expressions changed from interested to horrified at the mention of the words Footclan. Nevertheless Mikey continued.

"We chased them to an abandoned warehouse and fought against those foot-faced creeps but the odāchi was plugged into some weird empty door looking thing and it started glowing! It was sucking everything! I tried to hold on but I got sucked in! Then whoosh! I ended up here…how long was I out?"

"About a week." Mikey whined, he was here a week! His family was probably so worried! Other Leo pulled him close, hand rubbing circles into the back of Mikey' shell.

"We'll get you back home little dude." Other Mikey said as he came back into the living room, a plastic red bowl of something in his hands.

"Yeah Mikey's right we'll get you back to your own world no matter what it takes." Other April chimed in as she was finishing up the food.

"So how exactly are we gonna do that?" Casey asked, slumping over the armrest of the recliner.

"The Kraang portal? That could work." Other Raph chimed in.

"Yeah but when are we going back to New York City? It could be months before we go back! It's not fair to make him wait that long!" Other Leo protested, meanwhile Mikey was getting a tad bit confused.

Go back? Why did they leave the city? And what's a Kraang?

Other Donnie stood up and began pacing, muttering something under his breath. "Well perhaps I could look through the Kraang ship in the basement, maybe there's a teleporter or something?"

"That's a start. But until we get you back home you are more than welcome to stay here with us." Mikey beamed, wrapping his arms around other Leo in a bone crushing hug.

"Hey little dude there's someone you should meet!" The bowl was put into Mikey's lap. It looked like it was filled with melted neapolitan ice cream.

"Uh…what am I looking at?"

"Aw she's sleeping!" Other Mikey cooed before reaching a hand into the bowl and…petting the ice cream.

"Have you lost your-" Mikey was cut off when the ice cream made a little 'mrrmph' noise before it began to take shape, much to the box turtle's shock. In a matter of seconds the melted looking ice cream formed a cat's body, with floppy little ice cream paws and the absolute cutest little face. The strange creature looked up at Mikey, a questioning mew being its response.

Mikey gasped, eyes shining as he stared at the most adorable little creature on the planet.

"Meet the best kitty a turtle could ask for, Ice Cream Kitty! Isn't she great?" The cat meowed at Mikey and he was sold.

"Ohmigosh you are so stinkin cute!" He hugged the incredibly cold cat to his plastron, nuzzling her and kissing her adorable little head all over. She purred and mewed in delight, only furthering Mikey's love for her.

Everyone else smiled at the adorable sight as the smell of japanese take out filled the air. Lunchtime!

Other Donnie went into the kitchen to help other April bring out the food, thank god Mikey was getting so hungry and the food smelt amazing!

As the food was being brought out, Mikey momentarily stopped showering Ice Cream Kitty with affection, causing her to bump and nuzzle her head against his chin in protest.

"You mind if I ask a few questions?" No one had any objections so Mikey continued. "What are you guys doing here in a farmhouse? Why can't you go back to the city? And what are the Kraang?" The room went deathly silent, no one dared to move.

All of a sudden the turtles and their human friends looked so exhausted, nervous dread painted their now pale faces. Even Ice Cream Kitty looked upset, her ears pressed to the back of her head while she slunk back into her bowl.

Everyone looked so much…older. Like they aged ten years in a matter of seconds. Other Mikey scooter next to other Raph, who slung an arm protectively around the youngest's shoulders. Casey went rigid, hands clenched into tight fists. Other April and other Donnie just stood there, frozen.

The weird part is, that all four of them were looking at other Leo. Some with more subtlety than others. The blue clad turtle however wasn't looking at anyone. Instead he was not so subtly glaring at his right knee, the one bandaged and propped up. Mikey could feel him shaking a little bit.

Oh what did he do?

"I…uh…sorry was that a bit of a touchy subject? I didn't mean to pry!" He tried to backtrack, he hadn't meant to cause this! He was just curious!

"We know, it's fine." Other Raph said in a surprisingly gentle tone. The exact same tone Raph would use to reassure a hurt sibling that everything would be ok. "It's a long story and I'll tell you later, ok?" Mikey nodded as the stifling silence vanished as quickly as it came.

"Let's eat! I'm starving bro!" Other Mikey yelled, practically bouncing for food. The food was all set in the large coffee table. Mikey's stomach growled like a furious animal, earning laughter from everyone in the room.

Even while most of the tension had disappeared, there was still a sense of unease amongst everyone, unresolved anxiety that was hanging around like a mist. Clearly something happened, something bad enough to drive the group from their home to the farmhouse and render other Leo unable to walk!

Judging by the group's reactions, calling it bad was an understatement. Horrific might be the better word.

Either way once the box turtle finds out what that bad thing was, Dr. Feelings will have so much work to do.

[tmnt-obsessed-ace]

When The World Crumbles: Chapter 3, Second Encounter

"Two minutes away."

The text message read, making Leo's heart jump to his throat. He shut off his T-phone and went back to staring at the katana in his lap.

Like he's been doing for the past 20 minutes since he called his twin.

"I'm at an old sawmill in Queens." He had said when Donnie picked up his T-phone.

"What? What are you doing at a damn sawmill? You were supposed to pick up pizza from Señor Hueso!" Donnie yelled, beginning the argument.

"I know! I know but I think I got portal jacked and ended up here!"

"And you are calling instead of portaling back, why?"

"Because robots and weird alien brain blobby things!"

"...what?"

"I know right! But it's true-"

"Leon, did you hit your head or something? You might have a concussion."

"Come see for yourself if you don't believe me!

Donnie went quiet for a while, then groaned.

"Fine, but only because I want to tell you how incorrect you are to your dumb face."

"Love you too, asshole." And their conversation ended there.

He let his mind wander once again, all the same burning questions he had were buzzing around in his head like angry hornets.

What were those brain blob/robot things? What did they want? How did they get here? How did they get a goddamn laser cannon?

Most importantly, who are those other turtles? Why are they so similar to Leo and his family? Why use similar weapons?"

Where did they come from? Did Draxum create them and Splinter couldn't save them? Or were they created after Splinter's escape? If that's the case, who taught them how to fight?

So many questions and zero answers to any of them. It was so frustrating.

The blue clad turtle held up the katana, noting how filthy the blade was. The near silver colored metal could barely be seen under all the grime. Since Splinter had taken training the boys more seriously he had repeatedly stressed the importance of keeping the weapons clean and battle ready.

Leo learned that the hard way. You use your swords to cut pizza one time and it's suddenly the end of the world. But when some other turtle in a badass hood keeps a dirty weapon it's fine and dandy.

A thought crossed his mind, maybe that turtle didn't even have a chance to clean it, constantly in battle, never a chance to rest and clean the katana before it was filthy again.

That actually makes sense for the mystery ninja. Definitely gave off the battle hardened vibe. That vibe was reflected in the blade's handle, which was worn and faded from constant use.

"How am I supposed to return this?" The slider wondered before a familiar rumbling caught his attention.

The Turtle Tank pulled up in front of the sawmill, easing some of Leo's growing worries. He stood up, holding the katana in one hand while waving at the massive turtle tank with the other.

Mikey got out first, bounding over to his older brother, worry on his face. Before Leo even had a chance to say anything Mikey's eyes went wide and he turned to Raph and Donnie.

"He's bleeding! Leo's bleeding!" He yelled, panic in his voice. Oh right, the cut on his cheek. It had stopped bleeding a while ago, the dried crimson sticking to his face. He hadn't bothered to wipe it off.

Raph raced over, gently examining Leo's cheek with his large hands.

"Does this hurt? Where else does it hurt?" He asked, much to Leo's annoyance at the frenzied exam. The hooded turtle was much gentler.

"Raph! I'm fine, it's just a scratch!"

"What about the burn on your arm?" Donnie asked, grabbing Leo's arm to examine the dark black spot. Leo winced a little, that still really hurt.

"Burn? What burn! Show me!" Raph grabbed Leo:s arm, adding to his growing impatience. He was fine! This wasn't needed Raph! But Raph's protective older brother instincts were in overdrive and there's no stopping them now.

After several moments of his brother's examining him, Leo had enough.

"Guys stop it! I'm fine! And that's not why we're here!" He shouted, causing the trio to back off.

"Then why are we here Leo? Why are you injured at some abandoned Sawmill halfway across the city?" Raph asked in a calm voice but his tone was stern.

The slider pushed the sawmill's door open and led his family inside. Soon they were in the robot graveyard, surrounded by remains of the trashed robots.

"What the…"

"Robots? Actual robots?"

"Like from Jupiter Jim!"

"Yup, oh and Donnie," Leo pushed the soft shell over to the non busted up laser cannon. "Here's my birthday present to you, happy early birthday!" He said as Donnie looked confused at the strange contraption.

"What is it?" Leo hopped up onto the cannon with a smile.

"Only the coolest, most amazing thing you've ever seen!" He started pressing random buttons, trying to activate the cannon like one of the robots had.

After a few moments, Donnie looked unimpressed. Crap.

"Leo-" The purple clad turtle started before Leo waved his hands, shushing his brother.

"Give me a second!" Leo continued button mashing until the canon activated with a magenta glow. He grabbed the triggers and fired, sending a pink laser beam into the far wall, narrowly avoiding Raph. The beam hit the wall, leaving a gaping burning hole behind.

"Impressed?" Donnie was staring, wide eyed and mouth agape. After a minute for his brain to reboot, Donnie smiled widely, making him look almost like the cheshire cat from Alice In Wonderland. He nearly tackled Leo into a hug before shoving him off of the cannon. The slider could see all the destructive thoughts in Donnie's eyes.

Now that he knew what it could do he was completely interested. "I am SO adding this to the turtle tank!" He exclaimed while Raph and Mikey exchanged concerned looks.

"Anyways, guys come look at this." Raph called out. Leo grabbed Donnie by the arm and pulled him away from the destructive weapon, ignoring his twin's whining.

"Look." On the ground was a dark red streak drying on the dirty floor. "Blood." Raph finished, fear in his voice.

All eyes turned to Leo.

"Obviously that is not my blood!" He groaned, why had they circled back to this?

"Then who's is it?"

"Hey Leo I've been meaning to ask but where did you get the katana?" Mikey asked, pointing to the bladed weapon that Leo still had in his hand. A katana that obviously wasn't his.

"Oh right, the other part of what happened… You see, the alien robot things were all fighting mutants."

"More mutants? But I thought we got rid of all the oosequitos." Mikey interjected, looking a bit worried and confused.

"No, we got rid of most of them, there are still a crap ton all over New York City."

"So these robots got taken down by mutants. Does that mean we have more dangerous mutants running around?" Raph asked. Leo shook his head.

"Not just any mutants, mutant ninja turtles."

It's been several hours since the sawmill fight. The sky was now dark, the light coming from the city below not the sun.

The four turtles sat on a rooftop, hidden behind a huge billboard. Donatello was rummaging through his bag of medical supplies.

Well, the former bag of medical supplies, said items had all been used up before they got here. All that was left was a single strip of gauze.

This isn't good, they have many, many wounds that need to be disinfected and bandaged.

They all looked at the strip of gauze, hope draining from their faces. Low growls broke the silence, causing the four turtles to wince and hug their stomachs as the painfully clawing hunger made itself known again.

They didn't expect to end up here. They should be in Dimension X right now, fighting Kraang Prime. Not stuck in some neon version of their city.

"You sure you don't have anything else Dee? Michelangelo asked, hugging his knees to his chest, his head leaning against Raphael's shoulder.

"This is all we have left." Donatello glanced at the pitiful strip of gauze.

"We could use our wrappings as bandages." Leonardo suggested, struggling against the ringing in his ears and his blurry vision. Donatello shook his head.

"Even if our wrappings were big enough to cover the major wounds, we can't use them because they're filthy dirty. The wounds will get infected in no time." Donatello's voice was small, almost broken sounding.

Raphael groaned, rubbing his face with one hand. The other was holding Michelangelo close to him.

"We have to have the worst luck in the damn universe!" He nearly yelled. Donatello flinched at the sudden increase in volume, the wound on his forehead a reminder to be quiet, he might have a concussion.

"Sorry Don," Raphael whispered as the purple clad turtle nodded and leaned against Leonardo. "First the Kraang are planning another invasion and we end up stuck here in limbo, with no food, no medical supplies, just waiting to keel over and die while Kraang Prime mutates New York City! Again! Fuck us I guess!" Raphael angrily whispered, struggling to keep his voice down for Donatello's sake.

They can't go on like this for much longer. Someone would have to find some medical supplies and or food.

Leonardo sighed, gently moving his younger brother so he too was leaning against Raphael. He stood up, his bad knee aching from the strain. But he put on a brave face. Because that's what he's supposed to do as the leader and the eldest. Take care of the younger siblings.

"I'll go look for food and medical supplies." He said, forcing his exhaustion and pain down and smothering it. Like he does with everything.

Just as he was about to leave, a clammy hand grabbed his wrist.

"No, I'm going." Michelangelo stated, it wasn't a question. He said it like he said that the sky is blue.

Leonardo shook his head, ignoring how dizzy that made him.

"Absolutely not! You have to stay here with Raph and Donnie!" He whispered. Michelangelo stood up on his own trembling legs, eyes burning with fire.

"Why? So you can run yourself ragged?"

"I'm the oldest and your leader, it's my responsibility to look after the team."

"Even when you're about to pass out? Even when your knee is hurting real bad, and don't lie I saw you limping!"

"Mikey I won't be long, you can stay here and rest-"

"What if something happens to you? Leo please don't be stubborn this one time, my injuries are the least severe I'll go get the stuff!"

"Least severe? That crack in your shell looks pretty severe to me!"

"You can barely stand! I get it, you're the leader but that doesn't mean you have to keep hurting yourself!"

"Mikey-"

"Leo. Sit. Down." Michelangelo stated, pulling out his nunchucks. It was a threat, sit down or I'll make you. Leonardo's eyes narrowed, he knew Michelangelo wouldn't act on the threat. It was still jarring to see the normally playful jokester so serious. And that seriousness was directed at Leonardo, not at Kraang so that was even weirder.

"Just listen to him Leo, you need to rest too." Donatello mumbled, grabbing Leonardo's hand with his own.

"Yeah, fearless, sit your ass down." Raohael added, shooting a warning glare at the blue clad turtle. "You've barely slept for what? Maybe two hours total since we first heard about the invasion, not like you were sleeping much anyways. You haven't eaten anything, your leg is killing you and we left our T-phones at the lair so you have no way to contact us if something goes wrong." Raphael hissed at the worn out leader.

"What if something goes wrong while Mikey is out? At least let me go with him so he has some backup."

"Sit down!" All three younger turtles growled at their brother in perfect sync, giving the self sacrificial idiot no choice but to sit back down. They were too tired to put up with that bullshit tonight. Michelangelo gave him a hug as an apology.

"If I'm not back in two hours then you can come look for me." Michelangelo said, jumping down from the roof onto a fire escape.

"Good luck! I'll keep the martyr here so he can rest." Raphael called, ignoring the small hey from Leonardo.

Once the orange clad turtle was out of sight Donnie started whispering.

"Is this actually a good idea to send Mikey out alone in a strange city?" He asked. Just as the words left his mouth, Michelangelo fell from the fire escape. He screamed as he landed inside a dumpster, scaring away a feral cat.

The trio sat in stunned silence for a moment.

"He'll be fine…I hope."

Finding medical supplies was so much harder than finding food would be. He could just steal food from a restaurant and no one would be the wiser. But apparently it was too much to ask for all the buildings he checked to have a first aid kit lying around somewhere.

Either the orange clad turtle missed them because he was so tired, or the people of this city had super healing so fast that first aid kits were useless.

He hoped it was the second option, that sounded way more entertaining.

Speaking of the city, it was different from his own. This city was bright, thousands of colorful lights chasing away shadows even into the night. And it was busy too, with so many people crowding the streets. His version of New York was busy too but not to this scale.

All that meant that he was struggling to stay hidden and all ninja like. He looked at his next target, a convenience store. Surely there will be a first aid kit or two in there.

As he was about to search the store, a strange vehicle drove by on the street below. Michelangelo ducked down, glancing at the vehicle from the rooftop. It kinda looked like a giant turtle on wheels. And why was a Kraang cannon being pulled behind it?

"What the hell is that?" The turtle mused to himself, going silent when the vehicle stopped.

A familiar looking turtle stepped out onto the street, making gestures with his hands while he talked. Although from where Michelangelo was sitting, he couldn't hear any of the words over the buzz of the city.

That was the same turtle that had shown up at the sawmill. Probably this dimension's Leonardo, if the blue mask was anything to go by.

Michelangelo snickered, hoping that this was an alternate version of his eldest brother. Oh that would be so incredibly funny.

Two more turtles followed this "other Leo," one wearing a purple bandana over his head, along with what looked like goggles. On his head. He was absolutely covered head to toe in tech, yup definitely Donatello.

The other was sporting an orange mask so similar to his own. His alternate self. Michelangelo focused on his counterpart, noticing the hot pink and teal streaks on his shell.

The fourth turtle got out of the vehicle, making Michelangelo's blood run cold. The fourth turtle was huge with a big spiky shell on his back. The massive turtle was wearing a red bandana. Was this Raphael? He looked a thousand times more intimidating than his short angry brother could ever hope to be.

Somehow, Michelangelo was reminded of Slash, the massive mutant turtle that was once Raphael's beloved pet. He remembered when he first met Slash, when the mutant tried to tear him limb from limb. And although Slash has turned over a new leaf and is now a loyal friend, Michelangelo can't help but feel a little uneasy around the larger turtle.

And this version of Raphael is reawakening the uneasy feelings.

The orange clad turtle watched the three smaller turtles a little bit nervously now. It looks like other Leonardo and other Donatello were talking about something, while their version of Michelangelo went over to talk to the very big Raphael.

"Ugh what are they saying?" He whispered. He had to get closer. He carefully climbed down from the roof, sticking to the few shadows he could find until he ended up in a dark alleyway close by. Michelangelo ducked behind some trashed furniture and listened in. Technically it was rude to eavesdrop but Leonardo isn't here to tell him no.

"-could check the Hidden City Library, see if they got anything on alien brain creatures." Other Donatello said, tone almost dripping with sarcasm at the last few words. Other Leonardo scoffed and crossed his arms.

"If I didn't know any better Donald I would think that you don't believe me. Me! Your own twin!" The blue clad turtle stated, fake offense in his voice. Leonardo and Donatello were twins in this dimension?

"Well Nardo you do have a track record for "exaggerating" The genius said, air quotes around exaggerating.

"And you have a track record for being a dick."

"Real mature, when you don't have a comeback you resort to petty name calling."

"Yeah but it works and you know it…Dee Dee." Other Donatello's eye twitched. It was at that point that Michelangelo stopped listening, eyes zeroing in on the blue clad turtle.

There was a clean white bandage on his cheek and another wrapped around his arm.

That meant that these alternate turtles had medical supplies! Fucking finally! Then he just has to rob the nearest restaurant and get back to his brothers!

If the turtle had to guess, the supplies were most likely inside of the turtles' ride. However there were four well rested, clean, non injured and not starving turtles between Michelangelo and the medical supplies.

'Maybe I should've let Leo come.' He thought before quickly shaking it away. Leonardo, despite how much he'll deny it, needed to rest just as much as the rest of them. He can do this alone.

Right as the thought crossed his mind, as if the universe decided to screw with him for even thinking that, he bumped into a nearby chair, causing it and the several boxes stacked on top of it to topple over with a loud crash. The four turtles looked over at his alley hiding spot, making Michelangelo gulp nervously.

Apparently, no, he cannot do this alone.

"Is something there Don?" Other Raphael asked, voice a low whisper. Other Donatello lowered his goggles, were they x-ray goggles?

"What the? This is weird…" The purple clad turtle said, genuine confusion in his voice.

"What is it?" Other Michelangelo piped up " A g-ghost."

"No but it's just a black, shapeless, shadow. Can't even tell what it is." The four looked stunned. Even Michelangelo was stunned. X-ray goggles aren't supposed to do that.

"Well whatever it is, it's about to get its ass kicked all the way to New Jersey!" Michelangelo started to panic, he didn't want to go to New Jersey! New Jersey sucks!

The four alternate turtles drew their weapons, closing in on poor Michelangelo. He was going to get pummeled and no one was going to know because he doesn't have his T-phone! Leonardo was right!

'Calm down Mikey!' He thought to himself, nunchucks in his hands. 'Just come up with a plan to not get dead and you'll be fine!'

He shut his eyes for a moment, thoughts swirling. After a few seconds an idea came to mind.

A very stupid idea, that would probably get shot down by his brothers. But they aren't here to tell him no.

That is not a good thing.

He crept underneath a fire escape, staying cloaked in darkness. Moving silently he climbed up the fire escape and sat on the ledge.

His plan was simple: run for your goddamn life!

His eyes went white and he jumped off the fire escape, landing behind the turtles. The orange clad turtle broke off into a full sprint, making a beeline for the turtle shaped vehicle. He could hear the four turtles yelling at him but he didn't care. The vehicle and medical supplies inside grew closer and closer.

Suddenly a burning hot chain wrapped around his stomach, yanking him backwards and flinging the poor turtle into a set of concrete stairs. Michelangelo winced, that fucking hurt!

He got up, ignoring how his side was throbbing in white pain. His nunchucks were spinning as fire burned in his eyes.

A flash of red and a yell caught his attention, giving him a second's notice to duck. He started running, that's all he can do.

Blue light glowed to his left, nunchucks deflecting the sharp blades of twin katanas as he climbed onto one of the rooftops again while he kept screaming, avoiding the glowing attacks while also trying to circle back to the desperately needed medical supplies. His family needs them, and surely these turtles can afford to go without for a bit.

A red fist collided with his head, knocking him down. The orange clad turtle's vision started to blur.

Suddenly a bright purple drill formed above him, other Donatello bearing a frenzied smirk as he brought the drill down. All poor Michelangelo could do was raise his arms to protect his face.

The drill slammed into him, violet sparks of electricity dancing all over his body while he screamed in pain and fear before he was knocked off the rooftop. He landed on an old car, making the alarm go off. He tried to move his limbs but they felt heavy and numb, static buzzing off him.

Michelangelo just lay there, whimpering as he tried to move. His brothers were depending on him! He had to get up and get going!

Cold metal nudged his cheek, his blurry baby blue eyes drifting upwards and locking with that of this alternate version of Leonardo.

"You're one of the turtles from the sawmill." He said, waiting for Michelangelo to either confirm or deny it. He nodded a bit, still trying to get feeling back in his limbs.

"Dude what the hell? I thought you were cool and then you turn around and tried to steal the Turtle Tank!" The slider yelled, as his own family were starting to catch up.

Michelangelo whimpered harder, wanting to curl inside his shell and hide.

"Mhm sorry Leo." He slurred, "Just needed med stuff…" The turtle in front of him lowered the blade, eyes wide.

"How do you know my name?" He asked.

Suddenly, something struck the blue clad turtle in the neck. He yanked the offending object out and stared at it.

Both turtle's faces went pale. It was a blow dart.

Other Leonardo staggered, the fast acting drugs taking effect. And Michelangelo lay helpless on the roof of the car, trying harder to get feeling back in his limbs so he could help the other turtle.

"Leo no!" He shrieked, watching as the blue clad turtle face planted on the ground.

A large silhouette appeared and scooped the unconscious turtle into its arms. It slung other Leonardo over its shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

"Yes, this will do nicely." The voice said before turning to leave.

"Let him go!" Michelangelo shouted, one arm finally cooperating enough to throw a shuriken at the silhouette. It screamed in pain before turning to him. It looked him over, making his empty stomach churn.

"You look absolutely pathetic, not even worthy of being prepared in my kitchen." The voice stated, filled with disgust. It turned to leave again while Michelangelo squirmed.

"Come back and fight me, you coward!" He yelled, struggling to stay awake.

"Why should I bother?" The voice asked. "I only use the freshest, highest quality ingredients and you are anything but." Ingredients…Oh no, oh god no.

"NO! NO! NO! LET HIM GO!" The turtle cried as the silhouette left him behind and his desperate pleas ignored, taking other Leonardo with him.

The turtle was loaded into a truck, where other Leonardo's three brothers were also unconscious. The silhouette drove off, leaving Michelangelo to scream, hot tears pouring from his eyes.

What had he done?

[tmnt-obsessed-ace]

Sunshine Of The Woods: Chapter 2, New But Familiar?

In the dense forests of Northampton, New York sat an old farmhouse. It wasn't a pretty looking thing, the once pristine white paint now a grayish brown and peeling off the wood due to years upon years of neglect. The windows were small and cracked in a few places, the chimney covered in layers of dark soot.

However, compared to nearly four months ago, this little farmhouse looked much better than it had for a decade. The thick ivy vines that had taken hold of the building had long since been pulled off and burned, leaving faint marks on the aged wood. All the weeds that had claimed the surrounding property as their playground met a similar fate. Most of the holes in the roof were covered and repaired, good thing too as rain drenched the forest.

And then there were the small chicken coop.

A once completely destroyed chicken coop now gave shelter to six hens. They were curled up in their nests, sleeping peacefully. Completely undisturbed by the never ending rain that poured from above.

The coop had been fixed so lovingly you couldn't even begin to imagine what it used to look like before when it was caved in, overgrown and simply rotting away.

The farmhouse underwent a similar transformation, carefully repaired to protect and shelter its own six residents from the world. A human, a human-alien hybrid and four mutant turtles.

Inside the farmhouse, the six guests were fast asleep, huddled under thick aged quilts as the rain poured on outside, creating a constant rapping against the windows.

Well…not all of the guests were asleep, despite how late it was.

One of the strange mutant turtles lay on his side, staring at the shut window to his room. The rain cascading down the old glass, though it was a bit difficult to see given how dark it was in both the bedroom and outside.

The turtle had dark puffy bags under his blue eyes. Eyes as blue as the ocean. Although now they were getting a bit red… He sighed heavily, rubbing his eyes and rolling over so he was laying on his carapace and staring at the ceiling instead.

His tired eyes traced over every pattern in the aged wood above his head. Like he had done on so many other sleepless nights. An old striped quilt was draped over the turtle's body, keeping him warm through this rainy night.

Suddenly there was a flash of light as lightning illuminated the sky as well as the turtle's bedroom. The loud, pounding thunder was quick to follow, leaving the turtle to groan at the window.

He sat up as another bolt of lightning lit up the sky, the winds whining against the glass windows, begging to enter and cause chaos.

More thunder shook the farm house, leaving the turtle to groan yet again. Looks like he isn't getting any sleep tonight if this keeps up. Not like he was sleeping before it started storming anyways but it really doesn't help.

The turtle, Leonardo, shoved the quilt off his body and climbed off the bed with a tired huff as more much smaller flashes shined through the window. Maybe a cup of tea will soothe his nerves.

Leonardo stood up, almost immediately having to bite back a yelp as his right knee painfully shifted in the socket. With his balance thrown off, the turtle stumbled, nearly falling to the floor. Luckily his saving grace was the nightstand next to his bed.

Grabbing the nightstand, he held himself steady, right leg slightly bent so it wasn't touching the floor. Deep, slow breaths…Slowly the white hot pain ebbed away.

Once he wasn't seeing stars, Leonardo looked down at his right knee. The joint was snugly wrapped in gauze and fabric, the best they could do to keep the swelling down. And of course underneath was the jagged scar that covered his knee cap. It was still dark and ugly looking, the skin a bit fragile even though the wound was healed.

A permanent reminder that his leg was now worthless.

Oh how Leonardo hated it.

Grumbling, he grabbed the oak crutch that was leaning against the nightstand and tucked it under his arm. With the added support the turtle limped out of his room into the hallway, where he was greeted by the sounds of his sleeping family. He preferred those sounds over the thunder.

"Good, I didn't wake them up." Leonardo mumbled, voice a barely audible whisper. As silently as he could with a limp and a crutch tapping against the wood floor, he walked down the hall towards the stairwell. Just gotta get downstairs to the kitchen.

Easier said than done.

He carefully approached the top of the stairwell, looking down at the hard wooden stairs.

He leaned against the wall and took the first step downwards. Then the second, so far so good.

"Ok…Ok I got this." Leonardo whispered to himself as he oh so slowly went downstairs, memories of the many times he'd fallen flashing through his mind. The first several times Raph had to hold onto him, practically dragging him along. But that wasn't necessary anymore! He can walk down the stairs just fine! Sure he's going slow but only because it's dark!

"Almost there…" Only three more stairs left and he's homefree!

However, it seems the universe has a cruel sense of humor. When he was going to go down the second to last stair, he stepped too far down, completely missing that stair and going for the last one. That mistake sent him falling down to the floor. The only reason he didn't faceplant was because he grabbed the hand railing.

It was enough to further aggravate his messed up knee, making Leonardo grit his teeth in pain, struggling to stay as silent as the ninja he is.

Leonardo sat on the floor, holding his breath as he waited for someone to wake up. Luckily no one did.

"Oh thank god!" He whispered, standing up again as muffled mewling came from the kitchen.

Well someone woke up.

With a soft smile he went to the kitchen and opened the freezer, ignoring how all the alarm bells in his head went off at the puff of cold air.

He was greeted by a concerned looking, cat shaped puddle of neapolitan ice cream. The family pet, Michelangelo's beloved Ice Cream Kitty. She whined almost pitifully, waving her paws at Leonardo.

"Shh...hush sweetie I'm ok, I'm ok I promise! Just a misstep." Leonardo cooed at the kitty, gently petting her frozen cheek. Ice Cream Kitty nuzzled his hand, purring happily. Her floppy paws grabbed the turtle's hand, holding him in place when he tried to pull his hand away. Then she meowed at him, a pitiful sound that made Leonardo smile at her.

"Ok you can visit for a bit, c'mere." He scooped the squishy cat out of the freezer and grabbed her favorite bowl. Setting Ice Cream Kitty inside he grabbed the kettle next.

Ice Cream Kitty gave a confused mewl.

"I'm just gonna make some tea." An almost judgemental hiss was the cat's reply, as if she was saying 'Really? You?'

"Oh hush I can work a tea kettle!" Leonardo retorted as he filled it with water and set it on the stove to boil. Ice Cream Kitty gestured to the toaster with her head, making Leonardo blush a bit. "That was one time!" The cat merely mewled her amusement, making Leonardo shake his head. He sat down at the table, petting Ice Cream Kitty's strawberry head. His hands would be sticky afterwards but he didn't really care at the moment.

More thunder boomed outside, making Ice Cream Kitty's ear flatten against her head in fear. Leonardo frowned softly, pulling her bowl closer.

"Aw, It's alright sweetie, it's just noise, it can't hurt us." He cooed softly, earning a nuzzle from the mutant cat. She purred against his plastron, and despite how cold she was, Leonardo didn't mind.

"You know, I'm glad you were also awake. It's nice to talk to someone that isn't going to look at me like I'm fragile." Leonardo whispered. He wasn't made of glass! Ice Cream Kitty doesn't think of him that way, she just sees a friend to nuzzle.

Suddenly there was a flash of light, more lightning. However this time the entire house was lit up, earning a terrified whine from the kitty. Not even a second later the thunder came, shaking the entire farmhouse.

Ice Cream Kitty squeaked, curling into an ice cream ball in her bowl, whimpering and shaking profusely.

As Leonardo began to calm her down another sound made him go still.

It didn't sound like thunder.

It sounded almost like something violently tearing. The air was practically buzzing with nervous dread.

It came from outside.

With Ice Cream Kitty's bowl in one hand Leonardo limped over to the kitchen window, eyes going wide.

In the sky above there was a crack! Like the sky itself had been torn open! It was glowing white, shining brightly against the dark sky.

"What the hell?" Then something fell from the crack, though Leonardo couldn't tell exactly what it was since it was so far away, descending into the forest like a comet! Before he could process this a crash echoed through the forest and farmhouse. The vibrations made the turtle stumble a bit as the forest settled down.

The crack in the sky flickered away, as if it was never there.

"What was that?" Leonardo was suddenly aware of sharp pin pricks of pain on his arm. He looked down to see Ice Cream Kitty had her paws around his arm. She was shaking heavily, her tiny claws sunken into Leonardo's skin. Poor thing.

"It's alright sweetie, we're alright! Just settle down now." He attempted to soothe, mind racing a mile a minute.

What on Earth was that? It just fell from the sky! Was it some kind of alien? Maybe a Kraang came looking for them? Or was it something else entirely?

Either way, he wasn't going to find out till morning.

It was early dawn when two of the other turtles woke up. One wearing a torn dark red mask the other sporting a much shorter orange mask. The red clad turtle, Raphael, snickered at the sight of his older brother.

Leonardo was sitting at the kitchen table, face pressed into the wood as soft snores came from his mouth.

The two brothers shoved aside the familiar concern that their brother was unconscious when he shifted a bit, his head now laying on his hands. He's just asleep…

"Wow he must've been tired!" The orange clad turtle, the one and only Michelangelo, said, flicking Leonardo's head. The oldest turtle muttered something under his breath but otherwise didn't stir, he just kept snoring away.

A sleepy garbled mewl next to Leonardo caught Raphael's attention. Next to his conked out brother was Ice Cream Kitty in her bowl, now a goopy melted puddle.

"Leo passed out before putting you back in the freezer?" Raphael asked, scooping the bowl up and putting it back in the freezer so the cat could reform. She'd be fine in a couple of hours.

Michelangelo shifted his gaze from his brother to the yellowish light of sunrise that poured in from the window. It was surprisingly pretty outside, despite last night's storm. The sky was painted in pale blues and bright warm yellows while the trees swayed in the breeze.

A small sigh came from his mouth, they rarely ever got to see this kind of view back in the city, they either never went topside during sunrise or the city was too polluted to get a good look.

One of the plus sides of being stuck in the farmhouse.

It was then that Michelangelo noticed something.

"Yo Raph!" He called out as his older brother was laying Leonardo on the couch. "Come check this out!"

"What is it?" Raphael was instantly grabbed and pressed into his younger brother's side as he pointed out the window.

"Look! Look! Look! In the trees!" Michelangelo insisted, shoving Raphael around. "You see that orange thing?"

Sure enough, in the far distance, Raphael could make out a tiny orange spot in one of the trees. It was incredibly small but once you saw it you couldn't see anything else.

"Yeah…Yeah I see it. What the hell is that? And what happened to the trees?" There were singed, broken branches almost shaped like a massive hole in the foliage. It was easy to see given how the blackened branches stood out against the much lighter ones. It looked like something crashed through the trees.

"I dunno, let's go check it out!" Michelangelo chirped without a second thought, grabbing his twin nunchucks and hooking them to his belt.

Raphael grabbed his own weapons, a pair of sais and put them in his own belt before following Michelangelo, who was already out the door.

The red clad turtle spared one last glance at Leonardo, now curled up under the knitted couch blanket, sleeping like a baby.

It's fine…he's just asleep. Just asleep…

He shook off the thoughts and chased after Michelangelo.

The two raced towards the forest, the morning sun warm on their skin and shells. Though they both seemed to forget that it had stormed hard last night, until…

"WAAH-ugh!" Michelangelo slipped on the muddy ground, bonking his head on a tree root and landing on his shell like a fool. Raphael barked out a laugh that looked like something out of a cartoon!

He held out a hand to the orange clad turtle to pull him up. "Never change Mikey, never change."

Said brother only stuck his tongue out at him, blowing a raspberry.

"Whatever dude!" Then Michelangelo nearly slipped again, getting another laugh from Raphael.

"Let's get above ground." The red clad turtle pointed at the tall trees above. Sure the branches were wet from the rain but it is no different than slick rooftops in the city.

With a nod the two climbed the trees, getting out of the cold slippery mud. Raphael jumped to the next branch, holding his arms out to catch Michelangelo if he slipped.

Michelangelo jumped as well, nearly slipping off until Raphael caught him. Together the warm colored duo jumped from branch to branch, advancing through the forest without getting covered in mud.

Eventually the orange speck grew closer and closer into view, however by this point they begrudgingly had to trek through the mud, as most of the sturdy branches here had either been torn off by the storm or scorched by whatever crashed. It was better not to take chances.

"There it is!" Michelangelo pointed upwards at the orange object hanging from the tree.

"Weird, what do you think it is?" The smaller turtle shrugged, shimmying up the tree to retrieve the object that was heavily tangled in the branches.

After a few tense minutes it was untangled and held in Michelangelo's hands.

"It looks like a kusari-fundo chain! Or maybe a spiky yo-yo…"

"How did it get in a tree?" Raphael asked before instantly groaning as his younger brother began swinging the strange weapon around. It seemed to work like his kusari-gama chain so it was easy enough to learn.

Still, you would think that after seventeen years the turtle would learn not to play with strange objects. And you would be wrong.

"Yo this thing is so cool!" Suddenly the spiked ball at the end of the chain exploded to life with bright yellow flames, leaving both turtles to stare wide eyed. A face appeared in the flames, cackling with evil delight when the chain went taut.

"Uh Mikey you might wanna-" With a burst of energy the weapon zipped through the air, Michelangelo right along with it as he screamed, knuckles going white as he struggled to hold onto the weapon while it took him for a joy ride.

After a few seconds, Raphael cracked his knuckles before tackling Michelangelo to the ground, pinning him under his weight while removing the feral weapon from his hands. It zipped around for a few more seconds before falling into a pile of mud.

"You ok little brother?" Raphael asked, checking the orange clad turtle over for any wounds. Michelangelo nodded, shaking the mud off.

"Gross but I'm good." Once he stood up, ignoring the brand new scorch marks from the evil weapon's little ride, he looked towards the orange kusari-fundo. It was now laying innocently on the ground.

Raphael picked it up, holding the spiked ball and handle in the same hand.

"Ok new rule, don't touch the crazy fire weapon."

"Agreed! So…are we gonna tell Donnie what it does or what?" Raphael snickered.

"Nah…let him figure it out for himself, you know he loves a good experiment." Both brothers laughed, already imagining their fourth brother Donatello zipping around the barn while screaming bloody murder.

Before the two brothers turned to leave, a small sound echoing through the woods made them freeze.

It sounded like a cough.

"Hear that?" Michelangelo nodded, covering his mouth as they went deathly silent to listen.

Silence…

Then another cough, this one sounded louder and far more forceful.

Michelangelo pointed into the trees, conveniently where it looked like something crashed through them. "Over there!" The two sprinted through the undergrowth and mud, getting more and more concerned.

It was the younger turtle that reached the sounds first, eyes widening and his heart jumping to his throat.

"Raph hurry up!" He shouted, stumbling through the mud.

Someone was lying face down deep in the mud, like they had been driven into the earth. Their head was tilted to the side so they weren't suffocating. What shocked Michelangelo were two simple facts about this stranger.

One, this stranger appeared to be another mutant turtle like him and his brothers. Another turtle… He had never expected to meet another turtle like him, the only exception being the monstrous Slash, who Michelangelo would rather forget.

What was even stranger was the fact that this turtle was wearing a bright orange mask that was nearly identical to his own. Right down to the length of the mask tails. Only difference was that this turtle's mask was much brighter than Michelangelo's.

"What the? Holy shit!" Raphael yelled as they both crouched by the turtle's side. Thin scrapes and cuts were scattered across the turtle's exposed skin, some had even broken the skin if the dried blood was anything to go by. Dry heat was radiating from the turtle as more raspy, wet sounding coughs came from his mouth.

"Little dude's burning up!" Michelangelo whined, pressing his hands to the turtle's forehead, feeling slight shivering underneath. Definitely a fever.

"They must've been out in the rain all night!" Sure enough the turtle was soaked, the frigid mud not helping the situation in the slightest.

Another wet cough came from the turtle,causing both older turtles to grow more and more concerned.

"We gotta get them home!" Raphael nodded, scooping the smaller turtle into his arms. Little guy was surprisingly light.

"Come on let's go-Mikey what are you doing?" Michelangelo picked up something from the ground, holding out to his brother. It was a smartphone in a bright orange case. Or what was left of it, the device had snapped completely in half!

"This might be their phone!" Water dripped from the broken circuits. Raphael winced. "Think we should put it in rice or something?"

"I don't think rice will fix that, come on let's go!" With that the pair raced through the woods, completely ignoring the disgusting, slimy mud that clung to their feet as the farmhouse came back into view.

As they got closer, they could see their human friend Casey wrestling with one of their hens. The hen in question was brown with white feathers, and was currently trying to peck Casey's eyes out of his head. That's Brenda, she always gets fussy when she hasn't been fed, and of course it's feeding time.

"Damn it Brenda, will you fucking chill!" Casey whined, getting a hungry squawk from the upset hen.

"Casey!" Raphael yelled, gaining the teen's attention.

"Yo Raph what's-" That was when Casey noticed the unconscious turtle in Raphael's arms. He dropped the hen and ran over.

"Oh crap is that another turtle?"

"No it's another fucking bigfoot-Of course it's another turtle! Now move!" Raphael growled while Michelangelo shoved the door open.

Inside the living room, Leonardo and April were watching some cartoon on the TV while Donatello was brewing what was probably his second or third cup of coffee this morning.

"What's wrong-" April was cut off when the turtle was brought into view.

"We found this little guy in the woods! He's all sick and muddy!" Michelangelo whined as April and Leonardo made space for the sick turtle to be laid down on the couch.

"Sick with what exactly?" Donatello asked while Leonardo began feeling the turtle's cheeks and forehead.

"Hell if I know, could be a cold or fucking pnenomia if he was out in the rain all night!" Raphael groaned, staring at the orange mask while he ran his hands down his face.

"April go get a bowl of warm water and a washcloth." Leonardo stated, undoing the knot holding the turtle's mask so their face could be washed. April nodded, practically sprinting to the bathroom.

Donatello ran off to the barn to grab the first aid kit, with Casey helping Leonardo remove the rest if the turtle's gear.

"Where did you even find this guy?" The teen grunted, trying to undo the turtle's belt and sash.

"We found him in the woods!" Casey gave Raphael a look that said 'No shit Sherlock' the red clad turtle rolled his eyes.

"Dude you should've seen it! It looked like a meteor or something crashed there!" Michelangelo said, a pit of worry growing in his stomach as the smaller turtle entered another horrible sounding coughing fit.

"Maybe it was this guy?"

"Could be, I thought I saw something crash in the woods last night." Leonardo interjected, right as Casey pressed a button.

"Thank you for pressing the panic button! Your panic has been noted!" A loud unknown voice suddenly said, making everyone in the room jump. Casey fell to the floor, holding a small device with a strange insignia engraved onto the metal.

"What was that?" April asked as she came back, a massive bowl of water and several brand new washcloths in her arms.

"Casey was pressing buttons." Leonardo took the bowl and washcloths. He soaked the washcloths, rung up the excess water and carefully began wiping the cold mud off the smaller turtle's face and body.

"We also found this thing." Raphael held out the bizarre kusari-fundo. April eyed it curiously.

"I'm getting some weird vibes from this thing." She said, turning the weapon over in her hands. You could practically feel the power pulsing inside the metal, along with something far more sinister than she would've liked.

"Yeah Dee can take a look at it, and maybe he can fix the little guy's phone." Michelangelo held up the two halves of the cell phone, making Casey, Leonardo and April collectively wince.

Donatello came back in, the first aid kit in his hands. When he saw the bisected phone he winced the hardest out of all of them.

"That will not be an easy fix, especially given that I don't have most of my equipment." He hummed before pulling out a bottle of disinfectant gel and bandaids. Leonardo took the bottle and began applying the gel to the open cuts. The turtle winced, trying to squirm away.

"I know, I know but just relax and it will be over soon." He cooed softly. That seemed to get through to the smaller turtle, who stopped squirming and laid back into the blanket.

"Now might be a good time to address the massive elephant in the room. Why does this strange turtle have a mask almost exactly like Mikey's?" Donatello asked. No one had an answer.

That was the most bizarre part of this situation. Aside from how this turtle got here, why did he look like Michelangelo? Not just in the mask but in his facial features like the round cheeks plus their short height.

Though they were different as well, lacking Michelangelo's signature freckles and instead sporting massive orange spots on his arms and legs.

Plus this turtle was much leaner, more human shaped with only two toes instead of three. And an evil fire weapon? How strange does the little guy get?

"Casey and I will run to the store to get more groceries, think you guys will be ok toll we get back?" April asked, the four turtles nodded.

As April grabbed the keys to the party wagon and also grabbed Casey by the hood of his hoodie, the new turtle babbled something that made everyone freeze.

"Five more minutes, Raphie…" The turtle mumbled as Leonardo covered the last of the cuts with band aids.

A single thought flashed through the six teeangers' minds.

What. The. Fuck?

[tmnt-obsessed-ace]

When The World Crumbles: Chapter 13, Cracks Now Exposed

This isn't happening…

This isn't happening!

There is no way that this is real!

It's just a bad dream…

Right?

It's not real! Sure it's scary but it can't hurt you!

Just a monster hiding in the closet.

Once a flashlight is shined in the darkness the monster will go away!

Or the monster under the bed.

That one is just as cowardly, easily chased away by the light.

And everything will be fine! It's not real!

It's not real…

It can't possibly be real!

Because if it was real…if it was more than a bad dream that a simple flashlight couldn't scare away. Then how can you possibly fix that? Make it better? Make it go away!

A stifled whimper escaped from Michelangelo's throat while those thoughts swarmed around in his mind.

He and his three older brothers leaped from the rooftop, effortless landing on the next. They didn't stop in their sprint, soon clearing the next rooftop.

And the next one and the next one.

They didn't stop.

They couldn't stop.

Don't stop, just keep running and you'll be fine!

Maybe you could even outrun what feels like a hot knife being driven through your heart!

But most importantly…

Don't look back.

Or you will see the horrifying monster that's chasing you, wanting to ensnare you in its claws. It will rip you apart, leaving you exposed to the cold unforgiving reality that you live in. The truths, sharp as a dagger stabbing through your heart. Twisting and turning, driving it deeper and deeper.

Until it kills you.

The truth hurts after all…

The orange clad turtle skidded to a stop, quivering knees buckling under him. He tried to steady his breathing, but every breath was just a short huff. Baby blue eyes shining with tears.

"Mikey?" Donatello asked, it was an obvious struggle to keep his voice steady.

Michelangelo grabbed the dark fabric that was sitting on his shoulders with his non-injured hand. He stared at the burgundy colored fabric of the hood he had made. Tears pooled in his eyes, despite his attempts to blink them away.

He thought about the reason this specific fabric was chosen, why all four brothers wore the same color of hoods.

The fabric was the same color as Master Splinter's Yukata.

He gripped the fabric tighter, knuckles starting to pale and quiver.

"They…they still have…" He choked out, it felt like his throat was closing. "He's still…it's not fair!" The tears rolled down his freckled cheeks.

The orange clad turtle didn't want to say it, didn't want to prove the nightmare right and reality to be true.

The reality that their papa is gone.

No, that's the wrong word. Gone would imply that he would be coming back. He isn't just gone…he's dead.

"It's not fair!" Michelangelo said again, only much louder this time. "It's not fair! It's not fair! It's not fair!" He was not even trying to be quiet anymore. The entire state of New York could hear him for all he cared! "Why do they still have their papa!"

There was silence for a minute, as if the city itself had stilled in shock. Or maybe it was just Michelangelo's ears ringing. Probably the latter, it would be stupid to assume that the city they protected for four years would give a flying fuck about them.

Raising his hands, Michelangelo suddenly smacked them both into his head a couple of times. A last ditch effort of trying to wake up. Maybe he would wake up in his bed, a comic book draped over his face while his brothers snored away and Sensei meditated in the dojo.

"Mikey, Mikey!" A panicked voice yelled, gently grabbing both his hands. The younger turtle looked up to see Donatello's own tear streaked face.

A whimper wormed its way out of his throat.

"Why? Why does our dimension hate us?" He asked, hating how shaky his voice sounded.

"I don't…" Donatello trailed off as Raphael and Leonardo wrapped their arms around the two, trying to protect them from the world as big brothers should. "I don't know"

"Why did papa have to die? Why couldn't Shredder just leave us alone!" This time, the purple clad turtle couldn't answer. More tears ran down his cheeks as he tried to form words. All that came out was a strangled squeak.

"Because he was a rotten piece of shit that just had to get the last fucking laugh! No matter who he hurt! No matter what lives he fucking ruined! Damn monster!" Raphael hissed, his grip tightening on his two younger brothers to the point that his arms were shaking. His eyes blazed with an inferno that he never knew he possessed.

He didn't just hate the Shredder, no he was already past that phase. He straight up loathed the Shredder's entire existence. Death was a far too merciful punishment for the monster that had taken everything from them! That ruined their lives over and over again all for a stupid fucking vendetta!

That monster deserved far worse things than death.

But he's dead and gone now, leaving Raphael to try and turn the blazing fury into something else. Maybe a shield to keep what's left of his family safe from any more bullshit the universe decides to throw at them.

"It's not fair…" Michelangelo whined, hiccuping as another sob came out. "How come our counterparts' papa is still alive when ours isn't!"

"Maybe they haven't fought the Shredder yet?"

"I hope they don't ever have to fight that demon! Ever!" Raphael retorted, his own tears dripping off his chin. His voice was so shaky.

"They're too young to go through that. They don't deserve to suffer this much." Leonardo said quietly, his voice unsteady while silent tears streaked his face.

"What did we do to deserve this?" Michelangelo quietly whined, burying his face into Donatello's plastron, giving in to the tears and the sobs.

"I got you Mikey, Donnie's got you." Donatello cooed, hugging his younger brother. The older brothers tightened the hug. Michelangelo didn't hold back anymore, his loud sobs muffled by Donatello's plastron while the other three turtles' held him tightly as they too cried.

The four of them just sat there for a while, holding each other tightly on the rooftop. In a city that wasn't their own, trying to ignore the swirling grief that threatened to consume them.

That is until a voice cut through the air.

"Yo you guys are fast!" Leo said excitedly as he stepped through a blue portal. It quietly hummed before disappearing behind the slider. Great… "Took me a hot minute to find you and-am I interrupting something?" The four hooded turtles looked up, eyes red and puffy while tear tracks marked their faces.

"What do you think, dumbass?" Raphael growled, prompting Leo to raise his hands in an awkward surrender.

"Woah woah easy! I was just asking!"

"Yeah asking a dumb question." Donatello mumbled, barely audible.

Leo gulped, shifting from foot to foot as he tried to think of what to say.

"So…um what exactly happened back at the lair? You guys kinda just stormed off!" He said with an awkward chuckle. "And now you're all crying…" The slider trailed off, cringing slightly at the dark streaks that painted the older turtles' masks.

"None of your business." Michelangelo said, sniffling like a child. The four turtles glared daggers at Leo, leaving him once again flat-footed.

"But I- ok fine…are we still doing the recon mission at the sawmill or we call a rain check?" Leonardo stood up on unsteady legs, pulling his brothers up as well. He wiped his eyes and took a breath, a pitiful attempt to steel himself.

"Yes we're still doing the recon mission!" He stated, almost sounding a bit sarcastic in the process. "Come on team, let's go." Leonardo stated, the other three turtles nodding as they prepared to jump to the next rooftop.

"You guys do know that you're going the wrong way! Right?" Leo yelled, casually leaning against one of his katanas. The four hooded turtles turned to stare at him, mouths slightly agape.

"Wait what?"

"Yup the sawmill is on the other side of the city! And you dingbats are going in the opposite direction."

"Well and that fucking wonderful!" Raphael groaned. Leo playfully rolled his eyes.

"Chillax dude! Leon's here, we'll get there in no time!" With that said, Leo slashed his katana through the air, another bright blue swirling vortex forming. "Volià! One portal straight to the sawmill!"

The four older turtles approached the portal. It softly hummed, blue light shining from inside.

"Well let's go then!" Michelangelo half-heartedly said. He tried to run through, only to smack into the vortex like it was a brick wall. Blue electricity sparked off his body as he yelped in pain before collapsing.

"Ow!" He whined. Donatello bent down to examine him while Raphael shot Leo a furious glare. Oh lord…

"What the fuck what that!" The red clad turtle yelled, trying to get up in Leo's face. Trying be the key word, as Leonardo held him back by the arms.

"I don't know! You try it!" Raphael shoved the taller turtle aside, slamming his fist into the portal. Like Michelangelo, his fist didn't go through the vortex, a painful shock coursing up his arm.

"Seriously what the fuck!" Leo shoved Raphael back and stuck his hand through the portal. There was no shock and his hand went through effortlessly. Raphael tried again and again, not getting different results.

"I don't get it! Mikester went through a portal no problemo when we escaped Meat Sweats's kitchen! And we brought you four through a portal with no issue when we took you back to the lair!" It was at this point that Raphael had given up, if only because he didn't want to lose feeling in his arm.

Leonardo approached the portal and stuck his hand through. Unlike his brothers, he actually managed to get his hand through. However unlike his counterpart, there was a lot of resistance, as if he was trying to push his hand through thick wax. Electricity crackled against his skin before he was pushed back. After a bit of stumbling he regained his footing, with all five turtles eyeing the portal with suspicion.

"Dudes that thing is weird!" Michelangelo half yelled, clinging to Raphael's side.

"Why is it not working now?"

"Hey Leon," Donatello started, standing next to the slider. "You and your brothers can go through these portals no problem."

"Mhm, so can April and pops! This has never happened before!"

"So we were all touching you and your brothers when we were brought through? Was Mikey touching any of your brothers the first time?"

"Little Mikey and I held hands and he pulled me through the portal!" Michelangelo interjected. The gears in his purple clad brother's head were turning. He took Leo's hand and pushed it and his own through the portal.

This time there was no resistance, no electricity, just a strange rippling sensation from the glowing blue.

"How are you-"

"We can only go through Leon's portals when we are touching him or his brothers." Donatello stated, letting go of Leo's hand and trying to shove his own back through the portal for emphasis. Like the previous attempts his hand bounced off, a zap stinging the turtle.

"So that means-"

"Turtle train! Chugga chugga choo choo!" Leo grabbed Donatello's hand and started pulling him through. Michelangelo grabbed his brother's other hand, followed by Raphael and lastly Leonardo.

They were all pulled through the portal, although there was resistance at the two eldest turtles. Maybe because they were the farthest from Leo's touch?

Once inside the portal they shrieked as they were tumbling through the vortex, well except Leo who was breezing through. Soon they crashed on the other side. The four older turtles landed face first on the roof concrete, groaning heavily. That fucking hurt!

"Land safely!" Leo said, arms pinwheeling as he tried to stay standing. Once he was steady he started pulling the other turtles up.

"Dude, that was awful!" Michelangelo groaned, wiping the dust off his body.

"Aw come on, it was fun!"

"Not even the Kraang portal felt that chaotic!" Donatello added.

"Ugh feels like my brain's been fried!"

"Well it's not like anyone would be able to tell the difference, shorty!" Raphael growled at the slider, he was not in the mood for that tonight.

Leonardo was the last one to stand up. "Alright team, let's go." He said walking past the four turtles and making his way to the sawmill. No, not walking, limping.

"You alright Lee?" Leo asked nervously. The blue clad turtle in question didn't give an answer.

"Are you guys coming or not?" He asked, impatience easily recognizable in his voice.

Leo turned to the other three turtles, all wearing unreadable expressions.

"Once the recon mission is over we'll deal with Fearless." Raphael said, pushing his brothers along.

Donatello went on ahead, walking next to his oldest brother. The two were quietly whispering to each other.

Raphael joined the two, leaving Leo and Michelangelo to trail behind.

"Are you sure you guys are fine?" Leo whispered to the orange clad turtle. Michelangelo shrugged, hugging himself a bit. His eyes were still glossy and red from crying.

"We're…eh I don't know. But can we not talk about it till later?" Leo's frown deepened, concern all over his face but he nodded. He'll give them space for now.

The five turtles entered the sawmill, it felt a bit strange being back here after a week. Just one week ago Leo met the four counterparts. He still doesn't know why his portal brought him here at the same time the four hooded turtles arrived. Was it fate?

"Are you fucking serious?" Donatello squawked, staring at the inside of the sawmill. Everything was gone. All the bodies of the Kraang droids, the blasters, even the second cannon. They were all gone. The only signs they were ever here were the cracks and scorch marks on the walls.

"Well it has been a week since we were here." Leonardo added, patting his younger brother's shell. "It was a long shot to assume anything would be left."

"Great! Just great! The only lead we had to get back home is gone!" Raphael kicked a broken piece of wood. Michelangelo deflated, now they would have to go back to the lair. Back to…

"Oh come on what's with the long faces? There has to be something left! Let's just look around and maybe we'll get lucky!" Leo cooly said, shoving some debris aside to begin scavenging.

Taking that as their cue, the four other turtles shrugged and split up. Each one searching a different part of the sawmill.

"What the-oh no." Raphael held up a small roundish chrome colored device. The most prominent feature being the sharp jaws of its mouth. It looked like one of Stockman's Mousers, only a bit smaller. "Looks like Dexter Fuckface got here first."

Donatello and Leonardo groaned, already dreading what was to come. When Baxter got his hands on Kraang tech he went from annoying nuisance to dangerous villain.

While searching, Michelangelo found a long thick chain connected to a piece of metal. Both were coated in a thin layer of rust but it could work as a weapon until they found his nunchucks and kusari-gama chain. As he lifted the chain, something caught his eye.

"What's with all the shredded paper?" He held up pieces of maroon and teal colored paper. They were torn apart and some were even burned.

"Huh weird, and where did this come from?" Donatello held up a long piece of fabric. It was satin and a pretty shade of purple. It looked like it had been torn from something.

"There must've been more fighting here while we were unconscious." Leonardo replied, holding what looked like a silver colored comb in his hands. When he flicked it a blade came out, pretty convenient.

"Looks like everyone and their mama wanted a piece of sweet alien tech! Paper ninjas, Purple Dragons, Baxter! Oh Donnie's gonna be so mad he didn't get a piece!" Leo chucked more shreds of paper and the remains of trashed Mousers aside, some of which hit Raphael on the head.

"Even the biodroid is gone! Raph get over here there's like a million spider webs and I don't wanna touch them!" Raphael smacked Leo upside the head and went over to help Michelangelo, while also ignoring the raspberry Leo sent him.

The slider looked over as the red clad turtle made quick work of the webs with his flamethrowers. Wait a minute weren't those the same webs that…

A tap on Leo's shoulder made him snap out of it. He looked up to see Donatello, it looked like he was saying something.

"Could you repeat that?" With a groan, the taller turtle nodded.

"I asked what are 'Paper Ninjas'"

"Oh yeah well it's what it says on the tin, ninjas made out of paper!"

"How would that work?" The older blue clad turtle added, standing beside Donatello.

"They start off as little origami soldiers. The Foot Lieutenant chucks them and poof they turn into ninjas that will whoop your ass!"

"Did you say Foot Lieutenant, as in the Foot Clan?"

"That is so idiotic! Why use flimsy paper? It bends and tears too easily plus if you get it wet or burned it's basically useless!"

"I dunno man but those guys are total chumps! I could beat them with my eyes closed!" It was then that Leo tripped over a piece of debris, landing flat on his face.

"Hey Leon, look what we found!" The trio of cool colored turtles looked up to see Raphael holding something in his hands. Leo's face went pale as he began to cringe.

In the short turtle's hand was a black headband with pastel rainbow cat ears sewn on. The very same headband that Leo tried to use to fool the Kraang Biodroid last week at the sawmill fight.

The four older turtles started snickering.

"I still can't believe you tried to use a cat ear headband against a a Kraang Biodroid!" Donatello snickered.

"Or that you thought it would work!" Raphael added, trying not to laugh.

"I did not!" Oh why did Leo's voice have to crack so badly when he said that?

"Oh really? So you didn't use the stupid headband?"

"Nope!"

"So you didn't say, word for word: I'm a cat! Meow Meow! You know, nya!" Raphael mocked, even making the same limp wrist motion Leo had made a week ago. What made it even funnier was that his voice was completely flat and monotone, causing his brothers to struggle not to laugh.

Leo pouted, angrily crossing his arms. The snickering only got louder. "That thing was gonna kick my ass all the way to next Tuesday, I panicked!"

"So when you panic you make incredibly stupid plans?" Leo grumbled, looking away despite how hot his face suddenly got.

Michelangelo piped up "Dude, if you're gonna make a stupid play you gotta own it!" He put the headband on his head, despite how weird it looked with the hood up. "Watch and learn!" He started meowing and making cat sounds without an ounce of shame. The four remaining turtles started laughing. Leo smiled a bit, good these guys needed to laugh.

"You see! I am convinced that he is a cat, or his brain got sucked out with a vacuum. One of the two." Donatello's comment only made Leo's pout worse and made Michelangelo roll his eyes.

"Wow thanks Dee."

"Anytime."

"So what was that about a Foot Lieutenant?" Leonardo suddenly asked, the almost relaxed playfulness quickly vanishing like smoke. His three brothers tensed up, concern painted their faces.

Leo frowned, oh this isn't good. Despite his embarrassment he was glad that the four hooded turtles seemed to relax a little. Especially after they had been crying earlier. Now the tension had come back with avengeance.

"Relax you guys, we already took care of the Foot Clan! Those chumps are history!" That didn't seem to calm the older turtles down, in fact it seemed to make them even more worried.

"What do you mean you took care of them?" Leo shrugged, twirling his katanas around as vibrant blue sparks shined from the metal.

"We kicked their asses all the way to New Jersey with our awesome mystic powers!" The concern morphed into confusion.

"That is both vague and not really answering the question." Thank you Donatello for that wonderful addition!

"You mentioned a Foot Lieutenant?"

"Yup he and the Foot Brute run their creepy demonic cult."

"The Foot Clan is a cult?" Michelangelo wrapped his arms around Raphael in a nervous side hug.

Leo nodded, slinging one katana, specifically the one that had been misbehaving all week, over his shoulder.

The slider really should learn to shut his damn mouth.

"Yeah they were a bunch of wackjobs that worshiped the Shredder, which was basically a demonic suit of armor that tried to kill us but we destroyed him and saved the entire world so no biggie! Sure Big Mama turned on us instead of honoring her deal but it was still super cool-" He hadn't meant to brag, well not much. In fact if he hadn't noticed the counterparts' faces, he might've gone off on his tangent on how he won the Battle Nexus Championship.

Then he saw the color drain from the hooded turtles' faces and the words died in his throat. Eyes wide, pupils pinpricks.

Michelangelo clung to Raphael even tighter, his breaths starting to quicken. The older turtle held his sais in his hands. He growled, wrapping his arms around his brother, the growling growing louder and louder with each passing second.

Then there was Donatello, both hands covered over his mouth as his eyes darted around the sawmill. He flinched at every little creak of the old building.

Lastly there was Leonardo, who had gone so pale so fast he looked almost ghostly. He was trembling, katanas unsheathed in shaking hands. He'd looked like he'd seen a ghost.

They all looked like they'd seen a ghost. More tears were starting to well in their eyes once again. They were crying again?

It was the blue clad turtle that spoke up first.

"What?" He asked, his voice sounding almost strained. Like he choked the word out.

Leo's face fell, worry festering in the pit of his stomach.

What did he say? What caused this almost visceral reaction? He hadn't meant to hurt them! They had already been crying before and Leo didn't know why! Clearly something was wrong but what? How could he help make it better? This is getting way too heavy.

'Oh you did it now Leon.' The slider thought to himself before plastering a fake smile on. "This dumb mission has been a total bust! Who wants to go get some Pizza? I'm buying!" He had hoped that a nice change of subject would be enough to ease the tension.

"I-uh…Seriously?" Leonardo stuttered out. He sounded…angry. "You drop a massive bombshell like that and you just wanna go get pizza?" Leo gulped, waving his hands in surrender.

"That's not what I meant! I just-" Leo was cut off by the sound of a car pulling up to the sawmill. It didn't sound like the familiar rumbling of the Turtle Tank.

The five turtles approached one of the windows, peaking out at the road. An old van was parked, two purple tinted figures stepping out.

One small and skinny the other big and brawny. They both were sporting bright orange footprints on their faces as flames danced over their heads.

"Speak of the devil."

"Wait, that's the Foot Clan? Dude they look like clowns!" Michelangelo replied, wiping his baby blue eyes dry.

"Why are their heads on fire?"

"Why are they purple?"

"None of that matters!" Leonardo hissed through gritted teeth. "What matters is what are they doing here?"

"They're the Foot Clan! So probably something evil and culty." Leo stood up, clapping his hands. "How about we bash their lights out and then go get some victory pizza! Good plan?" Despite the glares he received the four turtles nodded, weapons drawn.

Leo smirked, slashing his katanas to create another portal. "¡Vamos mis hermanos!" He grabbed Raphael's hand, the rest of the brothers joining hands and they stepped through the portal.

A glowing blue portal formed in front of the van, the five turtles stepping out. Only one of them was recognized by the two Foot leaders while the other four gained looks of confusion.

"So Foot faces whatcha doin here on this wonderful Tuesday?" Leo playfully asked, rocking on his heels. Neither of the enemy ninjas were looking at him. Their gaze was focused on the four older turtles.

"Who are the new guys?" The Lieutenant asked, pointing at the hooded ninjas.

Leo looked over, a chill running down his spine. The turtles stood rigid, weapons drawn and their eyes were solid white. A heavy almost threatening aura surrounded them.

"Uh guys can you chill out a bit? It's just the Foot dorks, they're a level three boss villain at best!"

Leonardo nodded to Raphael and then to Donatello and Michelangelo. In a flash the four turtles raced towards the enemies. They split up, Raphael and Leonardi going after the Lieutenant while Donatello and Michelangelo went after the Brute.

"Well ok then! COWABUNGA!" Leo chucked one of his katanas, disappearing in a blue flash of light. With a blip he appeared behind the Brute, slashing at him with the katanas.

The slider left two long slash marks on the Brute's back before quickly teleporting away to avoid the brute's massive fists.

"Oh what's the matter, big guy? Am I too quick for you?" Leo taunted, dodging every single one of the Brute's attacks with ease.

Donatello swung his electric bō, slamming it into the Brute's left bicep. Electricity crackled off the Footsoldier but he didn't seem all that affected. He swung his fists, with Donatello barely getting a chance to duck.

He growled, swinging the bō even faster than before while smacking it against the Brute over and over. All that seemed to do was leave charred skin.

"Leon's got this!" He shouted, chucking his katana at the ninja before teleporting to the blade. He grabbed it and started spinning like a top, both swords leaving dozens of cuts on the Foot Solider's raised arms. "Oh come on big guy! Keep your spin up and you'll eventually beat me!" The Brute growled, grabbed Leo by the left leg and chucked him into the far wall. The Slider tried to make a portal to land into but he wasn't fast enough and slammed into the bricks. "Ow…" He groaned, flopping onto the ground.

Donatello ran over, kneeling down by the younger turtle's side as he sat up. "Are you ok, Leon? How many fingers am I holding up?" Leo shook his head, picking up his katanas.

"One and I'm good, just a few bruises." A loud crash caught the pair's attention.

"BOOYAKASHA!" Michelangelo screamed, the metal debris of his makeshift weapon slammed into the Brute's skull, the heavy chain coiling around his neck.

"Woah nice shot Mikester!" There was no response from the orange clad turtle. He landed on the Brute's shoulders, grabbing both ends of the chain. Then he yanked hard on them, tightening the chain around the Brute's throat. The purple clad turtle smirked, it made Leo shudder. It was a malicious, almost evil looking smirk.

The massive ninja started choking, trying to pull the chain off but Michelangelo just pulled it tighter. An almost sickening smirk on his face. Donatello shrieked a battle cry, a long naginata blade was unsheathed from the head of his bō.

"Wait what are you-" Before Leo could finish his question, the blade was jabbed into the Brute's lower chest. A horrendous scream filled the air as Leo's heart jumped into his throat.

Donatello twisted the blade in deeper before yanking it back out, pinkish blood staining the silver. Michelangelo jerked on the chains with all his might before somehow managing to flip the Brute and throw him against the van with enough force to knock it over.

Leo could only stare at the two, that escalated quickly.

"Leon, get your head in the game!" Raphael shouted, his flamethrowers spitting bright amber flames at the hordes of Origami Ninjas the Lieutenant was making. Of course that meant that the poor ninjas barely got a few seconds of life before they were completely torched.

Meanwhile Leonardo was trying to slice and dice the Foot Lieutenant to pieces, if only the ninja would hold still.

"But you look like you're having so much fun!" Leo whined as the two younger hooded turtles ran after the Brute as he stood up again.

The slider ignored how that made his heart skip a few beats and decided to join the oldest turtles.

He slashed at the paper ninjas, reducing them to ribbons with ease. Donatello was right, paper ninjas are way too fragile. However it seemed the Foot Faces might've robbed a paper store or two before coming here since the Lieutenant had a LOT of paper, combined with his insanely fast origami skills.

He had a lot of ninjas.

Everytime Leo sliced up one, three more replaced it. Raphael seemed to be having an easier time since all he had to do was keep holding the flamethrower triggers and the ninjas went down in seconds.

Leo cracked his knuckles before waving at the growing hordes of ninjas. He had an idea. An incredibly stupid one but like Michelangelo said earlier, if you're gonna make a stupid plan you gotta own.

"Hey paper ninjas!" He put the cat ear headband on his head, ignoring how his soul cringed. "Meow Meow come get me Footheads!" He yelled, feeling his cheeks go warm.

"What the- You can't be serious!" Raphael yelled, smacking his head into the palm of his hand. Leo ran off, getting a good chunk of the horde to chase him. Perfect.

"Yeah that's right morons, follow the adorable kitty cat! Meow Meow Meow!" Once a good portion was separated from the rest, the younger blue clad turtle turned to the red clad turtle.

"Hey tiny!" Raphael whipped around to glare at Leo, white eyes wide with fury.

"The fuck did you just call me?"

"Heads up!" Leo slashed through the air, creating a blue portal. With a sweep of his leg the paper ninjas fell through. A second portal opened above Raphael. He smirked, raising both flamethrowers and firing at the falling paper.

The ninjas were quickly reduced to ashes, raining down on Raphael. He shook it off with a vindictive laugh, taking out the rest of them in an almost gleeful manner.

"Guess you're all fired up?" Raphael groaned.

"Don't start!"

"But how can I not when I'm so stoked!" Another groan.

"Leon I swear to god I will smack you to New Jersey! Now stop with the bad jokes and keep fighting!" Leo shrugged, watching the red clad turtle cover the parking lot in flames. Donatello and Michelangelo were brawling against the Brute, and from the looks of it, they were winning.

That just left Leonardo and the Foot Lieutenant.

Leo sprinted over, nervous dread pooling in his stomach.

The Lieutenant was significantly weaker than the Brute was, it could probably only take a few hits to take him out. However the problem was actually trying to hit him. What he lacks in strength he more than makes up for in speed.

Which is why Leonardo was having such a difficult time landing even a single hit, as the Lieutenant kept dodging every incredible slash and attack from the hooded turtle.

Leo teleported behind the Lieutenant, knocking him off his legs. The lead Foot Soldier did a backflip, landing on his feet. He kicked Leo in the stomach, sending another horde of paper ninjas to subdue him.

"Get off of me you Foot fucks!" Once again pulling out the ol' beyblade spin move, Leo made quick work of the ninjas.

Just in time to watch Leonardo finally get in close enough to land a nasty hit to the Lieutenant's chest. A thin stream of pink oozed from the wound. With a furious snarl, the Foot Lieutenant roughly kicked Leonardo in the leg. His bad leg. That was the idea after all. Target the enemy's weak points.

A pained scream tore from the blue clad turtle's mouth before he was chucked against a nearby dumpster, both his black katanas flying in opposite directions.

"Oh shit!" Leo yelled, racing over while ignoring the outraged battle cries of the other three turtles.

Leonardo was trying to stand up, gotta rejoin the fight.

"Easy, don't try to get up just yet." Leo said, already trying to pry the knee pad off so he could examine the joint.

"I'm…nngh…fine! I'm fine Leon!" The oldest turtle grunted out, pushing away the examining hands. This went on for about two minutes until the slider had enough.

Leo growled, flicking his counterpart in the forehead. "Will you chill out for five seconds so I can see if your knee is dislocated or not?"

Once again Leo was shoved off.

"We got more trouble!" Five more vans skidded to a stop, dozens upon dozens of human Foot Ninjas poured out of the vans and quickly joined the battle.

Going against a massive meathead and a scrawny chainsmoker was easy! But with their added friends things just got a lot more difficult.

The added ninjas began to overwhelm the three other turtles, with them all being quickly surrounded. Dodging every single hit and attacking the ninjas was almost impossible.

"Dude we gotta go!" Michelangelo yelled before getting a punch to the jaw.

"Leon, open a portal now!" Raphael added, narrowly avoiding a katana to the head.

"But what about the mission?"

"Who cares we gotta get out of here!* Donatello shouted before he was thrown at his other two brothers.

"Get away from my brothers!" Leonardo practically screamed, snatching one of Leo's katanas and practically flying back into the battlefield. With a furious screech he started swinging the blade, knocking a dozen ninjas back at once. He suddenly got a lot faster, dodging every single attack with ease. He wasn't even limping!

Leo blinked, this is just like what happened a week ago in the playground fight.

There is no way that can be a coincidence.

As Leonardo took down the swarms of enemy ninjas, he looked at the three older turtles. All three were watching while growing more and more impressed and confused.

Raphael snapped out of his stupor, rushing back in to help Leonardo. His other two brothers did the same. Leo grabbed both of his counterpart's katanas, they felt heavy and unnatural in his hands but they would work.

For a bit it seemed like the tide of the battle had turned back into the turtles' favor. They were making quick work of the ninjas and they weren't getting their asses whooped.

Then an arrow whizzed through the air, piercing through Donatello's shoulder. He yelled in pain before more arrows began flying through the air. Archers, of course the Foot Clan brought archers!

"Ok now its time to go!" Leo pulled out his own katana and slashed through the air, creating a portal. "All aboard the turtle train!" He halfheartedly yelled, grabbing Michelangelo's hand. He grabbed Raphael's and he grabbed Donatello's wrist.

"Leo come on, we're leaving!" The purple clad turtle hollered, despite his pained voice.

Leonardo didn't react.

"Dude enough we gotta bounce!"

"Leo you better not be pulling the self sacrificial bullshit again!"

He didn't react at all, he just kept fighting the Foot Ninjas. Like he didn't even hear his brothers.

Raphael handed Donatello's wrist to Michelangelo and sprinted over to his older brother.

"Leo what are you doing? We! Got! To! Go!" Even when Raphael was up in Leonardo's face he didn't react. It was almost like he was in a trance or something.

"Leo? Leo, can you hear me!" Raphael snapped his fingers while avoiding the attacks and arrows, still no response.

"Raph!"

"For fuck's sake!" Raphael suddenly grabbed Leonardo and slung him over his shoulder like a sack of flour and ran back to the others. "Stop squirming you dumbass!" He grabbed Donatello's other hand and Leo pulled them all through the portal, far away from the raging battle.

They landed on the rooftop of what looked like a highschool building.

All five turtles sat there, four of them panting like dogs. The exception being Leonardo, who was struggling to break free from Raphael's hold on him like a rabid animal.

"Dude fucking chill!"

"Something's wrong its like he's in some kind of freaky trance!"

Donatello was gasping from the pain, one hand pressed against the lodged arrow to stop the trickle of blood.

"Oh man that looks bad! Really bad!" Michelangelo whined, helping his brother apply pressure to the wound.

"Fuck fuck fuck!" Leo's phone began buzzing, interrupting the growing chaos.

He quickly unlocked the device and accepted the call. It was Raph.

"Hey Leo where have you been we've been trying to call-"

"HELP!" The four turtles, minus Leonardo, screamed in sync. "WE NEED HELP!"

It was going to be a long day.

[tmnt-obsessed-ace]

When The World Crumbles: Chapter Seven, Lost and Found

Michelangelo knew New York city like the back of his hand.

If asked he could give near perfect directions to any building. Whether it be to TCRI, Murakami's noodle shop, or even some random school in Brooklyn.

Once he and his older brothers ventured to the surface they quickly learned the layout of the strange city. With the youngest memorizing every route to their haunts the quickest. Photographic memory and all.

The city was familiar, it was his home.

However none of that was helping Michelangelo here in an alternate dimension.

While all the buildings had the same or similar names, the layout was different. Some buildings were in completely different spots. Leaving him confused when he would assume he was going one direction with the buildings as his guide when in fact he was going in a completely different direction!

And what was even more confusing was that some buildings just flat out didn't exist! One of them being TCRI.

It was one of the tallest buildings in New York City, easily recognizable, and Michelangelo was going to use it to get his bearings. Once he had found TCRI he could find the billboard his brothers were waiting at and then they could find shelter.

But there was no TCRI here.

No matter where Michelangelo looked there was no TCRI. Like it was never here! That's not possible! The Kraang have to exist in this dimension so they would build TCRI so they could build the portal and bring death and destruction!

And yet…there was no trace of the aliens. Not even the lingering scent of mutagen as Michelangelo passed by some old Kraang hideouts. Or at least where they were supposed to be.

Truth be told he was kinda glad the Kraang hadn't shown up yet. After all, if the turtle's counterparts have magical glowy powers, who knows how strong the Kraang will be.

The orange clad turtle jumped from rooftop to rooftop, looking for the billboard where his family was. All the while his broken arm throbbed against his chest.

"This city is like a maze!" The hooded turtle whined, looking up at the brightening sky. Sunrise was rapidly approaching with every second that passed by. And once the sun came up New York City would go from overcrowded to choking.

Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.

Michelangelo looked for the billboard his brothers were waiting behind, what was one it again? As the orange clad turtle racked his brain for answers bright lights shined down the street below. He looked down, a dirty old tow truck pulled up by a crosswalk.

Normally not a concern, if not for the fact that the driver of this tow truck was not human. The driver was a mantis looking mutant with surprisingly purple skin. Why was he purple?

"What the hell! A mutant driving a tow truck?" Michelangelo mused, watching the purple skinned mantis looking thing walk out of the truck and start knocking aggressively on the door of some run down building.

He wanted to go down there and investigate, see what the deal was and possibly kick some ass.

'No I have to get back to my brothers, I've been gone too long anyways!' The hooded turtle thought to himself. He tried to go back the way he came across the rooftops so he could avoid the purple mantis.

However, as it was a recurring problem, luck was not on his side. Michelangelo slipped and nearly fell off the roof. He screamed, thrashing around as he somehow pulled himself back onto the rooftop.

"Hey you!" The mantis man yelled in a rough voice "Get yer ass down here! You owe me money and it's bout time you paid!"

"I owe you money? Dude I've never met you before!" Michelangelo retorted, holding his broken arm close. It was covered in bruises in all kinds of ugly colors and was swollen up like a balloon. Hurt like hell too. His near fall had aggravated it. "Can't you cut me some slack?" He waved the terrible looking limb at the mantis who didn't seem to give a single fuck.

The mantis's eyes widened before narrowing furiously. When Michelangelo had nearly fallen, he was facing with his back to the mantis. However when he pulled himself up and showed off the broken arm he had turned around to face the mantis.

Revealing his orange mask.

"You're one of those stupid turtles arent ya!" The mantis yelled, leaning against the tow truck with his arms crossed. Or is it claws…who knows!

Michelangelo gulped, all the wounds on his body begging him to avoid further confrontation. An idea popped into his head.

"Uh no I aint! I's from Florida! How's yall's night goin!" The orange clad turtle yelled in the fakest southern accent he could come up with. The mantis grit his teeth, getting more annoyed.

"Cut the accent! You are one of the turtles ain't cha!" Michelangelo whimpered, he just kept screwing up tonight.

He decided to do what he's been doing this entire night. Run for his life.

"Leave me alone!" He screamed as the furious mantis flew up into the air, giving chase.

Michelangelo sprinted across the rooftops, narrowly avoiding the sharp claws of the mantis as they tried to carve his guts out.

The mantis kept yelling at him, but Michelangelo tuned out every word. All his thoughts were focused on getting back to his brothers and not dying to a purple mantis!

After a few minutes he ended up at a construction site, there were a lot of construction sites around the city. Way more than there usually were. The orange clad turtle fell to his knees panting like a dog after a marathon. He was so tired, his stomach ached from hunger and his entire body felt like a punching bag.

The mantis was catching up, so the hooded turtle forced himself to stand on wobbly legs. He grabbed his nunchucks, armed and ready.

"Bring it on creep! I'm not afraid of you!" Michelangelo yelled, voice cracking. That lie was so obvious a baby could see it. His nunchucks were smacked out of his hands by the mantis and so was his kusarigama chain. Crap.

The mantis flew up in front of him, slamming his massive claws down. Michelangelo barely had a chance to jump backwards so he wouldn't get sliced.

The claws slammed down into the wooden beam they were standing on, smashing the wood in seconds.

"Ha! Missed me you prick!" The orange clad turtle said, even blowing a raspberry with his tongue. The mantis growled, trying to slam his claws down again. And again, Michelangelo dodged the attack. Over and over this happened, the mantis would try to strike down, Michelangelo would dodge and the claws would hit the beam.

The wooden beam started to creak, sinking downwards. Michelangelo dared to look, growing dizzy at the ground far, far below.

Then he looked up at the mantis, a panicked look in his baby blue eyes.

"God damn it, don't give me that look! Ugh, fine, just give me that there bag on your back and we'll be square." The mantis said, raising a claw to hand over the bag. The bag with the first aid kit.

"Over my dead body! I went through way too much trouble to get this just to give it away!" Michelangelo growled, fire burning in his eyes.

The mantis shrugged, maybe he should've used different words.

"Wait, don't!" The claws were brought down onto the beam one final time.

The beam snapped.

The turtle fell.

He pulled on the cord, trying to open his glider. Every tug became more and more desperate as the ground grew closer and closer.

Falling.

Falling further down.

His eyes filled with tears. He's failed.

He failed his brothers, failed his city, failed the entirety of planet Earth in his dimension!

He couldn't even get a simple first aid kit to his brothers! Pathetic!

A tiny sob escaped his throat.

He shut his eyes and braced for impact.

There was a sudden jerk, cutting off the turtle's screams.

Teary baby blue eyes opened, the ground still far away. The straps of the backpack were digging into his armpits. He looked up.

Somehow the backpack had gotten hooked on another beam, suspending the turtle. Sparing the boy from death.

"Holy shit you survived!" The mantis yelled from above.

Michelangelo bared his teeth, trying to pull himself up so he wasn't dangling like a puppet on strings.

The beam creaked, forcing the hooded turtle to stay put.

"Well I'd love to stay and chat but I got junk to repo and money to collect! Hope you don't die, you little pest!" The mantis yelled, flying off. Leaving Michelangelo alone.

"Wait no! Don't leave me here!" Michelangelo yelled, more tears pouring down his freckled cheeks.

The mantis just left him to dangle above certain death. Didn't even give a shit that the orange clad turtle was in this mess because of him!

Everything kept going wrong tonight!

All of the turtle's anger and frustrations bubbled over, needing to be released. Normally he doesn't cuss, at least not as much as Raphael does. However in this situation and after the dog shit week he's had, it feels a little warranted.

Michelangelo took a deep breath before shouting to the heavens at the top of his lungs:

"YOU FUCKING SON OF A BITCH!"

"Pick a color." Mikey said, holding out the paper fortune teller to Donnie. The softshell was only half paying attention while he scrolled on his tablet.

"Purple." Donnie said, glancing down at the paper to make sure purple was in fact an option. It was.

"Oh how could I have predicted that you would choose purple?" Mikey said with playful sarcasm in his voice.

"Haha Angleo, very funny, now predict my future." Mikey rolled his eyes and began pinching and pulling the paper fortune teller.

"P-U-R-P-L-E" He looked down, instead of the colors there were symbols: A firework, a flame, a bolt of lightning and a hurricane.

"Now pick again." Donnie glanced down at the paper, scanning his options.

"Lightning" He said, turning his gaze back to his tablet so Mikey could spell it out.

Once again the box turtle pinched and pulled the paper fortune teller while spelling out the word lightning. After he finished he opened one of the flaps, revealing the message inside.

"And what's my fortune, oh great seer?" Donnie asked curiously.

"You will get covered in slime!" Mikey said ominously. Donnie gasped and visibly shuddered. That would be his worst nightmare.

"How dare you even suggest such a thing Michael!" Donnie exclaimed, being his typical dramatic self. Mikey giggled, but that did nothing to soothe the massive ball of dread in his stomach.

Ever since they started searching for his apparent counterpart, Mikey had been feeling nothing but nervous dread.

Like a tornado watch turning into a tornado warning. Disaster is coming and all you can do is wait.

"You ok Mikey? You got quiet." Raph asked from his driver's seat. The box turtle looked up, he knew it was written all over his face.

"I'm just worried about…him." Mikey said, thinking about his counterpart. His older counterpart covered in more injuries to count, a broken arm clutched to his chest, exhaustion filling those baby blue eyes.

"I know whatcha mean, I'm worried about the little guy too." Raph said, holding up the photograph again. "How much did he go through to get so banged up? And what about his family? Are they ok too?"

"Well the red one and purple one looked equally as banged up and tired so…probably no." Leo interjected, rubbing his eyes. They weren't as red as they were before, thanks to the amount of eyedrops he put in.

"And what about your counterpart? We haven't seen any sign of another blue clad turtle." Mikey asked, he didn't like that another version of his older brother might be seriously injured.

"I didn't really get a good look at him in the sawmill fight." Leo confessed, looking down at the dirty katana in his lap. The one his counterpart used.

"Also you wanna hear what's weird?" Leo asked after a few tense moments of silence.

"Uh sure, go ahead." Raph said, glancing down at Mikey who only shrugged.

"My counterpart is an archer."

"No way."

"Way, and he's a good one too."

"Last time you tried to fire an arrow you nearly shot pops's tail off!" Raph lightly flicked Leo in the head.

"Yeah because you go crosseyed and your aim gets crappy!" Mikey added, ignoring Leo's groan.

"We can roast Nardo's terrible skills in archery later, I got an email from Casey." Donnie said, pulling up the email on his tablet.

"What does she want?" Leo leaned over to look at the tablet.

"I don't know, not only is there no subject or text but it was sent around the time we got kidnapped by Meatsweats."

"Oh boy, think she might be mad?" Mikey asked.

"If there's no subject or text what's in the email?" Raph parked the turtle tank so all four could check it out without crashing.

"Just an audio file." Donnie hit play and the four turtles crowded around the tablet.

They expected to hear Casey's voice. They did not.

"I don't know who is going to hear this but I need help!" A rasping panicked voice began. "I'm being attacked by hordes of vicious little girls and yes I know that sounds lame but it's the truth." Banging sounds and muffled screams could be heard in the background.

"I'm at a building called Grandma CJ's Brownies and I've been injured so please just send this message to my brother-" Injured? Someone was injured? How badly! A crash made the four turtles jump. The voice went quiet, seemingly also stunned.

"They're breaking the door down?" The voice asked, the fear dripping from every word. "Where are these girls' parents? Fuck I'm running out of time, send this message to my brother Don-" The voice was cut off, instead replaced by loud coughs and wheezes as the owner of the voice started to choke.

Loud vicious shrieks drowned out the struggles of the first voice. Leo and Donnie were staring wide eyed at the tablet. Raph had both hands over his mouth, listening in horror. Mikey had slunk behind the snapper, as the playing audio sounded like something ripped from a horror movie.

"Turn off the recording and delete the message!" The voice of Julia, the top girl scout in the Brownie Clan yelled. The recording ended there, with the first voice long since gone quiet. It sounded like he was being strangled or something.

The four turtles looked at each other with horrified faces.

"I guess we aren't the only ones having a crappy day." Leo said, trying and failing to brighten the mood.

"He said to send the message to his brother Don…was he going to say Donnie?" Mikey asked, the ball of dread growing with each passing second.

"That voice didn't sound like other me or other Raph." Donnie said, connecting the dots.

"And we're going after Mikey's doppelganger" Raph said, holding the youngest close.

"So that means that…" Leo started, clenching his fists. They all knew what that meant.

Leo's counterpart had been captured by the Brownie Clan.

"Well lets go smash him out!" Raph said, punching his fist. Leo glanced at the monitor. The blinking orange dot on the map showing where the med kit was, and where other Mikey was.

"Ok, ok we'll split up. Tello and I will go rescue other me, Raph and Mikey will go get other Mikey." Leo stated, with all the false confidence of a leader.

Donnie's phone buzzed.

"It's April," He answered the call. "Hey April whats-"

April screaming was all that could be heard on the line.

A car beat up car zoomed by, April in the driver's seat. What followed was the old Albearto animatronic, chasing after her like a madman. And he was also on fire.

The four turtles looked at each other.

"Ok we'll deal with that…and then go rescue our counterparts!" Leo said, and they all jumped out of the tank. Time to be heros!

There were sounds, distant garbled sounds.

Although Leonardo couldn't hear them very well over the ringing of his ears. Pain came next, his entire body ached and throbbed. Every single bruise, cut, and burn from the Kraang attacks. The stab wound in his shoulder felt hot and painful as new waves of agony pulsed with each beat of his heart. His neck felt so sore from the rope that had nearly strangled him…

Then there was his stupid knee that gave out on him. That was the pain he was most familiar with, ranging from a dull ache to stabbing pains that made him see double. This time it was his own fault, he had strained his knee too much and now the joint was punishing him

Needless to say, everything hurt so much.

His dreary eyes started to open, and thankfully the ringing was fading as well.

Suddenly something slapped across his cheek, hard. Dark blue eyes shot open, that blonde brat from earlier staring at him with an evil smirk.

"Wake up!" She yelled and slapped him again, adding another sting. Leo whimpered, though it was muffled.

This is when he became aware that he had something stuffed into his mouth and covered with duct tape so he couldn't spit it out.

The thing in question was a small tennis ball.

Great. Just great. He closed his eyes, trying to ignore the angry girl scout.

"Wake! Up! You! Stupid! Dinosaur!" Julia yelled again, slapping Leonardo with every word. Was she doing this just to torment him?

Leonardo shouted, muffled by the tennis ball and duct tape. Julia and another girl laughed at him, jerks.

"Good morning sleeping beauty!" The other girl taunted, her shrill voice making the hooded turtle's head ache.

"You were out almost all night!" Julia added, pointing at the clock. Leonardo squinted, just able to make out the time.

4:45 am.

His eyes went as wide as dinner plates, pupils as small as pinpricks.

The girls were saying other things but that didn't matter. The ringing returned, much louder this time.

He had been captured for hours! Where were his brothers? Were they still looking for Michelangelo? Did they get captured too? Are they even still alive?

Before the blue clad turtle knew it he was hyperventilating, each breath of air making his chest burn like fire. He struggled against his restraints. He was tied tightly to a swivel chair.

"Dude, chill you're going to pass out if you keep doing that." The other girl said, a hint of worry in her voice.

"Do you not know how to breathe or something?" Julia asked, tearing off the duct tape. Leonardo spit out the tennis ball. Finally, that was making his jaw sore.

He somehow managed to steele himself enough to take a few deep breaths.

"Let me go!" The hooded turtle demanded, wincing at how terrible his voice sounded. Had the strangulation further damaged his vocal chords? Was his voice going to get worse? 'Not now, focus.' He thought to himself.

"Why should we? You barge in here acting like you own the place and try to take away the cool blob thing!" The other girl complained.

"Because of you it ran off, not cool." Julia added, sitting on a table.

"I'm sorry, I really am, except that thing is extremely dangerous, not a toy." Leonardo choked out, coughing as his throat was further strained.

"But I wanted to see if it had organs! Wait, does it have organs?" The other girl, who's name Leonardo finally remembered is Sarah, asked, an innocent look in her eyes. It was jarring how cute she could make herself look while asking such a morbid question.

Or maybe all little girls are just like that.

"I uh, I don't know. My brother knows a lot more about anatomy than I do."

"Ugh whatever! What do we do with him?" Another girl asked, leaning over a chair.

The girls went quiet for a moment, so many possibilities for their prisoner. Leonardo took this as an opportunity to quietly scoot away on the swivel chair.

"I got it!" Sarah yelled, nearly falling off the table she was sitting on. Julia caught her by the arm and pulled her back up.

"Spill it Sarah, what's your plan?" Julia asked, surprisingly not as demanding as when talking to the other scouts.

"Let's sacrifice him to the long furby! So that he may ascend to godhood!" The girl proclaimed. Leonardo sputtered.

"You're going to sacrifice me?" He shouted, terrified. There was no way these.girls were joking about that, given how malicious they are.

"That is an amazing idea!" The other girl shouted, running off to tell the others.

"No it isn't!"

"Quiet!" Sarah yelled, chucking the tennis ball at his head. He barely dodged in time.

Julia smiled, patting the shorter girl on the shoulder before turning to the blue clad turtle.

"We must prepare the ceremony so that our lord of darkness may claim your pathetic blood and use it for his grand ascension!" The swivel chair was pushed into a different room.

Truthfully Leonardo had thought about death quite frequently, far beyond what might be considered healthy. Even more so after Splinter was murdered and he took the Shredder's life.

However being murdered by blood thirsty little girl scouts as a sacrificial offering to a long furby had never crossed his mind before today.

He was brought into a large room, hordes of the feral girls lined up around a table. The chair was pushed in front of the table, causing Leonardo to look up in horror at the apparent long furby.

It had to be at least twenty five to thirty feet long, covered in black fur with red stripes. It was wearing a gold crown on its little head. The most horrifying part was the eyes.

This thing had so many eyes Leonardo didn't even want to count them all.

"You seriously do not want to do this!" He yelled, voice cracking. The girls laughed and Julia grabbed a god damn machete!

"What is going on here?" A female voice called out, older than the swarms of girl scouts but still young. Probably around sixteen or seventeen.

Leonardo looked up, a woman dressed like a kunoichi and sporting short cropped hair walked in. Finally someone sensible!

"Help they want to sacrifice me to that…thing" Leonardo yelled, gesturing with his head to the long furby of nightmares.

The woman scowled, and Leonardo expected her to scold the girl scouts.

She did not.

In fact she straight up backhanded the blue clad turtle across the face! That hit actually left him dizzy.

"How dare you speak ill of our prince of darkness!" The woman yelled with just as much seriousness as the girls.

Was it too much to ask for someone to be NORMAL?

"Sorry?" He mumbled, head still reeling from the slap. The woman looked him over, a curious look in her eyes.

"Are you a part of the Mad Dogs, where does your alliance fall?" Leonardo racked his brain, trying to think of if he's heard that name before. He hasn't.

And unfortunately Leonardo is a really bad liar.

"I…I've never heard that name before." Leonardo said, hoping that was a good thing. Maybe they would let him go.

"We did plan on sacrificing him so that our lord may conquer the spiritual plane once more!" Julia said, making Leonardo's head spin.

This was worse than that one time he was listening to Michelangelo try to explain the FNAF lore at two am when he had a cold after he had taken a bit too much Tylenol.

"Excellent! However…" Suddenly the ropes were cut off. "Get his weapons!" The woman shouted, two girls scurrying off to gather his bow arrows and katana.

Once the gear was returned, Leonardo looked up with exhausted eyes at the woman.

"Are you letting me go?" He dared to ask. The room erupted into laughter.

"Of course not…prove to us that you are in fact worthy of being sacrificed in the name of our lord! He will decide if you shall be spared or if your blood will further his ascension so that he may overthrow the heavenly kingdom in place of his own!" The woman shouted, pulling out a staff.

A blade similar to a hockey stick was pulled out, making Leonardo gulp.

He flung the quiver over his shoulder and grabbed his katana, heart starting to race in his aching chest.

"Prove your skills as a warrior, in a battle to the death!" The woman excitedly yelled, swinging her weapon. The girls all backed up to give them ample space, all while cheering the woman on.

"Look I really don't have time for this-" The blade slashed his forehead, leaving a thin but bloody cut behind.

"If you want to survive you must fight!" The girls yelled, all squawking at him like a bunch of harpies.

Leonardo held up his katana, pushing past the pain and exhaustion like he's been doing all week.

His bad knee shook like a leaf, threatening to give out again.

Summoning what little strength he had left, his eyes went white and he charged.

Weapons clashed against each other, while the girls cheered at the duel that had just begun.

"This way!" Donatello yelled, pointing left. He and Raphael raced down the street, eyes white with determination. They were finally going to find Michelangelo!

A huge construction site loomed over them, cutting through the morning sky. Sunrise was only an hour away!

"What's Mikey doing here?" Raphael asked, his twisted ankle causing him to limp as he ran.

"Hell if I know, I just hope he's having a better night than we are!" Donatello shouted, turning another corner.

The car had skidded down the street, the trio inside all screaming bloody murder as the flaming animatronic chased them down yet again. Apparently even though it was half torched it is still going!

"How the fuck is this thing still going! I mean seriously, what will it take for it to die?" Raphael groaned, slamming into Donatello as the car swerved again. "April you are a shitty driver!"

"Well excuse me it's not easy driving when you're being chased by a flaming metal death trap!" April retorted, narrowly avoiding a dumpster as she drove.

Well saying she drove was not exactly correct, more like she was avoiding crashing.

The car slowed down before skidding to a halt, with the Freddy Fazbear knockoff approaching.

"What's wrong? Why did we stop?" Donatello asked, panic clear in his voice.

April looked at the duo, eyes wide and terrified.

"We're out of gas!"

The metal claws slammed against the car, jerking it around, creating an ear splitting screech as the trio looked more and more panicked.

They were sitting ducks!

The animatronic screeched, although instead of words all that came out was garbled static.

Suddenly, glowing orange chains coiled tightly around Albearto, the animatronic was yanked off the car and chucked across the street.

Donatello looked up, half convinced that he was hallucinating. "Hey April you saw that too right?" April nodded, a relieved smile on her face.

"Thanks for the save Mikey!" April shouted, an orange clad box turtle, the one wielding the chains, gave her a thumbs up.

Another turtle, a blue clad red eared slider, opened the car doors. It was the same dumbass that used a cat ear headband against a Kraang Biodroid.

"So how's it going?" The turtle said, totally relaxed.

The trio got out of the car, the two middle turtles scanning the area. The other turtles were battling the murder robot. There was no sign of Michelangelo.

"Where's our brother?" Donatello asked, trying to spot the youngest turtle.

"Relax we'll go get him once Albearto over there bites it." The blue clad turtle said coolly. He said it so casually, like they were talking about getting a pizza! Raphael's eye twitched. He's lost his patience.

Before he could be stopped, Raphael tackled the slider to the ground, knocking both weapons out of his hands before pinning him. A sai was pointed at the turtle's throat.

"What are you doing!" April shouted, grabbing her bat. Somehow Donatello managed to get between her and his brother.

"Dude what the fu-"

"You have five seconds to answer me or this sai will go through your fucking head! Where the fuck is Michelangelo?" Raphael yelled, struggling not to murder this turtle. "Where is he? What did you do to him?" The slider gulped, trying to squirm away.

"Nardo!" Another turtle yelled but Raphael didn't give a single fuck.

"Raph don't do it!" Donatello yelled, struggling to keep April from murdering him.

"Ok! Ok! See that building that's being built!" The blue clad slider pointed at a tall construction sight in the distance. "He's there! We were going to get him when-"

The Albearto animatronic screeched again, wrestling with the biggest turtle who was surrounded in a red glow.

"Yeah…" The slider finished, nervousness in his eyes.

"Raph!" Donatello yelled again, the other turtles were staring at them, eyes wide and filled with anger.

Raphael got off the younger turtle, trying not to sway in the process.

"Listen here you idiot!" He started, gaining the slider's full attention. "It has been a fucking nightmare of a week and I am out of patience. So let me make this clear, if you are lying to me and my little brother is not in that building…" He grabbed a smoke bomb, he has one more left and so does Donatello.

"You will fucking wish you were dead when I get done with you! Got it?" The slider nodded furiously, the other turtles looked torn between helping their brother and fighting the Albearto bot.

"Let's go!" Donatello nodded. The smoke bomb was chucked to the ground and the sprinted off, ignoring the furious shouts from April and the other turtles.

Now here they were, getting closer and closer to the other building.

The building's entrance was in sight. Well what would be the entrance, the building was still under construction after all.

"How much you wanna bet that turtle was lying?" Raphael asked, already plotting to murder that blue clad turtle.

"Well he might be an alternate version of Leo and Leo is the worst liar in the family so…" Donatello said.

"Yeah true. Mikey!" Raphael yelled.

"Mikey!" Donatello joined in. It took about a minute of yelling the orange clad turtle's name to get a response.

"Raph! Donnie! Dudes I'm up here!" Michelangelo shouted from far above their heads. The duo looked up, relief filling their battered bodies at the sight of their youngest brother.

That relief quickly turned to panic when they realized how high up he was dangling.

"How did you get yourself hung up like that?" The red clad turtle shouted as Donatello grabbed both their grappling hooks.

"A mantis guy tried to kill me!"

"This city keeps getting weirder and weirder!"

"Dude you're telling me!" Donatello tightened the grappling hook lines into a knot and swung it as high as it could go. The grappling hooks caught on a metal beam, coiling around it a few times. The ropes were tugged on, nice and tight.

"Alright Mikey I'm coming to get you!" Donatello shouted, hurriedly climbing up the rope.

Raphael stayed behind, someone had to catch them if they fell.

"Where's Leo?" The orange clad turtle yelled.

"He went off on his own, again. Probably got himself into some kind of shit." All three turtles groaned.

"Why is he like this?"

"Beats me little brother!"

Soon enough Donatello was climbing on top of the metal beam. Michelangelo was still above him.

"Ready Mikey?" The younger turtle nodded, gulping as he swung forward.

Forward and backward, forward and backward.

With one final lurch the backpack slipped off the beam.

Before he could fall, Donatello grabbed him and pulled him onto the metal beam.

As soon as Michelangelo was in his older brother's arms he hugged him as tightly as he could, nuzzling the purple clad turtle like a happy kitten.

"You got him?" Raphael called from below.

"Yup! We're heading down!" He grabbed the rope with one hand and the other holding Michelangelo tightly as they slid down the rope.

Once they were on the ground, Donatello looked at his hand. The now tattered electrical glove he'd been wearing had saved his hand from the majority of the rope burn.

He didn't really care too much at that moment in time.

"Raph!" Michelangelo practically lunged at Raphael who pulled him into a bone crushing hug. Donatello joined in, and the two practically squished their younger brother.

After a long horrible night of being separated, it was so good to be back together again. Michelangelo started sniffling, burying his face into Raphael's plastron. The red clad turtle churred softly, nuzzling his younger brothers.

A few minutes passed, eventually the hug had to be broken up.

"Let me see your arm." Donatello said, remembering how bad it looked. Michelangelo held out his arm.

"Jesus Christ what happened!" Raphael yelled. The arm was swollen and an ugly purplish green color. The purple clad turtle began examining the limb, Michelangelo whimpering at every touch.

"Broke it." He mumbled, tears pooling in his baby blue eyes.

"Yeah I can see that, how bad is it Don?"

"We'll have to get the swelling down before we can properly treat it." The medic said, anxiety pooling in his body.

"That's not gonna be a problem!" Michelangelo wiped his tears away and took off his backpack. "I found a first aid kit!" He shook the backpack, looks of relief on his brothers' faces.

That wonderful relief was short-lived. Apparently the universe is not done toying with the turtles.

An all too familiar whirring sound caught Donatello's attention. It was the sound of a Kraang cannon activating.

"GET DOWN!" The trio fell to the floor, a magenta blast of plasma shot above them, the heat could be felt through their shells.

The blast hit one of the already constructed walls.

The trio of hooded turtles looked up in pure horror.

Before them stood a Kraang cannon. The muzzle was still smoking.

In the driver's seat was the other purple clad turtle, an enraged frenzied look in his eyes.

Raphael shuddered, he knew that look. It was the same look he always wore when someone dared to hurt his family.

"You think you can just attack my twin and get away with it? After we were trying to help you? Hell no! Surprise bitches!" The softshell yelled, charging the cannon again for another blow.

The exhausted turtles looked nervously at each other.

"RUN!" Raphael barked as they fled, dodging another blast from the cannon.

Their screams and other Donatello's malicious laughter filled the morning air.

It was now 5:30 am, one hour till sunrise.

[tmnt-obsessed-ace]

When The World Crumbles: Chapter 2, Panic in the Sawmill

"So…" The blue clad turtle started, ignoring the unamused look on Donnie's face. "You're probably wondering how this happened." He said, sitting cross legged inside of a large claw machine filled with stuffed animals. And one very stupid turtle.

"Oh yes dear brother do tell why you are inside of a god damn claw machine after I left you alone for two minutes." Donnie stated, absentmindedly fiddling with the drawstrings of his violet hoodie before shooting his twin a glare. Leo only chuckled nervously.

"This." He held up an octopus plushie wearing a little top hat, monocle, and mustache.

"Seriously Nardo? Seriously?" Donnie asked. He pulled out his T-phone and opened the camera app.

"It's a fancy octopus! A fancypus!" People were starting to stare at the trapped turtle in the claw machine as they passed by.

"Oh my god, never say that again. Wait, how did you end up inside a claw machine anyway?"

Leo held his plushie in his lap, whistling away to avoid answering the question. It would be embarrassing to admit that he climbed through the prize hole. Although it was obvious based on how cracked and stretched the plastic prize hole was.

After a minute of Leo refusing to answer the question, Donnie groaned and quickly snapped a photo with his T-phone. For blackmail purposes.

"Hamato Leonardo you are an absolute fool and I will only let you out if you get me that Atomic Lass plush!" Donnie pointed to a large Atomic Lass plush sitting on Leo's right.

Leo smirked and nodded, grabbing the plushie which prompted his twin to unlock the glass casing on the claw machine. Leo hopped out and handed the Atomic Lass plushie to Donnie.

With the red eared slider free, the duo went back to wandering around the mall, plushies in hand. April had brought them here, mostly because her mom was going shopping at one of the furniture stores. However that is so incredibly boring so the turtles are in disguise and hanging out with April instead.

It was mostly an excuse to goof around and relax. No fighting mutants and or yokāi, no training, just a normal day to be teeangers.

The twins entered the food court, eyes darting to Raph and Mikey who were sitting at one of the booths.

"If it isn't my two favorite brothers!" Leo said, stumbling a bit when Donnie oh so rudely shoved him. After shooting a glare at the softshell he looked back at his older and younger brother.

"And where have you been? You were supposed to meet us here fifteen minutes ago." Raph asked while Mikey was unwrapping several chili dogs from one of the restaurants.

Before Leo could come up with a genius answer, Raph and Mikey's T-phones buzzed. The red clad turtle looked at his T-phone before snickering under his breath.

"How did you get stuck inside a claw machine?" Raph asked, trying not to laugh. Leo faked a gasp.

"Donnie, how dare you! My own brother! Betrayal!" Leo exclaimed, flopping down dramatically on the seat next to Mikey. The purple clad turtle rolled his eyes, hugging his Atomic Lass plushie tightly. Leo smirked, he will probably regret this idea but it is too funny to resist.

He quickly yanked the plush from his twin's arms and threw it across the food court. Donnie shrieked and chased after his prize, yelling about how dirty the floors were. The plush didn't go that far though so it wasn't that big of a deal.

"Hey guys!" April called out as she came over, a bag from Claires hanging from her arm.

"Hey April, your mom still in the furniture store?" Raph asked as she sat down next to him and Donnie, who just sat down as well.

April groaned and nodded. "She's still deciding which vase to give to my aunt for Christmas."

"But it's September." Mikey said, six piping hot chili dogs lined up in a row.

"Exactly." April added before turning to Donnie to show him what she bought. Meanwhile Leo looked at the chili dog line questioningly.

"So Mikey, what's with the chili dogs?"

The box turtle cracked his knuckles before saying "I'm gonna set the world record for most chili dogs eaten at once!"

"That's a thing?" Raoh asked, giving Mikey his full attention.

"If not, I'm gonna make it a thing!" He rubbed his hands together, preparing himself.

"Alright Miguel, you are about to eat six chili dogs in one go, if you succeed this might be one of the coolest things you've ever done in your life." Leo said, gripling Mikey's shoulders as he gave his younger brother a pep talk.

Mikey took a breath and somehow managed to grab all six chili dogs at once with his mouth. Now the hard part, eating the chili dogs.

"Chew! Chew! Chew! Chew!" Raph and Leo chanted in sync, meanwhile Leo noticed that Donnie April was sitting on the other side of Raph, a headband in her hands. Does it have cat ears?

Leo decided to ignore it, continuing the chant as Mikey started to chew up the chili dogs, despite how hot they were. April and Donnie both stood on their knees on either side of Raph and together they lowered the cat eared headband onto his big green head.

Deciding to cause chaos Leo stopped chanting as Mikey was still rapidly chewing the large amount of chili dogs.

"Hey Raph,"

"What?"

Leo said nothing and opened the camera on his T-phone, front facing camera on. He turned the device towards the snapper and watched the look of horror spread across his face like a wildfire at the sight of the cat ear headband on his head.

The high pitched scream that Raph let out was god damn priceless, everyone at the table was laughing. Mikey started to choke on the half chewed food in his mouth while he was laughing so hard.

All in all it was a good day, but that was about to change.

It was much later, the sky filled with the brilliant hues of late sunset. Leo was going to get a few pizzas from Señor Hueso while his brothers and April were at the lair. And of course it had been Leo to lose that stupid bet of "who can drink the most hot sauce."

Curse his low spice tolerance.

The fallen leaves crunched under his feet while the air carried the familiar chill of an incoming winter.

"Whatever, just grab some pies so I can go home and beat Raph at Mario Kart again." The slider muttered under his breath. He unsheathed his katanas and sliced through the air, creating a glowing blue portal straight to Señor Hueso's restaurant.

Although, something was a bit off about this portal. Instead of solid teal like it usually is, it had small flecks of a bright pink sparkling inside of it.

"Huh, that's probably nothing to worry about." He said before jumping in. The portal shut behind him.

When Leo hopped out of the portal, he knew something was wrong. He wasn't at the restaurant. He was outside of an old abandoned sawmill.

"Oh what the fuck! Did I get portal jacked or something?" He wondered out loud before loud bangs from inside the sawmill caught his attention.

The bangs were accompanied by flashes of pink light, the same shade that was inside his portal. Obviously he had to investigate.

Although it was probably a bad idea to investigate alone, maybe he should call the others. At least to let them know where he was. The blue clad turtle's subconscious obce that battle, much to his annoyance.

Just as he pulled out his T-phone, something crashed through one of the sawmill's windows and landed in the street with a ridiculously loud clang. Leo put his T-phone away and carefully approached the strange…thing.

It was some kind of robot, definitely wouldn't be out of place in a Jupiter Jim movie. Its legs and one arm were cut off, causing it to sputter around like it was in pain before it shut off.

In the lower abdomen was a big pink blob, a kinda wrinkly looking thing. Leo gently poked it, grimacing at how slimy it was. Suddenly the blob's eyes opened, bright green too.

"What the hell are you?" The blob growled and pounced on Leo, attaching to his face. Leo screamed, trying to pry the slimy, squirming blob with god damn tentacles off his face.

"Get off!" He yelled, chucking the blob, which looks a disturbing amount like a brain, into a pile of nearby trash. The blob hissed, revealing sharp teeth in its maw before it scampered away, making all kinds of weird noises.

Leo sat on the ground, panting like a dog while wiping the awful slime off his face.

"Gross, so gross!" He whined, turning his attention back to the sawmill. The sounds of a battle continued to rage inside. The slider stood up, katanas gripped tightly in his hands. Forget calling his brothers, he was going to investigate.

When Leo entered the sawmill, his first thought was simple.

What. The. Fuck.

There were dozens more of the weird robots, all firing strange blasters. There was a big blue ape looking thing, with one of the brain blobs as a pilot, trying to smash something into dirt with its massive fists.

And there were god damn laser cannons? Actual laser cannons firing actual lasers. Donnie would go fucking nuts for that kind of technology.

Of course this might not come as a shock for a boy who's fought mutants and a giant suit of evil armor. In fact that might seem a little normal in comparison. No, it was what the strange things were firing at that shocked Leo.

From the looks of it, mutant ninja turtles.

Granted he was also a mutant ninja turtle but he didnt think there were more!

He was awoken from his stupor when a blast of pink grazed his arm, leaving a tiny patch of burnt flesh in its wake.

"Ow! What the hell?" He yelled, unfortunately gaining the attention of the robots. Several turned to him, crap.

"Destroy the ones known as the turtles!" The robots said in a monotone voice, firing their blasters at Leo. He barely dodged the blasts, falling over as he tried not to get turned into burnt swiss cheese.

"BOOYAKASHA!" One of the strange turtles yelled, a Kusarigama chain zipping across the room. The blade lodged in one of the canons.

That distracted the robots on Leo, giving him a chance to stand up and cut them down with his katanas.

The brain blobs popped out, scampering away screeching. Serves the little slimeballs right.

Leo didn't have time to focus on his small win when the big blue ape thing started charging towards him.

"Woah! Woah! This is all a big misunderstanding!"

"Destroy the turtles!" The thing screamed, the dirty floor shaking with each one of its steps.

"B-But I'm not a turtle!" Leo yelled, reaching into his shell. He pulled out the cat ear headband. He put it on his head, already cringing down to his soul. "I'm a cat! Meow Meow! You know, nya!" He said, even adding the little limp wrist thing for effect.

The ape stopped, actually taking a moment to process this.

"Dude! What the actual fuck?" One of the turtles yelled at him in pure disbelief, smashing another robot with what looked like the Sais Raph used to use.

Leo gulped, suddenly feeling extremely stupid.

"...nya?" He did it again. The ape straightened up a bit. That actually worked?

In a flash, the ape's massive fist sent Leo flying through the wall. He crashed into a table, groaning at the pain blooming in his torso. That fucking hurt, but he deserved it after that stupid, stupid idea.

The ape thing stormed over to him, but it was muffled in his ears. Nothing felt broken, he knew what broken bones felt like and it hurt so much more than this.

Leo tried to grab for his katanas as his senses refocused. His katanas weren't close to him. Oh no, oh fucking no.

Before he could craft new ones with his ninpo, the ape thing grabbed him but the throat, slamming him down onto the table. A buzzsaw inches away from his face.

With the flick of a switch the ancient buzzsaw roared to life, Leo was suddenly very afraid. He squirmed under the ape's hand as it pushed his head closer to the spinning blade of death.

"No! No! No! Look I know I was cringy but this feels a bit excessive don't cha think?" He tried to reason with the ape, but to no avail. The blade started to cut into Leo's cheek, making him scream and squirm harder, eyes wide with pain and fear.

Before the blade was pushed in deeper, something screamed and jumped onto the ape's shoulders. Twin katanas repeatedly stabbing into the apparently robotic ape and brain thing. The beast staggered backwards, the blob jumping out and deciding to book it. The now headless ape fell to the ground with a loud thud.

Leo sat up, staring wide eyed at his savior. Another mutant turtle. The turtle offered him a hand, which Leo took after a moment of hesitation.

The hooded turtle pulled him off the saw table before carefully examining his now bloody cheek. The cut wasn't too deep, the blood made it look worse than it was, and it should heal fine without stitches.

"Thank you." Leo managed to get out while his heart continued to race in his chest. The turtle nodded, glancing back at the still ongoing battle. Although it was not as loud now, probably because all the robots were being trashed. More robots started piling into the room.

"Oh crap." Leo mumbled before the turtle turned back to look at him, solid white eyes bearing into his soul. The turtle took one katana and stabbed it into the wooden floor in front of Leo. He sheathed the other and pulled out a bow and arrows, firing at the robots' heads. All headshots. The turtle raced back into the main room, but not before sparing a glance at Leo.

The message was clear: pick up the katana and join the battle. Leo nodded and grabbed the katana. It was a bit heavier than his own and it was filthy but the blade was sharp.

"COWABUNGA!" Leo yelled, slicing several robots into pieces while the hooded turtle fired arrows at them. It quickly became a system. The turtle would hit the heads and Leo would slice up the bodies.

Soon the last robots were all dead, with their brains running for their lives.the five turtles all were panting.

The hooded turtle quickly gathered up his arrows, stuffing then and the bow back into the quiver on his shell. The four turtles, that were all wearing hoods for some reason, gathered together, getting ready to leave.

"Wait! Hold on, I have so many questions!" Leo yelled but he was too late. One of the turtles chucked something to the ground, sending an explosion of dark purple smoke throughout the sawmill. When the smoke cleared the four turtles were gone.

Leo collapsed to his knees, still holding the katana that strange turtle had given him. Did he not want it back? Or was he so desperate to leave that he didnt remember to take it back from Leo.

All he could do was pull out his T-phone and dial a number.

"Donnie…you aren't going to believe this."

[tmnt-obsessed-ace]

Tomorrow Im gonna start writing chapter 1 of Lost But Never Found because whats self control

That chapter is gonna be maybe 4500 words

(That also means I gotta rewatch Many Unhappy Returns because I have not seen that episode since september)

Then maybe I can FINALLY write chapter 15 of When The World Crumbles (I dont know why I'm struggling so much? Maybe because its a bit of calm before we dive head first into the angst of the behemoth of a story. I'll I know is that it might replace chapter 2 as the shortest chapter)

2023 will be the year of making the fictional blorbos suffer while also unapologetically embracing the turtle (and maybe a returning power rangers) obsession without shame like I wanted to at eight years old but didn't because I didn't want to be weird (and I also thought those were "boy" shows and at the time I was a girl but now I'm nonbinary and I can do whatever the fuck I want)

[tmnt-obsessed-ace]

That moment when a song perfectly captures one of the most pivotal moments in your fic >:)

If I had the skills to make an animatic I fucking would

[tmnt-obsessed-ace]

When The World Crumbles: Chapter 11, Calm Before The Storm

'I'm coming home!' Mikey sent the text message, stuffing his phone back into the pocket of his warm thick hoodie. Several bags of groceries were hanging from his arms as he walked, several more being pulled behind in a cart Donnie had made.

The cart had a custom made forcefield around it so the contents inside would not get damaged. Not even by bullets, as the softshell had bragged.

Which was a relief since Mikey had bought a lot of stuff and having to repurchase everything would be insane.

The orange clad turtle whistled a bit through his gap tooth, glancing up at the gray skies overhead. Dark rain clouds crept ever closer, promising heavy rains to drench the city.

Oh well, Mikey was almost home with plenty of groceries.

After all, they had four more mouths to feed.

It had been several hours since their four older counterparts woke up from their nearly five day snooze. And with their ferocious appetites more food was necessary.

"Nine days…" Mikey whispered under his breath, his stomach clenching. Nine whole days without food. Granted that probably counted their week long nap of four and a half days.

So that meant they probably went without food for nearly five days before they got to this dimension.

That was still horrifying. To go so long without eating anything, and then having to fight in that condition.

Barely any sleep, no food in your belly, covered in dirt and injuries. It was truly a miracle that the four older turtles managed to even put up so much of a fight.

Mikey never felt so guilty before in his life.

He helped beat them into unconsciousness when they were already on the end of the line. How horrible do you have to be to attack someone who's starving and exhausted?

"They didn't seem too mad about it though…" The youngest turtle said out loud as he entered the sewers, walking down the familiar path to their new home in the subway.

Of course maybe they didn't seem 'too mad' because they were thinking about the invasion.

The thought made Mikey stop in his tracks, his stomach tightening even more.

How could he forget? The reason their counterparts ended up here was because they were trying to stop an entire alien invasion of their own dimension! There wouldn't be any room for anger at him and his brothers if they were thinking about their own home.

"The invasion has probably started by now. Millions of people are probably being mutated as we speak." Michelangelo's words replayed in the box turtle's mind.

The older turtles definitely have bigger things to worry about than Mikey's contribution in their beat down. With a small gulp he continued home, wanting to return to his kitchen and get to work on dinner.

He was gonna make something so good!

"I'm back and I got groceries!" Mikey called out, gaining April's attention.

"Need some help with all that?" Mikey nodded, his arms were getting tired. April grabbed the bags from his arms and carried them to the kitchen, with the turtle pulling the cart.

"Yeesh Mikey, how much did you buy?" April asked, struggling to lift the heavy plastic bags.

"A lot! We have guests and I want to be sure we'll have enough food." He tried to open the door to the kitchen, it wouldn't budge.

He tried again, maybe the door was stuck. Donnie could oil the hinges later.

Again the door wouldn't open.

"It won't open?" Mikey kept trying, why won't the stupid thing open!

"Lemme try," April set the bags down and tried to jimmy open the door. Like her little brother she had no success. Eventually she took a step back before slamming her foot into the door with as much force as he could muster.

The metal door loudly creaked, the hinges refusing to break. A scowl formed on April's face as she kicked the door again and again.

"I don't think it's gonna break, April." Mikey deadpanned as his older sister stood panting in front of the metal door. Damn you Donnie and reinforcing all the hinges!

"Maybe Leo can portal us in." April said between pants. Just as the words left her mouth, the now heavily dented door creaked open.

"Did you need something?" Donatello asked as he poked his head out from the door.

Mikey raised a brow, April put a hand on her hip.

"Uh yeah we got groceries to put away." The older turtle suddenly looked guilty. The door was opened all the way, with Donatello grabbing as many bags as he could carry into the kitchen.

"Ok why did you lock yourself in the kitchen?" April asked as she and Mikey brought the rest of the bags inside. Apparently Donatello wasn't alone. Leonardo sat at the table, surrounded by balls of crumpled up paper. A small stack of blank sheets was sitting nearby.

"Well I'm currently working on repairing my laptop since it's kinda…busted."

The purple clad turtle gestured to his laptop, or what remained of it anyways. The screen was in pieces and the keyboard had been snapped. Not to mention all the frayed wires and shattered circuit boards.

Both April and Mikey cringed at the sight.

"How did that happen?" Mikey asked as he started putting the groceries away.

"I'm assuming that most of the damage occurred from our battle against you guys at the playground. It was in my backpack after all and I did land on it quite a few times."

"Sorry about that…" Donatello just waved a hand.

"Nothing to worry about, truth be told I wasn't expecting it to stay in one piece anyways. Plus my laptop has been damaged far worse before." A loud groan cut off the genius, making all eyes turn towards Leonardo. He crumpled up the paper he'd been previously writing on, smacking his head onto the table with a dull thud.

"And I'm also here to make sure he doesn't give himself an aneurysm." Leonardo shot his younger brother a glare, mumbling a small 'shut up' into the kitchen table.

"What's he doing exactly?" April interjected, the frustration was near tangible. April only knew that feeling when writing essays for school.

"Planning. Well he's trying to anyways." A paper ball was thrown at Donatello, who deflected it so it bounced off of Mikey's head.

"Hey! Not cool, I'm putting the eggs away!" Mikey squeaked from the fridge. April snickered.

"Sorry little Mikey." Donatello playfully snickered, getting a small pout in response.

"I thought we would start planning tomorrow?" Mikey asked, confusion clear in his voice.

"Yeah, try telling Leo that. He's beyond stubborn. I fear I might have to tie him to the bed to get him to sleep." The purple clad turtle wasn't even trying to hide the playful smirk. The little shove he gave the blue clad turtle only solidified it.

"I can hear you, you know." Donatello held a finger to his brother's lips.

"No more talking, you've strained your voice enough for today."

The only response was an eye roll.

Mikey and April shared a glance, both amused and a little bit concerned.

"So where's tiny and other me?" Mikey asked, both older turtles snickering.

"Do not let Raph hear you call him that." Leonardo warned, despite the warning glare Donatello shot him.

"Leon challenged Mikey to some video games in the little arcade area, winner will play against Raph." Donatello added, the hard look never leaving his face.

The last of the groceries were put away, time to start prepping dinner.

"Well I'm gonna go join them, later!" April left the kitchen, with the box turtle waving goodbye.

Once she was gone, Leonardo went back to scribbling away on a new sheet of paper, with Donatello came over to the smaller turtle.

"You got any medicinal tea for him?" The older turtle whispered, though he had to lean forward a bit given the height difference between the two. "It'll help soothe his throat."

"Maybe, I dunno. But if you tell me the ingredients I might be able to brew it up quickly." Donatello smiled a bit, another groan and crumpled up wad of paper caught their attention.

"Yeah that sounds like a good idea."

"Dude you are so bad at this game!" Leo taunted, kicking Michelangelo with his leg. The orange clad turtle grit his teeth, having resorted to an old classic video game strategy.

Mash all the buttons till something gives.

"Nothing can be the power of button mashing!" Michelangelo yelled, rolling over on the bean bag.

"Says the guy who's losing!" Leo fired right back. They were playing an old fighting game, with Michelangelo losing badly. They were in the final round, winner takes all. However Michelangelo had less than half his health bar left.

Next to Michelangelo, Raphael was draped across another beanbag, watching the fight with half interest.

He would be playing against whoever won this match.

Naturally he was hoping it would be Michelangelo, always root for your brother over a stranger.

However, judging by the fact that one of his younger brother's hands was wrapped in a tight cast and he was losing horrendously, it was more likely he would play against Leo.

That actually made Raphael a tad bit nervous. Not because he was scared of losing to a fourteen year old, hell no.

It was because he had previously threatened to kill this specific fourteen year old.

That thought made him sick to his stomach.

Fourteen.

The kid was only fourteen.

He knew the kid was young but fourteen!

They hadn't even been allowed to go topside at fourteen!

And yet Raphael threatened to run his sai through the kid's skull.

His mind wandered back several hours earlier, when Michelangelo was getting his wounds cleaned and rebandaged while Donatello took his turn in the shower.

That left Leonardo and Raphael alone together in one of the old subway cars they had claimed as their temporary bedroom.

"I don't understand something." Leonardo had written in a notebook while his throat recovered.

"What's that fearless?" The red clad turtle replied, absentmindedly fidgeting with the piles of blankets.

"Why did our counterparts attack you guys? They don't seem entirely malicious."

Raphael's face had fallen, shame washing over him.

"That…that was my fault." Leonardo raised a brow but let his younger brother continue. After a minute he spoke again. "I attacked Leon and earned little Donnie's wrath."

The marker squeaked a bit as it was scribbled over the pages of the notebook.

"You attacked him? How exactly?"

"It wasn't that bad, really! I just tackled him…and threatened him. God I'm such an idiot!" Raphael buried his face into his hands.

"Why did you do that Raph?" Despite not speaking, Raphael could tell that his brother was a bit ticked off, given how rigid he went.

"I wasn't thinking ok! It had been a god awful night of nearly fucking dying multiple times! First to the Kraang and then to a Freddy Fazbear knock off that apparently is immune to fire for some reason, don't ask!" Leonardo held up his hands, sitting down next to the red clad turtle.

"And then this little twerp came along and said that he knew where Mikey was! He didn't even tell me or Donnie until after I threatened him! Not to mention that earlier he said that they lost Mikey and that he had a broken arm! A broken arm!"

Raphael groaned again, trying to ease his racing heart. The more he thought about that night the angrier he got.

A warm hand on his shoulder made the short turtle look up, dark blue eyes meeting with his own bright green ones.

Leonardo's gaze had softened as he traced circular patterns into Raphael's shell. It was soothing, grounding.

After a few minutes of staying like that, Raphael continued yet again.

"This kid said that they would go get Mikey once the animatronic from hell finally died, but he said it so casually! Like he was gonna get a pizza instead of saving Mikey's life. Do you know how we found him?"

The leader in blue shook his head.

"Dangling from a beam at least fifteen maybe twenty feet off the ground. Hanging by the backpack with no grappling hook and a glider that wouldn't open! If we hadn't gotten there in time…he could've…" His eyes screwed shut, he didn't even want to finish that thought.

The nudging of the notebook got Raphael's attention.

"Did our counterparts know that?"

Raphael shook his head.

"Maybe…I honestly don't know. I just…snapped and the next thing I knew Leon was on the ground and threats were spilling out of my mouth." He leaned his head into Leonardo's uninjured shoulder. "God damn it, why am I like this?"

The blue clad turtle turned over to a blank page and began to write, leaving Raphael to stew in his own shame for a bit.

Eventually Leonardo finished writing and capped the marker. He laid the notebook in Raphael's lap and pulled him close.

With slightly nervous eyes he looked down at the page.

"While I don't condone you threatening our counterparts in the slightest, I can at least understand why that happened. It's been a nightmare of a week where nothing went right for us even once. The portal wasn't where it was supposed to be so he had to ditch the Shellraiser, we got chased out of nearly every single Kraang hideout, the invasion getting closer and closer and we got sent here with no food or medical supplies!.Then all of us getting attacked by the strange nightmares of this dumb dimension it only added to the growing pressure. Truthfully if I had been in your position and I was getting vague unhelpful answers about where my missing brother was, I probably would've reacted the same."

"I still feel bad for the kid, he didn't mean to make the volcano go boom. He just said the wrong thing at the worst possible time." Leonardo nodded.

"You didn't ruin anything Raph, just got off on the wrong start. I'm sure once you apologize it'll be water under the bridge." The blue clad turtle whispered, earning a small shove.

"Don't make your voice worse, Fearless. And yeah I know, I'll apologize to the punk later." Leonardo squeezed his brother a little tighter. After a few moments he spoke, voice just above a whisper.

"You better, or I'll make you go on a ride with Turtflytle." Raphael's eyes went wide.

"Don't you fucking dare that is one of the most annoying things on the god damn planet."

Leonardo chuckled as Donatello came back, still slightly dripping from the shower.

"Alright Raphie, you're up." Raphael nodded, leaving the two cool color brothers behind so he could shower.

Michelangelo smacked into the red clad turtle's shoulder as he squirmed around on the beanbag, knocking Raphael back onto reality, somehow managing to turn the fight around in his favor.

"What the fuck dude!" Leo whined, losing his cockiness.

"Button mashing is unbeatable!"

"We'll see about that!"

"What's the matter Leon? Mikey too good for you?" Raphael shouted, playfully shoving his now upside down brother in the side.

"Hell no I got this!" The slider replied, eyes still fixed on the screen.

Michelangelo growled, kicking his legs as he spammed every single button on the controller.

Leo suppressed a yawn, rubbing his eyes as he continued to play.

"What's the matter, didn't get your morning nap in?" The orange clad turtle mocked as the game became neck and neck, both players down to the same amount of health.

"Shut the fuck up!"

"Hey guys!" Leo looked up as April walked in, smiling brightly. "Mind if I join the next game?"

"Sure thing Apes! Just gotta beat Michelan-" Raphael swatted the controller from Leo's hands, smirking at the scream that came from his mouth.

"Get em Mikey! Wipe the floor with him!" Raphael cheered as Michelangelo quickly knocked off more and more hit points while Leo scrambled to pick up his controller.

"No! No! No! Noooo!" Leo whined as the last of his player's health bar was knocked away in a knockout. Michelangelo cheered, jumping on the beanbag.

"You just got played, son! Michelangelo for the win! Go ninja! Go ninja! Go!" Raphael and April laughed while the slider's eye twitched.

"You knocked the controller out of my hands!" Raphael smirked at the accusatory finger being pointed at him.

"Did I? I mean I didn't see that happen! Did you Mikey?" Michelangelo wore a devilish smirk.

"Nope! I saw absolutely nothing! I was too focused on being the best at video games!" The two exchanged a high three, watching with growing amusement as Leo's eye twitched yet again.

"April you saw that! Didn't you?"

Raphael shot April a look, a silent plea to play along.

She pushed up her glasses.

"Nope!" She said, popping the p. "All I saw was you lose." Leo's jaw dropped.

"Betrayed by my own sister! You corrupted her! How dare you!" Michelangelo only laughed harder, poking the younger turtle over and over in the cheeks.

"Alright Mikey, enough games! Let's do this!." Raphael taunted, cracking his knuckles. His brother returned the playful glare as April plopped down beside them.

"I play whoever wins!" She said with excitement. Leo grumbled but sat next to April, ready to be a little shit again.

"You got it sister!" The game was reset, a controller put in Raphael's hands.

"Be careful Mikester, he plays dirty! Destroy him!" Leo said with a clap of his hands.

"Oh I will!"

"Bring it on!"

The second game began.

"Crap…" Leonardo mumbled, wiping sweat off his forehead. "Out of paper."

All the paper from his stack had been turned into crumpled balls, all the attempts at plans scrawled on them and deemed not good enough.

"Time to take a break until tomorrow." Donatello stated, leaving no room for argument. The blue clad turtle begrudgingly nodded, tomorrow once he had a clearer head he would come up with a somewhat decent plan.

"Let's go see what the others are doing." He scribbled onto the notebook after a sharp glare from his younger brother made him keep his mouth shut.

He grabbed one of the empty grocery bags and slid all the crumpled paper inside, even picking up all the ones that fell on the floor.

The bag tied and thrown near the recycling bin at the far wall. "We're gonna see what Raph and our Mikey are up to." Mikey nodded but gave no vocal response while he cooked. He was in the zone.

As Leonardo stood up, his right knee painfully twanged, threatening to buckle under his weight. He grit his teeth, hands planted firmly onto the table to keep his balance.

However his little stumble hadn't gone unnoticed by Donatello while he stuffed the remains of his laptop back into his bag.

Leonardo shook his head, gesturing at Mikey. Not in front of him.

Donatello nodded, not saying a word as he helped his older brother stand. He leaned against him as they left the kitchen together.

Once the door had closed behind them, a quiet whisper broke the silence.

"Are you ok?"

"I'm fine, stupid leg just threw me off balance." Leonardo sat down on a nearby beanbag, carefully undoing the knee pad and brace.

Donatello sat down beside him, carefully examining the offending joint.

"On a scale of one to ten-"

"Six." Leonardo said automatically. It was just a six. With his high pain tolerance that was annoying but tolerable.

"You strained it a lot these past few weeks." Was his brother's reply as he carefully turned the leg. The pain went up a tiny bit but nothing Leonardo couldn't handle.

"It's gonna rain soon."

"Ah that's it." Pressure changes made the joint ache more than usual. "You should use your cane for a while." Leonardo sighed and shook his head.

"Can't do that, I left it in the Shellraiser." Donatello shot him a sympathetic look. They could only take the gear they already had on, forced to leave everything else behind in the Shellraiser. Which was no doubt in Kraang custody by now. He had actually seen it, sitting next to his seat, surrounded by Kraang Droids.

"Well I'll just make you another one." The blue clad turtle sat up.

"Dee you don't have to-"

"It will only take twenty minutes Leo."

"But what about your laptop?" Surely a broken laptop took priority! Right?

"Like I said, twenty minutes."

"Is everything alright?" Another voice chimed in. It was Raph. Concern was written all over his face. Leonardo shifted a bit so that his right leg was out of view.

"Yeah everything's good, hey where's younger Donnie's lab? I need to grab a few things." Donatello said coolly, despite shrinking away a bit from the much larger turtle. Just like he and Michelangelo had been doing since they woke up.

It was clear that the snapper had noticed. Leonardo could see the tiniest flash of hurt in the large turtle's eyes.

"Oh yeah, the lab is that way! Just look for the neon purple door, you can't miss it!"

The purple clad turtle locked eyes with his brother, a silent conversation being had.

"Will you be ok here for a few minutes?"

"Yeah I'll be fine, don't worry."

Donatello nodded, leaving towards his counterpart's lab. However not before shooting the eldest brother one last look. A silent threat.

'Don't get up or else.' Truth be told, as much as Leonardo wanted to protest that he was both the oldest and the leader so he didn't need to be babied, the threat kept him glued to the beanbag he claimed. The 'or else' could mean anything! Donatello was nothing if not creative.

So the blue clad turtle stayed put.

An awkward silence began to form.

"So…" Raph started, sitting on the floor next to beanbag. Leonardo grimaced, why couldn't they have gone back to their subway car room? Because the living room was closer?

"Are you sure everything is all good?" The older turtle nodded, taking out the marker and notebook once again, if only so Donatello won't chew his head off.

"Everything is fine." He wrote, even underlining the word fine for emphasis. Another dull ache shuddered down his leg, making him wince. It probably started raining.

Raph didn't look convinced in the slightest. Leonardo turned away, waiting for his brother to get back.

Once again the two fell into awkward silence.

A high pitched shriek echoed from the arcade area, followed by loud cheering.

"LET'S GO! MICHELANGELO IS UNSTOPPABLE!" Said brother shouted with triumph.

"God damn it! MIKEY!" Raphael hollered, prompting the orange clad turtle to run out of the arcade. Michelangelo's laughter and Raphael's shouts echoed throughout the lair.

Eventually the orange clad turtle raced into the living room, eyes landing on Leonardo. With a burst of speed he slammed into the older turtle, quickly trying to scramble behind him.

All the air was knocked out of Leonardo's lungs as he tried to bat his brother off. It was too late, the menace had slipped behind him, wrapping his arms and legs around his body. His injured ribs throbbed from the sudden motions, with the younger turtle mumbling apologies all the way.

Raphael stumbled into the living room, his twisted ankle throwing him off balance.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" The red clad turtle angrily hissed while Michelangelo played cute.

"Woah what's wrong little buddy?" Raph interjected, trying to deescalate the situation. All three older turtles let out a similar squeak, Raphael's eyes narrowing.

He decided to ignore his much bigger counterpart entirely.

"You're seriously hiding behind Leo!" Michelangelo had the audacity to look offended.

"No of course not! What? Am I not allowed to spend time with my favorite brother!" He nuzzled Leonardo's cheek for emphasis. The leader sighed, writing in the notebook.

"What did he do?"

"He LICKED me! He fucking LICKED me!" Raphael shouted, his younger brother laughing behind Leonardo.

"What's the matter shorty? Can't take what you dish out?" Leo called out as he and April came into the living room.

"No one asked for your opinion!" Raphael fired back.

"Come on now there's no need to fight!" Raph said, once again trying to play mediator.

"Whatcha gonna do Raphie? Leo's got two broken ribs remember you have to play nice!" Michelangelo taunted, acting like he didn't aggravate the wounds himself.

Raphael growled, crossing his arms.

Leonardo held up the notebook, a single sentence written on the page.

"Lick him back." The two eldest brothers shared a smirk, with Michelangelo suddenly realizing that his shield turned against him.

As the short turtle approached, Michelangelo piped up.

"Can I at least get a five second headstart?" He held up his broken arm, showing off the cast.

Raphael rolled his eyes, a playful glint shining in those bright green depths. One that had been missing for the past two months.

"Since I'm such a nice guy, sure! ONE!" With that Michelangelo squirmed out from behind Leonardo, taking off.

"TWO!" Leo pulled out his phone camera.

"THREE!" April gave Leonardo a concerned glance, he only smiled at her. It was just roughhousing, they both knew not to go too far.

"FOUR!" Raph looked worried, Leonardo put a hand on his arm.

"FIVE!" At the final number Raphael broke off into a sprint, chasing after Michelangelo. Well, as much as he could with a twisted ankle.

The two turtle's yelling could be heard throughout the lair, making Leonardo smile fondly as he relaxed into the beanbag.

"Should we stop them?" Raph asked, the blue clad turtle simply waved a hand before writing in the notebook.

"They know what boundaries not to cross, nothing to worry about."

"Right…while they're doing that wanna play against me Leo?" April asked, holding a controller in one hand. Leonardo nodded, putting the knee brace and knee pad back on. He stumbled a bit to get up, Raph holding him steady.

"You sure you're ok?" The snapper asked as a loud crash sounded from the direction of Donnie's lab.

"WATCH IT SHELL FOR BRAINS!" Donatello barked, Michelangelo's laughter filling the air.

Leonardo smiled brightly, this was exactly like how it was back home.

Or at least how it was supposed to be.

Ever since…that day, the lair had gone quiet. Donatello spent days upon days holed up in his lab, Raphael hardly ever left his room anymore and Michelangelo practically lived in the kitchen. And then there Leonardo, hiding away in the dojo.

They barely spoke to each other for weeks. Hell about two weeks ago was the first time they all ate together as a family since that day. And when the shock finally began to fade away so the broken pieces could be mended, the Kraang decided to invade.

Now they are stuck here. Is that really such a bad thing though? Listening to his younger brothers squabble like they used to, it was familiar. It was normal.

First actual shred of normalcy in nearly two months.

And Leonardo couldn't help the big dumb grin that spread across his face, the corners of his mouth starting to hurt from how hard he was smiling.

"Uh, Earth to Leonardo?" April said, snapping her fingers in front of his face. Leonardo shook himself from his thoughts. "You zoned out on me!"

"Sorry April, ready to lose?" She smirked and the two headed to the arcade, with Leonardo holding onto her shoulder to steady himself. Either she didn't notice or she didn't mind.

The grin never left his face.

Little did the four older turtles know that this tiny shred of normalcy was about to be shattered like glass against the rocks.