keyframe n. a moment that seemed innocuous at the time but ended up marking a diversion into a strange new era of your life—set in motion not by a series of jolting epiphanies but by tiny imperceptible differences between one ordinary day and the next, until entire years of your memory can be compressed into a handful of indelible images—which prevents you from rewinding the past, but allows you to move forward without endless buffering
“—And then Usagi-san threw him off the bridge! It was bogus!” A boyish voice dramatically informed the alligator mutant about his latest adventure over a tablet.
The boyish voice talking over the tablet is Michelangelo Hamato, Leatherhead’s best friend. Let it be known that the Hamatos’ and the Mutanimals decided a tablet is more suitable for Slash and Leatherhead as a gadget of communication. The two giant mutants won’t have to mind their strength or how small apps or texts are.
Leatherhead let out a hum, “Didn’t Usagi say this Jade is immortal?”
“Jei,” The orange-clad turtle corrected, “And he did! Maybe Usagi-san got his info wrong or Jei just bluff, or he just gets rebirth kind of immortality,” Michelangelo theorized.
“From your hectic adventure, I’m glad you returned safely, my friend,” The older mutant honestly thought the worst when the turtles were gone without notice. For some enemy managing to kidnap his friends without struggle…
Through the screen, Michelangelo winced, “Sorry, but couldn’t really do much when we’re spiritually summoned to another dimension by a blind fake immortal wolf,” The nun-chuck wielder joked weakly.
“Just how long were we gone?” Michelangelo asked quietly, “Cuz, I didn’t have to check when I have an awesome story to tell my two besties!” The turtle cheerfully added. At the edge of the screen, you can see a yellow bowl and can hear a faint meow.
A small smile formed on Leatherhead but inwardly he was frowning as well. His friend, in true ninja form, is great at misdirection. “Almost a week, my friend”.
The smallest mutant turtle's eyes widen, “Really? It was like—three days for us,” Michelangelo compared with a faraway look.
Leatherhead pressed his teeth together, to anyone who doesn’t know the mutant, they would say he’s restraining himself from eating something, but his expression is equivalent to a human pressing their lips together, a sign of displeasure. The alligator was about to change the topic, as he didn’t like the faraway look on Michelangelo’s normally bright face, but someone beat him to the punch.
“Mikey! I need your help!” Donatello called out, snapping Michelangelo’s trance.
“Coming Dee! Sorry Leatherhead, I’ll talk to you later,” The turtle apologized, as he moved the screen to a mutant ice cream cat, “Talk with Ice Cream Kitty! You guys haven’t talked since forever!”
“…”
“… How’s the freezer?” Leatherhead awkwardly questioned.
“Meowr~”
“You’re right, that’s an awful ice breaker to start a conversation,” Leatherhead apologized.
“Meow~”
“What? I didn’t pun.”
“Meeeow~”
“Oh… I didn’t realize,”
“Meoow~” The ice cream mutant titled her head a little, “Meow?”
“I’m afraid I don’t.”
“Meow!”
“When?”
“Meow~”
“That—”
“INTRUDERS!” A blue blur passed Leatherhead and leapt over the railings.
“Ice Cream Kitty, we’ll continue this later,” Leatherhead said goodbye to the cold mutant and ended the call.
Following the Salamandrian example, Leatherhead leapt over the railing as he saw three humans fighting Mona Lisa, Mondo Gecko, and Pigeon Pete.
“Pete!” The Leopard Gecko shouted in distress, as the human with a skull mask batted the Pigeon into a metal pillar.
Leatherhead roared as he tried to charge the masked human. But a red-haired human threw a smoke pellet at him. If Leatherhead was more clear-headed, he wouldn’t have attacked the red-haired human or the masked human, for they particularly looked like April O’Neil and Casey Jones. [1] It is fortunate that Leatherhead has a third eyelid or else he would’ve been so focused on regaining his vision than blocking a stab aimed at his underbelly.
“Mondo! Take the light out!” The only non-mutant in the Mutanimals ordered the mutant gecko.
“‘right!” The youngest mutant in the group cheekily saluted and proceeded to smash the control panel with his skateboard.
Leatherhead would’ve complimented Mona Lisa’s quick thinking of turning lights off [2] if he wasn’t busy trying to defend himself. The large mutant isn’t used on the defensive side of fighting, but his opponent is relentlessly attacking him.
But considering his redhead opponent switched with a black-haired human, that was fighting Mona Lisa. Leatherhead can see why this human hadn’t been knocked out by Mona Lisa, who is the only trained warrior in the Mutanimals with the exception of Slash.
CREEEAAAK
“What is going on!” A human-turned-monkey loudly demands. Beside the Monkey is a large snapping turtle with spikes and wearing a black bandana, carrying groceries.
“O’Neil! Jones! Opening!” The black-haired human pointed at the open garage door.
Wait. What? Did Leatherhead hear that right?
“Oh no one is leaving–” Rockwell interrupted with monkey noise, “–without giving me some answers!” [3] The former human telekinetically lifted the three human intruders into the air, and then glared at us. (Mona Lisa, Leatherhead, and Mondo Gecko)
“You can’t destroy the control panel to do the Lights off plan!” The scientist hissed angrily.
“Yeah, but I thought about how they can turn it on, so def need to destroy the panel, doc,” The youngest member of Mutanimals reasoned nonchalantly.
Dr. Rockwell’s eyes bulge in annoyance, “You're lucky I thought about this outcome and—monkey noise—made a backup panel!”
“And our little intruders are interesting.” Dr. Rockwell added as he eyed the three humans with maniacal interest.
“We ain’t telling ya’ nothin’!” Came a muffled statement from the masked human.
“Hm, yes,” Rockwell made another monkey noise, “Slash, you know where the backup panel. Take—monkey noise—Gecko with you, penance for destroying my tech.”
Slash grunted, “Let’s go, kid,” As he dropped the groceries, and walked outside.
“Not a kid!” Mondo squawked.
“Yeah, yeah,” Slash waved off the attempted correction, making Mondo offended.
Leatherhead stared at the duo bickering back and forth.
“Doctor, put them down, I want to try tying them up,” Mona Lisa enthusiastically said.
“Ah yes,” Monkey sounds, and eyes bulged for a second, “Space doesn’t have rope. Instead you alien tie with magnetic space metal.”
The Salamandrian warrior nodded, “Sometimes electricity. Burnt skin and pain make the captive more compliant.”
Leatherhead can attest. The Kraang had tied him with electricity before.
“Raphael taught me the proper ways of tying with ropes or wires. The painful and the non-painful way, and I’ve been looking for an opportunity to test my learnings” By that meaning, the non-painful is actually not painful for mutants or aliens. And maybe non-painful for trained humans only.
“And you’ll be trying…?” Leatherhead wanted to know, as Michelangelo tried teaching him once, but it was futile because Leatherhead kept accidentally cutting the wire/rope. But they did discover Leatherhead can somewhat tie someone with metal pipes in case chains aren’t available in the area.
“Wire. The painful way.”
Leatherhead felt pity for the human intruders. Michelangelo said the wire is more painful than the ropes. Unlike the ropes tied with the painful method, they irritate the skin if you try to move or escape, the wire on the other hand makes you bleed.
It took 10 minutes, as the humans tried to escape while being tied by the alien. And to Leatherhead’s surprise, the Salamandrian warrior tied the male human with the not painful method. And the fact the masked human gave her the most trouble despite being less refined than his companions.
During the 10 minutes, Slash and Mondo brought the back-up-controlled panel, which Dr. Rockwell quickly integrated into their lair system and managed to open the lights the moment Mona was finished tying the redhead human.
“Now!” Dr. Rockwell clapped and eyes bulged with enthusiasm, “These two humans!” The monkey removed the mask on the male human, “Are alternate versions of our friend April O’Neil and Casey Jones!”
That doesn’t seem outlandish since they look like adult versions of their friend. Leatherhead thought.
“And! This human is Karai!” Dr. Rockwell dramatically pointed at the black-haired human.
The proclaimed alternate Karai didn’t look like Karai in Leatherhead’s opinion.
“It seems, armour and being good at the battle is consistent for any version of Karai,” Mona Lisa complimented(?).
“You’re just going to accept that!?” Questioned the maskless Casey Jones.
“Casey…” Alternate April hissed.
The alternate Karai remained quiet as she observed them.
“Well yeah. Doc is pretty smart y’know,” Mondo answered, “Besides! Mikey told me that the multiverse exists cuz he already met an alternate version of himself… Twice!”
Alternate Universe Casey nodded hesitantly, “Okay… But all we know you guys are faking this whole alternate-whatever-situation story,” Alternate Casey Jones states with a furrowed suspicious brow.
Well, Leatherhead can’t fault this Casey Jones for being suspicious.
“We’ll call them.”
“What?”
“The turtles,” Mona specified.
“We’ll call them either way to fix this,” Slash added.
“They are the experts at this type of situation,” Rockwell said with a hint of jealousy.
“…So, you’ll untie us?” Alternate Karai asked.
“If you swear on your honour to stay until the turtles come,” Mona Lisa replied.
Alternate Karai raised her eyebrow, “You must know me intimately,” and something rest unsaid, that only Mona seemed to understand.
The alien warrior shrugged, “We have a bi-weekly girls' night out,”
Karai huffed in amusement, like she heard something funny, “I swear on my honour, I’ll stay until this universe’s turtles show up.”
Mona hummed before turning to the other humans, “How about you two?”
“Will you stay as well?”
When the alternate April O’Neil was about to speak, the garaged door opened, and garbage and rotten food is all they could smell.
“Hey, guys! I just finished an interview with—who are these humans? And why do they look like our friends?” Questioned by the newly arrived resident New York Hero, Muck Man.
Drip
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Drip
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dri–
GASP!
“Sensei!”
Splinter coughed relentlessly to the point he couldn’t recognize which of his sons had made him sit in a stable position. The mutant also has blurry vision.
“Whoa there sensei, take it easy,” His son rubbed his back.
It took a few minutes to not hack up his lungs and to regain his vision.
“You okay, master?” Questioned Raphael, who was leaning against a graffitied wall.
“Ye-yes, I am alright, my son.” Splinter cleared his throat, “Thank you, Donatello.”
Looking around with a clearer vision, Splinter can tell they’re in an ally way. Which the rat mutant didn’t expect to be at, being sucked into the portal. And speaking of portals…
“Where’s Leonardo?”
Seeing his three sons being together gives Splinter hope that his eldest is just reconning the area to be safe and he arrived with them. But with the expressions of his sons, Splinter’s hope wanes.
“We’re… not sure, Sensei,” Donatello took a deep breath, “Because we aren’t in our universe.”
“What do you mean, Donatello?” Splinter asked with a confused frown.
The purple-clad genius handed him a Newspaper, “While you were unconscious, Mikey and Raph did a little reconning around the area and I was protecting your body. When they’re done, Mikey found this,” The mutant turtle pointed at the newspaper date.
“August 6, 2015,” Splinter murmured in shock.
Donatello nods, “I would’ve said we’re in the future if it weren’t the fact the publishing company is different. Of course, I had taken into account the possibility of a new publishing company and future and such, but it says the company has been around since the 1887s. In our universe, it's Hearst, but here it's Hirst.”
“And don’t forget you dragged me to places!” Chimed Michelangelo.
His third oldest sighed, “And the fact I dragged Mikey to find areas that were supposed to be familiar but to only see to be slightly altered, but still related to our universe.”
“Dollar Tree is waaaay better than Cheap Shop,” Splinter’s youngest proclaimed.
“It is a little on the nose,” Donatello agreed.
“Ok, sensei is up to date. What are we going to do now?” Grunted Rapheal.
Splinter’s whiskers twitched at the small made wind.
Donatello puts a thoughtful expression, “We find this universe turtles.”
“No need,” a hoarse voice echoed through the valley.
Splinter remains in a relaxed form while his sons draw out their weapons.
Two pairs of white eyes dropped down from the fire escape stairs and stepped out of the shadows to show two giant mutant turtles.
‘Their body is completely submerged in the shadow.’ Splinter mused as he was impressed. For he knew these turtles only showed visibility because they wanted to.
“Your Don aaaaand your Leo?” Questioned Michelangelo in a disbelief tone, as he tucked away his nun-chuck.
Splinter can see why his son is in disbelief. The two mutants have different sizes. The one wearing a purple bandana—Who Splinter assumes to be Donatello—is tall and lanky, his muscles aren’t pronounced much, and his eye colour is reddish brown. While his blue bandana companion—Leonardo… Splinter’s heart is riddled with anxiety at the thought of his eldest—is smaller than this universe’s Donatello, with more pronounced muscles and his eye colour is silver-blue. While his sons have the same height, same muscles, and same eye colour, except for Michelangelo’s baby blue eyes.
“Yes, and yes,” Alternate Donatello answered dismissively, “So, what are you guys doing in our dimension? And what year is it on your end?”
“Ok–hold up. How can we be sure we can trust you,” Raphael questioned and interrupted before Donatello could answer his counterparts’ questions.
The alternate of his first and third eldest had shared an amused yet exasperated look at each other.
“From the looks of things, you act like our Raph. And if you're anything like our Raph” Alternate Donatello started, “You won’t trust our words regardless,” Alternate Leonardo finished.
“They got you there,” Donatello pointed out with an amused tone as he sheathed his Bō-staff.
Rapheal growled and grumpily crossed his arms after he sheathed his Sais. But the red-clad turtle is glaring warily at the alternate turtles.
“For your earlier questions. We didn’t mean to be here as we were forcefully sucked–“
Michelangelo laughs “Ha ha ha, suck.”
“–into a vortex. And it’s the year 2007 in our dimension.” Donatello continued as if he wasn’t interrupted.
‘Thank Spirit’
Splinter inwardly raised an eyebrow at what alternate Leonardo said. With Splinter’s ability to read lips, he managed to understand the young turtle’s words.
“Hm… What’s the source of the vortex? I might be able to replicate it.”
Donatello grimaced at the thought of the unusual source of the portal, “Stars alignment.”
“Excuse me?” Alternate Donatello stared at his son, with a gaze asking if he was joking.
“Yeah…” Unfortunately, Donatello isn’t joking.
“Right…” Came a dazed reply, “Not the weirdest transportation… What’s the stars' alignment called and how long to form?”
“Stars of Kicaan, and 3000 years to align,” Donatello answers.
“Leo?” The alternate genius turtle turned to his brother.
This universe of his eldest shook his head, “Maybe it forms on another planet,”
Alternate Universe Donatello hummed, “That is possible… Do you think Mona Lisa or Bishop has some information? Or willing to–”
Ba pa ba pa ba pa baa pa!
Alternate Leonardo was interrupted by a shell with a screen on it(?).
Splinter and his sons watched the object being tapped in the alternate blue-clad turtle’s hand and shared it with his Donatello.
“Looks like we’ll get information from Mona Lisa,” Alternate Leonardo said as he tucked away the small shell away. “We’re going to the Mutanimals,” Leonardo informed as he parkoured up to the building’s roof
“What? And where’s that?” Raphael loudly questioned, although, it sounded like a demand.
“Upper Manhattan,” Alternate Leonardo answered, not showing if he was bothered or not at Splinter’s hotheaded son tone, “And I hope you don’t mind being named by Mikey,” The alternate blue-clad turtled added.
“What about being named by me?” Michelangelo curiously asked as they followed his alternate brother’s example.
“Mikey–well our Mikey–likes naming things. Villains, people, or objects.” Alternate Leonardo explained.
“And if you named something without him, he’ll sulk for days,” The alternate purple-clad genius rolled his eyes.
Raphael scowled, “Why the fuck does he want to name us? We already have names!”
“Because there are two versions of each of us. So, he’ll want to name you or us. And judging by the text, Raph successfully threaten him to name you guys instead,” Alternate Donatello explained.
“Alright,” All six mutants dropped down in front of a vehicle, “Meet my baby, Shellraiser,” Alternate Donatello presented in a proud ‘Ta-Da’ position.
“Woah…”
The alternate version of his son revelled in the amazed look from Splinter’sfamily.
“Make yourself at home, But! Don’t break anything! Or dirty anything!” Alternate Donatello said as he sat in front of multiple monitors. While his brother sat at the steering wheel.
“Alright,” Alternate Leonardo secured his seatbelt, “Thirty-six minutes away from upper Manhattan,” The mutant set the Stick Shift.
Vrrrroooooooommm
“違う亀ですか?” Questioned Karai to the kneeling ninja. She had just been informed by one of her chuunin, who knows about her mutation and her other family members and even met them, about a Mutant Turtle with a blue bandana and twin katanas, that isn’t her brother.
“はい、カライさま” The ninja confirmed.
Karai sighed, “彼はどこにいる?”
“河童は会議室にいますよ、カライさま。” The ninja answered diligently.
Karai waved her hand, “解雇する” and the ninja disappeared.
Karai stayed still for a few moments, “Shinigami,” Karai turned to her Chuunin[4], “What do you think?”
“On whether this is an actual yokai tricking us or just an alternate version of your brothers?” Shinigami questioned, as she sat on Karai’s desk.
Karai let out a small smile, as she intertwines their fingers together, “Both.”
Shini hummed before magicking a flower, “Let’s pick Dendrobium petals, and see our answer,”
“Kame”
Pick
“Brother”
Fall
“Kame”
Pick
“Brother”
Fall
“Kame”
Pick
“Brother”
Fall
“Kame”
Pick
“Brother”
Fall
Karai watched as Shinigami plucked off the petals and let them fall to the ground until the last petal is in her hand.
“Brother,” Shinigami eyed the dendrobium petal with a Cheshire smile.
Shinigami let the petal fall to Karai’s palm. Which the Jounin [5] eyed.
“Tell Daisuke to put other Leo in a box–“ Karai paused as a mischievous idea formed in her head, “Actually–put him in a closet, and the inside must have these colours,” Karai handed a piece of paper, “And appoint a flight to New York.”
“As you wished,” Shinigami dramatically bowed and disappeared in a puff of smoke in her wake.
[1] Knowing these two humans looking like Leatherhead’s friends would compromise him. It would feel like he’s attacking his friends. Mona on the other hand thinks these humans were playing a dirty trick to look like her friends, by looking like her friends, these humans thinks she won’t attack them.
[2] Salamander, Leopard Gecko, and Crocodiles has better night vision than humans. Leatherhead is a mixed mutant between Alligator-Crocodile-Human
[3] I’m not typing OOOO-AAAA-OO for monkey noises.
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