Chapter Text
It had been several weeks since the Shredder’s been defeated, Gram-Gram Karai's spirit has been laid to rest with her father, Casey joined the Mad Dogz, and Baron is one of the good guys now—they weren’t sure about Casey’s senseis’. April somehow retained Gram-Gram’s spirit(not Gram-Gram herself but the part that knows ninpo and crazy good at ninjutsu). Raph was the leader again. Everything had been going okay since the people of New York had been returned. They rebuilt the lair-it wasn’t quite the same since before Shredder destroyed the lair, Splinter and Draxum started more serious training regiments with the six children plus Sunita and within a few weeks, they all improved drastically.
The bad guys, of course, didn’t stop being bad guys. Raph, Leo, Mikey, Donnie, April, Sunita, and Casey, swung back and fought as hard as they were able to, and at some point, the fights became less of an adrenaline-filled challenge and more of a chore. The kids didn’t mind ‘easier’ fights but they started to resent how often Meat Sweats would try to eat them, how often Hypno would try to make one of them disappear, how often Warren Stone would try to become their arch-nemesis through lame and downright pathetic attempts to get the kids to notice him.
They’ve already had Draxum and the Shredder as their arch-nemesis. They didn’t need another one for a long, long, long time.
The turtles were walking April, Casey, and Sunita back to the sewer after the girls had served detention for helping Casey defend herself in a fight against some of the more violent delinquents.
“Shelldon and I would love to teach those punks a lesson,” Donnie said with a menacing grin. “Shelldon nearly killed me without hesitation so I know he won’t have any reservation with those kids.”
“Aww thanks, Dad,” Shelldon said, his voice staticy with emotion. “That’s so nice of you to say.”
“I’ve said my one nice thing for the evening, I am glad that I used it on you,” Donnie said.
“I’m sorry he what?!” Casey shrieked, her voice pitchy with her classic overenthusiasm mixing with confusion.
“Yeah,” Leo drawled, “We messed with his circuitry since he favored Donnie, and Shelldon got really murderous. He almost succeeded.”
“But he didn’t!” said Mikey jovially, “Donnie rebuilt him so now he’s not murderous anymore!”
Casey stopped walking, still trying to process the information. “He tried to kill you,” she pointed at Shelldon, then Donnie. “And you’re all okay with being close to the robot? What if he tries to kill you again?”
“Didn’t you do the exact same thing to us?” Raph asked calmly, which got a ‘Heck yeah she did!’ from April and Sunita while Mayhem purred in agreement from April’s backpack
Casey’s cheeks grew a dark red, “It’s not the same!” she sputtered loudly, stomping her feet and flailing her arms around wildly for several seconds. Raph and Mikey raised an eyebrow before her shoulder slumped over and she took a deep breath, “Yea, it’s the same.”
Raph patted her shoulder, “People deserve second chances, Casey. Including you,” He said gently. He knew this song and dance. He knew that she was about to on her long rant that she didn’t deserve a second chance for helping the Shredder capture and torture their father.
She looked up at him and wrapped her arms around him in a hug. Raph hugged her back and soon Mikey, Leo, Sunita, and April joined. Donnie rolled his eyes before Raph pulled him in the group hug.
The hug lasted for a long while, eventually, the kids pulled away from each other. The seven teens resumed walking before they came across Hypno and Meat Sweats working together in a darkly lit alley. They all lined up along the corner of the building leading into the alley.
“What should we do?” Mikey said.
“I’m thinking we leave it,” Leo said, “Doesn’t involve us at the moment.”
“That’s wack, Leo,” April said, summoning her green baseball bat. “We can’t just leave these two to whatever they’re up to. I know it reeks of such awful vibes.”
“How do you know?” Sunita asked.
“Gram-Gram gifted me the ability to do a vibe check,” April joked, chuckling a little.
“Really?!” Sunita said, her eyes lighting up with mirth.
“She’s just pulling your leg Sunita,” Donnie said with a deadpan expression.
“I don’t feel my legs being pulled?” Sunita said, confusion on her face. She looked down, back up, and noticed that Mikey was gone. “Where’s Mikey?”
“BOOYAKASHA!”
Raph looked up and saw that Mikey was over Meat Sweats and Hypno, wildly swinging his repaired kusari-fundo, aiming it at the two villains and wrapping his weapon around the two. Raph swore quietly, running in headfirst with his tonfā, punching Hypno while avoiding Meat Sweats tendrils. He heard the others come swing into the fight and it hadn’t taken them long to defeat the two and send them running back to where they came from.
Raph did a quick headcount to make sure everyone was still there, rolling his shoulder to alleviate the pain that was there for when Meat Sweats hit him with his silver meat tenderizer. Donnie looked over, concern flashing in his eyes and Raph smiled, letting his brother know that he was okay.
April pulled herself up off the ground and leaned over on Sunita to keep herself upright, “Man, I don’t think I can take another step,” she groaned. “Splinter and Draxum have kept us on our feet for so long.”
Leo pulled out his ōdachi, doing his thing and a portal showed up. “Here’s our way home, no extra walking included,” He bowed preemptively, “You’re welcome.”
Casey looked at Leo warily, “Are you sure you have that thing under control?”
The turtle in question turned to look at her, eyebrows raised in something similar to irritation. “You can walk the long way home while we take this nice short cut if you’re going to be like that!”
The former Foot recruit shook her head, taking one of April’s arms and draped them over her shoulder. She looked at Sunita, who nodded and began walking, towards the portal and the Turtles followed suit.
As soon as the three girls stepped through the portal, April unlinked her arms from around their shoulders and gave them each a kiss on the cheek, “Where would I be without you two?” she said, “Splinter! We’re….home?”
This wasn’t lair but she could still recognize it as New York from the skyline that she had become so familiar with, but something was wrong with this place and she wasn’t quite sure what it was. The others noticed(“Leo, how did we get portal jacked again?!” “My wonderful twin, I do not know!!”) and just as soon they were about to get into their typical routine of bickering, something caught all of their eyes.
There was another turtle, wearing a blue mask just like Leo, pressed against him against the wall, a metal prong slowly protruding out from the other person’s gauntlet until it touched the turtle’s skin. There are three other turtles, each one of them wearing Raph, Don, and Mikey’s masks, piled on the floor, and unable to move. Their plastrons were badly scratched, bruises and cuts were plastered across their skin and they were helpless to look on at the other turtle being pressed against the wall.
“Tell me where Splinter is and I’ll make your demise quick,” the voice said, deep and gravelly. Her first thought was Shredder, but this guy couldn’t be the Shredder because he was gone. April can’t shake off how wrong this feels, how unsettling hearing this person’s voice, and the fear that she had when she and her family fought the Shredder.
But right now she can’t let her fear consume her, there was a turtle in need of help. Summoning her mystic bat, she jumped into a run, Casey, and Sunita following after her. The moonlight illuminated the glowing green hellfire of her bat as she pulled her arms back and swung her back at the silver helmet gleaming in the moonlight. She smirked as her bat made contact with the helmet and took satisfaction in the hard clink that resounded through the air.
She took deep heavy breaths as she landed on her knees and watched out of the corner of her eyes as the man flew away from Leo and landed on the ground next to the other turtles. April slowly stood up again, Casey and Sunita pulling her up, she heard the heavy footsteps of Raph behind her and she knew that her brothers were standing behind her.
The armored man turned around and the first thing April noticed is that human eyes are hiding behind that helmet. Good. She can deal with that, she can make him bleed. The second thing she noticed is how the armor is shaped exactly like the Shredder. April ignored the fear thrumming in her heart, and the soles of her feet aching as he got up and sauntered towards her.
“I’ve fought you before,” she said, voice clear and unwavering. She was the oldest out of her siblings, she couldn’t and wouldn’t show fear to this coward. “I will make you bleed.”
“You sound confident for what will be the last moments of your life,” he said, receiving a face full of Donnie’s drill and flying back several feet. He got back up and his face narrowed at Donnie and April clenched her bat tighter, the hellflame growing brighter.
“You mess with our sister,” Donnie began.
“You mess with us,” Leo, Raph, and Mikey chorused together. The four turtles took on battle positions, weapons primed and ready to give this armored bastard a beatdown.
Casey readied her hockey stick/spear while Sunita pulled off her cloaking broach, revealing her slime yokai form. “Us too,” they said together.
Their attention was taken away from the Shredder doppelganger when they saw a large red Asian fish with two sharp fangs and stick-like arms and a tall golden Akita with a large left arm and spikes all over his body.
“Is it bad that I want to pet the doggie?” Mikey said.
“Yes Mikey,” Donnie said. “They are probably going to try and kill us, per the usual.”
“Master Shredder,” the fish gasped, splashing some glowing aqua liquid. April was certain not to let any get on her since she was positive it would spell trouble for her. “Help us.”
Shredder looked on at the fish and dog in disgust. April saw the disdain and hatred mar his already hateful body, turning that burned half of his face into something truly contemptuous. She looked behind him and she saw that the turtles had escaped, but she knew that they hadn’t gotten that far away. Not after something like this.
The kids are primed, ready to fight when the Shredder looked at them, then looked at the two new yokai, and ordered them along to follow him. They all watched as the three dropped off the building and disappeared into the night.
Mikey was the first to jump into her arms, “Are you okay? He didn’t get you did he?”
April knows that his voice is slightly trembling, remembering how their Shredder slashed at Donnie’s shell, how he nearly slashed through Raph’s and all the unending anxiety and terror that he had caused them. She kissed his forehead, silently letting him know that she was okay.
“We should check on those turtles,” She said, “They couldn’t have gotten far.”
“Found them,” Casey said, leaning over the building. “They’re over here on the stairs.”
The other turtle with the blue mask, he has to be Leo, pulled himself over the building, wielding his katana as he eyed them all warily.
“Who are you?” he asked, and April has to resist the urge to pinch on his cheeks because he sounds like a baby, a literal baby.
“It seems that we are you,” Donnie began to explain, motioning to the group. “But from another dimension.”
“That sounds like Donnie’s thing,” Baby Leo said slowly, lowering his katana. Turning his head sideways, he called out to his other brothers, “Guys! You can come out!”
The other Raph, Mikey, and Donnie all come up, rightfully distrustful of them but they all do something that shocks her.
They bow. Not like one of those pretentious bows like she would do at Yokai parties and not like the ones she would do with her brothers when they hosted tea parties. They bowed deeply, heads stopping at her stomach, one hand closing around their fists. This spoke of respect and honor.
And that unnerved her a little bit. Why are they bowing so deeply?
“Thank you,” they said in unison. It’s unnerving to April and she felt the uneasiness coming from her brothers too.
“Why are you thanking me?” She said finally, voice sounding foreign to her.
“You saved my life?” Baby Leo said slowly, voice tinged with confusion. “That was an honorable thing to do?”
April blinked, “It shouldn’t be considered honorable for doing what any big sister would do,” she said. “That’s not honor, that’s just being a good older sibling.”
“Yea!” Mikey said in agreement, popping up behind her.
“We should go back to the lair,” Baby Donnie said, “We can’t fight like this.”
“You can barely walk,” Raph said, taking a few steps forward. He held out a hand. “I can carry you back.”
Baby Donnie’s red eyes squinted at Raph before chuckling tiredly. “That’s a good joke.”
“I wasn’t joking,” Raph said.
Baby Donnie looked up at Mikey who nodded and gave a thumbs up. Baby Donnie took Raph’s hand, lifted him over his shoulders and took Baby Mikey into his arms.
“There’s room for one more,” Raph said, waving his other arm in front of Baby Raph.
“I’m not no stinkin’ baby,” Baby Raph groused grouchily, folding his arms together and looking away from his larger counterpart. “I can take care of myself.”
April raised an eyebrow before she swooped Baby Raph from under his legs and caught him in her arms before he fell. “I’m the oldest and you’re being carried, damn it.”
Baby Raph blushed and hid his face from her. She looked at Baby Leo, who held his hands up in surrender. “You’re riding with Donnie,” she said.
At that Donnie, started up his battle shell, the rotors of the drone emerged out of his shell and he hovered up several feet. “Grab on,” he said. Baby Leo grabbed onto his legs, and held on tightly.
“Let’s go to the lair!” April called out, and everyone began the trek back to the sewers.