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Chapter Text

How Mikey had ended up in this universe, nobody really knows. No one can prove anything. Raph thinks it had to be something mystic, Donnie thinks it was science, Leo and Shorter Mikey were partial to the idea of alien interference.

How he got here doesn’t matter much, it’s how to send him home that’s important. When Mikey first landed here, found his counterpart and his family who in turn took him in, Mikey was adamant about returning home. So Donnie set to work studying up on portal travel and alternate dimensions. Draxum, his counterpart’s formerly evil second dad, and man was that something to get used too, spent a considerable amount of time explaining mystic portals and mystic forms of transportation with Donnie. It took four months, but Donnie thinks he’s found the solution. There’s only one problem though, Mikey doesn’t want to go home anymore.

Sure, Donnie had plenty more tests to run before even talking about sending a living person through, but this was still a major wake up call for Mikey. Mikey was going home. Mikey was going to have to leave this family, his family, to go back to the universe he belonged in. It was surprisingly heartbreaking.

Mikey loved this universe. He loved the bright colors, all the noise, all the movement. He loved how crazy this city could be, loved how exciting the Hidden City was… even if every time he’s been he happen to be arrested. He’s come to love Yokai food.

Mikey took every opportunity to join on trips to Run of The Mill. Leo always got whatever the special was, no matter how gross it sounded, and it was always shockingly delicious. Shorter-Mikey thinks it’s because of magic, Donnie believes it’s because a lot of non-human food items in Yokai dishes appeal to their original turtle diets. Mikey will miss being able to buy pizza with tentacles on it.

Most of all Mikey would miss this family. He loves his original family, of course he does, but he’s come to care for these people just as much.

Mikey will miss sneaking into movie theaters with Raph, miss goofing off with Leo and late night conversations with Donnie, miss improv dance parties with Shorter Mikey and April. He’s going to miss watching TV with Lou, miss Draxum’s awkward attempts at bonding with the family, and miss laughing at Cassandra chasing Casey around the lair.

Mikey might hang out with his counterpart the most, but Mikey and Casey Junior just clicked in a way he never had with anyone else. Casey is a man out of time, and Mikey is a turtle out of place. There’s something comforting about someone else understanding what it’s like to interact with another version of someone you love. Casey will tell Mikey stories about the kind of shenanigans Master Leonardo would get into, and Mikey would tell Casey all about the time Raph licked a metal pole in the middle of winter on a dare. Casey told Mikey how giving everyone in this timeline different names helps him see each version as a different person; Leo vs Master Leonardo, April vs the Commander, etc. They had spent an hour going back and forth on suggestions for different names for Mikey to use.

So currently Mikey was hiding out in his room, missing dinner because he was worried if someone smiled at him that he would break down crying over top of Chinese takeout.

Knock knock.

Mikey’s head shot up, turning to the doorway of his bedroom. Leo was leaning on the door frame, and knocking on the wall. He looked concerned.

“Hey, buddy. You okay?”

Mikey looked away, “yeah, I’m fine.”

Leo invited himself in. Strutting over to the bed and plopping down next to Mikey. “Then why do you look miserable?”

“It’s stupid,” Mikey mumbled into his own shoulder as he turned his head further away from Leo.

“Hey, what did we say about calling things you’re embarrassed about ‘stupid’?”

“That the things I like and the things that upset me are not ‘stupid’.”

“Exactly,” Leo bumped their shoulders together. “So what’s up?”

“It’s selfish.”

“So?”

“I can’t ask this of you guys.”

“Sure you can, we’re family.”

And oh, another shot of pain went through his chest. Leo and the others started calling him their ‘alternate-brother’ right away, dropping the ‘alternate’ somewhere during the first week.

Mikey felt a hand on his shoulder, and let Leo turn him so they were facing each other. Leo’s voice was genuine and quiet when he next spoke.

“Hey, it’s okay if you don’t wanna talk about it. Just know you can tell me anything. I won’t judge. But I’m not leaving until you feel better.”

Mikey gave him a wobbly smile. He knew Leo was telling the truth. Leo had stayed with him for hours watching funny youtube clips after Mikey had a night terror last month. Mikey had fallen asleep, cuddled into Leo’s shoulder as Leo held up his phone with one hand and absently rubbed Mikey’s shell with the other, occasionally dropping a kiss on his head. Mikey was going to miss him.

“It just, it hit me when Donnie announced his breakthrough earlier. I’m gonna have to go home. I’m going to have to leave you all and… and I don’t want to go home anymore,” Mikey made a sniffling noise and turned back to looking at the wall, so he wouldn’t have to face Leo. “This has become my home. You guys have become my family. And you all make me feel like I belong here. I miss my brothers, but they don’t get me the way you all do. And they love me, I know they love me, but they never say it or show it. They never want to spend time with me, or listen to my interests. Like, I see Donald try so hard. Emotions are difficult for him but it’s so clear how much he loves all of you, loves me. I can’t remember the last time any of my brothers even hugged me, or asked to hang out, or just wanted me around.”

Leo wrapped his arm around Mikey’s shoulders, pulling him into a hug.

“I just- I don’t want to leave.”

“Then stay here.”

“Huh?”

Leo continued talking, despite Mikey hiding his wet face in Leo’s shoulder. “If you don’t want to go, then don’t go. None of us want you to leave, we just thought that’s what you wanted. We’d gladly keep you here with us for the rest of our lives.”

Mikey looked up at the blurry image of Leo, “You would?”

Leo smiled. “Yeah, we would. Whoever wanted to take you away from us would have to fight us all first. Actually, that gives me a idea…”

“Nardo, you can’t be serious. This is insane, even for you.”

Leo had invited himself into Donnie’s lab, turned Donnie’s table top into a seat, and proceeded to tell Donnie one of the craziest plans he’s ever said aloud.

“Come on Donnie, this way everyone wins! Taller Mikey’s family get to prove they love him through their actions since they won’t use their words, you still get to use the portal device you’ve spent four months working on, we get to meet our own counterparts, and we have the perfect excuse to get to knock them around a little bit for treating Taller Mikey the way they do! It’s a win-win-win.”

Donnie leaned back in his chair and narrowed his eyes at Leo. Donnie was looking forward to the portal device and meeting more alternate universe versions of his family members, and he knows how much Mikey was looking forward to breaking out Dr. Delicate Touch…

Leo was smirking like he already won Donnie over. And he has. Curses!

“GROAN. Fine, you win. But I get first pick on arenas!”

Chapter Text

April had just finished placing their pizza order when Donnie came running out of the lab holding a laptop.

“EVERYONE! GET IN HERE NOW!”

Donnie placed the laptop on the table across from April as Leo came sprinting around the corner.

“What is it?! What’s going on?!”

“This better be important, I was taking a nap,” Raph said as he rounded the corner at a normal pace.

“It’s about Mikey.”

The whole room went silent, the atmosphere going from confused to serious in a moment.

“I received this email sometime last night. It’s from Mikey’s captors.”

“So Mikey was kidnapped-”

“What does it say-”

“Is Mikey okay-”

Donnie pulled up the email before standing off to the side. April stood and moved to the other side of the table to read it over Leo and Raph’s heads.

FROM: [email protected]

CC: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

TO: [email protected]

SUBJECT: Michelangelo

We have Mikey. If you truly want him back, you play by our rules.

There will be a seven round fighting competition. You may choose to fight individually or as a group. You will provide your own weapons and gear. If you win all seven rounds, you just might get Mikey back.

Rules:

1. No murder! If someone dies the whole deal is off!!
2. BYO weapons

A portal will open inside your home in one weeks time. It will take you to our dimension. You will enter it to begin the first round of competition.

Signed,

The much more handsome Leonardo <3

“Did he seriously put a heart after his name?”

“Yes,” Donnie sighed, “yes he did.”

“I say we skip the competition and go straight to Mikey,” Raph held the back of the chair in a very tight grip.

“We can’t just do that-” Leo began.

“Why not?! Donnie can trace the email or something so we know where they are. We commandeer a Kraang portal and use it to get us there!”

“Because they have Mikey! They could see us coming and move him, or kill him. Who knows what the apparently evil alternate universe versions of us can do?”

“So you just want to do nothing?!”

“No! I didn’t say that! I’m trying to say playing along is the best way to get Mikey back.”

“Not to mention,” Donnie cut in, “we don’t know why they took Mikey, or what they want from us. Evil-Me probably expects us to jump the gun and has a trap set up for us.”

“And this whole fighting thing isn’t a trap?” Raph was starting to lose his cool. Their baby brother was kidnapped and Leo and Donnie wanted to waste time!

“Raph we can’t just rush in there without a plan!”

“A plan for what?”

Everyone jumped. Raph turned around and saw Casey had just entered the lair, holding the pizza they’d ordered.

After much back and forth arguing, it was decided they would “play along” until they got eyes on Mikey.

The rest of the week was spent training and preparing. Donnie was making everything he could think of, not knowing what they might be facing.

Finally at 4:53 AM on a Wednesday, a large golden portal opened up in front of the TV. The team scrambled to get their things together, not knowing how long it would remain open.

Once they were all ready, Leo stepped in first. Everyone followed right behind him.

Casey had stepped into the portal behind Leo, which meant when he came tumbling out and landed face first onto concrete, everyone else landed on top of him.

There was a lot of groaning and “ow”s before everyone was back on their feet. Casey leaned heavily on his hockey stick as his legs shook.

They were outside a abandoned building, the windows boarded up. There was a piece of paper taped to the door. Casey watched as April stumbled over and shakily pulled it off to read aloud;

“Congratulations! If you are reading this that means you decided to accept our invitation. Your first competitor is inside.”

“I don’t know about you guys,” Casey cut in before anyone else could speak, “but I need a minute before we start.”

“No more waiting, Mikey needs us!” Raph said, despite having his hands on his knees and looking much greener than usual.

“One minute, then we’ll go in,” said a Leo that looked ready to pass out.

“Fine. Just one minute. Then we go save Mikey.”

One minute turned into ten, but eventually they felt normal enough to fight relatively safe. Leo pushed the door open, and a form of fog rolled out.

The team looked at each other in confusion. Leo then stepped inside, the others following behind.

The room appeared to be an office lobby of some sort. It was dark from the windows being boarded, the wood blocking out the lights of New York City night life. Casey nearly screamed when the crackling of a speaker came on, blasting upbeat music and disturbing the eerie atmosphere.

“WELECOME LADIES AND GENTLEMEN TO THE FIRST ROUND OF TONIGHT’S COMPETITION. ON ONE SIDE OF THE RING, WE HAVE THESE GUYS,” and wow Casey knows they still look shaky, but come on! “AND ON THE OTHER SIDE WE HAVE OUR COMPETITORS. HE’S QUICK ON HIS FEET, HE’S TOUGH AS ALL HELL, AND HE’S FROM AN ALTERNATE FUTURE. COMING IN AT FIVE FOOT SIX INCHES AND BARELY A HUNDRED AND SIXTY POUNDS, WE HAVE CASEY JONES THE YOUNGER!”

Casey was not expecting to be fighting himself.

“ALSO DRAXUM IS THERE BUT AS HE STILL HASN’T APOLOGIZED FOR THROWING ME OFF A BUILDING HE DOESN’T GET A INTRO!”

There was a flash of light, illuminating the silhouettes of two figures at the end of the hallway. One was nearly seven feet and had broad shoulders. The other was much shorter and appeared to be wearing a cape. His eyes were glowing neon green.

“SOME GROUND RULES BEFORE WE CONTINUE. THIS WHOLE BUILDING IS THE FIGHTING STAGE, YOU CAN MOVE BETWEEN FLOORS AS YOU WISH. THE ROUND DOES NOT END UNTIL ALL MEMBERS OF THE OPPOSING TEAM HAVE BEEN INCAPACITATED. USE OF LETHAL FORCE FROM EITHER TEAM IS GROUNDS FOR DISQUALIFICATION.”

There was the ringing of a bell, then the revving of a chainsaw.

“LET THE GAMES BEGIN!”

Chapter Text

“-THE ROUND DOES NOT END UNTIL ALL MEMBERS OF THE OPPOSING TEAM HAVE BEEN INCAPACITATED. USE OF LETHAL FORCE FROM EITHER TEAM IS GROUNDS FOR DISQUALIFICATION.”

There was the ringing of a bell, then the revving of a chainsaw.

“LET THE GAMES BEGIN!”

Leo charged down the small hallway, towards the figures. Suddenly something wrapped around Leo’s left foot, sending him to the ground. A quick glance back showed he wasn’t the only one on the floor. The fog was too thick to see through, so Leo kicked with his other foot where he assumed the thing holding him down was coming from. Whatever it was was sturdy and rubbery. It squeezed him harder.

Donnie and April were still upright and ran past Leo after their competitors.

“What is this thing?! It won’t let go,” Raph was repeatedly stabbing the ground.

“We have to hur-” Leo’s sentence was cut off as the thing around his leg moved to wrap around both feet, before violently dragging him away from his team.

“LEO!”

Leo’s view was limited to the floor (which appeared to be a navy blue carpet) for several seconds. Those seconds consisted of the pain of rug burn and the sound of his shell scraping along the wall and the slamming of a single door. And then everything stopped.

Leo found himself hanging upside down in a maintenance closet.

His legs were stuck together, the material that was around his ankle having moved to wrap along both legs before stopping at the knee. His head was next to a mop bucket. And there was a safety poster Leo could barely make out on the back of the door.

Leo tried bending upwards to reach his feet to untie himself. It, expectantly, did not work as his shell restricts torso movement, resulting in him instead simply banging his forehead on the door and his body swinging back and forth.

“Ow. Okay then I’ll just cut myself down.”

Leo reached for his katanas, and made it worse. He was too close to the ground to unsheathe either sword, and in all his wiggling he managed to knock several bottles and containers off the shelf behind him, causing loud sounds of crashing and bouncing.

Leo took a deep breath. He couldn’t afford to waste time in here.

And then the mop fell out of the bucket and smacked him in the face.

Leo sighed.

April ran past her fallen friends, keeping pace with Donnie. The hallway ended in a narrow stairwell. April slipped ahead of Donnie and led the race upstairs. She yanked the door open and entered the second floor.

The second floor was also covered in the smoke like substance. The stairwell doorway was located in the corner of the room, with an open hallway leading left and a smaller hallway a little ways to the right that led away from their current position. The only light was from the red ‘EXIT’ sign placed above their heads.

“What direction did they go?”

“I’m not sure, I’d say we could split up but given the fact we’re already down half the team and this building is probably a maze, I think it’s safe to assume their goal is to divide, separate, and ambush.”

April turned to look at Donnie, “Well, what do we do then?”

Donnie shrugged, “Pick a direction I guess. Check every room on the way, and hope they’re in front of us and not behind us.”

Well that’s a comforting thought, was a sentence April managed to keep to herself.

April chose the hallway closest to her: the right side hallway. It was wide enough to fit two people, but not wide enough to fight in. April went first again, with Donnie walking several steps behind her.

The hallway got darker as they moved further in. April had to sacrifice the use of both her arms to place one hand on the wall to guide her forward.

“I don’t like this.”

“Me neither. Let’s just hope the hallway ends soon.”

April’s hand went over the lip of a doorframe and landed on smooth wood. She stopped short, and Donnie ran into her. They both jumped.

“Sorry! I didn’t know you stopped!” Donnie whisper yelled.

“There’s a door here. I’m going to open it.”

April felt as Donnie moved around her in the dark, getting into a fighting stance. April felt around for the doorhandle.

The door made a horrible screeching noise as it was pushed open. April started searching the wall for a light switch. She flipped the switch up and a small desk lamp turned on, creating a small circle of dull orange light.

April and Donnie crept into the room. And they both screamed when they turned and saw a cheap Halloween decoration clown sitting next to the door, barely visible in the low light.

Raph finally managed to cut his way through the thing holding him down. He stumbled over to Casey and together they managed to free him.

“Get up! Leo needs our help.”

“Did you see which way he went?”

“No. Did you?”

“No.”

Leo was starting to get sea sick. He was spinning around in a slow half circle, only to immediately start spinning in the other direction when his shoulder would bump the shelf, and repeat. Over and over again. The closet smelled of bleach and lemon scented cleaning products.

The one bit of success he had managed was turning on the light, curtesy of the mop handle.

In his attempts to look up, it appeared the thing holding him up was some kind of plant vine. It was thick and purple.

He had resorted to stabbing the alien looking vine holding him hostage with the end of a broom. It wasn’t working.

Leo was losing hope on getting free by himself.

Suddenly there was a scream.

Leo’s blood ran cold, and he started jabbing the broom even harder. Crunch.

The closet descended into darkness once more.

“Oh come on!”

Raph and Casey charged up the stairs, following the scream. When they got to the second floor, Raph turned left and Casey followed.

They ran down the hallway, until Raph slid to a stop, Casey running into him.

“Gah! What is this stuff?”

It was too dark to see, but it felt soft and stringy. Casey waved his hockey stick in front of them, trying to pull it out of the way. They pressed forward.

The hallway continued to be covered in the strings, from the floor to the ceiling. Casey was getting fed up.

Casey stopped his waving to pull his cellphone out. He turned the flashlight function on and shined the light in front of them. Raph inhaled sharply.

The hall was filled with large spiderwebs.

Raph pushed ahead of Casey, pulling the webs out of his way as he moved fast down the hallway. Casey couldn’t blame him, Casey felt like things were crawling all over him.

And there was something crawling on Raph.

“Raph, man, don’t freak out. But there’s a huge spider on your shell.”

Raph froze. But the shadows on his shell kept moving.

“Ah, actually its multiple huge spiders.”

“So get them off!”

One crawled over Raph’s shoulder. And Raph starts screaming.

“GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!”

Raph was running around like a mad man now, looking terrified.

“GET IT OFF!”

April and Donnie finally made it to the end of the hall. April’s heart was racing. Every room they checked had something lying in wait for them. A fake ghost dropping from the ceiling, a plastic skeletal hand on her shoulder, a speaker playing disembodied laughter. The shadows seemed to be playing tricks on her, dark shapes forming and moving around.

The pair cautiously made their way up the next set of, thankfully well lit, stairs. This time Donnie opened the door, and what greeted them was a cold empty room.

They slowly made their way to the other end of the room. Just when Donnie’s hand landed on the doorknob, the sound of a chainsaw came from behind them.

April and Donnie whipped around in time to see a figure drop from the ceiling onto the patch of yellow light that was being cast into the room by the open stairwell. The figure landed in a crouch before straightening up. He was backlit, making it difficult to make out his features. He appeared to be wearing a cape, the cloth somewhat translucent, large boots, and had piercing green lights where his eyes should be. He was holding some sort of stick with a miniature chainsaw on one end.

April’s heart stopped when swung the weapon at her chest.

April ducked and rolled under the blades as Donnie advanced, using the extra reach of his staff to catch and push the dangerous end of the weapon up and away from them. The chainsaw spear bounced against the ceiling, making a horrible screeching noise, before Glowy Eyes managed to regain control of it.

Donnie dove in again, continuously pushing the spear away and his opponent backwards.

April started moving around them, hoping to attack from the side or the back while Donnie held his main attention.

She struck at Glowy Eyes’ neck with her tessen. Glowy Eyes threw himself in the other direction, before positioning his body to keep both of them in front of him.

Glowly Eyes struck at Donnie before changing direction and striking at April with the butt of the spear. April ducked and elbowed him in the back.

Donnie swept at his knees but Glowy Eyes jumped over it. Donnie overextended during the follow through, and Glowy Eyes lunged forward and kicked at Donnie’s exposed side. He then spun around and caught April’s tessens on the shaft of his weapon. They pushed against each other.

April started losing ground, and Glowy Eyes pushed her back a few steps into the light that was cast by the door. She could see him more clearly now. He was quite short, only a few inches taller than her, and he was wearing blue padding over his torso. He wore a white mask like Casey, but his was more angular than Casey’s. Its sharp edges and contours threw menacing shadows across the face of the mask. The eye holes had green lenses placed over them, and the lights must’ve been placed inside the mask as Glowy Eyes’ real eyes were quite visible up close. They were brown and narrowed at her. While Casey had painted his mask to look like a skull, Glowy Eyes had only painted diagonal red stripes across the eyes.

“Ahhhh!”

Donnie struck his staff across Glowy Eyes’ back, and Glowy Eyes let out a “oomph” sound before disengaging April to swing at Donnie.

Subconsciously April knew this had to be Casey’s counterpart. They had the same name, had the same aesthetic. But Casey’s movements were never this fluid, this graceful. Casey fought in jerky movements and with as much power as he could, always offensive. Glowy Eyes seemed to be using Donnie’s movements against him, dodging more than striking, and when he did strike it was small and fast. He danced around them both while Casey would’ve simply charged.

Glowy Eyes hooked Donnie’s staff between his two hands with the hooked part of the weapon, and pulled. Donnie lurched forward into Glowy Eye’s raised knee before Glowly Eyes head butted him. Donnie muttered an “owww” as he staggered backwards. Glowly Eyes then turned to her.

“GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!”

“I can’t get them off if you won’t stand still!”

Casey finally managed to grab onto Raph and start removing the bugs. Raph was shaking. Casey started laughing.

“What!”

This is serious business and Raph thought Casey should be taking this seriously. What if they were venomous!

“Raph. Raph, I don’t know how to tell you this,” Casey got out through his snickering, “but they’re fake bugs.”

“WHAT!”

“They’re like the kind you buy at the dollar store.”

Casey reached around Raph to show him the bright blue plastic centipede under his flashlight. Raph instinctively jerked away and Casey started laughing again.

“Jones I swear if you tell anyone about this-”

“I’m pretty sure everyone in the building heard your screams.”

Raph grabbed the front of Casey’s sweatshirt and pulled him closer. Casey was still smirking. “-I will beat you into a pulp. Understand?”

Raph could feel the quiet laughter in Casey’s chest, “Yep.”

Everybody in the building did in fact not hear Raph’s screams, as a chainsaw tends to drown out most noises. Leo heard them, but assumed from how high pitched they were they must be April’s or possibly Donnie’s. The cameras set up for the Party Room’s viewing pleasure did however capture Raph’s entire freak out in glorious night vision green, and it most definitely will be making the Top Moments montage as S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. records and edits the entire tournament into a film (complete with recaps and commentary).

Raph and Casey finally made their way out of the Hallway Of Hell. The room they entered was large, and when Casey turned on the lights, very brightly lit. All was quiet for a moment, and then there’s was a muffled “Raph? Donnie? Is that you?” coming from what looked to be a storage room.

“Leo!”

Raph and Casey rushed to the door. “Leo! Are you in there!”

“Yes! Finally! Get me out of here!”

“Alright stand back!”

“Wha- Raph!”

Raph kicked at the door, it bended under the force but bounced back. Raph tried again.

“Raph! Raph it’s unlocked!”

“Oh,” Raph guiltly grabbed the door handle and pulled the door open. And then proceeded to laugh with Casey at the state Leo was in.

“Ha ha, very funny. Please get me down.”

Leo was hanging upside down, with all kinds of cleaning supplies scattered about the floor. One of his swords was half out of the sheathe, standing up on the floor by its handle. And Leo was holding a feather duster, which he attempted to throw at his brother.

Raph took moment to continue laughing before reaching his hand inside the closet, looking for the light switch. He flicked it multiple times, but the light didn’t come on. Leo mumbled something.

“What was that?”

“I said, I kinda broke the light bulb.”

“How’d you do that?”

Leo sighed, “With a broom.”

Raph and Casey started laughing again.

Glowy Eyes used his spear to vault over to April, kicking at her with both feet.

He missed, but recovered quickly and used the shaft of his spear to catch April’s strikes. April snarled at him, getting frustrated, and he actually growled back. It was a loud distorted guttural sound, and it was so unexpected it caught April off guard.

The edge of the spear swept out at her left leg and April fell to the ground on one knee, in turn swiping successfully at Glowy Eyes’ thigh.

She hoped the boys had already handled the other opponent. She was not looking forward to the other six rounds of this.

Leo, Raph, and Casey took the elevator to the top floor. They figured if each floor was like a level, then the other fighters had to be at the top. Possibly even the roof.

The elevator was quietly playing Taylor Swift. Raph was tapping his foot to the beat.

Ding!

They stepped off the elevator, noting the single flickering white fluorescent light in front of them.

“Alright team, so-”

A huge purple vine hovering off the ground shot out from around the corner of the elevator bay, grabbing Casey by the waist and lifting him into the air. A second vine came from the same direction as the first, and the brothers dove out of the way as it imapled the wall behind them.

“Casey!”

“I’m good,” Casey yelled back, using both arms to wack his hockey stick against the vine holding him. “I got this!”

Leo and Raph ran past Casey, following the vines back to their origin point.

The vines came from an office break room, in which stood a seven foot tall, fully armored, goat-man drinking water from a dixie cup, with his pinky out.

He turned to them, “Oh good, I was wondering when you would get here.”

Glowy Eyes held the edge of the, fortunately inactivated, mini chainsaw a few inches from April’s neck. She was on the panting on the ground, halfway to getting up before noticing the blade.

“Do you yield?”

His voice was distorted through the mask, but he wasn’t speaking to April. He was speaking to Donnie.

Donnie had frozen in place, eyes wide.

Donnie looked from the chainsaw, to Glowy Eyes, back to the chainsaw. He looked at April before his eyes narrowed and he steeled his face.

“No,” Donnie shifted into a fighting stance. He smirked, “‘use of lethal force is grounds for disqualification.’”

And then he swung the end of his bo at the side of Glowy Eyes’ head.

Leo was thrown into the wall, again. Raph had gotten back up and was charging Goat Man with his sais out, again.

Goat Man just kept tossing them around as he sat at the table. He was entirely relaxed, leaned back in his chair with his legs crossed. He was rambling on about unimportant things.

“-Really, you should be grateful I was told to go easy on you. You would be dead by now if lethal force was allowed.”

“Shut up.” Raph collied with the wall. Again.

“Now the way Michelangelo spoke about you I expected much better. He made just one of you sound like a threat-”

“What do you know about Mikey?!”

BOING!

Goat Man slid off his chair onto the ground. Behind him stood Casey with a small frying pan he must’ve grabbed off the counter.

“Hey guys-”

“Casey!” Raph yelled while Leo picked himself off the floor, “he was about to tell us what he knew about Mikey!”

“Oh,” Casey looked down at Goat Man with a guilty expression, still holding the pan. “Oops.”

Glowy Eyes landed hard on his back, Donnie pressed the end of bo into his chest and lightly stepped on his wrist. April held the chainsaw spear above him, kneeling on his other elbow. They were both smirking this time.

Suddenly a horn sound blew out of the speakers. Once, twice, three times. Then the lights came on.

Donnie and April blinked back the spots in their eyes and looked at each other before looking back at Glowy Eyes. His mask flipped up, revealing a sweaty smiling teenager younger than them.

“Congrats! That means you guys defeated both of us!”

Donnie was confused; why does he look so happy to lose?

April shifted off his elbow and Donnie followed. Glowy Eyes sat up, pulling what looked to be ear plugs out of his ears and leaving them to rest around his neck on a string. Good, Donnie thought. Hearing damage is a real thing, and constantly wielding a chainsaw was not good for the ears.

“My name’s Casey, but most people call me ‘CJ’ or ‘Junior’. You guys are Donatello and April, right?”

“Um, yeah…” April replied, also clearly confused.

CJ stood up, and then held a hand out to April who was still sitting on the ground. She looked at the hand for a moment before slowly taking it. CJ shifted their grip so he was holding her forearm and hauled her up, April stumbling. For a short scrawny guy he was fairly strong.

“Let’s go find the rest of your team, and then me and Barry will take you to the next fight.”

He held his hand out for his weapon, and April handed it over. He rested it on his shoulder as he headed for the door, and Donnie and April followed.

Donnie and April stepped off the elevator and followed CJ past the plant destruction and into a small kitchen.

They were met with the scene of Raph and Casey, who were both covered in white fuzzy strings, arguing. Leo was attempting to pull the strings off of a very much not relaxed Raph. There was a table and a collapsed body in between Raph and Casey.

“Oh good, he didn’t kill anybody.”

Raph, Leo, and Casey whipped around to look at CJ, April, and Donnie in the doorway. Their mouths dropped open as their eyes landed on CJ, who was calmly walking over to the body.

CJ crouched down next to him and started shaking his shoulder. “Gruncle Barry, time to WAKE UP,” CJ shouted directly into the person’s… not human ears. ‘Gruncle Barry’ started moving some.

“Umm… what do you mean by good he didn’t kill us?” said Casey, who clearly missed most the fight due to his much less frazzled appearance.

“Let’s just say Uncle Donnie gets his homicidal tendencies from him.”

Uhhh what? Donnie thought. Everyone looked at each other in confusion for a moment, before Casey replied with “That was not informative at all.”

There was a groan from the floor, and CJ pushed Gruncle Barry upright and leaned him against the table leg.

“Hey, how do you feel?”

“Like I got hit in the back of the head.”

CJ pulled a small pen light out from the pouch on his belt, and shinned it into Gruncle Barry’s eyes. “Ugh! I wasn’t hit that hard! Junior!”

CJ ignored him and continued with his examination. “You take after Blue. You are both mother hens.”

CJ determined Gruncle Barry was fine and rocked back on his heels before turning to the others. “Oh, I forgot! Donatello, April, this Baron Draxum,” he gestured to Gruncle Barry with both hands, “and to everyone else, hi! I’m CJ. If you are good to go we’ll go ahead and take you to the next arena.”

“‘Arena’,” the apparent Baron Draxum scoffed, “that is not an arena.”

“It’s not my fault ‘borrowing’ the Battle Nexus Arena was vetoed. Not to mention impossible to do without informing Big Mama. The fact we managed to get the Doom Dome for the finale-”

“That is literally the only true arena on our list.”

“You’re just upset Sensei made you the opening act.”

“I am Baron Draxum! I am the best warring warrior alchemist of our age! I am finale material!”

“You’re also the most wanted criminal in the Hidden City. Putting you on camera in a yokai establishment, especially one owned by Big Mama, who still hasn’t forgiven you about what went down last Thanksgiving by the way, is not a smart idea.”

“Thanksgiving was not my fault! She started it!”

“Besides we have seven different arenas. Or stages, or rings, or whatever you want to call it. All with several hundred square feet and personally tailored.”

“It is still insulting to-“

After much squabbling CJ and Baron Draxum led them out of the building and headed west. CJ said Round Two was located only a few blocks away. Casey slid up next to CJ and asked, “So, are you like the alternate version of me?”

CJ hummed. “We’re not sure, actually. Your counterpart is probably my mom.”

“Your mom?”

“From what we’ve gathered, your personality and interests align more with hers. However my gear matches up with yours quite a lot. But then again I inherited most of it from my mom. So, who knows?”

“So, what you’re saying is there’s a good chance there’s a alternate version of me that’s a girl?”

“I guess?” CJ shrugged. “I don’t see how that’s important tho-”

Casey spun around and pointed at Raph, “Ah ha! You own me ten dollars!”

They arrived at a construction site, Baron Draxum assuring them that yes, this is the next fight. It was very exposed, with a metal base and no walls. There was equipment and materials strown around the area, and a lone cooler holding water bottles where they were gathered around now.

When Leo turned around to ask again if they were positive this is the place, only for them to be nowhere in sight.

There was a loud crackling of a speaker, and then the same voice and music as before burst through.

“ARE YOU READY FOR ROUND TWO FOLKS? OUR NEXT OPPONENT HAS BEEN ITCHING FOR THIS FIGHT ALL WEEK! SHE SKIPPED MIDTERM REVIEW TO BE HERE. SHE’S A SMALL MEAN FIGHTING MACHINE, GIVE IT UP FOR NYC’S LOCAL WEIRDNESS MAGNET:”

A second, much closer voice joined the first.

“APRIL O’NEIL!”

Chapter Text

“-SHE’S A SMALL MEAN FIGHTING MACHINE, GIVE IT UP FOR NYC’S LOCAL WEIRDNESS MAGNET:”

A second, much closer voice joined the first.

“APRIL O’NEIL!”

There was a blur of yellow and green in the corner of his eye and the next thing Raph knew the breath had been knocked out of him. He was airborne for a moment before his shell collided with one of the many metal support beams.

Raph scrambled to get back on his feet. When he turned back to the fight, sais at the ready, April was face down on the ground and the yellow blur had sent Donnie flying. Casey swung at the blur but it somehow materialized behind him and kicked Casey, sending him to the ground besides April. Leo lunged at the blur only for it to disappear again.

“Hello Raphael.”

Raph’s head whipped around looking for the voice, finally finding its owner crouched on the beam above his head. She didn’t look like April. Dark coily hair instead of light red, cat-eyed glasses on her face, and a large shirt collar obscuring her chin. Her loose clothes were the same colors as April’s, just in a much brighter hue, and they both wore leggings. She rested a glowing green bat on her right shoulder, the left was occupied by a yellow cat-like creature.

“I have a bone to pick with you.”

“Huh? Why me?”

She jumped down, Raph having to back up several steps to avoid being crushed, and swung at his chest.

“Because I don’t like the way you treat Mikey.”

Raph jumped back to avoid the bat, “What do you know about Mikey! You took him from us!”

Leo ran up next to Raph and tried to swipe at her during the swing’s follow through. She vanished again.

She reappeared in the air above Donnie and swung her bat at his head on the way down. Donnie caught the bat with the center of his bo, the vibrations from the force of the swing rattled the bo and traveled down Donnie’s arms. Casey charged at her from behind but she momentarily disappeared, resulting in Casey taking Donnie down instead of her. She reappeared in the same spot.

“Ow!”

“Sorry! She’s fast!” Casey swiveled around to face her again.

It was April’s turn to charge their opponent, Raph and Leo close behind her. Other-April ducked the hit sent at her head and dove at April’s feet. They both went down. Donnie held his bo over his head and brought the staff down on Other-April’s back. The cat creature snarled and ran up the shaft of the bo before jumping on Donnie, and they vanished.

Other-April rolled on her back and used her bat like a bar to catch Casey’s hockey stick as he attempted to replicate Donnie’s last attack. She brought a leg up and kicked hard at Casey, the neon yellow sneaker making contact with his abdomen. Casey made a wheezing sound before curling in on himself, allowing Other-April to push the hockey stick away.

The cat reappeared on Other-April’s shoulder and they disappeared. Leo looked around for her, distantly noticing Donnie hugging a beam at the top of the structure.

“Am I seeing things or is she teleporting?!” Casey yelled, head whipping back and forth frantically looking for her.

“And what was that creature?!” April added.

The sound of a engine filled the air. The clinking of chains joining it. Leo’s eyes widened as he saw a large hook attached to a crane coming right at them. “MOVE!”

The cat pounced at Donnie’s face and in the next moment he was hanging onto a beam several stories in the air being battered by cold wind. Donnie frantically looked around him. The cat was on the beam below him, next to his bo. The cat looked him in the eye and held a paw out.

“No. Don’t even think about it.”

The cat rested his paw on bo.

“No no no no no. Don’t do that.”

The cat pushed the weapon off the beam and Donnie watched as it fell deep down into the structure, its clunking ricochet sounds getting fainter.

“No!” Donnie returned to looking at the cat. It started at him for several seconds before deeming Donnie uninteresting and it vanished in a flash.

Donnie turned his focus to finding a safe path down.

Other-April laughed as she chased them around with the crane. “And my mom told me getting a crane license would never come in handy!”

After several minutes of ducking and diving, April and Casey ran towards a bulldozer and hid behind it.

“Okay, so we gotta take out the crane if we wanna beat evil-you.”

“And how do you suggest we do that?”

“Do you know anything about cranes?”

“No! Why would I know anything about cranes?!”

“Well other-you seems to really like ‘em!”

“Do you know anything about cranes?”

“No.”

They were quiet for a moment. The sounds of machinery and yells filled the silence. April turned her head to Casey, determined look on her face.

“What if we take this bulldozer and ram it into her?”

“How do we do that?”

“You have a learners permit right?”

Casey smiled, “Yeah, yeah I do.”

Casey stood up and climbed into the open-air doorway. The keys were already in the ignition, not expecting to be used anytime soon. April climbed up behind him, hanging onto the chair.

Casey sat there looking at the levers. “Well,” April said, “turn it on!”

“This is very different from a car!”

“How different can it be? We just need to turn it on and drive it forward.”

“Well for one: which of these levers steer? And two: there’s like three pedals.”

“Just pick one!”

Casey turned the ignition key, “Alright. Here goes nothing!”

Raph jumped into a pile of bricks to avoid the hook of the crane. He then quickly jumped off of it to avoid the bulldozer covered in flashing lights charging right for it.

“SORRY RAPH!”

“WHAT THE HECK JONES?!”

“THIS IS NOTHING LIKE A CAR!”

The bulldozer pushed through the pile of bricks and continued on in the opposite direction of the crane.

Leo ran towards the crane’s cab, hoping to get Other-April away from the controls. Other-April saw him coming and threw a punch at his face when he entered the cab. She connected and Leo struggled to not fall out of the machine.

“Ow! Why is your face so hard?!”

“Because there are bones in it?!”

Other-April cradled her hand to her chest and Leo held a hand to his face. Leo took a quick glance at the controls. He didn’t have a clue how any of them worked, but there was a key inserted next to a red light.

Leo dove over Other-April and grabbed the keys before pulling them out and waving them in her face with a smile.

“Ah ha!”

Leo jumped out of the cab and Other-April followed. “Hey! Give those back!”

Leo ran deeper into the structure, hoping to lose her in the shadows so he could double back and attack her. He made sure to take several turns.

He looked over his shoulder and noticed Other-April had stopped and was looking out at the street, at a bulldozer covered in flashing lights. Raph was chasing after it and Leo could hear Casey’s screams of “I CAN’T GET IT TO STOP!”

Other-April turned to her cat creature and pointed at the bulldozer. The cat vanished but Other-April stayed.

Is the cat the one teleporting? Leo thought. If she can’t teleport then we have a chance at catching her!

Leo looked around and saw what might be chain about fifty feet ahead, but what caught his eye was the abandoned bo-staff lying on the ground.

“Leo? Is that you?”

Leo looked up and saw Donnie on what was to be the third story. He looked to be making his way towards his fallen weapon. Leo glanced back and saw the glow of Other-April’s bat coming closer.

“Donnie! I have a plan but I need you to keep her distracted!”

Donnie finally made it onto sweet sweet solid ground, his arms and legs shaking from strain climbing down had put on them. He made it to his bo just as Other-April got close. He raised his staff and swung.

She blocked it with her bat and pushed back against it. Donnie couldn’t help but notice she was significantly shorter than him. The lenses of her glasses reflected light back at him for a moment before revealing her eyes. Donnie thought she had really pretty eyes- no! Donnie focus!

Other-April grit her teeth, “Come on Donnie! I know you can hit harder than that!”

Donnie grit his teeth right back, and knee-ed her in the stomach. She made a “oomph” sound but held her position. Other-April began advancing, pushing him back. Wow she was strong. Donnie was not light.

Donnie was starting to understand why Raph liked girls who were stronger than him, but he chose to bury that thought and focus on distracting her. He managed to wiggle his foot between her feet and hook her ankle. She went down with a “ack!”

Donnie stood over her, saying a triumphant “ah ha!” She decided to return the favor by hooking the back of his knee with her calf and pulling, sending him to the ground. Now it was his turn to “ack!” and hers to “ah ha!”

She was starting to get up when Leo came running back with some heavy looking chains. Donnie quickly reached over and grabbed her ankle with his hand. Donnie pulled and she went back down face first on the cement. Leo slid in next to her and started wrapping her arms to her torso and secured it with a long metal nail.

There was the blasting of a horn three times as all the site’s lights turned on. Leo sat down next to them and Other-April managed to sit up with a “uggh”.

Raph had managed to catch up to the bulldozer and was now running besides it. Casey was pulling levers at random, and April was half out the door and gripping the chair back for dear life.

“CASEY! TURN IT OFF!”

“I’M TRYING!”

The bulldozer banged into the curb before momentum forced it over onto the sidewalk. There was a flash of light and the alien looking chihuahua-saber tooth cat creature appeared on Casey’s lap. There was several more flashes in quick succession, as the creature grabbed each human and relocated them behind Raph.

Raph then watched as the creature leapt up onto the control dashboard and calmy pulled a lever before removing the key. The bulldozer’s lights turned off and the machine stuttered to a halt.

It hopped down from the bulldozer and trotted up to Raph and the others.

“Do we fight it?”

“I don’t know…”

The creature looked tired, yawning as it approached. It sat infront of the group and looked up at them. It stood back up and began herding them towards the other side of the road. Confused, the group allowed it to. After stepping onto the sidewalk, there was a distant horn sound and the block they had left behind lit up in white light.

“That must’ve been the completion horn,” Raph said as he turned to look at April and Casey. He looked back to the cat that was now walking ahead of them, leading the way back to the construction site.

“Ugh… that ended embarrassingly quickly.” Other-April began moving to sit up.

“You still put up a pretty good fight,” Leo said, panting.

Other-April shifted onto her knees, “Since the round is over, mind untying me?”

Leo undid the makeshift clasp he created and started unwrapping her. Leo froze before removing the last two rings of chain. April managed to shrug off them off while he stared.

“Leo,” Donnie leaned over to look at Leo’s face, confused “you okay?”

Leo reached out and pushed the yellow hood of Other-April’s jacket up, revealing a flower-like pattern in a large green circle. “What’s this?”

“Hmmm,” Other-April looked over her shoulder, “oh that’s the symbol of my clan. The Hamato.”

Leo and Donnie stared at it for a moment. It was different from their symbol, but still very similar.

Other-April stood up and walked over to retrieve her fallen bat, which Leo could now see was both glowing and on fire. “Alright boys, let’s get the rest of your group together and I’ll take you over to the next fight. I’m personally excited to see this one.”

Leo and Donnie followed her out of the structure. Other-April walked over to the cooler they had all been around when the fight started, opening and finishing a water bottle before digging for a red gatorade. Raph, April, and Casey turned the corner just as she cracked the seal open.

“Hey, you guys-”

“Mayhem!”

Other-April dropped to her knees and scooped up the cat creature, “Oh are you okay? You did a lot back there. Do you need a nap?” The creature rubbed its head on her chin as she coddled it.

Other-April stood up, unzipped her jacket and placed ‘Mayhem’ inside before zipping it back up. “That’s alright little guy, you rest and I’ll take it from here.”

Other-April turned and grabbed the gatorade with her right hand, the left currently supporting Mayhem, shoving it into her pocket. She then picked up her bat and started walking to the road, “Come on y’all, your next fight is this way.”

Casey found himself hanging onto his seat for the second time that night. The team was squished together in a small motorboat that Evil-April was driving. She was perfectly at ease standing at the controls, hair and split overskirt swaying with the wind. The rest of them were being tossed against each other at each turn. Casey was squished against the edge of the boat and Raph, meaning every time Evil-April had the boat go a little to left he had a 200 pound terrapin slamming him into a wall, and every time she went right he was splashed with cold seawater.

The others seemed to be enjoying this just as much as him, except Donnie. He kept sneaking looks back at Evil-April and trying to engage her in conversation. Now she was a cute girl, a year or two older than him, and Casey is into feisty girls which she certainly fits the bill, but A) Casey has to put up with Donnie making eyes at a April every single day already, and B) she’s evil and kidnapped Mikey! Do not fraternize with the enemy!

Evil-April hadn’t spoken much the whole trip, and would glare at Raph every time he spoke. She had made the mistake of answering one of Donnie’s questions with proper nerd jargon, and Donnie was hooked on her since then.

“Alright people, we are approaching our destination.”

Casey looked ahead to see what looked like a wooden pier, covered in colorful lights. As they got closer it seemed to be some type of carnival, with a farriswheel and one of those pirate ship rides. Casey’s New York didn’t have one of these.

Casey felt Raph turn, “You’re taking us to a well lit and super populated place? Why?”

“Don’t worry,” Evil-April yelled over the wind. “It’s currently closed down for repairs. The lights are only on because we turned them on.”

The boat pulled up to the pier, but Evil-April made no move to secure the boat to the wood.

“Everyone get out. Your next fight is over there,” she pointed to the hub of the amusement park, “just head on in. The music will come on when you’ve reached the starting area.”

Leo hopped out of the boat, before crouching to pull it closer to the dock and held it in place as everyone got out. The group ascended the wooden staircase to the top of the pier. When Casey looked back Evil-April and her boat were gone.

The group slowly made their way to the center. Several rides looked to have been damaged in some type of fight and there were large holes of ripped up wood placed sporadically around. The only sound was the wind and their own footsteps. As they passed yet another abandoned booth Casey said “This place is creepy right?”

“Yeah. And what’s with all the headless animatronics?” They had passed several of those on their way in, all in different states of destroyed.

They continued on for another unsettling minute before music suddenly blasted from the place’s several speakers.

“YOU MADE IT TO ROUND THREE, CONGRATULATIONS. WELCOME TO ALBERTOLAND! OUR NEXT OPPONENT IS A LEVEL UP FROM THE LAST TWO. HE’S SMARTER THAN ANYONE IN THIS CITY, LOVES TO DANCE, AND IS MOST LIKELY POSSESSED BY A DEMON” the announcer lowered his voice to a whisper “(and one day I’ll prove it)! PUT YOUR HANDS TOGETHER FOR A AVID PURPLE ENTHUSIAST, LOVING FATHER OF TWO, AND MY TWIN… THE MAD SCIENTIST HIMSELF: D-D-D-D-D-DONATELLO!”

Chapter Text

“-HE’S SMARTER THAN ANYONE IN THIS CITY, LOVES TO DANCE, AND IS MOST LIKELY POSSESSED BY A DEMON” the announcer lowered his voice to a whisper “(and one day I’ll prove it)! PUT YOUR HANDS TOGETHER FOR A AVID PURPLE ENTHUSIAST, LOVING FATHER OF TWO, AND MY TWIN… THE MAD SCIENTIST HIMSELF: D-D-D-D-D-DONATELLO!”

“He’s a dad?! How old are our counterparts?!” Raph asked as he pulled his sais out.

“That’s what you chose to focus on?” April said. “Not the part about probably being a demon?”

“I’m trying to process the fact that there’s a universe where I’m an uncle!”

“No, no Raph has a point.” Leo added. “I didn’t even know we could have kids. Let alone that Donnie could manage to get a girl in the first place!”

“Hey! I could get a girlfriend!” Donnie defended himself. Then his eyes widened, “Oh my gosh, I’m a dad.”

“Technically, so is Casey.”

Casey froze, then shouted “I didn’t think of it that way! I’m a dad! Or a mom? I’m a parent holy-” Casey cut himself off, “Wait! New bet. I bet five bucks I’m a MILF here.”

April groaned and face palmed.

“There’s no way you’re a MILF!” Raph shouted. “I’ll take that bet!”

“Yeah, me two.”

“Me three.”

“Wow,” Casey said, “such little faith in my good looks! I’ll have you know us Joneses beauty only gets better with age.”

April snorted.

“What was that April? Do you have any money you’d like to add to the pot?”

“No, leave me out of this.”

“QUICK REMINDER BEFORE WE BEGIN,” a new, unknown voice came over the speaker.

“USE OF LETHAL FORCE IS! NOT! ALLOWED! YOU HEAR ME DONNIE?! THAT INCLUDES SEMI-LETHAL.”

“What?! Since when?!”

The voice came from the roof of one of the wooden stands. The group turned to face it. He was backlit by the purple and pink lights of the farriswheel, making it hard to discern what he looked like, or if he was even a turtle. He was crouched down and… texting?

“SINCE ALWAYS!”

“But I had such great plans for it!”

“DO NOT MAKE ME COME DOWN THERE DONNIE! I WILL PULL YOU FROM THIS FIGHT!”

“What if I promise to be careful?”

“NO!”

“Groan. Fine! Fine! I’ll be boring and uncreative. You happy?!”

“YES.”

The original voice came back on, “WELL NOW THAT THAT’S SETTLED. LET THE ROUND BEGIN!”

Donatello put his phone away and stood, before jumping down from the roof with a thud and stepping under a streetlight. He had a wicked grin on his face and an unsettling glint in his eyes. He reached behind him and pulled out a purple tube which quickly extended into a bo-staff. He pressed a button on the staff and it transformed into large hammer.

Oh no, Casey thought. Donatello had very well defined muscles under his dark green skin. He wore black wrappings on his arms that extended to his elbows and another set on his legs which came up past the knee and ended at his thighs. His plastron was shaped more like a human chest than a turtle’s, with a thick black belt wrapped snuggly around his waist. A violet mask with short tails covered his eyes and forehead. His shoulders and the tops of his thighs were decorated with… were those tattoos?!

Oh no he’s hot!

Donnie had been wondering what these alternate universe turtles would look like, if they even were turtles. Alternate-Him was shorter than Donnie expected, taller than Leo but shorter than himself. His shell was much different from Donnie and his brothers, being less oval and more rectangular. There was something covering the back portion of his shell, which came up and ended on the front of each shoulder. Donnie didn’t know how to feel about the fake eyebrows.

Donatello gave a manic laugh and then lunged at the group with assistance from the jet in the hammer.

Donnie was very interested in this hammer now.

The group scattered. Leo and Raph tried attacking from behind but Donatello had predicted that and pushed them back with several hits from his staff. Casey rushed in and Donatello released his staff, leaving it to hit Leo and Raph on its own while Donatello faced off with Casey. Donatello easily slipped under Casey’s hockey stick and kicked him hard in the chest. Casey flew several feet before landing on his back.

Donatello recovered his staff in time to block a blow from Donnie’s own bo-staff. Donnie slammed a smoke bomb into Donatello’s eyes.

Donatello hadn’t expected that, and Donnie was able to land several hits on his plastron which threw Donatello back into the stand.

Raph rushed towards Donatello. Raph was mid-strike when there was a flash of movement. Donatello had gotten back up and moved slightly to Raph’s right. When Raph’s sai connected with the wood of the stand in the place Donatello used to be, Donatello placed something over Raph’s ears.

Donnie watched as Raph froze in place, eyes going distant.

“What did you do to him!”

Leo charged at Donatello. Donatello caught Leo’s swords on his staff with a smile. “He’s fine, don’t worry. He just thinks he’s in a ‘80s movie montage.”

“Huh?”

April came up on Donatello’s side, making Donatello disengage with Leo to black her blows. Donnie quickly joined them.

Casey went to pull the headphones off of Raph but froze when he was holding it between them.

“Something’s wrong with Casey!”

“April, go check on him!”

Leo took April’s place as April rushed over to Raph and Casey. She waved her hand in front of Casey’s eyes before she froze as well.

“Oh come on!” Donatello whined. “This fight wasn’t supposed to be this easy! I have so many traps and tricks set up through this whole park, and half your team is down in the first two minutes!”

You're so good, good, good

You got the goods

Raph waltzed out of the changing room and did a spin, “What do you guys think?”

“Hmmm… better than the last one but I still don’t think we’re there yet.” April said from her spot on the couch.

“I don’t know guys, I don’t normally wear clothes…”

“You look great!” Casey piped up from where he was digging through the racks.

“Yeah Raph,” April reassured him, “we’ll find your style!”

Casey leaned over the back of the couch, “Have you ever considered a hat?”

“Casey, I do not trust your opinion on hats.”

“April, you have never seen me in a hat.”

“I don’t have too, your idea of fashion is wearing two sweatshirts even though both of them have holes and stains.”

“Oh really, Miss ‘I Wear Leggings Under Shorts Instead Of Wearing Pants’.”

“At least I dress better than you-”

“You know what,” Raph cut in, “I’ll try the hat.”

“Yes!”

Leo and Donnie had managed to push Donatello into a corner, but he didn’t seem concerned. Suddenly Donatello was towering over them. Four skinny metal arms had come out of the device on his back and lifted Donatello into the air.

Leo and Donnie paused in shock and watched as the arms climbed up the corner and up onto the roof, taking Donatello with them.

Leo immediately climbed up after him, Donnie following close behind. Donatello was perched on top of a carousel messing with some form of holographic touchscreen on his forearm.

Donatello stood up and spread his arms wide, “Welcome alternate brothers, to my new kingdom! This is no longer ‘Albertoland,’ it is now ‘Donnieland’!”

Fireworks lit up the sky behind him with several booms. Donatello gave another eccentric laugh.

The rides all throughout Donnieland turned on. The pier was flooded with light while the dual noises of machinery and carnival music surrounded Leo. It was distracting and unsettling, making his skin crawl.

“And allow me to introduce you to my subjects,” Donatello reached for his forearm remote again. There was a cacophony of heavy clunking sounds, and Leo tensed when Donatello’s animatronic army began gathering pouring out from the various booths and rides.

Donatello stood proud from his podium and laughed again, resting his hammer-staff along his shoulders, as fire erupted and surrounded the ring of his carousel throne.

You're so good, good, good

You got the goods

Bum bum bum bum ba

“Who would’ve guessed Casey Jones cleaned up nice.”

Casey struck a pose in his new suit, “Thank you, thank you. You’re too kind.”

“Okay! My turn!”

April jumped up off the couch and started going through the racks. Casey plopped down into her vacated spot, “Oh, please try the leather jacket!”

“I will, but I still need something to wear under it.”

Casey closed his eyes and crossed his fingers as he whispered “short skirt, short skirt, short skirt.”

“Hmmm, do you guys think I should try a dress?”

Casey gives Raph whiplash with how fast he turned around to yell over to April, “YES!”

“I’m not sure, I don’t really wear dresses-”

“The more reason to try it on!”

“Okay! Okay! I’ll start looking for a dress. What color?”

She pulled two dresses off the rack, one was light blue and the other yellow with white stripes.

Leo and Donnie managed to find some high ground on the pirate ship ride, and were fighting the animatronics that managed to make the jump onto the swinging ship. Leo felt like they were in a pirate movie, being boarded by rival pirates. If rival pirates were mostly headless animatronics. However, Leo was starting to get motion sickness.

Donnie threw one of his new inventions overboard. It was some type of glue bomb, and it trapped several animatronics that were attempting to board the ship to the wooden pier. Leo threw a headless robo-bear off of him and desperately hugged the railing of the ship, looking down to view the damage Donnie had done.

“Leo, you okay? You look greener than usual.”

Leo gulped. “Just a little… just a little dizzy that’s all.”

Leo looked out and saw Donatello reclining on one of the grander seats in the carousel, feet propped up and drinking from a plastic coconut with a twisty straw. At some point he slipped a patterned beach shirt on.

Leo’s dinner of frozen pizza proceeded to abandon Leo’s stomach and, quite literally, jump ship.

You're so good, good, good

You got the goods…

Raph, April, and Casey took turns trying on the most hideous sunglasses they could find. April giggled as she pulled a set off the stand, “Raph, try these!”

They were large circle lenses with red coloring. Raph slipped them on and watched as April and Casey descended into laughter.

“Okay, Casey’s turn!” Raph pulled the white and pink Hello Kitty sunglasses off the stand and handed them to Casey with a grin. Casey let out another laugh when he saw them.

Casey put them on and looked in the mirror, “Oh yeah, I look so sexy right now.”

April dropped the matching Hello Kitty bucket hat on his head. Casey tipped the edge down like a cowboy hat, “Howdy little lady.”

Raph and April laughed so hard they cried.

Leo and Donnie had made it back to the pier and were once again facing off with Donatello. Donatello’s left eye was twitching and he had a unnerving smile plastered to his face. He swung wide and hard with the hammer, the length of its handle making it difficult for either Leo or Donnie to get close.

Leo managed to slip in close to Donatello mid-swing and hit Donatello in the face with the hard pommel of his katana.

Donatello staggered backwards before laughing again. He gently put the head of the hammer on Leo’s plastron and then activated the jet. Leo was launched high into the air.

You're so good, good, good

You got the goods

“I can’t be the only one who thinks Evil-Donnie is totally hot right?!”

“Jones! That’s my brother you’re talking about!”

“No, he’s the evil version of your brother.”

“Still! Besides, he’s Donnie. He’s nerdy and weird.”

“Eh, Donnie’s a little cute when he gets embarrassed or excited. Back me up April.”

“Yes, Donnie is cute. In a dorky way.”

“Now back me up with Evil-Donnie.”

April buried her face in her hands and mumbled.

“Hm, what was that?”

“He’s hot okay!”

“Ha! See Raph, April agrees with me.”

“I’m more interested in when you suddenly got the hots for my brother. Is there something you want to tell me, Jones?”

“No, I’m waiting until we get home to have this identity crisis.”

“Wait,” April blurted out, “does this mean Evil-Donnie is a DILF?”

Raph proceeds to choke on his own spit as April’s face turns redder than her hair.

Donnie cheered as Donatello’s hammer-staff rolled off the pier and into the sea. “Let’s see how good a fighter you are now!”

Donatello simply picked up a piece of wooden debris and in a flash of purple light he was holding a wooden bo-staff.

Uh oh, Donnie hesitated. “Well, you still don’t have any tech!”

Donatello raised a fake eyebrow and in another flash there was a rocket made of light materialized on his shoulder. He smirked and fired. Donnie dove out of the way of the blast.

Donnie and Leo looked over at the damage. The light rocket took out the farriswheel and a good chunk of the pier, the wood smoking in several places.

There was a horrible ringing sound that came from the speakers still working, all three turtles had to drop their weapons and cover their ears.

“DONNIE WHAT DID SAY ABOUT LETHAL FORCE!”

Donatello looked moderately guilty, “Oops.”

A bright blue portal opened under Donatello’s feet and he let out a yelp as it swallowed him. Donnie and Leo were left alone on the destroyed pier.

Raph blinked as the changing room faded away to the view of broken wood. He was suddenly aware of the drool on his face and moved to wipe it away. Casey groaned from beside him, and Raph turned in time to see Casey move from a kneeling position to sitting. April straightened up her back and gave her own groan.

“Ugh, what happened?”

“You guys missed the whole fight!”

“What?!”

Leo was leaning heavily on Donnie, both of them covered in scorch marks. Behind them parts of the pier were on fire and almost every structure was destroyed. There were several animatronics covered in glue and dismembered.

Suddenly all the lights, music, and rides turned off plunging the team into darkness. Then a line of lights turned back on, leading from the pier to the city. The speakers crackled back to life.

“SORRY ABOUT THAT GUYS. DONNIE HAS BEEN DISQUALIFIED. PLEASE FOLLOW THE LIGHTS TO THE EXIT AND THERE IS A MAP MARKED WITH YOUR NEXT LOCATION AT THE END OF THE PIER.”

The speaker crackled off.

Chapter Text

The group trudged up the assigned path. Where the wood met asphalt there was a large piece of paper taped to the railing. Raph pulled it off and they all gathered under one of the lights.

The paper was a tourist brochure that had a map of New York City printed on the inside. There was red marker writing reading “YOU ARE HERE” and “YOUR DESTINATION” with matching red marker circles. “YOUR DESTINATION” had “NYWA STADIUM” and an address listed out underneath. Someone had been kind enough to trace a route connecting the two locations.

“What’s this?” April lifted the corner of the brochure to reveal a notecard taped on the edge. It read:

Transportation has been arranged for you should you choose to accept it. Proceed to the parking lot and look for the green minibus with a capybara mutant in the driver’s seat. His name is Todd and he will drive you to your next location.

“Do we take the ride?” Raph asked. “I’m not super happy with the idea of being in a confined moving space that’s been arranged by Mikey’s kidnappers.”

“Me too,” Donnie piped in, “but this is all the way across the city. Who knows how long it will take us on foot. This is a different universe, the sewers might not connect all the way there and there’s no telling if the buildings are suitable for roof hopping that entire distance.”

Raph looked around, Leo and Casey looked ready to drop and both Donnie and April looked like they wouldn’t make the trip on foot without numerous breaks. Raph didn’t like either option.

“I vote we risk the bus.” April said. “Mikey is on the line here. Either the bus gets us to the location or it takes us straight to the kidnappers. Either way it gets us closer to Mikey than walking will.”

“I agree with April,” Leo nodded, “we’re taking the minibus. Plus,” Leo smiled, “how much trouble can a capybara mutant give us? If he looks twitchy we just commandeer the bus and drive ourselves.”

The answer was a lot of trouble. He was just too polite and nice to say ‘no’ to or argue with.

The group found him easily in the parking lot. He had the window rolled down and was dancing along to pop music. He excitedly greeted them and got down from his booster seat to open the bus doors. Next thing Raph knew he was sitting down holding a juice box and Todd was throwing a blanket on his shoulders as he apologized for not having any of his ‘world famous’ lemonade on hand.

They started moving and Casey asked about all the dog pictures on Todd’s dash. Turns out Todd runs a puppy rescue. He then proceeded to talk about each individual dog. Several minutes into the trip Raph glanced over at the others to see them all asleep.

Leo was drooling on Donnie’s shoulder, Donnie had his head tilted back against the headrest with his mouth wide open. April’s head was pillowed on her own blanket she had placed against the window. Casey was slouched forward with his face pressed against the seat in front of him, also drooling.

The minibus pulled up to the front of a stadium. Raph woke everyone up and they filed out, thanking Todd before he drove off. After some debate they decided to look for a side entrance. They entered quietly and did not encounter any night staff or security. Once entering what must’ve been the main corridor there were poster board signs spaced evenly apart that had a drawing of a cartoon turtle and a large arrow.

They followed the arrows into a large indoor stadium. At the bottom of the rows of seats was a wrestling ring. Besides the ring there was a pile of chairs and ladders. The group made their way down the steps, and when they reached the bottom red lights started flashing and a fog machine turned on. Where the fog poured out of there was the shadow of a hulking figure.

Then music played followed by a loud voice,

“PUT YOUR HANDS TOGETHER FOLKS, WE HAVE A REAL TREAT FOR YOU TONIGHT! THIS COMPETITOR HASN’T BEEN IN THE RING FOR OVER TWO YEARS NOW. HE’S THE STRONGEST POWERHOUSE THE NYWA HAS EVER SEEN, GHOSTBEAR’S BIGGEST FAN, AND THE MAD DOGS’ TEAM MOM. ARE YOU READY? BECAUSE I DON’T THINK YOU ARE! BACK FOR ONE NIGHT ONLY: RED REIGN!”

The figure stomped through the smoke. He wore a red over black pants and boots. One elbow of the jacket was black and matched his fingerless gloves. The top of his head was covered down to his nose with a dark red mask. He showed his sharp teeth in a menacing grin.

Leo felt his stomach drop. This was Raph?!

Red Reign was over six feet tall, at least four feet wide, with biceps the size of Leo’s torso and spikes protruding through the back of his jacket.

“WILL ALL COMPETITORS PARTICIPATING THIS ROUND PLEASE ENTER THE RING.”

Red Reign hopped over the ropes, the ground vibrating as he landed. Donnie gulped.

Raph followed Red Reign’s lead, hopping over the ropes. Leo slipped in between the ropes after Raph, and quickly the whole team had entered the ring.

“IT’S TIME FOR, SAY IT WITH ME NOW, CHAOS IN THE CAGE!”

Everyone looked up as a giant cage descended from the ceiling, covering the ring and the floor around it as far as the front seats. Leo moved a hand to his sword. They were now trapped in here.

Somewhere a bell rung, and Raph charged Red Reign.

Red Reign calmly reached over the ropes and grabbed one of the ladders. He snapped it shut and held it in front of himself. Raph tried to hit Red Reign with both sais at the same time, but Red Reign moved and spun the ladder; easily catching Raph’s hands and disarming him in seconds. While Raph looked down at his hands in disbelief, Red Reign held the ladder like a bat and swung it into Raph. Raph yelled as he was thrown into the ropes and rebounded all the way to the ropes on the other side of the ring.

The rest of the team attacked simultaneously. Red Reign defended himself with the ladder, pushing them back like a wave. Raph was suddenly behind them, having launched himself off the ropes, and jumped on Donnie before leaping at Red Reign. Raph landed on one of Red’s big shoulders and attempted to put Red Reign in a headlock.

Leo saw Casey had split off from the group and was hauling chairs into the ring from the pile and began throwing them at Red Reign, almost hitting April in the process. Leo ran over to Casey, sliding between the ring floor and the bottom rope before dropping two feet to the floor. He began grabbing chairs and handing them to Casey to throw.

Red began using the ladder like a shield. Donnie used the chair distraction to come up behind him and hit Red with his bo. It did nothing to slow Red Reign. Raph was being swung about on Red’s shoulders, yelling out every time Casey or Donnie missed and hit him instead.

When Leo and Casey ran out of chairs April climbed up the ladder Red was still holding and yanked his mask down over his eyes, blindfolding him. When Red realized what she was doing he threw her off with his hand. Red Reign hands were so large Leo saw how one easily wrapped entirely around April when she was thrown.

April immediately got back up, and seeing as she was fine Leo jumped back into the ring and charged at Red. Red was staggering back and forth, a hand trying to push his mask out of his eyes while Raph and Donnie tried to pull him backwards and to the ground. Leo unsheathed a sword and slashed at Red’s knees. Leo then had to cover his eyes as his vison filled with bright red light.

Red Reign had momentarily grown bigger. What could be described as a forcefield had covered his body and pressed out, throwing Leo and his brothers off and away from him. The body double-like forcefield then shrunk back into Red Reign, who used his now free hands to push his mask all the way off his head before shoving it in his pants pocket.

Red Reign’s skin was darker than Leo and his brothers, and now without his mask Leo could see how the skin around his right eye was covered in scar tissue.

“Woah, what was that?!” Donnie exclaimed as he picked himself back up.

Red Reign turned to Donnie and conversationally said “It’s Hamato Ninpo. You can even do it too with enough practice.”

“Really!”

“Oh! Oh!” Casey chimed in, “Can I do it!”

April decided to take advantage of Red’s relaxed body posture and struck at him. Red calmy pushed her away like she was a rowdy kitten and continued speaking.

“Well that depends. The only people who can use Hamato Ninpo are those who belong to the Hamato Clan, as they are gifts given to us by our ancestors. You’re Casey aren’t you?” Red pushed April back again. “Our Caseys are apart of the Hamato Clan, but if you aren’t you could learn how to use mystic powers. They’re super similar and there’s tools and teachers and things to-” Red picked April up by the back of her shirt and held her up and away from him. Leo watched as she kicked her feet through the air in frustration. “Help you learn, unlike us where everything is kinda trial and error learning.”

Raph started climbing up Red’s back spikes, clearly unhappy with the improv fight break.

“Mystic powers? Are you talking, like, magic?” Donnie had gotten back up and into a battle stance, but Leo could tell by his flabbergasted expression he was far more focused on getting answers than fighting. Leo would be lying if he said he wasn’t massively interested as well.

“Some of it is, some of it isn’t? I’m not quite sure and every time someone tries to explain it gives me a headache. Me and Leo just tend to think of it as superpowers.”

Red had set the ladder down properly set up, and now reached behind him to grab Raph one handed. Leo tensed, remembering they were in a real fight and not a friendly chat. Red pulled Raph around to his front before lifting him above his head and hooking Raph’s belt onto a hook that was hanging on a rope from the top of the cage. He let Raph go, who’s frantic movements made him begin swinging, and then put the ladder under Raph who gripped it like a lifeline.

Leo was able to notice Red Reign’s scared eye didn’t move in time with his unscared eye. Leo charged Red, coming up on what Leo was hoping was a blind side. Leo hit Red in the head with the pommel of one katana and sliced at the arm holding April with the other. It worked.

“Attack from his right! He can’t see you coming!”

Leo attacked again. April quickly got up off the ground where she was dropped and joined him. Casey went high for Red’s neck and Donnie went low for Red’s knees. After several long minutes of repetitive hitting Red Reign went down on a knee. Leo wrapped his tired arms around Red’s neck and pulled down while Donnie pushed against Red’s knee. April and Casey went to Red’s left side and started pushing his shoulder. Slowly Red Reign inched more and more horizontal.

All Leo heard was “DOG PILE” before Raph jumped from the ladder and landed on Red, the force of the jump and the angle of the landing pushed Red onto the floor. Everyone jumped on Red, trying to pin him to the ground. The horn sounded. Once. Twice.

Red began pushing himself up. With all five of them on top of him.

Leo kicked at the elbow closest to him, knocking Red’s arm out from under him. Red dropped back down to the ground. Raph leaned out from under Leo and grabbed onto Red’s jacket cuff, pulling Red’s arm to him and then hugging it so Red couldn’t get it back under himself. The horn sounded again.

Once.

Twice.

Thrice.

Red Reign stopped struggling and went limp. Casey cheered.

Red Reign had removed his jacket and put his mask back on. He was leading them through the sewers to their next fight. He didn’t seem upset that he lost, and answered all of Donnie’s questions that he could. They had already tried asking after Mikey, but Red would give them the same answer over and over again: Mikey is perfectly fine, he’s not in any danger.

When Donnie paused to search his pockets for a notepad to jot Red’s answers down, Leo asked “So, uh, what’s up with your eye?”

“Oh it’s a glass eye. I wear it because the eyepatch basically screamed ‘hit me here! I’m blind!’ to enemies.”

“Ahh…”

“How’d you figure it out so fast?”

“Oh, when you were hooking Raph to the ceiling only one eye was moving. Honestly if I hadn’t seen the scars I would’ve just assumed you had a lazy eye.”

“Makes sense, Donnie has told me I move my head a lot more when I look at things now. I can only tilt my head back so far, so my eye must’ve moved to cover the rest of the distance. Good to know.”

“Woah, you have a fake eye,” Casey pushed himself to the front.

“Yep, watch this,” Red put his finger in his eye and started moving it around. Everyone but Casey and Donnie found it disturbing and had to look away.

“Okay! Okay! We get it you can stop now.” Raph had turned completely around.

Red laughed but stopped messing with his eye and resumed walking.

“I thought prosthetic eyes moved these days,” Donnie commented.

“A lot of them do! But that involves surgery, which is kinda hard to get when you’ve got,” Red gestured to all of himself, “this whole situation going on.”

“Speaking of situations, is your Donnie always that,” Donnie struggled to find a word, “intense?”

Red laughed.

Red Reign led them back up to the streets and to the docks. They walked in a maze of shipping containers to an area that had obviously been cleared just for them. There were two shipping container stack towers, each four containers high. A spotlight located on one turned on, shining right on the team and into their eyes.

“WELCOME TO ROUND FIVE! YOU HAVE OFFICIALLY MADE IT HALFWAY.” April held back a groan. Only halfway? This was shaping up to be on the longest night of her life.

“JOINING US AT THE MOMENT WE HAVE THE SECOND HANDSOMEST TURTLE IN THE FAMILY. HE GOES BY MANY NAMES, ‘ANGELO’, ‘DELICATE TOUCH’, AND ‘ONE LOVE’ TO NAME A FEW. BUT TONIGHT HE’S BREAKING OUT A WHOLE NEW PERSONA. MAY I INTRODUCE TO YOU, DOCTOR DISAPPOINTED!”

A mutant turtle jumped from the tower and landed on the shipping container in front of the group. He wore an orange turtle neck under a lab coat and had large square glasses over his orange mask. He stood up and crossed his arms, “tch tch tch. I’m not mad, just disappointed.”

“OOOOOOOOH”

All the orange implied this was alternate Mikey.

“AND JOINING HIM TONIGHT WE HAVE A NYWA WINNER AND BATTLE NEXUS CHAMPION! HE’S GOT IT ALL, LOOKS, BRAINS, AND MAD SKILLS BOTH ON THE DANCE FLOOR AND THE BATTLEFIELD. HIS BIGGEST ACCOMPLISHMENT TO DATE IS OUTSMARTING THE QUEEN OF TRICKS HERSELF, BIG MAMA.”

Doctor Disappointed cupped his hands around his mouth, “OOOOH…”

“HE’S A FAN FAVORITE, PROUD PART-TIME DAD, AND PROUD FULL-TIME ANNOYANCE. NOW LETS HEAR SOME APPLUASE FOR THE ONE, THE ONLY, PRIMETIME!”

Another turtle flipped down from the tower to land next to Doctor Disappointed, who was whooping and hollering.

“ME!” He winked before holding the mic out and dropping it.

Chapter Text

The ‘Party Room’ was in full swing. The table was covered in snacks of all kinds, including several types of chips and dip. There was one mini fridge and two coolers filled with cold drinks. The floor was covered with chairs or cushions to sit on, and every available surface held a screen with cords attached to it.

The clan had managed to grab Big Mama’s Doom Dome for the night. Whether it was acquired with Big Mama’s permission or just by Leo remembering that no derbies were being held this fine Tuesday night, Sunita didn’t know. The Party Room was one of the V.I.P. suites that overlooked the arena, providing a great view for what was to be the platform of the final fight.

Raph had just left through one of Leo’s portals to get in place for his dramatic entrance for Round Four. He had yelled at Donnie for several minutes for “taking it too far” with the mystic-tech rocket launcher. Donnie had moved over to the snack table and grabbed a paper plate, piling it high. Splinter had announced he was leaving to put his makeup on, sharing a small story about putting makeup on before filming during his movie star days. Unsurprisingly both Leo and Mikey decided they wanted to wear makeup too. There had then been a scramble for available mirrors. It looked like a colorful explosion went off in the bathroom, so now the boys had to sit in the Party Room while someone else did their makeup.

Mikey sat in a spinny chair next to the table while April stood overtop of him and did his eyeliner. Draxum had oh so kindly suggested Casey do Leo’s makeup, and now Sunita and Junior were gathered around to watch the show.

“I said STOP MOVING!”

“Then stop manhandling MY FACE!”

“I’m only manhandling you because you won’t stay still!”

Leo was almost completely horizontal on a beanbag, desperately trying to lean as far back from Casey as he could. Casey just followed him with the eyeliner pen. She now had a knee on the beanbag and was half on top of Leo.

“Junior! Junior help me!”

Casey turned towards them and pointed her finger at Junior, “Don’t interfere if you know what’s good for you!”

“Sorry Sensi,” Junior shrugged, “but this looks like a You problem.”

“Betrayed by my own son! You have been spending way too much time with S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. Donnie! Donnie! Your son is a bad influence on my son!”

Donnie had just walked back into the room, having left to change into his usual purple outfit and he had put on his matching purple sweatshirt. He sat down in his own spinny chair by the ‘control station’ laptop and spun around a couple times before giving Leo a deadpan reply of “Uh huh, it’s my son that’s the bad influence, not the psycho girl scout leader he’s named after.”

“Keep it up Purple and I’ll reconsider letting you in on my world domination plans.”

“I simply meant it as a compliment, dear Cassandra. No need to act so rash.”

“I hate that you two are friends.” Leo’s head was now on the floor and Casey was completely on top of him. She slapped her palm down on his forehead, “I need you to look up.”

“Ugh. Could you maybe be a bit more gentle?”

“No. Perfection requires effort.”

“Yeah Leo,” Donnie called over, “Aren’t you always saying beauty is pain?”

“Donnie! Not helping!”

“There, all done.”

Casey got off of Leo and he tumbled the rest of the way to the floor. Mikey held out the mirror he was using.

“Look Leo! April did a great job!” Mikey and April high three-ed. He was only wearing eyeliner, like Leo, as their masks covered half of their faces. Leo snatched the mirror out of Mikey’s hand and took a look at himself. Somehow during all his squirming Casey managed to outline his eyes and do his waterline.

“I take everything back, Casey you did amazing!”

“Thank you.”

The door opened and closed again, letting in Taller Mikey, Draxum, and the huge towers of pizza they were carrying. “Hey guys! We’re back! Did we miss Raph’s fight?”

“Not yet dudes!” S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. flew over from the control station to do a special handshake with Taller Mikey. “Sweet!” Taller Mikey replied.

“Actually,” Sunita pointed to the screens behind them, “it looks like it might be time to make your announcement Leo.”

Five figures were following the signs the Mikeys had put together.

“Alright!” Leo slid over to Donnie and pushed his chair away, leaning over the control station to reach the microphone. “If you all would give me a drumroll please.”

Everybody found the nearest surface not occupied by electronics or food, and begun hitting their hands into it. Sunita was drumming on the arm of her chair, and laughed when she saw Donnie drumming on Leo’s shell.

“Put your hands together folks! We have a-”

Donnie rolled around Leo to get to the stadium’s controls, waiting for his cue to remotely start Raph’s entrance and drop the wresting cage.

Sunita leaned back in her chair, grabbing her soda and taking a sip. April plopped down in Leo’s abandoned beanbag with a handful of pretzels. She popped the tab to her own soda and held it out. Sunita smiled and leaned over to clink their cans together. It was a long night, nearing sunrise now, but it was a fun night. It’d been a while since she’d hung out with the turtles. They’d offered Sunita a position in the tournament but she refused, just because she can splatter herself on walls doesn’t mean she likes doing it. Although the expressions on the newcomers’ faces would’ve been hilarious.

Donnie pressed the bell sound on his dashboard, and Sunita cheered with the rest of the room when Raph hit Tiny-Raph into the ropes with a ladder.

Chapter Text

“HE’S A FAN FAVORITE, PROUD PART-TIME DAD, AND PROUD FULL-TIME ANNOYANCE. NOW LET’S HEAR SOME APPLAUSE FOR THE ONE, THE ONLY, PRIMETIME!”

Another turtle flipped down from the tower to land next to Doctor Disappointed, who was whooping and hollering.

“ME!” He winked before holding the mic out and dropping it.

Sparklers went off around the perimeter of the cleared area. Primetime stood up, flipped his mask tails over his shoulder, and turned to his partner. He pulled a pair of orange triangular glasses from his pocket, flicked them open, and placed them on his face. “Give it to me straight Doc, how bad are we gonna crush the competition tonight?”

Doctor Disappointed pulled a clipboard out of thin air and flipped through its pages, “According to these projections, this fight will be disappointingly short.”

“Ah, that’s a shame. I wanted to put on a show.”

Primetime was in baggy shorts with a large blue shirt pulled over his shell. His neck was covered in flashy necklaces, and he had a baseball cap flipped sideways on his head. His arms had the same black wrappings Donatello had, with matching ones on his legs which ended below the knee. Doctor Disappointed had similar leg wraps but had placed black knee pads with sad faces stitched into them in orange over his own knees.

Primetime and Doctor Disappointed jumped off of their container platform and casually approached Leo’s team, who instantly dropped into a fighting stances.

“Woah, woah, guys, relax. The round hasn’t started yet.”

“Yeah, we just want to get a good look at the alternate versions of our brothers. And let me just say, Other-Donnie, really? That hand placement?”

Doctor Disappointed walked around Donnie, shaking his head and giving him a disappointed look.

Primetime unexpectedly slid right up in Leo’s personal space, Leo jumped back. “Hmm… I thought you would be taller.” Primetime put a hand on his head and swung it out over Leo’s. A good five inches above Leo, Leo sadly noted. His mask was a bright blue, denoting him as Leo’s counterpart. This must be ‘Evil-Leonardo’, as they had been referring to him as. Primetime walked around Leo in a small circle, looking him up-and-down. Leo didn’t like it.

Doctor Disappointed put his head in his hands, “Girl, you paired those shoes with that shirt?”

“Hey!”

“You could do better. And you,” Doctor Disappointed turned to Casey, pushing his glasses up, “you are a fashion nightmare. And don’t get me started on your hair.”

“What’s wrong with my hair?”

Primetime started giggling. Everyone looked over. Primetime was staring down at an increasingly irritated Raph. Doctor Disappointed started giggling too.

“What?! What is it?!”

Primetime tried to smother his smile, “I want to make a joke about how short you are, but I’m worried it will go over your head.”

Leo tried not to laugh. Doctor Disappointed facepalmed. Raph didn’t seemed to have figured the joke out yet.

“You really went with that joke?”

“What, was it too low a blow?”

“Oh, that was bad,” Donnie cringed. Leo tried very hard not to erupt into laughter. Raph was still confused, and Casey took pity on him. Casey leaned over and whispered “He’s calling you short.”

“Short! You’re not even half a foot taller than me!”

“Yeah, but,” Primetime smartly backed up before saying, “at least I don’t need a stepstool to reach the shelf.”

Raph growled.

“Oh, I think I poked the bear. Alright let’s get this show on the road,” Primetime bounded over to the fallen microphone, Doctor Disappointed following. “Alright Donnie, give us a count down!”

What came over the speakers was the unmistakable sound of the Mario Cart countdown music.

Bum.

Primetime tossed a katana to Doctor Disappointed.

Bum.

Where did he even get the katana? He wasn’t wearing a belt or a sheath.

Bum.

Primetime was now holding his own katana, and the duo bent down into a racing start stance.

Bing!

They took off, each running towards the makeshift walls. Leo focused on Primetime. Primetime ran up the wall, and on his way down there was a flash. Suddenly Doctor Disappointed was in his place, wielding fire. He leapt at Leo.

Leo dove out of the way, Doctor Disappointed landing in the spot he had just vacated. He swung his weapon out at Leo. It was some kind of chain. That was glowing. And on fire. At least this time it was the color fire was supposed to be, unlike Other-April’s green fire bat.

Doctor Disappointed swung his chain over his head like a lasso, and then there was another flash. Now Primetime was in his place and charging Leo. Leo pulled up both his swords in a quick attempt to block Primetime’s. The three swords clanged together.

Leo saw Primetime’s smug face right before there was another flash to Primetime’s left. Leo shot a glance and saw a blue katana forming in Primetime’s hand out of thin air. Leo shoved Primetime off of him in time to avoid the blow from Primetime’s new weapon.

This time Leo lunged at Primetime, and Primetime caught a blade on each of his own. They began circling each other. Leo was used to fighting two handed against opponents who only fought with one weapon at a time. Raph and Mikey fought with two, but that was different. Raph had the shortest of short-range weapons, and Mikey’s chains allowed his nunchucks to move in a completely different way than a sword. Right now Primetime matched him in range and reach. Leo was essentially fighting his own reflection.

Leo suddenly wished he was still fighting Doctor Disappointed.

Raph was slightly afraid of Doctor Disappointed. Doctor Disappointed grinned as he danced around them, doing the types of flips that would make Mikey jealous. He was fast and his weapon allowed him incredible reach. Raph still hadn’t figured out what it was. He was more concerned with dodging it.

Casey kept trying to get close, but Doctor Disappointed would slam the end of the chain down on Casey, making craters in the dirt. It reminded Raph of when Leo made them watch Lord of the Rings, and one of the villains had a giant flail. Raph had found that fight annoying, all you had to do was be faster than the big but slow weapon. Doctor Disappointed’s weapon was small but fast and it packed more force than the giant CGI flail ever had. Also Doctor Disappointed’s weapon was on fire, so, extra danger. Yay.

Donnie was rummaging through his belts, looking for one of his other weapons. April was in the same predicament as Raph, unable to get any closer.

Donnie shouted something and tossed an object at Doctor Disappointed, who batted it away with his chain. The object exploded against the wall of shipping containers. It was just a smoke bomb.

April ran in while Doctor Disappointed’s back was still turned to her. Doctor Disappointed noticed her coming and ducked. Doctor Disappointed hooked April’s ankle with his chain and started spinning her around. Donnie ducked in time but Raph didn’t, and April plowed into him.  Doctor Disappointed released April and they were both thrown across the clearing.

“Ow…”

“That hurt.”

Raph pushed himself to his knees and checked on April.

“I’m fine, just dizzy. But I think Leo needs help.”

Raph looked over to see Primetime kick Leo into a glowing blue circle. Another circle opened behind him and Leo flew out of it and hit the ground. Primetime calmy walked up to Leo, and seemed to be chattering about something. Leo was still pushing himself off the ground.

Raph charged at Primetime, sais at the ready. Primetime wasn’t expecting him and frantically swung one of his swords out in front of himself. Raph hooked the blade in the tongs of a sai, the other making contact with Primetime’s plastron.

Primetime slid backwards away from Raph and Leo. He began poking at the sizable rip Raph just put in his shirt. Raph glanced back at Leo, who was now upright.

“Thanks Raph.”

“Yeah, thanks Raph. Now I have a hole in my shirt.”

Primetime flipped his right sword over his wrist, switching to a back hand grip. Raph felt April run up beside them.

Primetime shifted his stance and leaned in, smirk on his face. His face and arm stripes began glowing.

“Uh, what’s happening?”

Primetime shot at them like he was fired out of a cannon, screaming “HOT SOUP” the whole distance. Raph instinctually raised his hands up.

Primetime’s right blade made contact with April’s tessans while his left got lodged in one of Raph’s sais. Primetime easily spun off of April and landed a backwards kick on Leo. He attempted to stab Raph, but Raph caught his other sword with the other sai. April swung at his head and he ducked down, pulling his blades free as he went. He popped back up next to Leo, who swiped at Primetime’s back. Raph heard the sound of metal hitting shell.

Primetime jumped to the side and looked behind himself, “Another hole, come on!”

Casey was getting tired. Doctor Disappointed was nearly impossible to touch. Donnie suggested they try and lead him into the maze of shipping containers, something about limiting his mobility. So Casey was standing by the entrance and hollering at Doctor Disappointed, trying to get Doctor Disappointed to chase him into the maze.

Donnie had managed to push Doctor Disappointed back enough he jumped up the wall. When Donnie turned and ran towards Casey, Casey took off into the maze. He heard a loud thump off to his left.

“Split up! He can only follow one of us!” Casey heard Donnie yell, and Casey took a sharp turn away from the arena.

Doctor Disappointed was running along the tops of the containers, but the sounds of his footsteps quickly faded. He must’ve run after Donnie.

Casey slowed to a walk, hoping to catch his breath. He turned around, planning to get back to Donnie and help before he realized he was lost. Casey tried to climb the wall of a few different shipping containers, but they were too smooth and too tall.

Casey kicked his foot against one of the containers, “I can’t believe I got lost!”

“I can.”

Casey yelled and turned towards the voice. Standing on the container behind him was Primetime, looking like some kind of action star. The yellow lights of the shipping yard illuminated him. He was standing with his sword resting on his shoulder, clothes and body covered in swatches of dirt. He had lost both the hat and second sword, and his shirt was ripped and barely hanging on him. Casey gulped.

“Primetime!”

Primetime turned towards Doctor Disappointed, who was standing on the makeshift wall. Leo stopped moving as well.

“Operation Cornfield!”

Doctor Disappointed jumped down the other side of the wall, a loud thump marking his landing.

What’s operation cornfield? Leo saw Primetime smiling out of the corner of his eye. Leo turned back towards Primetime. Primetime ran towards the exit.

“Now we’re talking! See ya!”

Leo shared a look with his teammates before running after Primetime, who quickly lost them in the maze of containers. Leo slowed to a halt at a dead end.

“Ugh!” Raph punched a shipping container, “He got away!”

“What do we do now?” April asked.

“We keep walking. Either we find Donnie and Casey, or we find Primetime and the doctor.”

Leo picked a direction and started walking.

They had been walking for several minutes before suddenly a large shadow was cast over them. Leo looked up and saw Doctor Disappointed holding a shipping container above his head as if it weighed nothing. Leo’s eyes went wide. Doctor Disappointed yelled “If you didn’t see this coming, that’s disappointing.”

Doctor Disappointed then threw the container at them as if it were a simple basketball and they were the basket.

“So, Casey Number Three,” Primetime was slowly pacing along the container roofs. Casey was reminded of cartoon leopards hunting. Primetime turned and walked back towards Casey, the light catching on the skin of his arms above his arm wrappings. “What’s with the hockey sticks?”

“I, uh, like hockey.”

“Ice or field?” Primetime put a hand on the edge of his container and jumped down.

“Ice hockey.”

Primetime was walking towards him now, forcing Casey to walk backwards to keep some distance. “Hmm, good choice. I’m personally more of a basketball guy.” Primetime lunged and Casey turned to the side, watching as Primetime’s sword swept past him. “I was even the Daves team mascot for a while.”

Casey kept backing up, and Primetime kept advancing. Casey’s back hit up against a container and suddenly Primetime stabbed his sword in the space next to Casey’s head. Primetime slammed his other hand on the wall above Casey’s shoulder, caging him in. Casey’s eyes danced between Primetime’s arm muscles, Primetime’s exposed chest, and Primetime’s black rimmed eyes. It looks like Casey’s postponed gay crisis wanted to be examined right now. Casey tried to focus on anything else.

“Are you okay dude? Your face is like really red.”

“Oh, umm, ah-”

Primetime took his hand off the wall and places it on Casey’s forehead, pushing Casey’s bandana headband up and out of the way. Primetime’s hand was cold and Casey instinctually shivered. Primetime’s face narrowed in concern.

“You feel a little warm but I don’t think you have a fever. You probably just overexerted yourself, and all these layers you’re wearing aren’t helping.” Primetime took his hand back from Casey’s sweaty hairline and whipped it on Casey’s shoulder. He then ripped his sword out from the wall and used it to create a small glowing blue circle. Primetime stuck his arm in the circle and pulled out a yellow sports drink.

Primetime cracked the seal on the bottle’s cap and grabbed Casey’s right hand, pulling off his glove. Casey stood still in confusion. Primetime placed the drink into Casey’s hand. “Drink this. It should help replace the electrolytes you lost and work towards rehydrating you.”

Casey stared at Primetime. “Well go on, drink it. I’m worried you’re gonna pass out if your body temp keeps increasing and you keep breathing that fast.”

Casey took a sip. And then with Primetime’s urging guzzled half of it.

“Good. Now I’m pulling you out for the rest of this round.”

“What?!”

“You need a break, especially if you want to fight in the next two rounds. So as a medic I am medically tapping you from the rest of this round.” Primetime placed a hand on the back of Casey’s shoulder and gently pushed, “Here, I’ll even walk you out.”

“You can’t tap me! Where in the rules does it say you can do that!”

“Consider it a subsection under the no-killing rule.”

Primetime moved his hand around to the outside of Casey’s arm and pulled Casey into him in an imitation half-hug. He then used this new leverage to drag Casey along with him as he walked.

“Now come on, let’s find you a chair.”

Donnie stopped running when he heard a huge crash. He jumped up and grabbed the edge of a container before pulling his head over it. Two hundred or so feet over Donnie saw Doctor Disappointed lifting shipping containers off the ground and tossing them.

Donnie pulled himself up the rest of the way before running towards Doctor Disappointed. He jumped from container to container, taking the most direct route. He could hear screams of “Move!”, “Run!”, and “What do we do?”

Donnie skidded to a stop a container away. He had to wait for the doctor to put down the container he was holding if Donnie didn’t want to risk Doctor Disappointed dropping it on them both. As soon as Doctor Disappointed’s hands were free Donnie attacked. Slamming his bo into the doctor’s back and legs.

Doctor Disappointed pulled two nunchucks off his belt and began returning Donnie’s attacks. They lit up in an orange glow. Donnie saw Leo and Raph make their way up to the top of the container as well. April began throwing stars from the ground.

Doctor Disappointed was quickly being overwhelmed.

Somehow Raph had gotten a hold of one end of a nunchuck and used its magically stretchy chain to tie Doctor Disappointed up. Doctor Disappointed went down.

“Well, frankly, I’m disappointed it took you this long-”

“Oh, shut it!”

The three horns were blasted. Raph cheered but Leo looked confused.

“Wait, what about Primetime?”

It turned out the blue circles were portals. Primetime had pulled Casey along until they hit an opening in the container maze, where he used the extra space to conjure a full-sized portal. The portal led to a very white bathroom. Well, almost very white. There was some type of color explosion that happened over one of the sinks. But other than that, everything else was a bright white color. Primetime had briefly left before returning with plastic chair, also white, loud noises carried through the door as it opened and closed.

Primetime pushed Casey into the chair before he started unstrapping Casey’s gear. Casey tried to do it himself, but Primetime wouldn’t let him. So there Casey sat, staring at his red faced reflection in the mirror as the very not unattractive Evil-Leonardo basically undressed him. It was both heaven and hell at the same time. Casey felt like he was in one of those badly written fanfictions he caught his sister reading.

Well at least it couldn’t get any worse, could it?

The answer to that question was yes, yes it could.

The door opened again and in came Evil-Donnie. He had gotten changed, now in an oversized purple sweatshirt. It was the opposite of his battle garb, which screamed ‘dangerous’. This look gave him a much more ‘soft’ appearance. He was carrying a water bottle and two ice packs. He walked past the line of stalls before handing the ice packs to Primetime and resting his back against the sink counter. Casey tried very hard not to look at his legs, which were now free from the black wraps and had only purple socks and large knee pads covering them.

“I was going to say you’re overreacting again but now that I see him, you might be right. I don’t think humans are supposed to turn that shade of red.”

“Did you find the thermometer? I don’t think he has a fever but I would rather be sure.” Primetime began tugging on Casey’s outer sweatshirt.

“No. I think Junior might know where it is but he fell asleep and Raph won’t let me wake him up.”

“That’s okay, we’ll just put the ice packs on him anyways.”

Primetime had succeeded in removing both of Casey’s sweatshirts, leaving him in a t-shirt. Primetime moved to the paper towel dispenser and wrapped the ice packs with towels before returning. He placed one on the back of Casey’s neck, and Casey hissed from the cold. He placed the other one on the counter beside Donatello and tossed Casey the water bottle.

“Drink that.”

Casey quickly busied himself with looking at the bottle instead of either of the half-naked turtles in front of him. Casey saw Primetime remove what remained of his shirt from the corner of his eye and chuck it into the trashcan.

“Oh my gosh, no. Leo no. Don’t even think about it.”

Casey looked up to see Primetime facing Donatello with a smug smirk. He then turned it to Casey. Casey’s heartrate seemed to have picked up.

“Hey, Number Three,” he held the other ice pack up and pointed at it with his free hand, “n-ice to meet you.”

Casey cringed. Donatello groaned before walking back towards the door.

“Huh? Huh? Come on, that was funny!”

After several minutes of confusion Doctor Disappointed untied himself and pulled out a cellphone.

“Hey Donnie, what’s going on? S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. blew the final horn but we can’t find Leo anywhere… oh okay.” Doctor Disappointed turned to them, “Donnie’s gonna make an announcement?”

The speakers turned on, “SORRY ABOUT THAT EVERYONE. PRIMETIME HAD TO MEDICALLY PULL CASEY FROM THE FIGHT-”

“What?!”

“Is he okay?!”

“What happened?!”

“-NO NEED TO PANIC, IT APPEARS CASEY IS GOING TO BE FINE. AS PRIMETIME IS OUR ONLY MEDIC, WE’VE CONSIDERED HIM MEDICALLY TAPPED AS WELL. LEAVING DOCTOR DISAPPOINTED AS THE ONLY MEMBER OF HIS TEAM. AS DOCTOR DISAPPOINTED HAD BEEN INCAPACITATED, THE ROUND WAS CALLED.”

“What now?”

“Is Casey coming back?”

“I CAN SEE YOU ALL TALKING BUT I’D LIKE TO REMIND YOU I CANNOT HEAR YOU. HUMANS WILL BE ARRIVING FOR WORK SOON, SO I SUGGEST DOCTOR DISAPPOINTED BEGINS TAKING YOU TO THE NEXT LOCATION. LEO WANTS TO EVALUATE CASEY AGAIN IN THIRTY MINUTES BEFORE MAKING A DECISION. YOU CAN WAIT THERE UNTIL THEN.”

Doctor Disappointed threw his hands up and opened his own portal, this time a golden yellow color, and gestured at it. Leo jumped in first and Donnie followed.

This portal ride was much smoother than the one they took to get to this universe.

Chapter Text

“I’ll be right back. Don’t go anywhere,” Primetime told Casey before leaving the bathroom. Casey breathed a sigh of relief, finally he was alone. No sexy Evil-Donnie or handsome ‘Nurse Nardo’, as the previously mentioned Evil-Donnie called Primetime. Just Casey, and his thoughts…

Casey didn’t want to be alone with just his thoughts. Fortunately or unfortunately, the bathroom door creaked back open. If it turned out to be cute Evil-April Casey was going to throw himself out a window.

CJ walked in yawning. His hair was wet and he was dressed in a large sweatshirt and blue pajama pants. He held something in his right hand.

“Hi alternate version of Mom, Sensei said I needed to take your temperature.”

Casey sat still while CJ took his temperature. CJ yawned again. Casey heard a beep. “No fever, so that means Sensei will let you join the next fight. I know he wants to pull you out anyways for exhaustion but Mom really wants you to fight this next round. Honestly she would probably make you fight even if you did have a fever.”

“Uhh-”

“Junior? I thought you were napping,” Primetime returned, currently eating two slices of pizza stacked on top of each other.

“Ma woke me up. She doesn’t want anyone to miss next round. Including him,” CJ gestured at Casey. “His temp is ninety-eight, so no fever.”

“Well, that’s good. I’d hate to be the one to break the news to your mom if he wasn’t.” Primetime turned to Casey now, “Casey Three, get your gear! You’re back in. You have until I finish my pizza to get ready and then I’m dropping you off.”

CJ waved as he passed Primetime on his way to the door, “Bye Other-Mom. Good luck, my mom doesn’t like holding back.”

“Wait, does that mean-”

“Yep,” Primetime cut in, “this round is your team verses Casey Jones the Elder. It’s your turn to fight yourself.”

Doctor Disappointed had closed the portal behind them, leaving them alone in a poorly lit gymnasium. Bleachers lined the walls and there were blue mats on the waxed floor. The group had taken to sitting on the bleachers. Leo was lying down with his eyes closed, Donnie was tweaking something inside his phone with a small screwdriver he had in his belt, April herself had slid down to the footboard and was using the actual seat as a backrest, and Raph was pacing in front of them all.

After what felt like an eternity of waiting a blue portal opened up across from them, and out walked Casey. Well, staggered was the better word. As if he had been pushed or shoved from the other side of the portal to this one. His face was flushed and he was dressed in a t-shirt instead of his usual sweatshirt. Everyone immediately jumped up to rush over to him.

“Casey!”

“Are you okay? What happened?”

“Where did you go? Did they hurt you?”

“Woah, woah! Guys! I’m fine!” Casey gave an embarrassed laugh, “I just… overheated.”

“Overheated? You’ve never overheated before.”

Casey’s face stayed flushed, and he placed a hand on the back of his neck, “Well, uh, first time for everything? Anyways, we’re fighting Other-Me right now.”

Music came over the speakers, and April whipped around to face the center of the room, feeling the air shift beside her as the boys turned as well. For a second she thought she heard Casey sigh from behind her.

Another blue portal opened at the top of the bleachers nearest to April. A short woman stepped out. She was dressed in baggy black pants and a tight black tanktop. There was a red belt or sash around her waist that had flaps that came down to rest mid-thigh, with matching red wraps that extended from her knuckles to her upper arm. She slid down the stair railing until she reached the bottom, where she jumped off.

“LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, WELCOME TO THE SEMI-FINALS! THE NIGHT MIGHT BE DRAWING TO A CLOSE, BUT THINGS ARE JUST STARTING TO HEAT UP HERE.” The announcer’s voice could now be identified as Primetime’s. April focused on their opponents face as she stood up from her crouch. She had piercing brown eyes lined in black and red eyeshadow, black lipstick, and several pink piercings that studded her ears and brow, as well as dark hair in a buzz cut. April felt unexpectantly warm. She pulled a red scarf up from around her neck to cover the lower half of her face. She sent a wink at April right before placing a mask nearly identical to CJ’s on her face.

April started sweating, and dug around in her back pocket. She pulled out a wad of crumpled up bills and slapped them into Casey’s chest. She wasn’t the only one, because when she glanced back Casey’s arms were full of cash and all of the turtles were stubbornly looking away from him. Casey was just standing there confused. April turned back around, sure her face was bright red. She heard someone mumble “I can’t believe he was right.”

“SHE’S A MADMAN WITH A GROWING EMPIRE IN BAKED GOODS, SHE WAS THE SHREDDER’S TOP GENERAL, AND SHE LOVES REALITY TELEVISION. SHE DRINKS THE BLOOD OF HER ENEMIES AND STARS IN THE NIGHTMARES OF HER FRIENDS. EVERYBODY PUT YOUR HANDS TOGETHER FOR MY PARTNER IN CO-PARENTING, GRANDMA C.J.!”

Grandma charged.

She didn’t have any weapons, but that didn’t stop her. Grandma plowed straight into them with a yell. In moments April was being flung across the gymnasium from a kick and Leo was on the ground from a punch to the face. Grandma grabbed Donnie’s bo-staff and used it to throw Donnie up onto the bleachers. Raph got an elbow to the face. Grandma advanced on Casey, who pushed down his own mask and took a fighting stance.

“So, you’re me?”

Casey had entered this tournament thing ready to fight everything and everyone. But now, with Alternate-Him stalking over after taking out his whole team in mere seconds while screaming like a banshee the whole time, he realized he was in fact not ready. This lady was a whole new level of crazy.

Casey did the only thing he could, he braced himself and at charged her, attempting to use the same overwhelming force on her that she had on them. She easily jumped over him, laughing as he frantically tried to slow down.

He turned and faced her again. Grandma leaned down and mimicked his stance, waiting.

Then Raph tackled her from the side.

They slid across the floor. Grandma kicked Raph off her with a yell. Raph fell back into the first row of the bleachers.

Raph saw as April and Leo re-entered the mix, forcing Grandma to do a lot more dodging and weaving than punching.

Grandma managed catch April in some sort of elbow lock, forcing April to drop a tessen. Grandma kicked April into an arriving Donnie and scooped up the tessen before flipping out of the way of Leo’s blades. April and Donnie went down like dominoes.

Grandma used April’s tessen masterfully, easily catching and deflecting Leo’s katanas. Raph rushed back in and struck at her side. She caught the tongs of his sai on the edge of the tessen. Raph looked up to see her masked face inches from his. Casey had told Raph before that he painted his mask in an attempt to look scarier, but Raph had to say looking at Grandma’s stark white mask with creepy and piercing glowing green eyes was much more unnerving than a painted skull.

Grandma disengaged from Raph’s sai in time to push Leo’s sword away from her and make herself an opening to hit Leo in the plastron. Raph saw something out of the corner of his eye and moved in time to watch Casey whack his hockey stick into Grandma’s head with a yell. There was a loud crack.

Everyone paused for a moment.

“Uh, Casey. That might’ve been too far.”

There was laughter. Grandma turned to look at Casey, “I didn’t know you had that in you!”

Her mask was cracked all up the right side of the face, the light in that eye having gone out.

“You might be a worthy opponent yet!”

Grandma ripped the mask off her face and threw it behind her, hitting Donnie in the head.

“Ow!”

The lower half of her face was still covered in the cloth mask, but now her eyes were visible. Raph decided he preferred the unnatural green eyes to her real ones, which were filled with a burning intensity.

She tossed the tessen over her shoulder and dropped herself into a boxing stance. The tessen nearly hit Leo, who dodged it in time. Instead it hit Donnie, who was getting up off the floor, right in the face.

“Why!?”

Once Donnie’s vision cleared, he handed April her tessen before looking back at the action. Grandma had uppercut Casey with enough force he was now on the ground several feet away. She managed to hog tie Leo with his own mask, and Raph was trying to cut him free. And now she was coming towards them.

“Hey! That’s mine!”

Grandma yanked Donnie’s staff out of his hands and slammed it into April’s abdomen. April gasped and curled in on herself, crumbling to the ground. Grandma then swept the staff behind Donnie’s knees before jabbing the end into the front of Donnie’s shoulder.

Donnie was suddenly staring up at the rafters. Grandma’s face appeared above his, blocking the view of the rafters. She was resting his bo-staff along her shoulders, the backlight framing her in a halo. Donnie’s breath caught.

She was clearly tiring. She was breathing heavy and sweating. She switched her hold on the bo so it was now in front of her. She moved as if she were going to hit Donnie with it again, but her body was forced to bend backwards as Casey’s hockey stick caught her around the neck.

Grandma made a choking sound as she stumbled back. She instinctively released Donnie’s staff to grab at her neck. Raph then tackled her again, this time moving to pin her arm down before she could recover. He threw his leg across her chest in a attempt to control her other arm. Casey ran in to help. Grandma started growling and thrashing. Donnie was just sitting up when Leo ran past him and jumped on her kicking legs.

All Donnie could see was a pile of wiggling limbs. The horns went off. Grandma let out an anguished scream.

“The only reason you won was because I was not allowed to bring my own weapons.”

“Uh huh.”

“Were I allowed to fight you at a higher level, you would have been crushed!”

“Uh huh.”

Grandma had introduced herself as ‘Cassandra’ once Raph had called her ‘Other-Casey’. Cassandra made it clear only her friends were allowed to call her ‘Casey,’ and as they were not friends, they had to call her ‘Cassandra’. She was now leading them to their final arena.

She was mourning her loss by shoving boxed brownies into her mouth. She also made it clear they were her brownies and her brownies alone, nearly murdering Casey when she saw his hand in the box.

The sky was beginning to lighten, and it was making Leo nervous. Cassandra assured him they were almost there.

Leo noticed the same symbol Other-April had on her jacket was printed onto her belt.

“Here we are. The Doom Dome.”

Cassandra led them through the entrance. The Doom Dome was circular with an open air ceiling, seats ringed around the dirt floor of the stadium. It looked like the stadium was last used for some kind of demolition derby, as vehicles in various states were scattered around. Cassandra simply jumped the railing from the seats down to the ground, dirt kicking up in a cloud at her feet. Leo and the rest of the team followed her example, jumping into the arena.

Leo glanced up at the sky, seeing the first colors of sunrise appearing, before hearing whooping off to the side. In the stands there was almost everyone they’ve faced so far, and some unfamiliar faces, all clustered together. Most appeared to be wearing pajamas. Primetime stood in an aisle with a microphone.

Cassandra made her way over to the group as Primetime began speaking.

“IT’S TIME FOR THE FINALS!”

More cheering.

“AFTER A LONG, LONG NIGHT OF COMPETEING, WE HAVE OUR FINALISTS HERE WITH US THIS MORNING. IN THE VISITORS CORNER, WE HAVE THE TEAM KNOCK-OFF BRAND.”

The audience boo-ed.

“AND IN THE RETURNING CORNER WE HAVE THE, NOT ONE, NOT TWO, BUT CONSECUTIVE TEN YEAR CHAMPION OF THE BATTLE NEXUS!”

More cheers. Leo scanned the arena, looking for their competitor.

“YOU KNEW HIM AS LOU JITSU! I SIMPLY KNOW HIM AS DAD-”

Leo’s heart stopped. Someone sucked in a gasp behind him. They were fighting Master Splinter? They’ve never won against their father before.

“AND TONIGHT HE WILL BE REPRISING THE ROLE OF RAT JITSU!”

The audience stood and screamed, stomping their feet. Spotlights turned on and made a sweep of the arena before they all landed on one car. Where a short rat-man stood in a pose, wearing a tight blue jumpsuit and yellow glasses. Leo clapped his hands over his ears as fireworks went off.

“HOT SOUP!”

Chapter Text

“YOU KNEW HIM AS LOU JITSU! I SIMPLY KNOW HIM AS DAD-”

Leo’s heart stopped. Someone sucked in a gasp behind him. They were fighting Master Splinter? They’ve never won against their father before.

“AND TONIGHT HE WILL BE REPRISING THE ROLE OF RAT JITSU!”

The audience stood and screamed, stomping their feet. Spotlights turned on and made a sweep of the arena before they all landed on one car. Where a short rat-man stood in a pose, wearing a tight blue jumpsuit and yellow glasses. Leo clapped his hands over his ears as fireworks went off.

“HOT SOUP!”

‘Rat Jitsu’ hopped down from his car podium and got into a fighting stance facing them. He looked nothing like Leo’s father. Jitsu was maybe half the height as Master Splinter and Master Splinter would never wear this skintight 1980s style baby-blue jumpsuit with fringe.

“LET THE ROUND BEGIN!”

Raph charged past Leo and moved to attack Jitsu. Jitsu kicked down on Raph’s arm, using it as a step to flip over Raph’s head before kicking Raph in the back. “Never rush in!”

Casey, having not learned from Raph’s mistake, also rushed in. Jitsu put a hand on the side of his hockey stick and used the other hand to push Casey away from him. Casey fell down next to Raph.

“I just told you to never rush in!”

Leo advanced while Jitsu’s back was turned. Jitsu whipped his tail out towards Leo and knocked his swords out of his hands.

“Never assume you have the advantage!”

Jitsu kicked Leo, sending him backwards. Leo pushed himself back up only to see Jitsu disarm April and Donnie just as easily.

April was tired, and hungry, and just wanted this to be over. Every time one of them got close Jitsu just threw them back again. No one had managed to get a hit in yet.

Donnie threw his last smoke bomb, but all it did was aid Jitsu instead of distracting him. He moved so fast it was as if he was teleporting. He used the smoke screen to take out Raph and Leo, who had managed to get closer to him. He threw them into the side door of a car.

April forced herself up and ran at Jitsu. Suddenly her arm was wrapped up with tail and she was thrown into the windshield of a different car.

“Ow…”

Raph pushed himself to his feet, “Get up! Guys get up! Mikey needs us.”

Everyone was down. April and Leo were half in cars, Donnie was pinned under debris, and Casey was face down on the ground.

“If you cannot defeat me in a physical battle, there is one more way.”

“What is it?” Donnie called out from his place on the ground.

“It is simple, really. You must convince me why you want Orang-Michelangelo back so badly.”

“What?” Raph was not expecting that.

“He is your prize in this battle, is he not? Why do you want him? How badly do you want him?”

“Easy,” Raph said, “because he’s our brother, and he’s our brother!”

“Nope. Not good enough. I am not convinced.”

“Because he’s family!” Leo called out. He was hanging upside down from a monster truck.

“And…?”

“Because he’s our friend!” Casey yelled.

“Which means?”

“That he’s our friend?”

“I am still not convinced,” Rat Jitsu sat down in a discarded car seat and leaned back, as if he was expecting this to take a while.

“Because he’s my little brother! Because it’s my job to protect him and I failed! Because I miss his nonsense rambling and playing videogames with him! Because without him I have no one to joke around with! Because without him life is dull and gray and miserable! Because- because-” Raph had to pause to take in a big breath.

“Okay, I am convinced.”

“Huh?”

Rat Jitsu walked over to Raph. He pushed Raph’s arm up till Raph’s sai was even with his chest. Jitsu walked into the sai and fell back dramatically with a fake scream.

The crowd gasped.

“I have been defeated! Slain on the battlefield!”

“NO” the crowd screamed. The horns went off for the final time.

One.

Two.

Three.

Jitsu shot a wink up at Raph.

“IN A SURPRISING TURN OF EVENTS, THE CHAMPION HAS BEEN DEFEATED! WHICH IS TOTALLY BOGUS AND SHOULD NOT COUNT-”

Raph saw someone shove Primetime.

“NOW WE GO TO THE OFFICALS. WHAT IS YOUR RULING OH HIGH CHANCELOR OF THE TOURNAMENT? HAVE OUR VICTORS EARNED THE RIGHT TO SPEAK WITH MICHELANGELO?”

A spotlight moved up to the control box. The lights inside turned on, showing two figures. One in purple and another in orange. The orange figure stood up and held his hand out. The purple figure pressed something and suspenseful music began playing. The jumbo screens all turned on and showed a close up of the box.

Raph’s heart stuttered.

The orange figure was Mikey. He was wearing an orange sweatshirt and patterned pajama bottoms. He had a closed off look on his face. He held a hand out in front of him. He had made a fist but left his thumb extended.

He turned his wrist, turning it into a thumbs up. And smiled. There was clapping from the crowd.

“Come with me,” Jitsu said, now standing up and cracking his back, “I will take you to him.”

Chapter Text

Rat Jitsu led them up the stairs to the control box. He held the door open for them. April and Casey stood back as the brothers rushed in. Mikey was sitting in a spinny chair next to Donatello, both wearing sweatshirts and talking. Mikey spun around to turn towards them and smiled, “Guys!”

The brothers jumped on him, pulling him into a group hug. April could hear wet laughter and quiet questions coming from the group. She tried to distract herself and give them privacy by coming further into the room and looking around.

The room was a long thin rectangle. Three of the walls were windows, overlooking the arena. There was electronics along all the walls. The back wall had several screens, three were different angles of the now empty arena and another two seemed to be playing recap footage of Other-April sledding down the stadium stairs on a chair backing in her pajamas while Other-Raph looked on terrified.

The video footage changed to their fight with Donatello with the word ‘DISQUALIFIED’ in big red letters at the bottom. Speaking of Donatello, Donnie had just noticed his presence in the room and was yelling at him to stay away from Mikey. Donatello had an amused look on his face.

“Woah! Woah, Donnie its fine! Everything’s cool!”

“Cool?! He kidnapped you!”

“No he didn’t! What are you talking about?”

“Ah-” Donatello spoke up, “Leo might’ve implied in his email that you were being held against your will. And I kinda, sorta, didn’t make him correct it.”

Rat Jitsu gave Donatello a gentle slap upside the head, “Purple!”

“It was late! I hadn’t slept in three days and Leo was being so annoying. I just wanted him to leave me alone so I could go to bed.”

“So, Mikey is not a hostage?” Casey asked.

“No!”

“Good,” Leo said, “because we’re taking you home.”

“Uhh, about that… I um, have some things to tell you.”

Mikey looked nervous. He glanced over to Donatello who gave him a thumbs up. The brothers looked very confused. Rat Jitsu patted Donatello’s shoulder, “Come now, I believe Orange Two wants to handle this on his own.”

Rat Jitsu turned and headed for the door. April sensed this was going to be a family only thing and followed, noting that Casey had fell into step behind her. She paused as she passed Mikey to give him a quick hug, before stepping out of the room into the brightly lit hallway.

“What do you mean you’re staying here? We’re taking you home. That’s why we’re here.”

“No. I mean, I’m staying here. I’ve chosen to stay here.”

Mikey was getting frustrated. His brothers were just getting more and more confused. Donnie looked at Mikey, truly looked at him. He looked different, and not just because he was wearing clothes and has friendship bracelets up both wrists with painted nails. He looked like he felt lighter, like there was nothing dragging him down anymore. The two smiles Donnie has seen from him tonight felt more relaxed, more real than any of the recent ones he’d given back at home.

“You don’t want to come home,” Donnie realized.

Mikey nodded.

Leo looked heartbroken. Raph still looked confused. Raph squatted down and gently gripped Mikey’s upper arms, “What do you mean you don’t want to go home?”

Mikey took a big breath and sat up straighter, “I’m happy here Raph. I’m not happy back home. Here I can go out in public and order a pizza in person, here I have friends, here I’m learning magic. There’s people who understand me here, who love me and want me to stay.”

“And there’s people back home who love you and want you to come home!” Raph quietly said.

“Raph,” Mikey placed his hands on Raph’s forearms, “I am home. This is my home now, where I belong.”

“No, no, no Mikey. Home is with us. This is another dimension, we belong in the dimension we were born in.”

“Actually we were ha-”

“Donnie!”

Leo took a small step and placed a hand on Raph’s shoulder. “Mikey, are you sure about this?”

“Yes. I thought about it a lot. Don’s working on an easier communication and transportation pathway between our universes, so I’ll be able to text and visit you guys pretty much whenever I want. And of course we’ll be together for holidays! Not to mention all the things I promised to show the guys when I give them a tour of our New York!”

Mikey’s smile had returned. Donnie placed a hand on Mikey’s head and Mikey turned to look at Donnie. Donnie felt pride for his little brother well up in his chest, and he teared up, “You’re growing up, aren’t you?”

Mikey nodded, “It’s time for the next chapter of my life, and that’s here in this world.”

“Okay,” Leo had tears in his eyes as well, “but I want text updates everyday. And you have to visit home one day a week. And-”

Mikey groaned. Donnie smiled.

“Leo you can’t be serious! Does he even have a place to stay?”

Raph’s had slipped down Mikey’s arms to the point they were gripping each other by the wrists. Raph’s face was full of pain.

“I’m staying with our counterparts. They’ve been taking care of me this whole time. Other-Mikey has even decided we’re twins now, and me and JJ have been pulling shifts on Big Mama’s non-illegal businesses. Right now Leon is trying to get us full time jobs at Run of the Mill.”

“But they wouldn’t let us speak to you-”

“No Raph. Leon does things in really roundabout ways, which looking back this whole tournament thing was probably not the best idea, but it was his way of intimidating you or showing you how well they can protect me? I’m a little confused on that part, but the gist of it was if the five of you had trouble trying to beat them one-on-one, then how are you going to do it when they all fight as a team?”

Donnie had to admit, that was a pretty solid argument. Their toughest battles tonight were won on technicalities. Other-Donnie was disqualified, Other-Leo was ‘medically tapped’, Short-Splinter out right threw his fight.

Raph was still searching for an argument. Mikey leaned down and hugged Raph.

“I’m safe here Raph. I have family here to keep me save.”

Raph gripped Mikey back tightly, “I want you to text everyday, and I want to visit home three days a week and-”

Donnie and Leo joined the hug, and they stayed like that for a while. The sun had come up by the time they broke apart.

The brothers entered the main Party Room. Other-Donnie was asleep on a beanbag, a purple robot resting on his chest and tucked under his chin. Other-April and Other-Mikey had set up a karaoke machine and were singing A Whole New World, with a large fish mutant, a humanoid green slime person, and Primetime cheering them on, all of them now in pajamas. Big Raph was sitting in an old rusty beach chair eating cake next to his father, who was also trying to eat Raph’s cake despite having his own slice. There were two gargoyle looking creatures flying around the snack table. Casey was conversing with Cassandra, and next to them on a couch was CJ fast asleep. Baron Draxum was showing April something that looked mystic. Mayhem the alien looking cat was curled up in a lawn chair. There were TV screens everywhere showing various clips from throughout the night.

Mikey smiled in such a genuine way as his eyes sweeped the room, “Aw, sweet! I want a shot at karaoke!”

“I’m next! You can sing with me!” Primetime called over.

Mikey led the way through the mishmashed room, stepping over discarded wrappers and blankets and pushing the various types of chairs out of his path. Mikey paused as they passed Draxum, reaching out and hugging him from behind, “Hey Other-Other-Dad, I want to introduce you to my other brothers.”

Draxum turned to the side, placing an arm around Mikey and patting the top of his head, “Technically we’ve already met, but go ahead Orange Number Two.”

“This is Leo, Raph, and Donnie!” Mikey pointed at them as he spoke, “Over there is Casey, and right here is April!”

Draxum gave a small laugh, “I know, I was just talking to her.”

“And guys, this is Baron Draxum. He’s other-us’ other dad. The other-us get two dads! How cool is that!”

“Speaking of parents,” Donnie piped in, “how old are ‘other-us’? Cassandra looks to be the same age as her son, and Alternate-Me doesn’t look old enough to have two kids.”

“Ohhh,” Mikey said, “yeah, that’s a long story. We don’t have time to go into it tonight.”

“Actually,” Baron Draxum leaned down and whispered to the four of them, “we are playing a ‘practical joke’ on the third Casey. Cassandra told him Blue is Junior’s biological father, so just play along if he asks.”

Mikey covered his mouth with his hands, trying to stifle his laughter, “Oh this is gonna be so funny. How’d he react?”

“He said ‘no way’ so Cassandra showed him a picture of Lou back when he was human and convinced him all the turtle genetics skipped a generation.”

Everyone let out a laugh at that.

“How’d she do that?”

“She said some very confusing things about chromosomes and eggs, which as a geneticist myself I can assure you are incorrect.”

“Oh this is too good,” Raph said, “I’m so going to give him a fake shovel talk.”

“Please let me be there for that,” April said.

Mikey started giggling again, “Has he met S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. yet? Should we tell him Casey One is his mom too?”

“Unfortunately he has. Purple showed him pictures of P.S.D.D. as well.”

“Bummer.”

“TALL MIKEY!” Primetime shouted from across the room, “We’re up!”

“Leo, dude, don’t freak out.”

Casey had come up to Leo as he was perusing the snack table. There weren’t many options left, most bowls and plates only held crumbs.

“Okay… What’s up?”

Casey’s face was red, and he was staring over Leo’s shoulder. Leo looked behind him only to see the wall.

“So you know how CJ is like Other-Me’s kid?”

Oh, Leo thought. Play along.

“Uh-huh.”

“Well, he’s uh, actually your kid too?”

“Oh yeah, I heard Other-Me call him ‘sensei’ earlier. He must be his student.”

Casey groaned in annoyance, “No. You know how you call your dad ‘Sensei’?”

“Yeah…” Leo pretended to be confused, “because I’m his student.”

“Agh! No! I mean we-” Casey used finger quotes, “‘make a baby’ together, and that baby is CJ.”

Leo grabbed a chip off his plate and took a bite, “You sure? I think you heard her wrong.”

“No, no,” Casey put a hand on each of Leo’s shoulders, “I thought I did too, but she was very detailed in her explanation.”

It was taking all of Leo’s will power not to bust out laughing at Casey’s devastated face right now. Leo has had a long, somewhat disappointing night. He decided to mess with Casey some more.

Leo let out a big sigh, “We’ll, there’s only one thing to do. We have to get married.”

Casey choked on air. Leo put his plate down, grabbed a soda, popped the tab for him and handed it to a still coughing Casey, who he then forced into a chair.

Leo had to time this next part perfectly, “So first you’ll have to ask Raph for permission. He’s not going to be happy about his best friend marrying his brother. But given the circumstances, I’m sure he’ll understand. He’ll probably even encourage it, he’s not a big fan of people having children out of wedlock.”

Casey did a truly marvelous spit take.

While Casey was still recovering, Leo put a finger on his chin and sent a wink towards Raph, who had looked over to see what the commotion was about. Raph looked between Leo and Casey before getting the hint.

“Hmm… What do you think of a spring wedding?”

Casey buried his face in his hands, “First Donnie and now this! Raph is gonna tear me to shreds.”

What happened with Donnie? Leo thought. He quickly nudged Casey’s knee with his own, pointing over at Raph.

“Well, there he is.” Leo began walking in the other direction, “Good luck!”

Casey sputtered, “Don’t leave me here! Leo!”

The Aprils were off giggling in a corner, Cassandra had just left to take CJ and S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. home, Draxum and the fish-lady had left before them. Donnie was currently watching the Raph vs Raph Dance Dance Revolution battle, but had lost interest when Sunita came over.

“So you’re not a mutant?”

“Yep. I’m a yokai. I was born like this and so was my father, and so was my grandma, and so on.”

Donnie took notice of the way she moved her arms around as she talked, how her body moved like animated water.

“Fascinating.”

There was a groan and cheer that occurred simultaneously. Big Raph had failed to beat Raph. Raph was punching the air in victory.

Mikey walked Casey over to Other-Mikey and Other-Donnie. Casey was dragging his feet, he had been trying to avoid Donatello since he woke up. April watched as Mikey brought them all over to the couch they were lounging on.

Other-Mikey was talking animatedly, April noticed he and her Mikey had matching nail polish. He threw an arm around Casey and pulled them both down on the couch. Casey was now sandwiched, and a tad bit flustered, between him and Other-April.

April was having a blast talking to her other self. It had been a while since she’d had a girl friend to hang out with, let alone be able to talk to about the ninja turtle half of her life. April found the differences in their lives unbelievably interesting. How could two people, who were supposably the same person, have such different lives?

Donatello handed them both plates, “This one’s for Green, and this one’s for Yellow.”

“Thanks Donnie!”

“Thank you,” April tried not to blush as she took her plate. Other-April, or ‘Green’ as she had been dubbed by Mikey earlier in the night for her green hair wrap and pajama bottoms and April herself had been named ‘Yellow’ after her headband and shirt, had told her that despite Donatello’s chilly personality he was actually a sweetheart. She could see that now, and it was undeniably attractive. She was going to have to take up Casey’s avoidance technique if she wanted to survive the night without embarrassing herself.

Donatello sat down on one of the few real chairs in the room across from them, and Green kicked up her feet to rest them on his lap. Mikey sat on the cushioned arm and leaned towards Donatello. April felt Green shift a bit beside her, moving more towards Casey to make elbow room for her fork hand. Donatello nodded over to Casey, “You alright? You look like you’re starting to overheat again.”

April leaned forward to see Casey Jones blushing.

Was this what happened when he reappeared all flushed? April thought perhaps it was an effect of the portal. April remembered how he had been medically tapped for ‘overheating’. Oh.

A quick look at Mikey, who made a shush gesture while winking, confirmed it.

April tried to repress her smile. So, Casey Jones could dish it out but he couldn’t take it. Good to know.

“April,” Donatello spoke to Green, “give him some room. Your weird mammalian heat is suffocating him.”

Green mumbled and shifted away from Casey, “‘Weird mammalian heat’ let’s see how you like it once the temperature drops down below fifty and I refuse to share a blanket with you during movie night.”

Donatello gasped. “You wouldn’t. You’re not that cruel,” Donatello sounded unsure.

Green gave him a smile that sent chills down April’s spine, “We’ll see about that, won’t we?”

“No!” Other-Mikey cried, “You won’t leave me to suffer too, will you?”

He gave Green the biggest puppy eyes, and she folded, “Of course not baby, you and Raph still have full winter cuddling privileges.”

“Yes!”

“Wait what about Leo?”

“What about me?”

Primetime appeared behind Donatello. Green shot a glare at him, “He knows what he did.”

Raph walked passed the group on the couch on his way out. Him and Other-Raph were going to make a snack run after walking Sunita home.

“Wait, why did Other-Leo and Casey have a fall divorce photoshoot?”

“Because they had a spring wedding. Duh.”

Raph powerwalked passed the group and out the door, collapsing into laughter after passing the threshold.

Leo was talking all things sci-fi with his counterpart. Right now he was learning of the greatness that is the Jupiter Jim Extended Universe. Jitsu had made a comment about those movies not being good and then proceeded to fall asleep on the chair next to them.

“So next year they’re coming out with the ninety-ninth movie! Which is setting up movie one hundred, because that has to be a bang, right? And-”

A fast beat song Leo had never heard before came from Primetime’s phone and he dug around his chair looking for it.

“Hello, you are conversing with Leonardo?”

Leo tried not to laugh at the funny way Primetime said those words, clearly mocking someone. Suddenly Primetime stood up, “How long do we have? Uh-huh? Thanks.”

Primetime hung up and stepped up on his chair, the Raphs returning at the same time. Primetime cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled, “PARTY’S OVER. VENUS CALLED AND BIG MAMA IS ON HER WAY. MOVE! MOVE! MOVE PEOPLE!”

Everyone jumped into action, throwing chairs without caution through a portal Primetime whipped up, sliding everything that was on the snack table into a trash bag, Donatello started ripping cables out of the screens. Someone shoved a blanket into Leo’s hands and he confusedly threw it into the portal.

“What’s happening?”

“Big Mama knows we’re here!” Big Raph hollered over the commotion.

“And she’s gonna be really ticked we used her arena without inviting her!” Mikey said as he yanked several cables out of the wall.

“Who’s Big Mama?” Raph asked, also standing around confused.

“Move now, ask questions later!” Primetime shouted as he shook his father awake.

Green grabbed Leo’s arm and pulled, “No time! Her car just pulled up!”

Leo was dragged into the portal and away from it, just in time to see everyone else fall out like an avalanche. The portal closed just as Leo heard a very feminine voice scream out “BOYS!”

There was laughter coming from behind the chair pile and Leo saw the fish-lady from earlier materialize out of thin air, phone in one hand and a mug in the other. “You should of seen your faces!”

“Piebald, did you tip off Big Mama?”

Piebald shrugged and took a sip from her mug, “Mayhaps.”

A “Why?” came from the pile of bodies.

“Revenge. Leo knows what he did.”

“LEO!” was chorused from the pile.

Piebald started laughing at Primetime’s guilty face, which set off a chain reaction of laughs and sleep deprived giggles.  

Chapter Text

It was Thanksgiving, and it was truly a Thanksgiving like no other. All the past Thanksgivings in Mikey’s life were spent as just the five of them, and they didn’t even always celebrate it. The last Thanksgiving he had was hectic, as he had just arrived in a strange universe only weeks before. He was the center of attention with family members he hadn’t been introduced too yet, Big Mama and Draxum were at each other’s throats, Shorter Mikey was upset over having to share his kitchen, and then Leo went and started a food fight.

But this year’s was truly special.

This year’s Thanksgiving was held at the O’Neil farmhouse. There were tables set up in the grass, warm weather, and so many people. Mikey stood out in the sun and watched as the two halves of his family mingled together.

The only ones that hadn’t made it were ‘Green’ April, as her human family was spending it together in California, and Karai, who was in Japan. ‘Yellow’ April and her dad were here, technically their hosts. Casey Three was there and brought his younger sister, but their dad had to work. She’d gone and attached herself to Casey One, who was walking between the yard and her brownie headquarters which were connected by a large purple portal. It was deemed the O’Neil kitchen was to be used for anything stove related and refrigeration, and C.J.’s Brownies and its several ovens and large counter spaces was being used for all other baking and cooking needs. Another portal was also opened, this one leading to the alternate lair, where the Leos were currently dragging a basketball hoop and stand through to set up in their spray-painted court, which the Donnies were handling. Lou was bragging about his famous casserole to Master Splinter, and both were resting at one of the tables with Ice Cream Kitty in a cooler next to them. The bigger Raph and April were currently attempting to set up a tire swing on one of the large trees on the property. Shorter Mikey was king of the kitchen, having kicked everyone out of the O’Neil kitchen and named Draxum as his sous chef. Casey Two, Casey Three, and Raph were running around after having taste tested food without asking Chef Michel, who was chasing them with a wooden spoon in his hand. Mikey could see Huginn and Muninn grab spoons as soon as Chef Michel was out the door.

“What’s up kiddo?”

Mikey turned to see Piebald standing next to him, hood up to protect her skin from drying out in the sun.

“Nothing, just… really happy.”

“Yeah?” Piebald smiled down at him.

“Yeah, we never got to do big family get togethers or backyard barbeques or anything like that growing up. It’s nice to get to do that now. Real nice.” Not to mention being outside in the daylight, feeling sun on their skin and not having to hide. And no sewer smell.

Piebald threw an arm around Mikey’s shoulders, pulling him into her side, “Well, I for one could do without the sun. But I know Leon is looking forward to basking later.”

Mikey looked over to Leon now, who was refusing to let anyone help him with the basketball hoop. Leon’s twin was reclining in a chair on the outskirts of the court, sunglasses on and phone recording Leon’s struggles. Some metal parts were sitting on his lap forgotten, as Donnie promised to make P.S.D.D. a travel sized device to carry him in on occasions like this. Donnie was clearly half asleep already.

“I think Donald might have beat him to it.”

S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. came to a stop beside his father, holding a glass of flavorless juice on his back.

Mikey turned back to Piebald, “What time are the girls showing up again?”

“Late. Mom has her holiday battle thing going on and Venus can’t get here without her. Venus promised to get Mom here in time for dessert, though.”

Humans watched football on Thanksgiving, yokai watched bloody gladiator fights. Thanksgiving is a big profit day for Big Mama’s Battle Nexus.

“Say, Mikester, wanna have some fun with me?” Piebald had a mischievous smile on her face. Mikey made one to match, “What did you have in mind?”

“Oh, this is gonna be so much fun,” Mikey said, hopping in place a little. Him and Piebald were behind the house, filling four super soaker water-guns with cold hose water.

Mikey and Piebald squatted down in the tall grass, both armed with two super soakers and a full can of whip cream. Piebald un-camouflaged herself, “You ready?”

“Oh, yeah.”

They burst out of the grass, sprinting at Raph and Casey Three, yelling as they sprayed them with water.

“What th- COLD! IT’S COLD!”

Raph and Casey ran for cover, Mikey and Piebald keeping chase. Piebald sprayed Casey Two as they passed him. Raph attempted to hide behind his larger counterpart, who screamed about cold water and started running when Mikey sprayed him. Piebald split off to chase April, Mikey jumped over the table to follow the Raphs, laughing.

“At this rate, I’m never going to marry any of them off,” Lou grumbled. Master Splinter simply smiled and leant back to enjoy the show.

By now the commotion had reached the basketball court, drawing the players’ attention. Mikey switched his attention from the Raphs to the Donnies. The sleeping one was an easy target, and Mikey drained all the water that was left in his gun on him. Mikey turned and tossed that gun to the ground, pulling the second one from his back and aiming at the Leos.

“Woah, come on Mike. I’m sure we can talk this out,” Leon had his hands up and was backing away.

“Sorry Leon,” Mikey sprayed them both before running after the remaining Donnie.

Mikey’s second gun ran out of water as he sprayed Donnie.

“Ha! You’re out of ammo!” Raph called as he closed in on Mikey for revenge. Mikey dropped the gun and popped open the cap on his whip-cream. He unloaded a fair amount of it into his hand before slapping Raph in the face with it, “You wish!”

He brandished the can in front of Casey Three, who was prepared to back Raph up, “Stay back! I know how to use this thing!”

The sound of a portal came from behind him. Mikey turned to see Leon lunging towards him. Piebald dropped her camouflage and smacked Leon with her own whip-cream hand. Leon went down with a grunt.

“Man down! Man down! Dontron! Leo! Someone avenge me!” Leo then sat up and started eating the whipped-cream off his face with a mmm sound.

There was a scream, and Mikey turned to Casey Three with whip-cream on his face, and a laughing Raph both in front and behind him. Raph had wiped the cream off his face and used it to rub it into Casey Three’s, who was trying to wiggle out of the bigger Raph’s arms.

Suddenly there was a wet feeling on his head, followed by a squish. Piebald had betrayed him.

“Sorry Mikey, but it’s every mutant for himself!”

After both cans were emptied, and Casey One nearly committed a murder, they were all chided by an angry Chef Michel who needed the whip-cream for his dessert.

Mikey ate three helpings of everything, and now he felt sick. All along the table people were slumped in their seats, groaning about being full.

“So, when’s dessert?”

“Noooo”

“I think we need to wait, like, four hours before dessert.”

“I think I need to wait four days.”

“Well, well. I think we missed all of the hubba-baloo.”

Everyone turned to see Big Mama, in her human form, and Venus standing in front of the portal, having clearly just stepped out of it.

As the sun started going down the O’Neils started a couple firepits. Mikey had gotten cold and decided to take a seat by one of them. He plopped down next to his father.

“Hello, my son.”

“Hi Master Splinter.”

Mikey shivered and Master Splinter wrapped his good arm around Mikey, tucking him into his side. Master Splinter let out a soft laugh as Mikey wiggled around to snuggle in closer. Soon Mikey dozed off and Master Splinter started humming to himself. Mikey could feel the vibrations through his father’s chest.

“Wake me… wake me in time for dessert,” Mikey mumbled.

Master Splinter dropped a kiss on Mikey’s head, “Alright.”