Chapter Text
Swirling orange and yellow sparks tore apart reality.
Ignoring the increasing pain, ‘What if I remade the stars? If I’m going to die here, why can’t I rewrite our lives? I just want to see my family happy and whole again.’ Master Michaelangelo thought quickly, seeing his body flake away increasing in speed. It won’t take much longer for the portal to open.
He gave his older brother and his young charge a comforting wink full of affection. His hearing was gone, the fragmentation reaching his head distorting his senses. Unshed tears, as he ripped existence to meet his unwavering wish.
‘I want to see them again! If the past can be remade…who better to change it than an artist?’
Letting go of his physical body, he integrated himself into the threads of time and space. Before closing the portal to keep Casey safe once and for all, Master Michaelangelo reached out one last time.
A spark of orange ran over Master Leonardo’s sword, gathering something blue. When the orange met the braided hilt of purple and red they glowed. All four colors connected briefly, forming a mystic sphere of power.
Red plasma instantly obliterated the last turtle. Ash, blasts, and screams before eerie peace settled onto the planet.
The Apocalypse was completed.
Humanity, yokai, mutants, and anything born of Earth became a faded memory to the Kraang as they freely remade the planet into their image.
The Core of Elements, The sphere of Ancients, Gift of the Mystics; it had many names as it flickered into various time periods, enough to be documented but the object never stayed long.
It eventually phased into existence in the Hidden City, clattering into an arena of experiments. Baron Draxum was recording the data of the various brawls, his own version of the Kodoku poison jar. Distracted, he didn’t notice the valuable, powerful artifact get swallowed by one of the hungry victors.
They were all human once.
From several places all over the surface with different biometrics. All were kidnapped, imprisoned, then soon abandoned into the arena to be tested.
Before the artifact was swallowed, the beast was feral and non-sentient. It had parts of yokai DNA, a mix of different species to craft a living mystic battery.
So far the experiments were all failures.
A grand waste of resources, all of them. So, only the strongest of this batch will survive.
The core ignited from the creature’s intestines, combining itself with its biology. Orange energy feebly gathering the scattered human soul, pushing it back into consciousness where it belonged. With a few sickening cracks and yelps, the creature became something less…horrifying. More fluffy.
A tired soul replaced the empty look in its eyes, it was the victor in the end. She could live a little longer now.
………
“...I will save you little turtles!!”
The strange human in a colorful outfit picked up the baby turtles off the ground. Fires started to catch and spread all over the laboratory. Things were falling apart.
All of the experiments roared, screeched, whined, and panicked in hopes of being saved as well. Claws, fangs, rows of teeth were trying to break out of their prison as the walls began to crack. Green ooze began to pour out, increasing the flames.
The man looked around frantically before spotting a giant red button. Taking off like a shot he hit it as hard as he could, breaking it in half in hopes of freeing the other creatures.
The gates opened, all kinds of organisms broke out if they were able to move. Some paused and looked to the man responsible, unable to say thanks. Quickly, they escaped. A pair of curious eyes watched him, following the rest of the herd.
Pulling out a rat from his jacket, “You too my-OW!!” The rat chomped on his thumb, aggravated at the situation. It too ran for freedom.
“Why you little-” ooze splattered, covering the man. He began to mutate, fear making his hands- now claws, shake. Glaring fiercely at the Baron as everything came crashing down in neon green flames.
……..
It was raining topside in New York City, a man with pink skin, claws, and whiskers wept in a giant cardboard box. Before, he was a handsome action star. Now…now the mutant had no idea what he should do.
A pitiful sight with his shoulders shaking, holding the babies to his chest to keep them warm. He didn't notice the giant walking curly puff until it snuggled next to him.
He was too tired to panic or push the animal away, “I have no room for you.” He half thought it was a lost sheep or fat cat before it answered.
“You saved my life.” She said simply, snuggling closer to cover the other from the cold.
“...You are welcome.” The rat man mumbled, eyes closed tight. His mind wandered, trying to keep it together.
“I have decided instead of showing my immense gratitude with song or tears, I thought. Um. I, hahah, I thought we’d stick together.” The puff ball looked over at him, searching for physical tells.
Drips began to seep through the corner of the box. Rainfall blurred the world around them.
Flapping a fluff, most likely an ear, the puff introduced herself. “I was Lucia Garcia before…this. Who were you?”
“I was super movie star Lou Jitsu!” came the bitter reply.
“Hah, now. …Now I am a rat man! Hamato Yoshi is now…a rat man.” Yoshi shuddered, wiping a few escaped tears from his eyes with a forced smile that broke instantly. Relaxing his shoulders, he mumbled grievingly, “...what am I supposed to do now?”
Lucia didn’t have an answer for him. She only knew that she was going to be his best friend and help him get through this. Her mind was made up on that decision. Both Mutants watched the rain pour as minutes passed by, the box becoming increasingly unstable as time went on.
“I don’t think we can stay here,” Lucia said, coming to a conclusion after feeling one of the babies shiver into her fur.
Yoshi didn’t reply, he wasn’t ready to accept his new life. Maybe this was all a dream. A nightmare he would soon wake from.
Sneezing, the largest of the turtle babies shivered. It was the most exposed, covering the other three the best it could in Lou Jitsu’s hold.
Looking down at the baby turtles Yoshi knew he had to make a choice. He wouldn’t leave the babies now. It was too late for him, they were too sweet and innocent to hand off to someone else. They were in this together now.
With a deep sigh from his soul, “No. No, we cannot.”
Techno dubstep began to ring, it had been two days since she last saw her boys. Taking her phone off the charger Dr. Lucia Garcia, or in the Hidden City Agent Cloud, checked the screen with a glance, surprised to see Donnie calling at this hour.
Picking up, “Dearest Donnie, shouldn’t you be sleeping?”
Affection flooding her voice as she checked the time.
Being in the center of the Hidden city, time was a bit unpredictable in certain places. Cell phone connection hadn’t been stable recently either.
Especially when Yokai from all over the world were meeting for future plans of surface expansion and/or relocation. So many issues were being debated, Lucia being a decorated Yokai citizen and previously human had secured a spot on the podium.
Humans and Yokai had the chance to coexist slowly and peacefully.
This was a perfect time, some humans in New York were already adapting to the Yokai in their stores. Baron Draxum’s oozquitos helped the transition along miraculously with all the mutant exposure.
Alerts and notifications started to swamp her home screen all of a sudden.
From her phone speaker a broken sob plunged her heart to the floor,
“…mom, we need you. Leo’s…Leo..!!”
Donnie never cried. This wasn’t a joke.
Briefly looking over the notifications, pictures of destruction and pink creatures, frightened texts and missed calls. It had only been two days…what on Earth happened??
“Baby, 360 me right now. I’m getting my kit, how bad is it?” She sprinted down the hall away from the conference, her robotic drone assistant followed after her.
In the background of the call, she could hear Mikey yelling something or crying. The wind making the background noise difficult to hear.
Her drone buzzed with a short video attached. Why were they on the surface during the day?? On Staten Island no less??
Busting into her temporary office, she grabbed her kit and her surgical tools.
“Darling, please I need you to tell me what’s going on.” She tried to keep her voice calm, Donnie clearly wasn’t being responsive. Yelling at him wouldn’t help.
“…please. Just get here.” Donatello said monotonously, the wetness in his voice raised Lucia’s blood pressure. Or adrenaline. She wasn’t sure.
Watching the quick video of Don’s current surroundings, Lucia clapped. Her mystic rings glowing as she made a circle in her hands and blew into the hole. A bright pink portal was made like a bubble.
Her assistant grabbed her two bags and entered the portal before she jumped in.
Reaching the other side of the portal…the city and sky was a mess. She pushed the thought away and looked for her boys.
Mikey was crying near the edge of the roof with his hands out. Shouting something at Raph.
Donnie had tears rolling down his face, his expression in disbelief staring at the smoky sky.
“Babies..?” She jogged closer as Mikey started to glow. Her eyes widened, watching as in front of Mikey’s hands was an orange circle. A mystic portal. She hadn’t let Draxum teach him that yet. He wasn’t ready.
Panic flooded her veins as she saw her youngest fingertips begin to flake.
“Mikey whatever you’re doing…don’t stop!” Raph exclaimed, hope rising on his face. Donatello looked at his brothers in shock.
Swirling orange and yellow sparks tore apart reality.
Lucia’s heart throbbed with something familiar, hopeful desperation. A last chance at something she wasn’t sure she knew anything about.
Lucia grabbed her youngest from behind by the shoulders, “I don’t know what’s happening to tell you to stop or keep going so tell me! What do you need baby boy?!”
Mikey swallowed hard, looking up at his mother’s concerned/conflicted face with watery eyes. “We need to get Leo back..! We have to get him back!!”
Mikey groaned as he pushed more mystic energy into the portal. The mystic burns covering his hands spreading up to his elbows, flakes of his essence starting to separate from his fingertips.
He’s running out of Mystic power.
‘...I just want to see my family happy and whole again.’
A ghostly whisper in her mind echoed, pulling her to action. Her own Mystic power swelling inside.
“Baby boy, I need you to focus on where Leo is. Focus on his mystic energy signature, how blue his fire is. Then I need you to use my mystic energy alongside yours. Ratio it to 70/30, I’m the 70.” Her voice held no room for argument as Mikey struggled.
“You can do it, pull what you need from me. I can take it.” She encouraged, squeezing his shoulders reassuringly.
Lucia felt her mystic energy flicker briefly before it was led with Mikey’s intent. Wherever the portal led to, it was not of this world or the Hidden city.
His hands stopped cracking and flaking as he pushed the portal open with an abundance of pink mystic energy with flares of orange.
On the other side was a void…a graveyard. Her baby blue, floating like a corpse until he saw their light.
Pushing her tears back, she tried not to look into the abyss, darker than any nightmare she ever had. Her baby blue turned around slowly, his eyes crinkling with relief at the sight of them.
“Took y’all long enough.” Leo said as Lucia watched something in the dark approach her boy like a predator.
She couldn’t hear anything, her focus was on the massive creature, metallic with red lights. Her mind didn’t understand what she was seeing. She was stuck being a battery for the portal, she couldn’t get her boy..! The ache in her chest deepened.
Luckily, they weren’t alone. Raph stepped in front of them, using his energy manipulation ninpo to reach and grab Leo’s arm, pulling him away from the creature's reach. Raph wasn’t pulling fast enough, the beast was approaching too quickly as it roared.
A rough gust blew past as Donnie launched a purple mystic drill with all of his fury. It’s his brother’s favorite creation of his so using it as the finishing blow was sweet.
It rammed into the creature, keeping it from advancing for the last few seconds that they needed to bring Leo out.
Lucia glanced over at the three behind her as Mikey closed the portal.
Missing how when Mikey winked at the creature, the portal caught on fire. The fire lept at the creature with a vengeance burning it. Blue sparked from within the void, flickering out of that plane of existence.
The portal changed from orange to red to blue to purple, ending with pink. Mikey gasped, confused but admiring the colorful display.
Pink energy sewed the portal closed, the connection cutting off made Lucia lose her breath. Letting go of her youngest, she sat down on her knees. The Mystic aftermath settling in her bones.
She shut her senses off for 30 seconds, she was drained. She was extremely grateful for Draxum’s work. Whatever DNA he infused with her gave her an enormous amount of room for mystic energy which she stockpiled over the years with her teleporting medical practice.
She would die before telling him that though.
She couldn’t rest too long, her babies needed her. Blinking back to reality, Mikey was squatting in front of her, rubbing her hands in circles. Fidgeting, looking back and forth between her and his brothers.
Leo exclaimed, his voice worn out. “Are we on Staten Island? ewwwWW!”
His brothers chuckled, Mikey rushing over to initiate a group hug.
Watching them laugh like that, almost made her forget anything was wrong.
Gumi, her robotic drone assistant flew over to her and showed her the boy’s current medical scan. Lucia’s eyes nearly popped out of her head, weariness gone.
“Put him down, gently! My GAWD, what did y’all DO?!” Lucia ran over, Gumi handing her equipment to keep Leo still. There were too many broken things in the scan that if jostled could spell catastrophe. There was most definitely internal bleeding.
She was setting up the travel gurney and calling Draxum on her phone.
“M-mom? Mom what do you mean?” Raph’s voice was shaky.
Wrapping Leo as best as she could, Draxum finally picked up annoyed.
“What do you want-”
“Draxum meet me at my clinic, bring everything medical, mystic, anything and everything you got that can ease a code black. This is not a drill. I need your help, I don’t know what this foreign substance is.” Lucia stated calmly, hands betraying her as they shook.
Mikey hugged Raph’s arm, watching in silence as tears gathered in his eyes.
“Mom, what are you doing to Leo?” Raph stepped closer but Donnie held his other arm, keeping him in place.
Leo huffed out a trembling sigh, his eyes searching his mom’s. “…it’s not as bad as it looks..?”
Lucia gave Leo a cold stare as she double-checked the neck brace. His carapace was shot. Parts of it would no doubt fall off soon without help.
His healing factor would need a major boost. God help them, she didn’t want to even look at his shell.
“...Very well. It seems the nonsense about an alien invasion was not completely without merit. I will meet you there, be quick.” His tone was something to unpack later, because it sounded vaguely worried.
Zipping up her kit, she frowned as she looked over the other three turtles. Now that she had a second…they were barely standing. littered with bruises and swelling.
“We will speak about this when everyone is stable. For now you will all fill out incident reports. Overflow it with details so I can treat you as efficiently as possible.”
The four of them shrunk at her authoritative tone.
“Health check report you mean.” Don grumbled with a grimace.
“Yes. Exactly that while it’s still fresh in your memory. Raphael, help me get Leo onto the travel gurney. Gently and steady-“
Leo groaned at the shift in movement, adrenaline wearing off. Blood began to seep out of various wounds.
Lucia made a note of this, the place where he was rescued from must have had something to do with keeping his body intact. Meaning, with a horrible guess, Leo’s health was about to drop to its worst and soon.
“Donatello, I need you to be thorough on these health reports. No one better hide anything!” Lucia was yelling, unable to look at her boys as she struggled to open her own portal to her private clinic.
Large hands gently held her shoulders, “We won’t ma. We promise.” Red, warm energy boosted her own, the pink bubble finally growing large enough to walk through with the gurney.
Sighing, wanting nothing more then to hug, feed, and cuddle each of her children she had to keep herself focused. Her chest throbbed with anxiety,
“I will hold you to that precious boy. Now, someone should call your father.”