Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Universe 2018 – The Main Space of the Lair

It was quiet and dark in the home.

Water dripped somewhere down a random tunnel. A rat ran across the floor looking for some scraps. Purple’s inventions that sat in beta collected dust in a corner. The game controllers that hadn’t been put away before their users were stolen to another universe over three weeks ago laid unused on the living room floor.

It was quiet…so very quiet.

Until it wasn’t.

An orange toned portal opened up in the main living space and a parade of mutants and humans alike came trotting out of it into the home. Leading the crew was Purple and Red - Fox and Yellow still sitting on the large turtle's shoulders - as they returned to their home.  The wave of mystic magic that only belonged to their home hit them and they both took in a deep intake of air as their mystic reserves refilled after being gone so long.

Purple put his fingers to his mouth and whistled, jerking his head to the side when Genius and Tello – actually, Master Donatello as he still possessed his reincarnation’s body – poked their heads in. “Come help me get set up.”

The two counterparts followed out of the portal and after Purple while Red looked around to investigate their home. He knew how weary everyone was going to be and nodded to himself. “Raph will by getting blankets and pillows,” he declared.

"We'll help you," Fox said with a smile. Fox nodded along in agreement.

“If you could also clear some space for our workstation, that would be great,” Purple called over his shoulder as he entered the train car that had been repurposed to be his lab.

“On it!” Red said and ran off. The girls laughed as they were bounced around and held onto Red's head for support.

Junior walked in next with Cassandra, peppering his mother from a different timeline with question after question about her time away from them laying in wait to strike. Jennika was in the same boat as Rafa and Donald asked their questions about her disappearance for her part in Orange’s plan. Spring and Vigilante trotted after them all, pausing only to awe in wonder at the bright colors of the universe they hadn’t visited before.

Mike poked his head in before the rest of his body followed, a smile on his lips as he stood to the side of the portal. “Wow, I am so glad that I finally opened a portal to the right place,” he said.

Ra came stomping out of portal next and flicked Mike in the forehead. “Only took you, what? Five tries?”

“I recorded it to be seven before Purple and Red gave the okay,” Don snorted as he emerged from the portal to join his brothers at the side of the portal. Riri, carrying baby Marie, and Case exited next but made their way right over to the kitchen as the baby was getting fussy from hunger.

“Hey, I did it, didn’t I?” Mike pouted, rubbing the spot on his forehead that Ra flicked.

“You need practice, my son,” Master mused as he exited the portal next, chuckling as he stroked his beard. “It will take years upon years to find all the Leonardo’s and Michelangelo’s at this rate with your proficiency.”

“Daaaaad, not you tooooo,” Mike groaned.

Lou entered his home universe again after that, hands folded behind his back as he looked up at Mike. “After everyone has crossed, please close the portal and come join me in the dojo. I will give you a speed lesson on portals.”

Mike bowed his head towards his father’s counterpart. “Hai, other sensei.”

Lou gave a full-belly laugh and tucked his hands into his sleeves, trotting over to the dojo to set up the training space. The power ranger turtles came out of the portal next, Mastodon cradled a soft ball of light that was Tricer’s soul closely to his plastron in a protective hold. Rex was in front of him as he looked with a keen eye for any potential danger that come to their oldest brother in his current form.

“Someone help clear this space and Orange’s work studio, and bring me a stick of chalk,” Draxum ordered as he exited the portal after them. With a wave of his hand, Draxum summoned an ancient alchemy tome from his pocket dimension storage. “After that, I will need help gathering the materials that I will be needing.”

The family of universe 2012 trotted out after Draxum, Donnie and Raph immediately going to Orange’s studio to help. Yoshi went to the kitchen to brew some tea, figuring it would help the mood of everyone and was something to keep himself busy. April used her powers to clear out the furniture of the living room to make space and Casey helped with his brute strength.

Watcher and Kunoichi helped a limping Tech into the living room while Vigilante let go of Tech's side he was helping support and rushed forward to clear the spot for him. Tech put on a brave face but it was clear that his wound was bothering him as if continued to leave a faint trail where it had bled through Kunoichi's jacket wrapped around the wound behind his dragging leg. After settling him in place, Kunoichi rushed away to the med bay that Junior - taking a break from grilling Cass - guided her to so she could borrow the universe 2018 family’s first aid kit.

Tech sighed heavily and felt a hand clap on his shoulder. Looking up, he saw Watcher keeping a close eye on him. “You going to survive?” Watcher asked. There was the top layer of a joke in his voice but Tech could hear the undercurrent of true worry of his last remaining brother in Watcher’s words.

Snorting, Tech rolled his eyes. “If you think something this small is going to stop me from helping you drag our brothers home, you’ve got another thing coming.”

The worry bled out Watcher’s eyes and they also turned up in amusement. Watcher clapped Tech on the shoulder again. “Glad to hear it,” he grinned broadly.

Sai and Bo both came out of the portal with a baby turtle on their hip – Yi and Moja, respectively. Odyn was sucking on his thumb when Ginger carried him through the portal in her arms and Uno was carried in Sticks’ shoulders. Marie came in after them and directed them to the kitchen so that they could be fed. Gramps followed after her to go help Yoshi making multiple pots of tea.

Wrath stalked out of the portal into the lair with Jones trailing afterwards as they flanked Sensei. Wanting to help, Wrath went to find Red to add an extra pair of hands.  Jones added his own strength to April and Casey’s effort of clearing the living room.

Detective was busy saying good-bye to the bat family – crime never rested in Gotham so they were going to part ways their to return home – and walking backwards through the portal. Knight nodded in thanks to Batman and his robins for their help before following his brother. El came out unsurely after them as he entered another universe that wasn’t his. His eyes found Tello come out Purple’s lab carrying out an armful of tech and El found himself not recognizing the turtle that was supposed to be his brother.

Jackie patted his son on the shoulder as he came out of the portal and directed him to stand to the side to be out of the way. O’Neil had her held up high and was looking all around her at the new universe. Out of the 10 families, they were the most left out of the loop about where everything was in this new lair.

“That it?” Mike asked from the side of the portal.

Don peeked in the portal for a second and then came back, nodding his head. “We’ve got everyone over here now.”

“Alright,” Mike grinned and rubbed his hands together. “Now to close the portal.” He swiped gunshin through the air to close the portal and then blinked when nothing happened. Mike swiped the ninja tribunal weapon again and, again, nothing happened. Scratching at the side of his head, Mike lowered gunshin. “This is going to be harder than I thought.”

Ra rolled his eyes and Don smacked a hand to his face.

Without trying, the portal in front of them flashed close, leaving the space it was previously occupying empty. Mike grinned and waved a hand to the space. “Look! I did it!”

“That was not you and we all know it,” Ra grumbled.

“Nope! I’m going to take the win!” Mike laughed and sheathed gunshin on the back of his shell, perpendicular to Inazuma. His chi enhanced mode markings faded away to leave only his scars marring his skin. Smacking his hands together, Mike rubbed them together. “Now, if you excuse me, I’m really curious about how we are going to be bringing everyone back to life.”

“Didn’t Lou ask for you to join him in the dojo?” Don asked with a raise of his eye ridge.

Mike waved away the question. “After this. I want to know how we are bringing all our bros back to life after we rescue them.” Before his brothers could physically drag him to the dojo, Mike went trotting off. Don and Ra sighed in disappointment but followed after Mike, not wanting to be separated from him when they were just reunited with the brother they thought died all those weeks ago.

A bit farther in the lair, Mike found the family from universe 122019 hovering outside of the train car that Mike recognized as Orange’s workspace. The alchemist warrior yokai that created the turtles of this universe was directing where to put Orange’s art supplies to open room for him to work. Everything was moved carefully to not destroy the last semblances of Orange before he was stolen away to the grand battle nexus.

Draxum noticed the family waited for him and turned to them, folding his hands into his sleeves. “How may I assist you?” he asked.

“When can we bring our Leo back?” Rex asked.

“Including the gathering my supplies from my lab in the Hidden City, I surmise that it will take me a few hours to make a new body for him after I study his soul,” Draxum hummed as he pulled a hand out of his sleeves and stroked his chin.

“A new body?” Mastodon paled.

Draxum gestured a hand to Tricer’s soul. “Your brother did, in fact, die. That body of his broke apart due to Big Mama’s spell and it is something that cannot be recovered. Luckily, I have a spell that can make a new one based off the memory of it from the user’s soul.”

“So, you have to create a new body for all of them?” Rafa gasped.

Draxum nodded his head. “It will be taxing on my body so I may not be able to recreate more than one – possibly two – bodies a day.”

“So even if we go demon mode and get all our brothers back ASAP, we still won’t have all of them back to life for like two weeks then?” El grumbled, having followed after Mike and his brothers since he didn’t know what else to do.

“Precisely,” Draxum answered, a finger tapping on the leather edge of his grimoire. “If I had my Michelangelo with us, it would have gone faster but that is not feasible at the moment.”

“Should we prioritize getting Orange back first then?” Donnie asked. They could all see how disgruntled he was having to put someone above his Leonardo and Michelangelo in order of being recovered. But, if it meant getting Leo and Michael back faster, then he was willing to prioritize a variant of his orange loving brother.

“We don’t have the luxury of doing that, unfortunately,” Genius told the crowd. His fingers were a flurry of movement over the keyboard he had pilfered from Purple’s lab. Tello was using his purple constructs to drag out more parts they were going to need for their multi-universal tracker to go hunt down the souls of their brothers. Purple followed after his counterpart that his past self controlling the body with his arms full of computer screens and keyboards.

“Why is that?” Bo asked.

“While we can theoretically find our brothers’ souls, the only information we will be able to find on them is what universe they belong to,” Genius answered, looking back at them for a moment before going back to the wall of code displayed on the screen. Tello and Purple plugged in their screens and keyboards before joining the code creation. “We won’t be able to choose the order or know if they are a Leo or a Mikey - though we can make an educated guess who they are once we have rescued one of the two beforehand.”

“So, we’re shooting in the dark here,” Raph grunted.

“More or less,” Master Donatello answered with Tello’s voice, shrugging.

“That’s not really reassuring,” Wrath grunted.

“It’s what we got,” Genius shrugged. The wall of code strolled fast up the screen and was reflected off his glasses. “We are lucky that the three of us are smart enough together to even be able to formulate our brothers’ locations to begin with.”

Donnie took a step forward. “I want to know why you didn’t include the rest of us Donatello’s,” he said, gesturing to his other counterparts that were in the room. Most of them look wholly unbothered about being excluded considering the success of their secret virus to deactivate the collars but they were indeed curious.

“Well, Tello agreed to let us reawaken Master Donatello thanks to Orange’s spell,” Purple said, his robotic arm popping out of his shell to angle a monitor better towards him.

Tello’s pupils shone brighter for a second as Master Donatello smiled with his face. “Purple and I work quite well together.” In the background, El shifted on his feet as he was uncomfortable with this new version of his brother that wasn’t his brother.

“You two are the same turtle!” Donnie exclaimed with a roll of his eyes.

“And two of my intellect is a blessing upon this land,” Purple laughed boastfully, Master Donatello joining along in the same cadence.

“More like a nightmare,” Raph grumbled under his breath to Rafa, making his counterpart smirk in a laugh.

“And what about Genius?” Donnie scoffed, gesturing a hand at the tallest Donatello.

“Because, as Purple put it, I’m the only other Donatello that can measure up to how smart he is,” Genius shrugged.

“Excuse me?!” Donnie argued, his temper rising again. He turned to glare at Purple.

Purple noticed the simmering look at his back and turned around. The tablet he had been hooking up to the system was still in his hand and he tapped it against his shoulder with a cocky grin at Donnie. “Well, the facts are the facts. Genius is the second-best.”

Donnie’s face grew red as his sneer deepened.

“Besides, I needed a set of eyes and a brain that could see things from another angle,” Purple explained, crossing his arms over his plastron so that his tablet hung off his arm. One of his robotic arms came out of his shell again to grab it and put it in place on the device he and the two other Donatello’s were creating. “By process of elimination, the only one with the skillset of intellect, poker face, and stealth that I needed was Genius.”

The other Donatello’s seemed to get annoyed by the thinly veiled diss at them but not as much as Donnie. “And which one of the three did you feel I didn’t have?” he asked between gritted teeth.

Purple looked Donnie up-and-down with an appraising look. “I don’t think you want me to answer truthfully.”

Donnie’s hand curled into fists as he stomped forward.

“Heeeeey, let’s not fight,” Mike cut in as he physically in the space between Purple and Donnie. “That’s not going to help anyone.”

“He started it!” Donnie argued, pointing a finger at Purple.

“And I will end it,” Purple sneered, snapping his jaws at Donnie.

“Careful, he’s a biter,” Yellow warned half-heartedly as she passed through the room with arms filled with their largest first-aid kit as she followed Kunoichi to where Tech was waiting in the living room with his injured leg.

“Yame, Donatello,” both Lou and Yoshi scolded their sons at the same time.

Donnie clicked his tongue and turned away, stomping towards Raph. His brother patted on the shoulder in condolence of a lost fight and Donnie nearly bit his hand. Purple just shrugged as if he wasn’t actively provoking Donnie and his anger issues, and went back to work. The workstation that Genius and Tello had continued to work on while he bickered with Donnie was completed and the two of them had been waiting for the one that had been leading their charge.

“So, what do we do now?” Knight asked.

“I am so glad you asked,” Mike smirked, rubbing his hands together. Spinning around, he pointed a finger at Purple. “Boss’s Donnie, if you would do the honors.”

Purple cracked his fingers. “Let’s get to work,” he declared before the three Donatello’s descended on their workstation.

Chapter Text

Universe 2018 – The Main Area of the Lair

Purple used the robotic arms of his battle shell to continue his work as he took a break to sip at a juice box. His eyes darted over the code that was zooming past on the screen with all three of them – he, Master Donatello and Genius – working on it. Despite not being the caliper that Purple needed to work on something as complex as the coding, Purple did trust his other counterparts to put together the portal gateway for their universe that they working on in another room.

Universe 2018 never needed a portal generator or gateway before to access the other universes with Orange and Blue being right there with their powers. Most of the time Orange – or Blue if he was really focusing – could feel the buzz of another gateway trying to connect to their universe and would open the portal for their side. With the two there, a gateway on their side was never needed but the need for it was evident now. Despite the other universes in attendance already having working universal gateways, they couldn’t waste the time of making Mike open a portal there and then transporting it over. Time was of the essence for them right now if another soul was found.

The purpose of the gateway was two-fold. It would create an anchor for Mike to latch onto when returning to Universe 2018 from wherever a missing soul had been found as well as letting the other families return to their own worlds when they wanted to it. They all had been torn away so quickly without a choice in the matter and Purple didn’t want them to feel like they were trapped in another cage.

Purple didn’t not trust Mike with his abilities but he also didn’t have much trust in them. Blue struggled greatly with his powers at first and even Orange trained for quite a while to be able to open his own portals. Mike had boldly declared that he would hone his abilities to find everyone in the correct universe but Purple didn’t hold his breath. Purple trusted Mike and his heart to save everyone but nothing would top his loyalty with sciences and its ability to solve everything.

Genius was off to the side setting up Purple’s assistant robots to start creating the components to the wrist devices that would recall the wearer back to Universe 2018. The thought-process was that Mike could open the portal to whatever universe the found soul was in and then the rescue team would be able to return back to Universe 2018’s gateway with a press of a button while Mike was off helping another lost soul they hopefully found in the meantime. They would also act as a communicator in case either side needed to talk to each other while a rescue team was off bringing home a brother.

The radar was also something that would help fine tune their journey. Mike didn’t have the experience traveling from universe to another so finely unlike Orange. In fact, Mike was in the dojo of the lair with Lou as he practiced opening portals to other universes from someone that had experience with that type of power. That brought about the need for the radar to accurately find out which universe a soul was found in. Without it, the process of finding all eighteen missing souls would be something that could take all of their lifetimes and then some with how infinite the multiverse is.

“How is it looking so far?” Master Donatello asked his younger self with Tello’s voice.

Humming flatly, Purple pulled the juice box away from his mouth. “Looking good so far. You two really are so excellent – I haven’t found any errors so far.”

“A grand compliment coming from myself,” Master Donatello chuckled, Tello’s lips turning up in the corners.

From the corner of his eye, Purple watched his future self that had come back despite being reincarnated using the body of his reincarnation. The markings on Tello’s arms and legs that had appeared after Master Donatello made his return softly lit up every so often in the darkness of their lair in response of who was in control of the body. Looking in the opposite direction, Purple spotted El hanging around the edge as unsurely as he watched his remaining brother.

“…how is Tello doing in there?” Purple asked.

If Master Donatello had been caught off-guard with the question, it didn’t show in his face or in the speed of his fingers flying across the keyboard. Master Donatello hummed for a second. “He’s still asleep,” Master Donatello answered.

Purple pressed his lips together and went back to watching the wall of coding. Despite being able to hear them, Genius had chosen to stay quiet. Purple knew that Genius was waiting to see how this played out based on the way he was holding himself apprehensively. Clearing his throat, Purple flicked his eyes up-and-down Tello’s body in an obvious gesture. “How are you feeling in his body?”

Master Donatello chuckled at the question and pointed a thumb at his shell. “I don’t how any of our brothers lugged one of these around all the time,” he said. “All bulk and weight with none of the added protective layers and useful attachments our battle shells have.”

“And they said I was at a disadvantage with my softshell,” Purple snickered. Sobering up, Purple’s eyes flicked to a different screen. “Have you tried talking to El yet?”

Tello’s face pulling up in a disgruntled grimace was enough of an answer.

“I know I shouldn’t be the one saying this with my lack of social and emotional cues, but you should talk to him,” Purple continued. “He’s bound to be confused by your return and is wondering where Tello went. Especially since Nardo and Angelo are gone.”

“I know,” Master Donatello sighed heavily, slouching slightly in on himself. “I will talk to him…just after we get the radar and gateway up-and-running.”

“I think that’s fair,” Purple agreed. After all, the sooner they completed everything, the sooner they could start bringing their brothers home.

And without a further word on their conversation, the two dove into their work.

Universe 2018 – The Dojo

“Yame!” Lou called and Mike groaned in relief as he dropped gunshin from his rigid hold. His chi enhanced mode markings disappeared from his skin and the aura around the ninja tribunal weapon diminished. Lou looked the counterpart of his youngest son over and nodded his head. “You are a fast learner.”

“I have the natural Michelangelo skillset,” Mike snarked with a dramatic flick of his short mask tails over his shoulder. He then yelped in pain as both Ra and Don smacked him upside the head. “What the heck was that for?!”

“Don’t be boastful,” Don scolded with a frown. He had followed along into the dojo instead of helping his counterparts with the gateway to find their missing brothers as he still felt the need to have Mike in his direct line of sight. For weeks, he had grieved his brother and that pain wasn’t something that could go away in just a few hours after finding out that he was still alive. Part of Don still thought that he would blink and Mike would be gone again, that he had imagined his brother coming back to life.

Ra shrugged and crossed his arms over his chest. “I just felt like it,” Ra grumbled. Like Don, he couldn’t bare the thought of Mike not being within arm’s reach of him at the moment. His emotions were in turmoil as he tried to sort through the relief of Mike being alive and the grief of his supposed-death still clinging to him.

Lou cleared his throat and stood up as straight as his small stature would allow him. “You are a fast learner but you still have much fine-tune learning to creating portals left to learn.”

“It’s why I got you to teach me,” Mike grinned at the counterpart of his father.

Lou chuckled and turned on his heel, hands clasped behind his back. “That is enough for now. Take a break and attend to your visitors,” Lou said as he headed towards the dojo doorway to go discuss the state of everything with some of his counterparts.

Mike furrowed his brow. “What visitors?”

Don elbowed Mike in the side. Mike whirled to the side to say something about not hitting him anymore but stopped when he saw Don pointing to the entrance of the dojo. “Mike, I think we have someone that haven’t had their turn welcoming you back yet,” Don said with a soft smile.

Looking over to the doorway, Mike’s brow relaxed when he saw Riri and Case standing there. Baby Marie was wiggling around in Riri’s grasp and reaching her chubby hands out towards her uncle. With a laugh, Mike turned fully to the humans and held his arms outwards them. “There’s my favorite niece!”

“Mi!” Baby Marie yelled loudly and struggled more in her mother’s arms. Seeing that she was fighting a losing battle, Riri placed her daughter feet-first on the ground. Without wasting anything, Baby Marie went waddling over to her youngest uncle on legs that seemed steady but not at the same time.

Mike bent down to one knee and waited with his arms open for Baby Marie to reach him. She collided against his front as hard as her little body would allow her to and Mike swooped her up in his arms. As easy as all the other times he had in past, Mike perched the toddler on his hip with the closest arm braced against her back. Mike’s free hand came lay against the back of Baby Marie’s shoulders to make sure she was secured in his hold.

Baby Marie smacked her little hands on Mike’s cheeks. “Mi!” she shouted at Mike despite the closeness of the two.

“Yes, yes, I’m home,” Mike giggled and nudged their noses together. “I missed you, too, Rie Rie.”

Riri bursts into tears so suddenly that all the rest of her family jumped in alarm. Case wrapped an arm around his wife’s shoulders. “Ap?” he asked.

“I’m okay,” Riri said as she waved away the concern, a hand wiping away a few stray tears that had made their way out. That did nothing at all to dimmish the worries of her husband and surrogate brother. “I’m just,” Riri sniffed hard as more tears fought their way to escape, “so happy that you are back.”

Mike smiled warmly at his sister and with a look, Case passed Riri into the arm that Mike pulled away from Baby Marie’s shoulders to hold open for Riri. The woman sobbed softly and tucked herself against Mike and the turtle wrapped his arm around her in a hug. “I’m home.”

Riri giggled and pressed a soft kiss to Mike’s cheek before pulling away just enough that Mike’s arm dropped away from around Riri’s middle. “Welcome home,” she said. “We’ve missed you.”

Ra scoffed behind Mike and crossed his arms over his plastron, looking away. “We wouldn’t have had to if you just told us you were alive to begin with.”

“I’ve already told that I didn’t have the choice to,” Mike sighed, bouncing Baby Marie higher on his hip which made the toddler giggle. “That would have ruined everything.”

“We could have kept it a secret,” Ra pushed as he was still very miffed about Mike’s supposed survival being kept from them – from him. “At least, I could have kept it a secret.”

“Yeah, right,” Don snorted, rolling his eyes.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Ra sneered, facing Don.

“You wear your emotions on your sleeve,” Don said, looking Ra up-and-down. “If you knew, Big Mama would have found out next.”

“Why I oughta—!” Ra raged and stomped towards Don.

Don, not wanting to take the beating that he was about to receive at the hands of his brother, jumped behind Case to use his friend as a shield. Case balked when he saw Ra stomped now at him with fists at his sides, holding his hands up in surrender. “Woah, woah, woah, I’m not a part of this,” Case said

“You are now,” Ra growled before jumping forward to not allow Don to escape but dragging Case down with them.

Riri sighed in disappointment as Case, Ra, and Don all wrestled on the ground in one large pile. Mike giggled as he watched the action and knew that he was safe as they wouldn’t dare drag him in as long as was holding Baby Marie. “They never change, do they, Mikey?” Riri asked, shaking her head at them.

“That’s the fun part,” Mike laughed.

“Miiiiii,” Baby Marie hummed over and over again, smacking her lips together as if trying something new. She patted at Mike’s face again to make her uncle pay attention. “Miiii! Miiiiii!”

“Yes?” Mike laughed, hiking her higher on his hip again. “Do you need something?”

“Miiiii,” Baby Marie hummed again. Her face grew frustration and Mike didn’t know why.

“She’s been repeating that sound for a while now,” Riri informed Mike, coming to the other side of Mike to be closer to her daughter.

“Miiiii…….key!” Baby Marie chirped happily, clapping her hands on her uncle’s cheeks again. “Mi-key! Mi-key!”

Everyone, including Mike’s, mouths dropped open in shock. Case, Ra, and Don all stopped mid-wrestling to gape at the toddler. All the while, Baby Marie was just repeating Mike’s name over and giggled to herself. “…Marie just said her first word…” Don murmured.

“And it was Mikey’s name,” Ra continued.

“Mi-key!” Baby Marie repeated after hearing the name again.

"That's right," Mike grinned as Baby Marie and ran a finger over her chubby and soft cheek. "That's my name.

"Mi-key!" Baby Marie yelled again as she squealed, leaning into the touch.

“My baby spoke!” Riri exclaimed and swooped her daughter back. She held Baby Marie in the air above her and spun her around once before pulling her close to kiss her on the forehead. “You spoke!”

“Mi-key!” Baby Marie said again with a giggle.

“Should I be upset that my daughter’s first word was my friends name and not dada?” Case asked, sitting on the ground now that the mood to wrestle was gone.

“Nah, it’s the turtle luck,” Ra said, sitting down as well and punched his friend in the arm. “It’s how you know you’re really one of us.”

Case grimaced playfully. “Can I give it back?”

“No returns,” Don shook his head and stood up, brushing his legs off. “We have enough on our plate dealing with our share of it.”

Mike stepped closer to Riri and brushed a finger over Baby Marie’s cheek. “Sorry I took your moment for her to say ‘mama’ first,” Mike apologized to his sister.

Riri just shook her head with a smile. “I don’t care about that…okay, maybe I do a little. I’m just happier that Marie has you back. She really missed you, you know?”

Baby Marie shrieked in delight, leaning into Mike’s touch. Mike’s heart melted in a cozy, gooey mess like it usually did when Baby Marie was her adorable self – which was all the time. “Yeah, I know.”

There was a commotion from the other room and Mike pulled away from his niece. Baby Marie grumbled at the loss of the touch but quickly got over it as her father approached and she held her arms out to be carried by him. Mike padded over to the doorway and poked his head out, his brothers following close behind with Ra lagging behind.

Rafa was passing by deeper in the lair towards the direction of Orange's studio and Mike whistled to catch the version of Raphael’s attention. “What’s going on out there? Is Purple and little Donnie fighting again?” Mike asked.

“Draxum is about to bring Tricer back to life!” Rafa told him before continuing on his way.

“Really? Hell yeah,” Mike making his way to leave the dojo.

“Where are you off to?” Riri called from inside the dojo.

“I want to see Ranger’s Leo come back to life,” Mike grinned at his sister before trotting off.

“Hey, wait for us!” Don yelled after Mike before following along in a trot. Ra brought up the rear and the three brothers were gone in the matter of a few seconds.

Riri shook her head with a laugh of a huff at her surrogate brothers. Their attention could be drawn by something so quickly and they would leave just as quickly. They were driven by impulse and curiosity. Sometimes it worked in their favor, and sometimes not. Riri knew that no one knew just how much trouble her husband and Ra would get up into because of that exact line of thought.

“Oh, Leo, how full your hands must be with the three of them,” Riri giggled into the air with Case nodded along in agreement.

“Mi-key!” Baby Marie chirped with a clap of her hands, laughing.

Chapter Text

Universe 2018 – Orange’s Art/Mystic Arts Studio

With the limited space available with ten universes of the same family occupying the lair at the moment, Draxum had to make due with pilfering his youngest son’s studio while Orange was…indisposed at the moment. The good news was that Orange’s studio was well stocked with both art supplies and mystic ingredients that he would need. Of course, a few elements had to be brought over from his own lab in the Hidden City but that didn’t take too long.

The studio had been transformed from the art space that Orange had left it in before the family was swept away to universe 2003 for Blue and Orange to enter the deadly grand battle nexus. It was now a thrown together resurrection lab that would do its job just fine with the limited space. If Draxum was emotionally weaker, he would have cried profusely at the space frozen in the time with the half-finished painting that Orange had been working on still sitting on its easier in the middle of the room.

But he wasn’t and Draxum worked with a clinical detachedness that he had learned to adopt over his many years alive.

Which worked in everyone’s case at the moment as only a few hours after their return to their universe, Draxum was about ready to bring their first fallen Leonardo back to life. Tricer’s cold body laid in the middle of the chalk circle with his family hovering at the edge of it. Yellow and Purple had trickled in – the April forcing her Donatello to take a break or else he would overwork himself. Genius and Tello had pushed Purple along, telling him that they could handle everything for a little bit. A few stranglers made up of various Raphael’s and Donatello’s also joined the room, cramming themselves around at the sides or peeking in through the side windows to watch the ritual that would hopefully soon be performed for their own returned brothers.

Mastodon stood the closest with the soft blue orb of light that was Tricer’s soul held tightly in his grasp. A blue mask had been fashioned by Reporter and tied around Tricer’s slack face. It was off in color just slightly but was the best they could do that the moment in this different universe that wasn’t their home.

What turned his family’s stomachs was the thin and clean scar that seemed to encircle his neck. It wasn’t loud but it was there just enough that attention was drawn to it. There were a few other scars that seemed to have been added to the collection from the fight but nothing that just drew the eye like the scar on his neck.

“What’s with that scar?” Rex asked, pointing at the silvery line that wrapped around Tricer’s pale neck like a noose.

“It is most likely from when Blue decapitated Tricer to win the fight,” Draxum said in a very matter-of-the-fact tone. “I was able to recreate the formation of his body based off the memory of it in his soul and his death was recorded in that. I’m sorry to say that he and Ranger will both probably have this scar with how they both died the same way.”

“Probably?” Mastodon echoed.

Draxum shrugged. “It is not a guarantee that Ranger will have any new scars that are in relation to his death – that goes for every one of them we will be bringing back to life. It is only if the soul etched that scar into its memory of its body. Most of the time, if they died before realizing what their fatal wound was, they will not return with a scar of it.”

“So, Leo was still alive after he was decapitated?” Reporter paled. “He felt that?”

“I do not think so,” Draxum shook his head, quickly dispelling that thought. “I said most of the time but it’s not always like that. Some wounds seemed to leave a lasting effect regardless of memory of it or not. It seems like Tricer pulled the short straw and his soul retained the scar.”

A breath that Mastodon didn’t realize that he was holding escaped and he loosened his grip on his brother’s soul in still in his arms. The soul had a warmth to it that Mastodon hadn’t expected at first but he welcomed it. It meant that his brother was there and could be brought back to them.

Fighter narrowed his eyes at Draxum. “Just how many people have you brought back to life.”

Draxum leveled Fighter with a stare so long that the Casey Jones started to squirm in place. With a roll of his eyes, Draxum looked back down to Tricer’s body. “I have read enough on the practice and theologically of it that I will be able to perform it adequately.”

“You never done this before?!” Fighter squawked in alarm.

Reporter placed a hand on Fighter’s shoulder to calm him. “Casey, he’s our only chance. I don’t care if he’s done this before or not – Draxum’s the only one that knows how to bring our Leo and Mikey back to us.”

Fighter slouched under Reporter’s hand. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

There was a shuffling from outside the studio and Mike came sliding in with a broad grin. “Did I miss it?” he asked.

“Not at all,” Draxum shook his head and interlocked his fingers to crack them. “We were actually just about to start.”

“Oh, heck yeah,” Mike said and stepped off to the side to get a good vantage point but not to be in the way of Tricer’s family. Don, followed very quickly by Ra, came in after him and with a quick look around the room, they settled on either side of Mike.

Clearing his throat, Draxum held his hand out towards Mastodon. “Now, Mastodon, if you wouldn’t mind handing Tricer over to me.”

For a moment, Mastodon didn’t want to. He didn’t want to hand his brother over to anyone after just getting his brother back after so long. Mastodon would fight to the death to protect Tricer from all harm even if he was only just a soul right now.

But, Draxum was the only one that could Tricer back to the land of the living and that’s all Mastodon needed to gently pass over the soul to the alchemist.

“Thank you,” Draxum nodded his head and pulled Tricer’s soul closer to him. He inspected it for a second, feeling the pulse of life from within it, and sat up straighter. “Let’s bring Tricer back to life.”

Draxum moved his hands around in a complex pattern that only he and Orange would understand around the soul. The alchemist could feel the mystic energy pulling from the world around him to pool in the palm of his hands. Slowly, the soul began to ascend from his hands and floated over to hover in the space right above Tricer’s still chest.

Soft words of another ancient language that, again, only he and Orange would understand spilled from Draxum’s mouth. The soul glowed brighter in response. It bobbed in the air for a second before dropping down into Tricer’s chest. A ripple of light rolled outwards from Tricer’s chest and all over his body.

It felt like all the air had been sucked out of the room with how quiet it became. Draxum dropped his hands into his lap and watched Tricer with a waiting eye as color returned to his pale skin. Just barely, seen only if you were looking for it, there was a soft drumming of Tricer’s vein in his neck underneath his scar. His chest began to move as his heart began to beat once again.

And then Tricer took a small breath in that was followed by a sharp exhale.

The quiet was broken by Tricer gasping to life, his eyes flying open to reveal a panicked and confused blue. He sat up in one quick move and grabbed at his neck with both hands, panting. Reporter’s hands flew up to her mouth as her eyes teared up and Fighter bowed his head as he thanked any higher power above.

Tricer was still dazed as his brain fought to catch up. The last thing he remembered was fighting against Blue in the third match of the grand nexus. He had been offering Blue one last chance to give it up and that he would make it painless. Blue had something back about not planning on losing. His counterpart had disappeared in a flash of a teleportation that his powers allowed him to and then…Tricer didn’t know what happened next.

Finally getting his bearings enough, Tricer looked up and all around him to see that multiple pairs of his brothers’ counterparts looking down at him with hope shining in their eyes. Reporter and Fighter were off to the side with tears in their eyes while Teacher was bowing his head with his hands pressed against each other in front of him, whispering prayers of thanks. His eyes kept moving until he landed on his own version of Donatello and Raphael kneeling by his feet. “…Donnie? Raph?” Tricer whispered, his voice rough like he hadn’t spoken in a very long time. His hands fell away from his neck. “What happened?”

“Leo!” Mastodon and Rex cried as one in relief right before they pulled their formerly deceased brother in for a tight hug. Tricer barely kept himself sitting up from two of his brothers colliding into him.

Tricer returned the hug but still looked very confused. He patted Mastodon and Rex on the back of the shells while they hugged him tight as he looked around. As he looked at all the counterparts around him, he noticed very quickly how none of his counterparts and only one Michelangelo was in attendance.

“Holy shit, it actually worked,” Watcher breathed in disbelief. Tech was wide-eyed as he watched Tricer breathe and interact with his brothers, imagining when it would be their turn with Jungle and Pizza. Kunoichi wiped at her face to clear a stray tear as she hoped it would be their turn soon.

“Of course it would,” Draxum sniffed indignantly with his chin held up. “I do not make mistakes.”

“What about how your lab exploded right after mutating us?” Purple snarked, eyes darting down to his wrist screen that he continued to type at. Yellow rolled her eyes as, even though she had forced Purple away to take a break, he was still working.

“That was Lou’s fault,” Draxum frowned at his second oldest son.

“Wouldn’t it technically be your fault still because you’re the one that bought him from Big Mama to use in your experiments?” Yellow challenged with a raise of her eyebrow.

“You did what now?” Teacher asked.

Sniffing indignantly and straightening the front of his robes, Draxum sat up straight. “I stand by what I said.”

Tricer’s stomach growled loud enough that everyone in the room heard it and his brothers pulled away in surprise. The revived Leonardo blushed in embarrassment and held a hand to his stomach. “Well, that was loud,” he murmured.

“This body has never eaten before,” Draxum concluded, stroking his chin. “Interesting – the books didn’t mention this.”

“You make him sound like a since experiment,” Ra said with a roll of his eyes.

“Well, considering he is my first revival – successful at that – he could be considered an experiment,” Draxum shrugged.

“Excuse me?” Don blinked.

“Well, I think I saw some of the Splinter’s making some food in the kitchen,” Mike said, drawing Tricer’s attention again that there was only one Michelangelo in the room. Tricer was willing to bet that Mike was the only Michelangelo in the entire lair and that he was similar in the regard that he was only Leonardo.

“We shall start Tricer on some soup broth to start,” Draxum ordered as he looked over the revived turtle. “We can work our way up from there.”

“I’ll be happy for anything,” Tricer laughed. Holding his hands out towards his brothers, he smiled at them. “Help me up?”

Rex snickered and stood up, followed by Mastodon. They both held a hand towards their brother and Tricer grabbed ahold of them. In one quick movement, they pulled Tricer up to his feet before letting go.

“I wonder if the Leo Kitchen Curse was revived as well,” Rex joked. His mood was becoming brighter now that half of his deceased brothers was back with them. Now, they just needed Ranger.

“We can find out,” Tricer chuckled. "Right after you tell me everything I have missed."

Tricer went to take a step forward and immediately fell back to the ground as his leg couldn’t support him. It was only thanks to Rex’s and Mastodon’s quick reactions and being so close to him that Tricer only fell to his knees and not on his face. Everyone in the room was in various poses of almost jumping forward to catch the lone Leonardo themselves.

“Leo, are you okay?” Mastodon demanded.

Tricer’s gaze went down to his legs. “Why can’t I walk?” Tricer asked with a severe frown of his despondent legs.

“Ah, that is to be expected,” Draxum nodded and stood up, brushing off the dust from his legs. “Mastodon, Rex, please help Tricer to our med bay. We need to examine him.”

Mastodon and Rex nodded, each grabbing one of Tricer’s arms to wrap around their shoulders. The two stood up as one and wrapped one of their arms around Tricer’s shell to support him. It was slow going but the trio worked their way towards the med bay. Kunoichi tapped her turtles on their shoulders and jerked her chin at the trio to let them know that she was going to help before trotting off.

Draxum folded his hands into his sleeves and bowed his head towards the audience in the room. “If you shall need me, I will be in the med bay,” he said before turning to leave.

“Don’t wear yourself out too much! We need you to bring back our brothers too!” Ra yelled after Draxum. The yokai alchemist didn’t say anything but they knew he heard as his shoulders slouched with a sigh.

Mike pushed off the wall and came to the center of the room to investigate the chalk circle. Parts of it was scuffed and brushed away after Tricer’s reunion with his family. Mike couldn’t make heads or tails of what anything on the circle meant and wished for a moment that Orange was there to explain to him what it was.

Mike ground his teeth together as a pang of guilt of being the only Michelangelo alive hit him again since the moment Mystic explained to him what the plan was after being whisked away to universe 41171.

The Donatello of the universe they were in also pushed off the wall he was leaning against and padded to the other side. With a mental command of his battle shell, the robotic arms popped out to clear a space on the wall. “What are you doing?” Yellow asked her best friend as she came up next to him.

From inside his battle shell, two more robotic arms came out carrying a rolled up poster. It was dropped into Purple’s waiting hands and he unraveled it to tack it up on the wall for everyone to see. It was separated into two boxes with the names of all ten pairs of Michelangelo’s and Leonardo’s in their respective box. Reaching up, Purple drew a checkmark next to both Mike’s and Tricer’s names.

Stepping back, Purple recapped the marker. “Two down, eighteen more to bring back,” he said.

“Do I count though?” Mike asked, pointing a finger to himself. “Since I was never dead to begin with, y’know.”

“Thank fuckin’ god for that, even if we didn’t know it,” Ra grumbled, smacking a hand to the back of his brother’s head. Mike yelped at the slap and turned to shoot Ra a dirty look. “Hey, you deserved that hit. It was shitty of you to not tell us that you were alive this entire time.”

“I couldn’t,” Mike pouted. “Mystic said that it would ruin everything if Big Mama knew I was still kicking.”

“Yeah, but I’m still going to give ya shit about it,” Ra scoffed, crossing his arms over his plastron.

“Do you know how much it hurt all of us to have to grieve you like that? We really thought that both you and Leo were gone forever,” Don said, putting a hand on Mike’s shoulder like how Fearless always did. “It was like a part of us died with you.”

“I’m sorry for how it made you feel but I am not sorry about why I did it,” Mike said carefully, watching how a vein bulged out from Ra’s tightening jaw. He was really getting tired of having to repeat himself why his survival had to be a secret. “If I didn’t, no one would have their brothers back at all. It was a necessary evil.”

“Necessary evil, my ass,” Ra scoffed again, rolling his eyes.

Mike wanted to say something else but there was a loud noise of exclamation from the main living space where Genius and Master Donatello was working. “Younger me!” Master Donatello called out with Tello’s voice. “We got a reading on one of the souls!”

Purple turned on his heel without a word and marched out of the room over to the work station. The multiple pairs of Raphael’s and Donatello’s – along with a good chunk of the humans – approached apprehensively around the edge as they were drawn by the shout, hoping that one of their missing brothers from their universe was the one that had been found. Wrath, who had been bored and had been chatting softly with Genius when the alert went off, was shifting on his feet. El was still hanging around the edges of the room watching Tello but had come closer once the announcement that a brother had been found.

Mike with Ra and Don were amongst the crowd. Being the one that would have to open the portal to wherever the found soul was, Mike pushed himself to the front to be with the three Donatello’s at the work station. “That was quick. Who we got?” Mike asked with a forced smile on his lips. Inside, he was a mess of anxiety that this could be his brother.

“Let’s see who is the lucky family,” Purple hummed. No one spoke as Purple looked at the screen with the flashing light. He pressed a button on his keyboard and the flashing light was replaced with a readout of data that very, very few in the room would be able to understand. His brow dropped in disappointment before he pulled himself back together to paste a professionally blank expression on his face. Purple turned to his left and pointed a finger at a pair of the middle brothers. “You two are up first,” Purple relayed.

Wrath and Genius straightened in excited and hopeful anticipation.

Chapter Text

Universe 2016 – Snow Mountain

Snow blew across the white covered ground from a stray breeze. A small rabbit hopped across the ground, pausing to sniff the air before moving along. Farther up the mountain, the weight of snow became too heavy for a tree limb and it fell off to the let the limb pop higher in the air again.

An orange portal popped into life in the middle of a flat space on the mountain.

From the portal, Mike poked his head that was painted with his chi enhanced mode markings out and grinned. “I think I got it right this time.”

“’bout frickin’ time,” Wrath grumbled and pushed past Mike to exit the portal. He immediately shivered and shook himself out with a huff.

Mike stepped out fully from the portal with gunshin held in his hand, the blade and his chi enhanced mode markings still glowing. “Brrrr, it is cold here!” Mike exclaimed, wrapping his arms around himself. On his left wrist was the device Purple created to aid him in opening a portal to the correct universe he wanted to travel to that also doubled as a communicator.

“An interesting choice,” Genius noted as he followed after, face aimed down at his tablet as he read the readings around them. “Perhaps it has something to do with Leo’s ice powers.”

“Or a big space that could hold Party in his dragon form,” Mike grinned. “I would love to fight against him like that again.”

Wrath looked around the landscape that they were just arrived at and frowned. “Hey, Don, you recognize this place?”

Genius looked around. With his head tilted to the side, he wondered why they would be brought to here of all places. “This is the snow mountain that we fought Karai and her goons. Remember how Leo kept getting shocked by their stun guns?” Genius snorted.

“Ugh, stun guns are the worst,” Mike grunted with his tongue sticking out in distaste. He sheathed gunshin back onto his shell over top of Inazuma and the portal behind them closed.

Wrath looked behind him at Mike. “You stayin’ here with us?”

Mike shrugged with his arms still around himself. His didn’t bother disengaging his chi enhanced mode so the orange markings stood out on his green skin. “Purple said they haven’t finished the universal recaller and that I have to stay with you both to bring you back.”

“He’s telling the truth,” Genius said, hands on his hips as he looked around the mountain for a mutant turtle or large dragon - if Party was in dragon mode - that shouldn’t be there. “We didn’t have enough time to create both the soul finder/universe identifier and the portal recaller.”

Wrath shrugged at the answer and went back to looking around the snow mountain. “Who do you think is here?” Wrath asked. Behind him, Mike perked up as a noticed a destroyed foot clan truck.

Genius hummed for a moment as he thought. It ended in a flat buzzer-like noise from his throat. “I do not have enough data to conclude. This is the first soul that one of us have been sent out to find. Right now, it looks like there is a correlation to the location with the soul but both Leo and Mikey were here so I cannot draw any conclusions.”

“Sucks for us,” Wrath clicked his tongue in distaste. In the background, Mike bent over to scoop some snow off the ground and smashed it between his hands to form it into a ball.

Wrath spun around slowly to inspect the mountain around him while Genius looked down at his wrist pad to start some scans. After almost a complete circle, Wrath stopped in place and straightened his spine. Excitement rolled off of him but Genius didn’t notice as he was too deep into his readings.

“I am picking up one lifeform other than us in the proximity,” Genius relayed from his readings.

“Yeah, and I think it is Leo,” Wrath said with a growing smile on his face. Behind him, Mike’s tongue stuck out from behind his lips as he reeled his arm back and lobbed the snowball at the destroyed foot clan truck. He raised his arms in victory with a silent cheer to himself at hitting the logo dead center.

Genius looked up to regard Wrath with a confused expression. “Why would you say that?”

“Because that’s Leo,” Wrath said and pointed a finger upwards. Genius followed the path and let his breath hitch when he saw their brother standing tall far up the landscape.

The wind was harsh and it tugged roughly on Leader’s long mask tails. Leader stood taller high above them on a tall ledge of the mountain, eyes glowing a bright blue and his expression showing nothing at all. Ice spikes had grown long from his elbows and the back of his shell like in his match against Fearless. There were even the same ice spikes on his heels that looked wicked sharp.

“Woooooah, what did I miss?” Mike asked as he marveled over Leader’s ice powers.

“We’ll catch you up later,” Wrath said and stepped forward towards the direction of his brother. “Leo! We’re here! We’ve come to bring you home!” Wrath yelled up at Leader.

“Wait, we watched him fly off as a soul,” Genius murmured as he examined the brother they were there to bring home. “Why is he looking like that right now?”

Leader continued to stare down at him and even with the distance, there was something off about him. His body was hazy around the edges and had somewhat of a light blue glow to it. The longer they looked at their brother, the more they could see that he was partially see-through.

“Yooooooo, I am not getting good vibes here,” Mike warned as he lowered himself in a fighting stance, pulling Inazuma from off the back of his shell.

“Leo! What are you doing?!” Wrath yelled up at his brother again, taking another step forward. “Come down here already!”

Leader did, in fact, jump down towards them. He landed in a deft crouch that looked like no effort from the considerable distance he fell before pulling himself up to his feet without a word. Now that he was closer to them, they could all see that he was definitely not solid. The glow to his eyes was unsettling with his silence and the sharp ice spikes on him.

Genius took a hesitant step back and pulled out his bo staff. “This isn’t going to be an easy rescue mission, is it?” he asked Mike.

Mike gulped and readied Inazuma in his hands. “It never is with turtle luck.”

With that, Leader rushed towards them with his ice spikes brandished.

Universe 2018 – The Lair’s Infirmary

Tricer took a hesitant step forward with a brother under each of his arms supporting him.

“Just another step, Leo,” Rex urged.

“You’ve got this,” Mastodon cheered on his brother.

The three brothers from universe 122019 had been taken to the lair’s infirmary so that Draxum, Kunoichi and Don could look over the newly revived Tricer. Don had joined only recently to gather readings as it was something to do while Mike was off in another universe helping to rescue either Leader or Party. Ra was waiting in the main room of the lair for Mike to return but Don was too antsy to sit in place and wait.

Tricer ground his teeth together but moved his foot forward and put his weight on it. For a second, he thought that he could possibly get another step in but his leg buckled out from underneath of him. If it wasn’t for both his brothers supporting him from bother sides, Tricer would have fallen to the ground in one ungraceful heap.

“And that’s enough for now,” Don announced with a clap his hands. Tricer’s brothers hefted their brother higher up between the two of them and dragged him over to the med bay bad that had been prepped for him.

Tricer huffed as he settled onto the bed and slouched forward to rub some more feeling into his legs. “I could move just fine before. Why is this happening now?”

“It is because you died,” Draxum answered in a clipped tone. Tricer straightened at how clinical Draxum’s tone was. “Your original body was destroyed thanks to Big Mama’s spell to capture your soul. What you are in now is a recreation of your body that while it is near similar, it is not the same. This body will take time for you to get used to using.”

“You make it sound like my body is a puppet,” Tricer snorted.

Draxum shrugged. “Not that far off of a statement.”

“Excuse me?” Mastodon blinked.

Draxum ignored him. Turing around, Draxum grabbed some herbs he had Yellow bring from his lab here and threw them into a mortar. A hand grabbed the pestle to grind the herbs together. “I can compound a medicine to help your body adjust but that will only help minimally. You will need to continue practicing and building strength in your legs.”

“I hate this,” Tricer grumbled, trying to wiggle his toes and it coming out weaker than he wanted.

“You’re getting farther and stronger the longer you are alive. Give yourself time,” Draxum noted. “I predict that within three days, you will be right as rain.”

“Is everyone we are going to bring back also not going to be able to walk at first?” Don asked from the side. He was unpacking a set of crutches that they had Junior and Marie go get when they realized that between Tech’s injury and Tricer’s weak legs, they needed another pair in case whoever came back to life next couldn't walk.

“I do not have enough information to answer that yet,” Draxum answered truthfully. He reached to the side to grab a vial of purple liquid. Popping off the top of his thumb, he poured a bit into the mortar and then blended the herbs with the liquid. “I might be able to guess after the second soul is returned but my answer will not be certain until the third or fourth revival.”

Don huffed and continued his work. Like all the Donatello’s, he was frustrated with the lack of answers to questions he had. His inquisitive mind wanted to find out the answers right then and there even if it was impossible. All he could do at the moment was wait for Mike to return and then wait again for another soul – that was hopefully Fearless – to be found.

“I wonder how Mike is doing with the recovery mission,” Don huffed aloud.

Universe 2016 – Snow Mountain

Mike’s high-pitched screams echoed across the mountain as he and Leader’s two alive brothers ran for their lives.

Leader wasn’t holding back with his attack on them at all. Each strike of his ice spikes was meant to kill them and it unsettled both of his brothers. Mike, on the other hand, was stuck between being scared for his life and being in awe of the ice powers.

“What are we supposed to do?” Genius asked as he used his bo staff to deflect another ice spike attack that he wouldn’t be able to outrun. In Leader’s current state, he was not shackled down with exhaustion from running and continued to come after them like a bloodhound that caught the scent.

“I don’t know!” Wrath yelled in irritation as the snow slowed down his movement and Leader got a slice on his arm. “Fight him back?!”

“How?!” Mike yelled at them. With a yelp, he spun around to stir up the loose snow around them to hide the three of them in a cloud of white. It seemed to work for all of a second as Leader came bursting through the snowflakes with an ice spike pointed at Mike. The turtle screeched again and called on his powers to run away like the wind.

Leader turned his attention to Genius and Wrath, the two stopping their escape to face their brother. His glowing blue eyes stared them down as he fully faced them. He stood like a loose posture with his arms hanging at his side that he would only bring up when ready to attack.

“Why is he fighting us?” Wrath asked his alive brother.

“I am not sure,” Genius grumbled, tightening his grip on his bo staff. “This isn’t like Leo at all.”

Mike returned from wherever he ran away to, stopping in the middle of the brothers and behind them like they were shields. “What if this is the soul’s way of protecting itself?” he asked aloud.

Turning his head just slightly so that he was still watching Leader – the ghostly apparition still in place – and looked at Mike from the corner of his eye. “What makes you say that?”

“I don’t know exactly but I would think the souls would have some type of self-defense feature, you know?” Mike said, shrugging. Leader stomped a foot to the ground and ice spikes pierced upwards in a path towards Mike. The turtle screeched in fear and disappeared again with a flurry of snowflakes marking where he used to be.

Leader didn’t look away from his brothers but lifted an arm at his side. There was a gagging sound as he caught Mike by the throat and threw him out of his speed as fast as the wind. Leader dangled Mike in the air for a moment - Mike's feet kicking at Leader's body but causing no pain to the ghost - before Leader threw the Michelangelo to the side. Mike fell backwards in a heavy heap and Inazuma landed just out of reach.

Looking up as he wheezed, Mike’s eyes widened to time with Leader drawing a fist back. Ice rolled over it to coat his knuckles in a rendition of brass knuckles. Mike yelped and looked around for his weapon but it was just too far away. Deciding to just brace for impact, Mike crossed his forearms in an X over his face and closed his eyes.

Above him, a sharp sting of ice hitting metal had Mike opening his eyes again. His arms dropped down when he saw both Genius’ and Wrath’s weapons crossed over him to block Leader’s hit. “Oh no, you don’t get to globber this one,” Wrath smirked at Leader. Both Wrath’s and Genius’ arms were shaking with the force of keeping their weapons up against Leader’s fist.

“Aww, other bro,” Mike cooed with a hand over his heart.

“That’s Ra’s job,” Wrath continued. Leader's glowing blue eyes moved from Mike to now stare straight at Wrath with no expression showing.

Mike scowled at Wrath. “That’s rude.”

“Can you please move already?” Genius asked. He was standing with his feet wide apart with both hands apart on his bo staff. The wood could be heard groaning under the force.

“Right, on that,” Mike said and slipped out from underneath. He grabbed Inazuma on the way and darted behind Wrath and Genius in time for them to break apart from Leader. “Okay, what do we now?”

“We fight,” Wrath huffed, breathing deeply out of his nose like a bull. And just like the animal, went charging forward with his sai metaphorically ablazing.

It was interesting to see Wrath going for weapon-to-magic-hand with Leader. The ghost of a turtle would create new lengths of ice every time Wrath broke the previous one in his sai. In return, Leader would get a hand on Wrath’s body to send a blast of icy over him. Genius and Mike stood to the sides, ready to step in when an opening came.

Wrath cursed when a particularly cold wave washed over his right shoulder and he felt it going to tingly with numbness. Nothing was going to stop Wrath, though. With a loud yell, Wrath went stomping back through the snow towards Leader.

The turtle in blue spun around swiftly and a pane of ice went shooting over the snow. As soon as Wrath’s foot touched down on it, he went sliding forward with his legs nearly falling apart in a split. Wrath went sliding across the ice all the way until he was Leader’s feet. Leader didn’t pause in his fight as he grabbed Wrath by his chest strap and full-bodily threw his brother over his shoulder.

Wrath, for a turtle his size, went flying through the air and collided with a tree. The tree broke in two and fell to the ground with Wrath, both being dusted with the snow that had been collected on the leaves. Leader turned to continue his fight with Wrath.

“Raph!” Genius yelled at the same time as Mike yelled, “Leave him alone!”

Mike ran forward over the ice and used Inazuma to strike at Leader. A small strike of lightning was called down by the ninja tribunal weapon and the clap of thunder that followed made all of their ears ring. For the first time of the fight, Leader was forced back a step. Genius used the opening to stick the end of his bo staff in his brother’s face and pressed the button to let the extendable piece smack Leader. Leader’s face jerked back for a second, staying there.

Then the ghostly turtle grabbed the end of the bo staff and brought his face down to stare heatedly at Genius and Mike, his eyes glowing brighter than before.

“Aww, great, you made him mad,” Mike groaned loudly. Mike only had time to protect his face as Leader drew his leg back and kicked him hard in the stomach, face, and – with the hardest kick – the chest.

The force of the hit sent Mike flying backwards. He spun in the air and was able to let his natural armor of his back shell take the impact of hitting a large rock. Mike groaned as he fell forward onto his front and a pile of snow fell on top of him.

With his hand still holding the end of Genius’ bo staff, Leader spun around. Genius yelped as he was brought along for the ride and then exclaimed as Leader let go to throw him into a large snow mound. Completing the circle slowly like an ice skater on their home turf, Leader watched Genius brushing snow out of his face from where he landed face-first. With his sights set on his target, Leader started to march forward towards Genuis.

“Yo, I ain’t done with ya yet,” Wrath spat from behind Leader, throwing a glob of snow at the back of his head.

Leader turned his attention back to Wrath when he heard his brother getting back up. Wrath was a mess of cuts and irritated skin that was minutes away from going into frostbite. Out of the three in the rescue team, he was most cut up with Mike a close second.

“Raph, we can’t fight him all day,” Genius groaned from the snow that he was extracted himself from. He used his bo staff as support to get himself out. “He can’t feel pain or exhaustion. As long as he’s like that, we can never beat him.”

Wrath knew that Genius was right. This version of their brother was nothing like the one they knew. This one was just a ghost of himself and would remain a ghost as long as they kept fighting. They couldn’t fight with something that didn’t feel anything.

But perhaps they could reason with it.

Wrath lowered his sai. “Leo, I didn’t want to fight you,” he said. To punctuate his point, Wrath slipped his sai into his belt and put his hands up in surrender. “All I want to do is bring you home and then find our Mikey to bring him back too.”

Leader narrowed his glowing eyes, the first show of any emotion this entire time. The ghost’s posture stayed loose but guarded at the same time, now that Wrath really looked at him. Wrath didn’t know how he missed the way Leader’s ghost held himself in a way like he was trying to protect himself. Maybe Mike was onto something.

Wrath moved his hands to be held open in an inviting hug. “C’mon. Let’s get you home.”

"Yoooo, is a Raph using words instead of fists?" Mike loudly whispered in a shocked tone to himself. "That is weird on so many levels."

Leader’s brow creased but he didn’t move as Wrath took a step towards him…and then another…and then another. Even if he did raise his hackles, Wrath wouldn’t have stopped. He was going to do everything to bring his big brother home.

Wrath came up right in front of Leader and wrapped his arms around the ghost that was surprisingly solid, being mindful of the sharp spikes of ice decorating the back of Leader’s shell. Leader was cold – oh, so cold – and Wrath wondered if that was from his brother’s powers that he happened to still have or perhaps being in the state of a ghost. Whatever it was, Wrath couldn’t wait until the coldness of death was replaced with the warmth of life.

Leader didn’t seem to want to make it easy and drew a fist back, punching Wrath in the side. Wrath flinched in pain but didn’t let go. Leader punched against but with more force. When that still didn’t make Wrath let go, Leader coated his knuckles in a thick layer of ice and punched from both sides with his fists really digging in from the sides.

Wrath groaned in pain but didn’t let his arms fall from around Leader. “Yeah. That’s right. Take your anger out on me. I can take it. And when you’re done, I’m bringing you home.”

There was no follow up punch after that.

Wrath felt shift of Leader in his arms. Two chilled arms wrapped around the back of his shell to return the hug and Wrath felt his breath hitch. Leader’s ghostly apparition body started to fade around the corners and collected in the middle. The arms disappeared from around Wrath’s back and he brought his arms in front of him to hold the orb of light that was Leader’s soul.

Genius came limping over slightly and his eyes grew large at the ice blue soul in Wrath’s hands. “You did it,” Genius breathed.

Turning to his brother, Wrath released one hand to wrapped around Genius’ shoulders and pull him in for a side hug. “We did it. We got Leo back.”

“Guys, not to break up the love fest but…” Mike said with a scared voice, pointing a shaky finger up higher the mountain. “You seeing this?”

Wrath looked up at what Mike was pointing at and paled.

Because, of course with their shit turtle luck, an avalanche would be heading their way.

Chapter Text

Universe 2016 – Snow Mountain

Mike screamed shrilly as he and two of his alive brothers’ counterparts ran down the side of the mountain.

“A fuckin’ avalanche?!” Wrath growled, legs moving as fast as possible in the snow. Leader’s soul stayed firmly secured in his arms because it was going to be a cold day in hell when Wrath dropped his brother after working so hard to get him back.

Genius kept looking over his shoulder at the rapidly approaching wave of snow and ice. “We aren’t going to outrun it like last time!” he warned them.

“What do you mean last time?!” Mike screeched, looking at the two of them. There was a large scratch over his left cheek from when Leader kicked him in the face, Leader's ice spiked heel getting past the protection of his arms. The blood that had escaped had smeared over Mike’s face and seemed to have frozen in place. “How often do you guys get chased by avalanches?!”

“Not the time, Mike!” Wrath yelled at the Michelangelo.

“What are we supposed to do?!” Mike yelled. The avalanche wave was getting closer to them.

“It’s your time to shine!” Genius answered. He pushed a thin branch of a tree out of the way to it was wouldn’t hit his face but its lower companions left small slices in Genius’ pants legs. “Open the portal!”

“Oh yeah!” Mike perked up and pulled gunshin off of his shell. His enhanced chi mode markings lit up against his skin but the ninja tribunal weapon didn’t follow suit. “Aww, c’mon!”

“Don’t tell me you have performance’s anxiety?!” Wrath yelled.

“It’s harder than it looks!” Mike yelled back.

“Oh jeez, we’re going to die here,” Wrath complained, his grip on Leader's soul going tighter.

Mike went to retort something snappy but he yelped as he tripped over a rock buried in the snow and rolled over himself. He stopped on his shell and gravity did its thing to drag him down the mountain. With a whoop as he realized he could escape faster this way as long as he could dodge of the trees, Mike could outrun the avalanche.

“Follow me, dudes!” Mike yelled up and continued to try and open the portal.

Seeing that his way of travel was indeed faster, Wrath and Genius jumped in the air. They both bent backwards so that they landed on their butt and shells. The speed gain was instantaneous and the rate of the approaching avalanche closing in on them slowed a bit.

But still not enough for Genius’ taste and the calculations running through his head.

“Mike, open the portal!” Genius yelled over the rumbling. “We only have twenty seconds until it overtakes us!”

“I’m trying!” Mike yelled back. His attention was half on boarding down the mountain with the avalanche catching up and getting gunshin to activate its portal opening powers again. Closing his eyes and praying for the best, Mike called upon his powers. He didn’t know how he did it but there was a pull on his core and when he reopened his eyes, gunshin was lit up with the markings of power bestowed upon it by the Daimyo. “Hell yes!” he cheered.

“Mike!” Wrath screamed.

“I’m on it!” Mike yelled back and swiped gunshin through the air. Farther in front of him, an orange portal sliced open for them. “Jump in, dudes!”

They didn’t need to be told twice. Mike slid over a patch of icy snow and into the portal in a flash. Wrath was next and curled his body around Leader’s soul to protect it in case Mike sent them to the wrong place. Genius took one last look before his shoulder at the approaching avalanche before sliding into the portal.

And with that, all three were through the portal.

Universe 2018 – The Main Area of the Lair

Ra paced the same stretch of floor back-and-forth, hands spinning his sai just to keep them busy.

“You’re going to wear a path into their floor if you keep that up,” Jennika noted as her eyes tracked Ra turning on his heel to walk the same path he had been working since Mike left with Genius and Wrath to track down their brother’s soul.

“Don’t you have some chaos to get up into with Cassandra?” Ra hissed at Jennika.

Jennika, not taking the bait, shrugged and leaned back in her chair. With hands interlocking behind her head, Jennika continued to watch Ra. “She’s asleep right now.”

“That girl can sleep?” Ra asked with a raised eye ridge and actually stopping in his spot. “I thought she was like that energizer bunny and never stopped moving.”

“Even someone like her has a limit and needs her rest,” Jennika said. “I don’t think she’s slept at all since she switched spots with Frankenfoot – besides some catnaps but I don’t count those – so she didn’t miss the chance to strike.”

“That girl might be a machine but even machines need moments of rest for maintenance,” Purple commented, his fingers typing swiftly on his keyboard to keep up with the work of two since Genius was off rescuing one of his brothers. Master Donatello had retreated to the kitchen for a small sustenance break as he intended to return Tello’s body back to him in working order.

“Whatever,” Ra huffed and rolled his eyes. “How about you go bother someone that isn’t me?”

“Nah, I’m good where I am,” Jennika grinned as she teased. That teasing dropped away as she looked over to where Mike had opened the poral to rescue the found brother of universe 2016. “Besides, I want to know how the rescue mission went.”

Ra couldn’t fault the only female turtle for that. While it wasn’t neither of their missing brothers being found right now, it was the first one of the eighteen. This rescue mission was going to set a precedence on how the rest will probably go. At least one member of everyone universe present had someone there to watch the return to report back to the others.

There was a beeping from Purple’s console that had the Donatello looking down. With a quick look down, one corner of Purple’s mouth quirked up. He took in a deep breath and Ra stopped in his place as he knew what was going to come out of Purple’s mouth.

“The rescue team is coming back!” Purple called throughout the lair as a portal of orange started to form in a swirl in the middle of the space.

Don ran so fast into the room from the med bay that Ra thought his brother developed teleportation powers like Blue. The purple-banded turtle was breathing hard from how fast he pushed himself in such a short span but he didn’t care. He wanted to be there the moment his baby brother came back from the rescue mission.

Purple looked at the reading from the other side of the portal. Genius had given him access to the environmental readings one of his devices on him constantly read for tracking purposes. Purple raised his drawn-on eyebrows in alarm when he saw what the readings were reporting. The connection for the portal was completed the space in front of it lit up with daylight from the location on the other side. To their surprise, a puff of snow escaped out of the portal.

Jones, feeling bold from his boredom, stepped around the portal to look through at the other side. His brow furrowed as he saw the three turtles of the rescue team sliding on their shells down a mountain covered in snow. “What the hell…?”

“Everyone out of the way!” Purple yelled with a wave of his arm that summoned his constructs. No one had a chance to react as translucent purple blocks appeared in front of them and pushed them backwards.

And just in time, too, as Mike came zipping out of it like he was shot out of a cannon.

His shell hit the ground first and he went skidding across the concrete ground with gunshin falling out of his grip. Snow and frost covered almost all of his body and there was a mosaic of developing bruises on his limbs. He went all the way across the room and knocked Casey’s feet out from underneath of him when he didn’t move fast enough. The thing that stopped Mike was the wall on the other side of the room.

Hitting it was a jolt to his brain that had him immediately getting back up and running towards the portal. He grabbed gunshin on the way – the blade still glowing orange – and stood off to the side as Wrath came cannonballing out. Genius was wide-eyed as he followed a couple seconds later and landed right on his butt, some snow falling in from the bottom edge of the portal.

“Move!” Mike ordered Genius and the Donatello moved in time for Mike to take his place in front of the portal. Everyone in the room that had the right angle could see the avalanche coming from the other side of the portal.

“What the hell did you three do?!” Jennika exclaimed, both in amazement and shock.

“Close!” Mike yelled at the portal, waving gunshin around at it. “CLOSE!”

“Close the portal!” Wrath yelled at Mike. Everyone could see the motley of darkening bruises on his sides where his shell didn't cover.

“I’m trying!” Mike yelled back, swiping gunshin in the air. The portal stayed open and they could all see the wave of thick snow approaching.

“Mike, do something!” Ra yelled at his brother. The wave of snow was getting dangerously close to the opening of the portal in that universe.

In a final attempt, Mike yelled and his chi enhanced mode markings lit up so bright that they were almost white on his green skin. With a final swipe through the portal, it blinked out of existence right when the avalanche almost reached them. It had been such a close call that a small mound of snow sprayed out on the front of Mike’s plastron.

Breathing out a sigh of relief that the danger was gone, Mike let his chi enhanced mode markings fade away and he dramatically dropped down to his knees before flopping backwards onto his shell with his arms splayed out at his sides. The sting of cold snow brushed against the back of his arms and legs but Mike welcomed it to cool him down after such a rush of adrenaline. Two shadows casted over his face and he looked up to see Ra and Don standing over him. He offered them a shaky smile and held up a thumb. “See? I had it handled.”

Ra and Don looked between the two of them and then back down to their brother. “Handled isn’t what we would call that,” Don commented.

“Whatever bro,” Mike huffed and dropped his hand back down. A loud sneeze escaped his nose and he wrapped his arms around himself as he shivered.

“C’mon, let’s go get you warmed up,” Ra said and held a hand out to Mike.

Mike reached up to clasp hands with Ra and let himself be pulled up. “That sounds nice,” he said. The trio of brothers went walking off towards the bathroom with a bathtub large enough to fit Red. All the while, Don was tutting over various cuts, bruises, or frost nipped skin he found on Mike.

On the other side of the room, Fox was approaching her two alive turtles. Genius had crawled over to Wrath and the two of them were making sure everything was in working order for the other. They were heard the girl coming by the click of her heeled boots and turned to greet the human.

“Well,” Fox gulped, stepping forward towards Genius and Wrath, “did…did it work?”

Wrath and Genius looked between the two of them before their faces broke in a broad grin. Wrath loosened his arms and showed the ice blue soul of Leader in his grasp. “We got Leo back,” Wrath declared.

Fox’s hands shot up to her face to cover her mouth, eyes instantly going glassy with tears. Jones came running over and his eyes shone with hope when he saw the hope. He jumped in the air and cheered in victory that they were halfway to having their family completed again. From the doorway of the kitchen where he had stayed so he wouldn’t get in the way, Sensei bowed his head in thanks to the hard work of his middle children.

Draxum, having heard the commotion from the kitchen where he had been sipping some tea to regain some strength, came strolling out and placed a hand on Sensei’s shoulder. The shorter rat mutant looked up at the taller goat yokai. “I shall go prepare Leader’s body. We will have your son back to you in a handful of hours.”

Sensei turned toward Draxum and bowed his head. “I thank you in advance for your efforts to bring back my children.”

Draxum waved away the gesture. “I do not need gratitude. I am righting a wrong back by one of my fellow yokai kind.”

“What it is, I do not care,” Sensei said as he straightened himself. “My eldest and youngest sons are getting a second chance at life thanks to you. If there is anything I can do to thank you, tell me and consider it done.”

Smirking, Draxum stroked his chin. “Well…there is one thing…”

“Name it,” Sensei demanded, his gaze determined.

Draxum smiled and flicked his eyes to the kitchen. “A brew of your tea would be much appreciated to keep me going through the second revival of the day.”

Sensei blinked in surprise. “That’s it?” he asked.

“It’s all I need,” Draxum shrugged, a corner of his lip turned up playfully.

Sensei’s own lips turned up and he folded his hands into his sleeves, holding them up as he bowed his head. “Well, consider it done then. I shall brew you the best pot of tea I have ever made.”

“Thank you, I look forward to it,” Draxum chuckled lowly and turned away from the kitchen, waving a hand over his shoulder. “Now, if you need me, I’ll be in Orange’s studio working on Leader’s body.”

Sensei bowed his head again and went back into the kitchen where a few of his counterparts were cooking. With the main cook of each of their little families currently gone, the fathers had stepped up to cook for the army of turtles in the lair that hopefully would be growing one or two a day at a time. Marching over to the counter, Sensei rolled his sleeves as he eyed the tin of tea leaves he had usually carried on his person for emergencies. It was the last of his supply but he was would brew it without a second thought.

Because if the only thing the man that was going to bring both his fallen sons back to life was a pot of tea, then Sensei was going to brew the best pot of tea he has ever brewed in his entire life.

Chapter Text

Universe 2018 – The Dojo *Hours Later*

Mike was slashing the air with gushin as portal after portal opened and then quickly shut. His faced was pinched with concentration, distorting the glowing orange markings against his green skin. Sweat rolled down the side of his face as he moved through katas ingrained into his body by watching his eldest brother practice his entire life with gunshin as his partner.

Ra and Don watched from the entrance of the dojo. They knew that Mike knew they were there but they didn’t interrupt their brother’s practice. While Mike was known for being the one that blew off training the most out of the four, that didn’t mean Mike couldn’t buckle down and spend hours in the dojo. When the boys first received their weapons many years ago by this point, Mike was often found to be in the dojo working on his forms the most despite how fast he picked up his soon-to-be signature weapon.

No, Mike was making sure he was the best at his craft. He wanted to show to the others that it wasn’t a mistake to place their trust in him and that he was the right choice. Even now, the two middle brothers could see that Mike was trying to rekindle the hope the others held for him getting their brothers back after the debacle that was an avalanche almost coming through the portal because he couldn’t close it fast enough.

Sometimes, though, that meant Mike would push himself too far in his training. Fearless was known for pushing himself past his limits in order for growth and Mike was next one in line – that is, when he actually applied himself. Hours would go by with Mike not taking a break or a sip of water. Usually when Mike got into this type of groove in training, one of them would have to linger around to remind him to drink or just to let his body have a moment to breathe.

Which is about what they were reaching based on how out of breath Mike was looking.

“Mikey, I think that’s enough,” Don called as he entered the dojo fully. The smartest turtle was usually the best one to get Mike to actually rest since he was the one that knew all of their limits. No one wanted to argue with their medic – though, they all tended to push it.

“I’m fine,” Mike grunted. Another swipe of gunshin had another portal opening and another slice through had the portal closing.

“That wasn’t a question,” Don said flatly as he approached his brother. He stopped just outside of gunshin’s reach and crossed his arms over his chest, the tip of the ninja tribunal weapon's blade a hair's width away from his face. “You’re done. Let’s go.”

Mike huffed through his nose and lowered the ninja tribunal weapon. The glow markings of his chi enhanced mode faded away, telling Don that he had won the argument once again. “Go where?” Mike asked.

“I heard they are about ready to bring Leader back,” Ra said, looking over his shoulder out the dojo doorway. “You gonna go watch or what? You sure went to frozen hell and back to get him.”

For as worn out Mike looked, the mention of another revival had him perking up. “Already?!” Mike asked excitedly. He skipped over to the bench and sat down, swiping the full water bottle next to him and chugging it down. Gunshin was sheathed on Mike’s back, crossed perpendicular over Inazuma.

“Draxum said that this will be the last one he will be able to do today even if another is found in the next few hours,” Don answered. “Remember he said that recreating a body and attaching the soul to it can take a lot out of him. I guess he is feeling pretty energized since we are still on day 1.”

“Day 1 and we have two back already,” Mike grinned, lowering the water bottle. A bead of sweat ran down the side of his face. “I like the odds of this. Before we know it, we’re going to have all nineteen back to life!”

In his excitement, Mike shot up from the bench and immediately regretted it as the world seemed to tilt on its axis. He felt all the blood rush from his face and he took an uneasy step back. Don saw his faltering step and reached a hand out towards his brother. “Mike? You good?” Don asked.

Mike wanted to answer but he felt like he would throw up if he did. His hands came up to cover mouth and he took another step back right into Don. His brother grabbed at his arms and forced Mike to sit back down on the bench.

“Mikey!” Ra screeched and came running across the room. He got within arm’s reach just in time for Mike to realize he wasn’t in immediate danger of throwing up. With a groan, Mike his hands over his face. Ra dropped down in a crouch next to Mike so that he was looking up at Mike’s face and placed a hand on his shoulder. Don grabbed the hand of Mike’s that was closest to him and placed it on his knee, turning it over to place his free fingers against the pulse point. “Are you okay?”

“I’ll be fine,” Mike grumbled, his voice muffled behind his hands.

“Bend over and put your head between your knees,” Don ordered, pushing the back of Mike’s shell. Mike followed the brother that had the most medical knowledge of them all and bent at the waist. His arm that hadn’t been commandeered by Don was perched on his knee at the forearm so his wrist hung limply.

“That’s not what I asked,” Ra pushed.

“His pulse is fast,” Don relayed to both of them. Looking up, he scanned Mike over. From the time they entered the dojo to Mike nearly fainting, Mike’s green skin had gone three shades paler. There were deep bags prevalent underneath Mike’s eyes now. “Bro, you look like shit.”

“Gee, thanks,” Mike rolled his eyes from between his knees.

“When was the last time you slept?” Don asked.

Mike narrowed his eyes and sat back up, staying hunched over though. The longer that Mike took to think about when the last time his brother slept, the more irritated Don got. “I want to say…three days ago?” Mike said but even he sounded unsure.

“Three days?!” Ra nearly exploded. “No wonder you’re exhausted!"

“You’ve got to rest, Mikey,” Don told his brother. His hand dropped away from where his fingers had been pressed against the pulse point but the other holding Mike’s hand stayed.

“Yeah, I know,” Mike rolled his eyes with a grumble.

“No, I don’t think you do,” Don sighed with a shake of his head and looked Mike in the eye. “You have to take care of yourself. We just got you back. Raph and I won’t be able to handle it if you run yourself into the ground with getting everyone back on fumes.”

Mike slouched further in on himself and turned his face away from both his brothers. “So, what am I supposed to do then? Everyone needs me to open the portals to wherever the souls are hiding. I can’t let them down when we get the alert.”

“Then eat and sleep in the moments that we don’t have the alert and we aren’t looking for them,” Ra grunted, lightly punching Mike in the shoulder.

Mike looked back to his brothers. “But I need to practice. I still can’t open portals to the right place on the first shot.”

“Mikey, you’ve had this power for less than a day so far,” Don deadpanned. With his face softening, he released his brother’s wrist to lay on Mike’s shoulder. “Give it time. According to what Purple’s told me, even Blue sent them to the wrong places all the time in the beginning of his portals.”

Ra furrowed his brow at Don. “Why would Purple tell you that?”

“We were telling funny family stories to each other,” Don answered.

“I call bullshit,” Ra spat. “Ain’t you and Purple talking like girls at a sleepover.”

“We talk more than just our families,” Don said as he rolled his eyes. “It’s mostly just about what we have invented but there are times that we get away the conversation on hand. Purple is actually pretty chill once you get to know him and his ticks.”

“You better teach little Donnie before the two of them have a physical fight,” Mike snickered.

Don sighed and dragged a hand down his face. “Despite being counterparts, those two are like oil and water.”

“So, Ronin and every other Mikey then?” Ra added.

The three of them laughed at the mention of the grumpiest Michelangelo. Even with how he acted, even Ronin could get along better with his counterparts. It really was looking like a lost cause for little Donnie and Purple to ever get along with the former’s anger issues and the latter’s superiority complex.

Standing up more carefully, Mike clapped his brothers on their shoulders. “You guys ready?” he asked.

To the brothers, Mike still looked unsteady on his legs and too pale for their liking. Don grabbed Mike’s left arm and wrapping it around his shoulders as he stood up. From the other side, Ra copied. “After the resurrection is done, your ass is going to sleep for no less than 10 hours,” Ra threatened. “Or else I’m gonna make ya.”

Rolling his eyes at his brother’s half-hearted threat, Mike stepped forward with his brothers supporting him. “Let’s go welcome back Leader,” Mike grinned and the three made their way out.

Universe 2018 – Orange’s Art/Mystic Arts Studio

Draxum looked up briefly when he saw Mike limping in with Ra and Don supporting him on either side. He started to get up from his kneeling position but Mike held a hand up to the alchemist. “I’m fine,” Mike said.

An appraising eye ran over the pale parlor to Mike’s green skin. “That would be a lie,” Draxum noted. Even Genius, who was holding the soul sporting a thin sheet of ice on it as it bobbed in the air of his hands, was looking over the lone Michelangelo.

“Just tired,” Mike said with a groan as Ra and Don placed him in one of the only chairs in the room. “I’m watching Leader come back and then hitting the hay.” Mike looked to the center of the room where Leader’s still body was laid out in the center of a freshly drawn chalk circle.

As one of the turtles from universe 2016, Leader’s new body was quite large compared to all the other counterparts. Draxum was able to recreate the tattoos the original body bore but he was missing most of the accessories he had in his death. Genius and Wrath had scrounged up a pair of cargo pants that could fit their brother – as they were one of the few universes present that chose to wear clothes – so he wouldn’t feel uncomfortable right after being brought back to life. On his left side of his rib cage, where his shell didn’t cover, was a thick scar the width of gunshin. It was rough around the edges like a starburst.

“You and I are integral parts to this entire operation,” Draxum explained to Mike, drawing the Michelangelo’s attention back to him. “You open the gateway to where the soul is hiding and once they are brought back, I bring them back to life. If either of us are too exhausted to do our part, the entire plan unravels.”

Mike shrunk under all the eyes that seemed to stare at him in the moment. “Wow, no pressure at all,” he snarked.

“What about you then?” Ra shot back at the alchemist with a jerk of his chin. The attention of the universe 2016 family who were all waiting for Leader’s return bounced back to Draxum. Since it was getting so late in the day after one filled with such energy and adrenaline, most of the other families in the lair were already crashing for the night wherever they found space.

“I plan on retiring for the night after Leader’s resurrection and his check-up,” Draxum answered, sniffing indignantly. He turned to address everyone in the room. “Let this be a warning to you all: the max number of resurrections I can perform in a day is two and that is only if there is none the previous day.”

“What if we get a back log?” Jones asked.

“Then they shall have to wait their time and we will protect their souls in the meantime,” Draxum shrugged. “I am not willing to compromise bringing them all back in order to bring back the first found quickly.”

“I think that sounds fair,” Genius said before anyone could cut in. Those in attendance grumbled about it but didn’t argue as one of the most level headed turtles of them all agreed.

Wrath looked back at the scar on Leader’s side like it was all that was wrong in the world. It was a reminder that Leader had died while he could only watch in despair. They were supposed to be a team but Wrath had let his brother die – let two of his brothers die while he was stuck on the sidelines.

Draxum clapping his hands together had everyone looking back to him. “Everyone ready?” Draxum asked as he looked around the room.

“Just do it already,” Wrath grunted. Around his middle was a wrapping of bandages to hold the poultice the Splinters' had made to help with the healing from Leader's punches. By the time they had wrapped the bandages around him, the skin on either side of Wrath's ribcage where his shell didn't cover was a deep and nasty purple.

Draxum rolled his eyes but didn’t argue. With a hand held out towards Genius, the Donatello of universe 2016 passed the soul of his big brother over. As soon as it left his hands, the chill from the ice covering the soul vanished.

The chill that had been poking at Genius’ hands from the soul now danced on Draxum’s hands as he held the soul but he knew it would only last for a moment. Like he did before, Draxum moved his hands in a complex pattern while murmuring an ancient language’s chant. The soul was gently pushed forward to float in the air above the still chest of Leader’s body for a long moment.

With one last bob in the air, the soul descended down into Leader’s chest. A ripple of ice blue energy ran over the body, like how it did with Tricer. The difference this time was the wisps of icy air that drifted out of Leader’s barely parted lips once the energy ran over them.

Draxum sat back on his heels, letting his gaze linger on Leader’s chest and face that was regaining its color. While it was warmer with life, Draxum could see a lingering hold that the cold had on the turtle. There was even some frost forming on Leader's shoulders. He stroked his chin as he hummed, waiting.

Wrath and Genius leaned in closer for a sign that Leader was back to the land of the living with them. Genius reached down to grab Leader’s wrist and pressed his fingers down, having to wait a moment as the drumming of Leader’s pulse started up. Draxum noticed how Leader’s lips twitched in the corner and knew they had nothing to worry about.

Fox kneeled by Leader’s feet and she pulled at her hair anxiously. “…did it work?” she whispered once a few seconds passed by.

Leader coughed suddenly and pushed himself up onto his elbows, turning his body to the side which dislodged Genius' hand on his wrist. One arm held him up while another rubbed at the center of his sternum as he continued to cough roughly. Vibrant blue eyes cracked open as he grimaced. He let out a long exhale with a cloud of icy fog escaping his mouth.

Fox's hands shot up to cover her mouth as her eyes watered. Jones let out the breath that he was holding in relief and slumped in on himself. Sensei dabbed at his eyes with his sleeve, whispering prayers to whoever was listening in thanks for bringing his eldest son back and in hope that his youngest would follow suit soon.

Leader dropped back down into his back with his arms flopping out to the sides. His chest still rose and dropped quickly but he wasn’t coughing anymore. Looking around the room, Leader’s eyes stopped and settled on his two middle brothers watching him intently from the corner of his vision.

Despite being dead for who knows how long – though Genius and Wrath knew down to the second – Leader remembered his last moments. Seeing that he was no longer in the arena of the nexus nor did he still have that blasted collar around his throat, Leader could assume that they had beaten Big Mama. The thought brought a small smile to his lips.

With great effort, Leader forced himself back up to sitting. He was as hunched over his shell would allow him and his forearms rested on his knees. His mouth felt dry and he felt a huge need for some cool water. “Did you guys miss me?” he teased with a smirk, his voice rough.

Wrath’s face nearly crumpled but he caught it at the last second to save his tough guy persona. Genius didn’t have as much of a problem as his eyes misted up and he adjusted on his glasses on his face. Fox was wiping tears on her face as she had no problem showing her emotions.

Seeing that they weren’t going to initiate it, Leader opened his arms for a hug. “C’mon, you two. Bring it in. I know you want to.”

The two didn’t need any other prompting as they practically jumped into his arms. Leader was content to let himself get sandwiched between the two of them. He heard hard sniffles in his ears as both his brothers tried not to cry and were failing as their walls broke down.

Leader looked around the room with his brows pinched. He could spot Mike sitting in the corner between his own brothers. That surprised him because if the person he was looking for wasn’t next to him, they he would definitely be right at his best friend and counterpart’s side.

Clearing his throat, Leader pulled back from Wrath and Genius. “Where’s…” he trailed off as the question hung so heavy that it stopped half in his throat.

Wrath shook his head and looked off to the side as he remembered the end of the Michelangelo’s finalist fight. Party had tried his hardest to win for them but also knew that his end was probable with his plan to make Fox turn their masks. Wrath couldn’t even be angry with the girl for her because he didn’t know if he could have been Party hitting the ground. Watching it from a recording had been bad enough – watching it live would have been devastating.

“Mikey tried his best but Orange beat him in the finals,” Genius answered. In the corner of the room, Mike's eye ridges rose with the new information of the nexus that he barely knew the results of.

Leader’s hands curled into fists and a layer of thin ice formed over his knuckles. He took in a deep breath, held it for a moment, then let it all out in a fog of icy air. “He gave it his best,” Leader said simply.

“That he did,” Genius agreed with a nod.

“But we’re going to bring him back!” Mike piped up from the side of the room. Ra and Don nodded their heads firmly in support. “We’re going to bring everyone back!” Leader chuckled at the bold declaration.

“Good to see you again, Mike,” Leader said. He leaned back on his hands. “So, who’s all back so far?” he asked. Ever the leader, Leader was getting down to business.

“We got Mike, Tricer, and you right now,” Don answered. As he remembered, Don padded over to the other side of the room and uncapped a marker to cross Leader’s name off the chart Purple had put up.

Leader look at the chart he didn’t notice before and furrowed his brow. “Only the three of us?” He looked back to Mike and his brothers. “I thought you would have brought like Fearless back at least at this point.”

“Well, all of you running off makes that hard,” Wrath grumbled his breath. “Just finding you was tough and you were our first rescue.”

That confused Leader even more. What did they mean that he was their first rescue when he was number three in revivals? And what did they mean by 'all of you running off' when the last thing he remembered was Fearless killing him. Leader looked between them all, from Draxum’s tired face to his family’s mournful that were now mixed with relief of his return to Mike’s also tired face. Leader sat up straight as his face settled into something hard like he was in ninja leader mode. “Tell me everything I missed.”

Chapter Text

Universe 2018 – Orange’s Bedroom

With the sheer number of turtles with their fathers and their humans from different universes staying in the lair, the train cars that served as each of the local family members' rooms had to be divided out. Orange and Blue’s were the first to go seeing that they weren’t being used at the moment. Purple easily offered his up – on the condition that nothing was destroyed – as he usually slept in his lab anyways. Red’s room remained as his own and where the rest of his family would bunk up as it contained the only bed in the entire lair that could fit him.

At the moment, Mike was clear passed out in Orange’s hammock bed with his legs and one arm hanging over the sides. The other arm was draped over his eyes and his mouth hung open as he snored, a line of drooling escaping from one corner. Both Gunshin and Inazuma were gently perched up against the train car wall where he could grab them in a hurry if another soul was found.

Ra snickered as he watched his brother – the same brother that he thought had died a few weeks ago – snore so loud that it could wake up the dead. Don was laying a blanket over Mike’s middle to give him some warmth but he didn’t count on his brother actually using it. Mike didn’t even register it as he continued to snore.

Shaking his head in a laughing huff, Don stepped away as quietly as he could. The gesture was for nothing as there wasn’t anything that could wake Mike up right now but the thought was there. It would take an act of god to get Mike to wake up anytime soon.

“He’s exhausted,” Ra noted, pushing off the wall.

“He was putting on a hell of a show for us before,” Don sighed. He swiped a pillow and blanket from the pile brought to them by Junior from the family’s extra supply. “I don’t expect him up before noon tomorrow.”

“It’ll give us plenty of time to make a feast of a breakfast for him, Tricer and Leader,” Ra said before he frowned to himself. "Or, at least, those of us that can actually cook will make it."

“Glad to see we are on the same page,” Don snickered. Waving at his Raphael, he side-stepped his brother. “Well, goodnight.”

“Where are you going?” Ra asked as he watched Don step towards the door.

“Out in the hallway,” Don snorted and jerked his chin at Mike’s sleeping form. “I want to sleep tonight.”

Ra shook his head with a laugh and grabbed his blanket and pillow from the pile. There was still one set left in the pile – the humans and Splinter sleeping elsewhere by their own choice of Mike’s snoring driving them away – that hopefully would have someone to claim it soon. They just had to patiently wait.

Don heard footsteps behind him as he laid out the bedding pad that Yellow and Cassandra had bought the entire supply of from a nearby camping store. Looking behind him, he snorted when he saw Ra setting up camp near him. “I thought you would want to stay right next to him still,” Don teased.

“With that snoring he’s got going on?” Ra snorted, and dropped his head down onto his pillow. “Hell no. I would like some sleep too.”

Don laughed and laid down, drawing his blanket up over him. Even he wasn’t worried about Mike right now. His snoring served as somewhat like a baby monitor. As long as Mike was asleep and snoring, they knew he would be fine for the night while they slept as well.

“Night Raph,” Don murmured as he was already drifting off to sleep. It had been a hectic day for everyone. They had started it with only Blue being alive and ended it with Mike, Tricer, and Leader back to them. It felt like this singular day had lasted weeks on its own. “Tomorrow is another day.”

“Tomorrow is another day,” Ra echoed in a rough voice as he also was falling into sleep’s waiting hands.

Tomorrow would be another day for them. Another day to rejoice in the fact that Mike was alive. Another day of waiting around for the alarm to go off. Another day of Mike practicing his portals when it would be time to find another brother.

Another day that Fearless could be found.

Universe 2018 – The Med Bay *The Following Morning*

Leader massaged at his legs that felt like pins and needles were flowing through them instead of blood.

“How long is this going to take?” Leader grumbled as he rubbed rougher at his legs. Like Tricer, Leader came back from death not able to walk. Unlike Tricer, they had been prepared for the possibility of it and had gently tested his walking abilities before letting him try on his own for walking out of the studio.

“Welcome to the club,” Tricer grumbled under his breath as he hobbled around the med bay on a pair of crutches. Wrath, Rex and Mastodon was off in the kitchen gathering some food of their brother from the spread that multiple Splinters, Raphael’s, and Donatello’s had pitched in to make to feed everyone in the lair.

“You are making great progress already,” Draxum informed him with his hands folded into his sleeves. The alchemist was sitting on a wheelie chair next to Leader’s med bay bed and looked much more rejuvenated compared to when Leader first saw him after his resurrection. It had showed everyone truly just how much a revival took out of Draxum.

“Yeah, Leo, you’ve only be alive again for 12 hours,” Genius piped up. He was on break from manning the soul finder and was spending it in the med bay with his brother during a more in-depth check-up. Last night had been a quick one as Draxum was visibly too tired to do anything more than that.

Leader, after being helped to the med bay by his brothers after he couldn’t get his legs to comply to his demand of supporting his weight, had only caught snatches of sleep. He hadn’t been able to fall asleep after just coming back from the dead. Wrath and Genius had tried their best to stay awake with him but their bodies were exhausted after the events of the day. The two had quickly succumbed to slumber, stretched out on the chairs next to Leader’s besides like Rex and Mastodon had been next to Tricer’s bed.

The two resurrected Leonardo’s had spent most of the night discussing the events that had happened while they were gone. Tricer especially knew almost nothing after being eliminated from the nexus in the third round against Blue. The two had compared their notes from what their brothers have told them about the events from their deaths that led to their subsequent revivals. Leader hadn't gotten too much background information with just the basic plot points in Orange's studio while Tricer knew almost nothing as his brothers did not want to talk about the nexus.

And shell, the 'Mike being alive the entire time' plot twist was one that they both hadn’t been prepared for.

It explained why the Michelangelo was around when Leader found out he was only the second revival. Leader just knew that Party was going to have mixed feelings about being relieved that he didn’t actually kill Mike and pissed that his best friend had hid he was alive the entire time. Right now, he was still debating on if Party was going to greet Mike with a hug or a punch.

Draxum stood up from his chair and brushed off invisible dust from his front. “Keep up your stretching and physical therapy. You will be up on your feet sooner than you think.” Draxum gestured to Tricer as an example as the turtle that couldn’t previously take a step by himself was now getting by on a pair of crutches. “You will walk again.”

“If you say so,” Leader huffed with a fog of icy air escaping his mouth, looking off to the side.

“I can see something is on your mind,” Draxum hummed, looking down his nose at Leader. “What troubles you?”

Leader hesitated for a second and Genius nudged him in the side. “Just tell him already,” Genius urged his brother. “He has more experience with magic than us.”

“I know the mystic arts and alchemy, not magic,” Draxum scoffed, holding himself up tall like the baron he was.

Leader ignored that as he nodded to himself and looked up at the figure standing over him. “I still have my ice powers,” Leader noted, holding his hand up. With a flick of his fingers, a small shard of ice was formed out of thin air and dropped down his palm. “Why?”

“Why wouldn’t you?” Draxum asked, tilting his head. From the moment Draxum had held Leader’s soul in his hands, he knew that the ice powers that Big Mama had bestowed upon him were still present.

“Well, I thought it was just for the nexus,” Leader shrugged.

Draxum reached a hand over and grabbed the shard of ice, pinching it between his index finger and thumb by the ends. The alchemist held it up to the light and looked how the light filtered through it. “Well, the powers that she granted were ones that change someone down to the root of their soul – a permanent change that can’t be reversed without nearly impossible effort.”

“They were what?!” Leader exclaimed in time with Genius.

“The relic that Big Mama used to control the nexus and bestow you with your power was a very ancient one. Very powerful at that. Perhaps she did not realize the magnitude of using it on those that did not originally hold a power.” Draxum lowered the ice shard from the light and tossed it absent-mindedly in the air. “Or perhaps she did not care. We all that were in attendance know what her plans were with the fallen fighters in the end.”

“Universal domination?” Leader asked with a narrowing of his eyes.

“You would be correct,” Draxum answered, throwing the ice shard to Leader. The turtle reached up and caught it easily, telling Draxum that Leader at least came back with his hand-eye reflexes in tact unlike his and Tricer’s ability to walk.

Leader huffed, a cloud of icy air coming out with it. “How do you know that it can’t be reversed?” Leader asked.

“What? You don’t want ice powers?” Tricer teased as he made it back to his bed and plopped down onto it.

“I was happy with the way I was before,” Leader sighed. Another breath of icy air came out with it and the turtle was still getting used to it. There was also a permanent chill that seemed to permeate his bones but it didn’t hurt. It felt oddly comforting despite being a turtle.

Draxum cleared his throat to interject. “When I was accessing your soul in preparation of recreating a body for you, I could feel that Big Mama’s interference to give you a power changed you all the way down to a spiritual level,” Draxum explained, watching as Leader’s mouth dropped open in shock. “I could try reversing it but it would take a long time and would probably take away something important that makes you who you are with it.”

“No,” Genius immediately shot that down. His gaze was unusually hard for the most passive of the four brothers. “We are not doing that. Leo will keep his ice powers.”

“I have to agree with Donnie,” Leader said with a drop of his shoulders. “I can’t risk something like that when I can just learn to live with my ice.”

“Very well then,” Draxum nodded along. He took a step back and bowed slightly to the reanimated Leonardo’s. “If you feel any discomfort or pain, please send someone to grab me right away.”

“Thank you for bringing us back to life,” Tricer thanked the alchemist with a bow – or at least as much as he could from his bed.

“We will never be able to repay you,” Leader added with a bow of his own.

Draxum snorted and turned around, his hair swaying through the air behind him. “I am just righting a wrong created by a fellow yokai.”

The alchemist left the room and it dropped back to relative silence.

“Whelp, I think it’s time I go back to work,” Genius said, standing up to stretch his arms above his head. “I’m pretty sure that Purple hasn’t slept in five days and his blood is actually coffee by this point.”

Leader shook his head with a snort. “Like you wouldn’t if I didn’t force you to take breaks.”

Snickering, Genius made his way towards the exit. “There is bound to be someone around nearby at all times. If either of you two have problems, just scream loud enough and pretty much everyone will come running.”

“Just go already,” Leader laughed, waving his hands. Leaning back on them, Leader looked over at Tricer. “Feels weird to being so coddled by our brothers right now, doesn’t it?”

“Dude, imagine how bad it is going to be for our Mikey’s once we get them back,” Tricer joked along.

Genius stopped at the door way. “Party is going to be excited that you got to keep your powers,” Genius noted with a growing smirk on his face. He dropped a hand on the med bay’s door frame and looked back at his brother. “Imagine if you could turn into an ice dragon to match his fire dragon.”

Leader rolled his eyes and threw his pillow at Genius, his little brother snickering as he ducked out of the room.

Universe 2018 – The Main Area of the Lair

Master Donatello hummed a song that he didn’t know the words to but had the melody memorized. It was the type that seemed to just get stuck in your head once you heard it. He was pretty sure it was something his reincarnation had heard and Tello hummed it so much that it was engrained in the body’s memory.

Whatever it was, it was a catchy tune.

Right now, it was just him at the workstation watching for an alert of another found soul. Purple was off asleep after being forced to by the combined efforts of Red, Yellow, and Cassandra. The local Donatello had fought long and hard against the demands but a sleeping aid slipped into his tea that Red had successfully convinced him to drink instead of coffee had done the trick. The last of his past self Master Donatello saw was him being carried away by Red to the elder brother’s train car room, Purple completely slumped over on Red’s shoulder asleep.

Genius was also away but was off quickly refilling his coffee in the kitchen. He had wound up getting some sleep in the med bay at Leader’s side last night so he wasn’t about to crash like Purple who fought it tooth and nail. Genius had also taken a break to see Leader in the med bay during Draxum’s exam. Master Donatello didn’t mind at all as he was relieved that the second-best Donatello (said by Purple and agreed to by Master Donatello) already got one of his brothers back.

Master Donatello heard a shuffle from his side and paused in his humming to look over. El stood there, shuffling on his feet, with two plates of food balanced on his hands. The turtle from a destroyed future smiled with his reincarnation’s face and leaned against the edge of the workstation. “You need something?” he asked.

El looked everywhere but at his face, wanting to avoid the eyes that glowed purple in the pupils. It was still his brother’s face but El didn’t recognize the turtle controlling the body. “I just brought you some food,” El said, holding a plate out.

Master Donatello looked down at the food and back up at El. The youngest Raphael still wouldn’t meet his eye but had the food thrusted out towards him. With a hum, Master Donatello reached out with Tello’s hands to take the food. “Well, don’t mind if I do. Thanks for grabbing me some.”

“It’s not for you,” El scowled and gripped his plate with both hands. The space between his eyes wrinkled as he creased his brow. “Tello is going to come back at some point and he’s going to need a working body.”

A smirk played on Tello’s lips from Master Donatello’s amusement. “If this is your way of saying that this arrangement of borrowing my reincarnation’s body is temporary, you can rest assured that I know the same thing. I never planned on taking over.”

A breath of relief escaped out of El’s mouth as his shoulders slumped in relief. For the first time since Master Donatello announced his return with his reincarnation’s body, El looked him in the eye. “Gotta be honest, dude, I was worried I was going to have to beat you out of there.”

Master Donatello threw his head back and laughed.

El narrowed his eyes at Master Donatello. “What was that for?”

“Nothing,” Master Donatello snorted and picked up the fork to poke at the still warm scrambled eggs. To be honest, he didn’t expect to snag any of the breakfast spread after Mike, Tricer and Leader had eaten their share. The three didn’t know just how hungry they were – Mike from how much energy he expended yesterday and the two Leanardo’s from their revivals – until they had actually started eating. Mike had only woken up to eat his share of food once the smell of it started to waft through the lair before crashing again in Orange's bedroom for a nap. From what Master Donatello heard during one of Rex’s and Wrath’s pass throughs to the kitchen to get more food for their elder brothers, the Splinter’s were on their third round of cooking. “I plan on returning back to where I resided before as soon as my work here is done.”

“Good,” El nodded his head along. Picking up a piece of bacon from his plate, El threw it in his mouth. “Is Tello okay wherever he is?” El asked around a mouth full of bacon.

“He’s fine,” Master Donatello answered, eating a piece of bacon of his own. Just like how he preferred, the bacon was the perfect level between crispy and chewy. “Tello’s asleep so you’re going to have to catch him up on everything when he comes back.”

“It’s like he was the ultimate cutscene skip ever,” El grumbled under his breath. Swallowing his bacon, El looked at the workstation filled with so many monitors displaying information he had no clue where to begin to understand what they were saying. “Him, Nardo, and Angelo all get to skip this. Makes me kind of jealous.”

“We could bring my Raph out for a bit,” Master Donatello offered off-handedly, not really meaning it.

El whipped his head towards Master Donatello. The toast he had been about to take a bite out of fell out of his mouth. “Wha?”

Master Donatello shrugged. “Wouldn’t be that hard,” he said, taking a sip of his long gone cold coffee. “Draxum can recreate the magical spell Purple got by Orange to bring me back. You could take a nap and wake up with Nardo and Angelo already back.”

El’s mouth dropped open in shock. He didn’t think it was possible for his past self to be brought back – but then again, he didn’t know why he thought it was impossible. El was the only was from his brothers that hadn’t had his past self come back to take control of his body. If it happened to them, it was totally possible the same could go for him.

And, to be honest, El was feeling kind of left out. Here he was being the only one to remain as two went to sleep involuntarily by Big Mama to bring their past selves back to fight in the nexus and the other made the choice to bring his past self to help bring the fallen brothers come back. They didn’t have to deal with the heartache and grief of being the only one left.

It was somewhat tempting to have the choice to let someone talk over his body and sleep so he can later wake up to his family now complete…

The computer beeped, distracting El from his thoughts, and Master Donatello put down his food immediately. He jumped over to Purple’s station to see what the alert was for. A smile broke over his face when he realized what it was.

“Oooh, those guys are lucky,” Master Donatello teased, the purple glow of Tello’s pupils dancing behind his glasses.

“Who’s lucky?” El asked, stepping closer to Master Donatello.

Master Donatello turned the screen to show El the data turning into a visual representation of what they found – an orange soul with the tag of 122019. “We found Ranger.”

Chapter Text

Universe 2018 – The Main Space

“No.”

Tricer ground his teeth together, adjusting his stance with the crutches digging into his armpits. “I said: I’m going,” Tricer hissed, his eyes narrowing.

Rex was still standing in front of Tricer with his arms crossed over his chest. His gaze hadn’t changed from his answer when Tricer stated he was going with them to recover Ranger. Off in a quiet part of the room, Mastodon was speaking into a big clunky phone that looked like it was in the wrong era and a large antenna poking upwards from the top.

“Sucks,” Rex scoffed at Tricer. “You ain’t coming – simple as that.”

“Mikey is my brother too!” Tricer argued. They weren’t the only ones in the room. Multiple of the Raphael’s and Donatello’s were hanging around to see the beginning of another rescue mission. Mike standing by the three Donatello’s at the work station – Purple waking up after hearing the alarm of another found soul – as he waited to see how many he would be transporting.

“You can’t walk,” Rex sneered, gesturing a hand at Tricer and the crutches he had to use to get around. “And from what we’ve heard from Wrath, Genius and Mike, Ranger is going to attack us.”

“We don’t know that!” Tricer argued back.

“The chance is highly probable,” Master Donatello interjected. He wasn’t working at the moment – just leaning back against the edge of the workstation as he sipped some tea from a mug and watched the brothers arguing through Tello’s eyes. “Seeing as Leader is our only data to go off at this point, we must assume that this could very well be the case for every soul.”

Leader, who had insisted on being moved to the main space after hearing another soul had been found and wanted to watch, shrunk into the seat Wrath had dropped him down into and grimaced. “Again, I’m sorry about that,” he apologized.

“Eh, you couldn’t help it,” Wrath shrugged. He was standing just behind and to the side of the chair so Leader had to turn his head to see his brother. “You don’t even know you did it.”

It was true. Leader didn’t not remember a single thing since his death until the moment he was revived. The Leonardo had no clue how his soul had been used in a golem to attack his brother nor how his soul had escaped once Big Mama had released him from her possession. He definitely didn’t remember the snow mountain where he had attacked his brothers and Mike when they came to collect him. It had been a shock to Leader when he had learned everything he had done since Fearless had killed him during their fight in the nexus.

“Mikey could be different!” Tricer argued more. His brothers had been in the med bay with him as they helped him relearn to walk when El ran in to tell them that Ranger had been found. Relieved couldn’t begin to describe how Tricer felt when he realized that he would have his brother that lost the match before him back within the day.

But then Rex said that Tricer was going to stay back while he and Mastodon went to go recover Ranger.

“Leo, stop arguing about it already,” Mastodon shook his head as he finished his call and approached his brothers again. “What if Mikey isn’t in the right state of mind like Leader was? We can’t protect you and fight against him at the same time, especially if he still has his powers.”

“I can help!” Tricer exclaimed.

“Again, you can’t walk,” Rex pointed out the obvious. “How can you help Mikey when you can’t even help yourself?”

It was like a punch to Tricer’s gut at Rex’s words that he didn’t mince at all. His grip tightened on the handles of the crutches that he hated using. Here he was – the leader and eldest brother that was supposed to be infallible, reduced to someone that couldn’t even walk on his own.

“You’re going to need help,” Tricer tried, grinding his teeth together.

“We’ve got Mike for that,” Rex pointed out, hooking a thumb over his shoulder to point at Mike. The aforementioned turtle gave a hesitant wave when Tricer’s stare bounced to him.

“Besides,” Mastodon grinned as he clapped his brother on the shoulder, “I’ve called some help in. Don’t worry. We’ve got this.”

“Yeah, we’ll be in and out and back home with our Mikey,” Rex added, his hand joining Tricer’s other shoulder.

Tricer grumbled something under his breath and shrugged his brothers’ hands off his shoulders. Turning around, Tricer stomped – or as much as he could while still on crutches – away to the med bay. If he saw the portal open, there was a good chance he wouldn’t stop himself from jumping in after them.

Rex rolled his eyes at Tricer’s dramatics. Mastodon shook his head at his eldest brother’s pouting. “Mike, if you would please,” Mastodon sighed, pinched his eye ridge between his fingers.

Mike looked over to Purple who just shook his head. With a sigh, the – soon to not be – lone Michelangelo pulled gunshin off his shell and stepped forward towards the section of the room that Purple taped off to be where every future portal was to be opened. His and the sword’s markings lit up as the power was called.

Reeling his arms back, Mike sliced gunshin’s blade in one long arc and a portal ripped open in the space. The portal flickered around the edges of it for a second before stabilizing. Mike breathed a sigh of relief when it didn’t close and perched the ninja tribunal weapon on his shoulder. “Did I get it right?” Mike asked Purple.

Purple nodded his head. “Good job opening it on the first try. Your practice is paying off.”

Mike’s free shoulder was jerked by Ra in congratulations. Don nodded approvingly. “Good job Mikey,” he said.

“Aww guys,” Mike blushed under the compliments. Shaking his head to get back to business, Mike approached the portal and turned to the two turtles that he would be taking to their still dead brother. “Alright, let’s go.”

With a grin, Rex went running towards the portal and jumped in the air. He went sailing through the portal with a whoop of excitement. Mastodon also went running through the portal, using his bo staff to launch into it like he was a pole vaulter. Mike brought up the rear as he ran towards the portal. At the last moment, Mike turned around and saluted those watching the newest recovery team go off to find a missing soul.

 “Don’t have too much fun without me!” Mike laughed as he entered the portal shell first. He disappeared completely before it blinked shut, leaving no trace that it was there before.

With the recovery team now off in whatever universe Ranger was hiding in, those that had been there watching quietly dispersed to do their own things while they watched for the team to come back. Leader asked Wrath to help him back to the med bay to get some more practice walking. The three Donatello’s leading the charge finding the rest of the hidden souls scattered amongst the multiverse went back to work – too amped up by another finding to go rest or take a break.

Though, something their counterpart on the rescue team said poked at Genius’ curiosity. “Hey, who do you think he meant by ‘calling someone in’?” Genius asked his counterpart at the workstation.

Purple shrugged.

Universe 122019 – Dimension X

Rex hopped out of the portal and landed on the red sanded ground with a grunt. He stood up and looked around as Mastodon came out from behind him. The two moved away just in time for Mike to fall shell first out of the portal and the red sand jumped all around him as he hit the ground.

Mike spat out the sand that landed on his tongue and swung his legs up in the air. In one quick move, Mike threw his legs forward to bring his upper body upwards as he pushed up with his hands. He landed in a low crouch, balanced on the balls of his feet, with his tongue hanging out of his mouth as he grimaced.

“BLEGH!” Mike spat as he spit the sand out. “Gross.”

“That’s what you get for showing off,” Rex snickered as he started walking towards a hill. The harsh wind pulled Rex’s long red mask tails against the back of his head. Reaching up, Rex tied his mask tails into a knot that made them shorter. “C’mon, get off your ass and let’s go find my Mikey.”

Mike rolled his eyes and stood up. He sheathed gunshin across the back of his shell and the markings died away until they were to be summoned again later. His own mask tails with their jagged ends smacked him in the face from the wind and the turtle sputtered as he pulled them away. Finally looking at the landscape around them, Mike’s eyes grew large.

“Yooooo, what is this place?” Mike asked, chuckling at the new weird area. He turned in a slow circle to take in the desolate landscape. The entire landscape reminded Mike of a desert like there was once a blooming civilization that only had echoes of it left. A perpetual storm of red sand blew across the ground, making it so you couldn’t see very far.

“Dimension X,” Mastodon answered as he pulled out his phone to take readings. His long purple mask tails fluttered wildly in the air behind his head. “Interesting that Ranger’s soul would choose here of all places to hide.”

“Hey!” a familiar voice called that had Mastodon and Rex turning around. Mike looked between them and the figure that was slowly becoming more visible as they walked through the sand storm, deciding that they were a friend with how neither turtle went on guard. Rex and Mastodon both smiled when they saw the male human approaching them with a wave of his arm. Stopping in front of them, the human who in dressed in a green power ranger suit held a hand up to clasp with both turtles. “Man, you two are a sight for sore eyes!”

“Tommy!” Rex laughed and clasped his hand with Tommy. The human’s hair was blowing wildly in the wind and he had to hold a hand up to protect his eyes from the sand. The two quickly did a bro hug before Tommy moved along to do one with Mastodon as well. “I was wondering who Donnie was calling before we got here.”

“Donnie gave me the cliff notes of what happened over the phone. There was no chance we could pass up the chance to bring Mikey back,” Tommy explained as he stepped away from Mastodon. Looking behind them, Tommy perked up when he saw a taller version of a Michelangelo. “Yo, who’s that?” he asked with a jerk of his chin at Mike.

“Tommy, meet Mike – one of our Mikey’s counterparts,” Rex said, waving Mike over. “Mike, this is Tommy – the green ranger.”

“Nice to meet a real power ranger,” Mike said as he held his hand out. Despite the power rangers coming to the nexus to support their turtles, Mike didn’t get to meet any of them. For one, the power rangers hardly interacted with anyone aside from their turtles. Second…well, Mike was gone by the first match.

“The pleasure is mine,” Tommy said as he clasped Mike’s hand and shook it. They let go and Tommy placed his hands on his hips, looking over at his turtles. “How’s Leo?” Tommy asked.

“Bummed that we wouldn’t let him join,” Mastodon snickered, putting a hand on his hip.

“Right, I remember you saying on the phone he can’t walk right yet,” Tommy nodded along. Sighing, he shook his head. “Poor dude. Coming back to life only to not be able to walk. Must be killing his pride as a ninja.”

“He’s already doing a lot better than when he first came back,” Mastodon said. “Draxum said it was going to take a littler bit but the more Leo practices, the more his new body will get used to it. It is predicted that Leo will be back to 100% within the week.”

“Still not soon enough for the worry body,” Rex said. He looked behind Tommy, expecting to see five more colorful teenagers but no one was there. “Where’s everyone else?” Rex asked.

Tommy sighed heavily and scratched the back of his head. “Rita was up to her no good again. The forces were low enough that they could spare me to bring you guys what you needed.”

“Hey, it’s better than nothing,” Mastodon shrugged. There was a beep on Mastodon’s phone and he held it up. “Looks like I’m getting a reading of another lifeform in the immediate area.”

“Better not be Shredder or a mutant again,” Re grumbled under his breath.

Turning to follow the ping on his phone, Mastodon turned almost fully around so he was facing Mike. The turtle raised his eye ridge at how Mastodon pointed the phone at him. Sighing, Mastodon smacked a hand to his face. “Mike, could you please move?”

“Oh, right, sorry,” Mike laughed and took one large step to the side. There was a sharp intake of breath from Mastodon as he saw what was behind Mike and the orange banded turtle had to take a look for himself.

There, in the sandstorm, was Ranger in an orange version of the power ranger suit that Mike didn’t remember the turtle possessing any of the times he was transformed within Mike’s vicinity. Ranger stood there with a loosness to his form as the sand covered and revealed again him from sight. He looked wholly unaffected by the weather with his hands gripping an enhanced version of a pair of nun chucks. One hand held one side of the nunchuck while the other held the long black chain leading to the other half stabbing into the ground with its large orange blade. If Mike was honest, it reminded him of a mix between nunchucks and a kusarigama.

“Aww, shell, he’s in his Dimension X Ranger suit,” Rex groaned as he saw the ghostly form of his brother for himself.

Mastodon squinted his eyes at his brother across the field. “I was expecting him to be in a rendition of Trini’s suit to be honest. Though, that would explain why he was hiding in Dimension X of all places.”

Tommy clapped his hands together. “Whelp, it’s a good thing I brought these then,” he said with a smirk and then opened his hands to reveal four Dimension X ranger morphers.

“And this, my dude, is why we called you,” Rex smirked as he took the red morpher.

“I thought these had been returned to the Dimension X rangers,” Mastodon noted as he took the purple morpher.

Tommy shrugged. “I pulled some strings.”

“Whatever you say dude,” Rex snorted as he tossed the morpher into the air just to catch it again.

Tonny turned to hold the orange morpher out to Mike. “Me too?” Mike asked with a finger pointing at himself. He couldn’t hide the excitement growing inside of him from showing on his face.

“We’re going to need all the help we’re going to get,” Tommy answered simply. With a quick call of it, Tommy helmet formed over his head. “And I personally would feel better if you went into the fight with some armor.”

“Say less my dude,” Mike laughed and grabbed the orange morpher. It felt heavier in his hand than he was expecting, like it was dense with power. He looked up at Tommy with an excited grin. “Okay, what now?”

“Follow their lead,” Tommy said, pointing at Rex and Mastodon as they took the morphin’ stance.

“It’s morphin’ time! Power up, power extreme!” Rex and Mastodon yelled at the same time with their arms crossed over their chests in an X. In a flash of red and purple light, the two were now decked out in their own Dimension X Ranger suits.

“Oh em gee, this is the best day ever,” Mike squealed. Tommy shot him a look that Mike could read the emotion of even behind the mask and he blushed in embarrassment. Clearing his throat, Mike copied the morphin’ stance and held his arms crossed over his chest. “It’s morphin’ time! Power up, power extreme!”

A wave of energy ran over Mike and by this blink, the sand was no longer hitting his skin as an orange colored power ranger suit covered him. Gunshin and Inazuma were both still on the back of his shell but he could feel how they were both now endowed with the power of the transformation. Looking down at his hands, Mike saw they were covered by the gloves and tightened them into fists, feeling how the suit moved around him.

Tommy looked Mike up-and-down before giving him a thumbs up. “Good job on your first morph."

“Oh yeah, I could get used to this,” Mike smirked behind his mask as he bounced on his toes. He felt lighter and stronger even with just the suit. Thinking, Mike wondered how faster and stronger he would be with his chi enhanced mode on.

“Look alive, I think Ranger is done waiting for us,” Rex called in a warning. Mike looked over and saw how sparks of orange electricity licked off the ground near Ranger’s feet. In a flash, Ranger disappeared in a bolt of orange lightning.

As one, the four of them placed their backs to each other to cover all the blind spots. All around them, orange lightning struck. Sometimes it was close, other times it was far off in the sand storm. There was no rhyme or reason to it. It was like Ranger wanted them to never guess from where he was going to come from – which is exactly what the apparition wanted.

There was a lighting strike too close to Rex for comfort that had the other three looked his direction. Mike, behind the back on the opposite side, turned around to look behind him – thus leaving him unguarded. The lightning strike near Rex was a distraction as another struck right in front of Mike.

And from that lightning bolt did Ranger jump out of to attack.

Chapter Text

Universe 2018 – The Main Space

Leader was watching Tricer pace in front of him, marching on his crutches from one side of the room to the other. The sound of them click click clicking was rhythmic and almost sounded like a clock counting the seconds. His own crutches digging into his armpits were held still as he watched his counterpart that had been brought back to life only half a day earlier than him.

“Tricer, dude, give it a rest,” Wrath sighed as he watched Tricer reach one end and turned around on his heels to resume his path in reverse. The two turtles from universe 2016 were working on Leader’s physical therapy and decided to branch out to walking in other parts of the lair. Leader’s stature was one of the tallest of the Leonardo’s - with only the late Katana beating him by half an inch - and his stride was longer than what the med bay allowed him to fully get his practice in. “You’re going to wear yourself out at this rate.”

“My brothers could be in trouble,” Tricer grumbled but did pause in his pacing only to shoot Wrath a heated glare. Wrath looked completely unaffected by it with his flat stare and relaxed stance. “How am I supposed to be okay when I don’t know how they are?”

“You have to trust them,” Leader smiled softly at his counterpart. Tricer didn’t look convinced and the smile dropped from Leader’s face. Deciding to do another approach, Leader tilted his head to the side. “You do trust them, don’t you?”

“Of course I do!” Tricer barked at Leader angrily. Shame shone on his face from his outburst and he ducked his face. “…of course I do. But I would feel like I could breathe easier I could help out and see it all play out with my own eyes.”

Leader nodded his head and hobbled over closer to Tricer on his crutches. “I can understand that. Letting my dumbass little brothers go off without me sends me into a spiral out of worry every time.”

“Who are you calling a dumbass?” Wrath scoffed at his brother.

“All three of you, obviously,” Leader snorted, rolling his eyes at Wrath with a hand playfully punching his brother in the shoulder.

“Then you understand why I should be there,” Tricer brightened as he found someone who back his cause. Perhaps if Leader put in a word for him, then they could get someone to let him go help. They would just need to somehow get in contact with Mike to reopen the portal to whatever universe they were in. That couldn’t be too hard with all the Donatello’s here with their combined geniuses.

“I do,” Leader nodded. He got up in front of Tricer and shifted himself on his crutches so he could place a hand on his counterpart’s shoulder. “But I also understand why you need stay here and trust your brothers.”

Tricer nearly stumbled in place from the switch up. “Excuse me?”

“We may not want to admit it but the two of us are liabilities right now,” Leader explained, brushing past the flash of anger that crossed over Tricer’s face. “That a fact for us right now. It will go away after we get used to our new bodies but for now, that is the stone cold truth. You have to accept that.”

"Heh, cold," Wrath chuckled under his breath. Wrath did not look apologetic at all even as Leader quickly shot him an icy-cold glare for a quick second.

“I don’t want to,” Tricer argued, tightening his grip on his crutches.

“You have to,” Leader countered. He laid his hand heavier on Tricer’s shoulder. Absently, Tricer noted how chilly Leader's hand were compared to everyone else. “Like you have to accept that Rex and Mastodon can save Ranger – with or without you.”

“I would rather it would be with me,” Tricer grumbled.

“They only told you to stay behind because they care and are worried about you. The sooner you are back to 100%, the sooner they can’t argue against you staying behind,” Leader pointed out. He let his hand slide off of Tricer’s shoulder and went back to holding his crutch. He gripped it tight and a fine layer of front brushed over the handle. “Do you want to practice walking with me?” Leader offered to his counterpart.

“I can catch ya if you fall too,” Wrath offered in his own way of support.

Tricer shuffled on his feet, looking between his counterpart and the area where Mike had opened the portal to whatever universe they were in. As nice of an offer it was to practice with the only other Leonardo alive in the lair at the moment, Tricer couldn’t accept. He couldn’t be away and trying to hobble back on his crutches when his brothers returned.

“I think I am going to stay here for now,” Tricer concluded. “I don’t want to accidentally miss the moment they bring my Mikey home.”

“Understandable,” Leader nodded and took a step back with his crutches. “If you change your mind, you can join me. I’ll be doing laps around the lair.”

“You can’t miss this one hobbling around like a drunk elephant,” Wrath snarked, pointing a thumb at his brother. Leader frowned at Wrath and hit in the ankle with his crutch. He went for a second hit but Wrath jumped back and danced out of the way. “Don’t be a stranger if you need some help getting around.”

“Thank you, both of you,” Tricer inclined his head to the two brothers from universe 2016. The third brother to their group was at the workstation with Purple, Master Donatello, and El – Genius hoping that the next turtle they would find to be Party.

Tricer stayed in place as Leader focused on getting his legs to take a little bit more of his weight with every step before finding his max limit. Wrath following along at his side with his hands hovering like he was ready to catch Leader the second his brother’s legs gave out without making it too obvious. For a moment, he wondered if he and Ranger would both have to relearn how to walk at the same time.

And he didn’t mind the thought of the two walking side-by-side towards that goal.

Looking back again, Tricer eyed the space where Mike would open the portal again. There was no way he would be out of eyesight the second that portal opened up again. He would be there to greet Mike and his brothers from their rescue with Ranger’s soul nestled safely in one of their holds.

Tricer could only pray that Mike and his brothers were okay in whatever universe or dimension they had gone to find Ranger in.

Universe 122019 – Dimension X

Fighting Leader’s ghost was a walk in a park compared to Ranger’s.

Mike was barely keeping up with Ranger in his attacks and that only thanks to the speed his chi enhanced mode allowed him, his intricate markings appearing on the top layer of Mike’s Dimension X Orange Ranger suit in a deep, inky black. There was a deep slit in the front of his helmet where Ranger’s weapon had caught it. It was only because of his advanced speed and reaction time that Mike had pulled back enough so the blade of Ranger’s weapon just barely grazed the skin where an eyebrow would have been. It still had been enough that Mike had to squint his eye shut to avoid his blood from tickling into it.

Rex and Mastodon were trying their best to fight against Ranger when he attacked but the low visibility with the sandstorm and Ranger disappearing in a bolt of lighting and reappearing in another to attack hampered them. It even took all of Tommy’s skills just to defend himself from the onslaught of lightning that was Ranger.

Sand kept spilling into Mike’s helmet where Ranger had broken it. The grains stuck to the blood that slowly leaked from the wound and itched where it got in the wound. Mike wanted to take his helmet off and clean the wound – stopping the itch the sand had created – but Ranger didn’t allow that as he kept attacking them all in a random pattern.

Like now, Ranger darted between Mike and Rex. The former pulled Inazuma off his back to dance the tango of battle with his counterpart while Rex deflected attacks that came after him. Mike had learned very quickly that any lightning he summoned with Inazuma would be used back at him so he was left with just using wind and his speed. Right when Ranger left Rex and Mike thought Ranger was coming for him, the ghostly apparition switched to Mastodon and Tommy.

Tommy brought his short sword up to his lips and played it like a flute, creating a temporary shield that blocked Ranger’s strike at him. “Dude, I need to get one of those!” Mike yelled out. Though, Ra would probably get annoyed by all the flute playing pretty quickly.

“How are we supposed to fight actual lightning?!” Tommy yelled over the sandstorm and thunder all around them. Other lightning strikes were starting to appear and it was hard to tell if those belonged to Ranger or were a part of the storm swirling all around them.

“Carefully!” Mastodon yelled back. It took all of his focus just to deflect Ranger’s attacks when he would jump out of his lightning strikes. He stuck one end of his power bo staff out and caught the chain of Ranger’s weapon. Spinning around, Mastodon threw Ranger over his shoulder to get some distance between them. Ranger disappeared into another lightning bolt midair and reappeared in front of Rex.

“We need a plan!” Mike yelled. With his chi enhanced mode, he at least could keep up with more of Ranger’s attacks but it wasn’t much. His wind could not keep pace with Ranger’s lightning and it was showing in the rips of his suit whenever the two would disappear into their own one-vs-one fights.

“We got a plan: keeping fighting until we tire ‘em out!” Rex yelled. Despite that, the four of them were the ones tiring out while Ranger was completely fine. His power sais came in front of him in an X position to protect himself from Ranger’s bladed weapon stabbing at his face.

“How the hell are we supposed to tire out a ghost?!” Tommy argued. Ranger turned his attention back to the green ranger and Tommy immediately went back to playing his flute blade to throw up a forcefield in protection. The shrill notes of the instrument bounced around the sandstorm around them.

The musical note was broken as Ranger broke through the shield. Tommy groaned in pain as Ranger backwards kicked him in the chest and he went flying backwards. The blue Dimension X morpher fell off of Tommy's belt in front of Mike on the way and he grabbed it, clipping onto his belt to keep it safe for now while they finished the fight.

Mike looked all around them with his good eye that wasn’t been blinding by sand and his own blood. They were all in some state of disrepair based on the scuffs and tears in their ranger suits. Ranger was showing no signs of tiring or flagging as he continued to attack. Orange glowing eyes shone through the visor of his ghostly helmet and from what Mike could tell, his gaze was flat as if he didn’t care that he was fighting those that wanted to bring him home.

The Michelangelo could tell that there was no way the four of them were going to bring Ranger back to their side of the living as easily as Leader. Ranger was going to be a hard fight with his ability to disappear into lightning and appear behind another in a blink of an eye. His wind was not as fast as Ranger’s lightning and it was quite evident. Perhaps if they had more on their side…

“That’s it, I’m getting back-up!” Mike declared, his powers fading from Inazuma as he decided to switch weapons. “I’ll be right back!”

“Who are you getting?!” Mastodon yelled back. Amongst the current roster of turtles in the lair, there were none that had a power that could match Ranger’s speed aside from Mike himself. It would have been nice to have Michael and his own electric powers but said turtle was still lost as a soul somewhere in the multiverse.

Mike didn’t answer as Ranger reappeared in a strike of lightning and dropped kicked Mike in the chest. The turtle wheezed from the kick but let his body fall backwards with the force. Switching weapons, Mike called on his powers and cut gunshin’s blade through the air. Close behind him, a portal opened up that Mike fell through.

Mike almost breathed out a sigh of relief from the momentarily break he would get from fighting his counterpart.

But then his breath caught in his throat as he saw a flash of orange in the portal tunnel with him.

Ranger had followed.

Chapter Text

Universe 2018 – The Main Space

Genius perked up when he saw the alert of a returning portal. Flicking a switch on his workstation to quiet the alarm, Genius took in a deep breath. “We’ve got a portal incoming!” he yelled into the otherwise silence of the lair. Genius briefly wondered how long that silence would continue as more of the Michelangelo’s and their combined energy returned.

Tricer, perking up at the thought of the mission being a success and Ranger was safely recovered, hobbled over on his crutches towards the portal. Fighter had come out to keep Tricer company while they waited for Mastodon and Rex to return, and he followed after Tricer. Leader stood to the side, having taken a break from walking around the lair for his physical therapy. As Tricer passed by, Leader patted his shoulder with a soft smile.

Ra and Don came trotting out of where they had been in the lair to welcome their own Michelangelo back while the rest of Tricer’s family came out of hiding. They lined up on either side of Tricer, Reporter drumming her fingers on her legs in anticipation. Teacher had his hands clasped over the top of his cane.

“Do you think they did it?” Fighter asked lowly. He moved his head to throw his long hair out of his eyes.

Tricer gulped as he looked to where Purple, Genius, and Master Donatello were talking to each other in terms that he didn’t understand. Master Donatello had pulled Tello's brow together in a pinched expression, looking uneasy as he kept flicking his gaze from the computer to where the portal would be forming any moment. El looked wholly confused by it but also just content to around a version of Tello. Genius looked from his computer. “Portal forming…now!” he said.

Like Genius said, the orange portal swirled to life where Mike had opened it earlier.

Tricer fell a ball of anxiety form in his stomach. He hadn’t been around to watch the return of Genius, Wrath, and Mike with Leader’s soul as he was still recovering from his own resurrection in the med bay so he didn’t know what to expect. Would his brothers be safe? Would they be injured due to Ranger’s unrestrained powers in his ghost form? So many thoughts ran through his head that he knew would be answered in a second.

El started to leave Tello’s side to go welcome the rescue team back and see the new soul. He stopped when a tech bo came down in front of him like a train's crossing guard rail. El looked to who it was holding it and raised an eye ridge at Master Donatello.

“What are you doing?” El asked the turtle from a ruined future that was controlling his brother’s body.

“I don’t know,” Master Donatello said, narrowing Tello's eyes. His grip tightened on his tech bo. “Just call it a hunch or something like that. But what I do know is that you should stay close to me.”

Unlike the last time, there was no opening on the other side to show the other universe. It was just the orange swirl that fluctuated around the corners. There were sparks at the edges of it that Don narrowed his eyes at as he remembered Mike’s portals never had those before. Finally, the portal stabilized as the connection was completed and everyone waited with bated breathed.

And a second later, an eletricfied Mike came zipping out shell-first of the portal like he was shot through…

…again.

Ra and Don exclaimed in alarm as Mike sailed through the air to hit the wall that still had a dent from his shell the last time he hit it, deepening it and cracks branched out. Mike groaned, shaking his helmeted head before pushing himself up to his feet as the last bite of sparky electricity crackled off of him. Black markings on his orange suit showed his enhanced chi mode powers were engaged. Gunshin’s markings were glowing from its use opening the portal.

“Mikey!” Don yelled once he was close and put a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “What happened?!”

Mike jerked his chin at the portal, making everyone look to it. “Ranger happened.”

Ranger’s ghostly self stood inside of the portal with his foot propped up on the edge. His long chained weapon hung down from one hand to scratch against the ground inside the lair and the other hand gripped an upper edge of the portal. The edges of Ranger’s body flickered like he was made of unstable electricity.

“Mikey!” Tricer exclaimed in joy as he laid eyes on his brother that he watched die in the match before his. Teacher felt a wave of danger from his son and took a step back to create some distance. His tail came to wrap around Reporter's wrist in a silent plea to follow his lead.

“Wow, does anyone else have a super bad feeling about this dude?” El said aloud. Master Donatello mentally slapped a hand to his forehead.

Ranger’s head seemed to unnaturally swivel on its axis to look right at El. Glowing eyes shown through the visor of Ranger's helmet. Master Donatello cursed under his breath in Tello’s voice and jumped to the side to stand in front of El, his purple markings on his arms and legs glowing in preparation as he drew on his mystic powers. Ranger pushed the rest of the way out of the unstable portal - it blinking out of existence - and landed on the ground in a silent crouch before turning his body towards them.

“Brace for an attack!” Master Donatello yelled in warning to everyone in the room. Purple cursed and smack a hand to his wrist screen, then came to Master Donatello's side as a warning blared through the lair.

Purple’s and Tello’s hands flew up, their matching purple markings lighting up brighter as they called on their constructs. The two of them formed a barrier around their workstations completely to protect the device, them, El, and Genius inside. Genius opened his mouth in awe at the translucent purple constructs all around him.

Ranger collided against the barrier but it did not break. Seemingly angered by this, Ranger spun around and let his weapon crash against the purple barrier. A crack of lightning accompanied, the sound making everyone’s hearing ring in pain. From deeper in the lair, the cries of the babies rang out that mixed into one pained sound. Purple and Master Donatello winced as it took most of their concentration to keep the barrier from breaking.

“Yo, leave ‘em alone!” Mike called and switched his weapon back to Inazuma. From through his suit shone the chi enhanced mode markings and Mike squatted down in a fighting position. “Pick on someone that’s a Mikey!”

Ranger, despite having the helmet that covered his face, seemed to narrow his eyes and he pushed off the barrier with one hand. Facing Mike, the apparition spun his weapon that had electricity building up with each arc. Slowly, Ranger loosened his grip on each arch so that the chain would extend longer.

Mike gulped. “Yeeaaaah…I’m already regretting this,” he said.

Regret he did as Ranger disappeared in a bolt of lightning and shot forward towards Mike. Grounding his teeth, Mike called on the full power of his chi enhanced mode and disappeared into the wind. The spectators in the room had to hold an arm up to brace against the force of wind now hitting them.

Before their eyes, a small tornado formed in the middle of the room. Lightning struck inside of it and the quickest flash of two turtles clashing against each other would appear from inside before disappearing all over again. Those who had not been in the room and had come out running after hearing the commotion were shocked to see the tornado.

“I was gone for two minutes! What happened?!” Wrath asked, being one of the turtles that had not been there at Mike’s and Ranger’s arrival. He had been in the kitchen getting a snack for Leader and Genius – the former to build up his strength in his new body and the ladder because he would often forget to eat when working on big projects.

Mike jumped out of the tornado and threw inazuma outwards, letting the desperate lightning strike from it be the distraction that Ranger clung to. Instead, Ranger grabbed ahold of the lightning and it solidified under his power. Whirling around, Ranger used the electricity as a whip and brought it down. Mike raised inazuma to project himself from the direct hit but the second it connected, blinding pain from the electricity ran through him so strong that he screamed and forced him down to a knee.

"Mikey!" Don yelled and dashed forward. Byakko was ripped off his shell and he thrust the blade of his mystic weapon in Ranger's face, his purple chi enhanced mode markings coming alive.

Ranger redirected his live electrical whip so that it wrapped around the end of Byakko to pull it down. Don's pain filled screams filled the air as his own body spasmed from the shock and he was weak against Ranger's pull of him to the ground, his markings disappearing nearly as quickly as they appeared. Mike was still recovering and couldn't move as Ranger raised his Dimension X Ranger weapon in the air, aiming it at the back of Don's neck.

"Oh hell naw!" Ra screamed and full-bodily tackled Ranger to the side. Ranger's grip on his electrical weapon broke and it fell away to dissipate. The two turtles rolled to the side with Ra coming up on top and he wasted no time in punching Ranger in his helmet-covered face. "No one messes with my brothers other than me!"

Red appeared from the dojo and took one look at the chaos swirling around the lair before jumping into action. Pulling his sais off his belt, he slammed his fists together and red astral projections peeled off of him. They all ran in different directions and stood in front of those without powers that couldn't properly defend themselves if Ranger decided to attack them. Red himself went straight for the room where he knew the babies were all gathered for a group nap time and stood in front of it. Slamming his fists together again, an astral form surrounded him and Red readied himself as a living shield for the children. Just inside the room behind him, Bo, Sai, Marie, Case and Hockey formed another layer of a shield. They wouldn't be able to do too much against the soul but they were at least going to put another layer of protection between Ranger and the children.

During this, Ranger had just taken the hits from Ra without a reaction. When Ra drew his fist back again after a few moments of straight punching, Ranger reached up and caught it in the air. A beat later, Ranger tightened his grip and screams of pain fell from Ra's lips as he was shocked directly from Ranger.

"Mikey, stop it!" Tricer screamed at his brother. He had been watching his brother fight against Mike and his brothers this entire time, and could hardly believe that was his brother at all. It was like Ranger was a shell of himself and there was nothing left of him.

Ranger turned his gaze to Tricer then and sat up. Ra gasped in pain as Ranger intensified the shock before throwing him off to the side near Don. Ra flew through the air and hit the ground hard, twitching in pain and Don immediately fretted over him despite being in almost the same state.

"Dude, you just poked the wrong bear," Fighter stage-whispered to Tricer.

"Mikey, it's me," Tricer said as he ignored Fighter, taking a step closer to Ranger. "It's Leo. You know me. Please don't fight us."

Ranger didn't look appeased and turned over so that he was on all fours. It was a split-second decision but Red's astral projection with Tricer and Fighter moved between them and Ranger. Ranger had zipped forward in a strike of lighting that had many clasping their ears in pain again from the clap of noise but Red's astral projection smacked him off course where he collided into one of the brick walls of the lair. Unfortunately, the astral projection broke after that which left Tricer unprotected.

"Mike, we really need you to get back up," Purple called out in warning, watching as Ranger extracted himself from the wall he had become embedded in by turning into a stream of lightning that reformed into his ghost just in front of the wall.

"Yeah, yeah, I hear ya," Mike groaned in pain and exhaustion as he got both feet back underneath of him. Standing up, Mike swayed heavily to each side before he completely regained his bearings. Shaking his head to clear it, Mike bent his legs and pulled Inazuma tight in his hold. Ranger heard the clinking of Mike's weapon and turned his attention back to his counterpart. "Alright, Ranger, I'm back. Let's dance."

At once, both Mike and Ranger disappeared into wind and electricity respectively. No one could see where they were going or what their path was until indents and holes appeared in the walls, floor and ceiling where they hit. Purple and Master Donatello tandemly ground their teeth in concentration every few seconds as Mike and Ranger bounced off their construct shield.

"How the hell are we supposed to fight literal lightning?" El gasped in awe when Mike summersaulted out of the way of a lightning strike before disappearing into the breeze with the electricity hitting the shield instead. They hit the opening of the med bay for a quick second and Watcher spread his body out more to cover the opening as a shield to protect the injured Tech inside. By the time Watcher had pulled out his sais in case he had to defend himself, the two Michelangelo's had already moved on.

"We can't," Genius murmured as his eyes tracked the fight just a second late like everyone else. "We need Michael to keep up with him."

"Master Michelangelo gave Ranger his lightning powers specifically to be Michael's match," Purple said in a low voice as he concentrated on keeping the shield up as Mike and Ranger hit it again. If the workstation and the computer was caught in the middle of the crossfire, the whole operation of bringing everyone home would be halted in its track. No matter what, the shield could not fall.

"What about Cassandra?" El asked, looking around the lair with his limited view for the ex-foot ninja that was always ready and willing to fight against anyone without any regard to a power imbalance.

"Out of the lair with Jennika and April," Purple said around grinding teeth.

"Draxum is out, too, with most of the Splinters," Master Donatello added. His glowing eyes darted from side to side as he tracked the fight as best as he could.

"Of course he is," Purple scoffed and bent his fingers slightly in irritation.

Ranger popped out of the fight again and decided to set his sights on someone else. More cries from the children in the other room spilled out and Ranger grew drawn in by the noise. He bolted forward towards the room but Red got in the way, grabbing the turtles in his large hands. "To get to them, you've got to go through me," Red swore. Ranger seemed angered and threw electricity off himself but Red was unfazed from inside his astral form's natural protection. Spinning around, Red threw Ranger back into the middle of the space. "Mike, get him!"

Mike, who had jumped out of his wind and had been crouched on top of the construct shield, nodded and vanished again. Ranger in mid-air was jerked to the side as Mike caught him around the throat with his elbow. Like before, wind and electricity mixed together to form another small tornado in the middle of the room. Dust and debris from damage around the lair kicked up, making anyone watching have to squint their eyes.

Tricer watched carefully, hands tightening on his crutches. "C'mon, Mikey," Tricer whispered to himself. "Come back to us."

The two Michelangelo’s reappeared from the tornado that dissipated with Ranger holding Mike by the face of their matching helmets. Zipping forward so fast that the two became one orange blur, Ranger slammed the back of Mike’s head into the ground. A small crater formed underneath of Mike’s head. Ranger took it a step farther and lifted Mike’s head from the crater only to slam it down hard again. When Ranger let go of the helmet, it broke to fall open on either side of Mike’s head. A small stream of blood ran down the side of his face from where Ranger had cut it earlier, forcing Mike’s eyes to stay close lest he wanted blood to trickle into it.

Mike's mouth hung open as he gasped in pain and exertion. Even with his chi enhanced mode activated along with the boost from the Dimension X Ranger suit, it was exhausting to keep up with Ranger. It felt like he had just ran the most intense version of his family's training circuit three times.

“Mike, get up!” El yelled in warning behind the purple construct walls he was being protected in.

Mike hissed in pain and squinted an eye open. His head felt like it was splitting open from that last hit and the world around him looked like it was on a tilt. Above him, Ranger stood with his power nun chucks armed.

“Aww man, this is going to hurt,” Mike grumbled as he closed his eye.

“Mikey!” Ra screamed in fear as Ranger brought his arm down, fighting to get back up on his feet but falling again when his shocked muscles wouldn't listen to him.

There was a dull thunk that hit Mike ears instead of pain. Mike opened his eyes slowly and then blinked when he saw a thick wall of ice in front of his face. In fact, there was a box of ice that trapped Ranger in on all sides. Ranger’s weapon was stuck in it and the ghost was now looking at the caster of the ice.

Leader let out a breath of frosty air, the blue of his eyes now icy from how they glowed with power. He was leaning heavily on one crutch as the other lay on the ground like he dropped it in a hurry. Leader’s hand that he had thrown out forward in a desperate attempt to help slowly lowered to the ground to keep the connection, the turtle nearly falling as his legs weren’t used to slowly kneeling down. Wrath hovered at Leader’s side, ready to grab his limited-mobility brother and dash at the slightest hint Leader was in trouble.

Ranger disappeared into lightning again and ricocheted all around his box before coming to a stop right in the middle. The ice melted a bit where Ranger had struck but it was quickly reformed by Leader. Ranger looked right back at Leader and while nothing was outright said, Leader could feel the hostility of being trapped rolling off of the imprisoned turtle.

“Yeah, Leo!” Wrath cheered for his brother.

“OMG, that was close,” Mike breathed shakily as he sat up. Mike held a thumbs-up at Leader “Thanks Leader, don't know how I would've been without you.”

“Don’t thank me yet. I can’t hold him all day,” Leader grunted as a drop of sweat rolled down his face. Using his powers in the nexus had been one thing. This new body didn’t seem ready for the usage of his powers just yet and what had come naturally before was a struggle now.

Tricer watched as Ranger zipped around the box of ice and Leader rushed to replenish the melted bits. Off to the side, Ra and Don had finally regained enough control to get themselves back on two feet and were helping Mike off the ground. Mike stumbled some getting up as he gingerly touch at the back of his head with his hand coming back bloody, much to his brothers’ displeasure. With a start, Tricer noticed something metallic on Mike’s belt. Steeling himself, Tricer hobbled over to the ice block containing brother.

“Yo, be careful,” Fighter scolded his friend.

Tricer didn’t heed his Casey’s words as he marched right up to the closest ice wall. Ranger seemed to notice him and stood on the other side of it. The two brothers – one alive and one dead but both killed in the same arena – faced each other for the first time in weeks.

“Mikey, please, give me a sign that you are in there,” Tricer begged.

Ranger didn’t give any as he stared his brother down through his mask. There was nothing to see of his expression but Tricer had a feeling that his normally expressive brother was straight-faced. It was unsettling to see him like this.

Tricer held a hand out to Mike, silent with his request for the item he saw on Mike's person for a quick second during the fight. Mike saw it and smirked, pulling the metallic object off his belt and tossing it to Tricer. The Leonardo didn’t look at what it was and caught it easily in one hand.

“Leader, let him out,” Tricer ordered without taking his eyes off the ghostly apparition of his brother.

Leader’s glowing eyes looking over to his counterpart and then back to the ice cage. “Are you sure?”

Without a word, Tricer held out the blue Dimension X morpher that Mike had tossed him and it shone in the light. With no audible declaration as the morpher picked up in the intent within its holder, Tricer was transformed into a suit that matched the orange one sported by both Mike and Ranger but in his own signature color.

“Damn, that was cool,” El whistled in awe.

Tricer’s crutches fell down to the ground on either side of him as his legs felt renewed. The unsteadiness to them had disappeared once the suit had enveloped him. Ranger didn’t react at the transformation.

“Well, that was an answer as any,” Reporter commented from where she stood in the back with Teacher.

“If you’re sure,” Leader sighed as he dropped his head. Inhaling, Leader looked back up with glowing ice blue eyes. “Alright, I’m dropping the walls in 3…”

With great effort, Mike pulled himself from his brothers to stand on his own two feet.

“2…”

Tricer pulled his power katanas off his back in preparation.

“1…”

Mike hopped on his feet to perk himself up. A new helmet formed around his head, completely whole with no broken hole over his eye. He stood with gunshin held in a secure grip, ready to react.

“And I’m dropping it!” Leader declared as he pulled his hand off the floor. With no more power to fuel it, the ice broke apart immediately on Ranger’s next attack as the ghost realized he was being released.

Ranger broke through the ice only to be grabbed in an armful of Tricer. Mike yelled in exertion as he sliced the air next to him to open a new portal back to universe 122019's Dimension X. The blue armored turtle took his brother and ran straight through the portal. Ranger didn’t fight as much as they thought he would and the two disappeared in the swirling orange.

Mike, with a tired grin behind his mask, saluted the others in the lair. “Alright, take 2. We’ll be back!” he declared before hopping back into the portal back to Dimension X that closed right after all of Mike passed through.

Universe 122019 – Dimension X

Tricer came tumbling out of the portal into a sandy dune. Ranger zapped away as soon as they were through the portal. The Leonardo shook himself out as he stood up, grateful he had his mask to block the sand whirling all around him.

To Tricer’s side, Mike fell through. He lacked the grace he usually carried when trying to be serious. Pushing himself up to all fours, Mike squinted up at Tricer through his mask. “You got this one?” Mike asked.

Tricer smirked behind his mask and nodded. “I’ve got this. Thanks for all you’ve done so far.”

Mike chuckled breathily as he slowly sunk towards the ground. “Good, I’m tagging you in.”

Now that he was down, Mike was no longer a focus for Ranger. Tricer could see his ghostly brother had resumed his fighting against his two middle brothers and Tommy. They were holding him off but just barely. Tightening his grip on his power katanas, Tricer ran into the fray to block an attack at Rex’s unprotected back. Rex turned when he heard the metal on metal behind him and his eyes widened behind his helmet when he saw Tricer transformed and standing on his own. The surprise morphed into a mix of irritation and awe.

“Leo, you’re here!” Mastodon exclaimed as he moved closer as Ranger disappeared into the storm again. Lightning flashed through the sand swirling around them and they couldn't tell which strike was natural weather or Ranger. Tommy ran over to the downed Mike to provide him cover in case Ranger decided to come back to finish the job.

“What are you doing here?” Rex scowled at his brother behind his helmet.

“I’m here to help, Raph,” Tricer said, quickly sheathing his weapons before shifting on his feet to put a hand on both his alive brothers’ shoulders. "Mikey is too strong. We need all the help we can get."

“You couldn’t barely walk without assistance before,” Mastodon commented and looked down at Tricer’s legs. “It looks like the Dimension X Ranger transformation seems to temporarily fix that issue.”

“I don’t care what the reason is. What I do care about is that we’re bringing Mikey home,” Tricer said, turning to face Ranger that hovered at the edge of the space in the sandstorm. Letting his hands falls off his brothers’ shoulders to reach up and unsheathe his weapons, Tricer fully faced Ranger. He tightened his fist on his power katanas. “Together.”

Chapter Text

Universe 122019 – Dimension X

Tricer never thought they would ever be in a predicament like this.

It was his job as the leader to think of every terrible thing that could happen to his team – to his family – and it was also his job as leader to know how to prevent those terrible things from happening. He would spend many nights just lying in bed and coming up with scenarios that the world could throw at them. Hell, there was even one night where he thought about what would happen if they met the power rangers in their world and looked what happened.

But now, he and his two middle brothers facing off against the ghostly apparition of their youngest brother to rescue him after a psycho yokai from another universe got the two of them killed in her battle nexus, that was something even his mind couldn’t make up. Mike was still laid out on the ground, somehow conscious despite his head injury based on how his chi enhanced markings still shone as their dark ink version through the suit. Tommy was squatted down by Mike’s side in a protective stance with his weapon held in a backwards hold.

The portal that Tricer had arrived in had closed once Mike had gone through it. Obviously, they wanted to keep Ranger contained to one universe while he was in his current state. It would do more harm than good to keep the portal opened in case Ranger decided to turn his attention back to those in the lair of universe 2018. Perhaps that could have been okay if Michael had been around to keep stride with Ranger but that currently was not an option.

“So, what do we do now?” Rex asked as the three stood shell-to-shell as Ranger zipped around them. He reappeared for a second to throw the end of his power kusarigama at Mastodon but it was thrown off-course by a swipe of Tricer’s power katanas. The ghost disappeared into electricity again but only for a moment.

Ranger jumped out of a lightning strike at Tricer and the blue turtle ranger acted accordingly in defense. He grabbed the weapon brandished by Ranger and moved it to the side so he wouldn't be cut by it. With a grunt of exertion, Tricer threw Ranger over his shoulder. Ranger recovered quickly mid-air and disappeared in another bolt of lightning.

The youngest brother reappeared in front of Mastodon and the purple turtle just barely got his power bo up in front of him to take the attack. Ranger’s weapon wrapped its chain around Mastodon’s power staff. Jumping back, Ranger pulled on it and Mastodon went along for the ride towards Ranger with a yelp.

Spinning around, Ranger kicked Mastodon in the face. Mastodon went flying right back at his brothers and Tricer caught him, the two falling to the ground. Rex ran around them with a yell and at Ranger with his power sais ready.

“Raph, no!” Tricer called in warning but it was too late as Rex made contact with Ranger.

Ranger was ruthless in his attack against Rex. It was only thanks to years of intense training as well as so many nights striking out on his own to fight Purple Dragon gang members and Foot Ninjas with Fighter that let Rex deflect most attacks. Ranger would spin to throw his power kusarigama that struck faster thanks to the lightning attributed to it.

Rex tried tangling it in-between the blades of his power sais but Ranger would just set the chain alight with electricity that would have Rex screaming out in pain. After a few repeats of this, Ranger seemed to have grown bored with the growingly weak Rex. Jerking the handle like a whip, Ranger threw Rex off of the end where he had the power kusarigama in his power sais.

Tricer watched as Rex flew down on the ground next to him, sending off a cloud of sand from it. Mastodon was crouched on Tricer’s other side in a low defensive position with his weapon too far from him. “Raph, you okay?” Tricer asked.

“Yeah, somehow,” Rex grunted as he sat himself up. A remnant of Ranger's electricity crackled over the side of Rex's helmet.  One hand came up to rub at the front of his helmet and Tricer could see how his brother’s hand shook. “Since when does Mikey move and hit like that?”

“He’s always had the potential but he just didn’t use it,” Mastodon murmured as he kept his gaze trained on Ranger. His brother jerked his arm back and caught the end of his power kusarigama in his free hand. “Looks like we were right that the ghosts were going to fight us in a form of self-defense. Or, more accurately, fight anyone that comes across them.”

“Why would they do that?” Rex asked.

“Probably because we are scared of being used as weapons again,” Tricer said in a knee-jerk reaction.

Mastodon and Rex looked to the middle at Tricer. “What do you mean ‘we’?” Mastodon asked. “Do you remember your time as a soul?”

“Not exactly,” Tricer said, blinking to himself. “I just…I don’t know. It’s hard to explain. I don’t remember anything from between my death and revival but I can somehow understand why Mikey is attacking us a ghost right. Like, he doesn’t want to be stuck under someone’s control again and I get that.”

Mastodon leaned to the side to look at Rex over Tricer’s shoulder with his lips pressed in a hard line. Rex sneered to himself about the woman that had gotten two of his brothers killed just for some twisted and wicked entertainment. The two of them decided that this was not the moment to talk about it with a silent promise to share the development with their counterparts back in universe 2018.

Stalking forward, Ranger grabbed Mastodon’s dropped power bo staff. Ranger jumped in the air and electricity crackled on his arm. Reeling back, Ranger lobbed Mastodon’s power bo staff at his trio of brothers like it was a spear. Thinking fast, Tricer pushed Rex and Mastodon to either side of him and scooted back.

The power bo staff landed between his open legs and embedded itself into the ground. Yellow electricity crackled off of it. Ranger dropped back down on the ground and shot forward. Tricer had a second to react and he did so by pulling Mastodon’s weapon from the ground in front of him. He held it up to catch the sharp end of Ranger’s power kusarigama and hold it back from his face.

“Leo!” Rex said in alarm and swiped a hand holding his power sai out at Ranger. The ghost jumped backwards a few yards and spun his power kusarigama. Throwing it out, Tricer used Mastodon’s weapon again to wrap the chain around it. Knowing how Ranger would react, Tricer turned around and threw the power staff forward like he was casting a fishing line. It worked like he wanted as Ranger was now the one to be pulled across the area by his own weapon.

Ranger landed further away from them, somewhat obscured by the sandstorm. His weapon loosened around the power bo staff and trailed after him, leaving Mastodon’s weapon with Tricer. The ghost rolled to a stop on the ground in a kneeling position and looked over his shoulder at his brothers. The orange glow of his eyes through the visor was the clearest thing they could see of the ghost.

“Do you think that just made him more mad?” Tricer grimaced.

“Yeah, probably,” Rex said, cracking his neck. “Brat deserved it though.”

“He can’t help it,” Mastodon huffed and stood up, brushing the sand off his legs. “Mikey’s a ghost right now."

“Still a brat,” Rex repeated his statement.

“I don’t know how you can use this thing as your main weapon, Donnie,” Tricer said as he tossed his brother’s choose weapon back to him.

“I could say the same to any of you,” Mastodon said as he caught his power bo staff.

Rex stood up and stood the sand off of him, stretching his arms in a windmill motion. “So, how are we handling this?”

Tricer plucked his power katanas off the ground and spun them in his hands. “The way we do best – together.”

Rex snorted. “Cheesy.”

Mastodon spun his power bo staff in his hands to get his groove with it before stopping it tucked under his arm. “The good ol’ 1-2-3?”

“Never failed us before,” Rex shrugged.

“It has – many times,” Mastodon deadpanned.

“No one likes a know-it-all,” Rex rolled his eyes before running forward. He got low to the ground. Ranger pushed off the ground at his brother, spinning his power kusarigama at Rex. The two met in the middle in a clash of metal. Rex caught the blade end of the power kusarigama in his sais and turned to hold the chain taunt. “Donnie, now!”

Mastodon came up next. His power bo staff moved quickly to force Ranger to let go of his weapon in a few well placed hits. Once Ranger was relieved of his weapon, Mastodon turned around with his power bo staff spinning around his head. With the momentum he built up, Mastodon hit Ranger in the back on his shell to have his brother stumbling forward.

“You’re turn, Leo!” Mastodon called as Ranger set his sights on his oldest brother.

Tricer widened his stance with his power katanas ready. Ranger disappeared another bolt of lightning at Tricer. Less than a blink later, Ranger was jumping out with a fist covered in crackle of yellow electricity aim at Tricer.

Time slowed down Tricer in that moment. He thought about how worn out Rex and Mastodon were becoming – himself too despite the boost he got from his suit – while Ranger remained fine. Mike was still down and Tommy couldn’t protect them all if they all fell. And there was absolutely no way that Tricer was going to leave Ranger behind knowing he was here waiting.

That left two choices.

The first was continuing to fight. Tricer would have to continue past the pain and exhaustion that creeping up on him. He couldn’t allow his brothers to suffer when he was right there. It was his job as leader and eldest brother.

The problem with continuing to fight was that he couldn’t keep it up forever. Even now, he could feel the suit losing its effect on keeping him up on his feet. His legs that were weak from his resurrection would be his downfall at some point or another. As much as he wanted to pretend otherwise, Tricer wasn’t sure if Ranger would be merciful enough to spare them and hide elsewhere or if he would finish the job given the chance.

The other was to…stop fighting. Tricer could just stop fighting against the ghost. It was a suicide mission but Tricer had a feeling that there was something else he could than fight his brother. Despite how much his brain screamed at him to continue with the first option, Tricer’s heart was telling him to follow the other option.

Without a second thought, Tricer dropped his power katanas and opened his arms for Ranger as time sped up again.

As soon as Ranger was against him, Tricer closed his arms around his brother. Ranger didn’t seem to like that and started to shock Tricer. Light flash and sound crackled around Tricer in attempt to overwhelm with his electricity and pain but Tricer held steady.

“Leo!” Tommy screamed in alarm.

“I’m not letting you go, Mikey!” Tricer yelled over the crackling of electricity all around him. “You’re scared! I get it! You died and are now trying to protect yourself!”

“Leo, let him go before he kills you!” Mastodon screamed in fear. They had just gotten Tricer back, they couldn’t lose him again so quickly.

“No! I’m not letting go! Not again!” Tricer yelled. In his arms, Ranger stopped fighting a fraction. “I will not make that mistake again of letting my brother go into a fight alone! We are a team! A family!”

“Leo, stop!” Rex screamed. He was this close to going up and wrenching Tricer away from Ranger himself.

“Let it all out! All the anger and fear and disappointment! I can take it!” Tricer screamed as he squeezed Ranger closer to him. “I can take it – I will take it. And once you’re done, I’m taking you home!”

“Leo!” Rex and Mastodon screamed again together.

Tricer just squeezed his eyelids tighter and grit his teeth. It hurt – oh, it hurt so bad – but this was nothing compared to the pain of having to live the rest of his life knowing that they weren’t complete without their fourth brother. Tricer didn’t care how long or how pain it would to hold because he is bringing Tricer home one way or another.

There was a shift in the air and Ranger stopped fighting. It was silent all too quickly as Ranger cut his attack. Tricer’s limbs were still rigid and spasmed from the leftover electricity but he stayed up. Ranger helped in that regard with how he stood tall, strong, and solid despite being a ghost.

Tricer risked a peek as he opened his eyes. He couldn’t see Ranger’s face through the helmet from how they were standing against each other but Tricer could feel the change in attitude. Ranger’s arms lifted and Tricer stopped himself from flinching.

And Tricer nearly let out a hysterical laugh as Ranger hugged him back. “Oh, Mikey, let’s go home,” Tricer chuckled softly.

Ranger’s ghost lost its features as it started to glow. The glow transformed into a semi-solid energy that closed in on itself. Without Ranger’s solid ghost there anymore to support him, Tricer’s weak with exhaustion legs buckled underneath of him.

Tricer let himself back down to his knees and then to his side. The Dimension X blue ranger suit disappeared into a cluster of blue sparkles as Tricer rolled onto his back in the sand. Around them, the sand storm dissipated for a rare moment in Dimension X.

With a groan, Mike sat up and rubbed at his head. “Another successful recovery?” he asked.

Tommy sat down to breathe a breath of relief. He reached up to pull his helmet off with one hand as the other laid itself on Mike’s shell. Tommy placed his helmet on his knee and patted Mike’s shell. “I think we got him back.”

Mastodon and Rex trotted over to Tricer laying on the sand covered ground. With a quick thought that their morphers picked up on, both of their helmet disappeared. Mastodon kneeled down by Tricer’s side and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Leo, are you okay?” he asked.

“Okay?” Tricer chucked and grimaced as he sat up with one hand holding him up, the other cradling the soul of his youngest brother against his plastron. “I’m more than okay.” Looking down, Tricer smiled at the orange soul of his youngest brother. “We’ve got you, Mikey. You’re coming home with us.”

A stray crackle of yellow electricity rolled off of Ranger’s soul.

Chapter Text

Universe 2018 – Med Bay

The med bay was growing cramped with the growing number of occupants in there.

Leader, fine enough now on his crutches and Wrath keeping a close eye on him, had been released to the room his family was squatting in to open up some space. The bed he had been occupying before laid Mike with bandages wrapped around his head and a pack of ice – created by Leader with his powers, of course – on his forehead. A bandage was taped just above his eye where Ranger had cut him along with patches holding a poultice to his bruised skin.

“I told you, I’m fine,” Mike groaned and pushed a hand at his hovering brother’s face.

Don looked wholly unimpressed when Mike missed his face by half a foot. “You have a concussion – I hardly call that fine.”

"Yeah, Ranger nearly cracked your thick skill open," Ra commented with a hard frown.

“I’ve had worse before,” Mike grumbled, fiddling with the edge of the bandage that forced his top eyelid shut. "Remember the time I broke both my legs?”

“Having worse injuries is not something to be proud of, ya dunce,” Ra scoffed with a roll of his eyes. He sat on the other side of Mike’s cot in an uncomfortable plastic chair and his arms crossed over his plastron. His legs were kicked up to rest on Mike’s bed on a free length of it.

Don and Mike looked at each other – actually, Mike looked just left of Don thanks to his concussion – before the former leveled his fellow middle child with a flat stare. “You have no room to talk.”

Tricer chuckled as Don and Ra bickered in the space above Mike where he laid in a bed on the opposite side of the room. His legs had completely given out after Ranger was recovered and he had to be dragged back by Rex while Tommy carried a prone Mike over his shoulders in a fireman's carry. Ranger had been brought back in Mastodon’s grip and then taken to Orange’s studio so Draxum could read the soul to recreate the body.

Rex and Don had nearly lost it when Mike had come in almost unconscious and his back slick with red from the bleeding wound on the back of his head. They had pulled their youngest brother to the med bay with Purple trotting along after them to step in as interim-medic. Mastodon had waved away any concern of injuries as he was fine – just exhausted – but Rex had to be checked out after being shocked by Ranger.

In the bed next to Tricer, Rex grumbled about how he was fine to Purple. The local Donatello ignored him entirely as he continued his assessment before leaning back on his chair. He picked up Rex’s hand and watched how it shook. “Ranger’s electricity fried your nerves for a bit. No strenuous duty for a few days and you should be fine," Purple informed him.

“It’s like I’ve been trying to tell you,” Rex said with a roll of his eyes.

“Rex, shut up,” Tricer said flatly to his brother.

“Make me,” Rex sneered playfully at Tricer with his shaky middle fingers raised. In response, Tricer threw his pillow at his brother.

“Boys, stop it,” Reporter sighed as she entered the med bay. With her entered Kunoichi and Cassandra. Kunoichi had come in to get new bandages to redress Tech’s leg wound while Cassandra just came along for the trip as she had been talking to the two April’s before they needed to come to the med bay.

“Sorry, April,” both brothers apologized at the same time.

“How do get them to stop?” Kunoichi sighed as she opened the cabinet she knew held the bandages. “My Raph and Leo fight like cats and dogs on a good day.”

“Because they know better than to push my buttons fighting each other,” Reporter said with a firm eye at both of them.

“You’re strong – I like that,” Cassandra smirked, crossing her arms over her puffed out chest. “Are you sure you aren’t another me?”

“As tempting at that is, I’m definitely an April,” Reporter giggled. “Though, you’re a pretty cool Casey.”

Cassandra grinned brightly at the nickname friends of her’s would use.

Seeing that Rex was fine, Purple moved back to his other patient to recheck him again after his initial quick assessment once Mike was back from the rescue mission. Purple had taken up an additional role – aside from the many other hats he was currently wearing – as medic with Blue currently…indisposed. Rolling over in his wheelie chair, Purple came up to a stop next to Don. “Based on his concussion, I don’t feel like it is safe to let Mike continue with rescues missions at the moment.”

Mike sat up, nearly tilting to the side and tumbling off if Ra didn’t use one of his legs to prop Mike up. The sudden move made his head pound and Mike winced from the pain. “I have to! I’m the one that opens the portals!” Mike protested.

“I know, that’s the problem,” Purple grumbled, chewing on his thumbnail.

“Why can’t we just have Draxum heal him?” Reporter asked.

“Because if the Baron heals him, he does not have enough energy to recreate and resurrect anyone else until he recovers,” Cassandra answered.

“This is a conundrum,” Purple murmured as he tapped his foot on the ground. “Mike is too injured to open the portals but if we have Draxum heal him, then we can’t bring Ranger back today. If we don’t have Draxum heal him, then we can’t go rescue any souls that are found until Draxum recovers enough to heal him.”

“I’ll be fine,” Mike reiterated. “I’m a big turtle that can tough it out.”

“Until you try to open another portal and send us to the moon instead or that universe you were hiding in instead of being dead,” Ra snarked with a smirk. Mike frowned at the insult.

“Ra, don’t mean to him. He’s injured,” Don scolded.

“Yeah, take that,” Mike smirked at Ra.

“You can bully him all you want when he’s healed,” Don finished with a mischievous grin.

Mike looked between the two of his brothers with narrowed eyes. “You think you are funny but you really aren’t.”

“We are hilarious,” Ra snickered.

Purple sighed as he continued to think. He leaned his head back to look at the ceiling tiles above him as if the answer would be up there. Spoiler alert: it was not. “What should we do?” Purple asked himself.

Purple knew realistically that waiting a day for Draxum to recover his energy to heal Mike was not that long of a wait. The problem was if another soul was found and the soul wandered away if they took too long to get to it. There was no proof of that being possible so far with the two found souls so far but Purple liked to be think of every possible obstacle that could be thrown at them. Another solution was to ask for Ranger's resurrection to be postponed until tomorrow but Purple didn't want to have to ask his brothers for that. They had worked so hard for him to come back that day and Ranger's return was within reach.

“Why don’t I just heal him then?” Cassandra asked with a finger pointing to herself.

All eyes in the med bay turned to Cassandra. “Excuse me – what?” Purple asked as his gaze dropped from the ceiling down to Cassandra.

“I can do it, you know. Because I’m a healer and all that shit,” Cassandra said with a raised eyebrow.

It was like crickets in the room. “…Cassandra, I have known you for years by this point and you have never once mentioned that,” Purple deadpanned.

“Sure, I did,” Cassandra pouted and placed her hands on her hips. “I’ve mentioned it loads of times.”

“No, you never have,” Purple shot back with a twitching eye.

“You just don’t listen to me,” Cassandra huffed, turning away from him. “Remember when I said ‘I’m going to heal that fucker just so he can catch these hands all over again’?”

“Cass, this is a very important thing that I would definitely add to my record of you!” Purple argued, throwing his hands in the air. He smacked both of his hands to his face and groaned loudly. Once he got out of his system, Purple dropped his hands to look at Mike. “Well, looks like we do have another healer around that is volunteering her services.”

Cassandra held up a peace sign at Mike with a broad grin. “I give you the good ol’ Jones Family promise that you’ll be right as rain when I’m done.”

"Aww, great, the Jones Family promise," Ra grumbled as he thought of his own Casey Jones.

“Well, Mikey, want do you want to do?” Don asked.

With great effort that left his eyes spinning, Mike sat up fully. He slouched forward with his forearms on his folded legs with a tired stare. “Hey, I’m game if it gets me back in tip-top shape.”

“Excellent,” Cassandra beamed and jumped on the back of the bed behind Mike. Spitting once in each hand, Cassandra rubbed her hands together. “It’s been a while since I’ve healed someone but it’s just like riding a bike.”

Cassandra took Mike’s head in her hands and a silvery aura formed around her hands. Mike sweat dropped with a smile of surrender on his face. “I am suddenly very afraid for my life,” he said though his tone seemed light.

“Just don’t tense up,” Cassandra laughed as she readied herself. “I don’t want to accidentally break your neck and paralyze you like that one foot ninja recruit.”

“Excuse me – what?!” Don asked with his eye ridges shooting up.

Cassandra didn’t answer as she roughly cracked Mike’s neck to one side like a chiropractor. Just as quickly, she cracked it to the other side. Cass then turned Mike’s head back to the middle and push it down, pulled it back with another crack and then back to its original position.

As quickly as it had begun, Cassandra’s ‘healing’ had ended.

“Pizza supreme, woman, why is your healing methods so aggressive?” Purple said with a roll of his eyes.

“It’s the Jones Family method,” Cassandra shrugged. Reaching up, she flicked the back of Mike’s neck that sent a ripple of silvery energy over the skin. “There. You’re all good.”

“Mikey, you okay?” Ra asked immediately as he looked his brother in the eye. From how louds the cracks were, he was afraid that Cassandra had really just broken his neck.

Mike blinked to himself and raised a hand to his neck. He patted it for a second before dragging his head to the back of his head. Mike grabbed the edge of his bandages and pulled them off. Don peeked at the back of Mike’s head and his mouth dropped open when he saw the wound that Ranger had gave him completely gone. Even the cut above his eye had been reduced to a small and light scar.

“Woah…I feel so much better!” Mike beamed as he stretched out his neck. He looked over to Cass with a bright smile. “Thank you! That was awesome!”

“It was my pleasure,” Cassandra said as she put a hand to her heart and gave a small bow of her head.

“Yo, can you fix my Leo’s legs too?” Rex asked.

Jumping off Mike’s bed, Cassandra walked to Tricer’s bedside. She crossed her arms with one hand cupping her chin, bending at the waist to examine his weak legs. “We could try but I would have to break them first.”

“Yeah, no, I’m good,” Tricer immediately shot it down. “I can deal with hobbling around on my crutches for a bit longer.”

Cassandra stood up straight and shrugged. “Suit yourself.”

“Cass, I need your help with something!” Jennika called from somewhere in the lair.

“Is it beating someone up?!” Cassandra yelled back. Everyone in the med bay had to cover their ears from how loud her voice was.

“...sure, let’s say it’s that!” Jennika called back.

“Yay! I love beating people up!” Cassandra cheered as she ran out the med bay. Her shoulder clipped the edge of the doorway and instead of her body being jerked by hitting something, she went right through the metal as it ripped apart. Cassandra looked back to the ripped metal and waved a hand it. “I’ll fix that later,” she said before continuing on her way.

It was quiet for a second before Mike chuckled. “I like her,” he said and then looked to Don and Purple. “Can we trade Casey’s?”

“Pizza supreme, everyday Cass gives me more questions than answers about her,” Purple grumbled, smacking a hand to his forehead.

Don just patted Purple on the shoulder in pity.

…though, he was curious what the multiverse would be like with more Cassandra Jones’ spread out over them.

BONUS SCENE:

Junior was walking by with his arms full of books that he was moving to another corner to open space for all the universes hunkering down in the lair. Most of his recent days recently were full of this as Draxum didn’t trust anyone else to handle Orange’s ancient tomes handed down to him by Draxum himself. Junior was only allowed because he was known as the most careful and least accident prone of those in the family.

When he wasn’t, Junior found himself checking in with Master Donatello. It was such a rare chance to interact with someone from his time and – while guiltily as it meant Tello wasn’t in charge of his own body – Junior wasn’t going to waste it.

“Master Donatello!” Junior called as he saw Tello standing by the work station. Genius was nowhere to be seen but it was easy to guess that he was on his sleep break in the room that the family from universe 2016 was using at the moment.

Eyes with glowing purple pupils looked up at Junior and the edges of Tello’s lips quirked up. “Hey there, Junior.”

Junior took up residence next to Tello’s body that Master Donatello was using. “Any new souls yet?” Junior asked.

Master Donatello sighed and wrinkled his nose down at the screen. “Nothing yet. Though, we should be thankful for the moment as Mike is still not cleared for rescue missions.”

Leaning around to the look at the screen, Junior read the data flashing across the screen. It was showing how every universe in the multiverse was being scanned by some very high tech – and somewhat magical means – to see if a soul was hiding in them. The problem they were running into was there was just so universes out there that it was slow work finding one that contained one of the eighteen – now sixteen – missing souls.

“You see anything we’re missing?” Master Donatello asked, stepping slightly to the side to let Junior had better access.

Junior pursed his lips. His coding skills had come from the turtle himself but his college classes helped expand on what he could be taught especially when his teachings was cut short by Master Donatello’s death in his timeline. From what he could see, the coding was sound. It just needed time to work.

And he said just as much.

“That’s what I thought,” Master Donatello sighed as he stuck out a hip and placed a hand on it. “I was hoping a fresh pair of eyes would lead to something but a job between me, younger me, and the second-best Donatello is going to be pretty damn good.”

“You can try expanding the search radius but that runs the risk of brushing past a soul if the area is searched too thinly,” Junior offered.

“Which is something we especially don’t want to happen,” Master Donatello grumbled, his glowing purple pupils shining in the dim lighting of the workspace. It was getting late in the day and the lights of the lair had been turned down for those going to bed for the night. “With just how infinite the multiverse can be, we can’t run the risk of having to search a second time.”

Junior understood that. It was tough to sit there and accept that they just had to wait until the device finding all the missing souls did its job but that’s exactly what was needed to be done. Junior could only hope that they got lucky and found the rest of the souls in quick succession.

Luckily, a distraction came in to diverted their attention.

“Casey Jones Jr.!” Purple’s voice filtered in as the turtle stomped in. Purple looked like he was on a mission with how he stomped in from the med bay.

“Hi Donnie,” Junior greeted the Purple that he was living in the same timeline as now.

Purple marched all the way to Junior and only stopped right in front of him. Both hands came out to grip Junior by the shoulders. “Casey, let me ask you something,” Purple said seriously.

“Yes?” Junior said, tilting his head slightly to the side.

“Did you know Cass is a healer?” Purple asked.

Junior perked up. “Oh yeah! Mom was an awesome healer!”

“I don’t believe you,” Purple scoffed, pulling his hands off of Junior’s shoulders.

Master Donatello barked a laugh and paused in his work to face his younger self. “She was one of our best healers in the apocalypse.”

Purple’s mouth dropped open in shock as he looked between the two. “No way. I thought she was just messing with me and just learned it.”

Junior shook his head. “Mom’s healing was always super good because it healed up most injuries super quick. Master Leonardo used to be super jealous that he couldn’t do it too.”

“I remember how much he would get in a tiff when he was trying to splint a broken bone and Cass would just wake by and snap it back in place with her healing power mending the bone,” Master Donatello laughed with Tello’s voice. He wiped a laughter tear from the edge of his eyes.

“Yeah, when mom died, our forces were crippled heavily,” Junior said as his mood dropped like it usually did when he remembered the bad parts of his childhood.

Wanting to cheer him up again, Master Donatello used Tello’s shoulder to nudge Junior. “Remember how she would always say ‘I’m going to heal that fucker just so he can catch these hands all over again’? That used to make me and your sensei Michelangelo laugh so much.”

Purple groaned loudly at something, catching both of them off-guard. He turned on his heel and marched back the way he came without another word to either of them. Junior looked from Purple’s retreating back to Master Donatello.

Master Donatello looked to Junior. “Did I say something wrong?”

Junior shrugged.

Chapter Text

Universe 2018 – Orange’s Art/Mystic Arts Studio *Early the Following Morning*

Tricer wondered if his family had felt just as nervous as he did when he was the one being resurrected as he sat to the side of Ranger’s unmoving reanimated body.

The Leonardo sat on one side of Ranger’s new body while Draxum sat on the other side. Ranger’s orange soul that sparkled yellow static electricity every so often sat in Draxum’s hands, making the alchemist’s hands twitch every time he was shocked. Rex and Mastodon sat by Tricer’s feet while Teacher, Reporter, and Fighter stood behind them.

Like with himself, a new mask had been fashioned for Ranger out of some scraps. It was as close to the orange his brother liked to wear. Reporter had been the one to tie it around Ranger’s still head and it made Tricer queasy just how limp his brother had been. Ranger’s new body looked pretty dang close to the original but there was big difference that Tricer couldn’t stop looking at.

There was a scar that encircled Ranger’s neck, not unlike Tricer. The difference between their scars, though, was how rough Ranger’s looked. Tricer’s scar was a clean cut that was obviously one from a very sharp blade.

Ranger’s scar made his neck look like it had been hacked through.

The ending to the fight between Michael and Ranger would be one that would stay a mystery. They all knew how it ended but no one knew what exactly happened in the two streams of lightning the turtles had been fighting in. As much as Tricer tried to not to, he wondered just how Michael had taken his brother’s head off of his body.

Tricer’s stomach rolled at the scar on his brother’s neck and held a hand up to his own scar. While he didn’t see it most of the time, Tricer knew it was there. Every time he passed by a mirror, Tricer would slow just a little bit to stare at the scar that now rested there.

The nexus may be over but the marks of it would always haunt them.

Needing to give himself a small reset, Tricer looked away from Ranger’s empty body to the others in the room. Mike, now healed from Cassandra’s rather abrupt healing techniques, was sitting below the poster that had the names of every found and missing brother on it. Don was standing just to the side of the poster – and Mike by extension – while Ra on the ground as well where he was stretching his legs out.

Mike looked excited to have Ranger back. Tricer could see the hesitation in Mike’s eyes when the Michelangelo looked at the scars on both Tricer’s and Ranger’s necks. While it had been days since they had escaped Big Mama’s nexus, the emotional wounds on all of them were too fresh. No one had the capacity to tell Mike everything he had missed so far and Mike didn’t push it.

That didn’t stop the terrified curiosity Mike felt about the truth regarding how each Leonardo and Michelangelo aside from him died.

Tricer’s gaze moved to Leader and Wrath in the room with them. It was the first revival since Leader’s own resurrection two days prior. Recreating Ranger’s body had taken longer than Draxum had expected. The problem was that the soul had imprinted the memory of its body as pure electricity – the state it had been in when Ranger had officially died – so the alchemist had to do some backwards work to create a physical body.

Leader was seated in one of the few chairs the room contained and this one had to be dragged in to accommodate for Leader’s larger size. His crutches were leaning against the wall behind his chair. Wrath, who was looking better for wear as his bandages from fighting against Leader’s soul was slowly disappearing as his wounds heal. His frost nipped skin was more-or-less healed by this point with the only wound that was holding on with both hands was the mess of bruises on his sides from when Leader was punching him with thick ice knuckles.

Draxum, who had been doing some last minute checks of Ranger’s soul and new body, nodded to himself. “I believe we are ready now,” the alchemist said, making Tricer look back to the yokai sitting across of him.

Tricer’s hands that had been loosely curled on his kneeling knees curled tightly in anticipation. He watched as Draxum moved his hands in a complex pattern around Ranger’s sparking soul, letting it slowly float up out of his hand and into the air above Ranger’s still chest. Briefly, Tricer wondered how his soul had looked.

Draxum said something in a tongue Tricer couldn’t hope to understand and Ranger’s soul sent off one last larger spark before it dropped downwards. Ranger’s soul fazed through his chest and a wave of sparking yellow energy ran over his brother’s body. It travelled all the way over it and crackled off his fingers into the ground.

Tricer, along with everyone else in the room, leaned in a little closer to watch. Color began to return to Ranger’s skin and his right big toe twitched. Reporter grabbed ahold of Fighter’s hand and held on tightly, biting her bottom lip. Fighter didn’t mind and turned his hand so he could squeeze Reporter’s hand back in mutual comfort.

Mastodon’s fingers drummed against his legs when Ranger started to lightly jerk more as life returned to him. Rex whispered encouragements under his breath when Ranger’s chest carefully rose and fall as his body begun to breathe again. Draxum, happy with another successful resurrection, folded his hands into his sleeves and watched Ranger with a careful eye so he knew what to add to his record later regarding revivals.

Baby blue eyes cracked open. They winced and begun to blink as light hit him straight on. Ranger’s mouth parted open just slightly. Ranger’s hands minutely rose from the ground and Draxum noted how they shook.

Tricer’s breath hitched. He sat forward on his knees and reached a hand out towards Ranger. “Mikey?” he asked hesitantly.

Ranger sat right up as he gasped, feet scrambling on the ground as he backpedaled backwards. He didn’t stop until he hit the wall next to Mike and then both his hands came up to encircle around his neck. He was panting wildly with a drop of sweat rolling down the side of his face, like he had awoken from a bad dream. His shaking hands patted around his neck wildly as he felt for himself that there was nothing there separating his head from his body.

“Yooo, dude, you good?” Mike asked and Ranger’s wide eyes flicked to the side at him.

“Mikey, hey, it’s okay,” Tricer said, hands held up in a placating manner. He started to crawl across the ground towards his brother in slow, purposeful movements.

Ranger looked wildly around the room. He started at Draxum who regarded him with sympathy and then to Wrath standing by a sitting Leader’s side. The tallest Leonardo shot him a warm smile that didn’t meet his blue eyes. Ranger then looked to Mike – Mike, the same turtle he watched die in the match before his – sitting next to him again. Mike waved to him and Ranger wondered just what was going on.

Two more bodies shifted near Tricer and he looked over to see Rex and Mastodon watching him with apprehension. It looked like they wanted to reach out to pull Ranger into a hug but were also fearful what would happen if they did that at that very moment. Looking back to Tricer, Ranger saw the scar around his brother’s neck.

Ranger’s fingered brushed against the rough texture of the scar encircling his neck. “Did…did I die?” Ranger croaked out, his voice wobbly and cracking at the end. The shaking hands that held his throat shook more.

Tricer gulped and hesitantly nodded his head. “Yes, the two of us died.”

That explained the scar around Tricer’s neck.

Ranger took in a hesitant breath and slowly released his neck. He looked to his shaking hands. Gulping, he curled them into two loose fists that wouldn’t tighten further despite his command to. Shifting his gaze back up to his brothers, Ranger’s eyes misted. “Is it…over?” he asked with the same cracking voice.

Tricer nodded his head. “It’s over. She’s gone. We’re done fighting against our wills.”

The tears began to well faster in Ranger’s eyes. Despite being know for being the happy-go-luck brother, even Ranger had his breaking point. Tricer could see this and opened his arms for his youngest brother. Ranger didn’t waste any time diving forward into Tricer’s arms and cried.

Tricer could feel Rex and Mastodon run over and drop to their knees on either side of them. Two pairs of arms wrapped around Tricer and Ranger. The only sound that echoed around the room was Ranger’s cries. In the corner, Leader wiped at the corner of his eyes and Wrath even looked to the side and blinked to clear away a wetness to his own eyes.

Standing up from the ground quietly, Mike turned around to face the poster that had been hanging above him the entire resurrection process. He grabbed a marker off a nearby bookshelf and uncapped. Raising his arm, Mike drew an X next to Ranger’s name.

Mike took a step back from the chart and a heartwarming smile made its way on his face when he looked back at the completed family. “One family reunited. Only 9 more to go.”

Universe 2018 – The Main Area of the Lair *Right After Ranger's Resurrection*

Purple heard the soft crying of a family reunited from Orange’s studio drift in and his hands stilled from where they had been typing.

Genius, who was working on the computer next to Purple while Master Donatello reworked some wiring on the backside, paused. He leaned back to look at the shadows on the wall escaping from Orange’s studio. There was one more moving shadow than what he counted earlier and nodded to himself, going back to his computer.

“Ranger is back,” Genius said simply.

“Another successful resurrection,” Purple noted, unable to keep the bitter tone out. The first revived Michelangelo and while Purple should be happy with their progress so far – two Leonardo’s and one Michelangelo plus Mike who was never actually dead – he found himself jealous instead.

Purple’s hands left his keyboard to dig in his side pouch for a certain object. Once his hand found its once smooth and now rough texture, Purple pulled it out. He placed it on a part of the workstation’s console that didn’t have anything important at it. It balanced carefully on there and Purple drew his hand back. Genius’ eyes flicked to whatever Purple put on the console, going back to his own screen before pausing and double-backed to stare at it.

It was the ripped and dirtied omamori that Leader had given Party right before his first match.

“Where did you get that?” Genius asked. His hands were frozen above his keyboard. It felt like the air had suddenly grown thinner.

Purple hummed flatly as he looked at the charm. “My Leo gave it to me as he told me to bring everyone back with his dying breath,” Purple answered. He scratched at one of his arms absently as he could almost still feel the blood of his twin that died in his arms dried on them. Purple knew that blood was gone – Red had to physically stop him from rubbing his raw skin off after an entire hour of scrubbing at his arms – but the phantom warm stickiness was still there.

“How…” Genius trailed off as he connected the dots. The last time he had seen the charm, it had been hanging from Party’s gold chain when they had sent the turtle down the tunnel to his final fight that he didn’t return from. It had been easy to forget with the grief of the moment but Genius remembered watching Orange bending down after the fit to pick something off the ground a short distance from where Party had fell before hiding it in his cloak.

From there, Genius can assume that Orange must have passed it along to Blue somewhere before his own death.

“Fate has a funny way of connecting us all,” Purple answered dryly. His hands went down to the edge of his workstation’s desk and gripped it tightly, his head ducked as he took in a deep breath. “I hate fate. The notion of it, the way people fall onto it as an excuse, the very philosophy of it – I hate it all.”

“Why is that?” Genius asked. Master Donatello said resolutely quiet at his station, his eyes bouncing between the screens to take over control of the monitoring while Purple and Genius talked.

“Fate is such a fickle thing. There is no scientific backing to it but so many people still use it to explain why things happen when they shouldn’t. It’s like my mystic magic that I tried to deny for so long because there is no scientific reasoning behind it. I hate things that I can’t explain with science and fate falls into that category,” Purple scoffed, inhaling deeply as he raised his head to look at the ceiling of the lair above him. “It’s like Shakespeare said: Our failures come from our own actions, not fate.”

Genius was confused at this point. “Purple, what are you getting at?”

“All of this craziness – from Master Michelangelo’s crusade to now – all of it is my fault,” Purple admitted, smacking a hand to his tired face to drag it down.

“Why would you say that?” Genius asked, his brow pushing together in confusion.

“Because I know it is,” Purple answered, tired eyes dragging to the side to look at Genius through his fingers. “I’ve known for a while now but I didn’t want to accept the shame of it.”

Genius’ face turned down into a frown. He didn’t know what to make of that. The question of how it could be Purple’s fault was on the tip of Genius’ tongue.

But he swallowed it back and turned back to his computer.

“It is no one’s fault except Big Mama’s,” Genius said finally, fingers typing a little harder than necessary.

“She only knew about the multiverse because of what Master Michelangelo did,” Purple protested. “And he only knew because I couldn’t stop myself from trying to prove to myself that I am the superior Donatello.”

“It was an unfortunate series of circumstances,” Genius retorted. He had inkling of what the catalyst to everything was and he didn’t feel like diving in that. The screen of his workstation reflected against his glasses. “Nothing more, nothing less.”

Purple’s brows pulled together as self-hatred rolled through him. “I got everyone but Mike killed. How are you not mad at me?”

“Easy – I’m mad at Big Mama,” Genius answered. On his screen, the code showed the probe found no soul in its current universe and moved onto another. “She is the one that decided to use something that was supposed to be good for evil. She had so many chance to stop and she didn’t. Hell, she could have had it just be a fighting nexus like the Daimyo’s and that would have been leagues better. No, she used her power and knowledge for evil and it is her fault for everything.”

“You say that but I can’t fight the guilt,” Purple shook his head. “I hate feelings but this is one I feel strongly. I should have been the one to—"

“If you finish that sentence, I’m going to punch you,” Genius interrupted. Purple looked at Genius with wide eyes. Genius glanced to the side at his counterpart. “No one here blames and I sure as hell can guarantee that none of your brothers do either. Like I have said multiple times, it is not your fault. So, stop acting like it is. We were dealt a shitty hand but that’s not much different than usual.”

Purple shook himself out of his stupor. A certain ease melted into his tense muscles. “Looks like between the two of us, you are the superior in terms of emotions.”

“A compliment from you,” Genius chuckled and looked back to his computer. “It’s not your fault Big Mama chose evil. So, put your usual cockiness back on and get to work. We have sixteen more brothers to find and I’m going to need your brain for the ones that really good at playing hide-and-seek.”

One side of Purple’s lips quirked up at the edges. Sighing to himself, Purple let the self-loathing and blaming slid off of his shoulders. Genius was right – he was going to get no work done if he kept claiming fault for everything. While he was sure that some of the Raphael’s would be pissed if they found out why the multiverse was discovered in the first place, none of them would blame him for Big Mama’s actions.

Both Purple and Genius looked to the dirtied and ripped omamori that connected the two of them before going back to work. Deeper in the lair, they could hear Ranger pulling himself together. Laughter of relief from his family poured out and the two Donatello’s smiled at the recovery of their first fallen Michelangelo.

Master Donatello, who had been on the other side of the workstation rewiring some components and had stayed quiet during Purple’s and Genius’ discussion, smiled with Tello’s mouth and continued his work as he had done the entire time.

Chapter Text

Universe 2018 – Random Tunnel *Two Days Later*

Ranger poked at the scar around his neck with a shaky hand. The skin was raised and rough to the touch. Ranger’s fingers traced over the edges to it, feeling where each edge begun and ended.

The scar was just something he couldn’t get used to. Every time he passed by a mirror, it startled him with how much it stuck out. It was a permanent brand that he had been killed and that he didn’t remember his death.

It was like there was a definitive points marking his death and revival despite not remembering the former. He didn’t remember anything between the two moments but Ranger knew that some time had passed. Rex and Mastodon had looked tired when Ranger saw them but Tricer didn’t look as haggard. Perhaps Tricer didn’t live much longer than Ranger? It would explain why Tricer didn’t have the same haunted look their two middle brothers held in their eyes.

It bothered Ranger just how much he didn’t know. He had died in the second match of the entire nexus - though, he was technically the first to die in the nexus since Mike was rescued before he could hit the ground. No one wanted to talk about what happened after he died but Ranger wanted to know. He didn’t know who to ask without crossing the line that everyone seemed to unanimously agreed upon not crossing.

Even now, two days after his revival, Ranger was no closer to finding out the information he desperately wanted. His brothers had stuck close to his sides and helped when his hands shook so hard that he couldn’t hold anything in them. At first, he had been happy for the attention after dying.

But then it turned suffocating.

There was just someone always there. They never clung to him and hovered around like a perpetual living shadow like this before he died. Ranger understood the reason why they did it – hell, he brought would be the same if he watched two of his brothers die and had to live for almost a month without them – but it was too much when he was the one on the receiving end of it.

It wasn’t just his own brothers. All of their counterparts watched him like they were afraid he was going to disappear again. Ranger had noticed that everyone looked that way at him, Tricer, Leader, and Mike. There was a longing to their eyes that Ranger knew meant they were imaging what it would be like when their brothers were back.

Ranger tried – he really did try – to be patient with the constant presence of everyone always around him but even his social butterfly personality had a limit. It was too much when he was try to sort out his own thoughts about being killed and revived. The last few hours had felt the worse and when the chance arose when he finally had a minute with no one watching him, Ranger bolted down the nearest tunnel.

He didn’t even know how far he had gone. Ranger had just disappeared into a bolt of lightning and zipped down tunnel after tunnel. It was only after he was thrown out of the lightning bolt and slammed into an old tunnel wall that Ranger finally stopped running.

Perhaps he should be glad that he didn’t lose the ability to use his legs after resurrection like his brother.

Tricer had been very jealous that Ranger didn’t seem to have the same issues walking around after a resurrection like he did. Though, Ranger wasn’t sure if the trade-off of not being able to feed himself or brush his teeth or hold a comic without it dropping was very great. At least Tricer could get around on his crutches.

Mastodon had said Tricer should have nearly recovered his ability to walk like Leader had but his transformation and fight with Ranger’s ghost had set him back. A pang of guilt hit Ranger every time he thought about it. Tricer tried telling Ranger that it wasn’t his fault but he still felt like it was. It was his soul – his ghost – that attacked his brothers and gave Mike a new scar on his face.

Ranger wondered if it had just better if he hadn’t been found. Maybe it had been later, then they would have had Michael or Orange back who could have defeated Ranger’s ghost quicker. Perhaps it wouldn’t have ruined the progress Tricer had made to walking again.

Perhaps he wouldn’t have to deal with the confusion about the gap in his memory between his death and revival if he never came back to life at all.

There was a rhythmic thumping that brought Ranger out of his thoughts. He didn’t know where he was but Ranger knew that no one was supposed to be down in that tunnel with him. Ranger knew that Orange’s world was filled with yokais and mutants alike, and he was wondered if he had perhaps encroached on one’s territory without realizing it.

Ranger went on the defensive as he heard the loud thumping steps coming closer to him. He crouched over like a sprinter about to take off. The ends of his mask bows – shorter than what he was used to with his mail tails but was what they had to work with in the 2018 universe at the moment – stood up straight in the air. Crackles of electricity sparks off of his hands and from the corner of his eyes as he prepared for whoever was about to find him.

To his surprise, it was Red that turned the corner.

Red turned his head to the side and perked up when he saw Ranger. “There you are,” Red smiled, waving a large hand at the Michelangelo.

“Oh, hi Red,” Ranger greeted the large counterpart of his most hot-headed brother. The sparks of electricity gathering on his hands disappeared and he sat back down on the ground. Ranger's mask bows dropped back down into their natural resting position. He looked down at the concrete below him and traced a crack. “What are you doing here?”

“Believe it or not, you’re not the first Michelangelo to go on a little trip in these tunnels and worry his big brothers,” Red joked.

Ranger could see the broken heart of Red rearing its head at the subtle hint towards Orange. Ranger ducked his head and ran a shaky finger over the concrete. “I’m sorry.”

Ducking his head so he wouldn’t hit it on a pipe, Red approached Ranger. “Your brothers are worried about you. They were about to take to the tunnels to find you themselves but the rest of us were worried they would get lost in my world’s lair so Raph volunteered.”

“That was nice of you,” Ranger mumbled.

Red shrugged. “It’s not like Raph had much else going on right now. Donnie – sorry, my Donnie, Purple – is busy tracking down everyone else. Apr—Yellow and Junior have to make a bunch of trips topside to get supplies. Pops is off in the Hidden City trying to help straighten things out now that Big Mama is gone and Draxum is busy with his mystic stuff. And Cass is off being Cass. I was the one that was free.”

Ranger fidgeted in his spot. “…are my brothers mad?” he asked.

“Not mad, just worried,” Red answered honestly.

Ranger slouched in on himself. “I don’t know if that’s better or worse.”

“They’re your big brothers – it’s their job to worry,” Red laughed and turned back to the tunnel he had just come from. “C’mon. Let’s get you back to them.”

Ranger knew he should go back to his family when they were so worried about him but he couldn’t do that. Not yet anyways. He needed to know something first.

“Red?” Ranger called before the large Raphael could start heading back.

Red paused right at the intersection of the two tunnels and turned to look over his left shoulder. “Yes?” he asked.

Ranger’s tongue poked out to wet his lips as he gathered his courage. Taking in a deep breath, Ranger stood up straight. “Can I ask you something?”

Red turned fully to give Ranger his attention. He had an easy smile on his face as if he was talking to one of his own brothers. “Sure thing. What can Raph do for you?”

There was a beat of hesitance as Ranger almost lost his nerve. His hands shook more at his sides but Ranger pushed through. “Can you tell me about how I died?”

Red’s smile dropped away. It was such a sudden slip that Ranger had been surprised by the hesitant grimace that forced its way back. “Now, that wasn’t something Raph was expecting.”

“Sorry,” Ranger apologized. Sparks popped off the end of his mask bows in embarrassment. Licking his lips, Ranger fiddled with his fingers. “It’s just, you know, no one will tell me what happened. I can’t even ask Mike ‘cuz he doesn’t know much after he left and no one will tell him either.”

Ranger had been all sorts of amazed, relieved, confused and hurt when he found out that Mike had been alive this entire time. The feelings meshed together in a huge mess that he was still trying to work out. Like, he was happy that Mike didn’t have to die like the rest of them but it still hurt that they had to. Mike was also spared watching everyone else die killing each other while the others hadn’t been so lucky.

Though, Ranger was also lucky in the sense that he gone second and saw no other death from the nexus.

Red squirmed in his spot. “Are you sure you want to know? It’s not very good.”

“I need to know. I can’t remember anything,” Ranger said, grabbing at his head. “Big Mama did something to me and Michael right before our fight. I just remember the head-splitting pain as I fought against something telling me to fight.”

Red nodded along. “I remember. Pops said she used to do that to his opponents that didn’t want to fight against him in her original nexus. Something about overloading their fight-or-flight instincts until they broke and became a feral fighter.”

Ranger scratched at the side of his head. There was a small raised patch of scarred skin that was hidden under his mask. He could remember how he had started to hurt himself in response to the growing pain in his head and this scar remained from it.

“I guess I broke then, yeah?” Ranger laughed humorlessly.

Shifting uncomfortably, Red agreed. “You both did at right about the same time. From what pops said, you two were mentally strong to hold out as long as you did.”

Sighing harshly, Ranger dropped his hand to run a finger on the concrete again. “I don’t remember anything besides the pain in my head,” Ranger said. “It’s just that and then waking up on the floor in Orange’s studio.” Ranger’s other hand came up to the scar encircling his neck. “With this blasted scar on me.”

Red looked down at the discolored skin that hung around Ranger’s neck like a noose. “I feel like you already have an idea of how you died then,” Red said.

“An idea but no clear answer,” Ranger said with a wrinkle of his nose ridge. “All I got is a constant reminder of the shame that I tried to kill Michael and died thanks to Big Mama’s nexus branded right on me.”

“Scars are not something to be ashamed of,” Red said. “Nor do they have to be something we feel branded by.”

Ranger wanted to say something else but he faltered on a certain word. Looking back up to Red, Ranger furrowed his brow. “Wait, what do you mean by ‘we’?”

Red pulled the part of his mask that covered his right eye up to show a three-claw marked scar that crossed over it. Now that he was looking at it, Ranger could see a sort-of hazy glassy look to the eye. It was like the light didn’t reach it as well as it should have.

“Did you know that Raph was taken over and tried to kill Blue?” Red asked.

“Wha…?” Ranger said. He had no other words he could formulate at the moment with this info bomb.

“The kraang had captured and infected me,” Red explained. He sat down next to Ranger and slouched so they were closer to eye level – though there was still quite a distance with Red’s tall stature. “I don’t remember much of what happened during that time. Donnie – my Donnie, Purple – told me later after I kept pestering him that I tried killing them but Blue was the main one to go against me. I only remember hearing Blue begging me to come back and then waking up to holding up by his throat.”

Ranger gulped past the lump in his throat and looked away. “I’m sorry that happened to you.”

Red shrugged. “Like Raph said, Raph doesn’t remember most of it. Just little snippets that don’t make much sense to me.”

“So, you’re like me?” Ranger asked, his hand coming up to his throat again to touch the scar. “You understand?”

“Out of everyone right now, I get ya,” Red smiled at Ranger. “That might change once we start getting more Leo’s and Mikey’s back since Raph wasn’t in the nexus with you all but I get it.” His large hand seemed to enveloped Ranger’s shoulder completely as he patted the Michelangelo. “Look, Raph gets that wanting to know what happened after I pestered Purple to tell me what happened in the invasion. If you want to know, I’ll tell you. If you aren’t ready, then that is okay, too.”

Ranger didn’t hesitant. “It’s my death,” Ranger said resolutely. He looked up to stare Red in the eyes. “It’s my right to know how I died.”

Red exhaled and then nodded his head. “You’re right. It is a matter of time until you find out and you should be able to know what happened to you. If you want me to stop at any time, just say the word, ‘kay?” Ranger nodded and Red started to speak about what happened in the second fight of the nexus.

And Ranger held his breath as Red told him about his match against Michael.

Universe 2018 – Main Space

Purple looked up from his wrist screen, seeing Red and Ranger talking on it. They were seated across a camera Purple had set up in the tunnels near their home when they first moved into the new lair. Call him paranoid but Purple would wear that badge of honor knowing he could sleep easy at night knowing no one would sneak into their home without him knowing.

Lowering his arm, Purple went back to his workstation. “Red found Ranger. Looks like they are having a talk,” Purple said.

“I’ll go let Ranger’s brothers know,” Genius said and left the workstation to go talk to the brother hovering by the tunnel entrance they saw Red go down just a bit ago.

Master Donatello looked around the lair, noting more life as more brothers were returned to them. Leader was discussing something with some of the Splinter’s, a pair of long compression braces on his legs that he wore for some support. His ability to walk was more-or-less back but Draxum and Purple still wanted him to wear the braces for a few more days to give his legs any support it needed. Wrath was off in the lair taking a nap in the train car they were squatting in while in this universe.

Marie had a blanket laid out at the bottom of a playpen that the four baby turtles plus Baby Marie were playing in. Bo and Sai were talking with Don and Ra while the humans talked amongst themselves. Mike was in the playpen with the kids, pulling funny faces and laughing as he played whatever role they gave him in their game.

Rafa and Raph were in the middle of an arm wrestling match with their respective Casey cheering them on. Donald and Donnie, on the other hand, were fiddling with a box of failed inventions of Purple’s to see if they could repurpose them. Master Donatello saw El approach the arm wrestling duo with a request to compete against the winner in his eyes.

From the dojo, Master Donatello could hear Knight and Detective sparing against Jennika and Cassandra. Junior was standing in the doorway as he watched to be sure he didn’t get caught in the middle of either fight. From what he could hear, Master Donatello was pretty sure Jennika was taking a break to get some water and Cassandra was fighting against both turtles – and winning by a landslide.

Tech hobbled by on his crutches with his leg wrapped up in a thick layer of bandages. Watcher trailed after him, gauffering at something Hockey said and punching him in the arm. Kunoichi rolled her eyes and split off from the group to go find a counterpart of her’s to talk with.

“Hey, should we offer up Cass’s services to fix Tech’s leg?” Master Donatello asked his younger self.

“I still can’t believe she’s a healer and we never knew,” Purple grumbled under his breath. Shaking his head to clear that agitation, Purple shrugged and continued to type. “Sure, if he’s fine with her breaking his leg to fix it.”

Master Donatello’s eyes brushed over the wall of code on Purple’s computer screen. “What are you writing? The code is about as perfect as it’ll get.”

Purple’s hand stilled before he moved his mouse to minimize the screen. “It’s nothing,” he said.

Master Donatello knew it wasn’t ‘nothing’ but didn’t push it as his computer’s alarm went off. Everyone in the room stopped what they were doing and looked straight at the two Donatello’s with hope in their eyes. Even those in the dojo paused and poked their heads out.

“Who is it?” Purple asked as he ducked down to read Master Donatello’s computer. Pressing his lips together in disappointment, Purple straightened and headed back to his computer. “Other me, want to do the honors?”

Master Donatello winked at his retreating younger self before turning to the gathered crowd of purple and red themed brothers. “It’s your turn now,” Master Donatello laughed with Tello’s voice as he pointed to another pair of middle brothers.

Sai and Bo squared their shoulders in determination that they were bringing a brother home.