Donatello runs, his heart racing and his breaths coming out in panicked puffs. He rounds a corner, skidding to a stop as he tries to catch his breath. Only then does he realize that he's back in New York, the streets barren but not Kraang infested like they were the last time he was in the city.

"Wait...how did I get here?" he asks.

There's a rush of something moving behind him and he jumps, spinning around. The streets near the Dragon Gate remain still and empty. A wind blows, sending a plastic bag twisting and turning through the air. A low snarling can just be heard but Donatello can't figure out the source.

"Something's out there, but what?" Donatello asks himself.

He looks behind him as the snarling returns. A red-eyed thing lets out a roar, its giant body masked by the shadows. Donatello screams and runs away again, dashing into an alleyway, scrambling up the walls of the nearest building, and pulling himself onto the rooftops. He stops, leaning against a service entrance door as he tries to catch his breath.

The shadow of long claws appear next to his head. When he notices them, he yelps and barrels forwards as the claws slice at the spot where he once stood. He leaps across the rooftops before pushing off a telephone pole and disappearing underneath a water tower in a desperate attempt to save himself from the unknown horror.

He backs up, his heart still thumping wildly in his ears. His shell hits a plush, breathing shape, and a shriek sounds from his mouth as grimy yellow spit nearly falls onto his head. He sprints away, flipping over a streetlight and landing on the street as his giant green feet keep pounding against the still pavement. Spotting a garbage can, he throws himself in and slams the lid shut, enveloping himself in darkness.

His breaths come out quick and choppy as he slowly turns on his t-phone. The dim light from the screen slowly illuminates his terrified face, then the red eyes beside him. The thing roars, its massive yellow buck teeth closing in on the terrified terrapin as he screams.

----------

Leonardo grips one katana with both hands, shutting his eyes and breathing deeply. He brings the weapon up, slicing through the air and moving carefully as he practices alone. Nearby, Raphael and Michelangelo spar with each other.

Raphael does a backflip, landing near a tree. Destiny, who sits among the branches, watches the three turtles with amusement shining in her eyes. After a recent encounter with some mutant, human-hating frogs, she got a little bruised, prompting the turtles to insist that she take it easier with the sparring.

Below her tree, Diaval sits with his eyes shut and his legs crossed. Destiny's t-phone rests in his lap, attached to the earbuds streaming calming Mozart into Diaval's ears as he hovers a few inches off the ground.

"So is Donnie coming down or what?" Raphael asks as he dodges a few shuriken that Michelangelo flicks at him. He runs around the tree as the stars lodge themselves in the wood.

Michelangelo tails his brother around the trunk, nunchucks swinging. "I couldn't wake him up, so I put some dirty underwear on his face!" He grins proudly.

Destiny flicks her tail and crinkles her nose. "One, gross. Two, how do you even get that? None of you wear underwear."

Michelangelo winks and places one finger over his lips. "A ninja never reveals his secrets."

"That's one secret I don't need to know," she responds smoothly.

Raphael leaps at Michelangelo and the turtle dodges, blowing a raspberry and making the red-masked turtle lunge again. Raphael stops, glancing over to find that Leonardo is still warming up.

Raphael grins and races towards the leader in blue, sais at the ready.

Leonardo dodges his brother's attack swiftly, his swords clashing with Raphael's sais with a familiar clanging sound. Raphael kicks and Leonardo stumbles back before recovering. Their weapons meet once or twice more before Leonardo manages to flip Raphael over, the younger turtle landing with a grunt.

"Nice," Raphael compliments, hoisting himself back to his knees. "Looking good, Leo. You're really coming along."

Leonardo smiles and sheathes his katana. He tilts his head back and shields his hand against the sun, focusing in on Destiny lounging in the tree.

"Are you coming down any time soon?" he asks.

She rolls her eyes as a light smirk lifts her lips. "If I must."

Destiny stands on her tree branch, wobbling as she moves her arms out to her sides and regains balance. She takes a deep breath before springing into the air, flipping forwards and curling her body in before righting herself and touching down. She stumbles and buckles down to one knee, wincing, but she flashes a smile as soon as the turtles look at her.

She stands up and shakes her slightly multi-coloured curls. Diaval opens one eye and slowly lowers himself back to the ground as he pulls out an earbud, his pale eyes shifting to the front door of the house as April and Casey leave and start towards the hippie van.

"Hey, guys? We're heading down to the store," April calls as Casey climbs into the driver side.

"Any requests?" Casey asks, leaning his head out the window.

"Ooh, ooh, ooh!" Michelangelo chirps, flinging his hand up in the air. "I need some spicy gummy worms!" He collapses to his knees and thrusts both hands upwards as if begging to the heavens. "Need!"

Diaval's eyes widen and he scrambles to his feet. "Those exist?" he asks. Destiny can practically hear his mouth watering at the idea of a spicy candy.

"Yeah, he's not going to have that," Casey says with a shrug.

"That store is tiny, Mikey," April adds, climbing into the passenger side. "It's the kind of place that has peanut butter or jelly."

Casey waves as he revs the engine and backs up the van. "Be back in a few!"

They drive away, leaving the four mutants and Diaval to their own devices. Diaval sits back down beneath the tree and starts to scroll through his music options. Michelangelo bounces over to his side and sits, taking the free earbud and popping it in. Diaval gives him a blank look. The turtle pokes his tongue out as he grins and squints one eye.

Leonardo punches his palm with his fist and grins, turning back to Raphael. "Okay, let's do this," he says.

He backs up and Raphael rushes him. They grunt, throwing punches and kicks at each other as they twist and turn and skip over the earth. Raphael places a punch on Leonardo's side and the blue-masked turtle retorts with two knee-kicks to his brother's plastron. Raphael flings him away and Leonardo retaliates easily, leaping at him and flinging his leg out, the base of his foot connecting with Raphael's oncoming fist.

There's a sharp cracking that only Destiny's sensitive ears pick up. Leonardo lets out a cry of pain and collapses, gripping his injured leg. Destiny moves to his side faster than someone can blink, one hand on his shoulder and her tail fur spiked. Michelangelo leaps to his feet and rushes away from Diaval as the boy frowns lightly.

"Your leg..." Destiny whispers, an edge in her tone that makes it sound like a question. Leonardo refuses to look her in the eye.

"Leo, you were hurt bad, bro. You gotta give yourself time to heal," Michelangelo says worriedly as both him and Raphael move closer.

"Yeah, but how long?" Leonardo asks, pushing himself to his feet as Destiny drops her hand from his arm. "This is taking forever." He starts limping towards the porch, wincing with every step. Michelangelo places a hand on his brother's shell lightly.

"Leo—" Destiny starts, eyebrows lifted and lips twisted downwards.

"I'm fine! I'm fine!" Leonardo insists, brushing Michelangelo's hand away from him. "I'm just gonna take a minute."

The remaining three mutants watch as he goes into the house.

"Good. Some rest should help," Raphael says, his face falling.

Destiny runs a hand up her arm, calming the goosebumps that have appeared. Michelangelo glances sideways at her, skimming down her body and honing in on her tail.

"You alright, dudette?" he asks.

"The crack, the sound that his knee made, it's..." She shakes her head and shuts her eyes as her hand shifts down to brush her waist. "I just...wish it had never happened to him."

The two brothers look at each other, memories of drifting snow, fires, smoke, Destiny's unexpected return and Leonardo's downfall filling their brain-space. Raphael reaches over and pushes Destiny's hand away from its resting spot.

"We all wish that," he admits. He nudges her lightly with his shoulder. "But hey, we're gonna be stronger because of it. Alright?"

She takes a cleansing breath and nods. "Alright."

----------

Crognard the Barbarian plays on the TV as Leonardo lays on the couch. He shifts lightly and his knee moves just enough for pain to jolt him awake.

He yelps, gripping his knee as he sits up. He sighs heavily and grabs his crutch. "Sleeping isn't gonna help," he grumbles as he heaves himself upwards. "Guys? I'm going for a walk."

"Rock on, bro!" Michelangelo calls from the kitchen.

He disappears out the door and heads into the forest. It's nighttime already, which he finds odd. It was midday when he went into the house. He must've slept longer than he thought.

"Ah, taking forever," he grumbles, still limping along amongst the trees as he glares down at his leg. "I'm never gonna get better!"

He throws his crutch to the ground, his head drooped in defeat. He casts his eyes to the sky, watching the shooting stars blaze past. As he watches, a brighter pinprick appears in the curtain of blackness, getting larger by the second.

"What?" he wonders aloud.

It streams closer and his eyes widen as he realizes that it's coming straight for him. With a desperate grunt, he leaps out of the way and it crashes into the ground behind him, the impact sending dirt and smoke everywhere. Leonardo shields himself from the dust clouds briefly before looking to the wreckage.

A gasp escapes him. A smoking meteorite sits before him in a crater; a black rock wrought with glowing blue veins traversing it. The ninja turtle stands and moves closer, inexplicably drawn to the strange thing.

"Whoa," he whispers.

He purses his lips, reaching out his hand gently and placing it on the rock. A strange hum sounds as a pale blue aura surrounds him. He straightens up.

There's a sharp jolt and he screams as the stone turns his body into a silhouette of burning whiteness. It only lasts a second or two, but when it ends, the turtle is flung backwards into a tree. He lands, letting out a small noise of surprise.

He lays there for a moment, waiting for the pain of the impact to come to him, but nothing does.

"Weird. That didn't hurt," he mumbles, pushing himself to his feet. He kicks his leg out. "And my leg...my leg doesn't hurt either!" A euphoric smile spreads across his face as he looks to his hands. "I feel fine! In fact...I feel great!"

He leaps into the air, pushing himself from tree to tree with expertise. He flings his weak leg out, splitting an entire trunk completely in half. He laughs, feeling strong and happy once again.