They all rushed to the kitchen, Rael and Angelo starting to worry about how much the kitchen could harm Casey. It was more likely now that they knew what this Casey was like and, if they were honest, he seemed like the type to accidentally lock himself in the oven.

Rael slid into the room first, then stopped in his tracks, the others slamming into his back. Angelo groaned in pain, having been sandwiched between Donnie, April, and Rael's spiked shell.

"Aaand that's why you don't run," Raph remarked, arms crossed, stepping around Rael. He then stopped, too, as he took in the scene in front of him.

Casey stared back, then slowly set the pancake he was about to shove whole into his mouth down.

"Um, hey," he said, then swallowed. "How's it goin'?"

Angelo peeked out from behind Raph, Donnie and April on the left of Rael. Angelo then gasped in horror. "MY KITCHEN!!" he screeched, grasping his head.

Casey's eyes flickered between the five, then back at the food set on the table. He had only eaten a small amount, but the mess he left behind was... disastrous.

It wasn't that bad, Casey figured, then took it all into consideration and denied his previous thought.

It was, indeed, that bad.

Angelo crumpled to the ground and stared at the havoc in front of him. Raph patted him on the head in sympathy, then turned to Rael, who was still taking it all in with his mouth dropped, and April, who was holding her hand over her mouth in disgust.

Donnie was simply staring, wide-eyed, and blinked, then turned to Raph slowly.

"Oh," he murmured, "my cheese crackers."

Raph rolled his eyes internally at Donnie's swear-stitution. The others had taken to calling Donnie's weird words swear-stitutions, a mixture between swear and substitutions. Though they kept Donnie from swearing, Raph didn't really understand why Donnie didn't just say fuck.

"I'll, uhm," Casey muttered, then glanced back at the devastation he had caused. "I'll help clean up."

"Damn right you will!" Angelo suddenly shouted, then stood up. He headed further into the kitchen, towards Casey.

Well, Raph thought, at least one Mikey knew how to swear.

"You're also going to help me make more of these, since you ruined most of it."

"I only ate, like, two pancakes!" Casey protested, standing up.

"You RUINED the others," Angelo hissed, pressing himself up into Casey's face.

Casey backed away from Angelo and glanced at the others for help, only earning unsympathetic stares from all of them. He looked back at Angelo, "Y-Yeah, okay."

Angelo nodded and crossed his arms. "That's what I thought."

"I'll take the others to go get some, uh... mops and rags and... stuff," Rael trailed off, backing away. The others followed slowly, leaving Case to fend for himself with Angelo.

Raph didn't feel bad for the guy. He had it coming, especially since it was Angelo. Since Angelo had proven time and time again to be similar to Mikey and Mikey absolutely loved cooking, it was no surprise that Angelo was the same.

"So, where we headed?" Raph asked, Rael pausing slightly in his step.

"Uh," he started, "away."

Raph glanced at Donnie and shrugged, Donnie doing the same back.

"I'm not complaining," Donnie said.

"Honestly, Angelo is scarier than Raph sometimes," April added.

"I'm not scary," Raph replied, then paused. "I'm just mean. A lot."

"...which makes you scary," Donnie finished.

Raph rolled his eyes, simply accepting it rather than arguing further. Donnie was stubborn, as was Leo, and Raph didn't want to fight in front of the softie version of himself.

Not that being a softie was bad, necessarily, Raph just didn't think the large, spikey version of him was going to be a nice guy.

They had all decided to simply hang out in the main room while they waited for Angelo and Casey to finish cleaning and cooking. When Leo, Nardo, Mikey, and Tello started heading to the kitchen, Rael stopped them.

"Angelo and Casey are, uh... busy."

Confusion flashed on their faces.

"Busy?" Nardo echoed.

"Hopefully not the way that I immediately assumed," Tello muttered, earning an elbow in the side from Nardo.

"Yeah, Casey made a bit of a mess in the kitchen," Donnie replied.

"They're cleaning up and then they're gonna make more breakfast," April said.

"Hopefully they hurry," Raph added bitterly.

"You guys can just hang out with us," Donnie invited, and the others either shrugged or smiled.

They sat in a circle, Rael across from Leo, and in the order of Rael, Raph, Mikey, Nardo, Tello, Leo, Donnie, and April.

A few minutes of silence followed, only interrupted by groans of defeat from Tello, who was playing a game on his phone. Of course.

"We should call April and Casey," Nardo said finally, most of the turtles (and the pick me) looking up at him.

"April's right here," Donnie said, then Raph cut off Rael when he was about to speak.

"And Casey is, unfortunately, here as well."

Mikey jabbed Raph in the bridge, a slap on the head returned.

"We're not talking about your Casey and April," Rael said, giving Raph a quick glare for smacking Mikey. "We mean our Casey and April, the ones who are staying at April's house?"

"Ohh," the 2012 turtles cooed, then paused.

"So you're going to call April?" Leo asked.

"We'll probably message her. It'll be easier, especially if she's busy right now," Nardo cut in.

"We would contact Casey, but he doesn't have a phone yet," Rael added.

"We had larger priorities than giving Casey a phone," Tello called, glancing between the other turtles. "Like saving the world from the Kraang."

"Or dealing with the sudden paparazzi," Nardo swooned. "Not that I minded, I was finally getting the attention I deserved."

Nardo was cut off with an "Ow-" after Tello smacked his head.

"Leo, you get plenty of attention," Rael said, then paused and smacked his face. "Er, Nardo. Sorry, force of habit."

Nardo and Leo both shrugged. They knew who he was talking about.

"Anyways, I'll go call her," Rael stood, gesturing to an empty room behind him.

"Tell her I said hi," Nardo called after him.

"Oh, notify her of Angelo and I missing her," Tello added. Rael waved towards them as he left, gesturing that he would.

Tello sighed and laid back against his seat, glancing at Nardo. "Think Case's gonna freak out?"

"Bet you twenty," Nardo whispered back, earning a smirk from the softshell.

"You're on, brother."

-

"So, which one do you want to watch?"

April was holding The Nightmare Before Christmas in one hand and the original Halloween in the other. She was sitting on the floor in front of her TV, knees tucked beneath her. Casey was sitting on the couch a few feet away, thinking about which to watch.

Casey and April had held a Halloween Movie Battle, basically picking between all of the Halloween-themed movies the O'Neils owned. Though April definitely preferred scarier movies, The Nightmare Before Christmas was one of her favorites. That's why Casey was choosing.

"I think..." Casey started, then paused as he second-guessed his decision. "Uhh..."

"Scary or not scary?" April asked, holding each movie up when she called out its scare level.

"...not scary," Casey tried. April almost laughed at how unsure he sounded.

"Alright, Nightmare Before Christmas it is!" she chirped, popping the DV out and sliding it into the player. She plopped down next to Casey and grinned at him. "Good choice, Case."

Casey smiled. "Thanks."

April had to skip through some of the beginning credits and start the movie with a remote, but then it had started, both of them snuggling under the piles of blankets they had gathered.

Suddenly, around the time Jack started to discover Christmas Town, April's phone started buzzing.

April groaned. "Seriously?"

She leaned forward and plucked the device off the coffee table, then sighed. She turned to Casey and waved the phone at him slightly. "It's Raph, I gotta take this."

Casey nodded, and as April got up, she answered the phone. "Do you want me to pause it?" Casey whispered, and April shook her head.

"Raph, you picked the worst time to call me," April decided to open with. "Casey and I are watching a movie."

"Sorry, I just- you know those other us-es that we saw yesterday?"

"Yeah."

"Well... now there's another you. And another Casey, and we just... figured you might want to meet them."

April's eyes widened and she glanced at Casey, who was entranced by the movie. "Are you kidding?! Casey will flip his lid if we introduce another new thing to him!"

"I'm sorry, I know, we- we just thought it would be nice for him to meet another human. That isn't a girl."

"That's a bit sexist, isn't it?" April muttered.

"I didn't mean for it to be," Rael apologized, then sighed. "We also miss you guys. We want to see how Case is doin' and how you're doin', too."

April closed her eyes and sighed, crossing her arms while leaving her right hand up near her ear. "Alright, alright... we'll be over in fifteen."

"Thanks, 'Pril," Rael answered, pure sincerity flooding his voice.

"Mm-hm," April hummed, then hung up the phone. She headed back toward Casey and put her phone down on the table, then resumed her spot on the couch.

A few minutes passed, and the Christmas Town bit was over. April paused the movie, earning a confused stare from her friend.

"The guys need us," April said, then got up. "Sorry, I know we were in the middle of the movie, but..." She bit her lip. "It's important."

Casey nodded. "If it's important, then it's fine."

Within the next five or so minutes, the two were ready to go, and were off on April's bicycle. She had gotten pegs on her back wheels so Casey could ride with her, which left the boy grasping onto April's shoulders like it was...

She probably shouldn't use that analogy.

Once they arrived at the main manhole they used to visit the turtles, April parked the bike behind a dumpster and took off her helmet. "Here we go," she said, handing her helmet on one of the bike handles. Casey did the same and followed April down, the two of them climbing down opposite sides of the tunnel leading down.

Once they reached the bottom, Casey spoke up. "So what's going on?"

"Nothing too major, they just need us at the lair."

"Do you know why?"

"Raph didn't really explain to me."

"So... we're just going in blind?"

"Guess so."

"What if it's a trap? Or maybe we need weapons...? Oh, crap, we left your bat at your house! We should go back and-"

"Casey!" April suddenly shouted, stopping and turning around. "It isn't '44 anymore. You can relax."

Casey halted his breath, suddenly shot back to the apocalypse, April right in front of him, then she wasn't, she was gone, dead. He blinked and the image was gone, just a distant thought peeking out of a corner of his brain. His eyes stung slightly, the threat of tears burning his throat.

"Y-Yeah, I'm... I'm sorry," Casey muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. "I just... it's taking a bit to get used to, y'know?"

April stared at him sadly. "I know, Case. It'll be okay. We stopped the Kraang, they won't come back. All we need to do now is just live our lives. There's no more Kraang, no more apocalypse, no more anything. We're safe. The only enemies we have now are some mid dudes who don't know what they're doing," she joked, earning a smile from Casey. "But you know what? That's fine. We deserve a break from all the big bads. And your PTSD from the future isn't out of the ordinary or foreign to us; we've all got something we're traumatized from. We understand what you're feeling. Maybe not fully, but we can relate. You can talk to us. You can talk to me."

Casey choked back tears, suddenly pulling April into a hug. She didn't hesitate in hugging him back, squeezing the boy tightly until he started to let go. She held onto his shoulders lightly and looked directly into his wet eyes.

"Don't take this in a weird way, but I love you, man. You're one of the best humans I've ever met," April said.

Casey paused, then smiled wide, one of the first and most meaningful smiles he'd ever given someone. The last time he smiled like this was probably...

Casey remembered Master Leonardo, how he had taught Casey to read. His mom, Cassandra, hadn't been able to since she was hurt badly at the time.

-

"So, what sound does this letter make?" Leon had asked.

"Mmmm," Casey mumbled, looking hard at the M Leon had drawn on the paper.

"That's right, good job!"

Casey grinned, pride swelling in his chest.

"What's this letter?"

"Aaa."

"And this one?"

"Qwuh," Casey replied. "Can we do something harder? I know these already."

"Sure," Leon wrote something down on the paper, then showed it to Casey. "What word is this?"

"That's..." Casey paused for a moment. "...dream."

Leon slid the paper back to himself and wrote another word down. "Can you read this one?"

Casey looked at the paper and sounded it out in his head. De... fia... nt. De-fi-ant? Dih-feye-ent. "Defiant?"

Leon's face flashed with surprise, then gave way to a proud grin. He patted Casey on the back, "Yeah, it is! Awesome job, Case."

-

Casey stared at April, beaming at her. His eyes were still wet and he started laughing.

"Wait, what's so funny?" April asked, letting go of Casey's shoulders and retreating a half step.

"Nothing, nothing- sorry, I'm okay," Casey slowly calmed himself down, gaining hold of his giggle attack. "It was just... the irony, I guess. And thank you, April, really. That means a lot."

"No, plethora means a lot," April joked, then lightly punched Casey's arm.

Casey laughed. "That's true, it does."

They paused, soaking in the light moment, before April sighed. "We should get going."

Casey nodded. "Yeah, let's go."

It wasn't too far of a walk after that, they just had to make their way around the sewer labyrinth April seemed to know awfully well.

When they finally reached the entrance to the sewer, Casey stopped. "Uh, April?"

"Yeah?" April paused and turned around halfway to look at her friend.

"Am I seeing double, or are those...?"

April glanced back over at the sewer. A little bit away was a few of the turtles and their alternate selves.

"Oh, shoot, uh..." April turned back to Casey. "Yeah, there's more of the turtles. They're from an alternate universe, I guess? Leo accidentally portaled them here."

Casey gaped at April. "And you didn't think to tell me?!"

"I didn't want to concern or overwhelm you!"

"I'm not a child, April," Casey replied, slightly hurt. "I literally grew up during the end of the world, I can handle my own emotions without you trying to do it too."

April paused. "I know, I'm- we just want to make sure you feel safe, y'know?"

Casey sighed. "I know, and thank you. I just... I don't need that. What I need is to be treated like a 15 year old."

(Case doesn't have a confirmed age so I say he's Rael's age)

"We'll start doing that," April replied, patting Casey on the shoulder. "Should we go introduce you?"

Casey rolled his eyes playfully. "If we must."

April laughed, Casey joining, then they headed inside the lair.

-

Big Mama sat in her chair, staring down at the new recruit before her. She smiled sweetly and pushed the contract towards him.

"Don't be scared, Dear," she cooed, leaning forward onto her elbows. She folded her fingers together and rested her chin on them. "Big Mama always follows through with her deals."

The boy stared at her, eyes unforgiving and stern. He was a white rabbit, maybe a bit of a light grey or blue, with brown freckles dotting his cheeks and ears. He had his ears in a ponytail and was wearing a medium blue kimono with dark blue symbols on the chest, white hikamas over it. He had dark blue eyes and a pink scar over his nose. On his feet, he wore some sort of waraji or sandal.

Big Mama cocked her head at him as he stayed put, leaning back in the chair and crossing his arms.

"Don't you want to be freed, little bunny?"

"I'm not a bunny, minikui kumo."

Big Mama's eyes narrowed, and she glanced over at one of the henchmen lining the walls. "What did he call me?" she snapped.

"A spider, Ma'am," the bull responded quickly.

Big Mama looked back at the bunny, who was smiling slyly. He was staring at Big Mama's desk now.

"That sounded like two words," she growled.

"I-It's how Japanese works-" the worker stuttered, then was cut off.

"No, actually," the rabbit said. "It's not." He sat up straight and bore his eyes into Big Mama's, a challenge. "I called you an ugly spider."

Big Mama almost gasped aloud, but she refrained. "Ugly spider?" She turned her glare to the same yokai who had lied to her. "You dare lie to me?!"

She stood up abruptly, the yokai flinching as she did. Big Mama stepped over to him slowly, calmly, and stood right in front of him.

"Look at me." He looked down, making eye contact. They stared at each other for a moment, then Big Mama flicked her wrist towards the yokai in front of her. Two other yokai, a tiger and a koala, came forth from the wall and grabbed the bull by his shoulders.

"No, wait-" he started, panicking, but then the tiger slapped her paw over his snout.

"Do not speak unless spoken to," she growled.

The koala started pushing the bull away, making sure not to hit Big Mama or any of the other guards. The tiger had returned one paw to the bull yokai's shoulder, the other still clamping his jaw shut, as they dragged him out of the room. Once they were far enough away from the doors, two yokai shut the double doors behind the three, returning to their stations immediately after.

Big Mama returned to her seat, satisfied, and looked back at the rabbit yokai in front of her.

"Well?"

He looked back down at the contract. Silently, he leaned forward in the chair and picked the paper up, scanned it, flipped it over, then set it back down face-up. He relaxed back into the chair and crossed his arms and legs.

"If I'm going to fight in your Battle Nexus, I'm going to pick some things to have done." What a horrible opening.

Big Mama smiled and waved out towards him. "Go on."

"I want two meals a day and only a few fights a week. Medical care after each fight would be nice, and I want to be able to keep my clothes like this. My swords being returned to me is also going to happen."

As he listed these things off, Big Mama crossed each one off of her list of things to give the boy. There was no way he was only eating twice a day.

"How about three meals a day, a properly good cell to stay in, your clothes are washed once a week, and you can get your swords before each fight?"

A few of the guards seemed surprised at her hospitality. Big Mama was surprised she was willing to go this far for a rabbit samurai. Honestly, she just thought people would like him, and maybe he would bring more yokai to the Nexus.

The rabbit's eyes widened slightly, only for a second, before they returned to their bored appearance. "A shower each week as well."

Big Mama nodded. "Of course. Wouldn't want that lovely fur of yours getting all dirty and tangled."

He rolled his eyes. "I could care less about my fur getting tangled, Kumo-rui. I just don't want dirt getting into my ears and nose."

Big Mama sighed. "All of this will be taken care of once you sign the contract."

The bunny held his gaze on Big Mama for a moment, then looked down at the paper. All he had to do was pick up the pen and sign on the line...

The bunny sat up and grabbed the pen, then clicked the nib down. "And there is no fine print I'm not seeing?"

Big Mama feigned slight offense. "Petit lapin, I would never."

He glanced up at Big Mama, then back down at the paper.

Just sign it, Big Mama urged internally, anxious for him to just do it already.

The rabbit pressed the pen onto the paper, writing on the line. It only took him a moment to finish. He clicked the pen and set it down beside the paper, leaning back again.

Big Mama picked the contract up and scanned his signature. What an interesting name.

"That's not a very creative name, is it?" she wondered aloud.

The boy laughed slightly and shook his head. "No, it isn't. Blame my ancestors."

Big Mama stared at the signature, then lowered the paper and looked at the bunny.

"Usagi," she said, "welcome to the Battle Nexus."

-

Tello sat in his lab, thinking of how to help Donnie out. Usually he wouldn't care, but Donnie was one of the only people who seemed to actually understand him. Rael, Nardo, and Angelo would do their best to help and listen to him- Angelo was the best at it- but they didn't get it. Donnie seemed to, so Tello wanted to help the guy out with his relationship problems.

There seemed to be some sort of love triangle between Donnie, Casey, and April. Tello shuddered at the thought of him with April, the April who wore glasses and was dating Sunita. April was lesbian and Tello was aroace, or somewhere on the spectrum of not wanting anything to do with love since technology was his one and only love, but that didn't matter to the other versions of them. Donnie seemed to be straight, even though Tello's gaydar screamed bisexual at him, and April was giving HUGE homophobic douchebag vibes. Tello figured April was the type of girl to claim feminism yet be sexist towards men.

It was quite obvious that Donnie liked April, or at least used to. After Tello's little blow up on April and argument with Donnie, it seemed that the latter was starting to open his eyes. Tello would be the first to admit that he could've been nicer about it, but at that point, Donnie needed to be smacked awake.

Tello rubbed his forehead in thought. His socks, gloves, bandana, battle shell, belt, and goggles had been discarded to their respective random areas in the room. He had his feet resting on the table beside his goggles as he leaned back in his chair.

Maybe if he tried to get Donnie to like someone else?

No, the guy would still be hung up on Casey and April. It seemed obvious to Donnie that they were crushing on each other, but April seemed to feel the same towards Casey as she did Donnie. Not to mention the fact that Casey didn't act like he loved April, it was more of trying to upset Donnie by getting with the turtle's crush.

Donnie was obviously not very fond of Casey, but that may change now that they don't have April to fight over. If Donnie stops reacting to Casey flirting with April, then Casey will stop flirting with April, and they won't have anything to rival over. Tello and the others can purposely leave them alone to try and get them to interact in a positive way, hopefully sparking a friendship between them. If friendship doesn't work, maybe they'll at least be cool around each other.

If worst comes to worst, Donnie and Casey will somehow hate each other more than they do now.

Tello wondered how the hell that would be possible.

He sighed and sank back into the chair, his arms hanging off the armrests. He was practically laying down in the chair now, and when he breathed, it sounded labored, like half of his throat was closed up. Tello figured that wasn't good and sat up straight, pulling the chair forward with his feet so they could stay up on the table.

Well, whatever happened between the two, Tello couldn't take responsibility. It was a foolproof plan, except Donnie was a genius like Tello, and Casey was the fool. That meant Donnie would be most likely to fuck it up, which meant Casey wouldn't be too much of a problem.

Tello leaned forward and plucked his phone off the table, then settled back into the chair. He opened the group chat with his brothers and started typing.

I have an idea to help Donnie get over April. Meet me in five in my lab and bring your alternate selves. Make sure Casey, Donnie, and April do not come.

Angelo stared at the message on his phone, having stopped wiping the table down to look at what Tello sent him.

"Angelo?"

He glanced up at Casey, who was mopping the floor. "Oh, sorry. Uh I just remembered I... I have something right now with Tello."

"Wait, so you're just leaving me here to clean alone?" Casey paused mopping and stared at Angelo accusingly.

"Yeah, but- only for a little bit!" Angelo apologized. "I'll be back soon, this won't take long."

Casey rolled his eyes and groaned. "Okay, fine..."

Angelo shot Casey a thankful smile and bounded out of the kitchen, leaving the rag on the island.

He nearly tripped over when he started climbing the steps to Tello's room, but quickly used his arms to balance himself and keep going. Whatever Tello meant by his message, it was probably important, so Angelo wanted to hurry.

As soon as Angelo got to Tello's lab, he crashed through the door, panting. "What- What's wrong, D?"

Everyone in the room looked at him, slightly surprised at how out of breath Angelo was.

Angelo looked around the room. Was everyone already here? He counted them off. Nardo, Tello, Leo, Raph, Mikey, Rael, and...

"April, Casey!" Angelo grinned.

"Hey, Mike!" April replied. She hugged Angelo, both of them squeezing for a second before letting go.

Angelo glanced at Casey and was about to hug him, but noticed Casey stiffen slightly, so Angelo stopped and opted for a simple greeting. "Hey, Case, how's it going?"

Casey smiled, a small and somewhat shy smile. He seemed preoccupied with something inside his mind. "Good, thanks."

"Welcome to the party, Angelo," Tello cut in flatly. "Take a seat, you three."

It seemed April and Casey had just arrived, too, or maybe they came with Rael and the others. Either way, Angelo sat cross-legged on the floor, April and Casey choosing more relaxed positions. April sat with one leg straight out and the other up by her chest, arms wrapped around her calf and chin resting on her knee. Casey was small, that was the best way to put it. He sat with his calves tucked beneath his thighs and his shoulders pressed into his torso, hands resting on the middle of his thighs.

"Alright," Tello started, leaning forward in his chair and tapping his fingers together as if he were a villain, "so here's the issue.

"Donnie and Casey halfway hate each other because of April. Not you two," he added, April and Casey seeming confused. "The other yous. Anyways, April is a manipulative son of a gun, but I already told Donnie that, and I think he understood. He hasn't been fawning over her as much recently. I also think that Casey was pretending to like April because he liked how Donnie reacted to it, kind of like how siblings will do things just to annoy the other.

"So, I've decided to help Donnie and Casey out a bit. Once Casey realizes Donnie doesn't care about the teasing-flirting with April, he'll stop doing it. Donnie will feel better knowing that Casey doesn't like April and they won't have anything to rival over anymore. That's where we come in.

"We're going to try and get them in situations where they'll have to work together. Hopefully, this will help them become friends."

Nardo sighed. "Don, we don't really have many things that will get those two together."

"And from how you described it," Rael added, "Casey likes Donnie already."

"What?" Raph said suddenly, looking at Rael.

"Our Casey?" Leo asked. "Like, Casey Jones? The one addicted to skull face paint and hockey sticks?"

"Yes, Leonardo," Tello replied, rolling his eyes. "And thank you, Rael, for clearing that up for everyone. It's almost as if none of us realized that earlier."

They all stared blankly at Tello.

"That was not sarcasm, by the way. Most of us did not know that," Tello clarified.

"Then why'd you say it like that?" Mikey asked.

"He's autistic," Angelo replied, hands on his calves. He rolled back slightly onto the bottom of his shell. "He has a hard time expressing emotion in his tone and is really monotone most of the time."

"Among other traits, yes," Tello added. "I have autism, as it has been diagnosed. By me, of course, since none of these hooligans would be able to."

"Hooligans?" Nardo repeated, offended. "I'll have you know that if I am a hooligan, you are too, brother."

"By that logic, you would be a genius," Tello replied dismissively, then side-eyed Nardo, "and funny."

"HAH!" Rael barked. "He got you good."

Nardo glowered, holding his biceps in shame.

"Whether I, quote-unquote, got Nardo or not, we need to formulate a plan to get Donnie and Casey alone."

"I-" Casey sighed, suddenly a lot less shy than he seemed earlier. "I'm sorry, but can we maybe call this... other-Casey something else? Or maybe call me something else, cause this is getting really confusing."

"Me, too," April offered. "You guys can call me Pril, though, since I'm used to that nickname already."

"I can be Case, then," Case added, "if we're sticking with nicknames we're used to."

"That works, then," Angelo said. "Pril and Case."

The two smiled, and Case seemed to relax a bit.

"Back to the task at hand," Tello cut in.

"Why do you even want to do this?" Leo asked. Everyone looked at him as he continued. "I mean, based on how you've acted thus far, you have a very 'meh' attitude about pretty much everything. Why is Donnie's relationship with Casey any different?"

Everyone turned to Tello, who paused. "Sigh. I suppose Donnie just clicks with me. We relate to each other a lot and simply have similar personalities in regards to our places in the teams. He's like a twin I never had."

Nardo gasped loudly and offendedly, a hand placed to his chest. Well, it wasn't really a gasp. It was more like a screech. A loud, offended screech.

Rael clamped his hand over Nardo's snout, shutting the slider up immediately. "Shut."

"Thank you, Nardo," Tello called flatly, "for reminding me to repair my noise reducer."

"Noise reducer?" Mikey repeated.

"Yes, noise reducer," Tello recited proudly. "It takes audio at possibly harmful frequencies and/or decibels and mutes them so they do not hurt my ears. However, it was broken after we fought the Kraang, and requires repair."

The turtles all stared blankly at the softshell.

Tello sighed. "It makes loud noises quieter but the Kraang broke it."

Different "Ohhh"s resounded throughout the lab, Tello rolling his eyes.

"Okay, guys, seriously," Rael said. "We need a plan to help Donnie and Casey out."

And suddenly, all eyes were on Nardo and Leo.

"What? Why me? Rael's the plan guy!" Nardo objected, Leo simply sighing.

"This is what happens when you're the leader," Leo replied.

"Being the leader sucks," Nardo muttered.

"Yup."

i'm not technically off my hiatus yet but here's chapter five for you guys :)

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