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DISCLAIMER

I apologize if the 2012 characters seem off-character or different than how they are in the more recent seasons. I have had no way to rewatch the series, and it has been a good five or so years since I have watched it. I’m not even sure how far I got in the show, however I will do my best to keep them in-character.

At the time of starting this (September 16th, 2022), I have not watched season two of Rise yet. I have, however, seen the movie and will be able to watch season two shortly. Until then, I will do my best to keep the turtles (and others) in-character from after the movie.

By keeping the characters in, well, character, I will only be applying ships that are canon in the show. That means there will be NO ships within the Rise versions (aside from April x Sunita, as stated in the story desc.) and NO 2012 ships other than Donnie liking April, Raph and Mona, Leo and Karai (past tense bc ew), and Mikey and Renet (sort of). And also Casey liking Donnie because y’all wanted it 🤭

—

Having newly been deemed the leader of his team, Leo was doing his best to train so he wouldn’t disappoint his brothers. Well, brother. He was more worried about Raph’s disapproval over anyone else’s.

Since Raph was the leader before Leo, it was going to be difficult for him to live up to the expectations his older brother had left. Despite this, both Mikey and April had done their best to reassure Leo that he was going to be great.

Leo didn’t believe them.

So that’s why he was here, up on a rooftop at 2:28 am, surveying the New York streets below for crime he could fight. After all, he was a hero. And heroes never rest. That’s what Jupiter Jim had taught him.

However, despite how closely Leo surveyed the near pitch black alleys that could hide notorious criminals waiting to pounce on innocent old ladies for their purses, no such event came. It was silent aside from the occasional car whizzing by or buzzing of the dying streetlight that always seemed on the verge of burning out, but never quite silencing.

Leo sighed and sat back on the ledge he had perched on, leaning on his arm with one leg dangling over the pavement ten floors below. He stared up at the sky, silently counting the bright stars and wishing something, anything, interesting would happen.

He hated when he was just sitting all alone, bored out of his mind, left with his thoughts, because his thoughts hadn’t been so kind lately. They raced with What If’s and You Should Have’s rather than his previous You’re The Best Leonardo, Keep Doing What You’re Doing and Slay, King’s. And he hated it because he couldn’t stop them.

Leo stood up abruptly. If he couldn’t be good enough for his team now, then he would just have to practice until he was.

Drawing one of his ōdachis from its place on his belt, Leo stepped off of the ledge and onto the lower part of the roof. He stopped a good few feet away from the edge, determined to improve before he went back to the sewer.

And so it began.

Leo took a deep breath and held the ōdachi in both hands, holding the grip tight. He slowly made a circular motion in the air with the tip of his blade, then slashed through it diagonally.

After a few moments, Leo realized he had failed.

He gritted his teeth and tried again, this time a little faster. Circle, slash, wait.

Nothing.

He tried again.

And again,

and again

and again.

Before long, Leo was panting heavily, a good while away from where he started. Somewhere along the line he had resorted to jumping forward, lunging at the portals that never seemed to appear.

Frustration boiled inside his chest, rapping hard against his throat. Every failed attempt at creating a portal just strengthened the tightness until he couldn’t take it anymore, his ōdachi clattering to the floor as he did as well, falling back onto his tailbone and crumpling into an upright fetal position. Hot tears started to absorb into his mask, wetting the fabric below his eyes. Leo pulled the cloth off and held the carpals of his hands to his bare eyes, pressing hard against his lids until he saw spots.

Despite Leo’s best attempts, the tears still came, streaming down his cheeks and forming a small puddle on the cement below.

He would never be good enough. If he couldn’t do something as simple as create a portal, then what kind of leader was he? Portals were his thing. Donnie had his bo staff thing, Raph had his tonfas, and Mikey had his kusari-fundo. They could all use their weapons near flawlessly, so why couldn’t Leo?

Why couldn't Raph still be the leader? He was so good at it. Or maybe Donnie could. He was the smartest of the four, and even though he didn’t have a lot of planning ideas, he would be able to make awesome new stuff for whatever they needed. Mikey might even make a better leader. At least he could hype the team up and use his weapon.

Use his weapon.

God, why couldn’t he use his weapon?!

Leo snatched the ōdachi from the ground and stood, suddenly slashing the air aimlessly as his thoughts roamed free. They attached themselves to his mind, his shoulders, his arms, his hands, his sword. He threw them out as he swung, yet somehow they made their way back in, and he wasn’t even able to control his own thoughts.

He was stupid, useless, unable to do something simple. He wasn’t leader material, he couldn’t use his ōdachi correctly, all he was good for was annoying people with his dumb banter. His idiotic jokes. His moronic quips that nobody liked. Nobody laughed, nobody acknowledged them aside from an eye roll or annoyed remark back. Nobody cared, nobody wanted him around, Raph probably thought he was a failure and-

He stopped, his breath caught in his throat.

Bright blue light illuminated his face and the cement around him, shimmering on the blade of his sword.

He did it.

“Oh my god, I did it,” he breathed, a grin spreading across his face as the realization struck him. “I did it!”

And then suddenly, he froze.

There were voices, voices he didn’t recognize.

Oh, no.

Leo hadn’t been paying attention to where he wanted the portal to go. For all he knew, this could be a human’s house. He could have just blown his cover and would be captured and dissected for science. They would hunt down Dad and Donnie and Mikey and Raph and all of the yokai and other mutants and-

Stop it. No, it’s fine. You can just hide. It’s alright.

Leo glanced around quickly, spotting the door that led to the top floor of the building. He hurried over, hiding behind the block, waiting for the voices to stop. As he waited there for a moment, he pulled his mask back over his face, then peeked over the exit with curious eyes.
“What is it?”

“Oh, I assume it’s just a large floating blue oval in the middle of the lair.”

A pause.

“You think I know, genius?!”

“Well. you’re the smart one! Jeez, remind me never to ask Donnie a question again.”

Donnie? No, it’s not my Donnie. That’s a common name, probably.

“Guys, stop it. Donnie, can you analyze it or something? Whip up some fancy tech to see what the heck just interrupted Space Heroes?”

That was a bit harder to excuse. Donnie and fancy tech in the same sentence? That couldn’t be a coincidence.

A sigh was heard. “I- I don’t know, Leo. It’s not like I have a giant blue oval analysis gun just hanging out in my lab.”

“Well, sorry. This just isn’t a very normal occurrence.”

“Wait, guys! Do you think it could be, like, one of our arch nemesis coming to try and kill us?”

This voice was a lot more bubbly and young, Leo realized. The first speaker had a more angry voice, it seemed, and the second speaker- Donnie?- had a much more nerdy voice. How fitting. Then Leo- not the Leo who made the portal, the Leo who had been upset about Space Heroes or something- seemed like the leader. His voice matched that status, too.

“What? I was just wondering. It wouldn’t be too far-fetched for someone to get crazy portal powers after being mutated.” This was the younger one. He reminded Leo of Mikey.

There was a small sound, then an “Ow!” from “Mikey.”

“Look, let’s just… um.” This was Donnie. Well, other Donnie.

There was a pause, then a collective surprised “Woah!” from what seemed like other-Donnie and other-Leo. A moment later, a pillow got thrown from the portal and landed with a soft puff on the ground.

Leo suppressed a laugh.

“Hey, that was my favorite pillow!” other-Mikey whined.
“Boo-hoo. Cry about it, Mikey.” Via process of elimination, Leo decided to nickname that one other-Raph. Also, it appeared that other-Mikey’s name really was Mikey. This was getting weird.

“Raph-” other-Leo started before other-Donnie cut him off.

“Well, would you look at that,” he wondered aloud. Then, a hand was pushed through the portal, and Leo was taken back.

The hand was… green. A somewhat lime green with three fingers.

Like him.

Were they turtle mutants too?

No, they would have met.

Right?

And then the hand was gone, retreated back into the other side of the portal.

“I think I figured it out!” other-Donnie said triumphantly. “It’s a portal.”

“To where?” other-Raph asked.

“You think I know?” other-Donnie replied sarcastically. Now that sounded like Leo’s brother.

“I was just asking, jeez,” other-Raph mumbled.

“Look, someone has to go in there and get the pillow. Plus it would be nice to know where this portal in the middle of our living room leads to.”

There was a pause, then a collaboration of three voices chiming “Not it!”

“Awww,” other-Mikey whined, “why me?”

“You were the last to say ‘Not it,’ that’s the rule,” other-Leo chirped, a mixture between smugness and matter-of-factness lacing his voice.

A groan resounded, then suddenly a light green turtle was shoved out of the portal, flailing his arms about until he landed smack on his face on the concrete. Leo ducked further behind the rooftop exit as the turtle stood up, rubbing his head with his left hand.

He had on an orange mask with short tails and largely resembled Mikey, minus the markings. He had a relatively flat plastron and thin carapace, and he had bandages wrapped around his hands and feet, similar to Raph’s bandages. Freckles dotted his cheeks and he had bright blue eyes that surveyed the rooftop, landing on what Leo assumed to be his pillow.

“I found it!” he called towards the portal, grinning as he trotted the few steps to the pillow and picked it up. It was rectangular and white with a few stains on it, and Leo figured that if he was anything like Leo’s Mikey, those were pizza stains.

Other-Mikey looked around again, and Leo pulled his head back from his view just in time. But maybe other-Mikey saw him, because he called out “Hello?” and waited a moment.

Leo held his breath.

“Who are you talking to?” other-Leo called from the portal.

“Uh,” other-Mikey started. “Nobody.”

Leo exhaled quietly.

“Is it safe?” other-Donnie asked, almost yelling.

“You don’t gotta yell, D,” other-Mikey answered, then paused as he looked around again. “But yeah, I think it’s good.”

“You think?” other-Raph scoffed, then other-Leo hushed him.

“We’re coming out, Mikey,” other-Leo said. “Step back from the portal.”

Leo glanced back out to see other-Mikey take a few steps further back, clutching the pillow to his plastron, then three more turtles about the size of Mikey walk out. First came one with a blue mask, then red, then purple.

Him and his brothers’ colors.

Immediately, the three paused, then the purple one (who was slightly taller than the others) started looking around. He had a wooden bo staff in his carapace.

Leo surveyed the other turtles as they roamed about, and then he locked eyes with the red-masked one. Both their eyes went wide and Leo ducked back, quickly gripping his ōdachi, preparing to make a portal escape out of there.

“There’s someone else here!” other-Raph yelled, and Leo started a string of swears inside of his mind. He swung the sword and… nothing.

Absolutely nothing more than a few light blue sparks that dissipated after a moment.
“What?! Mikey!” Other-Leo replied, then Mikey made a small “I didn’t know!” before Leo heard hurried footsteps gaining on him.

You know what? Screw it. Leo sheathed his ōdachi and spun around, then jumped, grabbed the corner of the exit, and pulled himself up. As soon as he did, he crouched down and jumped off, landing with a smack against the concrete. And then he was off.

Bolting, Leo left behind the other-him-and-his-brothers as they shouted at him, then ran after.

Wind whipped at Leo’s face, his mask tails flailing behind him. The other turtles were yelling at each other, the Leo of their group seeming to be giving orders. Leo glanced behind him to see they had split off, and only the other-Leo was following him.

Crap.

Leo looked back in front of him just in time to see other-Raph jump in front of him, other-Donnie and other-Mikey to either side of him. Leo pushed himself to the right, then abruptly to the left, narrowly avoiding his pursuers.

“What the heck?!” other-Donnie shouted, and Leo kept the small quip he had inside. He was literally running from Dollar-Store versions of him and his brothers, this wasn’t the time for banter.

Other-Raph let out a frustrated groan, then other-Leo told them to keep going.

“We’ve gotta catch this guy, we can’t risk him telling anyone else about us!” Other-Leo was taking the lead again. Was he the leader? Leo figured so. It was strange, seeing himself in a different body being so good at something he was struggling so badly with.

“We’re trying, Leo! It’s kinda difficult when he’s more slippery than an eel covered in oil!” Other-Raph was starting to get angry. Like, really angry. Leo didn’t want to get caught by him and possibly beaten half to death. Though, from their dynamic, it seemed like other-Leo would either hold him back or calm him down. Maybe some mixture of the two. Honestly, Leo would rather other-Mikey caught him, so then maybe his brothers would praise him for something. It seemed like they treated him relatively badly.
Leo shook his head, nearly losing his balance as he flung himself across the top of an alleyway. Not the time to feel bad for the ones literally hunting you down.

“Dude, we just want to talk!” other-Donnie called out. Leo rolled his eyes.

“The red guy was just talking about strangling me so, uh, I’m not falling for that,” Leo called back.

There was a moment of silence and likely a glance exchanged between a few of Leo’s pursuers. To be quite honest, Leo’s chest and legs were burning. Like, bad.

“He’s not going to do anything, he just talks like that sometimes- promise!” Other-Leo was bad at lying.

“For his hot head, he’s really just a big softie-” other-Mikey added, before stopping.

“He hits you, I don’t think that’s called being a big softie,” Leo shouted back, sneaking a glance. They were getting tired, too. Good.

“Barely ever!” other-Raph shot back, other-Donnie giving out a “Well…” before trailing off at other-Raph's glare.

“Look, we’re not going to hurt you! You’re a mutant, right?” Other-Leo tried.

Leo didn’t answer, instead pretending to trip over the edge of the building he was on and falling down into the alley. He landed unceremoniously in a dumpster, groaning at the smell. The lid smacked down over him, enveloping the turtle in darkness.

“Augh, where’d he go?! I’m gonna–”

“Raph! You saying stuff like that is exactly why he was running.” That was other-Leo.

“Yeah, you need to try and be nice to him,” other-Mikey said calmly. “Hey, turtle dude! We’re not going to hurt you or anything, we just want to talk to you!”

“Mikey, we already tried that,” other-Donnie muttered, and there was silence.

Then a sigh, likely from other-Leo. “Well, I guess we’ll just look for him. The portal is gone and we need him to get back home.”

“Judging by our location, we are in New York. Just… not our New York.” Other-Donnie.

“What do you mean by that?” Other-Leo.

“Well… this may sound weird, but that guy kinda looked like you, Leo. And a portal to a different universe isn’t too far-fetched.” Other-Donnie.

“Woah, different universe?” Other-Mikey.

“Does that mean there’s another one of you? And of Raph, and Mikey, and…” other-Leo trailed off.

Another Splinter, Leo finished. I wonder what their Splinter is like.

“...I miss him,” other-Mikey added quietly.

There was a moment of silence. Miss him? Did he…

Leo shook the thought away. No, he wasn’t going to start feeling bad for these… impostors. It wasn’t something he should be doing.

“Me too, Mikey,” other-Donnie replied, “but we can’t think about that right now. For all we know, Shredder could be here, too. That… other Leo could be working for him.”

Leo winced. Shredder. Like hell he would never work for that pile of garbage.

“Or the Kraang,” Raph added.

Leo’s eyes widened. God, he really hoped their Kraang wasn’t like his. Those… Leo shuddered. He didn’t want to think about that. All of the trauma connected to that single word was too much for right now.

“Well, if they were behind this, they would have attacked us already,” other-Leo commented.

“And there's no sign of any of our normal enemies.” That was other-Raph.

“Or any crime at all,” other-Mikey added.

Other-Leo sighed. Leo was getting really good at recognizing their voices. “Look, let’s just… go down there and look for him. If he’s anything like us, he might have gotten away already, so we need to hurry.”

Leo really hoped they didn’t find him while looking. They obviously saw him jump down here, but they don’t know that he needs his ōdachi to teleport. They most definitely didn’t know that he had brothers, or a father, or even a lair. He hoped it would stay like that.

Suddenly, the voices were around him. The four were scattered around the alley, looking around. There were a few other dumpsters tucked away around Leo, so hopefully they wouldn’t look inside of this dumpster until he formed a plan.

“You guys check those dumpsters, I’ll check this one.” Other-Leo, and he was close. Like, not-even-a-foot-away close. The lid started to lift and light streamed in.

Okay, no time for a plan.

As soon as Leo was able to, he kicked his leg out, his foot colliding with what he hoped was other-Leo’s ugly face. Well, not ugly, just… less attractive than Leo’s. And, luckily, it was.

Other-Leo let out a surprised yelp and stumbled back, the others turning to look at him. Leo pounced out of the dumpster and fled the group, other-Donnie checking on other-Leo as other-Mikey and other-Raph followed Leo out of the alley.

Leo had to admit, he was getting real tired of running from these guys. Surely they weren’t good enough of fighters that they would be able to fight Leo off, especially with their leader temporarily down.

Yeah, okay. I’ll just get the jump on them by turning around randomly and taking out other-Mikey; other-Raph seems much more coordinated, unless he gets mad. Bro has some SERIOUS anger issues.

Leo glanced behind him as the alley started to open wider, a sure sign that he was approaching the street- and fast. The two were exchanging small words, likely orders of how to catch Leo.

It was now or never.

Leo pushed off his right foot and spun around, his elbow hitting other-Mikey square in the top of his plastron. The mutant went flying backwards, skidding on his carapace for a moment before flipping over and landing hard on his stomach. He groaned and other-Raph’s eyes widened, his feet skidding him to a jerky halt.

“Mikey!” Other-Raph turned and glared at Leo, then lunged forward towards him, anger fueling him completely. He let out a loud war cry as he charged, his sais held firm in both hands. Leo dodged to the left, other-Raph whizzing by him. Leo twirled his sword around and used the bottom of the grip to hit other-Raph’s neck and knock him down.

By now, other-Mikey had gotten up and the other two were headed towards them. Leo was going to be outnumbered.

Time to go.

Leo kicked other-Mikey hard in his plastron, but he stayed upright on his feet and grabbed Leo’s calf, sweeping his foot under Leo’s and knocking him down.

Suddenly, other-Donnie was there and grabbed Leo’s ōdachi, tossing it out of Leo’s arm range.

Leo kicked upwards, hitting other-Donnie in the cheek, then scrambled backwards and up onto his feet. Panting, Leo’s eyes darted between the four. Other-Donnie was holding his cheek, then checking his hand for blood. The other three had gotten into a hemispherical formation, all with their weapons at the ready.

Leo drew his other ōdachi and locked eyes with other-Leo, then grinned.

“Y’know, you kinda look like me,” he remarked, and other-Leo’s eyes widened slightly. “Just less cool.”

Other-Raph chuckled. “I like him.”

“I don’t,” other-Leo replied, glancing at other-Raph.

Other-Donnie rolled his eyes. “Look, we don’t really care who we look like. We just want to know where- or when- we are.”

Leo didn’t relax at all. If anything he tensed even more. He held the grip tighter and stared hard at other-Donnie. “You already figured it out; you’re in New York.”

“Not our New York.”

Leo looked at his discount replica. “I don’t know where you even came from, dude. All I know is that you came out of my portal after I hadn’t been able to make one. So, you know about as much as I do.”

Other-Raph groaned. “Can we just go? This guy doesn’t know anything.”

“Raph,” other-Leo warned, and his tempered brother rolled his eyes and looked away, sheathing his twin sais and crossing his arms. Other-Mikey followed his lead and tucked his nunchucks into the belt wrapped around his lower shell, relaxing into a standing position rather than a fighting one.

Other-Donnie noticed the two turtles’ relaxation and glanced at his leader before putting his bo staff away on his plastron.

Soon.

Other-Leo looked at Leo, and they stared at each other. “Why don’t we figure this out together, okay? You don’t know where we came from, we don’t know where we are. Let’s just talk about this, together.” And with that, he sheathed his katanas, holding his hands out in front of him. He was still ready to pounce, however, and Leo didn’t like that.

“Y’know, I’ve had a bit of time to think in the last.. five minutes that you guys have been here,” Leo started, shifting slightly to a standing position. “And I think I’d rather-”

“Nardo!!”

Donnie?

All five of the turtles whipped their heads to the side, down the alley they had just come from.

It was Donnie.

Not the Donnie standing right in front of Leo, the Donnie that was flying with his battle shell. Leo noticed the four visitors quickly grab their weapons and get ready for a fight.

“Are you okay, Leo?” Raph was below Donnie, and Mikey was holding onto Raph’s shell. April was behind them, holding her bat like she was about to beat the shit out of everyone here.

“I’m fine-” Leo started, but then other-Donnie cut in.

“Woah! Is that a flying shell?!”

Donnie blinked in surprise, and Leo looked at him.

“Yeah,” Donnie said, “it is.”

Other-Donnie put his bo away and hurried over. Leo’s siblings tensed, their weapons ready in case the copycat tried anything. Other-Donnie noticed, and he slowed down, holding his hands in front of him as if saying “I mean no harm.”

“What do you want?” other-Leo called, and Raph shifted his gaze to the other three turtles. He lingered over other-Raph, then held his gaze on their leader.

“We want our brother back,” he growled.

Other-Leo glanced at the other two before sheathing his katanas, the warm-colored turtles sharing a look before doing the same with their weapons.

“Go ahead and take him,” other-Leo replied, “we just want answers.”

Leo started towards Raph, then hurried over to them. He leaned down and grabbed his ōdachi as he jogged, then turned around to face the other mutants.

Donnie had landed and was showing other-Donnie his battle shell while April and Mikey checked Leo to make sure he was okay.

“Donnie!” other-Raph called out, catching the attention of both Donnies. “Er- our Donnie! The smart, weird, techy one!”

As both Donnies glanced at each other, Mikey replied with “Our Donnie is smart, weird, and techy too, dude! You gotta be more specific.”

Other-Raph groaned. “Just get over here!”

Other-Donnie jogged over to his brothers reluctantly, seemingly blown away by Donnie’s shell.

Raph hesitated, then put his tonfas in his belt and looked at Leo.

“You okay?” Leo nodded, and Raph let out a breath of relief. He smiled. “Good.”

“Wait, dude, are those stickers on your shell?”

Leo and Raph turned back to see other-Mikey a few steps closer, looking at Mikey.

“Duh!” Mikey replied enthusiastically.

“Did you paint those spots on, too?”

“Nah, these are my markings. Like Leo’s stripes, Donnie’s weird tetris stripes-” Donnie scoffed in protest- “and Raph’s spikes.”

“That’s sick, bro! I wish I had markings.”

“Are you all the same kind of turtle? You look pretty much the same.”

The other turtles looked at each other, confused.

“We… don’t know,” other-Leo said.

“Never really thought about it,” added other-Donnie.

“Are you guys all different, uh…” other-Mikey looked at his Donnie for help.

“Species,” other-Donnie whispered, and other-Mikey repeated it as a question.

“Yes!” Donnie replied. “See, Angelo here is a box turtle. Leo is a red-eared slider, Raphael is a snapping turtle, and I am a softshell turtle. April here is, obviously, a human, as boring as it is.”

“Hey! I’m not boring,” April protested, and Donnie rolled his eyes.

“Please. The most interesting thing about you is your bat, which you barely have most of the time.”

“At least I go to school,” April shot back. Donnie let out a loud gasp of offense.

“You take that BACK,” Donnie pointed accusingly at his sister. “You know I can’t go to school because I’m a turtle!”

“You’re still half-human,” April replied sarcastically.

“Well I don’t look like it, do I?” Donnie said, clenching his teeth.

Everyone else was just kind of watching this happen, though other-Donnie looked confused.

“Maybe you should borrow Sunita’s cloaking brooch instead of using your dumb hoodie to join a dumb club and almsot get us all exposed!”

“That was an ACCIDENT and you know it!”

“Boo-hoo, deal with it, Tello! Nobody here cares!”

“You know what, April? You can take that ‘Boo-hoo’ and shove it RIGHT UP YOUR-”

“OKAY that’s enough of that,” Raph cut in, clamping his palm over Donnie’s snout, earning a slap away and glare from the latter.

“Wait, so-” other-Donnie started, “that’s April?”

April looked over at him. “Got a problem with how I look? You’re one to talk with a forehead bigger than Don’s.”

“I’m not sure if that’s an insult or compliment,” Donnie mumbled.

“I don’t-” other-Donnie started, then stopped as other-Leo rested his hand on the former’s shoulder and nodded solemnly.

Other-Donnie sighed. “I wasn’t saying there was anything wrong with how you look. It’s just… well, assuming that we are all separate versions of each other, you’re a completely different person than our April.”

“Separate versions?” Mikey wondered aloud.

“Wait, like alternate universes?” Leo inquired, looking at Donnie.

Raph snapped his fingers as his face lit up, then turned to Leo. “Like that one Jupiter Jim movie where he met himself as a villain!”

April rolled her eyes. “That movie was so predictable.”

“Yeah, it was so obvious that it was just another Jupiter Jim,” Mikey agreed. “Especially after the 15th movie also had something to do with alternate universes.”

“What the hell is a Jupiter Jim,” other-Raph started, earning an offended gasp from most of the main group, “and why does he have so many movies?”

“Wait, is it like Space Heroes?” other-Leo exclaimed excitedly, his eyes shimmering. Maybe Space Heroes was their JJ.

“Probably,” Raph answered. “The names sound really similar.”

“Wow,” other-Leo looked at his brothers, all but other-Mikey rolling their eyes.

Other-Mikey’s eyes widened. “Wait. If you guys are alternate versions of us, then does that mean…” His brothers looked at him and seemed to understand simply by the mix of solemn and hope on his face.

Other-Donnie cleared his throat. “Uhm, do you guys have… is your Splinter okay?”

All of Leo’s siblings looked at each other questioningly, but Leo understood. “Yeah, he’s alright. He just… probably isn’t like your Splinter.”

The other turtles seemed relieved, maybe because they would be able to see a Splinter like theirs again? Though if the turtles were as different as they were, and April surely was different in both universes, maybe Splinter was really different as well. And maybe their Shredder and Kraang were less of a threat. Or, in the unfortunate likelihood of them being worse, Leo felt bad for the intruders.

“Can we…” Leo snapped out of his thoughts and looked at other-Mikey, who was speaking. “Can we see him?”

Donnie held his hand to his chin thoughtfully while Raph looked at Mikey and Leo worriedly.

“Perhaps,” Donnie started, “we can bring them to the lair, so long as we ensure they are not a threat to use or to Splinter. Our location is relatively secret for now, and despite our being outed to the entirety of New York City in the previous weeks, the lair should still be hidden from humans. Therefore, we can bring them to see Splinter and our home. We just need to make sure they do not know where they are.”

Donnie looked up at the copycats with a gleam in his eye. “Everyone, please follow me. And grab your respective alternate universe self, please! Buddy system. April, go ahead and escort my twin, if you would.”

“Sure thing, Don,” April smiled. Despite their constant banter, the two were probably the closest you could get to best friends. Mikey was pretty close to Donnie as well, but most of their relationship could be described as a sibling bond rather than friendship. Of course, then there was Leo and Donnie, but there was mostly just banter and rivalry with each other.

IM GONNA PAUSE IT HERE FOR NOW!! CHAPTER 2 WILL BE OUT WITHIN A WEEK :))

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