(We’ll start with the Raphs this time. I’ll use Raph for 2012 and Rael for 2018 so y’all don’t get confused aefauehgj)

(Also this chapter will be a lot longer than the others bc I couldn’t find a good place to stop so it’ll just kind of keep going a bit?? idk lmfao it’s like 20 google doc pages long so uhhhh)

(i’m just doin what i do best. if the chapter is too long y’all can take breaks or whatever)

Raph kicked a can on the ground and huffed. “Those guys have no idea what they’re talking about,” he muttered.

The can clattered across the kitchen floor, rolling for a few seconds before bouncing lightly off the wall and stopping. Raph stared at it, the label facing away from him. There was a slight dent in the can and it was leaking a bit of soda, but still, Raph couldn’t tell if it was Coke or Coca Cola. Was there a difference? He didn’t think so.

Raph slumped down on the floor against the wall, sliding down and keeping his knees close to his plastron. “They don’t understand what I’m thinking or what’s goin’ on in my head. Donnie thinks he knows everything, but he doesn’t. He doesn’t know anything.”

If he thought his Donnie was a know-it-all, he sure was humbled by the new Donnie, the softshell guy. He literally shot Raph down in front of all of his brothers, his brothers’ twins, and their April. What the hell did he know?

Nothing, that’s what.

It seemed that every single Donnie in every single universe or whatever was just a cocky, I’m-better-than-you, aggravating know-it-all. Raph dismissed the anger at the fact that he couldn’t come up with a better excuse.

Donnie had once called him a “nincompoop,” so Raph decided to call him that back. Yeah, Donnie the Nincompoop. Stupid Donnie, stupid tech, stupid lab, stupid Tello.

Raph gripped his arms hard, crossed over his knees. He hated being here. Everyone was so different and weird. Why did he throw Mikey’s stupid pillow through the stupid portal?

Raph felt a tear prick his eye, only angering him more. He gritted his teeth and drug his fist over his eyes, rubbing aggressively back and forth. He opened his eyes again and stared hard at his forearms, then gave up.

As the waterworks started up, Raph tugged at his mask, pulling it up and over his head, not even bothering to untie it. He bunched it up in his hand and rested his forehead on his arms, the hot tears falling onto his thighs and running down the sides onto the floor. His body shook slightly as he sobbed quietly.

This wasn't sad sobbing, though. Raph was angry. Not at Leo, or Donnie, or Mikey. Not at other him, or other Mikey, or other Leo, Donnie, or Splinter. Raph was angry at himself.

No, not angry.

Furious.

He had been trying to work on this. Not trying, no, he had been trying. He had been meditating, doing his breathing exercises, and talking to people about his feelings. He had been communicating and talking or whatever like April had advised him.

-

They had been alone on patrol together; Casey had gone with Mikey and Donnie went with Leo.

“So,” April had started, “you mentioned you wanted to learn how to control your emotions?”

“The hell are you talking about, April?” Raph had asked her, turning to the redhead. “I control my emotions fine.”

April had given him a doubtful look, causing Raph to look away in slight shame. He never had liked asking for help; it made him seem weak. Especially from April. Not because she was a girl or anything, she just wasn’t a mutant. And she didn’t have to go through all that Raph had.

Sure, her dad was captured and got turned into a mutant, but that had happened to Raph, too. Plus he was captured multiple times. April may have been captured, but she was never mutated.

Not once had April experienced what Raph and his family had. And no, April wasn’t family, because then Donnie would be crushing on his sister, and that was weird.

Cough cough Leo cough cough.

“You know what I mean,” April replied, staring at Raph. When he didn’t answer, she sighed and turned away. “Look. If you don’t want my help, that’s fine. But usually when I’m getting upset, I’ll take deep breaths.”

April took a deep breath, counting out loud to five, then held it for two counts, then exhaled for another five. “Like that.”

Raph rolled his eyes but kept it in the back of his head. “I don’t need your stupid breathing stuff. I know how to breathe.”

“Yeah, yeah.” April turned back to the street and continued to watch for any rogue mutants.

-

Raph sighed. Why couldn't he just calm down? April’s breathing shit didn’t work. He’d have to remember to tell her that when he saw her again.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the wall. Raph’s head shot up to see the bigger version of him standing awkwardly in the doorway, leaned into the kitchen slightly and staring worriedly at Raph.

Raph let out a mix between a scoff and a groan. “The hell do you want?”

Instead of answering, Rael stepped all the way into the kitchen and sat down beside Raph, making sure to give him space. Raph kept his eyes down on his mask, still clenched in his fist, but could feel Rael looking at him.
Finally, the snapping turtle spoke. “Are you alright?”

“Does it fuckin’ look like it, asshole?” Raph snapped back.

“Woah, okay, sorry,” Rael turned away and stared at his own hands. “You swear like that around Mikey?”

Raph was quiet for a few seconds, thinking about whether he should answer or not. “No,” he finally said. Rael turned his attention back to the former. “I don’t swear around any of ‘em. Leo would probably scold me, Mikey would start swearing, and Donnie would probably try to shove soap into my mouth.”

Rael chuckled and looked over to the set of cabinets, oven, sinks, and fridge on the opposite wall. “They sound like good brothers.”

Raph shrugged. “They’re not the worst.”

Rael glanced back at Raph and studied him. “Your mask, the tails are chewn.”

“Spike did that,” he replied, then smiled sadly. “I would let him chew on them so he wouldn’t bite my fingers off. Then he got mutated and…”

Rael watched Raph’s smile fade, lifted his hand up a bit, then paused. Raph felt a hand on his shoulder and looked over at Rael, who was smiling at him.

Not a pity smile like how Leo, April, and Splinter would give him, or a challenging smile like Casey or Donnie would use. It wasn’t even an annoying smile like Mikey would shoot Raph. No, this was different. This was sincere, Raph could see it in his eyes.

Either this guy was really good at faking emotion, or he truly cared about Raph’s feelings.

Raph really wanted to believe it was the latter.

“It’ll be alright,” Rael said softly. “I definitely wasn’t as close to her as you were to Spike, but we had a goldfish who mutated as well. We thought she died and flushed her down the toilet, then we tried to use a rock to replace her.” Rael took a moment to laugh before he continued. “She hunted us four down one by one, then tied us up and threatened to drop us into a sewage funnel. Turns out it was all an elaborate prank Dad teamed up with her on to teach us a lesson.”

Raph smiled. “Your dad sounds awesome.” He looked at his knees. “Our dad wasn’t like that. It was train, train, train. ‘If you are to be proper ninjas, you must be prepared for anything!’” Raph straightened his back and pointed one finger up, closing his eyes as he playfully mocked his father. He then opened his eyes and relaxed, looking back at Rael. “That’s what he would say to us.”
Rael grinned at Raph. “He sounds like he was an awesome dad, too.”

Raph stared at him, surprised. He then smiled, a true smile. A smile he actually felt was being used for the proper reason. Not a smirk he used after making fun of his brothers, not the smile he would give people when he knew that a half-assed smile wouldn’t get them to back off, a real smile.

He was genuinely happy at that moment. He felt seen, heard, validated, like somebody understood.

People had listened, people had talked, people had tried to help, but nobody ever understood.’’

Until Rael.

Because Rael was him.

Raph was Rael, and Rael was Raph.

They were the same turtle. Sure, they had different bodies and personalities, but they were both Raphael. Rael understood because he had gone through this. Surely he had, right?

“Are you okay?” Rael asked, suddenly fearful.

Raph touched his cheek, then wiped the tear rolling down away. He sniffled and smiled. “Yeah,” he said. “I’m okay.”

“For once, I’m okay.”

-

Leo watched the lime green version of himself plop back onto his own bed, the mattress adorned with blue here and there and everywhere. Leo never really liked blue too much, but then again, he had never had a favorite color. He supposed blue was the closest thing he had to a favorite.

“If you wanna sit down, you can,” Nardo said from the bed, still staring at the ceiling but waving his arm up to get Leo’s attention.

Leo glanced around, spotting a throne of pillows in the corner of Nardo’s room. “Can I sit there?”

Nardo sat up, propping himself onto his elbows. He looked at where Leo’s body was angled and grinned. “Sure, yeah. If you don’t mind getting pee on your shell.”

Leo stopped and turned to stare at Nardo. “I’m sorry?”
Nardo’s dead serious face suddenly broke out into laughter, the red-eared slider rolling back onto his carapace. “Oh, man, you shoulda seen your face!! You were all-” Nardo made a horrible imitation of Leo’s face and fell back again laughing.

“Oh, jeez…” Nardo sat up and wiped a tear from his eye, then pulled his feet up to just barely stay on the corner of the bed, one lolling off to the side. He rested his elbow on the knee that was up and gestured to the pillow pile. “No, but for real, that’s fine. Don’t worry, only thing that’ll get on you is some fluff. A couple of the seams came loose a few nights ago after a pillow fight and Raph hasn’t had time to fix ‘em.”

Leo squinted at Nardo. “...I see.”

Leo moseyed over to the pillows and slowly lowered himself down, having to move a few strange pink… unicorns? They were glowing or something, Leo was pretty sure they were unicorns. He had to move a couple of them out of the way and pulled his knees up closer to his chest, his hands falling into his lap.

“So, other me,” Nardo said suddenly. Leo looked up at him and saw that he had flipped over onto his carapace and had his head hanging off the edge of his bed. “How’s your world?”

“It’s, um…” Leo looked down at his hands, then at a small poster on Nardo’s wall. It was a woman with almost white blonde hair dressed in all black on a poster. She was leaning back and holding a fuzzy white… microphone? That was hanging above her. She had on some strange glasses and was over a greyish blue background, the words “Lady Gaga” painted on the top right corner in a thin white font. Leo slowly nodded as he broke his eyes away from the poster and back to the slider. “It’s good, I guess. Splinter died, but I’m sure you’ve figured that out by now.”

Nardo flipped back onto his plastron and nodded, folding his arms on the bed in front of him. “Yeah, I figured that out. How did he die? I-If you don’t want to answer that’s fine, I totally understand.”

“No, it’s alright,” Leo replied, then glanced down. “After all, you’re me, right? No need to hide anything from myself.”

When Leo looked back up, Nardo seemed troubled by something.

“What’s wrong?”

“Oh, uh, nothing,” Nardo answered. “It’s nothing, don’t worry about it.”

“If you insist,” Leo cleared his throat. “Well, Splinter… when he died, it was Shredder. He got… mutated, and turned into this somehow angrier and somehow worse-than-before Shredder. And he… he stabbed Master Splinter and… he…”
Leo took a deep breath. “Shredder threw Dad off the roof. He died.”

Nardo stared at him sympathetically. “I’m… so sorry. It must be hard to see our Dad.”

Leo shrugged and looked at Nardo. “The hardest thing is how round he is.”

Nardo laughed and sat up, cross-legged, as Leo chuckled a little. Nardo used his hands to simulate Splinter’s transformation. “For real, though! I don’t understand how he went from Lou Jitsu, our top hero, to Splinter, the fat rat man who watches Japanese TV shows and falls asleep after cake and milk.”

“Wait, so he always falls asleep after he has cake and milk?” Leo asked, grinning. It was a strange thought, imagining his father in the place of Nardo’s.

“Like clockwork,” Nardo replied, making a wide gesture with his hands. “We were even able to sneak something out of his room one night because he fell asleep!”

“What did you guys need to take?”

“Ohhh that’s a LONG story, you sure you wanna hear it?”

“Uh, heck yeah?? Why else would I have asked?”

“Okay okay okay. So it started when Raph, Mikey, Donnie, April and I went for a HUGE cannonball in a public roof pool. And the splash we made was, like, GINEMONASAURUS. And when we were heading home, we saw this little dog-cat-animal thing in a construction site and decided to go help it cause it looked scared. So we go down and suddenly these two humans with tiny dogs strapped onto their chests- they were cute dogs until they turned into GIANT MONSTER DOGS that tried to KILL US- where was I again? Oh, yeah. So these two guys appear out of nowhere and we’re all “Oh don’t worry these are just costumes haha!” By the way, Donnie is REAAAAALLLY bad at lying. Like, this one time, we had snuck out when we were kids to go try this new pizza place…”

-

God damnit, where were they?!

Casey had been pacing around the lair for a good five minutes before April finally stood up from her spot on the couch and grabbed his shoulders, stopping him short.

“Stop pacing, Jones! They’re not going to magically show up just because you’re walking in the same spot over and over.”

Casey stared at her, then sighed. “Yeah, sorry, Red.” He brushed her hands off his shoulders and plopped down onto the couch, holding Leo’s T-Phone in his hand. The wallpaper was all seven of them taking a selfie: Leo off to the side holding the phone, Raph about to hit Donnie in the head, Donnie smirking after pushing Raph into Casey, Mikey and April showing off their swapped weapons, and Casey about to fall onto the ground due to Raph shoving him to the side.
God, where were they?

It had been a good three hours since Casey had gotten to the lair, and a slightly shorter amount of time after April had gotten there. Casey called her after finding the lair empty, asking if the turtles were with her. After she said no, he started to panic.

And even now, after hours of calling, texting, searching the sewers, searching the streets, and quadruple-checking every inch of the lair, there was no sign of their friends.

“Maybe they got kidnapped,” April tried, her hand on her hip.

“You’d think if they were taken from the lair, it would be trashed.” Casey paused as he glanced at the floor, which was littered with pizza boxes, grease, cans, and Space Heroes comics. “Well, even more trashed than usual.”

April sighed in defeat, falling back onto the sofa, relatively close to Casey. As April started talking about all the possibilities they had already tried, Casey instinctively turned to rub it in Donnie’s face that April had sat so close to Casey, only to realize that the latter was not there.

What was the point if he couldn’t tease Donnie about it? That was the fun part of flirting with April: it upset Donnie. It was funny to see the turtle get so upset, so seethingly mad that he would try and do whatever he could to balance out the scale. Holding a door for April, picking something up for her, info dumping about some random crap he had learned about a long time ago about pigeons or something stupid, trying to get under Casey’s skin. But honestly, it never upset or annoyed Casey like it seemed to annoy Donnie.

It was an added bonus if Donnie got even more annoyed that Casey wasn’t, Casey figured.

“Case?”

“Huh?” Casey turned to April, who was staring at him.

April smiled and scoffed. “What are you, daydreaming about a girl at school or something?”

“What? No!” Casey replied quickly. “I’m too worried about the others to think about girls.”

April hummed, not seeming to entirely believe Casey, before facing forward again. “I just… I don’t know where they could be. We’ve looked everywhere, I think we should stop for to-”

And then, suddenly, April’s T-Phone rang, both April and Casey jumping forward out of anticipation.”

“My phone!” April cried, fumbling with it for a second before answering. “Hello? Donnie??”

Casey listened carefully, hearing a faint “April!” come from the speaker. Both humans let out a relieved sigh, Casey leaning back against the sofa.

“Oh my God, Donnie- we were so worried! We were looking everywhere for you and when we didn’t find you, we- Don, we thought you were kidnapped or dead! Where have you been?!”

“Wait, you were worried about me?” Donnie asked, a strange hopefulness filling his voice.

“Of course, Don,” April replied sweetly. “Casey and I both. He’s right here, say hi, Case!”

“Oh,” Donnie’s voice rang out, suddenly flat. “Hi, Casey.”

Casey paused, a lump caught in his throat. Then, in an earnest voice, “Hey, Donnie. Glad you’re okay.”

“Oh, um.” Donnie seemed surprised. “Thanks. I’m… glad you guys are okay, too.”

“Are you almost done? We were in the middle of Sheldon.”

“Who was that?” April asked, her voice suddenly urgent. She seemed slightly upset.

“Uhm.” Donnie sounded nervous. “Nobody. Listen, I gotta go, but we’re all okay, don’t worry! Chat soon, miss you guys, bye!”

“Wait, D-”

Donnie hung up the phone, his lips pressed together. He turned back to Tello stiffly and said through his teeth, “I hung up on her.”

“What do you mean, her?” Tello asked. He was in his black rotating chair, arm slung over the back of it and neck craned back to look at Donnie. “Wasn’t your Casey on the line, too?”

“Well, yeah, but…” Donnie trailed off and sighed, plopping down into his own rotating chair. He leaned back as Tello turned the chair around to fully face his twin, staring boredly at him. Still somehow, the turtle seemed interested in what Donnie had to say, so he said it. “We don’t really like each other. We don’t get along, I mean,” he added at Tello’s raised eyebrow.

“You don’t get along.” Tello repeated flatly.

“Yeah,” Donnie replied, “I… just said that.”

“I was repeating your statement for structural effect,” Tello sighed, “but you clearly did not understand. What I was meaning to say is that you don’t seem like you have tried to get along with him. And judging by your face, you have not.”
Donnie fiddled with his hands and stared sheepishly at the ground, a guilty grin on his face. “Yeah, well… I haven’t really-”

Donnie paused as his phone started ringing again. He sighed, glanced up at Tello, then pulled it out after Tello motioned to answer it.

“Hello?” Donnie started, then ripped the phone away from his tympanic scute as April came screaming through the phone.

“DONATELLO WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU HANGING UP ON A GIRL LIKE THAT?! YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW TO TREAT A LADY, DO YOU?? WERE YOU RAISED IN A BARN??”

“A sewer, actually–”

“AND DON’T EVEN GIVE ME THAT SORRY EXCUSE OF ‘WE WERE IN TROUBLE, APRIL!’ BECAUSE I’M SICK OF IT! I WANT YOU TO TELL ME WHERE YOU ARE RIGHT NOW SO WE CAN COME FIND YOU!”

Donnie glanced nervously at Tello, whose eyes were wide. Tello pointed at the phone, then slowly made a circular motion near his temple with a finger.

“She is crazy,” he had signed. Donnie nodded and smiled, then signed “We need Nardo.” Tello nodded and pulled out his own phone, immediately typing away.

“DONNIE, HELLO??”

“Jeez- April, can you stop yelling in my ear? It hurts,” Donnie said.

“Y’know what else hurts, Donnie?” April asked, then her voice suddenly shot up in volume. “BEING DITCHED OUT OF NOWHERE BY YOUR FRIENDS!!”

Friends.

Donnie shook his head violently. Stop it. Not the time.

Tello suddenly stood up. “Him and the others are going to meet us in the main room. Follow me.”

Donnie stood from the chair and followed his twin. “Look, April, just calm down, okay? We’re figuring out how to get you here. Just hang in there.”

“Well, hurry up,” April said. “It’s been like three hours here, and we still can’t be sure if you’re safe.”

“We will. I’m gonna hang up now, though, alright?”

“Fine, but call me when you figure out a way back.”

“Will do. Bye, April!”

“Bye, Donnie.”

There was a small pause.

“Casey says bye, too.”

“Bye, Casey,” Donnie said, slightly louder this time.

“Alright, talk to you later.” April hung up, and Donnie put his phone into his belt.

“So where are we headed, again?” Donnie asked after he caught up to Tello.

“The main room. Mikey and Angelo are already there. Nardo, Leo, Raph, and Rael should be there shortly,” Tello replied over his shoulder.

“Alright, cool.”

-

“

They should be here soon,” Angelo said, putting his phone into his belt.

“What’d you say?” Mikey called, holding his skateboard in a vertical position at the top of the ramp.

“The others are gonna be coming in here soon!” Angelo hollered back, cupping his hands around his snout.

“Oh, awesome!” Mikey set the board down and got ready to go down. “Watch, I’m gonna do a double flip!”

Angelo paused. “Maybe don’t d- ooOH MYGOODNESSMIKEYNO!!”

Mikey flipped himself down, successfully completing one flip, then almost completed the other before landing hard on the side of his carapace, flying far past Angelo. The latter retracted his head into his shell to avoid being beheaded, popping it back out to look at where Mikey had landed.

And there Mikey was, laying flat over Raph, with Rael standing a foot away, eyes open, hands smothering his snout in shock and fear. His eyes darted to Angelo’s, whose were just as wide, then back to the small pile of turtles on the floor.

“Ow- Mikey, get the heck off of me!!” Raph shoved at the orange carapace that was laying on top of his plastron. Mikey rolled off of his older brother and sat with his legs out in a loose V shape. He had one hand holding his head and the other flat on the ground between his thighs.

“Sorry, big bro,” Mikey grinned, then turned to Angelo excitedly. “Wasn’t that cool, though?”

Angelo, now convinced that both of the impacted turtles were unharmed, smiled back at Mikey. “That. Was. SO TOTALLY COOL, DUDE!!” He hurried over to the other orange turtle and picked him up, bear hugging him and twirling around. Raph had sat up by now and was watching them boredly.

Rael offered his hand to Raph, waiting for a moment.

“Watch where you’re ‘boarding next time, Mikey,” Raph muttered, then glanced at Rael and took his hand to get up. “Thanks.”

“No problem,” Rael grinned, resting his hands on his hips.

“The party has arrived!”

Angelo turned to see Nardo waltz into the room, hands clasped behind his head, Leo walking normally behind him.

“Hey, Leo,” Mikey greeted, earning a “Hey, Mikey” back.

“The greatest turtles in all of existence are now in your presence,” Tello called out, landing neatly next to Angelo.

Angelo glanced up to see Donnie hop down from the not-so-high ledge as well. Stairs must not have been flashy enough for them.

“Donatello,” Nardo greeted unceremoniously, then turned to Donnie and his tone lightened. “What’s up, D?”

“Um,” Donnie glanced at Leo. “Hi.”

Nardo stepped over to Donnie and hung his arm around Donnie’s shoulders, the latter stiffening and holding his arms up by his chest.

“Y’know, you’re a lot less annoying than my Donnie. Yo, other me!” Nardo turned to Leo who stared back at him. Judging by Leo’s face, he had gotten a good helping of Nardo’s ego and was already this close to stabbing him. “Wanna swap brothers?”

“Nardo, if you try to trade me to these… uncultured versions of us,” Tello paused and muttered a “No offense” to Donnie, “then I will trade you for money to buy uranium. I’m sure a mutated mixture between a red-eared slider turtle and a Japanese human star would sell for billions.”

Nardo slowly let go of Donnie and slinked away, his fingertips tapping one another and a mockingly pouty face now directed towards Tello from behind Rael.

“Raph, Donnie’s being mean…” Nardo sulked, earning an unsympathetic stare ahead from Rael.

“Leo. Stop using me as a human shield.”

(My mom: “So what’s your big thing that you’re into right now, Arino? TMNT?”
Me, having written 40 pages about my favorite TMNT versions meeting and still writing as I type this: “Uh. Yeah, I guess.”)

“But Donnie-”

“Leonardo.” Rael warned.

Nardo stared at him with wide eyes and slowly scooted away from his snaggletoothed brother, opting to hide behind Leo instead.

“Is your Raph this scary, too?” he whispered, rather loudly, to Leo.

“No,” Leo muttered back. “He’s usually scarier.”

“I heard that,” Raph called.

“Heard what?” Mikey asked, then Donnie patted his shoulder.

“Don’t worry about it, lil’ bro.”

Mikey paused for a moment, then grinned and held out a thumbs up. “Whatever you say, D!”

“Mikey did this AWESOME trick just a minute ago, you guys shoulda seen him!” Angelo jumped towards Mikey, clasping his other shoulder. He then used his hands and arms to move around and simulate (very poorly, might I add) what Mikey did. “He did a flip and then another flip and then landed on his shell and went FLYYYINNG all the way across the room and then ran straight into Raph and knocked him down!”

“And I’ve got the bruises to prove it,” Raph remarked.

“If you require medical assistance, I’ll be happy to help you, Raphael,” Tello said. He said it in a very calm way, but at the second half of the sentence, twirled his tech-bo around a few times and halted it in front of Raph, a chainsaw revving out the front.

Both Raphs and Mikeys yelped, Donnie seeming fascinated on how a chainsaw could fit inside a bo staff.

“Donnie, get away from that thing!” Raph yelled, grasping onto Rael, who was holding his arms out to shield the other turtles who had gotten spooked.

“But it’s so cool! Just imagine the amount of things I could do if I learned how to fit a chainsaw into my BO STAFF! I’d be UNSTOPPABLE!!”

Tello stood straight up and retracted the chainsaw. “Well, you see, it’s really quite simple. SO first, you need to load in a spring mech-”

Tello stopped as Donnie’s phone started ringing again. For a second the latter was confused, then his face contorted into pure regret.

“Oh gingersnaps, I forgot about April!” Donnie snatched his T-Phone and answered the call.

“And Casey,” Tello added flatly.

“April! I’m so sorry we’re working on it right now just hang in there okay?”

“Wait,” Leo uncrossed his arms and stepped towards Donnie. “You had your phone this whole time?”

“What the heck, D? We coulda gotten outta here hours ago!” Mikey cried, then glanced at Rael and Angelo. “No offense dudes, I just miss Ice Cream Kitty.”

Rael and Angelo gasped in unison. “Ice Cream Kitty?!”

Raph rolled his eyes and Mikey nodded proudly. “Yup, our very own kitty made of Neo… Nao… Nepolitian ice cream!”

“It’s Neapolitan, Mikey,” Donnie called, then turned back to Leo, who was scolding Donnie for not trying to call their friends back home sooner.

“Oh, yeah Naolipitan. Thanks, D!” Mikey held a thumbs up to Donnie, who didn’t respond, as Leo was still getting on him.

“How has it not melted yet?” Rael asked.

“We keep ‘er in the freezer, dum-dum,” Raph replied. He had his arms crossed and was leaning on the wall.

“We should totally get an ice cream cat, Raph,” Angelo said, whipping around to face his brother.

“Uhhh,” Rael said anxiously. He looked to Raph for help, who just shrugged. “We can’t afford a pet.”

Angelo’s eyes dulled. “Oh. Alright…”

“Sorry, buddy.”

“Look- Leo, I’m sorry that I was having fun hanging out with someone who actually liked listening to me and appreciates what I do rather than hound me for what I don’t do!”

“I don’t care about you hanging out with Tello, you can do that, I don’t care! I’m upset that you didn’t tell Casey and April about where we were or what we were doing, or even that we were alive! Literally ANYTHING to keep them from tearing the city apart trying to find us!”

Donnie scoffed. “As if that would have stopped them. Knowing April and Casey- especially from what April just told me- then they would have looked for us, thinking we were kidnapped or something!”

“But at least they would know! They were probably panicking for so long because they had no idea where we were!”

“You wanna know something, Leo?” Donnie jabbed Leo in the plastron with his finger. “YOU could have brought your phone with you. Mikey could have, or even Raph! But no, not even the LEADER OF OUR TEAM was smart enough and planned enough ahead to bring his phone along with him when we were WALKING THROUGH A MYSTERIOUS PORTAL IN THE MIDDLE OF OUR LIVING ROOM!!”

Donnie had started yelling a lot louder near the end, and was panting now. Leo stared at him, surprised, then looked down. “You’re right, Donnie. I’m sorry, I should’ve been more responsible. It’s… it’s not fair for me to be getting on you for not calling April when I didn’t either. I’m just- I’m just stressed, okay?”

Nardo chuckled and leaned towards Tello. “I know what can help ease his stress.”

“Nardo, if you make another joke about weed, I am flushing you down the toilet.”

“Just tryna lighten the mood,” Nardo put his hands up in defeat and strode back from his brother ominously, staring at him the whole way. When Tello decided that Nardo was taking too long, a metal claw sprung out of his shell and grabbed Nardo by the head, stopping the turtle in his tracks. “Oh.”

The claw flung Nardo over Tello, crashing into the previously arguing brothers, both yelping in surprise as Nardo slammed into them.

Tello leaned over the three groaning turtles and smiled smugly. “Still want to joke about illegal substances, little brother?”

Nardo kicked up towards his brother’s face, who dodged, then backed up. “This is the THIRD TIME you’ve thrown me this week, Donnie!”

“And I’ll do it again,” Tello called back as he headed towards the warmer turtles, who glanced questioningly at him. “He made a joke about giving Leo weed.”

Angelo nodded and Rael gave a knowing “Ah.” Mikey and Raph just sort of stared at each other, then at Tello.

“Nardo likes to make jokes referring to illegal substances, death, and other traumatic experiences or unhealthy habits,” Tello explained.

“He doesn’t do drugs though, right?” Raph asked.

“Not that we know of, no.”

“Good,” Mikey said, crossing his arms. “That stuff isn’t good for your body.”

“What stuff?” Nardo poked his head into the small circle the turtles had made.

“Weed,” Rael and Tello replied simply, Raph and Mikey saying “Drugs” at the same time.

“Oh, nevermind then. I know about that lol,” Nardo squeezed himself into the circle before Raph and Tello scooted over to their own respective sides.

“Did you just say ‘lol’ out loud?” Rael asked.

“The worst part isn’t even that you said it out loud instead of actually laughing,” Raph added. “It’s that you said ‘lol’ instead of L-O-L. It’s an acronym.”

“Well, we say NASA instead of N-A-S-A,” Nardo replied. “Or scuba, or laser, or AIDS.”

“Those are initialisms,” Donnie butted in, suddenly between Raph and Nardo. “They are commonly confused with acronyms, but they are different.”

“Wanna explain why, Donnie?” Raph asked sarcastically, crossing his arms.

“Well, initialisms are actually-”

“He was being sarcastic, D,” Leo cut in. Angelo did a double take when he noticed the blue turtle standing to his right.

In order, the turtles went: Angelo, then to the right was Leo, Rael, Tello, Nardo, Donnie, Raph, and Mikey, who was to Angelo’s left.

Donnie paused, then stuttered, “I-I knew that! I was just… y’know, ignoring him. And explaining anyways, because… because I wanted to?”

Raph patted Donnie on the back. “You’ll get it next time.”

Donnie scowled at Raph and smacked his hand away.

“Guys, let’s stop it with the random annoying and throwing each other, okay?” Rael started, looking directly at Tello when he said ‘throwing,’ earning mock offense from his brother.

“Rael is right,” Leo said. “We need to figure out how to get April and Casey here.”

“And to do that, we’ll need a portal like the one we used to get here,” Donnie finished. After he said that, everyone looked at Nardo.

“What?” he said, then paused. “Oh. Right. So, ummmm, see, the thing is…”

“Yeah, we know,” Raph rolled his eyes, “you have no idea how you made that dumb portal.”

“Maybe if we figure out what you were doing when you made the portal, we can start there,” Angelo suggested.

“Good idea, Angelo,” Tello said. “Nardo, let’s start there. Try to think what you were thinking and doing what you were doing.”

“Okay, um,” Nardo stepped out of the circle, the other turtles backing into a wiggly line a few yards away from the slider. “Well, I was on the rooftop, practicing my portal chopping.”

“Don’t call it that,” Rael remarked.

Nardo sighed loudly and rolled his eyes jokingly. “FINE, I was practicing my PORTAL MAKING.”

“Sounds a lot more boring… er…” Mikey tried, then stopped and whispered to Donnie, “Uh, is boringer a word?”

Donnie shook his head. “More boring,” he muttered.

“Okay, thanks.”

“Yeah, I was like… jumping?” Nardo was bouncing slightly on his feet, holding his ōdachi in both hands. He tried to slash his sword while jumping forward, only being graced with a few sparks.

“Are you thinking the thoughts you were before?” Angelo tried.

“No- well, maybe?” Nardo had to admit, with everyone staring at him as he failed, he was starting to feel like he did on the rooftop.

“Try lunging and slashing,” Rael offered.

“I just did!”

“Lunge… harder?”

Nardo gritted his teeth to keep from groaning. He knew they were only trying to help, but honestly, they were getting on his nerves.

Nardo attempted to lunge harder, as Rael put it, but still was unsuccessful.

After a good five or so more minutes of failed portals and advice that did not help Nardo’s struggle, the slider finally broke.

“Maybe if you-”

“Maybe if you guys would leave me alone I would be able to do this!” Nardo shouted suddenly, clenching his weapon’s grip and scrunching his face up to keep from crying. “You’re all just standing there, watching me fail, and I can’t take it anymore! Just let me do this on my own. Your advice isn’t helping and I can’t do this with everyone staring at me!”

The turtles stared at him in a mix of surprise and sympathy.

“Sure, Leo, we’ll go… um, do something else,” Rael answered softly. He headed towards Nardo and, as he passed, patted him on the shoulder. “You got this, buddy.”

Nardo stared hard at the ground, teeth gritted, fists clenched, as he felt tears slowly form in his eyes. Rael let go of his shoulder and headed away, the others dissipating as they went their separate ways, only Leo remaining.

The blue turtle walked up to Nardo, then took his ōdachi from him slowly, setting it on the ground. “Sit,” he said, crouching down onto the floor himself.

Nardo sniffled, rubbed his forearm across his eyes, then plopped down onto the floor cross-legged.

“No, not like that,” Leo added. He tucked his calves under him and laid his hands on his thighs. “Like this.”

Nardo glanced at his twin’s posture before copying it.

“Now, look straight ahead and close your eyes.” Nardo did as he was advised.

“Think,” Leo started, “about what you want to happen. Where do you want the portal to go? When do you want it to go? Do you want it to be big? Small? Medium sized? Large enough to fit all of New York into it? Now, think of how much energy that will take.”

“The farther the portal is from me, the more energy it takes. And the bigger it is, the more it takes,” Nardo told him.

“So apply that to what you want,” Leo said, glancing at Nardo to make sure he was still in position. He was, so Leo went back to his own pose. “Imagine how much energy you will need to create your portal. Think of how much energy it took to create the first portal. Remember what you were thinking, doing, saying; try to copy that. Copy your breathing style, pose, technique.”

Nardo started to breathe in a slower motion, following Leo’s calm breaths.

“Now, stand up and try it again.”

Nardo opened his eyes and stood. Leo stayed on the ground and watched, his head and eyes following Nardo as he grabbed his ōdachi from off the ground. He walked a good few yards away to give himself room, then held his grip with both hands.

He took a deep breath and exhaled, then staggered his feet and looked ahead.

Imagine where you want to go.

Nardo closed his eyes and imagined Leo, Donnie, Mikey, and Raph before realizing he didn’t know what their lair looked like.

“I need you to describe your lair,” Nardo called, eyes still shut.

As Leo did, Nardo set it up in his mind.

Imagine when.

Nardo imagined April and Casey sitting in the lair after Leo had explained what those two looked like.

Imagine the portal size and directory.

Nardo imagined the portal to be slightly taller than himself. He imagined it to be parallel to him so that April and Casey didn’t fall when they went through it.

Now, create it.

Nardo opened his eyes and made a circular motion with the ōdachi. Around and around until he started to see flickers of blue in the path of his sword. And then, he stepped forward and slashed through the circle diagonally. Flakes of blue light spiraled in the weapon’s wake, but then, they seemed to be magneted towards each other.

And there it was.

“Holy shit,” Nardo breathed.

“You did it,” Leo said. He stood up, eyes wide, and grinned. “You did it!”

Leo hurried over and stared at the portal, then gaped at Nardo. He punched his shoulder lightly, laughing.

“You did it- I knew you could!” Leo turned and cupped his hands around his snout and called. “Guys! Get in here, quick! We got it!”

Nardo laughed breathily. “I can't believe…”

Almost instantly, the room was stormed by the turtles, and all of them cried and whooped in excitement. Nardo was patted on the back, hugged, and reminded that his brothers were proud of him.

After that, they all stood in a mob, staring at the disc.

“Well, I don’t hear anything,” Nardo said.

“Someone else is going through that thing,” Mikey said, crossing his arms.

“And NO,” Leo turned directly to his hot-tempered brother, “throwing objects through it.”

Raph rolled his eyes.

“I’ll go,” Rael volunteered.

“You don’t know what the lair looks like, so you won’t be able to tell if it’s the right place,” Donnie said, lightly guiding himself around Rael’s arm and to the front of the group. He turned around. “I got this one.”

Nardo gestured lightly towards the portal. “Be my guest.”

Donnie turned around and poked his finger through the portal, then his hand, then his forearm. He retracted it then glanced back at the other turtles.

“Stop tryna turn this into a hero moment,” Raph retorted. “Walk through the portal.”

“Okay, okay, jeez.” Donnie turned back around, took a deep breath, and closed his eyes before stepping through the portal.

Immediately, there was something wrong.

There was no ground beneath Donnie’s feet.

haha cliffhanger, 🥰

[6971 words]