Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Universe 2003

The Daimyo was enjoying a peaceful afternoon when he got the first inclination something was wrong.

His son, Ue, was supposed to join him almost an hour ago for a planned mediation by a nearby creek. So far, the Daimyo had written it off as his son being young and forgetful, and that he would remember by this point. It was getting worrying as there was still no sign of Ue.

There was a crunch of leaves behind him and Daimyo felt himself relaxing as he turned towards who he thought was his tardy son. He straightened in surprise as a strangely purple woman wearing Earth’s style of professional clothing with a fur lined neck-line strutting towards him on high heels.

“Hello?” the Daimyo greeted her in confusion.

“Hello, dearie,” the strange purple woman giggled, waving at him. “Are the one in charge of the battle nexus here?”

“I am,” Daimyo nodded slowly, his mask hiding his confused expression. “How did you get in here?” It was a valid question as he was in his private residence and there were guards posted around to make sure no one would come in uninvited.

“I walked through the front door,” the woman waved her hand as she laughed.

“What about the guards?” the Daimyo furrowed his brow but it couldn’t be seen from behind his mask.

“Those were guards?” the woman huffed with a roll of her eyes. “I thought they were just annoyances.”

Those words made the Daimyo’s hackles raise. Whoever this woman was, she was not hiding the fact that she had gotten rid of the Daimyo’s personal guards that protected the estate.

“Here,” the woman clapped her hands with a smile. “I’ll show you what true guards look like.” With that, out of the shadows appeared strange gangly looking figures with oni masks. A different masked figure that the Daimyo identified as a warrior from how they carried themself stepped out from behind the woman.

“What do you want?” the Daimyo questioned, his hand reaching towards the war staff attached to his side sash.

“What I want is the very item you are reaching for right now,” the woman answered with a jerk of her chin. The Daimyo faltered as he pulled the staff into his hand, his danger level on this woman raising. “I would appreciate you handing it over without much of a fuss.”

“And why would I give you my war staff?” the Daimyo scoffed, clutching the war staff tighter in one hand.

“Because if you don’t then I will have to take drastic actions,” the woman giggled again. With a wave of her hand, the masked warrior pulled something out from behind them and the Daimyo felt himself pale.

“Dad!” Ue called for his father, reaching out towards him but ultimately pulled roughly back towards the warrior.

“If you want your son to stay safe, I suggest you hand over that war staff of yours,” the woman smirked.

“How dare you?” The Daimyo hissed. He bent down a bit, ready to attack.

“Ah, ah, ah,” the woman tutted, waving a finger at him. With a snap of her fingers, the masked warrior holding his son flexed their hand to produce sharp claws aimed at Ue’s throat. His son whimpered as they pricked at him, red blood coming to the surface. “I wouldn’t dare thinking of attacking me while I have your cutie patootie as assurance.”

Daimyo growled lowly, his hands twitching on his war staff in halted preparedness of attack. “You vile woman.”

“I’ve heard worse,” the woman shrugged with a giggle. “I am not heartless though. How about you hand over the staff and I give the boy back.”

“How do I know you won’t go back on your word?” Daimyo demanded.

“You won’t,” the woman smiled slyly. “But it’s the best bet you have right now.”

Daimyo adjusted his grip on the staff, weighing his options. The fearful tears in Ue’s eyes as he tried to stay strong made his heart pang and was enough to make up his mind. Standing up straight, the Daimyo threw the staff at the woman. One of her shadow warrior stepped in front and grabbed it out of the air before it could hit. It turned with a bow, presenting the war staff with both hands to the woman.

The smile on the woman’s face grew larger as she picked it up, admiring it. “I really do love when things go my way.”

“You have the staff. Give me my son back,” Daimyo demanded.

“Of course,” the woman said. She nodded at the masked warrior. The warrior turned towards the Daimyo and released Ue, pushing him forward to stumble to his father. Daimyo kneeled down and swooped Ue up in his arms, holding him close.

“And to make sure you have no way of controlling this again,” the woman smirked, reaching in her pocket to pull something out. It looked like a spider but had a purple gem where the abdomen would be. She dropped the spider on the top of the staff, the arachnid crawling to stop on the intersection of the T-shaped staff. Wrapping its legs around the intersection, the spider turned to stone with the gem flashing brightly. Line of bright purple energy ran down the sides of the war staff, it pulsing dangerously with energy.

“Just who are you?” The Daimyo spit out between gritted teeth. His nails were biting into the meaty part of his palms from how hard he was clenching his fists in anger.

The strange purple woman smiled evilly before answering.

“The name is Big Mama.”

Chapter Text

Universe 2018

“Mikey, I swear to pizza supreme in the sky, if you do not stop eating chess pieces—!”

“You’ll never take me alive,” Mikey cackled as he ducked Leo’s swipe at him.

“Grab him, Raph!” Leo called to the oldest brother.

Raph used his large size to block the doorway of the lab, his arms held out at the ready. Mikey just laughed, spinning around to avoid Donnie’s tackle and jumping up onto Raph’s shoulder to vault him through the same opening in the corner. As he ran away, Mikey could hear the fading groans from his brothers as he jumped into the air. Using his powers, he flew into his train car room and grabbed his cloak.

“I’m going to go visit Michael now!” Mikey called into the lair.

“But you just went to see Mike last week!” Leo argued back from the lab most likely.

“Yeah, but I promised to help Michael practice some new moves,” Mikey explained as he tied his cloak around his neck. Ever since he had gotten the new version of the hand braces Donnie had made for him, his hands had gotten so much better. He still struggled a bit at times but drawing didn’t make him so angry anymore and cooking was becoming a well enjoyed hobby once again.

“Is that a cover story to give him more powers?” Donnie said as Mikey left his room and saw his three brothers now in the main atrium between all of their rooms.

“I don’t think I can without overloading his body,” Mikey shrugged. “I only was able to give him back his electrical powers since there was an imprint on him already from the previous time he had them. All I did was make them more stable so that they wouldn’t fry him from the inside out.”

“Interesting,” Donnie mused with a hand stroke his chin. “I still don’t think you should go. You just crossed universes last week and 2012’s Leo is still scared of you.”

“Well, maybe he shouldn’t have made me bring out Dr. Delicate Touch,” Mikey puffed his cheek out in irritation.

“He just blew up your toaster.”

“It was my favorite toaster.”

“It was your only toaster.”

“Still my favorite.”

“Are you sure you are okay to go?” Raph fretted, shifting on his feet and poking his fingers together. “You just woke up two months ago.”

“It’s actually been almost three,” Mikey corrected with a sigh. “I am totally okay. That year nap did me wonders.”

“And all it did was give us separation anxiety,” Leo grumbled.

Mikey’s demeanor softened, floating closer to Leo to pull him in a hug. “I’m not going anywhere, Lee Lee. You don’t have to worry.”

Leo sniffed and wrapped his arms around Mikey to return the hug. After a moment, he pulled away and gave a dramatic roll of his eyes. “You have two hours before we come get you.”

“Starting the moment you go through the portal,” Donnie cleared his throat and held up his wrist screen in preparation of starting a timer.

“I should get going then,” Mikey chuckled and floated towards an empty space of the room. “Michael is expecting me by a certain point and he might call the calvary if I don’t show up.”

“Have fun,” Raph waved. “Remember that Dee fixed our phones to work across the universes.”

“I gotcha,” Mikey nodded and started waving his hands, conjuring his powers to open a portal. It had gotten a lot easier even since he woke up to open a hole between universes.

Mikey’s markings and scars had just been lighting up with power when the world tilted on its axis. With a hard press of his eyes, Mikey inhaled deeply to right himself. When he opened his eyes again, the world was back to normal but his brothers’ faces had shifted to ones of older sibling worry.

“You good?” Leo asked, his medic side starting to come out. If it did come out fully, that would spell disaster for Mikey’s plans as Leo the Medic was a force of nature that one could not fight against.

“Yeah, I think my blood sugies might be a little low,” Mikey answered quickly.

“Here,” Donnie said as a metal arm popped out of his shell and threw him something. Mikey caught it easily and recognized the special granola bars that Donnie had made him. “Eat this before you go.”

“Thanks, Dee!” Mikey chirped as he unwrapped the treat. In a one bite, he stuffed the treat into his mouth and used his powers to make the wrapper float over to the trash can. “See you guys later!”

“Be safe!” Raph called as Mikey moved his hands, an orange portal opening in front of him. Mikey waved back as he flew through, feeling a shift as he crossed from one universe to another.

Universe 2012

“Hello?” Mikey called out as he entered Michael’s universe.

“Boss! You’re here!” Michael cheered from the couch, throwing his comic down to the side as he shot up from his laying position.

“Sorry, I’m late,” Mikey inclined his head as he floated down to the ground. “My bros were chasing me and then were such worry-warts before I left.”

“Did you eat Purple’s chess pieces again?” Donnie asked from the kitchen island where he was fixing the toaster.

“I plead the fifth,” Mikey grinned, bumping his fist against Michael’s.

“I don’t understand why you keep eating them,” Raph rolled his eyes. He threw another punch at the punching bag, ducking as he pretended an invisible foe was there.

“Because,” Mikey shrugged.

“That’s not an answer.”

“Sure, it is,” Mikey laughed.

“You just don’t understand our intellect bro,” Michael smirked, resting an elbow on Mikey’s shoulder.

“Never has such a truer sentence been said,” Raph muttered to himself.

“Where’s Leo?” Mikey asked as he looked around.

“In the dojo with sensei,” Donnie jerked his chin towards the closed doors.

Mikey looked down at the toaster that Donnie was working on. “…did he break the toaster again?”

“When doesn’t he?” Donnie huffed.

Michael had gotten bored of the conversation and started pulling Mikey by the arm. “C’mon, let’s go. I have a move I want to try out.”

“We should probably bring someone for you to test it out against,” Mikey mused, rubbing his chin.

“Not me,” Donnie vetoed himself as he waved a hand over his shoulder. “I have too many projects on time constraints right now.”

“I would ask Leo but he’s still scared of you,” Michael winced.

“I’ll go,” Raph volunteered, cracking his neck. “Someone has to make sure you two don’t make something explode.”

“I feel like that applies more to Donnie than us,” Mikey chuckled.

“Yeah, but dad said that if he can go an entire week with causing an explosion, then he is going to partially lift the coffee ban on him,” Michael explained.

Donnie sat up straight and raised a fist into the air. “I will prevail and get my life sustenance back!”

Mikey and Michael looked at each other, giggling at Donnie’s dramatics while Raph just shook his head. Reaching out, he grabbed both Mikey’s by their mask tails and pulled them along. Michael and Mikey yelped as they tried to make sure they wouldn’t trip from how they were being pulling backwards.

“Let’s go,” Raph rolled his eyes and released the Mikey’s once they were moving. “I know somewhere you can practice.”

“Aww, Raphie cares,” Michael chirped.

“Why I oughta—,” Raph grumbled, reaching for Michael to give him a noogie. Michael yelped in playful fear and disappeared in a bolt of electricity. “Hey, that’s cheating!”

“All’s fair in Raph’s anger and war!” Michael cheered from down one of the tunnels with a laugh.

Raph just groaned and smacked a hand to his face. Peeking to the side between his fingers, he saw Mikey still standing there with a smile on his face. “Aren’t you going to go ahead with him?”

“It’s your home,” Mikey shrugged, slipping his hands into his cloak for it to close around. “Lead the way.”

“I thought you discovered our layout from when you chased Leo down?”

“Nope, I was more focused on getting revenge for my kitchen at the time. I just followed wherever he was running.”

“Ah, that’s fair.”

“C’mon Raphie, it wasn’t that bad,” Michael groaned. He and Mikey followed after a stomping Raph with his mask tails singed.

“What wasn’t bad?” Leo asked as his brothers and Michael’s counterpart hopped the turnstiles at the entrance of their home. With a press of a button, the old VCR playing Space Heroes was paused.

“Don’t tell him,” Michael begged, holding his hands out in front of him. “Leo’s gonna ground me from my powers again.”

“Numb nuts here nearly set me on fire from target practice,” Raph growled, stomping his feet all the way to the couch before flopping down.

“Mikey!” Leo scolded.

“I didn’t do it on purpose,” Michael moaned in defeat. “I was trying to hit the can near him but the lightning curved at the last second.”

“I call bullshit,” Raph scoffed. “I’ve seen how precise you control your kusarigama and you were using your lightning like that. I bet you were trying to set my mask on fire.”

“I would just like to add that control electricity is a lot different than a kusarigama,” Mikey piped up.

“Yeah, right,” Raph rolled his eyes and sunk deeper into his seat.

Leo looked at Michael slouching and the look of regret on his face. The leader in blue felt himself softening as he could tell that his brother truly didn’t mean to accidentally hurt Raph. “It’s okay, Michael. I believe you.”

“Really?” Michael brightened, his little tail wagging in hope.

“Of course, you do,” Raph grumbled. “You always go easy on Mikey.”

“I do not,” Leo scoffed in annoyance.

“Yes, you do,” Raph turned his head towards Leo and narrowed his eyes. “All Michael has to do is put on a pouty face or his puppy-dog eyes and you cave.”

“You are delusional,” Leo said, his face turned down in a frown.

“Guys, please don’t fight,” Michael begged. He really hated when they fought and even more when it was about himself.

“Face it, Leo. You go easy on Mikey more than the rest of us because he is the youngest,” Raph pushed.

“Maybe I’m just nice to him because he doesn’t antagonize me every moment like you do,” Leo shot back.

Raph rolled his eyes again and pushed himself up off the couch. “Whatever.”

Donnie had been coming in the room at that moment and was shoulder-checked by Raph. He was going to say something but stopped when he noticed the anger radiating off of him. Raising an eye ridge, he stepped into the living room. “What happened?”

“Just a fight between me and Raph,” Leo answered with a huff.

“Ah, so the usual,” Donnie nodded.

“Hey,” Leo argued.

“It’s the truth,” Donnie shrugged and continued on his way to the kitchen to get a snack.

Leo sighed and reached a hand up to rub the back of his head. “Sorry you had to see that,” he said to Mikey. “Must be different from how your Leo and Raph interact.”

“It’s alright,” Mikey waved a scarred hand at Leo. “You would be surprised by how much the two of them got into it in the two years between the Shredder and the Kraang.” He looked at the clock in the kitchen and hummed. “I should get going by this point. My bros are gonna come busting down the portal if I don’t get home soon.”

“Thanks for coming over,” Michael smiled and waved at his counterpart. “I can’t wait until next time. Hopefully by then, I’ll have figured this trick out.”

“Just keep practicing and I’m sure you’ll get it,” Mikey winked and jumped into the air to fly.

“Bye, Mikey,” Leo waved and pressed play to resume his show.

“I’ll see you guys later,” Mikey waved, turning to an empty space to open a portal. His markings had just began lighting up and he could feel the pull on his core that always happened when he was opening a portal.

All of a sudden, Mikey’s powers fizzled out and he dropped to the ground as his flight disappeared. He got his balance at the last second, looking down at his feet now touching the ground in confusion.

“Are you okay?” Michael asked as he reached out towards Mikey. Leo looked up from the TV and furrowed his brow, his hands positioned to push himself up in a hurry.

A wave of fatigue ran over Mikey, making him wobble as the world tilted on its axis. A hand reached out to grab at the counter near him but missed by a mile, Mikey falling forward to flop on the ground.

“Boss!” Michael screeched in alarm.

Mikey wanted to assure him that he was okay but that would be a lie as Mikey’s consciousness was taken from him. It wasn’t a normal passing out, though, as he has had experience with that in the past. This time, he was fully aware as he felt himself being pulled and pulled and pulled…

…until he wasn’t pulled anymore. Now, he was in a large spacious room.

The space was dark and filled with porthole looking portals all around him. Without a doubt, Mikey knew where he was. He turned around and jumped back when he saw the conscious of the multiverse a mere few inches away from his face.

“Mikey, we have trouble,” the Conscious paled.

Chapter Text

Universe 2003

“Hello again, dear Daimyo.”

The Daimyo looked up from the green grass he had been staring at. After handing over the war staff, Big Mama had confined him and Ue to their main home on the estate with guards watching them around the clock. Ue whimpered in fear as the spider yokai stood on the edge of the boundary line where a force field kept the father and son locked up inside. Big Mama held the war staff in her hands and Daimyo gulped at the sight of the corruption running over it.

“What do you want?” the Daimyo sighed.

“Just a little question westion,” Big Mama smiled, running a hand down the corrupted war staff in her grasp. “How do I properly control this do-hickey?”

“Why should I tell you?” Daimyo hissed.

“Because you know the reparations if you don’t,” Big Mama giggled, eyes flicking over to Ue who flinched and tried hiding behind his father even more.

The Daimyo ground his teeth, ashamed at how he was giving in. But, he couldn’t help it as a father. “I know what you are planning,” the Daimyo said suddenly. “I have been around long enough to see the conniving in your eyes.”

“Then that will make things easier,” Big Mama’s smile broadened. “The champions are going to put on quite a show – especially my darling Lou’s baby blue.”

“I don’t know who your champion is but I have hopes in the champion of this universe. He will be the one to stop your plans,” the Daimyo swore.

“I cannot wait to meet your champion then,” Big Mama giggled, covering her mouth with a hand. In a flash, her sweet eyes changed to slits filled with venom. “But first, I need you to show me how to summon them.”

The Daimyo sighed and shook his head in defeat. Gesturing for Ue to run back into the house, the ruler of this universe’s battle nexus stepped away from his spot. He kept moving forward until he was a few inches from the barrier and kneeled on the ground.

“What you have to do is…”

Universe 2018

Donnie was typing at his computer in the med bay as Leo looked Mikey over again. The box turtle was still as unconscious as when he arrived being carried on 2012 Leo’s back.

Looking up, Donnie peeked at Leo checking Mikey’s pulse for the umpteenth time. Michael had explained that Mikey had been about to open a portal home when he passed out but no one had any clue why. According to the scans, his mystic levels were fine and the check of his core through the way that Draxum had taught Leo for medical purposes showed that it was still intact. A prick of Mikey’s finger showed his blood sugar was fine and his vitals were all good.

It didn’t make sense for Mikey to pass out the way he did.

“I know that look of yours,” Leo called over suddenly without looking up from Mikey.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Donnie scoffed and looked back down at the computer. He quickly minimized the screen from Web.M.D. that said Mikey either is sleep deprived or had a stroke…Donnie really hopes Mikey didn’t have a stroke.

“I’m your twin,” Leo huffed and held his thumb and forefingers up in a rectangle shape to peek at Mikey’s core one more time. “We share a soul—”

“There is no scientific proof of that.”

“—and a birthday. I think it wouldn’t be that far of a stretch to say that I know your facial expressions the best.”

“Scoff, and what do you think my face is saying right now?” Donnie countered.

“That you are worried that we are about to have another Master Michelangelo situation on our hands,” Leo answered, lowering his hands and propping his hands on his hips to stare at Donnie.

“…shut up,” Donnie grumbled and turned his face away.

“I’m worried, too, if that helps you vocalize your feelings,” Leo offered, peering back down at a slumbering Mikey. His face was slack so there was no indication that Mikey was in pain or discomfort. All in all, it just looked like Mikey was in a deep and peaceful sleep.

“I don’t like talking about feelings,” Donnie grumbled and continued typing at his keyboard.

“It’s good for you.”

“Did you and Mikey switch the Dr. Feelings role?” Donnie rolled his eyes.

“Why? Do you need a session with him again?”

“Never mind,” Donnie coughed. “My point still stands. I do not want to talk about feelings—”

“Donnie.”

“—but I will talk about facts.”

Leo raised an eye ridge at his twin and crossed his arms. “Okay, and what are the facts?”

Donnie cleared his throat and turned in his chair to present the computer screen. “1. Mikey’s powers were glitching out before he left. He blamed it on his blood sugar but I am fairly certain that he just played it off so that he could still go see Michael.”

“Sneaky brat,” Leo muttered under his breath.

“2. Other Leo and Michael come bursting over here with Mikey passed out on Leo’s back and they have no clue why. According to them, Mikey was about to open the portal home when he collapsed.”

“So his powers are being drained again?” Leo asked.

“I’m getting to that,” Donnie narrowed his eyes at Leo. “3. According to all tests we have ran on Mikey, he is perfectly healthy which includes his mystic energy level and core.”

“Then we are back to square one,” Leo sighed. “Which is not knowing what is going on.” Leo dropped one hand to his hip and reached up with the other to scratch at his cheek. “Where did Raph go, by the way?”

“He’s in the other room,” Donnie motioned with a tilt on his head. “Said he was going to check in Mikey’s room for anything.”

“Doubt he’s going to find anything,” Leo huffed. “Mikey can be sneaky when he wants to be.”

“Yeah,” Donnie snorted. “Cheers to the multiverse adventure he was having that we didn’t know about until it quite literally reached it’s boiling over point right in front of our faces.”

“Ain’t that the—”

Leo was interrupted as Mikey suddenly shot up from his dead sleep with a gasp. Leo and Donnie both jumped in their spots at the sheer surprise as Mikey looked around the med bay with wild eyes. His gaze landed on Leo who was shaking himself out of the surprise and shock.

“Mikey?” Leo asked carefully, reaching a hand out towards Mikey. “Are you okay?”

“…no,” Mikey gulped, shaking his head. He looked around again as he hyperventilated. “We need to go. We need to go now.” He grabbed at his head and winced, staring at the sheets of the bed.

Leo and Donnie looked at each other over Mikey’s head, their twin telepathy running in overtime to figure out what was distressing Mikey so much. With a nod, Leo went to help Mikey while Donnie slipped out of the room to go grab Raph.

“Mikey, let’s take one thing at a time,” Leo directed. “Here, breathe with me.”

“Leo, we don’t have time—”

“Nonsense,” Leo shushed Mikey gently. “We always have time to breathe. Follow my breathes.”

“Leo—”

“Humor me,” Leo rolled his eyes. He grabbed one of Mikey’s brace covered hands and rested it on his plastron, taking deep exaggerated breathes for Mikey to follow. Seeing that he had no choice but to follow, Mikey mimicked Leo’s breathing. Soon, his heart was calming down as the two youngest brothers synced up their breathing. “There. That’s better,” Leo smiled as he dropped Mikey’s hand down.

“Thanks, Lee,” Mikey whispered.

Raph came in the room then, followed by Donnie. “Mikey’s awake?”

“Hi Raphie,” Mikey waved, a surprising defeated look on his face.

“Hey, big man,” Raph said softly as he sat gingerly on the edge of the bed. They had all learned from experience that if Raph sits on the edge of the bed, it would send it falling to its side. “Want to tell us what’s going on?”

“It’s too late now,” Mikey shrugged, looking Raph in the eyes. “She’s already here.”

Mikey jerked to the side as something caught him the neck, making the box turtle fall off the bed and hit the ground hard. “Mikey!” Raph screeched as he swooped down. Leo and Donnie jumped into action, pulling their weapons out of their holsters, and spinning them in time to block more mysterious somethings.

“I’m okay,” Mikey croaked as he rubbed his neck where a thin silvery collar now rested.

Raph was about to sigh in relief but it came out in a choked gasp as what he guessed was another silvery collar slammed into him from the back of his neck. It wrapped around throat and there was an almost silent beep before he felt a sudden drain on his energy.

The twins stumbled into each other as collars also sprung onto them, Donnie growling as he turned around to have his battle shell block any more projectiles from him or Leo. It seemed to not be in naught when instead of projectiles, a small army of Big Mama’s shadow soldiers separated themselves from the walls and rushed forward to attack.

The blue themed turtles swung his sword to the side to open a portal…and paled when nothing happened.

“Our powers!” Raph exclaimed as he kept punching his fists together in hopes of summoning his astral form. “They’re gone!”

“It’s from the collars!” Donnie explained as he spun his tech bo around to fight more of Big Mama’s soldiers off. The good part for the genius that he relied on his mystic powers the least so he was more than comfortable fighting old school.

“Shit,” Leo cursed as he was tackled to the ground.

“Leo!” Mikey yelled as he pulled out his nun chucks. Spinning them around, he knocked one soldier to the side but two more took their place. No matter how many Mikey blocked and pushed away, more kept coming at him. Soon, he was overrun and pinned to the ground.

With a peek to the side, Mikey would see Donnie growling and snapping his teeth at the hands closest to him while Raph had his own sizable army of soldiers holding him down. Leo’s teeth were gritted in silent rage as his eyes darted around.

See, that was the thing about Leo.

He was smart.

He knew how to look for weak spots and when to strike.

Which is why when he suddenly pulled an elbow back, he hit one of the soldiers square in the face and used that same arm to shoot forward to grab another soldier by the scruff of the neck. Pouring as much strength as he could into his arm, Leo threw the soldier to the side to release his other arm and slammed both hands on the ground. Spinning around on his hands, he kept both legs out to kick the oncoming soldiers away.

“Hold on! I’m gonna free you guys!” Leo yelled as he bent back to avoid a grab. He grabbed the soldier’s arm and used the guy’s own momentum to spin around and threw the soldier over his shoulder. Spinning on his heel, Leo stepped forward to head to Raph first but slammed into the ground as something wrapped around his ankle. “What the hell?!” Leo looked down to see a long metal wire wrapped around his ankle up to his knee.

“Leo, look out!” Mikey screamed from the floor.

Mikey’s warning was too late as another wire wrapped around the hand that had been reaching down to free his leg. Before Leo could react, more wires came out to wrap around his other leg and arm, with a second round of wires going for his arms again.

Leo growled loudly as the soldiers holding the wires taut forced him to kneel on the ground with his arms pulled out to the sides. His arms muscles clenched as tightly as he tried pulling his arms closer to his body, his teeth gritted in exertion. As much as Leo struggled, he could not break free of the wires that bit in his flesh more and more as he fought.

“Leo, stop fighting,” Donnie ordered from where he stopped fighting against the soldiers holding him against the ground. Seeing that, the soldiers produced a pair of binders and snapped them around Donnie’s wrists behind his back. “You are just going to hurt yourself.”

“And give up?” Leo snapped at Donnie.

“No,” Donnie rolled his eyes as he hefted up to sit on the ground. Moving his wrists around, he knew without a doubt that these binders would take some time for even him to get out of. “I’m saying stop fighting and assess the situation before someone gets hurt.”

His eyes flicked over to Raph who was still being held down, even his tail that flicked to the sides in agitation. Mikey had been restrained by binders like Donnie though his hands were bound in the front with his hands covered all the way up to his elbows. Narrowed eyes stared at the soldiers and it was so strange to Donnie to see his peace-loving brother so pissed off.

“You should really listen to your brother, dearie,” a woman’s voice tutted as the sound of heels clicking on the ground suddenly appeared. All the brothers looked over to the entrance of the med bay to see a portal now opened in the space. Big Mama exited the portal and strode forward until she was right in the front of Leo, the turtle hissing softly at her. “Hello again, my dear Lou’s children.”

“Big Mama,” Leo scoffed and pulled on the wires again. “To what do we owe the displeasure of seeing your face?”

Big Mama held up a hand to cover her mouth as she giggled. Eyes stared down at Leo in entertainment. “Oh, my champion, you remind me so much of Lou when he was younger.”

“I’m not your champion,” Leo barked, snapping his teeth at the spider yokai.

“You are,” Big Mama laughed and lowered the hand covering her mouth. “Anywho, I am glad to see all of you together. Makes us have to make less stops. We will grab the rest of your family so you don’t have to worry about them missing the show.”

“What show?” Donnie demanded.

“You’ll find out,” Big Mama smirked and snapped her fingers. “Give me the orange one’s cloak.”

“Hey!” Mikey argued as one of the soldiers reached forward and untied the cloak from around Mikey’s shoulders. “That’s mine!”

“You’ll get it back later,” Big Mama hummed as she was presented the cloak. “You can take them away now,” she said with a dismissive wave of her hand.

All at once, Leo was forced to his feet and the soldiers holding the wires wrapped around his arms started marching him forward. Mikey and Donnie were both hefted up to their feet and pushed forward. In Raph’s case, new soldiers stepped forward and pointed electrical prods at the three youngest turtles. Raph knew the threat of hurting his younger brothers if he didn’t cooperate for what it was so he followed along wordlessly.

Big Mama watched as the four turtles went into the portal before following them in with her excess soldiers falling into step behind her.

“I do love when things go my way,” she laughed right as the portal closed behind her.

Chapter Text

Universe 2003

WHACK!

“Yame!” Splinter called to end the spar. He turned to head towards the kitchen to prepare some tea for his sons.

“Ugh, finally,” Mikey groaned as he flopped backwards on the ground. He splayed his limbs like a starfish while Leo just chuckled and sheathed his swords. “I should’ve kept my mouth shut in that fight against 161.”

“We need to figure out a name for him,” Donnie hummed from the other side of the room where he was fixing the TV. He turned his screwdriver to tighten on and leaned back on one hand to look at his brothers in the center of the room. “Pretty rude for us to just call him by a number.”

“Take that up with Psychoangelo,” Mikey groaned with a wave towards the direction of Donnie.

“C’mon, get back up, Mikey,” Raph said as he walked by and lightly kicked Mikey in the arm. “I got dibs fighting our fearless leader next.”

“Give me a moment,” Mikey whined. “I’m winded – ha, get it?”

“We got it,” Donnie rolled his eyes.

“Maybe if you tried this hard from the beginning, then I wouldn’t have had to force you to take training seriously,” Leo shook his head and propped his fists on his hips. “We always need to be at our best form.”

“Bro, I’m the battle nexus champion,” Mikey laughed. “I’m always at my best form.”

“You know, one of these days, that title is going to be taken from ya and I am gonna cheer in joy for that,” Raph grumbled. "Hell, I'll throw a party."

“They’ll have to pry it out of cold, dead hands,” Mike snickered, yelping at the sharp kick from Raph in his side. “Sorry. Still too soon?”

“Mikey, we saw you – for the lack of a better word – die right in front of us,” Donnie shook his head. “It’ll always be too soon.”

“I’m still sorry you guys had to see that,” Mikey sighed and stared up at the ceiling.

“Better for us to be there and see it than left in the dark wondering what happened to you like most of the other universes,” Leo said dismissively with a sad smile. “I feel like the saying ‘ignorance is bliss’ doesn’t apply to this situation.”

“Especially with how most of the Mikey’s don’t like sharing their true feelings with us,” Raph scoffed, kicking Mikey in the side again.

“Stop kicking me,” Mikey hissed with narrowed at his brother.

“Are you going to actually tell us when you’re feeling messed up or are you going to make us pull it out of ya again?”

Mikey answered by way of narrowing his eyes further and pressing his lips together.

And Raph answered that by kicking him in the side again. “So be kicked then.”

“Sometimes, I really hate you,” Mikey stuck his tongue out at Raph. “All of you.”

“No, you don’t,” Leo, Donnie, and Raph quipped at the same time.

“…argh, you guys are jerks.”

“Whatever,” Raph cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders out. “Get off the floor already so that I can get my turn sparring with Leo.”

Mikey sat up suddenly, rolling backwards to position his hands on the ground and launching himself up in a crouch. In a second, he had his nun chucks out and spinning as he looked around with a serious look.

“Mike, you volunteering ta fight me?” Raph asked with a growing smirk. “I was looking forward to fighting Leo but I’m always ready to beat ya—"

“Raph, I’m going to need you to be quiet for a second,” Mikey whispered harshly. Leo and Donnie rose an eye ridge at that, Raph sputtering in shock with his face growing red with anger.

“Why you little—”

“Leo, duck!” Mikey suddenly yelled as he pulled a ninja star out of his side pouch and throwing at his brother’s direction. It was only thanks to his highly trained ninja skills that Leo dropped down into a full split to see the ninja star go flying where he had been to impale itself in a strange masked figure that had been about to grab him.

“What the hell?!” Raph yelled as he pulled his sai out. With a spin, he stabbed the figure that came rushing towards him in the face and his mouth dropped open when they disappeared in a puff of dark smoke. “Who the hell are these people?!”

“Not people who want to be our friends,” Donnie yelped as he jumped backwards in the air over top of two more shadow soldiers.

“What a good time for Casey and April to be not be home,” Leo said as he placed his hands on the ground and pushed himself into a handstand to kick two shadow soldiers at the same time. Another one came forward and Leo wrapped his legs around the soldier’s neck to lift himself up. With a sharp elbow to the temple, the soldier crumpled to the ground to leave Leo dropping down to his feet.

A cry filled the air and Leo whipped his head around to see Mikey clutching at his throat. While he was distracted, the soldier that he knocked to the ground decided to reveal that he was playing possum and reached up to equip a collar around Leo’s neck. There was a quiet beep as Leo ripped his swords out of their sheathes and stabbed down at the soldier.

“Mikey!” Leo yelled. He could care less about himself but he had to make sure his brother was okay. Looking around, he saw Mikey grimacing as he rubbed at the collar now around his throat but he was more-or-less alright. In the corner of his view, Leo saw Donnie and Raph jerk to the side and gag when their own version of the collars snapped around their necks.

“What’s going on?!” Raph demanded as he pulled at the collar around his neck.

“Things will be answered shortly,” a woman’s voice purred accompanied with the steady clicks of heels on cement. From the entrance of their home, the turtles watched as a purple business-looking woman came strutting out with an air of pride. All the soldiers they had been fighting stilled before jumping back to create a circle around the brothers.

“Who are you?” Leo demanded, spinning in a slow circle to keep an eye on all the shadow soldiers that had him surrounded.

“You may call me Big Mama,” the woman introduced herself with an inclination of her head. “A pleasure to meet all four of you turtles. I must say that I find it amusing to see how similar all four of you look compared to my dear Lou’s turtles.”

“I don’t care who your Lou is but what turtles are you talking about?” Donnie asked, eyeing the woman. “What universe are you from?”

“I believe my universe is 2018,” Big Mama hummed with a finger tapping her chin.

The danger level that the brothers had clocked on the woman instantly raised significantly at that statement. They all flinched as their muscles went taunt as fight-or-flight instincts kicked in.

“I see you four know exactly which universe I am talking about,” Big Mama smirked widely with her eyes half lidded. “Then you also means that you know how dangerous I can be.” Pulling her hands out from behind her, all their eyes went wide as they saw the corrupted war staff.

"How do you have that?" Raph demanded.

"I can get anything I want as long as I play my cards right," Big Mama giggled.

Leo gulped as he put his swords away, knowing it was a losing fight with the collars around their necks. “What do you want from us?”

“For now, I need all four of you to kindly come along with me,” Big Mama said, folding her hands over the intersection of the war staff in front of her. “I will have my staff grab the rest of your family so they do not miss the show.”

“What show?” Donnie asked, before frowning to himself. “Wait…the rest of our family? What do you…sensei!”

Like a switch being flipped, the brothers remembered their father. Swinging their heads towards the kitchen, they all breathed a sigh of relief when they saw their father peacefully being escorted out of the kitchen. Though, his face showed he was anything but pleased by the intruders.

“I must say that I am partial to my dear Lou,” Big Mama hummed as she looked Splinter up and down. “But your father is not that bad.”

“Please don’t flirt with our dad as you are actively threatening our lives,” Mikey groaned.

Big Mama giggled and waved for the family to follow her as a portal opened behind her. “Let’s go then, dearies. We don’t want to keep the others waiting.”

“Who are the others?” Donnie asked. He hands twitched at his side for his bo staff but he kept himself calm. A look over to Raph had Donnie worried how long it would take for his brother to crack.

“You shall see,” Big Mama answered as she turned on her heel to the portal. She didn’t wait for the turtles and Splinter to follow her, trusting her assistant and soldiers to get them through. “Let’s find out if the Daimyo was right about his champion,” Big Mama smirked to herself as she stepped through the portal.

Universe 2016

“Man, these dumb foot soldiers are just becoming easier and easier,” Mikey laughed.

“Gotta say, Mikey’s right about that,” Donnie said as he poked one end of his bo staff at the unconscious foot soldier’s shoulder. “There are definitely are of a lower caliber than what we are used to dealing with.”

“I need them to do some training so that I can actually have fun when beating ‘em up,” Raph grumbled as he cracked his neck. “We need some actual fighters.”

“What about those Purple Dragons goons the other universes have?” Leo asked, cleaning off his katanas with a spare cloth before putting them away.

“Based on timelines and the common inclusivity of them we’ve seen along the other universes, it is entirely possible that we will be seeing them start popping up soon,” Donnie answered.

“I can’t wait,” Raph smirked as he popped his knuckles.

“Ugh, can you not do that?” Donnie shivered in disgust.

“Grow up,” Raph rolled his eyes at Donnie.

“Hey Leo,” Mikey grinned, skipping over to his oldest brother.

“Yes Mikey?” Leo asked though he had a feeling that he knew where this was going.

“While we are on the topic of dragons…can I please try my dragon skills on the bad guys?” Mikey asked in excitement with his hands clasped in front of him.

“No,” Leo immediately shot down that question that has been plaguing him the last three months. “Dragons do not belong in our world – I have told you this before.”

“But they could,” Mikey pushed with a sly pleading smile. “I mean, all it would take—”

“No.”

“But—!”

“No, and if I hear that question one more time tonight, I will be making all of us run drills for an extra hour.”

“Mikey, shut the hell up before I make ya,” Raph threatened with a glint in his eye.

Mikey groaned in defeat and let his shoulders fall. “Fine, but only because I don’t want to make Donnie and Raph suffer because of me.”

“And you don’t care about running them yourself?” Donnie rose an eye ridge.

“Eh,” Mikey shrugged. “If I’m going to go down for a bad decision on my part, I’m not gonna drag the rest of you down with me.”

“…dammit, now I feel like an asshole,” Raph muttered to himself as he rubbed the back of his head.

Mikey tilted his head to the side. “Did I say something wrong?”

“Not wrong, just…a little concerning,” Leo sighed as he patted Mikey on the shoulder. “We’ll talk about it more later, okay?”

The nun chuck wielding turtle didn’t look entirely sure but something caught his attention. Mikey perked up suddenly, bouncing on his toes as he looked at someone farther down the alleyway they couldn’t see. “Hey, it’s Boss!” Mikey cheered, breaking out into a run towards the cloaked figure. Leo watched as Orange turned around the corner of the alleyway to run deeper into another connected alley.

“What’s he doing here?” Raph questioned, following after Mikey without a word. Emotional wounds were still a little too fresh for the brothers to let Mikey run too far ahead without them.

“Perhaps he wants to hang out with Mikey,” Donnie offered. He followed at a slow pace behind Leo.

“They saw each other two weeks ago,” Leo rolled his eyes as he ran between Raph and Donnie.

“They’re Mikey’s,” Donnie chuckled. “It won’t matter how long they’ve been apart – they’ll act like it’s been forever.”

Raph went to say something up stopped when they saw Mikey pull into a sudden spot a small distance away from Orange. They got even more confused when they saw Mikey pull out his nun chucks and start spinning them in a threatening way.

“Woah, that’s the not type of greeting you two usually have,” Raph blinked in surprise.

“Very out of character for Mikey,” Donnie frowned. Though he wasn’t sure what was happening, he followed Mikey’s lead and got his own weapon out at the ready.

“Mikey, what’s wrong?” Leo asked, a hand coming out towards Mikey’s shoulder. “You love seeing little Mikey.”

“That’s not the boss,” Mikey growled, a breath of hot fire coming out of his mouth.

“What are you talking about?” Raph groaned. He held a hand out towards the cloaked figure. “That’s the brat’s cloak and he’s doing the thing where he makes his eyes glow because he loves to freak us out.”

“First, Boss loves to fly when wearing his cloak and this person is not flying,” Mikey hissed and they realized that this person indeed had two feet planted on the ground by the lack of fluttering in the cloak. “And second – Boss’s eyes glow orange, not purple.”

That immediately made Leo’s hand stop moving towards Mikey. Now, they shot to his swords to rip them out of their sheathes. Next to him, Leo could feel Raph lower himself slightly with his sai brandished and Donnie spun his bo staff to tuck under his arm in preparation.

“Ahh, poo, I didn’t think that this orange one was smart enough to realize so soon,” the figure sighed and two slim purple hands peeked out of the cloak to pull the hood down to reveal a strangely purple business looking woman. She lowered her hands to clasp them together in the front with a pout on her lips. “Though, I must say now that I am looking closer at you turtles, you are going to do be much more perfect than I was expecting.”

“Who the hell are you?” Raph grunted.

“The name is Big Mama,” she answered, untying the cloak from around her neck. She threw it to the side where one of the soldiers pulled itself out of the shadows to catch it. “You can return that to Lou’s child now.”

“Where is boss?” Mikey demanded, stepping forward only to make it a step before Donnie’s sudden hand on his shoulder stopped him.

“Lou’s Michelangelo is perfectly fine,” Big Mama waved a hand to brush the concern away.

“Then why do you have his cloak?”

“Because I knew that it would be idiotic to not go for him first,” Big Mama scoffed and rolled her eyes. “As soon as little orange got a whiff of what was going on, it would have made everything so much more difficult. I thought it would be easier to catch your attention if I had the budding mystic master's cloak - to which I was correct.”

“What are you talking about?” Leo frowned.

“All the answers will come in due time,” Big Mama answered cryptically. With a single clap, a small army of shadow soldiers appeared around the four brothers to surround them. All four of them jumped to have their shells facing each other to cover all sides. With all of their weapons out, Leo tried to think of a plan of attack.

Leo didn’t like the number of adversaries around them all. They were severely outnumbered and there was no one for to call for back-up. Though…there was one way of knocking a lot of the soldiers out at the same time.

“Hey, Mikey?”

“Yeah, Leo?” Mikey asked, not turning towards his brother at his left shoulder.

“Remember when I said no to dragon you earlier?”

“Yeah.”

“I take that back. Go wild.”

“Oh, hell yes,” Mikey smirked with a breath of fire. More flames started to collect on the surface of his skin to transform.

“How interesting,” Big Mama said in interest before flicking her hand out. Next to Leo, Mikey dropped to his knees while clutching at his throat. “But I would rather not be spoiled before the main event.”

“What’d you do to him?!” Raph roared. He jumped forward to stab at Big Mama only for his arm to be redirected by a masked warrior that quite literally just appeared in front of the woman. Thinking on his feet, Raph turned his grip on the sai to hold it with the tip pointing at the side of Big Mama’s head though there was some distance.

“Well, I can’t have one of my contenders attacking me,” Big Mama giggled behind a hand, looking up at Raph through her eye lashes. “And if you try anything, he will suffer for it.” With a snap of her fingers, Mikey collapsed to  his knees on the ground gasping for air as the collar tightened. His hands pawed at the collar around his throat as he tried and failed to breathe in air.

“Mikey!” Leo shrieked, he and Donnie dropping to their knees next to Mikey as he struggled to breathe. Their hands hovered in the air above Mikey as they were unsure where to even start to help. Whipping his head around, Leo stared at Big Mama with wide and scared eyes. “We’ll stop fighting! Let him breathe!”

Big Mama hummed with a smirk as she looked to the side at the sai still pointed at her head. Wrath snarled at the woman, especially with how she was using Mikey to threaten them. With a twitching of her finger, the collar tightened a fraction more and Mikey’s face started turning purple. Mikey's body flopped forward, his eyes wide and pricking with tears at the corners.

“Raph!” Leo yelled, slamming a palm against the concrete.

Raph got one short, angry yell as he pulled the sai away from Big Mama, spinning it to put in his belt and held his hands up to show that he was giving up. With a satisfied smile, Big Mama snapped her fingers again and there was a loud gasping as Mikey sucked in deep breathes of fresh air. Donnie turned Mikey onto his side and rubbed the back of his shell as Mikey got his breathing back under control.

“Now, that wasn’t so hard, was it?” Big Mama smiled.

“Go to hell,” Raph spat.

“I’ll let that one pass for now but I would recommend not using such crass language about me again,” Big Mama hummed and stepped to the side, eyeing Mikey on the ground. Leo and Raph bared their teeth at the threat and moved their bodies to put themselves between Big Mama and Mikey. Clapping once, Big Mama smiled broadly. “Enough of that for now, let’s get going.”

“Go where?” Leo demanded. He felt a shift next to him and noticed Donnie helping Mikey sit back up. Mikey met his eyes and gave a small smile that was more a grimace.

Big Mama pulled a staff from behind her back and pointed at the empty space of one end of the alleyway, a portal opening. Turning to the brothers, she gestured her hands towards it. “I’ll explain later, it will be so much easier to do it in one go with everyone.”

Leo was quiet for a moment as he thought it over before letting his shoulders sag with a sigh. Raph immediately picked up on the decision, whirling on Leo with an expression of disbelief. “You can’t actually be agreeing to this.”

“We don’t have a choice,” Leo answered, flicking his eyes towards Mikey and his bruised throat. He and Donnie reached down to help Mikey back to his feet, eyeing Raph as his hot-blooded brother stewed in anger. “Or do you want Mikey to be suffocated again?”

“I can arrange that if you want,” Big Mama purred with a sadistic smile.

“No!” Raph, Leo, and Donnie all yelled at the same time.

“Very well,” Big Mama shrugged and turned towards the portal to step through, waving a hand over her shoulder. “Let’s go then, turtle wortles. I am on a tight schedule.”

Raph grumbled, his hands clenching and unclenching at his sides. Big Mama’s assistant watched but didn’t say anything as they took up guard next to the portal to make sure the brothers went through. Donnie wrapped one of Mikey’s arms around his shoulders and kept a grip on his hand to help his still wobbly brother walk through the portal. Leo and Raph walked side-by-side together but made sure to growl at Big Mama’s assistant as they went through.

After they all left, Big Mama’s assistant looked back at the current universe. Behind their mask, they wrinkled their nose in disgust before turning on their heel and stepped into the universe.

And there would be no hint of what just happened after the portal closed without a sound.

Chapter Text

Universe 2012

“Do you think boss is okay?” Mikey asked. He fiddled with the ends of the jumper cables that Donnie had handed him.

“Probably was still recovering from his year-long coma,” Donnie answered. His tongue stuck out between his lips as he fiddled with the battery of the Shellraiser. After dropping Orange back off in his home universe, Leo had sent Mikey over to Donnie’s lab to keep him occupied. Neither of the brothers knew where Leo went after and Donnie figured that Raph was still angry from earlier.

Besides, Donnie needed Mikey’s help.

“Okay, that should do it,” Donnie grinned and stepped away from the engine. He turned towards Mikey on the rolly chair that Donnie got solely for when Mikey would hang out with him in the lab. There was a smear of oil on his cheek but it was rare that Donnie didn’t get oil on him somewhere when working on the van. “Do you remember what to do?”

“Dude, all I’m doing is shocking the van,” Mikey deadpanned. He stood up from his chair and walked over to the taped marked X on the ground like Donnie directed. “I feel like a turtle generator for you.”

“Hey, I thought you wanted your powers to help people,” Donnie shot back with a teasing smile.

“To beat up bad guys, not jump start the van,” Mikey groaned, moving his ends of the jumper cables to have one in each hand. “Though, this will probably help us if the battery ever dies somewhere.”

“See, you got it,” Donnie laughed and took a step back, lowering his welding mask to protect his eyes from whatever light Mikey’s electricity would produce. “You are good to shock when you want. Just don’t use too much or else you will fry it.”

“I gotcha,” Mikey grinned, his baby blue eyes glowing brighter as he called on his powers. Light blue electricity sparked from his eyes, traveling down his cheeks and over his chin to cross his neck and wrap down his arms. The electricity ran into the jumper cable ends to transports themselves into the engine.

“Okay, you stop now,” Donnie called as he climbed into the Shellraiser. Turning the key, he whooped in joy when the engine roared. “It worked!”

“What did I do exactly?” Mikey asked with a tilt of his head.

“In short: you just gave the van a boost,” Donnie answered as he lightly pressed the gas pedal to make the engine rumble. “It should be able to drive faster than before compared to just relying on the gas. I tweaked it to run on both electric power and gas which means our range has increased exponentially!”

“Especially with the living battery we have,” Raph said from the doorway where he was leaning against.

“Hey Raph,” Donnie greeted while Mikey squeaked and dropped the jumper cables to zap behind Donnie’s desk to hide. “How long have you been there?”

“Since you gave Mikey the go-ahead,” Raph answered with a shrug and pushed off the doorway.

Mikey curled in on himself as he ducked further down, the tips of his mask tails sticking up. Raph heaved a sigh at his brother’s reaction, looking over at Donnie. The genius gave a pointed nod of his head at the youngest brother, Raph giving a grimace. Narrowing his eyes, Donnie bared his teeth at Raph to get his point across.

Giving in, Raph grumbled to himself as he made his way over to the desk and sat on the edge of it and his hands propping him up. “You gonna hide there the whole time?”

“Depends,” Mikey answered and shying a fraction away from Raph. “Are you still mad?”

“I was never mad,” Raph scoffed.

“You sure seemed like it.”

“I was annoyed,” Raph sniffed and looked down at Mikey who was looking at him uneasily. “But I wasn’t mad.”

Mikey eyed him carefully before slowly scooting closer. “You sure?”

“If I was mad, I would tell you,” Raph rolled his eyes. “Now come up here before I make ya.”

Mikey gave a grin at the round-about forgiveness Raph was giving him and shot up, wrapping his arms around Raph’s shoulders. His brother gave a grimace for show but didn’t push him away, instead wrapping one of his own arms around Mikey.

“Oh, good, you’ve made up,” Leo commented as he came in the room at that moment.

Raph rolled his eyes at Leo’s comment, pulling away from the side hug and crossing his arms. “Look who decided to join the party.”

Leo held his hands up in front of him. “So much hostility aimed at me for just walking in.”

“More like for you existing,” Raph shot back. Mikey stepped away as Raph and Leo fell into their usual routine to go stand by Donnie.

“Ouch,” Leo put a hand over his heart in mock offence. He and Raph looked at each other for a moment before breaking out into smiles at their banter. “Seriously though, good to see you two on better terms again. I know how both of you beat yourself up when fighting.”

“I wasn’t,” Raph scoffed, ignoring Mikey’s glance at him.

“So that means I didn’t hear you practicing an apology to Chompy?” Leo asked with a raised eye ridge.

Raph blushed in embarrassment and made more of an effort to ignore Mikey’s awe. “You must be hearing things,” Raph grumbled. “Your old age is finally catching up to you.”

“We are the same age,” Leo said flatly and propped his hands on his hips.

“Oh, we’re the same age now but you pull the oldest card when you want things to go your way?” Raph said in irritation. “You can’t keep flopping back and forth fearless.”

“Here we go again,” Donnie mumbled to Mikey who nodded in agreement with his hands holding his face up by the cheeks.

Mikey felt himself growing bored at Leo’s and Raph’s bickering as it continued. Over the last few years, they had worked through a lot of their problems with the two blade users making the most. They still had their spats and hiss fits at each other but Raph didn’t feel the need to challenge Leo for the leader role as much while Leo didn’t purposely flaunt being leader to Raph.

A shiver ran down Mikey’s shell, making him sit up and look around. He had wondered if he had imagined it when his brothers didn’t react and was about to brush it off when it happened again.

“Hey, do you guys feel that?” Mikey asked suddenly, making Leo and Raph stop their banter to look at him, and looked around with a furrowed brow in confusion.

“Feel what?” Leo asked, immediately going on the defensive at Mikey’s concern. As much as Mikey played around, there was a certain instinct his brother had that Leo didn’t dare ignore.

“I don’t know…” Mikey trailed off, narrowing his eyes at a certain patch of shadows in the corner of the room. “Just something doesn’t feel right.”

“Are you sure it’s just not in your head like usual?” Raph rolled his eyes.

“I would trust your Michelangelo’s tuition more often,” a woman’s voice hummed from the shadows. It made all the brothers jump in surprise and whip their weapons out of their holster as a purple woman stepped out of the shadows. Her heels clicked against the concrete as she sashayed out into the open with a smirk on her painted lips. “My dear Lou’s own little orange can be quite sharp.”

“Who are you?” Leo demanded with one katana pointed straight at the woman’s face.

“You can call me Big Mama,” she answered with an almost bored look. “Pardon my tone, I’ve had to answer that question so many times today and it is getting quite old not having others know me.”

“Should we know you?” Donnie asked with his bo staff held in both hands.

“You shouldn’t seeing as I am not from your universe,” Big Mama shrugged with a playful smirk.

That made Leo’s hackles raise higher and he stepped more in the center front of the formation to protect his brothers easier. “What do you want?”

“I just need you four to make a little trip with me and then I will explain everything,” Big Mama answered as she brought her hands from behind her back to show a staff. It looked like the letter T with how the top parted in two directions. There was a weird spider look gem in the center of the conjunction with the legs spreading out and over the staff.

“We aren’t going anywhere with you,” Raph growled and spun his sai around in his hands.

“I see you four are not going to be as easy as the others,” Big Mama tutted to herself before shrugging. “Oh well,” she said as she pointed the corrupted looking staff at them.

A portal opened up under the brothers’ feet, no one able to react in time before they fell through it.

Universe 2003 - Dimension Unknown

Leo groaned as they fell through the portal to land roughly on the ground.

He groaned more when one by one, each of his younger brothers also fell through to land on top of him in one pig turtle pile. Donnie was right on top on him, with Raph falling next and Michael on top.

“Mikey, get your stinking feet out of my face,” Raph grumbled.

“And Raph, stop crushing my neck,” Donnie rasped.

“How about all of you stop crushing me?” Leo wheezed from the bottom of the pile.

“As dire this situation is, seeing the way they entered is pretty funny,” Party laughed from the side, cluing the four turtles from universe 2012 that something was going on.

"Mikey, not the time," Genius growled quietly as he elbowed his brother. Wrath was next to him, glaring at Big Mama with his sais in his hands. Leader stood in front of all three, his katanas held in clenched fists.

Looking around, they flinched in surprise at all the different versions in the large stadium looking space. Universe 2018 was in one corner as they glared up at Big Mama that looked down on them from a high up balcony as she stepped through a different portal. Red had Orange perched on his shoulders, angling him away from the woman as if to protect the turtle that had his arms bound in front of him. Though, Orange kept glancing over to a group of turtles that they didn’t recognize.

Jennika was whispering something to Jonin while Donald and Rafa tried keeping Mikester from running off to meet up with the other Mikey's. Pizza and Skate were already together, keeping an eye on their own groups of brothers between glancing at Big Mama. Ranger was rubbing at the collar around his neck that matched his brothers, his eyes set on the turtles that had just entered the realm and nudging his brothers to show them. Ronin and his brothers stood in a small group together, the grumpy orange wearer yawning in boredom while Katana begged his brother to take this very dangerous situation they were in more seriously.

“Michael?”

Michael looked over at the call of his name, seeing Party and Mike making their way over. Breaking out in a smile, Michael disappeared in a flash of electricity to appear right in front of them to group hug both of them. “Dudes!”

“Seems like she got you guys, too,” Mike commented as he pulled away from the hug.

“She’s going after all the heavy hitters,” Party mumbled as he looked around at all the universes of turtles that he recognized. It was pretty much exactly the roster from the getting together a few months ago, though there was one new group of fairly young turtles who huddled together.

“Who is she?” Leo demanded as he got fed up and pushed himself up in a push-up position, making Raph and Donnie tumble off of him. Brushing himself off, he approached the three Mikey’s.

“From what we’ve gathered, a villain from universe 2018,” Mike answered. He glanced over at the tense positions of the aforementioned universe’s turtles and how they didn’t tear their gaze from her. “And from what I can tell, not a minor one.”

“Why are all the bad guys from universe 2018?” Party grumbled to himself.

“Because it seems the most dangerous and unpredictable,” Mike said back to him.

“Sharp as a tack, that one is,” Big Mama giggled as she leaned forward to watch the turtles, having heard everything they said.

Michael glanced up at Big Mama who was staring at him, letting sparks of blue electricity zap from the corner of his eyes in warning. If she was going to be a danger to his brothers, then Michael had to be sure that she knew he wasn’t going to take that laying down.

“Oh, well I can’t have you using your power wowers against me,” Big Mama giggled. With a sharp flick of her hand, something went flying out of Big Mama’s hand.

Leo saw in the corner of his eye as Michael jerked backwards and falling to the ground. “Mikey!” he screeched as he turned on his heel and kneeled down next to his brother. Donnie and Raph came to stand guard in front, Donnie’s bo blade deployed and held at the ready. “Are you okay?”

Michael coughed as he sat up, wincing as he rubbed at his neck. Now that he was up, Leo could see a shiny and thin silvery collar with a green light in the center around his neck. Leo saw red at the thought of a collar around his brother’s neck. “Yeah, it caught me off guard,” Michael croaked. Leo didn’t know what he was trying to do but he saw as Michael’s eyes widened and held his hands in front of him.

“What’s wrong?” Leo demanded, Donnie and Raph peeking back with worry in their eyes.

“My electricity is gone,” Michael gasped, his hands shaking.

“Not gone entirely,” Big Mama hummed, tapping a finger against her cheek. “Just momentarily suppressed until it is time to fight.”

“What fight?” Blue demanded with a venom that shocked the other Leo’s. They were used to the jokester and laid-back version of their counterpart and seeing act like this sent a shiver down their shell. Blue gritted his teeth, wishing desperately for access to his portals at that moment. There was long marks all around the red-eared slider's arms and legs, like he had something tied around them. Said item was long gone, the medic of the team rubbing at the marks.

“Oh, Lou’s baby blue, my champion, I know you know the answer,” Big Mama giggled.

“What is she talking about, Blue?” Fearless demanded, standing at the ready with his brothers at his sides.

Blue bared his teeth as he stared the smirking Big Mama down. “She’s the owner of my world’s battle nexus.”

“And you are her champion?” Ra scoffed.

“I am not her champion,” Blue snapped at Ra, venom in his voice.

“He won my nexus, that makes him a champion,” Big Mama giggled. “My champion.”

“Hey, I won my universe’s battle nexus!” Mike piped up and fist shaking in the air.

“Mikey, not the time,” Don whispered to his brother.

“I was made aware of that,” Big Mama nodded, bringing an item that the 2003 turtles recognized from behind her back. “The Daimyo was quite sure that his champion would be the one to stand on top.”

“Stand on top?” Don frowned. “Does that mean you are holding another tournament?”

“You purple turtles are so quick on the uptake,” Big Mama clapped in joy. “And to answer your question for the others, you would be correct. And the fun part that it includes the champions of the carefully handpicked universes – you turtles.”

“And do we have a choice?” Leader snarls.

“Nope,” Big Mama popped the ‘p’ of the word.

“Well, I’m always ready for a fight,” Wrath’s snarl turned to a smirk, standing up straight and holstering his sai. He cracked his knuckles and rolled his neck to crack it as well. “I’m sure the other Raph’s are with me.”

“Oh, my apologies, it seems like you did understand my words,” Big Mama perked up and covered her mouth with a hand. “Not all of you are fighting.”

“How come?” Purple asked, furrowing his drawn on brows as he leaned against Red's side. His arms were also still bound and the oldest brother seemed to be protecting both bound brothers. “Who is going to participate?”

“I said the champions of the universes,” Big Mama said.

“And doesn’t that include all of us?” Party asked.

“Not at all sweetie,” Big Mama shook her head. “I am only accepting the versions of the turtles that have won a nexus.”

“Wait a second…” Purple paled as he was the first to understand.

“That’s right, my Lou’s royal purple,” Big Mama’s small smile stretched to a cruel smirk. “Only the Leonardo’s and Michelangelo’s shall fight.”

Chapter Text

Universe 2003 Townhome

“This is bullshit!” Raph raged, kicking a table across the room.

Mikey winced as it hit a wall and broke apart on impact. After Big Mama’s declaration about only the blue and orange turtles fighting, hell had broken loose. Turtles and non-turtles were yelling over each other to demand answers but the boss yokai had just brushed them aside with a wave of her hand. Her assistants had then directed each group out of banquet hall and into some small houses on the estate that would serve as their homes during the tournament.

“Raphael!” Splinter scolded sharply. “Control your anger.”

“But this is absolute bullshit!” Raph growled, his hands curling and uncurling as he heaved deep breathes. “Where does this lady get off on this shit?!”

“I know it sucks, Raph,” Leo sighed and crossed his arm from his spot on the building’s tatami floor. “But we are just going to have to deal with it right now until we can figure out how to get the war staff back.”

“Would be easier if I still had my powers,” Mikey grumbled, scratching at the collar still around his throat. “I hate this thing.”

“It seems like she knew about our powers before she grabbed us,” Donnie said, absent-mindedly poking at his own collar. He was sitting on the wooden wrap-around patio that led out into a small garden with pond. April was walking baby Marie around and showing her the small animals that would make an appearance. “It makes me believe that she has been watching us for a while or has some deep connections.”

“It’s not like the other three of you could access your powers again, right?” Casey asked. He was sitting opposite of Donnie on the patio so that he could watch his wife and daughter.

“Yeah,” Donnie nodded. “Mikey’s the only one that has shown an ability to access them despite our efforts the last year.”

“Did that little brat of a copy of you do something to ya?” Raph asked Mikey.

“I mean, all he did was give me a little push,” Mikey shrugged. He felt a tap at his hand and looked down to see his father gesturing him to stop scratching. Sighing, Mikey lowered his hand to rest on his nun chucks in their spot on his belt. “I had quite a bit of alone time in the hideout in the beginning so I used it to unlock my powers again.”

“Wow, you actually used your head for once,” Raph snickered.

“Hey,” Mikey pouted.

“Whatever you did, it was a good thing you did,” Leo nodded to himself. “Perhaps it will help you in the tournament.”

Mikey’s shoulders fell as he hunched in on himself. “I don’t want to fight the other me’s. This is my fault for dragging all the other Mikey’s into a fight like this.”

“Hey, don’t say that,” Raph scolded his brother with a scoff. Stepping over to the orange banded turtle, he punched Mike in the shoulder. “You didn’t know that a deranged spider mutant from a different universe was going to use your position as our world’s battle nexus champion against us.”

“…that’s such a strange sentence when said out loud,” Donnie muttered.

“Whatever is going on, it’s not your fault Michelangelo,” Leo smiled as his brother before it faded back to a frown. “For now, we have to figure out what is going on.”

A knock at the front door had everyone turning their heads sharply.

“Well, that was convenient,” Donnie stated as Leo stood up and went over to open the door.

In the doorway stood Big Mama’s assistant, one of their hands holding an envelope out to Leo. “What is this?” Leo raised an eye ridge and extended to take the envelope.

“An invitation to the pre-battle gala tonight,” Big Mama’s assistant answered.

“And if we turn this down?”

“You won’t if you know what’s good for you.”

Leo saw how the assistant’s mask covered face angled towards baby Marie playing in the backyard. A shiver ran down his shell and he stepped to the side to block their view. “Understood.”

“There are clothes already prepared for everyone in your group. You will find them in the closets of your rooms.” With that, Big Mama’s assistant bowed slightly before turning sharply on their heel and marching away.

Leo rolled his eyes and shut the door, heading back to his spot at the table with the envelope in hand. “A party? Really?” Raph snorted.

“Seems like the type of thing someone like her would do,” Donnie shrugged.

“What does the envelope say?” Mikey asked, stepping over and kneeling at the table next to Fearless.

“Let’s see,” Leo hummed as he ripped the top open and pulled out the card. His eyes skimmed down the page before clearing his throat. “Leonardo and Michelangelo plus their families—”

Raph scoffed at this.

“—are invited to attend a formal gathering of each participating universe before tomorrow’s upcoming tournament. Rules and details about the battles will be revealed at this point. Anyone that does not show will face consequences. Formal wear is provided. Event begins at 6:30 sharp.”

“I don’t think we want to find out what the consequences are,” Splinter said as he nodded his head. “I am most curious to see what this Big Mama has planned.”

“I don’t trust her for shit,” Raph spat.

“I would use less crass words but I agree with Raph,” Donnie said. “There is something that is rubbing me the wrong way.”

“Can’t we go bust in and beat her up?” Casey asks with a finger pointing at the turtles. “Like, you’ve guys have fought bigger guys than her. It can’t be that hard.”

“She’s never alone,” Splinter shook his head. “And this Big Mama seems to have acquired the Daimyo’s war staff. As it stands right now, we are sorely outmatched.”

“So what do we do now?”  Casey asks.

Leo frowns as he looks at all of his family. April was still keeping baby Marie busy in the small garden but he could tell she was listening the entire time. Her posture had been rigid, her face the definition of forced positivity. Casey was looking at his wife and daughter, getting lost in the domestic bliss of them for a moment instead of focusing on the impending danger of the tournament of champions.

Raph was clenching and unclenching his fist, a vein bulging on his neck like it does when he’s mad. That was always the family’s tell if Raph was truly angry or if he was just pretending to be to keep up his image. Donnie was fiddling with his hands in his lap and Leo could tell that his mind was trying to come up with a plan. Splinter was getting up to head to the kitchen, most likely to prepare some tea to calm himself.

And Mikey was just sitting next to him at the table looking at the letter. The youngest of the brothers always had a happy-go-lucky attitude that quite frankly made Leo jealous at times. No matter what happened, they could count on Mike to crack a joke or an obscure reference to lighten the mood.

But now, Mikey was just quiet as he looked at the letter, an uncommon frown on his face. Seeing that Mikey wasn’t going to be the one to break the mood, he was going to have to do it.

Leo clapped his hands once together to get everyone attention. It wasn’t going to do them any good to keep their minds focused on something they couldn’t change at the moment. “Alright, gentlemen, ladies, and Mikey—”

“Hey!”

Leo smirked at his lighthearted jab. “—let’s go get ready. We have a party to get to.”

Battle Nexus Grand Banquet Hall

“Wow, she really knows how to throw a party,” Mike whistled as he and his family entered the large banquet hall. Last time he had been in there, he had been awarded with his battle nexus champion medal after his battle with Kluh. There had been so pride welled up in himself at the time with his brothers standing by his sides.

Standing there in his black tux and orange bow tie, Mike looked around. His brothers all wore something similar with just their masks and bow ties in their signature colors. Riri had her hair up in a fancy up-do that a worker of Big Mama’s she had sent over had done. She was wearing a strapless red dress that accentuated her figure nicely with a slit going down on leg to show off her heels. Case, in his navy-blue tux and hair tied back in a short ponytail, held baby Marie in her pinky puffy dress. Master was dressed up in a nice version of his robe that proudly displayed the family crest on his back.

Over at one of the tables, the universe 122019’s turtles were enjoying the food. All the power ranger turtles were wearing outfits similar to Mike and his brothers, though they had ties instead of bow ties. Ranger was digging into the food while Mastodon grimaced in disgust at how messily his brother ate. Tricer was conversing quietly with Reporter and Teacher, though he kept an eye looking around for danger. Rex and Fighter were busy having an eating contest, Mastodon shivering in disgust at their table manners.

By one of the buffet tables, Skate was loading his plate up with a pile of pizza. Crusader was shaking his head at the action was trying to convince his brother to at least use multiple plates much to his failure. Detective and Knight were already heading back to the table labeled as theirs with drinks for all four of them in their hands.

Ronin was standing guard in front of his table where Sticks, Ginger, Bo, and Marie were feeding the baby turtles. Katana and Sai were over by universe 2011’s table as they talked with Jonin and Rafa. Both groups of turtles wore black suits with white shirts and no jackets, Ronin’s group wearing ties and Jonin’s wearing bo ties.

“Why can’t I just eating pizza like Skate?” Mikester whined as Jennika in her yellow dress gave him a plate of food other than pizza.

“Because I’m your big sister and I want you to be healthy,” Jennika rolled her eyes as she took a seat next to Spring who wore a simple green A-line dress. Vigilante was off at another table as he talked to Cassandra and CJ, the younger of the two universe 2018's Caseys trying to convince his mother’s past self to not start an arm-wrestling competition again. Donald was coming back with his own plate of food and took a seat next to Jennika.

The tables for universes 2007 and 2012 were right next to each other, so the counterparts of each member were talking to each other. Leo in his blue kimono was telling Jungle in his dark blue toned suit all about Space Heroes while the other asked questions. Raph and Watcher in their similar outfits to their Leo’s but in red were snickering at what dorks their older brothers were. Donnie and Tech were discussing new projects while Michael and Pizza were trying a little bit of everything from the buffet.

Yoshi and Splinter were sighing at stories of their boys growing up. April in her knee length flowy yellow dress and curled hair was asking Kunoichi, also wearing a yellow halter style dress that flared out at the bottom and straightened hair, all about her travels around the world. Casey and Hockey were getting heated over hockey tactics, two wrong sentences away from pulling Cassandra in to settle the fight for them.

“Hey, Mike!”

Mike turned at the call of his name, a broad smile on his face at the sight of Party jogging over to him with a hand waving in the air. His counterpart was dressed up in a charcoal gray suit and an untied orange necktie hanging down his front.

Behind him, Leader smacked a hand to his face as his brother left his table where the rest of them were. They all wore gray suits like Party, their owned colored ties actually tied around their necks. Fox giggled behind a manicured hand in a soft blue satin dress and tied up curly hair. Jones pulled on the collar of his gray colored tie to adjust it, shrugging off his suit coat. Sensei lifted a steaming cup of tea to his lips, shaking his head in mirth at his youngest son.

“Party! My turtle!” Mike laughed, holding his hand out to clasp hands with Party and pulling each other in for a one-armed hug. Both of their brothers rolled their eyes at the dramatics since they literally saw each other when they were turtle-napped by Big Mama. Pulling back, Mike smiled broadly. “How are you doing man?”

“They got some banging food here so I am doing great!” Party laughed as he held his plate towards Mike. “Wanna try a bite?”

“Don’t mind if I do,” Mike nodded as he licked his lips, pulling a small hors d’oeuvre and throwing it into his mouth. He hummed in delight at the flavor, bouncing on his toes. “Man, that is delicious!”

“Ain’t it?” Party agreed and hummed in delight as he took another bite. Both Michelangelo’s continued to eat off of Party’s plate, just enjoying the food. After a moment, Party cleared his throat and jerked his chin towards the newest group sitting by themselves in a corner. “Want to come meet the new guys?”

Mike looked over at the young group who were looking around to take everything in. Seeing how scared they were, Mike felt his heart go out to them. “Yeah, let’s go meet the kids,” Mike agreed.

Walking over with Party at his side, the new group perked up when they saw the two Mikey’s. “Woah, there look so much like you, Mikey,” the young Donnie nudged the orange wearing brother. They all wore suits in their own colors, bo ties striped in black and their signature colors.

“Hey little dudes,” Party greeted with a wave and a bright smile. “What’s up?”

“Hey,” the young Leo took the initiative to greet the two Mikey’s. “We were wondering when we would be able to speak to one of you guys.”

“You just have to come up to us,” Mike smiled and pointed a thumb over his shoulder. “We’re all pretty nice.”

“Except Ronin,” Party added. “He’s grumpy.”

(Across the room, Ronin sneezed. “Ugh, someone is talking about me.” Looking up, he spotted Party talking to the new turtles. “Probably him, that damn brat.”)

“Noted,” the young Leo nodded.

“We need something to call you guys,” Party said as he tapped his chin. He looked over at Mike. “What names are still available at this point?”

Mike pondered over it in his mind before a light bulb lit in his mind. “Let’s call you Angelo,” Mike said as he pointed at his counterpart with a smile.

“Well, following that example, we’ll call the Leo Nardo, the Donnie Tello and the Raph El,” Party said as he pointed at each turtle.

“I don’t want to be called Nardo,” Nardo complained.

“Too late,” El snickered and pushed Nardo’s shoulder. “You’re Nardo.”

"Nardo! Nardo! Nardo!" Tello and Angelo chanted with shit-eating grins.

Nardo buried his face in his hands and groaned. At that moment, their Splinter and April made their way over with plates of food. “Oh, it seems like we have company,” their Splinter perked up. He put his plate down on the table and brushed his hands off on his high-quality robe before holding one out in greeting. “Hello, I am Master Splinter.”

“And I’m April O’Neil,” young April waved nonchalantly. “Sup?”

"And you're going to be called O'Neil," Mike said to her. "Okay?"

"I'm cool with that," O'Neil shrugged. "As long as I don't have a name like Nardo," she said with a mischievous look shot at Nardo, making the blue banded turtle groan in defeat.

“I feel like O’Neil and Yellow are going to get along just fine,” Party nudged Mike. “We need something to call the new Master Splinter.”

“Oh, may I offer a suggestion?” Tello raised his hand.

“Shoot.”

“How about we call him Jackie like that one movie actor he learned his martial arts from,” Tello offered.

“My son, that sounds like a splendid idea,” Jackie nodded his head. “Thank you of thinking of a good nickname for me.”

“Always happy to help, dad,” Tello smiled. He raised his phone to take a picture of the banquet hall. El jumped behind him and turned the camera around, taking a selfie of the two of them. Nardo was pouting in his chair, O'Neil patting him on the arm in bored sympathy.

Feeling a tap on his hand, Mike looked down to see Angelo at his side. Angelo looked up and waved Mike down to his level. Raising an eye ride, Mike bent down to Angelo’s level and his counterpart cupped his hands around his mouth.

“Why does he keep staring at me?” Angelo whispered to Mike.

“Who?” Mike questioned with a tilt of his head.

“That Mikey with the orange spots,” Angelo answered with a pointed look over to the side.

Mike looked over and saw Angelo was referring to Orange. Said turtle averted his eyes at being caught, taking a sip of his drink at the universe 2018 table. The sleeves of his orange dress shirt were rolled up to display his wrapped arm and scarred fingers. Red took up two seats on his own with his sheer side and half the table was filled with plates of food just for him. The top parts of his red dress shirt were ripped from his spikes and his tie was stuffed into the neck of his shirt to avoid it getting in his food...or to stop him from accidently eating it...again.

Purple was leaning back in his chair, balancing it on the back two legs, as he tapped away at his phone. The top two buttons of his purple dress shirt were undone and his sleeves were rolled up to his elbows. He turned his phone to show something to his twin. Blue was leaning over Purple’s shoulder to look what he was being shown, frowning at whatever his older twin showed him. His own blue dress shirt was shone in the light, his bow tie shifting against the shirt lapels.

Draxum was leaning down to whisper something to Lou, his eyes taking in each turtle and there was something calculating in them. Yellow was getting up from her seat next to Purple to go grab the Casey’s from where CJ was failing in stopping Cassandra from starting the arm-wrestling contest.

“Oh, that’s the boss,” Mike said.

“The boss?” Angelo furrowed his brow. "The boss of what?"

“It’s a long story,” Party waved a hand. “It’s just what we called him and it stuck.”

“So why is he staring at me?” Angelo shivered.

“Maybe because you’re new?” Mike offered. “He might be curious about seeing a new Mikey.”

“No,” Angelo shook his head. “We’ve met briefly before.”

“What?” Party blinked in surprise. “When and where?”

“A couple months ago in my universe,” Angelo answered. “Me and my brothers were hanging out on a rooftop and I saw him floating on another one watching me.”

“Did he say anything to you?” Mike asked.

“No,” Angelo shook his head. “My bros had already left the rooftop to go help April and that’s when I saw him. We just looked at each other before he held a finger to his lips and winked at me. My Leo called me then and he smiled and waved me off.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it,” Angelo nodded.

Mike raised a hand up to stroke his chin. “Interesting,” he murmured to himself. It made no sense for Orange to do that and even weirder to not introduce himself fully. “I wonder why boss did that.”

There was the sound of a person tapping on a microphone that had them all looking up. “Will all the Michelangelo’s and Leonardo’s please step forward to the middle of the dance floor?” Big Mama asked into the microphone. Even though it was posed as a request, they all knew it wasn’t something they could turn down.

“Uh oh, looks like that’s our call,” Party grimaced. He waved to Mike and Angelo as he backed away. “I’m going to go find my Leo before he comes to drag me by my mask.” He trotted away where Leader met him half-way, the two talking in rushed whispers that ended with Party chuckling.

“Yeah, I should go find my Leo. I know he’ll want us to walk in together,” Mike said as he started walking towards where Fearless was looking for him. Waving a hand, Fearless perked up at the sight of his brother and relaxed.

“There you are,” Fearless said as Mike got closer. “What were you doing?”

“Meeting the new kids on the block with Party,” Mike explained simply. “They seem pretty cool, just really young.”

Fearless frowned at that, pointing his eyes towards the universe 2023 turtles. Angelo grabbed ahold of Nardo’s hand as they stepped forward, the two young turtles staying close to each other. Jackie had a hand each on El’s and Tello’s shoulders as they watched anxiously. O’Neil was wringing her hands out nervously at their side, shifting from foot to foot.

“Well, let’s not keeping them waiting,” Mike said as he clapped Fearless on the shoulder. That spurred Fearless into action and the two brothers made their way to the center of the floor. They stopped next to Angelo and Nardo, Mike sending his counterpart a wink when he looked up. Leo stood there at the center already with Michael leaning against his back and hanging his arms over Leo's shoulders, looking totally at ease with this very common position of theirs.

Orange and Blue strode up together with their shoulders squared and chins up, not letting Big Mama see any fear on their faces. Crusader sighed as he forced Skate to not grab another slice of pizza as they passed the buffet table. Tricer and Ranger marched up together with Jonin and Mikester right next to them. Ronin looked his usual grumpy self as he shuffled to the edge of the center, Katana sighing at the demeanor of his brother. Jungle and Pizza waved at their brothers as they left the group to join the rest of the blue and orange wearing turtles.

Mike clapped Party on the shoulder as the shorter of the two walked over with Leader, Fearless with his arms crossed next to him. “Don’t worry. We already have experience fighting other Mikey’s, this won’t be that much different,” Mike snickered.

“Not funny,” Fearless muttered as he elbowed Mike in the side.

“It’s a bit funny,” Party defended his counterpart.

“No, it’s not,” Leader echoed his counterpart’s sentiment.

“Excellent, it looks like we have all my contenders together,” Big Mama clapped in joy. Her fingers were decorated with expensive looking rings to go along with sharp painted red nails. She was dressed in a fancy dark purple dress that complimented her skin nicely and her hair was down and curled. “Seeing all of you dressed so nicely is putting me in such a good mood.”

“That’s one of us,” Party whispered to Mike. He had to stifle his laughs and both Leo’s elbowed their Mikey’s to stop messing around.

“First things first, a few announcements about the upcoming matches,” Big Mama said as she looked over the entire room. “First, I know there are certain groups of turtles that have powers while the others do not. To make things fair, I will be granting powers to all of those that do not have them in order to even the playing field.”

“Oh shit, that is a game changer,” Mike blinked. He looked over to Orange who steeled his glare at Big Mama even farther which confused him.

“Second, there were will be a two-day training period to allow those getting powers to get used to them and a general last minute training session. I know that this was rather abrupt for all of you so I want to make sure all of my fighters are prepared.”

“Not like we had a choice,” Party murmured to which Mike nodded in agreement.

“Third, after each battle, the medical team will take you away to make sure you are healed right away to make sure you are ready for your next fight. And fourth, there will be two brackets: the Michelangelo’s and the Leonardo’s.” Big Mama gestured upwards where a projection of a competition bracket was displayed. There was two on branches with one colored in orange and the other in blue. “All fights have already been predetermined in a completely random luck-of-draw pulling.”

“I wonder who’re the poor saps that have to fight first,” Mike said as he looked at the brackets. There were gray rectangles covering up the names of the fighters to make it a complete surprise until each rounds reveal.

“I will now announce the first battle that will commence in three days,” Big Mama declared with a wave, a small slip of paper in her hand appearing in her hand. Opening it, her smile grew broader and she gestured to the screen on the wall. “For our first match of the tournament, we will start with the Michelangelo’s in block A!”

The bracket zoomed in to the top left corner of the bracket. It displayed the name of the turtles with their universe number and their nickname in parenthesis.

“Up first to kick off the very first battle, we have the Michelangelo’s of universes 2003 and 2016: Mike vs. Party!”

On the screen, two video feeds started playing as they zoomed in on the faces of the two turtles. Fearless clenched his fists at the declaration while Leader gritted his teeth. Mike and Party looked at each other with surprised expressions.

“Well, shit,” Party oh-so eloquently summed up their feelings.

Chapter Text

Universe 2016's House - Dojo

“Can we please stop training already?” Mikey whined as he flopped backwards onto the ground.

“Mikey, you are literally going to be entering the arena tomorrow,” Raph scoffed as he stood up straight from his fighting position. “We have to make sure you are prepared.”

“I’m already good, bro,” Mikey argued. “I got my mad ninja skills to help me.”

“Yeah, and you’re fighting another turtle that has the same ‘mad ninja skills’ if not even better,” Raph said with a roll of his eyes. “Don’t you want to win?”

“Well, yeah, but it’s Mike,” Mikey grinned. “We sparred enough while in the hide out that I feel like I got a good grasp on his fighting style.”

“Which means he could say the same for yours,” Leo said from the other side of the sparring mat where he and Donnie were going at it. “Who would win your spars?”

“Neither of us actually ever won,” Mikey answered. He sat up to lean back on his hands as he remembered the time in the hideout dimension. “We always just did it to keep us ready if Psychoangelo showed up and to kill time.”

“Goes to show that you need to keep training,” Leo huffed. Jumping back and relaxing his form to show Donnie that they were pausing the spar, he propped his weapon equipped fists on his hips. “This is going to be a tough competition and I want us both to make it to the end.”

“Or at least the final four,” Mikey hummed as wiggled his toes.

“What?” Raph frowned.

“Come on, Raphie,” Mikey chuckled, tilting his head to look at Raph with a raised eye ridge. “You don’t really expect me to make it to the end, do you?”

“Why are you saying it like that?” Donnie pressed.

“Between the boss and Michael – hell, let’s not forget Ranger or Ronin – the Michelangelo bracket is going to be killer,” Mikey explained with a sigh. “And I’m going against Mike in the first round and he’s like the best fighter out of us all.”

“Mikey, don’t talk like that,” Leo gulped. He sheathed his swords and approached Mikey, crouching down next to him. “You’re not giving yourself enough credit.”

Mikey shrugged. “It’s better to expect to lose earlier than get disappointed when I don’t win.”

“But you’re gonna win,” Raph swore. “I guarantee it.”

“If you say so,” Mikey shrugged again. He sat up further and interlocked his fingers to stretch above his head. Giving a groan, he dropped his arms and looked Leo in the eyes. “My money’s on Leo going the farthest.”

“Mikey…” Leo trailed off.

“I mean, look at you,” Mikey laughed as he gestured at his brother. “With your new power, I bet your gonna sail right to the end.”

“And dragon you won’t?” Leo snorted, his own silver power suppressing collar shining in the light around his neck. “I’m nowhere as cool as you, little brother.”

“Ha! He said it!” Mikey exclaimed with a finger pointing in Leo’s face. “Leo said I’m the coolest!”

“Oh god, he’s never gonna let this one go,” Raph groaned.

“Thanks Leo,” Donnie said as he facepalmed.

“Guys, I made some lunch!” April called out to the turtles, interrupting the conversation.

“What’d you make?” Donnie asked.

“Pizza!”

“Hell yeah!” Mikey cheered and sprung off the ground. Licking his lips, he trotted out of the dojo towards the kitchen.

“Mikey, I swear if you eat it all again, I’m gonna beat your head in!” Raph growled as he chased after Mikey.

“Only if you can catch me, you slowpoke!” Mikey cackled. His voice was farther away like he was already in the kitchen.

“Why I oughta—!”

“Ack! Leo! Donnie! Help! Raphie’s gonna beat me up!”

“I told you to stop calling me that!”

Leo and Donnie look at each other and sighed, shaking their heads at their brothers’ antics. Heaving a sigh, Leo pulled himself out of his crouch and rolled his shoulders. “How long until all the food is gone?”

“With Raph and Mikey in the kitchen?” Donnie snorted and spun his bo staff around before holstering it against his shell. “We have less than two minutes before there is no food left for us.”

“Leo! Raph is trying to kill me!”

“Four minutes if Mikey and Raph keep each other distracted long enough,” Donnie continued with a smile and an eye roll.

“Donnie! Come help me teach this punk about manners!”

“Please don’t destroy the kitchen,” April’s groan filtered from the clattering of Mikey and Raph running around the kitchen.

Leo and Donnie shook their heads and chuckled. Throwing an arm over Donnie’s shoulders, Leo guided the two of them towards the kitchen. “C’mon. Let’s go before the food is all gone or Raph commits fratricide.”

“Leo! Donnie!”

“Alright, alright! We’re coming!” Donnie laughed as the two of them made their way out of the dojo.

Universe 2003's House - Dojo

“Mikey, focus,” Leo said through gritted teeth.

Mikey just laughed as he spun around Leo playfully, his chi enhanced marks lit up on his skin. Leo was still having a hard time fully grasping them again, the blue marks flickering to life for a moment on his skin before disappearing again. It was aggravating Leo that he could not grasp his chi enhanced form again when it came so easy to Mikey. The orange-colored turtle even had his ninja tribunal weapon, Inazuma, in his hands that he twirled expertly around to knock Leo’s swords out of his grip.

“I am, big bro,” Mikey laughed. He stuck Inazuma out to knock the sword that Leo was picking up out of his hand. With a growl, Leo leapt forward to try and grapple with Mike but the younger brother spun out of the way. He was as light on his feet as the wind, looking like he was dancing rather than fighting. “Maybe you’re the one that needs to focus.”

“Oooh, fearless ain’t gonna like that,” Raph muttered at the edge of the mat to Donnie.

“Mikey’s doing it on purpose,” Donnie muttered back. “He’s trying to get Leo riled up more to use against him.”

Leo took a deep calming breath through his nose and exhaled through his mouth as he ignored Mikey’s words. Like Donnie, he knew that Mikey was just poking his buttons. Honestly, it helped in certain cases when they fought against villains whose insults were alike. That, and it was just Mikey being the little shit brother that he is.

“Maybe you should worry less about me and more about yourself,” Leo said to Mikey with a flat look. “You’re the one that is fighting tomorrow.”

“I’m the battle nexus champion, remember?” Mikey laughed as he wrapped Inazuma around his body to hold each end in one hand across his shell. “And this is our universe – that means I got homefield advantage.”

“You know, just for that, I hope ya lose,” Raph scoffed. “Perhaps the other you can help knock ya down a peg or four.”

“Ouch,” Mikey winced in fake hurt. “If I didn’t know any better, I would think you like your battle nexus champion brother.” Letting a teasing smile take residence on his face, Mikey watched as Raph’s face grew red to match his mask.

“I am going to be actively cheering for the other side now,” Raph growled.

“Aww, is someone sore that they didn’t become the battle nexus champion?” Mikey tsked his tongue, talking to Raph in a voice like one would with a toddler. He released his chi enhanced form and spun Inazuma around to fold against itself before holstering it against his shell. “Don’t feel bad that you didn’t make the cut. I mean, not everyone can be as great as me.”

“That’s it!” Raph roared as his annoyance hit its boiling point and he stomped towards Mikey.

“Leo, help me!” Mikey screeched as he ran away from Raph.

Leo watched with arms folded and a bored expression as Raph chased Mikey around. He gave it a moment before dropped his arms with a sigh. Mikey beamed at the resignation on Leo’s face, knowing that his big brother was coming to help him.

“Yay, my savior!” Mikey cheered in joy as Leo came up behind him. Only, instead of stepping between Mikey and Raph like usual to diffuse the situation, Leo reached up Mikey’s armpits and locked his hands together behind the orange themed turtle’s head. “Eh?” Mikey blinked.

“What? You thought that I was going to let all those comments from earlier pass without some revenge?” Leo smirked. Raph’s confused face turned into his own smirk as he crack his knuckles.

“What?!” Mikey screeched and started fighting against Leo’s hold. Unfortunately for him, Leo had his arms locked in just a way that it was impossible to get out of unless he was willing to break a bone of Leo’s. There was no way he was going to do that to his own brother which meant that Mikey was stuck. “D! Help!”

Donnie rolled his eyes at the dramatics. “Don’t rough him up too much,” Donnie called over with hands cupping around his mouth.

“Traitor!” Mikey squealed right as Raph sprang and started playfully beating up Mikey. It didn’t actually hurt as that was never the goal when they were messing with each other like this. It was just part of the dramatics of growing up with three brothers to play it up.

Splinter, who had been watching from the sidelines the entire time, just shook his head at his sons. It reminded him a lot of simpler times before the boys started going up to the surface and fighting things that they would have never predicted to exist.

“Dee! Help! Please!”

“Fine, fine,” Donnie groaned as he stood up. “Don’t get your mask tails in a twist.” Jumping up, he landed on Raph’s shoulders to make his brother scramble to get him off.

“Get your fat ass off of me,” Raph grumbled as he dropped to the ground and rolled to try and dislodge Donnie.

“Ha ha!” Mike laughed as he also dropped suddenly to catch Leo off guard. “The battle nexus champion always prevail!”

“Mikey!” Leo groaned as he lost his grip and Mikey escaped. His brother used the opening to jump on top of Leo and they rolled into Raph and Donnie. From there, it became a four-way wrestling match that it usually became when the turtles let all responsibility go and just have fun.

“We wrestling?!” Casey cheered as he poked his head into the dojo. “Hell yeah!” Running forward, Casey jumped into the air to land on top of the pile before being pulled right into the mess.

April stepped forward next to Splinter and just shook her head, bouncing Marie in her arms. “I swear, those five are never going to grow up.”

Splinter chuckled and stroked his beard, watching the wrestling and laughter of his children.

Universe 2018's House – Garden

Mikey frowned as he squeezed his eyes together, the ball of light in his hands fluctuating at the sides.

With a growl, he slammed his hands together to dissipate the ball. It was a simple spell that Draxum had taught him to learn control and Mikey would use it to practice his concentration. Right now, his concentration was shot from all the thoughts whirling around in his head. From the Conscious’ initial warning that had been a tad-bit too late to seeing Angelo among the selected universes chosen to fight and ending with Party and Mike being the first to fight, Mikey could say he was more than a bit distracted.

“I do not remember the last time you struggled so much with a simple spell like that,” Draxum’s words cut through the irritation. Mikey looked over his shoulder where he was floating in the middle of the garden of their temporary house to see Draxum sitting on the wraparound deck. Next to him was a small bottle of sake and in his hands was a flat saucer cup that Mikey remembered seeing him and Splinter similarly drink from. “Your mind must be a tornado right now.”

“Try more of a hurricane,” Mikey muttered as he rested an elbow on his knee and brought his chin to rest on his scarred fist. “This is an absolute disaster.”

“May I offer a suggestion?” Draxum asked. He brought his cup up to sip at before lowering it to his lap with both hands holding it.

“I’ll take anything you got,” Mikey grumbled. He looked over to the side where Leo was practicing with his portals. Donnie and Raph were acting as his opponents and trying to strike at him whenever he popped out of a portal or teleported.

“Don’t stress yourself out over the things you cannot control,” Draxum said. He looked over to a web where a blue and orange butterfly was trapped and struggling as a spider approached it. “Especially when it comes to dealing with Big Mama. She will wait until you tire yourself out struggling before swooping in for the kill.”

“So, I am supposed to just let her walk all over us and our counterparts?” Mikey scoffed.

“I never said that,” Draxum shook his head. “I said don’t stress out over the things you cannot control – namely how your counterparts will react to the nexus. You can control yourself and should work with that.”

Mikey frowned to himself. Draxum’s words didn’t make sense to him. How was he supposed to save everyone if he only tried to help himself out? After all he had done to save all the other Michelangelo’s from Master Michelangelo, he couldn’t ignore them now in the face of another villain from his universe.

Sighing, Mikey relaxed his legs from his lotus position and turned around to head into the house. “Where are you going?” Draxum asked.

“I need a nap,” Mikey answered as he passed his second father. “Maybe it will help my concentration.”

“A wise decision,” Draxum nodded in approval. “Perhaps we can practice the mystic arts together after your nap.”

“Okay dad number two,” Mikey agreed as he floated over to the stairs and up them. Mikey had no idea where the humans and Splinter were but it didn’t matter at the moment. The less people around to bother him at the moment, the better.

Finding the room marked with an orange door for him, Mikey floated through and twitched a finger to make the door close behind him. He reached up to scratch at the collar around his neck. Big Mama had allowed the Michelangelo’s and Leonardo’s a fraction of their power to practice with before the matches but Mikey still felt drained. He was so used to having so much power at his fingertips – baring the Master Michelangelo incident – so having it taken away from him was tiring.

Flopping onto the bed, Mikey groaned into his pillow. He laid there for a moment before turning over onto his back. It was weird laying in a regular bed since his bed of choice was a hammock. Throwing an arm over his eyes to block out the light, Mikey heaved a sigh.

“Conscious,” Mikey whispered to himself as he felt himself falling asleep.

Instead of fading his dreams like usual, Mikey felt himself being pulled downwards and falling…

…and falling…

…and falling…

…until his wasn’t falling anymore.

Opening his eyes, the portholes to all the universes greeted him. Amongst the middle, the Conscious frowned as Mikey approached him.

“Mike and Party are the first fighters,” Mikey announced as he floated over. His cloak that always was there when he came into the Conscious’ realm fluttered around his feet.

“I know,” the Conscious nodded along.

“Do you know who will be next?”

“I do.”

“Can we stop it?”

“…I do not know,” the Conscious frowned further.

“I thought you knew everything,” Mikey said as he stopped in front of the Conscious.

“I usually do when there is only one universe in play,” the Conscious explained. “But there are ten of you interweaving together at the same time. There are so many different possibilities being shown to me that could happen that it is impossible to know which route is going to be taken.”

“We can’t let her do this,” Mikey stressed as he looked at his universe that was empty of turtles. “It will start with us but she will continue until everything is under her control and then there will be nothing we can do.”

“But I can’t directly interfere,” the Conscious sighed in defeat. “I’ve told you this before.”

“There has to be something you can do, can’t you?” Mikey begged.

The Conscious bit his lip as he thought something over before letting his shoulders slouch. “I have an idea,” the Conscious grimaced, fiddling with his scarred hands. “But you aren’t going to like it.”

Chapter Text

Universe 2003's House

Mikey woke up without a sound, his eyes simply opening as he went from asleep to awake. Nearby, the loud snoring of his brothers echoed around the room. They all had their own room but the night before the fight, Raph had busted down his door declaring that they were having a sleepover.

It had been not a surprise, especially how often they all slept in the same room after the whole Master Michelangelo incident. Just over a year and a handful of months later, they were just getting back to sleeping in their own rooms. It had been less of a surprise when Leo and Donnie came strolling in with their blankets and pillows.

The four of them had gone to bed early at Splinter’s insistence. He was adamant that Mikey needed a full night’s worth of sleep in preparation of the battle. Leo was quick to agree, always the one to jump on their father’s advice. Raph had planned on ignoring it and drilling Mikey on battle techniques but Donnie squashed that down fast by slipping melatonin into their hot chocolate.

They should have known better than to drink Donnie’s hot chocolate that he only ever made to make them go to sleep.

Now, Mikey was waking up feeling completely rested and with more energy than he knew what to do with. Mikey could feel the anxious energy bubbling under his skin. As much as he tried to play off how much this tournament was bothering him, he couldn’t hide all of it.

Whelp…might as well go work all his nervous energy out.

Using his master ninja skills, Mikey rolled backwards into a hand stand to walk out of the room. He made sure he was quiet the entire time, pausing when Raph gave a snort of a snore before his brother rolled onto his side to continue sleeping. Donnie’s pillow was over his head, Mikey inwards chuckling at his brother’s sleeping habit. Leo was as quiet as the dead, making Mikey unsure if his oldest brother was actually asleep…until he let out a loud snore as well.

Finally cleared from the room, Mikey deftly lowered himself to the ground and rolled forward to stand up on his feet. He tiptoed down the hall and the stairs, waving at his already awake father drinking tea in the kitchen and continued to the dojo.

He was just getting through the doorway when his phone dinged with a notification and he pulled it out of his belt pocket. Seeing he had a text, he opened the message to smile widely. After all the shit that had been going sideways for them, this was something that was going his way. After sending a quick message back, he put his phone away and plopped down onto the ground.

Sitting on the ground, Mikey reached for his toes to start some stretches. No matter how much he wanted to laze about, Splinter had instilled into his sons from a very early age to start each day with their stretches. It was like sacrilege to not start his day with his stretches. Finishing his stretches, Mikey rolled backwards onto his shell and pushed up with his hands to land on his feet. He stood up slowly, stretching his arms in the air before deciding on a light jog to warm his body up for the day.

Mikey jogged around the dojo for ten minutes with the only sound being his feet padding against the ground when someone joined him at his side. Peeking over, Mikey saw Raph yawning but jogging next to him nonetheless. Mikey raised an eye ridge at Raph to which his brother gave a shrug and nudged him in the shoulder.

They continued running for a few moments before the two missing brothers joined them, all four jogging in a loose square. Mikey broke off first to the center of the room, stretching again to cool down. Donnie stopped second, sitting across from Mikey as Leo and Raph continued to jog which quickly turned into a run around the perimeter of the room.

The two brothers sitting on the floor made eye-contact, snorting at Leo’s and Raph’s unspoken competition. This happened all the time when Splinter wasn’t watching their warm-ups and neither brother would give up running first. It all started with a comment in their pre-teen years from Mikey that last to give up would get first shower dibs in an effort at getting the first shower.

Let’s just say that Mikey was not the one to get his shower first.

“Guys!” April’s voice broke the quiet as she called down the hall. “Breakfast has been delivered!”

“We’re coming!” Donnie called back as he stopped his stretching.

Mikey stood up and interlocked his fingers together before stretching his arms out in front of him. Raph came up behind him and clapped him on the shoulder. Leo gave a yawn, tightening his mask around his face.

Without words, the four brothers left the dojo to go eat their breakfast.

Universe 2016's House

“Ready for your big day?” April asked as Mikey trudged into the kitchen.

Leo looked up at his brother’s groan as he flopped into the open chair next to him and faceplanted against the table. He rolled his eyes at the dramatics as he continued to eat his breakfast. Mikey was the last one awake out of everyone, the rest of the family already eating the breakfast delivered by Big Mama’s team.

“Chin up,” Casey smacked Mikey’s shell. “You’ll be fine. I bet it’ll be done and over with before you realize.”

“Says you,” Mikey yawned against the table. “You aren’t the one entering the arena.”

“Yeah, but I gotta cheer for you,” Casey said as he pulled his hand away to grab another piece of toast. “I’m going to blow my voice out.”

“Wow, we get to see Mikey get his shell kick and we won’t have to deal with your annoying voice?” Raph snickered as he stuffed a piece of bacon in his mouth. “Sounds like a great deal.”

“Hey,” Casey pouted.

Splinter strolled over with a plate loaded with food and slid it next to Mikey. “Eat, my son,” he instructed. “You will need your strength for your fight.”

Mikey groaned against but sat up, picking up a buttered waffled to chew on. “When is my fight?”

“In a few hours,” Donnie answered. He had already finished his food and was tapping at a holographic display in front of him. “Enough time to talk strategy.”

“What strategy?” Mikey furrowed his brow as he stuffed the rest of the waffle in his mouth. “I’m going to go in, have a mad ninja skill showdown and then come home. Simple.”

Raph facepalmed. “This idiot,” he grumbled under his breath.

“It’s not like I need anything other than that,” Mikey continued his reasoning after hearing his brother’s insult. “We don’t know how the fight is going to be and it’s not like I’m fighting the Shredder. It’s just Mike.”

“How about this?” April clapped her hands to interrupt and looked at Mikey. “Could there be something that you want as a reward for winning?”

Mikey hummed, stroking his chin in an imitation of their father. “Anything?” Mikey asked, smirking.

“Oh great, more dragon power usage coming up,” Raph grumbled. April elbowed him sharply in the side, making the tall turtle hiss in pain.

“April brings up a good point,” Splinter nodded along. He reached forward to lay his hand over Mikey’s, patting it. “My son, what is your wish?”

Mikey’s smile grew large, his shoulders shaking in excitement. “I want a cat,” Mikey stated happily. “An orange one.”

“A cat,” Leo echoed, furrowing his brow. “…really?”

“Really really, bro,” Mikey wrinkled his nose with his smile. “I’ve always an orange kitty but you guys shot me down anytime I brought up getting a pet.”

“We live in the sewers,” Raph deadpanned. “Where the hell are we supposed to put a cat?”

“Mike’s family also lives in a sewer and he has a cat,” Mikey countered. “Hell, Michael’s has a cat made of ice cream in his freeze and his Raph has a turtle from space.”

“You’re really set on this cat, aren’t you?” Donnie asked to which Mikey nodded. The genius started typing at his wrist pad, opening a new tab. “Well, looks like I should start researching the cat diets.”

“That means I’ll get my Klunk?!” Mikey squealed in joy.

“Klunk?” Casey raised an eyebrow at the name.

“Of course,” Mikey nodded. “I’ve always wanted a kitty named Klunk and funnily enough, that’s the name of Mike’s cat.”

“Must be a parallel between universes,” Splinter chuckled. “Well, my son, win the tournament and you will get your Klunk.”

“Oh hell yes!” Mikey cheered, shoveling food into his mouth. “Now I’m all pumped up to win this!”

“Great, I can see a cat in our future,” Raph grumbled.

“Don’t act like you aren’t the Disney princess out of us all,” Leo snorted, pointing his chop sticks at his brother. “Remember the time with the bird that fell in the sewer when we were 7?”

“What about the time with the chipmunk when we were nine?” Donnie snickered.

“Or the trio of goldfish when were twelve?” Mikey added.

“Guys, stop it if you know what’s good for you,” Raph threatened with cheeks growing red in embarrassment to match his mask.

“Wait, I wanna hear about these,” Casey smirked, ignoring Raph’s silent threat as he dragged a thumb across his throat.

“Which story you want first?” Leo laughed, winking at Raph. They could practically see the steam escaping through his ears.

“I have one,” Splinter hummed, raising a hand in the air.

“Dad, not you too,” Raph groaned.

“Call this payback for all those times you snuck out without permission,” Splinter smirked at his son.

“But I wasn’t the only one,” Raph pouted, slouching in his chair.

“Do not worry my son, they will have their time,” Splinter said, sending his other sons a side glance that made them shiver in fear.

Well, except Mikey.

He was still beaming in bliss at the knowledge that he was finally going to get his Klunk.

The Battle Nexus Arena – The North Entrance *A few hours later*

"Where's Raph and Donnie?" Mike asked, leaning around Fearless to look for the mentioned brothers.

"Raph said he wanted to get some popcorn to watch his favorite show of you losing your battle nexus champion title," Fearless answered, rummaging in Mike's belt pockets to fit more ninja stars in.

"Rude," Mike scoffed and rolled his eyes playfully. "Just for that, when I win again, I'm going to rub it in face even harder."

"And Donnie said that he knew you didn't need him here," Fearless continued. He pulled away after making more room and reached in his own pockets to pull out his back-up weapons. "Said that he knew you would do fine and - I'm quoting him here - 'Leo will do enough mother-henning for the two of us'. Which is dumb because I don't mother-hen."

"Sure, you don't bro," Mike chuckled.

"Everyone else said to pass on their good lucks to you," Fearless said, deciding that Mike also needed more kunai and pulled some more out. "Here, take these with you too."

"Leo, relax," Mike laughed as his brother continued to hand him ninja star after kunai to stuff in his pockets. "You know that I'm not even going to need a quarter of these."

Shoulders slumping, he put the rest of the ninja weapons away in his pockets. His big brother instincts were taking over as he tried to prepare Mike for going into the battle. “Remember what I said Mikey?” Fearless asked, squeezing Mike’s shoulder.

“If one goes down, we all go down,” Mike echoed his brother’s words from the second time he was in a battle nexus. Smirking, Mike reached up to lay his hand on Fearless’ and squeezed back. “Good thing that the battle nexus champion of us doesn’t plan on losing.”

Fearless rolled his eyes with a good-natured huff before pushing Mike by the shoulder. “Whatever you say little brother. Now, go out them and show them why the home team is the best,” Fearless smiled. He raised his arm up in the air.

Mike nodded with a smile before raising his own arm to tap their forearms together and backed away from Fearless. “I’ll have a battle so remarkable that none of the others will be able to top it,” Mike winked. “Especially yours.”

Crossing his arms and raising an eye ridge, Fearless shook his head with a sigh. He knew a taunt when he heard one and was not going to give in. Snickering, Mike waved to Fearless before turning around and trotting down the long hallway leading into the arena. Behind him, a large and thick stone wall came down to close the end to block Fearless’ view of Mike.

“Good luck, Mikey,” Fearless muttered, dragging his hand off the wall before turning around to go to their viewing box to watch the first match.

The Battle Nexus Arena – The South Entrance

“Leo, relax,” Party groaned, interrupting Leader from his check list of fighting maneuvers he could use. “It’s just a fight against Mike. It’ll be fine.”

“Yes but I would like for you to win,” Leader cleared his throat, coughing into his fist. “This is the first fight and you are going to be setting the tone for the rest of the tournament.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be sure to bring pride to the family,” Party grinned and bounced on his toes. In the distance, there was the bang of a gong to announce the tournament was going to start soon. “I gotta go, bro,” Party said and jerked his head towards the entrance of his tunnel.

“Hang on a moment,” Leader said and beckoned Party closer. Cocking his head to the side, he approached and watched as his brother pulled something out of one of his pockets. Leader held a hand out in a silent demand for one of Party’s.

Holding a hand out, Leader grabbed it to turn it palm up and dropped something in it with the other hand. Pulling his top hand back, Party laid his eyes on a blue and orange silk omamori. The corners of Party’s lips turned up at the good luck charm and gazed up to meet Leader’s eyes.

“You made me an omamori?” Party asked.

“It doesn’t hurt to have a little extra luck in this,” Leader shrugged, using his top hand to close Party’s fingers around the good luck charm. “Maybe this will be the little extra boost you need to get Klunk.”

“Don’t any of you go forgetting that promise,” Party laughed, pulling his fist back and pointing a finger at Leader. Behind him, the gate started to close which made Party jolt. “See you later, bro,” Party laughed with a salute, his hand still clenched around the omamori.

Leader watched Party trot down the tunnel until the gate closed completely, the hand of anxiety that had been gripped around his heart tightening. He clapped his hands together and lowered his head, closing his eyes to give a prayer to whoever was listening.

“Please, let my brother be okay after this fight,” Leader prayed.

“I hope everyone is ready for a heart-pounding fight!” Big Mama beamed into the microphone. Cheers erupted around the stadium, making Mike wince at the sound. Rubbing the side of his head, he looked out the gate of the tunnel he was in to the area he was going to be fighting in.

Peeking out through the openings of the gate, Mike could see the stands filled with so many strange looking creatures. If he remembered correctly, Mike remembered Orange calling them yokai. They were like natural born mutants that lived in their own hidden city.

Up higher in the VIP suites dotted around the stadium, Mike could see his family waiting anxiously for him to come out. A few viewing boxes down, universe 2018 could be seen and Mike could see how concerned Orange looked. In the 2012 universe’s box, Michael was leaning forward to try and catch a glimpse of the two competitors, his Raph pulling him back as he almost fell from going too far over the edge.

“To all of those in the stands from across the multiverse, I hope to hear you cheering for your favorite champion,” Big Mama giggled as she continued to talk into the microphone. “Bets will be closed soon so make sure to place yours before it is too late.”

Mike rolled his eyes at her words. Of course the business side of this villain would shine in a situation like this. Though, he didn’t realize that the stands were filled from people across the universe. Mike wondered if anyone he knew was watching and if they were cheering for him.

‘Usagi’s probably going to cheer his heart out for Leo,’ Mike thought to himself with a cheeky grin.

Party hopped from foot to foot, shaking out his arms as he waited for the gate to open. Across the field, barely visible, he could see Mike stretching behind his own gate. The two Michelangelo’s were ready to fight but Big Mama wasn't done her speech.

“To make the first battle even more exciting, we’re going to change the scenery for our gladiators,” Big Mama giggled into the microphone. There was the slam of something wood hitting stone before a magic circle came to life underneath both combatants.

Mike and Party felt weightless for a moment before they were transported in a flash of light to a new area. Looking up, all around the two turtles was trees for as far as the eye could see. Looking over at his counterpart that had been admiring the area, Mike bobbed his head towards Party.

“Hey Party.”

“Hey Mike.”

There was the sound of someone tapping a microphone and Mike looked around to see where the sound was coming from, coming up empty. "On the north side, we have the Daimyo's champion and the Michelangelo of this universe: Mike!" Big Mama introduced the turtle from universe 2003.

"Looks like we are getting our introductions," Party noted, rubbing his hands together. "I wonder what my title is going to be."

"And on the south, we have the our Michelangelo from universe 2016: Party!"

"Aww, c'mon," Party groaned while Mike snickered. "I wanted a cool title, too."

Mike looked around at the forest that they had been transported to. “Looks like we are really doing this.” A flock of birds flew in the air above them, the quiet chirps really sealing the peaceful aura of the area.

Party placed his hands on his hips and turned around slowly, whistling lowly at the sight that was so much different than the city he grew up in. The blue and orange omamori dangling and swaying in response from his movement from his necklace he tied it to. “It would seem so.”

“I wonder why they paired us up together,” Mike hummed. Around both of their necks, their silver collars gave a sharp beep before unlatching to fall to the ground. Closing his eyes and inhaling, Mike gave a sigh of content as he felt his powers unrestrained again.

“The spider lady said it was random,” Party said, eyeing his counterpart with his eyes saying he knew otherwise. He raised a hand to rub at his now free neck, the feeling of power simmering freely under his skin again.

“She was lying through her teeth,” Mike laughed. He stared up at the blue sky above him, feeling the soft breeze that made his mask tails float in the air behind him. “There is a reason.”

“I may be not be smart like Dee but I know we both aren’t stupid,” Party snorted, crossing his arms in front of him. “You totally know why.”

Mike chuckled and nodded. He turned towards Party with a soft smile. “No hard feelings?” Mike asked, holding his closed fist out towards his counterpart. With a blink, Mike’s eyes changed from their normal white lens to a black slit among a bright blue iris.

Party laughed and pumped his fist against Mike’s, a breath of fire coming out with it. “No hard feelings.”

From the point of contact between the two fists, flames rushed towards Party while golden wind wrapped around Mike. The two covered turtles jumped back from each other and they grew to a large size. With a gush of air that dissipated the tornados of fire and wind, two huge dragon forms were revealed that stared each other down.

“The battle of dragons will commence on my count!” Big Mama’s filtered boomed from nowhere. “Three!”

Party’s snorted to release a cloud of smoke of his nostrils.

“Two!”

Mike opened his maw, more smoke filtering out from the corner of his mouth.

“One!”

Both dragons narrowed their eyes, pawing at the ground.

“Fight!”

Party and Mike both reared their heads back and released booming twin roars at each other before leaping forward.

Chapter Text

Universe 2003's Viewing Box

Leo’s fingers bit into the concrete of the wall in front of him as he watched the projections of the fight.

The fight between the two dragons was raging on, Mike and Party attacking each other with all of their might. Sharp teeth tried to bite into tough scales that bounced right off. Party threw his head back to gather his breath before opening his maw to send a giant stream of fire at his counterpart.

“That ain’t gonna do nothin' ta Mike,” Raph mumbled under his breath. Like Leo, his eyes were trained right at the screens without plans of looking away. His foot was tapping anxiously on the ground, his arms crossed over his chest with his nails digging into his biceps.

“By all digital simulations and calculations, our Mikey is predicted to be the winner,” Donnie said to the group. He was fiddling with the ends of his mask tails as he looked at the screens where he stood next to Casey. Usually, he would be fiddle with whatever random device he had in his pockets but he wouldn’t dare while his brother was fighting.

“Of course, he’s going to win,” Raph scoffed. “He’s our brother and the battle nexus champion of this universe. Mikey’s got this in the bag.”

“I thought you hated to admit his title,” Casey rose an eyebrow at his friend.

“Yeah, to his face,” Raph huffed with a smirk. “Me, Leo, and Donnie are proud as hell for Mikey getting that title. We just are annoyed how often he brags about it.”

April bounced baby Marie in her arms, turning the child’s face away from the screens. Her daughter loved all of her uncles but she had a special bond with Mikey. It was confusing her to see her uncle fighting against another turtle-turned-dragon on the screen. She could only be glad that her daughter was too young to really understand what was going on around her. “I hope this ends soon,” April murmured to herself.

“Me too,” Leo said, wincing at how Mike threw his head back and roared in pain as Party sunk his teeth into his shoulder. “I don’t know how long I can watch this.”

“We must watch until the battle is over,” Splinter said, his hands folded over the top of his cane. He was standing like the rest of them, no one wanting to sit down in one of the few plush chairs set up in their viewing box. “Michelangelo is fighting and we must bear witness to it.”

They all watched as Mike slammed his head down to butt against Party’s, making the other dragon release his bite. Jumping backwards, Mike balanced on three legs to hold his hurt leg up and growled at Party. Said turtle dragon growled back with blood that was not his own dripping from his mouth.

“Why are they fighting so aggressively?” Casey asked. “I mean, it’s just a regular fight.”

“You know Mikey,” Donnie snorted. “Go big or go home and I’m sure his counterparts have the same mentality.”

“Always with the dramatics,” Raph rolled his eyes. On the screen, Mike pawed at the ground in challenge before rushing forward at Party.

“Yeah, but we wouldn’t have him any other way,” Leo smiled.

The two dragons collided with Mike pinning Party to the ground as rolling around, wood and foliage being thrown in the air as the trees were smashed and pulled from the ground.

“Yeah! Beat his ass!” Raph cheered with his arms in the air.

Universe 2016's Viewing Box

“Damn, you were right to not let Mikey fight as a dragon in our world,” Casey whistled in amazement.

“Imagine how pissed the police would be with us to cover it up,” Raph grumbled.

They all watched as Party body slammed Mike to send him flying into the forest around them, knocking down tree after tree. Mike recovered quickly, pushing off the ground to jump upright and landing on all fours. Pulling their heads back, both dragons sucked in air before launching twin attacks at each other. The breath attacks cancelled each other out, sending a dust cloud all around that blocked the view for everyone watching.

April bit her lip as she waited for the screens to clear, flinching at the sounds of the two dragons still fighting but not being able to see them. Splinter raised a hand to pat her on the arm in consolation. “Do not fret, my dear. It will be alright.”

“Will it?” April gulped. There was another roar as the dragons clashed but this one sounding more pained.

“Of course it will be,” Raph scoffed and propped his hands on his hips. “Mikey isn’t going to go down without a fight.”

“And he and Mike are too close to actually maim each other,” Casey said.

“They are going to rough each other up some,” Raph continued.

“If you say so,” April muttered.

Behind them, Leo had his arms crossed as he leaned against the viewing box’s wall. He watched as Party roared as Mike caught him in the side and pinned him on the ground. Donnie slid up next to Leo, watching the screen as Party scratched at Mike’s face enough to be released.

“Give me the facts,” Leo whispered to his smartest brother. “Is Mikey going to win this?”

Donnie was quiet for a moment as he ran silent calculations in his head. “As far as the odds are for him…no,” he answered softly so the others wouldn’t hear. Though, it could be assumed that their father did based on how an ear twitched towards them. “Mike has much more experience and time fighting under his belt compared to our brother. From what I can tell, it’s only a matter of time before our Mikey gives out.”

Leo tightened his fists at the statement, his nails digging into the fleshly part of his palms. He knew that it was always a possibility that his Mikey would lose, especially considering how the universe 2003 turtles were so advanced in their fighting. During the final fight against Psychoangelo’s controlled Mikey’s, every so often he would be able to see how the other turtles fought. From his few spars with Fearless, Leo knew he when was beat.

It was a punch to the gut to get the official facts that it wasn’t going to be much longer before Mikey was beaten. He wanted to jump in and help Mikey but it was impossible, more so with how the two dragons had been transported to another place to let them wreak havoc on the land.

“Yeah, get’em Mikey!” Raph cheered as Party blew a surprise breath of fire into Mike’s face. "Kick his ass!"

Leo bit his lip, knowing how Mikey threw that move out in a desperate action. At this point, Mikey was more of a cornered animal than anything. Blood oozed down large gashes along his body, much more than Mike’s.

“Mikey’s giving it his all though,” Donnie muttered. “There may be a chance if he can get the right attacks in.”

Leo winced at how Mike swung his head to nail Party in the chest like a wrecking ball. His brother wheezed a roar as he went tumbling across the ground. Party rolled across the ground until he reached a cliff’s edge where he stopped himself with claws digging into the ground.

“…though, I think it’s too late at this point,” Donnie sighed, his heart panging at the condition of his brother.

The fire dragon heaved stuttering breathes and they all watched as fire roared to like to wrap around their brother. “Please, just let this end already,” April begged quietly.

Leo gave a silent nod in agreement.

Big Mama’s Viewing Box

Big Mama clapped in joy as Party went tumbling to the ground in with a roar to verbalize his pain. Her assistant stood like a statue with her arms folded behind her back, making sure to keep an eye on everything. There was a knock at the door, making her assistant whip a kunai out in preparation to throw it.

“Hold on, dearie,” Big Mama smiled, holding a hand up to make her assistant pause. She already knew who it was. “This guest may be unexpected but he is not wanted.” She waved her fingers, signaling the yokai guarding the door to open it.

The guards nodded, pulling the double doors open to reveal universe 2018’s master Splinter who was frowning at Big Mama.

“Hello my dear Lou,” Big Mama purred. With a single clap, a yokai came sprinting up with another chair to place next to Big Mama’s. “Come – take a seat with me.”

“I did not come here for pleasantries,” Lou scoffed but he did enter the suite, coming up to sit in the chair brought just for him.

“Then why are you here?” Big Mama pursed her lips in interest. Her fingers wrapped around the top of the war staff one-by-one making Lou shift his eyes to the corrupted item. “Perhaps…you are here to convince me to stop my nexus.”

“This is not your world nor your nexus,” Lou narrowed his eyes at his past lover. “No one here agreed to this fight,” he said as he swooped an arm towards each of the viewing boxes that showed the various versions of the turtles.

“And that is what makes it more fun,” Big Mama rolled her eyes, leaning back in her chair and tapping a finger on the arm rest. “My nexus has gotten so dull ever since you left. It was like a breath of fresh air when you and my champion entered, and it left me craving more ever since.” Tapping one last time to press her finger on the arm rest, she leveled her gaze at the screens projecting the fight. “And your dear Draxxy waxy publishing that little article about the multiverse – well, let’s say it more than peaked my interest.”

Lou growled, baring his teeth at the woman. “You have gone mad. What happened to the woman that I once loved and planned to share my life with?”

Big Mama threw her head back and laughed, snorting with how strong it was. Wiping her laughter tears away, she struggled to get her laughter back under control. “Oh Lou, you know she never truly existed to begin with.” She finally collected herself and straightened out her jacket, adjusting her posture in her seat.

“I loved you,” Lou said, laying his feelings bared.

“I will admit, I loved you too,” Big Mama nodded along to her words. “I still love you. You are the mightiest champion to grace my nexus and you will always be mine – just like your baby blue is my newest champion.”

Lou pulled his lips back in a sneer. “Leonardo and I are not possessions of yours just because we fought in your nexus.”

Big Mama made a buzzer noise with her mouth. “All those who enter my arenas become mine the moment they cross the border,” Big Mama explained. She flicked her eyes to the screen as Party went falling to the ground in a heap.

“You’re a monster,” Lou scoffed in disgust.

“Oh Louie Dearie, just sit back and watch,” Big Mama purred, turning her attention to the fight on the screen. “The match is ending and we’ll get to see who the winner is.”

Mike vs. Party Battlefield

Party felt the heat of fire wrap around his body as he transformed back to his turtle self, hunched over on all fours as he gasped in staggered breathes. His omamori swayed in the air from his necklace, droplets of blood dripping onto it to stain the beautiful fabric a bright red.

“Dude, you good?” Mike asked as he jumped out of his small tornado of golden wind and looked at Party in concern.

“You got me good there,” Party wheezed, raising a hand to hold his side. Sitting up, his chest heaved as he tried to get his breathing under control. “You really knocked the wind out of me there.”

“Sorry about that,” Mike apologized. He winced at the stinging in his shoulder, raising his opposite arm to gingerly poke at the teeth marks in his skin. “Man, did you really have to bite me so hard?”

“Got caught up in the heat of the moment, sorry,” Party smiled sheepishly. He sat up and paled at the sheer drop of the cliff’s edge to a dense forest behind him. “Damn, I am so glad that I didn’t roll farther back. That would have hurt like a bitch.” Coughing, Party raised a hand to cover his mouth and pulled it back to reveal a splatter of blood. “Oh, that’s probably not good.”

Frowning to himself, Mike raised his hands to cup around his mouth and took a deep breath. His shoulder protested at the action but Mike ignored it in favor of worrying about Party’s condition. “Yo, scary boss lady, the fight is over!” Mike yelled into the air. “Party can’t fight anymore! Bring us back so he can get medical care already!”

“Oh darlings, you misunderstood my words earlier,” Big Mama’s voice boomed around the area. Mike turned around in a circle as he tried to figure out where her voice was coming from. It sounded like it was everywhere but he could not seen any speakers or something of the like around. “You are my gladiators…gladiators fight to the death.”

Something cold ran down both Mike’s and Party’s spines at the same time. With wide, scared eyes, the two Mikey’s look at each other. Mike’s hands dropped from around his mouth, swinging limply by his sides.

Party wasn’t stupid, he knew when he’s lost the fight. He knew Mike was the winner and he knew that Mike should accept his win. Sitting up a bit more, he peeked behind at the cliff edge. It would be easy for Mike to just push him backwards and send him falling to his death.

At least he would have the pretty blue sky as his last view.

“Whelp, you heard the lady,” Party said in a breathy chuckle. Breathing was still hard for him and his lungs couldn’t seem to take a full breath. He held both arms up to his sides in an invitation to push him. “Finish the fight, battle nexus champion.”

“No,” Mike whispered, taking a step back in horror and his bottom lip quivering. “I can’t kill you.”

“You’re going to have to,” Party pushed, lowering his arms. “Only one of us can leave this place alive and we both know who won this round.”

“But I can’t kill you,” Mike cried. “You-you’re my little brother, remember? I-I-I can’t do it.”

“You have to,” Party sighed. With a thought, Party let a smirk take over his lips. “No hard feelings, remember?” Party wheezed in remembrance towards their earlier promise, holding a shaky fist out towards Mike. His other hand came up to gently hold his omamori from Leo, a silent apology for losing the fight being sent to his family.

Mike’s mouth dropped open, tears welling in his eyes. He turned his head away as he squeezed his eyes closed, fists trembling at his side. Taking a few deep breathes, Mike squared his shoulders with a nod and opened his now determined eyes open, though there were a few tears making their way down his cheeks.

Party took that as silent acceptance of the situation and smiled at his counterpart. Mike turned to face Party, holding his own fist out to bump against him.

Party smiled.

Mike smiled.

And then Mike wrapped both hands around Party’s wrist and, with his chi enhanced markings lighting up on his skin, spun around and threw Party back onto the ground far away from the cliff’s edge. The force of throwing Party and the spinning forced Mike to trip and start falling backwards. Scrambling up on all fours after hitting the ground, Party’s eyes grew large at the sight of Mike.

“No!” Party screamed with a hand held out uselessly towards Mike.

“No hard feelings, yeah?” Mike laughed with a salute towards Party before he tipped backwards to disappear over the edge of the cliff.

Chapter Text

The Arena – Universe 2003's Viewing Box

There was so much screaming.

It was all around Donnie – the screaming.

Screaming from himself  - a sound that he barely registered as coming out of his own mouth.

Screaming from Raph – who raged at the death of their youngest brother.

Screaming from April – who grieved her surrogate brother.

Screaming from the stands – the onlookers who cheered at their winning bets and those who booed after picking the wrong turtle to bet on.

And screaming from Party that resounded the arena the moment he was teleported back to the arena.

“Send me back!” Party wailed, pounding his bloody fists on the ground. “I need to go find him!”

“Oh darling,” Big Mama cooed over the microphone. “You won, there is nothing else to do.”

“He could still be alive!” Party roared. He tried pushing himself to his feet, wincing and falling back down to his knees due to his injuries. “I need to go back to find him!”

“He couldn’t have survived that,” Big Mama responded with a fake-sympathetic tone. “If he had – well, I would hope he would have passed quickly afterwards.”

Donnie’s stomach rolled at the thought of his brother laying there, barely alive after falling all that distance. Behind him, April fell to her knees as she wailed and clutched Baby Marie close to her, the baby also crying as she picked up on her mother’s grief. Casey had rushed over to pull his girls close to him, tucking his wife’s face against his chest to console her; his own tears running down his cheeks.

Raph’s screams became louder at the metal image of Mikey laying at the bottom of the cliff broken and alone. Turning with tears of grief and rage pouring down his cheeks, he started punching the stone wall. His knuckles splint open but he did not stop for this was the only way he knew how to process everything.

Leo and their father was the only ones not screaming. Their strong-willed leader and old brother was silent but Donnie knew better than to associate that with a lack of emotions. Instead, Donnie knew that Leo was processing everything.

Grief, anger, sadness.

It was going through all of him at once. Leo had taken a step back from the wall before falling to his knees and bowing his head. His hands laid uselessly in his lap as he stared down at them, tears dripping down his cheeks without a sound.

While Splinter wasn’t screaming, he definitely was not silent. Their father – always so strong – broke in that moment. Donnie had to rush over to grab him as Splinter’s legs gave out, the cane dropping out of his hands. Lowered to the ground, Splinter covered his face as he wept at the death of his son.

Party let out a sound that could only be described as pure pain, throwing his head back at he wailed. Quickly, the pain became anger and Party narrowed his eyes at Big Mama.

“You killed him,” Party hissed, fire spilling into the air from the corners of his mouth.

“I did no such thing,” Big Mama sniffed in indignation. “The boy killed himself so that you could live. If anything, it was your fault.”

“You bitch,” Party snarled as scales started to form on his skin. “I’m gonna to kil—ARGH!”

Party fell to the ground as a new collar flew across the arena to slam into the back of his neck and enclosed around his throat. Immediately, his powers were cut off with his scales sinking back into his skin. That didn’t stop the turtle though, as he pushed himself to his feet and wobbled in place. Everyone could see him reaching into his pockets to pull out a ninja weapon.

Before he could get far, a small team of Big Mama’s workers appeared out of nowhere with cattle prods. They each stuck the end of the stick against Party’s skin and shocked him. Party’s body went rigid from the electricity, choked sounds escaping his throat.

“Stop it!” Wrath screamed from their viewing box. Donnie looked over at how all the universe 2016 members were screaming in alarm.

More screaming to add to the already existing screams around him.

Party’s eyes rolled into the back of his head as he lost consciousness. Seeing this, the workers pulled the prods back and let Party fall into a heap on the ground knees first before the rest followed, his body still twitching with residual shocks. Big Mama snapped her fingers and the workers took that as their hint.

Two stepped forward to each grab Party by an arm. With a bow towards their boss, the workers dragged Party out of the arena with a small trail of blood following them. The screams from the universe 2016 box stopped as they all rushed out to go find Party as soon as possible.

“Now that is over,” Big Mama cleared her throat and tapped on her microphone. “Let’s give another round of applause for our winner of the first match – Party, the dragon king!”

Around the stadium, cheers and claps sounded from the audience. All the turtles in their viewing boxes didn’t do anything, watching in horror as they all processed what each Michelangelo and Leonardo were going to have to do.

Big Mama cleared her throat to gain the attention again, silencing the cheers. “With that, let’s announce the next battle that will take place! Since the first match was quicker than I thought it would be and I know all of you are craving more, we shall hold the fight later this afternoon!” The holographic screens popped up in the middle of the arena again to show the next bracket that was still grayed out. On the match with Mike’s and Party’s name, the winning turtle was pushed ahead with his opponent’s identity still hidden.

With a swipe of her hand, two of the names in the following branch disappeared to show who would be fighting in match two. “Let me announce the next two fighting Michelangelo’s: Michael from universe 2012 and Ranger from universe 122019!”

The screens changed to a side-by-side display of the two mentioned turtles. Michael took a step back as his mouth dropped in horror. His Raph stepped up to grab his brother by the elbow, the orange loving turtle’s knees shaking. Ranger, in his box, paled and looked in the direction towards Michael’s box.

Big Mama clapped in glee. “For now, we will be taking a brief intermission. Go make your bets before it is too late!”

*A Bit Later* - Universe 2012’s House

“What am I going to do?” Mikey moaned as he paced around the room. He pulled nervously on his mask bows like one would do with hair.

“First, you’re going to stop pacing,” Raph answered and put his hands on Mikey’s shoulders to ground him. “Second, you are going to win. Simple.”

“Well said, Raph,” Donnie rolled his eyes. He was typing away at his laptop, April peeking over every so often to point something out.

“Not like you are helping,” Raph scoffed.

“I have helped by doing what I do best,” Donnie said and turned his laptop around to show what he had been doing. “Researching.”

On the laptop, it showed a display of Ranger in his power ranger suit and a range of stats next to him. It also highlighted potential weaknesses to exploit with a correct move and a list of attacks to be wary of.

“Where did you get all of that?” Leo asked. He was seated at the table with a half-drank cup of tea clutched in his hands. Their father had given them all a cup to help with their nerves, just like how he made the tea to begin with to calm his. Leo was the only one to actually drink his, Mikey never having even looked at his.

“Purple, actually,” Donnie answered. “He records everything apparently and he send over all his data.”

“Sounds like you are getting along with him now,” Casey noted. He was leaning backwards in his seat and was a breath away from falling.

“Yeah, no,” Donnie shot that down quickly. “He’s still the same egotistical asshole he’s always been. Do you know how much ranting about how he’s the superior Donatello I had to listen to to get this?”

“Sounds like a certain someone I know,” Casey murmured lowly.

“What did you say?!” Donnie exploded, steam practically coming out of his ears at the thought of being the same as Purple.

“Oh, great, they’re fighting again,” April sighed and slumped. She had been wondering how long it would take for a fight between the two of them to break out again but it was nice for the peace while they had it. She stood up to grab Casey by the ear, dragging him away before the fight could escalate.

Leo cleared his throat and approached Mikey. “I know you aren’t fond of this but you need to kill Ranger.”

“But Leo—!” Mikey started to protest.

Mikey flinched when a heavy hand dropped on his shoulder, his head turning to see Raph staring him down. “You just gotta win, little brother,” Raph said while looking Mikey in the eyes. “That’s all we care about right now.”

Mikey groaned and rubbed harshly at his face. All they’ve been talking about for the last two hours was how he was going to win – and by extension, how he was going to kill Ranger. This was not something he wanted to do and even less discuss.

He had fought with Orange to save all the Michelangelo’s from death but now he was going to be the killer of who knew how many? Yeah, no…this was not settling right with him.

He needed to get some air.

“I’ll be back,” Mikey said to everyone as he shrugged Raph's hand off his shoulder and trudged his feet towards the door. Leo, Donnie, and Raph shot to their feet in alarm and looked to Splinter in help to get Mikey to stop.

“But Mikey—!” April started to say. She stopped when Splinter placed a hand on her shoulder.

Splinter looked his son in the eyes, nodding his head. “Don’t stay out too long, Michelangelo. I’ll have some fresh tea ready for you when you get back.”

“Sensei!” Leo exclaimed. With a sharp look, Splinter had Leo quieting down which made Donnie and Raph begrudgingly give up to.

Mikey’s shoulders slumped in relief that his father knew he needed some time to himself to process everything. Inclining his head in thanks, Mikey slipped out the door of the house and trotted away to find a quiet place to think. Usually, he would just slip away in a stream of lightning to wherever he wanted in the past years ever since he got his powers back.

Curse this collar and its ability to suppress his powers.

Shell, he really missed his lightning powers.

Universe 122019’s House

Mikey sat with his face in his hands, his leg bouncing rapidly. Around him, his brothers and the power rangers argued.

“He needs to be aggressive!” Raph growled and slammed a fist on the table. “Go for the jugular right out of the gate!” Next to him, Tommy and Casey nodded in agreement. 

“He needs to be cautious,” Leo argued. Jason echoed the sentiment, ever ready to help a fellow leader get through to the rest of his team. “Michael is not someone that is going to be easy to deal with swiftly.”

“He needs to be calculating,” Donnie sighed, dragging a hand down his face. “Mikey should know Michael’s weak points and he needs to strike at the precise moments.” Billy gave a noise of agreement, flattening the diagrams of potential weak spots on Michael he had wrote up earlier.

Mikey just listened to everything, sick to his stomach that they were really discussing how to kill one of his counterparts. On either side of him, Zack and Kimberly rubbed his carapace in support.

Trini frowned at the fact that they weren’t even consulting Mikey in this, the one that will actually have to carry out the plan. His brothers just talked over him and discussed what the orange turtle needed to do. “That isn’t his fighting style,” Trini raised her voice to be heard above everyone. “We need a different plan.”

The argument paused before Raph scoffed and leaned back, hands on his hips. “Alright, what propose then?”

“How about we start with actually talking to Mikey?” Trini offered, gesturing to Mikey.

Leo caught onto how they were talking about Mikey like he wasn’t even in the room. His big brother and leader alarms started going off the moment he laid eyes on the depressed looking turtle. Leaving Jason, he crossed the room to get to Mikey and kneeled down before him. “Mikey…are you okay?”

Mikey took a moment to answer, his shoulders heaving with a sigh. “…this sucks,” Mikey whined as he scrubbed at his face. “I don’t want to kill Michael.”

“If it helps, you’ve already tried once before,” Tommy pointed out.

“No, Tommy, that does not help,” Kimberly deadpanned.

Mikey groaned and dropped his hands away from his face. Standing up, he started heading towards the garden. “Where are you going?” Leo asked, shooting to his feet.

“Out for a walk,” Mikey answered, dragging his feet towards the door. “I need to clear my head.”

“Don’t you think you should stay here and figure out how you’re going to win?” Donnie pressed.

“No,” Mikey shook his head without turning around or stopping. “I don’t want to sit around discussing how I’m going to kill my counterpart.”

“Mikey…” April breathed, a hand reaching out towards him.

“I’m not going far,” Mikey swore. He paused in the doorway for moment, looking over his shoulder at his brothers and friends. “I need a moment to myself, okay?”

He didn’t wait for an answer as he slipped out the door, a frown on his face.

Chapter Text

The Common Areas Between the Houses

Michael breathed out a huff as he kicked a stone farther down the path.

If he wasn’t forced to be in this universe in a contest where he had to kill his counterparts or be killed, maybe he would appreciate the beauty of the dimension more. The weather was warm, pleasant on his skin, with a soft breeze brushing against him. It was like the days at the farmhouse while they were still waiting for Leo to wake up – beautiful but somber.

“Argh!” Michael growled as he kicked the pebble farther down the road. It hit another rock, bouncing away to disappear over a bush.

“OW!” someone exclaimed from the other side.

“Ah, shell,” Michael cursed. He trotted over to the bush, pushing it aside to see whoever he accidentally hit with the pebble.

Only to come face to face with Ranger.

“O-oh,” Michael gulped, freezing up. “Hey…Ranger. Ho-how you doing?” Ranger fixed him with a flat look, raising an eye ridge at the question. Michael’s shoulders drooped and he sighed, pushing the bush aside more join Ranger on the other side. “Yeah, that was a dumb question.”

Ranger snorted, turning to look back out at the lake he had previously been admiring. “I see you got away from your family.”

“Same could be said about you,” Michael said. He found a small flat stone next to his foot, picking it up and started to head towards the edge of the lake. “Your family also discussing ways to kill me?”

“Seems like to be the hottest topic right now,” Ranger grumbled, slouching to perch his chin in his hand. “How many ways has your family figured out how to kill me?”

“If we are talking about just Donnie, then it’s seven,” Michael answered, drawing his arm back. Throwing it forward, he watched as the stone skipped four times across the lake before disappearing beneath the surface. “With everyone, we‘re at eleven.”

“You guys are slacking,” Ranger smirked. “We’ve come up with fourteen ways how to kill you.”

“You guys also have the power rangers to pitch in, which is totally cheating by the way,” Michael smirked. He bent down to find another stone to throw, two perfect specimens right next to his feet.

“Don’t be a hater that I’m more awesome,” Ranger teased.

“Yeah but you don’t have an ice cream kitty, so take that,” Michael snorted. He threw another stone across the lake, this one only make it three skips before falling into the water.

Ranger chuckled, shaking his head in defeat. He will admit after meeting the cat in the freezer one time – ICK was pretty awesome.

“Mikey!” one of the Leo’s called, his voice faint.

“Ugh, looks like time is up already,” Michael grumbled. He really pulled his arm back to throw the rock, the rock skipping five times across the surface of the water. Brushing his hands off, Michael let a frown settle on his face. “Looks like it is back to the brainstorming session.”

“Got to say, this was not how I expected to spend my day,” Ranger said, getting off the ground and brushing his bottom off of dirt.

The two Michelangelo’s looked at each other, wanting to say more but unable to find the correct words. There was a lot of emotions running through them, turmoil coiling in their stomachs like food poisoning.

“Mikey! Where are you?!” one of the Leo’s called again.

Ranger waved at Michael, turning on his heel to go back to his temporary home. “Hey,” Michael called at Ranger as he left, making the other turtle turn around. “We can think of it like this: whoever goes first can go keep Mike company.”

Ranger gave a wiry smile, nodding along. “Oh, he’s probably so bored by himself right now.”

Michael and Ranger left the conversation at that as their names were called by their brothers again. Trotting away, they both knew the next time they saw each other, it would be in the arena.

Big Mama’s Grand Battle Nexus Office

Big Mama’s assistant lifted herself from her boss’s ear after relaying that Ranger and Michael had conversed. The yokai leader had been slightly worried when her spies informed her that the next two competitors had met but was relieved that they did nothing to be concerned about.

Seeing that everything was fine, Big Mama waved her assistant away to dismiss her. Big Mama’s assistant gave a bow of her head before slinking backwards to stand at her usual post behind Big Mama.

The yokai folded her hands together and perched her chin on top of them to address the person sitting on the other side of her desk. “Now, where were we?” Big Mama smiled at Master.

The ninja master’s eyes were red but his face was hard as stone as he regarded the women. Fearless and Don stood at either side of his chair, Ra having been left behind due to the potential actions he would take to kill Big Mama. Case was watching over him and the girls, Riri still crying and holding baby Marie close to her.

“I want my son’s body back so that he may have a proper burial,” Master repeated his statement from earlier before he was interrupted.

“Ah, right,” Big Mama nodded along and leaned back in her chair, tapping a manicured nail against the oak desk. “Yeah, that’s not going to happen.”

“And why the hell not?” Don growled, his hands curling into fists at his side.

“Donatello, yame,” Master scolded softly. Don scoffed but kept his mouth quiet.

“To answer your question, my dear, it is not possible,” Big Mama explained. “In my nexus, I have discovered how much of a mess a corpse can be so I have come up with the most perfect way to dispose of it.” Snapping her fingers, a worker came forward and stood at attention before them. “Observe.”

With another snap of her fingers, her assistant pulled a kunai out of her pouch and threw it to impale into the worker’s heart. The worker fell into a dead heap on the ground, dead before he could suffer. Big Mama gave an unimpressed at the corpse and the blood that started to pool underneath it and she tapped the war staff against the ground. They all watched as the worker’s body cracked from the point he was fatally injured, breaking apart with the pieces breaking further apart into ash to float up into the air.

“See?” Big Mama gestured to the ash-like pieces floating up and disappearing. “So easy and no clean up.”

Fearless’ mouth was stuck shut as he imagined Mike dying alone and his body breaking apart like that. Don, on the other hand, was fuming at the implications that his brother was seen as a bother in death.

“Oh!” Big Mama perked up and waved her assistant over. “I forgot! I did send someone over to confirm his death and there was something left behind.” Big Mama’s assistant walked over to a side cabinet and pulled open a door, reaching inside to pull out a scrap of orange fabric with blood splattered across it.

A piece of Mike’s mask tail.

“I was going to offer it to the dragon king as a token of his victory but I am willing to allow you to take it,” Big Mama said as if she was doing the grieving family a favor.

Don went to say something but Master held up a hand, silencing his son. With a shaky hand, he reached forward for the other memento. Big Mama’s assistant handed it over and Master held it like as carefully as one would with a new born child.

Inclining his head, Master stood up from his chair. “Thank you for returning a piece of my son to me,” Master thank the yokai. “My sons and I will now be taking our leave.”

“Enjoy the rest of the tournament,” Big Mama chirped with a happy smile as she waved good-bye at the father.

Master’s teeth ground together at her words, knowing that he already lost one son and one of his others would have to kill his counterparts or be killed. He didn’t say anything as he left the office with his two more leveled headed sons at his sides.

Big Mama cleared her throat, catching Don’s and Fearless’ attention before they left. They both turned around to see Big Mama staring at Fearless with a dark smile.

“I look forward to your match, dearie,” Big Mama giggled at Fearless. She angled her face down to peer over the rim of her glasses, a cruel look in her eyes. "Be sure to put on a good show like the Daimyo's champion did."

Don stepped in-between Fearless and Big Mama, cutting off her view of the leader in blue. She already took one brother from him, she was not going to get the privilege of seeing the other with him around. Big Mama gave a laugh at the protectiveness Don showed.

Hooking an arm around Fearless’ back, Don lead his oldest brother out of the office to meet their father in the hallway. “Is everything alright?” Master asked, his hands wrapped around Mike’s ripped mask tail.

“Just Big Mama being her evil self,” Don scoffed. He let go of Fearless and strode forward, ready to be anywhere away from Big Mama. He looked back at his brother, getting worried that Fearless had still not said anything ever since Mike died.

“Mikey, stop it!” someone yelled down the hall.

Master and his two sons stopped in their steps as someone came tumbling out of a hallway and was face-to-face with Party. The dragon shifter looked rough, only half healed, and loose bandages hanging off of him. His eyes were unfocused and his breathing labored, like he was in a frenzy. "I have to find him. I have to find Mike," Party murmured to himself, repeating it over and over again.

Leader, Wrath, and Genius came sprinting out after him. They froze when they saw Fearless, Don, and Master as a hesitant energy ran through the air. The two groups of families looked at each other, Fearless and Leader in particular as some type of silent leader communication ran though. Leader gave Fearless a pitying look as he still had his Mikey while Mike was gone.

Genius and Wrath clocked Party right away, the two rushing over to grab at Party’s elbows. “Mikey, you have to go back to the healing hall,” Genius said to his injured brother.

"Let me go!" Party screeched. Party looked around wildly, stopping when his gaze landed on Master, Fearless and Don. Whining and shaking off his two older brothers, Party limped forward and dropped to his knees in front of Master, bowing with hands and his forehead pressed into the ground. “I’m so sorry!” Party cried.

“Mikey, get off the ground! You're going to open your wounds again!” Wrath demanded, dropping down to get Party off the ground. He stopped when Leader placed a hand on his shoulder, silently telling him to let this happen. Genius stood on Party’s other side a few steps away, ready to swoop in and pick up Party when needed.

Master looked at the turtle before him, his heart breaking. He looked down at the stained piece of orange fabric in his hands and gulped. The father of universe 2016’s turtle kneeled down in front of Party, placing a hand on the shaking turtle’s shoulder.

“Party, please, raise yourself,” Master murmured soothingly. “You did nothing wrong.”

“I killed him!” Party cried, refusing to lift his head. “I killed your son! I know I can never atone for this and I will never forgive myself!”

“Mi-Michelangelo,” Master stuttered for a moment as his heart jumped into his throat saying the name of his son that was gone. He took a deep breath to control himself, pushing his tears back. There would be time to mourn later – for now, he had to console a variation of his beloved youngest child. “…you did not kill my Michelangelo.”

“I did!” Party wailed, grounding his forehead into the ground. “I’m here and he is gone!”

“Mikey, stop,” Genius pleaded with his brother. “You’re hurting yourself.”

“No,” Master shook his head and laid a hand on Party’s shoulder. “My son sacrificed himself so that you may live. You did not kill him and I am sure he would be saddened to hear you blaming yourself.”

“But—!” Party raised his head suddenly with a small trickle of blood running down his face from the scrap of rubbing his forehead into the ground.

Master raised a hand to silence Party, the turtle’s lips quivering. The father turned his other hand over to reveal the bloodied scrap of orange fabric. “My son’s actions were all his own. There is no one to blame.”

"I can think of a certain lady to blame," Wrath muttered under his breath. Leader's response to that was a clenching of his fist at his side.

Party’s eyes dragged down to the piece of Mike’s mask tail, his tears flowing even stronger. A pained keel escaped out his throat as he bent his head down to press against the hand holding the orange fabric and wailed in grief.

And the hallway was filled with only the sound of mourning.

Chapter Text

The Arena – The North Tunnel

Michael listened to the faint roar of the audience as Big Mama welcomed them all back from the break between now and the first battle. He took a step back, swallowing the lump in his throat.

“I don’t want to do this,” Michael whispered. His hands shook at his side as he looked at the tunnel like it was the road to hell. “I really don’t want to do this.”

“I know,” Leo whispered back, patting Michael on the shoulder. “None of us want you to have to do this but we don’t have a choice.”

“Which is why you have to win,” Raph pushed, sticking a finger in Michael’s face. “Me and Casey are going to figure something out so you just have to hold out for this match, okay?”

“But—” Michael started to say.

“I know,” Raph interrupts and placed his hand on Michael’s other free shoulder. “It’s going to be terrible but we need to figure out the pattern to her security. As soon as we can, we’ll go get that stupid staff from her and end this whole thing.”

“The dream team coming back to do what it does best,” Casey smirked, nudging Raph in the shoulder. “We’re going to go send that lady packing.”

“Doesn’t really help the turtles that are going to die in the meantime,” Michael grumbled.

“Can’t we just get Orange to revive them like he did for dad?” Donnie asked.

“I think it depends on if they are going to still be hanging around,” April answered, tapping a finger to her chin in thought.

“But what if they aren’t?” Michael stressed, pulling on his mask tails.

Yoshi strode forward and placed a hand on his youngest son’s head to give him a head rub like he loved. “My son, please do not concern yourself about the future. For now, focus on the present and come back home to us.”

Michael gave a shaky nod to his father. Behind him, the gong sounded off to signal the battle was going to start. The orange themed turtle flinched hard, looking over his shoulder down the long tunnel with a scared look.

“It’s almost showtime,” Casey gulped.

Michael pulled away from his father and stood in front of the entrance to his tunnel. It felt like there was a stone in his gut as he looked down it, wanting to do anything besides march down it. Hell, he would even take fighting the Shredder again right now.

There was a nudge at his shoulder. Looking over, Michael could see his oldest brother next to him.

“You’ll do great, Mikey,” Leo smiled at him. “We’ll be waiting for you after the battle.”

Michael gave a shaky nod, jumping forward to hug Leo one more time. Leo was quick to wrap his own arms around Michael to return the hug, the two brothers taking a moment before Michael was pulling away.

The orange banded turtle gave a short wave before turning on his heel to head down the tunnel. He didn’t look back as he heard the gate grinding against the wall as it closed. There was a thunk behind him as he was cut off completely from the rest of his family. Michael only continued walking down the long tunnel towards the light of the arena.

Pausing at the entrance, he peeked out the small openings of the wooden gate in front of him. Michael bounced on his toes, shaking out his limbs as he waited for the gate to open.

And hoped for a miracle that he would actually be able to go home to his family after this.

The Arena – The South Tunnel

“You got your morpher?”

Ranger held his borrowed yellow power ranger morpher up to show the group. Tricer nodded in confirmation, taking a step back. Rex and Mastodon looked down the tunnel Ranger was going to have to wait in, the arena lights shining from the other end.

“Hey, don’t lose that. I need it,” Trini teased, punching Ranger in the shoulder.

“That is if he survives the fight,” Tommy grumbled.

“Tommy!” Kimberly scolded and slapped him upside the head.

“What?” Tommy pouted, rubbing the sore spot. “I’m just being realistic.”

“You’re being an asshole,” Trini scoffed.

Tommy held his hands up in surrender and backed away from his female teammates. He looked over to Jason for help but the red power ranger gave him a flat look.

Zack came forward and smack Ranger on the back of his shell, making the turtle stumble forward. “You’ve got this dude. You’re going to go out there, kick shell, and then come back so the two of us can make another Michelangelo original pizza.”

“Ugh, not another one,” Billy shivered in disgust. “I still have nightmares about the last one.”

“The last one was a delight!” Zack defended the pizza.

“It had licorice, skittles, blue cheese and a caramel drizzle,” Rex rolled his eyes as he recounted the monstrosity.

“Don’t forget about the grasshoppers!” Mastodon exclaimed. He and Billy grimaced as they remembered taking a hesitant bite of the bite before they both threw up in a garbage can.

“They are a delicacy in some regions!” Ranger argued.

“Yeah but not here!” Rex argued back.

Reporter and Kim looked at each other, rolling their eyes in exasperation. Tommy and Fighter turned a shade of green at the memories of the pizza.

Ranger laughed at the argument but sobered up quickly when he remembered where he was. He shifted his feet as a stray breeze from the arena tunnel behind him brushed against his shell. Ranger had purposely faced away from the entrance in an effort of trying to ignore the reality of his situation for as long as possible.

“Remember what I showed you,” Fighter said to his friend. “A sucker punch to the chin to stun him and then your chucks to the knee. Fight dirty.”

“I got this Casey,” Ranger chuckled, holding his arms up to flex his muscles. “We’ve got one of the powerhouses of Master Michelangelo’s forces right here.”

Rex shot him a flat look. “Not something I would think you would take pride in remembering.”

“Michelangelo, please be careful,” Teacher warned his son. He reached out and laid a land on his son’s. “Do not assume you will win. Your opponent is very strong.”

Ranger gave a rueful smile, memories of his fight while under Master Michelangelo’s control flashing in his mind. “Don’t worry about that, sensei. Out of all the Michelangelo’s in the tournament, I’m sure I am the one who knows what fighting him is like the best.”

The gong sounded behind Ranger and he peeked his over his shoulder down the hallway. There was the faint sound of the cheers as the audience grew excited. “Looks like that’s my signal,” Ranger chirped. He turned towards his family and friends, holding out a closed fist. “Wish me luck?” Ranger asked with a smile.

Rex slung an arm over Ranger’s shoulders, purposely jostling his brother. “Go kick some ass for me.” Ranger dropped his fist to wrap his own arm around Rex’s shoulder.

“Jealous that you’re missing all the action?” Ranger teased.

“You don’t know how much it is rubbing me and Don wrong that we aren’t fighting,” Rex grumbled.

“I’d rather none of us be fighting,” Mastodon murmured.

Tricer gave a nod of agreement, his lips pressed flat together. He wondered when his own fight was going to happen and he would be the one that everyone was would be sending off into the arena. Honestly, it didn’t bother him much at the thought of himself going in. But having to send his youngest brother in?

It bothered him to no end.

Without thinking, Tricer’s hand shot forward to grab Mastodon’s and dragged him over to Rex and Ranger. Mastodon yelped as Tricer pulled him in. A large smile made its way onto Ranger’s face as Tricer threw his arms around over him and Mastodon. Rex and Mastodon completed the final side to close the group hug, all their foreheads pressing together in the middle.

“Go show them what happens when you mess with the turtle rangers,” Rex smirked.

“We’re going to be cheering from the stands,” Mastodon told Ranger.

“And when you win, we’ll even eat that sin against cooking you and Zack will make,” Tricer promised.

“Aw, Leo, why’d you have to say something like that?” Rex groaned.

“It’s good incentive,” Tricer teased.

Ranger snickered, tightening his arms around Rex and Tricer. “I’m going to hold you to that.” Ranger pulled his head back to look over his shoulder at Zack. “Yo, Zack! Make sure to find out where they are hiding the sauerkraut in this place!”

“You got it!” Zack laughed with a thumb-up.

“Look what you’ve done, Leo,” Mastodon grimaced in disgust.

Ranger gave one last laugh before they broke up the hug and stepped away. “I’ll see you all after the fight,” Ranger swore. He walked the few steps backwards until he was in the tunnel, just in time for the gate to start descending.

"Good luck, my son," Teacher bowed towards his son. Reporter waved at Ranger from next to Teacher while Fighter mimicked some fighting moves as reminders for the turtle to use. His family and friends’ voices blended together as they all yelled cheers and well wishes at him. Ranger felt his heart soar at the encouragement, laughing and waving at them.

Ranger watched the gate come down, waving at his blood and extended family until the thick concrete wall separated them completely. It muffled all voices from the other side to leave the orange loving turtle in lonely silence.

Biting his lip, Ranger turned and started making his way down the tunnel to where he would be entering the arena. In his hand, he clutched the morpher to his chest like a good luck charm.

Because he definitely was going to need it.

The Arena

Big Mama waved to the crowd as she walked onto the balcony of her viewing box suite. The yokai around her cheered at her figure and the ten universes of turtle spread out around the arena stared at her with venom. She blew them a kiss, having long since stopped feeling anger at people not adoring her.

The yokai boss tapped her microphone to make sure it was on. With her best professional smile, Big Mama threw an arm out to the side.

“Welcome back everyone to our second battle of the grand battle nexus!” Big Mama said into the microphone. “That first one really was a hoot, wasn’t it? Too bad the daimyo’s champion couldn’t live up to the expectations of one of his stature,” she purred darkly.

Across the arena, the Donatello and Raphael in the universe 2003 box snarled at her in rage. Fearless stayed quiet, staring at the ground with his arms crossed where he leaned against a wall. 

“Anyways, let’s get started with our next fight! Let’s start with introductions!” Big Mama cheered and gestured to one of the still closed tunnels. “From the North tunnel, we have the Michelangelo from universe 2012 and the orange strike of lightning: Michael!”

Michael gulped as the gate in front of him opened and with a shaky nod of his head to himself, he forced himself to step forward. Immediately, it was like a tsunami of noise washed over him. The cheers from the stadium were like a frenzy, yokai screaming over each other in a cheer or a jeer.

Looking up, Michael could see his family waving towards him from their viewing box. Raph was punching the air and yelling something, mostly likely something gruesome and crass from how Yoshi smacked the red masked turtle in the back of the head with his tail. Leo was cheering for him, arm waving in the air. Donnie was mumbling something to himself and Michael didn’t even try to guess what. The humans were cheering their hearts out for Michael, jumping in the air.

A wiry smile made its way on Michael’s face at all the support his family was showing him.

“And from the South tunnel, we have our universe 122019 Michelangelo representative and the yellow turtle power ranger: Ranger!”

Ranger bounced on his toes as he watched his own gate open, jogging out to the cheers of his voice around the arena. He turned around to find his universe’s viewing box, making sure to wave to them as he hurried to the center of the arena.

“This time, we are going to have the fight in the arena right in front of us!” Big Mama announced to everyone. “Since we don’t have to worry about two dragons, I’m sure we’ll all enjoy a front and center view of the gladiators.”

Ranger ground his teeth at that word again. They were ninjas – not gladiators being used to kill their counterparts.

“Without further ado…” Big Mama cleared her throat and it felt like the area in the arena electrified with energy. If the turtles had hair, Michael and Ranger would have sworn it would have stood up with the goosebumps that ran down their skin. “Fight!” Big Mama declared the start of the battle. The collars around their throats beeped as they turned off and both turtles felt like they surged with power inside.

Michael and Ranger just froze as the time of reckoning had come. The two Mikey’s looked at each other like a deer seeing oncoming headlights. Every fiber of their beings was telling them that they needed to fight, to be the one to come home to their family at the end of the battle.

But they couldn’t fight.

They couldn’t kill.

Not each other.

“No,” Michael gulped, his nun chucks jingling in his shaking hands.

“Excuse me?” Big Mama scoffed.

“I said, no! I won’t fight!” Michael declared, throwing his nun chucks to the ground in front of him.

“And so won’t I!” Ranger added in as he copied Michael’s actions.

“You tell her, Mikey!” Raph yelled from the universe 2012 viewing box.

“Don’t let that woman make you do something you don’t want to!” Rex cheered from the universe 122019 box. Mastodon had to reach forward to pull Rex back from how far he was leaning over the edge to cheer for Ranger.

Big Mama pursed her lips and tilted her head down to look at the two turtles over her glasses. “I see,” she sighed. “I can see that is your stance on the subject.” She let a downturned expression stay on her face for a moment before a glimmer shined in her eyes. “It’s a good thing that I can change that.”

Raising the corrupted war staff, she pointed it towards the two Michelangelo’s. Two beams of dark energy shot out to slam into their plastrons and sink in. Michael and Ranger stiffened as they waited for something to happen but nothing on them changed.

“What the hell was that?!” Raph jeered from the box. He raised a foot to the edge of the box as if he was going to jump out but Leo held him back.

“Just a little push my gladiators need,” Big Mama smirked.

Neither of the turtles felt any different nor like they were raging with bloodlust. Though…there was something off.

“Do you hear that?” Michael asked Ranger, his head twitching to the side uncontrollably.

“I hear something,” Ranger whined as he pawed at the side of his head. “I don’t know what it is but it’s getting really loud.”

Michael wanted to agree verbally but he could only grit his teeth at the growing noise. Accompanied with it was what felt like a thousand fire ants crawling over his skin and biting at him. He started scratching at his arms before traveling up to his neck. Ranger started hitting the sides of his head as if it could pause the growing noise. He bit his lip to stop himself from crying out, blood dripping down his chin where he broke the skin.

“I see you two are strong,” Big Mama wondered aloud. She tapped a finger against the war staff, the aura around it growing larger. In response, Michael fell to his knees and Ranger increased the strength of how hard he was hitting his head, going from patting it to straight punching.

Michael screeched in pain as he scratched at his face, feeling like his skin was on fire. Ranger had both hands clapped over his ears as he arched his back and threw his head back to howl in pain.

“There is only one way to stop the pain, my little turtles,” Big Mama purred into the microphone, a sadistic smile on her face. “Fight.”

The pain was getting to be too much for the turtles, their willpower breaking amongst the noise suffocating them. The longer they tried to hold out, the more it grew into an unstoppable force of nature that beat on them. Human instincts were being pushed to the side to allow their animal halves take control of the problem harming them.

It was only a matter of time before they broke.

Ranger was the first by a second as he wiped out his morpher and slammed it on his chest, his entire body being covered in a yellow light before it broke apart to leave the turtle in his power ranger suit. Michael had reacted right after Ranger as he dove forward to grab his nun chucks off the ground. Yellow electricity crackled as he jumped off of Michael's skin in response to his mental state.

The two turtles stared each other down, shaking pupils shrunken to pinpricks. Opening their mouths, they both hissed at each other.

“What are you waiting for? I said fight,” Big Mama rolled her eyes and leaned back in her plush chair. “Entertain us already.”

With a slam of the war staff into the ground to signal them to do something, both Michael and Ranger disappeared in flashes of orange and yellow lightning to bolt around the arena.

Chapter Text

Universe 2018’s Viewing Box

“Damn, they are fast,” Blue whistled. His blue mask tails fell off his shoulder and hung down with his upper body over the edge of the viewing box.

Purple leaned forward with his goggles pulled down, trying to slow down the fight to actually figure out who was winning. Red hadn’t bothered trying, instead trying to keep the twins from falling over the edge with how far they were leaning forward.

Mikey agreed, already having given up trying to track their fight. The two lightning users zipped around the stadium, never staying in one spot for too long before darting off to another.

“I wanna fight too,” Cassandra grumbled with her arms crossed.

“Mom, no,” CJ sighed with a hand pinching his nose bridge.

Mikey was going to say something in agreement with Junior but froze when two streams of lightning zipped past their viewing box. His stomach rolled as time seemed to slow down and Mikey got the barest of glimpses of Michael and Ranger in the streams of electricity. Blood drained from Mikey’s face at what he saw, his stomach rebelling.

Time seemed to speed up again and both fighting Mikey’s were gone again.

And Mikey turned around to leave the viewing box, already knowing how the battle was going to end and not having the stomach to watch the aftermath.

The Arena – Universe 122019 Viewing Box

“Can you guys see what is going on?” Trini whispered as she watched the two streams of electricity shot around the arena. Every so often, a splatter of blood was stay behind when they collided together but no one could tell whose blood was being spilled.

“I don’t think anyone can really see what’s going on,” Rex murmured.

“I could try to record it to play it back slower for us but it would be super behind with the current events by that point,” Mastodon offered.

Tricer shook his head at the suggestion. “There’s no point. Like you said, whatever we’ll see will long done by the time we watch it.”

“Then what should we do?” Billy asked. He was intently watching each stroke of electricity as it shot by.

The hairs on the human’s arms raised as the two steams of lightening escaped the arena for a moment to zip past their box. In that moment, they would hear what they could describe as two feral beasts attacking each other. As quick as they appeared, Michael and Ranger shot back into the arena.

There was a tap of wood and a near invisible dome raised over the arena. “Sorry about that to everyone in the audience,” Big Mama’s voice boomed around the arena. “I have raised a barrier to contain our gladiators. There is no need for worry.”

Mastodon looked through the barrier at the two streams of lightning that were now contained. They kept banging against the barrier only to ricochet across the arena. The yellow bolt of lightning that he had learn to associate with his brother seemed to be gaining on Michael as Ranger chased his counterpart.

“Why does Mikey get to have lightning powers?” Rex pouted.

“It was a parting gift from being controlled by Master Michelangelo,” Tricer answered. “I’m sure he if comes back to life and you offer to let him take over your mind, he’ll give you some powers.”

“Well—” Rex started to say.

“No,” Tricer interrupted quickly. The streams of lightning collided against the barrier again, bouncing off to race off somewhere else.

“But—”

“No,” Tricer reiterated. “Once to one of us is more than enough.”

“God, you’re such a kill-joy,” Rex rolled his eyes.

“And you’re being insensitive to Mikey’s experience,” Tricer growled. He looked away from the fight for a moment to pin Rex down with a look. “Stop being a jerk and just be glad we got Mikey back from Master Michelangelo alive instead of pouting you didn’t get powers too.”

Rex’s top lip pulled back with an insult locked and loaded. He stopped though when there was the loud sound of a pained screech that chilled him to the bone. It echoed around the arena like a ghostly wail.

“What the hell was that?” Fighter asked. He leaned against the edge of the viewing box’s wall to try and get a glimpse of what happened. “Was that…one of the Mikey’s?”

“It had to be,” Mastodon muttered.

“But…which one?” Reported asked quietly.

No one had the answer to that but it would be answered very quickly as the energy of the fight shifted and the Mikey’s came tumbling out of the lightning.

The Arena – Universe 2012 Viewing Box

Leo leaned forward more, squinting his eyes as if it would help him see the two Mikey’s easier.

“I hate this,” Raph grumbled. He had his arms crossed over his plastron and a foot tapping anxiously. “I really hate this.”

“You’re not the only one,” Donnie agreed. He was pacing the small length of the viewing box.

Leo didn’t bother answering as he kept his gaze set on following the lightning bolts. His eyes kept shooting from one side of the arena to the other, pausing for a moment when the Mikey’s would hit the barrier. Sometimes the lightning streams would break apart for a moment to break away before jumping right back at each other.

April slammed her hands over her ears when there was a pained banshee like scream from inside the barrier. Casey had jumped in fright as the sound felt like it had been almost next to him from how loud it was. Yoshi had sat up straighter, his ears twitching forward towards the arena. Raph and Donnie leaned forward more to see what was going on but with the Mikey’s still in the lightning, they couldn’t see much.

Leo couldn’t place his finger on it exactly but he could tell that scream meant the battle was ending. Like there was a defining shift in the fight. The two streams of lightning seemed to have stuttered for a moment and then both went careening towards the center of the arena.

“And it seems the battle has come to an end!” Big Mama announced as both Mikey’s came skidding out of the lightning bolts. One of the Mikey’s was standing up with heaving shoulders, panting and his bloody weapon clenched tightly in both hands. The other Mikey was laid out on the ground, not moving in the slightest.

“Oh my god,” April breathed, a hand coming up to her mouth as her stomach rolled at the sight before her.

Leo had to agree with April’s words. He had to push the feeling of wanting to throw up down as he gazed upon the scene. Casey wasn’t as lucky as he had to rush over to the nearest trash can to puke into. Raph was frozen still, his mouth hanging open. Donnie was looking sick but not to the point of throwing up like Casey.

“Dear kami,” Yoshi whispered in horror.

The Arena

Awareness came back to Michael suddenly and painfully.

Michael winced, clutching at his head. There was a sharp pain that was stabbing him behind the eyes, but it was lessening as he kept breathing. Thinking back, Michael was realizing that there was a strange emptiness to his memories.

“I declare the Michelangelo of universe 2012 to be the winner!”

There was loud cheers that made Michael moan softly to himself in pain. Didn’t they understand that he had a headache?

Wait…he won?

Won what?

Something slid down Michael’s face and he raised a hand to wipe it away, stopping in confusion at the red liquid the decorated his hands.

What is this?

Is this…blood?

There was blood.

There was blood on Michel’s hands.

There was blood on Michael’s hands and he didn’t know who it belonged to.

In fact, there was blood all over him and it dripped heavily off the end of his kusarigama. Michael started turning around to find his brothers when his foot kicked against something. Looking down, Michael finally noticed his missing counterpart laying on the ground.

Right...he was supposed to be fighting against Ranger.

But…something was off with Ranger.

His cracking body and still occupied helmet were laying in two different growing puddles of blood.

Looking at Ranger, Michael winced again as an onslaught on memories attacked him.

…

Oh.

Oh.

Oh no…

Dropping his kusarigama and grabbing at the sides of his head, Michael wailed in terror and grief as he watched the mangled corpse of Ranger slowing break apart and float away on the wind like golden ash.

Chapter Text

The Arena

“Well, that was quite nasty,” Big Mama giggled with a hand in front of her mouth.

Michael had already been dragged away in numb silence by Big Mama’s assistants. After screaming himself hoarse from brutally killing Ranger, the turtle had shut down completely. He didn’t bother fighting as he was pulled away out of the stadium nor react to his family’s screams in the stands.

All that was left of Ranger was the two puddles of blood that were being cleaned up already and Trini's morpher that somehow survived disintegration. One of the workers picked up the bloody morpher with pinched fingers, holding it as far away as possible with a look of disgust. Up in the stands, spectators cheered as money was handed over to them while the losers cursed Ranger for losing.

“I think it’s time for a break from the Michelangelo’s,” Big Mama chirped. “Let’s move over to the first battle of the Leonardo’s.” She tapped the war staff on the ground and a projection displayed in the middle of the arena’s air to show the two tournament brackets.

On the left side of Michelangelo side, Michael’s name moved forward to the next match. With a wave of Big Mama’s hand, the Michelangelo’s bracket faded away and the Leonardo’s bracket enlarged to take up the entire space. There was no names on it to keep up the mystery and there was a frenzied nervous energy in the air.

Big Mama’s assistant came up from behind her with a small glass bowl in her hand. There was a few slips of paper in it and Big Mama reached in to grab one. She had a made show of pulling it out and showing off its folded form to the audience.

There was a chanting from the yokai around the stadium. “Open it! Open it!” they demanded. Big Mama laughed and opened the paper, reading the names on the list. Her eyes grew wide with excitement behind her glasses.

Big Mama chuckled as she looked at the slip of paper in her hands. “Oh, what terrible luck for him,” she giggled cryptically. Holding her hand up in the air, Big Mama pasted a large smile on her face. “Let’s now introduce the first fighters of the Leonardo’s.”

With a snap of her fingers, two more screens popped up to wait for their targets. Big Mama waved her arm through the air before pointing at a certain viewing box, one that was mourning their brother that had just died. “Tricer of universe 122019 will be going against…”

Big Mama’s other arm when sailing through the air to point at another viewing box. “…my champion from universe 2018, Blue!” Big Mama declared with a giddy smile.

On the screens, the shocked face of Blue and the crying face of Tricer were shown. There was no sound from the screens but anyone could have guessed what Rex was screaming when he pushed Tricer back to hide him and cursed at the boss lady. Blue’s eyes narrowed and his face turned to the direction of Big Mama's VIP suite, a snarl pulling on his lips.

“I’m not your champion!” Blue’s faint voice yelled across the arena.

“Now that is settled,” Big Mama tossed the scrap of paper behind her and brushed her hands off with a chirp. “I hope everyone gets a good night sleep because we will be picking up with my champion’s fight tomorrow at noon!”

Universe 2012’s House – Hours Later

It was silent in the borrowed house.

Leo was sitting at the table with a long-gone cold cup of tea in his hands. April and Casey were in the other room, whispering quietly to each other. Splinter was meditating to distract himself from the anxiety of waiting while Raph was punching a punching bag he dragged in from the dojo. Donnie kept peeking out the window to see if Mikey was almost back to them.

They had tried to follow after Mikey when he was dragged to the med bay. They didn’t know if he was hurt from the all blood that covered him. The family had just gotten to the med bay when the guards outside of it prevented them from going in, letting them know that Mikey would be returned to them later. It was a nauseating thought that they didn’t know how much of that blood was his and how much was Ranger’s.

Raph’s stomach rolled at the memory of Ranger’s family after it was announced Tricer would be fighting in the next battle. Rex and Mastodon looked mortified, pulling on Tricer’s arm to lead him out of the viewing box. Tricer himself just looked defeated but that was probably from the fact he was still reeling from Ranger’s death.

The power rangers had followed after the turtles, supporting Teacher, Fighter, and Reporter out the box the entire time. The yellow ranger girl – Trini, the girl’s name Raph thinks – wailed the entire time with the pink power ranger pulling her along. The black ranger - Zack, if Raph was correct - looked like he was a second away from keeling over as the blue ranger helped him out.

“Mikey’s back!” Donnie yelled out of nowhere. He pushed away from the window and rushed over to the doorway, tripping over one of April’s shoes and catching himself right before face planting.

The rest of the family wasn’t that far behind him, running over to the small space right as Donnie almost ripped the door off with how quick he wretched it open. Big Mama’s assistant had been standing there with a hand about to knock but lowered it when she saw Donnie.

“Hello,” Big Mama’s assistant bowed her head slightly. “I’ve come to return your Michelangelo. He was only minorly injured, which we have already healed, and he is cleared to return.” With that, Big Mama’s assistant stepped to the side to reveal Mikey stand there with a small team of workers around him.

Mikey looked a mess, dried blood covering most of him. His gaze was stuck on his hands held in front of him, the limbs shaking slightly. Mikey looked free of wounds, healed scratches here and there.

“Mikey!” Donnie exclaimed and reached out to grab his brother, pulling him in quickly. Leo and Raph jumped forward to pull Mikey into the house while Donnie stood in front as a shield, standing up straight to be as intimidating as possible with his full height. “Thank you,” Donnie ground out between clenched teeth to the assistant. “You can leave – now.”

Big Mama’s assistant gave a short bow before turning on her heel, twitching a finger on her clasped hands behind her back to have the rest of the workers follow her. They didn’t acknowledge Donnie as they followed their boss’s second-in-command. Donnie waited until they were far from the house before slamming the door shut and locking it.

In the time that Donnie had watched Big Mama’s team leave, the family had brought Mikey farther into the house and had gently pushed him to sit on the couch. He wasn’t reacting to anything, just still staring at his hands. April ran into the kitchen to get some water and wash cloths, handing one to Raph when she came out.

“Mikey, c’mon,” Raph begged. He was kneeled in front of Mikey as he cleaned the blood off of his baby brother’s hands. “Say something to us.”

“He’s in shock,” April shook her head sadly as she wiped some of the dried blood off of Mikey’s cheek. Mikey didn’t react as his skin was patted and pulled, his attention on his hands.

“Do you think we can get him to drink some tea?” Leo asked, the tray of cups and a fresh kettle in his white knuckled hold.

“I doubt we can get him to do anything right now,” Splinter shook his head sadly.

“I don’t blame him though,” Casey muttered to himself. “It must be a mind fuck to having been mind-controlled to kill your counterpart.”

“Casey!” Donnie hissed.

“What?” Casey rose his hands in the air near his shoulders. “I’m just saying what everyone is thinking.”

“And it didn’t need to be vocalized,” April scoffed. She sat back down next to Mikey on the couch and wiped some more blood off of his shoulder. Mikey didn’t respond to anything, only staring at his hands as Raph cleaned them with a blank look. “Poor Mikey.”

“…I…him…”

Raph’s head shot up to Mikey’s face when he heard the soft mutterings. Mikey’s lips were barely moving but it was a sign that his brother was returning to the real world. Dropping the rag into the water, Raph reached up to grab at Mikey’s face to force their eyes to meet. They were still cloudy in a way that showed Mikey wasn’t completely there but they were becoming clearer by the second.

“Mikey, you with us?” Raph whispered quietly in hope. He tracked how Mikey’s eyes crawled to the side to take in everyone looking at him and then back down to the pink colored water that Raph had been dipping the wash cloth into. Finally, baby blue eyes came back up to stare into his own bright green eyes. “Mikey?”

“…I killed him,” Mikey whispered. Raph watched as Mikey’s eyes constricted and his breathing became faster. “I killed him…I killed Ranger…oh my god, I killed—” In a second, all the blood drained from Mikey’s face to leave him a sickly pale color of green.

Ripping his face out of Raph’s hold, Mikey shot off the couch with a hand covering his mouth towards the bathroom. No one moved for a moment, caught off guard by Mikey’s sudden movement. April moved first when the sound of retching filled the air, the brothers a close second.

Raph got there second after Leo, him and Mikey always being the fastest of the four. By the time he got there, April and Leo were both on either side of Mikey as he threw up into the toilet between his sobs. “It’s okay, Mikey,” April tried soothing the orange turtle. “Just breathe.”

“I killed him!” Mikey sobbed, dry heaving into the toilet. “I killed him!”

Leo looked up at Raph and Donnie in the doorway. It was then that the weight of the situation was truly hitting them. Mikey and Leo were going to have to kill more to continue in the competition…but what would happen if they made it to the end?

Another wave of dry heaving before bile splashed into the toilet, Mikey sobbing the entire time. April’s heart broke for her brother and she reached out for him without care of sick getting on her shirt. She tugged Mikey’s against her chest and held him tight, Mikey turning to cry into her shirt. Mikey’s hands reached up from around April’s side and gripped the top part of her shirt in a death grip, as if she was his anchor to reality.

Raph stepped in and kneeled next to Mikey, rubbing the back of his shell in the way that he then his brother liked since they were kids. Only now, he was hoping it provided some type of comfort in this dark period of their lives.

They could only pray that both Leo and Mikey won their tournaments.

Universe 2018's House

Mikey flopped onto his bed with a huff, angry beyond belief.

Mike was dead.

Ranger was dead.

His brother was going into the arena tomorrow against Tricer – and one was going to die.

Leo had decided to not train at all once they got back to their temporary home, choosing to just spend time with his family in case something happened. These battles could go either way and he didn’t want to waste their time together training when they could be doing other things.

In the end, they had settled on making an amazing dinner – more like Mikey with Casey and April’s help made it – and then binge watched their favorite Lou Jitsu movies. It was pretty fun, especially when the brothers would act out the scenes that they had watched from when they were babies. Splinter would pipe in with stories every so often, making them all laugh.

Now, hours into the night, Splinter and Draxum had sent them all to bed. Mikey had seen Donnie slip into Leo’s room on his way to his own, Raph heading to his. The Casey’s were bunking together with April just next door. Splinter and Draxum both had their own rooms but Mikey had seen his fathers both sipping on tea together in Draxum’s room.

Mikey turned and looked up at the ceiling above him, looking at the dark gray. There was a chip in the paint in one corner. The moon of this dimension shone through the window, painting everything a ghostly white.

“I’m sorry, Mike, Ranger,” Mikey apologized into the air. With the collar around his throat, he couldn’t even turn on his spiritual eyes to check if their spirits were around. If they were, Mikey would have felt better knowing that he would be able to bring them to life.

Sighing in defeat, Mikey closed his eyes to get some sleep. It was going to be stressful tomorrow with Leo going into the arena. Mikey wanted to also find Party and Michael to see their mental state and try to offer his consolation.

With a harsh exhale forced himself to calm his mind to go to sleep. It took a bit before he felt himself drifting off. Right as he was about to fall asleep, it felt like something grabbed him by the shell and pulled him down to fall.

Mikey felt himself falling…

…and falling…

…and falling…

…until he wasn’t falling anymore.

Opening his eyes, Mikey was greeted once again by the Conscious and his space between the multiverse. “Hi Mikey,” the Conscious gave a hesitant wave. “How…how are you doing?”

Mikey shot the Conscious a flat look with slouched shoulders. Around his shoulders was his cloak that he hadn’t been wearing in the real world. He had decided to not wear it while not in battle since he couldn’t use his powers anyways. Seeing that he could fly again now that he was in the Conscious’ space, Mikey jumped into the air.

He flew until he was above half the universe portholes and turned so that he would be laying on his back. Mikey looked up at the dark space between all the portholes, it extending forever and forever.

“What’s wrong?” the Conscious asked with a tilt of his head.

“Mike and Ranger are dead,” Mikey deadpanned, still looking at the endless ceiling of the space.

“And?” the Conscious raised an eye ridge. “You knew that was going to happen.”

“Still doesn’t mean I’m not mourning them,” Mikey said between gritted teeth. He brought his hands up to place them on his eyes. “God, if only I caught onto what Big Mama was planning earlier. I could have saved so much pain and suffering.”

“There was nothing you could have done,” the Conscious tried to console his friend. “The yokai did her best to hide all her traces.”

“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?” Mikey hissed, turning on the Conscious.

“I did as early as I could,” the Conscious bristled and defended himself. “You do know that there is more than just you and your group of friends in the multiverse, right? Even though the two of us are close, I do have other duties to attend to.”

Mikey deflated, sighing. “I know. I’m sorry. It’s not your fault. I’m just stressed.”

The Conscious pursed his lips and nodded. He floated up to Mikey’s level and folded his legs like he was sitting next to the turtle. “I’m sure this must be tough,” the Conscious said as he patted Mikey’s bicep.

“The toughest,” Mikey said in defeat. “Do you know how hard it was to look at Party and Mike and know that one was going to die when no one else did? I felt like a traitor.”

“If it’s any consolation, we are moving along quite well with the plan,” the Conscious said.

“No, it doesn’t. I hate letting most of us die be the majority of the plan,” Mikey groaned loudly. 

“It’s for the best,” the Conscious said.

“Still hurts,” Mikey grumbled. He turned his head to the side and spread his fingers to peek between the space with narrowed his eyes at the Conscious. "And I hate how you won't even tell me all of it."

"You felt terrible with all the lying you had to with everyone last time with Master Michelangelo," the Conscious countered easily, intertwining his fingers together. "This way, you can keep up your cover that you don't know what's going to happen as you truly don't. You don't have to worry, though, as everything that you don't know yet is moving along swimmingly."

Mikey grumbled quietly to himself as he hated be left out of something this important...maybe he was starting to understand how all the Leo's, Donnie's, and Raph's were starting to feel with all the secrecy around the Psychoangelo incident.

He pulled his hands away from his face and looked back up the space above him, the Conscious next to him just on the edge of his vision. His blue and gold eyes twinkled at him, shining in the lights escaping the portholes to the other universes. “When can I start the next phase?”

“Not for a bit,” the Conscious answered and looked up at a random universe. Inside it, Injustice could be seen sparing with his Leo and Batman while being partnered up with Robin. “We need to get farther in the competition before we can make our move or else someone will pick up on it. We don’t need them reporting it to Big Mama and ruining all our hard work.”

Mikey grumbled and shifted his eyes to the portholes. One caught his attention as the family in universe 22018 celebrated Valentine’s day with a baby Michelangelo. He was glad they were spared from the mess Big Mama had pulled everyone else in but he couldn’t help but be jealous of their domestic bliss at the moment.

“Do you have an idea on who will be the helper for the next phase?” the Conscious asked. “Perhaps one of your brothers?”

“Nah,” Mikey shook his head. “Big Mama would expect Raph or Donnie to do something to stop the fights so she’s got extra eyes on them. I’ve seen her workers hiding when they think we can’t see them. And I can’t do Casey since he won’t be able to keep it a secret from Leo. Besides, I already know the perfect person.”

“Who?” the Conscious asked with a tilt of his head. “Your April?”

“No offence to her, I love April dearly, but she won’t do,” Mikey shook his head. “As soon as she tries to do something sneaky, Donnie will catch on in an instant just like she would with him. There’s a reason why the two of them aren’t able to lie to each other.”

“Then who?”

Mikey gave a proud half smile. “The other half of the murder machines duo, of course,” Mikey smirked. “Cassandra.”

Chapter Text

Universe 122019’s House – The Next Morning

It was quiet in their borrowed house.

Leo was in the garden, breathing in the crisp early morning air. No one else, as far as he knew, was awake. They had all gone to bed very late, mourning the loss of a brother and teammate. For the rest of the day and well into the night, there was always at least one person crying.

It felt weird to have Mikey gone. All his life, from birth, it had always been the four of them and their father. Their little family in the sewers making due with what they had but still happy.

Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo in that order.

But now it was Leonardo, Raphael and Donatello.

It wasn’t the same and it felt wrong.

Mikey was gone and all that Leo had left of him was his spare mask that he had thrown in his pocket without a thought of what was going to happen. Leo had it gripped in his hands, seeking solace even if it also hurt him a bit. No one else had known that Leo had accidently brought it and he knew he should tell the others so they could also take comfort from the long piece of fabric.

But on the other hand, he felt like he could be selfish.

He was the one going into the arena today, the very next battle after the death of his youngest brother. It hadn’t even been a full day since Mikey died and Leo wouldn’t be allowed to fully process his grief before being forced to fight.

Though, Leo wasn’t sure that he would ever get over Mikey’s death.

Leo closed his eyes, clutching the orange mask to his plastron as he remembered why he had it.

“Mikey, you in here?” Leo asked as he poked his head into their shared bedroom. As they got older, Splinter had cleaned up another room for the boys to claim as their own. Seeing that they only had the two rooms, they had to decided how to split up into pairs.

Raph and Mikey were like cats and dogs with how much they bickered. Mikey liked to poke at Raph’s buttons for the hell of it which made the red banded brother’s already short fuse shorter. Leo and Raph also were at odds most of the time so that was another no-go in terms of sharing a space.

The easiest decision was having Donnie, who barely slept in his real bed anyways with how often he would just pass out at his work bench, and Raph room together. Leo didn’t mind rooming with Mikey and the youngest brother definitely didn’t mind either. Raph always chalked it up as Leo taking things easier on Mikey since he was the youngest to which he denied.

Mikey was just Mikey and Leo couldn’t bring himself to yell at him like he did with Donnie and Raph when they fought. Leo and Donnie rarely fought to begin with. Sure, sometimes he would get mad at Mikey and they would quarrel but it was nothing like his screaming matches with Raph.

“Over here,” Mikey called from his bed. There he sat maskless with two of his masks laid on in front of him.

“What are you doing?” Leo asked as he entered the room, tilting his head to the side.

“Picking out my mask for the day,” Mikey answered, looking back down at the two options.

“Aren’t they just the same?”

Mikey gave a dramatic and laid a hand on his heart, looking at Leo with an offended look. “The same?! How could you say that?!”

Leo pinned Mikey down with a flat look. “Bro, I’m looking at them. They are the exact same – length and color.”

“They are not!” Mikey protested. He picked up both and pushed them into Leo’s face. “This is the one I wore when we met the power rangers and I consider my lucky mask!” Mikey said as he shook the mask in his left hand. “And this one is the one I was wearing when we got the shadow morphers and is my cool mask!” That sentence was accompanied with the shaking of Mikey’s right hand.

Leo rolled his eyes and pushed the masks out of his face. “Does it really matter that much?”

“Of course it does!” Mikey exclaimed. He brought the masks down and looked at both of them. “Whichever one I wear will determine how my day goes.”

With a huff, Leo just shook his head. He knew this mattered to Mikey so it was his role as big brother to go along with it. Leo pointed at the mask in Mikey’s right hand. “Go with the cool mask.”

“Really?” Mikey raised an eye ridge before shrugging. He tossed the other one at Leo to hold, tying his ‘cool’ mask around his face. “How come you chose that one?”

“Because you’ll need all the coolness you can get to beat me,” Leo teased.

“How rude!” Mikey exclaimed with a laugh. Finishing the not on his mask, Mikey propped his fists on his hips. “Oh yeah, why did you come find me to begin with?”

“Oh, Zack called to have you meet him at the café they like to go to,” Leo answered. “Something about a new Michelangelo-original pizza?”

“I forgot!” Mikey screeched, his hands clapping on his face in alarm. Without warning, the younger brother went running out of the room with a wave of his shoulder. “Gotta go, broski! I’ll see you later!”

Leo gave a chuckle and shook his head at his brother. In his hand was Mikey’s mask still and he looked down at it.

“Leonardo!” Splinter called from the other room.

“Coming!” Leo called back and stuffed Mikey’s mask in his pocket without a second thought.

The memory faded from Leo’s mind as it ended. He thanked his past self so much for how he decided to put the mask in his pouch or else he wouldn’t have anything of his brother. With how fast Big Mama’s goons kidnapped them, there was no time to grab any of their belongings.

All he had was whatever he had on him at the time – including Mikey’s mask.

“Don’t worry little brother,” Leo swore into the sky, his hand gripping around Mikey’s ‘lucky’ mask. “Either I will win for you or I will come keep you company in the afterlife.”

Universe 2018’s House

“Cassandra, I swear to god if you don’t shut that alarm clock of yours off—!” Donnie yelled from down the hall. Leo peeked out of the bathroom he was brushing his teeth in, tilting his head to the side to hear Cassandra’s loud-ass alarm clock blaring. The ex-foot soldier could practically sleep through anything with how hard she slept which is why she got an industrial strength clock.

Sucks for everyone else whenever that didn’t seem to do the trick of waking her up.

“I got it!” Casey said aloud to everyone. Leo could hear the shuffling of his future self’s pupil getting out of bed and the blissful silence after the clock was turned off. There was some more shuffling and then the door opened to reveal a yawning Casey. Leo waved at him, Casey returning it tiredly. “Morning sensei.”

“Morning Case’,” Leo said around his tooth brush. He went back into the bathroom to finish brushing his teeth right as Casey stumbled in. The human plopped down on the closed toilet seat and leaned his head against the counter. “You good?”

“I wasn’t expecting such a rude awakening from mom’s clock,” Casey yawned. “I thought it got left at home. How the heck did it still end up here?”

“If there is anything I’ve learned from knowing Cass, it’s to expect absolutely anything from her,” Leo laughed. He picked up his mask from the side of the sink and tied it around his head. “Did you ever hear the story of how she stopped a mugging with only a paper clip, a piece of gum, and a mini piñata she somehow had in her pockets?”

“What?” Casey asked with a laugh. “How have I never heard this story before?”

“Oh, it’s funny to hear it but it was hysterical to actually see it,” Leo grinned. “I’ll have to see if Donnie still has the video of it. I swear, you’re going to pee your pants laughing. See, what Cass did was—”

“Leonardo!” Splinter called from somewhere downstairs.

"Hold that thought," Leo said and turned towards the doorway. “Yeah, pops?!” Leo called back, leaning back to hear his father better.

“Come down to the dojo! I want you to run some katas before your fight today!” Splinter said with an air of finality.

Leo groaned and started backing out of the bathroom. “Sorry Case, we’ll have to continue that story later.”

“It’s okay, sens—Leo,” Casey corrected himself. “I’ll come join you guys after I get ready for the day.”

“Take your time,” Leo said with a lazy wave of his shoulder. He trotted down the stairs and headed over to the dojo where his father was waiting with Draxum and Raph. “Sup?”

“Hey Leo,” Raph greeted.

“Good morning, Leonardo,” Draxum bowed his head in greeting. “I trust you feel ready for your fight today?”

“As I’ll ever be,” Leo shrugged and interlocked his hands behind his head in a lazy standing posture. “I don’t feel like having to kill my counterpart is something I’ll ever feel prepared for.”

“Understandable,” Draxum nodded. “Though, Michelangelo seemed more than ready to do so in his fight against Master Michelangelo.”

“Because he was also trying to kill me,” Mikey grunted as he glided into the room. The box turtle quickly made his way over to Raph and climbed onto his brother’s back to perch on his shoulders. “Everyone else? I don’t think I could bring myself to kill them in any other situation. Psychoangelo? It’s on sight.”

“Aww, my murder machine,” Cassandra cooed as she trotted in. “I’m so proud of your murderous intent.” She was in her usual outfit by this point but was still missing her iconic eyeliner. Leo was flabbergasted that somehow Cassandra both woke up in the span Casey was talking to him in the bathroom and got herself ready for the day. Then again, she was trained by the foot and he was certain that they didn't allot her extra time to get ready after waking up.

“I learned from the best,” Mikey winked at Cassandra.

“Should we be worried?” Donnie asked, having heard the conversation as he and April strolled into the dojo.

“With those two?” Leo jerked his chin at Cass and Mikey. “Probably.”

“You should have seen their guerilla warfare tactics in my timeline,” Casey said as he also entered the dojo. “For the longest time, mom and Master Michelangelo were at the top of the kraang’s kill-on-sight list.”

“After meeting Master Michelangelo, I can see why,” April murmured to Donnie.

“Enough talk,” Draxum clapped his hands together to get all the teenagers attention. “Seeing that all of you are here, we will hold a group training.”

There were grumbles around the room that were cut off with a sharp look from the patriarchs of the clan. Mikey climbed off of Raph’s shoulders as the all took their places. April and the Casey’s took up their places in the front with the turtles in a row behind them. Raph was on one else and Mikey on the other, the twins in the middle as they were standing in age order.

“Alright, my children,” Splinter cleared his throat. “Hajime!”

Universe 2012’s House

Raph sat slouched on the sofa, his head leaning back with his eyes closed.

Last night had been…rough. Mikey had shut down again after crying in the bathroom. He wouldn’t eat or drink no matter how much they begged him, just staring emotionlessly at the ground. Leo and April had taken Mikey up to his room after a bit to lay him down in his bed.

Upon laying in the bed, Mikey had turned towards the wall and hadn’t moved since. The brothers had all pulled in futon mattresses to be there with him but Mikey didn’t say anything. It worried all of them to sky-high levels as Mikey wasn’t one to be quiet.

When it was time for all of them to wake up, Mikey still was in the same position staring at the wall. His eyes were half-lidded with deep bags under them and no one was sure how much or little sleep the youngest turtle had gotten. Splinter had made them breakfast but Mikey still refused to eat it.

He refused to do anything besides stare blankly at the wall.

Raph gave a harsh sigh. Leo was upstairs sitting with Mikey in case he decided to break out of his catatonic state. Donnie was in a different room with April and Casey, the three of them jumping into researching the other competitors of the tournaments so that they were prepared for Leo’s first battle and Mikey’s next. Splinter was in the kitchen, brewing some tea that he would hopefully get Mikey to drink.

And Raph was sitting uselessly on the sofa. Raph was good with his fists but was useless with anything emotional.

The TV on the fritz? Hit the side of it and the picture was back.

Some Purple Dragon goon shaking down some teenager? A strong enough punch to the nose sent them running.

One of his brothers annoying him? Cracking his knuckles had them changing their tone.

Having the emotional intelligence to know how to comfort his brother after being mentally tortured enough to kill his counterpart?

He was a dud.

Raph opened his eyes when there was a knock at the door. He lifted his head and looked over to it, wondering who could be there. Splinter peeked his head out of the kitchen but Raph waved him off. “I got it sensei.”

“Yell if you need me,” Splinter said to his son before disappearing back into the kitchen.

Raph gave a noise of agreement and pushed himself off the sofa. The person as the door knocked again. “Alright, alright, I’m coming,” Raph grumbled as he stopped in front of the door.

Raph blinked in surprise after opening the door when it was revealed to be Ra waiting for him. Ra had his hands resting on sai tucked away on his belt like he was at ease. Raph knew different though being a Raphael. There was deep eye bags that Ra’s mask couldn’t hide, even deeper than Mikey’s. His skin had a pale tone to it and his shoulders were slumped. Ra’s demeanor just exude grief but with a underlying thirst for revenge.

“Hey,” Ra said. Raph could hear a raspy tone in his counterpart’s voice, like he had been screaming for hours and hours on end.

“Hey,” Raph said back.

Ra crossed his arms and looked Raph up and down. “You look like shit.”

Raph scoffed. “Take a look in the mirror.”

Ra rolled his eyes and looked away. “How’s…how’s your Mikey doing?”

“Bad,” Raph answered simply. There was no other way to describe how Mikey was handling the killing of Ranger at his own hands.

The taller Raphael nodded along with that. “Leo still hasn’t said anything since Mikey died,” Ra said. “It’s like he froze. Don is getting real worried.”

“Leo is up with Mikey right now,” Raph tilted his head towards the directions of their stairs. “Donnie thinks we’re going to have to give Mikey an IV if he doesn’t stop refusing to drink and eat.”

“Poor kid,” Ra mumbled. He stood there for a moment, looking around. “So, you wanna help me?” Ra asked, a foot lazily kicking the air above the dirt in front of him.

“With what?” Raph raised an eye ridge.

Ra looked around him and leaned in closer to Raph. Seeing that it was something other should hear, Raph leaned in too. “Me and Case aren’t going to watch this shit go on for much longer if we can help it,” Ra whispered. “You wanna get in on this?” He held his hand out towards Raph.

Raph gave a feral smirk. He reached forward and clasped Ra’s hand. “Add me and Casey to your team. We’ve already started watching her workers movements.”

“Perfect,” Ra smirked to match Raph. “We’ll show this lady what happens when you mess with one of us the hard way.”

Finally, something Raph could do.

Chapter Text

The Arena – The North Tunnel

“This isn’t fair,” Fighter hissed. He punched the stone wall and his quivering hand against it even as his knuckles bled.

“There is nothing we can do,” Tricer responded patiently. He looked down the tunnel that mirrored the one his brother had walked down. “As long as Big Mama has that war staff, then we have to do what she wants.”

“Aren’t you a bit upset about this?” Rex pressed. He threw his hand out to the side to point down the tunnel. “You are literally walking yourself to your death.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” Tricer rolled his eyes.

“You know what I mean,” Rex growled. He took a step closer to Tricer and grabbed him by the shoulder, spinning him so that they were looking at each other. “You need to get your head in the game and win.”

“What Raph means to say,” Mastodon cut in with a clearing of his throat, “is that we can’t take you dying too – not right after Mikey.”

Tricer blew some air out his nose. “It’s not like I am going out there with the intent of dying.”

“Then start acting like it,” Rex hissed and punched Tricer in the shoulder. “Because right now, you look like a husk of yourself.”

“Leonardo,” Teacher cleared his throat. Tricer’s gaze turned to the side to look at his father, the aged mutant rat stopping to the side of him. “No matter what happens out there, just know I am proud of you. Don’t lose yourself to grief. Please, come home to us.”

Tricer gave a shaky nod, bowing slightly towards his father.

“Keep your head on your shoulders, okay?” Jason said, patting Tricer on the shoulder. “I know you are still grieving but you need to think clearly and carefully.”

“Or else you’ll lose your head like Mikey,” Tommy added.

All three brothers flinched harshly at that. Kimberly and Trini grew red in the face and Kimberly smacked Tommy – hard. “Tommy, you are being an insensitive asshole!” Trini yelled.

Tommy backed away with his hands held up in surrender. “I was just being realistic.”

“And right now, we wish you were being quiet,” Kimberly hissed. She jerked her head at the brothers, Reporter, Fighter, and Zack who looked pale. “It is too soon to say something like that – it will always be too soon.”

Echoing from down the tunnel came the sound of the gong. Everyone flinched at the sound of it besides Tricer. After the first two fights, he knew what it meant.

It was time for him to enter the tunnel.

Mastodon took the plunge this time and threw an arm over both Rex’s and Tricer’s shoulders to pull them in for a hug. The two brothers returned the hug, tossing an arm over Mastodon’s shoulders. Rex and Tricer didn’t complete the group hug on their open sides, rather leaving it open for their missing brother.

“Please, please, don’t die,” Mastodon begged. “We can’t lose you too.”

“I’ll try,” Tricer murmured.

“Don’t try,” Rex grunted and tapped his forehead against his brother. “Just do.”

“Like Nike!” Billy piped up.

“I thought the slogan was ‘just do it’,” Zack said, tilting his head to the side.

“Eh, it’s all the same,” Billy shrugged.

Everyone chuckled at the sudden light-heartedness. The brothers broke their hug and Tricer held his fist up towards his two younger brothers. “I better hear you both cheering for me.”

Rex huffed and rolled his eyes, pumping his fist against Tricer’s. “If you hear anything else, that means we are shit brothers.”

“I’ll go ask Purple for a mega horn,” Mastodon laughed. He raised his own fist to pump against his two brothers, the three pausing there for a moment. “He’s bound to have one in that Mary Poppin’s shell of his.”

Tricer gave a laugh before pulling away. Mastodon and Rex’s hands followed after his for a moment, ghosting against the appendage as Tricer left the family. He paused just in front of the tunnel’s entrance and looked down the long path. There was a mixing of voices behind him as his friends and family gave some last encouragements and well wishes.

With a deep breath, he raised one foot and entered the tunnel.

Tricer didn’t turn around as he made his way into the tunnel and just kept going even as the gate of the tunnel slammed shut behind him. He had already made his peace with this fight – either he was going to win or he was going to die.

Simple as that.

He reached into his pocket to feel for Ranger's spare mask. “This is for you Mikey,” Tricer whispered as he walked down the tunnel.

Universe 2018’s Viewing Box

Mikey leaned forward against the short wall of the viewing box, gazing at all the yokai in the audience. They were talking amongst each other and kept darting their eyes to the arena to for a hint as to when the next battle would begin.

Sighing, Mikey leaned his cheek into his propped-up palm. They were already on the third battle in two days and he felt like it was all going too fast. After this fight, there would be three dead turtles in twenty-four hours.

Mikey’s heart went out to the power ranger’s universe. He wasn’t stupid – he knew the fighters of each fight weren’t randomly chosen like Big Mama claimed. She absolutely hand-picked each fight and took great sadistic joy from making the power ranger Leonardo and Michelangelo fight in back-to-back fights.

“Just wait Big Mama,” Mikey whispered to himself, narrowing his eyes at Big Mama's VIP box. “Karma will come after you.”

“Michelangelo?” Splinter blinked in surprise when he saw he wasn’t walking into an empty viewing box. “What are you doing here? I thought you were seeing off Leonardo into his fight with the others.”

“I did. Donnie wanted to talk to Leo alone for a bit so he shooed us away,” Mikey answered. “Probably warning him about losing and how he’ll kill him if he dies.”

“Makes sense,” Splinter nodded along.

“Cassandra wanted to hit a food stand and dragged Raph along,” Mikey continued. “Casey and April were supposed to be here already but I think they got lost.”

“But weren’t they with you?” Splinter raised an eye brow.

“They were but I guess we got separated,” Mikey shrugged. “One moment they are behind me, then we went through a crowd and I came out on the other side alone.” He looked around for the other missing member of their little clan. “Where’s dad #2?”

Splinter gave a harsh sigh and plopped down in the seat he had claimed for the two days. “He is taking a turn trying to convince Big Mama to call off everything.”

Mikey snorted humorlessly. “If she didn’t for you, then she definitely isn’t for Draxum.”

“You got that right,” Draxum grumbled as he entered the viewing box. His shoulders were stiff with anger and annoyance, his ever-so-present frown deeper than usual. “She laughed me out of her office. She was more than amused that I would ask her to stop.”

“I shouldn’t expect anything less than that,” Splinter sighed.

“What really bothered me was how she said she thought I would be happy to see such a tournament,” Draxum sneered.

“Why would she ask that?” Mikey asked with his head tilted to the side.

“Her words,” Draxum cleared his throat before holding his fingers up to do the quote gesture. “’This is the perfect chance to see if the turtles turned out to be the weapons of war you designed them to be’,” Draxum said in a high-pitched voice. He sneered at the end of it and dragged a hand down his face. “That vile woman.”

Mikey blinked to himself at that. “…you know, I keep forgetting that is why you created us.”

“It may have been why, yes, but it is not why I care about you all now,” Draxum said, pulling his hands off his face. “As reconciling with Lou, I see all four of you as my children and not a handful of experiments.”

“Aww, Draxxy does love us,” April cooed as she, Casey and Donnie entered the viewing box.

“Silence child,” Draxum muttered as his cheeks grew red in embarrassment.

“I see you found April and Casey,” Mikey said to Donnie.

“They somehow got turned around and were heading back towards the arena tunnels,” Donnie responded and took up a spot next to Mikey at the wall. He peered down at the arena with a wrinkle of his nose. “Ugh, I can’t believe Leo has to go fight in that now.”

“Don’t forget Mikey is going to have to also at some point,” Casey said.

“A fact that none of us like,” April grumbled.

Draxum and Splinter sighed, calling over the humans to ask them something to give the brothers some privacy.

Mikey and Donnie stood in the silence with only the murmur of the arena and part of their family around them. The ornate box turtle was still leaning forearms first against the small wall. Honestly, if he wanted to, he could easily jump over it and break his fall on the yokai seating underneath of the box. Mikey couldn’t think of why he would want to do it, just that he would be able to.

“So…” Donnie cleared his throat. “How are you holding up?”

Mikey gave a flat hum as an answer.

“Understandable,” Donnie nodded along. “I feel the same.” He looked off to the side as his consoling skills fizzled out. “Ugh, emotions,” Donnie shivered.

Mikey giggled at Donnie. He was touched that Donnie would make the effort on something he didn’t excel at. Deciding to relieve of him duty, Mikey changed the topic. “How was Leo?”

“Leo was Leo,” Donnie rolled his eyes with a huff. “Talking a big game with an arrogant face as the cherry on top.”

“Sounds about right,” Mikey laughed. He bent his head down to rest on his arms. “I wish I could be as calm as him.”

“Calm? Leo?” Donnie snorted. “Yeah right. He’s a complete mess on the inside but he wants to appear strong for us. I’m willing to bet he is having a private freak-out in the tunnel right now.”

Mikey’s lips pulled down in a frown. It didn’t sit right with him that Leo could possibly be having a panic attack at that very moment with no one to help him. His brother was notorious for playing up a fake persona that would only slip when he was alone to not let others in on his suffering.

Looks like Leo was due for a visit from Dr. Feelings again.

“Welcome back!” Big Mama’s voice boomed around the arena. Mikey looked up at her VIP viewing box as she waved a hand to all of the audience. “I hope everyone is ready for battle number 3!”

“Vile witch,” Draxum spat.

“We’re here!” Cassandra exclaimed as she and Raph skidded into the room. Raph bent over with his hands on his knees to catch his breath while Cass skipped forward with a giant turkey leg in her hands. She peered into the arena and sighed in relief. “Oh good, we aren’t late.”

“You got food?” Donnie raised a drawn-on eyebrow.

“I was hungry,” Cass shrugged and ripped a piece of meat off of the leg with her teeth.

“How do you have an appetite knowing that Leo could die in this next fight?” April asked.

Cassandra gulped the bite in her mouth down and then rubbed her face cleaned. “Because I know he’ll win,” Cassandra grin, pointing the drum stick at April. “I mean, if he raised my son to be the warrior that he is, then he will go down swinging. If he does die, well, then he died a warrior’s death.”

“Leo is not dying,” Donnie said between gritted teeth.

“Exactly why I’m eating,” Cassandra nodded. She tore another piece with her teeth before holding it out to two of the four brothers. “Want a piece?”

Donnie’s top lip curled back in disgust and he backed a step away. Mikey, on the other hand, perked up and reached forward to pick off a small piece to throw in his mouth. “That is so gross,” Donnie shivered.

“Don’t be a hater,” Mikey stuck his tongue out with a smirk.

“Let me reintroduce our fighters for first battle of the Leonardo’s!” Big Mama preened in excitement. She tapped the war staff against the ground and a screen came to life in the air to show the opening gate of a tunnel entrance. “From the North Tunnel, we have our universe 122019 Leonardo, the brother of the recently deceased Ranger, and the blue turtle power ranger: Tricer!”

Tricer came dragged his feet as he exited the tunnel, his gaze pained but steeled. Cheers from his universe’s viewing box rang out across the arena. Mastodon and Rex were working overtime to make sure they were heard and Mikey could see a slight smile make its way onto Tricer’s face. Mikey’s heart went out to him. Ranger had been gone for less than 12 hours and now he was going to fight in the very arena his brother died in.

Peeking over, Mikey could see that Michael was missing from his universe’s viewing box. In fact, most of the family wasn’t there. The only ones that were there were Yoshi and the Casey of that universe. Mikey assumed that they were only there to keep up to date with the events of the nexus.

“Poor Tricer,” April sighed. “If he’s anything like our Leo, he must be a mess right now.”

“Having to fight right after watching his Mikey die? Mess probably doesn’t describe how he feels,” Casey said. “In my timeline, Master Leonardo couldn’t get out of bed for a week after watching—”

April raised her hand to gently cover Casey’s mouth, cutting off his words. Casey raised an eyebrow in question. “I don’t think this is the time for that story,” April murmured quietly. Casey looked confused still but nodded nonetheless, April removing her hand as Casey agreed to not talk on that story further.

“And from the South tunnel, let’s welcome my champion and the Leonardo of universe 2018: Blue!” Big Mama continued with a cheery voice.

“Here he comes!” Casey beamed and leaned forward more to watch as Blue sauntered out of his tunnel.

Cheers erupted from the crowd, louder than for any of the competitors before. Mikey could see how his brother’s mouth turned down at the mention of his title but he wiped it away to paste his signature lazy smirk on.

“Go Leo!” Mikey cheered loudly, clapping his hands above his head.

Mikey wasn’t sure if his directly older brother heard him or not, but Blue did turn towards their viewing box and waved at the family.

“Go Master Leonardo!” Casey cheered, jumping in the air. Raph reached down to pick up the boy to hold in the air, giving him more height so Blue could see him. April cupped her hands around her mouth, cheering his name. Donnie pressed a button on his wrist pad and music started to play from his battle shell to accompany the banner that popped out of the top of it.

Cassandra stuck her fingers in her mouth and whistled so loud that the spectators seated near their box had to cover their ears.

“Dear kame, child!” Draxum exclaimed as he rubbed at his ears. “How in the world can you be that loud?”

“You know, the foot lieutenants used to ask the same thing,” Cassandra laughed.

Blue and Tricer met up in the middle of the arena, a few paces apart. Big Mama continued her usual pre-battle spiel that Mikey always tuned out. Staring at the two Leo’s, Mikey realized that the two of them were talking to each other.

Mikey squinted his eyes to see if he could make out what his brother was saying but couldn’t make out the details. “What do you think they’re saying?” Mikey asked.

Donnie gave a hum and went to lower his goggles but stopped when April laid a hand on them. “Don’t,” April shook her head. “It’s between them, don’t eavesdrop.”

“What could be so important that Leo had to bring it up right before the fight?” Donnie scoffed.

April’s eyes darted over to Mikey quickly and then back to Donnie. The soft-shelled turtle’s mouth pressed together as he understood what his sister was getting at.

“If my gladiators are ready,” Big Mama said to the Leo’s as a clue to stop conversing. Blue narrowed his eyes at the yokai and pointed a finger in the air.

“Why is Leo pointing at the sky?” Casey asked, leaning forward over the wall.

“I’m pretty sure he’s flipping her off,” Donnie answered. “You know, since we only have three fingers, our pointer and middle fingers are one in the same.” As to prove his point, Donnie wiggled his own three fingers in the air.

Cassandra gave a cackle, jumping up on the ledge of the wall. Casey yelped, jumping forward to grab Cass’s leg to prevent her from falling. The turkey leg tumbled out of her hand as she raised to cup around her mouth and Mikey caught it before it could hit the ground, taking a bite out of it. “You show her, Leo!” Cassandra cheered loudly.

They all watched as Tricer pulled out his borrowed morpher and his armor appeared with a bright flash of light. Blue unsheathed his swords and spun them around, his markings flashing once in a show of his powers coming back to him.

“Well, it seems like you both are ready,” Big Mama cleared her throat. She raised one of her hands in the air, a cruel smirk on her face, before letting it fall. “Fight!”

Chapter Text

The Arena - *Moments before the Start of the Fight*

Blue tuned out Big Mama’s annoying voice to look at his sullen counterpart across from him.

“Hey, other me,” Blue called to Tricer. “I am really sorry for your loss.”

Tricer gulped and nodded in thanks. He reached inside one of his pockets to feel Ranger’s spare mask. There was a lump in his throat that prevented him from fully vocalizing his thanks.

“If my gladiators are ready,” Big Mama said them. Blue could hear it in her voice that she was getting annoyed at the two of them talking before the fight.

Blue scowled and raised his middle finger in the air at Big Mama.

“Why are you pointing at the sky?” Tricer asked. Blue could see the faintest of smiles on his lips.

“I’m flipping her off,” Blue explained with a shrug. “The great thing about having three fingers is that people generally can’t tell if I’m flipping them off or pointing.”

Tricer huffed a laughter and shook his head. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his morpher. Holding it in front of him, Tricer was enveloped in a bright blue light before it broke apart to reveal him in his armor.

Blue pulled out his swords and spun around once in his hands with one pointed forward and other held in a reverse grip. The collar around his throat beeped once as it turned off and it felt like a breath of fresh air as his powers returned. In recognition of that, Blue could faintly see his markings flash with light against his skin.

“Well, it seems like you both are ready,” Big Mama cleared her throat. She raised one of her hands in the air, a cruel smirk on her face, before letting it fall. “Fight!”

Blue’s swords clanged against Tricer’s two power lances as the power ranger darted forward.

Tricer raised his leg to kick Blue in the side, to which Blue failed to block. The red eared slider winced as he was sent flying by the power ranger’s enhanced strength. Swiping his sword through the air, Blue opened a portal underneath where he would land to disappear into.

A new portal opened to the side of Tricer, Blue zipping out and Tricer blocking in time to parry Blue attacks. Blue jumped into another portal to fall out of one above Tricer, the power ranger spinning out of the way to leave Blue’s swords clanging against the ground. The red eared slider quickly sliced the air behind him to jump backwards into a portal in time to avoid the power lance aimed at his face.

Blue whistled in admiration as he exited another portal to the side of Tricer. His opponent spun on his heels and held both his power lanes in an X in front of him. “Damn, dude, you really are going for the money maker, aren’t ya? What will I do if I don’t have my good looks to be the face man anymore?”

Tricer narrowed his eyes behind his mask and jumped forward again. “Has anyone told you how annoying you are?”

“Annoying? Me? Never,” Blue smirked and brought his sword to catch one of the spaces in a power lane to block it. “Donnie on the other hand? I’ve heard him be called it plenty of times.”

Blue was almost certain that he heard an offended ‘hey!’ from up in the stands from his twin.

Tricer scoffed behind his mask and rushed forward again. He thursted the right lance forward, making Blue dodge to the left like he wanted. Tricer yelled as he brought his power lane down, slicing Blue right calf. Blue gasped in pain but pushed his reaction down as he bent over backwards to avoid the other power lance coming for his face.

Pushing up on his hands, Blue caught Tricer in the chin with the heel of his other foot to kick him backwards. Blue completed his back-somersaults, jumping up on his uninjured leg. He didn’t put weight on his injured leg just yet, waiting to see what Tricer was going to do.

“Ow!” Blue said in an offended manner. Tricer ignored him and raced forward again. Blue raised his swords in the air, ready to attack. Spinning on his good leg, he swung his swords to get some momentum behind them.

Blue cursed behind clenched teeth as his swords bounced off of Tricer’s armor. He jumped backwards a step and raised his swords in an X to catch Tricer’s power lances again. The two of them stood there for a moment in a battle of strength as they tried to overpower their counterpart.

Deciding to risk it, Blue brought his bad leg up to catch Tricer behind the knee. Tricer yelped in shock the same time Blue did in pain as he lost his posture. Without wasting time, Blue pulled his swords back from their interlacement with Tricer’s power lances and attacked.

Blue slashed his sword up in the air and Tricer yelped in pain as a deep gouge opened up on his shoulder between the spacing of his armor. It made him drop one of the power lances, his arm hanging uselessly at his side as blood drained down. It dripped down his hand and off his fingers, landing on the ground in small splatters.

Tricer looked down at his arm, trying to force it up. It didn’t respond, just swaying from side to side as he shifted his shoulder. Scoffing, Tricer bent his knees and raised his power lance in the air.

“I only need one arm to take you down,” Tricer said to Blue, pointing his sole power lance at the other turtle.

“Ohh, trash talk. My favorite,” Blue grinned and jumped backwards into a portal.

Tricer rolled his eyes behind his mask and kicked back to catch Blue in the stomach. His counterpart had done that move too many times already and he knew to expect it. While Blue was bent over from the kick, Tricer spun on his heel and raised his other leg to kick Blue across the field.

Blue yelped as he was fell backwards and one of his swords fell from his hands, landing blade first to pierce into the ground. He tumbled and hit the ground a few times before rolling to right himself in a crouch. His singular sword was held with one hand in front of him while the other hand was pressed onto the ground.

“Give up and I’ll make it painless,” Tricer demanded with the long blade of his power spear pointed at Blue.

“Sorry Tricer, I really am, but I don’t plan on losing,” Blue apologized, his markings glowing as he prepared his moved. Blue twitched his fingers that were on the ground and teleported across the arena to the sword he had left behind, the one right behind Tricer.

Before Tricer could move, Blue was spinning around in the air to attack Tricer. The power ranger didn’t even have time to feel pain as Blue’s sword sliced cleanly through his neck to separate his head from his body.

Blue clenched his eyes shut as he landed on the ground, tightening them when he heard the twin sounds of two things falling to the ground hitting the ground within seconds of each other. Up in the stands, there was a bone-chilling scream from Tricer’s family a moment before the arena erupted into noise.

“Looks like my champion proved why he is my champion again,” Big Mama laughed into the microphone. “I declare the Leonardo of universe 2018 to be the winner!”

Blue didn’t have the courage to look at Tricer’s family, being the one to kill any hope of their Leonardo and Michelangelo surviving the tournament. Turning his head, Blue looked at his own family cheering in their viewing box.

Purple and Yellow were hugging each other, jumping up and down in excitement. Blue snorted to himself that his twin, who was usually evade touch as much as possible, would get so excited at his win to throw that aversion out the window. Cassandra was shaking CJ by the bundle of his shirt gripped in her hand. She was pointing at Blue, screaming something that was most likely a curse filled cheer.

Lou had a hand over his heart as he sighed in relief. Draxum gave him a round of applause to his success, which was pretty big coming from Draxum and his stone-cold heart. Orange was up on Red’s shoulders, shaking the oldest brother’s head in excitement and screaming in joy.

Smiling, Blue raised the katana in his right hand high in the air in victory and the crowd in the seats roared louder with cheers.

Blue couldn’t help the smile that came onto his lips at the congratulations his family was giving him. As morbid the entire situation was, Blue was kind of happy to do something to gain such a reaction from them…the wailing from a different viewing box brought that feeling down though.

Bracing himself, Blue dared a peek over at Tricer’s family and immediately regretted it.

Trini was already on the ground from the viewing box and Blue caught the tail end of Kimberly kneeling down next to her. Rex was holding his head in his hands with his elbows propped up on the short wall of the viewing box. Mastodon was leaning against the far wall with his hand covering his mouth. Fighter was throwing up into a trash can and Billy patted his back.

Reporter was near him with a hand laying on her neck, a sick look on her face. Jason was devastated at the death of his friend and hadn’t moved from his spot since Tricer’s head was detached from his body. Tommy and Zack were supporting Teacher as the father grieved, his usual stoic demeanor gone.

“With that, I officially declare universe 122019 to be out of the running in the grand battle nexus!” Big Mama announced to the arena.

Blue knew the moment he was announced to be the fighter against Tricer how he would defeat the power ranger. He had Michael and Ranger’s fight to thank for that – for revealing the major weakness of their armor. The two power ranger turtles had a higher defense than all the other Michelangelo's and Leonardo's in the nexus thanks to their armor. Blue noticed that the neck was one of the few places that didn’t have the same protection as anywhere else and it would be both Ranger’s and Tricer’s downfalls. Blue had designed his entire plan to getting Tricer in that spot but he didn't have the heart to do it right away. It may have been sick of him to let Tricer think he had a chance to win but Blue wanted his counterpart to have some time to shine before he was killed.

It didn’t mean that Blue felt good about having to decapitate Tricer though.

Gulping, Blue made a decision that he hoped wouldn’t make things worse.

Gingerly placing his injured foot on the ground, Blue limped over to the puddle where Tricer’s body had laid. There was a lingering clump of blue ash that flaked into the air as Blue approached. On the edge of the pool of red laid Tricer’s borrowed morpher. Blue bent over to pick it up and continued on his journey.

The noise of the arena quieted down, hushed whispers bouncing around as the spectators wondered what their winner is doing. Billy had nudged Rex to take a look, the devastated brother looking up. Kimberly had helped Trini off the ground, her face a mess. Jason was stone-faced, his knuckles stark white with how he gripped the short wall. Mastodon looked like he wasn’t all there anymore, his breathes coming out in choked sobs. His gaze was far away and unfocused even as Blue drew closer to their side of the arena.

Blue, after agonizing long moments for something that should have taken no time, finally made it in front of the side with the ranger’s viewing box. He placed his foot on the ground gently and took a deep breath.

Bending at the waist, Blue bowed towards Ranger’s and Tricer’s family with the blue power ranger morpher held out in his hands. It was quiet as death in the stadium at the display of respect.

Slowly, claps started to sound as the spectators supported the action. There were no cheers, just the sound of clapping that grew stronger as more joined. Pretty soon, there was the sound of subdued clapping from the entire arena.

Teacher sniffled as he pulled away from Billy and Zack, coming up to the edge of the short wall. With a shuddering breath, he pressed his hands together and bent down in a bow towards Blue. Still getting over the shock of their second brother dead in twenty-four hours, Rex and Mastodon stumbled forward next to their father and copied his movement.

“Aww, what a touching scene,” Big Mama crooned. She wiped a tear away from her face that anyone who really knew her knew was fake. She clapped her hands together once to catch everyone’s attention. “One more round of applause for my champion as he leaves the stadium!”

Blue rolled his eyes at the pointed hint to leave. He stood up straight from his bow and gave his best apologetic face to the family. Around his neck, the collar gave a beep as it reactivated and he felt drained of his powers. Limping, Blue started making his way to the closest tunnel that opened up for him.

Around him, cheers erupted again for his victory.

“With that out of the way,” Big Mama cleared her throat. “We are going to continue in the Leonardo’s bracket with the other battle of this branch.” With a snap of her fingers, projectors popped up in the middle of the arena’s air again. Blue paused just inside the tunnel and turned around, wanting to know who was being called to fight next.

With a twirl of her finger, Blue's name moved forward and two blank spots were filled in to show the next two fighters.

“Tomorrow, we are picking up with the next fight as two more Leonardo’s enter the ring to fight: Crusader of universe 32019 and Jungle of universe 2007!”

Chapter Text

The Common Area between Houses – *Later That Afternoon*

Angelo shuffled from foot to foot, trying to remember where his temporary home was. His fingers tapped against each other and he spun around. All the houses looked the same and he didn’t want to walk into the wrong one. He just knew his dumb turtle luck would lead him into the house with Batman and Angelo would quite literally pass away on the spot if he met the caped crusader.

Angelo’s family hadn’t really had the chance to meet the other versions of themselves yet and it was still awkward to be around them. Well, they did meet Mike and Party but one was dead and the other still in the middle of grieving so Angelo figured it wasn’t a good time to ask their family where his home was. Slouching, Angelo blew out an irritated breath. He kicked a rock near him and tried to remember where he got lost from his brothers after leaving the arena.

Which is probably why he didn’t notice the large figure that came up behind him.

Angelo shrieked in shock when a hand tapped him on the shoulder and jumped in the air, spinning around to find Ronin with a raised eye ridge and a hand still held out. “You good, kid?” Ronin asked in his usual flat manner.

“Don’t do that,” Angelo pouted and held a hand to his plastron. “You scared the bejeezus out of me.”

“Your fault for not listening,” Ronin shrugged, not at all sorry. He tilted his head to the side and it felt like the taller turtle was inspecting everything about Angelo. “Hey, have we met before?”

“I don’t think so,” Angelo shook his head. “Before we were pulled here, the only thing we knew about a multiverse was from Donnie’s anime ramblings.”

“Hm, you seem familiar,” Ronin hummed and took a minute longer to stare at Angelo before shrugging. “Oh, well. So, what are you doing out here kid?”

“I’m lost,” Angelo admitted. “I forgot which house was ours.”

“I can help,” Ronin offered easily.

“Really?!” Angelo perked up.

“Yeah,” Ronin nodded. “You’re on the way to mine anyways.”

“Hooray!” Angelo cheered. Without prompting, he rushed around Ronin and climbed up his back to sit on his shoulders.

Ronin gave a long-suffering sigh and dropped his head. “Angelo, why are you on my shoulders?”

“Remember the party where Big Mama announced the competition and that Party and Mike were fighting first? Well, at the end of it where were mingling a bit, they told me that you love to give us shorter Mikey’s rides on your shoulders and that I should just go ahead and climb on if I do anything with you,” Angelo explained with a bright smile.

Ronin looked up at the sky and sent his late counterpart a slew of curse words mentally. “Mike, when I get my hands on you in death, you’re going to wish there wasn’t an afterlife,” Ronin grumbled under his breath.

“What’d you say?” Angelo asked.

“Nothing important,” Ronin sighed and decided to not fight it. He turned on his heel and stuffed his hands in his pockets, making his way towards Angelo’s home. They walked in silence for a bit as they got closer to their destination and Ronin was glad for not having to barely keep up small talk. He did not feel like talking at all and he was only helping the kid since he was on the way home from his walk he went on.

“You’re so nice,” Angelo commented and folded his arms on top of Ronin’s head to rest his head in. “I don’t know why everyone is so hesitant to come near you.”

There went Ronin’s blissful silence.

“Probably because I helped essentially kill an entire multiverse worth of Mikey’s,” Ronin answered with a shrug.

“You did what?!” Angelo exclaimed and raised his head. “Where was I in this?! I think I would remember dying already!”

“Dunno,” Ronin said and continued walking forward. “Maybe your universe wasn’t created yet. Maybe you were a universe we missed. I don’t fucking know kid.”

“Why do you keep calling me that?” Angelo frowned. “Party and Mike called me Angelo.”

“Because I have the feeling you four are the youngest of us all,” Ronin answered. “Hence, why you get called kid.”

“Well, how old are you?” Angelo laughed. “You can’t be that old.”

“I’m in my forties, kid,” Ronin snorted.

“I take that back! You’re so old! Like dad!” Angelo said in awe.

Ronin stopped in his spot and raised his head up to give Angelo his best stink eye. Angelo had the decency to look somewhat ashamed for his retort but Ronin made sure to flick him in the middle of his eyes for good measure.

“Mikey!”

Both Michelangelo’s turned at the call to see Angelo’s family tumbling out of their house to rush down the path. Jackie and O’Neil stopped a short distance away at the end of the pathway but the brothers came right to a stop right in front of Ronin.

“Where’d you go?” Tello asked.

“We turned around for a second and you were gone,” El said.

“Ah, I saw a pretty butterfly and got distracted by it,” Angelo explained bashfully.

“Really, kid?” Ronin looked up Angelo in disbelief.

“It was really pretty, okay?!” Angelo squeaked as he defended himself.

“Umm, who is this?” Nardo asked as he pointed at Ronin.

“Another me!” Angelo chirped and leaned his head down to have his chin rest on the top of Ronin’s head. “Can’t you see the resemblance?”

Angelo’s family looked Ronin up-and-down, taking in his battle-hardened demeanor and overall disinterested take in everything. Compared to Angelo who loved color and was full of energy, it was like looking at polar opposites. The only thing that connected the two turtles was the orange mask they both sported.

“Y-yeah, I see it,” O’Neil grimaced as she forced positivity into her voice. “Nice to meet you, other Mikey.”

“Call me Ronin,” Ronin grunted. The brothers came closer to Ronin, inspecting him. It made the older turtle uncomfortable but he didn’t let it show on his face…much. “What are you three looking at?”

“Your wrinkles,” Tello answered bluntly.

“You’re old,” El said equally as blunt.

“You must be in your 70s or something,” Nardo awed.

Ronin’s face fell flat, which is an achievement considering how flat it was before. Grabbing Angelo by an ankle, he pulled the younger turtle off of his shoulders and held him in the air in front of his brothers. “Here, we found your family. My job is done.” With that, Ronin dropped Angelo and his brothers scrambled to catch him before he hit the ground.

They all fell to the ground in a tangle of limbs with Nardo on the bottom, followed by El and then Tello, and Angelo on the top. Jackie sighed at his boys and kneeled down next to them to help untangle his sons. Ronin gave a short salute and turned to leave to go back to his own home two houses down.

“Hey, old and broody,” O’Neil called.

Ronin groaned and stopped in place, turning his body halfway to give the girl his attention. “First: I’m not old. Second: what do you want?”

“Why’d you help Mikey?” O’Neil asked. Ronin could see the distrusting look in her eyes and he couldn’t blame her. With how the competition was unraveling, it was only a matter of time before even the closest of the universes started to turn on each other.

Ronin shrugged. “He was lost and he was on the way to my own.” Ronin tilted his head to the side in boredom, his eyes half-lidded. “No other reason.”

“Not because you care about the others?” O’Neil raised an eyebrow. “I can’t tell if you actually care about them or not. You didn’t seem particularly torn up when that Mike dude or Ranger died.”

“Eh, it’s life,” Ronin gave a non-caring exhale through his nose. “You live. You die. That's how the story of life goes.”

“Don’t you feel bad about having to fight your counterparts to the death at all?” O’Neil demanded.

Ronin snorted. “Hell no.” He fully turned towards O’Neil and angled his head down. “There’s a reason I was Master Michelangelo’s right-hand man,” Ronin said with a dark smile.

O’Neil bristled and stepped in-between Ronin and the brothers that weren’t paying attention to their conversation. It wasn’t that far-fetched of a theory that she knew about the Michelangelo-homicide at Master Michelangelo’s hands based on her reaction. She narrowed her eyes at him, a silent threat to not dare get close to her turtles.

Ronin gave a chuckle and waved the girl’s concerns away. “Don’t worry. I only did it to get my brothers back. I have no reason to fight anymore.”

“What about when its your turn in the arena?” O’Neil prompted.

Ronin tapped at his chin. “Oh, well, I guess that’s an exception.” He shrugged and interlocked his fingers behind his head. “I have a fight or two left in this old body of mine.”

“I thought you said you weren’t old,” O’Neil raised an eyebrow.

“I can say it, not you kids,” Ronin laughed and turned away to go back to his family. No one called for him so he didn’t bother turning around again.

He was close to his temporary home. Universe 2018 was the only house between his and Angelo’s so it was a quick trip. Ronin gazed over as he passed by Orange’s house to see said turtle floating in the air of the garden with his cloak wrapped around his shoulders in a meditative position.

Ronin hunched in on himself in embarrassment and hoped that Orange didn’t see his interaction with Angelo and his family.

Universe 2018's House – Backyard Garden

Mikey felt his cloak swish around him.

He was mediating in the garden with a chaperone nearby so that he could use his powers for it. At the moment, he was floating in the air in the shade of a tree. His legs were folded up in the lotus position and his hands were loosely resting on his knees.

It felt like a breath of fresh air to have use of his powers again, even if it was just a portion of them. He closed his eyes, about to slip back into deep mediation when he heard arguing from inside the house.

“I’m fine!” Leo hissed and smacked Donnie’s hands away.

Mikey knew that Donnie was most definitely shooting his twin an unamused look and probably had a roll of bandages in his hands. Leo had come back from the med bay mostly healed. Apparently, he hadn't used enough of his powers to call for a trip back to their home universe to refill their mystic core. They had pushed for Leo to let them heal him but the turtle didn’t trust anyone on Big Mama’s team and told them that he would be fine. It was only his leg that was concerning and Draxum assured them that he would be able to completely heal it with a couple sessions. Right now, Donnie was trying to change the bandages with Leo protesting loudly.

Mikey could hear Donnie sigh. There was a short snap of his fingers. “Cass. Casey. Hold the problem child down for me, please.”

Cassandra sounded a little too giddy for the task while Casey was apprehensive. “Don’t you dare,” Leo said and Mikey could picture him pointing a finger at the mother and future son.

“Are you going to let me change your bandages?” Donnie asked.

“I can do it myself,” Leo protested.

Donnie sighed and Mikey could only guess that he signaled the Casey’s to move in with Leo’s over-the-top complaints as the Casey’s gently but firmly held him down so that Donnie could change the bandage. He could hear Raph and April laughing from the kitchen at the empty threats Leo was making against the three of them.

Mikey laughed to himself, closing his eyes to feel the breeze brush against him. He was feeling bittersweet about Leo’s victory against Tricer. It meant that his brother got to come home but the power rangers' family were now missing two of their own in the span of a single day.

Something caught his attention though and let his thoughts about Tricer and Ranger be brushed aside for later. Opening his eyes, Mikey smiled in the air.

“I know you’re there,” Mikey whispered just loud enough for his guest to hear.

Clicking her tongue, Jennika pulled herself out of the shadow she was hiding in. “How’d you know?”

Mikey tilted his head to the side, to let Jennika know that she had his attention, and smirked. “I am using my powers right now. There is very little I wouldn’t notice.”

“So, does that mean you saw Ronin’s ice-cold heart melting for a moment to help the new kids?” Jennika asked. She strolled over and leaned against the tree, crossing her arms.

“Of course I did,” Mikey snorted. “Who knew the old man had it in him?”

“Not for me, for sure,” Jennika rolled her eyes. She looked at Mikey floating in the air and raised an eye ridge. “How come you get to use your powers right now?”

Mikey tilted his head to the side, telling Jennika to look. Leaning forward, she looked around Mikey to see one of Big Mama’s workers sleeping soundly some distance away. Jennika scoffed at the sight and leaned back against the tree.

“As long as there is a chaperone while I train with my powers, I can use them,” Mikey explained with a light tone. “Doesn’t mean they have to be awake though.”

“And you aren’t going to make a break for it while they are not paying attention?” Jennika asked.

“Nah,” Mikey shook his head. He reached a hand up to hover over his collar, not daring to touch it right then and there. “As long as I have this, I wouldn’t be able to get far. It also limits exactly how much I can use so it’s not like I can start a rebellion.”

Jennika pulled her top lip back and rolled her eyes again, looking away from her younger brother’s counterpart. It was strange seeing such a calm use of his powers with everything going on. She was used to seeing his explosive use of spells from his fight against Master Michelangelo and this calm display was like whiplash.

But she knew that was according to his plans.

“I know you have something planned,” Jennika whispered to Mikey with a hard look.

Mikey looked at her with an expressionless look that sent shivers down her shell. He turned away with a huff, his mask bows bouncing with the movement. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, don’t give me that crap,” Jennika growled. She reached forward and grabbed Mikey but the shoulder, spinning him around to look her in the eyes. “I’m not stupid. I’ve seen the way you’ve been watching all of us. There is a plan that is going on right now and I want in.”

“Now why would I have some type of plan?” Mikey countered.

“You’re too compliant,” Jennika answered, looking Mikey up-and-down in his mediation stance. “From the short time I’ve know you and from what I’ve heard from Mikey when he was in your pocket dimension, you aren’t one to not act when something is wrong.”

Mikey pressed his lips together and regarded Jennika with a side eye. “If there was a plan, why would you want to be a part of it?”

Jennika scoffed again and narrowed her eyes at Mikey. “That’s a dumb question. Why wouldn’t I want to do something to help save my brothers?”

Mikey nodded along. “That’s a fair point.”

He had to give it to her, Jennika wasn’t wrong. There was a plan in the works, even if he was privy to the entire thing. It wouldn’t be a bad thing to have her in his back pocket to help.

Mikey looked around any workers that would be lurking around to listen. The only one around at that moment was his chaperone, meaning luck was on their side for once.

Or the Conscious was somehow using his status to align some coincidences in just a certain way.

Mikey wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth though. Lowering himself, Jennika watched as Mikey stopped floating to lean against the tree with her.

“Hey, Jennika, I’m not saying there is a plan in the works but…” Mikey said, turning his head to look at the yellow-banded turtle with a sly smile on his lips. “…have you met Cassandra yet?”

Chapter Text

Universe 32019's House - Dojo

Leo groaned as he fell backwards on his butt again but rolled back on his shell to right himself up. Holding his swords in front of him, he frowned at his opponent. “Again,” Leo demanded.

Batman gave no acknowledgement of the statement, still just standing in his fighting position. Leo and Batman stared each other down, waiting to see who would jump in first to start the spar. Damian stood off to the side with Raph, watching the two of them. Meanwhile, Barbara had her cowl down as she and Donnie typed on a pair of laptops they had brought with them. Compared to when the turtle were forcibly kidnapped, the batfam was given the choice of coming to watch the nexus which means they had time to grab everything they needed and were able to inform the other members of their group to watch over Gotham while they were gone.

They all waited to see who would be the one to break the stillness…

…and of course it would be Mikey.

“Dudes!” Mikey grinned as he bounced in. He stopped on the edge of the ring, waving his arms in the air in excitement. “Did you know Alfred used to be in the military?! It makes so much sense now why he is the most awesomeist butler ever!”

“Thank you for the compliment, Master Michelangelo,” Alfred said in thanks and bowed his head towards Mikey.

“Ugh, big Al, no offence but I don’t like that name, remember?” Mikey shivered at the reminder of Psychoangelo.

Alfred’s eyes widen a fraction and he bowed deeper in apology. “Most apologies, Michelangelo. It was a habit and I forgot.”

“Ah, don’t worry,” Mikey smiled and threw an arm over Alfred’s shoulders. “You’re the best and it was a slip-up. No skin off of either of our noses.”

“Do you mind?” Leo grumbled at his brother for interrupting his training session.

“Uh, yeah,” Mikey rolled his eyes. He pushed away from Alfred - who frowned lightly at the wrinkling of his clothes and straightened them - to stand in from of Leo with his fists on his hips. “You haven’t eaten dinner yet.”

Leo sighed and dropped his weapons, putting the hilts of both katanas in one hand to use the other to wipe down his face. “I don’t need dinner, Mikey. I need to train.”

“Uh, no,” Mikey shook his head. “If you don’t eat, then you’re going to go to bed hungry and then you’ll be super hungry in the morning which means you’ll eat a lot and then you’ll feel lethargic and not fight to the best of your abilities.” Mikey took a deep breath after that sentence.

“Mikey, that not how—"

“He has a point,” Raph interrupted. He was picked at his teeth with the end of one sai, making Batgirl grimace at the action.

“Mikey? Being right?” Donnie snorted. “That’s a shocker.”

“I have my moments,” Mikey laughed. He skipped away from his brothers to just outside the doorway to pull in a rolling cart piled high with pizzas. “Here’s what we’re going to do: you and the big bat are going to stop training and we are all going to have a nice meal together. After that, we are going to play a board game that hopefully doesn’t end with Raph flipping the table or Damian stabbing someone.”

“Aww, I like stabbing people,” Damian pouted.

“Then we are going to go to sleep so you aren’t a mister grumpy pants in the morning before your fight and we are rested enough to cheer our hearts out tomorrow for you,” Mikey finished with his hands on his hips. With a devious smirk, Mikey grabbed Damian around the waist with both hands and lifted the boy in the air. “And little Robin here is going to be helping me cheer!” Mikey proudly exclaimed.

“Put me down!” Damian demanded. He wiggled in Mikey’s hold before deciding to pinch the turtle’s hand. Landing deftly on his feet, he gave a hmph as he straightened his shirt. “When did I ever agree to do that?”

“I volunteered you,” Mikey beamed. “You’re welcome.” He reached forward and ruffled Damian’s hair, making boy squawk in annoyance and bat away at Mikey’s hand.

“You better sleep with one eye open,” Damian threatened with no real heat behind it.

“Damian, please stop threatening Michelangelo,” Batman said in his usual monotone self.

“It’s fine,” Mikey waved a hand and bounced on his toes. “You’d be surprised how often I get threatened to get my head beaten in.”

“Mostly by me,” Raph grinned.

“It’s actually not all that surprising knowing them,” Donnie snorted.

“I agree with Michelangelo,” Batman said and he pulled down his cowl to let his Bruce side out. “You need to eat and rest for tomorrow.”

“Ha! Take that!” Mikey cheered.

Leo pouted but didn’t argue. Everyone went to grab some pizza but Leo hung back. He leaned against the wall and watched his brothers and the bat-family. Depending on the results tomorrow, he would either be returning to them with smiles or leaving them behind with tears in their eyes.

Of course, out of all the brothers, Mikey would be the first to notice that Leo hadn’t come with them to grab food. Before long, Mikey was trotting over to him with a plate of pizza balanced on each hand. “Bro, I swiped you a plate,” Mikey said as he handed over a plate of pizza to the leader of their group of brothers.

“Thanks Mikey,” Leo inclined his head and took the plate. Holding up one slice, he took a bite of it and hummed in delight at the taste. It was just like the pizza from home.

The two of them finished their first slice of pizza quietly but when they both grabbed their second slice, Mikey spoke. “Whatever happens tomorrow, I know you’re going to rock it,” Mikey said with a wide smile.

Leo gave a chuckle. “Thanks for the vote of confidence, little brother.”

“Cheers!” Mikey beamed as he held his pizza up to Leo.

Leo rolled his eyes with a smile and tapped his own pizza against his brother’s. “Cheers.”

Universe 2007's House – Kitchen

“Leo~!”

Leo braced himself and spun out of the way just in time to avoid Mikey’s flying tackle at him. He watched as Mikey sailed into the wall face first and – he swears to god that it happened – stayed there for a second before sliding down like in the cartoons. Mikey didn’t pull his face off right away but when he did, there was a giant red mark taking up all the green. Snickering, Leo continued his trek towards the kitchen from the dojo where he was training.

“Why’d you do that?” Mikey pouted.

“Because he didn’t want to get tackled, numb nuts,” Raph rolled his eyes and got up from the table to grab another slice of pizza.

“It doesn’t help when you give yourself away before you do so,” Donnie pointed out unhelpfully. He grabbed his water and took a sip of it, pulling it away with a grimace. “Mikey, when did you add salt to my drink?”

“You’re just finding out now?” Mikey laughed. He pulled his legs in to sit cross-legged and he grabbed at his ankles, rocking back-and-forth. “I did that back when we first started eating – without Leo because he was taking too long,” Mikey shot that last part at his brother.

“Well, sorry I was training,” Leo rolled his eyes. As he passed Mikey on the way to the kitchen, he made sure to flick him in the head.

“Hey!” Mikey pouted. In a single fluid move, Mikey rolled forward and pushed up on his hands. Giving himself a little push, he spun around in the air and landed in an empty seat two spots away from Casey and next to Splinter at the table.

Across the table, Donnie gave him a small round of applause at the display and held up all six of his fingers to show his scoring for it.

“He’s got a point, Leo,” Casey said to his friend. He was sitting in a backwards facing chair next to Raph, his forearms folded over the top of the back rest. “You need to eat.”

“I needed to train,” Leo argued. He plopped a few pieces of cold pizza on a plate and threw it in the microwave to heat up.

“There’s only so much training you can do, my son,” Splinter shook his head. He was seated at the head of the table with a steaming cup of tea in his hands. “Now is the time for rest and sustenance, not work.”

“If sensei is agreeing, then you know it’s time to put the swords down and your feet up,” Donnie chuckled.

“Whatever,” Leo rolled his eyes. The microwave beep and he opened it to pulling out his pizza. Walking over, he took an empty seat between Mikey and Casey.

“Do you feel that you are ready for tomorrow?” April asked.

“As much as I can be,” Leo answered and then took a bite of the pizza. He miscalculated how hot it would be and opened his mouth to blow out air to cool down.

Raph snickered at his brother’s suffering while Mikey passed over his half drank cold soda to help. Leo was quick to grab it and downed it in one go to soothe the burn.

“I think you’re going to do great,” Mikey beamed.

“Eh, he’ll be alright,” Raph shrugged.

Leo shot a flat look at his brother. “Why must you antagonize me all the time?”

“It’s fun,” Raph smirked.

“Boys, please, no fighting at the table,” Splinter sighed at his sons.

“Hai, sensei,” Raph and Leo said at the same time.

“Hey,” Mikey stage-whispered and poked Leo in the side. “Heeeeeey,” he repeated when Leo ignored him.

“What?” Leo stage-whispered back. April covered her mouth with a hand to hide her laughter.

“Between the two of us, who do you think has the cooler power?” Mikey asked. The collar around his neck caught the light as he leaned forward to wait for his brother’s answer.

“Me, duh,” Leo answered with a teasing tone to it.

“Rude,” Mikey squawked. “I have a beast of a power.”

“Still doesn’t measure up to the graceful quiet of my power,” Leo said with a puffed-out chest in pride. His power really did suit him and if he survived the tournament, he hopes he gets to keep it.

“Bragging much, ghost of the jungle?” April teased.

Leo’s shoulder bunched up near his ears. “I thought we agreed to never mention that name again,” he hissed in embarrassment. He took another bite of his pizza to hide his red cheeks.

“You did, I did not,” April laughed with a wrinkle of her nose.

“Maybe I should have stayed in the jungle,” Leo pouted. “There I wouldn’t have to worry about brothers and a sister who take great joy in annoying me.”

“If we didn’t, we would lose our younger brother titles,” Donnie snarked.

“And I have the natural privilege being your older sister,” April added.

“Casey, please help me and put me out of misery already,” Leo groaned.

“Sorry dude but my wife would get very upset with me if I did that,” Casey laughed.

Leo groaned and dropped his head onto the table. He felt a nudge at his side and turned his head to peek up at Mikey. “We’re just messing with you, you know. We all think you’re going to kick butt tomorrow, bro,” Mikey grinned.

“Or die trying,” Casey added.

He then yelped as Raph smacked him upside the back of his head. “That’s what we’re trying to avoid, you numbskull.”

“You have to give him a pass,” April sighed and reached a hand across the table to pat her husband's own hand. “He’s gotten one too many hits to the head playing hockey.”

“Hey,” Casey pouted.

“Shut up and don’t argue,” Raph grumbled and bit into another slice of his pizza. “Especially when it’s true.”

Casey frowned at his friend. “Sometimes, I wonder why we’re friends.”

“Because no one else would go beat up the Purple Dragons with you,” Raph retorted.

Casey nodded. “You know what, that checks out.”

Mikey stood up suddenly and his chair was pushed back from the force. “I would like to propose a toast!” He swung his arm towards his oldest brother, making jazz hands at him. “To our fearless leader winning the battle tomorrow!”

“Don’t you mean ‘hopefully winning the battle’?” Donnie corrected.

“Nope,” Mikey shook his head. “Leo is going to win tomorrow since I am putting that good energy out into the universe.”

“The universe hates us though,” Raph deadpanned. “I mean – how else would you explain our shit luck?”

“But we’re in a different universe so maybe this one will like us more,” Mikey defended with a wiggle of his eye ridges.

“That’s doesn’t make sense,” Donnie argued.

“Whatever!” Mikey groaned and rolled his eyes. He grabbed a slice of pizza and held it in the air. “Here’s to Leo winning tomorrow!” Mikey cheered, holding his pizza up in the air.

“To winning!” everyone around the table echoed and tapped their pizzas against Mikey’s.

Leo rolled his eyes and took another bite of his pizza as Mikey sat back down next to him. “You have a lot of hope in my actually winning. I’m going against Crusader who is literally probably training with the Batman right now.”

“Pssh,” Mikey blew a raspberry and lightly punched Leo in the arm. “Who cares? You’re the ghost of the jungle. You’re gonna win.”

Leo flushed in embarrassment again. “What did I say about mentioning that nickname?” He ground out between clenched teeth.

Mikey laughed and stuffed his mouth full of more pizza. Another successful younger jab at his oldest brother.

Chapter Text

The Arena - *The Next Day*

Ronin yawned widely as he shuffled his feet across the ground. His hands were stuffed in his pockets and he was slightly hunched over in a way that his father would smack him upside the back of his head in a reminder to mind his posture.

“This place is a maze,” Ronin grumbled to himself. He had gone to take a walk before the fight since Katana kept pestering him to pay attention to the fights. He had said that it would be useful intel for whoever he could possibly fight but Ronin didn’t care. Taking a nap was a better use of his time.

The problem with his walk, though, was that he had gotten himself lost and he was too prideful to ask someone for directions.

“Kick ass, Leo!” Knight’s voice rang out.

Ronin raised an eye ridge and turned a corner in time to see Crusader’s family sending him off into the tunnel. Crusader was finishing a four-way fist bump with his brothers before turning on his heel to trot into the tunnel. After he set foot into it, the thick gate started to come down in a loud rumble.

Staying off to the side, Ronin gave the family plus their extended members a moment to themselves. The man dressed like a bat noticed him first, his mask tilting to the side just enough to alert Ronin that he was seen. It didn’t matter to Ronin as it wasn’t like he was trying to hide in the first place.

Walking again, Ronin approached the universe 32019 group. Batman turned full towards him and gave away no indication of his thoughts or emotions. The other turtles finally took notice as well as Batgirl and Robin.

Of course Ronin knew of them. It was hard not to after the Michelangelo group meeting.

Ronin stopped in front of Batman, eyes raking up-and-down the caped crusader. He straightened himself to his full height to bring him four whole inches taller than Batman. Ronin could see Batman also looking him over and finding weakness. The turtle showed none and he knew Batman was not happy with him after his part in kidnapping Skate.

Speaking of…

“Ronin, bro!” Skate chirped in delight and skipped up next to his counterpart. “Where have you been?! I haven’t seen you for like the entire tournament!”

Ronin rolled his eyes, breaking the staring contest with batman, and brought a hand to rub at his ear that was now ringing from Skate’s excited voice. “Sleeping.”

“Sleeping?” Skate furrowed his brow. “Does that mean you’re not watching the rest of us fight?”

“Yup,” Ronin drawled lazily.

“Interesting,” Batman commented, his eyes narrowing by a fraction. “Most fighters would be analyzing their opponents who have fought first for weakness they could exploit.”

“What can I say?” Ronin shrugged with a dark smirk. “I don’t need the boost, especially after poaching them all to begin with.”

Batman’s pulled into a deeper frown. “So, I was right. You were one of the two Michelangelo’s that wreaked havoc in my universe.”

“Well, I would say that was more Master Michelangelo and Orange as I mostly just fought Party and his back-up,” Ronin hummed, leaning back. “But yes, I came to your universe in hopes of kidnapping Skate – to which we were successful.”

Batman frown deepened – if that was even possible. Ronin was pretty sure his face was going to get stuck if he kept frowning like that – and squared his shoulders. “Father, please allow me to dispose of his turtle,” the robin hissed from Batman’s side.

“Good luck with that,” Ronin snorted. “I’m sure Big Mama wouldn’t like to have one of her competitors removed from the competition before she could make money off of them.”

Robin growled but Batman laid a hand on the child’s shoulder to stop him from attacking.

“Why are you purposely antagonizing Batman?” Detective sighed from the side.

Ronin shrugged. “I’m bored and it’s fun.”

“You’re an asshole,” Knight scoffed.

“Takes one to know one,” Ronin snarked with a wrinkle of his nose.

Knight growled and went to step forward to punch Ronin but was stopped by Detective’s outstretched arm. Skate was just laughing and playfully punched Ronin in the arm. “Oh Ronin, you’re a fun guy.”

Ronin rolled his eyes and stuck a hand in his pocket. He turned away to leave the group as he felt himself getting bored with them. It was about time to get back to his viewing box anyways. The kids were going to get worried if he was there, especially Odyn without his napping buddy.

“Good luck for whenever you fight, Skate,” Ronin waved lazily over his shoulder.

“Good luck to you too!” Skate chirped happily.

Ronin snorted. “Not like I’ll need it,” he said to himself.

Now…he just needed to figure out who to get back to his viewing box. Looking around, Ronin groaned to himself as he recognized nothing and got himself even more lost.

…maybe he should have asked Skate’s family for directions…

‘Yeah, right,’ Ronin thought to himself as he snorted with hands stuffed into his pockets. ‘I’m not going to give those kids more ammo against me. I’ll just find the way back myself.’

Thus, is how Ronin missed Crusader’s and Jungle’s fight.

The Arena – Big Mama’s VIP Viewing Box

Big Mama leaned with left cheek in the palm of her left hand, the other tapping a finger at a time down the corrupted war staff as she leaned back in her chair.

The grand battle nexus was progressing along swimmingly. Profits were better than she had even seen before from the betting and it was only going to get better as each battle progressed. There had been no match that hadn’t gotten everyone excited and she knew that it was only going to get better as stakes raised.

A smirk made its way onto her face as she remembered her champion’s fight. She knew he would win – it was silly to expect anything less from her champion. Blue had the blood of her former champion and lover running through his veins, he would go far just like Lou did when he participated in his own nexus tournament.

‘Not like the Daimyo’s pitiful champion,’ Big Mama thought to herself with a dark smile. ‘Shameful to expect his champion to go as far as my dear champion.’

“Big Mama,” her assistant cleared her throat to catch her boss’s attention. Eyes flicking to the side behind her glasses, Big Mama saw her favorite and most trustworthy assistant bowing to her.

“Yes, dearie?” Big Mama hummed.

“I have a report that the Daimyo is trying to request a meeting with the Leonardo of this universe,” her assistant relayed.

Big Mama pursed her lips together as she thought. The decrepitude old man – in her opinion at least – was more of an eyesore than a risk to her grand battle nexus. If he was trying to request a meeting with one of the turtles, there was most likely a ploy he was trying to enact. But then again, as long as his precious son was in her hand as a bargaining chip, there was not much he could do.

Big Mama lifted her chin off her hand and waved it over her shoulder. “I will allow it,” she said. “Just keep an eye on them.”

Big Mama’s assistant bowed. Another assistant entered the VIP suite and whispered something into the main assistant’s ear. After a quick moment, they bowed and left the room. “What was that?” Big Mama questioned.

“Just a notification that both fighters are in the tunnels,” her assistant answered.

Big Mama’s lips pulled up in a smile and she sat up straight on her chair before standing up. Taking a few steps forward, she gazed down at the arena. Her sharp eyes caught the forms of Crusader and Jungle behind the gates of their respective tunnels. They were stretching as they waited, both clearly buzzing with nervous energy.

“Are the preparation of their fight done?” Big Mama asked.

“Completed as of four hours ago,” her assistant bowed her head.

“Splendid,” Big Mama purred. “I believe it is time to start then.” She tapped a finger on the spider gem in the middle of the war staff and felt it warm with power under her hand. In the air above the center of the arena, projections came back to life with Big Mama’s beaming face on them.

“Is everyone ready to jump into the second round of the Leonardo’s?” she asked rhetorically with a laugh. Cheers erupted around the stadium as the spectators knew it was time to watch her blood sport again and they were foaming at the mouth for it.

“Well, if you are ready for it, let’s get this party started!” Big Mama cleared her throat and gestured her hand towards the first tunnel. “From the North Tunnel, let’s welcome our Leonardo from universe 32019 and the teammate of the Batman: Crusader!”

The gate at the front of the tunnel opened up and Crusader came walking out, waving to the crowed with a serious face. The crowed went wild with cheers and chanted his name. Big Mama peeked over at his family’s viewing box as they cheered and laid eyes upon Batman’s stoic figure.

Big Mama licked her lips. She so wanted to put him in a nexus to see how he fared.

Crusader stopped in the middle of the arena like he had seen the previous combatants do. He unsheathed his swords and spun them around in his hands as he waited. Big Mama let the cheers for him die down a bit before deciding to announce the next Leonardo.

“And from the south tunnel, let’s welcome our ghost of the jungle from universe 2007: Jungle!” Big Mama beamed as the gate to the south tunnel opened. She could see the grimace on his face at the title and it made her giggle. According to the spies and chaperones she had watching the turtles, this Leonardo didn’t particularly enjoy his nickname being on display which made it all the more fun to announce.

Jungle gave a sheepish smile as he left his tunnel and he raised one hand to send a salute towards his family. There were screams of excitement throughout the arena as they shouted his name.

“Go, jungle ghost!” one random yokai’s scream rang above the other’s which made others laugh. Jungle’s face fell in a grimace as his cheeks heated up in embarrassment. Stopping a short distance from Crusader, Jungle unsheathed his own swords as the two Leonardo’s prepared themselves for the start of the battle.

“I have a special surprise for this battle though,” Big Mama preened and tapped the edge of her war staff.

Crusader and Jungle jerked in their spots as a line ran through the middle of the ground between them and stopping when it was a handful of yards long before creating a circle in the ground. The Leonardo’s looked in confusion before yelping in surprise as the ground dropped out from underneath of them. Being highly trained ninjas, they both landed deftly on the ground.

Standing up, they looked around the dark space as lights on the walls lit up. Both were surprised to see an underground train stop with two tunnels running in opposite directions with tracks running. There were stairs leading up from the stop but it was just for show as they suddenly stopped at a stone wall.

“We’re taking this battle underground!” Big Mama cackled. She composed herself after a moment and straightened herself. On the screens that showed her gladiators, she could see them looking around their new arena with an eye watching their counterpart.

Big Mama raised her free hand in the air and it went silent in the arena as all eyes shot to her. “Now, let the second battle of the Leonardo’s…” Big Mama trailed off to build tension. She could feel it become palpable in the air as everyone held their breathes. It fueled the yokai boss and she felt so powerful in that moment. Smirking, Big Mama dropped her hand. “Begin!”

Chapter Text

The Arena – The Battlefield Underneath

The two Leo’s ran down the twin lengths of train tracks in the dark tunnel without taking their eyes off of each other.

Crusader took the initiative to attack again, jumping into the air to bring his swords down on his counterpart. Jungle held his swords parallel of each other in front to stop Crusader’s own swords. The two of them ground their teeth as Crusader tried to overpower his shorter counterpart while Jungle guarded. Crusader let up on one of his swords, spinning it so it was held in a backwards grip to stab Jungle.

Jungle jumped back to avoid Crusader’s sword. He growled in pain as he wasn’t fast enough and it caught him in the side. Moving away, he took a second to glance at the wound and decided that it wasn’t deep enough to worry about. There was a sluggish trail of red leaking out but it honestly looked worse than it actually was.

“Sorry,” Crusader gave a half-hearted apology. There was a smirk on his lips.

“Don’t worry, I’ll get you back,” Jungle smirked and disappeared in an instant.

Crusader huffed under his breath and closed his eyes. It wasn’t the first time Jungle had shown off his ability to turn invisible in the near ten minutes they had been fighting, the slices on his arms and legs extenuating that point. Crusader had learned that even when he was invisible, Jungle still made the barest of noises that Crusader could pick up on if he focused.

“Boo,” Jungle’s voice said right next to Crusader’s ear.

Or he would be a little shit and give himself away.

Spinning around, Crusader crossed his swords in an X in front of him, calling upon his power to create a forcefield around him. Jungle’s swords bounced off the shield that surrounded Crusader at the last second and he click his tongue in annoyance.

“Don’t think I don’t have some fancy tricks up my sleeve too,” Crusader smirked.

“Noted,” Jungle huffed.

The two Leonardo’s, after Crusader dropped his shield, fell back into a dance of swordplay. Despite the two of them being from different universes, both Leonardo’s were so similar in their techniques and moves. Where Jungle swung his sword in the air at Crusader’s neck, his counterpart would block with one hand to preform the same move on Jungle just for the turtle to copy the same block. It was like a fighting a battle of your own twisted reflection.

Crusader alluded it to the trick mirrors he had heard from Batman that the Joker had set up in many of his hideouts. They would show so many different versions of the same guy, one super tall and skinny while the other would be short and squat. A different reflection in each distorted glass but at the same end of the day, it was all the same person that was just slightly different.

Just like this competition and all the universes of the same two turtles fighting each other.

But just like how each trick mirror showed the same person in different forms, there were differences in each image. Things to set them apart and make them different.

So, just like the different images in the mirrors, while both being Leonardo’s, both leaders in blue had slightly different styles of fighting.

Seeing an opening, Crusader swung a leg out to catch one of Jungle’s. His counterpart gasped in surprise and, spinning his swords into a backwards hold, Crusader sliced through the air at Jungle’s throat.

Balancing on one leg, Jungle cartwheeled backwards out of the way and crouched down on the tracks. Crusader frowned to himself as he was sure that his attack hit but evidently did not. Jungle stood up slowly and shook himself out. “Nice try. You were close,” Jungle complimented his counterpart, rubbing at his throat with the back of one hand.

“It’s fine,” Crusader smirked and spun his swords around in his hands. “I’ll get you next time.”

“You can try,” Jungle laughed haughtily.

A retort was on Crusader’s tongue but a rock that bounced on the ground near his foot caught his attention, making the leader look down. Now that he paid attention, he noticed that the ground was starting to shake. “What the hell is that?” Crusader asked aloud.

“Probably the trains that’s on their way here,” Jungle answered. Farther down the tunnel behind Jungle, two twin lights came into view as the train rounded the corner. From behind Crusader, another set of lights illuminated the space in front of him as the second train revealed itself. Both blared their horns and the sound bounced around the dark tunnel. Jungle peeked behind him in boredom before turning around with a shrug. “Man, I don’t know how you didn’t notice it before."

“Two fucking trains?!” Crusader exclaimed in fright. He immediately jumped away from the fight and started running away to find an alcove to hide in. Looking back for a moment, he almost faltered at how Jungle stayed in place. The train was getting frighteningly closer at a rate that was much too fast for Crusader's nerves. “Are you crazy?!”

Jungle cocked his head to the side, a playful smirk on his face. “Did you already forget what my powers are?” Jungle yelled playfully down the tunnel.

Just a moment after he said that, the train overtook Jungle and his counterpart disappeared from Crusader’s gaze.

Gritting his teeth, Crusader looked in front of him to find a place to hide from the oncoming train. Just ahead of him and to the right was an emergency alcove. Pushing himself farther than he had ever before, Crusader ducked into the alcove just in time for the train to go zipping past him.

The vacuum of the train shooting by made him stick his swords into the ground and hold on for dear life. There was no way he was going to die to a train of all things. He had been raised with the sewers and train systems as his playground. If it didn’t kill him as a stupid kid back then, then he was going to survive now.

The train passed by in a flash and Crusader waited for a moment before pulling himself out of his shelter. He strained his hearing to see if another train would come tearing down but there was no sound besides his own breathing. It was quiet with just Crusader in the dim darkness of the tunnel.

Shaking his head, Crusader went to go find the remains of Jungle. The very least he could was bring back something for his counterpart’s family as memorabilia for dying like that. If he was lucky, he would be able to retrieve one of Jungle’s mangled swords or a shred of his mask.

Crusader stepped softly to the place he could have sworn Jungle was mowed down on by the train. There was nothing there, not even a blood smear which confused Crusader greatly. Neither swords were visible nor a scrap of Jungle’s blue mask. He could not think of a single type of power that could have allowed someone to survive being run over by a train…

...wait…

There was something Jungle said before he was mowed down by the train that was now scratching at Crusader's brain.

...'powers'...

Crusader’s eyes shot open wide as he figured out Jungle’s powers.

But it was too late.

Crusader gasped in pain as a sword found its place pierced through the small part of his chest that his shell didn’t cover. He stumbled forward, falling to his knees with his hands hovering around the blade. Someone padded three steps around him to stand in front of the downed turtle and Crusader looked up, eyes widening in surprise.

Jungle was completely fine with only the nicks and slices that Crusader had given him earlier in the fight. The blue mask that laid against his back had no tears in it and the sword not in Crusader’s chest was missing any deformities from being run over by a train.

“There’s a reason I am called the ghost of the jungle in my world,” Jungle smirked as he brought his other sword down on Crusader.

And the last sound that echoed out Crusader’s mouth right before his life ended was a half-amused huff of annoyance.

Universe 2007’s Viewing Box

“That fricking dweep,” Kunoichi laughed wetly as she brushed the tears from the corner of her eyes. “He called himself the ghost of the jungle.”

Around her the family cheered and jumped around, excited that their Leo had won the fight. Watcher was screaming into the air with both arms raised. Pizza had his hands on Tech’s shoulders and jumping up, using his brother as leverage to get higher in the air. The inventor didn’t seem to care as he cheered loudly for Jungle.

Hockey swooped in to wrap Kunoichi in a hug, spinning her around as he howled a cheer. Splinter had a hand over his heart as he breathed a sigh of relief his son had survived.

Universe 32019’s Viewing Box

In contrast to universe 2007’s viewing box that was filled with cheers, Crusader’s was filled with silence.

Batman didn’t say anything as his friend fell to the ground with blood leaking out of two open wounds. Bowing his head, Batman gave his silent condolences to Crusader. Robin looked up what his father was doing and copied him, mourning the turtle.

Detective was just trying to figure out where everything went wrong. All his calculations showed that his Leo would win the fight based on the odds. He never expected for the actual results to land in the small percentage that showed Crusader losing.

Knight was silent as he headed towards the door of their viewing box, slamming it open as he stalked away. Everyone who saw him knew it wasn’t a calm silent. The red-banded brother was seething and he was going to rage, breaking everything in his eyesight once he reached his destination. Batgirl went running after Knight to make sure he wouldn’t do something he would regret.

Skate’s mouth was just hanging open in shock. Crusader was someone he always saw as a winner in his fights and it was so jarring to see his leader fall.

Even more to hear the roar of the crowded that celebrated his death.

The Arena

Spectators cheered and boo’ed as Crusader fell dead in a heap on the ground. Around the wound, cracks formed and rapidly spread over his corpse. Blue flecks of ash broke off and floated away.

On the screen, Jungle stepped back and bowed towards his counterpart. “I thank you for the honor of that fight,” Jungle said and stood back up straight.

There was a tapping of the corrupted war staff on the ground and Jungle, and the dissipating corpse of Crusader, were brought back up to the top of the arena. Jungle took a moment to find his footing from the sudden raising of the ground below his feet, wincing at the sudden attack of light from the surface. He gingerly placed a hand on his side to cover his wound that had pulled more open during the course of the fight.

“Well, that was quite interesting, wasn’t it?” Big Mama giggled. "You Leonardo's definitely know how to put on a good sword fight for all of us!" She placed a hand on her cheek as her expression fell into a soft pout. “Though, I feel that I am growing tired of the Leonardo’s,” Big Mama sighed before letting her sparkling smile spread on her face. “What do all of you say?! Do you want to watch more Michelangelo’s fight?!”

There was a roar of approval from the spectators. Up in the viewing boxes, all of the families still with a Michelangelo stepped protectively in front of them. Michael and Party still weren’t in their boxes, Party from his wounds that he kept pulling open from refusing to lay down in the med bay and both from the mental toll of their opponents’ deaths.

Big Mama clapped her hands to pull up the projector again. On the Leonardo bracket, Jungle’s name moved forward. With a wave of her hand, the Michelangelo bracket replaced the Leonardo’s. There was a snap of Big Mama’s fingers and the names on the upper side of the other half revealed who would be fighting.

“I hope everyone is looking forward to our fight tomorrow as Angelo of universe 2023 and Skate of universe 32019 enter the arena!” Big Mama smiled darkly and leaned forward on her hands against the edge of her VIP box. “Let’s hope Skate can give us a better show than his brother did.”

Chapter Text

Universe 2023's House – The Living Room *Later that day*

“How about we play this game next?” Donnie held up the game case for Mario Party.

“Sure, if you want us to try to kill each other before Mikey even hits the arena,” Raph snorted breathily through his nose.

“No dying jokes!” Leo scolded with a finger pointing at two of his brothers.

“I’m with Leo on this,” April chimed in. She was sitting at the table and furiously scribbling on some paper. Mikey had peeked at it earlier and saw that she had been writing down some potential powers his counterpart could have.

Mikey’s lips turned down at the reminder that everyone in the tournament had some type of power. He didn’t think his power was all that great compared to the others. Blue could teleport and create portals whenever he wanted. Jungle had ghost powers. Michael could turn into lightning. Ranger and Tricer had been fricking power rangers.

He had enhanced durability and accelerated healing.

Big whoop.

Mikey felt like he and his family really drew the short straw in this entire mess. They were the new kids on the block. All the other universes seemed to know each other and have all these inside jokes and stories that Mikey didn’t know about. All the other Michelangelo’s and Leonardo’s got super cool powers while he and his Leo didn’t.

It was unfair.

“Let’s play monopoly!” Leo piped up in suggestion.

“Wow, you really want to die before they even announce your fight,” Raph rolled his eyes.

“No dying jokes!” Donnie squeaked as he agreed with Leo.

The three oldest brothers broke into an argument about what game to play. Splinter looked at his sons and shook his head in defeat before heading off to the kitchen to prepare dinner. April looked up and followed after him, saying that she was going to help.

Mikey noticed that no one was paying him attention in that moment. It was a relief as since his name left Big Mama’s mouth, they had been glued to his side. As much as Mikey loved his family, it was smothering.

‘Maybe I can go take a walk to clear my head a bit,’ Mikey thought to himself.

Moving silently like the ninja he was trained to be, Mikey stepped back through the open door to their backyard. No one noticed and it brought a smile to his face.

Without anyone noticing, Mikey slipped away and out of the house.

Universe 32019's House – Kitchen

Mikey hummed as he danced around the kitchen, bouncing on his toes to the beat of the pop music playing from the beat up radio in the corner.

Donnie and Raph hovered right outside as they tried to figure out how to talk to their youngest brother. They were still reeling from Leo’s death but Mikey seemed to be unaffected. It was so strange especially after how close the oldest and youngest brothers seemed to be.

Mikey should have been a mess like the rest of them but here he was making pizza.

“I’ll talk to him,” Barbara offered. She and the rest of the batfam that were with them were right behind the two brothers.

Mikey didn’t notice her at first and Barbara clocked that as odd. Being a ninja, he would have picked up on the sound of her steps. She even made them intentionally loud so that he would notice her and not surprise him.

“Hey Mikey,” Barbara greeted the turtle carefully. He jolted and turned to see who joined him in the kitchen.

“Hey Babs!” Mikey chirped and greeted the batgirl with a beaming smile. “What’s up?”

“Just wanted to check up on you after what happened today,” Barbara answered. She leaned forward to rest her arms on the countertop to appear casual.

“I’m doing just fine,” Mikey shrugged and went back to his pizza making. “Little hungry but that’s to be expected after not eating since breakfast. I don’t know if Raph and Donnie are hungry yet but I want to make sure dinner is ready if they are.”

Barbara pressed her lips together in a flat line. She saw what Mikey was doing as he pushed his grief deep down. He was ignoring the bad that happened that day and probably wasn’t processing it for what it was truly.

Leo had died and Mikey was acting like it was another common occurrence in their crazy lives.

“Mikey…this isn’t healthy,” Barbara said carefully to try and get through to the orange banded turtle.

Mikey looked down at the half-made pizza in his hands on the counter and then back up at Barbara. “Well, I know pizza isn’t the healthiest thing on the block but I’m sure it’s better than other things.”

Barbara shook her head at the statement. “Mikey, that’s not what I meant.”

“Mikey, quit playing stupid already!” Raph growled as he finally lost his temper and stomped in. His eyes were red tinged around the corners.

“Raph!” Donnie hissed as he followed after his now oldest brother. “We agreed not to go in guns a-blazing!”

Mikey looked between his two older brothers and then at Barbara. Leaning forward, he saw Bruce, Damian and Alfred in the hallway listening in. “What’s going on?” he asked in confusion.

Donnie and Raph looked each other as if in a silent argument. Mikey wasn’t sure who won but Donnie’s shoulders slumped and he sighed. Reaching up, he rubbed at his face where he also had matching red tinged eyes.

“Mikey, tell me, are you okay?” Donnie asked.

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Mikey asked and cocked his head to the side.

“Do you know remember what happened earlier?” Barbara asked. Her going theory was that Mikey was pushing the memory out of his mind unintentionally to keep his sanity but she wasn't absolutely positive about that.

“Leo died,” Mikey shrugged as if it was obvious.

“And doesn’t that make you upset?” Donnie asked.

“I mean, yeah,” Mikey grumbled and went back to ladling sauce onto the dough. “But if I harp on it, then I’m going to go down a dark pit and then I won’t be able to fight all that awesome in my fight. If that happens, then I’ll die too and then all of you will be doubly bummed out.”

“That’s a shit excuse,” Raph scoffed.

“Raph,” Barbara called the red banded turtle’s name in a scolding tone.

“Don’t tell me I’m wrong!” Raph argued and threw his hands in the air. “The most expressive of us all is burying his own emotions and you expect to sit by idly?!” Raph turned on Mikey poked a finger hard into his plastron. “Scream! Cry! Do something! Let yourself feel something! Don’t push it down for our sakes!”

“Raph, stop it!” Donnie hissed. He got in between Raph and Mikey, pushing the muscle of the group away. Raph stomped his foot on the ground and turned, leaving the room before he did or said something he would regret.

“Well, someone’s grumpy,” Mikey commented.

“He’s grieving,” Damian retorted dryly.

There was a knock at the door that had Mikey perking up. “I didn’t know we were expecting company,” he beamed and skipped out of the kitchen. He passed by Raph who was stopped by Bruce from punching a hole in the wall.

“We weren’t though,” Alfred said as he furrowed his brow and followed after Mikey. The butler in him was crying at the thought of not being the one to answer the door.

Mikey skipped right over to the door and opened it to gasp in surprise. “Mikester! Pizza!” Mikey cheered at his two counterparts. “What are you doing here?!”

The two visiting Michelangelo’s looked at each other carefully and then back to Mikey. “We came to check on you. After what happened earlier,” Mikester said carefully with eyes flicking to Pizza who gulped, “we wanted to make sure you were semi-okay.”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Mikey beamed.

“Because Leo died and you’re going into the arena yourself tomorrow,” Raph scoffed from behind him.

“It’ll be okay,” Mikey laughed with a wave of his hand. He perked up as an idea struck him and he clapped his hands together. “Hey, how about the three of us go on a walk for a bit? Just a Mikey-only hang out since my bros are being so hostile here.”

“We aren’t being hostile. We are concerned, Mikey,” Donnie stressed.

“Whatever,” Mikey rolled his eyes and grabbed a hand of his counterparts in each of his own before pulling them away from the house. “Big Al, I’ll leave the pizza to you! I’ll be back later!” Mikey said to his brothers and friends as he pulled Mikester and Pizza along.

And purposely ignored the worried looks shot at him from his brothers and teammates.

Universe 2012's House

Leo looked up from his book at the knocking at the front door. Tilting his head to the side in confusion, he marked what page he was on and got up from the couch to see who was at the door.

Color him even more surprised when he was a smiling Orange with his cloak wrapped around his shoulders at the door, waving at him. “Orange? What are you doing here?” Leo asked.

“I came to check on Michael,” Orange answered softly.

Leo turned away to look up at the stairwell leading to their bedrooms. “I don’t know…” Leo trailed off.

“Leo, I know you have his best interest at heart but I think he needs to talk to another Mikey right now,” Orange said.

Leo’s lips turned down in a pout. Orange wasn’t wrong – Michael could definitely benefit from being around another Mikey right now. The great thing about having a counterpart is that they were another you and while there were some differences, they are still you. No one could understand Michael right now more than another Mikey.

With a sigh, Leo stepped to the side and jerked his chin towards the stairs. “His room in the second on the left.”

“Thanks,” Orange inclined his head in appreciation as he stepped inside the universe 2012 house and past Leo. He waved at a surprised Donnie and April as he walked back the room they had been working in. Splinter was mediating in his room at the bottom of the stairs but cracked an eye open as Orange passed by.

Orange made sure to show his respect to the ninja master by stopping to bow towards him. Splinter’s twitched into a smile and he waved the boy on towards the stairs. Straining his hearing, Orange could hear Michael’s Raph and Casey in the dojo.

It was a quick trip up the stairs and even faster to find the door to Michael’s room. His lips quirked up into a smile at the decorative nameplate on each door that screamed that their April had made for them. It was endearing and made him laugh because Yellow had done the same exact thing for all of them at his house.

Orange knocked on the door and rocked back on his heels as he waited for an answer. He waited for a moment…and then another moment…and then another before he frowned. Tilting his head to the side, he tried the door and perked up when the door was unlocked.

Sticking his head into the room, Orange saw Michael laying on his bed turned towards the wall. Clearing his throat to announce his presence, he watched as Michael turned his head and his eyes widened to see his counterpart.

“Boss?” Michael croaked.

Orange gave a weak smile at Michael and entered the room. “Hey,” Orange greeted Michael.

Michael looked up and Orange grimaced internally at the dark circles under his eyes. He looked exhausted in all meanings of the word. “Hey,” Michael responded weakly.

Orange inclined his head to the edge of the bed. “Mind if I sit?”

Michael shrugged. “Go ahead.”

Orange hummed softly as he adjusted his cloak and sat down on the edge of the bed. Clasping his hands in his lap, Orange looked around the room. “How are you doing?” he asked.

“Bad,” Michael answered simply.

Nodding along, Orange unclasped and reclasped his hands. Michael’s eyes drew down and he could see how they shook slightly. He had heard from his Donnie how Purple had to make special arm braces for Orange after the damage done to his hands. The orange scars that ran up to his elbows were proof of what he had to go through. Michael had expected it was from a battle with their kraang since all of the members of universe 2018 clammed up when the alien race was mentioned.

“I think you need to get out of this stuffy room,” Orange declared suddenly. He jumped off the bed and landed deftly on the floor, turning to hold a hand out to Michael. “How about you and me go take a walk?”

In that moment, Michael got a flashback to when Master Michelangelo and Orange had fought in his home. Orange had offered his hand just like this to Michael. In that moment, Michael had hesitated and Master Michelangelo had found them.

At the end of that fight, Michael had taken the offered hand. He was so glad that he had as he made such great friends, and later brothers, with his two other counterparts that were hiding out in there. Party and Mike were the best to be stuck in a place with, and Orange had given Michael his electric powers back.

Michael didn’t regret taking that offered hand. He did regret not taking it that first time. Looking down at the hand waiting for his answer, Michael knew what he had to do despite not wanting to do anything but ball up and grieve everyone that had already been lost in this competition. He wanted to wallow in his grief until it was time for him to get up and fight again.

But he knew he couldn't do that. He needed to get up and live life. To be thankful that he still had his.

He took Orange’s hand.

Universe 2020's House

“Mikey, get up and train,” Leo sighed at his snoozing brother.

Mikey was lounging on a yawn chair as he soaked up the last rays of the sun. On his chest was Odyn, also sunbathing with soft purrs rumbling from his chest. The aged turtle of the ground opened one eye before closing it again. “Nah, I think I’m good.”

“You need to train,” Raph pushed, coming up next to his once youngest brother. Ever since they had been brought back to life, it bothered him how much Mikey had changed while they were all gone. Mikey used to be all smiles and happiness, and now he was a grump like Raph was supposed to be. His brother had gone and grown up without any of them, and it was still a sore point from all of them.

Sure, they were brought back aged up to the same aged as Mikey physically, but mentally and emotionally, Mikey was so much older than all three of them.

“I’ve been training my entire life,” Mikey grunted, raising an arm to cover his eyes from the sun beams. “I’m tired of it. I’m sure I will be fine.”

“What about training your power?” Donnie suggested, spinning his bo staff as he helped Leo train his own new power. “I’m sure you can work out how to use it to its maximum effects.” Right after he said this, Donnie yelped as the ends of his mask caught on fire.

"Sorry!" Leo apologized as he grabbed a bucket of water from the side and threw it over Donnie. The genius of the group slouched his shoulders as he shot Leo a stink eye, to which Leo gave a weak apology smile to.

“Don’t need to,” Mikey drawled with a yawn. “I lucked out and got one that is already maxed out.”

“He does have a point there,” Marie pointed out. She was stretching with her father on the wrap around porch of their temporary home, getting ready to spar with her senseis. April was inside with Splinter to watch over the three other baby turtles that were currently slumbering. Odyn had been fighting sleep which is why Mikey took him outside in hopes the warm rays of the sun would lead him to sleep.

Which he was correct about.

“You’re not helping,” Raph grumbled.

“Sensei Michelangelo has been fighting a long time,” Marie continued after sticking her tongue out at Raph. “I’ve never seen him lose a fight. Let him rest if he wants to.”

“And this is why you’re my favorite student,” Mikey snickered.

“I’m your only student,” Marie deadpanned.

“What about when he was about to die before Psychoangelo healed him?” Raph countered.

“He still won though,” Marie pointed out. “Oruku was defeated.” She looked over to the side, narrowing her eyes against the settling sun. “Hey, isn’t that Party?” Marie asked, raising a hand to her eyes to shade them.

Mikey looked up with a hum to see the aforementioned turtle trudging him feet through the grass. There was an air of defeat around him, eye bags showing how tired he was. It looked like he was moving without any real destination, just going through the motions.

“Wow, he looks like shit,” Mikey said bluntly to which he got a sharp elbow to the side from Leo in scolding.

“Poor guy,” April murmured. Her eyes darted over to Mikey, giving him a clear look to tell him to go help. Mikey’s face pulled down in a frown to show how he didn’t want to but April cleared her throat, tilting her head to the side at Party. The two of them continued the silent argument before Mikey sighed, knowing that he was in a losing battle.

“Let me go talk to him,” Mikey said, standing up. He handed Odyn over to Donnie, the baby turtle barely noticing the change other than a chirp to acknowledge the new turtle holding him. “Be right back.”

“Please don’t antagonize him,” Leo begged. “He looks rough enough.”

“When have I ever done that?” Mikey snorted. “You should be telling the kid that. Do you know how much of a little shit he is?”

“Mikey…” Leo said in a tone of warning.

“Alright, alright,” Mikey held his hands up in surrender. “I’ll be a good turtle.”

Turning, Mikey stomped over after Party, tilting his head at how the shorter turtle didn’t acknowledge his footsteps. He groaned internally as he realized that he was going to have to cheer the younger turtle up.

‘Maybe I should have sent Leo to do this instead,’ Mikey grumbled to himself.

Chapter Text

The Common Area Between the Houses – The Lake

Party whined in pain and held his head as memories of Mike tipping over the edge of the cliff assaulted him again. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw Mike’s face. That same stupid face that smiled at him even as Mike knew he was about to die.

It’s all Party saw.

No matter how much his brothers or father or April and Casey tried to help, Party couldn’t move on. It was his fault that Mike was dead. If only he had thought of it first, he would have thrown himself off that stupid ledge before Mike could get close to him. Now – now he was stuck with a memory that drowned him in grief and a wish that it had been him instead of his best friend and pseudo brother.

“Who spit in your tea?”

Party peeked up at Ronin as his counterpart stared at him with passive boredom in his eyes.

“What are you doing here?” Party scoffed and buried his face in his crossed arms, pulling himself into a ball as much as possible.

“I’m being to question that myself,” Ronin murmured to himself. He groaned as he bent down to sit next to Party within arm’s distance. Both legs came out to lay flat on the ground in front of him and he leaned back on the palms of his hands. “A word of advice, don’t get old.”

“I’ll probably die young and avoid all that,” Party grumbled. “Like Mike.”

“Someone’s feel edgy today,” Ronin rolled his eyes. “Maybe you should be called the winter soldier instead of me.”

Party gave a barely amused snort of air. “Sorry bro, but you can’t get rid of that title that easily.” His good mood evaporated quickly and he deflated in on himself. “I let Mike die in my place. What the hell am I supposed to do now?” Party whined, leaning forward to grab his head.

Ronin pressed his lips together and looked out across the lake. “Know peace,” Ronin said sagely.

“No peace?” Party frowned, releasing his head to stare at Ronin in confusion. “Yeah, there isn’t any peace in this competition.”

“No, flame brain,” Ronin sighed and flicked Party between the eyes. “K-N-O-W, know.”

“Ooooh,” Party nodded along. “That makes more sense.” He then frowned again, rubbing at the spot Ronin flicked. “Wait, how does that help?”

“It’ll help you continue to fight and live in this blood-stained competition,” Ronin answered. He leaned back on his hands and stared across the lake. “If you don’t, you’re going to end up in an even bigger hole than the one you are barely dragging yourself out of.”

Party lowered his hand into his lap, staring at it. “…is that why you were so nonchalant about kidnapping all us Mikey’s to get your wish?”

Ronin gave a hum as he thought. “Partly but it was more that I had a purpose in my life again. Before my evil boss of Orange showed up, I had already accepted dying and was ready to be reunited with my family.” Ronin gave a snort as he remembered Master Michelangelo swooping in right when he was about to die and healed him. “Honestly, I was more pissed that boss stopped my death than I was thankful that he saved me.”

Curling the hand in his lap into a fist – just like how he did when he gave that last fist bump to Mike – Party pursed his lips. “Do you think…”

“That Mike accepted his death and knew peace in that final moment?” Ronin finished for Party. “Yup,” he said and popped the ‘p’ of the word. “He knew what needed to be done and had made his peace with it.”

Party nodded, turning his fist over in his lap. Ronin flicked his eyes to the side and watched but didn’t say anything at first. He waited patiently as Party collected his thoughts and gazed upon the water fowl of this dimension that floated across the lake.

“Does that mean…” Party started before pausing, licking his dry lips. Ronin just waited as he knew Party was right there at the cusp of his realization. “Does that mean…I have to accept that Mike died for me and was at peace with it? That if he was at peace with it…then I should be too?”

“Oh pizza supreme in the sky, he finally gets it!” Ronin exclaims into the air. Settling down, he fully turned to face Party. “Kid, I know your brothers have been trying to get that through your head for days now.”

“Well, sorry I was having a mental breakdown from having my brother kill himself in front of me so that I can live,” Party scowled. He crossed his arms over his plastron and looked away, puffing his cheeks out in a pout.

Ronin gave a chuckle that rumbled from his chest. “If I can move past the mental breakdown from all three of my brothers dying, so can you,” Ronin said.

Party sat with straight, turning towards Ronin with a look he never had before. It was at that moment that Party realized that Ronin had been through so much in his life. His entire drive to work with Master Michelangelo stemmed from the want of his getting his brothers back – meaning he had to lose them to begin with. Party was starting to understand that perhaps Ronin wasn’t the villain he had first thought of him to be.

“There, I’ve done my good deed for the year,” Ronin said. He leaned forward and brushed his hands off of dirt as he got ready to stand up and leave. “Now, if you need me – and please, don’t need me – I’ll be at—"

“Ronin!” a young voice cheered.

“Oh great,” Ronin grumbled and his face fell flat. “The other annoyance.”

“Who?” Party laughed.

His question was answered as Angelo came bouncing into their spot, throwing himself at Ronin’s back. “There you are! I wanted to invite you for pizza but I couldn’t find you!” Angelo noticed Party and perked up, grinning brightly. “Party! Dude! I haven’t seen you in forever!”

“Hey Angelo,” Party greeted with a broad smile. It wasn't at full strength but it was growing stronger as he felt himself start to pull himself out of his depressive hole.

“What are you doing here, kid?” Ronin asked. “Aren’t you supposed to be entering the arena tomorrow?”

Party’s eyes grew wide and they wiped back to Angelo. “Yeah,” Angelo murmured and he lost the previously excited energy he had before. “My bros were smothering me a bit though so I figured a little walk would help.”

“Is your dad making you train?” Party asked.

Angelo shook his head. “He gave me the choice but he didn’t want to force me. Dad said it was my choice what I wanted to do with my time before the fight.”

“And you chose to hang out with a depressed dragon and an old man?” Party laughed.

“Hey,” Ronin pouted.

“Better than walking around by myself,” Angelo grinned.

“What do we have here?”

Ronin gave a loud groan at Orange’s perk voice. Party perked up to see Orange hopping over the bush to join the trio of Michelangelo’s. He helped a skittish-looking Michael over the bush who kept staring at the ground. Michael looked up at them and gave a weak wave, Party returning it with a short salute. “This is the proof I need to know that god hates me,” he grumbled

“Which one?” Orange giggled.

“All of them,” Ronin deadpanned. “There is no other explanation for my shit luck.”

Party gave a scandalous gasp and reached over to cover Angelo’s ears. “Ronin! There are little ears present!”

Ronin fixed Party with a deadpanned look and his top lip pulled back. “Party, the kid grew up in New York city just like the rest of us. I’m sure that is nothing compared to what he’s already heard before.”

“He’s right,” Angelo agreed. “One time I heard a guy say—”

“Woah, we having a Mikey party again?!”

Ronin felt his amusement drop even more and his blood pressure rise as Skate, Mikester, and Pizza entered their little clearing. The new trio had wide smiles on their face and high-fived with Party. They could see Skate’s smile was strained at the edges but it was understandable after what happened only a handful of hours ago. Angelo and Skate locked eye with each other and the atmosphere around them became tense. Skate looked away and toed the ground in front of them while Angelo ducked his head more behind Ronin's.

Ronin started pushing himself to his feet, ignoring how Angelo was lifted off his feet as he still clung to the neck of the much taller Michelangelo. “Where are you going?” Party asked. He could see his grumpy counterpart heading towards the lake in front of them with a flat look.

“To go drown myself,” Ronin grumbled.

Party jumped to his feet and grabbed ahold of Ronin’s hand, digging his heels into the ground to slow his counterpart down. “Don’t be such a party-pooper!” Party exclaimed with a laugh. “We’ve finally got the gang all back together!”

“Actually, we’re missing a couple people,” Mikester said. Pizza nodded along, his demeanor falling. The Michelangelo's that had been mind-controlled by Master Michelangelo had formed a sort of kinship amongst each other and were often found grouping off together when they all met up. Just like how the Mike, Party, Michael and Orange were seen as a group of their own, the other four - excluding Ronin - were seen as a unit of their own. It was a blow to their dynamic with Ranger now out of the picture just like Mike with Orange, Party and Michael.

Everyone’s face fell at the reminder of Mike and Ranger. Skate rubbed his elbow as his face fell, remembering his brother that died earlier that day. They could all see that Skate was barely holding himself together, moving forward one heart beat at a time. Most of the Mikey's expected Skate to be a mess at the moment but it seemed like he was deflecting his true emotions to avoid a break-down.

Party dropped back onto the ground as Ronin stopped moving towards the lake, looking down at the water with a sad expression. Skate looked up at the blue sky above them, his eyes blinking hard as he fought the tears. Michael had his arms crossed, his fingernails biting into the skin of his biceps. Pizza and Mikester stood shoulder to shoulder, sharing their silence together. Ronin, despite how much he pretended to not care, look out across the lake with his lips pressed together in a hard line. As the newest member of the Michelangelo's, Angelo kept quiet as he didn't understand the connection they all shared with the deceased members but knew enough from their short time together at the party to miss the deceased.

“You know what, this is as good a time as any,” Orange broke the silence. All the Mikey’s looked over to see Orange pulling four things out of his cloak. In his scarred hands were the supplies for four paper lanterns.

Orange padded over to the edge of the lake and sat down to get to work. Party perked up and got off the ground to kneel next to Orange. “What are you doing?”

“I wanted to do a memorial service for those we’ve lost so far. Big Mama just brushed past their deaths so easily and I doubt she will do something like this,” Orange answered. He grabbed one of the wrappings for the lantern, this one a shade of blue. “I know this doesn’t do justice for what has happened, but I wanted to do something for them.”

“It’s perfect,” Skate whispered and he came forward. He grabbed the materials for a lantern, grabbing the blue wrapping the same shade as his brother’s mask.

Michael was quiet as he came forward to put together Ranger’s lantern.

Party looked down at the unclaimed lantern and ignored the eyes burning into his shell. He hesitated for a moment before he grabbed them, slowly constructing the lantern for Mike. It felt like his responsibility to do so.

It took no time to complete it and before long, Party was lining Mike’s lantern up with the other three. Reaching into his cloak again, Orange pulled out a box of matches. Party, Michael and Skate stepped back to the where the rest of the Mikey’s were waiting as Orange struck the edge of the box to alight a match. Angelo let go of Ronin's neck and slid down his shell, landing on the bank of the lake with a quiet thump.

Cupping his hand around the flame, Orange started at Mike’s lantern before going doing the line. With a gentle push, one at a time, each of the paper lanterns were pushed out onto the lake. Orange stood up right at the edge of the water, the waves just barely missing his toes as they lapped at the edge.

All the Mikey’s clapped their hands together and bowed at the floating lantern that drifted across the lake. Ranger’s and Tricer’s floated next to each other, bobbing against each other every so often. Mike’s led the pack, spinning around with the current as if it was the turtle himself dancing around and enjoying life like he did. Crusader’s lantern trailed after them with a small ripple left behind.

To Party, it felt like a weight had been taken off of his chest. Ronin’s talk had helped wonders but this felt like the final push to process his grief. It felt like acceptance and peace, that it was okay to move forward.

"Hey kid." Party could hear the whisper from Skate to Angelo.

"Yeah?" Angelo whispered back. Tilting his head just slightly, Party could see tomorrow's gladiators standing a short distance from each other.

"I just want to say, no matter the result of tomorrow is, I'm not upset," Skate whispered to the youngest Michelangelo.

Angelo gulped but he nodded along, his hands coming up to grip Ronin's arm. If the older Michelangelo disliked the touch, he didn't show it. "As much as it would suck to, I wouldn't mind losing if it meant you got to live." Tilting his head, he met eyes with Skate. "But I'm also going to try and live."

Skate gave a strained smile and reached out to nudge Angelo in the arm. "You and me both, Angelo."

The area descended into silence again as Angelo and Skate stopped their conversation. All the Michelangelo's watched as the paper floating lanterns continued farther across the lake. Ronin looked away from the lanterns and into the tree line behind them, staring far away as he got lost in thought. There was a rustling of a bush that had him tilting his head to the side and his attention caught on the bright orange fox that burst through it. The fox was too far away to see many details of it but Ronin was surprised at how bright of blue the fox's eyes were. Pausing at the edge of the forest, the fox tilted its own head to the side as it regarded the eight mutant ninja turtles wearing the color it also sported. Bright blue eyes sparkled in the light before it turned its head and disappeared back into the forest.

If Ronin was more spiritual, perhaps he would have taken it as a sign from the recently passed that everything would be okay.

Too bad he was too jaded from his own life's circumstances for that.

“I miss them,” Michael whispered amongst the silence.

Party reached over and pulled Michael over in a one-armed hug. “Me too,” he whispered back. “We all do.” It didn’t feel right to say anything louder than that.

“We’ll fix this,” Orange whispered into the air, at no one in particular. “Everything will be fixed.”

No one else spoke as they watched the lanterns float across the water peacefully as the sun dipped behind the horizon to cover the sky in a dark blanket dotted with bright stars.

Chapter Text

The Arena – North Tunnel Entrance (The Next Day)

“And what do you do if he comes for the back of your knees?” Jackie quizzed his son.

Angelo rolled from the ball of his feet to his heel, his gaze set down the long tunnel he was about to walk down. “Jump in the air and spin kick him in the face,” Angelo answered.

“Dad, that’s enough,” Nardo interrupted before Jackie could ask another question. He saw how Angelo was zoning out as he looked down the tunnel. “You okay?” he asked Angelo.

“Oh, just peachy,” Angelo said sarcastically. “You know, just have to try not to die while also killing my counterpart.”

“Just think of it like the tournament arc of Dragon Ball,” Tello tried to say helpfully as he referenced one of the many, many animes he had watched. “After the fight is over, we’ll get one of the magic guys from Orange’s universe to wish him back to life like they do with Shen Ron.”

“Dude, that is not the same as this at all,” El deadpanned. “Stop trying to make our life an anime.”

“But it could be!” Tello argued with his hands thrown up into the air. “Look at all the crazy stuff we’ve been through. Better yet – look at us! Where else would mutant ninja turtles be a thing?!”

“Comics probably,” El rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. “Or maybe a tv show that got started a super long time ago. Something that started in, like, the 80’s or something.”

Angelo tuned out the rest of his middle brothers’ bickering. He stared down at his feet and raised a hand to poke at his power restraint collar. A huge part of him wished that he had gotten a better power, especially when he had no clue what he would be going up against with Skate. Unless you already had a power or ability like the power ranger turtles, it wasn’t public knowledge what each Michelangelo and Leonardo could do.

A tap of a hand on his shoulder had Angelo looking over to the side at his oldest brother. Nardo’s own collar caught the light and shined in the dimness of the tunnel. “You okay?” Nardo asked with eye ridge pinched in worry.

“No,” Angelo shook his head and took a deep breath. “What do I do, Leo?” Angelo asked his brother.

“You just have to kill Skate,” Nardo said and Angelo could hear how his words were strained. Angelo’s face pulled down at the thought of killing his counterpart.

“Once you get used to it, it’s really not that hard,” a gravely voice yawned from behind the family. They all turned to see Ronin leaning against the wall opposite the tunnel entrance with his hands stuffed into his pockets.

“Ronin!” Angelo beamed and rushed across the hallway to glomp the older Michelangelo around his middle. “What are you doing here?!”

“First, I’m not into hugs,” Ronin grumbled but didn’t push Angelo away. “Second, I came to wish you luck.”

“Wow, the old man does have emotions other than apathy,” O’Neil drawled.

“Stop calling me old,” Ronin threatened between gritted teeth with no real heat. He sighed and reached up to scratch the back of his head. “Live through what I did and you’ll see why I am who I am.”

“Nah, I’ll die young, pretty and not jaded,” O’Neil snarked.

Ronin shot the human a flat look. “Three insults in seven words. I don’t know if I should be proud or insulted.”

“You can be both,” O’Neil sniffed with a stank eye aimed at the taller Michelangelo.

“I like her,” Ronin smirked as he jerked his chin at O’Neil.

From down the hall, a gong rang out and Angelo jumped. He looked down the hall and felt his heart shot up into his throat.

“Looks like it’s time,” Ronin broke the silence unhelpfully.

“Ronin!” O’Neil hissed at the older Michelangelo.

“What?” Ronin asked with his hands held up in surrender. “I’m just stating the obvious.”

“You didn’t need to,” O’Neil scoffed and turned away from Ronin.

“Kinda had to,” Ronin shrugged. “Goes with my persona.”

Angelo gulped and squared his shoulders, setting his jaw into place. With one last deep breath, he turned around to shoot his family a bright smile accented by his braces. “Well, looks like it’s time.”

"That's what I said," Ronin mumbled with a roll of his eyes.

Tello’s bottom lip quivered before he jumped forward to wrap Angelo in a tight hug. That was all it took for Nardo and El to join in to surround Angelo on all sides. Jackie sniffed and rubbed at his eye as he watched his four sons.

Before long, the three oldest brothers were pulling away from the youngest. Angelo took a step away and waved at them. “I’ll see you guys later,” he said as he started walking backwards down the hall. “April, do me a favor and make sure they don’t kill each other.”

“I’ll try,” O’Neil sniffled wetly as she waved by to Angelo.

Angelo smiled one more time, even if it was a bit forced, and turned around to face the far away end of the tunnel. Behind him, the grating sound of the gate echoed as it closed.

“Don’t forget what I said!” came Ronin’s quiet voice and it traveled down the tunnel suddenly. Angelo paused for a second to turn around and look at the closing gate to see Ronin bending down to yell into the tunnel, his hands cupped around his mouth. “Get used to it and it really isn’t that hard at all!”

And just like that, the gate closed and Angelo was cut off from everyone.

Being alone in the darkness of the tunnel with the only light and sound coming from the end of the tunnel that led into an arena filled with spectators foaming at the mouth to see him either kill or be killed, it was the final straw to send Angelo into the panic he had barely been pushing down.

“No,” Angelo murmured to himself as he grabbed at his head. “No. No. No. I don’t want to do this.” He shook his head, curling in on himself. “Someone, please, I don’t want to do this.” On the ground between Angelo’s feet, droplets of water wet the ground as the tears slide down his cheeks. “Dad, help me. I don’t want to die.”

Hiccupping, Angelo cried as he begged for anyone to save him.

“Please!” Angelo yelled into the tunnel after a few moments of quiet crying. “Someone please stop this! I don’t want to die! I don’t want to kill! Someone please save me! Dad! Leo! Donnie! Raph! Someone, anyone! Save me!”

But he knew that no one was coming.

Angelo was alone in this and only he could save himself.

Breathing in through his nose and out of his mouth, Angelo pulled himself out of the ball he curled himself into and released his head. Sniffing, he resumed his walk down the tunnel. The only sounds besides his own sniffles and steps on the stone was the cheers that grew louder as he got closer.

Finally getting to the end, Angelo peeked through the openings of the gate into the arena. He could see the spectators buzzing with energy. Dotted around the stadium in the viewing boxes were each universe of turtles as they slowing meandered into the arena for the next blood bath.

And right in the middle of the left side, Angelo could see his only family arrive. His three brothers shot right over to the edge and leaned forward to try and spot him in the tunnel. Angelo gave a shaky chuckle and sent that a wave that he knew they wouldn’t see.

Wiping his eyes, Angelo took a deep breath and waited in anxiously silence for the gate to open.

The Arena – South Tunnel Entrance

“Relax, fam. I’m gonna win,” Skate shot his family an easy smile. He was jumping on the balls of his feet with energy.

“Stop being so cocky,” Knight growled and punched Skate in the arm. “You’re going to get yourself killed.”

“Harsh,” Skate pouted.

“Raph’s right though,” Detective defended his hot-headed brother. He looked at the three of them standing together and his heart broke a bit at how just yesterday, it was the four of them standing together. “If you don’t take this seriously, you are going to lose.”

“And I’m going to lose if you don’t believe in me,” Skate teased. Detective frowned as that and Skate huffed. “C’mon bro,” he said as he punched his brother in the arm, “you know I’m teasing.”

“It’s not funny,” Knight scoffed. His fists were balled at his sides and shoulders hiked up to his ears. “We already lost Leo. We don’t want to lose you too.”

“Raphael is right, Michelangelo,” Batman said in a low voice. The cape that was closed to hide his body fluttered open as a leather gloved hand came out to clasp Skate’s shoulder. “I know how hard it is to lose someone you love—”

“Jason,” Barbara said in a broken whisper.

“—And I don’t want either of your brothers to have to feeling that twice fold in a single day,” Batman finished.

Skate didn’t say anything, his expressionless face staring into the white of Batman’s mask for a long moment. After a while, a strange but easy smile broke out on his face. He shook off Batman’s hand off of his shoulder and took a step back. “You’re saying that as if you expect me to lose.”

Damian sighed harshly from behind his father. “He doesn’t get it,” the young robin grumbled.

“Mas—Michelangelo,” Alfred said as he caught himself from saying the name that caused bad memories for Skate. “If I may?”

“You can do whatever you need to do, Big Al,” Skate grinned.

Alfred held a fist to his mouth that he coughed into and then clasped his hands together behind his back. “Like Master Raphael said earlier, stop acting so cocky about this fight.”

“Excuse me?” Skate blinked and tilted his head to the side.

“You know about my time in the military,” Alfred said, “and while I was in there, I saw many a great men that met their ends sooner than they had to thanks to their overzealous expectations of their abilities against their opponents.”

Skate’s smile dropped and he furrowed his brow. “Well, if you say it like that…”

“That’s exactly what I said!” Knight exclaimed and threw his hands in the air.

“Yeah, but my man Al said it with more fancy words,” Skate teased with a twinkle in his eyes. “You didn’t get through to my highly intelligent skull muscle.”

Detective didn’t even give a verbal response to that – just dropping his head in disappointment into his hands.

From deep in the tunnel, a gong sounded. Skate looked over his shoulder at the long tunnel. “Time already? I was sure we had more.”

Knight pushed aside his irritation at his brother and pulled him in for a one-armed side hug. With the other arm, he smacked Skate on the chest part of his plastron. “Listen, you go out there and you win. No half-assing it. I expect to see you winning and making us another pizza tonight.”

“Aww, Raphie,” Skate snickered. “You really love my cooking that much.”

Knight rolled his eyes and pushed Skate over to Detective. “Don’t let it go to your head.”

“What our hot-headed brother meant to say,” Detective cleared his throat and patted Skate on the head, “is that we will be cheering you on the entire time. So, go out there and try to win, okay?”

Skate smirked. “As if I would do anything else.” He pulled away from Detective and made his way into the tunnel. Walking backwards, Skate cupped his hands around his mouth. “Yo, Big B! Can I press all the buttons in the batmobile again if I win?!”

Batman didn’t let any emotion show on his face besides a small crinkle of a smirk on one side of his mouth. “Sure, Michelangelo.”

“Hell yeah!” Skate cheered and threw his hands in the air. The gate between him and his family started to close. “I’ll see you guys later, okay?!”

“Do your best!” Barbara yelled, her own hands cupped around her mouth.

“Try not to die!” Damian offered his own support in his way.

Skate chuckled just in time for the gate to fully close and he turned around to head down the tunnel. He trotted down the tunnel that seemed endless but at the same just a short walk. As he got closer to the end that would lead him into the arena, Skate slowed down as he saw one of Big Mama’s yokai workers waiting for him.

“What’s up, dude?” Skate asked with a raised eye ridge.

“Big Mama wants a lively entrance,” the worker answered and pointed the remote at his collar. There was a low beep and Skate felt his power return to him. It didn’t feel as strong as usual but definitely still there. He raised a hand to the collar and saw a yellow light reflecting off of it. “Don’t think about using it for anything else.”

Skate’s lips pulled up in a smile and he lowered his hand, shaking his arms out. “Dude, you don’t know how pumped I am right now.”

The Arena – Universe 2007’s Viewing Box

“Leo, what are you doing here?”

Pizza perked up at Tech’s words and looked up from his comics to see his slightly bandaged brother strolling into their viewing box. Jungle’s injuries were minimal compared to Blue’s. Crusader had nicked Jungle pretty deeply on his arms and legs at points but that was the majority of the damage.

It was Jungle’s trick to not have Crusader catch on to what the other half of his powers was until the last moment. He just had to get hurt enough to avoid suspicion but he actively used his intangibility when his life was in danger.

“It was lonely resting at home by myself,” Jungle shrugged and came over to plop down on the ground next to Pizza. He gave his youngest brother a wry smile and nudged their shoulders together. “Besides, I want to see who could be possibly be Mikey’s competition.”

“You should be resting,” Tech fretted as he shook his head.

“Ah, let him be,” Watcher said. He was sitting in one of the chairs with his hands interlocked behind his head and leaning the chair back on its back two legs. “What’s the harm from just watching?”

“His body needs to recover from the amount of energy he used with his powers,” Tech argued. He sighed and brought a hand up to pinch his nose bridge. “Leo didn’t originally have powers like the others so he hasn’t built up the stamina for it yet.”

“Can’t the same be said for Mikey?” Watcher asked with a jerk of his chin at the aforementioned brother. Pizza wasn’t even paying attention as he showed Jungle something in his comic.

“Mikey’s powers aren’t like Leo’s,” Tech shook his head. “Leo needs to use his continuously to activate either his tangibility or invisibility. As soon as he stops allowing his energy to flow, the powers stop.”

“Pretty much Leo can’t go ghost the entire match or else he’ll get tired out too quickly,” Pizza summed up. "While my powers don't work like that."

“Pretty much,” Tech nodded his head as he pointed a thumb at Pizza. “Good job Mikey.”

“I’m smart,” Pizza snickered to himself.

Watcher shot his brother an unimpressed look and sighed. At that moment, there was a clearing of a throat over an intercom that had three of the four brothers looking up. Big Mama stepped forward to the front of her VIP box as she waved to the crowd.

“Is everyone ready for our return to the Michelangelo’s?!” she asked the crowed and preened underneath their excited yell. “That’s what I like to hear! Without further ado, let’s welcome our fighters! From the north tunnel, coming in at the youngest of all Michelangelo’s, the Mikey from universe 2023: Angelo!”

Jungle leaned forward to watch as the north tunnel opened and a nervous looking Angelo shuffled out. His shoulders were hunched in on himself and he poked his hands together as he held them close to his chest.

“You got this, Angelo!” someone cheered loudly. Jungle looked over to see it was El and he smiled as he should have expected it be a Raph to yell so loudly.

Angelo’s shoulders pulled back as he straightened slightly from the encouragement sent his way. The rest of his family screamed and clapped. At one point, Tello was lifted up on Nardo’s and Elo’s shoulders in a three-person pyramid as the purple banded turtle threw his arms in the air like the cheerleader.

It ended with Tello falling forward over the edge of their viewing box and only being saved by El and Nardo grabbing him by his ankles to hoist him back up.

Jungle snickered at the new kids. He could hear Watcher getting a kick out of the show while Tech huffed a laughter. Pizza was full on laughing, holding onto his stomach from the force of it. At that moment, Angelo reached the center of the arena and turned around in a slow circle to see all the spectators watching him.

Angelo’s eyes seemed to have met his and even though Jungle wasn’t sure Angelo actually could see it, he winked at the young Michelangelo.

“From the south tunnel, let’s welcome the Michelangelo from universe 32019, brother of Crusader and personal favorite of the Batman: Skate!” Big Mama announced.

Skate’s laughed echoed into the arena from the tunnel as he came running out. He did a front round-off forward and tapped the ground below him. Cartwheeling forward, he skidded forward on his kneels with both arms in the air as the ground exploded behind him.

Big Mama giggled in glee at the display. “I see there is a Michelangelo that shares my love of dramatics!” she crooned.

“I aim to please,” Skate winked up at Big Mama.

Big Mama’s giggles became full on laughter at Skate’s words. She took a moment to compose herself, which in the meantime, Skate bounced around the stadium to wave at everyone.

“Looks like someone is full of energy,” Watcher commented.

“Explosive energy,” Tech whistled in astonishment. “I wonder how much output he had with those explosions.”

“We’ll be finding out soon,” Jungle said as he leaned forward. He gazed down to see how Pizza was still sitting backwards as he read his comic and didn’t look like he had any drive to turn around. “Not going to watch?”

“Nah,” Pizza shrugged and flipped a page in his comic.

“It could be a great learning experience,” Tech pointed out. “You could wind up fighting either of them.”

“I just feel like I shouldn’t watch this one,” Pizza answered and scanned the page he was looking at. “Besides, with my power, I doubt it would be hard to beat either of them.”

Watcher snorted. “Self-centered much?”

“He’s not wrong,” Jungle argued. “Mikey’s power isn’t one to sneeze at.”

Pizza smirked as Jungle agreed with him, a sharp tooth peeking out of the corner of his mouth.

They all heard as Big Mama reached the end of her pre-fight speech and bristled as they knew what was going to come next. Jungle suppressed a shudder as he remembered himself in the arena just yesterday.

The yokai boss raised her hand in the air. “If the two of you are ready…” Big Mama trailed off to let the two Michelangelo’s get into position. Tech saw how Angelo gulped and withdrew his nun chucks to spin around in the air. Skate just held his hands out at his sides, pointer fingers twitching in anticipation.

Big Mama dropped her hand.

“Fight!”

Chapter Text

The Arena - Universe 2016’s Viewing Box

Genius turned his gaze upwards to the sky as Skate sent off another explosion that sent Angelo falling to the ground. The match had already been going on for almost ten minutes and it mostly consisted of Angelo running away from the explosions that Skate set off, burns bubbling up on the parts of his skin that didn't get scratched up by debris.

It turned his stomach to see the Mikey’s fighting. Watching his own brother’s fight against Mike had been the worst so far. He could only hope that when Leader had his own fight, it would be short and his brother would return victorious. Perhaps Leader won’t be as torn up as Party since his oldest brother wasn’t as close to his counterparts like Party was.

Speaking of Party, his brother was watching the match between Skate and Angelo intently. There was a sense of unease from Party since this was the first match he had returned to watch since he had bounced back from his mental breakdown of Mike’s death.

Genius still didn’t know what happened with Party and Ronin that helped his brother’s demeanor, only hearing about it after the fact, but he was thankful for it. Party had actually stopped fighting against resting in his bed when he got back and his wounds were finally healed. There was some new scars on him from the repeated opening of his wounds but Party didn’t seem to care.

“It’s proof that Mike lived,” Party had said this morning when they asked why he was smiling ruefully at the scar on his side.

Genius blinked in surprise when he saw a message suddenly pop up across his glasses.

See, Genius was a genius for a reason. His glass, while prescription, were actually a piece of high spec technology to help him. No one knew that they were actually similar to Purple’s own googles that could show him the details of anything or relay any information he needed without looking at the screens either on his bicep or wrist.

The glasses were ran on his own private server that connected to his tablets. The tape in the middle that people thought were used to hold the frame together was actually electrical tape to cover some exposed wires. There was a camera in each other upper corner of the glasses that fed into his highly advanced and secured network. No one knew it existed and if they did, it was designed so that no one could ever get into it.

But now, someone had hacked into it.

Bootyyyshaker9000: [Hello Genius.]

Bootyyyshaker9000: [Don’t react. Just keep pretending that you are watching the match.]

Flicking his eyes to the side, Genius looked over at Purple’s viewing box. His counterpart was typing at his wrist pad like usual so it didn’t look out of the norm for him. Purple’s own eyes flicked up for a moment to lock with Genius’ before going back to his wrist pad.

Of course.

Of course it would be Purple who got in.

Bootyyyshaker9000: [Are you able to type without making it obvious?]

Without drawing attention to himself, Genius folded his hands arms together behind his back. Relying on muscle memory, he tapped at his own wrist pad with his free hand and typed out a message.

PurpleKing99: [What type of Donatello do you take me for?]

Across the space, Purple gave the barest hint of a snort. Blue who sat next to him looked away from the match to see what his twin was laughing at but all he saw as encrypted text on the screen like always. Not understanding what Purple was doing, Blue turned his attention back to the match just in time to wince as Angelo ducked from another explosion that rocked the arena.

Bootyyyshaker9000: [The second best of us all.]

PurpleKing99: [And who would be the first?]

Bootyyyshaker9000: [Me, of course.]

Bootyyyshaker9000: [Exaggerated eye roll.]

Genius huffed a smile that was quiet enough that none of his family noticed. He really should have expected such an answer from Purple.

PurpleKing99: [I didn’t realize that my counterparts knew about my private network.]

Bootyyyshaker9000: [Exaggerated laughter.]

Bootyyyshaker9000: [Of course I would find out about it. I am the smartest of us Donatello’s.]

Genius rolled his eyes at his counterparts boasting. It was a well-known fact that Purple loved to brag that he was the smartest of the Donatello’s, though he was pretty sure it was mostly to get a rise out of universe’s 2012 Donnie. That counterpart of his definitely had some type of anger issues and Purple loved to press his buttons.

Bootyyyshaker9000: [Also, to correct a point you made. Only I know about your server from what I have deduced.]

PurpleKing99: [How did you figure it out?]

Genius did want to know that. The server he set up was supposed to be ironclad for him to work on his projects or hack into other systems without anyone noticing. If there was an opening he overlooked, it needed to be fixed right away.

Bootyyyshaker9000: [It wasn’t that hard once I knew about it. You seem to be working on screens like I do which means you have had to set something up.]

Bootyyyshaker9000: [There is nothing that I can’t hack into when I put my mind into it.]

Bootyyyshaker9000: [For example, each of your universe’s internet network to defeat all of you in chess.]

Bootyyyshaker9000: [Where, just as a reminder, I still reign supreme.]

That…was a good point. Purple had proven numerous times that if there was a heavily fortified firewall guarding a network, he was able to douse it easily. They had actually tested it out while Orange was still asleep after the defeat of Master Michelangelo.

It took Purple all of twenty minutes to knock down the server to Genius’ universe’s national security server. Genius remembered how the humans in his world had freaked out that someone was able to sneak in and didn’t do anything besides leaving a message that they needed an update with the ‘:P’ emoji.

And Genius hadn’t been lying when the police commissioner – one of the few people that knew of his existence and skill set – had come to ask if he had a hand in what had happened.

Genius mentally shook himself out of his thoughts when a new message popped across his glasses.

Bootyyyshaker9000: [Back to business.]

Bootyyyshaker9000: [From what I have observed, you are the closest to my intelligence among all the counterparts.]

Genius hummed in interest. From what he’s learned about his counterpart over the past year, if Purple was complimenting someone on a set of their skills then it was quickly followed by a request to use them. If Purple was complimenting Genius’ intelligence, then something big was coming up.

His train of thoughts paused when a new line of text popped up on his glasses.

Bootyyyshaker9000: [Which is why I am positive you will be the most optimal of partners to have in stopping Big Mama.]

Genius stared confusingly at the message.

PurpleKing99: [What are you talking about?]

Bootyyyshaker9000: [I know you hate this god forsaken competition just as me.]

Genius’ eyes dragged over to Party who was watching the fight with extreme concern in his eyes. Leader and Wrath were on either of the youngest brother’s side as they also watched but their glances kept shooting to Party.

Bootyyyshaker9000: [Which is why we are going to shut it down.]

The caught Genius’ attention more than anything.

Bootyyyshaker9000: [What do you say?]

Bootyyyshaker9000: [You in?]

Genius stared at the message for a long moment. Eyes peeking at his brothers again, he watched as Party turned his head away as a cry that sounded a lot like it came from Angelo echoed around the stadium. Leader took Party by the shoulder and pulled him back while Wrath stepped in front to block the youngest’s view.

It was only a matter of time before Party went back into the arena and Leader had his first match.

It really was all too easy of an answer for Genius.

PurpleKing99: [I’m in.]

Bootyyyshaker9000: [Perfect]

Bootyyyshaker9000: [Just as I expected.]

Bootyyyshaker9000: [Stand by for further communication]

Genius didn’t answer back as Purple across the stadium stopped looking at his wrist screen. All eyes went to the fight happening in front of them. Angelo ran from Skate as the older turtle set off another explosion.

His heart went out to the younger Michelangelo. Skate’s power was one of the strongest yet and he had no qualms about using it. To make things even worse, Angelo didn’t seem to have a power that had any attack to it.

Angelo screeched in pain as another explosion threw him backwards and burned the side of his arm. In front of him, Genius saw how Party winced and rubbed at his own arm as if he was feeling the pain. Or maybe it was sympathy pains to see his counterpart suffering.

Genius could only hope the fight would end soon.

The Arena

Angelo screeched as he ran away from another one of Skate’s explosions. He made it all of six feet away before it went off and he was thrown through the air. Landing on his shell, Angelo wheezed as he rolled over and didn’t risk resting.

Skate whistled in glee as he skipped after Angelo. “Dude, when are you going to show me your awesome power?! I want to have some fun!”

“I didn’t get cool powers like you!” Angelo whined as he pulled out his nun chucks and spun them around in the air. He could feel the burn wounds on his arms that he kept pulling on as he ran fade away to a dull sting as his accelerated healing kicked in.

“Aww man,” Skate pouted as his shoulders slumped. “I wanted a firework of a battle!” To accentuate his point, Skate raised his arms above his head and back cartwheel, making sure to poke the ground with one of his hands as he did so. Standing up and jumping back, Skate laughed as his timer hit three seconds and an explosion went off.

“I want cool bomb powers. Why does a universe with Batman get a Mikey that’s like Bakugo,” Angelo pouted. “Aside from being the youngest, I also get the worst power of all of us,” Angelo grumbled. He shot forward to see if he could somehow catch Skate with his nun chucks.

“Wait a second – how old are you?” Skate asked suddenly, avoiding a swing from Angelo. He stuck a foot out and pushed Angelo to trip onto the ground with a groan.

“Fifteen,” Angelo panted, getting up from the ground.

“Ah man, I can’t kill a kid,” Skate sighed and shook his head. He raised a hand up to rub at the back of his head and stared up into the stands as if lost in thought. It looked like there was a war inside of him and by the glint of his eyes, it looked like he had lost. “My bros are gonna be so mad at me.”

“Skate?” Angelo asked quietly. He had a sinking feeling he knew where this was going.

“You’ll be fine, kid,” Skate looked down and smiled at Angelo before taking a few steps back. His hand came up to the side of his head with a finger pointed out.

“Mikey! No!” someone screamed from the stands though Angelo didn’t know who.

Skate smiled brightly as he poked the side of his head and a bright red circle appeared on it. “Do me a favor and keep winning for both of us, yeah?” he laughed.

Perhaps it was luck that Angelo blinked – or perhaps it was coincidence that a gust of wind the blew hard enough to force his eyes shut – but the youngest Michelangelo missed the moment of detonation. One second Skate is standing across from him with a bright smile and the next, his body is laying on the ground with a sharp splatter of blood.

Angelo’s mouth dropped open in shock, his eyes blinking as he tried to process what happened. Skate’s body seemed to have spun a bit as it feel so Angelo couldn’t see most of the damage that marred what remained of his counterpart’s head. He didn’t realize that he had won until Skate’s body started cracking. The cracks traveled all across his body before breaking apart into a million tiny balls of orange light that floated up into the air.

“By way of self-sacrifice, I declare the Michelangelo from universe 2023 the winner of match 3!” Big Mama’s voice boomed around the arena.

Meanwhile, Angelo just looked down at the small puddle of blood that Skate’s dead body had laid in. He couldn't hear the cheers and booing of the audience around him over the blood roaring in his ears. Up in the stands, Knight was screaming and punching at the wall of the viewing box while Detective dropped his face into his hands while his shoulders shook. Meanwhile, El, Nardo, and Tello were doing a mixture of sighs of relief and cheering that their brother was still alive. Angelo wasn't looking at any of them though as he kept his eyes on the puddle of blood that signaled Skate's last location in the multiverse.

Angelo had won.

And he felt terrible about it.

Chapter Text

The Arena

“Well, that was an explosion of a turnout,” Big Mama joked and preened when her audience laughed along. She could see how Detective and Knight shot her the most venom filled glares they could muster across the stadium. Batman stood behind them and even with the distance, she could feel the pressure of his anger even if it didn’t show on her face.

She didn’t care though – it was all a part of the nexus that the Michelangelo’s and Leonardo’s didn’t agree to fight in.

Clearing her throat, Big Mama tapped the war staff on the ground and the Michelangelo bracket pulled on up a projector in the middle of the arena again. Angelo’s name moved forward and the bracket shifted down to show the two covered names of the next fighters.

“Is everyone ready to find out who will be the next to enter the arena?!” Big Mama excitedly cheered into the mic to which there was a resounding round of affirmative. “Well then, without further ado, I will announce our next two gladiators!” With another tap of the war staff, the two covered names were revealed and a murmur of excitement ran through the audience.

Two live-feed projectors came to life on either side of the brackets to show the two Michelangelo’s entering the ring next.

“Tomorrow, we shall pick up with the fight between our Michelangelo from universe 2007: Pizza and from universe 2011: Mikester!” Big Mama announced with dark joy coloring her voice.

On the screens, Pizza could be seen placing the comic he had been reading down while Mikester balled his fists and glared.

Universe 2003’s House – the Dojo *Later that Day*

Raph was getting really worried about his older brother.

Leo has barely spoken since four days ago when they all watched Mikey die. Sure, he responded in clipped answers to questions directed at him but their fearless leader did not try to speak to anyone. Donnie had theorized that something happened to Leo’s psyche after watching Mikey die that caused him to become selectively mute.

Right now, Leo was sitting in a meditative position and looked out the open door of the backyard. He was sitting alone and his posture was hunched, his hands fiddling together. April kept looking at her husband, whispering if she should go over and try to get him to speak.

“Dinner,” Splinter called from the kitchen.

Raph patted Leo on the shoulder to break him out of whatever trance he was in. Leo looked up at him and Raph jerked his head to the side, signaling him to come along. The oldest of the four – three, Raph had to keep correcting himself – brothers nodded and got up to follow.

They all took their seats around the table with a spot empty for their fallen brother. Donnie kept glancing on the seat between him and April. It was directly across the table from Leo and the blue banded brother kept staring at the empty place setting.

“Leonardo, my son, please eat,” Splinter urged Leo. “You must keep your strength up.”

Leo just nodded silently, demurely picking up a small mouthful of rice in his chopsticks. He only ate what he needed to stay sustained but didn’t do more than that. There was no energy to enjoy things as he had let his youngest brother walk right into his death without fighting.

Leo felt like a failure of a leader and a brother.

Everyone perked up when there was a knock at the door. "Who could that be at this hour?" Splinter mumbled to himself. Out of habit, Leo got out of his chair first and padded over to the door to see who was there. Raph and Donnie had yelped and chased after Leo as they didn’t want to take any chances with the remaining of their two brothers who were set to fight in a death match.

The brains and brawns of the brothers arrived right at Leo’s back in time for the oldest to open the door. He blinked in surprise when the person at the door was none other than Big Mama’s personal and most favorite assistant.

“You’ve been summoned,” Big Mama’s assistant said in an emotionless manner. Tilting their head to the side, the assistant turned their body to indicted Leo to follow them. “Come. We must not delay.”

“Oh hell naw,” Raph growled as he stomped forward to place himself between Big Mama’s assistant and Leo. “You tell us where Leo is going or else we gonna have a problem.”

“Certainly,” Big Mama’s assistant bowed their head. “The daimyo has requested an audience with your Leonardo and Big Mama was gracious enough to approve it.”

“The daimyo?” Donnie furrowed his brow in confusion. He then straightened and squared his shoulders. “Where have has Big Mama been keeping him? There’s no way he would allow his nexus to be run like this.”

“That is none of your business,” Big Mama’s assistant answered.

“I think it’s most definitely my business seeing as this is my universe and you yokai are the interlopers,” Donnie hissed in warning.

“If you keep pressing this issue, Big Mama will have no trouble sending you back to your home dimension to wait out the results of the nexus,” Big Mama assistant said back to him. "I'm sure the nexus will run just the same without your presence in the stands.)

“Are you threatening my brother?” Raph demanded with growing anger in his voice.

“It won’t be as long as all of you behave,” the assistant answered coolly.

“Why I ougha—!”

“It’s okay, Raph,” Leo croaked. Raph startled at the sound of Leo’s voice, gravely from days of disuse. The older of the two patted the younger on the shoulder before pushing past him. “I’ll be back later.”

Raph ground his teeth together but didn’t put up more of a fight. He wanted to but after hearing the assistant’s words, there was no way he could risk it. It would drive him mad to be forced to go home and wait around while his brother fought for his life in another dimension. It would be even worse to live with the anxiety of wondering if his older brother was still alive or not while he twiddled his thumbs and smacked Purple Dragon skulls together.

Looking over at Donnie, Raph could see his genius brother was feeling the same. Donnie at his hands curled into fists at his sides, trembling with anger. Most assumed that Raph was the one with anger issues – which, to their credit, was a correct statement – but Donnie had his moments. He was furiously protective of his brothers and it seemed to have ramped up in the wake of the recent death of their youngest.

Leo gave a short wave before following after Big Mama’s assistant out of the house. They didn’t look back once as Leo followed after them, hands folded behind their back as they trekked forward. The two middle brothers watched until the assistant and Leo turned a corner out of the sight.

Sighing, Raph closed the door and nudged Donnie with his shoulder. “Come on, the food is probably cold by now.”

Donnie grumbled a response that Raph couldn’t decipher but he knew the sentiment behind it. They returned to the table with worried eyes from their father. “The daimyo wanted to speak to Leo,” Donnie answered the unasked question.

“I wonder what my old friend wants to speak to Leonardo about,” Splinter hummed.

“Let’s all hope it’s the secret to ending this god forsaken match,” Casey muttered under his breath.

Raph had to agree with his usually dumbass friend.

The Daimyo’s House

The daimyo was sitting in his garden as he watched Ui run around a ball that kept escaping his reach. He gave a soft chuckle at the scene and was secretly glad that his son got a second chance at being an innocent child again.

There was a snap of a branch that caught the daimyo’s attention and he looked up. Tension eased out of his shoulders as he saw that it was his champion’s oldest brother – the Leonardo of this universe.

Leo came up to just before the forcefield that kept the daimyo and Ui trapped in their prison of a home and bowed to the master of the nexus. “Daimyo-sama,” Leo croaked.

“Leonardo-san,” the daimyo inclined his head as he greeted Leo. “I am happy to see you still alive.”

Leo flinched and raised himself out of his bow. The daimyo could see the dark eyes that Leo’s mask did nothing to hide and the way his shoulders sagged. “Only because I have not entered the arena myself yet,” Leo mumbled, looking down at the ground in-between them.

The Daimyo knew that. Even if he was confined to the house, Big Mama had provided him a screen to watch the matches in live-time as they unfolded. It had physically hurt him to see his champion sacrifice himself the first round to save Party and how the Michelangelo from universe 2012 break down after being forced to kill Ranger. His heart went out to Crusader in his last moment with Jungle and it swelled with the respect Blue showed Tricer after his defeat. The latest round with Skate killing himself to spare Angelo made him turn the TV off and sit there stewing in anger at what Big Mama turned his honorable nexus into.

“What will you do when it is your time to fight?” the Daimyo asked.

Leo pressed his lips hard together. “Win,” the turtle answered after a long moment. He looked up and met eyes with the Daimyo. “I can’t let Raph and Donnie have to grieve me on top of already losing Mikey. It’s not fair to them.” He clicked his tongue and looked away again. “It wasn’t fair for Mikey to leave us behind.”

The Daimyo’s heart went out to the grieving brother. He had seen the turmoil his champion had displayed on his face before concluding on the end of his life. Mikey had really weighed the options put out before him and chose the one that he decided was best. No one could guess what went through his champion’s head in those final moments, but the daimyo was sure his intentions were pure.

“I get why he did it – I really do – but I really wish he didn’t,” Leo whined as if in pain and grabbed at his head. “We’re his brothers, his flesh and blood, unlike Party. He’s a great dude but he’s Mikey’s counterpart, not his family.”

“It didn’t seem like that way to me,” the Daimyo hummed. “Michelangelo seemed quite close to – what was his name again? – Party.”

Leo gave an unamused snort of air. “That’s because Mikey could get close with pretty much anyone.”

“That he could,” the Daimyo agreed with a sad bob of his head. He looked up at the blue sky above him. “His heart was too big for him and that was Michelangelo’s fatal flaw.”

Leo gave a shudder and the daimyo saw how his champion’s brother wiped at his eyes. Even if no tears trailed down his face, Leo’s hand came away from his face wet. The turtles had never known a loss like this to them before so the daimyo knew that they were still reeling from the fresh wound.

The daimyo decided that he couldn’t let his champion’s family suffer longer than they needed to without the proper information.

“Leonardo, I want you to listen to me,” the daimyo whispered and beckoned to lean in. Tilting his head to the side in confusion, Leo abided the daimyo’s request and inched as close as the invisible barrier between the two of them allowed. Looking around, the daimyo deemed it safe to reveal his words. “You have to win the competition,” the daimyo whispered.

Leo furrowed his brow. “I already planned to. Why?” he whispered back. "Is there a certain reason?"

The daimyo pressed his lips in a hard line before answering. “It is not common knowledge as I swore off gladiator battles long ago but…he who lives to the end of a deathmatch battle nexus is granted a wish.”

“A wish?” Leo breathed as he felt hope rising in him.

“Indeed,” the daimyo nodded. “There is hardly a limit to such a wish besides practically becoming a god.”

“Which means…” Leo trailed off as he didn’t dare say the words in case he was wrong.

The daimyo nodded again. “Yes, you can wish back to life all those who lose their lives…you can bring your Michelangelo back to life.”

Leo shot to his feet, his hand covering his mouth. His eyes were burning but he didn’t dare let the tears fall. Taking a few deep breathes, Leo paced back and forth as he calmed himself down. Inhaling one last time, he plopped himself on the ground with his legs crossed in front of the Daimyo.

“What do I have to do?” Leo demanded.

“Like you said -  win,” the Daimyo answered simply. “Don’t let past sentiments cloud your judgement. Strike true and strike fast to win.”

“If I can bring back Mikey – bring back everyone – then I’ll do whatever I have to and just apologize later,” Leo swore. His eyes shown with a determination he didn’t possess earlier.

His brother was coming home to them one way or another.

Chapter Text

Universe 2007's House – Mikey’s Room

Mikey giggled to himself. He was laying on his back and his arms were held in the air above him, a comic book held up open between them.

“What are you laughing at, chuckles?”

Mikey moved his comic book to see Raph’s leaning over the edge of the bed to look down on him. The ends of his mask tails hung over his shoulder and Mikey could see the way Raph was raising one of his eye ridges behind the red fabric. “The people in my comics are being really funny,” Mikey answered. He threw the comic to the side of him and splayed his arms out like a starfish. “What’s up?”

“Just checking on you,” Raph shrugged. Mikey smiled as he could see the concern that his brother was trying to cover up.

“Aww, you do care,” Mikey crooned in delight.

Raph rolled his eyes and pushed Mikey’s head to the side, making the younger brother laugh. Turning on his heel, Raph left the room but he heard Mikey jump off the bed to follow after him. “Why do I feel like I just opened up a can of annoying?” he complained.

“Don’t you mean a can of awesome?” Mikey smirked. He ran the short distance to put himself in front of his brother with his hands gesturing to his himself. “I mean, who else would have all of this wild cool energy?”

“Leo,” April piped up from the couch. She was reading one of the books on the ancient Mayan civilization from home. It had been one of the items she had packed away when Big Mama’s assistants had come to collect her, Casey, and Splinter after the turtles were already taken. “Considering he lived in the actual wild jungle.”

“I swear if you bring up that nickname again,” Leo frowned. He was laid out on the loveseat to rest per Donnie’s instance to let his injuries heal. Donnie was sitting on the ground in front of him and typing at the laptop April had packed for him. “I’m gonna—”

“Gonna do what? Go ghost on me?” Mikey teased.

Leo rolled his eyes at his brother’s teasing. “Mutt,” he said.

“Poltergeist,” Mikey shot back.

“You think that is an insult and it really isn’t,” Raph said. He crossed the room to plop down in one of the free recliners.

“You’re just jealous that you don’t have crazy cool powers,” Mikey smirked as he approached Leo. The eldest sat up so Mikey could take a seat in the spot his legs had been taking up before.

“Sure, I’m so jealous that I didn’t get powers so I could fight in a deathmatch against my counterparts,” Raph said sarcastically with a roll of his eyes.

“So, you admit it!” Mikey exclaimed with pride.

“I can’t with him,” Raph threw his hands in the air. “I should never have bothered him while he was being quiet and not annoying.”

“You’ve opened paradox’s box!” Mikey laughed.

“Pandora,” Donnie corrected.

“Why would I talk about the world of avatar?” Mikey asked with a tilt of his head.

“I have no many regrets right now,” Raph sighed as Donnie smacked his face.

“Anyways,” Splinter cleared his throat. He was in the other recliner and nursing a cup of tea in his hands. “Michelangelo, my son, do you feel ready for tomorrow?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” Mikey smirked with a fang tipped tooth, air boxing the space if front of him. “Me and mad cool powers are going to carry in this match.”

“Don’t get cocky,” Raph warned.

“I’ll be fine,” Mikey drawled and leaned against Leo. “Me and Leo are going to show everyone why our universe is the best.”

“We really lucked out with the powers you two received,” Donnie hummed, fingers clacking against his keyboard. “You both were very receptive to them and mastered them in no time.”

“Well, Leo was already used to it as the—”

Mikey was cut off as Leo smacked a hand across his face. “What did I say?” Leo sang through gritted teeth. He pulled his hand back in disgust when Mikey licked it with a proud smile.

“You’re just jealous that I have the cooler power,” Mikey teased with his tongue sticking out at his brother.

“After you win, we’ll have a spar to see who actually has the cooler power,” Leo smirked.

“You got it, ghost of the jungle,” Mikey teased.

The noogie that Leo gave him in retaliation to the nickname was well worth it.

Universe 2011's House – Kitchen

Mikey hummed as he spun around the kitchen.

It was late – much too late for him to still be awake for what was going to be in less than twelve hours. But that didn’t stop the orange masked turtle as he buzzed around the kitchen cooking and packing away pre-made meals.

“What are you doing?”

Mikey covered his mouth to stop the scream that almost made its way out from being startled. Turning around, he shot Leo a frown with his hands still over his mouth. Leo was leaning against the door frame and looked at all the dishes and food spread over the counter.

Sighing, Mikey lowered his hands and went back to flipping the ham steaks over that he had been in the middle of when he was scared. “Preparing some food,” he answered.

Leo glanced over at the clock. “At two in the morning?”

“Well, I could have started earlier if all of you didn’t demand to staying up longer to help me prepare for tomorrow,” Mikey grumbled.

“Because we want to make sure that you are prepared to win tomorrow…or rather, today,” Leo said. His gaze drew over to the multiple containers of various dishes already prepared that were waiting to be put in the refrigerator. “Though, it looks like you are preparing for you to not.”

Mikey shrugged. “I mean, I don’t want to get my hopes up. You know the saying - hope for the best, prepare for the worst.”

“Mikey…” Leo breathed softly.

“It’s not like I plan to lose,” Mikey tried to explain hastily without taking his eyes off of the food in front of him. “But…I don’t want you guys to starve if I do.”

Leo gave a soft smile. “Little brother, we’ll be okay no matter what happens. You should worry about yourself more than us.”

“I just want you all to be okay,” Mikey grumbled. He shook his head to clear it and took a deep breath, shooting Leo a sly smirk. “I mean, we can’t trust you to be any hope in the kitchen,” Mikey smirked at Leo.

Leo’s face fell flat at the insult before he started chuckling, shaking his head. He pushed himself off the door frame and crossed the kitchen to smack Mikey upside the head for the comment. “Brat,” he chuckled as he hoped up a free space of the kitchen counter to sit down.

“But I’m right,” Mikey snickered. He used the spatula in his hand to flip the food in the pan, pressing down on the back of it to let it sizzle. “Remember the last time you tried to cook when I was sick?”

“I swear you were going to kill me with a rolling pin when you found me in the kitchen,” Leo chuckled. “Do you know how scary you looked lurking in the dark with only your eyes shining in the dark?”

“I know,” Mikey said with a cheeky grin. “It’s an art I’ve honed.” He tuned out everything for a moment as he pulled the food from the pan and put them on a cutting board to cool before slicing it. While the food rested, he went to start on the batter for some deep-fried cutlets.

The two brothers perked up when they heard steps getting closer to them. Looking over, they saw Jennika sleepily stumble into the kitchen with a hand rubbing at her maskless face. She was wearing a hoodie featuring her girlfriend’s band with the hood down.

“What are you two doing?” Jennika said with a raised eye ridge and yawn.

“Cooking,” Mikey answered.

Jennika looked from the food to Leo and then back to Mikey with a questioning look. “Don’t worry, I’m not touching anything,” Leo grinned with his hands held up in front of him.

"Oh, good,” Jennika breathed a sigh of relief. “I didn’t want to have to put out a fire at two in the morning.”

“Rude,” Leo said and stuck his tongue out at Jennika.

“But true,” she grinned as she pulled a chair out at the table to sit in.

“If I wanted to be bullied, I would have just woken Raph up,” Leo pouted.

Jennika and Mikey laughed at Leo’s statement. Leo rolled his eyes but smiled. Mikey placed the cutlet in the liquid he had set out before covering them in the crumbs for the breading. Leo hummed along as he watched, kicking his feet gently in the air. Jennika tapped a finger on the table, looking at the clock.

“It’s late,” Jennika murmured. She tilted her head back to look at Mikey. “Can I help so that you can go to bed earlier?”

“I’m fine,” Mikey said to brush off Jennika’s concern.

“Let me rephrase that – let me help you or else I’m letting Leo take over,” Jennika clarified.

“Why am I being dragged into this?” Leo murmured to himself.

“I can get that you want to prepare us for the worst but I don’t want you exhausting yourself just for our sakes,” Jennika continued. She got up off her chair and leaned on the counter next to Mikey’s station with a hand propped up on the corner. “So, please, what can I help you with?”

“Fiiiiiine,” Mikey relented with a dramatic groan. “You can start chopping up the food I’ve already prepared and put them in their containers.”

“See, was that so hard?” Jennika smirked as she rolled up her sleeves and got to work. The two of them were hard at work while Leo just watched.

“…can I help?” Leo asked. It felt awkward being the only one not helping with the meal prepping.

“No,” Mikey and Jennika answered immediately at the same time.

“You burn down the kitchen three times and you’re suddenly a walking fire hazard,” Leo pouted to himself.

BONUS SCENE:

Universe 2003's House – Front Patio

“I don’t like this,” Raph growled as he passed back and forth.

“You don’t like anything,” Donnie rolled his eyes at his brother.

“This is different,” Raph scoffed and ran a hand over the top of his head roughly. “They took Leo to see the Daimyo – who we haven’t seen the entire nexus – and it’s been hours now. What if they took him hostage and are torturing him or something?”

“Then that would defeat the purpose of having him as a fighter for the nexus,” Donnie answered. He was sitting in the rocking chair right by the door with his eyes set on the dark horizon. The two of them had been waiting since they finished dinner outside for Leo to return.

“I’m just saying, something is fishy here and I don’t like it,” Raph grumbled.

“So you’ve said multiple times,” Donnie said. He leaned forward in his chair and braced his forearms on his knees, squinting his eyes as he looked into the darkness. There was barely any light from the clouds covering the moon but he could see movement in the distance. “Is that—”

“Hey bros!” Leo waved with a bright smile as he spotted his brothers.

“Leo!” Donnie and Raph cheered as they rushed off of the porch and out towards Leo. They didn’t stop until they were in a three-way hug, crushing Leo tight against them. It went unsaid between Donnie and Raph but it felt like a crushing weight was on them having Mikey gone and Leo out of their sight. If this is what it felt like when Leo had to be gone from them for a little bit, Raph and Donnie wondered what it would be like if Leo died.

“Aww, you guys missed me,” Leo smirked as he wrapped his arms around Donnie’s and Raph’s shoulders.

“We were worried,” Donnie exhaled as he wrapped his own arm around Leo’s shoulder. “Are you okay?”

“Okay? I’ve never been better,” Leo huffed a laugh. Raph raised his arm to wrap around Leo’s shoulder so they were in a straight line next to each other as the oldest of the trio marched them towards the house.

Donnie and Raph looked between the two of them – clearly confused by their leader. Leo had been a mess since Mikey died but now he was acting like nothing was wrong. Something happened between now and Leo leaving the house that changed his entire demeanor.

“Yeah…I’m not going to believe that,” Raph said.

“What did the Daimyo have to say to you?” Donnie asked.

Leo caught movement from the corner of his eye. Without making it obvious, he flicked his eyes to the side and saw one of Big Mama’s assistants that spied on them all the time to make sure they weren’t up to no good. Pressing his lips together, Leo came to a decision.

He couldn’t let Big Mama know about what the Daimyo had told him yet or else she would hide the staff away from him.

“Listen Leonardo,” the Daimyo had whispered to Leo. “The vile woman does not know yet about the wish paid for by a blood debt and you must not let her know. If she finds out, I fear she will use the wish for her own selfish desires.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Leo smirked as he marched them inside the house. “Just that he wants me to win the nexus – and believe me, I’m going to win it now.”

Chapter Text

The Arena - The North Tunnel *The Next Day*

Pizza hummed as he stretched one arm over his chest and then switched.

“You’re pretty calm about this,” Tech noted with a raised eye ridge. He had conversing quietly conversing Kunoichi off to the side. Hockey and Master had already wished Pizza well wishes for his fight and gone back to their viewing box in case Big Mama announced any important information that they needed to know.

“Of course I am,” Pizza smiled. Spreading his stance, he bent over to touch his hand to his opposite foot to twist his back. “I’ve got this fight in the bag.”

“I would agree with him,” Watcher said and used one of his sai to pick between his teeth. The red banded turtle was leaning against the stone wall on the hallway with his feet crossed at the ankles.

Jungle grimaced at his brother’s actions. “Please stopping doing that with your sai. They are ninja weapons – not dental floss.”

“You’re just salty you can’t do it with your swords,” Watcher countered but he did pull his sai away from his mouth. Spinning it in his hand, he sheathed it in his belt and crossed his arms over his plastron.

Tech cleared his throat and stepped over to Pizza, placing his hands on his brother’s shoulders. “I think this goes without saying, but you are an awesome fighter and ninja. I know you are going to do great and make us proud no matter the result of the fight.”

“Aww, Dee, you’re being all sentimental,” Pizza preened.

“I know, it’s weird,” Tech shivered in disgust. “But I stand by what I said.”

“We all do,” Jungle smiled as he came up next to Tech. Watcher went on his other side, crossing his arms. “We know that you can never let us down. Don’t forget that.”

“Well…” Watcher trailed off. He stopped with Jungle shot him a dirty look, holding his hands up in surrender.

“You go out there and show them why we are the best universe,” Jungle grinned and poked Pizza in the plastron. “Make the crowd cheer your name at the end.”

Pizza chuckled and wrapped his arms around Jungle and Watcher’s shoulders. The brothers were quick to reciprocate while Tech completed the circle. Kunoichi smiled at the sight and took a picture on her phone of the four brothers.

A gong sounded from down the tunnel. Pizza straightened from the hug and looked down the long stretch of it with a frown. “Aww, time already?”

“It goes so quickly, doesn’t it?” Jungle chuckled ruefully as he remembered his own turn entering the arena two days prior. It felt like no time had passed from the moment he had been announced to fight to his time entering the arena.

“Well, looks it’s time to go show off my super awesome power that is so much better than anyone else’s,” Pizza smiled as he held his fist out to his brothers. “Especially Leo’s,” he teased. He laughed as he ducked the playful swipe of Jungle’s hand at the side of his head.

“You’re a brat, I hope you know that,” Jungle huffed with a smile as he tapped his fist against Pizza’s.

“It’s a part of my irresistible charm,” Pizza smirked with a wiggle of his eye ridges and gestured his free hand over his face and chest. “Makes all the ladies go crazy for me.”

“Whatever you say, lover boy,” Watcher rolled his eyes with his own smirk and tapped his fist against his oldest and youngest brothers.

“Though, I believe you cannot claim that title with the total number of zero partners under your belt,” Tech snickered as he raised his fist to join the group fist-bump.

“That’s what you think,” Pizza smirked and pulled away from his brothers towards the tunnel.

“Excuse me?” Jungle blinked in shock. Watcher, if he had eyebrows, would have shot to his hairline at the statement while Tech’s mouth dropped in shock. Kunoichi covered her mouth while she giggled in the corner.

“Make sure to cheer loudly for me!” Pizza grinned as he walked backwards down the tunnel, changing the topic. It worked as Jungle immediately lost the confusion on his face and gave his brother a small bow in encouragement.

“You won’t be able to hear anything else!” Raph yelled back.

Pizza’s smile grew larger. Cupping his hands around his mouth, he howled and the noise bounced around the tunnel. His joy grew when three more howls joined his right before the tunnel wall closed.

“Oh yeah, I’ve got this in the bag,” Pizza giggled as he turned around and dropped to be on all four, running down the tunnel while howling in delight.

The Arena - The South Tunnel

Mikester punched at Rafa’s hands held in front of him, hitting them each time his brother changed their position.

“Harder,” Rafa instructed as he moved the hand. Mikester’s eyes darted as he followed the movement and adjusted his stance to follow it. He brought his fist up in an uppercut punch with the other following from the side. “That’s better,” Rafa grinned.

“That’s enough of that,” Jennika interrupted as she wrapped her arms around Mikester’s shoulders and pulled him backwards in a hug. “Don’t make him waste his time just training.”

“You mean before I—”

“You’re not dying,” Jonin interrupted Mikester firmly. He came forward to flick the orange banded brother between the eyes. “Don’t put that energy out into the universe.”

‘Especially with how bad our luck is,” Donald grumbled. “The universe loves to do anything to screw us over.” He shifted his shoulders, his metal shell glinting in the light.

“No more sad talk!” Jennika declared as she shook Mikester in her arms. “Positive energy!”

“Like how I’m going to kick butt?” Mikester asked with a sly smile.

“Exactly,” Jennika grinned. She released Mikester to spin him around to face her head on. Poking a finger into his plastron, she had a big smile on her face. “You’re all of our little brother,” she said as she gestured to the other three turtles, “which means you are one badass ninja. You are going to go out there and win – not for us but for yourself.”

“Awww, Jenny’s being all sentimental,” Rafa snickered.

“Raph, shut up before I make you,” Jennika threatened with a smile on her face.

“Jennika’s right,” Donald joined in and nudged Mikester’s shoulder. “You’re smart – in your own way, of course.”

“You’re battle I.Q. is amazing and I find myself jealous at times,” Jonin smiled at Mikester. “Just go out there and go with your instincts.”

“You also have some real strength behind your punches,” Rafa added as he shook the hand that Mikester had been punching the most just moments ago. “Don’t pull your attack back at all.”

“That’s right, keep laying the compliments on me,” Mikester joked as he waved himself with his hands and a sly smirk on his face.

“Don’t tell the others but I think you have the most raw talent out of all of us,” Jennika staged-whispered to Mikester with a finger held over her lips and sent him a wink.

“We heard that,” Rafa grumbled with no real heat.

“Good,” Jennika snickered.

A gong sounded from the tunnel and the entire group of turtles felt their guts drop at the sound. “I thought we had more time,” Mikester murmured to himself.

“Maybe it’s a good thing,” Jonin said to try and be positive. “The sooner you go out there and win, the sooner you come back and we can go pig out on ice cream.”

“Yeah, what Leo said,” Rafa agreed.

Mikester smirked and rolled his eyes. “Whatever you say, big bros and sis.” He stretched his arms above his head, fingers interlocked together. “I hope you all ready to admit I’m the best of us after I’m done this fight.” With a huff of a laugh, Jennika pushed at Mikester’s head, making the youngest giggle. “I’ll see you guys in a bit,” he grinned as he started to walk backwards in the tunnel. Once he crossed the threshold, the thick slab that served as the gate started to descend.

“Give it your all,” Jonin grinned with a small salute to his brother. Rafa, Donald and Jennika waved at him with smiles that seemed a little too forced.

Mikester smiled one last time just as the gate closed, sealing him away from the rest of his family. Sighing, he let his smile drop as he didn’t have to pretend anymore. Shoulders slumping, he turned to look down the far expanse of the tunnel. There was a bright light from the end of it with a faint clamor of the audience that waited for the next two fighters to enter.

And for only one to leave.

Mikester slapped his cheeks to perk himself up and ran down the tunnel – ready for whatever was going to happen.

The Arena

"Is everyone ready for the next match of the Michelangelo's?!"

The crowd cheered loudly to Big Mama's question. Grinning, she held a hand out towards the arena. “Alright then! Let’s bring out our gladiators of the day!” Big Mama declared. “From the south tunnel, we have our Michelangelo of universe 2011, the light of his family: Mikester!”

The gate in front of Mikester rumbled open and the turtle felt his heart stutter for a moment. The time for his arena entrance was upon him. So, with sweaty palms, Mikester curled his hands into fists and breathed to calm his heart.

Mikester gulped as he stepped out into the light of the arena. There were cheers all around of his nickname, but also those who booed him. He could see how his brothers in their viewing box frowned at those who jeered at him. Jennika herself wasn’t looking too fond of how some people yelled at him to die and win them some money.

If it wasn’t for Jennika’s hand on Watcher’s shoulder, Mikester was sure that his brother would be jumping the wall of the box to go beat up those spectators.

“And we can’t forget about our Michelangelo from the north tunnel!” Big Mama preened as she gestured a hand to the aforementioned tunnel. “Let’s welcome our universe 2007 representative, the beast of the jungle: Pizza!”

Pizza came bounding out of the tunnel on all fours which made Mikester furrow his brow in confusion. Pizza laughed as he raced out, his strides long and fast. Stopping in the middle of the arena, he finally raised himself on two legs and spun around. He held his arms out at his sides as he spun around, howling loudly into the air above him.

“Dude, what are you doing?” Mikester laughed. “You’re a turtle – not a wolf.”

Pizza stopped his spinning and faced Mikester with a broad and bright smile on his face. “Just trying to get the blood pumping!” he smiled with fang tipped teeth. To get his point across, he drummed his fists on his plastron and howled into the air. In response, three more howls came from his universe's viewing box in the stands.

“If my gladiators are ready, I think it’s time to start the third battle of the Michelangelo’s and the fifth overall of the grand battle nexus!” Big Mama exclaimed with dark joy. She tapped her corrupted war staff she stole from the daimyo and screens popped up to project a close up of the fighters. She raised her hand in the air and the air in the arena became thick with tension.

Pizza shook himself in a way that resembled a dog, making everyone that watched confused at the action. His brothers just laughed at the movement. Mikester chuckled at his counterpart's actions and took out his nun chucks to spin in the air.

“Fight!” Big Mama declared as she dropped her hand.

Pizza moved first, jumping forward with his arms held out like he was diving into water. He twisted around in the air and Mikester felt himself pale at how Pizza’s form morphed into something not turtle. In the time it took Pizza to jumped forward to land on all fours, the turtle mutant had transformed into a beast that resembled a large saber tooth cat with two tails which were tipped with a burning fire.

The beast’s mouth opened to show off the large canines at the front of his mouth. A low rumble that was most definitely threatening came tumbling out. Pizza pawed at the ground with deep grooves being left behind from his long and razor-sharp claws.

“Oh, this is just not fair,” Mikester groaned at his beast of a counterpart.

Chapter Text

The Arena

Mikester leaped to the side, paling when he felt Pizza’s claws skim the top of his carapace.

“Watch those things, dude!” Mikester grunted as he rolled up back onto his feet. Dust brushed up into the air from the skidding of his feet. The chains of his nun chucks dinged as they swung limply in the air. Pizza gave a noise that sounded like a chuckle to Mikester. “Yeah, yeah, laugh it up,” Mikester rolled his eyes.

Pizza purred for a moment as he stalked Mikester. The ladder did not take his eyes off of his beast of a counterpart for a moment. He knew the moment he did, it would be the end to his very eventful and chaotic life. He also didn’t dare to try and run away as he knew his legs would be far outpaced by Pizza’s. The saber-tooth tiger like beast stopped in place, chomping at the air towards Mikester.

“You kiss your mutagen container with that mouth?!” Mikester exclaimed in mock offense. He actually didn’t know what Pizza had said but he had a feeling it was some type of trash talk. With a brother like Rafa, Mikester felt like he knew when someone was insulting him.

Pizza chittered before deciding to attack. Mikester waited until Pizza was just close enough to him to think the attack would land before twisting to the side. Pizza saw this and used his fire tipped tails to burn Mikester in the leg. The turtle hissed in pain but didn’t let the opening go to waste.

Raising his fist-held nun chucks in the air, he slammed it down on the top of Mikester’s head. The beast growled as he faceplanted in the ground. More dust and dirt shot up into the air from his landing, making the turtle-turned-beast close his eyes. Mikester jumped away from his counterpart, reaching into the air above the beast.

Spectators around the arena gasped in shock as Mikester pulled his hand backwards and the area he had grabbed went dark like he was pulling a drape back. It left Pizza in the space below enveloped in darkness, with just enough of a tint from the surrounding light for the audience to see him.

Growling, Pizza got up on all four and used one to rub at his face. Cracking open an eye, he was surprised by how dark everything had gotten. In fact, as he opened both eyes and blinked to clear them, everything was still dark.

Pizza paused as he was fully encompassed in darkness. He could still hear the arena around him but even if something was an inch from his face, he wouldn’t be able to see it. Spreading his stance, Pizza tilted his head to the side to focus on his hearing. In beast form, all of his senses increased to levels he couldn’t comprehend in his regular turtle body. Depending on the beast he transformed into, the senses could vary.

There was a shift of the ground near him and Pizza turned his head to the side, an ear flicking forward and back. If he couldn’t rely on his sight, his hearing would be the next best bet. Turning slowly, Pizza started to stalk forward, staying low to the ground.

Being out of the space of darkness, Mikester could see Pizza clearly. He had cursed internally when Pizza seemed to hear his carefully placed step closer to the beast. He was running out of the options of attack – but he had a card up his metaphorical sleeve still.

So, when Pizza deemed to have found his target and leapt forward, Mikester launched his own attack.

Mikester threw his hand out in front of him, a ball of light escaping from it. It stopped right over the air above Pizza, illuminating the space again. The difference was that when the light came back, Mikester twisted his hand and the light intensified to be so much stronger. The contrast from the complete darkness to the now blinding light made everyone who was looking wince in pain.

Pizza yowled in pain at the blinding light and missed his target as Mikester dodged his attack. The beast of a Michelangelo hit the ground hard and rolled, stopping on his stomach as he rubbed at his eyes. Pizza got up on shaky legs, his beastly eyes squinting as he tried to see around him.

All he saw was a warbly green shape near him. He couldn’t tell how close or far away it was, which is how he felt flying to the side as Mikester got a flying kick on him. Pizza bounced against the ground twice before flipping himself over with his claws digging into the ground to stop himself.

Everyone in the arena watched as Pizza sat down in his beast form and how it morphed again to bring the mutant back to his turtle form. He was kneeling on the ground, one hand placed on the ground in front of him while the other rubbed at one of his eyes. Mikester stood a few paces away from him, his hand that controlled the light around them held out at his side.

Pizza blinked hard as his counterpart but all he could see was bleary shapes did nothing to show depth or discerning features. “Mikester! My dude! Did you have to blind me?” Pizza complained.

“Just playing with the hand dealt to me,” Mikester shot back with a small smile. He curled his fingers inwards more and the light around them intensified. Those who sat in the front row of the arena had to shield their eyes from how bright it was. The light didn't bother its master at all - Mikester reveling in it. Pulling out his nun chucks, he started to spin them in the air. “Nothing personal.”

Pizza heard the noise of the metal chains swishing through the air and an idea sparked in his head. A feral grin took over his face as he realized he had the perfect trump card up his metaphorical sleeve.

“Sucks for you dude – I got the better dealing,” Pizza laughed and his formed twisted as he transformed into another beast. It fell to all four and resembled a canine like creature with long claws and covered in orange fringe-like fur. It had large, sharp canine teeth but the strangest part was the fact that there was no eyes on it. There were gill-like slits on the side of Pizza’s neck that opened and closed.

Growling with salvia dripping from the sides of his mouth, Pizza raised his new beast form’s nose in the air and sniffed. Mikester froze as he realized what was going on. With a rueful smile, he lowered his hand and let the light that he increased in brightness fade away. There was no need for it as Pizza had chosen a beast that his power had absolutely no effect on.

Pizza howled in the air before pawing at the ground, his body facing towards Mikester. His teeth pulled back as he started to prowl forward in a tight circle around Mikester. The gills shifted again and Mikester felt a shiver run down his shell as Pizza’s eyeless face point directly at him. Pizza pawed at the ground in front of him, the dirt parting in deep grooves from his claws.

“Well, no one can say I didn’t give it my all,” Mikester chuckled weakly right before Pizza pounced.

The Arena – Universe 2011’s Viewing Box

Jennika took a deep breath that shuddered out as she tried to push the urge to throw up down. Down in the arena, Pizza had Mikester by the throat in his mouth. Most of Mikester’s body laid limp on the ground and his head hung back with it facing away from their family’s viewing box. Blood dripped down on the space underneath of his body and Jennika gulped as the puddle grew large enough for Mikester’s limp knuckles to be painted by the red.

Leo had grabbed both Raph and Donnie by the back of their masks and turned their heads away right before Pizza had grabbed their brother to spare them the sight. Raph pounded a fist on Leo’s plastron in protest, but it was weak from the grief that ran through him.

Donnie didn’t fight it at all as his eyes gained a faraway look. They stared over Leo’s shoulder and he flinched when Mikester’s dying wheeze slipped out of his mouth and he raised his hands to cover his ears. April had a hand covering her mouth in shock but unable to tear her eyes away from the scene. Casey’s hands were white-knuckled with how they gripped the edge of wall in front of him, his mouth hanging open.

Cracks traveled up and down Mikester’s body starting from his neck. It seemed like Pizza decided to hurry along the process as he bit down further. Mikester’s body exploded into a flurry of glowing yellow light that floated into the air. Jennika couldn’t tell if it had been a mercy or not – to Mikester and to his family who had to watch. Pizza in his beast form angled his body up at the sight above him, marveling at it for a second even though he couldn’t physically see it before bending one his fore legs and bowing.

“What a wild match this time,” Big Mama giggled after the pieces of Mikester disappeared. She clapped once and Pizza yowled as he was electrocuted. His formed twisted as he morphed back into his original mutant turtle form, kneeling on the ground as he heaved heavy breathes. “But now it’s time to move on.”

Pizza sneered up at Big Mama but got up regardless on shaky legs. He wiped his mouth on the back of his hand and ignored the way it came back red with blood that wasn’t his. The collar around his throat beeped as the light turned red, cutting him off from his power once again. They could all see how he squinted his eyes and held his hands out in front of him. Pizza's head was turning every which way, clearly confused on where to go from his blindness from Mikester's flash-bomb.

One of Big Mama's assistants came trotting out of the tunnel and grabbed Pizza by the hand to lead him out. Waving at the crowd who cheered his name, he made his way to the closest tunnel that opened for him and disappeared into the darkness of it. His family quickly ducked out of their viewing box to go find him without bothering to hear who would be fighting next.

At that moment, Jennika wished for nothing more to introduce Big Mama to the sharp end of her claws. The woman had brushed over brother’s death like it was nothing – like he meant nothing. Just last night and way into the early hours of the morning, Mikester had stayed up to prepare them all food from the goodness of his heart. He had been the light of their lives, leading them out of the darkness whenever they sunk into it.

And she had extinguished that light for her own selfish desires.

“We have an extra special match for all of you tomorrow,” Big Mama clapped in glee as the projector screen zoomed in on a new branch of the Leonardo’s bracket. With a wave of her hand, two more names were revealed and a gasp of surprise echoed around the stadium. “That’s right!” she beamed with a giddy smile. “We are having a battle of revenge! The brother of the killed versus the brother of the killer!”

The screens on either side of the bracket zoomed in on Fearless’ and Leader’s sneering faces.

Chapter Text

Universe 2003's House - Dojo

Raph grumbled as he rubbed at his head.

“Come on, let’s go again,” Leo demanded as he waited for his brother to get up off the ground. He spun his swords around in his hands, letting them slice through the air in a clean motion.

“Hang on, give me a moment,” Raph grumbled. He pawed at the ground to find his dropped sais before grunting as he got back to his feet. “Did you have to throw me over your shoulder so hard?” he complained as he rolled his shoulders.

“I got get all the real time practice I can,” Leo grunted as he bent his knees. “Come on – don’t act like you don’t want to bust my head in a bit. Let loose.”

“You sure are making it tempting,” Raph growled between gritted teeth. Leo was acting like he had done years ago when all he focused about was them getting strong. Raph didn't like it then and he definitely isn't liking it right now.

“Alright, that’s enough, you two,” Donnie sighed as he clapped his hands. Placing them on his hips, he tilted his upper body forward. “Breakfast is ready. Sensei is going to be upset if Leo doesn’t get sent on his way with a full stomach.”

“Fine, fine,” Leo relented as he sheathed his katanas. “We’re going.”

“Aww man,” Raph pouted. Spinning his sais in his hands, he placed them in their spots on his belt and then crossed his arms. “I wanted to beat Leo’s butt one more time before he gets sent into the arena.”

“When have you ever beaten me?” Leo snorted breathily.

“All the time,” Raph smirked and punched Leo in the arm.

“Oh, you mean in your dreams?” Leo teased.

“Why I oughta—!” Raph screeched indignantly and started chasing Leo around the room to slap him upside the head.

Donnie smacked a hand to his face as he watched his two older brothers. The two of them jumped over a table that had been in the corner of the room and parkoured off the walls in an extreme version of ninja tag.

“Those two aren’t ever going to grow up, are they?” Donnie snorted. He waited for a response and when he looked to the side, he flinched as he remembered his partner in crime when Raph and Leo were having one of their tiffs was gone. Shoulders slumping, Donnie took a deep shuddering breath.

Someone patted Donnie on the shoulder and he saw Leo had come up next to him. “We all miss him,” Leo murmured as he looked over through the doorway at the temporary memorial shrine their father had set up in the meantime in the other room. The only thing it displayed was the shredded piece of Mikey’s mask that had been recovered and few pieces of incense to burn.

“This is never going to get easier, is it?” Donnie whispered.

“It will,” Leo swore with his grip on Donnie’s shoulder tightening. “I will make sure of it.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Raph asked.

“You’ve been acting off since you’ve met with the daimyo,” Donnie said.

Leo clapped both of his remaining brothers on the shoulders once. “Let’s just say, I’ve gotten some of the best news of my life.”

Donnie and Raph looked at each other – something they had been doing a lot of the last few days with one brother gone and the other mute – in a silent conversation. They just hoped that whatever Leo found out, that they would get to find out at some point.

Universe 2016 's House – Garden

Leo exhaled, moving his hands to carry through with the tai chi movements his father had instilled into him.

Today was finally the day he would be entering the arena. He had been anxiously waiting for this moment. It had been hard to hear the lead up to each battle so far and wait to hear his name. Part of him had been relieved to hear his name finally spoken as he didn’t have wait in uncertainty anymore.

“Leo!”

“Out here!” Leo called back. His left arm bent at the elbow and was brought close to his body as his other arm extended and was held straight out.

Leo could hear the loud stomps of his brothers as they came out to find one of the fighters of the day. Mikey was out the door first, cartwheeling as he enjoyed the feeling of his injuries now being fully healed. “Dude, you’re acting like an old man,” Mikey laughed as he walked in a circle around Leo.

“It’s good exercise,” Leo countered.

“For an old man,” Raph snorted as he joined the cajoling of Leo. He was out the door next and came over to punch Leo in the arm. “We should have known you would be the first to go senile.”

“Are you sure it won’t be you with all the times you’ve gotten smacked in the head?” Leo said and to emphasize his point, smacked Raph upside the head.

“You aren’t helping his remaining brain cells,” Donnie chuckled as he brought up the rear. He leaned against the doorframe and typed on his holographic display projected in front of him.

“You want to say that to my face?!” Raph yelled.

Donnie bent down so that he was eye-level with Raph. “Gladly.”

“Why I oughta—!”

“Aaaaaand that’s enough of that,” Mikey cut in and got in-between his middle brothers. He grabbed the hand that Raph had been reaching with towards Donnie and spun him around, away from the technologically inclined brother. In a matter of a blink, Raph was on the other side of Mikey with their arm over each other’s shoulders.

“How the hell did you do that so fast?” Raph marveled.

“I’m just that amazing,” Mikey snorted.

Raph rolled his eyes and pushed Mikey’s head. The orange banded turtle laughed as he skipped off to go bother Donnie. Huffing, Raph crossed his arms and looked over at Leo. The oldest of the four was just watching them with a small smile on his face.

“You think you’re going to win this one?” Raph asked. “Fearless is going to be a tough one.”

“Trust me – I’m going to win,” Leo grinned as he bumped his shoulder against his brother’s. “I can’t leave all of you behind.”

“You better or else your position as leader is mine,” Raph threatened lightly.

“Hey! Who says you should be leader?!” Mikey pouted. “What if I wanted to be leader?!”

The three older brothers looked between each other and shuddered. “Yeah, Mikey, there is no way you are ever going to be leader,” Leo said.

Mikey’s mouth dropped open in mock offence. Throwing his hands up in the air, he stomped away. “Betrayed by my own brothers! I do not know how I will ever move past this!”

They watched as Mikey stomped back into the house and then his very loud complaints to April in the other room. “Always the drama queen,” Donnie snorted.

“Yeah, but we wouldn’t have him any other way,” Leo smiled.

“Well, maybe a little less annoying,” Raph said. He wilted under the stink eye Leo shot him. “Fiiiine, I wouldn’t change him for nothing,” he relented. Throwing an arm over Leo’s shoulder, he poked a finger into his brother’s plastron. “Like I don’t want any other leader, so you better not go out there and die today.”

Leo laughed. “I’ll try my best.”

“As touching as this moment is, I can hear Mikey eating our breakfast without us,” Donnie drawled.

There was a beat of silence before Leo and Raph went running inside. “Mikey, I swear if you’re eating my food—!”

“This is what you get for saying I’m never going to be leader!” Mikey's voice called faintly from inside the house before he screeched in fright as Leo and Raph jumped him.

Universe 2018's House – The Front Door

“I’m heading out first!” Mikey called over his shoulder. Making sure his cloak was tied in front, he opened the door.

“We’re right behind you!” Raph called back from somewhere inside the house.

Mikey gave a noise of acknowledgement before leaving to head over to the arena. He had wanted to leave early to see if he could catch Michael to see how his counterpart was doing. Passing by universe 122019’s house, Mikey could see Mastodon and Rex getting ready to head to the arena. The aura around them was dark, just like it had been the last few days.

Mikey had talked to the brothers after the power rangers had gone back to their universe. They hadn’t the heart to continue watching the fights while Mastodon and Rex vowed to continue watching. In some weird sense of support, they had informed Mikey that they would be cheering for the universes that took down their brothers. Neither of them blamed Michael or Blue as it was a fight to the death, both of them faulting Big Mama.

Passing their house, Mikey paused at universe 32019’s house when he saw the door open and no one other than the Batman glided out. Batman paused when he saw Mikey standing there, his cloak swishing closed around him. Behind him, Robin and Batgirl followed out the door.

“Hello,” Mikey said and waved to the Batman and his side kicks.

“Michelangelo,” Batman greeted Mikey in his usual flat tone.

“Just call me Orange,” Mikey smiled lopsidedly at the caped crusader. He looked around Batman to see Robin and Batgirl holding duffel bags on their shoulders. “What’s going on?”

“We are going home,” Batgirl answered. “With our Leonardo and Michelangelo gone, Batman decided that we should go home.”

“Are Detective and Knight going home too?” Mikey asked.

“They have decided to stay and watch the nexus to the end,” Batman answered.

Mikey nodded along. He looked off in the distance at the arena. The volume around the arena was growing as the spectators started to filter in and the energy for the day festered. “I wouldn’t blame them for wanting to leave.”

“They wouldn’t do that,” Robin scoffed. Going around Batman, he came right up to Mikey and crossed his arms. “Leonardo and Michelangelo died in that arena. They want to watch until the end to honor them.”

“Just like Mastodon and Rex,” Mikey smiled ruefully.

“We would stay, too, but we’ve been gone from Gotham for a while already,” Batgirl said in apologetic tone. “Joker and the other villains get a bit trigger happy when Batman is gone from the city for too long.”

“Don’t apologize,” Mikey smiled at the girl. “I’m sorry you guys couldn’t stay longer for better reasons.” No one had to say out loud what those better reasons should have been.

“We should be going,” Batman cleared his throat.

Mikey held his hand out towards Batman. “I’m sorry to see you all go so soon.”

Batman gave a flat hum and extended his own hand, shaking the turtles. “Try not to die.”

“I’ll try,” Mikey chuckled and drew his hand back.

Batman closed his fist after Mikey’s hand left it and brought it into the closed confines of his cloak. Mikey’s own hands disappeared into his orange cloak and it made the turtle giggle at the thought of almost matching with Batman. All he had to do was dye his cloak black and get a cowl.

“See you guys later,” Mikey winked at Batman and company before turning to continue on his quest to go check on Michael. He didn’t turn around as he heard the humans’ footsteps towards the portal gateways.

Mikey knew about the gateways. They were how the humans and Master Splinters of each universe were brought into this one by Big Mama’s assistants. It was also how they would go home to get something they forgot, though the Leonardo’s and Michelangelo’s weren’t allowed to go home. The Raphael’s and Donatello’s were free to come and go as they want as long as they promised to a security check when they came back to check for potential contraband and had escorts the entire time in their universes.

Cassandra and Casey had informed the rest of the family after they went home to get Donnie one of his back-up battle shells that Big Mama didn’t even send them escorts. Casey – who grew up in the apocalypse and had gotten used to knowing when eyes were on him – and Cassandra – who was freaking Cassandra Jones – knew that the yokai boss didn’t bother to send anyone to watch over them. April had equated it to Big Mama not caring anyone that was human.

Mikey tried to fight off the smile on his face as he walked to universe 2012’s house. For as smart as Big Mama was, her business woman tunnel vision was showing to be her downfall. He was already starting to find the weak points in Big Mama’s nexus that would send it crumbling to rubble beneath her.

And he knew Cassandra would be swinging the naganita that would start the chain reaction.

Chapter Text

The Arena – The Hallway Leading To The North Tunnel

Fearless was somber as he walked towards the tunnel he would be entering the arena in.

The leader of his universe of turtles had sent them ahead already as he needed an extra moment of meditation to prepare himself. He had been thinking more on what the Daimyo had told him yesterday. He knew that he had to let the other Leo’s know at some point about the wish. It could be anyone’s guess on who would win so they all needed to know how to bring back the fallen fighter.

‘…yeah, right,’ Fearless snorted breathily to himself. There was no way he wasn’t going to be one bearing the title of champion at the end of this now that he knew there was a way to bring Mike back.

“Leonardo!”

Fearless turned at the call of his name, giving a wiry smile at Faraji. Bowing towards him, Fearless greeted his friend. “Hello again, Faraji-san.”

“Leonardo, you know we have no need for such formalities,” Faraji shook his head and stopped in front of the turtle to give his own bow. Straightening up, he regarded the leader in blue with a pitying look. “I know this must not be good time for you so I do not expect you to pretend.”

With that, Fearless let his forced smile drop and his shoulders slumped. Letting out a shuddering sigh, he dragged a hand down his face. “Bad doesn’t even begin to describe how things are,” Fearless admitted.

Faraji nodded his head in understanding. “I understand. If I had known that last message would be Michelangelo’s final one, I would have said more.”

Fearless furrowed his brow at Faraji’s words. “What are you talking about?” Fearless asked.

“It’s actually why I came to find you,” Faraji said as he pulled the covered object off his back. Holding it out towards Fearless, inclining his head. “Go on – take it.”

Fearless hesitated for a moment before taking the offered object. Untying the string around it and letting the fabric fall away, his mouth dropped when he realized that gunshin was back in his hands. He looked up at Faraji and back down at his ninja tribunal weapon, his mouth still hanging open.

“H-how?” Fearless squeaked out.

“Michelangelo reached out to me,” Faraji admitted with a weak nostalgic smile. “He said that you were going to need it and asked if I knew where it was. It took a bit longer than I wanted but I did find it. I wish I had been sooner but I messaged him the day he fought about it. If I knew that was the last time I would be able to speak to him…” Faraji trailed off, not able to meet Fearless’ eyes.

Fearless gulped, delicately clutching the sword closer to him. His eyes misted up but he blinked them away.

Even beyond the grave, his youngest brother was still helping him out.

“Leo!” Ra called from down the hall. He was pointing at the very same tunnel that Mike had entered on the first day of the grand nexus. Fearless knew that Big Mama had to have done this on purpose just to mess with him mentally.

“There they are,” Fearless said as he looked over his shoulder at his brothers.

“I wish you luck on your fight,” Faraji said as he bowed towards Fearless again.

“Thank you,” Fearless thanked him with a bow of his own.

Ra stomped over to Fearless and grabbed him by the bicep, pulling him over towards the tunnel entrance. “You idiot! They’ve already sounded the gong.”

“What took you so long?” Don frowned with his fists propped up on his hips.

“Just meeting up with an old friend,” Fearless smiled softly as he held up gunshin for his brothers to see.

Don’s and Ra’s eyes grew round at the edges. “No freakin’ way,” Ra breathed as he let go of Fearless’ arm to look at the blade. “How the hell did Faraji know?”

“Mikey,” Fearless answered as he swallowed past the lump in his throat. “Told Faraji that I was going to need it.”

“That brat,” Ra murmured as he looked at gunshin. “Always worrying more about others than himself.”

The grinding of stone caught their attention and Fearless saw how the gate started to slowly close. “That’s my cue,” he said as he held his empty fist out towards his brothers. “See you two later.”

“You better or else I’m going to spit on your grave,” Ra said with a crooked smirk as he tapped his fist against Fearless’.

“Real smooth, Raph,” Don rolled his eyes and completed the group fist bump. “But true – don’t die Leo or else we’re going to bring you back just to kill you again.”

“Only as long as you promise to bring Mikey back too,” Fearless winked at his brothers. They could all feel the empty spot of their four-way fist bump and the heart of their little group.

Slipping away, he ducked under the closing stone gate into the tunnel. Once he cleared it, the speed of the gate increased and it slammed shut behind him. Taking a deep breath, Fearless squared his shoulders and started the trek down the dark tunnel.

“Don’t worry, Mikey,” Fearless whispered to the hilt of the sword in his hand. “You just have to wait a little longer and then I’m bringing you back.”

The Arena – The South Tunnel

Leader stood against the wall opposite of the entrance of his tunnel. Looking down it, he felt a pit forming in his stomach as he waited for the gong to sound. Glancing over at Party, he couldn’t believe he let his youngest brother walk himself to his almost death without more of a fight.

Party was standing at the entrance of tunnel and staring down it with a 1000-yard-stare that Leader didn’t like the look of. None of them should have to look like that ever and it bothering Leader endlessly. Fox was rubbing a hand up and down Party’s shell to give him some comfort.

“Chin up,” Wrath said as he punched Leader in the arm. “Don’t be a Debbie Downer.”

“Would you stop punching me in the arm?” Leader hissed and rubbed at his bruising arm.

“Never,” Wrath smirked and reared his arm back to punch Leader again.

“Raphael, yame,” Sensei’s sharped scold cut through the air. Jones straightened out of respect for the father even if the scolding wasn’t aimed at him.

“Hai, sensei,” Wrath grumbled as he immediately dropped his fist and crossed his arm.

Party shivered as he stepped away from the tunnel that he had been staring down. “That thing gives me the heeby-jeevies,” he said.

“That’s called trauma, Mikey,” Genius said.

“Trauma, shrauma,” Party blew a raspberry.

Wrath smacked a hand to his face. “We need to find a hella good therapist once this over,” he grumbled.

“I’m sure we’ll have no problems finding one that accepts giant mutant ninja turtles,” Jones snarked with a roll of his eyes.

The gong sounded from down the tunnel, making Leader gulp. “Looks like it’s time,” he said as squared his shoulders to prepare himself.

“Wait!” Party yelled, making everyone jump at the volume.

Leader paused in the mouth of the tunnel for a moment. Party started patting down his pockets before reaching into the one on his left pant leg. With a grin, he pulled out a blue omamori with orange accents. His lips tilted up at the edges as he took the messily made good luck charm. “You made me an omamori?” he asked, unintentionally echoing the same question his brother asked on the first day of the competition.

“Well, yours worked for me so I figured it would help you,” Party shrugged, running a finger down the stained omamori hanging from his gold chain.

Leader chuckled and tied it to the straps that crossed over his plastron. Giving it a tug to make sure it was secure, he patted it. “Thanks bro.”

“Anything to make sure we remain the reigning champs,” Party laughed.

“Actually, based on percentages of fights won amongst each group, universe 2007 is the current champions of the nexus,” Genius interrupted.

Wrath was quick as he leaned over and punched Genius in the arm.

“Ignoring that,” Party coughed and clapped his hands together. He shot two finger guns at Leader with a waggle of his eye ridges. “I won my match which means you are going to wins yours, capiche?”

“By what logic does that work?” Genius asked.

“The associative property, duh,” Party rolled his eyes. “See, I know fancy math terms.”

“That’s not how it works at all.”

“Yes, it does.”

“No, it doesn’t.”

“Whatever,” Party scoffed and poked a finger at Leader. “Go out there and show them why you don’t mess with the dream team.”

“The dream team?” Leader snorted.

“Of course,” Party beamed and pointed his thumb on his chest. “With how com-comp-com—”

“Complemental,” Genius supplied.

“That word,” Party said and pointed at Genius. “With how our powers are, me and you make the dream team.”

“And where does that leave Donnie and me?” Wrath asked.

“I guess you can be our lowly squires while we show the world what happens when you mess with us,” Party snarked.

Wrath was quick to slap Party upside the head.

“That’s enough teasing,” Fox huffed and stepped over to hug the oldest turtle. “Good luck, Leo,” Fox said and leaned up to peck the turtle on the cheek.

“Thanks April,” Leader grinned before pulling away to face Jones. “Got anything to say?”

Jones shrugged with a bored half-smile. “Why say anything when I know you’re going to come back? It’ll be embarrassing to say my good-byes now just for you to return.”

Leader smirked and held his fist out towards the human. “True. See you later, Jones.”

“Go kick his ass, Leo,” Jones smirked and tapped his fist against Leader’s.

Leader dropped his hand and faced his father, bowing towards him. “I will make sure to pride us great honor, sensei.”

“Oh, my son,” Sensei breathed and bowed towards his son. “Having you as one of my children is the greatest honor.”

A smile made its way onto Leader’s face as he stood straight and turned away from his father. Slapping his cheeks and jumping on his toes, Leader shook out his shoulders. “Whelp, it’s time.”

“Don’t lose,” Wrath said bluntly and slapped Leader across the back of his shell.

“My predictions are showing you winning with a 78% chance,” Genius said in his own way of wishing his brother luck.

“I’ll take those odds,” Leader chuckled.

“You go show everyone why you’re the most wicked cool of the Leo’s,” Party laughed and shook Leader’s arm.

“I’ll try my best,” Leader huffed a smiled and stepped backwards into the tunnel. Holding his hand up, he gave a lazy salute to his family. “See you all later.”

The tunnel’s stone slab that served as a gate started to lower to separate Leader from his family. He turned away from them and looked towards the light at the end of the tunnel.

“Make sure to come back to us!” Party yelled down the tunnel just in time for the tunnel gate to close in front of him.

Leader exhaled the breath he had been holding into the darkness of the tunnel. He reached up to the omamori tied to his front.

“Don’t worry, Mikey,” Leader whispered with a hand laying overtop of the omamori. “I’m not going to leave the three of you behind.”

The Arena

Big Mama tapped her fingers against her microphone, a smile on her face as another pair of turtles was about to enter her arena. She had been particularly excited about this match-up, especially after the results of the very first match between Mike and Party.

“Is everyone ready for another heart pounding match?!” the yokai bossed cheered into the microphone. She waited for a moment to let the audience yell in agreement before continuing. “Splendid! Though, it will be hard to top the energy our dear Pizza showed up in the last match.”

Big Mama tilted her head to universe 2007’s viewing box where Pizza was sitting on a two-seat couch next to Jungle with his legs crossed and hands holding his ankles. He had a sporting of bandages covering his few bumps and bruises. The main injury was his partial blindness and a layer of bandages was wrapped around his head to cover his eyes. The amusing part was that he still wore his mask over his bandages but it was slightly skewed with the eye holes just off of where they were supposed to be. The medics of the nexus who were employed by Big Mama had performed some healing magic on him but recommended letting his eyes rest for now to fully heal.

Pizza perked up at his name with a tilt of his head to the side and waved to the general area in front of him. Tech and Watcher didn’t bother to hide their pride that they had both their Leonardo and Michelangelo enter the arena and be the one to leave their match alive.

“Anywho,” Big Mama beamed as she redirected everyone’s attention. “From the north tunnel, we have the eldest brother of the daimyo’s departed champion who we will see if he can avenge: Fearless!” Big Mama’s voice boomed around the arena.

Fearless’ teeth ground together at the dig Big Mama always made at Mike’s death. He knew the vile woman reveled in the fact that between the two champions of the competitors, Mike had been the first one to go and in the first match at that. Looking up, he could see from where he stood how Don barely kept Ra from jumping out of their viewing box to go show her what he thought.

Though, Fearless wouldn’t argue if Don decided to let Ra have his way.

The gate opened in front of the turtle and Fearless came marching out of the darkness with purpose in his stride. The cheers got louder as he appeared but he didn’t give them the satisfaction of acknowledgment. Getting to the center of the arena, Fearless crossed his arms and looked up at his family.

“Someone’s moody,” Big Mama giggled into the mic. “Let’s have everyone give a round of applause to our Leonardo from the south tunnel, the eldest brother of the daimyo’s champion killer: Leader!”

Fearless’ nails dug into his biceps at yet another jab at his brother’s death. Don had to cover Ra’s mouth to prevent him from saying something so vile that Fearless wound be punished at the outburst.

Watching the opposite tunnel entrance open, Fearless had to snort at how Leader exited the tunnel just like him. A flat look was pasted on his face as Leader made his way out into the arena and didn’t bother to wave towards the crowd cheering his name. His hands were curled into fists and swished through the air with his determined gait forward.

Getting to the center of the arena just opposite of Fearless, Leader nodded his head towards his counterpart. “Fearless,” Leader greeted.

“Leader,” Fearless greeted back with the same cadence.

“…well, looks like have two quite similar counterparts fighting together,” Big Mama commented dryly. Clearing her throat, the yokai boss tapped a hand on the microphone. “If my two gladiators would prepare themselves.”

Leader rolled out his shoulders and reached behind him with both hands to grab a sword hilt in each hand. Unsheathing his katanas, Leaders held them loosely at his side.

Fearless only raised his right hand to grab gunshin which was strapped to his back. Unsheathing it, Fearless made sure to move in a way to show off the weapon to the crowd and his counterpart. He couldn’t help it – gunshin was back in his possession and he wanted to show it off.

Leader whistled at the sight of Fearless’ sword. “That’s a beaut.”

“Thanks – its name is gunshin,” Fearless grinned and held his sword out in front of him in both hands.

“I’ll have to get me one of those after this,” Leader said.

“I’ll hook you up with the whole ninja tribunal treatment after this. It’ll be fun, trust me,” Fearless snickered. “Totally not 'end of our world and all we know' type vibe.”

“I’ll take you up on that,” Leader snickered before sobering up. “I’m sorry we have to fight like this. I really did enjoy our spars with each other.”

“They will always hold a special place in my memories,” Fearless bowed his head towards his counterpart. “I will not be upset at the results of this match if either one of us wins.”

That was a lie as that meant Fearless would lose his chance to save Mike – but he wasn’t going to say that right now.

“With that, let’s get a start on this fight,” Big Mama said with anticipation building in the arena.

Fearless joined his empty hand to gunshin’s hilt and brought the sword up in front of him. Leader spun his twin katana once in a large circle at his sides, letting the blue-ribbon tassels tied at the end flutter through the air, before holding them in an X in front of himself.

“Fight!”

Twin clangs of metal on metal rang out as Fearless’ and Leader’s swords met in the middle of the arena.