Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

School was as boring as ever, especially for April O’Neil and Casey Jones. They were fighting aliens and an evil ninja clan at night. Of course, something as mundane as school is boring.

Sometimes, however, they wished they had more friends. Sure, April had her friend Irma, but Casey didn’t like her and she didn’t like her. And while Casey had his team, they were just that, his hockey team, he wasn’t sure if he wanted to consider them his friends anymore after meeting the turtles and April and having real friends.

Just as the two were walking to their next class, Casey was glad Irma had a different class, April texted one of the turtles and bumped into someone.

“What where you’re going, dude!”, said Casey as he helped April up.

“It’s fine, Casey.”, she said as she turned to the guy, “I’m sorry, I wasn’t looking where I was going.”

“It’s fine.”, the guy said. He looked to be around their age. He was picking up not only his own books but also April's.

“Here.”, he said as he handed April's books to her.

“Thanks.”, she said, “You’re new aren’t you?”

“I am. That obvious?”, he asked.

“Kinda man. You stick out like an anime MC.”, said Casey.

April elbowed him into his side. Why did he have to be weird? This was their chance at a normal friend.

“I guess I do.”, the boy played with the ends of his hair, which were a bright blue hue.

“I’m April, that’s Casey. If you need help you can come to us.”

“I’m CJ.”, he said, “I could really use your help, I’m looking for my next class.”

Casey snatched the schedule from the other boy and looked at it.

“Huh. We’re in the same class.”

“Really?! That’s great! There’s a seat free next to me, you should sit with us in class.”, she offered.

CJ agreed and followed them.

While they were in class, they didn’t talk all that much, but they did ask CJ to join them for lunch. He was likely the only person in school who wasn’t aware of their reputations. April is the weird girl and Casey is the angry jock that keeps fighting everyone. As much as they loved their turtle friends, they craved a human friend away from all the crazy mutant stuff.

As they sat together, Irma walked up to them as well, she introduced herself to CJ and sat down across from him, next to April. April was sure, CJ had the same annoyed expression on his face as Casey, even if just for a second. She chooses to ignore it for now.

“Have you ever played hockey?”, asked Casey.

“Not really. My oldest sister plays though. She’s been trying to teach me. I’m good at skating, but the rules don’t stick, ya know?”, answered CJ.

“Maybe I should try teaching you!”; said Casey.

April had to admit she enjoyed having CJ around. He was fun and he was easy to get along with.

But there was something odd about him.

CJ really looked out of place. He stood out more than he should. Yes, he had blue tips, but that could just be hair dye, and that’s surely what it was. But his eyes were a vibrant green, they were almost glowing. Even more vibrant than Raph and that’s saying a lot, his eyes were as vibrant as mutagen itself. She wouldn’t be surprised if CJ’s eyes would glow in the dark with how bright they were.

But more importantly, CJ’s whole aura was weird. She felt like he was hiding something like he was far more powerful than a teenager should ever be. But no matter how off-putting this feeling was, April couldn’t help but trust him. She trusted him already even with just how little she knew about him. Like she had known him for far longer than she actually did.

The four later walked home together. CJ excused himself first, he mentioned his sisters were waiting for him. Soon after CJ left, Irma took her usual left tut not get home as well.

Casey and April walked further to the usual sewer cover they used.

They had patrol later and for once, the two had something interesting to share with their friends and their rat father.

Once they were in they were in the sewers, they were greeted by Raph chasing Mikey. One could only wonder what Mikey did this time to set his red brother off. Leo was sitting on the couch, watching space heroes. Donnie was likely in his lab and Splinter, as always, was in the dojo.

As April sat down on the couch and began to work on some of her schoolwork before they headed out to patrol, she noticed Casey walking into the lab. Casey loved annoying Donnie. Actually, he loved Donnie’s attention more than anything and as of right now, annoying the purple living turtle was the easiest way to reach his goal. She could only wonder when Casey would finally tell Donnie that Casey liked him, not April. She couldn’t handle the tension between them anymore.

Soon enough the lab door flew open and Donnie and Casey walked out. Donnie was irritated by whatever Casey had done. Casey looked as happy as ever.

Just then Splinter also left the dojo.

Mikey sat down next to April and leaned over to her while asking: “Sooo, did anything cool happen at school?”

“Probably not. School is boring.”, said Raph sitting down further away from them.

“Very true.”, said Casey, “But we met a cool dude.”

“You have a new friend?!”, yelled Mikey, “What is he like? Is funny? Can we meet him?!”

“Michelangelo. You know meeting humans is dangerous.”, said Splinter. He knew his youngest son only wanted to make more friends, but the last time Mikey met with a human he believed to be a friend it was Branford.

“I know…”, said Mikey.

It always broke Splinter's heart to see his son this disappointed. He saw the excitement leave his remaining sons' eyes as well. They may not voice it as openly as the orange turtle, but they also desire to have more friends. More people their age to talk to, not just Casey and April.

Casey and April also picked up on the sour mood.

They told the boys what they knew about CJ, and it seemed to lift the mood slightly, even if it was clear they just wanted to meet CJ even more. Especially once they mentioned the blue hair. Mikey loved the idea of dyed hair. Even Splinter seemed interested. the child sounded not that bad. If it came down to it, he'd be alright if CJ found out, if he was half the good person the two humans believed him to be.

After hanging out for a little they headed out for patrol.

As they jumped over the roofs Leo told them to hide. April and Casey were left a little confused. After a few minutes, they continued. A few roofs later they stopped.

“What was that about?”, asked Casey.

“A few days ago, we started running into a girl. She almost saw us and we just kept running into her.”, complained Raph.

“That’s just weird.”, said April, “Do you have a picture? Just so we can watch out?”

Donnie showed them a photo of a girl, a little older than them. Most noticeable was that she had her hair in two afro puffs and red glasses. And somehow she stood out a lot. It was like her yellow shirt was just a shade too bright as well as her green jacket. Like she didn’t belong here.

No wonder the boys were trying to avoid her. Something was off about her. Though April had to admit, she was very curious about her.

As they continued to patrol they eventually ran into the Foot, specifically Karai. It’s been a few days since they last saw her.

She didn’t hesitate to fight Leo as a few Foot bots began to fight the others. Oddly enough no Foot bot went for Raph.

Raph found it weird but he didn’t hesitate to help his brother in fighting Karai. The rest could handle the bots. But he was kicked in the face as ran. He stumbled a little, surprised by the kick. The kick was far stronger than anything one of the bots could do. He spit out a little blood as he looked at his new opponent.

In front of him stood a girl, a few years older than him. She had a shaved head and wore the typical ninja suit Foot soldiers wore, just with ripped-off sleeves.

“I’m going to enjoy this.”, said Raph as he got ready to fight.

He had wanted to fight someone for real recently. Fighting Kraang and Foot Bots was not the same as fighting a person.

The girl just smirked, seemingly agreeing with Raph.

Neither wasted any time and they charged at each other. At first, they were evenly matched against each other but Raph was distracted when he heard Mikey yell. One of the bots had thrown his chucks down the building. The recruit used this to land a solid hit on him again. That got Raph to pay attention again. He charged at her and hit her, ripping a bit of her suit at her side. She shortly helped her side, relieved he didn’t draw any blood.

Despite that, they kept at it. To a point that the Bots were destroyed and even Karai and Leo were distracted by their fight.

As they stopped fighting to see what the recruit and Raph were doing, everyone was just mesmerized by it.

Karai because while she knew her new recruit was strong, likely even stronger than herself, she hadn’t seen her fight that seriously before. Raph’s brothers and friends because they hadn’t seen Raph this excited in a while. They all knew he loved to fight, but he hadn’t been this happy to fight someone in a while. He was enjoying himself and letting loose. He may be a hot head but didn’t want to let loose when fighting his brothers and friends, he didn’t want to hurt them. But this girl? She was the enemy and a stranger! He didn’t care if he hurt her, she started it too!

As fun as this was to see, Karai decided to return to the base. The mission had been to scare the turtles with the recruit after all. And this seemed to be accomplished. There was a reason there weren’t enough bots after all.

Karai whistled and the fight came to a stop. The girl looked at her and walked towards Karai casually.

“HEY! Get back here! We’re not done!”, Raph yelled.

The recruit ignored him.

Everyone moved to stand before her, trying to stop her. She just shoved them away with a kick or two.

She paused when she stood in front of April. There was some kind of respect in her eyes. April wasn’t sure why. Before she could even try to decipher it, the recruit picked her up.

She threw her up a few times as if she was confused as to why the redhead was so light. April felt her cheeks heat up as the other girl held her. She watched the recruit closer this time. She noticed the defined muscles on her exposed arms and her surprisingly long lashes as well as her perfect pink eyeliner. April was amazed by the recruit, but she couldn’t admire her any longer.

The recruit decided she was done with whatever she was doing and threw April to the side, right into Mikey.

April kept looking after her as she and Karai left the roof.

“April? Are you okay?”, asked Donnie as he put a hand on her forehead, “Your face is red.”

April’s cheeks got darker, easily visible on her fair skin.

“I’m fine.”, April slapped Donnie’s hand away and stood up again.

Leo decided it was time to go home now and they headed back, making short stops at bright Casey’s and April's places.

As April laid awake on her bed, her thoughts kept wandering to the recruit. Why was April so focused on the hot girl – no not hot, she’s the enemy. April can’t think she’s hot, right?

Chapter Text

Great. Just great.

April has a crush, on the enemy no less. Why did she have to fall head first for the first hot girl she saw?!

“Wow, Red, you look like shit.”, said Casey.

“Gee thanks.”, said April.

“Are you okay?”, asked CJ. Bless his soul. The only person nice to her.

“Yeah, just didn’t sleep a lot.”

“Do you want me to fix your hair? I’m pretty good with it?”, offered CJ.

“You’d do that?”

CJ nodded, he enjoyed doing hair and he was good at it. He never really gets a chance to do someone else’s hair. He was banned from doing one sister’s hair and the other one was pretty much bald, much like their brothers.

“Is that your attempt at flirting?”, asked Casey the other teen.

April froze as she handed CJ her hair tie. Please no. Everything but another boy pining for her. Not now, not ever.

“What?”, CJ sounded so confused, “Why would I flirt with April? I’m just doing her hair. Don’t blame me for that. She has nice hair and I’m not allowed to my sister’s hair.”

“Yeah right-“, Casey was cut off by CJ.

“I can do yours too if that’s why you’re being an ass. April is clearly uncomfortable with your dumb suggestion.”

April had relaxed. CJ was just doing her hair and Casey looked at him surprised. He didn’t mean to make his friend uncomfortable. He was just teasing her.

“Sorry April.”

“I accept your apology if you let CJ do your greasy ass hair.”

Casey scoffs. He knew his hair was a mess, but he just hated taking care of it. He wanted to refuse, he knew April would forgive him anyway, but when he saw the excitement on the younger teen he had to agree. CJ looked so excited to do someone’s hair.

“Fine.”

“Great! You do have to wash your hair though. I am not touching that.”, said CJ.

“You can do my hair tomorrow.”, said Casey. He sounded somewhat defeated. He just wondered how he got bested by his new friend’s excitement. But maybe he’ll get a compliment from Donnie tomorrow if CJ does a good job.

After CJ finished April’s hair, it was a bit fancier than her usual ponytail. He put a nice little braid in it.

“This is so cute. Thanks, CJ.”

“No problem. I’d love to do your hair again. It’s very nice.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

April liked that CJ enjoyed this. No one had done her hair since her mother passed. April never found the motivation to learn anything other than putting it in a ponytail. But having someone actually do it? She forgot how nice it is.

As they went through their school day, they were eventually joined by Irma. She complimented April’s new hairstyle. When April mentioned was made by CJ, Irma wondered what kind of flirting attempt that was. CJ simply stated he wasn’t flirting. Somehow the two times CJ had met Irma, CJ dulled. Like he hides himself away because of her. April noticed that even if Casey didn’t. As much as April loved Irma, something was off. Was it just Irma that was weird? Or was it something with CJ? April made a note to separate Irma from the boys. Casey didn’t really like her either. Even after the whole confession about Donnie from him. And now CJ? It would be for the best even if she really wished that her three human friends got along.

As the four sat together for lunch. CJ pulled out a tray of brownies.

“Those look so good dude!”, said Casey, “Where did you get them?”

“One of my sisters made them.”, CJ said as he offered them, even to Irma as much as he clearly didn’t enjoy her being here.

“They’re really good!”, said April.

“I’ll let her know.”, said CJ.

“Huh. So, you let your sister do all the housework? Typical of a guy.”, said Irma.

“Typical? I know how to cook. She just likes making brownies.”, said CJ defensively.

As much as CJ didn’t like Irma, she also despised him, even more so than Casey, for some reason.

“Really?”, mocked Irma. CJ tried to ignore her now.

“Guys, please.”, April tried to calm the situation.

“She’s probably some girly girl that loves pink and is a doormat.”, said Irma.

“You don’t know shot about my sister.”, said CJ.

“Don’t I? Prove she isn’t a bimbo.”

This was going too far, but before Casey or April could step in, CJ pulled out his phone, which looked really weird. How was it so flat?”

Irma looked at the photo on the screen.

“I take it back.”

“Of course, you do.”, said CJ, “Don’t talk shit about my family again. Got it?”

April swore she saw his eyes glow just now. Must be her imagination, she barely slept tonight after all.

“Can we see too?”, asked Casey.

Everyone turned to look at him.

“What? I’m curious.”

CJ just shrugged and showed them the picture.

Casey and April froze. They knew her. She was the new Foot recruit. Did CJ know? Was he a bad guy? Surely he wasn’t? Right?!

As Casey was worried their new friend was a bad guy, April was distracted by the picture of the girl she had gotten a crush on. She was out of the ninja gear and in something much more casual. It looked good, really good.

Oh, April had it bad. Really bad.

“Red?”, asked Casey.

“You okay?”, wondered CJ, “Do you know Cass?”

“Oh, um-“, April’s cheeks flushed, “We ran into her once.”

Casey smirked, knowing what had April up all night now, Irma shot her a knowing smirk too, the only one not truly aware of the whole situation was CJ. April liked him more now; he wouldn’t tease her now.

“Really? She’s been a little weird lately… No idea what she’s up to though.”, CJ explained.

Casey sighed; relieved CJ was likely unaware of the whole Foot situation if he talked like that. April was relieved as well, if CJ was her brother, then maybe the Foot recruit – Cass – was actually a good person. Even if she had a weird feeling about what CJ said, something felt off.

There was an odd silence, luckily Casey was unaware and just continued the conversation.

“She looks cool. Never seen a girl rock the buzzcut like that.”

“You don’t even know half of it, but that’s Cassandra for you.”, joked CJ.

Cassandra. April liked that name.

After school the four walked home, before they split up, April got a call from the turtles. While she didn’t pick up, she and Casey ditched the other two after saying goodbye.

As soon as they left Irma turned to look at CJ, only to notice he was gone too without even saying bye.

“Rude.”, she said.

Sure, Irma was just a robot controlled by Kraang Subprime, but that was still really rude of the kid.

When the two humans reached the lair, they found out the call was just an accident. Donnie was working on Leo’s phone when he accidentally pressed the call button. Had April answered the phone she would have known. Oh well, what can you do?

The rest of the afternoon was calm.

April was doing some homework when Casey decided to be an ass.

“Guess what guys- April has a crush!”, he loudly announced.

Donnie was quick to drop what he was doing.

“Oh wow, she likes the new guy.”, said Raph unimpressed.

“Nope, it’s not CJ. It's the Foot recruit form yesterday. The girl that fought Raph.”

“WHAT?!”, yelled everyone.

April sunk down into her seat.

“April you can’t have a crush on the enemy.”, said Leo.

“Says the guy that had a massive thing for Karai.”, said Raph.

“That was before I found out she’s our sister. I just mistook admiration for a crush.”, said Leo. He was still embarrassed about that.

“I think it’s cute.”, said Mikey.

“I don’t.”, added Donnie under his breath.

“Come one, Dee.”, said Casey as he slung an arm around the turtle, “You can’t compete with Cassandra.”

“Cassandra? How do you even know her name?”, asked Leo.

“CJ, our friend, is her little brother. I don’t think he knows anything about the Foot.”, said April. Her cheeks still flushed in embarrassment.

“Your friend is her brother? Just make sure he doesn’t find out about us.”, said Leo.

Later that night they went out for patrol like they usually do. But this time they were ambushed by the Kraang, not after seeing that weird girl they’d been seeing again. What is up with her anyway?!

As they were fighting the many Kraang bots, Donnie had to fight multiple Kraang at once. It was a few too many to handle, usually if the Kraang chose one of them to target the most, the others could interfere, but not today. Today they were fighting too many at once.

Just then they heard a chainsaw and three of the Kraang fighting Donnie were cut in half the little aliens ran off.

“Are you okay?”, asked the savior as he reached out to Donnie. Donnie looked at him and was awe-struck. That was a teen and one Donnie wouldn’t mind looking at longer. Donnie took his hand and was surprised at how easily the boy pulled him up. Donnie didn’t even do anything; he was just pulled up.

“Yeah, thanks-“, before Donnie could ask for the boy’s name the other two humans yelled.

“CJ?!”

“Oh, hi guys!”, CJ said.

“You’re CJ?!”, asked Mikey as he was in the teen's face, “I’m Mikey!”

“Hi Mikey.”, said CJ.

“Why are you so calm about this?”, asked Raph.

“What do you mean?”, asked CJ.

“Really? Dude. You’re looking at turtle mutants.”, said Casey.

“And?”, CJ tilted his head. Donnie thought he looked cute. Wait- cute?!

“You’re weird.”, said Mikey.

“MIKEY!”, yelled Donnie and Leo.

“I’m so sorry, Mikey speaks before he thinks.”, said Leo.

“It’s fine. It’s not the first time I get called weird.”

“Guys?”, all eyes turned to April, “We should get CJ to the lair or something.”

“Why?”, asked Raph. He wasn’t sure about this guy yet.

“CJ is bleeding.”, she said deadpan.

“I am?” “He is?”, said CJ and Donnie at the same time.

In the end, Leo and Raph were outvoted on bringing CJ to the lair. Donnie wanted to thank CJ by patching him up, Mikey wanted a new friend and the two humans just wanted their friend to be okay.

While CJ was being treated by Donnie, Leo broke the news to Splinter.

Splinter decided to check on the boy and Donatello as he was being patched up and heard them talk.

“Your weapon is incredibly impressive. Who made it?”, asked Donnie.

“I made it with one of my uncles.”, said CJ.

The two seemed to be having fun, if Splinter recognized the tone of voice from his son, he would say he had found a new person he liked. His son seemed to have a tendency to fall fast and hard, even if Splinter had to admit he assumed he and Casey were getting rather close.

“Hello, you two.”, Splinter said, breaking the conversation.

Donnie scooted away a little from the human.

“Hello, Sensei. This is CJ.”

“Hello, sir.”, CJ bowed his head.

“I assume you will keep our existence a secret.”

“Of course.”

“If you don’t, you will regret it.”, threatened Splinter. Was he a lot harsher to the boy than Casey and April? Yes. But he had to. His sister was involved with the Foot after all.

“Sensei!”, yelled Donnie.

“It’s fine Donnie. I get it, he’s just worried.”, CJ put a gentle hand on Donnie and the turtle blushed and shut up. Splinter couldn’t help but chuckle at his son’s reaction.

After the three humans eventually left, the four turtles and their father sat together in the kitchen.

Mikey was happy they had a new friend, even Raph and Leo were a little more open to the idea. They wanted a new friend, but they were still worried about his sister.

“Say, Donatello, did your infatuation move from April to CJ?”, asked Splinter.

“DAD!”, Donnie squeaked as his brother looked at him.

“You have a crush on CJ now?”, said Raph.

“Really?!”, came from Leo.

“You should have a double date with April and her crush.”, suggested Mikey.

Somehow Donnie knew they were going to be worse about this than they had been about April.

Chapter Text

Over the next few days, Donnie’s crush on CJ became abundantly clear. He was even worse than he was with April. Likely because CJ was already very comfortable around them, not that they knew why. They spent quite a bit of time in Donnie’s lab. Working on tech was something they both enjoyed.

As CJ spent more time in the lair, along with April and Casey, Splinter eventually asked CJ to train with them. He wanted to see what the teenager was capable of.

First CJ was just watching the turtle’s spar. Eventually, Splinter asked CJ to spar against Casey.

CJ, having been raised in the apocalypse by a ninja clan, not that anyone knew that, was far more experienced than anyone would assume. He knew Casey would jump in without thinking, and CJ took that opportunity to swipe Casey’s legs as he tried to hit the other teen. Casey fell to the ground.

Splinter then asked Donnie to go next.

In hindsight that was not the smartest idea, then again, Splinter liked to mess with his sons.

Donnie didn’t want to spar with CJ. He was worried he’d accidentally hurt him. He didn’t expect to lose against the human.

They spared for a little, without weapons as Splinter's request, until CJ noticed an opening and went for it.

In a split-second Donnie was pinned to the ground with CJ on top of him, their faces incredibly close. CJ was smiling at Donnie. He had enjoyed their spar. Donnie on the other hand was doing his best to not turn pink. CJ was so close and as much as he liked it, it was also driving him insane.

“Looks like I win.”, CJ laughed.

“Guess so.”, Donnie looked away from the human.

Everyone was watching them, this was embarrassing. He just knew his brothers were laughing at him.

When CJ stood up and helped Donnie up again, Splinter was talking to them, praising CJ and giving Donnie some advice, but Donnie didn’t listen he was stuck in his head and thinking about what just happened.

His three brothers were standing behind them trying not to laugh at the purple brother’s obvious crush and flustered state. This was so much more fun when he liked April.

No one seemed to pick up on Casey’s frown.

After their sparing session, they needed to kill some time before it was dark enough for patrol. April went out to get some pizza while the boys sat down on the couch. Mikey, Leo and Raph were playing some video games, and Donnie was talking to CJ about something with the human listening intently. Casey on the other hand? He was supposed to be playing games with the other three but he looked at the remaining turtle and CJ.

He was happy Donnie had someone he could share an interest with, but he did hate that Donnie never talked to him like that.

Casey just wanted to walk over there and tell CJ to get his own nerd. Donnie was his nerd. The only thing keeping him from doing so was the fact that he liked having CJ around. But that doesn’t mean he liked that Donnie spends time with CJ.

“Are those nerds really more interesting than our game?”

Casey yelled as Raph pulled him out of his head.

“What the fuck, Raph!”

“What? You look like you want to make them stop talking.”

“I don’t.”, said Casey, looking away from Raph.

“Wait- you do! You like one of them!”

“Shut up!”, Casey put a hand over Raph’s mouth to shut him up. He looked over to where Leo and Mikey were still playing. They didn’t seem to notice, though Casey knew at least Leo had heard Raph. Then he glanced at Donnie and CJ, they clearly didn’t hear.

“Ew, gross man!”, Casey removed his hand from Raph’s mouth. Raph had licked his hand and Casey whipped the spit off his hand onto the couch.

“Spit it out, which one is it?”

“Why do you care?”

“Either you like my little brother or the guy he likes.”, said Raph.

“Donnie likes CJ?”, Casey sounded sad.

“So, it’s Donnie?”, said Raph.

Casey blushed a little as Raph said that. He was very much aware of his crush on Donnie, but having one of Donnie’s brothers find out? And Raph, his best friend, at that. It made him flustered.

“Yeah.”, mumbled Casey.

“Really? Is that why you annoy him all the time?”, Raph laughed.

Just then April walked back in and Casey quickly stood up, claiming he’d help April. Raph just kept laughing at the teen’s misery.

“10 bucks Donne gets with CJ.”, said Leo as soon as Casey left.

“Totally, he and Donnie vibe so much.”, added Mikey.

“Never. Casey and Donnie will get together.”, said Raph.

“Are you just saying that to bet against us or do you actually believe that?”, asked Leo.

“You’ll never know.”

The three bet on it.

Mikey and Leo were sure they’d win this bet, but Raph knew he’d win. Raph had to listen to Donnie talk about CJ and complain about Casey a few too many times to know that he actually liked Casey and not CJ. He’d realize that soon enough.

If one looks close enough the things that Donnie liked about CJ were the same that pissed him off about Casey. CJ was just easier to like than Casey.

Raph would never admit it but he enjoyed a good romcom, and this was the best one he had yet seen. All the stupid drama that would be solved with just a simple conversation.

He’d enjoy this shit show and collect his 20 dollars from his brothers once he wins this bet.

For tonight’s patrol, they split up into two groups. Mikey, Raph and April were in one group while Casey, Donnie, CJ and Leo were in the other.

At first, they had tried to keep CJ from joining them on patrol, but that didn’t last since he ended up joining them anyway. So they rather include him than have him running around in the city alone.

Raph and his group had a relatively calm night until they ran into Karai and her new recruit, Cassandra. Raph had been waiting for a rematch.

The two were at it in seconds while Mikey and April were fighting Karai.

April kept glancing at Cassandra, only for Karai to keep landing hits on her. Luckily Mikey was there to help too.

“You like her don’t you?”, asked Karai as she got close enough to April.

“What?”, said April as she blushed.

“You like my newest recruit.”

April knew Karai was just doing this to throw her off, but it still had her flustered.

As they kept fighting they were eventually interrupted by Raph flying their way. He crashed into Mikey, sending both of them flying. April rushed to their side immediately.

“HA! YOU LOST TINY TURTLE!”, yelled Cassandra.

“Why did you throw him at me?”, asked Karai.

“I didn’t, I threw him at the orange one.”

“He was next to me. You could have hit me!”

“I have great aim!”

The two argued a little before Karai got a call. They were finished. They were only a distraction.

“Wait- what about the others then?”, asked Mikey.

“Shit. Let’s hurry!”, said Raph as he stood again.

They hurried to get to the others. If this was the distraction, the others likely found the real operation.

While they were trying to get to their friends the four were struggling.

Only a few minutes in they had found Foot bots as well as Fishface, Rahzar and Tiger Claw.

As they were fighting Donnie and Leo were trying to figure out a plan, and wondered what they were doing here in the first place. The two humans on the other hand were fighting the mutants and bots. They worked incredibly well together.

CJ was going more for a close-range approach and cutting the bots in half with the chainsaw as well as using the hockey stick as a bo staff. Casey on the other hand was shooting his explosive pucks at first and then went for the same approach as CJ, only in a less refined manner.

Leo noticed his brother distracted by the two humans. Damn, was Raph right? Was Donnie just in denial? Regardless, Leo smacked his little brother over the head.

“Stop daydreaming Donnie.”, said Leo.

“I was not!”

“Sure.”

Just as Leo and Donnie had gotten a proper plan, Tiger Claw emerged with something from the building he was inside of. They hadn’t managed to even get inside yet.

CJ froze when he saw the thing in his hands. A strange-looking orb, it looked like it wasn’t supposed to be from here. It was too vibrant for this reality. Too bright to belong here.

Just then Tiger Claw called the bots back but not before throwing something at them. Whatever they threw hit the ground and blew up. As they were distracted the Foot left. Casey shot one last puck after them as he looked over to CJ, the other teens' eyes were even brighter than usual, like they were glowing. Probably just a weird reflection. He looked like he wanted to run after them. Like he needed something from them.

They were pulled out of their heads by Leo.

“Shit! Donnie, are you okay?”

The two humans ran over to the mutants. One of Donnie’s kneepads was on the ground a few feet away from them and his knee was bleeding. Leo helped him to sit on a few boxes that were scattered around.

“Do you have any bandages?”, asked Leo.

Donnie shook his head as he inspected his knee.

“We need to bandage it before going back into the sewers. We don’t want you to get an infection.”, said CJ as he kneeled in front of Donnie.

CJ then pulled out a few supplies from his bag and began to address Donnie’s wound.

Leo took a step back to give them some space and stood next to Casey, who once again was glaring at CJ and Donnie.

“You really are jealous.”, said Leo.

“What if I am?”, retorted Casey.

“Maybe tell Donnie?”

“Yeah right. And make him hate me more?”

“Donnie doesn’t hate you. He’s just a bit complicated.”

“I know, but it was fine before CJ came along. I had time to do this! I have competition now!”, explained Casey.

“Do you regret meeting CJ?”

“No. He’s my friend and it’s not his fault. Heck, I wouldn’t be mad if they got together. Jealous? Yeah, but not angry.”

Leo put a hand on Casey’s shoulder. “You’re a good guy, Casey.”

Maybe Raph was right after all. As long as Donnie was happy, Leo would even lose that bet.

As they just decided to watch CJ and Donnie Casey was close to losing it, he was still a jealous idiot. CJ had just finished addressing the wound when he kissed the bandaged knee. To Casey, it looked like a romantic gesture but to Leo, it looked more like something he used to do when his brothers got hurt. Like an older sibling did this for CJ and he just did it too.

When CJ kissed his knee Donnie’s face exploded in a blush.

CJ on the other hand didn’t think about it. His uncle Leonardo used to do this for him as a child and his big brother Leo does it too. If they do it, it has to help.

After that ordeal the other three finally reached them, and they decided to go home. They needed to figure out what that orb was.

As they entered the sewers Leo couldn’t shake the feeling they were being watched but as he looked around he couldn’t spot anyone.

She leaned against a wall as she watched the group descend into the sewers. They hadn’t noticed her today.

If April was one to judge she’d say this whole situation just became a whole lot funnier. It was a little weird that a different version of her liked her sister and that a version of Donnie liked their brother but different world, with different rules. She isn’t one to judge.

This was going to be fun to see. Their remaining brothers will have a field day once they return and they tell them everything about this messy love triangle situation.

Chapter Text

A few weeks earlier.

Karai was sent to look for the turtles by her father, they hadn’t been seen in a few weeks. It had to mean they were planning something, not that the Foot wasn’t planning something either. Stockman had picked up on something and Karai wasn’t supposed to know. It pissed her off. She was the heir to the Foot! She was supposed to be aware of these things! How was she supposed to lead the clan one day if she was left out of everything!?

Karai eventually sat down on the edge of a roof. She tried to find out where the turtles could be. She tried to look at Murakami’s already, and had been watching every pizza delivery guy she saw! It should be that hard to find four overgrown turtles!

Just then she heard something from the alley underneath. For sure one of the turtles! She jumped down and into a fight.

It was far too dark to see which brother it was but he was good, really good. So, either Raphael or Leonardo. Even if he looked a little thinner than he was supposed to. They had shells after all.

Much to Karai’s surprise when she finally got a better look, it wasn’t one of the turtles, but a girl in her late teens.

Before Karai could react properly, the other swiped her feet under her and pinned her to the ground. She had won, whoever she was.

“Who are you?!”; she demanded.

Karai stared at her, she never lost to someone close to her in age.

“I asked you something!”

“My name is Karai.”, Karai wasn’t sure why she answered that. She had to admit she was a little intimidated by the older.

“Why are you attacking me?”

“None of your business.”

“It’s my business alright.”

The two stared at each other. Karai liked her attitude. She was fun. Maybe she could convince her to join the Foot, she had the spirit and strength to do so.

“I have an offer for you.”, said Karai.

“Why would I take an offer from you?”, the older sneered.

“I can offer you a job, one where you don’t have to scavenge for food in the trash.”

The older froze. Karai had hit the nail on the head. She saw the way the older reacted, she truly was scavenging for food. Only a few more arguments and Karai could read her like an open book.

“Food and money?”, she asked as her grip on Karai loosened.

“Food while you work and money to feed whoever you’re doing this for.”

The stranger was hesitating. Karai hit another jackpot. She was doing this not only for herself but for other people too. Maybe younger siblings? She was too young to be a mother.

“What do I have to do.”

“Fight for me and my father.”

“Fine.”, she stood, letting Karai go but not helping her up, “But only until I don’t need this anymore.”

“Of course.”, lied Karai. There was no leaving the Foot once you joined, “Now, follow me. We have places to be.”

Karai walked out of the alley, looking behind herself to see her new lackey following her.

“What’s your name anyway?”, Karai asked.

“Cassandra.”

Welcome to the Foot Clan, Cassandra.”, smirked Karai.

Once they arrived back at the base, the Shredder called for them. He was informed of a stranger with his daughter.

“Karai. Who is this?”, he demanded.

Karai kneeled and nudged Cassandra to join her.

“This is Cassandra. I recruited her. She’s a promising fighter.”

“And you dare not to inform me?”

“I apologize, father.”

Cassandra kneeled next to Karai; she knew better than to not respect the Shredder. She watched them talk. She was a little surprised to find out this world Karai was younger than her not to mention the Shredder was human. She didn’t quite know how to feel about that. It was weird.

Cassandra only agreed to this so she could get money. The three of them couldn’t get any legally, there was a reason she was going through the trash. She was the oldest, she wanted to make sure CJ and April were fed and happy, even if none of them liked their situation and just wanted to go with him.

Then again, maybe being in the inner circle of the Foot was for the better. Maybe they could be helpful in finding the artifact they need to get home.

She was pulled out of her thoughts by the Shredder calling for someone named Tiger Claw. Weird name.

“If she can prove herself in a fight against Tiger Claw she can stay, if she isn’t as promising Tiger Claw will kill her and you will be punished for your foolishness.”

Cassandra was taken aback a little. Sure, the Shredder was a demon in her dimension, but Oroku Saki would never threaten his daughter. This man was just evil. No matter how pathetic he looked. The armour looked really useless, much like Karai’s. But Cassandra won’t judge.

Cassandra walked towards the middle of the room, she was determined to win, like always. She couldn’t die here and even though this Karai was very different from the one in her world, she couldn’t just let her get punished, who knows what Shredder would do to her.

As Cassandra stood in the room a tiger mutant walked in.

“At least the name makes sense now.”, she said.

“WHAT?!, yelled the mutant.

“Tiger Claw. It’s a stupid name.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Cassandra saw Karai smiling, a genuine smile. Maybe she wasn’t all that different from Hamato Karai.

“Tiger Claw. You will fight her. She has to prove herself to the clan.”, said Shredder.

“Of course, Master Shredder.”

“Bring it on, kitty.”, said Cassandra.

That ticked the tiger off. Cass really spent too much time with Leo, and everyone else really, his stupid jokes rubbed off on her.

The tiger mutant was around the same size as Raph, maybe slightly bigger. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t throw him. If she can throw Raph, she can throw anyone, including this tiger.

As Tiger Claw charged at her, she simply stood her ground and waited for him to get closer. When he was close enough, Cassandra took his arm and threw him over her shoulder. He landed hard enough to make something crack. Probably the metal thing on his back.

Everyone in the room froze.

“I win.”, Cassandra says.

“Karai, get her a uniform and Tiger Claw, I expected better from you.”, said the Shredder.

Cassandra followed Karai out of the room.

“You have to show me how you did that.”, said Karai.

“Sure, it’s not that hard.”

Once they got Cass a uniform after she ripped off the sleeves, she never liked them, Karai handed her some money and told her to come back tomorrow. She was only allowed to leave once per week to bring her family the money she made.

The older one didn’t need to be told twice.

Once she was back in their temporary home, she explained and they decided to change their plans. No more hiding in the shadows, they needed to be more active if they wanted to go home.

“You ran into them again right?”, asked CJ in the blank room that was the Mind Meld Space.

“Yeah.”, said Cass, “I fought this Raph. He’s so tiny, but it’s fun!”

“Man, I want to meet them too!”, said April.

“I mean they are fun to be around.”, said CJ, “Also I saw the artifact to get home.”

“YOU did?!”, yelled the girls.

“Why don’t you have it?”, asked Cass.

“The tiger mutant took it. He works for the Foot I think.”

“Tiger Claw! I totally kicked his butt before!”, Cass said, “You could have beaten him!”

“Donnie was hurt and even if he’s not out Donnie, I can’t just leave him.”, said CJ.

“At least we know where it is. If the Foot has it, Cass can try to find it.”, said April.

“You’re right! I can totally take it from that stupid tiger.”

“Maybe don’t fight him directly, Cass.”, said April, “We don’t know if he still has it.”

“I’ll take it when I see it.”, said Cass, “I can take all of them.”

“We know you can.”, said CJ.

The three of them began brainstorming ideas.

“Cass?”, asked CJ.

The two girls looked at him. He had been really quiet while they tried to make a plan, well April did.

“When can we see you again?”

Due to the whole Foot Clan thing, Cass hasn’t been able to see them in person. She managed to sneak them the money, just so they could eat, but didn’t want to alarm the Foot of anything involving the other two. It was safer this way especially since Cass knew she was being followed. There was a reason they were talking in the Mind Meld; it was the only truly safe way to communicate with each other. Cass was surrounded by Foot soldiers; CJ was always with their counterparts and what good was that for April? Not to mention that CJ barely got his own phone to work in this universe, he almost broke it while doing so. He didn’t want to try with the girls, he would already have to sit through a lecture from Donnie for even messing with the phone, despite being in a tight spot.

“I don’t know.”, said Cass. She missed them. They were so close yet so far. It was hard. Ever since she got a family, being alone was now more painful than ever. It hurt more when knowing there was something other than that.

April moved to hug CJ; Cass joined in too. It wasn’t the same as a real hug, but it will have to do for now.

CJ himself wasn’t all that happy with the arrangement. He didn’t like getting separated from his siblings at all. He may have gotten used to his new timeline but that doesn’t erase the trauma of losing every single person that raised him. He was afraid of being alone again. He was only alone for maybe a day, his first day in the past, but it was still hell. Was it because he didn’t have time to grieve or just that he hated being alone? He didn’t know and he didn’t want to find out. He never wants to feel that again.

“We’ll be home soon.”, promised April.

“Exactly, we’ll see our idiot brothers sooner than you think!”, added Cass.

“I know. I just miss them. I miss home.”, said CJ.

“Me too…”, said April.

“Yeah.”

They hugged each other, ideas for their new plan long forgotten.

They just wanted a break. A break from the act and a break from the constant searching and uncertainty.

CJ wants nothing more than just to have his brothers. Every time he looks at this world’s versions, he’s reminded of them. They are so similar yet so different. He likes it but hates it at the same time.

Cass hates this Foot Clan more than the one back home. Well, she hates the Shredder more, the rest was still bad but at least not as culty as the one back home. She was fighting the urge to just take Karai and show her what freedom is, but Cass knew that wouldn’t work. She has to figure that out herself, Cass knows that all too well.

April just wants to relax and breathe. She hasn’t had a break since they got here. She tried so hard to find a way home, the artifact anything leading them home. She misses everything back home.

They were exhausted, they barely slept in the last few weeks and couldn’t wait to have a turtle pile as soon as they got home. They’ll even force Donnie to join because they deserve that much for the mess they’ve been through.

They’ve been here for almost a month now, but at least they are finally a step closer to going home. Home to their brothers.

As similar as they were, this world’s turtles weren’t their brothers and they missed them.

Chapter Text

Even earlier in the Rise universe.

It all started as a normal night of patrol. But then Big Mama’s goons were getting in the way. They just heard them talking about getting new champions for her Nexus. Knowing her and her history, they knew she wasn’t going to stop with asking people. She had kidnapped Splinter already, what’s stopping her from kidnapping someone else?

At first, they thought stopping Big Mama’s goon would be enough, but they didn’t stop. They had an odd-looking artifact and one of the goons got away with it. They had to act fast. As they snug into the hotel to get to Big Mama herself, Donnie texted Draxum about the artifact. For the first time, they were grateful Donnie records everything. Hopefully, Draxum would figure out what that thing was before they had to find out for themselves.

It was easy to get to Big Mama’s office, too easy. The artifact stood on a stand in the middle of Big Mama’s table on a nice-looking pillow. Presenting it to whoever walked in.

Mikey, too excited that they got the artifact moved to grab it, even though it was clearly a trap for them.

“Mikey! Wait!”, yelled Donnie.

But he was too late. Mikey took the artifact and was caught in the yokais sticky webs.

“Hello my little turtlelyboos”, said Big Mama.

“Just give us the artifact and no one gets hurt.”, said Raph.

“No”, she said in a sickeningly sweet tone.

Raph nodded to Leo and he made a portal to get closer but none of them had noticed Gus in the corner of the room as he tackled Leo.

As Leo went down Cassandra darted forward and tried to get the artifact. The human was within reach of the artifact and knocked it out of Big Mama’s hand.

The yokai had a habit of focusing more on the turtles when all seven of them were together. Big Mama looked at Cass and tried to grab her but she used her Ninpo to shield herself and put more distance between them. While the artifact was on the floor CJ jumped to take it. Big Mama shifted her focus from the girl to the boy on the floor before she could web him up she was hit in the face by a baseball bat. April had thrown her bat and CJ used the seconds of confusion to get away from her standing close to his sisters.

Just like one can expect from Big Mama, she was prepared. In seconds the office was swarmed with her goons.

“Take the artifact and get out!”, yelled Raph at the humans.

They didn’t need to be told twice. CJ was still holding the artifact and running between the girls. April kept her eyes open to find the way out while Cassandra used her Ninpo to keep the shield around them up. They had to get the artifact out, no matter how much Cass wanted to fight, since Leo was currently occupied with Gus, she was the best bet on getting them out safely.

What none of them had anticipated was that their Ninpo was actually doing something to the artifact, it slowly began to glow more and more —first a pale green, then a soft yellow and then a bright pink.

Everyone stopped as they looked at the artifact. Before anyone could do or even say anything the glow became brighter and more vivid. It was glowing green, yellow and pink all at the same time. Engulfing the whole room in the bright shades.

It was much too bright for anyone to even see anything other than the light itself.

When Raph finally opened his eyes again he searched the room for his siblings, like he always did. He saw Mikey and Donnie, Donnie was helping Mikey out of the net, despite his clear discomfort of touching the sticky web. Leo was behind the desk still being pinned down by Gus. Raph was closest to him; he was about to help his little brother out.

Then he looked towards where the other three had been. His heart skipped a beat as he saw they were gone. Did they get out or were they gone for real? As he tried to understand their situation he heard Leo call for him. Raph snapped out of his trance to push Gus off of Leo.

“I can’t reach them!”, yelled Mikey as Donnie finally got him out.

Mikey had been the one most in tune with their Ninpo, as well as their Mind Melt. He could always reach his siblings no matter how distressed they were or he was. He wasn’t used to not feeling them, especially three of them. It made him nervous.

“WHAT?!”, yelled Leo and Donnie. They had assumed the three got out.

Raph put a hand on Mikey, helping him regain focus as he tired and tired again to find them.

The twins moved towards Big Mama, who hadn’t fully regained her vision yet, the bright light was too much for her sensitive eyes.

Leo held his sword at her neck, glaring at her. Donnie did the same with his bo-staff.

“Where are they?”, asked Leo.

Big Mama blinked a few times before looking at the mutants before her.

“Where are they?!”, yelled Leo again.

Donnie was gripping his staff tighter, glaring at the yokai.

Raph kept his hand on Mikey’s shoulder, giving him a little comfort, as they walked over to the twins and Big Mama.

Mikey was the only one not giving her a death stare, too focused on finding a sliver of his missing siblings. The longer it took, the more he was reminded of the one time he couldn’t connect to Leo.

“Where are they? What does that thing do?”, asked Raph in a stern voice. If they didn’t know any better one would assume Raph was going to end her with the tone he spoke in.

Big Mama glared at them but caved. She knew when she lost a battle and she also knew how far these turtles would go for their family.

“It’s called the Orb of Realms. It connects to Mirror Realms. Realms like our very own but different.”

“You’re telling me they’re in a different universe?!”, yelled Donnie, “As in the Multiverse?!”

“Is that what those little humans call it?”

“Not important! You’re telling us they’re in a different universe? How do we get them back?”, demanded Leo.

“I don’t know, baby blue.”

Leo moved his sword closer to her throat.

“There is a second Orb of Realms.”

“Where?”, asked Mikey. He finally was able to focus again, even if his brothers noticed the worry in his voice.

“No one knows. Both Orbs were hidden millennia ago.”

Leo snarled as he removed his sword. Raph nodded towards him and he opened a portal. They had a mission. They had to get their siblings home. Donnie removed his staff as well and walked through the portal. Mikey followed too.

Before Raph walked through the portal he looked at Big Mama.

“How about you finally learn your lesson?”

He walked through the portal and the portal closed behind him.

Once the four were home Donnie and Leo ambushed Draxum who was already researching what the object had been. Donnie explained the situation and the two, as well as Mikey moved to trying to locate the other orb. Raph informed their father and they also tried to help the others in finding its location.

They had a lot of work ahead of themselves but they’d do it. They will get them home, no matter the cost.

They just hoped the other realm wasn’t a death trap.

They hit the concrete of the roof of a budling. As they slowly sat up and took in their surroundings they looked around and saw a city, a big city. For a second they assumed it was New York, but that couldn’t be right. It was so dark and abandoned. New York was bright and colorful at all times, filled with people. It’s the city that never sleeps. What was going on?

They tried to reach their brothers, but nothing. That was alarming.

“Uh… Guys?”, asked CJ.

The two looked at him.

“Where’s the artifact?”

“I thought you had it?”, asked Cass.

“I did! But now I don’t.”

“Did you really drop it?”

“I don’t know!”

“GUYS!”, April yelled. She was trying to concentrate and their bickering wasn’t helping.

They quickly shut up as soon as April yelled at them. They knew she would use her bat to shut them up if they didn’t. And they were also aware that it hurt a lot.

As April tried to think of what could possibly have happened, Cass tugged her arm.

“What?”

“We gotta go!”, said CJ already on the edge of the building.

“Why?”

“Someone coming.”, Cass said.

They quickly ran over to CJ who had found a fire escape and they climbed down. They were almost out of earshot when April heard someone talking, she stopped in her tracks, listening to them.

“Would you look at that. A shit tone of nothing!”, said one of them.

“Are you sure where in the right place?”, asked someone else, they sounded much nicer than the first voice.

“It’s supposed to be here!”, said a third voice.

“I told you it’s magic, dudes!”, said a fourth, very cheerful voice.

“Magic doesn’t exist, Mikey.”, said the third voice.

Wait- Mikey?

No, that couldn’t be right.

As if Donnie himself fed it into her brain April remembered the many times Donnie talked about the multiverse. April made her way up again, and despite her sibling’s protest, they followed her.

She didn’t climb up fully, she only wanted to take a peek.

Donnie was right!

He was actually right! The multiverse is real and they somehow ended up in a different dimension. Likely because of the artifact.

That means this is New York, just not their New York! And if the artifact brought them here, it can bring them home!

As April looked at them, taking in all the differences between them and her brothers, like a short Raph? Hilarious, this worlds Leo looked her way. Thank her Ninpo she moved fast before he spotted her.

She then shooed the other two back down.

They walked for a little, putting distance between this world’s turtles and themselves.

Once they were far enough they settled down on the ground in a relatively clean alley. Well CJ and April did, Cass walked from left to right.

“So? What did you see?”, asked CJ. He and Cass didn’t get the chance to look.

“Turns out we're in a different dimension.”, April said.

“Like the ones Donnie talks about?”

“Exactly like that!”

“Shit.”, said Cass. Her younger siblings looked at her, confused. “I owe Donnie money now. I thought this was stupid.”

“You bet against Donnie? On something like this?”, wondered April.

“In my defense so did Leo.”

“Leo bet against Donnie about everything.”, said CJ unimpressed.

Cass opened her mouth to defend herself only to close it again, they had a point.

“What do we do now?”, asked CJ, “Can’t we ask the turtles for help?”

“No, Donnie said a few times that there is a good chance we could blow up if we meet our counterparts. And where there’s a set of turtles, April O’Neil and Casey Jones aren’t far.”, said April, “We need the artifact. It got us here. It can get us back.”

“How will we even find it? It could be anywhere.”, said Cass.

“I can try to get into the cameras around the city. I’m not as good as Donnie, but I should be able to do that if I can connect my phone to this place. It doesn’t have a connection.”, said CJ.

April thought for a second.

“Okay, CJ you get your phone to work and maybe get into the cameras when you’re done. Cass, we’re going to get some supplies and find a place to stay.”

“We’re stealing?”, she asked.

“We’re stealing.”

A few days later they had made themselves a temporary place to stay, it was a rundown apartment complex, that was set to be renovated soon. Judging by what they saw, they had two months until the renovations began. Two months should be more than enough.

They had a roof over their heads, electricity and running water after CJ tinkered with it a little and they had access to a few cameras at the expense of CJ’s phone. It barely worked after CJ connected it. Donnie was going to end him for that. He didn’t even try to connect the other two's phones.

Now they just had to find a way home, hopefully, they could go home soon, they already missed their home.

Chapter Text

April was the first one to arrive in the lair today. They have all been on edge with the recent interactions with the foot. Casey had decided to drag CJ to hokey practice today, they would arrive after with pizza for everyone before patrol.

April walked into the lair and saw Raph hitting the punching bag, Leo watching space heroes and Mikey next to him reading a comic. April assumed Donnie was in his lab.

She always made sure to greet all of them when she arrived, so after she said hello to the three in the main area she walked over to the lab.

As she opened the heavy door she saw Donnie working on the new version of Metalhead.

“Hey, Donnie.”

Donnie yelped in surprise before turning to her.

“April. Hi.”, he said as he took the cloth on the table to wipe his hands, “What can I help you with?”

He smiled at her. It wasn’t the smile he used to give her. The smile she got when they first became friends creeper her out. As soon as she found out why he smiled like that she hated even more. Donnie’s crush on her always bothered her, not because she didn’t like him. Far from it, she loved him, but not as a potential lover. She loved him as a friend, he was one of her best friends. Ever since he met CJ however? Donnie’s focus shifted to CJ and the crush on her went away. She couldn’t be happier about it. She really has a best friend now.

“Just saying hi.”, said April, “You’re remaking Metalhead?”

Donnie’s eyes lit up at her question.

“Yes! CJ actually gave me a few ideas. Apparently one of his brothers made a fully functional AI a few years back. He told me everything he knew!”

“He has brothers too?”, asked April. This was new to her. “Then Cass also has more brothers.”

“Still thinking about your girlfriend?”, Donnie teased her.

“She’s not my girlfriend!”

Donnie laughed at her.

If you had asked Donnie only a few weeks ago if he’d ever stop crushing on April, he’d call you idiotic. But he was happy he did get over her. He loved April, she was a close friend and part of this messy family. He never truly did love her like that. Growing up he watched so many shows and movies where the guy got the girl at the end that he assumed it would be the same for them, that this was how it was supposed to be.

But life isn’t a TV show. And he preferred it like this. He preferred April as his friend, his best friend even.

April glared at him.

“Ignoring that. You said CJ has brothers?”

“Yeah, four older brothers and two sisters. Cass is actually the oldest.”, explained Donnie.

“That’s all?”

“Mostly, he mumbled something about the disaster twins. I couldn’t hear what but the name is information enough.”

Learning new things about their friend and crush is always odd. CJ was a lot more complex than one would initially assume. And April loved learning more about CJs family because that also meant she was learning more about Cassandras.

“Are you worried?”, asked Donnie.

“Worried about what?”

“Cassandra being with the Foot.”

“A little. I have to admit, I want her to be on our side, but I’m more worried about CJ finding out his sister works for the bad guys.”

“Me too. He holds her in such high regard, all of his siblings, he’d be devastated.”

“As much I want to know her, I want her to be a good guy because of him. He doesn’t deserve that.”

“Yea…”

The sad atmosphere was broken by Mikey barging in and yelling about pizza.

The two laughed at Mikey’s enthusiasm as they walked out of the lap and into the kitchen.

Casey and CJ had gotten a few pizzas. Everyone was focused on their food but Donnie was more focused on CJ. He wore something very different from usual. It looked more like he was ready for patrol. Did he get new clothes just for that? He also had his hair pulled together. It wasn’t a ponytail like April but it kept most of his hair out of his face. A small piece still hanging in his face. He was dressed in a bluish-green jacket with a familiar symbol on it. It looked almost like the Hamato crest, but it was off. A coincidence most likely. What stood out to Donnie the most however were the kneepads. They were blue and had faces on them. It seemed like an odd choice, but it fit him.

Donnie didn’t notice he was staring when Raph pushed his mouth shut.

“Stop drooling, Romeo.”, he said.

Donnie wanted to retaliate when Raph shoved a slice of pizza in his mouth, not wanting to deal with it.

Casey, as always, noticed Donnie. He may not be the most observant person out there but he was always aware of Donnie. He knew Donnie liked CJ, and as much as he wanted to be the one Donnie looked at like that, he couldn’t have that. He wouldn’t force Donnie to like him. Even if it hurt. Instead, he opted to get Donnie’s attention like he usually did. Annoy him. Luckily Donnie had been looking at CJ, who was right next to Casey.

“Aww, are you falling for me, Dee?”, he teased.

Donnie’s face turned red. “Of course not, puckhead!”

“Sure, looked like it, Donnie.”, said Casey.

If Casey could only get Donnie’s attention like this that would be fine.

Donnie silently ate his pizza after that. He hated Casey and his stupid comments. But why did it make him so flustered? It wasn’t like he liked it when Casey teased him. Right? Okay, maybe he did. But Donnie likes CJ, not Casey. Donnie decided to put that on the back burner for now. He’d unpack that can of worms after their patrol if he ever did that. Not like he’d ever have to face that, right?

After that ordeal and after they ate their pizza Leo went over their plan, today they wouldn’t patrol but go out to face the Foot. They needed to get that weird orb the Foot had. Something about it was important and they couldn’t leave it in the Foots's hands no matter what it does.

They prepared to invade the Foot headquarters and jumped over the roofs to get there.

As they moved over the roofs, CJ surprised them even more. They knew he was a good fighter but he had never had this determent before on patrol or a mission. He was moving with much more motivation than ever.

Donnie glanced at him every few seconds. As he did he could have sworn his bright green eyes glowed for a second, even more so than they usually do.

For a second CJ slowed down on the edge of a roof before he continued. When Donnie glanced down he saw the strange girl they’d been running into. What was up with that? Donnie chose to ignore that. For now, at least.

When they were only a roof away from the headquarters, Leo made them pause.

“Remember, we go in, take the thingy and leave.”, he said, “We don’t want to get their attention.”

The rest nodded; they knew this was important.

As they got in, they couldn’t shake the feeling this was easy. Too easy. There were no bots, let alone any recruits. Usually, it was filled with people and bots.

They snug around the building and into a large open area. Why would such a big room be in the middle of the building? And why was it so dark?

Before anyone could even ask a question, the lights were switched on.

All around them stood Foot recruits as well as bots. Ahead of them were Tiger Claw, Karai, Fishface, Rahzar, even Stockman, but most importantly, Cassandra. CJ’s sister. That wasn’t good. They wanted to keep them from meeting. The meeting would either lead to losing their friend or causing him pain. There was only a slim chance she would join them instead.

April looked at her, she wore a slightly different outfit. The grey bandages were replaced with pink, it suited her, and the black robe was also far more form-fitting than the one before. Like this one was actually hers. The only thing out of place was the jean vest. It was like it wasn’t even hers. April wondered why.

It felt like April saw Cassandra for the first time, that the times before she wasn’t truly herself. Like she was hiding something. Something big.

“You really thought we didn’t know you were here?”, asked Fishface mockingly.

“Told you there was something fishy.”, said Raph while glaring at the fish mutant.

“Where is that orb?”, asked Leo as he pointed one of his swords at them.

“Why does it matter? You won’t get it anyway.”, said Karai.

“Get them.”, ordered Tiger Claw.

On cue, the bots and recruits charged at the turtles and their friends. They were easily outnumbered. All of them face multiple men and bots at once.

As the group fought, Cassandra moved forward slightly, but Karai grabbed her arm.

“Sorry to disappoint, you don’t get to fight the turtles.”

“Let her fight, it will make this go by faster.”, added Fishface.

“The turtles and their little friends will be dead sooner.”, said Rahzar.

Cassandra pulled her arm out of Karai’s hold and glared at them. She walked closer to Rahzar and pulled him down to her eye level.

“Never imply I would kill someone unprovoked.”, she said, he voice filled with anger.

In her short time in the Foot the top fighters had learned to be afraid of her, Karai seemed to be the only person aside from Shredder she respected. Not that they knew that Cassandra didn’t respect Shredder, she simply knew the damage he could cause.

Before Cass could actually jump in to help them, screw the plan. She wasn’t going to let them get hurt, everything seemed to escalate.

As they were fighting, CJ and Mikey stood close to each other. The bots and recruits fighting them at once. To no one’s surprise, the two worked well together. Mikey was always quick on his feet and CJ was still very unpredictable to all of them. Only Mikey seemed dot just get him when they fought.

But what caused it all to go amiss was one bot successfully separating them. It got between them and pushed them apart.

CJ was up on his feet quickly, but the bots and people seemed to focus more on Mikey than the human. Likely assuming the mutants were more dangerous than the three humans. Big mistake.

CJ had enough of the Foot at this point.

Not for the first time his eyes began to glow but this time everyone noticed. But none noticed the smirk on Cassandra’s face.

Out of nowhere, multiple orange hockey pucks appeared and CJ shot them at the bots and recruits. The second they hit their targets glowing orange chains wrapped around them, causing them to fall. Then a blue puck hit Mikey and Mikey was suddenly next to CJ.

“What the fuck was that?”, yelled Raph.

The rest of the group had the same reaction, even if they didn’t voice it.

Before any questions could be answered Stockman yelled.

“It’s the same energy as the orb! It’s coming from the kid! We need to get him! He could explain what the orb is!”

“I hate to agree with the nutjob but we need the kid.”, said Tiger Claw.

“You’re not getting CJ!”, yelled Raph.

“We need to get out of here. Forget the orb!”, said Donnie.

“Donnie is right, CJ is more important.”, agreed April.

“I’m not. We need the orb!”, said CJ, “We’re not leaving without it!”

Why did he have to be so determent now?! When his life is in danger.

As they were all distracted by what CJ had just done and the new goal at hand, the Shredder walked in, the orb in his hands.

“Looking for this?”, asked the Shredder.

Chapter Text

The second Shredder stepped out; everything was quiet. All eyes were on him and the orb in his hands.

“Get the boy.”, said Shredder. If the boy could activate the orb, he would be of use, for now at least.

As much as CJ wanted to fight the Shredder right there, he couldn’t. The bots and recruits charged at him. The others managed to keep the top fighters away from him. Leo was fighting Karai; Mikey was going against Rahzar and Donnie was faced against Fishface. April and Casey were beside CJ, helping him fight off the recruits and bots.

Raph was ready to fight Cassandra again. He had been itching for a rematch but when he tried to attack her she dodged him and turned to fight not Raph, but the Shredder instead.

“What are you doing recruit?!”, demanded the Shredder as he blocked Cassandra.

“Getting what I need.”

Cassandra was pushed back a little.

“Kick his ass, Cass!”, yelled CJ as he cut a bot in half with the saw blade on his hockey stick.

The Shredder looked between the boy and the traitor.

“You betray me? The Shredder?! You will face the consequences!”

“I won’t.”, she said. She removed her vest, revealing the same knock-off Hamato crest on her back that CJ had on himself.

As Cassandra went to fight the Shredder Raph ran to stand next to the three humans, stabbing a bot through the chest in the process.

As they fought the admittedly weak mass of bots and soldiers, they asked CJ some important questions.

“What’s up with your sister?”, he asked.

“She’s been itching to fight him, not gonna lie.”, CJ said.

“YOU KNEW?!”, yelled April and Casey.

“About my sister being in the Foot? Yeah.”

“And you didn’t tell us?”, asked Raph.

“It would have ruined the plan.”

“What plan dude?!”, yelled Casey.

“To get the artifact.”

“Why do you need it so bad?”, asked April.

“To get home.”, said CJ.

“You’re not making any sense, dude.”, said Raph.

“We’ll explain later, promise.”, said CJ.

“Not so fast.”, said Tiger Claw.

Shit. They forgot about the cat.

Somehow the mutant had managed to sneak up behind them and pointed his gun at CJ. April, Casey and Raph froze. CJ might have kept this from them, but he was still their friend. Raph took a single step closer but Tiger Claw shot his gun, he didn’t hit CJ directly, but he graced his cheek, causing blood to trip.

“One step closer and I won’t miss.”, he threatened.

Raph didn’t know what to do, and neither did the other two. Raph was ready to bet his own life, but not someone else’s. But doing nothing will end up with CJ in the Foot's hands.

What t could they even do?

When they heard the gunshot, everyone turned to look at its source. Leo, Donnie and Mikey froze in fear. CJ was more in danger than ever. But much like Raph, they couldn’t risk moving closer.

Karai, Fishface and Rahzar on the other hand grinned. Tiger Claw had everything under control.

What no one expected however was the Shredder helmet falling to the ground. The loud noise caught everyone’s attention. And everyone was focused on Cassandra fighting the Shredder and doing pretty well too.

With a single command, all the bots pointed their guns at CJ. The Shredder figured out who Cassandra fought for. Tiger Claw did the same and pointed his gun at the boy.

Cassandra abandoned her fight with the Shredder and jumped to help CJ but the bots and Tiger Claw opened fire.

“CJ!”, yelled the kids.

As the fire died down and the smoke cleared again they were able to see the bullets on the floor. Not only a few but all of them. As more smoke cleared they began to see a pink glow. It looked similar to CJ’s green one.

When the smoke fully cleared a pink dome was around Cassandra and CJ. The same crest CJ had over Cassandra’s chest.

Cassandra smirked as she saw the Shredder and his goon’s surprise.

“You ungrateful brat!”, yelled the Shredder.

“The name’s Cassandra, Cassandra Jones!”, she yelled as the shield disbursed, “Remember it, bitch!”

April looked at her and was in awe, even more than before. She was a good person. She and CJ had a plan and she was never a bad guy. Not to mention she seemed to have been holding back too, much like CJ. But above all else, she was happy to see that Cassandra wasn’t a bad guy for CJ’s sake.

Cassandra then hugged her little brother. He returns the hug seconds later. They hadn’t seen each other in weeks. They missed each other, a mind meld hut wasn’t the same as a real one.

“Hate to break the moment but we have shit to deal with.”, said Raph.

“You sure that is Raph?”, asked Cass.

“Yup.”, said CJ.

“He sounds more like a Donnie.”, she mumbled.

“I know.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?!”, yelled Raph.

The two chose not to answer his question.

CJs eyes darted around the room trying to find the artifact. The others resumed their fight against the Foot. Cassandra and Raph fighting alongside each other this time. Raph had to admit, it was fun. To others, it looked like they’d fought together for a long time. It was odd.

April was fighting against the recruits and bots with Casey by her side. Leo resumed his fight against Karai while Mikey and Donnie resumed their fights as well.

Just then Raph and Cassandra were separated by Tiger Claw, leaving Cassandra to face the mutant alone and Raph surrounded by bots and soldiers.

“I’ve waiting for a rematch, kitty.”, said Cassandra as she took a stance to fight.

CJ finally spotted the artifact. It was on the ground next to the Shredder. The man soon picked it up again. The familiar glow appeared again and CJ summoned more pucks, this time they were blue.

CJ tried shooting his blue pucks but he didn’t hit the artifact. He kept missing. Shredder moved around too much and CJ didn’t have enough time to aim properly. Despite missing the Shredder, the pucks kept hitting other things and bringing them to CJ through small blue portals.

Then he opted to shoot a yellow hockey puck at the Shredder and knocked the artifact out of his hand. The puck his Shredder over the head as it made its way back to CJ. When he was about to catch it, the annoying fly mutant caught it instead, he flew a little higher before he was brought down again.

“APRIL O’NEIL!”

A glowing green bat hit Stockman as he was trying to get away with the orb. The bat hit him hard enough to send him flying into a wall, making him drop the orb. Right into the expecting hands of a girl. Not just any girl, but the girl that had been following them for weeks.

She smiled at them triumphally.

“April!”, yelled CJ.

“Way to go!”, yelled Cassandra as she dodged Tiger Claw again.

The girl held the artifact close, jumped and kicked her bat towards the Shredder hitting him first in the face and then over the head again as the bat returned again.

While she did that Cassandra took Tiger Claw's arm and threw him over her shoulder into the floor, again cracking the jet pack.

CJ took that as a cue to summon more pucks, this time orange ones, as he shot them at the bots and soldiers. When the pucks hit they were trapped in glowing orange chains.

Getting the cue, Leo tripped Karai and jumped towards the three humans getting to the window. April and Casey were surrounded by bots and recruits bound in chains, they stared for a second before they ran after towards the window as well. Raph took care of the remaining bots and soldiers, that CJ missed and followed them. Mikey saw a stray puck from CJ, took it and threw it at Rahzar, trapping him in the same chains. Oddly enough the chains seemed far stronger than the ones CJ used. The force even caused Rahzar to stumble and fall over. Donnie swiped Fishfaces feet with his staff and ran towards the window with Mikey as the younger passed him.

As soon as they were out of their sight, the chains disappeared and so did the remaining pucks.

They had lost big time. They had been utterly humiliated by some foolish kids.

The Shredder would end those three brats when he next saw them. They deserve as much mercy as that damned rat.

They slipped back into the sewers, making their way home this way.

All of them had gotten hurt to some degree, but nothing a few bandages won't fix.

Mikey is all over the two newly “allied” humans.

“April O’Neil.”, the new girl introduces herself.

“Cassandra Jones.”, she said, “We’re his big sisters.” She took CJ in a headlock.

“Your name is April O’Neil! So cool! Her”, Mikey pointed towards April, “name is April O’Neil too!”

“That’s not going to be confusing at all.”, added Raph.

“Just call me O’Neil.”

With that settled they walked into the lair; Splinter was there to greet them. He was instantly put on edge by the two new humans. His sons took notice of their father's shift in mood.

“They- um- helped us get the orb-thingy.”, explained Leo.

“And you brought them here?”, asked the man.

“We didn’t have another choice. We couldn’t just leave them topside.”, said Donnie.

“We could have.”, said Raph.

“Dude. They’re CJ’s sisters, not cool man.”, said Mikey.

“His sisters? Wasn’t one of them working for the Foot?”, asked Splinter. The idea of his sons bringing a Foot soldier here was terrifying. What if the Shredder found them? He couldn’t lose his family, not again.

“That’s me.”, said Cassandra as she raised a hand.

“You work for the Shredder. Why are you here?”, he demanded.

“I faked it.”, was all she said.

“Faked it?”

O’Neil stood before her older sister and addressed the man in front of them.

“What she’s trying to say is, none of us ever worked for the Foot. We just needed to get closer to getting our hands on the artifact. We need it to go home.”

“And we needed the money they paid me.”, added Cass.

“That too, yes.”

CJ took the artifact from her.

“I promise we’ll explain everything soon. But for now, we need to treat everyone’s injuries first.”

Splinter may still be wary of them but she had a point, his sons and their friends were hurt. Even the newcomers had a few cuts.

“Fine. But I’ll hold onto this.”, he walked over to CJ and took the artifact from his hands. He needed something to make sure they would talk.

“Cool with me.”, said O’Neil.

CJ and Donnie then got to work, treating everyone’s injuries. Both start with their respective eldest sibling. CJ then took care of O’Neil before treating Mikey. Donnie moved to Raph who only had a few cuts and the remaining two humans were mostly unharmed before he treated his own cuts.

The whole time the room was filled with silence, but of course, Mikey was the one to break the awkward silence as CJ started to work on him.

“If her name is Cassandra Jones, is your name CJ Jones?”, asked Mikey.

“What? No. It’s Casey Jones.”, CJ said as he started to address Mikey’s cut.

Most pairs of eyes turned to look at him.

“What?”, said Casey.

How on earth did they not know that?!

“We have a lot of explaining to do, don’t we?”, asked O’Neil.

“Totally.”, agreed Cass.

They waited for CJ to finish with Mikey and then his own cuts. He settled down next to O’Neil who was next to Cass. Everyone else had a decent amount of distance between them.

O’Neil turned to look at them and took a deep breath.

“We’re from a different dimension.”

Chapter Text

“What do you mean you’re from another dimension?!”, said Donnie, “You’re telling me the multiverse is real?!”

“Yeah.”, was all CJ said.

“How stupid you think we are?!”, yelled Raph.

“We’re telling the truth.”, said Cassandra.

“Prove it.”, demanded Donnie.

If what they were saying was true then he had a crush on a Casey. God. That couldn’t be true, right? It’s Casey.

O’Neil took a deep breath.

“My name is April O’Neil, these two are Cassandra and Casey Jones. Before you ask, yes, we have two Casey’s. We’re part of our worlds Hamato Clan. The current head is Hamato Yoshi. We don’t know how to prove it but we can try.”

Splinter spoke up for the first time since he took the orb, the artifact still in his hands.

“If what you’re saying is the truth, what is this?”, Splinter held up the orb.

“That’s the artifact Big Mama had. We tried to take it from her, but it activated with our Ninpo. I think at least.”, explained CJ.

“Big Mama?”, wondered Casey.

“Spider Yokai and Mafia boss on the Hidden City.”, said Cass.

“Back on track. How are we sure you’re telling the truth?”, asked Leo.

“Right.”, said O’Neil as she pulled out her phone, “I have pictures.” She scrolled through her phone until she showed them the photo.

On the photo was a turtle mutant, he was about the same height as them and wore an orange mask tied into a bow in the back. He was in front of graffiti, covered in paint and had a gas mask around his neck.

“Is that other me?”, asked Mikey as he took the phone looking at everything about the other him.

“Yup, that’s our Mikey.”

“Are those stickers?”

“Yeah, he had a whole bunch and loves putting them on his plastron”, said CJ.

“Can I have stickers?”, Mikey asked his father.

“If you have some you like, I suppose you can.”

“YES!”, Mikey yelled throwing his arms up.

As he did that the phone in his hands went flying and onto the ground before the small pond and then into the water.

“Oops.”

“My phone!”

Mikey jumped into the pond and pulled out the phone, it was the least he could do ever throwing it in.

“Sorry.”, he said as he handed the phone back.

“That’s a goner.”, said Cass as she leaned over.

“You think I didn’t know? Donnie’s gonna kill me!”, O’Neil said.

“Guess we’re both dead.”, said CJ as he looked at the phone.

“What do you mean?”, asked April, clearly concerned.

“My phone died a few days ago. But I knew it wasn’t going to make it home.”

“Why did it die?”, asked Casey, “It looked fine a week ago.”

“I fried it trying to reach the security cameras here. And Donnie just gave me one too.”

“So, no more pictures?”, asked Mikey.

“What about you?”, asked Leo as he turned to Cassandra. He may still be a little sceptical, but he wanted to see more.

“At home.”

“You left it in our dimension?”, asked O’Neil.

“I don’t have pockets.”, Cass gestured to her clothes.

“We need to ask Splinter to sew some in.”, added CJ.

“Why do you keep getting off topic?!”; yelled Raph. He was getting irritated.

“Sorry, sorry.”, said O’Neil, “Since both our phones are dead and we don’t have any pictures, how else should we prove it then?”

“I believe we have enough proof.”, said Splinter, all eyes were on him.

“We do?” “You do?”

Regardless of the dimension, the kids were confused.

“Yes, there’s something about you three that doesn’t seem to quite fit in this world.”

“I mean they are weirdly bright, not gonna lie.”, said Casey.

The three humans in question looked down on themselves.

It was a fair comment from Casey. They were way more vibrant, be it CJ’s hair and eyes, Cass's eyeliner or April’s glasses. Everything about them was so much brighter than the rest of the world.

“Hey- CJ mentioned he has four brothers, are they… us?”, asked Donnie.

“Oh yeah. The seven of us are siblings.”, said O’Neil.

Donnie had to admit, he didn’t know how he felt about that yet.

“Woah- we met April like a year ago and Casey a few months back.”, said Mikey.

“That’s very different. I’ve known the guys for like ten years now.”, said O’Neil.

“That’s really weird.”, said Leo.

“Super weird.”, added Raph.

“I mean Donnie, our Donnie, said everything is possible in the multiverse.”, said CJ

That made sense. There was no reason for the multiverse if everything was the same. With these little things different one could only wonder what else was different.

“Wait- you said two Casey Jones?!”, asked Raph.

“Oh, yeah.”, CJ said, “I guess we're the weird ones then.”

“Of course, we are.”, said Cass, “That’s why we're the better Casey Jones.”

“You are not!”, said Casey.

“Prove it!”

And somehow the two ended up in a wrestling match. Everyone just chose to ignore it. There was no stopping Casey, let alone two.

“So- can I have the artifact?”, asked CJ.

Splinter handed it to him.

“What are you going to do?”, asked Mikey.

“I might be able to activate it or at least make it send a message to our home.”

“Do you need any help?”, asked Donnie.

“No, it’s fine.”

CJ sat back down and began to work on it.

“He’s as bad as Donnie when he gets invested in something.”, said O’Neil, “All we can do is give him time.”

After sitting around aimlessly, the two menaces stopped their match.

“He is a Casey Jones!”, yelled Cassandra.

“What does that even mean?!”, yelled Casey.

“It means she likes you.”, said O’Neil in response.

“I’m going to the dojo. I can’t sit around any longer.”, said Raph.

“I’m joining.”, said Cassandra, always ready to get her energy out.

Somehow that ended with all of the kids, except CJ, in the dojo. Splinter decided to stay with the boy ever so focused on the artifact.

Splinter knew the kids were going to be too loud for him to meditate in the dojo and he’d rather meditate here. The taps and clicks from CJ working in the artifact were actually nice background noise.

As they entered the dojo, O’Neil pulled Casey aside for a second. She needed to know. CJ said something once and she needed answers.

“I need to ask you something really important.”

“And what?”

“Do you like Donnie?”

The teen tried to play it cool. “Duh, he’s my friend.”

“You’re in love with him aren’t you?”

“That obvious?”

“Very. Are you two dating?”

The blush spread across the boy's face.

“No, what makes you think that?!”

“So, CJ was wrong.”

“What?”

“Don’t worry about it.”

Casey had a feeling that not worrying about it was the better option.

Donnie glanced at O’Neil and Casey. He didn’t like it. Much less as Casey became flustered by whatever she had said. Why didn’t he like it?

He sat down near the tree in the dojo while the two older girls taught April a few new moves. Raph and Leo were sparing and the other two were being forced to be training dummies for April. Well, Casey was forced, Mikey had offered.

Donnie had taken O’Neil’s phone and was going to try and save it if only to save her from her brother. Totally not because he wanted to understand how this phone worked and how it was so thin.

But instead of working he was hit by the most unwanted realization he ever had.

Why did it have to hit him now?! Why did emotions hit him at the most unwanted times possible? Couldn’t this hit when he was alone in his lab or room where he could scream into his pillow in frustration?!

Did the universe just send the three here to make Donnie realize this? Come on!

As Donnie’s thoughts wandered everything he liked about CJ were things he also liked about Casey, even if he didn’t want to admit it.

He liked Casey, not the Casey from the other world, but one from this one. The hockey player did everything in his power to annoy Donnie.

Somehow Donnie had made himself believe he liked CJ instead. It was probably the fact that CJ was just much nicer and easier to like, maybe that he could talk tech with CJ, but then again he can talk about cars with Casey too.

In the end, CJ was just the “nicer” option but not the person he really liked.

If his brothers ever found out he was never going to hear the end of it. They were horrible with CJ already. They’d be even worse with Casey.

Donnie hated it but also found himself content with the answer he didn’t know he wanted or needed.

If he was in love with Casey fucking Jones so be it, he wouldn’t be able to change that anyway.

“Donnie? Are you okay?”

Donnie snapped his head up and was met with his eldest brother. How long was he stuck in his head thinking about Casey?

“Yeah, I’m fine.”, a small blush spread across his cheeks.

“If you say so.”, Leo wasn’t buying it but he would let Donnie off the hook for now.

Leo sat down next to him and they watched the three in front of them. Apparently, Cassandra had abandoned teaching April in favor of wrestling Raph and Casey.

If Donnie focused more on Casey, Leo didn’t say anything. Looks like Leo and Mikey lost the bet, but Leo can’t find it in himself to care too much as long as Donnie is happy.

April wants to smash her head against a wall. Not only was she crushing on a version of Casey fucking Jones, but she wasn’t even crushing on Cassandra in the first place. It should have hit her sooner, much sooner, but as April actually saw Cassandra for who she was, she noticed her “crush” was admiration. She didn’t want to be with her but be like her. At this point, she should go into the corner of shame with Leo for mistaking admiration for a crush.

The whole thing made April wonder if she was even interested in dating at all. She was never interested in anyone before this, but that was a bust. Maybe she should do some research about this later. On her own that is. But there was no need to rush anything.

But at last, all that teasing she had to endure was for nothing. At least Cassandra and O’Neil will teach her how to throw a man across the room without her powers.

“Way to girl!”, said O’Neil as April managed to throw Mikey, April’s new favorite training partner, to the ground.

“Dude! That was so cool!”, he said from his spot in the ground.

“OW! OW! OW!”, yelled Casey across the room where he was arm-wrestling Cassandra and failing miserably. Cass pushed his hand to the ground and yelled at her success.

Yeah, definitely not a crush. She’s still a Casey.

“GUYS!”, yelled CJ as he ran towards the dojo, “I got it to work! Somewhat at least.”

“That means?”, asked Leo.

“We should be able to make a call home.”, said CJ proudly.

“That’s amazing CJ!”, complemented April.

“If they have the other artifact that is…”

“Other artifact?”, asked O’Neil.

“There’s a connection to another artifact, so there has to be two, at least that's what Master Mi-, my Master always said.”

“We should still try it!”, said Mikey, he was more excited to maybe meet his counterpart.

“Okay.”

The group sat down in the common area as CJ propped up the artifact and made a few things glow and click before a hologram appeared.

The hologram showed a mutant turtle wearing a purple sweater with a matching purple bandana covering not only his eyes but his whole head – are those eyebrows? He was sipping on a can and tipping on a keyboard, not noticing anything yet.

Then he turned to look at them.

“WHAT THE FUCK?!”

And fell out of his chair.

Chapter Text

The turtle on the other end of the call came back into frame as he got off the floor. He stared for a few more seconds and blinked a few times. They got a better look at him now. The purple sweater seemed awfully big on him and you could see purple markings peak out under the hem of the sweater in his thighs.

“Why are his eyes so bright?”, blurted Mikey out but no one seemed to pay it any mind.

The turtle a universe away had just as vibrant eyes as CJ, if not brighter. He had heterochromia, his right eye blue and his left red.

“Hi, Donnie.”, said CJ happily. The two girls also greeted him.

“It actually worked.”, Purple said, “This thing isn’t a complete bust!”

The turtle was now standing up properly as he looked at the orb.

“What do you mean bust?”, wondered Donnie.

“Sigh.” – did he just voice his action – “The artifact is cracked. We weren’t sure if it was functional.”

“You’re taking this better than I thought you would.”, chimes O’Neil in.

“I freaked out when Big Mama told us everything. And got my 20 dollars from Nardo, which reminds me.”, he looked at Cass, “I will be awaiting my 20 dollars, dearest sister.”

Cassandra grumbled and cursed under her breath.

“Forget your stupid bet. How are you getting these three home?” asked Raph.

Purple looked at him and did a double-take before laughing.

“HEY! What so funny, eyebrows?!”

Purple tried to get his laughing under control, as he tried to breathe normally he held up his hand as if to tell them to wait and left the room, likely his lab, in a hurry.

“He just left.”, stated Leo.

“Why was he laughing at Raph?”, asked April.

“It’s a fair reaction honestly.”, said O’Neil and her siblings nodded along.

“HOW?!”, yelled Raph.

“You don’t look like a Raph.”, was all he got out of CJ.

“WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?!”, he yelled.

The more they were talking the more they were irritating the turtle in red. He hated not being in on a joke, especially if he was the butt of the joke.

Just then Purple returned but this time with a different person behind him. They couldn’t quite see who it was, only that it was a turtle. Another counterpart.

Purple got closer to the orb again but was shoved out of the way by the other turtle. The turtle wasn’t wearing a bandana, they weren’t sure who it was yet. They had seen a picture of their Mikey and had just met this Donnie. It could be either Raph or Leo. The turtle had yellow stripes on his arms and red ones over his eyes. Speaking of his eyes, they were just as bright as Purples. They were even the same color, blue and red. They were simply mismatched; his left eye was blue while his right was red.  He took one look at Raph and burst out laughing, even falling to the ground while doing so.

“I hate them.”, was all Raph said.

“They grow on you.”, said Cass.

“Doubt it.”

After a good minute, the two brothers worlds away finally got a grip of themselves.

“Man, I’m glad to see you guys but damn is that really Raph? I can get behind that Mikey and Donnie but the Raph and moi? No way chico.”

“WAIT- You’re LEO!?”; yelled Mikey. He pushed aside Donnie to get a better look at Blue. He had a feeling this Leo would be a lot more fun than his own. He could already tell they’d be on the same wavelength.

“Duh. Who else could rock-“, he moved his hand as if to flick his non-excitant hair, “Hey, where’s my mask?” He turned to look at Purple and jumped him, wrestling him to the ground.

The other group just stared at them. They hadn’t expected that, but the three humans far from home didn’t react one bit.

“Donnie will bite him.”, said CJ.

“Leo will do it first.”, suggested Cass.

That got more heads turning.

“They will what?”, asked Casey.

“They bite, especially Donnie.”, explained O’Neil.

Before anyone could question the whole situation more, they heard a short cry of pain and the two turtles stood up again.

Blue was frowning and Purple looked smug.

“April! Donnie bit me!”, whined Blue.

“Tough luck. Donnie give him his mask back.”

“Fine.”, Donnie handed the mask back. As Blue tied his mask they saw the bite mark on his arm.

“Wow, dude has a good bite.”, said Mikey.

“Thank you.”

Purple was way too proud of that for anyone’s liking, except maybe Raph, Casey and Mikey.

“Anywhizzle, how did you get this thing to work? We’ve been stuck for a while.”, said Blue.

“To be fair ours almost split in half.”

“Fair.”

How did they go from biting each other to sitting together like nothing happened in seconds? Raph and his brothers fought and always came around but not even Mikey came around that fast. But Raph had to admit, Purple was his new favorite. He bit his Leo, and Raph can respect that, even if this Leo acts too much like Mikey for his taste.

“CJ did it.”, said April.

“Impressive, who are you by the way?”, asked Purple.

“That’s April.”, said Leo.

“Why are you white?”, asked Blue as soon as those words left his mouth Purple smacked his head.

Blue pouted at him. “Why? We’re thinking the same thing!”

“I promised Raph to smack you if you say stupid shit.”

Blue looked like he was about to jump his brother again but before it could escalate again something pulled the two away from the artifact.

They could only hear the two protest and then they saw odd-looking vines holding them upside down as a new person stepped closer.

“It’s good to see you three are alive.”

“Draxum!”, said O’Neil.

Draxum didn’t look like any mutant they had ever seen. He was pink and also had hair on top of his fur. All of them wondered who he was.

Splinter looked at the man and felt something he hadn’t in over 16 years. He had never seen a man this beautiful before and he was a mutant too. He couldn’t help but gaze at the man. He tried his best to not let his change in demeanour slip. For the first time Splinter wouldn’t mind being the shorter one, the mutant was big. He never thought he was like that.

“Dude! What mutant are you?”, asked Mikey.

“I’m no mutant. I’m a yokai.”

“Yokai? Like the Japanese spirits?”, asked Leo.

“No. Yokai aren’t spirits.”

“You look like a mutant thought.”, said Casey.

Draxum outright ignored the teenager and turned to look at the three from his reality.

“To make it simple, you three will have to wait it out. We need to repair the artifact first to ensure safe travel between the worlds.”

“If you need to repair yours, how did they get here in the first place?”, asked Donnie, suddenly worried about this whole thing.

“I have to admit, it’s a miracle it worked. Big Mama’s plan was very flawed and she didn’t think it through fully.”

“So, they could have died?”, said April.

“I’d rather not think about the possible outcomes.”, said Draxum. He didn’t want to admit that the girl was right.

“Then we just have to wait for you to fix it and then we can come home?”, asked CJ, hopefulness clear in his voice.

“Yes, as soon as Raphael, Michelangelo and Splinter return from the Hidden City we can get to work.”

“I was wondering where they were.”, said O’Neil.

As Draxum talked more about the whole situation, the two behind him had an idea.

Purple machines started to appear around them, cutting through the vines, while Blue sparks appeared around them as well.

“Boys.”, said Draxum. He wasn’t even looking at them.

“I wanna see my siblings!”, yelled Blue.

“Come one, Mom!”, yelled Purple.

“Mom?”, whispered Mikey as the scene unfolded. He wanted a mom.

“Fine.”, Draxum made a swift hand motion and the two were released. One would assume he’d be kind enough to gently set them down. But no, he just let go causing them to fall on the floor.

They shrugged it off like it was nothing, and to them, it was and walked to the artifact. They missed their siblings. It wasn’t quite the same without them. They were used to not seeing April and Cass every day but they saw them at least three times a week. And not having CJ around was just weird at this point, he lived with them!

“Are you okay?”, asked Leo. The way they hit the floor looked nasty.

“Never better.”, said Blue as he grinned.

“Why wouldn’t we be fine?”

“Hit the floor head first.”, said Raph. He tried to sound indifferent but he was concerned.

“And?”, said Blue. He sounded very confused. Even Purple looked at them confused.

“Don’t worry about them. They’re just weird.”, said Cass. She always wondered how they never seemed to get hurt, until she found out why that’s the case.

Draxum gently pushed the brothers aside again to address the ones before him.

“We’ll get you home as soon as possible.”, he said, his hand still on Blue's head to keep him in place, even if he looked annoyed the whole time and was frowning at the man.

“I need you to put the artifact in a place that’s secure and has enough space around it, we likely won’t be able to warn you beforehand when we open the portal. We wouldn’t like to cause unnecessary damage to your home.”, explained Draxum.

“I can put it in my lab, that should be a big enough space.”, offered Draxum.

“Thank you, Donatello. Just make sure nothing explosive is close to the artifact.”

“I will.”

Seeing the yokai talk so kindly to his own son made something inside Splinter swell. He remembered the feeling from when he was still human and saw his late wife with Miwa. He was conflicted. He was in no place to worry about these things. His daughter was still with a madman. A mad man his sons and their friends were fighting. He had to push these thoughts aside for his family, no matter how pretty Draxum was.

“Mom?”, said Purple.

“Yes?”, Draxum turned to look at him.

“The artifact is getting darker.”

“Our too.”, said April.

“The connection is dwindling. The call will end soon.”, said Draxum.

“Just hang in there, guys!”, said Blue, “We’ll tell Mikey, Raph and Dad you’re fine.”

“Tell my mom too!”, added April.

“I’ll call her.”, said Purple.

“We’ll get you home soon.”, said Draxum, “And Raphael, look after them.”

“Bye!”, said Blue as he waved at them. Purple waved at them as well.

The call shut off.

Raph turned to the three visitors. “Why did he tell me to look after you?”

“Cause you’re Raph.”, said Cass.

“And?”

“He trusts Raph.”, said O’Neil.

“But why?”

“Raph’s the responsible one.”, said O’Neil.

“And the oldest.”, chimed CJ in.

“And the leader.”, added Cass.

“What?”, said Raph in pure disbelief. All that sounded so wrong. It sounded like Leo.

“Dude! Other you sounds like Leo!”, said Casey.

“Bet he’s a total softy too.”; said April and added, “Just like you.”, just to rub it in.

“Sounds nice for that Leo.”, the eldest brother. He loved his brother but he wouldn’t pass up an opportunity to rile him up.

“No wonder they laughed at you, dude.”, said Mikey as he laughed at his brother's shocked face.

Splinter chuckled at the thought of a calmer Raphael. It seemed wrong to the man.

Before Raph could lash out more, Donnie cut in.

“Wait- where did the bite mark on your Leo go?”

“The guys heal very fast.”, said O’Neil.

“That’s an underestimate! He had a massive bruise not even thirty minutes ago!”

“Like I said they heal fast.”

“What was in their mutagen?”, wondered Casey out loud.

“You can ask Draxum.”, said CJ.

“What?”, asked Donnie as everyone looked at CJ.

“Draxum made the turtles.”, said Cass as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“HE WHAT?!”

Chapter Text

“Let me get this straight. Draxum, the guy we just saw, created your turtles?”, said Donnie.

“Yup.”, said CJ nonchalantly.

“Why?”, asked Raph.

“What do you mean, why?”, asked O’Neil.

“Why would someone need to make mutants?”, clarified Leo.

“TO destroy humanity.”, revealed Cass.

“CASS!”, yelled her siblings.

“WHAT?!”, yelled the others.

“What? It’s true.”, Cass defended herself.

“Can you elaborate on that more?”, asked Splinter. He looked towards O’Neil, trusting her the most.

She nodded before she began.

“Sixteen years ago, Baron Draxum found a fighter in the Battle Nexus-“

“The what?”, asked Casey.

“Battle Nexus, a fighting ring in the Hidden City, a yokai city. There he found Lou Jitsu, also known as Hamato Yoshi-“

“That’s Master Splinter!”, said Mikey.

“Yeah, so Draxum kidnapped him from the Nexus he was forced to fight in and used his DNA to perfect the ooze.”

“Is ooze the mutagen?”, asked Donnie.

“It’s what mutated them so, yeah. Anyway- Draxum wanted the guys to be generals in his army to fight humans. For the good of yokai-kind but Splints didn’t like that and freed himself and the turtles, he got mutated into a rat in the process.”

“Dude, that’s like a comic book worth back story.”, said Mikey.

“Forget about that, they were made to fight. I wanna fight them!”, said Raph.

“I don’t think that’s the best idea.”, said O’Neil.

“Why don’t think I can take them?”

“You can’t.”, said CJ.

Raph scoffed as he turned to the boy. “Why not?”

“They guys are literally bioengineered super soldiers.”, said CJ.

“What now?”, said Raph confused.

“They were made to be weapons.”, explained Donnie.

“Weapons of war!”, added Cass. O’Neil shoved her as she said that.

“You’re lucky your Splinter got out with them.”, said Leo.

“We are. Humanity would be gone. And I don’t mean because of them being evil.”, O’Neil said.

“The Shredder or the Kraang would have had a much easier time.”, said Cass.

CJ shuddered at the thought. “I don’t even want to think about that.”

“That bad?”, asked April.

“Let’s not go there.”, said O’Neil.

Despite the fact that all of them were healing, they weren’t ready to tell them everything, let alone that Cass was actually part of the Foot at one point or that CJ was actually from an apocalyptic future where everyone died. Neither of the Jones liked sharing that little detail of themselves, not that there were many chances to do so. It wasn’t something that was brought up often anymore.

Picking up on the discomfort on the three faces, Mikey wanted to change the topic. Not many would assume it, but he was more aware of others than he let on. For a mutant that lives in the sewers, he was pretty good in social situations.

“Other us are sixteen then?”, he asked.

That did the trick. Everyone’s attention was on Mikey. The three guests thanked him mentally while his family understood what he was doing, all of them were pretty bad at these things, even the two humans and their father.

“Only Mikey is.”, said CJ, “Donnie and Leo are seventeen, and Raph is eighteen.”

“Hold up- I knew other me was the oldest, you said that, but not like the oldest quadruplet.”, Raph said.

“You’re quadruplets?”, asked Cass.

“Yes, all of us are sixteen, like your Mikey.”, explained Donnie.

The three humans had to answer a few more questions until Mikey remembered something important.

“Your Donnie called that Draxum guy mom. What’s up with that?”

“That’s because he is their mom.”, said CJ.

“After he had a whole redemption arc.”, explains O’Neil, “He became a second parent to the guys. They felt weird saying Dad since that’s Splinter, so they went with Mom.”

“And Splinter and him are married.”, said Cass.

“They’re married?!”, yelled Raph, “He married the guy that kidnapped him?”

“To be fair his track record is really bad. He was with Big Mama.”

“The lady that’s responsible for you even being here?”, asked April.

“Yup. She’s also a the one that made him fight in the Nexus.”

“Damn, he has s horrible taste in people.”, said Mikey.

Over the next few days, the three dimension travelers were met with more questions.

“If you have powers, what about our counterparts?”, asked Donnie with a notebook in hand.

CJ delved into a detailed explanation of his older brothers’ powers, as well as some of the history behind it, he left out that the Hamato Clan are descendants of the Foot, let alone that Splinter and the four turtles are direct descendants of Oroku Saki.

“Who’s older, CJ or your Mikey?”, asked Casey out of curiosity while fighting Cass.

“Mikey.”, she simply said as she swiped Casey’s feet, “CJ is the baby.”

“Do you also have a Karai?”, asked Leo as he and O’Neil were watching an episode of Space Heroes.

“We do. She’s great.”, said O’Neil. Leo seemed to admire the other girl a lot. O’Neil didn’t want to tell him her counterpart was gone.

And a few more things were revealed.

“What do you mean Lou Jitsu isn’t a thing here?”, asked O’Neil.

“What about Splinter's acting career?”, asked CJ.

“Splinters what?”, asked Leo.

That led to a very detailed explanation of the LJCU, the Lou Jitsu Cinematic Universe. As members of the Hamato Clan, it was a must that all three knew this by heart. Well, just like Splinter's kids.

“They are different species?”, asked April. O’Neil had just dropped more lore as if it was nothing special.

“Yup. Mikey is an ornate box turtle, Leo a red-eared slider, Donnie is a spiny softshell and Raph’s an alligator snapping turtle.” O’Neil just kept eating her noodles.

“aren’t snappers really big?”

“Yeah, Raph’s a big guy.”

Little did O’Neil know, no one would know just how big Red is.

CJ and O’Neil had one mission to complete before they left. They needed to set up the two hopeless idiots.

They managed to fool them into falls security and with the help of Donnie’s brothers and April, they were looked in a room until they talked.

They all assumed it wouldn’t take this long. But neither of the teens made a move to try and confess. Eventually, they gave up and let them out.

Defeated they sat in the main area.

“What are you even doing?”, asked Cass as she looked at them, she decided to make brownies for everyone and wasn’t aware of the plan.

“We’re trying to set them up!”, yelled Raph. The teens in question blushed.

“Aren’t they dating already?”

“NO!”, yelled Donnie.

“But you’re in love.”, said Cass as if it was the most obvious thing she ever said.

The two looked at each other, faces flushed. Donnie took Casey’s hand and dragged him to his lab.

About an hour later they came back and proclaimed they were dating. No one knows what happened in there and none of them wanted to know.

Mikey and Leo handed Raph his money, and he just smirked.

After a week of waiting everyone was hanging out in the main area after Casey and April got there after school, a loud noise came from Donnie’s lab. Only a second later a turtle mutant ran out of the lab and threw himself at CJ.

“MIKEY!”, yelled the three humans.

Cass and April walked over and joined their hug.

Mikey looked at Orange. He looked just like in the picture he saw, just without the pain all over him. The rest of the group took in Orange as he let go of his brother and sisters.

“It’s good to see you three again.”, said a familiar voice, Draxum. The yokai walked out of the lab as well, oddly enough there were still noises coming from the lab, only this time it sounded like someone cleaning up.

Draxum stood in front of Splinter. “Thank you for giving them shelter.”

“It wasn’t an issue.”

Splinter hated how flustered he sounded. This was someone’s husband, his counterpart nonetheless. He shouldn’t be this affected by a pretty face. The rat mutant chose to ignore his sons’ smug faces.

“We should go soon, the twins can’t hold the portal open for long.”, said Draxum as she ushered the kids to the lab.

The resident Hamato Clan followed them as they heard a new voice.

“We gotta hurry, guys.”

The lab door opened to reveal a huge portal and a big spiky mutant turtle. He was moving things out the way, that had seemingly fallen. The second they saw his mask they knew; this massive mutant was Raph. There really was something else in that mutagen.

“We’re coming Raph.”, said Orange as he dragged his siblings along. The box turtle would have loved to talk to his counterpart but he wanted to get home and have a turtle pile. It wasn’t the same without their human siblings.

Red picked up his four siblings easily as he waved at the counterparts before entering the portal. Draxum bowed to them one more time as a thank you and followed the kids. The second Draxum was gone the portal snapped close and everything Red had put up fell over again.

“You think we’ll see them again?”, asked Mikey.

“I’m sure we will.”, said Splinter.

Donnie forced everyone to help clean up his lab, when he got to the artifact he noticed it still had a faint glow to it. He smiled and put it safely away on a shelf. He knew that if they ever came to visit, they would let them know now. He couldn’t wait to talk to Purple about all the tech he had.

While cleaning, Raph wondered just how strong Red was. He was massive and that alone had Raph’s respect. If he was anything like Raph, he’d enjoy a good sparring partner too, even if everyone is telling him it’s a bad idea.

April and Leo were collecting small pieces of tech as Leo wondered about his counterpart. At first glance, one would assume they are very different, but to Leo, it was much simpler. Blue was what Leo could have been if he didn’t have all the responsibility he was forced to carry. Blue wasn’t the oldest or the leader. He was only himself, something Leo envied a bit, but he was happy for Blue anyway.

Mikey and Casey got brooms out as Mikey daydreamed about Orange. What kind of pizza does he like? Was he also a great cook? Did he have an Ice Cream Kitty? He wanted to know everything. Mikey just knew they would be great friends, best friends even.

Casey and April thought about the fun they had with their counterparts the last few days and weeks for CJ, they will miss them. It was like they had older siblings. Casey was the older brother and never had an older sibling, but Cass was like an older sister now. Kind of at least. CJ was like a brother too, just not older or younger, Casey wasn’t quite sure how to describe it. He would miss the two Jones.

Being an only child, April loved having O’Neil around. The older quickly turned from someone she didn’t trust to someone she looked up to. April wasn’t sure if that’s what an older sister feels like, but to her it was what she imagined an older sister to be like.

Splinter faintly smiled as he wondered about the other Splinter. He was curious about the other rat. He wondered if he faced the same, or similar, hardships while raising four troublesome boys as a single parent. Splinter knew it would have been different alone from the fact that the other world's turtles are different ages and that Red was the oldest. But he would enjoy talking about that with someone who understood. April’s father could only understand so much.

One world over

The short rat man fussed over his three human children alongside the woman next to him worried about her daughter and her chosen siblings. The other adult was getting some tea ready for the worried parents while the other boys prepared everything for a turtle pile and a movie. Even if they didn’t see much of the movie, everyone was tired and could finally sleep again.