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"I'm sorry..." Mikey whimpered as he backed away from his furious older brother.
"Sorry doesn't cut it!" snapped Raphael in reply. "You dropped the canister of mutagen. You're lucky no one was near. If Leo or Donnie were even an inch closer-"
"I'm sorry," he repeated. "It just slipped out of my hands and-"
"Stop making excuses," Raph growled, "Some ninja you are, you only screw up everything."
"Guys!" Leo yelled, relieved for an excuse to break up their fight. "I'm going topside to get the pizza, alright?"
"Actually," said Mikey suddenly,"I'll get it." He raced out of the lair before Raph could object.
Leo and Donatello turned to Raphael with glares etched on their faces.
"What?" snapped Raph.
"He really is trying," growled Leo.
A few minutes later, they had settled back into their usual spots, the argument dismissed from their minds. Raph was on the beanbag chair, trying to read his Modern Ninja Magazine over the sounds of the television. Leo sat in front of the tv, a huge, dorky smile spread across his face as he watched a rerun of Space Heroes for the hundredth time. Donnie had set to tinkering with a mouser, his tongue sticking out of the corner of his mouth as he sat on the couch.
Their activities were interrupted as a loud bang echoed through the room. A circle of light appeared in the air. Donnie jumped out of the circle and into the room, except it wasn't really Donnie. He looked a year or two older, and his mask was faded and threadbare. A deep scar etched his face, narrowly missing his left eye.
Confused, Donatello stared at him as Raph looked from one Donnie to the other.
"We need your help," the older Donnie said.
"Who are you?" Leo asked, hoping more for an explanation than a direct answer to his question.
"I'm Donatello. I'm from the future. We need your help to take a Kraang invasion down. I know it sounds insane and you probably don't believe us, but-"
"-Mess with time?" gasped the younger Donatello. "Do you know how-"
"-I know the risk," said the older, "But right now, we don't have much of a choice."
The present three looked at each other. Leo wasn't sure whether or not he could trust the other Donnie, but he decided to take the chance.
"Okay," he said, "But have your weapons ready."
The four of them stepped into the circle of light.
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When they stepped out again, they were back in the lair, but it was slightly different. The arcade games were gone, replaced by charts, maps, notebooks, and newspaper clippings.
Another Raphael was pacing around the entrance of the dojo when he saw them enter.
"You did it!" he said to Donnie, beaming, just as Donnie closed the door of light with a gadget.
The future Raphael was no different than the present one except for the extra weapons tucked into his belt: a kraang laser, a whip, and something that resembled a taser.
When they had seen the lair, the entire thing had become more believable to Donnie and Raph, who put their weapons away, but Raph stayed tense and alert. He didn't like the looks of the other Raph's bright smile, knowing that it was highly uncharacteristic for him.
"I'll go get Sensei," said the future Raph before bounding off to the dojo.
I'll ask the future Donnie why he's so happy, thought Raph, and if he doesn't have a reason...
"Hey, Donnie," he said.
"Yes?" replied both Donatellos.
"You know, we should call our present selves by our nicknames and our future selves by our full names," suggested Leo.(that will be important, sorry if its confusing)
"Okay, Donatello," said Raph again.
Donatello turned his attention to Raph.
"What's up with sunshine over there?" he asked, gesturing to where Raphael had disappeared.
"Oh," said Donatello, his expression suddenly turning solemn. "I just guess he thought... we always needed an optimist in the family. I guess... he's trying to fill that spot in for-"
"WHAT HAPPENED TO MIKEY?!" Raph roared so suddenly that Donnie and Leo jumped. Donatello only looked at him sadly. Shocked, Raph shook his head in disbelief, walking back, away from Donatello, as if it would help.
"He's not...h-he's not..."
Raph collapsed into a kneeling position on the ground, his eyes wide, shaking his head.
"He's alive," Donatello said, "But he's gone mad. He went insane right after..."
"Yes?" Donnie pressed.
"Right after Leo died," he murmured. "I don't know, he probably blames us for his death. He just... left, and whenever we run into him when we're heading to missions, he attacks us, and he's gotten good, too. Like, Splinter-good. I suppose that the only reason that Raphael and I are still alive is that he could never bring himself to kill anyone."
The stunned silence that followed was only broken when Raphael came bounding back into the room.
"Splinter says that we should start explaining the- guys?"
Raphael worriedly looked around the room before Donatello cleared his throat.
"Yeah- start explaining," he repeated, motioning for them to follow him to his lab.
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"Okay, we have a technodrome emerging here tomorrow," said Donatello, pointing at a dot on his computer screen near the Statue of Liberty with the eraser of his pencil. "Then we have some time where they have to recharge their equipment."
"How long?" asked Leo.
"Twenty-four hours," replied Donatello, "Then we have two more coming here and here," he finished, indicating two more blinking dots with his eraser.
"What's the plan, fearless?" asked Raph and Raphael simeltaneously.