For the next week things were amazingly normal. The brothers practiced, played, teased, and yes, even argued like they hadn't gone through two months of sheer hell, but the new underlying sense of togetherness was never lost. Donny and Donatello were busy helping April update the security of her home, while Raph and Raphael did their bet to keep the increasingly tense, father-to-be, Casey from losing it altogether. On top of that, there was a string of (harmless) practical jokes running through the Lair, perpetuated by Leo and the Brats. All in all, life had settled back into routine. Of course, given the turtles' luck, things couldn't stay quiet for long.

The morning that hell, once again, broke loose on the family, started out like any other. Leo was the first one up, anxious to get his hour of personal training out of the way. By six, his brothers had rolled themselves out of bed to join him. This morning it was Donatello's turn to lead practice, and together with Donny and April he had put together a very impressive, though very low end, holographic projector. Using footage (no one was exactly sure how he'd gotten it) of the family's previous fights against the Purple Dragons and the Foot, Donatello was able to recreate simulations of their previous battles, allowing the brothers to test themselves in "real" combat situations with their new abilities. It was a bit of a shock that, even being faster and stronger, the brothers performed more poorly in these simulated fights than they had in the actual combat.

"Okay, I admit it's a little different fighting a real person who is able to think and react to new situations," Donatello admitted at the end of practice, "but still. That was a pretty poor showing on all our parts. Well, except maybe for Leo."

"Yeah, but that's just Leo," Raphael dismissed. "I still can't believe we got our shells kicked by a computer."

"It makes sense, actually," Donny said. "I mean, we've spent the last several weeks, most of us at least," he added with a teasing grin at Raphael who just mock-glared back at him, "learning how to manage our new strength and speed. But what we haven't done is gotten used to each other's abilities yet. Most of us are mostly underestimating what the others can do, and as a result we keep getting in each other's way."

"Dude, you know what this means, right," Mikey asked mournfully. "It means Leo's going to make us do…"

"Team building exercises," Leo provided, taking a seat on the floor next to Mikey, a towel draped over his sweat drenched shoulders. His brothers all groaned. Leo gave them an understanding smile. "I know, I know," he continued. "No one's favorite activity, but we've got to get handle on working as a team under these new conditions."

"You really are 'Splinter Junior,'" Raphael goaded his brother, but there was no malice in his tone.

Any response Leo might have made was cut off by a loud roaring sound filling the room. A dark cloud began to coalesce in the center of the room. Alarmed, all seven turtles shot to their feet, hand immediately going to their weapons. Out of the darkness stepped a tall, emaciated, vaguely female figure. She was approximately eight feet tall, and her skin was an unhealthy gray color, and was pulled so tight on her form that she seemed to be simply a flesh covered skeleton. She had a jackal-like jaw and a mouth filled with very small, very sharp teeth; a sight made even more grotesque by the lack of body fat. Her hands ended in jagged in talons, as did her shoeless feet. Turning her red eyes (very familiar looking red eyes), on the turtles, she hissed, "I am called Malatempa. I am here to dessstroy the one called Leonardo for what he hasss done to my Massster, Lord Darktide."

The turtles looked at each other in alarm before Raphael said, "Get real lady. You're gonna have to go through us to get to him."

Malatempa gave him a satisfied smile; an even creepier look on his disfigured face than the scowl had been. "Yess," she crooned. "I know."

With that, she struck, but the turtles were already in motion. They came at her from all sides: Raph and Raphael from the back, Donny and Donatello from the right, the Brats from the left, and Leo straight into her face. With an odd hiss-growl, Malatempa waved her hand and sent the turtles flying backwards. Donatello was the first to recover, and he dove at her once again. With a waver of her hand, however, he froze in mid-air.

"I will ssstart with thisss one," she said, her malicious pleasure evident in her voice. "I will sssend him to a plassse of much darknesss, where there isss little chanssse that he will sssurvive."

At her words, a dark nimbus began to glow around the frozen turtle.

"Donatello," he brothers screamed, but the purple masked turtle could make no reply. Brighter and brighter the nimbus glowed.

"No," Donny screamed. In desperation, he threw himself at his twin. Just as he touched Donatello, the darkness flared a final time, blinding the inhabitants of the room. When their eyesight finally returned, the pair of Geniuses was gone.

"No," Michelangelo exclaimed, rushing to the spot where just moments before his brothers had been.

Raphael took a more direct approach. With a snarl, he turned on Malatempa. "Where did you send them, you skeletal bitch," he demanded.

"To their deathsss," she replied with self-satisfaction. "The sssame plassse I'm sssending all of the Avatar'sss Guardiansss."

"Not in this lifetime," Raph interjected. He threw his sai with all his considerable strength, but the blade just bounced off Malatempa's bony chest.

"Fool," she laughed. "Your mortal weaponsss cannot hurt me."

"Then try this on for size," Leo said, causing the dark figure to whirl around in surprise. She had been so focused on the other turtles that she had forgotten about the young Avatar completely. Therefore she wasn't prepared when Leo sent his blazing sword, the symbol of his Avatar status, into her chest. With a scream, Malatempa grasped at the wound, but it was too late. Leo had struck with deadly precision. And not being immortal like her master, the stroke was all too fatal. With one more blood-curdling scream, Malatempa disappeared into a small pile of ash.

For a long moment, no one said anything. Finally Mikey broke the ice by firmly declaring, "I'm not cleaning it up. Dead bad guy dust? That's just gross, dudes."

But his brothers weren't really listening. Instead, they'd moved over to where Donny and Donatello had disappeared.

"Do…do you think they're okay," Michelangelo asked quietly.

"They'd better be, or I'll kick both their shells," Raphael said gruffly.

Leo, who had been standing with his eyes closed in the exact spot where his siblings had disappeared suddenly opened them and looked at his brothers. "They're still alive," he said. "That much I can tell. I think she just sent them to another dimension."

"So what does that mean," Raph asked.

"It means that I should be able to track them," Leo said. "It's going to take me a couple of days, I imagine, but once I find them I should be able to open a portal between here and there. Then it will just be a matter of us going through to locate them and bring them home."

"But, what about what that she-demon said, about sending them to a place of darkness," Mikey asked, his voice small. "She said they wouldn't have much chance of survival."

"They'll be okay, Mikey," Leo reassured him. "After all, these are the Genius twins we're talking about. They can survive for a couple of days until we can find them."

"Well, wherever they are, hopefully it's not too bad," Mikey said hopefully. "And I hope they're together. They can get through anything, as long as they're together."

"Me, too, Mikey," Leo said. "Me too."

TMNTTMNT

When Donatello was finally able to move and see again, he was shocked at the change in his surroundings. He was very definitely in the Lair, but it looked like World War Three had taken place in their living room. Horribly alarmed, Donatello called out desperately, "Master Splinter? Leo? Anybody?" But the words just echoed in the empty chamber.

At first, Donatello was at a loss as to what to do. Finally forcing himself to move, Donatello made his way through the rubble, searching anxiously for any clue as to what had happened to his home. As he made his way through the dust and debris, his heart sank further and further. How could this have happened? Who could have done it? When the highly intelligent turtle found a torn piece of a Foot uniform, he was shocked. This was impossible. Shredder was dead. Sure, there'd been some mumblings in the underground about some secret general hand-trained by Saki, but whoever the guy was, he'd yet to show himself. That's when Donatello noticed something. On the far wall of the living room, where his twin's family's living chamber was supposed to be, was simply a bare wall. With growing dread, Donatello walked over the wall. After selecting the appropriate brick, he drew the unlocking symbol in the dust. Nothing happened.

Abruptly memory returned, and Donatello recalled just what had taken place before he'd awakened in this horrible parody of his home. Just as quickly, realization hit; that Malatempa creature must have sent him to a different dimension. Looking around at the destruction surrounding him, Donatello shivered. It was apparent that he hadn't ended up in as nice a parallel dimension as Leo had two years ago. Still, the thought led Donatello to wonder: where were the turtles of this dimension? He hadn't found any corpses, so that seemed to suggest that they had survived this attack. Surely if they were still alive they'd be willing to help him try to get home.

With a plan now at least beginning to form, Donatello turned away from the destroyed Lair. It was clear that his brothers from this world no longer lived here, which meant he needed to search elsewhere for them. Still, with no real idea where to begin his search, Donatello decided to try April's apartment. Hopefully the April of this world would be able to help him locate his alternate siblings. With a slightly lighter heart, Donatello set off.