Hello fellow turtle fans! I'm happy to see that this plot bunny has received such a warm response. Nine reviews so far, not bad at all. :) So, I've decided to continue the thing. This chapter shows what happened to the others (what really happened in the show) from Raph's perspective. Since I'm trying to keep to the plot of the movie whenever possible I'll be copying quite a few quotes from it in this one. Please note that I claim no ownership, etc. of those lines. Note that I use the nicknames for our 2003 turtles and the full names for their 1987 counterparts. Enjoy!

Chapter 2: A Leader Short

---

Raphael

---

New York City, 2009

Nearly 30 years earlier, seven figures burst out of non-existence and fell in a heap on a bluish-black haired man in a crater in a New York City intersection.

---

Oww. I groaned as I lifted myself up from where I lay in the compressed bedrock next to Casey. He seemed pretty excited to see us.

"Guys! You're alive!" April cried out, relieved. Apparently he and April had been sure we had imploded with the Technodrome thing, which, by the way, had in no way imploded. My head sure felt like it had though, and as Casey grabbed me up in a relieved hug I couldn't help but wince a little.

Is everyone ok, I thought, looking around to check on the state of my brothers and our counterparts as they groaned around me.

"Uh dudes, like what just happened?" Michelangelo began shakily.

"Yeah, shouldn't we be like, nonexistent right about now?" Mikey finished, confused. I wondered the same thing: why weren't we? What had saved us? as April ran over to Mikey and hugged him.

"Mikey!" April cried with relief, then suddenly realizing that there were two Mikeys, added: "…and Mikey?"

"'I bump my head, or am I really seeing double?" Casey added, shifting his eyes back and forth between myself and my counterpart, looking very confused.

"Casey and April, meet our dimensional duplicates," Donny introduced wryly, gesturing towards his own duplicate and Leonardo standing next to him.

"We ain't got time for no meet-n-greet," I declared, still looking around to check on each brother to make sure they were all present and ok: Mikey, Michelangelo, Donny, Donatello, Raphael, Leonardo, and— …that was it…only seven of us. We were a leader short…no Leo. I spun around, sure that he was just behind me. There was no one behind me. I spun around again, going numb as the contents of my stomach gelled and froze.

No. He has to be here. He can't have been the only one broken down by that thing. He couldn't be "nonexistent," as Mikey had put it. But he wasn't here.

"Leo!? Where's Leo?" I shouted, realizing that Leo was not there. Everyone else froze, in the middle of contemplating why they existed they suddenly realized in terror that Leo didn't seem to.

No, please. Leo answer. Say that you just fell outside of the crater or something! My mind begged my brother, rebelling against the awful truth. He was not here. I tore out of the crater, leaping over the edge and frantically searching around the rim, looking out into the intersections, down the streets, into each shadow, nook, and cranny. Leo was not here.

"No. Leo!" I screamed for him, as if calling loud enough for him would somehow drag him back from whatever nonexistent state he was in: "LEOOO!!!" I collapsed to my knees, smashing my fists to the ground and screaming at the sky. "NOOOOO!!!"

I was only half aware of my brothers, Casey, and April searching brokenly around me, calling out for Leo as well, slowly coming to the same conclusion that I did. Somehow Leo had found a way to sacrifice himself for us. Somehow he had gotten us out of there, but must have been unable to get out himself. Somehow he hadn't made it. He was gone.

I became aware that I was sobbing the moment that Mikey and Donny collapsed to their knees beside me, also weeping, wrapping their arms around me and trying to draw comfort in the embrace as we cried together. There was no comfort for me, only a relief that they were not gone too, that I was not completely alone.

Our counterparts stood in horrified, awkward silence a little away from us, moving as if to comfort us, but clearly unsure what to do, what could possibly help, drawing closer together in the sudden horror of loosing a brother.

Leo…no…you can't be gone. Please! My mind rebelled even as my body grieved, shaking and crying out with the pain of the loss. Any brother would have been horrible, unbearable, but Leo…he was the glue, our leader, safe haven, guide, protector and hope, my best friend…my big brother. And now he was gone.

Donatello stepped forward, unsure of intruding on our grief but clearly determined to say his piece, opened his mouth to speak.

"He's not gone, not in that sense. That wouldn't make any sense. We were transported out here by the Technodrome's trans-dimensional portal, so he must have been transported somewhere else. The primary question is where, the secondary being why," he stated, for once seriously, even soberly.

I wanted to yell at him, pick up the stupid half-shell clown, shake him, and say: "don't you understand! This isn't a science project! My brother is dead!!!" but I couldn't, because it felt too good to have this glimmer of hope instead. To choose to believe the Donatello who had been right, after all, about the trans-dimensional portal-stick working. What if Leo wasn't gone, just lost? That implied that we could find him.

I was on my feet and in Donatello's face in an instant.

"You're saying he's alive!" I shouted, feeling half-mad from the turmoil going on inside me, desperately hoping that he was right, terrified that he wasn't.

"I believe so," He answered, looking slightly afraid of me. His brothers stepped to either side of him, my counterpart pushing me back a little to protect him. I must look dangerous. I felt pretty dangerous at the moment, but their overprotectiveness brought me back to the reality of the situation: a brother in trouble, and alternate universe brothers telling me he was fine but just needed to be found, implying that he could be found. I had hope. I took a step back, turning to Mikey and Donny.

"Don? What do you think?" I needed his opinion before I could allow myself to get too carried away by this hope. Already I could feel it spreading, fortifying me. Having it torn away again would be unbearable, but better now that I was still unsure than later when I had committed myself to it.

Donny's face was tearstained, like Mikey's, like my own, but he looked seriously for a moment at the ground, contemplating the idea. It was clear he wanted to believe it just as badly as I did, but that he too was unwilling to get caught up in a fruitless pursuit. I could tell what his answer would be before he said it though, seeing his eyes light up, a new resolve in his features.

"I think it makes sense. Or at least, as much sense as any of the rest of this. What I want to know is: how did we survive the Shredder's centrifugal scanning process? We should have been broken down into non-existence. Something didn't go according to his plan. I mean, why would we be transported out but not Leo? Why would just Leo be broken down? That doesn't make sense. The only thing that does make sense is that something transported us all out. Donatello is right: the only real questions are why he wasn't transported out here with us, and where he is now." Donny turned to his counterpart.

"Could he have been transported where the Technodrome was going, the source dimension, to what the Shredder called 'Turtle Prime?'" Donny asked.

"That makes as much sense to me as anything else," Donatello answered, but Mikey cut him off.

"But Donny, you saw Shredder's slideshow, the turtle universe is like, ginormous!" Mikey interjected.

"We have no way of knowing which dimension Turtle Prime is," Don said glumly, catching on to Mikey's point. "We'd just be guessing." We all looked down dejectedly, faces working to control the wave of hopelessness that came over us at this thought. But Leo…we have to find him.

"Ooorrr," Donatello blurted, waving the trans-dimensional portal-stick, "we could track your Shredder's exact movements instead, when the Technodrome phases through trans-dimensional barriers, it leaves a trail of particle emissions that, with the right equipment, we can re-calibrate the portal-stick to track!" Donatello said excitedly. I looked at him, at Don, and back at him, and leapt to my feet.

"Well what are we waiting for?! Let's go get the equipment!" I shouted, finally allowing this hope, the thought that Leo wasn't gone, just transported with the Technodrome for some reason—who cares why, just that he still exists!—to flood through me and jump start my adrenalin.

I ushered them all into the "Party Wagon," as those clowns called their version of the Battle Shell, and got behind the wheel, tearing out of there as the Dons discussed the equipment they would need and the logistics of the modification and tracking process. I was speeding towards home when the road suddenly disappeared in front of me. I slammed on the breaks and heard everyone smash into the back of my seat and end up in a pile.

"What the shell Raph?!" Mikey complained loudly.

"End of the road bros, literally!" I replied, eyes wide and staring at the stark whiteness of what used to be the New York skyline in front of me. I watched as more and more of the street, and the people on it, in front of me just disappeared. We piled out of the wagon to get a better look, staring in shock and disbelief.

"It's like the whole world's being…erased!" Casey shouted in terror.

"It's the Shredder, it has to be. He's reached Turtle Prime!" Donny explained.

"Then we'd better re-calibrate your tracking device. You said you needed some equipment?" April said shakily, backing up with the rest of them.

"All our gear was destroyed along with the lair…But I think I know a place that just might have the tech we need," Donny replied. "Come on!" And they ran.

---

"Purple Dragon Headquarters…Nice call Mr. Wizard," Donatello marveled to Donny. I was thinking just about the same thing…except for the "Mr. Wizard" thing. These guys were too weird.

"I figured the Purple Dragons would still have the goods from that robbery they pulled," Donny replied.

"Yeah, without Hun, the Dragons aren't to swift," I noted, looking around edgily. Just eager to get the stuff we needed and gtfo to go find Leo.

"Step on it Homeslices, this place bugs me out," my counterpart noted. I almost laughed: I felt the same way, except for the odd endearment. Homeslices? What the shell? But then he was suddenly flying across the room and into the wall behind me, groaning in pain, and I didn't feel like laughing anymore.

Hun strode in, looking very much like a spiky, mutated turtle, along with a bunch of Purple Dragons carrying loads of big guns.

"I don't know how you escaped the Shredder…and I. Don't. Care. You're all mine now!" He growled.

"Hun," I growled right back.

"Hun?" Casey and April shouted in disbelief and confusion.

"Hun." I confirmed, then withdrew my sai. My family and friends followed my lead, drawing their own weapons and settling into a defensive crouch. Hun looked…mad.

"Do you know the thing I hate most in all the world?" He growled, showing his teeth. "Turtles!" And then galloped towards us, leaping to slam his clawed fists where April, Casey, and I had all been crouching. We scattered, Casey shoving April aside, and the fight began.

Two goons leveled their guns at me, getting a shot off each, but I leap past the laser bolts and kicked one square in the chest with both feet, spring boarding off of him before he even hit the ground to down the other with a roundhouse kick, taking two steps back to flip a third goon behind me over. His friend came out of nowhere and grabbed me from behind, threatening to dislocate my arms, choking me, and seemingly trying to break my neck all at the same time. My eyes bugged out a little and I couldn't help the groaning cry that escaped my gaping mouth, my body rebelling against the sudden pressure.

Leonardo—not mine—leapt onto the goon's back and snapped his goggled into his eyes. Unorthodox, I'll admit, but it got the job done. He let go of the back of my neck, releasing the pressure on my head and arms so that I was able to slip out of his grasp. I joined Leonardo behind the Dragon as he screamed from the pain in his eyes, clutching his face, and we kicked him in unison, propelling him forward into two others. I almost lost it in a flashback of my Leo and I doing that same tag-team move to Purple Dragons countless times before. Keep it together. If we make it out of here with this tech we can go get him back and use that move countless times more.

Mikey and my counterpart fought back-to-back, kicking the goon in front of each over. As a third, this one swinging a very Halo-esc battle-axe/mace thing, ran towards them, Mikey cupped his hands in front of him and, with an "Alley-oop!" the clown me jumped up and flipped over the Dragon just as he swung the battle-axe/mace, Mikey ducking to avoid it, Raphael crouching down, and Mikey knocking the Dragon back into him, so that the goon tripped over Raphael, lost his battle axe/mace, and fell to the floor. Donatello joined the fight, using his bo to lever the Dragon up and toss him across the room and into another Dragon, both down for the count.

"Now, I look in the mirror and all I see is you!" Hun screamed in anger as he tore after Michelangelo, taking both fists up and punching down towards Donatello, who just barely avoided what would have been a crushing blow. "And I hate you even more!" He added as he punched Michelangelo across the room.

"Hun, you don't understand," Donny shouted as Hun knocked his counterpart across the room as well, "He—" the wind was knocked out of Donny's lungs before he could finish his sentence by the body of his counterpart crashing into his chest. They both went down in a heap of green, brown, and purple.

"Forget the Shredder! You're gonna pay for what you've done to me!" Hun screamed back at him.

Then my counterpart proved to me, Hun, and the rest of the room that he's completely crazy. Shrugging, his gaze fixed at a point somewhere over our shoulders, and he quipped:

"Some people just can't handle change." (*Um…you're breaking the fourth wall? lol)

Hun looked like he was about to go crazy, looking for who Raphael was talking to and seeing no one, he grabbed my counterpart up, hefting him into the air with his claws, and screamed in his face.

"Why do you keep doing that!? Who are you talking to? There's no one there!!!"

Feeling the need to intercede on my counterpart's behalf, I jumped onto Hun's back—shell now—and told him what I really thought of him.

"You idiot, there ain't gonna be anyone anywhere soon. Look!" I shouted, trying to twist his head by force and then giving up and pointing to the rapidly disappearing wall behind Mikey and his counterpart, Mikey kicking his Dragon aside and then working with his counterpart to knock three into the emptiness as we looked their way. The Dragons disappeared, shouting in their confusion and terror for help from Hun, who had stopped shaking my counterpart now and simply growled, looking at the spectacle and then throwing us aside.

"The whole world is going bye-bye. Pretty soon you'll be gone too," Michelangelo added for good measure.

"No…" Hun moaned, eyes wide and terrified as the invisible eraser approached him.

"We need your gear to track him Hun, to stop him," Donny explained. Hun turned as the eraser began to erase him, terrified.

"Hurry, take it!" Hun threw Donny the bag of equipment we need to find Leo. "Stop the Shredder before he—ahhhh!" And Hun was gone. We all stood in horrified silence for a moment. Sure he was an enemy, but geeze, what a way to go.

"You heard the man. Let's go stop the Shredder…right after we get Leo back. We'll need Fearless to make a plan." I declared, leading my family out of the rapidly disappearing Dragon Headquarters. We ran.

"Hurry, we need to get back where we started. The exact spot where the Technodrome left our dimension!" Donny screamed back at us from the lead, urging us to keep up.

"Big smoking crater?" my counterpart quipped from beside him, "Hard to miss."

"Unless it disappears before we get there," Michelangelo added in trepidation, running a little faster in response to the thought. Suddenly the air behind us was rent by a scream.

"APRIL!!!" Casey screamed. "Guys, April—she's…she's disappeared!" I halted in my tracks, turning to see April gone and Casey disappearing.

"CASEY!!!" I cried in response, making to run forward to try to pull him out.

Raph, you can't stop. You have to keep moving! Leo's voice shouted in my head. I almost froze, but as I processed the words of this auditory hallucination, my mind dredging up the memory of his voice to galvanize me, or whatever it was, I realized that I would be useless to rescue Casey and April, or him, for that matter, if I disappeared too, and tore after my brothers, hating myself for leaving them all the same.

"Just have to re-rout the dimensional phase converter…" Donny muttered, twisting the wrench as his counterpart muttered as well, sweating from the nerves, something about a rabbit going out of a hole, around a tree, and back in a hole… These guys are so crazy.

"Step on it dudes! We're facing total and complete wipe-out here!" Mikey shouted, echoing my feelings as the world around us grew smaller and smaller, wondering if this was what Leo experienced and forcing that thought from my mind.

No! He was transported to Turtle Prime. He's fine! We're going to meet up with him RIGHT NOW! Come on Donny!

"…Boost the particle signal gain…" Donny muttered, the world around us shrinking.

"We're too cool to go!" Michelangelo and Raphael shouted, grabbing each other hysterically and holding on tight as the solid space around us got smaller and smaller

"Power up!" Donny shouted triumphantly, the trans-dimensional portal-stick spluttering on for a moment, before sparking and going dead. "But…but!" Donny spluttered in disbelief.

"But?" Leonardo echoed Donny in trepidation.

"But!?" Mikey echoed him.

"But!?!" Mikey's and my counterparts, still clutching each other, shouted in terror.

"It's not working!" Donny shouted to his counterpart as the eraser licked at our heels. Not getting any advice from Donatello, Donny raised the wrench high and imitated his counterpart's solution the first time the trans-dimensional portal-stick was malfunctioning: he hit it. It powered up and the world disappeared around us as we transported out, just in the nick of time.

---------

So, what did you think? Again, I write and update much more quickly when I get reviews, and I really am interested in getting feedback. :) Next chapter will go back to Leo in the alternate future dimension, and I'll switch back in the one after that. Please review, and have a very happy new year!