A/N All right, Darktide gets his. But things aren't over for the brothers just yet. Mwahahaha...

Staring at the place where Darktide had disappeared with his three youngest brothers, Leo growled, "Donatello, Michelangelo, stay and wait for Master Splinter. Raphael and I are going after Darktide."

"But—" the pair protested in unison.

"No," Leo cut them off. "I need two of you to stay here and explain what's happened to Master Splinter. I promise, as soon as you've done that, you'll be brought to where we are. Don't worry; I have no plans of tackling Darktide without all of you to back me up. But we're not going to cause sensei anymore unease than we already have."

Recognizing Leo's tone as his no-nonsense, I-will-accept-no-arguments voice the two younger turtles stopped their protestations. Their resentment was momentarily abated as a golden portal suddenly appeared before them, and Leo and Raphael disappeared through it. Fortunately, their wait for their father after their brothers vanished was not a long one.

"My sons," Splinter exclaimed as he barreled into the room. Without a second thought, the two turtles hurled themselves into their father's arms. The small group remained holding each other in silence for a long moment, before Splinter finally stepped back. "My sons," he asked gently. "Where are your brothers? Have they--?"

"No," Donatello exclaimed. "Well, Leo was, but only for a moment. But then he came back, but he was all glowy. And he fought Darktide while the rest of us took out Shredder, but then Darktide grabbed Mikey and Donny and Raph, and Leo and Raphael went after them and…"

"Donatello, slow down," Splinter interposed. "You are not making any sense."

"Yeah, dude, you're sounding like me," Michelangelo gibed.

Donatello took a deep breath. "Okay, skipping all the 'Leo torture' right now, because I so don't want to think about that for a while, let's just say Leo, uh, well, he…"

"He died," Michelangelo supplied, not bothering to sugarcoat the truth, trusting that his father would be able to handle it.

"But he was dead for less than a minute," Donatello interjected quickly. "But when he came back, he was glowing, and all his wounds were healed."

"Anyway, there was this dark glowy dude called Darktide that like, I don't know, wanted to eat Leo or something," Michelangelo said, butting in again. In his mind, Donatello just wasn't telling this story fast enough. "In any case, he and Leo were about to go at it when the room started to rock-and-roll. That's when Saki showed up."

"At any rate," Donatello said, taking over narration once more with a scowl at his younger brother. "Leo faced off with Darktide, and the rest of us took on Saki."

"Yeah, we whupped his butt," Michelangelo crowed.

"So I see," Splinter said rather archly, giving his old nemesis' dead body a searching glance. It was that he didn't trust his sons; it was just that his old enemy just had a way of not being as dead as he ought to be.

"Don't worry, sensei," Donatello told him. "Raphael put a sai through his heart, and Raph one through his gut. There's no way he's getting up and walking away from that."

Turning away from the corpse, satisfied that it was as his sons had stated, Splinter said, "This is all very fascinating my sons, but it does no tell me where your brothers are."

"Well, after we dispatched Saki, we turned our focus on Darktide," Donatello said. "But before we could engage him—"

"He totally grabbed our twins and disappeared through a time-space-dimensional portal-window thingy," Michelangelo exclaimed.

Donatello just sighed at his brother's over-enthusiasm. "That actually about sums it up," he was forced to admit to his father. "Leo and Raphael, through some weird new ability Leo has, went chasing after them. We were told to wait here and explain it to you."

Master Splinter crossed his arms thoughtfully. "It does not sit well with me that your brothers are attempting this alone. I fear they will need your assistance in defeating a foe as powerful as this Darktide seems to be."

No sooner had the words left his mouth, than Donatello and Michelangelo disappeared in a flash of golden light. Splinter might have been concerned had he not sensed his oldest son's presence in that small moment. "Be careful, my sons," he said the empty room. "Come back safely."

TMNTTMNT

Donatello and Michelangelo rematerialized in an environment very different from the one they had just left. To all appearances, it was a desert landscape; only, the ground and surrounding environs were composed of some sort of black rock. Overhead, the sky, at least that which could be seen between the soot colored clouds, was a raw, rusty/bloody red color. Not two yards away from where the two younger turtles had appeared were Leo and Raphael.

"Hey," Michelangelo called out to his brothers. "I thought you two would be long gone by now."

"Actually, we just got here ourselves," Raphael told him. Michelangelo got a very confused look on his face.

"But," he protested. "You left like fifteen minutes ago."

"Let's just say time works a little differently between dimensions and leave it at that," Leo told him. Michelangelo just shrugged; that was all the explanation he needed anyway.

"So, which way should we go," Donatello asked.

"There," Leo said, pointing northward. There, to the others' shock, was the outline of some sort of castle. "Our brothers are there," Leo told them. "I can feel it."

The turtles set off across the wasted landscape, largely sticking close to their older brother. They had all learned the hard way that getting too far beyond the golden glow cast by the aura surrounding Leo caused them to become dizzy and disoriented. It didn't bode well for them being able to help very much in freeing their brothers.

It soon became apparent that either distances were deceiving, or time truly didn't work the same here as in their own dimension, for in no time at all the brothers had reached the base of the castle. Or at least it had once been a castle. Now it was simply a burned out shell, resting on top of a high mesa. At the base of the mount, they found their brothers chained to the rock, unconscious. Darktide was nowhere in sight.

"I don't like this," Raphael said, observing the scene.

"Neither do I," Leo admitted. "But we can't just leave them here."

"Dudes, you know this is so totally a trap, right," Michelangelo said.

"So," Donatello countered. "Like Leo said; we can't leave them here."

Michelangelo shrugged, nonchalantly. "Just checking," he said.

"What are we waiting for," Raphael growled. "Let's go."

"Wait," Leo commanded, placing a restraining hand on his brother's shoulder. "There's something I need to do first."

"What now," Raphael rumbled in frustration.

"I'm not sure how well your weapons are going to work here," Leo told him. "As you've seen, thing don't exactly work along the same principles they do in our world."

"So what do you suggest," Donatello asked. "It's no like we have a whole lot of choices here."

"Let me try something," Leo said. He closed his eyes in intense concentration for a long moment. All of a sudden his brothers' weapons took on the same golden glow as surrounded Leo. "There, that should do it," Leo said, opening his eyes. "Now we can go."

The brothers quietly made their way across the plateau to where their siblings were being held. As Leo stood guard, the others set about freeing their brothers. It turned out that Leo had been right. While their twins' weapons made absolutely no dent in the strange rock, their newly "glowified," as Michelangelo had put it, weapons worked like a charm. They had just freed Donny and Mikey, and were working on Raph's restraints, when a loud roar split the air. In unison, the brothers turned to look for the source of that un-earthly sound. Emerging from behind the mesa was what they guessed must be Lord Darktide in his natural form.

The creature was as tall as a three story house, and twice that in length. To all appearances he was a walking skeleton, and a cross between a horse, a bat, and scorpion. His overall body shape was that of a horse, but he had two bat-like wings jutting from his back, and a scorpion's stinger in place of a tail. Likewise, his feet ended in talons rather than hooves. Tattered bits of flesh could be seen hanging from his otherwise bleached bones. The eye sockets of the skull were filled with the same glowing red that the formless Darktide they had faced in their dimension had possessed, while writhing black tentacles sprouted from his jaw.

"Man, that is just gross," Michelangelo exclaimed.

"Silence mewling pest," Darktide ordered. "You are in my world now. Now you will face the full force of my wrath."

"Dude, who writes your lines," Raphael taunted. "You sound like something out of a cheesy 80's cartoon."

Darktide gave an earsplitting roar. "You will regret your quick tongue," he hissed at Raphael. "Especially as I rip it from your mouth and devour it."

"Okay, now I'm grossed out," Donatello said. With an angry snarl, Darktide swiped at the purple-masked turtle with a clawed talon. Instead of hitting his target, however, he found his blow blocked by Leo's blazing sword.

"You are not going to touch them," he told Darktide. "I will cut you to pieces first."

Darktide chuckled sinisterly. "You are no match for in that form," he told Leo. "Your measly weapons are no match for my natural shape. Besides, I can feel you beginning to weaken. Your earlier wound is already slowing you down. It won't be long before the darkside poison my feeler injected into your body has completely overcome you. After all, unlike wounds created by mortal weapons, those induced by one of my kind cannot be healed by your Guardians' bond."

That got the attention of Leo's siblings. Up until now they had forgotten that Leo had been wounded in the stomach by Darktide's tentacle. If what he was saying was true, it seemed like they were still in danger of losing their brothers, despite his miraculous recovery earlier. Leo, on the other hand, did not appear to be concerned.

"What become of me is of no import," he responded. "All that matters if saving my brothers, and ensuring that it is a long, long time before you see ought beyond this dimension again."

"You are welcome to try," Darktide challenged.

Turning to Raphael, Michelangelo and Donatello, Leo said, "Free Raph and see if you can get the others awake. I have a plan for defeating Darktide, but it requires the assistance of all six of you." Then before his brothers could protest, Leo charged his opponent.

"You heard him," Raphael told his brothers sharply. "Get started on waking Donny and Mikey. I'll free 'Menace junior' over there."

TTTT

With his brothers working on releasing their twins, Leo was able to focus solely on Darktide. Drawing on his new speed, he raced between the undead creature's front legs, swiping at them as he ran past. Darktide screamed as the blades nicked him, and he tried to stomp on the much smaller turtle. As Leo emerged from beneath Darktide's massive form he dove sharply to the right, barely missing being skewered by the stinger of Darktide's tail. Climbing to his feet, Leo taunted, "You're going to have to do better than that!"

With an angry snarl, Darktide abruptly took to the air, his skinless wings somehow lifting him off the ground. Leo was forced to duck and roll as one of the colossal talons cut through the air where his head had been only moments before. As it was, he still ended up with a new scrape in his shell. Leo then took off across the plateau, dodging erratically back and forth, making Darktide chase him. After a few moments of this, however, Leo knew he couldn't keep it up much longer. He hoped his brothers would hurry in waking their twins because if he was going to win this fight he was going to have to change tactics, and soon.

Just then, a wave of power rolled through Leo, and he knew all his brothers were once again conscious. With a smile of satisfaction, Leo came to a sudden halt. Summoning all the energy created by his bond with his brothers, Leo shifted shape. Where once a turtle had stood, a large blue-and-gold dragon now was. Glaring at Darktide with very familiar chocolate brown eyes, the dragon spat out a jet of golden flames, sending the skeletal nightmare plummeting sharply to escape them. With a powerful leap, the dragon took to the air.

Screeching in outrage, Darktide pumped his wings, trying to gain the advantage of altitude. He was too late, however, and the dragon was able to meet him as he dove from the sky. Ignoring the claws that tore ineffectively at the tough hide of his back and the venomous sting of the barb that stabbed over and over at his back, the dragon grabbed Darktide by the throat and forced him to the ground. Again and again Darktide's tentacles tried to stab at the dragon's eyes, but a forceful shake of his head soon stopped that nonsense.

Once Darktide was effectively pinned, a gold glow covered the two giant forms. When it faded, the other turtles saw that Darktide was trapped inside some sort of glowing net, while Leo was on his knees next to him. Worried, the others rushed to their older brother's assistance.

"Leo," Raph cried in concern as he reached his brother's side. Pulling one of Leo's arms over his shoulder, he helped Leo to his feet.

"Hey, bro, you did it," Michelangelo congratulated his sibling.

"Not yet," Leo countered, his voice revealing his exhaustion. "He's only temporarily trapped. We have to do something that will imprison him a little more permanently. I don't know about you, but I don't want to have to face him again a few years down the road when the next idiot gives him a way out of here."

"Speaking of that, how did he get out this last time," Donatello asked.

"It was that dimensional project of Saki's we destroyed in the other reality," Leo told him. "Although it wasn't locked on this dimension long enough to fully release him, it created just enough of an opening that Darktide was able to send a small part of himself into the physical realm. From there, he simply followed us home."

"Well this is one unwanted puppy that won't go following anyone home for a long while," Raphael said.

"Yes, well, we have to figure out how to lock him in," Leo said.

"Hey Leo," Donny asked. "Just how much influence do you have over this world?"

"Enough," Leo replied. "Why?"

"Because I have an idea, but it's going to take all of us working together with you making it reality."

Curious, the others gathered around their brother. "Let's hear it," Leo urged.

"Well, what if we…"

TTTT

Nearly two hours later, the project was done. Following Donatello's suggestion, Leo had trapped Darktide in the center of a giant maze. Throughout the maze were puzzles and traps thought up by all of Leo's brothers, and then turned into reality by Leo. It wouldn't hold the Dark One forever, but Leo suspected it would take Darktide a good while, at least a couple thousand years, to get out. After all, with no limits placed upon them, his brothers could get very creative. But now, at last, it was done.

"Let's go home," Leo told his brothers tiredly. After making sure they were all gathered together, Leo opened a new golden portal, and they all stepped through.

TTTT

It had been two days, and there had been sign of his sons. Splinter was beginning to fear that they had finally met their match in that distant reality. Only the small sense of them kept him from giving up hope completely.

By now it was mid-morning of the third day, and Splinter was in the middle of meditating, when the very familiar sound of his sons' banter reached his ears. Immediately abandoning his mediation, the elderly rat rushed from his room to find his sons congregating the living room. Cries of delight on both sides were given up, and Splinter soon found himself being passed from turtle to turtle as his sons were eager to reconnect with their father and teacher.

The final turtle Splinter found himself face-to-face with was his Leonardo.

"Welcome back my son," Splinter told his oldest proudly. "You have done well."

"Thank you sensei," Leo said with a small bow. Then his eyes rolled back in his head, and he collapsed to the floor.

"Leonardo," his father exclaimed. Donny and Donatello gently pushed past their father to look over their brother. After a few moments of frantic examination, the pair suddenly sat back. Raising dejected eyes to his brothers, Donny said softly, "He's gone."