Author's Note: Hey, who's ready for some universe jumping? ;)
Whoo! Let's do it! By the way, upping the rating for the story thanks to upcoming violence and maybe some other stuff. You guys know the drill.
Here, have an extremely short chapter.
"You know," said Raphael as he leaned against the kitchen counter. "I'm getting' kinda worried about Mikey and Mel's relationship." He munched on a potato chip he'd fished out of the girls' pantry.
April tilted her head in the direction of his stare. "Why?" she asked curiously. Mikey and Melanie sat in front of the living room television, bouncing in unison and singing.
"Somethin' straaaaaaaaange -"
" - in the neighborhooooooood -"
"Who ya gonna' call?"
"Ghostbusters!" they chimed in sync with the tv.
Raphael folded his arms and raised a brow ridge. "'Cause I'm startin' to think they might be related," he said dryly. April grinned and shook her head but her retort was cut off by a familiar dinging ringtone. Quickly flipping open her phone, she pushed off the counter with a free hand.
"Not me," she called out.
"Not me."
"Me either."
Raphael peered at the kitchen table. "It's Donnie's phone," he said as he handed it to April. "Think he's in the shower."
April peered at the screen. "It's an international number. It must be Leo!" she exclaimed, hurrying to the stairs and calling up to the second floor of the townhome. "Donnie! Your phone's ringing and I think it's Leo!"
"Go ahead and answer it!" he called down in reply.
April pressed the answer button. "Hello, April speaking." Raphael watched as April paused, listening to the muffled voice on the other end. Her expression dropped with every unintelligible word and Raphael stiffened. "What do you mean?" asked April into the speaker. "That's – I mean, what?" Mel and Mikey joined them in the kitchen and looked uncertainly to Raphael.
"What is it?" snapped Raphael impatiently. "What happened?"
April turned off the phone and swallowed, her fingers curling tightly over the keys as she looked up to her friends.
"Guys... Something happened to Leo."
"Oof!"
Landing in a snow-covered bank certainly wasn't as pleasant as Leo had imagined when he was a kid. Spitting out a mouthful of dirty white fluff, Leo blinked warily and pushed himself up on aching limbs. What in the hell? The last thing he remembered was the portal... Drako... the staff.
Lifting his head and shaking off the dizziness that plagued him, Leo came to a stand and his jaw dropped.
If only Mikey were here. He would say something like – Well, we're definitely not in Kansas anymore. And then Raphael would hit him and Donnie would offer an unnecessary fact about Kansas because that's how he deals with stress and Leo would think god, if I could just do this myself it would be so much easier.
And yet none of that happened because he was by himself and never in his life had he wished for the company of his brothers more.
Wind cut at Leo's arms like icy knives and white swirled around him with such strength he felt it lift him to his toes. He could see nothing but white wasteland and foggy silhouettes that might have been jagged mountain peaks. It was hard to see anything in the grey mist that surrounded him and even more difficult to tell where the sky ended and the snowy dunes began.
It may as well have been a graveyard.
Coughing against the cold that seeped into his plastron, Leo spun in a quick circle and squinted against the wind. Where was he? Panic threatened him for just a moment before he gritted his teeth and curled his arms tight around his torso, glad for his sleeves. One step after the other, feet freezing in icy snow that reached up to his calves and threatened to suck him under like quicksand.
One step. Two step.
He felt like he traveled miles but in reality he knew it was the bitter cold weighing him down, zapping his strength and not the distance. He was rapidly approaching panic once more when he spotted something in the distant snow, a massive dark shape that looked unseemly in the white hills.
When it stirred, Leo's eyes widened. Drako.
And some two hundred feet in front of him, somehow visible in the onslaught of wintery winds was the glowing staff they'd both chased through the portal. Usagi's warning rang through Leo's mind, loud and clear. Drako cannot have that staff! The Daimyo's staff, Usagi had called it. The Daimyo was a very, very powerful being from another dimension, the ruler of the Battle Nexus. If Drako was able to use his staff and harness its power, it certainly meant good-night for anyone who stood in his way.
And apparently, Leo remembered sharply, anyone who had ever wronged him. Including Master Splinter.
For once, I'd like to meet someone who doesn't spent their entire lives holding a grudge.
Pushing himself through the snow, Leo growled with determination as he raced towards the staff. Drako pushed himself upright, far to Leo's left and it took several seconds before he spotted the turtle. When a feral snarl ripped through the freezing winds, Leo broke into a full run that had him skipping on top of the heavy snow in his haste.
"NEVER, HAMATO!" Drako's shout sounded like a clap of thunder and the true race began in earnest, both haggard creatures jumping and leaping through the snow to get to the staff first. Leo drew his swords as Drako came into range and instead of going towards the staff, he turned sharply and jumped straight at Drako's snarling jaws.
"You're not getting that staff, Drako!" Leonardo shouted, lashing out with his sword and connecting with Drako's leg. The dragon creature hissed and whipped around, striking Leo with his tail and sending the turtle flying into a mound of snow. Jumping back up with a yelp, Leo barely escaped a direct hit from the spiky tip of Drako's tail and his sword met the dragon's claws.
"You have no one here to help you!" Drako growled.
"Neither do you," Leo sneered in return, rolling into the snow and barely biting back a cry at how sharp it felt on his skin. He and Drako suffered in turn every time they delved into the snow and it grew only worse as their battle raged on. Blood sprayed the white carpet beneath them, stamped with their footprints and the shapes of their bodies each time they fell, only to rise again more determined than before.
One well-time swipe from Drako caught Leo on his right arm and sliced him from shoulder to plastron, sending Leo spinning into the snow. The dragon sped off in the direction of the glowing staff, so focused, so desperate. Leo shot up with a yell and jumped on Drako's back, plunging one katana into the dragon's thick hide just behind his shoulder blade. A wild scream echoed throughout the barren landscape but Drako did not slow, only reaching behind him to pluck Leo from his spot and hurl him into the snow.
Unfortunately for Drako, this placed him very near the staff and Leo lunged for it just as Drako did the same.
The same brilliant white light from before blinded them both and the wintery world around them disappeared in a flash.
Leo inhaled and instantly regretted it.
Scrambling to a standing position and fighting the burn in his eyes, Leo picked up his fallen katana and coughed into his arm. Within seconds, a enraged yell sounded and Drako crashed into the ground several feet away. A twinkling light was the only hint of the staff Leo spotted before his vision started to blur.
"What the..." he turned full-circle only to come face to face with a gigantic anthropomorphic triceratops of all things. "Whoa!" Leo jumped out of the way as the racing creature bludgeoned right through the space he'd just been in and collided with yet another creature Leo couldn't identify. The two roared and fought, oblivious to Leo and even Drako. The air around them was thick and heavy with green mist, acidic tasting in Leo's mouth, though the gladiator type creatures seemed to have no problem breathing it.
"Ah!" Leo rolled to avoid another thundering creature, this one stomping into the ground only to crash into another fighter. Weapons clang and burst all around him and Leo could only hurry out of the way of the hulking creatures. Somewhere around them in the grey green mist, crowds cheered and yelled.
Leo turned and ran to try and escape the acrid air, nearly running into Drako as he did the same.
"You!" Drako hissed, throwing out a bloody claw to try and catch Leo.
The turtle jumped as hard as he could and landed on a wall of some sort. Pulling himself up over and onto a landing, he spotted the crowd at long last – as well as the area around them. Another gasp filled his chest, just as painful as the last but his incredulity batted away the ache.
They were on some sort of meteor floating among the stars, a mere pebble in comparison to the vast outstretching of forever night and brilliant lights. Only the panicked shouts of the crowd snapped him out of his stupor long enough for him to dodge Drako's next attack and the two went flying into the stadium seats, scattering alien onlookers in every direction.
Drako coughed and wheezed against the toxic air but he fought the turtle with a blazing vehemence, hatred burning in his glowing green eyes. Leo kicked out from underneath him and rolled backwards, barely missing an attack from one of the strange alien guards.
Turning and taking off away from the bleachers, Leo fought for air and struggled against the horrendous burning in his chest. And then he saw it – the staff! But before he or Drako could reach it, one of the fleeing onlookers ran into the staff and kicked it up into the air.
Another white flashed and the strange world was gone.
Leo blinked open his eyes. As soon as he was aware of his consciousness, the first thing he did was suck in a lungful of clean, breathable air. "Oh, man..." he touched his chest and swallowed tightly. Squinting in the direction of the sun, Leo turned dazedly and gasped.
Waterfalls all around, startling and mystical in a way that could not belong to earth. He had dropped into the middle of yet another arena, but this one was empty and surrounded by great stone structures. It also had several other arenas around it set up in similar manners and designed for viewing.
"The Battle Nexus," snarled a voice from his side. "How appropriate."
Leo turned to face Drako and saw the red dragon twitching side to side, stumbling over his own feet but radiating adrenaline-fueled fury. "It is only fitting I should kill you here!" the dragon rushed forward and Leo barely had time to put his blades, slicing at the dragon but earning only a furious yelp in return for his efforts. The staff, Leo thought desperately. Where was the staff?
Drako left him little time to thing as he advanced, teeth gnashing at Leonardo every chance he got. Leo cut at him and rushed up the wall of the arena, snatching the edge and pulling himself up only to get wrapped up by Drako's tail. He slammed into the ground and pain ripped through his body.
"Argh!" Leo managed to turn himself around and stab his blade through Drako's tail.
The dragon creature let out a manic yell and released Leo, the spade-tip he had used on the turtle now hanging by just a small bit of skin and tissue. One of Drako's clawed hands reached down and he ripped off the injured appendage with a pained shriek. "What's the matter, Drako?" Leo taunted breathlessly. "Dragons don't work like lizards, huh?"
"Shut up!" Drako snapped, racing for Leonardo and then sliding to a sudden stop. They spotted it at the same time. The staff.
Leo turned sharply and so did Drako. But the staff had other ideas and before either could reach it, they were gone once more.
This time, Leo and Drako reappeared right in front of one another, frozen in their motions of war with one clawed hand raised and Leo's blade high.
"Whoa, dudes..." said a voice off to the side. "Check out these scary lookin' amigos."
Leonardo stared. To his left – and much to his shock – stood four mutant turtles, silly and rounded and cartoonish. One of them – was that supposed to be Raphael? - poked the other one in the shoulder and laughed. "That one looks like your mom," he said and pointed to Drako. The blue-masked one (Please god, don't let that be me) rolled up on a skateboard and waved a piece of pizza.
"This is the life!" he declared for no real reason at all, and then suddenly a busty redhead in a yellow jumpsuit appeared and now Leo and Drako looked at each other and dropped their weapons limply.
"Okay, let's get out of here," Leo said flatly.
He knocked the staff and they both disappeared.
The ground beneath his feet suddenly felt like lava.
When a violent plume of flame erupted beside him, Leonardo realized it was because the ground practically was lava. Twirling his blade just in time to block a strike from Drako, Leo jumped off the ledge he was standing on just in time to realize they were in some sort of volcanic ring of fire. The clouds overhead were black and and everything felt like ash.
"Ha!" Drako declared triumphantly and Leonardo's eyes widened when he realized what had happened. Dragon creatures similar to Drako prowled the dangerous landscape around them, hissing and crying out and breathing fire into the sky as if it needed more heat and destruction. "You are in my world, turtle! I will feed you to my kin!"
"No thanks," Leo dodged another volcanic vent and ran at Drako with a yell. The two met in a clash inbetween flaming pyres that leaped high into the sky, tainting everything around it with black soot and flame. The heat was almost unbearable and Leo could swear he felt the ground trembling beneath them, ready to burst into molten death at any moment.
Other dragon creatures crowded around, eyes glowing and talons sharp as they called out their encouragment to Drako. Tails lashed and jaws snapped any time Leo got too far away from Drako, urging him unfairly to keep close to the dragon's dangerous jaws. The noise was deafening and once again, Leo felt himself choke against the air that wasn't suited for him. He and Drako met in blow after blow, each growing weaker but more angry, more heated in their frustration.
"Just give up, Drako!" Leo shouted over the noise, the angry squawking of the creatures around them. The red dragon slammed a clawed hand into the earth just where Leo had been. "Never!" the dragon retorted and snatched Leo by the arm, throwing him over a line of vents and nearly sending him into a lava-filled pit. Leo managed to push himself over it and land on his feet just as Drako flew through the air at him.
Between them, the staff appeared and flashed.
"So..." Mel said, her eyes shining with unshed tears. "They don't have any idea where he is?"
"They think he's in another dimension," said April softly, eyes scanning the room of concerned teenagers.
Mikey reached forward and slipped his fingers over Mel's, his smile comforting. "He's tough, Mel. He'll be okay."
"He's fightin' a dragon in an alternate dimension right now," Raphael said gruffly. "That ain't no walk in the park, even for Leo."
"So what does this mean?" asked Aniyah, tugging anxiously on a braid. "What could we possibly do?"
Donnie and April exchanged glances. Melanie tucked her head against her chest and Casey bristled in the corner, fingers jumping around the base of his hockey stick. Raphael was the first to speak. "The hell you think we're gonna do?" he said, pulling himself up to his full height. "We're goin' to go get our brother."
This time when Leonardo dropped to the ground and crashed to his knees, he was alone.
Knowing Drako wasn't breathing down his neck, Leo took his time standing. His side was killing him and he was beginning to wonder just how much time had really passed. Sighing deeply and finding himself grateful to be back on solid ground, Leo scanned his surroundings.
It looked like a park playground. Only... well, deserted.
In fact, everything around him had the ashen look of the abandoned. Still, he could make out the faint buzzings that denoted life. Somewhere in the distance, the hum of a helicopter droned on, fading in and out of hearing. Lights blinked just a few blocks away. Unable to resist a sigh of relief, Leo slumped against a tree. Sheathing his katana with trembling hands, Leo opened his mouth to call out for anyone who might be around. However, a high-pitched mechanical whir cut him off and a female voice filtered through a series of unseen speakers.
"Attention servants of the Shredder..." it said. "Serve the Shredder and live."