-2003 dimension-

Coming into the 2003 dimension, the turtles had had a good view from the portal of the Technodrome destroying a part of downtown New York City. They had instantly known the Technodrome was providing a distraction as Shredder raged chaos against Splinter03 in the sewers. They had hurried to Splinter in the sewers, but had been too late to find Shredder12 there, he having been dragged back to the Technodrome by Bebop and Shredder87.

Splinter03 finished explaining the ordeal to his sons crowded around him, and he began to drift off to sleep while Casey Jones bandaged the wound on his chest (the Donatellos had given him instructions on how to care for it). The turtles rushed through the sewers until they found themselves under a manhole cover. They knew that even if the Technodrome was still there or even if it wasn't, it would be too dangerous to send thirty-four turtles, two rats, and two vigilantes up there in the middle of the day. They gave Donatello12 the Portal Stick and sent him up there with April12 to look around.

Donatello12 used his stealth to stay out of anyone's view, gaping at the burnt road and the charred cars, and a crater where the Technodrome had sat. The destruction was more unbelievable as they came closer. April held the Inter-Dimensional Portal Stick, and once she came to the police tape that prevented her from going any closer to the scene, she turned to Donatello12 hidden in the shadows of an alleyway. He instructed her on how to use the particle emission tracker that he and the other Donatellos had barely fixed.

She flipped the switch and the Portal Stick lit up, tracking the particles that were left when a portal was used.

"It might take a while for it to process. We didn't have time to make it perfect," said Donatello12. He saw the police around giving her odd looks with the Portal Stick in her hands so he had her come into the shadows with her. He nervously took her hand and helped her sneak unseen back to the manhole cover. They quickly dropped back into the sewers, and the crowd of turtles under there made room for them. None of the Donatellos made fun of the way Donatello12 and April had held hands, but they'd been peeking through the manhole cover the whole time.

Donnie C pointed to the Inter-Dimensional Tracker, as it switched hands from April to Michelangelo87, who liked holding it because it gave him an important place on the team. "That could take at least an hour to get a read on Shredder, but once it does there's no way he can escape us. It will know where the Technodrome is, exactly."

"An hour?" said Leonardo96. "We don't have that time!"

"Yeah," agreed Raphael03 before he realized who he was agreeing with. "What are we going to do until it finds the Technodrome? Sit here on our butts?"

"Raphael," said Splinter C,"Use the brains I know you have. What do you think we should do?"

Raphael03 unfolded his arms, thinking. "We could, um, pick up more turtles from other dimensions, Master Splinter. That will give us a better chance against Shredder." Splinter C and his new friend Splinter12 nodded in approval.

Michelangelo07's bright blue eyes suddenly lit up with realization. He used his tall, lanky form to push to the front of the crowd, his brother Donatello07 following at his heels. . "Can we go get Leonardo from my dimension?" he asked. The turtles looked at him, realizing how much he and Donatello07 had been missing their brothers left behind in the 2007 dimension. Michelangleo07 and Donatello07 had left without knowing if Raphael07's wounded leg would heal, how bad it was. It must have been an eternity of two-and-a-half days to be away from their brother Leonardo07, who they'd only been with a while since his almost two year absence. Michelangelo87, holding the Portal Stick, looked up at his dimensional duplicate to see the hope building in Michelangelo07's pale blue eyes.

Leonardo89 came forward, reaching up and putting a reassuring hand on Michelangelo07's shoulder. "Sure we can." All Leonardos had always been good at reassuring their brothers everything would be fine, and Michelangelo07 felt his worry drift away. All the other Leonardos glowered at Leonardo89 for deciding where to go without consulting them, but no one disagreed. Michelangelo87 found the portal to the 2007 dimension and the turtles crowded through it.

-2007 dimension-

Leonardo07 stared up at the ceiling, glaring at it like it had insulted him. All he could think of were those turtles, those wretched turtles. Why did they have to lead the Shredder to this dimension? Raphael07's leg was injured so badly it would take months to get better, and it might never heal fully. He would certainly always have a scar.

Almost as if reading his son's mind, Splinter cautiously approached Leonardo07 - who was sitting next to sleeping Raphael on the couch. "It wasn't their fault."

Leonardo07 began to reply but halted. He shifted his gaze to Splinter07's feet. He didn't say that the real reason he blamed Raphael07's horrible injury on the turtles who'd come to the dimension right before Shredder, was because in the back of his mind, Leonardo blamed himself. It was his fault for not protecting Raphael07, his brother. Not fighting hard enough for him. Leonardo07 was gone from his brother's life for nearly two years, and he still wasn't fully there, at least Leonardo thought so.

Splinter07 didn't take his wise, absorbant eyes of his blue-masked son, and Leonardo07 felt himself shrinking under his master's gaze. He felt his words slipping. "It - it's my fault, sensei. It's all my fault." His eyes began to water, but he kept his resolve.

Donatello07 stepped through the portal into the 2007 dimension. He found himself on a familar-looking roof, with an amazing view of the city skyline (something he'd stop to marvel at if his mind wasn't on more important subjects). As the others came onto the roof, Donatello realized why he recognized this building from the thousands in the city. But it was Michelangelo07, standing beside his brother, that voiced his thoughts.

"This is where we fought Shredder." The roof where they had met turtles from other dimensions, learning of the mutli-verse, the location of the fight that had ended so badly for Raphael07. Donatello07 looked around, and the battle was still so fresh in his mind that he could still see it happen. Ghosts of past events hurried past him to fight Shredder, and Donatello07 watched in horror as Leonardo87 was sent flying into a pole, and the purple-masked turtles had to shut his eyes tight to avoid seeing his brother Raphael get pummeled by Shredder12, but the same scene played out in his mind like a nightmare.

Michelangelo07 gave his brother a reassuring nod, seeing his miserable expression. "Come on." He gave Donatello a high-three and then proceeded to leap off the high roof. All the other turtles on the roof gasped, running to the sides, but Donatello07 only smirked knowlingly. What the turtles saw when they looked over the edge was Michelangelo07 sliding gracefully onto the ground from a canopy above the building door. Michelangelo07 knew so many nooks and crannies of the city, as he'd spent a whole lot of time alone in it - thinking to himself - after Leonardo07 had left and Raphael07 had distanced himself from his family.

Michelangelo07 on the ground checked that the coast was clear, then waved to everyone above, laughing at their gaping mouths. "Hey, dudes!" The street was pretty much empty, except for a few empty parked cars.

Stealthily, the turtles snuck to the ground in small numbers, leaping into a manhole that Michelangelo07 held open. He jokingly greeted everyone as they went in. "Hello, Donatello...Hi, Donatello Number Two...Raphael Number Three...Leonardo Number Six..."

Michelangelo07 waited for the last turtle to jump in before going in himself. He caught up to Donatello07 in the front, leading everyone to the lair at top speed. For once, the Leonardos weren't fighting for control.

-2012 dimension-

Karai slammed her fist on the control panel, spun around and ferociously kicked a random Kraang droid to the ground. "I'm sick of this! Why are we stuck on ninety-four percent?" She was so close to to Turtle Prime, and yet so far. Getting there soon was her only hope of saving her father, who had so foolishly got caught up in a battle too big for himself.

"Kraang are working as fast as Kraang can - "

"LIES!" Karai stood over the robot, abruptly kicking its head off like a football. She looked around at the Kraang in the top floor of TCRI, and realized that there were a lot less than there had been two days ago. She shouted at the crowd, using her frightening anger as defense now that the Kraang weren't so scarred of her position as Shredder's daughter. "You've all lied. None of you have listened! You've been sending more and more Kraang after that stupid Technodrome!"

She stormed off, probably to vent her anger in the city. Near the monitor screen, one Kraang turned to another. "Kraang, it is nearly the time in which to initiate the plan known as 'Plan B'."

"Soon."

-2007 dimension-

Raphael07 snored, his dreams slightly distracting him from the pain in his leg, which that burned like fire underneath the bandages. The wound was deep and large, and still hadn't healed much in the two days since the fight with Shredder. Raphael had spent most of his time asleep since then, his fists clenching as he snored, reliving that fateful fight with Shredder over and over. Leonardo07 was there for him every minute, and Splinter helped with medicine.

Leonardo07 stood up, stretching from a long time spent next to his brother on the couch. He helped himself to a slice of cold pizza in the refridgerator. He shut the fridge door and took his first bite of the pizza, and turned to see Leonardo87 staring at him.

Leonardo07's mouth fell open and his dropped his plate of pizza, the glass shattering and skidding across the floor. Leonardo07 stepped backwards in shock. At first he struggled to process what was going on. His eyes flickered quickly to other parts of the Lair to see more turtles in there - Michelangelo03 and Raphael03 fighting over an arcade machine, and a few turtles he didn't recognize looking at Raphael07 with sad, sympathetic eyes. He could hear plenty more turtles in the tunnels nearby, making a rucus.

Leonardo87 waved nervously, his head ducked low like he wanted to pull into his shell, anything to avoid Leonardo07's gaze. Leonardo07 felt several emotions at once - hurt, shock, fear, confusion - but the strongest one was anger. Without warning, he lunged at Leonardo87. The small turtle was so surprised he didn't fight back at first, groaning as he was knocked to the ground. "How dare you come back here?" Leonardo07 shouted in pure anger and agony. "After what you did to my brother?" Leonardo87 tried to scramble backwards, catching a punch that flew towards his face. He didn't block the next one. Leonardo87 screamed as he felt pain erupt on his face, right under his left eye. His hands flew to his face, and he used his foot to hastily kick Leonardo07 away.

The others in the Lair had heard the scuffle as it broke out, and they made it to the two Leonardos before the tall, lithe one could strike any more. Raphael87 and Michelangelo87 pulled Leonardo87 away, grimacing at his face that was already showing signs of a black eye. With effort, Raphael03 and several others managed to detain Leonardo07, pinning him against the wall. Leonardo07 shook with anger, like a building trying to withstand an earthquake. He stared daggers at Leonardo87 and the others in the Lair, feeling fiery hatred consume him. "Do you know what you did to Raphael? If you think you can just come back here - "

"He did nothing to you!" Donatello87 retorted ferociously, defending his brother. "It was all Shredder!"

"Why did the Shredder come to this dimension, huh?" Leonardo07 screamed, fighting against the turtles keeping him back. He looked like he wanted to injure everyone in the room, make them pay. "He came after all of you!" Leonardo07 looked around the Lair, and soon fear - cold and wide-eyed - replaced his burning hatred. Two turtles that should be here were missing. Leonardo07's breath caught and he felt himself go limp for a second. "Where are my brothers? Where are Donatello and Michelangelo?" He suddenly fought harder against his bonds. "What did you do to them?"

"Dude, I'm right here!" shouted a voice. Leonardo07 looked up and felt instant relief, seeing his two brothers walking out of the dojo with Splinter07. They must have decided to greet Splinter first thing. Leonardo07 was so happy they were okay - not wounded and broken like Raphael07 - that he instantly stopped fighting. The past couple days, he'd spent so much time worrying about his brothers because he had no way to see if they were okay, no way to know if they were alive. Seeing them in the Lair - same as they always were - was like seeing someone come back from the dead. He wondered how long they'd been standing there, watching him. Had they seen him attack Leonardo87?

Donatello07 nervously clutched his staff and hesitantly approached his brother, like a wild animal wondering if it should trust a human. He'd never seen his brother act like that, attacking without a single thought. What had happened in the past two days must have broken him down to the point of desperation and despair. Seeing his brother had remained calm, Donatello07 dropped his fear and became the brother that Leonardo07 had known for nineteen years. "Leo...you okay?" All the other turtles watched in awe, at the feral creature that had mercilessly attacked Leonardo87 turned into someone they could recognize, warming under his brother Donatello's worried gaze.

Leonardo07 couldn't answer the question. He still didn't trust these turtles around him. "Why did you wait so long to come back?" His felt pain spreading under his eye, in the exact place he'd hit Leonardo87, and it mixed with the heat of embarrassment that reddened his face. He still hated the other turtles, but was ashamed for losing control. "Why didn't you tell me you were okay?"

Michelangelo07 joined in on the conversation. "You know...one thing lead to another. Chasing Shredder is a demanding job." He was plopped casually on the orange couch, his feet on the table in front of him. Somehow he had managed to swipe a pizza slice from the refrigerator without Leonardo07 noticing. He turned to look at his sleeping brother Raphael07. "Aww...Raph is so peaceful when he sleeps..."

"Why are you all here?" Leonardo07 examined all the turtles in the Lair. He also saw two Casey Joneses, one so much younger than the other, an April joking around with a few Michelangelos with Donatello12 standing awkwardly next to her, laughing exaggeratedly at everything she said. There were also two other Splinters, offering their condolensces to Splinter07 for his injured son. He saw the way all the Raphaels in the room were leaning on their left leg, gritting their teeth as if they somehow shared Raphael07's injury.

Raphael90 approached Leonardo07. "We're here because...we aren't winning. We need everyone we can get to help defeat the Shredder."

Leonardo07 looked around at the group. "But there are so many of you. How could one man beat all of you? No one is that good. Working together, I can't imagine you all not being able to defeat him."

"Right...working together," said Raphael96 nervously, chuckling. Leonardo07 looked around at all the guilty expressions on all of the turtles' faces. He realized they didn't get along, and right in front of his eyes he saw Raphael03 get into a tussle with the 1996 turtles for the last slice of cold pizza in the refrigerator and the Leonardos exchange haughty glares with each other as if still not recovered from an old argument. Leonardo07 sighed.

Leonardo87, wincing from the black eye already sprouting on his face, came next to Raphael90. "We don't...mesh well."

"Huh, understatement of the year," interjected Raphael87, speaking to the wall yet again. Donatello90 stared at him like he wanted to run tests on the red-masked turtle's sanity.

"And you want me to join you?" Leonardo07 asked, incredulous. "I think you should focus on improving your teamwork rather than your arsenal. Quality over quantity."

"We need you," Leonardo03 pleaded. "Everyone on this team is necessary. We are risking our lives to save the multi-verse. We told you that when we met you and you agreed to help. Turtles were going to get hurt."

Leonardo07 didn't answer. He slumped against the brick wall.

"We are more sorry than we can imagine that your brother was hurt," said Leonardo90. "But he was fighting for the right cause. We don't want anyone injured, but we knew it would happen, and it will probably happen again." Some of the turtles exchanged frightened glances, wondering who would be next.

"Do you trust us?" asked Michelangelo89.

Leonardo07's first thought was no, but he looked to Michelangelo07 to see him laughing so easily at April12's jokes, surrounded by orange-masked turtles all so different yet the same. Donatello07 was in between Donatello12 and Donatello90, gesturing to April and talking quietly with Donatello12 like they were sharing a secret. His brothers had made friends out of these turtles.

In his sleep, Raphael07's head lolled to the side, facing Leonardo07. "Leo..."

Leonardo07 eyes turned back to Michelangelo89. "Maybe...Maybe I trust you."

"Good enough," said Donatello13. "Welcome to the team." He came up and shook Leonardo07's hand and the blue-masked turtle stared at the strange device strapped on the tall, purple-masked turtle's hand.

"Well, we should get going, dudes...and dudette," said Michelangelo87, turning on the Trans-Dimensional Portal Stick. "Gotta catch old Metal Mouth." The Portal Stick had a light on the side, with white print on it saying 'Tracking Particle Emissions.' Soon the turtles would know where Shredder12 was, and if Leonardo07 joined them, maybe he'd have time to improve their teamwork before they met the villain again.

Leonardo07 looked up at Splinter07, wondering if his master approved of this. Splinter07 smiled encouragingly. "Go, my son. Make me proud." Leonardo07 bowed goodbye to his master before stepping into the portal. Splinter07 could take care of Raphael07 on his own, and Leonardo07 wondered if his hot-headed brother would approve of him going. It seemed like Leonardo07 was always going, leaving his brother.

"I'll get that Shredder back for what he did, Raph. No one messes with my family," Leonardo07 said.

Sorry this chapter is so short. Reviews are very much appreciated! Let me hear your thoughts on this story!