Rating: Overall story rated T for language, Raph will be Raph after all.
Disclaimer: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and all related characters belong to Nickelodeon.
Warnings: Overall little bit of foul language and mentions of past character death. Unbetaed.
Summary: Lost and alone in another reality, one turtle must try to find his way home. All while trying to forge a place amongst a family who lost one of their own under horrible circumstances and seemingly resents his very presence. No OC's. Set: 2k3 up until 'Good Genes'. 2k12 up until 'The Good, the Bad and Casey Jones'. Please Read & Review. ConCrit always welcomed.
Review Responses:
Some people were under the impression that Donnie killed 2k3 Mikey by accident. This is not the case as you can see if you go back to the start of ch 8. There is a flashback from Donnie's POV there clearly showing Mikey pushing him out of the way, saving his life. Donnie has a case of survivor's guilt due to this...
To Anonymous: You can find out what happened to the two Kraang bots if you read 'Tsumetai' which is a sidefic to this story set in the 2k12 universe.
On Wednesday, I'll be putting up an 'AOtGO' one shot sidefic titled 'Fools'.
And One to Grow On
Ch – 13
"Raph?" Donnie questioned, not seeing his hot-headed brother.
"Gone." Leo answered grimly. "We're on our own."
"It may be nothing, Leo."
"I know but he hasn't moved in two hours. I don't know about you Don but I really do not want to take that chance. Michelangelo is a born trouble magnet."
"Most of which he creates himself." Donnie added with grim amusement.
The two brothers started their Sewer Sliders and took off, accelerating quickly; the wash from their rides leaving a clear, wet trail behind them. Other than the obvious engine noise, which Donnie had never been able to completely quieten, they rode in silence as they traversed the watery tunnels. Finally, they travelled as far as they were able with the Sliders and disengaged the engines, running the rest of the way silently on foot.
Leonardo soon reached an obviously little used section of the tunnels that held old, broken and incomplete train tracks.
"We're almost on the signal." Donnie barely more than breathed to Leo.
Leo leaned over, taking a quick look at the location of the dot on the incomplete map. He nodded and signalled for Donnie to close it off, lest the light from the tracking device give them away. Once done, the two ninja quickly continued forward. Not long after, they came across a wide doorway with a number of rusty turnstiles across its width.
Donnie and Leo crept up on either side of the entrance, peering intently inside and seeing no sign of life. There was however, a very faint glow of light emanating from inside one of the rooms to the right. Leo extended his senses keenly into the gloom but was unable to detect any movement within. Donnie reached into his duffel, pulling out a set of infra-red goggles and putting them on. He caught Leo's attention wordlessly and pointed towards the stairs leading to the room with the dim light. The two turtles dashed across the space and up the stairs without a sound, staring inside carefully from the sides. Donnie gazed around, looking meticulously over every corner of the room but the only heat signature within was that of a body in the middle towards the back. The heat was lower than that of a human or any other warm blooded being so the two brothers relaxed their vigilance and headed in, Donnie pulling out a torch and shining the beam on Michelangelo as they dashed towards him.
Just as the two reached Michelangelo's side, the younger turtle stirred, sitting up on top of the torn and dirty blankets he had been laying curled up on. He blinked up at Leo and Donnie in confusion, squinting into the bright torchlight. "Why are you dudes here?"
Leonardo bristled, his intense relief at seeing Michelangelo safe and alive making way for anger. "We could ask the same of you, Michelangelo! It has been nearly five hours since you left to go skating and we had to come looking for you, only to find you asleep on the floor of who knows where the shell this is! Why didn't you answer your phone?"
Michelangelo stared at Leo in surprise before fumbling in his belt for his T-phone. "Heh! Silent mode. Sorry Leo." He bounced lightly to his feet, looking sheepishly from Leo to Donnie and back again. Realisation dawned on his face when he noticed the combination of relief and anger. "Wait... you dudes were actually worried about me?" Mikey asked incredulously.
"Of course we were!"
"Sorry..." Mikey mumbled, cowed. "I didn't mean to fall asleep."
Donnie looked around the large space again, shining his torch into every nook and cranny curiously. "What are you doing here anyway? What happened to skating?"
"Well, at first I was skating, exploring the area around your home but before I knew it, I was further away than I meant to go and just a couple of tunnels away from here." Mikey shrugged. "Then I thought, since I was here, I should leave that message here too. I still had your marker, D." Reaching into his belt, Mikey pulled out the thick, black texta and passed it to Donnie who automatically dropped it back into his bag.
"Why didn't you head back after that?" Leo asked, looking towards the pile of raggedly blankets and towels on the ground.
"I just wan-" Mikey desperately hoped the other two didn't notice the crack in his voice even as he filled his face with a cheerful smile, "-ted to be close to home for a bit. I thought maybe if I tried meditating I could get through to my family, let them know I'm okay... but I guess I fell asleep again," he laughed.
Leo and Donnie exchanged looks which were missed by the smaller mutant who was gazing wistfully towards an alcove at the side of the large room.
"So in your dimension, this is where you live?" Donnie asked curiously. He continued at Michelangelo's nod, "and this is where you stayed before we found you?"
"... Yeah."
"It doesn't look like much," Leo observed.
"It could with some work though." Donnie added, his mind racing as he thought of the possibilities.
Mikey grinned brightly at Leo, "Dude, that's because you can only see it how it looks and not how it actually is!"
"That doesn't exactly make much sense." Leo replied dryly.
Mikey laughed, "Makes perfect sense to me, Leo." He closed his eyes and breathed deeply, as if inhaling the scents of home. "This room's our dojo. Daylight comes through the grate up there, made brighter by the mirrors Donnie put up there." Mikey pointed towards the hole in the ceiling that the faint light was coming through, eyes remaining closed and the other two turtles looked in amazement where he motioned.
"Right underneath that is a really huge tree. On that wall there," Mikey turned slightly, still pointing, "is Master Splinter's shrine to Tang-Shen and Miwa. Over there and behind beautiful rice paper screens is Master Splinter's room." Another turn pointed out the alcove Michelangelo had been staring towards a couple of minutes previously.
"The entire floor in here, except for just around the tree is covered in multi-coloured rugs."
Michelangelo beckoned with his hand and wandered out the room, practically bouncing down the steps. He led them through the entire place, pointing out and describing each room in such exquisite detail with his words that he may as well have painted them a picture or shown them a photo, they could imagine the scene so clearly.
As Michelangelo gave his tour, he kept his eyes shut; a dreamy expression and a light smile gracing his freckled features the entire time. As he walked he easily sidestepped and dodged every obstacle or piece of rubbish on the floor with so little effort that Leo was almost tempted to deliberately move something into his path just to see if it was natural ability or if Michelangelo had memorised the place in those eight days he had been here alone.
Mikey finished up his tour in the room where Donatello's workshop should have been and opened his eyes again, grinning at the turtle in purple who was gazing around the extensive space in absolute astonishment.
"This is really where his lab is? It's so spacious!" Donnie breathed in wonder, imagining all he could do with an area like this.
"Well, this is all great but we should get back soon." Leo interrupted, wanting to get back. He felt that enough time had been wasted here.
Mikey stared at Leo again, "Did you guys walk all the way here? How did you find me anyway?"
"We rode the sewer sliders most of the way, though we had to leave them a few tunnels over." Donnie replied. "As for finding you, I tracked the GPS on your T-phone."
"Based on a couple of nights ago however, I am fairly certain I could have tracked you without Don's tech but this way was a lot faster." Leo added. "You and I will have to have a little talk about covering your tracks better."
Mikey went silent and looked away from Leonardo. Donnie took pity on the smaller turtle and said, "Ignore Leo. He could track a single fly down among a swarm of them if he so chose. Neither Raph nor I would likely have noticed."
"Then that simply means you need more training."
"You say that about nearly everything." Donnie groaned before noticing the ever so slight glint of amusement on Leo's face.
- . - . -
"Ah good, you are home." Splinter greeted as Leonardo, Donatello and Michelangelo returned. He looked to each in turn, then focused on Leonardo. "Is Raphael not with you, my son?"
"No, he left on his Shellcycle before we did, Master Splinter." Leonardo explained.
"I see." Splinter's ears partially flattened on his head. "Please attempt to call him home. I wish to speak to you all. In the meantime, if you have not eaten, I suggest you do so. Please come get me when Raphael returns."
"Yes, Sensei." Leo bowed and pulled out his Shell-cell to call his wayward brother home.
- . - . -
The first six times his Shell-cell rang, Raph ignored it, just continuing to sit back, leaning against the tree and staring up toward the stars. Finally, the seventh time it started, he groaned, realising – probably Leo – wasn't going to give up.
"What?"
"Raph, about time you answered. Master Splinter wants you to come home. He wants to talk to all of us about something." Leo spoke on the other end.
Raph was silent. Last thing he wanted was to return home just yet but he couldn't ignore a request from Master Splinter.
"Raph, did you hear me?"
"Yeah, yeah, I heard you, Fearless. Gonna take a while to get back though."
"Where are you?"
"Took a long ride out of the city. It'll take nearly two hours to get back." Raph replied.
The sigh from the other end of the line was obvious. "Well, you better get moving then. Don't stop for anything."
Raph smirked momentarily as he hung up and settled back against the tree for another half hour before having to head home again.
- . - . -
After Raph returned home at last, Leo looked up from his book, stood and without a word went to let Splinter know everyone was now here. Within minutes all four turtles, three brothers and one from another reality were summoned and kneeling in front of their guardian and sensei who stood there quietly contemplating the foursome.
"As you are no doubt aware, training the last two days has not gone entirely smoothly."
Splinter's ears flattened on his head in displeasure as three heads turned to stare at a suddenly uncomfortable Michelangelo. "Do not lay blame on one when four are the problem."
The three older turtles faced front again, chastised.
Now Splinter had their combined attention once more. "For whatever the reason may be, Michelangelo's training has been different to yours, my sons. This is not necessarily a bad thing, it is merely different. The three of you need to learn to work with him and you, Michelangelo, must also learn to work with my sons."
Mikey nodded numbly.
"Michelangelo, while you are with us, you will spend at least one hour a day with either Leonardo, Donatello or Raphael, learning from them the use of their weapons. This will also be a good exercise in bonding between you all. Each day will be a different brother in turn." Splinter turned to lock eyes with an obviously annoyed Raphael. "There is to be no exceptions to this."
"Yes Sensei..." Raph sighed, acquiescing reluctantly.
"We do not know how long Michelangelo will be our guest but as it could very well be the better part of a year you must all learn to work together."
"Furthermore, until I am convinced the four of you can support one another, there will be no topside excursions. You may still stop by Miss O'Neil's to visit or pick up supplies. You are however, restricted to using the underground access tunnel."
Raph's head snapped towards Splinter's in alarm. "What? That's not fair, Master Splinter! I'll go nuts trapped down here and how am I supposed to hang with Casey?"
Splinter suppressed a sigh, "I am not preventing Mr Jones from visiting here or meeting you at Miss O'Neil's home. He is there often anyway, as you know. However, you will not go on the streets or rooftops with him or at all."
- . - . -
To be continued