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 story, 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'.

Comments, thoughts and concrit are always welcome.

* If you ever see my stories posted anywhere other than under the name Zelgadis55 at Deviant Art, FFNet, AO3 or Live Journal, then they have been stolen. Please report them.


And One to Grow On

Ch 28

Date: 16th Sept

"You have done well today, my students," Splinter said warmly as he looked fondly from Donatello to Raphael and finally, to Michelangelo.

Mikey beamed up at Splinter from where he knelt. It felt really great to be included in the praise because Splinter actually meant it, rather than just feeling as though his Sensei only included him out of a sense of obligation like it normally did back home. He knew his own father never intended to slight him but it really was hard to shine against Leo's skill and strategy, Raph's sheer strength and ferocity, and Donnie's intelligence and planning.

"For the next three hours, you may all spend your time as you wish. At the end of that time, however, I expect you all to return to the dojo for the next training session."

"All of us, Sensei?" Mikey asked, staring at him in confusion.

"Indeed, Michelangelo," Splinter confirmed.

"What about my cross-training? Do I still need to do that too?"

Splinter shook his head, closing his eyes briefly as he did before looking directly into Michelangelo's. "Not today, Michelangelo. It would be rather difficult for Leonardo to work with you just now, especially given Donatello's medical orders. That is why he will work with all three of you on some team building exercises this afternoon instead."

The three ninja, two brothers and one other-dimensional turtle, all looked at each other wide-eyed, before turning their attention back to Splinter.

"Before you face off against Hun once more or the threat posed by the Elite Foot, you must learn to trust one another enough to be able to work as a true team. Some of you have made great crossroads of recent," Splinter pointed out proudly, glancing in Raphael's direction, "but it is not yet enough."

Splinter then paused and looked at Donatello specifically. "Once you have had lunch, may I suggest you get some rest, Donatello? You appear as though you need it and you will need your energy this afternoon."

Donnie opened his mouth as if to protest but then thought better of it and nodded instead, his lips pressing tightly together.

Splinter canted his head slightly as he studied Donatello, before adding in a quiet voice, "You know my door is always open to you should you require it, my son."

Donnie simply nodded, reminded of how he'd intended to go speak to Splinter a few nights back. Before he'd been waylaid by other concerns.

"You are all dismissed."

Mikey bounced lightly to his feet and trotted over to Splinter as Raph and Donnie headed out, ostensibly heading to the kitchen for lunch. "Splinter Sensei? Why's Leo going to be leading the team exercise? I thought Donnie said he couldn't train yet? Where will you be?"

Splinter chuckled fondly, "Because Leonardo is this team's leader and it will be he that you will be following into battle. He is quite different from your Leonardo, yes?"

"Yeah," Mikey confirmed with an eager nod. "My Leo loves superheroes and sci-fi and totally geeks out over... uh, right, sorry," Mikey laughed as he saw the look suggesting he'd gone off topic.

"Right," Splinter said dryly once Michelangelo calmed. "Then you will need to learn to trust him as much as you do your own brother, as he and his brothers must learn to trust you in return. I am quite aware that you worked fairly well with Leonardo that night a week ago, but there were still some issues between you, yes?"

Mikey cast his gaze to the ground, chagrined at the reminder of how he'd fought against staying back when told and then been captured and controlled as a result of disobeying Leonardo's orders.

"Do not fret, Michelangelo, it is only to be expected," Splinter said gently, placing his paw up onto the young turtle's shoulder. "That was your first time actually working together out in the field and Leonardo was unaware of what you are truly capable of since you so rarely put in your full effort into training."

Mikey's eyes snapped up to meet Splinter's and protest the observation, but he saw no accusation within the ninja master's gaze, only curiosity, and his words died in his throat.

"Why is that, Michelangelo?" Splinter persisted, canting his head.

Mikey shrugged wordlessly; it was nothing he ever meant to do. It was hard to be so serious when it was against his very nature to do so and neither did it help when everyone around him acted shocked and disturbed on the rare occasions he did. He hated it and just wished they'd treat him normally, rather than always as a joke.

"I know it is not a matter of overconfidence; you do not appear to have that fault. In fact, I strongly believe it to be the opposite," Splinter observed calmly. "The question though, is why?"

"I don't know, Sensei..." Mikey mumbled. "I do try, I promise, but I'm just not good enough."

"That is simply not true."

"But it is, Sensei! I'm weak, I'm slow, I'm stupid and... and everybody knows it..."

"I do not believe that to be the case."

"No offence Sensei, but you've only known me a few weeks. My family does know me properly and they don't just believe it, they know it."

"I see. I take it then that you have been told these things often?"

Mikey gazed down at the ground once more, unwilling to answer.

"Come, Michelangelo, let us go sit in the Zen room where we may talk in private and be more comfortable."

A few minutes later, the pair were seated on the tatami mats with Splinter lighting a citrus-scented candle that he'd noticed the young turtle favoured. "Tell me, Michelangelo, have you ever heard the saying, 'that if you hear something often enough, you begin to believe it'?"

"Hai, Sensei," Mikey replied miserably, staring down at the gently flickering flame placed between them as if mesmerised.

Splinter reached out a hand to gently grasp the young turtle's chin, lifting it so Michelangelo's eyes met his own. "Then I wish for you to hear this and believe me for I do not speak untruths to simply make people feel better. You are none of those things you mentioned before, Michelangelo. You are strong, you are fast, and while you may be somewhat naive and easily distractible with a tendency to act before thinking, you are most certainly not stupid."

"But..."

"Stop!" Splinter commanded, holding up a hand to shush the other-dimensional ninja. "I do not wish to hurt you by reminding you of things from recent days, however, I feel I must for the proof of my words is within those experiences, as horrible as they were," he explained. "When Hun had you under his control, he could only control your actions by speaking direct commands, yes?"

Mikey nodded despondently.

"You did not hear his voice in your head, nor feel his spirit controlling you from within, would I be correct in that assumption?"

Mikey nodded again. "Yeah, he just told me what I had to do and I couldn't help but do it," he replied in a small voice, shuddering with the nightmare memory.

"In that case, everything you did while trying to achieve his will was all you. Your strength, your skill, your speed, your intelligence and ability to improvise. Leonardo and Donatello both spoke of how fast you were. You were quick on your feet, fast to move and to react to whatever resistance my sons and Mister Jones gave you. Your physical strength was enough that it took two to hold you down; I will come back to your strength of spirit later. You also showed great intelligence in how you were able to use your surroundings and the objects within your reach to your advantage."

"That's not something to be proud of though," Mikey objected in absolute shame, looking away yet again. "I hurt people I care about and anyway, Leo was holding back..."

"That is true," Splinter smiled gently. "Leonardo was holding back because he had no wish to fight you. However, he still did his best to defend himself without hurting you. You know you surprised him greatly at the time, Michelangelo."

"I guess so... but..."

"My point, Michelangelo," Splinter interrupted before the young turtle could fall into a pit made of his own objections and fears, "is that though you were compelled against your will to obey a foul human's hateful commands, your skills, your actions, the how of your actions were completely your own, proving once and for all that you have those traits within you, no matter how buried they may seem at but a glance," Splinter stated firmly.

Mikey nodded numbly.

"Now, I wish to consider another of your strengths. Your strength of spirit to be exact. Since you first arrived in this world, Michelangelo, you have been placed in situations that would break many. Not knowing what happened to your family, or more specifically to yourself as you later found out, and then faced with the open hostility of Raphael, the coldness of Leonardo and the distance of Donatello. Through it all, this almost a month now, you have managed to keep your sunny disposition and bright outlook on life. Yes, you have had a particularly rough time of it recently, yet you still remain generally cheerful and bright, despite how you feel at this specific moment. That takes a lot of strength not to crumble under the pressures you have faced during these last days. Then, of course, there were the strengths you displayed during our Astral session the other night.

"In the time since we have met, you have gone from strength to strength, Michelangelo. Do not think of yourself as weak, slow or stupid any longer, for quite simply, you are not, and I will be only too willing to remind you of these facts each day while you remain here, until you truly believe it," Splinter said, finishing with a faint smile.

"Hai, Sensei!" Mikey replied, sitting up straighter and looking directly into the ninjutsu master's eyes to gauge his sincerity. What he saw shocked and surprised him.

Splinter's smile deepened. While he could see Michelangelo didn't fully believe him yet, he could see the turtle's spirits had risen. There would still be a lot of work ahead of them to undo past damage but he was determined to help however he could, while he could.

Even if that meant tailoring some future training sessions to Michelangelo's skills in order to boost his confidence.

-:-

With more of a bounce in his step and a beatific smile playing his face, Mikey walked into the kitchen seeing just Raph and Leo at the table eating sandwiches. Both looked up as he entered and Raph slid a plate toward him.

"Made ya a fried egg and chilli chutney sammich."

"Or if you would like something a little more appetising and nutritious, I could make you a ham, cheese and salad sandwich," Leo offered with a disturbed look at the melting, congealing mess on the plate now in front of Mikey.

"Thanks, guys, but I was going to make pizza. Haven't had any since before..." Mikey trailed off briefly but quickly continued. "You dudes want some?"

"No thank you," Leo replied as Raph too quickly shook his head. "Don't take this the wrong way, Michelangelo, but do you know how to cook anything else?"

Mikey canted his head curiously. "Yeah, of course, I do. Pancakes, eggs, pizza shakes, worms and algae..." he mused, counting off on his fingers as he spoke.

Looking a little sick, Leo sighed despondently and cut him off. "Tell me, Michelangelo. Do you actually enjoy cooking or do you only do it because no one else can and you feel like you have to do it?"

Mikey glanced from Leo to Raph and back again, taking in their serious expressions as they regarded him. "I enjoy it, Leo. It's fun!"

Relaxing upon hearing the answer, Leo then continued, "Then would you like to learn how to cook other things too?"

Mikey's immediate impulse was to say, 'Nuh! Why make anything else when I can already make pizza?' but then he thought about it and flopped down in a nearby seat, pulling the plate Raph had slid over closer. "Actually, yeah," he admitted a minute later. "I'd love to learn to make pizza gyoza and cakes and stuff. That'd be pretty awesome!"

Smiling with relief, Leo then offered, "I know that April is willing to teach you how to cook other things. Since you're interested, you should take her up on it. I'd even join you for the lessons myself but..."

Raph shot Leo a dirty look as he cut him off, "But you're banned from the kitchen for anythin' but drinks, ramen and sandwiches and you damn well know it! An' you're especially banned from April's kitchen!"

Mikey laughed loudly at the vehemence in Raph's voice as Leo looked at Raph, hurt.

"There's no need to put it like that, Raph," Leo retorted almost petulantly. Raph simply smirked in return so Leo decided to ignore him and turned back to Michelangelo. "It's good to eat a variety of food."

"But..." Mikey protested in a small voice. "What about pizza? It'd feel betrayed and abandoned if I made and ate other stuff!"

Raph snorted. "Once a week is enough. There is such a thing as too much of a good thing, brat."

Leo nodded in agreement. "You can make pizza for dinner tonight if you like, but after that, no more than once a week. Even if it means we have to resort to toasted sandwiches and ramen in the meantime."

"Better not be plannin' to use the toaster for those sandwiches, Leo," Raph teasingly warned. "Donnie'd kill you if you did that again!"

Leo shot Raph a dirty look in return.

Trying not to laugh at their antics, Mikey instead pouted for a bit before asking. "How about if I just make pizza for me, then?" he suddenly asked, hopeful about finding another solution.

"Sorry, Michelangelo, but I mean it, no more than once a week," Leo repeated firmly. "Besides, just think of all the other great foods you have yet to discover. Now, eat your lunch. You'll need your energy later."

Mikey sighed and picked up his sandwich, looking at it warily before taking a tentative bite. Suddenly his eyes lit up. It was no pizza but it was still good. The moment he caught Raph's amused smirk directed at him though, Mikey tried to downplay how much he actually liked it and slowed right down with his chewing.

"The secret is in the sauce," Raph winked knowingly.

Mikey's eyes widened at the implications and he started plotting over how he could just add pizza sauce to everything instead so it would at least be related to pizza. He took another bite, stuffing the rest of the sandwich into his mouth, turned to Leo and asked through a full mouth, "So what are we doing this afternoon anyway?"

Raph suddenly stood, a disgusted look on his face at Michelangelo's display, and stalked out.

Leo smiled, "Well, I thought we could play a few games, ninja style."

"Like what?" Mikey asked in wonder, swallowing his mouthful loudly.

"You'll see," Leo chuckled. "Now I better go put my leg up, before Donnie makes good on his promise again."

"Hah! That was so funny!" Mikey laughed loudly, remembering a couple of hours after he and Raph came back from the Bowl the first time. Donnie, sick and tired of Leo not resting up had Raph help restrain him, supposedly for his own good. While Mikey had laughed raucously at the time, he'd also instantly resolved then and there never to piss Donnie off when he was in Doctor mode. "Hey, where is Donnie anyway?"

"He ate and then went for a nap," Leo answered, a distant look crossing his face, "so be sure to keep the noise to a minimum during the next couple of hours."

"Okay!" Mikey agreed happily, knowing it shouldn't be a problem for once. Finally free of having to be watched every minute, and now that he had Raph's blessing, he fully planned on exploring his borrowed room properly that afternoon. The curiosity since being given permission days ago had been unbearable, but he hadn't wanted to stir the memories in his other-dimensional family just to sate it so he'd somehow found the will to wait until he could be alone.

And that time was now.

-:-

The room was a virtual treasure trove of knick-knacks and oddities!

Mikey's grin was so wide as he went through the boxes and piles that his face ached, and yet, he couldn't stop grinning. He remembered being told they'd lost almost everything when their last home had been attacked but the room's previous occupant, the Mikey that actually belonged with this family, had still somehow managed to fill his room in the new lair with so many things.

There were boxes filled with drawings of family, friends and other things, many of which had been damaged and waterstained; these had been repaired where possible and lovingly tucked away for safe-keeping. Most were newer, however, proving that the other Mikey had been busy since they were forced to move.

Comics and sci-fi novels galore filled other boxes - there wasn't room on the shelf for them all, most of which had prices written on the covers from second-hand stores, or possibly garage sales, making Mikey realise his counterpart must have had help from their human friends to get them. There was also a box of art supplies that Mikey knew had to have existed, mostly due to the unfinished mural and a couple of paintings within the lair, but hadn't seen before now, having resisted the temptation to go through the boxes of the dead turtle's things out of respect for his grieving family.

There was also a number of trinkets stashed lovingly into a box labelled 'Memorabilia', which included a trophy which had been smashed into numerous pieces and that someone had begun attempting to glue back together; Mikey could make out part of a single word on it, 'xus', and with excitement, realised it must have been from the Battle Nexus. Gingerly, Mikey turned over the remains of the trophy within his hands, wondering if he'd ever have a hope of winning something like that someday. Then he scoffed, dismissing the thought instantly. With brothers like Leo and Raph, there was no point even wishing or hoping; they always won everything. Mikey's smile turned sly as he thought, 'Except for pranking.' That was the one thing he could top them with and that was a big part of why he enjoyed it so much.

At that thought, his eyes lit upon the large, brightly decorated wooden box that looked as though it had been nailed together by a kindergartner. Despite having decided not to use anything in this room beyond games and comics before Raph gave him permission a few days ago, he'd often felt an irresistible pull from it that he hadn't been able to ignore, demanding its contents be used on the family around him.

And boy had he used them! That had been the main reason he'd been able to talk Leonardo into taking him out that fateful night a week ago.

He felt that pull again now and abandoning the search of the rest of the room, Mikey wandered over. Lovingly, for the entertainment it had provided those first two weeks here, he picked it up. As he did, he noticed another box, this one metal, underneath, sealed with a combination padlock. Mikey bit his lip. Then, unable to help himself, started working at the lock. It took him a whole five minutes to break the code and open it but to Mikey's intense disappointment, however, it was filled with junk. A squashed metallic bug; a couple of white feathers; a torn piece of black cloth; a strange device which seemed to be a cross between a fob watch and a communicator; a couple of random photos of strangely costumed people – Mikey's bright blue eyes slid back and forth between one such photo and the huge signed Silver Sentry poster on the wall; and a scrapbook.

About to close the lid and keep exploring the room, something bade Mikey to pick up the scrapbook. His jaw dropped in surprise as he found it filled with newspaper and magazine clippings about superheroes. Superheroes from the various comics he'd read since coming to this world.

After flipping through the clippings, he noticed a second scrapbook. He picked it up to find it filled with photos of their Mikey posing with various superheroes, grinning broadly enough to split his face. Suddenly, he understood. The 'junk' in this box wasn't actually junk at all but souvenirs of meeting them and that the superheroes in this world were actually real.

Mikey drew in an excited breath. Leo would love this world. Suddenly his heart ached as he realised again just how much he missed his family. He shook the lonely feeling from his mind, reminding himself he would get home again, he just needed to be patient. In the meantime, he needed to learn as much about this place as he could to share with his brothers for when he finally arrived back home again.

Now excited once more since he had a plan, the other-dimensional turtle started digging deeper into the box, pulling everything out to study it.

-:-

Mikey glanced over to Klunk who lay on his bed blinking languidly up at him in mild curiosity, "Since you're already a Ninja Kitty, you can be my sidekick, Klunkers," Mikey cheerfully announced. He picked up the ginger cat and plonked him on his shoulder, "Your sidekick name can be Purr-Machine. Do you like that, huh?"

"Mrow," Klunk agreed, settling happily into place. He rubbed his furry, whiskered face against Mikey's, making the young turtle laugh.

"That tickles, Klun... uh, I mean, Purr-Machine! Stop it," he giggled.

As Klunk capitulated, Mikey exited the room, looking all about as he did but there was no-one in sight. Mikey laughed with delight and pranced down the stairs, heading for the common room, all the while careful not to trip as he twirled. Unfortunately, the boots hadn't fit his differently shaped feet, the cape was a little long and the costume sat weirdly since it hadn't been made for someone of his shape, but still, it fit.

The living room was empty but Mikey didn't care, in fact, he was pleased since it gave him space to really run about without risk of getting in anyone's way. Striking a heroic pose, he then started running about wildly, jumping over couches and tables and crying out random catchphrases like, "The Turtle Titan will stop you, Evil-doer!" and "Stop! In the name of the Justice Force!" He posed dramatically with each battle cry, pointing and striking at invisible foes. Mikey was having so much fun that he didn't notice his audience until they spoke, their voice cold, hard and full of pain.

"I don't know where you found that costume, Michelangelo, but please take it off right now!"

Mikey stopped dead, his bright grin falling from his face as he saw Donnie, stiff and staring at him, hurt and betrayed.

"I..."

"Just take it off, please." And with that, Donnie stalked into his lab and slammed the door closed behind him. Klunk jumped from Mikey's shoulder and ran off in fright.

Mikey reached up to pull the cowl from his head. "It's just a costume..." he complained sullenly.

"It's more than just a costume, Michelangelo," Leo spoke up softly as he limped slowly down the stairs.

"What do you mean?" Mikey asked plaintively. He looked up at Leo, desperate for an explanation.

Leo smiled tightly back at him, pain shining clear in his own gaze. "Mikey was the Turtle Titan. He was such a superhero fanboy that he decided to just become a superhero himself."

"Really?" Mikey squeaked in surprise. "I thought he must have just made it for Halloween or something because he liked the Turtle Titan. I mean, there's a comic about the Turtle Titan and everything!"

"Mikey may not have gone out a lot in costume but he did on occasion. I can't say I was exactly thrilled about his costumed activities but he did good and made some good friends and allies in the process." He then sighed despondently, his head hanging. "If he hadn't, maybe he'd still be alive today."

Mikey's jaw dropped as he suddenly remembered the conversation he'd had with Donnie a few days prior and pieced the clues together. "Wait a minute! Dude, Donnie said he wasn't in costume that day so... how did..."

"He wasn't," Leonardo admitted softly. "However, it was because of the Turtle Titan that he met certain members of the Justice Force and that led to them asking for our help that day."

Revelation hit and Mikey felt even worse for playing around with the costume. "Oh... So... uh... Does Donnie blame them for it?" he asked in a small voice.

"No," Leo answered sadly, shaking his head once. "Donnie blames himself for what happened that night. The worst part is that since he refuses to talk about what happened, there is little we can do to convince him otherwise."

"I see," Mikey murmured sadly. He wished he could get closer to Donnie and help him through it but now he understood why Donnie often became so touchy around him.

"I didn't know the costume survived the destruction of our old lair."

Mikey glanced down at the cowl in his large hands. "I think it's new," he offered. "It's still stiff and got creases and stuff. I found it in plastic wrap at the bottom of some metal trunk."

"I see." Leo shot him a sudden sharp look. "So why are you suddenly going through his things when you hadn't before now?"

"Raph told me I could a couple of days ago," Mikey admitted with a shrug, colouring brightly.

"Really?" Leo blinked in amazement at the reminder of the recent change in Raphael.

"Yeah. I didn't look until now though because you guys had to watch me to make sure I didn't go all Mister Hyde Turtle and I didn't think it would be fair to look through it in front of you guys."

Leo nodded numbly. "Well, I doubt he meant for you to play around in that costume. I honestly don't mind you looking through Mikey's belongings and using them, but please try not to reopen any old wounds by bringing anything so personal out of that room again."

"Okay, Leo, I'm really sorry," Mikey agreed reluctantly. He shuffled uncomfortably on the spot.

"If you aren't sure about something, come and ask me, okay?"

Mikey nodded listlessly and began trudging towards the stairs to take off the costume and put it back away.

"Oh, Michelangelo?" Leo suddenly called.

"Yeah, Leo?" Mikey asked, pausing at the bottom of the stairs and turning towards him.

"In light of what just happened, I'm putting back our training by an extra hour. Please let Raph know while you're upstairs."

"Okay."

"After you take off the costume."

-:-

to be continued


A/N: Coming up next, Team Building! And I promise it won't be such a long wait between chapters this time *coughs* Sorry about that... Speaking of which, I'm still not entirely happy with this chapter but I've had it typed up and been sitting on it (and the next) for over a year now. I figure if I don't just post, it'll sit there with me occasionally looking over it and fiddling with it again for ages more...