Chapter 52

Time to Get Medieval

What Donnie was currently doing was both dangerous and really stupid, but at the moment he couldn't bring himself to care.

His 'reunion' with his friend, Timothy, had not gone at all as he'd hoped.

The wait for Mutagen Man to thaw out had been agonizingly slow in Donnie's opinion. He did not want to attempt de-mutating his friend in his frozen state, and had instead melted the ice trapping him slowly as to not harm the goo monster in the process.

Finally, Mutagen Man was back to his gelatinous, if dazed, state.

Before the mutant could recover his senses and possibly attack them again (and before Donnie lost his nerve), the genius had dumped the retro-mutagen into the container, and stepped back to wait.

The effect was instantaneous. Immediately Timothy's slime-like form began to pull itself together around his organs in a transformation that was almost to disgusting to describe, and had left many of the watching mutants and teenagers feeling sick to their stomachs.

When it was finally over, a whole and healthy Timothy lay unconscious at the bottom of Mutagen Man's jar, buck-naked (a sight that also made many of the observers nauseous), but completely human.

Pulling him out of the jar, and stuffing him into one of the oversized sweat suits the turtles wore to hide their mutation, Donnie waited on baited breath for his friend to awaken.

But when Timothy finally did, the first thing he did was groan and look around before asking the genius, "Who are you?" in an utterly confused voice, the lack of recognition on his face echoing his question.

Said question sent Donnie reeling, and he could do little more than gape at his friend as he tried to form a coherent answer. Finally he managed to ask in a strangled sounding voice, "Y-you don't remember me?"

Timothy shook his head. "No. Should I? Where are we anyway?"

Donnie made a strangled high-pitched sound in the back of his throat.

Seeing as it didn't look like he'd get any answers from Donnie, Timothy began gazing around the room, and his eyes eventually fell on Donnie's brothers and the Mighty Mutanimals.

Eyes widening at the sight of them, Timothy screamed.

And screamed.

And screamed some more, and no amount of coaxing or assurances could calm him down.

Finally the chubby boy's eyes rolled back in his head, and he fell back in a dead faint (probably from lack of oxygen from screaming).

They decided it might be better to move Timothy to the Shelter before he woke up again. Hopefully after the situation was explained to him, and there weren't any mutants in sight he would calm down. Maybe even remember his friendship with Donnie.

But now, two days later, that still hadn't happened. Timothy had absolutely no recollection of Donatello Hamato and their friendship, and the sight of both the genius, or any of the mutants or ninjas was enough to send the boy back into hysterics. He had hidden himself away in one of the back rooms of the Shelter, and refused to come out if any of the Hamato Clan or Mighty Mutanimals were present.

One of the other inhabitants of the shelter, who knew a thing or two about psychology, told them that it was likely Timothy had repressed his memories of his mutation and everything connected to it, and seeing any reminder of those events were causing his distress.

And apparently, everything included his friendship with the genius ninja.

The despair and guilt over his friend's condition had sunk like a heavy weight in Donnie's stomach, until finally he felt he had to get some air.

So here he was, being dangerously stupid as he sat atop a water tower in the middle of an alien-infested New York trying to clear his head under the night sky.

As he was absently toying with the idea of turning the water tower into a blimp, his siblings finally found him.

"You realize you're taking a huge risk just coming up here just to pout, right?" Leo asked, looking up at him from the rooftop below.

"Aw, stick it in your shell," snapped Donnie, not in the mood for a lecture right now.

Mikey blinked at Donnie's response, and glanced between Donnie and Raph briefly before asking, "Did D and Raph switch bodies when I wasn't looking?"

Raph gave his baby brother a dry look, before yanking the smaller turtle into a headlock.

Mikey squealed as Raph's arm wrapped around his neck, and chocked out, "My mistake. Totally Raph."

Miwa snickered at the sight, before turning her attention back to her remaining human brother. "Seriously though. I get that you need to sulk, but it'd be better if you were doing it somewhere where you weren't in danger of getting captured, tortured, and needing us to come rescue you."

Donnie sent his sister a dry look, before sighing and jumping down from the water tower.

"I know, I know," he said, still looking depressed. "It's just… I know you guys didn't think much of him, but Tim was my friend. And now he freaks out at the very sight of me, and I just-" he gave a helpless shrug, unable to fully convey what he was feeling.

His siblings exchanged sympathetic glances, and Mikey moved over to pat Donnie on the shoulder. "I know how you feel, dude," he said. "I'm, like, super worried Irma will have a similar reaction to us when we free her and the other Kraangatized humans. Just being friends with us got her kidnapped and traded out for that freaky Kraang Subprime jerk. Who knows how she'll feel about that." The youngest looked worried at the very thought.

Raph hesitated to address anything 'touchy-feely', but still added, "I get it too. I felt the same way when Slash went nuts on you guys. But you gotta remember that Slash has really turned himself around. For all we know, Pulverizer might do the same."

Miwa gave a disgusted snort at Raph's comparison, and Leo didn't look fully comfortable with it either.

The red wearing turtle turned in their direction, and raised an eye-ridge. "What?" he asked. "You two have had some beef with Slash and the Mutanimals since we got here. What's the deal?"

Miwa just gave a huff, and turned up her nose at the question.

Leo, on the other hand, twiddled his thumbs for a minute before opening his mouth to answer-

Only for his reply to turn into a strangled gasp as he caught sight of a white light suddenly appearing in the sky above them.

Startled by his reaction, Leo's siblings followed his gaze, and gaped as they saw it too.

Before their eyes, the white light expanded into a bright, glowing doorway, out of which a girl in a blue leotard, cape, and helmet appeared.

"Whoa!" gasped Mikey as the girl seemed to hover in midair before the doorway, holding a scepter with a large hourglass on one end in her hands and gazing around curiously.

Then the girl seemed to realize that gravity was a thing, and began plunging towards the rooftop with a scream.

Acting quickly, Mikey dove forwards to catch her, and the two landed in a heap on the roof.

As Mikey slowly untangled himself from the mystery girl, one thing took his notice as he got his first good look at her.

She was, with out a doubt, the cutest girl he'd ever seen, despite the weird helmet on her head.

"Whoa, are you okay?" he asked in a slightly dazed voice, dimly aware of his siblings gathering around to check on them.

Mystery girl turned and looked at Mikey, and gave him a small smile, and the turtle felt himself growing faint. Just when he thought she couldn't get any cuter.

The girl then turned her attention to the rest of them, and gasped. "Whoa," she breathed, looking thrilled to be in their very presence. "The leader, Leonardo. The warrior, Raphael. The badass, Miwa. The inventor, Donatello. And the cute one, Michelangelo."

Mikey beamed at being called cute, but the rest of the group were a little unnerved about how this total stranger seemed to know so much about them.

"Wow, that's me," said Mikey. "She knows us, dudes."

"I found you," the mystery girl said, jumping to her feet with a wide grin. "I actually found you! The Turtle Warriors of Legend when they're actual turtles! This is so grocking COLD!" she cheered.

The four boys could only stare at her, and wonder what she was babbling about, but Miwa noticed that they were about to have other problems. "Uh, guys," she said, drawing her tantō. "Need I remind you we are currently in enemy territory?"

The other's turned, and immediately saw what she meant. All the lights and noise from the mystery girl's entrance had caught the attention of the Kraang, and now several Stealth Ships were flying their way with lasers charged to fire.

Seeing that, the mystery girl gave a gasp of, "Oh grock." She then frowned in concentration and the scepter in her hands began to glow with a golden light.

Suddenly a bubble burst out of the scepter, and spread out around the rooftop they were on.

The Hamatos, who had been gearing up for a fight, blinked in surprise as all movement outside their bubble seemed to freeze in its tracks.

Seeing as they were seemingly no longer under alien threat, they turned back to the girl in hopes of getting some answers.

"Okay, start talking, sister," said Raph, jabbing his finger in her direction. "Who are you? Why did you call us legends? How do you even know about us? And how the heck did you do… all of that?" he waved at the golden bubble they were in as he said 'that'.

The girl looked slightly sheepish. "Um, in order. I'm Renet. I come from the future, and, wow, you guys are, like, so famous, and that's why I know about you. Meeting you is way more interesting than meeting Genghis Khan, or Billy the Kid, or Socrates!"

Donnie looked at her skeptically. "Please. You're saying you're from the future (which with the whole time freezing thing, I'm inclined to believe you on it), and we are important enough to be in history books? You expect us to believe that?"

Renet nodded enthusiastically. "Yes! You save the world! Many times!"

The five teenagers stared at her in shock. As of now, they had only really saved the world once with the Technodrome. But if she was telling the truth, and they were set to do that again, then that meant…

They all exchanged grins, and Donnie let out a cheer of, "Awesome! High five!"

The other four clapped their hands with his enthusiastically. If that meant they would find some way to beat back the Kraang, they would take a hundred girls falling out of weird glowing doors. This day was already looking up.

Meanwhile, Mikey was sidling up towards Renet with a cheesy grin on his face, and said, "Hey there, the name's Michelangelo. But you can call me Mikey, Angelo is my middle name."

"No it's not," said Miwa dryly, effectively shooting down her brother's attempt at flirting. "We're Japanese, we don't have middle names."

Mikey glowered at her for that, and Renet giggled.

"So, time travel, and apparently time manipulation," said Donnie, waving his hand at the bubble they were in and looking curious. "Would you mind explaining a little more about that?"

Renet beamed (which made Mikey shift his glare onto Donnie) and explained, "Oh, that's easy. I'm a Time Master." She held up her scepter, and struck a pose, only to stumble, and nearly drop said scepter. "Okay," she admitted. "Assistant Time Master In Training."

Mikey was looking at the girl with stars in his eyes, but his siblings exchanged skeptical glances with each other. "So how long until this all blows up in our faces?" asked Raph.

"I give it five minutes," said Leo.

"Less," remarked Miwa dryly.

Hearing them, Renet hesitated, and looked sheepish. "Yeah, you're not wrong there, I sorta need you help. See, I was kinda followed by an evil freak from the future who wants to control all of time and space."

The ninjas gaped at her as they absorbed that bombshell, and another doorway opened above their heads, and an ugly demon-like creature with large horns, and goat-like feet, and wearing large metal gauntlets floated out of it to glower down at the teenagers.

"Called it," said Miwa.

Renet stared up at the figure fearfully, and said, "It's him. Savanti Romero!"

Romero's mouth quirked at Renet's introduction, and he dropped from the door onto the rooftop with an impact that caused the whole building to shake.

Looking around with an unimpressed expression, the demon creature said in a pompous voice, "How droll. The early twenty-first century, mid Kraang invasion. Why would you pick this year?"

Renet backed away fearfully, and the ninjas jumped between her and the freak from the future with their weapons at the ready.

Looking amused, Savanti continued undeterred. "Oh, I see. The Turtle Warriors, of course." He gave Renet a smug glance. "But you must realize they can't defeat me? Your history is wrong. Give me the time scepter, and I shall let you live."

Renet simply stepped even farther away from him, and tightened her grip on the scepter nervously.

Not about to let some creep pick on a girl who had come to them for help, Leo said, "Ninjas, let's welcome this freak New York style."

With that the five of them rushed forwards to attack, but Savanti pressed a button on his gauntlets. Instantly he became surrounded in an orange bubble similar to the one Renet had created to keep the Kraang out of their hair.

Instantly the five teenagers were frozen in mid air, and Savanti Romero waved his hand at them as if swatting a pesky fly. Doing so caused the teenagers to be sent flying backwards and crash onto the roof in a heap, and left Renet unprotected.

The Time Master In Training stared up at the approaching demon-like creature as he held his claws out to her and demanded, "Give it to me, girl!"

"Not this time," snapped Renet, whipping the staff out in front of her as the hourglass began glowing with a golden light.

The light then burst from the Time Scepter with enough force to send Renet tumbling back, and blast Savanti clear off the roof and into another glowing doorway with a shout of, "NO!"

Jumping back to her feet, Renet beamed at them as she twirled her staff in her hand clumsily. "Wow! That was, like, the most evil Time Master ever, right? No worries, I sent him a hundred million years into the past."

The Hamatos just stared at her.

"I think I speak for us all when I say we have no idea what is going ON!" shouted Donnie. If he had known all this would happen earlier, he'd have picked a quieter rooftop to sulk on.

Renet winced. "Oh, right, yeah, sorry. Let me explain everything." She cleared her throat and said, "In the future, we Time Masters are the protectors of time, space, and reality itself. I'm apprentice to the top guy in our order, Lord Simultaneous. Last night, someone tried to steal the Time Scepter, a piece of tech so advanced it can not only control time, it can bend reality itself."

The Hamatos winced as they realized just how powerful and dangerous the scepter Renet was currently twirling like a baton was, and winced when it fell out of her grip and hit to the rooftop with a clatter.

Undeterred, Renet picked it up again and continued, "It was Savanti Romero, the evil mutant Time Master. With the scepter he could rule all of reality, changing history to suit his cruel whims. So I took it from him, and used it to lure him to the one era he could be defeated in. Now, by the famous Turtle Warriors."

But Leo spotted a glaring flaw in her story. "But we didn't defeat him, you did. So history was totally wrong."

Renet just blinked at them as Leo's words sunk in.

She was brought out of her musings when the Time Scepter began to glow in her hands. "Oh grock, this isn't good," she said in a worried tone. "Savanti is making changes in the past! He's trying to wipe us out in the present!"

"He can do that?" Donnie asked.

"Oh yeah, that happens a lot," said Renet, looking put out. "I guess I should have let you guys defeat him like history said." She turned to them with an imploring expression. "Can you help me?" she begged.

"Help you?" asked Raph incredulously. "We don't even know you!"

"Never stopped us before," Miwa remarked with a shrug.

"Come on guys!" Mikey said, moving to stand next to Renet. "One day we're going to be famous for doing great things! This is one of 'em!"

He then cast a glance at Renet to see if she looked impressed at his words, and was happy to see her beaming at him gratefully.

But before anything else could be said, a crash like thunder split the air, and a giant, glowing, white head appeared in the sky to angrily shout, "RENEEET!"

Renet gulped, and her face pinched in the expression of someone caught doing something they shouldn't. "Lord Simultaneous! Aw man, I'm so busted!"

"FOOLISH CHILD!" boomed Lord Simultaneous' voice. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?"

But Renet was already running. "We gotta get out of here!" she shouted. "Lord S is gonna kill me!"

With that she opened another time door, and dove through it.

Mikey rushed after her. "Renet, wait for me!" he shouted.

"Mikey!" yelled Raph in exasperation as their little brother dove through the glowing door after the girl they barely knew.

With an exchange of helpless shrugs, the four older siblings ran through the door after them, Lord Simultaneous' voice booming above them as they went.

"RENET, YOU CANNOT ESCAPE ME! I WILL FIND YOU!" he shouted as the door closed after them.

With a yell of anger, the glowing white head vanished, and the time bubble Renet had cast over the rooftop disappeared as well.

Immediately the Kraang Stealth Ships descended onto the rooftop to capture the teenagers who had been there moments before, but to their utter confusion, not a soul could be found.

They immediately began playing the Kraang version of Rock Paper Scissors to see which of them would have the misfortune of reporting this failure to Kraangs Prime and Subprime.


Within a peaceful forest in England, a glowing white door opened and deposited the six teenagers in a heap on the leaf-strewn floor.

Mikey was the first to get untangled, and he rubbed his head and groaned. "Urgh, where the heck are we?" he asked, looking around curiously.

"More like when are we?" said Renet as she slowly climbed to her feet.

Donnie spotted a signpost not far away, and moved over to take a closer look. "Avalon, Camelot, The Tower of the Demon," he read off it, before glancing at his siblings with a wince. "This is not good."

"Um guys, look," said Leo pointing off into the distance.

They all turned to see a sight that looked straight out of one of Sir Malachi's favorite movies. A lush green countryside spread out before them with very old-fashioned villages dotting across it, and a shadowy castle could be seen off in the distance.

"We're in medieval times!" shouted Donnie as the realization sank in.

"England in the year 980 A.D." said Renet. "That is so cold, right?"

Miwa scowled at the scene. "If we run into any Black Knights, French jerks, or freaks who say 'Ni!' I am going to scream."

A wide grin spread across Mikey's face, and he opened his mouth.

"Mikey, if you start quoting Monty Python I'll slap the green off you," Raph threatened, giving his brother a stern glare.

Mikey wisely snapped his mouth shut again.

"So why are we here?" asked Miwa, glancing at Renet. "I thought you said you sent that guy back to dinosaur times, or something."

Renet looked sheepish again. "Um, well, I meant to send him back a hundred million years, but I guess it fell short. You have to help me stop him."

Leo glanced at the rest of his siblings, and said, "Looks like we have no choice, guys. We gotta save history."

"Yes!" cheered Renet. "You guys are such groovy daddy-os!"

"Save the world, save history, is there anything we're not supposed to be saving?" asked Miwa rhetorically.

Renet grinned. "No, not much. You guys end up saving a whole lot of stuff."

Miwa hadn't been expecting an answer to that question, and blinked at Renet slightly for her response. Then she shrugged. "Something to look forward to, I guess."

Just then, Mikey perked up, and he hurried over to Renet. "Oh snap! Renet, I've got a rad idea!"

He whispered it into her ear, and she giggled. "The scepter can do that," she said happily. "It's just a little quantum manipulation."

Mikey grinned and moved over to stand by his siblings and posed as if he was getting his picture taken.

The Time Scepter began glowing once again as Renet spun it in her hands, and pointed it at the five of them before slamming the end of it into the ground.

There was a flash of gold light that blinded the ninjas, but once the sparks faded from their eyes, all but Mikey's jaws dropped in shock.

All five of them were dressed in the outfits Malachi had created in his Mazes and Mutants illusion the day they'd met him. But that wasn't what was so surprising to the ninjas.

What was surprising was that Leo, Raph, and Mikey no longer had the appearance of turtles. All three were human once again.

Leo yanked off the helmet of his knight outfit, and stared at his reflection in the shiny surface. "No way!" he gasped.

Mikey preened in his elf outfit, and tossed his long curly hair over his shoulder. "Way, dude," he said, waggling all ten of his fingers at his brother, enjoying having five on each hand again instead of three.

Raph stared down at the human hands poking out of his hobbit costume (though, fortunately, the transformation had not included the short height of said creatures), before snatching Leo's helmet from his hands, and stared at the face he hadn't seen in months with wide eyes.

Miwa in her thief outfit and Donnie in wizard robes and a beard exchanged glances before staring at the sight of their fully human family once again.

"It's only temporary, sorry," said Renet as they took in what happened. "History says you three stay turtles awhile longer in New York. It's kinda important to you guys getting your names in the history books."

Mikey grinned at their expressions. "I thought we should do the whole 'when in Rome' thing," he said brightly. "And with the three of us, you know, not looking like turtles, we'll be less likely to be burned at the stake or something."

"That's… actually pretty smart," said Leo in surprise at his brother thinking ahead.

Mikey's grin widened, and he leaned over to Leo and whispered, "Plus, I wanted to look extra sweet for Renet. It's the elf ears. Chicks dig 'em," he said with a wink, tapping at his now pointed ears.

Leo rolled his eyes good-naturedly, but before he could reply, the sound of hoof beats caught his attention.

They all turned to see four knights in full armor approaching on horseback.

"Halt, strangers!" called one of the knights in a whiny sounding voice. "This land belongs to the king. What business have you here?"

The teenagers exchanged glances.

Then Donnie spoke up in his best attempt to mimic the knight's whiny accent. "Good sir, we are trying to find the tower of Savanti Romero."

The knights jolted at his words, and the one who had spoken to them actually fell off his horse in shock. "Egad!" he shouted as he got to his feet. "You do not want to go there!" He then glanced around nervously, and added with a whisper, "You don't even want to speak his name, lest you summon him."

"Who?" asked Mikey in a loud, cocky voice. "Savanti Romero? That punk? Please, I could take that horn headed freak in my sleep."

As Mikey spoke, a figure floated down behind him without his notice, causing his siblings to tense, and the rest of the knights fell off their horses in fear.

Heedless of this, Mikey continued his bragging. "He's chump change. A crumb snatcher. I'm not scared of him in the-"

He paused as it finally seemed to register to him the looks on all of their faced. "He's right behind me, isn't he?" he asked rhetorically, before looking over his shoulder with a whimper.

Savanti Romero snarled down at him with a mouth full of fangs, before he slammed his fist into Mikey hard enough to send him flying.

"FOOLS!" shouted Savanti angrily. Then, before anyone could react, he snatched the Time Scepter from Renet's grip, and sent her slamming into a tree.

Grinning at his prize, Savanti said, "Finally! The scepter is mine!" He then burst into a bout of evil laughter, holding the scepter above his head in victory.

Terrified, the four knights bolted away, leaving their horses behind.

Renet, however, got back to her feet, and glared at Savanti angrily. "The Time Scepter will never stop the Turtle Warriors!" She then hesitated, and added more weakly. "So maybe you'll give it back?"

"NEVER!" shouted Savanti as he slammed the scepter into the ground, causing to glow with its golden light. "You shall be forever stuck in the confines of time!" he bellowed in an echoing voice as the light washed over the six teenagers.

"GET HIM!" shouted Leo once the light stopped blinding them.

But Savanti Romero merely laughed as they charged towards him, then vanished without a trace.

A moment later, the teenagers vanished as well, only to reappear a second later, watching as Savanti said, "You shall be forever stuck in the confines of time!"

"GET HIM!" shouted Leo again, only for them all to vanish and reappear once again.

"You shall be forever stuck in the confines of time!"

Realizing that this was the third time they'd heard that line, Raph glanced around and shouted, "What the heck is going on?"

"Yeah, didn't this just happen?" asked Mikey in confusion.

"Savanti must have stuck us in some kind of time loop," said Donnie worriedly just as they vanished and reappear again.

"You shall be forever stuck in-"

"-In the confines of time, we know, we know!" shouted Miwa in irritation. "Are we going to have to listen to this for eternity?"

"Dudes, I think we just might!" shouted Mikey as he started to panic.

Raph turned to look at Renet for ideas. "Well, Headdress?" he asked, "You got us into this!"

Renet glanced down at the knuckledusters on her hands, and a smirk spread across her face as she crashed them together, making them glow with a blue light just as they all vanished and reappeared in another loop.

"You shall be forever stuck in the-" was all Savanti managed to say before Renet darted forwards with a shout, and slammed her fist into the demon's cheek.

Savanti staggered back with a grunt, and with a flash of gold, the time loop shattered around them, and the demon vanished from sight.

The siblings stared at the Assistant Time Master in awe. "You… punched out the time loop?" Donnie asked in amazement.

Renet nodded, looking bashful at all of their stares.

Miwa reached over and placed her hand on Mikey's shoulder. "She has my approval," the kunoichi said sagely. "Marry that girl."

Leo, Raph, and Donnie all nodded in agreement, still amazed at what Renet had done.

Mikey turned scarlet, and yanked the hood of his cloak up to cover his face in embarrassment.

"Come on," said Renet, who was also blushing at Miwa's words. "We, uh, we have to find Savanti." And with that, she awkwardly turned and hurried over to the horses the knights had left abandoned.

She, Leo, and Donnie mounted three of the horses without much trouble, but Raph looked uneasy as he approached the animals. "Why'd it have to be horses," he grumbled.

At Renet's questioning look at his comment, Miwa snickered and explained, "Let's just say, when we were little, Raph had a little incident on a pony ride, and-"

"SHUT UP!" shouted Raph, his face turning an angry red.

Miwa just laughed, and mounted the last horse, before waving for Raph to climb up behind her, which he reluctantly did.

Renet shook her head at their antics, before helping Mikey to climb up on her horse behind her, and they all took off towards the Tower of the Demon.

"So now we're riding a horse together, is this our first date?" Mikey couldn't help but ask as they went.

Renet sent him a teasing smirk. "Mikey, aren't you a little old for me?" she asked. "I haven't even been born yet."

Mikey bit back a whimper at that response, before his eyes lit up, and he replied, "Well, since we're in, like, King Arthur times, then I haven't been born yet either. Does that make us even?"

Renet giggled, and Mikey counted that as a win.


Within a large castle that looked straight out of a horror movie, Savanti Romero sat upon his throne in the clock tower (despite such things not having been invented yet), and studied the Time Scepter as he tried to decide what evil he should do with it first.

"How will I go about controlling all of time and space," he mused aloud to himself. "So many possibilities for evil. Perhaps I'll dominate the present age, so the future will never exist?"

But his thoughts were interrupted as the Time Scepter began to flash. He waved the staff, and a yellow cloud appeared before him, showing Renet and the Hamato siblings riding towards his tower on horseback.

"What!" he growled at the sight. "Renet broke the time loop? Well played, girl. Well played. But Savanti Romero has other plans."

His laughter echoed throughout the clock tower as he used the Time Scepter to send another obstacle to seal the teenagers' doom.


As they rode along, Leo noticed that Donnie had been oddly quiet throughout the entire ride.

Pulling his horse up along side his genius brother, Leo asked, "Still feeling down about the Pulverizer?"

Donnie glanced at his older brother, before heaving a sigh and nodding.

"Wanna talk about it?" Leo offered, making it clear he was willing to listen if Donnie wanted.

Donnie glanced up at their siblings and Renet, who were riding a few paces ahead, and not really paying attention to the two's conversation.

Seeing as they weren't likely to be interrupted, Donnie turned back to Leo and said, "I know you guys never really liked Timothy but…"

"But he was your friend," Leo finished for him. "And it hurts he doesn't remember you."

Donnie nodded, looking blue. "He was. Once you got him out of those stupid costumes, he was actually a lot of fun to be around, if for no other reason, than to do dorky things together that you can laugh about later. In fact, you'd actually have liked him, Leo, he was as big a Space Heroes nerd as you are."

Leo looked doubtful at that, but kept quiet, and nodded to tell Donnie to continue.

Donnie then sighed, and added, "But it's not just that he was my friend, he was also my responsibility. Father told me when I started teaching him some moves, that by training him I was responsible for him. And… with all that happened…"

"You feel like you failed," said Leo, realizing what his brother was feeling.

Donnie gave him an angry look. "Leo, he was tricked into joining the Foot, turned into a goo monster trapped in a jar, driven insane with jealousy towards me and April, then frozen in an ice cube, only to awaken in a city ravaged by an alien invasion, surrounded by mutants, and having no memory of how he could have possibly gotten there. I don't feel like I failed, I DID fail!"

At that admission, the anger drained from Donnie, and he repeated sadly. "I did fail him, and now I've lost a friend because of it."

Leo frowned, and leaned across the gap between them to place his hand on Donnie's shoulder while being careful not to fall off his horse in the process. "We all should have done better where Timothy was concerned, Donnie. We all failed, not just you."

He then leaned back into his saddle, and gave his little brother an encouraging smile. "But don't give up just yet. Timothy may remember in time, and we'll send the Kraang packing in the meantime. Even if we messed up before, we can still find a way to turn it around."

Donnie sent Leo a grateful glance, and nodded. "Thanks, Leo."

The genius then faced forward to see where they were headed, and his face fell as the broken archway leading into a creepy cemetery drew closer, and he could see the other two horses paused in front of it. "Though somehow, I don't see this scenery helping to improve my mood any," he said dryly as he and Leo caught up with the others.

Leo winced and nodded in agreement. "Yeah, but Savanti's tower is just past this uber creepy cemetery," he said, pointing towards the menacing tower in the distance. He then urged his horse forwards into the graveyard, and the rest of the group exchanged uneasy glances, before reluctantly following after him.

Uber creepy was an apt way to describe the place. It was dark, desolate, and there were piles of bones littered throughout the crypts and tombstones, making the place look like something out of a horror movie.

As she steered their horse past the graves, Miwa leaned back slightly and whispered to Raph, "So what are our odds of this going south in the next five minutes."

Raph snorted. "With our luck, high. My money's on skeleton zombies, you?"

"Evil spirits," said Miwa. "Usual wager?"

"Done," Raph replied.

Mikey had been cowering in his and Renet's saddle, and hearing his brother and sister's words had only increased his anxiety. "Can we go, like, around the uber creepy cemetery?" he asked, wishing he still had his shell so he could hide within it.

"That would be the smart thing to do," added Miwa pointedly.

Leo opened his mouth to no doubt give a perfectly reasonable response to explain why they were taking the obviously most dangerous path, rather than do what Miwa had labeled 'the smart thing', but before he could utter a word, Savanti Romero appeared overhead in a flash.

"FOOLS!" the demon bellowed, startling their horses, and causing Raph to fall off his. "Do you think you can sneak up on the greatest Time Master ever? Savanti Romero rules everything… even death!"

With that, the Time Scepter in his hands glowed, and the ground began rattling under their feet as boney hands began bursting out of the Earth, making all the horses throw their riders off in panic.

From where he was sprawled on the ground, Raph leapt to his feet, and couldn't help but punch his fist in the air and yell, "Ha! Called it!"

Miwa grumbled as she climbed to her feet as well, and passed Raph some money.

Leo shot the two a glare. "Really not the time now, guys," he said as he drew his swords, and prepared to fight the skeleton hoards.

"Dudes, this is like my worst nightmare times ten!" shouted Mikey as he helped Renet to her feet.

"Even worse than a world without pizza?" Donnie couldn't help but ask incredulously.

Mikey blinked as he thought about that, before amending, "Okay, second worst."

Savanti laughed at their predicament, before vanishing once again, leaving them to their fate.

With the skeletons surrounding them, the ninjas and Renet surged forwards to beat them back.

Donnie, Miwa, and Renet seemed to have no trouble fighting off their boney opponents, but Leo, Raph, and Mikey seemed to be having some trouble.

Raph clashed his sais against a skeleton, and tried to out muscle the bag of bones, only to fine himself being overpowered by the skeleton's strength. "Is it me, or are these freaks stronger than they look?" he called to the others.

Mikey, who had opted using his elven bow over his nunchucks, found himself getting pushed back as one of the skeletons crashed its shield against it. "It's not just you!" he replied.

The youngest caught sight of another skeleton attacking from his back, but didn't move much to stop it.

Only to be tackled out of the way by Miwa, before the skeleton could drive its sword into his unprotected back. The skeleton instead crashed into the one that had been attacking Mikey from the front, and they both fell to the ground in a pile of bones.

"What are you thinking?" Miwa shouted at her little brother for his recklessness.

Mikey frowned at being yelled at. "What's the deal, it was just gonna hit my-" He broke off and blinked as he realized something.

"-Shell," Leo finished for him, as he struggled to take down his own skeletal attacker. "We've gotten so used to the strength and protection from being turtles, that to be suddenly without it-" he broke off in order to dart forwards, and slice through the skeleton with a single blow, scattering its pieces, "-makes fighting a whole lot harder," he finished.

"So we gotta relearn our limits," said Raph as he used his sais to disarm his opponent, and kick the boney attacker away. "I can work with that."

Still, three teens who had been human since the start of this journey stuck closer to the three former turtles just to be safe.

Just as it was looking like they were winning, the skeletons began to slowly reassemble themselves for round two, swarming the teenagers once more.

As Mikey used his bow to shoot the head off a skeleton that was trying to sneak up on Renet, the time girl's glowing knuckleduster fizzled and winked out.

"Well, my energy knuckles are burned out," she said to Mikey, who was still letting arrows fly next to her. "I brought the only weapon I have left is a single entropy dart. One last resort to destroy the scepter."

Mikey paused from his arrow shooting to give Renet a panicked glance, and the others didn't take the news too well either.

"Destroy the scepter?" asked Donnie, looking at her worriedly. "But we'll be trapped here forever!"

"And from what I know of history, I do not want to be a woman in this time period," added Miwa. "I'll be burned as a witch before the end of the week."

Leo, meanwhile, managed to find his and the others horses, and drove them towards where his siblings were fighting.

Mounting his, Leo called out, "Come on Turtle Warriors of Legend! Let's ride!"

The others quickly remounted their horses, and rode as swiftly as they could out of the cemetery.

The skeleton hoards attempted to give chase, but the moment they set foot out of the graveyard grounds, the crumbled to the ground as harmless piles of bones once more.

Seeing that, Miwa grumbled, "All the more reason we should have gone around the cemetery in the first place."

Leo shot her a dirty look, but said nothing.

Once they were safely away from the cemetery, Leo insisted they get off their horses and spar for a few minutes for the three former turtles to get semi-used to their limits once again, before riding on to face the demon.

It wasn't long after that that their horses carried them to the threshold of Savanti's castle.

Leaving the horses outside, the teens used ninja stealth to make their way into the fortress (Mikey aiding Renet in her sneaking skills), and worked their way up the clock tower to find Savanti sitting upon his throne, still pondering how to best rule time and space.

"I suppose I could conquer the twenty-fifth century fairly easily," he mused aloud. "But I really want to see the look on the other Time Masters' faces when I neutralize them."

As the demon-like creature chuckled evilly at that thought, the ninjas and Renet positioned themselves on the rafters above him, ready to strike.

They were silent for a moment, waiting for the best opportunity, only for Savanti to glance up at them with a bored expression and say blandly, "Come on, attack. I haven't got all the time in the world." He grinned wickedly at the scepter, and added, "Most of it, yes."

Needing no further prompting, the teenagers dove from the rafters to attack Savanti all at once, but the demon merely activated the scepter to freeze them in mid air.

"Toys are such fun," sneered Savanti. He then reversed time, and put them all back up in the rafters a few moments before they'd jumped.

"Okay guys, we'll sneak across on that chandelier chain, and-" Leo was saying before he broke off as a wave of déjà vu hit him. "Wait? Didn't we just do this?"

"Aw no," groaned Donnie. "He's messing with time again."

"GET HIM!" shouted Raph, and they all leapt from the rafters once again, only to be caught in glowing orange bubbles on the way down.

"You make it all so easy," taunted Savanti as he lounged on his throne, smirking at them all. He chuckled sinisterly as he got to his hooved feet, and began pacing in front of their bubbles, contemplating what horrible fate to bestow upon them.

"Shall I freeze you in time forever?" he said, smirking at the teenagers as he walked past each bubble. "Devolve you back into six little monkeys? Ohohoh, or perhaps primal sludge?"

Mikey actually looked thoughtful at Savanti's musings. "Primal sludge doesn't sound so bad," he said, cocking his head thoughtfully.

"Primal sludge is real bad, Mikey," Renet corrected him from the bubble next to his.

"That goes without saying," muttered Miwa, glowering at Savanti as he passed her bubble.

The demon merely chuckled at her sour look, and tapped on her bubble just enough to jostle her, laughing as she wobbled within the bubble, and glared at him like she was trying to set him on fire with her eyes.

While Savanti's attention was focused on the kunoichi, Renet readied her entropy dart. If there was no way they could beat Savanti, at least she would keep the Time Scepter out of his hands as well.

Seeing this, Donnie hissed to her, "Don't use it, we'll never get home!"

Renet hesitated, before aiming her dart again.

Only instead of aiming for Savanti, she aimed it towards Mikey's bubble and fired. The dart popped both of their bubbles sending the two tumbling to the floor with a yelp.

Savanti turned at the sound, and upon seeing them free, he shouted, "WHAT!"

But Mikey was already moving. In a lightning fast motion, he had his kusarigama in his hand, and sent the chain flying at the demon, tying him up, and causing him to drop the Time Scepter.

"Aw yeah!" cheered Mikey as Renet dove for the scepter.

With the time device out of Savanti's hands, the bubbles around the rest of Mikey's siblings vanished, and the four ninjas surged forwards to help.

Seeing this, Savanti roared, "NO!" and managed hit a switch on his throne the entire clock tower to shake, making the teens loose their balance, and cause the Time Scepter to slip out of Renet's reach off the platform and into the giant grinding gears below.

A second later, the platform around the throne retracted into the walls, sending the teenagers falling towards the gears as well.

Undeterred, Renet hopped from one gear to the next, trying to get to the scepter, only for Savanti to be right at her heels, his girth making the entire tower shake every time he landed.

Determined to protect Renet, Mikey was right behind them, and delivered a roundhouse kick to Savanti. "Forget it, Freak job!" he shouted.

With a snarl, Savanti grabbed Mikey and threw him into Donnie, who had been coming to aid him. The two fell in a heap on one of the gears.

Mikey groaned and rubbed his back as he and Donnie got back to their feet. "I forgot how much it hurts not to have a shell," he said with a wince.

Savanti just sneered at them.

Taking advantage of that distraction, Raph and Miwa dove at the demon from opposite sides, but Savanti merely tapped a button on his gauntlets and another bubble appeared around him, protecting him from harm no matter how much they hammered at the glowing surface.

Leo came over to try and help them, only for Savanti to burst the bubble in a shockwave that sent all three flying away from him.

Barely catching a gear to keep from falling to his doom, Raph shouted to the others, "He's invulnerable!"

Deeming the ninjas beneath his notice for now, the demon once again began making his way towards the Time Scepter and Renet, who was still chasing it.

Landing on the gear both were on, Savanti breathed fire at her, sending both the scepter and the girl tumbling downwards.

Renet managed to catch herself, and the chase was on to reach the scepter, all of them hopping from gear to gear after the staff as it kept falling down the tower.

Every time Renet would get close to the scepter, Savanti would be there to beat her back, only to be beaten back himself by the ninjas as Renet picked herself up and made another attempt.

Finally, the ninjas managed to surround Savanti at all sides, and succeeded in distracting him enough from Renet that he was unable to move past them.

That didn't mean that they were winning, it just meant they could keep him pinned in one place.

As Savanti threw Mikey into Leo (who promptly agreed having a shell hurt less) and backhanded Miwa away, Donnie managed to get close and grabbed the scepter, "We just need to-!" the genius started to say, but Savanti grabbed him by the throat before he could finish.

The demon snarled at the teen in his hand, and prepared to breath fire in the genius' face.

But before he could, Raph suddenly reared up behind them, and drove his blade into Savanti's gauntlet. "-Need to do this!" the ninja dressed as a hobbit shouted as the gauntlet began to crackle with electricity.

Savanti dropped Donnie and roared in pain as the lightning from his gauntlets electrocuted him, and spread throughout the tower, forcing all the gears to stop moving.

Savanti fell to his knees, and only had time to mutter, "Oh dear," before Mikey kicked him in the face once again, sending him flying off the platform.

"It's the blue button, Donatello!" shouted Renet hurriedly, wanting to end this fight before Savanti could get his second wind.

Pressing the button she had indicated, Donnie said, "Let's see how this thing works!"

The scepter shone brightly in his hands, and he aimed it at Savanti Romero with a fierce glare.

Savanti stared back at him fearfully, and said, "Turtle Warrior, let's talk before you make any rash decisions!"

But Donnie would have none of it, and he used the Time Scepter to zap the cowering demon, and send him through another glowing door, this time for good.

Just to be sure, Raph turned to Renet and asked, "So are you sure this time? Is he gone for good?"

"Absolutely," said Renet confidentially. She then paused, and added, "Sort of… Ninety-six percent certain."

"Oh that's reassuring," said Miwa, trading an uneasy glance with her brothers.

Before any of the Hamatos could question Renet further, a crackling noise cut through the air, and Lord Simultaneous' head appeared above them once again.

Renet winced as her mentor's voice boomed through the clock tower. "RENET! YOU MUST COME BACK TO THE FUTURE NOW! YOU! ARE! GROUNDED!"

Renet rolled her eyes and groaned, "Aw grock." In a louder voice she replied, "On my way, Lord Simultaneous. Just gotta drop off my friends first."

Lord Simultaneous looked at the five ninjas, and for the first time his face shifted from scorn to something like impressed. "OH? THE TURTLE WARRIORS OF LEGEND? VERY COLD!" he said before vanishing once again.

With a sigh, Renet turned to the others and said, "Okay everybody, let's go home."

Seeing as this might be his last chance to do so, Mikey shifted nervously and said, "Renet? Can we kick it in the future together? Just you and me for a little while?"

Seeing his hopeful expression, Renet's face broke into a warm smile. "Aw," she said, "I would love that, Mikey. Maybe someday when I'm after I'm done being grounded."

With that, she leaned over and kissed Mikey on the cheek, and Miwa had to dart forward to catch him before he swooned off the platform.

Shooting the time girl a smirk over her brother's head, the kunoichi said, "I have dibs on being the Maid of Honor."

That snapped Mikey out of it, and they both turned pink.

"L-lets go home, Turtle heroes," stuttered Renet as she tried to regain her composure.

With a wave of the Time Scepter, Renet opened another door, and they all walked through, Mikey calling "COWABUNGA!" as he did so.

Only this time, flying through time was not as smooth as before. As they moved from one time to the next, flashes of lightning split the void and made the ride bumpy and terrifying.

"Oh no!" shouted Renet in a panicked voice as she struggled to hold them all together to get through. "Time interference! Something's wrong!"

Just then, something seemed to latch on to the Hamato siblings, and drag the away from Renet.

"GUYS!" shouted Renet as she wheeled around and used the Time Scepter to try and catch them before they got too far away.

But before she could pull them back, a swirling vortex opened up behind them, and sucked the five ninjas in, leaving Renet floating in the darkness alone.

"Oh no," she breathed worriedly, before urging the Time Scepter to find them again.

But for once the scepter didn't glow, or do anything to help her.


In a forest just outside of Tokyo, a time door opened up, and deposited the five Hamato siblings in a heap.

Unfortunately, Leo had landed on the top of the pile, and being that he was still dressed in a heavy suit of armor, it made things very uncomfortable for everyone involved.

When they finally untangled themselves, Raph got to his feet and groaned, "Where the heck are we now?"

"The time stream must have been messed with," said Leo as he tugged off his helmet, and looked like he was contemplating just chucking it away. Focusing back on the matter at hand, he turned see a city in the distance.

Recognizing it, Donnie said, "We're in Japan? Well, at least we're back in modern times."

Miwa snorted. "Yeah, I'm gonna love explaining to Father how we ended up on the other side of the world. Not to mention how much trouble it's going to be to sneak back into New York City."

Her brothers all winced as they realized just how much trouble they were in.

"At least it can't get any worse," said Mikey brightly.

"Please tell me you didn't just say that," Raph groaned.

On cue, a volley of arrows embedded themselves in the ground at the teenagers' feet, making them all jump back in alarm.

Standing back to back in a circle, the teenagers' eyes widened as they caught sight of their attackers.

"Dudes, ninjas!" Mikey whispered as he readied his bow to fire.

Indeed out of the trees leapt a squadron of ninjas in red suits. All of whom were wearing a very familiar symbol on their uniforms.

The Hamato crest.

"I think we're in deep trouble," Leo said to his siblings as the red ninjas closed in.


A/N Sorry this is late. Yeah, I did Turtles in Time early. There's a reason for this. Which I will explain later ;)

Disclaimer: I own nothing