Author's Note

To the Guest: Ooooh, I'm glad you do! Thanks a lot for telling me!

Hello There

2003 universe

Raphael kicked and punched with gusto. If anything, the two strangers had brought a nice fight with them.

It didn't mean that they were forgiven for the disappearance of his brothers, of course.

But if Donatello was right - and he usually was - and this blue thing had acted like a portal, Leonardo and Michelangelo must be in one piece in another place. And they knew how to fend for themselves.

Still. It was very rude of these strangers to burst like that in the middle of a stealth mission, especially when Leonardo couldn't witness how unstealthy it had become. Raphael would have been only too pleased to point it out to him.

Little by little the melee was becoming less dense; the Purple Dragons were either unconscious or running away with the boxes. Raphael kept watch in case they came back with reinforcements - or Hun - but the leader must have been busy elsewhere.

Soon there was only one Purple Dragon left. To Raphael's dismay, Donatello knocked him out first - an advantage of having a long-range weapon.

Now that they were both the last ones standing, it became very obvious that they were… the last ones standing.

"Where are they?" Raphael's eyes scanned the room, but the two strangers were nowhere in sight.

Until the pile of bodies moved, and a green head emerged.

"Hello," it said. "Thanks for the help." Its eyes widened as it took in Raphael and Donatello's appearance. "Mikey, you have to see that!"

As the body which the head belonged to emerged from the pile, Raphael saw that it was a turtle.

With a blue mask.

Carrying a shell in his arms.

Limbs and a head stuck out from said shell, and soon a second turtle was watching them.

It had an orange mask, and looked very different from the first: smaller, and body painted.

Raphael had a nasty feeling he knew what it meant.

"Oh no, not again." He rubbed his temples in a long-suffering gesture. "I hate dimensional travel."

"This is so fascinating!" Donatello exclaimed. "Are you a red-eared slider turtle? And you an ornate box turtle?"

Raphael nudged him. If his brother kept grinning like a brainiac at these new turtles, they were going to believe that they were welcome.

"Dimensional travel, uh? I bet we're in a different dimension!" the blue-masked turtle said with a bright smile.

"No kidding, Sherlock." Raphael crossed his arms. "So, how did you arrive there?"

"How about introductions first?" the smaller turtle asked, straightening up with distinction as if he hadn't been hiding in his shell a moment before. "That would be the polite way to go."

Raphael shrugged. "You're a Mikey, he's a Leo, you're far from home. Let's get you back there, the sooner the better."

"Oh my gosh, you're a mind-reader!" Mikey shouted.

Raphael rolled his eyes.

Donatello put a hand on his arm. "Please excuse my brother. I'm Donatello, and he's Raphael. With our brothers Leonardo and Michelangelo, we're the teenage mutant ninja turtles of this dimension. But they've just disappeared through one of your portals."

"Ooooooh," Leo and Mikey said in unison.

"So exciting!" Mikey began circling around Donatello and Raphael. "Please don't move. I'm trying to memorize your best angle."

"What for?" Raphael said, baffled.

"For art, of course. You look so similar, a less experienced eye would say that you're the same. But I know better."

Raphael wasn't sure how to react, so he reported his attention to the Leo in front of him.

His question took him by surprise.

"So you're the leader? What was all this?" He waved at the Purple Dragons.

His tone didn't sound ironic at all. Could it be that such a situation was familiar to him?

Raphael decided to take advantage of it. Who said he couldn't have a little fun?

"Oh? Oh, yes. I'm the leader." He completely ignored Donatello's sharp nudge. "And they're Purple Dragons. We were trying to find out what they were up to when you arrived." He made a pause and narrowed his eyes to slits. "So, what have you done to my brothers?"

To his credit, Leo didn't even blink.

"Oh, they're probably in our world right now. It's my sword, it has mystic powers. Wielded by the right hand, it can create interdimensional portals!"

"I would love to examine it," Donatello asked excitedly. "I'm studying mystic energies myself."

Raphael spoke before Leo could answer.

"Don, let the nice turtle work his magic so he and his brother can get the shell out of here. We don't want to make them late, now do we?"

Donatello looked sheepish. "No, I guess not."

"So all you have to do is to create a portal, right?" Raphael went on.

Leo nodded.

"And we'll have our brothers back."

Again, Leo nodded.

"Except if it doesn't work, in which case we could land anywhere," his brother pointed out while sketching in a notebook he had taken from who knew where.

"Shut up, Mikey," Leo whispered. "Don't listen to him!" he said louder, adding a little laugh for more convincing power. "It'll work, satisfied or refunded."

"Okay. Let's do it."

Leo took a few steps to the side and searched for his weapon amongst the unconscious bodies, first calmly, then less calmly, then frantically.

In the end, he stood awkwardly in front of Raphael and Donatello.

"Uhh... You wouldn't happen to have seen my sword, would you?"

Rise universe

Raph took a deep breath. Despite his concern for his brothers, it was likely that these strangers had nothing to do with… this whole situation. On the contrary, Leo was the one responsible.

He hoped they wouldn't mind.

"Uh, hello. I'm Raph."

"Hello," the two turtles answered.

One wore a blue mask and the other an orange one. It was a good thing as far as Raph was concerned. Without these masks, he wasn't sure that he would have managed to differentiate them. They looked completely alike, except maybe the skin color. It was hard to tell under the dust.

He and his brothers really needed to clean the lair before Splinter noticed.

"My name is Leonardo," the blue-masked turtle said. "And this is Michelangelo."

The orange-masked turtle winked. "Just call me Mike."

Raph blinked. Had he heard correctly? "Wow! Donnie, do your hear that? They have the same names as our brothers!"

The blue one - Leonardo - nodded, as if he had been expecting this. "And you are?"

"My name is Raphael, but everybody calls me Raph. And here is Donatello, but everybody calls him Donnie."

"Or the Ultimate Genius in the Known Universe," Donnie added. "Whatever you may prefer."

The other Michelangelo looked at him in surprise and amusement.

Or Bootyyyshaker9000, Raph thought with an inner grin. But he wasn't going to embarrass his brother in front of strangers by saying it aloud.

"Have you any idea why we are here?" Leonardo asked.

Raph cleared his throat. This was the question he had feared. He cleared his throat again to give himself more time to think about his answer. And once more.

In the meantime, Michelangelo took in his surroundings.

"Wow!" He grinned. "A skate ramp? Within your lair?"

"Of course," Donnie replied with just enough disdain to hide his deep satisfaction.

He had been the one to draw up the plans.

"That's awesome!"

Raph smiled at Michelangelo, happy about the diversion. Maybe he wouldn't have to give an explanation after all?

But apparently, Leonardo was still waiting for an answer.

"Now that's funny, because you see, we have a brother like you and he... uh..." Raph fidgeted. "He has this mystic sword of sorts, and he still needs a little practice, could we say. His portals are... hit or miss."

"I'd say miss or miss," Donnie added without mercy.

The two foreign turtles exchanged a glance.

"This Leo sounds... interesting," Michelangelo said with definite glee.

"I apologize for the inconvenience caused." Raph bowed solemnly.

"If he had kept a more conventional weapon like me, it wouldn't have happened," Donnie commented.

"So if I understand correctly, all your brother has to do is to create a new portal so we can go home, right?" Leonardo asked.

"Yeah, we're missing out on the fun," Michelangelo said, although he eyed the skate ramp with some sadness.

"It looks like you'll be our guests in the meantime!" Raph exclaimed, happy that they were taking the situation so well. "Don't worry, it shouldn't be long."

Michelangelo rubbed his hands. "I know how I'm going to keep busy! Do you have a spare skateboard?"

"Of course." Donnie indicated Mikey's one. "I'm sure Mikey won't mind. And then we can show you the Arcade." Donnie was also very proud of this part of the lair, which he had largely contributed to create - with a substantial help from Mikey for the design.

At the mention of an arcade, Michelangelo's eyes lit up like a Christmas tree.