Author's Note: It looks like the website is working again! Yay!

To the Guest: Thank you! I'm happy you're enjoying the story! :D

To the Guest: Aww, thank you so much!

To the Guest: Yesssss! And indeed. 2003 Raph wants his brothers and nobody else, it seems. XD Thanks for reviewing!

Different Kinds of Pets

2003 verse

Raphael watched with deep satisfaction as Leo slowly emerged from the water to face Splinter.

The rat waited calmly for his unexpected guest to explain what he had to do with Leonardo and Michelangelo's absence.

"So, you see," Leo began, "I have this sword which can create portals, and it so happens that apparently, maybe, possibly your sons jumped through one of them. By accident. Or so I've been told, I couldn't witness it as we were fighting dozens of these Purple Dragons guys on our own."

He waited for that new Splinter's reaction, and felt relieved when the rat didn't give any indication that he was going to jump down Leo's throat or yell at him or anything inconvenient like this.

Raphael huffed. "And here I thought that you were hiding under the Purple Dragons."

Leo spared him a disdainful look.

"Hmm," Splinter said to Leo, his tone absolutely neutral. "Then maybe you could bring them back with your sword?"

"Ha! Of course, that's exactly what I'm going to do, and I told them so!" Leo pointed at Raphael and Donatello. "So if you'll please excuse me, duty's calling." He walked nonchalantly to Raphael. "Where is your armory, already?"

Splinter raised an eyebrow at Raphael, clearly asking for more.

"He lost his sword," Raphael said matter-of-factly. "We think the Purple Dragons have it."

"It's a temporary situation," Leo added in haste. "Very temporary." He glanced at Mikey in case his brother wanted to help, but the orange-masked turtle merely gave him a you're-on-your-own shrug.

"Hmm," Splinter said again.

He looked so serious, it was unnerving to Leo.

"We're going to the Purple Dragons' hideout right now," Donatello added as he joined them with a bag filled with everything he thought might help.

Leo felt grateful for his interference, intentional or not.

Splinter sighed. "Be careful, my sons."

"Of course!" Raphael grinned. "When are we not?"

Splinter was spared a long-suffering answer by an insistent meow.

Mikey turned to the source of the sound with delight. "You have a cat?"

It was tiny and orange, and it meowed again, looking insistently at the turtles.

"Sorry Klunk, Mike isn't home," Raphael said.

"Hey Klunk," Mikey said, beaming. "Nice to meet you." He knelt and extended his hand so the cat could sniff it. "Leo, don't you think it would be great if we had a cat?"

"We already have Shelldon," Leo said. "I say one moody and unpredictable being is enough." He paused. "Two if we count Donnie."

"Who's Shelldon?" Donatello asked.

"One of Donnie's inventions. He almost killed him when we messed with his circuitry because he was playing favorites, but now he's cool."

"Oooh." Donatello went silent and gazed into the distance.

"What kind of invention tries to kill you anyways?" Raphael watched his brother in concern. Did he get any ideas? The last thing they needed in this lair was a killer invention like that Shelldon.

"I mean, it makes him a good weapon too." Leo grinned. "We could say it's a weapet. Get it? A weapon and a pet."

Mikey gave the others apologetic glances, hoping they would understand that his brother had his issues.

"Oh come on!" Leo protested. "It was a good one!"

"Sure, Leo," Mikey said, patting his shoulder. "Sure. Now let's get you a nice weapon, right?"

"Do you have katana?" Leo asked hopefully. After all, these were his preferred weapons when he wasn't going all mystical.

Donatello shook his head. "Sorry, our Leo has the only pair. But we might have a longsword."

Leo shrugged. "It'll do. Alright, let's go!"

When the four turtles finally left the lair, Splinter let out the sigh he had been holding in.

He hated it when his boys left their universe without warning.

Rise verse

Donnie was in the middle of his thirteenth game with Michelangelo - that turtle was a good challenger, no doubt - when he became thirsty.

"Shelldon! Refreshments, please!" he shouted without leaving the screen out of his sight.

"Shelldon? Who's that?" Michelangelo asked, also not leaving the screen out of his sight.

"Oh, I made him a while ago. To be precise, it's S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N., but everybody calls him Shelldon."

Michelangelo snickered. "Shell-Don, uh? A neat name."

Donnie nodded. "It's the perfect name for my creation."

"Refreshments incoming," a robotic voice said.

Michelangelo gave the robotic turtle an awed glance, and Donnie took this opportunity to win, for once fair and square.

Raph was out of ideas to entertain his guest. Leonardo had shown no inkling that he wanted to play video games, and watching TV was out of the question as long as the remote remained in Splinter's possession.

To be fair, Leonardo hadn't shown any indication that he was tired of Raph's conversation either. It was just that Raph himself was quickly falling out of topics to talk about, especially as he didn't want to insist upon the fact he and Michelangelo were in the wrong universe.

Leo better hurry to fix that.

"So, is there anything you would like to do?" he finally resolved to ask.

Leonardo considered the question. "Is there any place where I could train?" he asked politely.

Raph's eyes widened in delighted surprise. "You want to train? Oh, then I can show you how we train! With Lou Jitsu videos!"

He enthusiastically led his guest to the room dedicated to that purpose. "How about 1 Fish, 2 Fish, Red Fish, Dead Fish? It has fish and ladders!"

If Leonardo was surprised by that introduction, he didn't show it.

"So this is Lou Jitsu, the best martial artist ever!" Raph rubbed his hands in glee. "And you know, he's related to us! He gave us his DNA!" He took a more serious expression. "Albeit unwillingly. Oh, I really hope he's doing fine, wherever he is!"

Raph started the movie and began mimicking Lou Jitsu's moves.

It became quickly obvious to Leonardo that Raph knew said moves by heart. After a moment of surprise, he started to imitate Raph's postures. After all, his own father had learned ninjitsu by mimicking his beloved master Hamato Yoshi's moves, so why not?

It was interesting and rather fun, and he didn't see time fly.

When the movie came to an end, Leonardo noticed that they weren't alone in the room. Raph's father had sneaked inside at some point and was watching them with a smile.

"So what do you think of the movie?" he asked from Leonardo. "Lou Jitsu is impressive, isn't he?"

Leonardo, who couldn't have known that said Lou Jitsu was standing in front of him right now, although he could and did make a note of not underestimating the short and fat and stealthy rat, nodded.

"He was the best of the best," Splinter muttered, suddenly lost in thought. "Everybody loved him." He shook himself. "So, Blue, what are you doing here?"

Leonardo blinked. So apparently he was Blue now?

"We fell through a portal," he replied politely. "We're grateful for your hospitality while we wait until we can come home."

"I see." Splinter smoothed his beard. "Blue strikes again."

Leonardo glanced at Raph. Was Splinter talking about his son this time?

"You said we," Splinter added. "Who is with you?"

"My brother Michelangelo. He's with Donnie, I think."

"Purple loves his Arcade." Splinter nodded. "Well, I hope it won't last for long. I'm sure your family will worry. Because there is more of you, right?"

Leonardo decided to let the nicknames' matter go, although he made a mental note to give Michelangelo a heads-up. The last thing he wanted was his brother calling the rat Grey in the heat of the discovery moment. "I have two other brothers and a father, yes."

Splinter's eyes lit up. "And that father, he's a mutated rat too?"

"Yes."

"It can be hard to adapt to that life when you have been human," Splinter said, glancing at the Lou Jitsu movie with something like longing in his eyes.

Leonardo cleared his throat. "In fact, my father has always been a rat. He began his life as a pet rat and was mutated to a humanoid form along with us."

Splinter's whiskers bristled in surprise.

"Oh."