Author's Note:

2003 turtles: Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo and Raphael

Rise turtles: Leo, Donnie, Mikey and Raph

Twice the Trouble

Leonardo quickly recovered from his surprise at seeing the cocoons fall from the ceiling. There were three of them, hiding the newcomers' bodies almost entirely - but their heads were sticking out, and it was more than enough.

"Guys!" he exclaimed, at the exact same time Raph did. His heart filled with happiness. After realizing that Donnie's portal hadn't led them home, he had been resigned to waiting longer before he could meet his brothers again, but obviously fate had other plans.

"Leo! Mikey!" Raphael said, his face shifting from deep annoyance to complete bafflement. He made a distinct effort to extend his head as far away from his cocoon-partner as possible. "Get me out of here!"

"Raph! Donnie! I'm so happy you're there!" Mikey said from his cocoon next to Leo and Raphael's. He wiggled in order to get closer to Raph and wrap his body the best he could around his feet. Raph picked him up and hugged him, cocoon and all. Mikey beamed like the thrilled little brother he was.

Leonardo unsheathed a katana and freed the three other turtles, his blade cutting through the cocoons without touching the skin.

"Finally." Raphael breathed out a sigh of relief and stretched his arms and legs. "It's good to see you guys," he told Leonardo and Michelangelo.

"We've been looking everywhere for you," Donatello added, taking Michelangelo's offered hand to stand up. "I'm glad to see you're alright!"

"How did you land here?" Michelangelo asked. "We used a portal Donnie made, and we got captured almost immediately, but what about you?"

Raphael grimaced. "It's a long story. But we could sum it up the same way."

Meanwhile, Leo was joining Raph and Mikey's hug, grabbing Donnie's arm along the way. His brother might be pretending to look at something on his phone, he wouldn't escape the family hug that easily.

"Let's never be split up that long ever again," he said, pressing his face against Raph's shell.

"Agreed." Mikey nuzzled against Leo, Donnie and Raph happily.

Raph squeezed his three brothers with the most ecstatic of grins, and didn't release them before a long time. He had been so worried about them. It was good to know they were alright.

When he finally let them go, Mikey, who was still in his cocoon, fell on the ground.

"Uh… Can somebody set me free?"

Leonardo obliged, and Mikey jumped on his feet with delight before placing himself in front of Michelangelo.

Now that he had welcomed his brothers, he was very curious about his counterpart.

"So you're me, uh?" He grinned. Michelangelo looked exactly like Mikey had thought he would. "It's nice to meet you."

"I've heard a lot about you." Michelangelo was watching him with the same interest. Then he glanced at Raph, who blushed a little. "You were missed."

"Yes," Raph admitted in a small voice.

"So you were with each other after all?" Leonardo asked, looking at Raphael, Donatello, Leo and Mikey. He was especially curious to learn more about Leo - the stories he had been told let him think that this Leo was very different from him indeed. "We hoped it would be the case, but we couldn't be sure."

"Yes, we were." Raphael was eying Raph with interest. Being represented in this universe by a big, muscular turtle didn't bother him in the slightest.

"How did things go?" Donatello asked, his eyes going from Raph the alligator snapping turtle to Donnie the spiny softshell turtle. Did his counterpart have a makeshift shell? He would definitely ask him about it later. "I want to know everything."

"Don, their lair is awesome," Michelangelo exclaimed. "It has a skate ramp and an Arcade! Can we do the same at home?"

Donatello considered this. "I don't think we have enough room for a skate ramp. But if you want an Arcade…"

"I do!"

Raphael watched them with interest. It looked like Michelangelo had quickly adjusted to this new universe.

"I'm glad you had fun," Leo said insidiously. "Not all of us were that lucky."

Raphael was immediately on the defensive. And as the best defense was the attack, he counter-attacked. "He was worse than Mikey! Pulling stupid stunts all the time!" he said, pointing an accusative finger at Leo.

Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donnie and Raph watched them with questioning looks.

"He was mean!" Leo protested.

"He's mean to everybody," Michelangelo whispered to Leo, smirking. "Don't take it personally."

At this point, both Raph and Leonardo had crossed their arms.

"Okay, what happened?" Raph began.

Leo averted his eyes. "Indubitably nothing that would be a problem," he muttered.

Raph frowned. "Every time you say this word, you know I know you're up to something."

"Absolutely nothing that would be a problem," Leo amended, too late.

"Leo…" Raph pressed on.

Leo threw up his arms. "Okay, I might have lost my sword," he admitted. "But I intend to get it back!"

"You lost your sword?" The news had managed to surprise Donnie. "Now that would explain why you didn't come back after your portal failed."

Leonardo immediately grasped the implications of such an event. "Have you any idea where it might be?" he asked Donatello and Raphael. "We don't want it to fall into the wrong hands."

"Don't worry about that," Donatello said. "It kinda went to a retreat."

And he undertook to explain them what he had discovered about Leo's sword. When he was done, Donnie was grinning from ear to ear.

"Sooo… What you're saying is that Leo's weapon is offended by his lack of talent?"

Leo glared daggers at Donnie, but of course it wasn't going to stop his brother.

"I'm sure you'll get it back, Leo," Raph said soothingly. "Don't listen to Donnie."

"This remains to be seen," Raphael said wryly.

"Obviously you don't know who you're dealing with," Leo said, encouraged by Raph's support.

"I don't, but apparently your weapon does," Raphael whispered with a smirk.

Leonardo observed the tension between them, frowning. Apparently Raphael hadn't adjusted to the situation as well as Michelangelo and himself. He exchanged a look with Donatello, who shrugged ever so slightly.

"See?" Leo looked at Raph. "I told you he was mean!"

Raph cleared his throat. "Now surely there is no need to get angry," he said. "We should focus on getting out of here!"

"A good point. What's your plan?" Donnie asked lightly.

Raph wrung his hands. He didn't have a plan. He had intended to crush the bars of their prison with his mystical weapons, but they were broken. And now everybody was looking at him. "I don't know!"

Raphael raised an eye ridge, surprised that his counterpart would fret so much over such a thing.

Leo, who was about to tease Raph, misinterpreted Raphael's expression and changed his mind radically. He wasn't going to accept criticism on his brother's plan-making, not by someone who didn't belong to the family. "If you have a plan, please share it with us, o fearless leader," he said with all the irony he could muster - as much as some shadenfreude. He had realized that plans weren't Raphael's forte, either.

He didn't expect, however, the delighted expression on Michelangelo's face.

"Oh, Raphie," Michelangelo cooed.

"Shut up," Raphael said, clearly embarrassed.

Which caused Mikey's face to lit up like a Christmas tree. This nickname was so cute! Why hadn't Raphael shared it with them?

"But you know," Michelangelo went on, clearly enjoying every second of this moment, "there is a misunderstanding here. Raph is not our leader. We want to stay alive, you see, and Raph's plans tend not to be very much planned for."

"Get them before they can get you, that's my motto," Raphael expanded. He felt a little sheepish for taking Leonardo's title and avoided looking at his brother.

"Wait, what?" Leo said, taken aback. "You told me you were the leader!" he said to Raphael, indignant.

"By interim, sure." Raphael crossed his arms, still not looking at Leonardo.

"Then who is?" Leo went on, determined to get to the bottom of this important matter.

"That would be me," Leonardo said, his tone somewhere between amusement and annoyance.

Raphael dared to look at him. His brother didn't look mad. Good. Raphael didn't want that, not when he had just been reunited with him.

"And we're sure happy to have you back." Raphael nodded gravely as he patted Leonardo's shell.

"Wait, what? Wait, what?" Leo kept saying.

Donnie glanced at him. "If our Leo was leader, we would never get any mission done. He's way too lazy for that." He paused. "Then it would mean that I could spend all my time inventing! Raph, don't you want to…"

Raph crossed his arms. "Come on, guys, we have a duty towards the people of New York. It's our fault if the Oozesquitoes escaped!"

Donatello perked up at that new name. What were Oozesquitoes? Were they something you could experiment with? He was about to ask the question when he felt a presence in the tunnel outside the cell.

All eight turtles turned around like one.

"I hope I'm not interrupting," Baron Draxum said wryly.