The endless colors around Stephen were rotating. Colors formed ribbons, circles, triangles and other shapes. Stephen could only stare: he didn't think he could close his eyes even if he wanted to.
Things he saw seemed too complex for his mind to comprehend, yes simple enough to notice. He saw endless worlds of all shapes. Some were similar to Earth: some were alternate versions of Earth. Some of those Earths were like his own: others were barren like desert, frozen like ice, burned like fire.
There were other worlds: worlds of storms. Worlds where seasons laster decades, worlds where they lasted days. Worlds inhabited by creatures alike to humans and other animals: others so alien he couldn't even remember them. All that was presenting itself before Stephen like a broken old TV without proper signal, turning channels on and off.
Then, something changed. Now, Stephen saw Earth: his Earth. Not a world or an Earth alike to his own: his Earth. It was surrounded by shadows and flame. Ice and fire devoured it together. The continents were split, the mountains were leveled violently and oceans rose and covered many shores. There were no people in the cities to see. All have died out.
He saw other worlds, Earths and others. Some were largely untouched: some planets were split in two pieces. He saw stars exploding, supernovas forming. Black holes devouring galaxies, showing power beyond what they should've held.
All this was happening even faster than the first vision and he could barely comprehend what was happening.
In one quick flash, everything disappeared. There was darkness for a few moments. Void. Without shape or movement.
Blackness.
Then, a sudden image of fire once again.
That also disappeared and blackness returned. Without anything it.
Except the voices.
Stephen, a male voice spoke.
We failed, another spoke, female. We tried, but failed.
Stephen, another female interferred, you must see.
After a sudden hit against the ground, Stephen woke up.
The Turtles struggled to get up, feeling some kind of block in their bodies. They then realized what was happening: they couldn't breath.
Donnie tried to say something, but couldn't form the words. Instinctively, he reached for his bag and immediately grabbed the Filtration Units he carried with himself. Mikey also grabbed his own that he was carrying around with himself. Only Raph and Leo didn't carry any.
Quickly, Donnie reached the two reserved ones and placed them on both Raph and Leo. Raph, after struggling for breath, exhaled in relief.
"That was close." he said, but someone was still coughing.
Stephen was on the ground, dragging himself. Turtles barely noticed he was there. Donnie ran towards him and took another Unit from his bag.
"Take this!" he said, showing him the device. Stephen could barely see anything in front of him. "Now!"
Without a second thought, Stephen grabbed the tube and started breathing the oxygen in. Slowly, but surely, his breath returned and his pulse became normal again. He coughed a few more times, but it was enough.
"What...what is this?" he asked.
"It's a Filtration Unit." Donnie answered.
"For breathing...on other planets?"
"Well...yeah." Donnie answered.
"How...how do you make this?"
"Using a Band-Aid box." Donnie said bluntly and showed him the container. It really was made out of Band-Aid boxes. Stephen stared.
"How...how do you keep the pressure balanced?" he asked.
"Well, that's an interesting question." Donnie started. "First I, of course, take oxygen and clean it in a special device I have. Then I..."
"Blah, blah, blah, nerd stuff!" Raph stopped them.
Donnie and Stephen both stared dumbfounded at him.
"Nerd stuff?" Donnie asked.
"These things literally saved our lives now!" Stephen raised his voice. "You have to know how they work."
"Donnie knows so we don't have to."
"And what if he is not there?" Stephen asked.
"You see dude." Donnie placed a hand on his shoulder. "I live with that every day."
"You," Stephen moved away from him, "are barely better. Why didn't we use these devices before we jumped through the portal?"
"Calm down, man." Mikey tried to ease the situation. "Everything worked out."
"Because we were lucky!" Stephen gritted his teeth. "What if we didn't have enough of them? Or what if we didn't reach them in time? What if something attacked us while we were trying to attach them?"
"And why didn't you remember to ask Uatu what will we do if you are so smart?" Leo answered with equal frustration.
"That is just an excuse for you!" Stephen almost yelled at him.
"Oh really? Well, why don't you just conjure up some oxygen for us?"
"Because I can't, idiot."
"You can't?" Leo yelled back. "You can move people through dimensions in space, but you can't make oxygen?"
"Because I can't!" Stephen met him face to face. "There are limits to what I can do and that is one of them."
Leo waved away. "Well, just great!"
"Everyone, please." Donnie begged. "Calm down. We are all okay right now. We have enough Filtration units for many days. Don't worry."
Stephen tsked in frustration and moved away.
"Where are we even?" Donnie asked and only then they looked.
It was night and they were in a jungle. Huge jungle. Everything was so much...bigger here. At least twice as big as it would be on Earth. And everything had a blue-ish tinge to it, unconnected to the night sky.
"Well, this doesn't look so different." Mikey said, walking. "Sure, some things are bigger, but it's mostly the same..." he almost fell, but Raph grabbed him in time. They looked around and saw...the land that they were on was floating. And around them were larger pieces of land floating in the sky, above a bigger piece of land.
They all stared.
"Well, this is unique." Raph said.
"Yeah." Leo commented. "It really is. Who would've thought."
Stephen looked around. "But why is it so...quiet?"
Then, something jumped at them, growling and barking. Quickly they all jumped away and Stephen created a light to show them the wolves attacking them. If those could even be called wolves.
They were thin, black wolf-like creatures, with long bodies and six legs. Their ears were overly long, hanging around their heads like antennas around ants. It was strange...but compared to what they all went through, not that scary, to be honest. Just creepy.
"That's a bad puppy." Mikey said.
"That's a freak puppy." Raph added and jumped to hit one of those beasts.
Stephen groaned and threw a fire at them to send them away. "We will not fight them!" he said.
"Who put you in charge?"
"We have absolutely no time! The displaced variant in this universe will die if we don't find them immediately!" He paused for a moment. "I can feel them. Follow me!"
They ran through the forest, avoiding the sounds of those wolves and other things hiding in the woods. Stephen's light was the only thing saving them from getting lost in the forest. Stephen could sense the presence of the one they were looking for. It was in his mind, something akin to a subtle whisper, but not exactly one. Turtles also had the same feeling, though to a lesser extent.
Eventually, Stephen's light was sharply reflected on something and they saw what it was. Someone was lying on the ground, dressed in an armor.
They ran towards the person. The man, at least they presumed he was a man, had a modern battle armor, with black and dark orange colors. There were many gadgets on his armor, guns, bombs and, strangely, a long, clean blade in his hands, shaped like a katanna, but not exactly one. His mask was split in two halves: one black, the other dark yellow.
Stephen paused for a few moments, thinking. "It's him."
Raph didn't need to be told what to do. With all his strength he opened off his mask, revealing a face of an old grey man with an eyepatch on his right eye. Donnie took a Filtration Unit from his bag and shoved the tube into the man's mouth. He still wasn't moving.
"We have to take his armor off." Stephen said. Donnie just nodded.
"Are you two crazy?" Raph yelled at them. "We have to go. Now!"
Leo tried to press the symbol on his glove, but something grabbed him by the neck and pulled him, strangling him. Raph took out his sai, but the creature was faster and grabbed his hands. Then, out of the shadow it emerged: a huge snake-like head, with shinning blue eyes.
Stephen and Mikey joined the fight. They had to save their lives. If one of them dies in this foreign universe, it will be just as bad as if they stayed in it.
Donnie was stuck with the man, trying to pull his armour away to see if his pulse is working. But the armour was to heavy and wouldn't move. "Come on, big guy!"
Leo could barely think, feeling the breath leaving him again. He waved with his hand and the long tendril (or whatever it was) fell to the ground. Stephen and Mikey managed to save Raph, but Stephen's hands were grabbed by other two tendrils. He struggled to free himself and tried to release his power, but he was slowly losing consciousness and the tendrils tightened, causing severe pain. He felt like he was burning and screamed.
Donnie stopped trying to pull the armor and started hitting the man. "Wake up!"
First hit.
"Come on!"
Second hit.
Mikey and Leo jumped at the height of the creature, trying to free Stephen, while Raph was distracting it. With a quick slash, avoiding all other tendrils, Leo released one of Stephen's hands. The creature then squeezed Stephen's wrist, so hard blood started to flow from it. The pain was horrible, but Stephen was still functional and released a yellow belt of energy, burning the tendrils that held him away.
"Come on, you shell!"
Third hit.
"Don't die!"
Stephen fell to the ground, catching his breath and holding his wrist. Everything was dizzy around him and he quickly conjured as much healing as he could. A tendril jumped at him to reach him, but Mikey jumped just in time to drive it away. Then, the head at the top finally started screaming in pain.
"Wake up!"
Fourth hit.
The one eye opened. The man grabbed Donnie by the throat and threw him away. Confused and angry, he just released his bullets and one of them hit the snake in the eye. It screamed again, but didn't retreat.
Stephen and Turtles stared at the man. Leo slowly moved closer. "We don't want to..."
The man didn't listen and he threw a bomb at them. Stephen created a wall of energy and the bomb exploded in it, causing no damage.
Then, shadows appeared. Huge shadows ran through the night and arrows hit the serpentine monster that almost killed them. Mikey moved, jumping at the man with guns, to move him away from the battle. He managed to hit him in the head and both of them fell to the ground. Donnie regained his stability and turned to face the shadows. What he saw left him frozen in place.
Huge, ten feet tall humanoids, with blue skin, long, slender bodies, and arms and legs. Their eyes were huge and heads, while themselves big, relatively small compared to the rest of their bodies.
The one in front of him just glanced at him and continued charging arrows at the serpentine creature, his tail flying behind him.
The serpentine creature could no longer hold it. It retreated deep into the jungle, not to be seen again.
The giant humanoids stared at six intruders, particularly at the Turtles. One among them, a male, moved closer, but the variant lost in this universe did not wait. He fired. Stephen tried to stop the bullet, but he wasn't quick enough. The bullet hit the leading male in the chest and he fell to the ground.
The female beside him cried: "Jake!"
