A/N: So this version was cut because it got pretty serious pretty fast, and I wanted to avoid angst in my funny crack fic (can I even call it a crack fic? Tbh it just feels like a normal RotTMNT episode). Both Raphs almost die, and there is crying.

This version of Raph's fight took place in the sewers, similar to the area "Savage Raph" took place in. Originally this chapter was going to start with Raph's fight, switch to the interlude, and then switch back. This is the second half of the fight, after 2012 had managed to get Rise!Raph in the water. The turtles followed him into the water while the humans (who can't hold their breath nearly as long) stayed on land.

ROUND FOUR: Raph, Part II

Other-Raph was almost down. Raph's air supply was running low, but he could keep Other-Him distracted long enough for Leo and Donnie to swim up for a breath. Other-him was slowing down, likely trying to conserve oxygen. With the amount of activity they were all doing, they were blasting right through their air reserves.

All of a sudden Other-Him's eyes go wide and he starts flailing. He opens his mouth and tries to speak, but Raph can't make any words out. Raph's pretty sure he can guess what it is; I can't breathe! Good. Serves him right for kidnapping Mikey.

Other-Raph swings his arm out beside Raph, and Raph turns to watch as a transparent red arm reaches for his brothers. Brothers who still haven't made it to the surface.

No!

Leo watches as Donnie breaches the surface, following right behind him. Leo takes several deep breaths before turning to Donnie, "You okay?"

"Yeah, just cut it close th- WATCH OUT!"

Leo is barely able to suck in half a breath before something big grabs them both, and pulls them back under, throws them backward… and then releases them?

Leo opens his eyes to see a wall of transparent red blocking a tunnel. Leo had been so absorbed in his fight he failed to be aware of his surroundings. The current had taken them to an intersection, with the water being diverted to three different tunnels.

Leo kicked himself to the surface, blinking his second lids back. Now with his head above the water he could hear it. Crashing water. The current had pressed Donnie up against the red hand. Donnie was looking through it, "Leo! It's a drop!"

And Leo's heart stopped.

Leo turned to where they left Raph with Other-Raph, subconsciously registering when the current pushed his back up against the hand next to Donnie. Leo dunked his head under, muffling the whoosh whoosh of the falling water and closing his second lids again as he frantically looked for Raph. There!

Raph was wildly hitting and kicking at Other-Raph, particularly at his left arm which was holding the transparent form. Other-Raph kicks up off the bottom, grabbing Raph's wrist in his right hand and dragging Raph up with him. Leo see's Other-Raph's left hand make a fist, and Leo feels the giant hand pushing Donnie up against him and pinning both their arms down. Leo and Donnie are then sharply swung around and pushed through what feels like a thick wall of jello and are pulled along with the Raphs into a new tunnel.

Why won't this guy let! His brothers! Go! Other-Him had completely stopped fighting back but refused to drop the big glowy arm. Raph jabbed at Other-Him's left shoulder again. Other-Him suddenly grabbed Raph's wrist, looks Raph in the eye with a no-nonsense expression, before dragging Raph with him to the surface.

Raph's head breaks the surface just as Other-Raph pulls Raph into his chest, pinning Raph in place. Raph kicks pathetically at Other-Him's knees, wishing there wasn't any water to cushion his kicks.

"…aph! R…ph!"

Raph thinks he hears something, but blocks it out.

Other-Raph suddenly tightens his grip, crushing the breath out of Raph.

"-we're coming up to a drop!"

Huh?

"We need to get out of the water! Or we're going to go over!"

"Raph! Raph get out of the water!"

Raph stopped struggling, and watched confused as Other-Raph's red hand gently dropped his brothers onto the concrete walkway. Raph could see a terrified look on their faces.

Raph was shoved, "Move now!"

Raph starts swimming upstream towards his brothers. He takes notice of the sound of rushing water and Donnie's yells. The water sound gets closer, and he's still ten feet away from the walkway.

Raph looks over his shoulder, and his breath catches. There's only one thought that goes through his head. Oh shit that's close.

Raph turns back around, paddling rapidly and panicking. He glances up to see Leo and Donnie running towards him. Their mouths are moving but Raph can't hear anything over the roar of the water and his own frantically beating heart. Raph's not getting any closer to the walkway. Raph's not getting any closer to the walkway. Raph is getting further away from the walkway.

Raph feels a strong pull on his belt, and he's crushed into Other-Raph's chest again. The last thing he sees before the sensation of falling takes over, is his own hand desperately reaching towards Leo, then the edge of the waterfall, then the sewer ceiling. And he squeezes his eyes shut and waits to see if the impact will kill him.

Raph feels the water give out beneath him. He feels the rush of air going past him as his stomach drops. And then he feels warm.

Raph opens his eyes to see red everywhere.

The red surrounds him. Raph feels the vibrations through Other-Raph's shell to his. Other-Raph is talking but the sound of his words are left behind as they fall.

Other-Raph's arms squeeze around Raph even tighter. Raph closes his eyes. The feeling of warmth gives way to the abrupt feeling of cold water.

Leo's eyes lock on Raph's terrified face. Leo has never seen his hot headed brother look that scared before. Leo is still separated by thirty feet of walkway and another twelve feet of rushing water. Leo is aware he's screaming, but he can barely hear himself through all the noise.

And Raph goes over the edge.

And Raph goes over the edge.

April's lungs are burning. She'd lost sight of the turtles once the current picked up, pulling them ahead of her and Casey and taking them around curves April hasn't reached yet.

"April! Do you hear that?"

"Huh?"

April took the focus off the exhaustion of her body and turned it to her ears. There was a faint woosh woosh sound.

"It sounds kinda like a waterfall, yeah?"

"Yeah. But it's the sewers, how big could it be?"

They turned another corner, and it got louder. And so did the screams.

"Raph! Raph! Get out of there!"

"Raph!"

April and Casey picked up the pace. The sound was turning into a dull roar.

"Raph!"

April turned another corner, and she was met with the view of three large tunnels. She could see two turtles running along the left wall of the left tunnel. Her and Casey began running up its right wall.

"Donnie! Donnie! What's going on?"

"There's a huge drop up ahead! And Raph is stuck in the current! He's gonna go over!"

"RAPH" Casey bellowed, "RAPH GET OUT OF THE WATER!"

The end of the tunnel was getting closer. The end of the walkway was bordered by a sad looking metal railing. A railing Leo was leaning over.

"NO! RAPH!"

Donnie ran up behind Leo, and April and Casey slowed down as they reached the end on their side. Leo was leaning over the railing, only remaining connected to solid ground by Donnie's hand hooked on his belt. April brought her hands over her mouth as she caught the expression of pure devastation on Leo's face. Leo had tears in his eyes as Donnie forcefully pulled him back over the railing.

April slowed to a walk, scared to peak over the edge, while Casey sped up, still calling out Raph's name. April watched as Casey slid into the railing. Casey leaned out over the railing as far as he could, "RAPH! RAPH!"

April finally made it to the edge. The drop was at least a hundred feet. Her eyes searched frantically for any sign of Raph. Suddenly, there was a blast of red light. April found herself leaning out next to Casey as she watched the red light solidify and wrap around two figures.

A moment later the red light shattered, and all anyone could see was the large splash and ripples it made. April held her breath. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Casey move. Casey was climbing over the railing and grabbing onto a metal ladder that was bolted into the concrete wall.

Raph opened his eyes, and swam towards the light. Raph broke the surface, gulping down air. Raph registered splashing near him, and turned to see Other-Raph swimming towards a wall. Raph followed him.

Raph's arms were shaking as he scrabbled to pull himself onto the edge of the walking platform. Suddenly Raph was lifted by his shell and pulled onto dry land by Other-Raph. Raph didn't try to fight it, just happy to be on solid ground.

Raph took a few moments of hugging the ground before he pushed himself up to his shaky knees. Raph felt knuckles rubbing his shell as he focused on breathing and his unsteady elbows.

"There you go, that's good. You did real good."

Raph wanted to be upset at being babied, especially by the enemy. But after going through what has definitely made the top three scariest experiences of his life, he couldn't bring himself to care. It's been a long time since anyone has taken care of him, years since his father last rubbed his shell like this after a bad dream. Raph could selfishly let himself have this moment of weakness.

"Why… why did you save me? Save my brothers?"

"Because it's my job to protect my little brothers, even alternate universe versions."

"Wh-"

"Raph! Raph are you okay?!"

Raph's head shot up to see Casey running towards them. April was behind him, on the last few rungs of a ladder.

Casey pulled a hockey stick off his back, and swung it at Other-Raph, "Get away from him!"

"Casey, Casey it's okay."

"Whoa, the match is over. I forfeit."

Casey didn't lower his stick, but he did look confused, "Raph never surrenders."

"Leo, Donnie, and Raph here almost died a few minutes ago. This isn't worth it. Nothing is worth that. I forfeit, you win. I'll take you to the next stage."

Raph recalls the fear he felt when he though Other-Him was trying to drown his brothers. The fear and desperation he felt as he went over the edge, how Other-Him curled around him to protect him. If Mikey wasn't what was on the line, Raph would call this whole thing off. Drag his brothers home screaming if he had to.

"Uhh… okay. I accept your forfeit."

"Good. Is everyone okay?"

"Yeah, yeah I think so."

"If you were worried about someone dying," said April, dropping down next to Raph to check on him, "why didn't you block off all the tunnels before we got here?"

"To be honest, I was almost positive you guys wouldn't make it past Donnie."

"Wow. That early huh?"

"I caught Leo, April, Cass, and Pops placing bets. Leo is really looking forward to meeting you all, he's your next challenge."

Raph was sitting up steady on his own now. April threw her arms around his neck and gently pulled him into a hug.

"We thought we lost you," she whispered.

Leo rushed down the ladder, slipping several times. Only slowing down when Donnie pointed out that Raph must be okay, because two figures just swam to the wall. Leo waited with baited breath as his eyes searched for Raph.

Leo was almost to the bottom now, relieved to see April and Casey sitting next to an upright Raph and his counterpart. Leo took his time on the last few very slippery rungs, now that he knew Raph was okay. As he waited for Donnie to catch up, Casey waved him down, "We won! Fight's over!"

Donnie jumped the last five rungs, and they made their way over to the group. Leo noticed the spooked expression on Raph's face before Raph immediately closed off, now looking like his normal angry self. Leo felt a pang of hurt, his brother almost died and Raph still felt he couldn't be honest around Leo. Just Casey, his best friend, April, someone much more emotionally attuned than Leo, and alternate-him, which in hindsight isn't a shock, he is himself after all, if anyone would understand it would be other-him. It still hurt though.

"Raph, you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Let's get moving."

Raph started to stand, and glared after Leo and Donnie moved forward to help him and aborted the motion.

"Yeah no. You need to take a break first."

All heads swiveled to Other-Raph.

"Your," Other-Raph pointed to Leo, "legs have been shaking since you got off that ladder. And you," he pointed to Raph, "I'm no medical expert, but I think you just went through a form of shock. So you should not be moving yet. And you two," he pointed at both Leo and Donnie, "need to hug your brother. He just almost died, and you all are just gonna walk that off? No."

"Look, I managed to pick up from Mikey you all aren't the most touchy people, or good with words people. The whole reason we're having this tournament thing is because Mikey feels unloved and unwanted. Leo thought maybe this would read across as a 'actions are stronger than words' because by continuing to fight you are 'choosing Mikey' and it would be a way to prove you love him." Leo took a second to process that.

"And I can see in your eyes how badly you want him back, how scared you were to lose each other right now. But just getting up and soldiering on, no wonder he feels like that! Your brother just almost died, and yeah, I'm sure Raph here knows you love him, but does he feel you love him?" Leo was not expecting to face big questions like this when he woke up this morning. "That little half-step you two did right there, tells me you're worried about him, that you are trying to give him space. Well guess what, he doesn't need space right now, he needs a darn hug. And he clearly isn't going to ask for it."

Leo simply stared at Other-Raph, waiting for Raph to make a comment on how this was none of Other-Raph's business. But when Leo turned to look at Raph, his eyes were downcast, his shoulders rolled in. April had a hand on his arm, either to steady him or comfort him.

"Raph?" Leo said quietly.

Donnie took a step forward. Raph looked up, eyes wet with tears he was refusing to let fall. Casey gave Raph a small shove, and Raph threw himself at Donnie. Raph buried his head in Donnie's shoulder, and reached with an arm towards Leo. Leo jumped forward and hugged both his brothers.

Raph held them tight, so Leo held him back even tighter, listening to Raph's breath hitching. Leo almost lost this, almost never would have ever gotten another hug from Raph. Leo felt his own eyes get wet, his own breath hitch.

After a few minutes, Raph quietly said, "Mikey doesn't think we love him, and it's probably all my fault. I can't remember the last time I said something nice to him or just hung out with him. No wonder he doesn't want to come home, I'm a grade-A jerk to him. I couldn't even hug you guys without being forced to. How on Earth could I ever convince him-"

"It's not just your fault," Leo cut in, "I only ever criticize him, I blow him off when he wants to do something fun together."

"We all have to change some things," Donnie piped in as they all pulled out of the hug, "I for one owe him several apologies. I plan on starting there."