A month later, for both Mikey and Randall, was a big milestone. Mikey's arm cast was cut off and upgraded to an arm brace. Randall's leg was now put in a leg brace that Don had designed for him. Randall had stayed mostly at his apartment in the basement while he recovered, but he was walking more on it now, and was able to go up and down stairs again. His leg didn't hurt as much as it did three weeks ago. He was recovering well.

Don also took more x-rays to see how all the other broken bones were doing, and they were still healing. His lung was still a concern. It was doing better, but still needed more time. All the stitches in his skin had come out two weeks ago. His lower left arm was still in the brace. His ribs were still kept bandaged. His tail was still in a cast to keep it straight.

Mikey's arm didn't hurt quite as much anymore and he was starting to use it more, but just not in training just yet. He was using it for cooking again though.

Leo, Don, and Raph had done the majority of patrols since the accident happened and were glad to not see any signs of Bishop since when they rescued Mikey. The most trouble they ran into was the Purple Dragons and sometimes, the Mob.

Leonardo was certain that he could trust Karai to not let the Foot do anything that would harm his family. She had been honorable, but Raphael still had doubts about her. They could wait until something else happened then to be sure. Leo wasn't going to let his family get into a feud that didn't need to escalate.

With the Shredder and his right hand man, Hun, dead, the Foot weren't much trouble, but the Purple Dragons still caused trouble even now with Hun not around. They had a new leader. His name was Dragon Face, with a dragon painted on his face, hence his name. He was nothing but a trouble maker, making his gang of street thugs be likewise.

…..

April was glad to have Randall be able to help her around the shop again. Don's alarm system worked good. As far along as he had come in his recovery, Randall still wasn't ready to take on bad guys. It would be another month before he would be ready to resume training and patrols to just be sure his body was truly healed from the damages.

Randall was just stocking lightweight merchandise around the shop for April. He was also capable of taking out the trash and cleaning up duties. With the brace that was on his leg, it wasn't on his foot, so he was able to walk to the lair again too.

…

In the monster world, Fungus had managed to finally get the Scream Extractor as close to how Randall had it as before. Now Waternoose was wanting to try it out to make sure it worked. If it didn't, then it would need some more work, but it needed a few field trials first.

Waternoose ordered the Creeper's gang to go get some human children to test the machine on.

Swifty was a genius when it came to hacking computers and mechanics. He knew how to close down the cameras and tech in the building to get them in without being seen. He even knew how to unlock a door without leaving a mark too noticeable.

With Swifty's help, Creeper, Smasher, and Spyder got into the factory and took three kids to be their test subjects. Two girls and a boy. All in the ages of four to seven. They made sure the kids were gagged and tied so they didn't talk or scream for their parents, or when they got back to the factory. They just took them from their rooms, bound them, and took them back to their world and the warehouse, where they were put into cages.

Fungus could see the look of pure fear on these kids' faces. He had grown fond of the kids he had made laugh. He liked to see happiness on their faces, not fear. He could easily relate to them right now. He just wasn't kept in a barred cage. He just hadn't been able to get away for so long because he was always watched or too hurt to do anything about it.

The first of the three kids was tried out. She was put into the seat and restrained and the sucker was tried out on her. She screamed out of pure fear. The vacuum on the sucker was too strong however and it sucked all the energy out of her young body. It made her lungs collapse on themselves. It killed her.

Waternoose was disappointed. The same thing happened to the boy as well.

"Fix this problem, Fungus, or else!" Waternoose warned him of a possible punishment coming for him if he didn't get it working the way it was supposed to.

"I got it to the way it was before, Boss." Fungus said.

"Then get it better! We need those screams, not their deaths!" Waternoose snapped angrily.

Fungus wasn't sure what it was entirely that Randall had done to make it that way then if he couldn't get it right. "I don't know what Randall did to do what it did then."

"You better be figuring it out then, pipsqueak!" Smasher warned. Then he whacked him on the head, leaving a new bruise.

Fungus just wanted this misery to end.

…..

The big day was finally here! The day that Mikey and Randall's injuries were finally declared healed!

Mikey and Randall couldn't have been more happy. They were glad to be out of all braces, casts, and bandages. It had been eight long weeks to just make sure the worst of these injuries were fully healed before they were allowed back into training or patrols.

They were both a little hesitant to go on their first patrol again at first, particularly Randall. But they both came with Leo, Raph, and Don.

Together, the group was a formidable force. There wasn't much that they couldn't do together, as a team.

The first night didn't have too much going on. Mikey was glad to be able to be out and about again, and not be confined to the lair or the sewer. He loved the fresh air above. Randall was glad he was stretching his body again. He was testing his jumping skills and such on the rooftops.

The three older turtles had started out slower at first to just make sure that their just healed comrades could keep up, especially Randall since he had had a pierced lung. But the lizard showed no signs of breathing problems. He kept up with them just fine, and he wasn't letting up. Mikey wasn't either.

As they were passing on the rooftops, jumping onto a fire escape, Randall did happen to see what looked like a monster in a child's bedroom for the first time in a long time. He had to stop to see. But what he saw was something he never thought he'd see: the child was laughing at the monster, not screaming at him.

Randall questioned in his mind. He would have to come back to this location. It was about nine blocks away from April's place. He caught back up with his turtle friends.

Later, when patrol was over, Randall told Mikey that he had seen another monster in a kid's room, but had done nothing about it. He was going to go back to his old world this way. He was ready to go back.

"Tell your brothers where I am if I take awhile to come back and not to worry about me. I'll be back as soon as I can." Randall said. "I have to go back and face this. It's eating away at me."

"I understand. Yes, I'll tell them." Mikey said.

Randall did tell April that he was going to be away for a little while. He just needed a break.

April understood the need to get away.

"I'm going back to my world, April. I need to go back to just see what's been going on there since I left. I have to face my inner turmoil that I've been feeling lately. For a long time now, I felt restless. It's like my world is calling back to me." Randall explained.

"I understand, Randall. If you need the time to fix something there, do it. But you are always welcome in my home." She smiled at him.

"Thanks."

A couple of nights later, Randall went with Mikey to that location he had found. Mikey used a small knife to open the window from the fire escape, and he let Randall inside quietly. The child in it was asleep for the moment.

Mikey stayed outside and he closed the window afterward once Randall was inside. Randall hid, and Mikey stuck to the shadows. This was their little secret. They had told Mike's bros that they were doing another patrol on their own to prove they could still go out on their own now that their wounds were healed.

They had had to go by eight to make sure the child would be in bed. Most monsters seemed to strike shortly after nine or ten. Randall had to be here on time if he was going to get back into his world. He didn't care who did the job, he just wanted back in. He waited close to the wall, invisible, and making sure to stay clear of toys on the floor.

Mikey wanted to see how he got back in for sure.

Randall waited for about an hour, and just like clockwork, after 9:30, the closet door peeked open and it open wider. Then, inside stepped a monster, one with tentacles for arms, some bumps on his back. He was a chubby, blue grey color, with a soccer ball and jacks.

The monster woke the child up and he made the kid laugh by stepping on his ball and the ball bounced around the room, hitting him in the face, and he fell on the jacks that he had put on the floor. The monster screamed, but not too high. It made the child really laugh hard.

Mikey couldn't help but laugh at that too, from the outside. He had never seen one of these other monsters before, at least not from Randall's world.

Randall moved quickly and followed the monster back once he opened his closet door and went inside. For Mikey, he knew that once the door was closed, Randall should be gone now, for the time being. Now it was a waiting game to see if he came back to him, and to his family. He went back home, sad. He hoped he didn't lose his best friend.