A/N: Here's chapter 2! Thanks to those of you who have followed and reviewed this story already! I hope you enjoy this chapter. Please review! Reviews make me happy and encourage me to upload chapters faster. :)

Chapter 2

A second later, the pain was gone. As suddenly as it had struck, it vanished, leaving Raphael shaking and panting on the floor. His eyes were still screwed shut, but he could hear, all around him, the gasping and panting of his brothers, so he knew the tormenting episode had ended for them, as well, yet he dared not open his eyes. He was on his hands and knees, but his body felt strange; wrong, somehow, and he feared what he would see.

Then he heard Mikey's voice again, sounding surprised and fearful. "Guys! Look at us!"

At last Raph found the courage to look. He opened his eyes and stifled a scream. He was staring at the floor, but where his hands should be – his strong, green, familiar, three-fingered hands – were someone else's entirely. What he saw was a pair of human hands. Five fingers each. The skin was that weird pinkish tan color so many humans had. Gathering courage, he sat up and looked down at the rest of himself. That was human, too. Human arms, human legs, human body, devoid of his protective shell. He could feel panic rising in his chest, and it was all he could do to keep from screaming and freaking out. Breathing heavily, trying to calm down, he suddenly realized with surprise that his new body had come complete with clothes and shoes, and he wondered vaguely for a moment where the clothes could have come from, before turning his attention to more important matters.

Raph looked toward his brothers and saw three teenage human boys sitting in their places, all looking down at themselves in curiosity, just as he had been doing. The black-haired boy who had been Leo was staring down at his feet, and Raph heard him whisper, "What in the world?"

The freckle-faced boy who had replaced his baby brother was feeling his new nose and ears when he suddenly leaped to his feet and ran toward the bathroom, stumbling and tripping over the unaccustomed shape of his feet. When he reached the bathroom he must have looked in the mirror, for a triumphant shout came from that room, and Mikey came careening back to his brothers. Striking a dorky pose in front of them, the boy turned to Raph and cried happily, "Dude! Look how cute I am!" He lifted his orange mask so that Raph could perceive the full glory of his new human features.

Raphael, still trying to swallow his panic, crossed his arms and simply glared at Mikey. How could his little brother be taking this situation so lightly? He glanced over to his other two brothers, who did not seem to notice Michelangelo's antics.

Donatello was staring down at his hands. He wiggled each of his ten fingers individually, marveling at the ability. 'How?' He thought to himself. 'This is scientifically impossible!' A dozen theories as to how the Kraang could have managed to turn them human raced through his over-active brain, but none of them were satisfactory, and he continued to stare in awe at his hands.

Leonardo picked up his two katanas, which he had dropped during the painful mutation process. He frowned as his beloved weapons felt foreign in his strangely shaped hands. Before he sheathed them, the thought crossed his mind, 'How will I explain this to Splinter?'

He did not have to wonder about this for long. A moment later, Splinter emerged from the dojo, having been awoken by his sons' cries of pain.

"My sons, what is going on?" he asked in a concerned voice as he descended the stairs toward them. Suddenly, he stopped short at the scene before him. There stood four teenage boys whom he had never seen before, in the middle of his family's secret lair, wearing his sons' ninja masks! Anger and confusion boiled up inside him, and he shouted at the stunned boys, "Who are you? And how did you find this place?"

The black-haired boy wearing Leonardo's blue mask approached him tentatively. "Um, Sensei, it's us!" he said, looking up at Splinter with a pleading look in his sapphire eyes.

The rat stood as if frozen. He knew those eyes. And the voice was unmistakable. "Leonardo?" he whispered, his eyes wide in disbelief. Leo gave a slight nod, relief flooding his features at his father's recognition.

Splinter then raised his eyes to the other three boys standing awkwardly before him. They all had dark brown hair, but only the tall, skinny one had brown eyes. Large, warm brown eyes, betraying the intelligence behind them. Splinter also noticed the gap between his teeth. "Donatello?"

The youth nodded and Splinter's gaze next fell on the smallest of the boys who was sporting a T-shirt with a slice of pizza printed on the front. He would know that freckle-cheeked grin and those big, baby blue eyes anywhere. "Michelangelo." It wasn't a question.

Turning to the last boy, the rat noted his muscular arms and flashing green eyes, and the way he stuck his lower lip out in that angry frown he knew so well. "Raphael."

Splinter's mind was reeling. "My sons, how? How did this happen?" He automatically turned to Donatello for an explanation.

"Well, Sensei," Donnie fidgeted. "We don't know, exactly. . ."

"The Kraang hit us with shiny paint balls!" interrupted Mikey. "They got me right in the face! At first it just glowed and stuff, but by the time we got back here, it started to hurt, like really bad, and then the next thing I knew, the glowy stuff was gone and I had this super cute human face!"

Donnie shrugged toward Mikey, consenting that this was as good an explanation as any. Splinter seemed to be pondering this information, but did not speak for a while.

"Sensei, what do you think we should do?" asked Leonardo. All four boys looked to their father, hoping for guidance and advice. Donnie lifted a hand to hide a huge yawn.

Splinter's mind was blank. An occurrence of such unprecedented strangeness had never happened in his family before, barring the single mutation incident that had brought them together in the first place. Leo's question rang in his ears. What should they do? This was not a question to be answered hastily. He needed to meditate on it. Looking at the lost and weary expressions on his sons' strange new faces, he sighed.

"My sons. It is two o'clock in the morning. I suggest we all get some sleep, and confront this problem in the morning, when we will all be thinking more clearly." With that, he turned and walked slowly back to the dojo, clearly deep in shock.

Leo had hoped for more substantial advice than this. They had suddenly found themselves in completely different bodies! How could they just go to bed like nothing had happened? Leo's mind was swimming. So many questions still had to be answered. Why did the Kraang want to turn them human? Was it permanent? How much would their lives change now?

He glanced at his brothers. Mikey looked confused and unsure. Behind his scowl, Raph's eyes betrayed his fear. He looked like he was about to have a panic attack. Donnie swayed slightly and Leo feared he would fall asleep on his feet. Suddenly, the weariness of battle, topped with exhaustion caused by the violent mutation swept over Leo, and he found himself agreeing with his father. "Sensei's right. We're all exhausted. We'll be able to figure things out better in the morning. Let's go to bed."

"Not me," said Donnie, pulling the little phial of blue ooze from his belt. "I need to analyze this and see what exactly the Kraang did to us."

"No way, Donnie," Leo said, using his no-nonsense leader voice. "You've been up for two days straight. You need sleep more than any of us. You'll never get accurate results if you're too tired to even see your microscope clearly."

Donnie started to protest, but a yawn obstructed his speech and he realized his brother was speaking sense. Giving in, he allowed himself to be led toward his bedroom. Raph and Mikey followed.

As Donnie opened his door and made his way slowly toward his inviting mattress and soft pillow, a thought crossed his weary mind.

April. What would April think when she found out? Donnie's stomach flip-flopped as a glimmer of hope presented itself. Maybe, just maybe, now that he was human. . .

At the door to his room, Mikey paused.

"Uh, hey, Raph!"

"What, Mikey?" Raph turned halfway through his doorway to look at his brother.

"Do humans sleep in their clothes?" he asked, gesturing down at himself.

"How should I know?" Raph answered irritably. "Figure it out for yourself." He closed the door behind him.

Mikey sighed and sat down on his bed, looking curiously down at his clothes. He liked the pizza shirt he was wearing, and he decided that most of his clothes were comfortable enough to sleep in, but the shoes felt tight and were pinching his feet. Reaching down, he tried to undo the laces, fumbling as his extra fingers kept getting in the way. Eventually he managed it and pulled the shoes off, followed by his socks. He flopped back onto his bed, wiggling his ten toes in delight.

"Why, Joey Nails," he said, "I hardly recognized you! It looks like you've made a few new friends. I'll have to come up with names for them all!" And with that happy thought, he closed his eyes and fell asleep.