Chapter 8: Going home..?
"Alright, one last adjustment and…yes!" Donnie stepped back, eyes shining with pride. It had taken a lot of tweaking, over a week's worth of work and a lot of caffeine but the two geniuses were fairly certain that they could trigger the machine to reverse the signal that sent Rapheal, Donetello and Michelangelo here.
"The readings are all normal" Donetello reported from his laptop monitoring the data with a smile on his face. "I think we've done it!"
Donetello's smile was bright, his eyes radiating joy and relief.
Donnie knew how anxious the turtles of the other dimension were to get back home. He couldn't blame them. Despite the logic and reason that supported the theory that their brother merely just remained in their dimension he knew none of them would truly believe it until they could see him.
Although the situation was an emotional live wire and the visiting turtles were extremely anxious to get home; Donnie couldn't deny that part of him would miss them. It had been nice to have another genius to work with and confer with. Under different circumstances it would have been nice just to chat science, he could only imagine all that they could accomplish.
"I can't wait to tell Rapheal and Michelangelo" Donetello leapt to his feat.
"Let's go share the good news."
"Oh and remember to add the potato chips and gummy worms after the sauce simmers for at least five minutes."
"Oh for the love of" Raph face palmed, it was bad enough the cooking contraptions his own brother came up with without his counterpart giving him ideas. Donnie shared a look with his red clad brother sharing the same apprehension neither turtle could even guess what the two orange clad turtles were even talking about cooking.
"Thanks for your help" Donetello smiled, shaking his counterpart's hand. "It would have taken much longer without your assistance."
"Of course, and you're welcome. I'm just sorry that it took so long!" Donnie answered.
"Of course we'd help you get home dude" Mikey turned a warm smile toward their departing guests. "You'd do the same for us."
"It was an honor having you in our home." Master Splinter's eyes were warm. "I hope that if our paths shall ever cross again it will be to see all of you."
The brothers couldn't help but agree, anxious to get home to their missing member.
"Thank you again for your hospitality Master Splinter" Donetello bowed, his brothers following suit.
After a few more rushed farewells the turtles crowded together preparing to leave.
"Leo, here we come!" Michalangelo whispered, scooting subconsciously closer to his two brothers in anticipation.
Standing a good distance away the turtles of this world waved goodbye, Donnie turned on the machine, checked the levels and reversed the signal that sent them here and….
A light covered the room, papers started to stir as the energy picked up, a low humming sound began to grow and then suddenly like a light switch being hit it stopped.
"What?!" Donnie whispered the genius stared at the machine mouth agape.
"Are we there? Are we home?" Michalangelo asked, his eyes firmly shut.
"Not unless home includes two sets of us." Rapheal bit out sarcastically. "What happened, Donetello?"
"I don't know?" the genius of the other world rushed over to his counterpart's computer. "By all calculations it should have worked?!"
If Donnie had any hair he'd be pulling it out right now. Donetello had to push his counterpart to the side to get a good look at the readings. They had left the computer on to monitor the device as it worked, the readings would provide the most accurate analysis of what had gone wrong. The genius eyes scanned the data and it all was playing out as calculated except…except.
"So Einsteins care to clue us in?" Raph asked.
"We were using the same energy force that sent us here, only we were going to reverse it." Donetello's voice was hollow. "The reason it took so long was that we needed to harness some degree of control over the process as we originally had none and then find a means of triggering the process again."
"Okay.." Both sets of brothers exchanged glances, all equally lost. The Donnie of this world jumped, the two geniuses seeming to take turns in explaining while fighting back panic.
"By all means of theory, as long as the variable of transported individuals remained the same as they were in the original transportation the science indicated that reversing the process was possible."
"What went wrong my son?" Master Splinter asked, as confused as the others.
"Not all the variables were the same." Donnie staggered out. "That's why it didn't work."
"What do you mean?" asked Raph.
"It means everyone who was impacted by the trans-dimensional transport needs to be in the room for this particular solution to work." Donetello clarified.
"But we are all in the room." Michelangelo tilted his head to the side confused.
"No we aren't!" Donetello was gripping the desk so hard his knuckles were slowly turning white.
"The analysis shows that four were transported therefore…four needs to be in the room to reverse the transport." Donnie fought to keep his voice even as he read the data the device transmitted from the failed attempt, his heart pounding.
"What?!" Raphael was the first to recover. "What do you mean four?! If you can't count, there are only three of us: Donetello, Michelangelo and me."
Donetello shook his head. "According to the data of the failed attempt here…that's not true. The reason it didn't work Rapheal is because only three of us tried to return. For it to work, there needs to be all four."
The room went deadly silent.
"Are you telling my son that Leonardo is not in fact in the other dimension?"
"Yes Sensei, that is what I am saying." Donnie responded, taking a turn of explanation once more.
"Then where is he?!" Raphael demanded the red clad turtle's anger beginning to boil as his worry grew.
Meeting the worried expressions of the others around him Donnie felt himself forced to provide a truly frightening answer. "I don't know."
Author's Note: I will have more posted soon..hopefully. Please let me know what you think.