#uify AU

[association-of-ideas]

I watched Trolls Band Together and my immediate reaction was to start writing fanfiction. I have created a swap AU Viva and Brozone switch roles.

Essentially, Viva is the one that leaves and the bros get lost during their escape from the troll tree. It's heavily inspired by @year2000electronics fic, Brozone: World Tour. I absolutely love this fic so much; I recommend reading it.

Anyways, I've some stuff figured out, but it's not set in stone.

Swap AU (official name pending)

Before the Great Escape, it was highly encouraged for smaller groups and families to escape on their own, enough so that Pop Village had already been established before King Peppy and the rest of the Pop trolls escaped

After the death of her daughter (Cecily) and daughter-in-law (Juniper), Rosiepuff becomes the sole guardian of her five grandchildren: John Dory (15), Spruce (13), Clay (11), Floyd (8), and Branch (egg)

With King Peppy’s blessing and best wishes, Rosiepuff packs up her family and leaves with another escaping family

They’re discovered during their escape and the brothers are separated and scattered across the genres

With ⅘ of her grandkids lost to the sewers, Rosiepuff is crushed, but she pushes through for Branch and acts as the de facto leader of the Pop trolls

During that time, she becomes a guide for trolls seeking to escape and works with Peppy to devise the Great Escape plan

It's during the Great Escape that Rosiepuff is eaten leading the Burgens away from the others and Branch (5) still sees her get eaten, causing him to gray

At the same time, Viva (14) has seen more than any child ever should and the closer she gets to turning 18, the more pressure is put on her to be a good queen

Between the Burgens, escape plans, and her ever-growing stack of responsibilities, Viva cracks under the pressure

During the Great Escape, she splits off from the group after saying goodbye to Poppy (2) and runs away to find a place for herself

Their rushed parting leaves Poppy w/ bittersweet (mostly bitter) feelings about her sister and siblings in general

As an old friend of Rosiepuff’s, Peppy does his best to look after Branch until he's old enough to be on his own, at which point, he leaves to build his bunker

Growing up together gives Poppy more of a reason to want to be around Branch

Branch is also aware of Viva’s existence, but because of how everything went down, he assumes she was eaten and doesn't bring it up

As mentioned earlier, the brothers were separated and scattered across the genres

John Dory ends up in Volcano Rock City

He's found by King Thrash and raised alongside Barb as her older brother

The separation left him with severe trauma that shows itself on a daily basis as over-protectiveness, an unwillingness to venture beyond the kingdom, and a need to fortify it

Bruce find finds himself lost at sea before meeting the Techno trolls who help him to Vacay Island

He spends a week or so drifting across the sea by himself

Eventually, he's found by a pod of Techno trolls and they help find shore

He washes up on Vacay Island and gets a job as a busboy at the restaurant run by Brandy's dad

They meet, fall in love, and the rest is history

Bruce has a tendency to do head counts whenever he's anxious or overwhelmed

Clay ends up in Symphonyville

Clay is found half-conscious by an elderly conductor named Calliope

She takes him and while officially, he is her 'ward', everyone knows him as her grandson

The trauma of the separation leaves Clay w/ selective mutism, preventing him from speaking or singing

Instead, he learns to play the cello and focuses his energy on that as he slowly regains the ability to speak

While he eventually learns how to talk again, he can't sing nor does he want to

Floyd ends up in Lonesome Flats

After getting washed away in the sewers, Sheriff Brooks drags him out of the river and takes him back to town

From there, he’s adopted by the Sheriff and raised as Delta Dawn’s little brother

Being the youngest when he was separated and given the traumatic event itself as well as the physical damage inflicted during the escape, Floyd remembers the least about his family before coming to Lonesome Flats

I might make a separate post going further in depth on Viva's side of things if anyone's interested. I've also come up with character designs for the boys' moms.

#trolls 3 #trolls band together #trolls poppy #trolls branch #trolls rosiepuff #trolls john dory #trolls bruce #trolls clay #trolls floyd #trolls delta dawn #trolls peppy #trolls viva #until i found you AU #uify AU

[littlemissartemisia]

Vote for it, it’s amazing

#rottmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #tmnt #rise artemisia #rise oc #artemisia #tmnt au #rottmnt oc #teenage mutant ninja turtles #tmnt oc #uify

[phoebepheebsphibs]

What does the bad timeline au look like for your boys 👀

OOOOH, here we go!

(So, I did hint to this in the NFIF/UIFY Crossover when DvD met Omega, and Omega ran a simulation to see what DvD's future would be like. It was a general explanation, but I'm gonna go deeper into detail now --)

2020: So, first off, the Krang attack in 2020, same as in canon. Leon, 'Phael, Mikey, and DvD manage to survive the invasion by some miracle. For the first year, they just focus on staying alive and hidden from the aliens, but by the end of that first year the reunite with April and their friends and discover the beginnings of the Resistance. (Karai was separated from them all as well, but no one has seen her yet and so they all assume she's dead.)

2023-2025: Several years pass, and there is still no sign of Karai. While the boys are out doing a supply raid, they get ambushed by a Krang attack and are caught in a collapsing building. 'Phael freezes in panic and Leon takes a hit to rescue him, though the two are trapped in rubble together as they wait for Mikey and DvD to dig them out. However... Leon doesn't have that long, and encourages Raph as the leader of their family to stay strong and take care of Mikey and Donnie and April and everyone else...

Leo dies, having saved Raphael.

2025-2030: The three mourn their brother, but do their best to help lead the Resistance. In 2026, Cass gives birth to a son, and 'Phael helps her to raise the child. However, during these five years, tragedy strikes again. Michelangelo's hypoglycemia has been acting up due to the low rations, and in spite of their promptings to take care of himself, Mikey has been intentionally skipping meals so the others can take his rations, effectively starving himself. That, coupled with the injuries he gets from his ninpo overdrive, finally takes its toll on his frail body.

Mikey starves to death.

2030-2035: After Mikey's death, Donnie and Raph have a hard time staying cheerful. And to add to the grief, Cassandra dies in battle as well. But some good comes to light, as the group receives word of a lone stranger roaming New York and saving survivors while battling the Krang. After investigating, they discover that Karai has survived and become something of a folk hero! She joins their Resistance, bringing her own group of survivors with her. During this time, Raphael has grown to be a force to be reckoned with, and even the leader of the Resistance! Donatello is working around the clock to create weapons and grow nutritional, non-contaminated plants that they can eat safely. It's hard work, but no one said the end of the world was easy. DvD discovers a formula and equation that may work for time-travel, but he is unsure... he starts to build the machine.

2035-2044: The Resistance is not looking good. They can barely go above ground anymore without being picked off and slaughtered. The food and supplies are running low. 'Phael realizes that the end is coming, and there may be no escape. He has Donnie work full-time on the time machine, as it is their last hope. The Resistance grows smaller and smaller with each passing month, until it seems like it's just Raph, DvD, April, Karai, and Casey Jones Jr., along with a few special people like Big Mama Frida Kahlo. Finally, in 2044, the Krang find their hideout and begin to slaughter the last of the Resistance. Raph has CJ and Donnie evacuate into the labs with the time machine, and while Raph holds them off, Donnie begins to power the machine with his ninpo and what little electricity they have left. Raph instructs Casey on what to do, that he's sending him back in time -- not necessarily to stop the Krang, but more importantly to save Casey from the attack. If nothing else, Casey must survive. If Raph can do nothing else but make sure that his boy sees a world without war, where he is healthy... that will be enough for him. That will redeem his mistakes, how he let his brothers die because of his failures and fear. Casey has to live. He tells him to find his family, warn them, and to find his sister as well, because she -- Suddenly the Krang break into the room, and Casey is thrown into the time machine. Dee's ninpo goes into overdrive and powers the machine, though it costs him his life. Raph manages to hold the Krang off until the machine does it's duty, and then...

Raph and Donnie die sending Casey Jones Jr. into the past.

And yes, I did cry writing this.

#rottmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #tutant meenage neetle teetles #until i found you #until i found you au #rottmnt until i found you #rottmnt leo #rottmnt mikey #rottmnt donnie #rottmnt raph #rottmnt casey jr #bad timeline #rottmnt bad future #rottmnt bad timeline #writing angst #rottmnt fanfiction

[geniusbuilttm]

Asking some AU comp competitors & supporters:

- Are there any AUs you weren't familiar with that have recently caught your attention, or that you would like to learn more about?

- What are some AUs/fanworks that you enjoy, and would encourage more people to go check out? (Doesn't have to be in the comp!)

Thanks so much for the ask! <3

Unfortunately, a lot of big life things are happening right now for me (quitting my teaching job, moving in with parents for a few months, marriage soon and other big life things in a few months, all while doing my online masters program and writing my master's thesis) so I have not been able to pay too much attention to things and other AUs... OTL

AUs I do want to learn more about are TMNT04 (which Surp-Rise! is up against this round) by @koolaidashley, Until I Found You by @phoebepheebsphibs has caught my eye, as well as @v-albion's Separated AU. I've never seen someone have Donnie be raised by the Foot and the art style for this and UIFY.... Chef's kiss. (Same with TMNT04 and any other AUs for koolaidashley....).

2. I want people to check out the written AUs, even if I don't follow them. While I LOVE all the AUs, people do not give as much attention to written ones because it is not always as easily consumable which, fair. Surp-Rise! is suuuuper long and can be intimidating, but text to speech audio readers are super helpful (if you love listening while doing other stuff).

Thanks for the ask, @friendlyneighborhoodterrapin! :3 Lots of love your way. <3

@tmntaucompetition

#ari answers #rottmnt #tmntaucompetition #been thinking about this one a lot in my free time tbh...

[association-of-ideas]

I finally found a name for the AU! I'm calling it Until I Found You from the song It Takes Two. I thought it was fitting considering how much of the AU is centered around finding lost family.

Anyways, considering how much traction the last post got, I thought I should make a more detailed post on Viva and how she fits into the story. Let's go!

Until I Found You AU: Viva

The AU (and fic, when I get around finishing the first chapter) follows the path of the second movie w/ Barb's world tour, but with a lot of found family

In this, Viva takes what would be JD's role in Band Together by coming back to Pop Village to warn her dad about Barb's tour

After her mom was eaten, the responsibility of caring for Poppy gradually fell more and more onto Viva's shoulders

W/ Peppy grieving the death of his wife and dealing w/ his duties as king, he spends less and less time w/ his daughters

Viva grows up under a lot of stress and pressure put on her by both her father and her people

Before she left, Viva said goodbye to Poppy, leaving her her hug-time bracelet to remember her by (a parallel to Branch and his vest)

After her departure, Viva took on a more adventurous life, hopping from place to place and never staying anywhere for longer than a couple weeks

20 years later, what is supposed to be a quick in-and-out heads up to her dad about the tour quickly becomes an overwhelming flurry of reactions

Poppy is shocked, suspicious, and very unhappy about her sister's return and her out of character behavior surprises everyone who knows her

The rest of Pop Village, like Branch, have been under the impression that Viva died all those years ago

Trying to settle down the chaos spurred by Viva's arrival, Peppy accidentally slips up about Branch's brothers

Before she left, she had seen Branch's brothers around and known of their existence and can't fathom why her dad would hide something like that

Viva's generally a lot better adjusted to the world around her, but she certainly has her reservations

Viva and Poppy still have their It Takes Two song number, but the context is them rekindling their relationship, learning to understand each other, and coming to terms w/ how much the other has changed

Viva would have come back sooner, but didn't because she was worried that if she did, she'd immediately be put back under all that pressure she ran away from

Or that no one would like her after seeing how much she's changed

Or Poppy wouldn't recognize her

Eventually, too much time had passed and Viva convinced herself that if she went back now, Poppy would hate her, so she just didn't go back

For as extroverted as she is, she doesn't really talk about herself, something that will eventually lead into a good old heart-to-heart w/ her sister

Viva struggles a lot w/ guilt and self-loading over leaving, but she's reached a point where she doesn't regret it because she had to do what was best for herself, even if it meant hurting the ones she loves

I just—she means the world to me. I have more I want to say about her, but it's primarily related to her design, so I'll include that in the next post with the other AU character designs.

#trolls viva #trolls poppy #trolls peppy #until i found you au #uify au

[littlemissartemisia]

@phoebepheebsphibs

#rottmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #tmnt #rise artemisia #rise oc #artemisia #tmnt au #rottmnt oc #teenage mutant ninja turtles #tmnt oc #uify Mikey

[phoebepheebsphibs]

I love long car drives by myself, I get to tell myself stories and most of my best ideas come from the car lol

One idea in particular I had was what to do with UIFY Leo's ninpo, since he doesn't really keep the odachi in my AU

And then for whatever reason I came up with this design in my head --

So when Leo inevitably unlocks his ninpo ... I think these will be his weapons.

#rottmnt #rottmnt leo #tutant meenage neetle teetles #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #until i found you au #until i found you #rottmnt until i found you #leonardo #rottmnt leonardo #hamato ninpo #janky sketches #plot ideas #rottmnt separated au #separated au

[phoebepheebsphibs]

Pheebs' masterpost!

COMMISSIONS: OPEN

Commissions info

Original Stories

The Future and a Robot

Character sheets

Origin comic

Animations: Sonic 1, Sonic 2, Sonic 3, Sonic 4

Socials

Instagram

TikTok

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ArtFight

Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Until I Found You: an ROTTMNT separated AU

Character sheets and minor story explanations

Mock interview

TMNT AU Competition: First post / No Fun in Fungus Crossover / TMNT AU Competition propaganda / The Tots' Arc

The Other Side Animatic

Fic on AO3

Short explanation of the Bad Timeline

Fics

Hide & Seek: fic, short story, compendium

Will Mutate For Food

NFIF/UIFY Crossover

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Draxum's Nightmare

Matching: a Turtle Tots comic

Shopping Spree: A series of janky sketches — 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

Sunset Duo: Carry Me Home

Extra

Peaches - ROTTMNT OC

#masterpost #phoebepheebsphibs #everything #rottmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #rottmnt fanart #teenage mutant ninja turtles fanart #teenage mutant ninja turtles fanfics #fanfics #fanart

[phoebepheebsphibs]

Please, whatever they offer you... DON'T FEED THE PLANTS!!

ACT 3

@boots-with-the-fur-club @daboyau @tmntaucompetition @littlemissartemisia @shiveagit @shiveagit-arts @thevoidbrothers @noval1t @kathaynesart @bluepeachstudios @amevello-blue

CW: Panic attacks, cringe musical references

(Special thanks to boots-with-the-fur-club for helping write the NFIF bois!)

Prev || Next

Names and abbreviations (sorry there's a lot, we have a big cast for today's performances!) : UIFY = Until I Found You NFIF = No Fun in Fungus Leon = UIFY Leonardo 'Phael = UIFY Raphael DvD = UIFY Donatello Mike/Mikey/Micheal = UIFY Michelangelo AudRaph = Swayed Raphael AudreyTello = Swayed Donatello LeonAudro = Swayed Leonardo MichelAudrelo = Swayed Michelangelo AudRai = Swayed Karai rhg!Donnie = Rise Hunger Games AU Donatello Raph = NFIF Raphael Donnie/Dee = NFIF Donatello Leo = NFIF Leonardo Angie/Angelo = NFIF Michelangelo

The show must go on...

AudreyTello turned around just in time to watch as the explosion blew AudRaph several meters back, slamming him into a wall while the majority of the room that housed Audrey III crumbled to the ground. As the glow of deep cobalt, violet, crimson, and bright green filled the room, it chased away the neon electric blue, causing each and every spore it came into contact with to disintegrate.

"NOO!!!" AudreyTello screamed in pure fury. He gripped his head, the familiar ache returning as he could feel the hold over NFIF Donatello started to weaken.

"You... you WRETCHES!! You think this will STOP ME?!"

"Well, we certainly hoped so," Spider-Dee mumbled.

"You pathetic, insignificant, worthless, meaningless, little trifles of trauma-riddled turtles!!" AudreyTello screamed.

"...This might be a shot in the dark, but I think we made him just a teensy bit mad."

"OH, YA THINK?!"

AudreyTello's battleshell erupted with furious weapons building one on top of the other, the purple glow blending with the blue infecting his ninpo. But piece by piece, the purple was starting to take back control...

"It... it's working! The sway is breaking!" Spider-Dee pointed.

"Then let's break it all the way!" Ghost shouted over the commotion, grabbing Spider-Dee and DvD out of habit and jumping away from the spray of mystic missiles and bullets.

Meanwhile, in the rubble, a shield of ninpo created by the infected Hamatos kept MichelAudrelo, AudRai, and poor little Misa safe from the destruction.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT THE HAND.PNG SET A FIRE AND BURNED DOWN THE HOUSE!" MichelAudrelo screamed in anger, clenching his fists tightly.

"One less enemy to worry about," AudRai stated calmly. "What is the damage?"

"Our base has been destroyed," MichelAudrelo growled. "Quite obviously."

AudRai held her head as she groaned.

"Our true form... has been wounded," she grunted, looking up slowly.

The mushroom was half-destroyed in the corner, the cap singed and burning slightly, the hyphae curling as the fungus screeched in agony. Leonardo sat under the stalk, his body half-freed, but the blast had knocked him unconscious. He laid limp against the roots that kept him anchored to the floor, half-destroyed and withering beneath his weight.

"They will pay for this," MichelAudrelo snarled.

Blue/gold mystic chains started forming as he approached the battle, seeing the non-Donnie team come round the corner...

"Okay, so the room was destroyed, the spores are dissipating... you guys know what's next?" Leon asked, making sure the plan was still in effect.

"We'll get going to save all the zombies," Spider-Shine said with a smile and a nod, gesturing to the other Spider-Teetlez as Spider-Dee reunited with them. "Get the antidote to anyone with glowing blue eyes!"

"Great, the rest of us will stay behind to help free the swayed and eradicate the rest of the mushroom!"

The Spider-Teetlez shook hands with the group, saying fond farewells before swinging away to complete their quest and save the rest of the AUs...

"Okay then, now we--"

"RUN!!" 'Phael shrieked, pointing to an army of golden chains coming their way.

MichelAudrelo smiled cruelly as he sent the chains to grab at them, the contestants and supporters scattering quickly in all directions to avoid his attacks. One chain grabbed Leon and dragged him forward.

The slider was bound by the ankles and hung upside down in front of the mystic warrior.

"Hello, worm," MichelAudrelo said with a smile.

"Uhhh, heeey there, Angie!" Leon said, hoping the childhood nickname for his brother would strike a chord with this version of Michelangelo.

It didn't.

MichelAudrelo raised his hand.

"You'll regret what you've done..."

"Hey, you!!"

Leon and MichelAudrelo turned in surprise to see who had just shouted at them.

Golden flower petals and butterflies made of light started fluttering down around the boys.

Abby smiled brightly as she threw her crutch aside to Diana. Music starting playing.

"Do you hear that sound? That beautiful sound?"

Giant vines started sprouting from the ground, lifting Abby and MichelAudrelo up into the air. In his shock, MichelAudrelo dropped Leon to the floor, where Diana quickly grabbed him and pulled him aside.

"What are you two doing here?" Leon asked. "You were supposed to stay with Mikey--"

"Slight change of plans," Diana answered. "We brought the cavalry!"

"You didn't bring him here, did you?"

"..."

"Diana, if you value your life you will answer 'no'."

"...Then, no?"

"You're lying to me. Where is he...!" Leon growled as he stormed off to find his Michelangelo.

"YOU SAID TO ANSWER NO!!" Diana shouted as she followed after him, while Abby finally got to do her big number with a 'captive audience'...

Leon rushed off to find his brother, no doubt glowing and sporting his own mystic chains. He was gonna give him an earful when he found him...

As Leon was storming around, something lodged within the wall fell to the ground and groaned behind him.

"URGH!"

Leon whipped around.

"What was that--"

A large spiky shell and limbs started moving from the broken pieces of plaster that had crumbled along with the body on the floor. It slowly started rising, groaning and grumbling. Leon swallowed, tiptoeing closer to the swayed Raph.

"...Diana... go look for Mikey. Make sure he's not doing anything too.... y'know."

"But, what are you gonna--"

"Just go," he whispered. "I'll handle this."

Diana reluctantly obeyed, rushing away before AudRaph could get his bearings back and start attacking them.

Leon crept forwards, wary of the strength this Raphael could have. He knew that his brother 'Phael was pretty strong, though he was mostly unshed baby fat. This Raph was head and shoulders above him, and had been training as a ninja since his childhood, he figured. Besides, he knew that 'Phael had a tendency to go kinda savage when he was really, really scared. And who knew what this fear fungus was making Raph see in his deep subconscious...

"Hey, buddy, it's me, your ol' pal, Neon Leon..."

AudRaph made a low rumbling sound as he slowly got to his knees, still dizzy and dazed.

"I know that whatever you're seeing... i-it's probably pretty rough. I'm sure you think that it's hopeless, but it isn't! You can get through it..."

AudRaph lifted up his head, growling at him with bared teeth.

"Hey, it's okay to be scared. I'm scared most of the time. Have you seen half of the hijinx Mikey gets involved in? I'll bet you know how tough it is, being the oldest brother, the one to look after everyone... But then again, you also know how much they love you. You know how excited they are when they succeed just like you knew they would, the look on their faces when they see how proud you are when they exceed your expectations and blow you out of the water! You're so lucky to be the big brother, no matter how many times they make you worry... because for every grey scale they give you, you get ten extra memories of them and how wonderful they are and how much you love them."

Raphael's blue-glazed eyes started leaking.

"And I know you love them. Because how could you not love our brothers?? You, me, we sacrifice for them all the time, because we would do anything for our little brothers. You'd do anything for your brothers, right? And... you said I would always have a big brother in you. And I need you, Raph -- they need you -- WE NEED YOU. We need you to come back to us..."

Leon placed one hand on Raph's shaking shoulder and cupped the other hand under his cheek, wiping the blue tears from his face.

"Come back to your family, Raph. Because we need YOU. Not a hero, not a sacrificial martyr, we want our brother to come home. Please, Raph. Please."

Raphael blinked away the tears, the final remnants of blue melting away with the tears.

"...L-Leon..?"

"Welcome back, big guy."

Leon was suddenly engulfed in a bear hug, Raph squeezing him tight and shaking all over.

"I'm so sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so so so sorry, Leo LEON, I'm so sorry... please... please, can you forgive me, I never meant to hurt you, I never wanted to--!"

"It's okay, dude," Leon said, trying not to cry himself as he squeezed Raph back. "You old softy."

Leon had to force himself to pull away from the sobbing snapping turtle, offering the end of his scarf for the eldest sibling to wipe his face with.

"Now, let's go wake up the others, hmm?"

April's teleporting powers kicked in as soon as she saw the golden chains coming. She was suddenly in a new place, landing in a small heap of rubble. She turned around and watched as NFIF Michelangelo managed to snag her Leon and reel him in.

"Leo!"

"YOU."

April whirled around to see AudRai coming for her. Her neat braid had been mussed up in the explosion, the strands falling loose and falling apart. Her eyes were surrounded by deep, dark circles and tear stains.

"Karai... what happened to you?"

"What always happens to the Hamatos," she replied glumly. "We die."

"You're not dead yet," April said, gritting her teeth. "I'm not going to let that funky mushroom kill you."

"Why not? You let it kill Michael."

April's breath caught in her lungs.

"...Karai... you don't know what you're saying..."

"It's our doom, our fate," she said, voice wobbling with sniffles as the tears started pooling. "The fate I started us all down... the role I took on, the example I set... it's all my fault--"

Karai started weeping, her voice cracked as her fists clenched.

"It's my fault that Michael died. I felt him leave. Not just because of our family ninpo, I saw him die through the spores. I saw his fears. I watched him go!" she whimpered, falling to her knees.

April's eyes welled up with tears of her own as she slowly understood what Karai was saying.

"It was my fault... I trained him in his ninpo. I taught him all the Hamato magic. I showed him the importance of our traditions, our lore, our creed. I... I... I killed him..."

"You didn't kill him. He's still alive," April reassured her. "And you didn't teach Mikey self-sacrifice. It seems to be a running tendency--"

"But that tendency started with me!" Karai sobbed. "I can't save them, no matter how hard I try! I couldn't save my village, my father, my own grandson! My legacy is to be the failing martyr!!"

April rushed forward and hugged Karai tightly.

"No. That is not your legacy. That is not your destiny. Michael is not dead, and neither are you. Karai, you are more than just your mistakes, more than your defeats. Don't let the fear of failure keep you from succeeding later on! Don't let the past keep you from building up your future! You told me that you saw how strong I was, where do you think I learned that courage from? Don't let this be another failure, don't give up! You can beat this fear. 'You shall not be challenged beyond your strength.' You can overcome it."

Karai stiffened for a second, before softly hugging April back. After a few shaky moments, Karai pulled away. Much to April's relief, her eyes were back to normal.

"Arigatō, April..."

Karai wiped the tears from her cheeks and turned to the small caged-in cradle holding Misa.

"We should help release her."

"Can I offer my help?" NFIF Raph asked, as he and Leon rushed up through the rubble and broken drywall.

April and Karai looked at each other, unsure if that was wise, considering what had happened.

Yet Karai nodded, stepped forwards and used her ninpo to create a small dagger of flame that cut through the vines. Misa was growling and crying, her eyes shut tight as she fought against her nightmares.

Raphael leaned down and picked her up gently, rocking her back and forth.

"If one of the Mikeys were here, they'd know how to snap her out of it," April murmured. "He saved her from the spores last time..."

"Raph knows what to do," he whispered, his voice soft and gentle. "I've had my fair share of getting my little brothers to calm down after a nightmare..."

Raph sat down on a pile of debris as he held on to Misa.

She hissed at him, pushing to get away.

"Misa? Misa, it's me..."

Misa growled again, still struggling to break free from his hold. In her mind, she had just been taken away by an evil scientist who was going to do terrible, mean things to her...

"No!" she snapped, biting his hand.

Raph gasped in pain, but didn't let go. He smiled through the hurt, tears forming in his eyes again.

"I guess I deserved that one, huh?" he chuckled dryly. "Misa, please, it's Raph... it's Ra-Ra?"

Misa slowly stopped, her ferocious bites turning into soft nibbles as she opened one eye, the edges of white turning a soft blue.

"Misa, can you see me? Can you see Ra-Ra?"

She shook her head no.

"...R-Ra-Ra? Ra-Ra has Misa?"

"Yes," he assured her, rubbing his thumb in circles against her cheek, wiping away the bitter and angry tears.

Misa flinched, her eyes widened at the touch.

"...Is Ra-Ra good guy now?"

That hurt. He knew she didn't mean for it to hurt, but the truth was painful nonetheless.

"Yes, Misa," he whimpered. "Ra-Ra is good now. Misa, I'm so sorry for what I did to you... I hurt you so much, Raph is so sorry..."

Even though he knew that he was meant to be comforting her, Raph lowered his head and cried onto her as he held her in his lap.

"Misa... I'm so sorry. I'll understand if you hate me forever after this, I wouldn't blame you. But... I want to help you now, I want to help with the scary things you're seeing. How can Ra-Ra help you?"

Raph felt tiny hands reaching up and touching his face. Misa blinked away the blue, eyes refocusing until she could see Raphael properly.

And Misa smiled.

"Little brudder..."

She kissed his cheek and nuzzled him, hugging his face and wiping away his tears.

"...Misa forgives Ra-Ra. Ra-Ra good guy."

Raphael blubbered at that, whimpering as he pressed Misa against his plastron in a desperate hug. Misa giggled, patting him on the back as best she could, though her arms barely even reached the edges of his shell.

"Thank you, Misa... thank you..."

"Where's Mikey an' Dee-Dee?" she asked, looking around.

"Around here somewhere," Leon replied, looking around. "I'm sure we'll find them eventually..."

"Hey, guys!" Abby shouted at them. "Look who we got!"

Abby gave the performance of a lifetime. She and swayed Michelangelo had been dueling it out against each other for a few minutes while Abby belted out her favourite musical number. She ordered the vines to protect her as she spun and ducked and danced and leapt around the mystic attacks. Her vines reached out and grabbed MichelAudrelo and pulled him high into the air, away from Abby as she finished up her number. MichelAudrelo struggled against the vines, breaking free eventually, but Abby had been prepared for that. Several other series of vines reached up and caught him, much to his frustration.

"THAT BEAUTIFUL SOUND--"

"STOP IT!" MichelAudrelo screeched, lashing out his chains to grab at the feline, but she jumped away at the last second, her choreography coming in to save her as she danced around him gleefully.

"A SOUND THAT MEANS NO MORE CONDESCENDING ADULTS HANGING AROUND!"

Abby continued to sing at the top of her lungs as MichelAudrelo chased after her, his chains doing battle with her vines.

"I SAID STOP IT!!"

Abby ignored him, singing to her heart's content.

"EVERY GROAN, EVERY WAIL AND EACH MOAN, ADDS UP TO DADDY'S LEAVIN' ME THE HECK ALONE!"

"I SAID STOP! STOP, Stop, s-stop..."

MichelAudrelo's hands began to shake, his chains started to fade.

"THEY'RE OUT OF MY GRILL, BECAUSE OF THAT SHRILL SYMPHONY..."

Abby pirouetted, a glorious spin that created a flurry of petals around her. MichelAudrelo couldn't see her anymore, her spin was so fast that she became a blur. While he was distracted, a grappling hook shot up and grabbed him by the ankle, tugging him down to the floor as Ghost wrapped his arms around the boy.

"H-hey!! LET GO!!"

"It's okay, Angelo," Ghost murmured, keeping him close to his chest. "It's okay, we've got you..."

"AIN'T IT THE SWEETEST NOISE AROUND, THAT BEAUTIFUL SOUND!" Abby belted, echoing the final word as she jumped down from her podium made of vines.

"Aaaaaaand she sticks the landing!" she cheered as she gracefully touched down. "I did it! I really did it! I guess my leg's all better, I can't wait to show Diana--"

"YOU CAN'T KEEP ME PRISONER LIKE THIS!!" MichelAudrelo screeched, kicking and squirming in Ghost's hold. "LET ME GO!"

"Not until you calm down, kid," Ghost said, tightening his hold on the mind-controlled Angelo. "Just let it go, let go of the anger and the fear and--"

"NO! I'LL KILL YOU ALL! I'LL...I'll... I ... heh... heh, heh..."

MichelAudrelo's screams melted as tears started trickling down his face. He smiled painfully, laughing as he saw what he was.

"I... I wanted to kill everyone," he murmured. His voice was soft, he was in shock and somewhat dazed as the realization of what he'd done seeped in. "I really did. I wanted to break everything and destroy the entire arena and everyone in it... why?"

MichelAudrelo looked up at Abby, the small trickle of tears turning into rivers, his smile breaking as the corners of his mouth turned down.

"Why did I wanna hurt you so bad? I never would have done that before, I was just so... so..."

"Scared?" Abby offered, stepping forward to wipe the tears away.

"No," Angelo flinched, pulling back from her, refusing to accept her help. "No, it wasn’t fear, it was--"

"It was grief."

MichelAudrelo looked up in confusion at Ghost, who looked down with his own understanding gaze.

"You were scared of losing your family, huh? April told me a little about some of the things you said when you were first spored. I know what it feels like to lose your family. To know that you'll never get to do the things you always said you'd do together. See the places you always wanted to go. Win or lose the arguments you planned in your head for fun, just to antagonize them. Give that apology you meant to say. Make that special gift for their next birthday. Eat lunch with them. Say I love you one last time. I know how it feels to realize that you've been pulled away and there's no going back. And what's worse... you see them everywhere. Carbon copies, phantoms of the past that bring up phantom pains. You want to pretend that they're yours, but..."

"But they're not!" Angelo sobbed, letting his limbs go slack in Ghost's embrace as he wailed. The two fell to their knees, Ghost comforting Angelo as he cried out a pain that was so deep and scarring it could shake the foundations of the earth.

"But... your family isn't dead, Angelo," Abby reassured him. "They're still here --"

"FOR HOW LONG?" he howled. "How long until they really do get themselves killed?! How long until I have to go through this again, but for real?! I can't keep doing this!! I can't, I can't! I won't let myself get hurt again!!"

The blue light started to return to MichelAudrelo's eyes as he growled.

"That's what I said, too," Ghost chuckled.

Angie stopped.

"I told myself I would never get hurt like that again. So I shut everyone and everything out. I refused to let myself get too attached to what I knew could be another family for me. I couldn't face the idea of seeing replicas of my brothers and father and April again. I was scared of getting hurt."

Angelo swivelled his head around to get a better look at Ghost, who was starting to cry himself.

"I was so scared, kid. I let myself rot in a sewer alone for over two decades before I finally faced my fears and tried again. Knowing that the pain would come, knowing that I would have to be strong. Because sometimes... healing hurts."

"If you love someone, you have to understand that one day they will hurt you," Abby added. "Whether they mean to or not... love opens you up for both the happy times and the sad times. And the angry ones, too, believe me."

"It may seem like the pain is too much to live with --" Ghost replied, "-- and you may think that it's easier to feel nothing at all than to feel the pain. But when that happens you become nothing more than a... well, a ghost in a shell," he chuckled weakly.

"I don't want that," Angelo wept, turning around and wrapping his arms around Ghost in a loose hug. "I don't want to just rot inside myself while the people I love most are waiting for me..."

"Then you have to let go of that pain."

"But it's so hard!"

"I know, bud, I know. But nothing that the great Dr. Feelings can't face, right? And you'll never face it alone."

"I thought that was Dr. Delicate Touch... wait, what's the difference again?" Abby asked.

Angelo rubbed his face against Ghost's cloak, wiping the tears and snot from his blubbering face.

"Dr. Delicate Touch feels nothing... O-o.... okay..." he whimpered. "I can do this. I don't want to be 'Dr. Delicate Touch' forever. I wanna be with my family again. Even if we'll get hurt. I'd rather get hurt with them than feel nothing forever alone."

"Good call, kid," Ghost said, leisurely releasing the box turtle.

Angelo stood up, wiping the last of the glowing aqua blue tears from his face, his eyes back to normal as he weakly smiled.

"Should... should we go find the rest?"

"The Donnies are still doing their epic anime battle royale or something," Abby pointed. "But the others are in that pile of debris over there."

"Well, I've learned the hard way to never interrupt Dee's work, so let's go see how the other guys are doing."

"Another good call," Ghost laughed, rubbing Angelo's head.

The trio crossed over to the rest, reaching them just as Misa was released from the fear fungus' hold and hugging Raphael.

"Hey, guys! Look who we got!" Abby cheered, pointing at Angelo, who waved weakly at the group.

"Hey, Angelo!" Leon said with a wave. "You're not gonna... string me up again like before, are ya?"

"No," he whimpered softly. "Sorry 'bout that, by the way..."

"It's all cool," Leon said, waving it off. "Shrooms will do that to ya, or so I've heard."

Raphael looked over at his baby brother, seeing the tear stains and red puffy eyes and the trail of snot he kept wiping and sniffling away.

"Rough comeback, huh?"

"Yeah. You too?"

"Pizza supreme in the sky, you have no idea."

"Pizza what in the where now?" Leon asked, raising a brow at the snapping turtle. "What did you just say--"

"I'LL KILL YOU!!"

The group jumped at the scream that shattered the calm they had been enjoying for the moment.

"That was one of the Donnies!" Abby yiped, jumping into Diana's arms.

"...Do you think maybe we should look into that?" Leon asked.

rhg!Donnie had carried Michael into the outskirts of the battle, just as he'd promised. The Donnie confrontation, or 'Donfrontation' as they were calling it, was in full swing as the drones flew like a tornado around the halls.

"Okay, we're here now, what exactly did you have planned??" rhg!Donnie asked.

"Uh, I honestly figured I could wing it--"

"YOU WHAT?!"

Mikey shrugged and laughed nervously.

"Well, I assumed that I'd have a plan by the time I got here!"

Before rhg!Donnie could let in to him, an explosion went off. The bright rainbow of light blew away the spores and darkness, clearing the area almost instantaneously.

"Well, it looks like the guys managed to set off the TNT," Diana noticed.

"No kidding," rhg!Donnie grumbled. "We should get out of here--"

A large body flew into the wall some short distance aways.

"Was that Raph?!" Abby yelled loudly.

The halls started glittering as golden chains filled the air.

"I swear, that isn’t me," Mikey said, seeing the glare that the others were about to give him.

"It's the other Mikey!" Abby yelled, suddenly running off to go help the others.

"Wait a minute!" Diana shouted, running after her.

"Well, um, I guess it's just you and me now," Mikey chuckled dryly.

"Apparently so. I'm taking you back to safety--"

"No!" Mikey yelled, holding his hand out to stop him. "I need you to take me to my brothers, or --"

"No, Mikey, I can't let that happen! You'll get hurt, or--"

Before rhg!Donnie could finish his sentence, one of the drones snagged the back of his shirt and carried him away into the storm.

"Oh no! Human Donnie!!"

Mikey summoned a small chain and latched it onto one of the other drones, getting yanked away into the torrent along with the alternate version of his brother.

"I'm coming!"

Mikey held on as tightly as he could to the meager chain, climbing up the links to get to the drone itself. He climbed atop it, looking for rgh!Donnie amongst the flurry of purple. He found him, several feet away, trying to reach back and unhook his clothes from the device.

"Hold on, I'm on my way!!"

Mikey readied himself, and then leapt. His stomach slammed into the head of the drone, and he slipped down the side. Mikey swung his legs up, gripping the drone with his knees as he crawled back up the side of it. Mikey saw the legs of the drone dangling beneath him, and got an idea. He took out his nunchucks, wrapping one end to the drone's mechanical legs as he held on with a deathgrip to the other end. He let himself fall, dangling from the machine and swinging around as the drones turned the corner and continued their tornado patterns. Mikey used the momentum of the turning corner to fling himself forward, landing directly on top of the kidnapper drone.

"MIKEY?!" rhg!Donnie screamed above the roaring mechanical wind. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

"Winging it!" Mikey yelled back, as he grabbed rhg!Dee's shirt collar and tore the fabric from the metal limb. With nothing holding him up anymore, rhg!Donnie fell to the floor, dragging poor Michelangelo with him.

"AAAAAHHHH!!"

Before the two adolescents could hit the pavement, something caught them both. They looked up in shock to see two drones had chased after and grabbed them.

"Not again," rhg!Donnie groaned.

"I assure you, this time it was intentional," Omega said as he rolled by. "Congrats on being rescued."

"Thanks, computer Dee!" Mikey cheered, giving him a thumbs-up.

"Of course. Now, WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING HERE?! I thought you were given direct instruction to--"

"Where is everyone? Where's Leon, 'Phael, Dvd, and April?" Mikey interrupted.

"I suspect UIFY Leonardo, UIFY Raphael, and UIFY April are over by the remnants of that housing unit," Omega said, a robot claw pointing towards the heap of rubble caught in the explosion. "But your Donatello is in the center of that drone tornado. He's taken the forefront of distracting --"

"I gotta go talk to him!" Mikey yelled, trying to run but tripping over his own feet as he did so.

"No way!" rhg!Donnie said, grabbing him and dragging him back again. "You're staying over here, where it's safe!"

"I thought you were on my side!"

"I'm not on anybody's side. I just want you to be safe, Mikey," he said, the last few words coming out as a whimper. "Please... just stay here for me, I'll go and help!"

"BUT YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!!"

rhg!Donnie ran in the direction of the tornado, Omega chasing after him.

Mikey waited a beat.

And then began to shuffle towards them, too...

rhg!Donnie ducked in between each and every drone as they sailed around them. He listened for the shouts, for any noise other than the roaring wind whipping around him.

He couldn't hear anything.

He couldn't see anything--

"Hey! Watch out!"

rhg!Donnie jumped. Someone had grabbed him by the arm and pulled him aside. DvD stared the teenager in the face, glaring at him angrily.

"WHAT are YOU doing here?! You're supposed to be watching after--"

His eyes widened as he realized.

"WHERE. IS. HE."

"I left him with Omega!" rhg!Donnie shouted.

"OMEGA IS RIGHT BEHIND YOU!!"

rhg!Donnie turned around to stare the computer in the face -- or rather, icon.

"WHAT?! I THOUGHT YOU WERE WITH HIS BROTHER--"

"I came to make sure you would be --"

"Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute --" DvD stopped the explanation hastily, trying to figure it out. "-- if he's not with us, then who is he with?"

UIFY Mikey crawled across the floor as best he could. He was still wobbly, and every time he tried to stand he got the nastiest dizzy spell. The dizziness was only compounded by the continuing swirling of the mechanical hurricane before him. But he had to get to them, before it was too late...

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?"

Mikey paused, a pair of feet appearing in front of him. He slowly looked up to see AudreyTello standing before him, tech-bō in hand and pointed down at Michael.

"...Heyyyy, Dee... just the guy I wanted to see."

"You're supposed to be dead," AudreyTello said, leaning closer to him.

"Eh. I got better."

"So I see. Shall I remedy that for you?"

Mikey swallowed.

"You're not going to kill me."

"Oh? And why ever not?" AudreyTello chuckled, walking closer as Mikey inched backwards.

"Because we both know that you don't want to hurt me. You didn't hurt me before--"

"An oversight on my part. As I said, I can remedy that," AudreyTello growled, as he cocked back the bō and prepared to strike.

"No. Before the battle. When I helped you, when I gave you some of my strength to fight against the fungus, I could feel what was happening to you. I don't know how or why, but I could sense that you were being sorta... swept away. But not gone for good."

"You're wrong," AudreyTello laughed. "Donatello is DEAD."

"No," Mikey refuted. "I made sure of it. I know you're in there, I know you can see and hear me. That's why you gave me back to DvD when you did."

"You were unconscious for that, how... ah, yes. Your odd little dreams that fill you in on what you've missed," AudreyTello rolled his eyes. "How useful."

"You didn't want to hurt me," Mikey informed him. "Because you're still in there."

"No, he's NOT," AudreyTello growled.

"I know you are. It's why you wouldn't kill me. Why I couldn't kill you. Because you care."

"DONATELLO IS DEAD!!" AudreyTello snapped. "I AM IN CONTROL, YOU HEAR ME?!"

"You can scream all you want, but we both know that isn't true."

"BUT IT HAS TO BE!" Dee sobbed. "IT HAS TO BE TRUE, OTHERWISE... otherwise, I really did all those terrible things to you... your brother... m-my brothers..."

NFIF Donatello's knees started wobbling. He backed away from Mikey.

"I know you're scared. You're probably thinking everything that happened is all your fault, right? You're blaming yourself. The hand told me..."

"No... No, NO! S-STAY BACK!" AudreyTello shrieked, fumbling away from Mikey, who started crawling back towards him.

"You're scared that what you've done is unredeemable, that the mistakes you made will haunt you forever. But that's only true if you let it be true. Because -- whether you want it or not -- I forgive you for everything that happened."

"No, you can't -- Don't say that!" Donatello wept, holding his staff at Mikey, trying to ward him off as though he were a wild animal. "You can't just forgive that, you can't simply forgive him, he tried to spore you! He -- I almost sent you to your doom, I did send you to your doom! MY spores killed you!!"

"Do I look like I'm dead to you? Like I said, you wouldn't hurt me. You didn't know that would happen, it was a freak accident or whatever. And even if you did mean for that to happen... I still forgive you."

"BUT YOU CAN'T--!"

"But I do anyways. Because you're my brother, Dee," Mikey said with a smile, slowly getting up to his feet to stand.

"I-I'm not... I'm not your brother... especially after what I did..."

The tornado of drones behind them started to slow to a lull. The roaring cyclone and whipping wind calming to a gentle breeze in the background.

Mikey smiled at the weeping Donatello. He crawled closer.

"...But I still choose you as my family. And I still forgive you. And your real brothers will, too, because they love you so much more than I ever could! Donnie, do you know how much you are loved? How much we care about you?"

"No... you can't... stop it, stop, please..."

"We all love you so much, nothing you could ever do would make that love go away. No mistake, no failure, no evil monologue could ever make our love for you just simply vanish! We'll fight for you, we'll die for you, we'll live for you, because we love you so much."

"I don't deserve it... please, you can't say that! I don't want your love! I don't want you to keep loving me after everything, I don't deserve it!! I haven't earned it!!"

"You don't have to earn or deserve it, Dee," Mikey said, taking shaky steps towards him.

"Stop, Mikey, st-o-o-p..." Donnie wrapped his arms around himself, clutching his stomach as the alt. version of his baby brother came closer, holding his arms out to hug him.

"It's like Karai always says... anatawa, hitorijin--"

"I'LL KILL YOU!!"

Mikey whirled around just in time to see DvD leap over him, tech-bōfurnished with a saw as he lunged towards his enemy.

DvD crashed into NFIF Donatello, the two rolling around and scuffling on the floor as DvD attempted to avenge his brother.

"No!! Get off of him, what are you doing?! I was just getting through to him!!"

"I'M GOING TO KILL HIM FOR WHAT HE DID TO YOU!!" Donatello Von Draxum screamed.

AudreyTello kicked him off his stomach, tumbling to the side and watching in pure fear as DvD readied his tech bo again. Mikey jumped onto him, clutching his arm tightly as he tried to pull him away.

"Please, this isn't you!!" he begged.

DvD shook his baby brother off, the small child falling to the ground from the exertion and watched in horror as his big brother stormed over to the swayed Donnie.

"You're forgetting, Mikey... I'm the son of Draxum! I never asked to be... but I'm the SON OF DRAXUM, now face my..."

DvD pressed a button on his tech-bō, and it began to glow green as a new and yet unused weapon formed at the end.

"...URANIUM-POWERED FURYYYYY!!!"

"DVD, NO!!!"

Mikey screamed, his wails just barely stopping DvD in his tracks.

"AFTER EVERYTHING HE DID TO YOU... I PROMISED NOTHING WOULD HURT YOU, I SWORE TO PROTECT YOU AND KEEP YOU SAFE! MIKEY, WHAT ELSE AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?!"

"You can't hurt him!!" Mikey screamed. "He's YOU! He's my brother, just like you are!! He didn't mean to hurt anyone, I won't let you destroy your soul on my behalf! I won't let you hurt him!"

"...N-no... he's right..."

Mikey stared at NFIF Donatello, as he shakily looked up at the two arguing brothers.

"He should kill me... I deserve it..."

DvD glared at him.

"I TRUSTED you. I told you things about me, about Mikey, and you USE THAT AGAINST ME. The last person who did that --"

"I know," Dee wept. "I know. And you're right... after everything that happened, I don't blame you... I'd do the same. So... s-so go ahead," he cried, hanging his head in shame and resignation. "Do what you want. I did this, I did this to myself. I'm... I'm a monster.

DvD gripped his staff tightly. He took one step forward.

"No, please, don't do this," Michael begged. "Please, there's no coming back from this! Don't --"

"But Mikey, what am I supposed to do?" DvD growled, hot and angry tears filling up behind his visor.

"Forgive and forget."

"But he--"

"KILLING HIM WON'T MAKE YOU FEEL BETTER ABOUT YOURSELF, DVD," Mikey scolded. "I KNOW YOU THINK IT'S YOUR FAULT. I KNOW YOU THINK THAT IT WAS YOUR FAULT BECAUSE YOU LET YOUR GUARD DOWN. IT'S NOT. PLEASE, Please, please..."

Mikey sobbed as he tugged on his brother's cape.

"Don't do it... don't do this, not for me. It won't heal anything..."

Before DvD could respond, the others suddenly came running from every direction towards them, Leon and 'Phael lunged at DvD to pull him back as April and Karai went for Mikey. rhg!Donnie and Omega came running from behind and joined the UIFY gang to Keep DvD at bay, while the rest of the group went to check on NFIF Donatello, who was shaking and sobbing blue tears.

"Get back, Don!" 'Phael yelled, using all his strength to keep his warrior brother away. "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!"

"He... I... Mikey was..."

"AND JUST WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE, MISTER?!" Leon shouted at Michael. "I told you to stay put!"

"I had to help! I knew that Donnie was gonna blame himself and Donnie was gonna try to kill him and the other Donnies wouldn't understand and Donnie needed me so I--"

"I told you to stay--"

"CAN WE PLEASE TURN OFF THE DEATH RAY?!" April shouted loudly over the commotion.

"Oh, right," 'Phael said, snatching the tech-bō away from DvD. Omega came over and helped him to find the right button to switch it off before it could do any real damage.

"How does this child have uranium?!" Omega asked angrily. "Where did he--"

"We can geek out over Donnie's collection of killer rocks later, right now we're kinda on mission?!"

"Oh. Right. Yes, of course..." Omega said sheepishly.

NFIF Raph was by his brother's side almost immediately, taking his hand and trying to soothe him.

"Donnie! Donnie, it's Raph... it's me, can you--"

"R-Raph?" Dee asked looking at him.

"Yeah! C'mon, you're still kinda under the influence of the spores, so I need ya to--"

"You should have let him finish me," Donnie sobbed. "I deserve it!"

"Deserve...? Donald, what are you talking about?" Angelo asked nervously.

"I... I hurt you all!" he wailed. "I keep hurting you, I keep -- I keep ruining -- I'm a villain, I'm a monster, I--"

"HEY."

Dee jerked at the deep rumble that came from his older brother. He turned to look at Raphael.

"No. You are not a villain, you are not a monster. You were stuck in a nightmare and your body was being used like a puppet. You are not to blame for what happened."

"B-but...!"

"Donnie. You were krangified."

Dee froze at the words.

He knew this argument. He was on the other side of it, now...

"If you truly believe that what you did was actually your fault, and that you really are to blame, then you're also saying that it was really me that almost killed--"

"NO!" Dee yelled, gripping his brother's arms tightly to keep him from finishing the thought. "NO! No, I would never say that, I -- it was different, you were -- you -- you weren't yourself at all, they made you into -- it's different this time!"

"How is it any different?"

"BECAUSE THIS TIME IT WAS ME!!" he howled. "YOU DIDN'T DO ANY OF THAT, YOU WEREN'T IN CONTROL--"

"Neither were you!" Angelo reminded him.

"But I--"

"You should hold yourself to the same standards of forgiveness you give to others," Raph said. "I know you feel like you're on some different level of mercy, that the mistakes of others don't matter as much as the mistakes you make, that you should be punished for every little thing you get wrong -- but that's ludicrous. Really, really ludicrous."

"T-two reallys..."

"Exactly, big man. With as big of a genius brain as yours, ya'd think you'd understand that, huh?"

Dee chuckled as he hugged his brothers. The blue glow from his birthmarks slowly faded away, revealing the purple tones underneath.

"You back with us, Don-a-Tron?"

Donnie nodded and mumbled a "mhm" at them.

"Good. Welcome home, Donnie."

"Not yet," he said, slowly pushing himself away as he remembered a crucial detail.

"We still have one last zombie to free..."

"You.... you've destroyed EVERYTHING......"

Every head simultaneously turned.

LeonAudro pulled himself out of the rubble and ruin, rising up to confront them.

He was thin and pale, one eye burning blue while the other was covered with the charred and scarred remains of a mushroom cap and gill, one singular glowing yellow eye gazing furiously at them. His body was veiled over with roots and vines and ring and stem and stalk. Toadstools grew over his shoulder, umbrella mushrooms had sprouted from his plastron.

Raph gasped in horror at how similar he looked to... to... him. When he was part of the kraang.

Angelo covered his mouth to keep from gasping and sobbing.

Donnie stared in silence, his hands curling into tight fists.

"... Don't... be... fooled if I should whimper like a sappy, sobby dope, it's just the spores... they get me low......"

He lumbered lazily towards them. His voice was weak, but in the silence it carried. His breathing was shallow and strained. His face was absolutely painted with the glowing blue tearstains.

"... But don't let my cries deceive you, any moment I could go....."

Angelo whimpered at that verse. He felt Raph grab him by the shoulders and pull him in. Donnie took his hand and squuezed it tight.

"...All my vital signs are failing... cause the fungus I'm inhaling... makes it difficult as heck to catch my bre-ha-heaaaaath...."

He wheezed as he sang, his movements laboured and exhausted.

His brothers watched him, frozen where they were as he continued on closer. And closer.

"...Leo...?"

LeonAudro smiled.

"Guess again."

"Audrey III," Dee snarled. "Let him go."

LeonAudro let out an airy chuckle.

"Why... should... I?"

"LET HIM GO!!" Angelo screamed, his hands igniting into flames for a split second.

“Wow, Miguel. Did someone lose their temper?" LeonAudro gave a wicked smile. "What happened to always thinking positively? All you did was hurt that other April and Karai instead! You tore a family apart! How are you supposed to bring us together when you’re just a violent, blood thirsty, anger filled husk!?"

Angelo's eyes widened. He felt Raph's grip on his shoulders tense. LeonAudro's head tilted to the side as he continued.

"I’ll never feel safe around you again. I bet once April hears what you did she’ll never even come back to the lair. Who knows what you’re capable of now?”

"Stop it," Raph growled. "Leo would never say those things about--"

“Raph, is it easy for you to show your scarred up face to me again when you’ve failed so miserably?" LaonAudro stated, stepping closer to shorten the distance between them all. "Not just now, but again and again and again. How many times will you let me be lost? Injured? Scared? What kind of leader lets his team go on alone? What kind of brother cares so little that I can be missing for so long that this happens!?"

"I... you..."

"You said you’d always protect me!" LeonAudro continued. "You lied! Is this because I’m better than you? Are you punishing me? You want to hurt me? Again?”

"HE SAID STOP IT!" Donnie shouted, standing up definitely against the spore-infected brother before him.

LeonAudro turned his head to peer at his twin.

“And you. You think you're any better?? Your tech was useless, Donnie. Again. Knowing I’m twins with someone who can’t, not even once, save someone he cares about with the only thing he’s good at makes me sick! Maybe you don’t actually care? I bet you’d be fine if I just croaked here and now! You might even like it! I bet you enjoyed getting to play your little villain role because you could hurt us without any consequences! You’re an emotionless, selfish, annoying little freak who wishes he could be normal!”

Donnie's tech-bō materialized a drill in his hands.

"Just because you're using him to say these things doesn't mean it's Leo. We're taking him back. NOW."

LeonAudro sighed glumly.

"It's too late for that, I'm afraid."

"No!" Angelo shouted "We're saving him!!"

LeonAudro somberly lifted his arms up to gesture to the weak and frail body he possessed.

"Look at me, Angie... what is there left to save?? Am I still really worth it to you? Be realistic, I'm better off dead."

"Leo would NEVER say that!" Raph protested.

"You don't know your brother at all..."

LeonAudro gave a weak and meager grin at the boys, his legs nearly giving out beneath him as he struggled to stay upright.

"He's long gone... he really is. Funny, how the spores turned you all into the opposite of who you are... Raphael became a pathetic little worm, willing to give up so easily. Michelangelo became a destroyer, a hate-filled wretch. Donatello couldn't wait to cause the pain of others, to ruin them, to--"

"YOU DID THAT!" Donnie yelled. "That was your twisted vision of us!"

"...And Leonardo. What a poor, unfortunate soul... who would have thought someone so full of hope and endurances could be broken so quickly?"

Raph growled. LeonAudro tilted his head back and grinned wide, licking his lips. The pain tasted so sweet.

"But in the end, he gave up much faster than I expected. Because, he really is just a worthless, wantless, 'WRETCHED LITTLE PEST'."

"NO!" Angie screamed, Raphael having to hold him back from attacking the fungus that covered his brother. "Don't you DARE say that about him!! Leo is still in there! He survived once, we can--"

"ARE YOU DUMB?!" LeonAudro screamed at them, causing everybody to jump back. "OR HARD OF HEARING? OR RELIEVED MY END IS NEARING? ARE YOU SATISFIED?! I SCARED MYSELF TO--"

"NO!!!"

LeonAudro's eyes rolled back, his legs gave out from underneath him.

Raph's hologram arms reached out instantly, catching him and carrying him to them.

"Leo! Leo, wake up, wake up!!" Angelo sobbed, shaking his brother frantically. Donnie grabbed his wrists and yanked him away.

"Angelo, stop, don't shake him like that--"

"But he won't wake up!!"

"He's been weakened by the mushroom," Karai interjected, coming to kneel besides them all. "He doesn't have much time left."

"Well then what do we do?!" Raph sobbed.

"He is still a prisoner of fear," she said sadly, placing the back of her hand against the exposed portion of Leo's forehead, checking for fever. Instead he felt cold, his body shivering and his breaths shuddering. They were getting slower and slower...

"You will need to help free him from the fungus' hold."

"How?!" Angie asked, clinging tightly to Leo's limp hand.

"I can help take you into his nightmare," Karai said. "You can confront him and his fears once you are inside his subconscious."

The boys nodded, each one taking Leo's hand and squeezing tightly as Karai focused on NFIF Leo...

The boys eyes started to glow their signature colours...

They each fell over, lying beside Leonardo on the floor.

Raphael opened his eyes to find himself floating in an empty void.

Well, almost empty.

It was empty in the sense that there were no living beings here. Just debris, wreckage from ginormous mechas and spaceships that were the size of moons. Shards of broken ground and platforms floated about them. There was an odd, twisted version of gravity. Unless you were within five feet of the 'ground', you were basically weightless and could fly around wherever. There was minimal light, and no real source for it. It just sort of faded in and out mysteriously. Though, there were some sharp red pin lights coming from the useless kraang prime suits and ships.

It was cold, here, too. Cold like in the dark room with the --

Yeah. Cold.

Angelo was beside him, as was Dee. He hadn't noticed them at first, the loneliness in this vast empty space was suffocating. He felt like he was going to choke on it.

"Look, there!" Angelo gasped, though in this space his voice carried and echoed so much it was almost a shout.

Angie pointed off into the distance where a single speck of green and blue floated alone. They could hear the faintest weeps coming from it.

"It's Leo!!"

"How do we get to him?" Raph asked, squinting and peering as best he could. His damaged eye was not doing him any favours right now...

"I've got it covered," Donnie said with a grin, grabbing onto Raph's shell. "Oh Raphala, do hang on to Angelo for us, please."

Raph hugged his brother to his chest. Donatello's ninpo activated, creating a huge jetpack that was twice their cumulative size, and the trio blasted off to save their brother from this duplicate prison dimension.

"We're almost there!" Angelo shouted.

"Great, how do we slow down?!" Donnie yelled back.

"YOU DON'T KNOW HOW??"

"In case you haven't noticed, Angelo, this place doesn't exactly follow the typical rules of physics! Unless there's something to slow our accelerated direction, we'll just keep going forever!"

"Raph's got it!" Raphael called out, his ninpo creating a gigantic arm and grabbing onto the broken down ship hull that was just in front of them.

The trio slid down, Angelo using his chains to keep them levitated around their team leader as he drifted motionless, his three brothers surrounding him. They didn't notice the deep dark circles under his eyes, the wounds covering his body, the tearstains that seemed to have been made a permanent addition to his face, the tattered and chipped sword with the dented hilt wrapped in weathered and worn masks, each mask a different but familiar colour... They were just relieved to see him still somewhat alive.

"Leo? Leo, we're here to rescue you--"

Raph had started to reach out for him, but before he could touch his shell the masks tied to the sword suddenly flew at him, transforming into apparitions that haunted the slider, growling and snarling at Raphael, keeping him away.

"GAAH! What the--?! Now there's ghosts? Who's the creepy old guy?"

The ghouls circled around Leonardo. They seemed to be guarding Leo from outsiders... Angelo recognized the fine halo of colour that surrounded them as they circled about him like vultures. One red: large and bulky and missing an eye, the spines on his shell were singed and the entire front of him was burned and scarred beyond recognition; the second purple: a thick shield over his back and broken goggles that covered his damaged face; the last one orange: balding with liver spots and a massive cape that flowed behind him, his hands shattered like glass as remnants and shards of him followed behind as he circled Leonardo, who pressed the sword closer to his chest. Angie swallowed, a sick feeling growing in his stomach.

"I... I think those ghosts are..."

"R-Raph..."

Leo slowly turned to gaze back at Raphael. Tears were pouring down his cheeks.

"Leo! Tell your futuristic guard dogs that we're friendly!"

Leo hiccupped sobs as he watched them.

"I... can't control them..."

"Then we'll find a way through!" Dee yelled, readying his bō staff.

"Th-they're not here to trap me..." he whimpered. "They're here to protect you..."

"Protect us? From what?"

"...Me..."

Leo hugged the sword as tightly as he could, as if it were everything he'd lost in the world.

"They all died saving me. Protecting me. Following my orders. Heck, I actually TOLD Mikey to sacrifice himself! Look what I did to them. What I'll eventually do to you, too..."

Leo curled up tighter into himself, clutching the sword. It's edges were dull, the shine lost ages ago, scuffed and marked and dirty and unloved. Like him. Just like him...

"They hate me, and I deserve it..."

Raph could hear the voices... soft echoes that were earworms, whispering breaths that had their voices plastered onto them, but altered -- gruffer, older, deeper, more strained with time and trauma.

"...it hurts, leo..."

"...you were supposed to protect us, leo..."

"...why did we have to do it instead, leo..?"

With every word, Leo's light began to dim, the colour in his skin and birthmarks faded and became desaturated. With every utterance, his grip on the sword loosened. He was fading away...

Raphael sucker-punched the ghost of his future bad timeline self in the face, sending him reeling back as the ghouls screeched in response. Raph screamed back at them.

"Stop talking about my brother that way!! I would never, ever say those things!"

The two other ghosts lunged at him, but were no match for the younger flesh-and-blood counterparts. Donnie swung his bō at his future phantom, smacking it into the side of its head and sending it careening into the distance. Angelo had his chains swirl around the eldery version of himself and -- with a flick of the wrist -- sent the geezer spiraling into oblivion.

Raphael jumped to Leon and clung to him as firmly as possible.

"Leo. I need you to listen to me, because I'm only ever going to be able to tell this to you once. I never told anyone this, not you or our bros or pops or April or Casey Jr. or anybody. Not even my teddy bears or Princess Peach figurine. So you'd better pay close attention to this confession."

Raph took in a deep breath. He knew Donnie and Angie were listening too. Good. They all might as well hear it, he definitely did not plan to ever bring it up again.

"...When I was part of the kraang -- particularly when I was fighting you -- the kraang tricked me. They'd tricked me before, they'd made me think that I was coming to save you after I'd managed to escape them, They made me think I'd come home... but it was a trick. A dream."

"That was how they found the lair..." Donnie muttered to himself.

"Yeah, well... when I was in the technodrome... when you came to rescue me, and we fought... the kraang did it again. I thought... I thought everyone was dead. Mikey and Donnie were on the floor, they were skewered and bleeding and dead and... and you were in front of me, begging me to save you. A kraang monster or something had you in its grip, and I tried to -- it kept fighting me, every time I went to save you. I was going to kill it to rescue you, I... I didn't realize until after we got home, and you guys explained everything to me -- it was you I was fighting."

Leo ugly sobbed, his face scrunching up as he wrapped his limbs all around Raphael, just like how he used to when he was a kid and needed as much love as he could receive from his big brother. Raph held him closely and rocked him back and forth, giving long gentle strokes down from the top of his head to the middle of his shell.

"B-b-b-but it w-was MY fault that y-you were, were--!" Leo blubbered, Raph interrupting his wails to continue.

“From the moment I knew I had brothers, I knew I would do anything to protect you no matter what you did! You want to know what I really hate about you, Leo!? It’s that you think we don’t like you! We love you. Always have, always will. So stop being dumb and let us help you!”

"Raph's right!" Angelo said, coming close and cupping Leo's stained cheek and giving him his signature sunshine smile. "Even if we died in some other future, and even if it was for you, that was what we decided! If we didn’t do it for you then it would probably have been anyone else in the family! And it’s not because we don’t care about ourselves, it’s because we’ll always take care of each other!”

“I have never, ever known a world without you and I don’t want to!" Donnie added, taking his hand. "If you know how I die then….I would have hoped it was next to you. I hope it was you telling some dumb story or telling a terrible joke! If you don’t want me to die so badly, think about how much I don’t want you to! But that’s what you’re doing! Do not die on me Leo!….Please.” Donnie begs.

Leo's eyes brightened, the colour slowly coming back to his face, the sickly blue in his eyes dripping away as it was replaced, not only by his true blue, but by a mixture of red, orange, and purple. The crescents along his arms and around his eyes began to glow, as did the birthmarks on his brothers.

It was familiar, seeing the light shine in this desolate and lonely place.

But not so lonely anymore...

Leo's eyes slowly opened.

The real world hurt and ached. The arena compound's lights burned his retinas, the sounds and cries deafened him, the warm touch from every hand that reached out for him burned his chilled and slightly feverish skin. Something was pulled from his face -- it had been stuck to his mask and skin but relented in the end, falling off with ease; the roots and mycelium threads gently slipping out of his epidermis. Out of the corner of his blurry vision, he saw UIFY Donnie take the last remnants of the mushroom and disintegrate it with some kind of death ray... good.

Leo barely registered that his brothers were holding him, clutching him close to them and saying loving things to him, trying to get him to respond as proof that he was back with them. Proof he was alive. Not just breathing, but alive. Because when you're a prisoner of fear, you're basically walking dead. And Leo was so tired of being dead in himself. He wanted to live again...

Leo managed a smile to let them know he was alright.

And he fell asleep... with no nightmares.

When Leo awoke again, he was in the medbay. His head was bandaged, and an IV was stuck into his thin and emaciated arm. Raphael was snoring by his bedside, holding his hand in his sleep as he drooled onto the mattress. Dee was reading an article on his tablet in the corner, while Angelo was fidgeting with his wrappings and looking over the new collection of scars he'd gotten.

"...Heyyyy, guys, when's the entr'acte?" Leo joked.

Somehow immediately Raph's head shot up as he snorted awake.

"Snrrk--! Leo? LEO!!"

Raphael wrapped his arms around him in a bear hug, crying into his shoulders as Leo tried to convince him that he was okay. Donnie and Angie joined in soon, with Donnie taking the opposite side of the bed and Angelo simply jumping up onto the mattress and flattening his bedridden bro.

After ten minutes of wholesome crying between the four of them, inspecting each others' injuries and coming upon the decision that they were all lucky to be alive, they calmed down and brought up an important conversation.

"So... we're leaving now, right?" Leo asked, looking around the room for any objections. It was an awkward silence he got instead.

"I mean, it's for the best, right?"

"I think so," Donnie sighed. "We've caused enough trouble already."

"And we lost the contest, anyhow," Raph added. "There's... no real reason to stay."

"I would have liked to say goodbye to everyone, though," Angelo sighed. "But... after everything that happened... maybe you're right. A quiet exit is probably best." He gave an airy chuckle. "In any case, I'm honestly too emotionally exhausted to even try a conversation with anyone."

"We can leave a written apology," Dee offered.

"Good idea," Leo said with a fragile smile. "Let's go."

The four took a small piece of paper and wrote down their apologies to everyone. Leo cried during his portion. Donatello snapped his pencil tip during his. Angelo couldn't find the right words and ended up doing a fourth and fifth draft before Raph finally told him he was done. Raph's section of the note was long and overly poetic, but truly heartfelt.

They left the note on the pillow, and silently left the room.

"Do you even know which way the exit is?" Dee asked.

"No, but I'm pretty sure it's around here somewhere..." Leo replied, as he turned his head around every corner.

"You'd think a med ward would have better signage!" Raph bemoaned softly.

"Look, there it is!" Angelo said, dragging the others to a doorway.

The doors swung open.

"Great, now we can escape without anybody--"

The crowd cheered.

The four boys were stopped in their tracks as an enormous crowd of people with signs and posters and gifts came and shouted their names. For a moment, Leo clutched his katanas and prepared to fight them all before realizing this wasn't an angry mob.

"Guys! Look! It's NO FUN IN FUNGUS!!!"

"They're okay!"

"Thank you for saving us!!"

"You guys are the best!"

"Hey, I know that team!"

"Way to go, you guys!!"

Everyone was here...

rhg!Donnie stood with Ghost, smiling and clapping along with the rest. Ghost gave them a thumbs up. Abby and Diana were screaming cheering their heads off, their universe's Huginn and Munnin wearing tiny t-shirts that had the phrase 'I survived the great Spore Invasion of 2024' scribbled onto them. The Spider-Teetlez were shouting and screaming, Slider-Punk playing celebratory music on his guitar. The mods and employees were here too, ecstatic over the grand victory that they had made, and the fact that they were okay and alive. Even the void brothers were also there, grumpy but willing to let bygones be bygones. Especially after they'd had the effects of the fungus' control over them, they understood what it could make you do.

The entire competition was here.

The teens stared in awe. Leo had started to cry again.

They... they were happy for them?

Happy that they were okay? No one blamed them? No one was angry, no one was bitter, they were simply thankful for their recovery?? They were cheering them on, despite the fact that not 5 hours ago they had almost doomed them all...

But nobody cared about that. Thank Pizza SUPREME.

They just cared that they were okay.

Leonardo smiled.

Raph nudged him forward.

"Well, face-man?" he asked, smiling down at him. "What do we do now?"

Leo chuckled.

"...I guess it wouldn't hurt to stay for a little while longer...!"

And that is that.

They are safe. Leo knows it was not his fault, it was not his blame. They are all returned to each other, the spores destroyed completely. Or, at least until another author chooses to use an ask. And the UIFY family is also resting comfortably, back in the medbay yet again.

Everyone is safe and sound.

Even I. The Hand.PNG.

You didn't truly think I was gone for good, did you?

No, of course not!

Ah well, their crossover is completed. They may join together at some other time, but until that moment comes, I think they deserve a good rest, now that their task is complete.

And mine as well. I wonder what I shall do now... I'm sure the authors will find some way for me to have fun with them again. I do so love being in their stories.

However, there is one last thing I must do, though it pains me to do it...

The Until I Found You AU cannot remember this final battle. I'm sorry, I know. But they simply cannot. They are not ready to understand the concept of the Authors, nor their ninpo. Especially their ninpo. It isn't their time. They aren't meant to know these things yet. But soon... Someday, perhaps they will be allowed to recall all they did, but until then they must forget their feats... and forget me, as well. I shall become a shadow of a memory. Ah, but it isn't too sad! Most of them probably wish they could forget me! And I don't blame them. It was quite a run I had, eh? Quite a story we told.

And yet, there is one last part of the story left to tell...

UIFY Mikey woke up somewhat groggily from a strange dream. He wasn't sure how he got here, in the medbay... he could remember... getting spored in the lounge area... but... not much after. There were vague recollections of a battle... an explosion... versions of his family... but nothing solid, nothing that wasn't a fuzzy blur and left him with a woozy spell when he tried to think about it a little too hard.

Oh well. If he couldn't remember it, then it probably wasn't worth remembering!

He was downright exhausted, though. He felt like he could sleep for an eternity or two.

The only reason he'd woken up in the first place was because of someone... humming....

"...With every job when it's complete, there is a sense of bittersweet... That moment when you know the task is done..."

Mikey groggily opened his eyes to look over at the singing lady. She must've been a mod, or an employee, or a nurse or something. She was human, wearing an oversized denim jacket and tiny pale lavender flowers and petals in her messy hair. She was placing a small tray of water and crackers, plus a tiny bouquet of bright yellow daffodils on the bedside table.

"...Though in your heart you'd like to stay, to help things on their way... You've always known... They must do it alone..."

The lady turned to smile at him.

"Sorry, did I wake you?"

"Um, no, not really," Mikey lied.

"How are you doing?" she asked, checking his hands to make sure they were alright. Her fingers traced over each scar and blemish... an impressive feat, considering Mikey's bandages covered them and she couldn't have seen the marks.

"I'm alright," he yawned. "A little... woozy..."

"I understand wholly. Here, have some water..."

She gave the cup to Mikey, who slurped it down. Mikey thought her hands looked familiar... he wasn't sure why, though. But something about how real they were...

"Thanks..." he gulped, having downed the entire glass.

"No probbles. I just wanted to take a quick moment and make sure you were doing well!"

"I'm okay," Mikey chuckled. "Are my families... is the NFIF team okay? Did we save em?"

"Yes, they're all present and accounted for," she said with a grin. They're just in the other room. I think the med ward should be releasing you all soon... You deserve a big respite, I think. You've done a lot. Oh yeh, I also wanted to quick tell you something!"

"Tell me something?" he asked, tilting his head to the side.

"Yep! I wanted to let you know how important you are."

"Me?" Mikey laughed, wondering what this was about. "Important??"

"Oh yeah! Mhm! I know you sometimes feel like your personal story isn't glamorous, or that you might not be so impressive, or that others are doing better than you. But you should know how wonderful and amazing you are. Did you know, people talk all the time about how inspiring and relatable you are! And I just think that's wonderful."

"You make it sound like I'm a character in a story!" Mikey laughed.

"Well, we're all kind of like the main character of our own stories, aren't we?" she beamed.

"I never thought about it like that, actually," Mike hummed, tapping his chin. "What do you think your character's purpose is about?"

She paused, not expecting that query. Her eyes darted upwards, reflecting the light against the green and amber gold that speckled her irises, and bouncing off of her cheeks with white radiance. She pondered the question for a second before smiling brightly.

"I'd say prolly the same as yours," she stated. "I think I'm meant to inspire."

She laughed afterwards.

"Or at least, I hope I inspired somebody! Anywhoser, I'd better let you get back to your rest," the girl sighed, a sort of melancholic exhale that said she'd rather stay longer, but had to go.

"Oh, okay!" Mikey yawned, snuggling deeper under his blankets. He thought about going to see the guys before they left...

"See you around," the girl said as she walked away....

Mikey wondered who the human girl was, if not a nurse. She wasn't dressed like a nurse. Maybe she belonged to an AU... Ah, well. Maybe he would see her again one of these days.

Boots waited outside the medbay for their 'accomplice'. She'd wanted to make a dramatic exit and say 'hello' -- or rather, 'goodbye'. For now.

The competition was so nice in the calm and quiet aftermath. Tiny turtle tots giggled as they chased one another for their games. Parent versions of Leo and Donnie and Mikey and Raph and Cassandra and everyone else meandered about with their wards. A water fountain nearby trickled. The sweet scent of chocolate cake pops filled the air. As Boots waited, they pulled out a few stickers and decorated a scrapbook they'd brought with them. A mushroom sticker was placed on an electric blue sheet of paper. Boots enjoyed the peace... they hoped it would last for a little while. At least, until the next story came into play. Speaking of, out from the medbay frollocked the self-proclaimed weird kid author, smiling happily.

"All good?" Boots asked.

"All good," Pheebs responded, her denim jacket bouncing along with every skip she took. "They're all sleeping, now."

"I'm glad you got to see them; I wouldn't even dare to see my guys after what happened," Boots laughed.

"You wouldn't have to say who you were," Pheebs clarified. "I mean, it's not like they know what you look like."

"True, but even still, it'd freak me out too much and I'd end up spilling some of the beans!"

Pheebs laughed at that.

"I guess... anyways, shall we go?"

"I'm ready if you are," Boots sighed, folding up the scrapbook supplies and tucking it away. "Our guys deserve a good long rest..."

"Yeah. Though..."

"Though?"

"...I think I have one last moment I want to include."

End of Act 3

Epilogue

#rottmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #tutant meenage neetle teetles #until i found you #until i found you au #rottmnt until i found you #no fun in fungus #fear fungus #fear spores #crossover #fanfic writing #fanfiction #rottmnt fanfiction #rottmnt mikey #rottmnt leo #rottmnt donnie #rottmnt raph #rottmnt misa #the void brothers #rottmnt replica #spider-teetlez #leaves from the vine #rottmnt ghost in the shell #rise hunger games #rottmnt angst #angst #wholesome #finale #musicals #broadway musicals

[phoebepheebsphibs]

Subsequent to the events you have just witnessed...

ACT 1

@boots-with-the-fur-club @daboyau @tmntaucompetition @littlemissartemisia @shiveagit @shiveagit-arts @thevoidbrothers @noval1t @kathaynesart @bluepeachstudios @amevello-blue

CW: panic attacks, minor injuries, mushroom zombies, slight body horror

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Names and abbreviations (sorry there's a lot, we have a big cast for today's performances!) : UIFY = Until I Found You NFIF = No Fun in Fungus Leon = UIFY Leonardo 'Phael = UIFY Raphael DvD / Don = UIFY Donatello Mike/Mikey/Micheal = UIFY Michelangelo AudRaph = Swayed Raphael AudreyTello = Swayed Donatello LeonAudro = Swayed Leonardo MichelAudrelo = Swayed Michelangelo AudRai = Swayed Karai rhg!Donnie = Rise Hunger Games AU Donatello Raph = NFIF Raphael Donnie/Dee = NFIF Donatello Leo = NFIF Leonardo Angie/Angelo = NFIF Michelangelo

On with the show...

Their plan to infiltrate the competition was just way too easy. No one had seen them sneak in. No one had suspected them.

Slider-punk had even been able to disguise himself as one of the employees and hacked into the main system! His associates were outside, Spider-Dee and Spider-Gal working as employees as while Spider-Shine had gone off on his own to open a pop-up therapy stand. Business was booming, apparently. Slider-Punk was no better, he'd abandoned the real mission for a little side mission of his own, to see just how much trouble he could get himself into. He'd allowed a disembodied hand to play some Broadway showtunes over the speaker system earlier.... but the hand had disappeared shortly after, leaving Slider-Punk alone again. It was odds-bodkins, but no stranger than anything else he'd seen in this place. Anyways, what should he do next? There was so much he could do! He could practically do whatever he wanted, now...

Before he could decide, an alert showed up on the computer. Someone was trying to hack in?

Well, no joke, Sherlock! HE had ALREADY--

A line of code showed up on the screen.

Up, up, down, down, left, right, 'A'.

The computer glitched. The screen turned purple. Then blue. Slider-Punk tried rebooting. A small icon of a purple-clad ninja turtle wagging his finger and saying "Nuh-uh-uh!" popped up. Donnie. Of course. A Donnie was trying to hack in. And it didn't seem like they cared if anybody knew... which meant they were making a statement, and didn't plan on sharing their hard-earned goods.

Slider-Punk's spider sense began to tingle. He felt anxious and uneasy. His senses drew his attention away from the computer, and up to... the air vents?

Uh oh.

He immediately dashed out of the room, abandoning his bowtie and went in search of his mates -- Spider-Dee, Spider-Shine, and Spider-Gal. They would have sensed the danger as well, they needed to get to safety, see if they could protect anyone -- something bad was about to happen.

Misa struggled against Ra-Ra's tight grip on her. He was careful not to hurt her, but she still hated it. She screamed and shrieked and howled in furious anger at him, demanding that he release her.

"I'm so sorry, Misa," he wept, cradling her as he approached his prison. "But it has to be this way."

"NO! No, Ra-Ra, let go! Let go o' Misa!! Pwease, Ra-Ra!!!"

Raphael sniffled as he hugged her. He hated doing this. But... he had no choice. She was too dangerous. She knew too much, and knew too many competitors. She might have been small, but the leeway she held with everyone made her possibly the most powerful turtle mutant in this entire competition. With as many connections as she had, she could raise up an entire army against them. Raphael sighed sadly... there was no other option.

As he approached the door, Raphael saw four turtles waiting for him. The Void brothers.

"Move," he growled at them.

"I don't see why we should listen to you!" Signal hissed, Static and Waves doing their best to keep him in his "safe" form, rather than his "absolutely enraged eldritch horror" form.

"Just let me back into the room, and no one will be hurt," Raphael promised.

"And do you plan on taking the kid with you?" Radio growled back at him.

Misa whined, reaching for Waves to come and take her away. Raphael pulled her arms back down.

"Yes."

"N̴̳̆Ó̵ͅ," Signal growled, his face contorting and blackening like tar. "IÌ̵̟ ̴̯̃D̶͚͝O̶̓͜N̶̞̕'̶̹͑T̷͉̋ ̸̫̏T̸̟̅H̶͓͊Í̵̟N̷͈̾K̵͈̄ ̴̲̇Ÿ̵́͜O̴̘̓U̸̠͌'̵̯͑L̶̟̈́L̸͚̈́ ̵̯̓B̷̭̽E̵͉͘ ̷̪̚G̴̼̈Ọ̶̑I̵̭͛Ṇ̵̎G̶̛̘ ̴͖͒Ạ̶͊Ǹ̸̹Ÿ̷͙W̴͎͝H̵̯̚E̷͇̍R̵͔͛Ȩ̴̓.̴͋"

Signal reached out, his arm elongating with a horrid schlurp sound as he went for Misa.

Raph created a hologram over himself, his usually red ninpo having turned that wretched shade of blue. Misa gasped in fear, the warmth she typically felt from such a magic was bone-chillingly cold.

"D̶̒ͅȌ̵͉ ̶̣̓Y̶̛̹O̸̪̍Ų̷̇ ̵͔̀Ĥ̶͙O̴̝͑N̴̢͘Ẹ̷͘Ș̵̕T̶̫̏L̵̻͋Ỵ̶̌ ̵̭̌Ţ̶̔H̷̨̐I̵̾ͅN̴̫͛K̴͕͠ ̵͔̎T̶̢̿H̵̭̽A̶͕̐Ṫ̵̬ ̶̢͝W̷͔̌I̷̞̒L̴̟̃L̴͓̉ ̸̯̓Ŝ̴̫T̵̩̎Ö̷͕́P̸̙̈ ̵̢̌M̸̨͌Ĕ̷͙?̴̩̊!̸̡͗" Signal screeched, laughing hysterically at the boy's attempts to fend him off.

Signal started ripping apart the holographic figure, only to discover that it had been a clone -- even the Misa in his hold was a duplicate, who shed a single tear as she dissolved.

The four heads turned back to see Raphael about to enter the room behind them. Waves screeched, flying at him with barred teeth and sharpened claws, his mystic powers creating an ebony black chain-whip within his hands.

Misa was off-limits.

Raphael opened the door. A flood of spores engulfed him, Misa, and Waves, who screamed in anger and fear as the spores filled him up, hollow as he was. He coughed and hacked and howled, holding his head in pain as he reeled backwards.

"WAVES!!" Static shouted, rushing forwards and grabbing his brother, holding him down.

Signal roared at Raph, eyes turning fully black and body disfiguring into a monster. Even Radio wouldn't dare hold him back after what that punk just did to Waves.

Raphael whimpered sadly as tears streaked down his cheeks.

"I'm so sorry," he wept. "I had to."

Raphael closed the door behind him, taking Misa into the dark room.

Misa pressed her hands over her mouth and nose, trying desperately to keep the spores out.

It was so cold... it was practically freezing.

Misa's eyes didn't need to adjust to the darkness, she found that as soon as the exterior light was gone, the room provided its own light... neon blue, emanating from the many eyes and mushrooms in the enclosed space. It was so absolutely terrifying, every gaze fixated on her and burning blue. Misa did her best to keep her whimpers to herself.

"Don't try to fight it," Raph begged her, as he gently laid her down in a bed of toadstools and moss. "Just... just let it happen, okay? I know it will be scary, but once you give in to the fear, it's just like sleepwalking. You won't even know it's happened, at first. I promised you would be safe, and you will be... you must simply let go, and let the fear take over."

Small vines and roots began to wrap over her, closing in like a tiny cage, keeping her from running away.

Her eyes watered as the air around her closed in. She couldn't keep holding her breath like this! Her hands shook, her chest hurt, the carbon dioxide in her lungs was getting hot and stale.

Misa gasped.

The fungus-riddled air infected her lungs, she coughed and hacked at how chilled the oxygen was in her ribs. She screamed in protest, curling up inside of herself, ready for the birds to come and scratch her shell, peck at her eyes, grab her with their claws and talons and carry her away...

Nothing happened.

Misa looked up, slowly.

She... she was in the labs?

There was a heavy weight chafing her neck, causing irritation on the sensitive skin. She lifted her hand up and felt cold metal.

The linoleum room she was being held in had a glass wall, through which she could see everyone.

EVERYONE.

Mikey, Ra-Ra, Dee-Dee, Lee-Lee, that one robotic-looking Dee that had congratulated her on stealing the moneys, the ballerina Donnie she'd gotten the Lake Water for, all the grow-ed Leos with missing arms, Poptart and Sprout, cowboy versions and bunnies and dragons and beetles and --

EVERYONE.

Claire and Draxum -- the orchestrators of this whole terrible captivity -- walked through the halls, talking to each other and even laughing together. Draxum's vines were dragging a Mikey behind him carelessly, the body scraping across the floor. He was still alive, she could see him struggling against his captors and she could hear him crying. Claire turned to look at Misa as she passed by her cell.

"Oh, hello little thing! Before I forget, I wanted to thank you for leading me to all these funny friends of yours! Now they can all suffer the same fate as you..."

"No! NO! NO NO NO NONONONO--"

Misa sobbed, began slamming her tiny fists against the glass, begging Claire to release all her friends and families. Claire only chortled like a Disney villain, walking away with Draxum and dragging the poor Mikey along with them. Misa would not stop, she'd never stop fighting against this!! SHE WOULD NOT GIVE IN TO THE FEAR! She continued to pound her fists against the glass, screaming angrily at the hallucination that kept her prisoner.

"...Are you sure she won't suffer?" AudRaph asked, his hands wringing.

"Not unless she fights against the fear," AudreyTello answered flatly as he began to type on his wrist tech, starting the hack to contaminate the entire arena.

"She is still young, I suspect she won't know how to fight against it," AudRai added, as she walked over to the little prisoner to inspect her as she sobbed uncontrollably in her cell. "It shouldn't be much longer now."

"It doesn't matter much either way," MichelAudrelo interjected angrily as he examined the new scars on his arms. "If she gives in, she becomes one of us. If not... we can feed off her fear." He looked over at the last Hamato in the room, still held in place against the wall, eyes drowsily watching the rest as they spoke.

"Like him."

"He is one of us," AudreyTello corrected. "But he was the first, so he had to make the sacrifice and give the necessary nutrients for our true form."

"I sense apprehension from Raphael's form," MichelAudrelo noted, scowling. "You do not approve of our survival?"

"...Raphael does not want his brother to die," AudRaph explained. "He would rather they all stay alive. It is his weakness..."

"Unfortunately, to be as strong as we are now -- and to produce as many spores as we have -- we need a physical form to feed off of. So Leonardo stays where he is," AudreyTello explained. "You know this. Choke down that pathetic worm and don't let him speak again. It's irritating."

"He has some immunity, or tolerance to invading hive minds. You recall from his memories, he has dealt with it before."

"Ah, yes. Well, even he cannot stop us soon enough," AudreyTello said with a chuckle. "Karai, Michelangelo, you know what to do now."

The two zombies nodded, and together created an enormous flow of spores. AudreyTello typed in a final command on his wrist tech, and the air vents promptly popped open. The spores filled the ventilation system.

"Now, for a little announcement..."

Ghost had unofficially adopted two more kids. Abby, a cat mutant, with her big and bright personality, though her figure was small. She'd gotten injured during the preliminaries -- apparently she'd attempted some kind of extravagant musical number -- and had to use a crutch to hobble around for the past several weeks while it healed up. She'd only just recently been released from the med ward, along with her friend and protector Diana, the second adoptee. The two girls were laughing and making quite the ruckus as they danced around Ghost's cape.

"Are you sure you wouldn't like me to carry you?" Ghost asked, fretting over her injury.

"I'm fine!" Abby laughed, waving her hand as a dismissal. "I've been used to this for a while. No worries!"

"Besides --" Diana added, "-- she needs the exercise if she wants to get rid of the crutch as soon as possible--"

Diana was cut short by a sudden burst of light and a loud roaring whoosh. A wind picked up, and a spark ignited behind them as a portal opened.

rhg!Donnie wanted to hold his father close. He hated, absolutely despised how the other competitors are holding his attention. He, more than anything, he wanted to run over to where his father was and hold him close, sob into his chest like when he was so much younger and so much more naive and so much more innocent. He wanted to talk for hours, ask how Raph is, how Leo is doing, if Mikey is okay. He wanted to say absolutely nothing and just sit in his company. He couldn't decide what to do first, and it utterly galled him how open he was with everyone, how chummy they all were with him. How dare Cassandra hug him like that. How dare Kendra pretend to be cordial. It might have been selfish, but he wanted his Papa all to himself. He tried to get as close to dear Papa as he could without making it obvious. The last thing he needed was everyone thinking he was childish. But Atomo Grey opened the doors to the elevators and made a stupid joke about how "the District Twelve tributes will get to their apartment before we can even set foot into ours!" which only got one laugh from the escort as he ushered the competitors into the lift. rhg!Donatello slowly entered the elevator as the doors closed behind him...

The lights flickered, the people in the lift start to vanish one by one, thunder and wind ripped through the box and caused a horrible feeling of claustrophobia in rhg!Dee. rhg!Donatello nervously backed up against the wall, confused and scared. Was this a trick from the Capitol? Or the Gamemakers?? He wanted to shout for his Papa, shout for anyone, but the elevator was empty now and the lights had all gone out. A multicoloured portal opened at his feet, and rhg!Donnie was sucked in, shouting his protest.

rhg!Donnie landed on the floor for the second time this night. But rather than being pancaked by Cassandra Jones, he slid on his stomach and arrived at the feet of three odd strangers. A giant turtle mutt, a cat mutt, and a regular human girl.

"...Well, that was out of the blue..."

rhg!Donnie slowly backed away from the characters, taking in the strange scene around him. He needed to get back, he has to get back, if they find out he'd been portalled away or something then they'll punish his family --

Wait, he knew this place...

He's... back at the AU competition? The one with all the strange turtles and different versions of his brothers...?

But... he was sent back home... why was he here now?

The large middle-aged turtle mutant kneeled down next to him, his joints popping as he did. He inspected the teen, analyzing every little scratch and every major scar with worry. His silent inquisitiveness was starting to annoy him.

"Who are you?" rhg!Dee asked, passing paranoid glances between the trio before him.

"I'm Abby," said the cat, smiling as she offered him her hand to help him up. "This is Diana, my bff, and the big guy is called 'Ghost'! But I'm pretty sure he's a Donatello, hence the purple mask..."

Abby gestured to the tall turtle mutt mutant. He smiled, his white eyes hiding years of trauma and loneliness. rhg!Donnie recognized that loneliness. He'd seen it in his father's eyes. He's seen it in his own reflection.

"Hey there, kid," the 'Ghost' said, his voice low yet overpowering. "Are you alright?"

"I... how did I get here?"

"No clue, but -- wait, I recognize you!" Diana said suddenly. "You were part of the preliminaries, right? The Rise Hunger Games AU!"

"Y-yes, that's me," rhg!Donnie mumbled, shooing away Abby's hands as he stood up by himself.

"We were in the prelims, too!" Diana noted, pointing to herself and then Abby.

"Great. Congratulations."

"We didn't win our round, though..."

"How unfortunate for you," rhg!Donnie sighed as he looked around, getting his bearings. Something about this place seemed off... different now. Something had changed. There was fear amongst these halls, now... an unspoken chill in the air.

"I didn't win, either -- wait... I was sent back because I lost the preliminary round... so, why...?"

"Why weren't we sent back?" Abby finished. "Or... why were you returned?"

rhg!Donnie looked around anxiously.

"I don't know if it's mandatory to leave the contest once you lose a round," Ghost interjected. "But perhaps the Mods sent you home so you could get back to the contest without -- oh, you've got something on your head..."

rhg!Donnie started smacking the top of his head frantically, worried that it might be something dangerous sent by the Gamemakers. Mutated hornets, or a tracking device that would explode if he strayed too far....

Instead, a small note floated off of his cranium and landed at his feet. Somewhat embarrassed by his reaction, rhg!Donnie leaned down and inspected the note with caution.

𝚆𝚎𝚕𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚋𝚊𝚌𝚔! 𝚆𝚎 𝚗𝚎𝚎𝚍 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚑𝚎𝚕𝚙…

"What does that mean?" Abby asked as she read over rgh!Dee's shoulder.

"I'm... I'm not sure... who wrote this, who needs my help...? And what could I possibly have to do with --"

"Wait, did you hear that?" Ghost interrupted, having caught the echo of a garbled glitching noise from the speakers.

The lights suddenly shut off, as hundreds of unprepared contestants and supporters started yelling in a panic.

A tinny voice echoed over the intercom speakers.

"Hello everyone in the competition! It’s your new overlord, Audrey III!"

"That's Donnie's voice," Abbey noted nervously.

"But which Donnie?" Diana asked. "I don't know any Donatellos who go by the name Audrey III..."

"Well, obviously it isn't me or the big guy," Donatello noted, gesturing to Ghost. "But I don't like this --"

"Shh, kids, listen...!"

Ghost could hear a slight hissing sound. He wasn't sure where in the area it was coming from. It sounded like a gas leak, air slowly spilling into the room. It had to be from the vents. Where was the closest vent?? He searched the halls, and found one not too far away. A small cloud of electric blue was pouring out.

Without hesitation, Ghost grabbed the kids and started running.

"EVERYONE, CLEAR THE HALLS! THERE'S A GAS LEAK!"

People began screaming as they all ran in different directions, trying to get away.

“Don’t resist," the Donatello on the intercom said. "Or do, your fear is tastier that way.”

"WHAT THE HECK DOES THAT MEAN, OUR FEAR IS TASTIER?!" Diana shrieked. "WHAT IS GOING ON??"

"Do you see a fire alarm anywhere?" Ghost yelled over the panicked mob around them.

"Over there!" rhg!Donnie shouted, pointing to a small glass box on the wall ahead of them, a fire extinguisher by its side.

Ghost rushed over, pulled the alarm, and grabbed the extinguisher.

"What exactly do you expect to do with a fire extinguisher?!" rhg!Donatello shouted, finally wrestling himself free from the old man's hold.

Ghost wasn't sure, there weren’t any fires -- yet. But years of experience taught him to always be prepared.

He most certainly was not prepared for what happened next.

The vent covers were blown right off their panels, slamming into the walls across, or in some cases, a few contestants. Abby screamed in fright as she ducked, Diana ducking over her as well to shield her, and Ghost shielding the three teens together. Blue fog filled the halls, slowly covering the floors. A few contestants starting coughing and choking. Then the sobs. The screams. The weeping and wailing.

rhg!Donatello didn't know what was going on, but he could guess. The smoke must be drugged, he thought to himself, staring at the oddly coloured gas that started to cover the floors. Was this... was this the Capitol’s doing? Had they discovered his previous absence and this was their attempt to punish him? To capture this new dimension or realm or world or whatever it was, and use it for their Hunger Games?? But how?! How could they have followed him? He was portalled here alone, twice now, and when he was returned there had been no time passed in his world and no change in his appearance, so they could never have known... This must be something else.

Ghost lifted the girls up onto his shoulders before they could inhale the hallucinogen and began to run again, grabbing rhg!Donatello by the hand and dragging him along, effectively snapping him out of his shock.

A father who had been shielding his little "SweetPea" from the vent panels was on his hands and knees, gasping for air as his eyes widened and slowly turned blue. His daughter August kept begging him to get up, crying for her Papa. She started coughing, shaking, blue panic filling her eyes as she began to succumb to the gas as well. A Feral Leo had inhaled the gas and was starting to attack his brothers. A pair of finely-dressed Gemini twins were clutching onto each other, shaking violently as they pressed themselves into a corner, watching as the gas closed in on them... rhg!Donatello was horrified by it all. It felt too much like something that the Capital or the Gamemakers would do...

Ghost could see the panic on the teen's face. It was pure terror, pure fear. He was worried that maybe he'd inhaled some of the smoke... But his eyes weren't blue... so he must just be regular scared, not infected by whatever was happening now. Ghost had to find some place that would be safe from the vapour... but where?! What room wouldn't have ventilation??

A television screen on a single rolling stand zipped past him, an electric Donatello voice shouting over the mayhem in the room. A dial tone was playing from its speakers, as if a call had gone to voicemail.

"LEO? MIKEY? APRIL! WHY WON'T ANYONE PICK UP?!"

"Watch out!" Ghost yelled, grabbing the TV by its stand and lifting it up just before it could run over a convulsing body on the ground.

"WHOAH! HEY!! Put me down, I demand that you put me down this instant, this is no way to treat a creation of the great and late Hamato Donatello--!!"

"Oi, mate!" a voice shouted. A door opened, and a brightly-costumed punk-rock turtle with a guitar strapped across his back leaned out quickly. "In here!!"

Ghost flung himself, the kids, and the sentient television into the room as quickly as he could, the door slamming and locking behind them all.

The medical masks worked surprisingly well. They kept out the spores, in any case. DvD had been worried that they wouldn't be strong enough, they should find some gas masks or ventilators. He didn't want to take any chances, but with time running thin they had no choice. The Hand.PNG had assured them that the masks would work for the time being.

They made their way through the halls, DvD using a torch-light feature on his tech-bō and April using her phone to light the way. Mikey stumbled as he tiptoed along with them, tripping and falling to his knees, the blue spores clouding around his head. He froze, terrified that the airborne fungus was going to seep in somehow... through the mask, through his open and untreated wounds... He couldn't move. He wanted to run, he wanted to scream, he wanted to go home. But his limbs didn't listen to him. His head clouded over, his thoughts disappeared.

Fight, flight, freeze or fawn. He froze, vanishing into himself...

DvD stopped at the sound of Mikey's knees hitting the floor, turned around to see if he was alright. Michael had started shaking and whimpering, near-silent terrified chirps escaping from him. He was too weak to walk on his own. 'Phael was busy carrying the TNT, Leon the container of weird ninpo stuff. DvD could manage carrying the weightless teen...

"Micheal?" he whispered, coming over to him and gently placing a hand on his shoulder. "You okay?"

That was a stupid question. Of course he was not okay. The kid had literally died not ten minutes ago, and 15 minutes prior to that he'd used his mystic abilities to the max and run himself dry of all possible energy, as well as reopening his scars and losing a lot of blood as a result. And even before that, he'd given away some of his strength to help aid the swayed NFIF Donatello. Mikey had been run through the ringer, and it had barely been over an hour. It was no wonder he was shaking as much as he was, unable to pick himself back up.

"Would you like me to carry you?" DvD asked, rubbing circles onto his back.

Michael didn't answer, at least not verbally. After a pause he nodded softly, squeezing his eyes shut as the tremors continued. DvD turned around and kneeled in front of him, letting the box turtle slowly climb onto his back and drape his arms over his brother's shoulders. DvD slipped the boy's legs over his hips, making sure he was secure before standing back up.

"All good back there?"

He didn't answer.

"Michael?"

He gently nuzzled his face into DvD's shoulder.

"All good--" he rasped, coughing afterwards.

Right, his throat was raw from screaming and crying.

"Alright then. Let's get going."

DvD continued, catching up quite easily to his family (and the Hand.PNG). They were taking it slow, trying to remain inconspicuous as best as possible. They saw something glowing blue approaching, and the Hand.PNG warned them to get back, slip into a side hall and wait for them to pass.... The group turned off all their lights, watching in horror as a swayed Swanatello sluggishly meandered through the corridor, his face stained with glowing blue tears and his eyes matching the shade. Mikey stifled a gasp. He was horrified viewing first face he'd seen upon entering this whole competition now taken by the spores. He buried his face into DvD's neck and shoulder blades, trying not to cry.

"We may continue," the hand whispered once the zombie was gone.

They continued, searching for a place that would shield them from the zombies and the spores.

DvD passed by a small opening of the arena, an overturned box of cake pops crushed under the feet of panicked rioters and spored contestants. Mikey must've seen it; he gripped DvD's tear-soaked vest as tightly as he could manage. Which wasn't very tight. His fingers trembled and shook, the fabric constantly slipped through his meager grip. DvD could feel Mikey's heartbeat speeding up through his chest, the breaths coming in ragged and shaky as he started to hyperventilate.

"Michael?" DvD whispered. "What's wrong?"

Mikey couldn't answer. He tried, DvD could hear him try. Tiny squeaks and cracks in his voice as he attempted a response. In the end he pressed his face into DvD's neck, hiding his vision from the warzone they were traipsing through.

"Right, can't really talk... here, try this: tap once for yes, twice for no. Are you having a panic attack?"

Mikey tapped DvD's chest once.

Tap.

"I see. Is it... the spores? Did you inhale any?"

Tap. Tap.

"Hm. Is it just... being around them? Being surrounded by the spores?"

Tap.

"I see. I'm sorry. But I won't let anything happen to you, Michael, you can be sure of that. And you can tell me if anything's wrong, you know? I want to be able to help if you see Draxum again--"

Michael's face scrunched up as he leaned over DvD's shoulder to look him in the eye.

"W-what? What did you say?" he squeaked.

"I said -- oh. I said more than I meant to." DvD cleared his throat. "Yes, well... 'Phael might've told us that you'd been having dreams."

Michael's head snapped around to glare at 'Phael, who saw the look and immediately knew what it was for. He slowed his pace and nervously hid behind Leon.

"I'm gonna kill him."

"You can't really blame him for it, you were struggling and we couldn't understand why..."

Mikey sighed sadly, resting his head against DvD's back.

"Y-yeah... I know. S-so, wh-what else did he... say... ab-bout me...?"

"Oh, nothing much. Just that you'd been having visions and recurring nightmares since Karai showed up and that you'd seen everything that happened to you."

"Dang it, 'Phael," Mikey croaked. "I w-wish he'd just -- let ME tell you, y'know? I-I would've l-liked to... tell you myself..."

"I understand. But you should have told us before. I... I would have wanted to know. Even if it hurt me. I'd rather have known you and I could have helped each other, than us both stay hurting on our own..."

"...Wait, what else did 'Phael say?" Mikey asked, knowing exactly what DvD was hinting to.

"He may have mentioned the reasoning behind you keeping your secret..."

Mikey grumbled.

"Okay, now I really am gonna kill him--"

"No you're not," Donnie interjected. "He did what he felt was right."

"I understand... but... why do I have to be so weak and pathetic??" Mikey whined. "Why can't I just... take care o-of m-m-myself? I keep getting hu-hurt and I keep having to rely on everyone to s-s-save me. To protect m-me. I mean, look at me right n-now-w!"

"Physically I can't look at you, since you are on my back...."

DvD wasn't sure why Michael hoarsely chuckled at that. But he was glad the kid could laugh at anything currently.

"...But I understand what you're getting at. You aren't weak, Michael, you're surprisingly strong. To have been through what you've experienced, and to keep your innocence, your joy, your love for everyone, and your trust? That's not an easy feat. Even I can't say that I've retained that sort of strength."

"Emotionally unavailable bad boy..." Mikey joked.

"Exactly. But you aren't weak or pathetic; you've handled so much."

"But... shouldn't I be able to take care of myself? I don't want to keep being a burden to you guys. Is it always going to be like this? Me getting hurt, and you having to carry me home?" Mikey asked softly.

"...I don't know. Hopefully not the former, but I'll always be in favour of the latter."

DvD could feel Mikey smile through his mask, the corners of his mouth turning up as he nuzzled closer to his protective and loving older brother.

"...I'm so tired. I'd fall asleep if I wasn't in a panic-fueled state of adrenaline..."

"I bet. I promise you can sleep for as long as you want once this whole thing is over--"

"Quiet!" Leon snapped. "Someone's coming!!"

The group halted, pressing against the walls in any way they could. April extinguished her light.

"DvD!" she hissed. "Your tech-bō! Get the light off!"

"I'm trying," he hissed back. He was struggling to deactivate it, what with Mikey clinging onto his back and requiring DvD's arms to keep him supported.

A group of zombies approached them. They saw the light... They started running at them.

"Run!" Leon shouted.

The UIFY group darted away, DvD gripping onto Mikey as tightly as he could with one hand, and holding his tech-bō with the other.

"This way, lads!" 'Phael called out, directing them down a side hall that would have lead to an open area for new arrivals.

It lead to doom.

The group froze upon entering the arrival arena. It was swarmed.

"NOT GOOD!" Leon shouted. "Back up, back up, BACK UP!"

An army of swayed zombies started coming at them, each one smiling evilly as they all started chanting together...

"Feed me... feed me.... feed me!"

Mikey shrieked in terror as the zombies closed in on them from both sides.

"We're surrounded!" April yelled over the roar.

"Well, you stupid disembodied hand?!" Leon shouted. "What's your brilliant plan now?!"

"Don't worry," it said, though the quiver in its voice hinted that there was some small reason to worry. "It isn't meant to end this way..."

A shout rang out from above them, followed by two small explosions that cut the zombies off from the group. High up in the rafters, high above the smoke line, a teenage boy watched his handiwork.

"TAKE THAT, YOU STUPID MUTTS!!" he shouted.

"Nice Derry and Toms, kid!" Slider-Punk laughed, as he wrapped an arm around him and jumped down from the rafters, shooting a web that slowed their descent.

From behind the group, a door burst open. Out popped a familiar middle-aged Donatello, who reached forwards and grabbed the kids.

"GET IN, QUICK! That won't hold them back for long!!"

rhg!Donnie and Slider-Punk rushed inside the room after the UIFY group, slamming and bolting the door behind them. A few moments later, the door began to pound with zombies, the faint sound of their cries coming from beyond.

Leon gasped for air, but didn't dare rest before he could see where he was and who was in here.

It was quite an assortment of characters...

A human Donatello, a Donatello who was called "Ghost", spider-themed superhero versions of Donnie, Mikey, April, and Leo, a Cat mutant and her human friend, and... a giant computer with Donnie's face on it? Okay, weird...

"I'm assuming the lack of masks means that it is safe to breath in here?"

"It's safe," Spider-Shine said. "We blocked off the vents with our webs, and Omega an' Ghostie here helped build a makeshift air generator!"

"Is that everyone?" rhg!Donnie asked, short of breath as he examined the new arrivals to their little resistance.

"Yeah, it's just us," April gasped, pulling the mask from her face as she breathed in the clean air. "Dang, that was too close for comfort! Thanks for your help, uh... I'm guessing 'Donnie'?"

rhg!Donatello looked her over cautiously. She was used to that look, everyone who had ever met her after the mutation gave her that look. But what surprised her was how eerily familiar this Donatello was, despite being so entirely different. He really looked exactly like DvD... if DvD had ten fingers instead of six, dark curly hair and human skin, and was not quite so heavily built and muscular as the turtle mutant she knew. This one was a lot thinner, though he had muscle tone too. But he was mostly covered in scars and scrapes and... was that dried blood? She smiled nervously at him as she held out a hand.

"I'm April."

"...You would be, wouldn't you?"

He took her hand and shook it gently.

"You're not a turtle," he said, continuing to eye her over.

"Well, neither are you!" she chuckled anxiously.

He could tell she felt uncomfortable. He recognized the feeling, it was how he felt in the capitol and under the gaze of so many who cheered him on as he prepared to end a life. But this was different. He'd seen enough Aprils here to know they weren't supposed to be... not human. He could tell she hadn't been like this for too long, based on how she sort of hid herself, moved away from the others as if she couldn't tell she was one of them or a part of their group. The way she rubbed the fur on her arms, kept pressing her tongue against her miniature tusk and moving it around anxiously like a loose tooth that might fall out.

"...No kidding. Anyways, who are those guys?" he asked, tilting his head to look behind her at the others.

"I can answer that!" Abby said with a giggle as she skipped over to the teens panting on the floor. "This is the Until I Found You AU team! I met DvD here a few weeks prior to the prelims! And then again in the med ward while Mikey was being treated for hypoglycemia -- speaking of which, when was the last time you ate something? You're shaking pretty bad."

"I'm okay for the moment," Mikey gasped, trying to clear his throat. "But I should probably get something to eat while I can..."

"I've met them, too," Ghost said, as he came over and leaned over to the two orphan teens, reaching over to rub their heads affectionately. "I got them a pizza. How're you kids doing?"

Mikey smiled up at him. It was a weak smile, trying desperately to hide the red eyes and the tear stains on his mask, the sore and reopened wounds on his arms and the shakiness of his frail frame. Leo didn't try at all to mask his emotional state.

"Could be better," he griped.

"I imagine," Ghost sighed, bringing the two close and wrapping his cloak around them -- especially Mikey, who couldn't stop shivering. "Let's get some warm food in you, hmm?"

Mikey nodded, reaching up and asking to be carried. Ghost obliged, scooping the child into his arms and taking him to the other side of the room where there was a heater and a kitchenette, stocked with small snacks and a few easy-bake items. Leon followed after them, just like he had when they'd first met. rhg!Donnie followed after them, having caught sight of how small and frail this Mikey was, as well as the injuries on his arms...

Ghost took the tiny teen and laid him down on the couch by the fireplace. It was a much nicer lounge than the one they'd occupied previously. As mentioned, there was a mini kitchen and a decorative faux fireplace with a heater that warmed the room up quite nicely; and there were also more seating arrangements here than the other room. Mikey settled into the sofa comfortably, snuggling in with a wiggle and a giggle like he typically did. Leon scoffed at him, though he did so with a smile. Mikey always managed to find the positive and cheery moments in even the most dire of situations. Ghost grabbed a few blankets from a small basket in the corner and draped one over Leon, who smiled and nodded a quick 'thank you' at him. He went to tuck in Mikey when noticed his arms, which DvD had failed to re-wrap.

"...What happened here?" Ghost asked, gently taking Mikey's hands and lifting his forearms closer to his face. Mikey gently pulled them away.

"Just a little... um... m-m-mystic mishap," he chuckled. "It-it's alright... really!"

"I'm going to get the antiseptics," Ghost informed. "These should be bandaged. No sense in leaving them open to get infected."

"I can treat the wounds," a voice said from behind them, causing Leon to jump slightly. It was rhg!Donnie, already holding the first aid kit. "You can go get him something to eat instead."

"Alright then," Ghost consented, then turned back to Mikey. "But you will tell me how you got these, okay? If only so we can treat them properly."

Mikey swallowed nervously and nodded. Ghost stood with a soft grunt and walked over to the kitchen, getting warm snacks ready for the guests as rhg!Donnie kneeled by the sofa and started to rub disinfectant on the wounds. Mikey hissed at the touch.

"Ow! That stings," he whinged.

"That means it's working. Stop moving so much."

Mikey did as he was told. There was something about this Donnie that was... different, but familiar. He was overprotective of Mikey, he knew the feeling of someone playing mother hen. DvD acted like this a lot, especially after everything that happened with Draxum. He wondered what could have happened to his Mikey to make him want to protect him like this... the protective drive was the same, but the reactions were different. DvD was overly gentle with him. rhg!Donnie was firm and stern. Driven. Serious. He reminded him of DvD when they'd first met each other. Far too grown-up for their age, and with a determination that could kill you if you crossed them the wrong way.

rhg!Donnie was careful, but not entirely gentle. His rough and calloused hands were strict and commanding, no room for error or hesitance. Mikey winced as he took his wrist and turned it over a little too forcefully.

"Hey, careful!" Leon scolded.

"Do you want me to bandage him, or not? He has cuts all over his arms, I have to move him to get to them."

"Well, you could be a little more sympathetic with the guy!"

rhg!Donnie glared at Leon. He sighed.

"Sorry. I'll try to be more... sympathetic."

rhg!Donnie cleaned the wounds with a bit more grace than before. Mikey still whimpered and gasped in discomfort at the antibacterial and iodine.

"So, tell me... how did you get these?"

"M-m-mystic mishap," Mikey managed, coughing afterwards.

"Nice try," rhg!Donnie scoffed. "How'd you really get them?"

"What are you talking about?" Leon asked angrily. "It was mystic! He was using his magic powers too much and then--"

"Look, I'm not an idiot, I know that those scars were made by a knife, so I'm asking you, who cut your brother like this--"

"It happened a while ago," Mikey interrupted, forcing his voice to be a little louder so rhg!Donnie could hear him properly. Even still, it was low and raspy and the effort made him cough and hack profusely afterwards. Leon immediately rushed to the sink and got him some water. Mikey downed the cup, choking for a half second and spilling some of the tap water on his shirt.

"Sorry, sorry... I'm okay, I'm...!"

"It's okay, Mike, it's only water," Leon said, clapping his hand on his little brother's back to help him. "Just chillax for a sec, let your voice come back, okay? I'll do the talking."

Mikey nodded as he continued to slurp down the water.

"Anyways, Mikey here was sorta kidnapped not too long ago and experimented on -- geez, are you okay?" he asked, grimacing at the human sitting across from him.

rhg!Donnie had gone awfully pale, his eyes wide and glazed over with panic.

"...Fine," he mumbled. "Go on."

"Uh... yeah... anyways, Mike was kidnapped by Draxum -- do you have a Draxum in your universe? Ah, whatever, he was kidnapped by a bad dude and this bad dude did bad dude evil scientist stuff to Mikey and that's where he got the scars from. But that was like, weeks ago. Mikey accidentally reopened his wounds when his ninpo went into overdrive--"

"His what?" rhg!Donnie asked.

"His ninpo... y'know, like magic?"

"I said not to lie to me--!"

"They're not lying," Ghost said, standing over them with a tray of hot chocolate and some cookies. "I should've realized this sooner, but I'm guessing that since you're human that means you don't have any mutants or magic in your world," he said as he gently ruffled the teen's hair. rhg!Donnie shooed the affection away, suspicious of ulterior motives. Ghost sighed and continued.

"These kids come from a universe where their family has special abilities, mystic powers that are unique to them. And sometimes, using those powers too much have... unforeseen consequences," Ghost noted, taking Mikey's hand once again and looking at the wounds.

Michael nodded sadly. Ghost smiled and placed the warm mug into his hand.

"Just be careful next time, okay kid?" he asked, rubbing his head to assure him he wasn't mad, only concerned.

"...Very well, then," rhg!Donnie exhaled, finally admitting defeat. "In that case, I'm not sure I know how to tend to 'mystic' injuries."

"I got it," Ghost volunteered, searching in the first aid for anything especially sparkly or glowing. That would be a good sign. After some rummaging, he managed to procure some mystic cream and began to salve the cuts and sores.

rhg!Donnie watched with interest and concern. He studied the label for future reference. He memorized the patterns in which Ghost anointed the child. He took internal photographs of the angles and shapes of Mikey's scars... and prayed that he would never have to see them on his baby brother back home. He had been concerned that this was the same Mikey he'd met earlier... they looked very much alike upon first glance. But after closer inspection, he saw that they had some differences. The scars were obvious. But this one was younger, and much smaller. Not just shorter, but skinnier too. He looked a lot like his brother in that sense. As for the Leon beside him -- the one that kept giving rhg!Donnie dirty side glances -- he looked like his twin brother. Except bald. No sign of the beautiful and soft hair that rhg!Dee used to braid and style for him before he'd left. He was frightfully thin, too. A thick scarf surrounded his neck to help insulate the miniscule amount of warmth his body could provide. rhg!Donnie happened to glance over at him when he didn't expect it, and saw him pocket a few extra medical supplies, subconsciously stuffing them into his pants. There were quite a few things already in his pockets, rhg!Dee realized. This kid was a thief. Not that it bothered him, he and his Leo had been sneaky like that on more than one occasion. District 4 wasn't a very generous place to live.

rhg!Donnie found himself reaching for his hand the next time he went to snatch something. Not so much to stop him as to simply just... hold something that was so similar to his brother. He knew he wouldn't get a chance like this again for a long time. If ever. It might be stupid, but for a moment he wanted to pretend that this was his Leo. It worked for half a moment, he could almost see his brother here in the room with him.

Leon turned to him as he grabbed his hand, wide-eyed in surprise before realizing that he'd been caught.

"Oh... Old habits die hard, I guess," he explained, sheepishly dropping the tube of ointment he'd taken.

"Next time, try it like this," rhg!Donnie whispered, showing him how to take the tube with better efficiency, while simultaneously distracting the victim while you repurposed their possessions. But he got the feeling this teen already knew all the tricks of the trade.

Leon smiled weakly at him.

"Thanks, but... well, there's not really supposed to be a 'next time'," he explained, while looking back at DvD and 'Phael. "I kinda have a family now... and a home."

"Congratulations," rhg!Donnie said, hoping the genuine delight that this Leon had his family all around him came through, despite the monotonous tone in his voice.

"The kleptomania just sorta... flares up when I'm stressed," he mumbled. "When I feel like I'm not safe. I take stuff so I can pretend that I have everything I might need in an emergency." He laughed as he pulled out all the band-aids and alcohol wipes and gauze from his pockets. "I don't even know what I'd do with half of this stuff!"

"It's better to have most of this than not," rhg!Donnie mentioned, taking half of the pile and stuffing them into his own pockets, despite knowing that if he were to be portalled home again the items wouldn't be going with him. "Just in case..."

DvD had strolled right up to the giant tv screen in the room with a 2D icon of his face... or rather, a face greatly resembling his.

The icon looked down at him, it made an expression. It looked skeptical of him. It could express emotions, and could have thoughts. It must be an AI.

"How fascinating..." DvD murmured, looking the screen over. "What kind of CPU do you run on...?"

"That is classified information," the voice responded. And as flat-toned as most Donatellos tended to be, this one had actual emotion in its voice! It sounded just like him.

"What kind of program are you? You operate like a mimicry program, copying expressions and reactions..." he poked around behind the screen, investigating a few wires and buttons. "What's back here--"

"HEY NOW!" the AI reeled, two mechanical arms grabbing DvD's wrists and pulling him away as the screen moved back on its tiny little wheelie stand. "Hands to yourself, thank you very much!"

DvD's eyes widened. This was much more than a simple AI...

"What... who are you?" he asked.

"My name is OMEGA BOOTYYYSHAKER9000. Most people simply refer to me as 'Omega'. I am a replica of Hamato Donatello."

"Replica..." DvD looked the screen over as his brain pieced together the information. "...Oh."

This was always Omega's least favourite part of the competition, when the younger versions of his family understood that the future was not only unkind, but in most cases it took more than it gave.

"...Well, at the very least, you have achieved the perfect form -- man and machine, finally as one!" DvD said with a grin.

"You sound like Leonardo."

"You take that slander back."

Omega chuckled. When his Leo had first met him, he'd said something almost exactly like that...

"Do you think... do you think that this will be my fate?" DvD asked cautiously, as he continued to inspect the replica. "I've met a few older versions of myself in this competition. One was a demon-void-thing. One is tending to my brother now. I know better than to alter the course of time, I wouldn't dream of... well. But I'd like to know the probabilities, weigh out the outcomes and prepare myself mentally."

"You want to know if... you might end up as a digital duplicate?" Omega asked nervously.

"Only the statistical probability of it happening."

Omega wasn't sure about this. Yes, this teenager seemed highly intelligent and had an iron-clad determination, but he knew better than to actually tell him the truth. For whatever reason -- perhaps his own insatiable curiosity and need to know the outcome and 'create a fix' -- he crunched the numbers. He ran the simulation to test his theory. He knew the outcome of their storyline. And he was right, there was no real benefit to tell him the truth of his future... There was no benefit to telling him how -- in the wrong timeline -- his brother Leon would be the first to go, sacrificing himself to save the others during the first few years of the invasion. And Mikey would follow some time after, his hypoglycemia becoming too much of a strain for his body in a society where food was scarce and rations were slim. There was no point in telling him of the pain that he and 'Phael would bear, caring for the lone orphan son of their late comrade Cassandra Jones. No point in DvD knowing that he would be the one to invent time travel, only to use the machine once -- to send his surrogate nephew into the past to remedy everything. Omega smiled at him, keeping the simulation to himself.

"...Who can say what will happen next?"

'Phael looked in awe at the spider-themed teens in the corner who all jibbered and jabbered away. He was a little too nervous to actually approach them. They were superheroes, weren't they? He'd seen how superheroes looked in the movies! And these blokes looked just like 'em. But 'Phael's social anxiety started kicking into high gear, he fidgeted with his hands, picking at the fingernails which he'd nibbled down to stubs. He shifted his weight from foot to foot as he tried not to think about what they were thinking about, which was probably him and about how embarrassing he was --

One of the spider-teetlez turned to look at him. Oh no. OH HEADS NO, he caught him staring. He stared back. OH HEADS. The spider kid smiled and skipped over to him, his hair bouncing with each and every step.

"Hey there, big guy! You okay?"

"Oh, uh, s-sure!" 'Phael mumbled nervously. "W-w-why wouldn't I be?"

"Oi, is that another Brit I hear!?"

'Phael jumped suddenly as the blue and red turtle that had helped them in the halls immediately pounced at him, wrapping an arm around his neck with a great big smile.

"I was 'bout to lose hope for this Johnny Horner, I thought the entire arena was filled with yanks!"

"Uh heh, yeh," 'Phael chuckled, thinking maybe this wasn't the best time to tell him he technically was a 'Yank', having been born and raised in the Colonies. He was just brought up around folks with British accents...

"Hey, lads (and April)! Come 'ere, I wanna introduce ya to one of the dustbin lids that just arrived! This here is a BRITISH RAPHAEL!"

'Phael smiled nervously as he was passed around from hero to hero -- and they all were very nice and friendly, if not a bit intimidating. But then again, everyone was intimidating to him.

Everyone had gathered in the center of the room, squeezing together on the couches and sofas and ottomans and even one rocking chair. Now that everyone had introduced themselves, and Mikey had been taken care of -- his arms rebandaged and his stomach filled with tea and cookies -- it was time to come up with a plan of action.

There wasn't much time left...

End of Act 1

Act 2

#rottmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #tutant meenage neetle teetles #until i found you #until i found you au #rottmnt until i found you #no fun in fungus #fear fungus #fear spores #rottmnt fanfiction #rottmnt fanfic #fanfic writing #fanfiction #rottmnt mikey #rottmnt leo #rottmnt donnie #rottmnt raph #rottmnt misa #the void brothers #rottmnt replica #spider-teetlez #leaves from the vine #rottmnt abby #rottmnt ghost in the shell #rottmnt hunger games #rottmnt angst #crossover

[phoebepheebsphibs]

Brain: we could draw more of the tmnt au competition art and finish the tots arc, or we could write the next chapter for UIFY, or maybe work on that secret crossover, or the alternate ending for the Fear Fungus fic, or maybe you could draw concept art for your characters for that comic series, or finish Peaches’ redesign, or finish up the sketch for that space comic—

Me: I AM AT CHURCH WORKING CHILDCARE I CAN DO NONE OF THESE THINGS

Brain: wait then why are you on tumblr

Me: Touche. You win this round…

Brain: I win all rounds.

#adhd brain #adhd stuff #adhd things #adhd #adhd life #lol #i wanna write so bad #i wanna draw #i wanna create

[phoebepheebsphibs]

Would you make a ctiys of the uify bros at the comp?

How many followers do you have

It’s so funny that you ask that —

I’ve actually been planning to make a post about that after the TMNT AU Competition! I was gonna hold a poll and see if y’all would prefer a draw this in your style thing or a colour this in your style thing because both sound fun to me!

I’ve actually been hinting at this for a bit now too lol

I needed 300

But now I need 250

For a 2,000 followers DTIYS/CTIYS

#dtiys #ctiys #rottmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #until i found you #until i found you au #rottmnt until i found you #tumblr asks #2k #2000 followers

[phoebepheebsphibs]

EXIT STAGE LEFT...

ACT 2

@boots-with-the-fur-club @daboyau @tmntaucompetition @littlemissartemisia @shiveagit @shiveagit-arts @thevoidbrothers @noval1t @kathaynesart @bluepeachstudios @amevello-blue

CW: Zombies, epic fight scenes, cringe musical references, and character death

Prev || Next

Names and abbreviations (sorry there's a lot, we have a big cast for today's performances!) : UIFY = Until I Found You NFIF = No Fun in Fungus Leon = UIFY Leonardo 'Phael = UIFY Raphael DvD / Don = UIFY Donatello Mike/Mikey/Micheal = UIFY Michelangelo AudRaph = Swayed Raphael AudreyTello = Swayed Donatello LeonAudro = Swayed Leonardo MichelAudrelo = Swayed Michelangelo AudRai = Swayed Karai rhg!Donnie/Don/Donatello = Rise Hunger Games AU Donatello Raph = NFIF Raphael Donnie/Dee = NFIF Donatello Leo = NFIF Leonardo Angie/Angelo = NFIF Michelangelo

After a brief intermission...

"So," Leon sighed, as he leaned against the bottom panel of the couch Mikey was resting on, "What do we do now?"

"We lay low," rhg!Donnie stated flatly. "I don't have enough supplies to make any more small explosions like the ones I used to save you guys."

"How could we possibly 'lay low'? There's a zombie apocalypse going on outside!" Spider-Shine exclaimed. "At any point, they'll be able to break down the door and get in here!"

"We can't stay, anyways," April noted. "We have to get to the room where it all started."

"Why do you wanna be in the room where it happens?" Spider-Gal questioned. "What possible reason could there be to go straight into the heart of enemy territory?"

"Aside from killing the evil mushroom that resides there with a mystical bomb?" said DvD flatly. "None whatsoever."

"Wait, could we go back to the part where you have a bomb?" Abby asked, raising her hand. "What bomb?"

"The TNT," 'Phael said, motioning to the box-shaped explosive in the corner of the room.

"OH THAT THING?! I thought that was just a prop or something for the lounge room with the Minecraft..."

"No, that is apparently our one and only hope to destroy the fungus that has taken over the entire competition."

The room went silent.

"...I'm sorry, a what did what?"

"A fungus. Took over the competition," DvD repeated. "Very simple."

"Not quite," Omega said, his icon furrowing its brow. "I fail to understand how mildew could overthrow an entire competition."

"It's an airborne fear fungus, when you inhale it you see your worst fears come to life," 'Phael explained. "And, in some cases, the fungus can kind of... take control of you."

"Like... mind control?" rhg!Donnie asked, looking concerned.

"Yeh, pretty much. It's almost as if it possesses you."

"That would explain all the zombies," Ghost nodded. "And the way to get them all free from the fungus is to... blow it up?"

"Not quite," came an extra voice that startled everyone in the room. Diana screamed suddenly and pointed to April's head. Crawling out of her curls was the Hand.PNG, creepy as ever. April grabbed for the hand and threw it across the room. It never hit the wall, it vanished before that could happen, and reappeared on the table in the center of the room.

"As I was saying," it said, clearing its throat... how it did that was beyond them all. "The TNT will destroy the fungus, yes, but it won't destroy them all at once."

"Like with the Chitari in Avengers --"

"'PHAEL, WHAT DID WE SAY ABOUT THE POP CULTURE REFERENCES--!"

"Sorry, Leon--"

"Ahem, continuing," the hand continued, "The mushroom can be destroyed, but that will not destroy the spores infecting the rest of the competitors. It will only continue to spread from one host to another. You will need to come up with a way to free them all and destroy the spores for good."

"So, what do we do?" Abby asked nervously, Diana holding her hand tightly.

"I would suggest creating an anti-serum," Omega offered.

"Anti-serum?" Mikey croaked.

"Yes. If we could get a sample of the spores--"

"--We could make a formula that could take them down!" DvD finished excitedly. "But, would that be enough?"

"What if you had the DNA of something already immune to the spores?" the Hand.PNG asked.

"That would work," DvD said with a smile, already gripping his tech-bō and ready to take his own shot at the creepy crawly.

"Here," April said, taking off her jacket with the smudge of the Hand's black blood smeared across it. "You can use this!"

"Ah... yes... that works perfectly. Gives me no acceptable reason to injure the hand further. Wonderful."

"Glad to help!" April laughed, knowing exactly what she did.

DvD took the jacket to the kitchenette and started to analyze the hemoglobin, with Omega assisting. Ghost and rhg!Donnie joined in as well, each one working on a different section of the process.

A short time later -- but just enough time for Mikey and Leon to have nodded off -- the Donnies returned with two vials.

"We have a solution," DvD said with a proud grin, accidentally waking up the exhausted ornate box turtle and his red-eared slider brother.

"We've managed to isolate the deoxyribonucleic acid of the hand -- as well as the spores themselves -- from the sample April provided. We reverse-engineered the isotopes to isolate the immunity that Hand.PNG has to the --"

"In ENGLISH, nerd-brain," Diana interjected, getting a quick chuckle from Abby and Leon.

"We made a cure and a vaccine," Ghost stated plainly.

"What's the difference?" Spider-Gal asked, cocking her head to the side.

"The cure is for everyone who is already infected," Omega explained. "It will essentially destroy the infection and free them from the hive mind. They'll be a bit disoriented from the experience. But other than that they'll be perfectly fine."

"Okay, so what's the vaccine?"

"The vaccine is for us," Spider-Dee said, coming forward and tapping the vial. "It was made specifically with the Hand.PNG's DNA markers. Because the hand is not only immune, it's almost as if it's part of them. The genetic makeup of the hand and the spores is eerily similar... the zombies don't see it as a threat because they assume it's one of them already!"

"That's what the vaccine does," rhg!Donnie finished. "It not only acts as a blockade against the infection, but it also creates markers that the zombies pick up, almost like pheromones. They won't bother us, because they'll perceive that we're already infected like them!"

"Will it work?" 'Phael asked. "I mean... did you test it?"

"Did you see us leave the room?" DvD answered somewhat snarkily.

"Don' hafta get so snippy about it, I was just askin'..."

"A'ight, lads, no need to start a whole bull and cow goin'," Slider-Punk interrupts, stepping in between the two. "We're all a little on edge 'ere. 'Phael makes a good point though -- how d'ya know it's gonna work?"

"Because we made it," Spider-Dee explains with a smug grin.

"And because I ran countless simulations and tests on the possible side effects and hypothetical reactions," Omega adds.

"And because we have no other alternative," the Hand.PNG states. "We're out of time and resources for the moment. It will have to work."

"Right," DvD sighs, taking a small syringe and filling it with some of the glowing blue fluid. "Who wants to get their flu shot first?"

One by one, the competitors all received the injection, though Mikey took his rather shakily and needed Leon to hold his hand.

As the last person received their dose, the sounds of a mob trying to barge in began to cease. The room fell silent.

"It's... it's working? It's working!" rhg!Donnie chuckled. "Not that I ever doubted."

Leon crept to the door, unbolted it, and slowly cracked it open. Blue mist filtered into the room as he continued to open the door bit by bit. He stepped outside, cautiously looking around at the empty hall as the zombies meandered about sluggishly.

"I guess... we're good to go!" he said with a smile, as he came back into the room. "Now all we need is my grand plan of action to attack Audrey III and rescue the guys."

"We'll probably need a distraction," Diana suggested. "Something to get the shroom's attention focused in one direction while the rest go in to spray it with weedkiller or whatever."

"Something big and loud and preferably purple," Spider-Dee proposed.

"I could probably make something from what we have in the room," DvD offered. "I still have my tech-bō, and my travel tools... plus some spare uranium I bring along for special occasions."

"YOU HAVE URANIUM WITH YOU?!" Leon shouted as he jumped from his spot. "WHY DIDN'T YOU JUST USE THAT FOR THE BOMB??"

"... Quite obviously, because that would kill everyone. And I may be wrong, but that seems a bit counterintuitive to what we're trying to accomplish, wouldn't you agree?"

"..."

"..."

"... I'm going to sit back down, now."

"Probably for the best," DvD nodded.

"So, a big distraction of musical finale proportions, hmm?" Abby asked excitedly, rubbing her hands together as she schemed. "Maybe I'll be able to stick the landing properly this time..."

"It would certainly get that overgrown toadstool's attention," 'Phael agreed. "So, we'll make a big to-do with the Donnies while the rest go in to rescue the swayed!"

"Once you detonate the bomb, the spores in the area will dissipate," the Hand.PNG reminded them. "But that will not free the zombies. You will need to administer the antidote to as many as you can as quickly as possible in order to keep the fight to a minimum. You don't need any more people getting hurt on behalf of Audrey III."

"Great, then let's--"

"Not you, Mikey," Leon said, pressing his brother back into the couch cushions before he could stand up all the way. "You're staying here."

"WHAT?!" Mikey yelled, straining his vocal chords yet again. "But I wanna help--!"

"I know you do. But I can't have you get hurt again. We just patched you back up! Mikey, I know how badly you want to help everyone, I know how much you care, but if you go out there again you will overdo it and get hurt, or worse -- and I am not about to watch you die again!"

That was cruel. Mikey knew that if the situation wasn't so dire, Leon wouldn't have brought that up in front of so many strangers, he wouldn't have wanted to mention something so delicate in front of the others... No, he would.... He did that on purpose, Mikey realized! He wanted to get them on his side. Intentionally make them worried so that they would do whatever Leon wanted to keep his brother in the room. Mikey scowled at Leon -- what a dirty trick to play! And it worked, he saw how everyone's heads turned to him with wide and frightened eyes.

"...Fine," he grumbled, crossing his arms and pouting angrily.

"And because I know you'll try to sneak out the moment we leave, I'm going to have to ask someone to stay behind with you--"

"I'll do it," rhg!Donnie quickly volunteered. "I'll stay behind."

"Abby's staying here too," Diana added, pulling her friend by the arm to force her onto the couch with Micheal to rest. "And so am I. I promised I'd look after her and make sure she was safe. That means no epic musical battles against giant fungus," she said, giving her friend a loving glare.

"Aw, phooey."

"The more, the merrier," Mikey grumbled.

"So, that's settled then," Ghost said. "The kids will stay here--"

"Excuse me?"

"Sorry, the kids and rhg!Donnie will stay here," he corrected, "and the rest of us will be heading out to war."

"Alright! Let's go an' have ourselves a right barn owl with the giant mould!" Slider-Punk shouted, grabbing his guitar and playing a quick riff to further express his excitement.

"Let's go, then."

Mikey, Abby, Diana, and rhg!Donnie watched as the others left the room one by one.

"It is for the best," Hand.PNG said quietly, climbing onto Mikey's shoulder.

It had only been maybe five minutes since the rest of the 'resistance' had left, but Michael was still pouting sadly and grumbling to himself.

"You know that they only want to see you safe."

"Yeah, yeah, I know that. But I'm not some weak little invalid! I could help somehow! Even without my powers, I could still do something!"

"Of that I have no doubt. But you must stay, if only to keep your brothers at ease."

Mikey sighed, sliding deeper under his blanket.

Abby and Diana were sitting by the kitchenette, making themselves some popcorn and scarfing down some snack cakes they'd found. rhg!Donnie was sitting by the faux fireplace, getting nice and warm. Michael's thoughts wandered back to something he'd heard the hand say before.

"...What did you mean when you said 'it isn't meant to end this way'?"

"Pardon?"

Mikey reached over and let the hand crawl onto his palm, carrying it over to rest on his lap so that he could see it properly.

"Earlier in the hall, before the others rescued us. You said that it wasn't meant to end that way. What did you mean by that?"

The hand paused.

"...Are you sure you want to know the answer?"

"I think so," Mikey whispered.

"Very well. You recall I spoke to you of the 'authors'? Well, your story is very important to them."

"So... these authors can see the future?"

"Sometimes. In some ways."

"So, then why is all this terrible stuff happening to us? Why, if they're like... our deities?"

"They are not gods, only storytellers. The story has gotten away from them... you see, they have melded your stories together -- Until I Found You, and No Fun in Fungus. Things were never meant to become so dire, but events have spiralled beyond their control, and so they have sent me to help you."

"You... know them? My author?"

"I should hope so. She created me."

"What??" Mikey asked, taken aback by the statement. "Why would... I thought you were created for the spores! I thought the other author made you!"

"...I WAS created for the spores. But I was not made by the spores' author."

"I thought your purpose was to torment people--"

"My purpose was to be one who delivers -- almost like that of a postman, at first."

"At first?" Mikey asked.

"My purpose has changed since then..."

The hand heaved a forlorn sigh, as it twiddled its fingers.

"You would not understand, but... I am not a villain. I'm not even meant to be an antagonist. Believe it or not, I was given the task to rescue. To save a life."

"Save...? Save who?" he asked nervously.

"Why, Leonardo, of course."

"Leon? But he --"

"Not your Leon. NFIF Leonardo."

Mikey's stutter worsened as he tried to comprehend what the Hand.PNG was saying. Save Leonardo?? How, when it was the one who doomed him?

The hand proceeded to explain...

"I was originally made by your author to deliver the spores. She had envisioned me as an extension of herself, in the beginning. A representative. But as time went on, others came to take advantage of my usefulness, and I became what you might call 'a fad'. I was seen as a joke, a means for the other authors to express themselves and share their stories. A plot device, as it were. She didn't mind. She was glad something so simple as I could be used as much as I was. But then... it got out of control. Too many authors were using me, too many contestants were getting spored, and your friends were getting worried for the contestants' safety. NFIF Leonardo began to blame himself; he'd thought he'd started another apocalypse."

"A-another...?" Mikey asked, voice fading with fear at the thought of what that meant.

"It is a long story, but essentially NFIF Leonardo -- and many similar Leonardos here -- made an honest mistake that rippled across time and had unforeseen consequences. Leo had managed to keep the destruction from happening, but he still holds on to the guilt that it was almost because of him that his world was destroyed. And then... the spore outbreak. He blamed himself again. Your author saw his pain, and couldn't let him take the blame for something he did not do. But how could she tell him that? She couldn't speak to him directly. Authors rarely can, without tearing the fabric of their universe to shreds, or breaking the fourth wall. She needed a means to communicate to him that it was not his fault. So she changed my purpose, and sent me to help make it clear that I had stolen the spores from him to begin with. She changed my purpose, from deliverer... to scapegoat."

"So... what were you saving Leo from?"

"Himself."

Mikey didn't know what to say to that. The Hamatos were filled with selfless martyrs and sacrificial dum-dums...

"...What about me? Why would the author do that to save Leo, but let me die?"

"But you didn't die. You came back. She would never have let it go that far. And... you may not like this... but your 'sudden departure' was necessary."

"NECESSARY?"

"As I said, the story was getting away from the authors. She couldn't see an ending, she couldn't find the resolution. Too many people were becoming swayed by Audrey III, and you were losing hope. She needed the tides to turn in your favour, and she knew that I had a soft spot for your stories. The only way I would leave the fear fungus was if..."

"...If you saw how terrible things were getting. If you saw what would happen to us -- to me, if they continued."

"Yes. I could not see the true result of my actions unless I was faced with the consequences. But your author would never let you die like that. You're her favourite, after all..."

"I am?" Mikey asked, somewhat conflicted about this fact.

"Your story has only begun, dear one. And your author is very excited to see where it leads. After all, you are the one who managed to save your brothers and bring them together..."

Mikey pondered this. Mikey wondered... Was that his real superpower? Not these stupid mystic golden chains and magic spells he could concoct, but the ability to love people and bring them together?

"I must go now, your family needs my help."

The hand vanished into shadow, fading away in an instant.

Mikey thought about it. Your family needs your help.

He started to stand up.

"Hey, did you need something?" rhg!Donnie went to his side, trying to get him to lay back down.

"Yes, I need you to help take me to Audrey III."

"What?!" Abby yelled, nearly spilling her bowl of popcorn. "But Leon said to --"

"Screw what Leon said!" Mikey snapped. "I'm going to help them."

"You can barely walk!" Diana protested.

"That's why I need rhg!Donnie to carry me," Mikey said, grabbing the human version of his brother by the sleeves and tugging hard. "Please. If you don't, I'll drag myself there. I'll crawl, if I have to!"

"Mikey, please, be reasonable--!"

"No, you don't understand! I need to help them, they need us!"

"Us?" rhg!Donnie asked. "What do you mean by 'us'?"

"All of us! They don't realize how tough it's going to be, they're gonna need all the help they can get!"

Mikey shakily pulled himself up onto his feet as he looked around the room at the others.

"Look, we were all brought here for a reason. I don't know why, maybe because we have a bond, or because we all have something special in common, or whatever! But we're here regardless, and we're needed. They need our help."

rhg!Donnie pulled the note out from his pocket and read it over again.

𝚆𝚎𝚕𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚋𝚊𝚌𝚔! 𝚆𝚎 𝚗𝚎𝚎𝚍 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚑𝚎𝚕𝚙…

"...Even if you're right," he sighed, shoving the paper back into his pocket, "that's no reason to throw yourself into the fray."

"It's reason enough!" Mikey shouted, on the verge of tears. "It's family! The people I love!! Can't you understand that?! Wouldn't you do anything at all in the world -- in the multiverse -- if it meant you could keep your family safe?? No matter the cost??"

rhg!Donnie stared at Mikey.

He refused to cry. He refused to show just how right Mikey was. He wouldn't let this version of his brother see him like that. No matter how badly he wanted to hold him, cradle him gently, and promise that no matter what he would do anything for every version of his brothers.

"Okay then. Let's go."

"No! You're not going to stop me that... easily... I'm sorry, what?"

"I said let's go," rhg!Donnie repeated, immediately lifting Mikey up and carrying him out the door. "Are you girls coming too, or what?"

Abby and Diana looked at each other and shrugged.

"I guess we're all going down in musical flames," Diana groaned.

"You sound awfully Les Miserable about it," Abby joked.

"Don't even start."

"Well, if anything, all the music is gonna make quite that beautiful sound...!"

DvD and the others made their way through the maze of corridors and open areas and secret halls, walking (or web-swinging in the Spider-Teetlez' case) as quietly as they could. The vaccine would make the zombies see them as one of their own, but DvD and the other Donnies had concerns that if one of them should say the wrong thing, it would attract the bad kind of attention.

So they went on their way without saying a word to one another, down the halls as zombies passed by, muttering to themselves and whinging over whatever nightmare they were trapped in. Their footsteps echoed down the halls, the soft whimpers and moans of the infected like winds whistling down the lane.

Like silence, but not really silent. Just that still sort of quiet...

Ghost raised his hand, signalling to the others to come to a full stop.

They'd arrived at the room.

"Okay, everyone, you know the drill," Dvd whispered at them. "Time for our big opening number..."

"Why hasn't she succumbed yet?" AudreyTello asked, starting to become irritated with the little wretch in the cage of vines, who was still screaming and kicking and crying in anger, raging against the hallucinations.

"She is stronger than we assumed," AudRai noted, placing her hand over the cage and viewing the hallucination for herself. "It appears that in her nightmare, she ate her way through the door and--"

"I'm sorry, ATE her way through?!"

"Yes."

"How?! Never mind, I don't want to know," he growled. "At this point, I'm willing to throw her outside and let her fight the fear somewhere else, her constant screams are giving us a headache..."

AudRaph walked over to her and gingerly took her hand.

"What are you doing?" AudRai questioned.

"...Nothing," AudRaph said, rubbing his thumb over Misa's tiny fist. "Simply trying to help her assimilate."

"I don't CARE about assimilation!" AudreyTello screamed, smashing his bō staff into the wall and causing cracks to splinter across it. "She's driving us insane with her banshee screeches!!" he growled, gripping the staff to the point where he might break it. "Donatello has nearly reached his limit with this noise. I swear, if one more thing --"

A loud racket started playing outside the room, a guitar that reverberated and nearly caused the walls of the room to collapse.

"WELL, OF COURSE THAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN. HE MUST BE PSYCHIC."

AudreyTello stomped over to the door and flung it open, finding a hundred purple lights and drones flying around the hall, swirling together to create a mimicry of DvD's face.

AudreyTello's staff transformed, weapons building together and turrets mounting on his shoulders as speakers continued booming heavy rock and roll music. The enormous DvD face smiled down at him, eyes glowing bright as purple smoke started to cover the floor.

"YOU DARE CHALLENGE DONATELLO VON DRAXUM?"

AudreyTello gripped the weaponized bō and pointed it at him.

"This competition isn't big enough for two supervillains," AudreyTello sneered, hoping to get under his skin with the accusation.

"OH, YOU'RE A VILLAIN ALRIGHT -- JUST NOT A 'SUPER' ONE!"

"Oh, really?" AudreyTello swept his foot back, readying his stance for a fight. "And tell me, what is the difference?"

The drones moved, making the giant head open its mouth dramatically as DvD -- having changed from his casual wear into his formal Draxum attire, complete with glowing visor, protruding tusks, and flowing cape -- strutted out with an enormous grin on his face, arms extended as if to accept applause.

"PRESENTATION!!"

A laser light show ignited as the drones flew in different directions all at once, mimicking an explosion and dancing around AudreyTello dramatically. The music burst, electric guitars and drums creating a soundscape around the two.

"So, we've gone from musicals to Megamind, have we?"

AudreyTello grinned maliciously.

"Very well. I can acclimate."

He jumped forwards, firing the torpedoes and missiles at the son of Draxum. The drones holding him up dropped suddenly, letting him fall to the ground. He activated his own tech-bō, creating a large rocket-powered mechanical fist that he swung at AudreyTello. The swayed NFIF member ducked at the last second, shielding himself with an enormous photon cannon. The blast from the cannon shot him backwards, out of reach from DvD, who growled angrily at him.

"You wouldn't hurt me, you wouldn't hurt your friend Dee?" AudreyTello asked, making a sad baby face at him before bursting out in mad cackles. "I'm only a sad, lonely little mushroom!"

DvD gritted his teeth.

"You may be a mushroom, but you're going down all the same."

"HA!" AudreyTello laughed, as he swung his bō at DvD.

"Your mouth's talking trash!"

Another swing.

"You'd better rinse it."

Another.

"Your meat is minced --"

He lunged...

"-- I'm here to mince it!"

He landed on DvD, who pushed him back with his own tech-bō.

"I'm gonna have this world, now give me some space; I'm gonna wipe that stupid grin off of your stupid face! I'll put you in--"

DvD ducked.

"I'll put you in --"

DvD dodged.

"I'll put you in your place!!"

DvD rolled back, getting his tech-bō ready to reveal another impossibly futuristic high-tech weapon. AudreyTello chuckled at him, rolling his glowing eyes.

"What exactly was your objective, here? To stop me? Single-handedly?? Just a lone Donatello up against the might Audrey III?"

"Well, I wouldn't say 'lone' Donatello..." DvD retorted with a grin.

White sticky thread suddenly wrapped around AudreyTello, tying his arms to his waist. Spider-Dee swung circles around him, continuing to wrap him in webbing, tighter and tighter as he shouted his protests. Spider-Dee landed on the ground and swung AudreyTello over his shoulders, sending the swayed turtle flying. AudreyTello activated his ninpo once again, creating jet wings that sliced through the webbing and slowed his descent. AudreyTello gave a quick turn and soared back at them, readying his weapons when a heavy body jumped him and caused him to crash into the ground. Ghost rolled into the tumble and regained his footing almost immediately, taking out his own cracked bō staff and preparing to spar.

"Snap outta it, kid," Ghost said, voice low and gravelly. "We know this isn't you. We know you don't want to actually hurt us."

"Oh, do we, now?" AudreyTello chuckled, rising from the floor and rubbing his chin. "Let's test that little theory, shall we?"

He went to jump at them again when the drones suddenly surrounded him, each one blasting light in his face and disorienting him.

"Protocol: Blinded-By-The-Light is functioning properly!" Omega called out from the sidelines as he ordered the drones to carry the villain into the air and drop him while DvD and Spider-Dee continued the assault.

As all the Donatellos fought, the rest of the group made their way to the room.

"Where's the hand?" Leon whisper-shouted at the group.

"Here," the disembodied limb stated, suddenly appearing out of nowhere.

"Well, that never gets old," Leon grumbled sarcastically. "Where do we put the TNT so we don't hurt anyone?"

"Round the back. I will show you," it said, skittering along the side of the walls and leading them to the preferred spot...

Inside the room, AudRaph paced back and forth.

"What is all that commotion?!"

"Donatello is having some difficulties dealing with the pests," AudRai informed him.

Raphael flinched upon the word "pest", the glow in his eyes flickering slightly as he turned to look at Leo.

"You're losing control again," MichelAudrelo growled. "How are you so pathetic that a weakling like him can challenge your power?"

AudRaph snapped his head to glare at MichelAudrelo.

"I'm done taking your calumny. I'm going outside to see what's holding Donatello up..."

"...If we set the explosives off, won't it cause structural damage?" Spider-Gal asked as they approached the selected spot.

"I would imagine so," the Hand.PNG stated flatly. "But because it is charged with your ninpo, it should protect the competition building as a whole and keep the damage to a minimum. It's designed to destroy the mushroom..."

"Wait, but LEO's a PART of the mushroom!" April protested. "I saw him!"

"Yes, I know. But your ninpo should keep him safe --"

"HEY!" a gruff voice shouted at them. The group turned around to see AudRaph barreling towards them. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

"Eeeouugh, boy," Leon groaned. "Um, everybody scatter?"

"But what about--!"

"Go," the hand ordered, its voice soft and melancholy. "I will make sure the TNT is charged and set."

"Wait, what are you going to do--"

Before April could get an answer, Spider-Gal had grabbed her by the arm and was already swinging her to safety.

"You traitor!!" AudRaph yelled, stomping towards the Hand.PNG. "Why would you fight against us?! How could you switch sides?"

"Because, my dear Raphael," the hand sighed as it pulled the TNT to its final resting place and ignited the fuse.

"It was never meant to be..."

If this was the price to pay to save them all, then it was alright to take the sacrifice. One had to pay one's accounts, after all... and at least it got to enjoy a few good stories.

They would understand. And no one would miss it. Which was good, so no tears would be shed.

There had been enough already...

AudRaph managed to take a few steps away as the sparks reached the bottom of the fuse.

Boom.

End of Act 2

Act 3

#rottmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #tutant meenage neetle teetles #until i found you #no fun in fungus #until i found you au #rottmnt until i found you #fear fungus #fear spores #crossover #fanfic writing #fanfics #fanfiction #fanfic #rottmnt fanfiction #tmnt au competition #tmnt au propaganda #tmnt au #replica #rottmnt replica #ghost in the shell #rottmnt ghost in the shell #rise hunger games #leaves from the vine #spider-teetlez #rottmnt mikey #rottmnt donnie #rottmnt leo #rottmnt raph #rottmnt april

[phoebepheebsphibs]

That makes me wonder, is your Raph scared of Cuddles?

I was actually debating this (because I also got the Cuddles costume ask and have been wondering what actually UIFY Raph’s reaction would be)

I kind of wanted Raph to - for whatever reason - actually be like a huge Mrs. Cuddles fan and squeal over how cute Misa is, and despite the fact the lad has 179 anxiety disorders and 4,000 phobias this is the one thing he isn’t afraid of

But on the other hand I really don’t see what circumstance would have changed this fear. Why was he scared of her in the show to begin with? What caused this fear? And how could that have been avoided if he was simply raised in a hotel?

Anyways in conclusion I’m still debating this for my AU, but because I really like the idea for the moment let’s say that he loves Mrs. Cuddles — it’s his MLP and he’s a huge brony lol

#until i found you #until i found you au #rottmnt until i found you #rottmnt #separated au #rottmnt separated au #mrs cuddles #rottmnt raph #writing fears #what if #tumblr asks