Chapter Text
The last thing Michelangelo can remember is cake. He’s unsure what flavor, or even what it was for. Just cake.
Next thing he knows is he’s waking up in an alleyway, stuck in a 2D world, colorful and bright. Nothing hurts, only some slight chest pain from the shock of not waking up in your own bed. Placing a green arm over his eyes, he groaned loudly.
Surely this must be a prank. Their counterparts from dimension 87’ probably visited while Michelangelo was asleep and they all thought it’d be hilarious to put him in a world he doesn’t know. That definitely sounded like his brothers, or at least Raph.
He sat up, feeling around for his T-phone and finding it nearby. Grabbing it, he turned it on to see if he could call his brothers. A while ago they set up a connection through their phones, allowing them to communicate both ways. Yet when he got no connection, unable to access any contacts or messages, Michelangelo assumed Donnie had something to do with that.
Thankfully, they at least left him with his weapons, his nunchucks still in their holsters. Standing up, he looked around to see if he could get a sense of where he’s currently at. Sadly, there were no familiar buildings nearby that Michelangelo could see, but the city definitely seemed more…colorful than World 87’ normally is. Is it possible they all discovered a new dimension and didn’t tell him?
Impossible, his brothers would tell him something like that.
Right?
“Hey D, wanna tell us why we’re heading to a dark and spooky alley? I tuned you out before.”
A strange voice, one that Michelangelo hasn’t heard before, sounded from just around the corner. Almost as if instinct, he jumped behind the dumpster nearby and hid, his heart jumping in his chest.
“For the third time , may I let you know, there was a large mystic energy spike down here. We should check it out in case it’s dangerous.” Mystic energy?
“Could we make it quick though? I got some dough proofing in the fridge at home and trust me you don’t want to eat pizza with over-proofed dough.” Oh pizza!
“Don’t worry Mikey, I’m sure whatever it is we can handle it. We’ll do it Mad Dogz style, like always!” Mikey?
Seems to be four in total, and Michelangelo knows there's no way he can take on four opponents at once. He can’t even take on his own brothers. The turtle could try running, but he doesn’t know what kind of weapons they have. Yet it may be his only option…
He moved back his foot, but had been unaware of the stack of cans just behind him. In an overbearingly loud and sharp noise, they all fell to the ground. The talking stopped, along with their footsteps. His breath picked up, knowing now that these strangers knew he was there.
Michelangelo booked it, standing up from his hiding and running deeper into the alleyway, keeping to the shadows.
“What are you guys waiting for?! Go after him!”
Suddenly movement surrounded him, the blast of jets and the clinging of chains coming after him. Releasing the blade from his nunchucks, gathering momentum by swinging it around, Michelangelo released it into the air and hooked onto a lamp post just outside the alleyway. Keeping up his speed, he spun around the pole twice and let himself fly up onto a roof.
Bright and vivid colors passed as he rolled into the fall and kept running, jumping from rooftop to rooftop. He thought he had lost them, when suddenly a turtle flying with a jetpack flew up beside him, brandished in purple and black gear along with a purple mask and- are those drawn on eyebrows?
“Considering the fact you are a turtle who wears orange and uses nunchucks, I’m going by a long shot here and making the correct guess by saying you are a Michelangelo from another dimension?”
“Wha-”
“Oh watch out.”
Before he could even process what this weird turtle with an armored shell said, Michelangelo ran right into a giant red being. He fell on his shell, his nunchucks flying out of his hands. Above him, four heads of four familiar colors appeared.
One was the purple from before, one was sharp and red, another round and orange, and the last triangular and blue. Did he hit his head, or is he in some sort of weird dream?
“Raph, you were supposed to catch him, not bowl him over.” Blue said, an annoyed look on his face. Wait, Raph?
“I didn’t mean too! I thought he’d see me!” Was that a crack in Raph's voice?
“He looks like me! Kinda, he’s more blocky.”
Michelangelo sat up, causing the other four turtles to jump back and pull out their weapons. He rubbed his head, trying to process all the information he had heard.
“So, dudes, hello. Michelangelo here, I’m totally not in my own dimension. Again…” He said, placing a smile on his face and looking at them.
Each turtle blinked twice, simultaneously, before bombarding him with questions.
“What’s your dimension like?!”
“Where are your brothers!?”
“Am I just as cool in your dimension as I am here?”
“Can I take samples?”
“Guys!” Another voice, this time a girl, came from just behind Michelangelo. “Maybe leave the poor turtle alone and give him some space?”
He turned around, seeing a human girl with dark skin and space buns in her hair. She wielded a flaming green bat, swung over her shoulder and a smirk on her face.
The human approached him, bending down to his level and looking at him with kind brown eyes. “So, Michelangelo, you remember how you got here?”
He scratched his chin, thinking as hard as he could. Still, the only thing that came to mind was cake. “Nope, not one bit. But I do have this raging headache ever since I woke up. Like some killer pain up here.”
With a nod, she turned towards the purple turtle, who he assumed was Donatello. “Donnie! Stop muttering and scan him.” She demanded, glaring at the purple turtle in question.
Reluctantly, he stopped muttering, tapping a few things on his wrist device that shot out a weird purple ray thing that scanned over Michelangelo’s body. While this was happening, he took this time to look over the other turtles.
His counterpart was only a couple inches shorter than him, with orange spots dappling his dark green skin and arm wraps all the way up to his shoulders. He almost seemed to have stars in his eyes, holding his tongue from asking more questions.
This worlds Leo seemed a lot different than his own, red stripes over his eyes and lime green stripes on his arms and legs. His back currently was turned to him, giving him a clear view of what seems to be a hole in his shell, covered by some reinforced plate., with healed cracks spider webbing from the hole. Michelangelo figured it’d be rude to ask about that, considering it seems like a pretty traumatic scar.
Raph though…Raph is huge…appearing to be some sort of snapping turtle. Funny thing though, he seemed to be scolding Leo about something, when normally it was the other way around. Looking to the right side of his head and along the top of his shell, Michelangelo could see a large crack in his carapace and a chunk out of his back shell…
“Slight concussion with extreme malnourishment.” Donnie announced matter of factly, seeming indifferent to those conditions.
“Okay, and with that we’re getting you back to our home.” The human stood up, extending a hand to him. Gratefully, he took her hand and stood up. “I’m April O’Neil by the way.”
Michelangelo did a double take, looking over her again with the most confused expression. “Dude, you’re joking right?”
“Nope!”
He didn’t get a chance to express why he was so confounded, when suddenly she pushed him backwards. Michelaneglo let out a small scream, falling a lot more than he should have and suddenly going through a weird blue ring.
“Gotcha!” The orange turtle landed in large, spikey arms, quickly clutching whatever had caught him in reflex.
Looking around, he saw that they were no longer in the 2D New York. Now, they were in what looked to be an abandoned subway. Lights and graffiti were splattered all over the place, with 8 subway cars, four on each side of him.
“Dude. Did we just teleport or am I more concussed than your Donnie said?”
The large Raph set him down, a laugh coming out of him. It sounded nice, Michelangelo thought. “Yes, yes we did. You can thank your friendly neighborhood irritator for that.”
An offended gasp came from Leo, who just landed from the portal. “You know I don’t have to teleport us anywhere Raphie, I could make everyone walk while I get home.”
Are they…fighting? The words sounded like they were, but their faces showed that they were just joking around. Also the fact they weren’t swinging at each other gave it away.
Raph didn’t say anything else, just flicking Leo on the forehead and walking towards the kitchen, leaving a fuming turtle behind him.
Suddenly feeling excited about getting to know these mutants, Michelangelo quickly followed Raph into the kitchen. It was definitely much better than what they had back home! There was actually cooking utensils and a good fridge and- is that a working oven and stove?! This must be his dream!
Theirs worked back home but it broke down every other day.
Looking around, he saw this worlds Mikey putting a homemade pizza in the oven, and Donnie tinkering with some cool and complex looking tech. It was hard deciding who to talk to, but ultimately he decided that talking with a different version of oneself was so much more fun.
He popped up beside the somewhat smaller turtle, watching him with wide eyes. “Hello.”
The other him looked over and smiled so wide Michelangelo thought he’d go blind. “Sup dude?!” He dropped what he was doing, bouncing up and down in front of the taller turtle. “Dude it’s so cool to meet someone from another dimension that’s also me! I know D is probably dying to ask you questions but April made him stay quiet but she didn’t say anything to me so can I ask you questions? Please?” Stars shone in his eyes at the prospect of knowing more.
“Bro…” He dragged out the phrase, smiling wider. “Absolutely! Only if I get to ask questions back!”
“Deal! What’s your world like?”
“3D and dull, are those spots natural?”
“All natural baby! What kind of nunchucks are those?”
“Kusarigama! Had them my whole life. How old are you?”
“16! Why’d you act so surprised when you found out that she was April?”
“Our April is white, how-” He didn’t get to finish, as loud laughter erupted at the table where all the turtles plus April were sitting.
Leo was basically under the table, clutching his stomach from how hard he was laughing, Donnie banging his fist on the table and Raph howling with laughter. April just looked so distraught.
“I’m whitewashed in your universe?!” Is all she could yell, gripping her hair with wide eyes.
The laughing intensified, Mikey and Michelangelo joining in. Anytime they started to calm down, someone would say something and it would start up again. It took until the timer went off for the pizza for everyone to finally stop.
The moment Michelangelo smelled it as it came out of the oven, he genuinely believed he ascended to another plane. “Dude, that smells totally awesome! I can never get mine to smell that good.” He followed the smaller turtle to the table, sitting down next to him as he set the pizza on the table.
Five pieces were gone the second it was set down, so Michelangelo wasted no time in grabbing himself his own piece. It was in the back of his mind that he should probably be figuring out how to get home, find out how he got here. But…that can wait till tomorrow. Right now, he’s having fun answering questions and eating amazing pizza with these new friends.
As they ate, someone else came into the kitchen, a tall, lanky human guy with thick black hair. He was currently looking at his phone, but paused as he looked up and saw the two different Mikeys. Michelangelo snickered at his confused face, looking as if he had the dial up noise playing in his head.
His counterpart looked at him, wondering what was so funny until he followed his gaze and saw the human. “Oh, Casey! We found me from another dimension!” Mikey exclaimed excitedly, basically climbing over him to emphasize his point.
Casey, who Micheangelo should have guessed was his, tilted his head, even more confused. “And…the first thing you did instead of telling everyone was to…have pizza?”
The table went silent, now realizing what the human said. Raph scratched the back of his neck. “Yeah…we should probably tell Dad about this, and Draxum, and Cassandra.”
Dad? As in Splinter?
Leo groaned, laying back in his chair. “Do we have to tell Draxum? I really was hoping not to see him again until Christmas.”
That would make sense, Mikey here is only 16. Michelangelo didn’t lose his father until he and his brothers were nearly 17.
“Leo… Draxum is good now! You need to cut him some slack. He’s helped us a lot!”
Does that mean they haven’t defeated Shredder yet? Or the Krang? What have they done in this world so far?
“I think you guys keep forgetting that he threw me off a roof! He tried killing us on multiple occasions!”
Is their Splinter anything like his? They call him dad so maybe not? Where is their Splinter anyway? Have they met their Karai yet?
“Um guys? New Mikey doesn't look so good.”
Is he going to have to help fight their Shredder, or their Krang? What about their other villains? Do they have a Bebop and Rocksteady? Razhar or Fishface? Baxter? Triceratons?
“Look, his eyes are glazed over… He seems to be in some kind of trace-”
“He’s having a panic attack! Snap him out of it!”
Michelangelo doesn’t want to deal with all that again, doesn’t want to fight Shredder or the Krang or watch another version of his father die again and get thrown off a builin-
Another piece of pizza appeared in front of his face, the smell snapping him out of his spiraling thoughts. He blinked a few times, eyes scanning over all the worried faces staring at him. Hesitantly, he took the slice, allowing his head to slide into his shell slightly.
“Why…is everyone staring at me…?” He didn’t like eyes on him, especially so many. If he messed up at any moment, they’d all make fun of him or get angry at him.
Nobody answered, instead most of them turned away. Raph got up, making his way over to the smaller turtle. “It’s late, and you’ve probably been through a lot today. How about I show you where you can sleep?” He was…being brotherly?
Michelangelo nodded, standing up and sticking close to Raph as they exited the kitchen. He slowly and silently ate his newly acquired slice of pizza.
“Donnie said you were having a panic attack. That’s why we were all worried, little man. You alright?” Raph eventually asked, stopping outside a plain looking subway car.
Finishing the last of his pizza, he turned and looked up at the larger turtle. “You…you guys mentioned your dad. Talking like he’s still alive. Does that mean you guys haven’t defeated Shredder or the Krang yet?”
Raph’s dark brown eyes widened, seemingly shocked by the question. Michelangelo quickly waved his hands in front of him dismissively with a nervous smile on his face. “S-sorry! That was probably a question I shouldn’t have asked.” He laughed nervously, rubbing his neck. “I-is this the room? Man dude I am so tired I think I’ll just go in and pass out right away!”
Just as he turned and grabbed on the door handle, Raph spoke up, voice small. “Is your Splinter dead…?” It sounded like he was afraid to ask. Funny, his Raph is never afraid.
“G-goodnight Raph.” WIthout another word, he went into the car and closed the door behind him.
That was too much. Too much new and too much emotion. He’s drained, mentally and physically. Now that the excitement has passed, it’s finally setting in that he’s in a completely new dimension that he’s never been in before, one he knows nothing about.
It’s not like it hasn’t happened before though, when he foolishly jumped into the Dimension X portal all because he was upset with his brothers. So he’s probably less freaked than the normal mutant would be.
And it’s not like he’s completely stranded either, he’s lucky enough that his counterpart and respective brothers found him. The Donnie here seems really smart and advanced, he should be able to get him back home in no time. Hopefully.
Besides, his brothers are probably worried sick about him, tearing New York appart to find their dumb little brother who got himself stuck in a different dimension somehow. Maybe he can help the turtles here too! He’s dealt with Shredder and the Krang before, he can totally do it again. Maybe even keep their father alive, when he failed to save his own.
Michelangelo collapsed on the bare mattress in the room, exhaustion flooding over his body as he let out a huge yawn. These are too many thoughts for his brain to handle. Maybe all of this is just a bad dream! He’ll wake back up in his own 3D world with his own brothers. There’s only one way to find out!
He did not wake up in his own world the next day.