Chapter Text
"Dude, what are you still doing in here? You've been messing with that Kraang tech for like... ever!"
Donatello sighed, rubbing his face. In the week since they'd defeated the Technodrome, he'd been tinkering with a piece of the alien craft his little brother had brought back. Other than short breaks for food, the bathroom, or sleep, he'd been working in his lab nonstop.
Michelangelo had also been pestering him almost nonstop, trying to figure out what he was working on.
"Mikey," he said through irritated, clenched teeth. "When it's ready, I will tell everyone what I built. But until then, please, let me work."
His little brother pouted, then held out the plate of pizza he'd brought.
Feeling a little guilty, he put his tools down and grabbed the plate.
"Look," he began, "I'm sorry I snapped at you."
"It's cool," Mikey replied. "Just... Don't work yourself to death, okay?"
"Alright," Donnie agreed. "Tell you what, how about I give you a hint?"
His orange-clad brother lit up like a jack o'lantern.
He took a bite of his pizza (partially out of hunger, partially to make Mikey squirm a little) before answering.
"Let's just say, if I'm right about what I'm building, then we'll never have to worry about getting to missions on time ever again."
Mikey gave a huge gasp. "You're gonna give us super-speed?"
"No."
"You're gonna make us fly?!"
"No."
"...You're gonna make the Foot Clan really lazy so they're even easier to beat?"
"How on Earth would I do that?"
"I dunno, you're the nerd."
"No, I am not going to make the Foot Clan really lazy. Look, this'll be done by tomorrow morning. Can you please let me work in peace until then?"
Mikey looked like he was considering it as he took back his brother's empty plate.
"Okay... As long as I get to name your invention!"
"Deal... But don't try and name it after a movie from the eighties again."
"What do you have against eighties movies?"
"The fact that you try and quote from them during fights."
"Hey! People love me using those lines! Remember that fight at the shoe factory! I said 'Ever dance with the turtle in the pale moonlight?', and he started laughing."
"He was laughing because you gave him a concussion, and he blacked out seconds later. That doesn't count."
"Tomato, tomahto."
Donnie sighed. "You know what, fine, you can name it whatever you want. Just let me work, please."
"Okay, deal." He walked out with the plate.
Now with peace and quiet, Donatello turned back to his device. Reverse engineering one of the Technodrome's main engine pieces hadn't been easy, but fortunately he'd learned a thing or two from that time he'd hacked the piece of a Kraang computer. He'd needed to use the processor in Metalhead again, but the process he'd made was... exhilarating.
Hours ticked by as he worked, his eyes locked on his project.
The device itself was deceptively small: at first glance, it looked like a winch, only without a cable. But it was twice the size of a winch, the handle was connected to a battery, and the battery was fueled by the artificial ooze he'd made a few days before.
The artificial ooze had been part of a plan he'd discussed with Leonardo after Timothy got mutated. If the Foot Clan were after ooze, then it would be handy to have artificial ooze around to act as bait. Unlike real ooze, it was harmless (although Mikey had gotten a rash when he'd touched it out of curiosity). It had taken some research, some trial and error, and a trip to the Bronx Botanist Society to... borrow cuttings from their gardens, but it had been worth it. He'd found that a combination of slagweed, mango tree thistles, a tiger stripe vine, and algae from the East River created a slime that looked reasonably close to ooze. However, the canisters of it had just been sitting in the lab for awhile. Fortunately, he'd been able to make the device's battery run on the fake ooze, so it would finally have a use.
Donnie's tongue poked out of his mouth as he adjusted the last tiny screw on the device's side.
"And.... Done!"
With an exhausted yet satisfied smile, he sat back in his chair.
Seeing as how it was ten already, he got up and left the lab.
He'd need to be well-rested to tell his brothes that he'd cracked--
- - - -
"Teleportation?" Raphael asked with a skeptical look. "You're saying that you've spent the last week trying to crack teleportation? You've been watching too many science fiction movies."
Donnie gave his brother a glare. "First of all, we're mutants who regularly deal with robots, mad scientists, and aliens, so I think we're beyond what is or isn't an element of science fiction."
"He's got a point," Mikey added, earning a look from Raph.
"Second," Donatello continued. "The Technodrome's technology is well beyond anything human science has cracked yet. If it can be modified to work with our own, the impossible could become possible."
"If you think this device can crack teleportation," Leonardo spoke up, "then I'm all for it. We just managed to stop the Technodrome, and the Foot Clan are still out there. There might come a day where how fast we get somewhere could be the difference between success and failure."
Raph turned his unimpressed gaze on his older brother. "Are you quoting Space Heroes again?"
Leo looked away. "That's not the point..."
"Come on, guys!" Mikey interrupted. "Let's shut up and see what the Reality Check can do!"
His brothers all looked at him with confusion.
"The Reality Check?" Donnie asked.
"You said I could name it, and that's what I picked!" Mikey beamed. "'Cause if we can get somewhere faster than we're supposed to, then we're basically body checking reality!"
Donatello blinked. "Well, that's the worst name you could've picked..."
Deciding it was time to let the device... The Reality Check speak for itself, he turned the crank on the side.
"The more times you turn the crank," he explained, "the further you go. But I have to calculate how far that is and how many turns of the crank first, so we can't just mess around with it and hope for the--"
"Let's go to Hawaii!"
Michelangelo ran over and turned the crank as fast as he could.
Donatello's eyes went wide in horror. "Mikey, NO!"
In his rush to stop his brother, his hand accidentally landed on the Reality Check's activation button.
A round wall of light appeared in front of them, taller than even Donatello and as wide as all four turtles standing in a line.
"Okay, that's new," Leonardo remarked. "Uh, Sensei?"
They weren't able to find out if Master Splinter heard them or not. At that exact moment, a powerful wind seemed to come from no where. And...
It was pushing the Turtles towards the wall.
"Uh... Donnie?" Mikey asked. "That thing's sucking us in!"
"Oh, really?! I didn't notice!" The purple-clad turtle snarked.
Leo was about to stop their arguing when the wind grew stronger. It knocked all four of them right off their feet.
As one, they all went flying through the wall of light.
It closed behind them, leaving an empty room.
- - - -
After the chaos of the meeting (and when they confirmed that EVERYONE had gotten their true personalities back), Rapunzel had suggested she, Eugene, and Cassandra take an evening walk through the forest. They'd agreed; they had a few things to talk about.
"So..." The long-haired princess remarked. "I'm glad that we were able to prevent an all out war between Corona and Pittsford but... Yikes."
"Blondie, can we make it a personal rule to avoid using magic potions from now on?" Her boyfriend replied. "I mean, I get you thought it was a good idea, and it did help Cassandra and I work through some things, but wouldn't it have been better just to let us work it out?"
"For once, I agree with Narcissus over here," the princess' lady-in-waiting spoke up. She used her sword to knock down a tree branch in their path before she continued. "Raps, we all love you, but sometimes you've got to let people work stuff out for themselves."
The princess' animal companion, a green chameleon on her shoulder, give a cheep and nodded in agreement.
Rapunzel sighed. "Okay, okay, you're both right. I should have stayed out of it, and I'm sorry. It's just... You're both so important to me and seeing you fight all the time..."
Eugene and Cassandra shared a look before they both went to Rapunzel.
"Okay, okay, maybe we have been at each other's necks more than usual lately," the former thief/future prince acknowledged. "So, Cass... Maybe we call a truce for a few days? Try not to fight as much?"
Cassandra rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. "Alright, Fitzherbert. If it makes the princess happy."
Rapunzel smiled, hugged them both, and started walking ahead.
Eugene whispered to the short-haired woman. "I'm still going to insult you when she's out of earshot."
Cassandra whispered back. "Ditto, Sticky Fingers."
"Hey," he whispered back, "I'll have you know that I haven't stolen anything since I met Rapunzel!"
She gave him a skeptical look, and he broke.
"Okay, fine, when the chef said everyone could only have two muffins, I snuck a third when he wasn't looking. But that doesn't count, he was giving those out as free samples! And besides, I saw you sneak one of the princess' strawberries once when you were taking up her breakfast!"
"You can't prove that!" Cass hissed back.
"I don't have to, she believes whatever I say!"
"You'll keep it a secret if you know what's good for you!"
"Guys?" Rapunzel called back.
They both straightened up, identical guilty looks on their faces.
It took them a second to realize that she wasn't looking at them. She was staring at a spot in the bushes... and she looked very confused.
Moving silently (with Cassandra drawing her sword, just in case), they followed her over.
They could hear voices speaking quietly. From what Cassandra could tell, they sounded... male. And young. Like teenage boys.
"I told you a thousand times not to touch my stuff without my permission!" One voice spoke.
"I'm sorry, okay?" A second, guilty-sounding voice sounded. "I didn't know that was what would happen. You know I've always wanted to go to Hawaii!"
"We can argue about this later," a third voice, the deepest so far, cut in. "What matters now is figuring out how to get home. How badly damaged is the Reality Check?"
"There's good news and bad news. The good news is that the major components are still in one piece, meaning that the repairs should be pretty easy to make."
"And the bad news?" A fourth voice joined in, sounding a bit rougher than the other three voices.
"...The bad news is that several vital pieces of the exterior were damaged when it fell to the ground. I custom made those, too... I'd need to find a way to replicate them."
"How long will that take?" The third voice asked, sounding concerned.
"...I have no idea," the first voice admitted, sounding defeated.
"What are talking about?" Eugene whispered.
"...They sound scared..." Rapunzel noted. "Do you think they're lost? What if they need help?"
She'd been a teenager in need of help once, too...
Pascal got a determined look on his face, and jumped off of his best friend's shoulder.
"Pascal, be careful!" The princess whispered after him.
He gave a smile and a thumbs-up before he went towards the bush where the voices were coming from.
The lizard had just given an inquisitive cheep before a figure jumped out from behind the bush.
He was about as tall as a man, but he wasn't human. In the dim light, they could see that he was... a turtle?
The turtle stood on two legs, and had green eyes that practically glowed. He was wearing a red bandanna over his eyes, along with wraps on his hands and feet, elbow pads, knee pads, and a belt. Eugene wondered briefly why he'd bothered with accessories but not traditional clothing, but then realized that his shell covered him well enough for it not to be necessary.
Most notable (other than the fact that they were looking at a humanoid turtle) was the twin sais he was holding. Rapunzel nearly cried out in fear when he pointed the weapons at Pascal.
The chameleon turned bright white as he let out a screaming cheep.
The turtle blinked, and immediately put the sais on his belt.
"Sorry, little guy," he spoke, getting on his knees to appear less threatening. "I thought you were a bear or something. I didn't mean to scare you."
Pascal turned back to his normal green, impressing the turtle.
"Chameleon, huh?" He held out a hand. "Any chance you can tell me where we are?"
Pascal looked at his hand (it only had three fingers!) quizzically.
"I'm not going to hurt you, I promise."
Satisfied, the chameleon jumped onto the turtle's hand. He then turned to where his friends were hiding and cheeped.
It was at that moment the turtle saw them, and locked eyes with Rapunzel. She stood up out of the bush (despite the whispered protests of Cassandra), giving an awkward smile and equally awkward wave.
"Um, hi?"
The turtle blinked, then looked over his shoulder.
"Leo? You might want to come over here!"
Suddenly there were three more turtles standing by the first.