#but hey i wrote 1519 words!!!

[lasanya539]

Hi @personne-writes, I decided to take you up on continuing this story based on @turtle--thoughts's prompt! Hope you like it! rise, episodic canon typical shenanigans, 1.5k words, tmnt write fight ---

Leo walks into Donnie's lab the next day, Mikey and Raph trailing behind him.

"So," he eagerly rubs his hands together like a kid planning a prank, "how's it looking, Don?"

Donnie's in his chair, hunched over his keyboard, face extremely close to the screen. On the giant monitor, Adobe Photoshop is open, a bright and happy picture of the turtle brothers displayed, but zoomed into Leo's face. He watches the cursor move toward the edge of his frozen smile with precision, before Donnie lets out a triumphant exclamation.

"Behold, fellow gentlemen! I have managed to insert Leon into our old beach 'vacay' picture flawlessly with my incredible genius! And a bit of help from Photoshop." He adds disinterestedly, as he downloads the picture and closes the application. "We are completed with Phase One."

"Aw, look at how cute we were when we went to Tahiti!" Mikey leans on the back of Donnie's chair, his face in a perfect imitation of the 'happy tears in your eyes' emoji. "And that coconut drink! Man, I've never been able to make that here."

"Do you think they'll be able to tell it's an old picture?" Raph scratches his chin with his sai. "I mean, Donnie's forehead used to be a lot smaller at fourteen."

"Scoff! I resent that rude and objectively inaccurate observation!" Donnie says, shooting Raph a look before turning to Leo. "And no, they will not be able to tell a thing. TMZ is notoriously more interested in speculation than fact. The worst thing we can expect is a condemnation of our entire moral code for abandoning New York during its worst mutant crime rampage yet - but no one will be carbon dating the picture."

"Well, alright then," Leo says after a moment, sparing an anxious thought towards their newly-found love and acceptance in human society dropping even just a bit, before shaking himself out of it. "We're good to go! Our first dip into the disturbing waters of social media. Officially, at least."

"Ooh! Once we're done taking down criminals, let's start a public TikTok account." Mikey suggests excitedly.

"Oh, absolutely not." Raph butts in. "No doing stupid TikTok dancing trends until you're at least sixteen."

"Aw, no fair!"

"Plenty fair. I didn't yell at you for having an AO3 account when you were too young for half the stuff on there, did I? This is definitely a hard no."

"Okay, Raph can mother-hen later." Leo interrupts them both, watching as Donnie pulls up Twitter and pastes the picture into the text box. It's actually a really cute selfie of the boys, all of them wearing flower print shirts and coconuts in their hands. Donnie has a pair of sunglasses on and Raph has a lei around his neck. Leo wonders if he can make another portal to Tahiti so they can take this picture for real.

"Remember," Donnie explains, "T-minus 75 seconds after this picture goes live, People's Magazine and Pop Crave are going to make their posts about us, and within the hour Us Weekly will have an article going. So tonight will be the highest chance of either Ghostbear or Meatsweats showing up in the areas we patrol the most."

He positions his cursor over the post button. "Ready?"

"Ready!" The three brothers echo, and the tweet goes live.

'From saving the day, to catching some rays ☀️🏝 #tahitivibes #beachmodeactivated #nomasksnoworries'

"Wow, yeah, we are definitely getting canceled." Mikey notes.

"And not just because we're openly bragging. What's with the hashtags?" Raph asks.

"Ugh, I worked with what I had, okay? They're fine." Donnie responds defensively.

"I mean, I guess, but they're kinda wrong. We're still wearing masks in the picture, aren't we?"

"Mikey!"

"Okay, okay, it's good enough for our purposes, chill." Leo raises a hand placatingly. "For now, we gotta review our game plan. C'mon, let's call in April and the Caseys."

A few hours go by, in which they map out an extensive patrol routine around the highest risk areas, while Donnie's phone goes haywire from the amount of retweets and comments he's getting. Eventually, Raph makes him turn it off completely because of how anxious it's making him.

"They already make too much fun of Raph and his snaggletooth on live TV." He grouses, crossing his arms and pouting as he sits back in his chair. "I don't need to see what they've got to say about our fake vacation."

"Hey, don't listen to them, snaggletooths are awesome." Casey says as she grabs a slice of pepperoni off Mikey's plate. "I'm gonna get vampire veneers once I get the money for it, that's basically two snaggle-teeth."

CJ just sighs helplessly, as if already exhausted by the antics of his so-called mother. Leo just laughs and jostles him in a friendly gesture.

Once 1 AM rolls around, they set into motion. They split up, Team Beta being all turtles and Team Alpha being all humans, on account of one April O'Neil getting mad that 'there is no way on Pizza Supreme that the humans be the secondary team, I am NOT gonna be a beta, what do you take me for?'. Alpha takes all of Midtown, while Beta takes the Downtown area.

"Bet you guys ten bucks Meatsweats is gonna show up in the Little Italy district." Leo says as they discreetly hop rooftops, all their ninja stealth on display.

"I won't take that bet." Raph grunts. "Is he gonna try poisoning the business owners again?"

"Dibs on the poison puffs!" Mikey whisper-shouts, once he finally lands on their designated surveillance spot. "I hope he puts some more salt in them this time, that will really bring out the flavor, I think."

Donnie rolls his eyes as Raph tries to stifle in his lecture. Leo ignores them all, eyes trained on the street. The various restaurants of Little Italy look cleaned and locked, not very many people in sight.

Suddenly, a lumbering figure emerges from the alley beside the butcher shop. The grotesque figure of Meatsweats strolls confidently toward the shop's corner entrance, his massive meat tenderizer glinting under the streetlights.

"Alright, got 'im." Leo speaks into the comm on his wrists. "Team Alpha, we've got our numero uno target - be on standby for backup." He nods at the affirmative he gets, before smirking at his brothers. "Ready to bring home the bacon?"

The turtles leap from position, rolling right up to Meatsweats' van. Mikey's nunchucks extend to long mystic chains, wrapping around his fat wrist just before he tries to grab the door handle. The mutant jumps back in surprise, aghast.

"Ugh, you pesky little things again!" He scowls. "I thought you were out enjoying a relaxing vacation on a beach somewhere! I certainly would love one. The New York sun does nothing for my complexion."

"Well, let me assure you it won't do you any favors in a prison cell either!" Raph yells, twisting his sais and grinning at him. "You're going down today, Meatsweats!"

The fight breaks out in an instant. Meatsweats swings his hammer, narrowly missing Donnie, who ducks and retaliates with a bo staff strike to the knee. Raph charges, tackling Meatsweats into a stack of empty crates near the alley wall.

Meatsweats throws him off with surprising strength, but Mikey doesn't waste an instant, somersaulting behind him and using his elongated chains to completely engulf him. He roars in anger, trying to launch him away with his own magic, but Leo swoops in, kicking him squarely in the face before shoving him onto the ground.

"And, boom, baby!" Mikey cheers, strong arms still holding the mutant three times his size immobile. "We did it!"

"Great job, guys." Leo smiles, shooting his baby brother an extra wink. "We've saved the future of gourmet pizza toppings."

Donnie comes up next to him, fingers expertly moving across his gauntlet projection. "All of the CCTV footage of our quick fight has been deleted, and not a single soul in New York suspects a thing. So, wahoo, team Mad Dogs!" He gives a semi-enthusiastic cheer as Leo rolls his eyes.

They tie him up with some real, reinforced rope, Raph going the extra mile and making a pretty little bow out of it while Leo shoves a giant brick in his mouth as a gag, before they place him right at the backdoor exit of the nearest precinct, graciously knocking twice on the door and slipping away.

"Well, team, I think that's some wonderful villain-busting for today, amiright?" Leo brags, stretching as they walk home. "Maybe we really should take a trip to Tahiti one day."

"Yeah, Raph needs a break from saving the world." Raph chuckles. "I need a beach day for sure."

"It's the reptilian instincts in us." Donnie notes. "We long for the wonderful sunshine and extensive water splashies."

"Do you think we could convince TMZ we had two vacations in one year?" Mikey asks.

"Hmm, I think we'll have to pick another destination for another time." Leo says, hooking an arm around his shoulders as he shares a conspiratorial grin with him. "Wildlife safari, maybe?"

--

This was a lot of fun!

Payback time!

@turtle--thoughts wrote a prompt of mine for the @tmnt-write-fight last month. Time to strike back!

Prompt: "Both heroes and villains try to keep tabs on each other through the news." This actually reads like an official episode summary! I love this idea a lot, but well, my ficlet was getting long and I was running out of time, so I figured I'd just send what I had, even unfinished. Anyone can feel free to take it where I stopped and continue though!

-----

All over the news

“Wait wait waitwaitwait-!” 

Mikey’s plea is interrupted by a loud thud, and that’s all his brothers hear before they see him sliding face first towards them, forehead throbbing from what must’ve been a pretty powerful punch. 

“Aw, Ghostbear!” Raph cries out indignantly. “Not my little brother’s face!” 

“Yeah! Mikey’s, like, the second handsomest of the family,” Leo says. 

Donnie’s bo staff swirls in the air. “And as the fairest of them all, I shan’t leave this crime unpunished!” 

Leo snorts. “Not who I had in -”

“Kowabunga!” Raph roars as he charges forward.

He ends up face first into a wall. 

“Ha, ha! Gracioso!” Ghostbear laughs somewhere out of their sight. “Sorry, tortugas, but I have plans for today and you are not part of them. See you never!” 

The brothers chase after his voice, dart looks in every direction, but try as they might, they can't find their opponent anywhere. Leo groans in frustration. “Okay, what the hell? Is it just me or does this keep happening to us lately?” 

Raph frowns hard enough to make a second worry line appear between his eyes. “This is weird. It's weird, right? We never pull off our surprise attacks anymore.” 

“Alas!” Donnie sighs, “who could've guessed? Mediatic ambition comes at the cost of discre-”

“Spare us the theatrics and just spill it, Donald” Mikey interrupts. 

“Eyeroll. Told you guys going famous wouldn't do well with our whole ninja deal.” 

“Pfff, famous’ a big word,” Leo pouts. 

Mikey's face lights up with a self-satisfied smirk. “Weeell, we did get our butts invited to a few TV shows since the Kraang-pocalypse.” 

“We're all over the news, you dumb-dumbs,” Donnie deadpans. “Anyone who owns a television or a phone can guess our whereabouts pretty easily.” 

“Oooooh,” his three brothers coo together. Donnie lets out a tired sigh. 

“Alright,” Raph says, “I guess we could just reverse this? How do we make a statement that we don't want to be famous anymore?” 

“Huh, I don't think it works like that,” Mikey thinks aloud. “Remember the whole Mutant Menace disaster?”

“Ouch, yeah, okay.” 

“Well,” Leo starts, “if we're not gonna mansplain or malewife our way out of this -”

“Blatant misuse of internet culture,” Donnie points out. 

“- why don't we manipulate?” Leo goes on. “We could give incorrect information. Drown ‘em with fake news! Make them believe we're out of town and BANG, we strike where they don't expect us.”

The silence that follows is so dense Leo itches to grab his swords and cut through it. 

“Okay, rough,’ he deadpans. “I don’t think it’s that bad of an idea, guys.”

“No, that’s… actually not bad at all,” Raph says. 

“Would require some hacking, but it could work,” Donnie nods. 

“Sounds plenty fun, too!” Mikey beams. 

Leo's surprised expression quickly morphs into a grin. “Alright, let’s do this.”

-----

Thanks again for your attack @turtle--thoughts, I enjoyed it so much. Hope you'll like this bit of writing as well!

[jadethest0ne]

When the Moon meets the Morning, Chapter 5 - Warmth against the Chill

Summary:  Raphael is going on missions with Captain Jupiter as he always does when he meets an orange-wearing turtle yokai who feels oddly familiar.

Word Count: 1519

Ratings/Warnings: General Audiences; some minor harrowing moments, but mostly fluff, emotional overload, emotional manipulation, self-deprecation

Notes: Some emotional overload and somewhat harrowing moments in this chapter. This chapter was the last one I wrote/drafted out of all of them, but I’m happy with how it turned out. Includes a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it reference to Digg. Big thanks to @undercoverwizardninjaturtle, @fraymotiif, and @5weekdays for helping me workshop this.

Read on AO3 For the RotTMNT Fantasy AU

———-

They are at the last stop on their trek. Good thing, too because the snow was now thick on the ground and piling heavy on the mountaintops surrounding them. The passageways between the mountains would soon become impassable. A majority of Mikey's packages for this town included supplies to help them through the winter. As they are handing off the last set of deliveries to an elderly couple who owned the general store - a stone building at the center of town - Red Fox's ear twitches and she looks out to the middle distance as if listening for something. Her nose quivers, causing the pink scar above it to crinkle, as she explores the scents in the air.

Raph knows this stance as a signal that something was coming.

"What is it?” Raph asks Red Fox seriously.

Red Fox opens up her mouth to say something, but before she could, a rumbling crack from above echoes through the village. They look up at the snow-capped peak that the town is primarily leaning on to see a wave of snow tumbling down at them.

An avalanche.

Red Fox leaps into action, magically extending her tail to gently wrap around the elderly couple and their packages, and pulls them under the awning of the roof of the sturdy general store. The town must be used to these sorts of things because an emergency beacon starts flashing and many people immediately start scrambling to safety. There are some stragglers though.

"Raph!" Red Fox yells and signals to the remaining villagers who are still out in the open. Raph understands and he runs out to bring the rest to safety. He scoops up a young couple of humans in his strong arms and puts up his red projections around them. The snow is over them now like a great wave and Raph isn't sure if his giant form will hold. However, he doesn't have to worry, when an almost equally large wave of fire clashes with the snow, melting it instantly.

He looks over to see Mikey with his arms extended sending powerful gusts of flames melting the snow as it falls from the mountain. He strains as still more pours down. He gives a signal to Infinity, who has a smaller yokai passenger onboard that Mikey must've rescued, and the phoenix speeds towards Raph. Mikey nods to Raph and both the large snapper and Infinity rush their passengers to safety. Once he knows that they are secure in the stone building with the avalanche passing over the sloped roof, Raph turns around again to try to help anyone else in need of rescue.

A particularly large chunk of snow and ice is about to crash on a trio of young, brown-furred yokai women. Raph puts more energy into his projected fist and punches the chunk of ice away. Raph starts to herd them over to the store.

"Wooooaaaah!" One of the yokai says, looking up at Raph in amazement, "Aren't you that Blood Moon Hunter...?" She looks like maybe a prairie dog?

“Er, well actually..." Raph is about to say, but is interrupted by a second woman, stouter than the first.

"I thought the tales were about a Red Angel," she says.

The third woman, largest of the three, offers a series of grunts in response, but the others seem to understand what she is saying.

"You're right, Honey Badger," says the second one, the stories did say he was some sort of bounty hunter.

Raph allows himself a small smile in the chaos. It seems like Mikey's stories are spreading, even if not exactly in the way as intended. Wait. Where was Mikey? He scans the surroundings barely paying attention to the women as they continue to chatter excitedly.

"Yeah and look at his eyes! They're like a blood moon!"

"We should totally make a song about him!"

As the third woman grunts in affirmation, Raph sees what he is looking for.

A section of snow in the distance seems to explode outward. Protective flames wrap around Mikey as a young child huddles beneath him. Mikey is holding back the wave of snow and ice with his fire. He gestures to the child to move. The two of them run together, Mikey providing a shield between them, melting any snow that comes in contact with them. He looks like he is straining hard against the mountain’s onslaught causing worry to twist around Raph’s gut. Maybe he's using his powers too much. Overextending one's magic can be really dangerous. One of Mikey's hands reaches up to cup his head as if trying to block out sound.

That's when Raph thinks of another problem Mikey must be having. So many people in the middle of a natural disaster - Mikey would be feeling all of the emotions that come from that sort of situation from all of them. And at the same time that he is taxing his fire magic! That's not a good combination.

Mikey and the child come closer, but the sigh of relief that Raph is about to let out gets caught in his throat as Mikey trips. In his kneeling position he extends a hand outward so the flames continue to create a pathway allowing the child to get to safety, but a particularly large spurt of snow crackles its way toward the young turtle. With it comes a large pine tree that must've got caught in the flow headed straight for him.

Raph moves before he can think. The magical red projection he creates grows larger and larger, crashing through the falling snow, completely unimpeded by the force. In a few giant leaps he is upon Mikey and throws his form over the orange clad turtle. He brings Mikey into the projection’s form so he is able to wrap his real arms around Mikey. He knows the worst of the snow along with the tree is still coming so he pushes all the power he can muster into one of the back spikes on his projection. The spike extends like a javelin and meets the tree mid-fall. A crack spreads lengthwise through the trunk of the tree and splits it in half. The two halves along with the snow spread around the large spike as if it were cutting through the avalanche itself.

As suddenly as the avalanche had come, it stops. The mountain stops rumbling so dangerously, and the snow ends it's onslaught of the village. Beneath Raph, curled in his arms is Mikey, shaking like a leaf with tears pouring down his cheeks. His hands are gripping the sides of his head as if to try to block out the world.

"Hey... Mikey..," Raph begins in a soft voice. "The avalanche is over now, you're safe!"

Mikey shakes his head violently, and continues to tremble and cry, letting out stuttering whimpers.

Raph is hit with a sudden sense of deja vu. Didn't he experience this before? Some flashes of a memory come back to him. Woods curling around Mikey. The voices of so many people. So many emotions rushing over him, more powerful than any avalanche. And Raph's shield.

Raph understands what he can do. He takes a deep breath, lowering his projected form, but putting up a protective shield spell around them. He tries to mimic the kind of spell that he was somehow able to create in his dream. The shield doesn't extend very far, but very little sound from the outside comes in.

Mikey's eyes snap open. Tears continue to pour from them, but he slowly lowers his hands from his head and shakily looks up at Raph.

"Hey buddy," Raph says with a soft smile. "It's all right. I'm here. You're safe."

Mikey blinks. Once. Twice. Something like a smile twitches at the corner of his mouth. "R-raph?"

"Yeah, it's me. No one else." Based on Mikey's reactions he thinks his shield is doing its job of blocking out all of the distressing emotions from outside.

Mikey's smile wobbles as he looks up gratefully at Raph. Large tears pool yet again in his eyes and he throws himself at Raph, wrapping his arms around him in the best tiny hug he can muster. He cries with a mixture of wet sobs and choked laughs. Raph returns the hug, enveloping Mikey's form in his large arms. They sit like that for a while. Raph isn't sure how long. Mikey slowly settles down, and the soft, even breathing Raph hears from the yokai cradled in his arms signals that he has fallen asleep.

He slowly lowers his shield, but Mikey's sleep doesn't seem disturbed by the lack of it. Most everyone seems to have gone home or helped with repairs in the village by now. Red Fox is there helping them.

Raph is able to quietly explain to the red panda that they should leave soon and gestures to Mikey. Without much explanation, Red Fox seems to understand. She's good like that.

They spend the last night of their trek away from any villages, and under the stars; Mikey still sleeping peacefully in Raph's protective arms.

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