#the Hamatos really live by the ‘my family is my power’ and Leo takes that and goes ‘my family is the only really worthwhile thing about me’

[turtleblogatlast]

[ cw: death mention / violence mention / slight suicidal implications / self-worth issues / ]

I always think about Leo’s “I’m nothing without my brothers” and recently I’ve been particularly thinking about how that’s not…entirely inaccurate, when put against the fact that without his brothers there to save him from the Prison Dimension, they would have next to nothing of Leo left.

And even more than that, him thinking he’s nothing without his brothers…is that what he thinks himself to be, as he floats in the Prison Dimension, battered and beaten? Alone as he was, with nothing but a photo to connect him to his family and his fellow prisoner being someone who doesn’t even know his name…was he content being nothing, then?

There’s a dichotomy there, in regard to how Leo tackles the difference of his family being separated from him, and him being separated from his family. One gives way to immediate action and panic, the other quiet acceptance.

He willingly takes on the descriptor of Nothing only when he’s the one that’s cut away.

[amevello-blue]

Things in Rise that Echo 2003 TMNT

Hi Ame here back on my bullshit-- getting right into it. I can't remember where or who said it, but one of the creators of Rise mentioned that 03 was their favorite iteration, and it really shows sometimes. Spoilers for 03 and Rise below ;)

The first thing that comes to mind is Shredder. "But Ame, 03 Shredder was a little alien guy-" NO I'M TALKIN ABOUT THE ORIGINAL SHREDDER. In 03, Ch'rell took on the mask of a well-known boogeyman at the time; the Shredder, who was a demon that had lived 1,000 years ago. Oroku Saki was a man who defeated the demon alongside the rest of the Ninja Tribunal, and after he defeated it, became possessed by it after falling prey to its promise of power.

The most obvious I think are their markings. In 2003 they use 'chi' to give them mystic abilities. It's the act of becoming one with the world around you, but it also seems to work when you are connected to the people around you. Even the medallions over their chest mimic the Hamato symbol that glows on Rise's chest when activating their ninpo.

Their markings even mimic each other (except for Raph, whose Rise version doesn't have any markings, which is a travesty). Leo has slash-like marks, Donnie has geometric marks, and Mikey's got a lot of circles!

NOW OKAY THIS ONE'S A BIT OF A STRETCH, BUT-- Leo has made portals with his sword before! Specifically, he held one open with it.

It's the little things <3

Like the ghost of dead Hamatos coming back to assist their rat sons in the final moments :)

Some more small things! Raph and Donny's brains being rifled through! (Which also happens to 2012 Mikey)

Raph's and Leo's shoulder! (Hard to get a good shot of Leo's, thanks 4kids) Ironically both happening at a moment where Leo has "failed" to protect his family.

Rise Mikey being the "greatest mystic warrior" reminds me a lot of what is alluded to many times with 2003 Mikey; he's very good at what he does! He's a Battle Nexus Champion! He's the one who can channel chi the best! He could surpass Leo even in skill if he actually applied himself, but he doesn't. Because he just doesn't find it fun. But it's shown a little in the episode Same as it Never Was, where he's able to dispatch a whole group of guys with guns all on his own, including three armored cars and a HELICOPTER.

Also making comparisons between 03 SAINW!Mike and Rise F!Leo losing their arms is kinda a stretch but I'll point it out anyway.

And speaking of the movie. My absolute FAVORITE thing to compare is the Krang of Rise to Sh'Okanabo of 2003's Fast Forward season. It's like they took all the concepts of Sh'Okanabo and made it BETTER. Everything was executed SO MUCH BETTER.

Gooey tentacle villain? Check

Weirdly organic flesh ship? Check

Alien invaders turning people into drone versions of their species? Check

(Also side note about that one, I think it's hilarious that in 03 Raph's the only one who DOESN'T get Kanaboe'd but in Rise Raph is the only one who DOES get Krang'ed.)

Taking over structures with their goop? Check

And finally. Small boy son that is a descendant of Casey Jones. Check :)

[dandylovesturtles]

Whats Draxum’s redemption arc in sideline look like (if he even gets one lmaooo)

thanks for the ask! this got long so I'm putting a lot of it under a cut

at this point, I have committed to Draxum's redemption arc in Sidelined, because I like Draxum and I love a good redemption arc haha. That said, as I've said a few times before, it wouldn't be easy for him, and it definitely wouldn't go down like in the show, where Mikey just kind of drags him into it. he'd have to work for it himself

it's probably good to start this by talking about my own interpretation of Draxum and the Draxum characterization I'm working with in this AU. while I love a good Evil Bastard Draxum, in canon I read him as more of one of those people who truly believed he was the hero so hard he tipped over into villainy on accident. which doesn't mean he didn't enjoy what he was doing, and he's definitely uncaring of the lives around him (he's got some of that mad scientist spark), but in contrast to the Foot Clan who are actively trying to subjugate the whole world (presumably under the belief that they'll get to be the top brass in the new world order), Draxum is actually just trying to save his people. a noble end, even if the means he's choosing involves eradicating another race of beings entirely. and I'm generally of the belief that if Draxum had actually kept the turtles, if he had been in charge of their raising, he might have initially started out thinking of them purely as warriors to be molded for his aims, but eventually would have come to see them as their own people, as children (yes, it's entirely possible to raise children and still have disregard for them as people, but I'm giving Draxum the benefit of the doubt in this one).

however, Draxum didn't raise them from babies - they just showed up at his house one day, raising weapons against him and blowing up his lab. so he's still thinking of them purely as warriors - young and inexperienced warriors, sure, but warriors nonetheless. he's not really thinking about how they're only teenagers, about how they might have dreams and wants and needs that have nothing to do with fighting, how they actually love and care for each other as a family. I said this in another ask, but Draxum thinks the idea of them calling each other "brothers" and Lou Jitsu "father" is actually laughable. in his mind, it's just pointless to even read any kind of family structure into their relationship. they are at most superiors and subordinates.

when Draxum put Leo in the Dark Armor, Splinter saw it as his fourteen-year-old son, his Baby Blue, being tortured and possibly killed right before his eyes. Draxum saw it as sacrificing a pawn in front of a general.

of course, callous disregard for a living person is bad no matter how you see it, but there's still a definite difference in perception here.

it's not until 1, Draxum realizes he was horribly wrong about what the Armor is and what the consequences of awakening it are, and 2, he witnesses the way the family reacts to what is happening to Leo, not as group of warriors down a man but as a family desperately trying to save a loved one, a piece of themselves, that it finally clicks for him what he's done.

Draxum goes on a long soul-searching retreat after that (he's also hiding from the Hidden City government but that's a side note). how could the love he had for his people drive him down such a dark and reckless path? how could he not see what was right in front of him, until he caused serious damage to the place he was trying so hard to save? how could he be so callous to someone who, annoying as he may be, is ultimately innocent?

initially he does this soul-searching far away from the Hamatos. he still has his powers in this timeline, so he makes do with stealing and finding places to take over and live. but at some point he starts thinking, maybe he wants to try and make amends for what he did, even if it's in just a small way. and even with his humbling he's still a little full of himself, so he's like, of course this ragtag bunch would want the help of Baron Draxum

(they do not)

so he starts by trying to give them practical help. he can imagine that Leonardo has significant medical issues following his time in the armor, and while it's not his primary field he knows enough about healing draughts to get by, and while there's no magic potion that will "fix" Leo, there are ones that can help with the pain and fatigue, in some ways better than human medicines, and that can help strengthen his immune system. He tries to give these to the Hamatos (specifically Mikey and Donnie while they're out scavenging one day) and gets pretty soundly rebuffed. Donnie is in "kill on sight" mode, and while Mikey is more likely to at least hear Draxum out, he also has no reason to trust anything the man gives them, especially when he suggests they feed it to Leo. so they don't take the offerings initially. Draxum eventually settles for leaving them in a cache near one of the sewer tunnel entrances, if they want it.

and then Leo gets really sick, and is in a lot of pain. Leo's immune system, like everything else about his body, is pretty weak following the armor, and he can't fight off the flu or an infection as well as he could before. so Leo is sick and in pain and Donnie and Mikey remember the cache of healing potions.

(I actually considered writing this fic awhile back and then never did haha, but here's what I had in my notes for it:

Splinter kneels on the side of the bed. "I'm sorry, Blue. We'll get you more medicine soon."

Leo reaches one hand out and Splinter takes it quickly. "Daddy," he whines, tears starting to roll down his cheeks, and oh, Donnie realizes, Leo really is hurting.

He quietly and casually deletes the last ten minutes of audio in his recordings. No one else needs to hear this.)

again, they aren't stupid - they aren't just going to feed Leo some random potions given to them by the guy that hurt him in the first place. but they can go find out if the potions are legit. so time for a trip to Witch Town!

they probably have some kind of misadventure while they're there (I'm imagining Mikey is joining Donnie and April this time), but they do manage to ascertain that the potions are legit. still, they end up getting the same potions made by someone else instead, just in case. but they remember that Draxum did try to help them, that time.

I imagine this happens several times, where Draxum just shows up to help them, they tell him to get lost after, before it starts to sink in that maybe Draxum is actually trying to turn things around. I don't think it ever quite gets to "Mikey calling him their second dad" level, but they do start to accept him as a begrudging ally and eventual weird uncle.

he has to seriously and sincerely apologize to Leo first, though. and Leo doesn't want to forgive him at first, and that's okay. these things take time.

anyway that's all. thanks for the ask again!

[fishsticksloser]

Can I have a request that the rottmnt turtles s/o died with karai by the shredder and then came back as a ghost to reunited their boyfriend as they got their hamato ninpo they can defeat the shredder

Ghost of You

Raph x gn!reader

Warnings: death, injuries, angst, comfort, yo'kai/mutant!reader, this is pretty long...

A/N: I'm only doing one turtle because I wasn't really sure how to do the others without sounding redundant. Reader is either yo'kai or a mutant due to the fact that when they unlocked their ninpo, NYC was in the orb. I skip quite a bit of what happens, but this is still pretty long.

You had gone to the lair because you hadn't heard from your boyfriend all day. You hadn't seen him since the day before the Battle Nexus Big Mama held in New York.

"Raph?" You call, walking through the demolished lair. "Raphael!?"

Something explodes and you are buried under rubble. You can't move, even breathing hurts due to the dust.

"Gram Gram!" You hear Leo yell.

"No! The Hamato must live on!" Raph tells him. You wanted to yell for him. You were trapped, you needed him. You hear a lot of commotion before hearing someone yell about the Turtle Tank.

"For the boys." Draxum sighs.

"For our boys." Splinter corrects.

You hear fighting. Still trapped under the rock. Everything stopped soon after. You heard the Foot Clan play a video.

"I've got the Empyrean." Draxum grunts.

"Draxum! I cannot believe you are doing this you turned out..." Splinter groans.

"You knew this day was coming, rat." You could hear Draxum's evil smile. "He hates me. I hate him. It's kind of our thing and now I win."

"Where is the Empyrian?" Shredder asks.

"Down there in the Hidden City."

They left. You were still trapped. There was no sign of help. You didn't know how long you were there before you heard someone run in. You heard someone else moaning in pain.

"Guys, I'm coming!" You hear April call. Rubble starts moving somewhere nearby. "Karai!"

"Stop, we don't have much time..." Karai answers.

"No no. I gotta help you, take you to a hospital..."

"I will not be able to finish this journey. Now you must teach the family..."

"How can I? I'm not... I'm not one of you!"

"Oh my child... You have always been one of us..."

You see a bright green light and you felt power.

"April!" You cough. "April."

"Oh my god!" You feel rubble sliding off you. "Y/N! What... Does Raph know you're here?"

"April..." You gasp, you felt like you were drifting.

"No... Oh, please. Hang on!" You see tears slowly fall down April's face. "I'll get you to the Hidden City and we can get you some help, okay?"

April pulled you out of the rubble and helps you stand. You both limp out of the lair and you stumble. You start to fall, but April catches you and she lays you down.

"You're not going to make it, are you?" April sniffs. You shake your head, trying to get your final thoughts in order. She presses her forehead to yours. "I'm so sorry, y/n."

"It's not your fault." You breathe. "Please... Tell Raph..."

You couldn't finish, tears of your own falling. You couldn't think, couldn't speak. Still April nodded and held you.

"I'll tell him..." Her voice breaks as you finally drift away. "I'm so sorry, y/n... You deserve so much better."

˗ˏˋ ꒰ ⋆｡❤️ ｡⋆꒱ ˎˊ˗

"Guys! Guys guys guys guys guys!" April calls, running up to the turtles. They were in the woods with Todd.

"April?" Leo asks.

"Oh my gosh! You won't believe what happened." April tells them. "I went to the lair which is totally destroyed and found Karai and she turned into light and now I hear her voice inside my head!"

"Wanna say that one more time?" Donnie sighs.

"Karai. She did a Hamato glowy light thing and now I think she lives inside of me?" April repeats, the boys hug her.

"Gram Gram's alive?" Leo smiles.

"Gram gram, it's Mikey I miss you!" Mikey yells into April's ear.

"Gram gram would like you to let go and never do that again." April shoves Mikey away.

"Okay new plan. Gram gram tells April to tell us what to do. Please instruct us April Gram Gram sensei." Raph decides.

"She wants me to teach you the art of pinpo—" She hums.

"Ninpo." Donnie corrects. They continue to discuss the plan and what happened at the lair.

"Hey, Raph... Can I talk to you, privately?" April mumbles to him. Raph nods and they walk away from the group. "Something else happened at the lair..."

"What?" Raphael questions.

"Y/N was in the lair when it was demolished..." April begins, looking at the ground, tears starting to fall again. "They didn't make it... They wanted me to tell you um... They love you and they believe in you."

Raph didn't answer. He walked away, into the forrest.

"Is everything okay?" Mikey asks, they all watched Raph disappear.

"Y/N's dead..." April chokes. The other boys run after Raph. They find him sitting, back against a tree, crying. His brothers kneel next to him and wrap their arms around their eldest brother, tears also falling from their eyes.

"I'm so sorry, Raph..." Leo mutters.

˗ˏˋ ꒰ ⋆｡❤️ ｡⋆꒱ ˎˊ˗

Slowly, Raph leans backwards, falling to the cliff. "Anatawa Hitorijanai.". Realizing this, his brothers jump after him, screaming at the top of their lungs. "RAAAAAAAAAPHHHHHH!"

Their markings begin to glow in the gorgeous light and their Hamato sign appears on their chest. Their clothing becoming black as night. Their bandana tails grew.

"Saving like a Boss!"

Leo, Mikey, and Donnie form a hand, Raph grabs it hand, and joins in the transformation. They land in the water, where April was watching. The turtles have gotten their true selves back.

˗ˏˋ ꒰ ⋆｡❤️ ｡⋆꒱ ˎˊ˗

"Hey Shredhead! We heard you were looking for some Hamato energy. Guys?" Raphael grins, turning to Leo and Mikey.

"Oh I think I got some for him." Leo chuckles, his trowels transforming into katanas.

"That's right it's us and we've had a bit of an upgrade." April smiles.

"Big time!" Mikey cheers, his rope transforming into num-chuks, Donnie's hoe turns into a bo staff.

"And this time around...." Donnie smirks.

"We won't lose." Raph chuckles, his hand rakes becoming sais. A drill erupts from behind them, explosions flood the sky.

"My drill is out of beta!" Donnie yells.

"Donnie nice. Now put it in action." Raph laughs.

"I did. It's just for hero poses." Donnie answers.

"Respect!" Leo applauds, leaning over Raphael's shoulder.

The fight begins, the boys and April flying around Shredder. Cassandra watches Splinter wither away. She knew she had to save him and eventually she has a change of heart. Casey attacks Shredder. She shatters one of the chains, the boys run to help Splinter. They join their mystic powers.

"Oh no it is not enough. I have failed." Splinter frowns.

"No dad we can do this. You may not have taught us everything."

"But you did teach us the most important thing."

"Be there for each other."

"Remember what your mom said to you that day at the park. You are not alone!"

"My sons I..." Splinter sniffs.

"Yoshi…" A woman appears, floating in front of them.

"Mom? You're here." Splinter smiles sadly.

"I have always been here."

More Hamato ancestors appear, grabbing the shaft of the spear. "We all have."

Raph locks eyes with you. He smiles wistfully, tears threatening to spill. The others see you too, all of them smile softly.

"Hot…" Yoshi's mom began.

"SOUUUUUUUUP!!!!!!" Everyone calls. The spear shatters the armour. Shredder is destroyed once and for all and Oroku Saki returns. Karai leaves April's body and hugs her father for the first time in 500 years.

"My daughter…" He breaths.

"Thank you my young Hamatos. We will always be with you." Karai tells the turtles.

Karai, her father and all of the ancestors bow to the Turtles and their family. With this, all the Hamato spirits fade away into the night. You stay. Raph rushes forward and hugs you.

"I'm sorry..." He sobs, pulling away to look at you. You hold his face in your hands. "I should've been there for you."

"I will always be with you, Raph..." You tell him, he leans into your touch. "I'll always love you."

[corvid-case]

Hello!! Call me Corvid/Icarus/Shark, pronouns they/them! Tone tags appreciated!

I reblog everything to this blog so there’s gonna be a bunch of things like Lego media in general, ROTTMNT, Minecraft (mostly Life Series, Hermitcraft, Empires, those related), Dungeon Meshi, etc! Most of what I write about is Lego and Rise, though :)

My general talking tag is #shark speaks

My general art tag is #shark scribbles

I’ve got lots of little ideas so this is the masterpost for their masterposts! 

RISE OF THE TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES:

NOVUMVERSE [ OC heavy AUs that tie together through the characters. ] VVVVV

Initium Novum [ Rise au told from the perspective of a lost turtle sibling, Acie. Tells the story from a different side, and brings in lots of new faces. ]

What Do You Do When You Fall Into Heaven? [ A continuation of Initium Novum, only no longer told from a single perspective. Takes place during the movie and beyond, in which the Hamatos get to find what it means to be given a second chance at life. ]

We Have Got To Stop Meeting New People Like This [ An AU continuation of Initium Novum/WDYDWYFIH, in which worlds collide. A ROTTMNT/Dragon’s Rising crossover, where the Merge collapses Earth with the rest of the Realms, and the turtles get to meet the residents of the Merged Realms. ]

Who’s That Hamato? [ An AU of Initium Novum, in which Acie is saved by Splinter before the initial explosion of the lab. Explores a different side of their relationships with the Hamatos, and how things could have been different. ]

Evolve Into Champions [ An AU of Initium Novum, in which Acie is traded to Big Mama to be trained as a gladiator. Explores more of the gladiators from Initium Novum, and shows an even more disconnected view of the other turtles. ]

GENERAL AUS [ Unconnected AUs, non-OC focused AUs. ] VVVVV

Boys of Summer [ A Separated AU in which Leo is raised by both Splinter and Draxum, where he eventually finds out about the other siblings he was supposed to have and accidentally stumbles into a quest to find them. ]

Rise from the Dead [ A ghost AU, where April O’Neil wakes up one day to find four odd ghosts in her living room and ends up trying to help them figure out what happened. ]

Teenage Mutant Ninja Critters [ A Minecraft hybrids AU, where the mutants and yokai are a bit… different. Very inspired by the fanon traits applied to Minecraft characters, but with my own twist on how they work. ]

Shell From Another Realm [ A ROTTMNT/Ninjago AU taking place after the Rise movie, after Crystalized, and before Dragon’s Rising. The turtles, April, and Casey Jr. end up in Ninjago after a wrong turn on the way home, and they team up with the other Ninja while they try to figure out this new world and find a way home. ]

House of the Rising Sun (Shells) [ A ROTTMNT/Ninjago AU that takes place after the Rise movie and during Dragon’s Rising. When the Merge caused the Realms to collide, Earth was caught in the crossfire, and everyone ended up scattered across the Merged Realms. While trying to find their lost family and friends, the Hamatos settle in the Crossroads and meet a couple young faces. ]

NINJAGO:

Some Assembly Required [ A rewrite AU. In which the bite from the Devourer didn’t turn Garmadon evil, instead just making him sick. This creates a domino effect leading to different situations for everyone, the most significant change being the main cast are raised not really knowing what elemental powers mean. Also has a lot of original lore surrounding the dragons and how Ninjago was made. ]

Web of Destiny [ A Spiderman AU, in which the Ninja are a group of spider-themed heroes and their villains appear in a much more cartoonish manner. The Dragon’s Rising cast also features. ]

The Dragon’s Samurai [ A Pixal-focused Crystalized ending rewrite AU, in which the Golden Powers went haywire somewhere in translation, and now Pixal has to hunt down her now-Dragon-and-Oni friends and talk some sense into them. ]

Abnormal Reaction [ A Bizarro AU, in which the Bizarros don’t die after getting defeated and instead regroup elsewhere, officially defecting once the Overlord gets involved and choosing to go about their own lives. ]

A Different Vision of the Future [ A Genshin AU, where the Ninja are from all over the world of Teyvat. More art than solid story, and I’m changing a few parts of the Genshin character design that annoy me. (Which, honestly, is most things.) ]

Ready Your Triforce, It’s About To Have More Sides [ A Breath of the Wild crossover AU, in which time shenanigans cause the Ninja to land in different points of the Hyrule timeline, letting them interact with different friends there. Mostly Cole, Lloyd, and Link focused. ]

staring up at the sky (and hoping to see your face) [ A very Lloyd-focused self indulgent self discovery AU, involving the personification of concepts and what it would mean to leave everything behind to evolve into something new. ]

Ninjas & Normies [ A powers-less AU in which they’re all regular college students who enjoy playing D&D. Everyone gets a chance to run a campaign, and every campaign is based off of a plot point or season from the show. ]

Departed and Service [ An AU based on Five Nights at Freddy’s, not actually a FNAF AU. Morro gets hired at a party place themed around a popular children’s show, and starts to realize these animatronics are a bit more lively than they’re meant to be. Features the Dragon’s Rising cast and a lot of side characters. ]

SPINJITZOON! [ A Splatoon AU in which they’re all Inklings and Octolings, and Ronin is essentially Grizz. The Dragon’s Rising cast features, more art than full story. ]

Pokemon Spin and Pokemon Whip [ A Pokemon AU with two parts. The first being Kai, Nya, and Lloyd focused as the trio goes on their Pokemon adventure, and the second being Arin, Sora, Wyldfyre, and Euphrasia focused as they all try to battle their way through the gyms. ]

Adventures of the Dragon [ A D&D AU that’s more art than full story, as everyone gets to live in a D&D style fantasy world. ]

Shapes and Colors [ A powers-less Minecraft/social media AU, in which the main Ninja are a group of friends playing on a Minecraft server together. Some of them are streamers/Youtubers who record their time on the server, putting it out for their fans to watch, and some of them do lore while others don’t have any idea what’s happening in their friends’ stories. Features the other Elemental Masters and Dragon’s Rising characters. ]

Lights, Camera, Action! [ An actor AU, in which Ninjago is just a show put on their world that the characters act for. Takes a look behind the scenes into their off screen personalities, just a fun character exploration. ]

Song of the Sirens [ A mermaid AU, in which some of them are sea creatures and some of them are sailors. Very vaguely Little Mermaid inspired. ]

Mobs of a Feather Flock Together [ A Minecraft AU, where the Ninjago characters get to live in a Minecraft-inspired world and are all different hybrids inspired by the fanon interpretations of hybrid traits. Features side characters and Dragon’s Rising characters. ]

Ninjagoing Going Gone [ A Scooby Doo-esque mystery AU, a sort of blend between movieverse and showverse. With Arin, Sora, Wyldfyre, and Euphrasia as the main characters, they’re searching for the heroes they used to hear about as kids before they completely disappeared. They manage to track down Lloyd, and convince him to help them, even though he’s not entirely sure he can. ]

These Problems Are Multi-Faceted [ A gem AU, but not following the plot of Steven Universe. Instead, after Pink Diamond’s rebellion and escape to one of his planets, a shaky truce is established and the fighting between his new world and Homeworld ceases. However, that doesn’t stop Homeworld from sending a small crew consisting of an Emerald, a Bismuth, and a Lapis Lazuli to the planet to try and bring him back. ]

Elements of Harmony [ A music based AU, where the Elemental Masters get their powers through playing specific instruments. They try to keep this secret, but it’s pretty hard with how entwined music is in their lives. ]

Couple of Cards [ An AU following the vibes of shows such as Yu-Gi-Oh and Digimon, where the Dragon's Rising kids enjoy playing a mystical card game that turns out to go deeper than they originally thought. ]

Hey Guys Welcome To My Slime Tutorial [ A Slime Rancher AU, in which Lloyd and Pixal venture out to the Far Far Range, aiming to become successful slime ranchers. While coming across new faces, trying to tame uncooperative slimes, and uncovering the story of the man who owned the ranch before them, they realize that life is a lot different than they thought. ]

[milks-thoughts]

MORE ABT MY HTTYD AU >:D

Just to recap/finalize:

Raph:

• A stormcutter

• Protective, one of the main alphas in the nest (Donnie is the other)

• The third to accept MC as part of the nest

• Is twice the size of normal stormcutters

• His role as alpha is more to protect then provide

Donnie:

• Razorwhip

• Analytical, the first, and the one who brings MC to the nest

• He’s missing a large portion of his tail and has extremely soft scales due to a birth defect, he wears armor made out of other razorwhip shedding

• He provides as an alpha and prefers to provide rather than protect. He goes and steals from islands until MC comes along and shows them FISH.

Leo:

• A Death Song

• when AU properly starts (HTTYD 2) he STILL doesn’t trust MC

• Missing a horn and his tail fin is torn up

• Helps keep the nest calm, the balancer of the scale

Mikey:

• a hobblegrunt!!

• the second to properly trust MC

• blind, highly dependent on his brothers and MC

• dragon empath <3

The Nest:

In all honesty, I was having issues imagining the nest. My mind kept flip flopping from a scary inactive volcano like the Queens nest from the first movie, or a lush paradise from the second. I eventually settled on how New Berk looks from the third movie. The island itself is completely surrounded by tall rocks and deep forests that scare any Vikings away. Not to mention the constant dragon calls that echo out from anywhere. The deeper you walk the scarier it gets before finally…it comes to a lush paradise

Side Characters (still Hamato family, just not the brothers)/New Things:

Splinter:

Monsterus Nightmare <3

You gonna have to hear me out: Monsterus Nightmares are shown to be lazy but can kick ass

He’s more of a grandpa resting dragon, he rarely intervenes and trusts his sons to lead the nest

LOVES MC, especially when MC started to clean off his old shed and spend time with him

April:

Deadly Nader

From the show: “ The Deadly Nadder. Piercing spines, loyal, powerful...” “ Intelligent, and, of course, deadly."

Untrusting of MC but growing closer to them after seeing them try to treat all the bros with kindness

One of the main guards and hunters for the nest, she used to scout before getting injured by a Viking and having her wing torn

Cassandra:

Night fury (yes I did use a picture of toothless)

I immediately knew what to do for her, it’s just a gut feeling

Cassandra is the main guard for the nest, she’s larger then normal night furies

She doesn’t trust MC at all but respects MC because the Alphas say to

Casey Jr:

Night light

I feel like he’d still be an egg when MC is introduced

I’ve messed with the timeline a bit so Cass has him when they’re all still younger (it’d make sense because they’re dragons <3)

He trusts MC and constantly is sneaking away from the nest, all the other dragon young following him

Draxum:

Screaming Death

He was brought into the nest by Mikey after he got lost in the woods

In this AU he isn’t related to the bros (neither is splinter, they’re all adopted. that isn’t a excuse don’t be gross guys)

Literally hates MC, tried to eat them, 0/10

Gargoyles:

Night Terrors!!!

They’re so silly

Trusts MC with their lives

Hunts for Draxum

i fucking hate mobile Tumblr so I’ll post a picture of Night Terrors in the comments <3

When this au takes place:

So in the canon, it’d start at the beginning of the first movie, the entire first movie MC is at the nest and just trying to get comfortable. The second movie is when MC really takes an active role, during the Netflix shows timeline MC meets Valka and bonds over their nests. Valka calls MC for help during the second movie, causing MC to lose the nest and the boys. MC helps Berk move but when Hiccup told them to let the dragons go they refused and took the nest and left. Saying that Hiccup should never have asked that and they will aid Berk when they fail due to their loss (rough draft but the majority of the AU happens during the second movie)

[nani-nonny]

Okay!! I read ch 10 and lord help me because i need it!

Starting with April dragging shopping cart full of things and i don't blame her, almost the whole family needs it and i feel older leo will get into trouble for exposing himself, idk if the rest of hamato knows about what he did.

When barry explained the mystic power my brain kinda stopped working (i have 1 beain cell, have mercy), but ifhe really hit the jackpot on who they are? Damn that'll be either great detective skills or new level of common sense 😂

My god i feel bad for the rest of family because they're worried sick while the leos are off to fucking dreamland xD

" Surviving death " BOY THAT'S A BADASS LINE! I LOVE IT!! YES THEY'RE GONNA SURVIVE DEATH!!!❤💜🧡

You know the part where leo tries to give his mystic energy? Zip zapping? Yeah my brain got fried trying to read it 🥲

I read the spoiler 2 of ch 10 but damn seeing the thread fall makes me gets worried they actually failed.

Raphael smiles, a snaggletooth making itself known in the corner of the snapper’s mouth. ( you don't know how much this made me happy, after 10 chapters FINALLY THEY MEET)

Honestly the whole time i thought the ghost brothers are in their own colors, orange, red & purple instead of white.

" And just as the moon begins to fade, so does Raphael " NO DON'T DO THAT!! THEY ALREADY MET

" Draxum’s eyebrow raises in pure confusion " trust me barry, that my same reaction like BOY WHAT ARE YOU ON?!

And of course we gotta add everyone's insecurity, it's a hurt/comfort fic after all.

Casey jr finally got his phone and it's light blue!! Like a mini leo/blue!

And this got me confused “How is he, Little Blue?”

Ooo let’s see what you thought! I’ll respond to every thought but basically thank you for reading!

And here’s my reaction to your long response <33:

Anyways, a kind of a long post :)

Starting with April dragging shopping cart…

Yellow bringing supplies is absolutely necessary with all the near-death-experiences the Leonardos keep having /hj.

And everyone already knows that Leonardo exposed himself! (Ch.6: Voices)

Yellow’s eyes narrow in frustration as she looks down at the ground at the reminder, “Casey and I asked a bunch of people in the neighborhood but everyone was either busy trying to salvage what they can or gave us vague answers. Apparently, some green giant was running around evacuating the city and someone said my mom must have gone with a group.”

Purple’s eyes lock on Leonardo who immediately understands.

“That was me,” the elder answers.

Yellow’s eyes slowly widened, “That was you?”

The family hasn’t gotten around to deciding what to do from that point on because of situations. (The situations being the injuries of course haha)

When barry explained the mystic power…

I tried knowledging it up for Draxum’s mystic explanation because he’s a warring-warrior-scientist, but basically Leonardo’s running out of battery power (because of the “voices”) so he’s using backups and Blue is the glorified battery charger. The phone and charger duo lol

I feel like Draxum’s thought process being the voices that Leonardo hears is: “Who else but his clingy family members would bother to stick with him for this long?” /j

My god I feel bad for the rest of the family…

The Leos in “Dreamland” (+ F!Raph and F!Mikey):

“Surviving death”…

F!Mikey living up to his “badass mystic warrior” title fr

You know the part where leo tries to give…

See Little Blue’s dot/fire-center-thing? v

I imagine that as his center (kind of where his heart is), when he was doing the defibrillator zip-zap thing, he’s taking a piece of it, balling it up to make it smaller for easier transit, then sends it down his arm directly to Leonardo’s center to explode throughout Leonardo’s body like an electric shock

Hopefully that helps!

I read the spoiler 2 of ch.10…

Everyone’s fine, we just need Draxum to go to the Hidden City to find the damn mystic herb. No worries :)

Raphael smiles, a snaggletooth making itself known…

Leonardo finally reuniting with Raphael was actually not what I intended when planning out the story. He was supposed to officially meet F!Mikey first a few chapters back, but things went awry in writing so I moved it to here and changed the brother. But I suppose technically the brothers haven’t officially-officially reunited.

Honestly the whole time I thought the ghost…

Teehee, they’re supposed to be in their personal colors *plays menacing piano noise*

“And just as the moon begins to fade, so does Raphael.”

THE STARS CANT COME AT NIGHT WITHOUT THE MOON, BUT WHO IS THE MOON????

“Draxum’s eyebrow raises in pure confusion”

Listen, the old man doesn’t remember everything mystic-related, and he’s absolutely confused why Blue of all people knows something mystical hahah

And of course we gotta add everyone’s insecurity…

I just wanted to share a little insight on how they’re feeling teehee I have to remind everyone I can cross the threshold of entering angst at any moment if I wanted /j

Casey Jr finally got his phone…

Purple would’ve made it a completely other color that isn’t any kind of blue just to spite the old man but we’re not at the point of making jokes with the old man lol

“How is he, Little Blue?”

It’s in ghostly italics, so it’s one of the voices, but whose? *rubs hands manically*

[rose-tea-and-strawberries]

So first of all @camrastuff I'd like to thank you SO MUCH for giving me an excuse to talk about this because I joined the rottmnt fandom back in like last October so I've had months to gather thoughts™ that I was too scared to post but now that I have an opening let's just say:

Mikey would be the best therapist for Yuu. Like they've got so much PTSD from not just the overblots but everything from Crowley's negligence to the mistreatment they faced from the NRC students and you know that dear sweet sunshine child will just wrap Yuu up in a nice warm blanket and feed them the best meal ever before going super saiyan on everyone that's wronged her. Let's just say that he's going to prove to everyone why he was named after the the most powerful archangel/angel of justice. 'Michelangelo' means to be like God and soon Crowley will understand what that entails :)

Donnie and Idia would have a love-hate relationship. Like Donnie can respect a tech prodigy when he sees one and he is fascinated with how Idia can so seamlessly mix both technology and magic ("it's mystic not magic") but he scoffs at everything else. 1) He can only take one blue obsessed dum-dum and his twin wears it better and purple is the superior colour anyway 2) they get into a fight over who is the bigger Hatsune Miku stan and 3) HE HURT YUU AND THEREFORE HE MUST PAY - Donnie no put the tech bo down no Donnie no do not use your ninpo to create lethal (or semi-lethal) weapons of mass destruction. (His lust for violence was contained for now but he does get his revenge by hacking into S.T.Y.X HQ and taking control of their tech for 48 hours and had the speakers play nothing but the pi channel for an entire day)

Oh also S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N and Ortho get on like a house on fire. They both love their creators/family and would not hesitate to nuke a country for them. Like could you imagine the chaos gremlins, S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N "I'll ready the disposal unit *unleashes US nuclear arsenal*" Hamato and Ortho "for Yuu's birthday present I'll hack into classified documents and give them government secrets/save my brother or I'll blow up the school 😊" Shroud just living their best life. S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N also teaches Ortho how to curse in binary

I would like to see Donnie go against Leona in a chess match but really the best competition would be Leonardo 'master manipulator' Hamato vs Leona 'king of strategy' Kingscholar.

Oh and don't get me started on Leo vs Azul. When he finds out about a purple-coded eight-legged mythical creature that takes on a human form and speaks in honeyed words to conduct shady business and lure their victims into deals that give them an advantage and will sabotage said victims he just gets flashbacks. When he finds out about how Yuu outsmarted him though, he's going to pat her head and be so proud. He's also the perfect scary turtle privilege against Octavinelle because the tweels don't even scare him - he and Donnie are the cooler set of twins and he's been through much worse than some godfather impersonators.

Honestly, I can just see Leo being the most obnoxious turtle on the planet and just annoying everyone and making their life hell as a kind of payback for hurting Yuu (as the face man he's gotta make sure that all eyes are on him so that his brothers can do the rest of the work behind the scenes). He's also besties with Che'nya.

Oh yes Raph and Jack are 100% gym buddies but I think he and Deuce would be so cute together - just a pair of protective soft bois with violent tendencies who think more with their fists than their heads.

April 'best protective big sis with more skills than Barbie' would be ready to use her bat on every single nrc boy and she's not afraid to show it. I don't really know who she'd vibe with but I think Epel would think that she's awesome and would want her to teach him how to be stronger. The entirety of Savanaclaw is terrified of her.

Bonus: I just know that Cassandra and Sebek would absolutely hate each other and the thought of those two interacting brings me great joy

Yuu using an NRC assembly as a school-wide therapy session

Yuu: Good morning. I'm Dr. Feelings. Welcome to my seminar, "Communication"!

Ace: ‘Dr. Feelings’? I thought you were Dr. Delicate Touch.

Yuu: Dr. Delicate Touch feels nothing.

[a-dumb-sarcastic-bisexual]

To celebrate becoming mutuals and because I know college is kicking your ass, have a headcanon prompt! Warning: it’s a bit angsty

How would the rest of the Hamatos react when Casey Jr tells them they all die in his timeline?

Cheers to being mutuals

For a little backstory this is the order I think they die in: Raph, Donnie, Splinter, April, and then Mikey and Leo

Let's go by age cause that’s how I’ve always done it

Splinter: I think he would try and brush over his death. Internally I feel like he would try to rationalize it and come up with reasons for his death: saving humans or his family. But he would be devastated to find out he outlives two of his kids, like falling to the ground sobbing his little heart out devastated. It still haunts him to this day. It also makes him rethink the path he’s set his kids on. Like don’t get me wrong he knows death is always a possibility on a battlefield. He’s heard tales of his ancestors sacrificing themselves ever since he was small. And honestly, it was easy to separate himself from those deaths and become desensitized his mindset was something along the lines of “I never knew them so why should I care if they died”. But when he heard how his kids died and how similar the stories were it kind of gives him an existential crisis. Cause he put them on this path he raised them to be great warriors and he can't stop them no matter what and that kills him.

April: I feel like she would take some pride in knowing that her last few moments were spent protecting humanity and fighting the good fight. But she would feel guilt in outliving both Raph and Donnie (outliving Splinter is kind of a given). And she would definitely blame herself because in her mind their death only means one thing she failed. And she would definitely hug the boys a little tighter for a month or so after she heard the news.

Raph: Externally he would try and calm his siblings down he would say something like “well thank the pizza supreme in the sky that we don't live in that future”. But internally he would be freaking out. He’s very similar to Splinter in the sense that he’d brush over his death (or he would try to at least) and focus on his siblings. I think it would crush him when he found out how they died. But he swears to this day the thing that really broke his heart was hearing how his baby brothers and his big sister had to fight nonstop every single day for the rest of their lives. And he hates that a small part of him is proud of that. 

Donnie: Knew already. He heard how Casey referred to him in the past tense. But he also knew confronting Casey when they were trying to save Raph was irrational. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t knock the wind out of him. Donnie has the worst reaction to death (Leo is a close second) in the sense that he shuts down. When Casey explained everything Donnie heard it processed it wrote down blueprints for robots that he could transfer his sibling's into when they die and then he would “go offline”.

(for context this is something I do when my family presents me with information that's hard to swallow. I’ll hear it, I’ll process it and my brain decides “oh you can come up with a plan to deal with that later but after that, you’ll resort to basic human functions” I will eat and drink and breathe but that's about it. My mama came up with the term “going offline” when I explained it to her and that sums up the feeling perfectly)

Mikey: Would be crushed. Absolutely devastated. Poor bubba wouldn't know what to do with himself. Cause here's the thing Mikey isn’t stupid he knows that he's related to a group of self-sacrificing morons. But having to hear how they died out loud. Breaks something inside of him. Because he doesn’t know how to fix that. He has all the mystic power in the world but he can't snap his fingers and wrap his family in lifesaving bubble wrap for all eternity. And that fucking sucks. So he does the only thing he can think of which is using his “baby brother privilege” to demand an immediate turtle pile. Cause he knows his siblings need it (and he does too). 

[mad4turtles]

I have a request it��s a silly one I’ve been meaning to draw myself but I’d like to see your take on it. Can I see your version of a sugared up rotmnt Leo and the chaos that ensues

Oh, this. THIS is beautiful XD

---

Hamato Raphael has few regrets in his life. That's not saying much considering he's lived all of seventeen years, but he can count on his fingers the number of true regrets he has. One of them being—what else—what transpired nearly a year prior with the Krang and the damned portal.

(He's not sure he'll ever truly forgive himself for that, for all his family assure him it wasn't him, it was them. But he does his best to put it behind him nowadays. They're healing.)

His most recent regret, however, is one he could have easily prevented had he been listening to what Casey and Leo were chatting about in the T.V. room. 

Had he not been engrossed in his phone, doom-scrolling through memes on Twitter and Tumblr, he might've heard the future boys' innocent question: “Hey, Leo, what's a... a 'sugar rush'?”

Had he not been snickering at another Will Smith slap meme, he might've noticed Leo looking up to send Casey The Grin. The Grin that spells doom for every Hamato (or anyone associated with or in the general vicinity of the Hamato's). 

If Raphael had just seen The Grin, he'd have one less regret. 

~0o0~

Later, he gets a text from Donnie.

DonTron: Raphael. Did you leave the sugar snacks in plain sight and within reach in the cupboard?

Biggest Bro: … y?

DonTron: Doth thou not hear the caterwauling of the sugar-high devils currently destroying our less-than-humble abode?????

DonTron: Because I can. I have dubstep in my headphones. I can still hear the screams, papa.

Oh god.

Raph all but flies out of his room, skidding to a halt in the kitchen with wide eyes.

“YOOOO TELL YA WHAT I WANT, WHAT I REALLY REALLY WANT—!”

Leo is standing on the dining table, basketball shorts on his head and Splinter's fur brush in his hand like a microphone, his face coated in colour splatters of milk, chocolate and sugar that have Raph's nose tingling. 

“SO TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT, WHAT YOU REALLY REALLY WANT!”

Casey is shirtless, Fanta and Pepsi Max bottles strapped to his belt like guns in holsters, empty boxes of Lucky Charms and Fruit Loops taped to his shoulders like armour, the remnants of the food sticking to his face and chest, stomping his bare feet to the tone-deaf beat.

“I'LL TELL YA WHAT I WANT, WHAT REALLY REALLY WANT—!”

Mikey's head is wrapped with tinfoil, Captain Crunch's face cut out like a mask which the box shell has taped to his face, vibrant splatters of paint in every colour of the rainbow staining his body, the countertops and the floor as whips his dripping brushes wildly about like a drunk at a rave party. That explains why Casey has war paint, Raph supposes. 

“I WANNA REALLY REALLY REALLY WANNA ZIG-A-ZIG, AAAAHHHH—!”

Raph watches, frozen, as his little brothers screech like banshees, banging pots and pans like drums and dousing themselves with paint and enough sugary foods to make Raph's teeth ache second-hand. He watches as Leo attempts a backflip, slips on a gummy worm dipped in chocolate sauce and spins twice mid-air on the way to the floor, only to shake it off with his whole body and go right back to screaming to the Spice Girls. Mikey does the Toby Maguire dance. Casey twerks.

Raph watches. Donnie appears from thin air, phone already in hand and filming. When Raph cuts him a glance, he shrugs. “Blackmail,” he says at length.

Raph blinks very slowly. “You don't think that, I dunno... maybe we should intervene?”

“SENSEI! I CAN TASTE THE COLOURS OF THE RAINBOW!”

“YES, MY SON! UNLEASH YOUR TRUE GAY POWER!”

Donnie blinks back. “You ask far too much of me, brother dearest.” He turns back to the mayhem. 

Raph stares at him a moment longer. He turns back just as Leo clambers onto the table again and pops open a bag of skittles, to the delight of Mikey and Casey. “NOW EVERYONE'S MY BOYFRIEND!”

Raph feels like doing a lot of things. Screaming, crying, laughing, all three at once. Smashing something almost tops the list, but he settles for the next best, and least destructive, thing. 

“I'll get the hose,” he sighs and stomps away. Donnie hums and continues filming. 

Raph returns just as Mikey finishes a butchered rendition of Memory from Cats, and he feels nothing when he aims and fires streams of freezing water at the three shrieking stooges. He doesn't stop until they're out of the kitchen, screaming curses and sopping wet. Then he looks at Donnie. “Is your phone waterproof?”

Donnie cocks a drawn brow. “It's everything proof. Why?”

“Just checking,” Raph says and sprays Donnie in the face.

~0o0~

What goes up must come down, and when the boys finally crash, it's a pitiful sight.

Raph is keenly aware that their suffering is deserved. But he's just as at fault for not nipping Leo's hairless-brained scheme in the bud or for forgetting to properly hide the sugary goods April had brought from their last hangout from Leo and Mikey's grubby little hands. The guilt from that (minor though it is) and years of Big Brother instincts compel Raph to hold Casey's hair back as he hurls in the toilet, help Leo scrub his shell in the hard-to-reach areas, and wrangle Mikey's limbs into his pyjamas. Then he's lugging all three into the living room, where the inflatable mattress and blankets have already been set up.

Once they're all tucked in, he stands up with a huff and crosses his arms. “So,” he begins sternly—bleeding heart or no, he's still tired and mildly pissed. “What have we learned?”

“Sugar is Satan,” Casey whimpers in his blanket cocoon. Leo huffs a tired snicker. Raph bites back his own.

“A bit extreme, but okay. What else?”

“Always remember the wise words from Jeff Goldblum,” Mikey croaks.

“Which are?”

“We could, but we never stopped to think if we should,” Leo groans. “And also this whole situation is one big pile of shit.”

Raph nods. “Exactly, but language. And what are we not gonna do from now on?”

“Indulge in sugary sin?” Casey moans.

This time Raph snickers. “What's with the Bible stuff? You prayin' for a quick recovery?”

Casey sends Raph a withering glare. “If God was real, he'd have stopped us.”

“Nah, man,” Mikey shakes his head and shuts his eyes, cuddling deeper into the blanket and Leo's side as he shivers. “Why d'you think he stays in heaven? He's hiding from Leo.”

Leo's face cracks a stupid grin. “That's me, slayer of pink alien bitches and feared by God himself. Bow before me, mortals.”

Casey swats at him weakly. “I'd sooner bow before the toilet again. I'm never listening to you again, you asshole.”

“You asked me, though.”

“Then I'm an idiot. Which says a lot about the guy who raised me.”

“Go for the throat, why don't you.”

Raph rolls his eyes. “Alright, alright, that's enough.” He bends down to tuck the blanket snugly around them again. “Get some sleep. I'll be in the kitchen, cleaning up your mess, so holler if you need me. If you gotta puke, bucket's next to the couch.”

Leo's hand peeks out from the blanket burrito and holds Raph's finger. The snapper looks at Leo's mask-less face as it gives way to something devoid of all pretence. “... 'm sorry, Raphie.”

And just like that, all irritation leaves him in a sigh shaped like a smile. He squeezes Leo's hand. “You're good, little brother. Just don't do it again, aight? I can only take so much of you, dum-dum. Don't need you converting Mikey and Jr, too.” Freeing his hand, he raps his knuckles against Leo's forehead. The slider giggles tiredly and swats back playfully, missing by a mile as Raph stands. “G'night, fellas. Hope your dreams at as wild as Casey's twerking.”

Raph has a few regrets in his short life. But picking up after his idiot brothers in the wake of their childish antics as they howl with hysterical laughter in the other room isn't one of them. 

All part of being a big brother.

---

This was an absolute BLAST to write. Feel free to send more requests :)

Reblogs are very appreciated &lt;3

[thefaceman]

📒

That's a good question!

I actually plan to write fanfics for almost every TMNT AU that I've created. And I'm also have a one-shot book in the making as well. So allow me to introduce these said AU's for planed fanfics (vague summaries though because I'm still figuring them out):

Teenage Ninja Girls- This is a genderbend and species swap AU. Basically all girls are boys, boys are girls, mutants are humans, and humans are mutants. Something's changed such as names and how the mutantagen works, but the story is relatively the same. (2012 AU but has a ROTTMNT version)

Teenage Mutant Survival Team- The Turtles work for the government and mutants coexist with humans. This universe has some major changes such as Splinter taking over the Foot, the Turtles origin story, and a role swap. (2012 AU)

Girl Power Unleashed : TMNT Next Generation- An alternate universe based into the future where the Turtles have children. Leo has a pair of twin daughters named Rin and Izami but, after an unfortunate accident, Leo passes away and Kairai takes custody over the two girls. Raph and Mona have a daughter named Sukera and Mikey has a daughter named Guri with Shinagami. Donnie, however, is in a complicated situation with his kids since he's technically the step-dad of April and Casey's son and daughter, Jackson and Pollian. Since this AU has coexistence, the kids go to highschool where they meet new friends and deal with mean girl drama. (2012 AU)

Teenage Mystic Gem Turtles- In this AU, while Drax was working on the mutantagen, he accidentally knocked over a tray of gemstones into it. This makes the turtles not only mutants but also magical gem beings as well. The story of this AU is still the same after that but with one exception: instead of weapons they use a set of magical powers stored within themselves. (ROTTMNT AU)

The Legend of Leonardo: The Lost Spirit- Long ago, the world consisted of one piece of land. It was peaceful and the people lived in prosperity. Until one day war broke out amongst the people of the world, resulting in the land splitting into four countries: Altruis, Liberty, Gallant, and Acute. Now, eight-hundred years later, the world is in danger of being destroyed again by a deadly spirit. Leonardo, a 14-year-old anthropomorphic turtle, lives in the country of Selflessness. However, he's always felt out of place there. Wishing to explore more of what the world had to offer, he heads out towards the center of Altruis in search of Master Splinter, the leader of the country. Taking his best friend Usagi, this begins Leo's journey. (ROTTMNT AU)

Ready Set, Let’s Go- It’s April’s birthday and the Mad Dogz are out looking to get her a special gift from the Hidden City. Going into the Hidden City was usually really fun. Markets buzzed, Yokai and mutants shopping and bustling about. But this time, things didn’t end up that way.To cover more ground, the gang agrees to split up and meet back at a pet store. But that was a bad idea. A very bad idea. Lost and confessed, Mikey makes the mistake of stumbling into an illegal Yokai traffic ring and ends up in a situation that changes the future of Yokai and Mutant kind. Kidnapped and sold to an illegal underground brawling organization, Mikey must do whatever it takes to stay alive and devotes his time to not only release himself, but release the other fighters from their lives of servitude and pain, constructing and organizing a revolution. All while Leo and Raph protect the life of a little girl and Donnie looks endlessly for his missing brothers. (ROTTMNT AU)

Runaway (currently being written)- What if Leo got tired of feeling like he had no place not only on the team but in his family? What if a failed mission, caused by his own mistake, was the last straw for him? Failing time and time again, Leo can’t help feeling incompetent. Having no necessary role and believing everyone would be better off without him, he runs away to the Hidden City where he lives peacefully until a Nigawarai starts causing trouble in his neighborhood. While Leo battles tooth and nail to help a new friend from the yokai, Leo’s brother’s work day and night to find him. (ROTTMNT AU)

Searchers- Siblings Leo and Donnie discover their destiny to fight untold evil as the two crisscross the country, investigating paranormal activity and picking fights with yokai, mutants, ghosts and monsters. (ROTTMNT AU)

Enchantment High- Life was great. The Shredder is officially gone, the Council of Heads have wavered Draxum’s former crimes in favor of his contribution to save New York, and the turtles have a new home located in the Hidden City. Now months after the defeat of Shredder, Leo and his brothers receive letters to attend the most prestigious school in the Hidden City: Silverpond Academy of Magic. There, the Hamato siblings make new friends, make enemies, find love, and face the biggest challenge of their lives: High school. (ROTTMNT AU)

Outlands (very underdeveloped)- A futuristic cowboy dystopian AU (ROTTMNT AU)

From One to the Other (in development stage)- The Kraang are trying to rebuild in the Rise universe so out of desperation, Donnie brings in the 2012 turtles for help to stop them from recreating their empire. (TMNT 2012 and ROTTMNT AU)

TMNT Legendary Heroes (TMNT Reboot)(in development stage) - My own version of the TMNT story.

Different (in development stage)- A collection of TMNT one-shots.

[void-writing]

My main reference image of Milo! (I’ve decided against the more snake-y design I initially introduced her with for now, soooo human-passing form it is!)

Short description:

- Eldest Sister

- Oracle

- Raised by Draxum for a bit before his and Splinter’s “divorce” and Splinter got custody of all the kids.

- Full name is technically “Venus de Milo” since that’s the artist she took inspiration from but everyone only calls her “Milo” because that’s her preferred end of the name. Not even Splinter really uses her “full” name and frequently calls her either “Milo” or “Green”

- Weapon is a bisento but the mystic weapon she picks up in Draxum’s lab in the first episode is a pair of chain scythes (power still TBD but for now leaning towards elemental lightning not unlike the kusari fundo’s elemental fire).

- The designated magic expert of the team until Draxum is domesticated. Taught Leo, Raph, and Mikey how to use their stolen mystic weapons because Milo trained with them as a kid when she lived with Draxum. Leo briefly tries to switch weapons with Milo because she's clearly so much better with the odachi and its portal power than he is (Milo doesn't let him).

- Does death mazes for fun (a regular at the Maze of Death and their best customer).

- Literature and fantasy buff as she’s not that big on JJ, much to her brothers’ and April’s collective horror. Later has major beef with JJ’s actor.

- Has clandestinely been training with the Hamato Ancestors from an early age so that she will be ready to face The Shredder, who’s return is frequently featured in her visions (she stole the Ancestor’s Scroll from Splinter’s room and he didn’t notice for literal years).

- Gram Gram Karai survives in Milo’s universe but at the cost of Milo taking her place fighting The Shredder as the rest of the family escapes (she makes it out fine in the end, but it’s a close call).

- Milo knows how to sew and likes making clothes for herself, her brothers, and April. Splinter taught her how and it’s been their main Father-Daughter activity for years.

- Milo has a vigilante persona: The Nightwatcher (yes, Raph's persona from the 2007 movie). Mostly was created to comb the city for Foot activity and leads on pieces of the Dark Armor (because a frankly ridiculous amount ended up in New York somehow). She’s been a persistent thorn in the Foot’s side since she was ten (their pride never fully recovered after getting soundly beat on fairly regular intervals by a 4'3" elementary schooler after Milo found her stride). She also occasionally confronts petty crime from street gangs like the Violet Wyrms (they were the OG Purple Dragons until the techy Purple Dragons we know from Rise blackmailed them into surrendering the name, so now they’re stuck with the bootleg version).

- Has been passing friends with Casey since they were nine (Casey threw a knife at Milo, Milo—who has been dealing with little brothers’ whose new favorite thing was throwing stuff at her to see if she catches it—proceeds to catch it, realizations are had by all. They become best friends despite not thinking to tell each other their names for literal years). Their friendship kind of fractured when the Hamato-Foot Clan Rivary reignited and they were forced to pick sides. Ends up with Casey giving the Brownie Clan a rather conflicting idea of just who Milo was to her (there is an ongoing betting pool amongst the Brownie Clan over whether Milo and Casey were ex-friends or ex-girlfriends. Nothing Casey said or did cleared up that confusion for the longest time).

- Keeps a lot of secrets. Doesn’t necessarily mean to keep a lot of secrets. It's an oracle thing. If you don't ask, Milo won't answer.

- Eats crickets and likes them. Also has an insane spice tolerance thanks to being the only Hamato to have had dinner with April’s family and partaken of their “old family recipe” of TOO MUCH HOT SAUCE.

- Does occasional singing gigs with the DIG gals, especially to vent pent up frustrations after the Kraang Invasion (See "Monkey's Paw" by Cami-Cat on YouTube if you want an idea of what Milo sang in that time).

- "Surface Pressure" Intensifies

The next steps are in the works though I need images for the contestants!

I’ll have brackets posted by Friday

Pictures and descriptions

[soldrawss]

What would their personalities be like in the reverse au? All the brothers are usually pretty protective, so is Mikey the protective one now?

Their personalities are, for the most part, pretty much the same. It’s just their dynamics with each other that is the biggest change!

Mikey is still the bubbly optimist and sunshine child he is, and tries to do his best to be the best brother he can be to Raph and Leo and Donnie and do GOOD by them. He’s protective like any big brother is, obviously, but that protectiveness got a little more strained and heavy to carry when he became the boy’s sole guardian and substitute parent. And Mikey, though he’d happily sooner work himself into an early grave than show it, is terrified that he’s inadequate. That every day poses a threat of him messing something up, something big, and all it would take is for one little slip up for the powers that be to take his baby brothers away from him forever. He’s protective in a way he wears on his chest like a suit of armor. He’s proud of his burden and he wouldn’t have it any other way if it means he gets to keep the three best things that have ever happened to him safely in the circle of his arms. But it’s a burden none the less. A weighted responsibility, dragging him down and wearing him thin, but he trudges on anyway because that’s just the way it is since pops died.

Leo and Donnie and Raph are protective right back though, the only way a child knows how to protect the person they love.

Leo and Donnie are old enough to know what’s at stake. They know what Mikey puts himself through to provide for them. How that first 2 years after dad’s death, Mikey took up the worst kinda jobs in the worst part of towns, just to get a paycheck big enough to squeeze all their necessities out of, and even though he’d been working for 16 hours, and his feet probably killed him, he still would make dinner for them, ask them about their day, help them with homework and listen to whatever nonsense they had to say like it was the most interesting in the world. How Mike would stay up late even after the long and probably rough day he had, getting barely three hours of sleep at a time, just to try and scramble together enough credits in pieces and tiny handfuls at a time to earn himself an associates degree, so he could do even better and work even harder to provide for what was left of their little broken family. They know all of it. They see Mikey kill himself every day for them and pretend he doesn’t and it invokes a sort of protective rawness out of them that is just as toothed and fierce and braided in well-worn love as Mikey’s and they work hard in their own right.

It’s little things mostly, things they don’t really think are that big but add up immensely. They keep the house clean, take turns doing the dishes and laundry and make a game out of it for Raph so that Raph doesn’t get fussy or bored while they keep up with house chores. They pick up Raph from daycare on their way home from school, swinging his hands in between them as they walk down the street so that he doesn’t get the wise idea to rush out into traffic at ever bird or stray cat he sees. Donnie helps Leo with his math homework, cause Leo swears 6 ways up to Sunday that Mrs. Andrews is trying to fail him on purpose, and Leo always picks Donnie first to play on his team during P.E and recess even though his friends groan about it to him and Donnie sucks at contact sports, and half of everything they do already is just a twin thing anyway. But they can’t deny that half of it is also for Mikey’s sake. Because every A+ science project and winning homeroom is a sort of red flag the twins wave in defiance of all the adults in their lives that look down on Mikey taking care of them and Leo and Donnie dare anyone to look at them and thinks, “those poor Hamato children. If only there was someone older than could take care of them. Give them the life they need.”

Which is stupid. Because they already have the life they need. And the twins don’t want any part of whatever life others think could be better than a life without their big brother, who is all cat jokes and warm hugs and tickle wars and ‘sure, of course, you can make a pillow fort in the living room, use my bedsheet to make one of the walls’, in it.

And Raph doesn’t know about all the big things his brothers know, like how money is always tight and there are people right outside his door that could take Raph away whenever they feel like it. Or how there were some people who looked at Mikey or Leo or Donnie, who looked at the three people who made up Raph’s whole world, and thought that they weren’t the literal best people on the planet and that they didn’t deserve whole moons and stars and suns as far as Raph was concerned.

But there are things even a 7-year-old can see and understand. He can see Mikey's eyes go distant and glossy, like they’re a million miles underwater when he looks at the mail sometimes. Or how Leo and Donnie will share a Look, capital L, that could mean one of a hundred things, whenever Mikey came home way later than he was supposed to and Mikey would say he’s fine, and hug Raph just as hard as Raph would whenever Raph would make the breakneck run from wherever he was just to be the first to meet Mikey at the door like he was trying to prove it. And Raph saw the slouch in his shoulders and the lines under his eyes but he decided to believe his Mikey anyway just for appearance's sake cause that’s what little brothers were supposed to do.

And Raph couldn’t do much to help out like Leo or Donnie could, he didn’t know how to be helpful like they could be. But Raph could smile. And he could laugh and he could hug Mikey so hard and sometimes it took his best tricks, but he was always able to chase the shadows in Mikey’s eyes away, and at the end of the day, sometimes, that was enough.

[zoetekohana]

I finally watched “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows” and I wrote down all my reactions:

Here it goes... COWABUNGA MY TURTLE DUDES.

Ooooh I love the use of ninja throwing stars for the Paramount stars.

I’m also digging the music.

TURTLE FORMATION

Omg, Mickey, no squirrel formation. (I don’t want to see those creepy squirrels from the 2012 series.)

Honestly, even though the plot of the 2014 film wasn’t great (hopefully this one will be better), they had the personalities down to a tee, and it’s great to see that’s still the case.

The way they depict the sibling relationship between Leo, Raph, Donnie and Mickey is so awesome to watch. Not to forget: the fact that they actually act like teenagers is such a plus.

Case in point: Donnie repeatedly telling Raph to “do it do it do it do it do it [the shellskateboarding thing]”. I love it.

Hahahaah, Kevin the pizza guy. Such a nice Kevin Eastmann cameo!

Donnie: “When I say Knicks you say Go.” I’m reminded of the failed “When I say Vol you say Tron.” speech. But at least the bros got it right.

Vern The Falcon? Oh no....

Hahaha, shooting the little spit balls at Vern and then mimicking his falcon. See, such teenagers.

APRIL IS CALLING DONNIE.

I REPEAT APRIL IS CALLING DONNIE.

Yes, I ship them. Shush.

Also, that blonde wig + glasses look really good on Megan Fox? 

Baxter Stockmann... He’d go with a FLY FORMATION.

Donnie to April: “Do you need us there?”  Awwww.

April to Donnie: “That birthday present that you made for me?” AWWW.

Yes, April, explain Baxter the difference between geek and nerd.

Omg, Baxter, that laugh.

Ofc there needs to be some Megan Fox fanservice... /eyeroll (She was pretty badass going undercover, but still that was unnecessary.)

HAHAHA I LOVE THE DONNIE SMILEY FACE ON HER WATCH WHEN THE DOWNLOAD OF THE FILES IS COMPLETE!

Oh no, the pizza slice on the basketball court....

Poor Mikey, he just want to “LIVE UP THERRRREEE. Up there where flowers bloom.” (And now I have that South Park song stuck in my head.) 

Also, a Transformers reference, really?

Wait;;; How are the copied files on April’s watch being deleted? She downloaded them? She wasn’t streaming them....

But good on her for discovering that Baxter is working with Shredder (where did that hunch come from though?) and that he + the Foot Clan plan on breaking him out when he’s being transferred.

Casey Jones as a law enforcer? That’s new? 

Ngl, I don’t really like that detail. It doesn’t suit him.

BEBOP AND ROCKSTEADY!!!!! :D

It’s not a Michael Bay production without car explosions. /eyeroll (again)

Also, NYC believes that Vern stopped the Shredder. Why didn’t the NY police ask him to accompany this super important transfer?

Hahaha, that tmnt theme’d honk. I LOVE.

Great updates on the Turtle Shell, Donnie.

Raph when taking out the last of three foot bikers: “That’s how I roll. That’s how you roll.”

Why didn’t Raph stay on the bike? He could cover more ground that way.

Soooo, Baxter knows of the Turtles. 

I love how personalised the Turtle Shell is.

Hi there, Krang! 

So, lemme get this straight: Krang needs the three teleport devices he sent to Earth to join them into an arch capacitor to teleport the Technodrome to Earth to conquer it. But he was able to teleport Shredder to where he was. Something does not add up there... 

So many plotholes.

But whatever, I’m still enjoying this. :) 

Donnie and April make such a great team.

But how is she going to get to the TCRI’s mainframe? (Also, how is she going undercover everywhere? Isn’t she recognised as a television reporter?)

Chief: “Manhole covers?”

That was some nice exposition on Jones wanting to become a detective. Like really? It was so odd to tell your superior who’s clearly mad at you that.

The casting for Bebop and Rocksteady is so spot on.

It’s still weird not to have the Shredder vs Splinter backstory. It feels like Splinter is just there now? He’s more important than that. :(

Is that barkeep the Vulture from b99? 

Quickly looked it up, yep, that’s Dean Winters. :D

It’s not a Turtles movie without some Vanilla Ice. ;)

Reporter thing aside... Why go on this important undercover mission on high heels? Everyone can hear you. That’s not stealthy there, April. 

I get that the purple ooze is different (iirc from the 1987 series) - although I’m not a fan of a different kind of mutagen -, but why not mention the green ooze? They have the green mutagen from the previous film that mutated the Turtles and Splinter? Or am I completely remembering the 2014 film wrong?

Also, how did Shredder shoot two darts into two different directions? 

Yes, that gun has two barrels, but he shot both darts practically at the same time?

Also, how are they mutating into a warthog and a rhinoceros without the DNA from those animals? 

The way they transformed, that sequence, was pretty cool, though.

Hmm, so we all have a dormant animal gen. It’s an explanation for not needing the animal DNA, I guess.

YES TO HBIC APRIL O’NEIL!

So Casey wants to be a detective, but then suits up as the Hockey Vigilante we know and love. That really doesn’t make much sense.

April to Casey: “Stacey Moans?”

Stacey’s mom has got it going on.... And now I’ve got that song stuck in my head, haha.

Amell physically makes a good Casey Jones. But I’m sorry to say, he’s so stiff and mainly has two faces: this :| or this :D. I’m not a big fan of this casting. I’m okay with it, but idk.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

And Koteas is forever my favourite Casey Jones. 

Casey to the turtles: “Do not eat us humans.” Are we really going with that joke?

I love Mickey’s introduction of the Turtles to Casey. :D

DONNIE’S POSE . <3

Haha, Mikey and Raph keeping Casey out of the huddle.

Leo about Casey: “Raph, grab Friday the 13th.” Great reference.

Casey: “And have the most pretentious names ever.” 

”Is it me you’re looking for?” ♫ Omg, Splinter listening to pop ballads. I love. xD

Of course Donnie could turn the ooze so they could become humans.

Don’t keep secrets from your brothers, Leo. 

Awww, Mickey. The one who wants to be among humans the most. :(

A Turtle Christmas album?? I WANT!

Leo: “There’s only one vote that counts in this family: Mine!” Harsh, bro.

Awww, ofc Donnie loves museums. :)

Casey to Vern: “See you there.” Mikey to Vern: “See you there.” Vern: “He already said that.” That made me laugh more than it should have.

I love how Leo and Donnie are riding the subway like that.

They’re not monsters. :’(

I want to give Mickey a big hug.

Leo to Splinter: “I can’t get them all on the same page, to think with one mind.” Splinter to Leo: “You shouldn’t want them all to think the same. It’s their different points-of-view that makes the team strong. A good leader understands this. A good brother accepts it.” I love this. 

Seriously, the personalities and the interactions are so on point.

Where did Beebs and Rock get a tank???

So many fistbumps in this film, omg.

I forgot to mention this before, but I like that Donnie isn’t as muscle-y as the others. I do like these different personal designs.

Also, Donnie easily jumping to go to the other plane. That was great.

Raph: “What would Vin Diesel do? No regrets, no fear.” Hahahaha.

Whoa, really, shooting from a tank inside a plan? “Dude seriously” is the right reaction.

Also, how is Donnie able to stay inside that open cockpit??? 

Lbr, Donnie is the mvp in this film.

“THIS PIG IS FLYING!” Hahahahahaha.

Raph seeing that turtle. A reference to Spike, maybe? :D

Okay, that entire river sequence was AWESOME!!! 

I wouldn’t change one things about it: from seeing the turtles swim under water, to Raph saving Donnie from the tank missile, to the four of them hiding in their shell (along with that “ploemp” sound effect) when going down the water fall.

Leo (sarcastically): “Thanks, guys. Real time effort.” Wow, way to be a dick there. :/

”Justice comes in all shapes and sizes.” That explains Casey Jones suiting up in his hockey vigilante get-up, I guess. But idk, that little plot could have been written better.

Come on, Vern, you can step up. :)

Oh no, Vern missing the obvious there with the location of the data storage of that hidden camera. hashtag relatable

Leo: “We may be brothers, but we’re not a team.”  That hurts....

But that portal technically isn’t your science, Baxter, it’s Krang’s. The names you mentioned might become footnotes, but so would you.

Donnie gathered all that information rather quickly? Unbelievable quickly?

But again, he’s the mvp!

I love that old video console on Donnie’s wrist.

They’re turtles forever. :)

I really thought Shredder was going to say that Baxter would always the same, aka “a fly on the wall” instead of “a footnote”.

Vern: “When something bad happens, you want to be with the turtles.” That is true.

Haha, oh u Shredder. You betrayed Baxter to have all the glory, but you didn’t consider Krang would betray you?

KRANG DOESN’T SHARE FOOD.

Oh, I noticed that Triceration next to Shredder! :D

Wow, Jade spoke for once. :o

I like the way the police protected the Turtles from being seen by the public.

Raph: “SURF’S UP, NY!”

Again with the heels, O’Neil?

I love that shot with the four turtles standing on the edge of the almost finished Technodrome.

Mikey calling Krang “a chewed up piece of gum” and then Leo continuing with “Bubblicious”, haha.

Mickey: “I’m vertical.”

Mickey is the second mvp this film.

I really really love that Donnie and Mickey get most screentime this film.

Great how Casey tricked Beebs and Rock like that. :)

TEAM EFFORT, BB!

Leo: “We got something nobody else has.” Leo, Donnie and Mickey: “Turtle power!” while Raph: “Garbage truck!” Hahahaha.

But seriously: TURTLE POWER!

Finally, April being a reporter again.

Chief to the turtles: “Last name?”  Hamato immediately came to mind, tbh.

Some Capril flirting. ;)

HEROES IN A HALF SHELL! ♫

I love the comic style in the end credits. 

But see: Splinter’s actor isn’t even mentioned in the special part of the end credits. He deserves better and more.

All in all, despite its flaws (too many expositions or Krang being the main villain with hardly any screentime f.e.), I really enjoyed watching this. It’s so much better than the 2014 one. 

(I do hope for actual one on one friendship between Donnie and Mickey next time, though. I love the turtles most together, but separate friendships I love them the most.) (And on that note: Where was my Raph&Casey romance friendship?)

[000marie198]

Okaeee. I would normally agree but some of the tags were getting on my nerves so, my personal thoughts. These were formulated before I had even watched the movie:

The series itself had been subtly building up to it through the Leo centric moments of strategy, encouragement and inspirational speeches and the taking charge tendency when Raph wasn't able to for some reason.

Remember season 2 opening? Many Unhappy Returns? Or Man vs Sewers? Yeah...

It is a rule to have 10-11 long episode series to always end at a funny moment or a joke if there is not a cliffhanger so that last moment could be considered when thought of it as just for the finale episodes. But seeing it with the previous episodes of the season where there was subtle character development and exploration, it would make sense. So that scene could be considered both as a joke and as an actual decision.

Being a leader for two seasons straight And during the time when their mystic Hamato powers hadn't activated to their full potential yet, including the times when they were all actually in danger, Raphael had gone through the pressure and knows of the responsibility. Leo on the other hand hasn't gone through the same pressure and responsibility in the same way, where his brothers' lives were at stake.

It's his personality. Why would he wanna change his whole personality? Joking around and being a childish teen is part of who he is, and I think a Leonardo was long overdue to actually enjoy silly things and life when he could. I think he didn't even wanna be in the position instead of being carefree so he went with carefree. And y'all do remember that he copes with stuff by joking, right?

Comparing the moments of the movie's beginning to some moments in the series where the whole situation is actually serious, there have been numerous instances in the series where Leo was actually serious, like asking Splinter for training, protecting Karai etc. In here, there wasn't really much of a danger from his perspective. I mean, to him, it was just Warren and Hypno, they've been handling more dangerous villains then them during the series and now they've got mystic powers.

Why he be overconfident and impulsive? Well, remember how throughout many of the episodes in season one, his family never believed in him or trusted him with things and thought he was just clumsy and unable to do anything right no matter what he tried and they simply failed to realize his self confidence issues? And Leo coped with it half the time by faking that self confidence which only annoyed others further. They never even appreciated his "Punish me and let them go" moments and simply yelled at him. They were even doing it in Many Unhappy Returns till he revealed his plan and begged them to trust him so seeing Raph, the first person to fully trust him with something, being opposing of his crazy antics might've made him subconsciously associate that to those times and he reacted. None of what he did was sensible and was impulsive to an unplanned but emotionally reacting level. He was at fault, yes, made some really bad calls during the first half (aside from grabbing the key, that was the call which actually served to save that day but at what cost?) but that doesn't mean choosing him to lead was nothing but a joke or Splinter having a weird thought process.

Nobody knows a child better than their parents and Splinter knows his sons really well. He sees the potential in them, who they are and what they could do. He knows Donatello is astonishingly smart and wishes to spend more time with him. He knows no matter how gullible Raphael acts, he can always count on him to protect the family. He knows Michaelangelo is the purest of heart and not one to be underestimated but rather one to be fully trusted. And he knows Leo is the jokester but secretly a master strategist who was the only one to trick a master trickster and somebody who could do a lot more than meets the eye.

And ofcourse, op's point, he deserved some character development too. Ugh, at this point, I'm just reacting to the tags then the original post.

Also, Raph is a big brother and an anxious one too. All eldest siblings have that anxious fear for the younger ones that the younger siblings usually don't have to that big an extent. I mean, I am usually internally freaking out more than my Mom when my little brother takes too long to come home even though it could be possible that he's just stuck in traffic or something. Point being, Raph has that intuition that something could go wrong any moment now, he seemed too fired up and anxious for it to be routine. It's like his sixth sense was screaming at him that this was urgent.

Oh, and finally, remember how the turtles were behaving during first episode of season 2 of 2012 series? Overconfident and chill because they'd stopped the Kraang months ago and things were calm and all? And those were the more serious reincarnation compared to Rise turtles. If they were all celebrating and overconfident and chilling and being careless after just a few months of major victory for them and peaceful times, what's to say the Rise boys wouldn't act similarly after their own major victory and things being silent and peaceful for a whole two years and while they had rad mystic powers?

He wasn't acting that way after Casey revealed the future and was actually pretty serious. He even stepped out of the escape pod to grab the key, he wasn't joking around that time or being a jerk. But seeing his big brother sacrificing himself and getting taken away was extremely traumatic for him. To the point that all sounds were muffled and he was hyperventilating and could only properly hear his own pounding heartbeat. He just lost a brother and that broke him, that's what snapped on the Angsty asshole mode.

I think it’s hysterical how the rise movie never explained why Splinter randomly made Leo leader in the finale bc now, in retrospect, that leaves us with the default option of splinter just pointing at Leo like “you need character development.”

[brightlotusmoon]

A little more Spirit And Oxygen

Here’s another sneak peak at my TMNT fic, “Spirit And Oxygen: Across The Universe” which is part of my “Mikey The Lifegiver” fic series. It chronicles Mikey’s adventures in major depression, brain damage, and being the actual heart and soul and light of the team. http://archiveofourown.org/series/599863 This will probably be the final story, which means it might as well be a chapter fic, which means that this is officially Chapter One. Yes. I feel good about this. Stuff that is my heacanon here:  1) Shinigami is in a polyamorous relationship with Karai and Michelangelo, and the ladies have their own bedroom in the lair. 2) Raph has taken a shine to Shini and her attitudes on life and is so proud his little brother has such an awesome loveperson who is also banging his awesome sister. 3) April has finally decided to try dating both Donnie and Casey, although she’s spent more time with Don, and Casey doesn’t mind. 4) Splinter and Shredder are dead. Shredder killed Splinter and then the boys teamed up with Karai to kill Shredder, and Leo decapitated Shredder after Karai punched Shredder in the heart after Mikey knocked out Shredder with a kick to the face. Shredder’s henchmen have teamed up with Purple Dragons and other gangs, and have recreated robot Foot ninjas. Splinter appears as a spirit to the Hamato family. 5) The Mighty Mutanimals are very involved in the turtles’ lives. Mondo has learned first aid from Dr Rockwell and engineering from Don. 6) Leo and Karai have been duel sensei-ing and still argue over who gets to be Actual Sensei. 7) Abandoned military bases are turned into hide-outs for the more vicious, feral, and angry mutants in every borough. Mikey, Mondo, and Shini like to try and find them to befriend the tamer, friendlier ones. Karai and Raph wind up getting angry out of love and fear. 8) Mikey is Donnie’s assistant in the lab and is a field medic who uses his emotional empathic reach to comfort the injured; he can be telepathic when he tries hard, but it gives him migraines. 9) Mikey has developed epilepsy following a brain injury, but it also boosts his spiritual powers. He and Raph share an empathic connection. ...I really got attached to Deanna Troi and Jean Grey when I was a teenager, okay? Also, I am happy to discuss where the rest of the story might go and how and why. I’ll often switch to several perspectives in one chapter, like April (Storm) or Karai (Iron) or Ghost Of Splinter (Wind) or Shinigami (Magic). Mostly I’m just in love with writing Donnie talking about Mikey.  (PS, Mikey is Oxygen, duh. Don is Earth, Raph is Fire, Leo is Water. The Tumblr post for Mikey The Lifegiver is the second most popular blog post I’ve written so far. The first one is me waxing pagan about winter gods) Also, for my regular readers: You knew this sort of thing was gonna happen again. It’s all I write. Apparently, though, since 1999, I’ve had the most  wonderful contemporaries and competition. You hardcore Mikey fans, you’re the best, I love you all.

Donnie’s dreaming hard again, and he cherishes it. Usually is dreams are soft and quick, minnows in a stream, full of chrome and rust and the scent of oil, and there are tiny things in his hands, beeping and whirring, and there are giant things in front of him, clicking and rumbling; and the scars all over his hands reminds him that these are his, he made them, and they make sounds at him as though they are praising him.

Almost a year ago, shortly after Splinter died and Shredder died and Karai moved in, things began happening that challenged every science imaginable, but Donnie learned to be completely fine with it. Aside from Leo and Karai in a constant subtle battle over who would be sensei, Raph mellowed out and Mikey stopped pranking. Donnie was the only one who recognized Mikey as the catalyst: after enduring a series of traumas that they wouldn’t wish on their enemies, Mikey had become quieter, softer. His odd hyperfocusing moments turned on books without pictures and science documentaries and Donnie spent three weeks spying on him; it was no surprise when Mikey caught him each time, because Mikey had changed the most. Donnie and April ran every single test, and Mikey endured them with a strange fidgeting patience, but Rockwell in the end explained that Mikey’s Dimension X brain had finally caught up with him. He was almost like April. Don stopped being surprised when a beaker full of An Unusual Chemical dropped from his hands and floated back up to the table, despite it only being him and Mikey. Mikey, who folded his arms and grinned cheekily, and that was the day Donnie went to the closet and handed him a lab coat with his name on it.

Between their rotating autistic traits and interests, Donnie with engineering and physical science and Mikey with social sciences and cultural studies, they managed to create Things that made the lair easier to live in. With Mikey around, it was easier to navigate the entire city and study humans’ patterns, so certain stores, warehouses, junkyards, and clinics would stay their “borrowing” targets. With Donnie around, they had vehicles and cloaking devices to move further and deeper in.

So Donnie dreams heavily, about jumping from roof to roof in Staten Island, looking for that one military facility that up until now always had staff. Mikey is right behind him, ready with both kusarigama and grappling hook. Donnie stops and signals, and Mikey presses right against his carapace, wrapping one arm around his waist, extending the other to aim the grappling gun. Don signals again, and Mikey pushes off and practically flies – scratch that, he literally glides – and Donnie feels perfectly utterly safe as he casually throws an arm around his little brother’s shoulders. Mikey wouldn’t let them drop; they’d only hover. That’s how good he’s gotten. The grappling hook keeps catching on roof edges and Mikey lets it hover and glide to the next and the next, and they keep going.

They’re on the roof of the facility, over a mile from where they started, and Donnie pries open the secret door and they move in, and their flashlights roam. They remove their backpacks when he finds the correct room, and collect the items he’s already listed on his T-Phone. It’s silent, it’s swift, and the only thing that warns him is Mikey’s hiss and his voice in Donnie’s head: Donnie, get DOWN—

And Donnie flattens himself on the floor and the creature grazes him with a long metal toe as it leaps over him, and his right shoulder and bicep both rip open wide and his body spills blood rapidly. But it’s not the pain that makes him scream. It’s the strangled screeching gasp, full of pure agony and horror, that Mikey makes from somewhere behind him. No living creature should be making a sound like that unless it’s about to die...

There is precious seconds of heavy silence, and he hears Mikey make that familiar, inhuman growl that all the turtles make when enraged, when their human sides shrink and their literal reptilian brains take over with crushing power. The creature howls in pain and shock, and Mikey lets out a roar that contains Donnie’s name scrawled into it, and then there is crashing, there is stabbing, punching, shrieking, snarling, bones cracking and flesh squelching and liquid spurting and other noises that Donnie will hear in his post-traumatic nightmares. Donnie crawls forward, collapses on his back, turns around and forces himself to stand.

The creature has Mikey pinned to the ground, and shadowed blood is pooling everywhere. And then Mikey kicks and flips the creature over with a furious shriek, and through the darkness Donnie sees his teeth flash in a savage grin, you do not want to see that kind of smile on Mikey’s face, and Donnie sees him coated in shadows, launching again at the creature, smacking his nunchaku again and again…and then the creature stops moving, stops making noise; and Donnie hears his own harsh, pained breathing, and his brother’s harsh, pained breathing, and he manages to call out, “Mikey, are you okay?”

There’s a pause. “I’m always okay, Dee,” comes a breezy reply, but it is thin and strained. “Hey, Dee, what’s hurt on you?”

“My right shoulder and upper arm, but I can patch it up. You?”

A longer pause, much much longer.

“Can I take a raincheck on answering that?”

Donnie feels his gut turn to ice. “Mikey?”

He sees the dark figure of his brother hold up a finger. “Just…gimme…a sec.”

Within that second, Mikey falls to his knees. Donnie feels himself lurch forward. His eyes strain. The shadows on his brother are not shadows. They are too shiny. He’s covered in it.

No. No. Please, no, not again, I can’t handle this again.

It’s not the blood loss making Donnie feel so dizzy. He struggles to move, and watches, in slow motion, as Mikey falls over completely, smacking the floor, and it is a wet smack, and liquid is still pooling around him. And Don starts to hyperventilate, because he’s not sure where the light switch might be in this room and where the first aid kits are, and suddenly the darkness is too dark and the floor opens up and he is being swallowed, and he cannot reach Mikey, and then he falls, and as he falls his T-Phone rings, and something presses its energy button, and it’s blaring in his ears, louder and louder, calling MIkey’s name.

Donatello bolts up screaming, and it is too dark and he can’t see. A door crashes open. A body launches at him, and before he can take another breath, a pair of arms are wrapped around him and a plastron is pressed against his, and his chin is on a broad muscley shoulder, and the scent he breathes in is pure Raphael.

“Raph,” he squeaks out. “Hey--”

“Sshhh, Donnie, easy,” the hoarse voice murmurs. “It was a dream. You’re okay.”

He finds himself awkwardly patting his older brother’s upper carapace, trying to politely pull away. “Raph…Raph, I realize that…can I breathe? Please?”

Raph pulls away, green eyes serpentine in the darkness of his bedroom. The way his head tilts, too.

“I’m fine, Raph. I promise. I know it’s a nightmare.”

Those eyes and that head tilt remain fixed on him.

“Donnie, this is your fourth nightmare. Do you realize that?”

Really?

“Um. No?” He’s been so busy between his lab and the sectioned-off infirmary that Rockwell and Slash and Casey helped build that he sometimes doesn’t remember going to bed.

“Well, it is. And I’ll bet it’s the exact same one. Yours are weird.” Raph sits back, agura style, and Donnie draws his knees up to make room. “They’re like clockwork. Once a week. And, y’know, this is the fourth week since--”

“I know. And you guys dragged me to my own bed when you knew I wouldn’t stay here.”

“You did this time,” Raph points out.

“True. Wait, I did?”

“Congratulations on a full twelve hours of sleep, bro. It’s ten in the morning.”

Donnie feels his eyes grow wide. He throws the covers off and jumps off his bed. “I’m missing work, I--”

Raph’s strong hand slaps against his chest. “Remember what we all agreed on? Until your shoulder and arm is fully functional, you don’t do anything complex without someone helping you. I hope you were planning on asking someone.”

Donnie narrows his eyes. “Do you know how to handle the complex alien chemicals I need to work on? Plus the newer components of the retromutagen?”

“If not me, you have April. Or Rockwell. Or Shini.”

Donnie sighs, looks at his immobilized arm, and sighs again.

“You’re a stubborn bastard, Hamato Donatello.”

“You’re worse.”

“I am a paragon of complacency, little brother.”

And Donnie winces. “Try not to call me that?”

“Oh. Right. I forgot. You’re right. Sorry, Don.”

Donnie sighs and gets dressed.

“Um.” Raph rubs the back of his head. “So, nothing’s changed this morning. That’s…like, good, right? Kinda?”

“Kinda,” Donnie says. “It means that Mikey is continuing to heal. Which is the best we can hope for in this situation.”

As he heads out of his room and toward the lab doors, Raph catches up. “You should eat something first.”

“I need to check his vitals and change his IV bags.”

“Karai did that.”

“Even the GI tube?”

“Yeah, that one too.”

Donnie pauses. “I just need to see…”

“Donnie.” Raph is impossibly firm, and very soft. “Donnie, everything you could do has been done. We’ve watched you and learned from you for a whole month. It’s a routine. And part of the routine is that those of us who aren’t doing the routine help ourselves first. It’s your turn.”

Donnie is very silent as Raph steers him toward the kitchen. Leo is finishing up a plate of eggs, toast, and tea. Shinigami is making two more plates.

“Oh, you got him up! Good morning, Donatello. Did your nightmare complete itself?” The witch’s smile is knowing and polite, and he has gotten used to her specific brand of sass. She is, after all his little brother’s girlfriend and his sister’s girlfriend.

He mumbles “yes” because shrugging his shoulders still hurts. He eats mechanically, even as he is poked at to make conversation. Raph has started giving him daily protein shakes. There is one next to his plate. He drinks it and crushes the bottle, casually proving how fine he is. Sometimes the others forget how strong he is.

He misses having Mikey around to defend him.

“I’ll be in the infirmary,” Shinigami says, and Donnie startles. When he looks at her, he sees dark, deep circles under her eyes. Her fair complexion is blotchy and even paler than usual. And he wants to slap himself. She loves him. She has so much love, she loves Mikey and Karai so much. And Karai, to see her baby brother like this. Abruptly, he stands up, wraps his arms around Shini, and grips her like one of Mikey’s famous octopus hugs.

She simply buries her face in his neck and holds him tight.

 * * * *

Donnie is at his computer. As he’s reading and copying notes, he can’t help but hear her from the infirmary corner, and after a while he gives up trying to ignore it. He stretches his neck to catch a glimpse.

Shinigami has been sitting by Mikey’s bedside for fifteen minutes, and she only started speaking a couple of minutes ago. Don sees her hand tighten around Mikey’s as she talks.

“…keeps insisting nothing hurts, of course, but I refuse to believe her. Even when she shifted back and forth to her snake form, I could tell her arm was giving her trouble. Even the snake looked sad!” A small laugh, humorless. “Oh, sweet Mikey, you should see the looks she gives me when I point out her pain. She thinks I don’t see it. I see everything about her.” A pause. “I see everything about you too, you know. I see the subtle shifts in your facial muscles when you slip one of your behavior masks on. You know what I mean. When you fake smile, or your laugh is not real? I see it. You should not ever be sad, my Mikey. I told Karai I would do anything to protect her. Now that promise extends to you. Therefore, you must recover from this. You must hold me again so I can tell you I love you. You must hold me tightly, like an octopus, and laugh into my hair, and spin me around, and talk about your comics and your television shows. Tell me about Hamato Yoshi and how he adored you. Tell me about your brothers and your adoration of each of them, how they are your heroes. You and Donatello are very close. I know you wish to have so much knowledge and skill the way does.”

Donnie bites his lip and blushes a little. He almost feels like a sensei, in a way, the way Mikey looks at him while he works or while he is showing Mikey a project. He pictures the last lesson they’d had. April was there. She and Mikey were side by side, chins in their hands, looking at him lovingly, freckled faces and blue eyes alight, looking like mischievous twins.

He wants Mikey to wake up and look like that again.

He doesn’t know when Mikey will wake up. That hurts him most of all. This coma is different, deep and frightening. Mikey lost a lot of blood, and the mutant hit him in the neck, and Donnie knows how bad that can be. Concussion. Oxygen loss. Brain function compromised. Brain damage. Mikey already has enough. Donnie is worried.

Shini’s voice startles him.

“We miss you, Michelangelo. I miss you. I…need you. You must come back soon. Please.” And Donnie watches as Shinigami leans forward and presses her lips to Mikey’s, and smiles. She squeezes his limp, broken hand again. She stands up and begins to walk toward the door, then changes course, coming toward the lab. Donnie blinks at her.

She smiles at him. “What you working on?”

“Oh, um…” he glances down. “Taking notes on neurobiological function in humans and reptiles. I believe our brains are almost fully human, but we probably have neuronal and hormonal responses similar to diamondback turtles, too.”

“Mikey will sometimes make little noises,” Shini offers. “They’re not human.”

Donnie nods. “Yes. Chirping. Cooing. Growling. A kind of purring growl, like churring. Hissing.”

He shifted through the pages, wrote down some more notes.

“You aren’t going to do that all day, are you?”

Donnie glances up. Shini has leaned her hip against the table and is smirking. “Leo wants everyone in the dojo for training. Is this very important?”

He bites his lip, looks at his screen. “I guess it can wait until later.” He saves the file. Shinigami takes him by the elbow and steers him out of the lab. Interestingly, Raph is waiting there, arms crossed. He smirks and nods. “Good. Good Donnie.” Shinigami giggles, as if the two had planned it.

“How’s Mikey?” Raph asks, automatically.

Shini just shrugs. “The same. Karai wonders if I can use my witchcraft to find him in the astral plane. It is a thought.”

Raph raises an eyeridge. “Damn straight, it’s a thought. He’s been healing pretty well. Maybe it’s time to try reaching out to him instead of waiting for him to wake up.”

Donatello sits up straight and snaps his fingers. “It can be a family effort!” That seems to light a fire in Raphael, and he joyfully reaches out to fistbump Shinigami, who has a wide smirk on her face and a glint in her eye. Donnie feels stronger and happier than he’s felt in weeks.