Rating: Overall story rated T for language, Raph will be Raph after all.
Disclaimer: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and all related characters belong to Nickelodeon.
Warnings: Little bit of foul language and mentions of past character death. Unbetaed.
Summary: Lost and alone in another reality, one turtle must try to find his way home. All while trying to forge a place amongst a family who lost one of their own under horrible circumstances and seemingly resents his very presence. No OC's. Set: 2k3 up until 'Good Genes'. 2k12 up until 'The Good, the Bad and Casey Jones'. Comments, thoughts and concrit is always welcome.
AN: Just a reminder, due to a comment someone made from the previous chapter, despite the number of chapters, less than a day has passed since the guys found 2k12 Mikey and brought him home. Also, my laptop is coming to the end of its 3 year warranty and has... issues with a couple of the keys making me need to press them extra hard and several times at times. I am sending it off to get fixed before the warranty is up and it could be gone a few weeks so not sure when the next chapter will be out. Sorry in advance. You can thank my laziness, tiredness and procrastination for the lateness of this particular chapter. Thank you for all the comments and favourites, it really helps to inspire and makes my day 
And One to Grow On
Ch – 9
“Did you sleep well?” Leo inquired, trying to sound interested as Mikey drew closer.
Mikey nodded, “Dunno why I fell asleep though, was just so tired all of a sudden.”
“You've had a hard week. It probably just all caught up to you at once now that you are somewhere safe.” Leo replied with Donnie nodding in agreement beside him.
“Probably...” Mikey's gaze drifted off to the left of Leo and Donnie. By now, Raph and Casey also noticed him and had turned to face him. Raph's eyes were narrowed in distrust and a touch of hatred and Casey's had widened in surprise. Mikey canted his head slightly as he stared back at the human. Like his 'brothers', Casey was not what he expected. At all. For a start, he was so tall, his hair was completely wild and “How'd you get so old, Case-man?” Mikey couldn't help but blurt out. “You look old enough to be your own dad!”
“Wh... what?” Casey spluttered. “I'm not old! I'm...”
“Hey!” Mikey grinned in sudden realisation as he inadvertently interrupted Casey. He ran over and somersaulted to land smack dab in front of the man. “You've even still got all your teeth! Amazing!” His eyes widened in sudden thought and without thinking about what he was doing, Mikey reached out a finger, prodding Casey in the mouth, “Or are they falsies?”
“What?” Casey cried out in indignant shock. “Stop that!” He slapped Mikey's hand away from his face. “Seriously, dude, who does that?” He took a quick step backwards from the exuberant turtle and a sound like a snort of amusement caught his ear. Casey turned to glare at the nearby smirking Raph. “Glad you think it's so amusin', shell-fer-brains.”
Upon realising Michelangelo had also turned attention his way, Raph hurriedly covered up his amusement with his customary scowl. “Yer own fault for tryin' to be friendly to a damn imposter. Can't say I didn't warn you, bonehead!”
“Aww, it's not that bad, just looks like he's got a warped sense a humour too, that's all.” Casey retorted, noticing Raph and Mikey's 'interaction'. He turned back to Mikey, “Seriously though, boundaries, okay?”
Mikey nodded miserably, backing away. Without meaning to, he done it again, he realised. He didn't notice the vague and mostly hidden looks of amusement on Leo and Donnie's faces. He bumped into the railing of the stairs leading up to the next level and stopped abruptly.
“Hey guys!” An unfamiliar, feminine voice called out cheerfully.
Mikey turned his head, seeing a five foot seven, red-headed woman in trousers and a short tight top with her midriff exposed closing the door behind her and juggling several full plastic bags. Casey was by her side in seconds, taking the load from her hands and smiling goofily. “Hi babe.”
She shook her head amused, and walked past him. She looked around until her gaze caught sight and settled on Mikey before walking directly over and smiling warmly in greeting.
“Hello, you must be Michelangelo. Don told me on the phone how you were stuck here. I'm April.” She laughed slightly nervously, “Sorry, I guess you probably knew that already but honestly, if I hadn't been told about you already, I would never have recognised you.”
Mikey smiled back, feeling better again thanks to her friendliness. “It's cool, D said you were coming over, April but I didn't recognise you either.” He shook his head, unable to prevent a confused look crossing his face. “No one here looks the same. You're all so weird looking.” Mikey paused a moment before adding, “and old!”
April looked aghast and asked faintly, “How... how old do you think I am?”
Mikey tilted his head curiously as he thought. He'd never been asked that question before, nor had reason to consider how old people 'looked'. Unaware of the potential danger he unintentionally flirted with, he shrugged, “I dunno, maybe forty?”
“For... forty?” April squeaked in shock. “I'm twenty nine! How could you think I'm forty?” She turned wildly around to face the amused foursome near the televisions. Raph and Casey were openly snickering, not even trying to contain their mirth. Leo and Donnie were at least trying. “You guys don't think I look forty, do you?”
When there was no immediate reply other than more laughter, April repeated in a dangerous tone that chilled everyone in the room to the bone, “Do you?” Her usually sweet voice dripped with menace.
“No... of course not, babe!” Casey was fast to respond. Leo and Donnie shook their heads rapidly in denial, all traces of amusement suddenly vanished, like ninja in the night. April levelled her death gaze at Raph and Casey quickly elbowed his friend in the side.
“You don't look a day over twenty, Ape!”
April's expression cleared a little and she turned back to the suddenly nervous Mikey. “What on earth makes you think I am forty? Seriously?”
“Um...” Mikey shrugged again, “I don't really know many humans?” He grinned sheepishly, “Only you, your dad, Murakami-san and Master Splinter's photo from before? The bad guys don't count.”
Leonardo's gaze at Mikey suddenly turned sharp and he opened his mouth as if to speak.
“Wait.. my dad? He's alive in your world?” April asked, her voice suddenly soft in surprise and wonder, “and you know him?”
“Well, yeah! He lived with us for a couple of weeks after we saved him from the Kraang.”
“I haven't seen him since I was...” April shook her head as she trailed off.
“Imposter can't even get his story right!” Raph snidely remarked.
Mikey whirled to face Raph's direction. “I'm not making it up! It's true!” he retorted, hurt filling his face and voice.
“It doesn't matter, we should all go eat before the food gets cold.” April said, quickly diffusing the situation as she started moving towards the kitchen. Mikey followed close behind.
“I'll go get Master Splinter.” Leo offered as he and the rest also began to follow.
April fished out the plastic take-out containers from the bags Casey had dumped on the bench. She spread them over the table while Donnie got the plates and cutlery.
Mikey stared curiously at the food in the containers, reaching out a finger to poke at the nearest and his hand was lightly slapped away. “What's this stuff?”
“Chinese. Haven't you had it before?”
“Nope! Only pizza and...”
“Trust me,” Donnie hurriedly interjected, “you don't want to know!” Noticing Mikey was about to continue regardless, Donatello hurriedly thought and asked, “Who is Murakami-san?”
Suddenly successfully distracted, Mikey beamed, “He's the owner and chef of this awesome Japanese restaurant that April took us to! After we saved him, he invented gyoza for us!”
As Leo and Splinter entered the dining area and sat down, Donnie shook his head, “That's not possible, Michelangelo. Gyoza has been around for decades and has its origins nearly two thousand years ago in China as jiaozi.”
“They had pizza gyoza around back then?” Mikey's eyes were wide with wonder.
“Um... not really...”
Conversation continued throughout the meal, until finally April expressed interest wondering what their counterparts looked like.
“They look normal.” Mikey blinked, confused at the question. “Not like you guys.”
Donnie snapped his fingers, remembering the picture he had spent much of the day trying to put out of his mind. “Why don't you show that group photo from your T-phone?” At Michelangelo's obvious confusion, Donnie added explaining, “I saw it earlier when I was setting your T-phone to work with our network.”
“Oh!” Mikey dug out the phone from his belt, deftly searching the menus for the photo before handing it straight to Donatello.
Donnie gingerly took the phone, refusing to actually look at it again and passed it straight on quickly enough to earn a sharp glance from Leo.
“April got Casey to take that photo a couple weeks back, just after we met him. Then she sent it to the rest of us.” Mikey explained as the phone made its rounds.
“Do you have a picture of me too?” Casey asked, passing the phone on.
“Nuh, only just met Casey and he's more Raph and April's friend.” Mikey shook his head.
Still avoiding looking towards the T-phone, Donnie spoke up softly, “Casey's caller I.D. photo.”
“Oh yeah! That's right!” Mikey exclaimed, snatching the phone back from Leo and searching it up. With a grin and a flourish, he passed the T-phone back to Casey.
Casey's eyebrows rose and he whistled. “No wonder you think me and Ape are old.”
April turned to Casey, mock indignation filling her features and slapped him on his nearest arm. “Casey Jones! You watch your mouth!”
A couple of hours later as April and Casey were about to leave, Casey tossed a mischievous grin in Raph's direction before turning to Mikey and asking, “So Mikey, are you the Battle Nexus Champion in yer world too?”
“Is that a video game?”
- . - . -
Donatello had finished programming the lair's security system to recognise and accept Michelangelo and had thus far shown him three times how to unlock and open the doors from each side. He closed his eyes as he rubbed his temples, feeling a headache starting to come on strongly and contemplated going for coffee and headache pills. Suppressing a sigh, Donnie spoke up, trying to keep the strain in his voice hidden. “For the next few times when you go in or out, come and get Leo or myself to help you. Once you actually do it a couple of times, you'll find it easy enough to operate.”
“Says you, Donnie but okay.” Mikey nodded. “Why does it have to be so complicated anyway?”
“Because we have had our lair found and attacked before. This is our third home in nearly five years. We'd like to avoid being found and forced to find yet another home.” Donnie explained, remembering how much of a pain the whole ordeal was; having to find a new habitable place that was appropriate enough to turn into a home and trying to salvage as much as possible from previous domiciles. Not to mention just plain having to replace most of their belongings in the first place and doing all the work just to make it liveable. He shook his head, remembering how much trouble he had had with the electricity alone in this place. “Suitable locations for a home within the sewers are far and few between.”
“Oh, makes sense...” Mikey said quietly.
Donnie turned and saw Raph lounging over near the televisions. One of them was on but the volume was silent as Raph stared, barely paying any attention to the game. This time of night it was probably only a replay anyway, Donnie mused. He walked towards his brother, clearing his throat a little to announce his presence, not that he actually needed to, Donnie realised as Raph turned his head at his approach. “Any idea where Leo has disappeared to? I thought we were leaving soon.”
Grunting, Raph shot a quick scowl in Michelangelo's direction as the other-dimensional turtle followed Donnie over, looking as though there were many places he would rather be right now. “Fearless went to talk to Master Splinter about somethin' just after Case and Ape left.”
Donnie hadn't heard anything about that and his curiosity was peaked. “Any idea what about?”
Raph's eyes narrowed in annoyance, “No reason he'd bother to tell me anythin'”
Leo coughed lightly, letting Donatello, Raphael and Michelangelo know he was there as he otherwise approached them silently. “I wasn't keeping anything from anyone, Raph. I just didn't want to get anyone's hopes up unnecessarily.”
The other three trained their eyes on Leonardo. “Hopes 'bout what?” Raph asked.
“Well... after talking to Master Splinter, I have both good news and bad news.” Leo explained cautiously. “Casey's question earlier made me think of an option to help Michelangelo that was staring us in the face all along.” He nodded towards Mikey and the younger turtle's eyes widened with hope even as his heartbeat sped up in excitement.
“Which question? He and April asked quite a number of them.” Donnie ventured, remembering back to their friends' curiosity, curiosity he had to admit he shared. Honestly though, while he wanted to ask all the questions in the world, or at least those he felt he might get a coherent answer to, it was just too much for him to be near Michelangelo for too long at a time without other distractions keeping him grounded.
“About the Battle Nexus.”
Donnie's eyes widened as he suddenly realised. “Of course! The Daimyo!”
Leo nodded. “The good news is that Master Splinter believes the Daimyo would be willing to help Michelangelo.”
“And the bad?”
Leonardo sighed, “The borders of the Battle Nexus are closed currently and they will remain closed until the next tournament is ready to begin in nine and a half months time.” Leo explained. “Apparently they seal off the way there around a year beforehand to all outsiders to give them plenty of time to prepare, reshape and rebuild many of the arenas and environments to keep it fresh.”
“So I'm stuck here for months?” Mikey asked in disbelief.
“Great! We have to put up with... him for that long?”
“It's the worst case scenario. Don might still find another way to get him home sooner.” Leo placated before turning to face Michelangelo. “But this does mean you will definitely get home. This is a good thing; and Don won't have to kill himself trying to find a way to get you there.”
Mikey nodded but his eyes moved to land briefly on Raph. It was good news but... he was going to be separated from those he loved for what felt like forever, not to mention to be stuck in hostile company. He missed his Raph so much... he was harsh and mean a lot but he cared, deeply. He didn't often let it show, especially in company but he always did when it was needed the most and Mikey could almost always tell regardless.
Leo looked around at both his brothers and Michelangelo. “If everyone is ready, let's go get this over and done with. Michelangelo, leave the skateboard behind.” Leo commanded, noticing the wheeled ride tucked into the back of Michelangelo's belt.
“Do I have to? I'm really fast with it,” Mikey explained, then added cheekily, “you guys couldn't even keep up with me.”
“You're damn noisy with it too.” Raph growled.
“You already know how I feel about this subject, Michelangelo. This is a mission. Leave it behind or tell us where to go and stay behind in the lair.” Leo said sternly. “I will not jeopardise the mission, or the team, because you want to play. Your choice.”
“It's not about playing...” Mikey muttered grumbling, “it's useful and Master Splinter's always saying anything can be a weapon but fine, I'll leave it.” He placed the skateboard leaning against the wall by the door and the four turtles promptly left.
Leo led the way out of the sewers, coming up to the surface close to Central Park so as to give Mikey easy knowledge of where the lair was located. Mikey glanced around, getting his bearings quickly and pointing out the direction to the abandoned warehouse that had been a Kraang facility back home. After almost an hour they arrived, having stopped twice to foil a couple of random muggings they happened across.
Mikey went straight to one of the skylights which was smashed open, lined with jagged and dirty glass around the edges of the frame. “This is where we entered back home,” he pointed out and moved to enter, only to be stopped by Leonardo who insisted on going in first just in case there was anyone hidden inside.
“Dude, there was no one here at all when I was here before.” Mikey protested, though he stepped aside to allow Leo access regardless.
“That's as maybe but that was over a week ago. Anything could have changed in the meantime. Someone could have moved in since for all we know or even have just been out that particular night.” Leo murmured quietly. “Also, keep your voice down, we are ninja and we have a job to do. The last thing we need is to draw attention to ourselves tonight.”
Mikey swallowed hard, feeling chastised as he noticed Raph smirking maliciously at him out of the corner of his eye. He didn't let on that he noticed however.
Once they were inside the dusty and filthy old warehouse, the four turtles split into pairs and quickly canvassed the building. Leo kept Michelangelo with him while Raph and Donnie went off together, however no signs of life were found other than the usual evidence of pests. When they met up again about three quarters of a hour later, certain the place was empty, Mikey showed the other three where he and his brothers had had that battle and the small room he had entered before everything inexplicably changed. Donatello removed some scanning equipment from his ever-present duffel and began using it to try to find any unusual energy readings that he may be able to work with.
The longer they were there, the more uncomfortable and edgy Mikey felt. He really hated this place, this room especially. The memories and feelings of that night were coming back in full force, bubbling to the surface of his mind; his loneliness, his confusion over what had happened, why his brothers had seemingly abandoned him, even though he knew they would never do such a thing, his fear that he might somehow have been wrong about them... He knew now what had really happened. He realised that when he grabbed the console that was present back home, though not here, to turn around it faster when he went to shelter from any weapons fire, that he had done something that had caused all this. However, knowing what really happened didn't stop the memories and the doubts from surfacing. Didn't stop him from practically drowning in them. He glanced around the darkened, filthy room, shifting restlessly on his feet as he took in the very different sight from the brightly lit and clean room back home. He was so alone but he wasn't alone and for that he was kind of...
“Stop fidgetin' already, damn you!” Raph suddenly exploded, practically in Mikey's face causing him to flinch. “Could you be any more annoying?”
Mikey swallowed and tentatively raised his eyes to meet the furious turtle's. He was starting to feel sick of this, he hated feeling like he had to be so careful. It wasn't in his nature. “Yeah... yeah, I could.” He admitted before suddenly straightening and grinning disarmingly in Raph's face. “Actually, being annoying is one of my many specialities, along with naming things. Just ask my bros if you ever get to meet them!”
“Well, you better stop it here,” Raph snarled, “unless you wanna find yerself out on yer shell!”
“Raphael!” Leo snapped, suddenly stepping into the space between Mikey and Raph. “We will not be throwing Michelangelo out, however much you dislike him! If you absolutely have a need to pick a fight, pick it with me instead.”
Raph tossed Leo a contemptuous glare, “Just might have to do that. I'm gettin' sick and tired of the way you guys are tryin' to replace our little bro with... this, this cheap, carbon copy of him!” He curled his lip as he waved his hand dismissively towards Mikey, who had his eyes locked warily on Raph from behind Leo.
Raphael's words were met with a stunned silence from all three.
To be continued.
