Leonardo stood looking at… well… himself, in a space suit, wondering what they were going to do now. There was now eight where there used to be four, along with another April and Casey. Though equally confused on what to do now, Splinter didn’t seem all that surprised to see them. Did he somehow know of their existence? It was something Leo was going to have to ask his father about later.
Leonardo was just about to strike up a conversation with his… duplicate?… future self?… when a ship entered the atmosphere and landed in front of them. It was the same ship that had just taken the black hole generator up in to space to explode it.
No, that ship was not this ship. This ship was from the… future? If that ship was from the future… then this ship is from the present. It was all starting to hurt his head.
A robotic man stepped out and invited them all for a ride in his space ship. After all that they had been through they needed a break and Leo allowed himself to get excited.
The idea of going out is space like his favorite hero, Captain Ryan, filled Leo with so much joy that he willingly raced into the ship without even saying goodbye to his father. It was a chance of a lifetime. Just a short ride out in space and they would be back.
His heart raced as the ship took off and Casey exclaimed, “This is awesome!” Leonardo couldn’t agree more.
“Are you ready?” Fugitoid asked, his eyes curving to simulate a smile.
“Are we ever!” Raphael replied eagerly, his face lighting up. “Let’s see what this puppy can do!”
“Where are we going?” April wanted to know.
Fugitoid held up a finger. “Six months into the past!”
Leonardo could not believe what he had just heard. “What?” It was just supposed to be a short joy ride.
“That should give us plenty of time,” Fugitoid continued.
“Time for what?” Raph demanded, all joy dropping from his tone.
Fugitoid turned to look at him. “To stop the Triceratons of course.”
“But haven’t they already been stopped?” Leo argued.
“Well, yes,” Fugitoid replied as he walked around pressing buttons. “But in order to insure that this outcome happens again, we must go back in time to do the same as the others had done. If we do not then this timeline will vanish and the natural timeline, where the Triceratons win, returns.”
“But… if we go back in time…,” Casey asked, scratching his head, “won’t we meet up with them?”
“You are them or you will be, hopefully,” Fugitoid answered as he made his way into a platform in the middle of the room, brushing Casey away so he could stand at its center. Panels came up to surround him and the ship began to hum. “When we go back in time you will become who they once were and who you once were will be on the planet’s surface. Understand?”
Casey shook his head and simply said, “No.”
“You wouldn’t,” Donnie said.
“Do you?” Casey shot back.
Donnie flushed and looked off to the side. “Of course.”
“Right,” Casey said, drawing it out.
“Okay then, let’s go,” Fugitoid said, and his eyes narrowed into slits. “Hold on to something.” A white light appeared on the view screen and the humming intensified. “Oh, no wait, too late for that. Apologies.”
The ship shook and it felt like they were being pulled and stretched in all directions while strobing colors surrounded them.
“Not cool, bro,” Mikey screamed as they suddenly lurched forward.
And then it was done and the screen showed the Earth once again. “What just happened?” Raph demanded.
“We traveled through time,” Fugitoid answered. “We are six months in the past to be exact.”
Leonardo’s heart sank. “Six months?”
“We must seek out and destroy the pieces of the black hole generator,” Fugitoid stated. “Or the Earth is doomed.”
Leonardo looked at his family and friends. He had no choice but to resign himself to this fate. “Well,” he turned to look at Earth, “at least we know we succeed.”
“Well…,” Fugitoid said, his voice going up a bit. “They succeeded. We could fail.”
“But we’re them,” Casey pointed out. “Isn’t that what you said?”
“Yes,” Fugitoid nodded and then started to shake his head. “But at the same time, you are not them. Time is not concrete. There are countless possibilities to a timeline and every time time travel is used it creates yet another one. That Earth is not your Earth, at least not yet, but at the same time it is. The other Turtles live on your Earth, if you wish to become them you must succeed. If you fail, this will not be your Earth. It will be gone. And those Turtles down there now, who are your past selves, whether you succeed or fail will have to go back in time and save another Earth that is not this Earth but at the same time is. We changed the natural time line and so must continue to fight to keep it that way.”
“My head hurts,” Mikey complained.
“Mine too,” Donnie admitted.
“If you go in expecting to succeed,” Fugitoid explained, “then there is a chance that you won’t try as hard as they had. Unlike them, you didn’t witness your Earth being destroyed. You are them and must do what they had done but…, at the same time, you are different. You have knowledge going into this that they didn’t have.”
“Like you sacrificing yourself to destroy the black hole generator,” April pointed out.
“Yes,” Fugitoid said sorrowfully. “Like that.”
“Well,” Leo moved to stand in front of Fugitoid, “we will try to find another way to destroy the black hole generator.”
Fugitoid ‘smiled’. “But if we can’t, don’t try to stop me from doing what I must.”
“Agreed.” Leo took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Let’s do what we can do.” Leo placed his hand out.
Raph was the first to place his over Leo’s. “Let’s do this.”
The other soon followed suit, ending with Fugitoid’s steely hand.
