SUMMARY: "Pulled from the future after the last of their interactions with their counterparts by Renet, the Dark Turtles find themselves playing a crucial role in bettering the time-stream. They've been given the task of healing a depressed Leonardo, but they end up changing their own lives for the better as well." An AU season 4 rewrite like no other.

RATING: T for turtle (and future violence, deeper themes, and the like)

DISCLAIMER: CAN'T YOU TELL THAT IF I OWNED 'TMNT', IT WOULD BE FAR DIFFERENT THAN IT IS NOW?

A/N: Please do not ask me what in creation made me come up with this, because I have absolutely no flipping clue. I just know that if I don't write it, the plot-bunny will never leave me alone to sleep, and I'm enough of an insomniac as is. So please enjoy this sure-to-be-unique story.

-TMNT-TMNT-TMNT-

"We need to find some way to be free of Dunn," Dark Leo said after he had called his brothers to a meeting. "Preferably before he gets rid of us when our counterparts return to their own time."

"I agree, Mankato," Dark Don said, using the new names each of them had picked out for themselves. "But apart from asking our counterparts to help, what can we do?"

"Can't you build one of those time-portal-thingies, Porfirio?" Dark Mikey asked. "Then we could just go to some other time and we'd never have to worry about Dunn again!"

"Keep it down, knucklehead, before he hears ya," Dark Raph growled. "Seriously, Savyon, do you have no common sense?"

"You're one to talk, Antares," Savyon, formerly Dark Mikey, said.

"I oughtta…" Dark Raph, now called Antares, said, but Mankato cut him off.

"Quiet, both of you!" he ordered in a low voice, using his artificial eye to keep an eye on the doorway for Darius.

"You know…" Porfirio said thoughtfully. "Savyon's idea might just be possible. I stole the plans for the time window from Dunn awhile ago, and if we stole a few parts, I'm sure I could rig up something. The only problem would be getting the parts we need."

Mankato started to say something, but it was cut off when everything suddenly shimmered. "What was that?" Savyon asked, inching closer to Mankato on instinct.

Right before the floor disappeared beneath them and was replaced with a green portal-type thing, Mankato wondered if the original Leonardo ever had to deal with this type of thing.

-TMNT-

The Dark Turtles landed in a heap on a rooftop, but in a far different setting than anything they had ever seen in their time. "Ok…? Any theories on what just happened, Porfirio?"

"I can, like, explain that!" a voice the four had no knowledge of chimed in, and they all tensed, ready to either fight or run if necessary. The speaker was a girl dressed, in Mankato's personal opinion, like she was some kind of promoter for time. "My name's Renet, and I, like, brought you all here!"

"And where's here?" Porfirio asked, his tail twitching unconsciously.

"When's here, if you wanna get technical," Renet said with a grin. "This is a rooftop in, like, New York City during the year 2005."

"Why did you bring us here?" Mankato asked, stepping forward a bit so that his brothers were behind him.

"Because, like, my final exam is to create an alternate timeline by bringing someone from near the end of their personal timeline and setting them into the time-stream at a point where they can change things!" Renet explained. "Lord Simultaneous wanted me to change my friends' timeline, and, like, you guys were the perfect choice for that!"

The brothers exchanged incredulous looks. "Right… So what exactly does this mean for us?"

"Well, in your original timeline, you four have just, like, gone missing, and the only one who notices this is Darius Dunn," Renet explained. "And, in case you couldn't guess, he, like, doesn't really care."

"Big surprise," Antares mumbled.

"Since I brought you guys here, this is, like, an alternate timeline now, so you don't have to worry about accidentally rewriting yourselves out of existence," Renet said. "In fact, I don't think you guys, like, existed in the first place in this timeline."

Porfirio raised an eyebrow. "What changed to cause that to happen?"

"The turtles never went to the future," Renet said with a shrug. "Which is where you four come in. You see, like, Leo's all depressed and stuff at this point in the timeline, and you guys are here to help him out."

"And what's in this for my brothers and me?" Mankato asked.

"Well, for one thing, you four would be safe here in this timeline," Renet explained. "Since you're from another timeline, your being here is stable and a change in your original timeline can't affect you. Plus, like, the guys have no reason to fight against you here. You don't have to be their enemies."

Mankato looked at Renet before nodding slightly. "I need to converse with my brothers."

"Yeah, sure thing!" Renet said. She backed up to the corner of the rooftop to let them have a little privacy.

"You ain't thinking of actually doing what this girl says, are you?" Antares asked.

"Why not?" Mankato asked. "It isn't like how we couldn't go to the turtles for help getting free of Dunn. They'd have no idea of who we were. Besides, you can't tell me you aren't getting sick of fighting all the time."

"Mankato has a point, Antares," Porfirio said. "Helping the turtles rather than trying to kill them would have its benefits. Besides, I want to know what got Leonardo depressed. He showed no signs of that in our timeline."

"As long as there's food and video games, I don't care what we do!" Savyon said excitedly. "But not fighting with our originals would be kinda nice. We never win anyway."

"I'm not getting much choice in this, am I?" Antares asked. The other three just smirked at him. "Fine. But if they pick a fight with us, I'm fighting back."

Mankato nodded in agreement before turning back to Renet.

"So, are you four gonna, like, help me out here by helping Leo out?" Renet asked, hopeful.

"Yes," Mankato said, nodding. "We're in."

-TMNT-TMNT-TMNT-

E/N: Like I said, I have no idea where this came from, and you're not going to see anything else like it. The names for the Dark Turtles were chosen using name sites, and each name means the color of the turtle in question.

Well, let me know what you think! Offynon out!