It had been several weeks since Casey and April's marriage. Splinter had been recovering well from his ordeal with the decompiler. April and Casey had been on their honeymoon to Barbados, and had returned tanned golden brown with stories of their exotic adventure together. The Turtles meanwhile had been helping Donatello with his latest project. He'd been re-creating some of the gadgetry he'd experienced in 2105 with a lot of success. The problem was that the lair was becoming overcrowded with Donny's inventions, and Leonardo had demanded they organise and put away the majority of the new devices.

"Its not safe having all this stuff lying around, Don." Leonardo lectured, moving a small gun out of his way with his foot as he disappeared into the kitchen for some food. "Just imagine what happens if Mikey get's bored and starts playing around with these things."

Donatello had to admit Leo was right. Mikey had been eyeing up the gadgets for a while now, contemplating stealing a few away for his own amusement. "All right. You guys can help me sort all this stuff out. Sort them into piles in size order and I'll label and put them away."

"This is crud" Raphael moaned as the Turtles started their inventory. "Why'd ya have ta make so many, Don. We aint been back that long either. Can't believe you found the time to make all of these."

"What do they do, anyway? Are any of them advanced video gaming?" Mikey asked, enthusiastically delving into a pile of machines and devices. "Cool, this looks great. Can I hook it up to my Playstation?"

"No, Mikey. You can't hook that up. Leave it alone." Donatello grumbled as he began the exasperating task of labelling over a hundred different machines. "I'm going to implement a traffic light system. Red, do not touch. Green, safe to touch. Amber, you ask me first. Got it?"

Mikey nodded, his eyes shining with excitement. "Anything you say, brainybear."

"I still say this is crud." Raphael kicked at a pile of gadgets and watched as a small handheld device rolled across the floor. He picked it up, staring intently at it. It was small and seemed like a rock with buttons. One green button and one red button. There was a screen that kept blinking the word 'empty'. "What's this do, Don?"

Donatello looked up. "Its something I've adapted from future law enforcement and criminal rehabilitation. The original was called a PerpCalm, and it was used to control particularly aggressive felons by modifying their personality. Seemed cool, so I copied it."

"Sounds like Raph could use a dose of that." Mikey laughed, hugging his shell and grinning widely.

"Yeah, yeah, la'ff it up." Raphael sat down and examined the device closely.

"Raph, put it down. You don't want to mess with that" Leonardo ordered, glowering at the hotheaded brother with a scowl.

Raphael merely grinned, pleased he was annoying the eldest and possibly most annoying brother he had. "Scared I'll press a button and your head will explode, Fearless?"

Leonardo shook his head angrily. "Its your funeral, Raph."

"Raphy, don't do anything." Mikey suddenly looked terrified. "It'll end bad. It always does."

Raphael was torn. He knew he shouldn't press the big green button, and Mikey was right - bad things always happened when they did stupid things. However, Leonardo had riled him up being high and mighty, and it was fun seeing Mikey squirm.

Taking a deep breath, Raphael pressed the button. Instantly, a red shimmering field enveloped the startled Turtle, driving him backwards and into the wall. The field shone brightly for an instant, and then dissipated. Raphael was stunned.

He looked down at the gizmo in his hand. The screen was still flashing. But it was no longer empty. Now the device read 'FULL.'

"What the shell?" Donatello muttered angrily. "You just had to do that, didn't you?"

"It didn't hurt." Raph seemed relieved. "Kinda tickled."

"What's he done this time?" Leonardo was on full alert, his eyes scrutinising Raphael for any sign of distress.

"Nothin' Geez, Leo. Take a chill pill before you hyperventilate yourself into next week." Raphael smirked.

Shrugging, Raphael had to do it. He pressed the red button just as Donatello was shaking his head and mouthing no. Just as Leonardo was saying "I don't think you should do that." Just as Mikey closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable hellfire to reign down on them.

The blinding red field shot out of the device and captured Raphael's brothers full in the beam. All three were frozen to the spot as Raphael realised he had made a terrible mistake. Fiddling with the device, Raphael tried to turn it off. "Guys, I'm sorry. Hold on."

The light faded and Raphael's three brothers slumped together.

"You guys ok?" Raph ran over to Mikey, shaking his shell. "Mikey, wake up."

As Mikey's eyes shot open, Raphael sighed with relief. However, he was not expecting the reaction he received from the youngest. Mikey slapped away Raphael's hands and got to his feet shakily. "Shake me like that again, and I kick ya from here to Liberty Island."

Raphael's eyes opened wide. "Sheesh, sorry Mikey. I didn't want you guys to get hurt."

"Crud. Told ya not to mess with that thing." Leonardo got to his feet. "Bonehead."

"Yeah, what a dufus." Donatello added from the corner, sitting with his hands crossed on his plastron. "He aint playing with a whole deck, guys."

Raphael was speechless. Everything seemed slightly weird. His brothers were alive, which was a good start. There was something different about them though. And something very familiar.

Raphael checked the device in his hand. The screen flashed "EMPTY" once more. "Look, whatever happened, we got off easy. No harm done." Raphael chuckled nervously and put down the device.

"No harm done?" Leonardo asked, his eyes narrowed in rage. "Did ya lose every brain cell you got when we zapped back to the future? Ya don't press buttons without knowing the score."

"Leo, I ..." Raph looked curiously at Leo's defensive posture. He was definitely riled up and angry. His hands folded over his chest and he glared at Raphael, silently fuming.

"Leo's right, shell fer brains." Mikey piped up with a growly low voice.

"What the shell is up wit' you guys?" Raphael was becoming annoyed.

Then it clicked. The device must have changed his brothers' personalities. In fact, they were acting a lot like Raphael.

"Haha! Think I figured it out guys. You've turned inta me!" Raphael threw his head back and laughed manically. "This is gonna be fun."

Leonardo, Donatello and Michelangelo exchanged glances.

"You wanna bet?" Donny asked, smirking at Raphael. "Things gonna be a lot harder than you think!"

TBC