Turtles' Big Sister

End Times

"Yes. Yes! The Master has arisen! Long live the Shredder!" Tigerclaw shouted as the corpse of Oroku Saki emerged from his coffin.

Shredder's shadowed figure slouched, slowly straightening. "I am...cold. Is this truly the Earth? Or another illusion? I have been gone for eons."

"No. Many months, but not eons, Shredder. You need to recover," Tigerclaw informed him."Kavaxas, will he heal?"

"In time," Kavaxas said simply.

"What?!" Tigerclaw turned to face him. "Restore him now! I do not want an excuse to keep you here."

The sound of cracking bones met his ears, and he turned to see Shredder's corpse walking towards him. Worms dropped to the ground where skin used to be, his arms dangling lifelessly at his sides, swinging with each step he took. His glowing eyes fixated on Tigerclaw and Tigerclaw alone.

"Kavaxas stays with us, Tigerclaw. Soon this pitiful world will be ours."

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"You're missing another classic Space Heroes: The Next Generation, guys!" Mikey shouted, polishing his grappling hook, his attention on the TV.

"We gotta get ready for the recon mission. Like you should be doing," Raph said, irritated, as he walked past.

"Ugh, Samirah and I gotta collect more data on Hothead," Donnie mumbled to himself, walking in the opposite direction as Raph. "Now that Tigerclaw has all of the pieces that can resurrect Shredder, we don't have much time."

Casey was wrapping tape around his hockey stick. "You do realize Leo is gonna be stupid mad when he finds out you watched Space Heroes without him?"

"Right now, I don't think he cares," Max commented.

"Um, where is Leo anyway? And Pepper?" Mikey asked curiously, looking around.

"Where else? Pepper's in the dojo, meditating, and Leo's gone to try and get her out of it. I feel so bad for her. The weight of the world is always on her shoulders," April said, sheathing her tanto, worry in her eyes.

Hunter sighed, slinging his axe across his back. "It doesn't always have to be like that. I wish she'd realize that."

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Pepper was sitting in front of Father's shrine, losing herself in her thoughts. About Kavaxas -- how was she supposed to stop him if her whole team couldn't even fight him? Not only that, he'd already killed two people... Not that she cared about Tatsu and Hammer. She growled, her tail twitching angrily as she opened her eyes. 

"I can't do this anymore. It's too much," she growled, staring at the floor.

Her ears twitched at footsteps right behind her, and suddenly Leo was kneeling at her side. She hadn't even heard him enter the dojo. 

"You don't have to do this alone, you know. You've got me, you've got our siblings, you've got the twins and April and Casey. It doesn't have to depend only on you, you know."

She sighed. "But I want it to depend on me because that means all the stress isn't on your shoulders. I'm the oldest, I'm the leader, I'm the one Father left in charge. I'm responsible for looking after all of you, for keeping you safe. But...I-I don't know how to do that this time."

"I felt the same way many times in my life, my children." She looked up to see Father walking in front of the shrine. "But we always endure."

"Father?" Leo asked.

Pepper looked over at him. "You can see him? The others all just think I'm talking to myself when they walk in to me speaking with him."

"He's appeared for you before?"