Digital Mutation (Book Five)

Chapter 27: Wattcest

"Welcome to the wonderful world of Wattpad!" Circa announces.

The teenagers look around in shock, Circa's voice ringing in their ears, and Leonardo cradles Destiny closer to him. Their surroundings are bathed in orange and white light, endless book covers and profiles scrolling past them on a backdrop of ever-changing scenery: forests, galaxies, sunrises, the list goes on. Beneath their feet is a flowing river of words.

"Wattpad?" Casey repeats. "What the heck is this?" He steps back as lines of text wiggle past his knees.

Donatello strokes his chin. "It looks like some kind of reading, blog website, but..." He eyes the torrent of books going past tagged with the words "bad boy" and frowns. "I don't think it's for professionals."

"It's for writing," Leonardo says, voice just above a whisper. He clears his throat. "Uh, it's got some original books but it's mostly fanfiction, or at least...that's what I've seen. It's great for beginners to the community."

"You read fanfic?" Annalise asks, eyes widening.

His cheeks darken. "There are some very well written fics out there for Space Heroes. Sometimes they're better than the show and I feel fulfilled," he admits. His brothers stare at him and he aims a warning finger at them. "Never say a word about this to Destiny or anyone once we get out of here."

"Sure, whatever you say," Raphael says with an eye-roll.

"Guys...didn't Circa say that there's another test thing?" Michelangelo asks, baby blues darting around. "I've got a bad feeling."

Circa appears in a flash, hands on her hips as she bobs in midair. "A bad feeling?" she repeats. "That's funny, because I just got a really good feeling. One of us is off here." She clicks her tongue, shaking her head as she shrugs. "Oh well, that doesn't matter. What matters is that I have another game set up for youuuu..."

"Oh...yay," Michelangelo whimpers.

"For this to work, one of you turtles or Casey has to get through a certain book of my choosing without losing composure," Circa continues, already starting to grin at the thought. "No closing your eyes, no skipping chapters. Oh, and Annalise..." Her hair sparks and the blonde steps back, every muscle tensing up. "You're disqualified because there aren't any fanfics about you."

"Wha..." she starts.

"Or at least, there aren't any in this dimension, and it was hard enough trying to find these. Absolutely exhausting." Circa wipes her forehead and flutters her eyelashes. "The trouble I went through for all of you is truly under-appreciated."

"Bite me," Raphael snaps.

"Oo, I'd love to," Circa replies, making her teeth sharp and pointed as she giggles. "Maybe later."

Raphael shudders. She snaps her fingers and a single book soars out of the sea of other titles and comes to a stop before them, making their stomachs churn. The cover is an image of the turtles staring seductively out at any viewer and the title proclaims "T-cest One-Shots."

The tags make them even more uncomfortable: Raph x Leo, Donnie x Mikey, Casey x Raph, Leo x Donnie, Raph x Mikey, Donnie x Casey.

"There are some people out there who really like these," Circa says with a laugh. "I placed a healing serum at the end of this book and if you make it, Destiny gets patched up. Simple. Otherwise, you're on your own! Good luck!"

She cackles and disappears in a flash of light. The group stares at the book, then at each other, searching without luck for confidence or solace.

"No stupid Wattpad fanfic thing is gonna stop me," Raphael insists, starting to march out across the pages.