Webcomic / Aftermath and Recovery

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They did it. They saved the world.

And they almost lost Leonardo.

As the days after the invasion tick by, the entire Hamato Clan struggles with recovery from their injuries... physical and emotional.

This Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fan-made webcomic was written and drawn by Happy Foxx on Tumblr. The first chapter can be read right here.

Examples that ended up with trauma in more ways than one are as follows:

• Admiring the Abomination: While the process of accessing (and de-connecting from) the Kraang tech caused Donnie severe shell damage and brain trauma, he admits to Mikey that he actually misses it at times, as it made processing things so much easier (something he especially misses due to everyone still recovering emotionally from what happened).
• Anger Born of Worry:
  • When Draxum comes to the lair and sees how injured everyone is (especially Leo and Donnie), he goes on a rant for several minutes as he examines their injuries. They boys can all tell that the anger's just his way of showing how worried he actually was (even if he refuses to admit it). Earlier, when Mikey finally called him hours after the invasion, Draxum practically screamed at him when he picked up, saying that he'd been trying to reach them.
  • When Donnie catches Leo walking outside the med bay (which he isn't supposed to be doing since he's not cleared for physical therapy yet), he snaps and yells at Leo while carrying him back to the med bay (see below).
• Amateur Therapist: Towards the end of the comic, when everyone's recovered enough to actually talk about what happened, Mikey brings out Doctor Feelings to lead the family's group therapy.
• Armor-Piercing Question: Donatello finally snaps and lets loose some of his feelings when he's forcing Leo back to the med bay.
  Leo: Hang on, I can walk myself back, your arms are still—
  Donnie: WRONG AGAIN! You're on a roll, 'Nardo. When will you stop trying to do everything yourself?
  Leo: I do not—
  Donnie: Oh, spare me! That's exactly what landed you in this situation!
  Leo: Excuse me?
  Donnie: I will not!... Do you have any idea what it was like? Being on the ground? While you saved the world?
  Leo: ...Dee...
  Donnie: Watching you disappear?
• Bandage Mummy: Lampshaded. While treating Mikey's arms, April jokes about wrapping him up like a mummy.
• Bandage Wince: Happens to each of the Turtles at least once:
  • Leo whenever he's getting something patched up (justified because he hates painkillers)
  • Raph when Splinter's patching up the gash on his shoulder.
  • Donnie whenever he gets something put on/taken off his shell (as it had been badly cut by the Kraang tech).
  • Mikey does this when April's first patching the burns on his forearms.
• Beware the Nice Ones: When Raph catches Leo training in the middle of the night (despite still recovering from several injuries), they start arguing. They only stop when Michelangelo screams "ENOUGH!" Both brothers freeze when they find Mikey shaking with barely-contained anger and calmly demanding that they have an immediate family meeting.
• Big Brother Instinct: All over the place.
  • April is there for the guys every step of the way, even finally introducing her mother to the Hamatos when it becomes clear Dr. O'Neil is the only one who can help figure out what's causing Donnie's seizures.
  • The brothers all show a lot of concern for each other, with Leo and Donnie getting the most attention from their brothers due to the severity of their injuries.
  • After seeing how much Mikey is struggling to keep it together despite the damage his hands suffered, Donnie makes compression sleeves for him to both ease the shaking in his arms and make it easier for him to do art again.
• Big "WHAT?!": Raph gives one of these when April (after practically busting through the med bay doors) says Donnie had a seizure.
• Bilingual Dialogue: After his Panic Attack, Donnie starts using sign language rather than speaking. The others all know sign (as he's done this before) and thus continue to speak English.
• Blatant Lies: Lampshaded by Casey. When he and Donnie need to reset Leo's leg, Leo says he won't move. Casey, who's known Leo (or at least another version of him) for years, calls him out.
  Casey: (to Donnie) You need to make sure Leonardo doesn't move while I'm working on setting it.
  Leo: I won't move.
  Casey: You've said that literally every time and it's always a lie.
• Body Horror: After an hour or so of him treating Leo's injuries, Donnie (after a sensory overload-induced panic attack) is shown to have been severely cut under his battle shell (to the point it looks like his shell has a zebra pattern).
• Break the Cutie / Heal the Cutie: Happens to pretty much every Turtle in the fic, especially Mikey. Luckily, they're all able to help each other through this rough time and come out okay.
• Catapult Nightmare: Both Raph and Leo have these as a result of their trauma from the Kraang (even months after the invasion). They've started a ritual of cuddling with each other after having a bad dream.
• Closest Thing We Got: When it becomes apparent that Donatello and Leonardo need health care none of the immediate family members are capable of, Draxum states that they need a neurologist to look into Donatello's seizures and a surgeon for Leonardo's knee. April's mom is a neurologist, but Draxum is forced to track down a yokai doctor to operate on Leonardo. Donatello is not thrilled when he learns that the mutant weasel is a Back-Alley Doctor who only has "two-thirds of a degree". That said, she turns out to be a Bunny-Ears Lawyer who perfectly repairs Leo's knee... though poor Carol has to hear some of her stories during the operation.
  Draxum: Listen, if you don't like it, you can find a different surgeon who is experienced in working on magically enhanced beings!
• Clothing-Concealed Injury: Due to the sheer amount of damage his shell took, Donnie wears his hoodie more often than not throughout the fic. Once his shell is significantly healed, he starts wearing his battle shell again.
• Conditioned to Accept Horror:
  • Casey, having spent his entire childhood in an apocalypse, is so used to patching up injured mutant turtles that he's the only one who doesn't freak out/break down over anyone's injuries.
  • Played for Laughs with Dr. Margo Crobar, a yokai surgeon who's Seen It All to the point that she treats surgery like a fun hobby (though thankfully she's skilled enough that this isn't a problem).
• Darker and Edgier: Unlike in the film, which glossed over any potential injuries the Turtles likely would have suffered, all of them received pretty serious injuries during the invasion, with many of them having long-lasting effects:
  • The ALL have PTSD, although Raph and Leo have it especially bad.
  • Leonardo needs surgery on his knee and spends weeks on bed rest due to all of his other injuries.
  • Donatello got his shell cut up pretty badly, and has started having seizures as a result of him hacking the Kraang tech.
  • Raphael temporarily loses sight in his right eye, has a scar over said eye that never really fades, and has pretty bad PTSD from being possessed.
  • Michelangelo has terrible scarring on his hands from opening the portal. On top of that, his hands won't stop shaking (which scares him into thinking he can't do art any more).
• Dramatic Unmask: When Raph starts breaking down, Splinter removes his son's mask so he can both treat his injured eye and better comfort him.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: The last chapter of the comic shows Leo going to Raph after he has another nightmare. After talking for a second, Leo admits he thinks he's finally starting to (emotionally) recover. Raph decides they need to celebrate, and they grab the other guys for a turtle pile (promising they'll get pizza for breakfast in the morning). While the boys have been through a lot, they're going to be okay.
• Experts Unavailable: When the Turtles are all left with severe injuries (due to the events of the Kraang invasion), Mikey and April call Draxum for advice. He tells them that while he can help with some of the injuries, they'll need specialists to deal with Leonardo's messed up knee and to diagnose the cause of Donatello's seizures: specifically, they need a surgeon and a neurologist. This presents a problem since the Hamatos can't simply go to a hospital, nor would most doctors know how to treat mutant turtles. Fortunately, the problem is solved by having April's mother, a neurologist, look at Donnie while Draxum hires a yokai surgeon to operate on Leo.
• Eye Scream: Raph ended up damaging his right eye while breaking free of the Kraang's control. He ends up wearing a bandage over it for over a week. Even though he regains vision in said eye, there's a scar over said eye, although his mask covers it up. The real pain, however, comes from the fact that anyone/anything coming towards his eye is a Trauma Button.
• Eyed Screen: In the second chapter, Leo wakes up due to his family picking him up (causing them to stress several of his injuries). The screen shows his widening, pained eyes before he screams in pain.
• Fantastically Challenging Patient: While Casey and Donatello are able to effectively treat all of Leonardo's other injuries, they can't do much about his knee (which, according to Casey, is "pretty messed up"). This poses a problem since, even if they could take Leo to a human surgeon, said surgeon would have no idea how to help him (since he's a mutant created by magic and mad science). Draxum is able to solve the problem by hiring a yokai surgeon, who is able to fix Leo's knee.
• Foreshadowing: Donnie's battle shell is shown to have blood on the edges and seeping from under it. Mikey later discovers that Donnie got badly cut on his shell while on the space ship, and put off treating himself to help Leo.
• Furry Reminder: The Turtles all hiss in pain or out of fear at least once, much like real turtles. Also, Mikey is shown sleeping in his shell at one point.
• Good Parents: Splinter and Dr. Carol O'Neil are there for their kids (biological and adopted) throughout their recovery.
  • Splinter's the one who holds Leonardo during the drive back to the lair, comforts Raphael when he has his first trauma-induced breakdown, and he patches up Donatello's shell when they learn how badly he was injured.
  • While at first surprised that the kids she's spoken to on the phone for years are mutant turtles, Carol quickly moves past her shock and gets to work helping the boys however she can, both medically and emotionally.
  • Draxum is more Parents as People. While he obviously cares about his "sons", he's still reluctant to admit it... mostly due to the fact that he's still trying to figure out where he fits in the Hamato family. That said, he's the one to track down a surgeon to fix Leonardo's knee, and he helps Michelangelo with his magic-induced injuries.
• Heroic Sacrifice: The comic deconstructs Leo's actions in the film. While it worked and ended the Kraang invasion, the family nearly lost Leonardo. Many of them are still struggling with their feelings about Leo's sacrifice, feelings that don't get truly resolved until Dr. Feelings hosts a family therapy session.
• Humanizing Tears: The very first panel of the comic is a picture of the four brothers hugging after saving Leonardo. Donatello has Tears of Joy in his eyes.
• In the Hood: Donnie uses his hoodie as a disguise when April and Carol sneak him into the hospital for an MRI. It works because the hospital was so chaotic after the Kraang invasion that (due partially to Carol being a doctor) nobody gave them a second look.
• It's All My Fault: Raph and Leo both blame themselves for each other's trauma (Leo for Raph getting possessed, Raph for making Leo think he needed to sacrifice himself to be a good leader). Casey gets shades of this, too, believing that his "The Reason You Suck" Speech to Leo in the movie is what made him decide to sacrifice himself.
• Locked Out of the Loop: Seeing as how Carol just learned that her daughter's friends were mutant turtles, she still doesn't know a few other things about the family... such as the fact that her neighbor "Barry" is actually an alchemist/reformed Mad Scientist. Nor does she have any idea who Casey is.
  Carol: (seeing Draxum walk by with Mikey) Barry?!?
  April: Don't ask.
• Major Injury Underreaction: Leonardo tries to tell his family he's fine throughout the comic... even though he has a concussion, shell damage, broken bones, a messed up knee, gashes everywhere, and later develops an infection that sends him into a brief coma.
• Manly Tears: Averted. There are a lot of tears here.
• Non-Sexual Intimacy: Raphael's first instinct when one of his brothers is in distress is to hug/cuddle them until they're calm. When Leonardo starts freaking out because of the pain meds (he doesn't like the way they make him feel and he's already stressed from his near-death), Raph holds/cuddles him until he's calmed some. When Donatello's getting his messed up softshell stitched up (something that's clearly uncomfortable for him), Raph hugs him while churring to keep him calm. Both times, he stays with his brothers until he's needed elsewhere.
• Noodle Incident: Dr. Margo Crobar, the weasel yokai who operates on Leonardo's leg, has certainly seen some things...
  Margo: —so anyways, by the time we got the dude's spleen out, it was ready to burst. Never had such a mess in my OR! Well, that's not true, there was this time with Big Mama's champion and this giant moth yokai—
• Not So Stoic: Draxum tries to act like he isn't overly bothered by seeing all of the Turtles injured... but the level of angry ranting he's doing lets them all know he's actually very concerned.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Apparently April stole a van to get everyone home after the Kraang battle. When Mikey tries to ask her where she got it, she waves him off. The origins of the van are never explained.
• Omnidisciplinary Scientist: Zig-zagged. While Donnie (as usual) is skilled in numerous areas of science (although he admits Leo has more experience with medical science that him), Draxum is the one to point out that they'll need specialists to help with Donnie's seizures and Leo's knee.
  April: Can you help or not?
  Mikey: With Dee or Leo. I know you can help me.
  Draxum: Of course I can help you— but for the other two you are looking for a surgeon and a neurologist. I am a scientist and an alchemist. Unfortunately this is outside my realm of knowledge.
• Papa Wolf: From the moment his sons get home, Splinter's by their side as much as possible. Nothing is happening to his sons while he's around. Draxum has shades of this, too (as much as he wants to deny it).
• The Patient Has Left the Building: Played for Laughs. When Donnie's bringing Leo lunch, he catches his brother trying to take a quick walk (having grown bored in the med bay). Leo gets a panicky grin and tries to save face. Donnie isn't fooled, and starts yelling at him for moving around before he's recovered some more.
  Leo: (panicking) Oh man, this isn't the bathroom—
• Platonic Co-Parenting: After she's officially introduced to the Turtles and Splinter, Carol (who's already been acting as something of a long-distance parent to the boys for years) becomes a full parental figure to the teens (even allowing them to call her "Mom"). She and Splinter get along fine and treat each other as friends.
• Post-Nightmare Comfort: Leonardo ends up having nightmares for a while after the invasion due to his near death experience. Donatello and later Raphael starts sitting with him to help him sleep.
• Post-Op Ditziness: After Leonardo wakes up from knee surgery, he's overly affectionate with his brothers and won't stop saying how much he loves them (and starts tearing up when told that they love him, too).
  Dr. O'Neil: You want to see your brothers, baby?
  Leo: (high as a kite) Yeah, I love those guys!
  Dr. O'Neil: They love you, too.
  Leo: (tearing up) THEY DO?!?
• Sad Clown: Despite trying to be the most upbeat while everyone is recovering, Mikey is actually struggling to keep it together. He's scared and saddened by what his brothers are going through, and is terrified of having permanent damage in his arms. Donnie accidentally learns this when he walks in on Mikey crying (as he'd dropped Leo's breakfast due to a cramp in his hands).
• Self-Therapy: After the Hamato family as a whole has recovered from the injuries they got during the Kraang invasion, Mikey begins an emergency family therapy session via his therapist persona, Dr. Feelings. However, after he manages to get a few family members to open up, Donnie tells Mikey that he needs to voice how he's been feeling as well. To make Mikey more comfortable, Donnie puts on the fake glasses Mikey wears as Dr. Feelings. Mikey then begins acting as though Donatello is Doctor Feelings and opens up to his family.
• Shout-Out: When Donatello starts to examine Leo's injuries, Leo dismisses said injuries as "just a flesh wound."
• Shown Their Work: Despite the author's admittance that they are not a doctor, several of the symptoms Donatello shows after his first seizure are in line with common post-ictal symptoms: exhaustion/tiredness, confusion, feelings of fear and/or sadness, etc. He also appears to be conscious during one of his seizures later on, which can also happen.
• Skip the Anesthetic: Downplayed. Leonardo hates painkillers (he says that they "make [his] body feel weird"). As such, he tries to forgo painkillers when Casey and Donnie start treating his injuries. After they reset his leg, though (causing him to scream so loudly it gives Donnie sensory overload), Casey puts him on pain meds. Later on, however, when he's getting knee surgery, he allows himself to be put under.
• Sleep Cute: Chapter 25 ends with one. Mikey, April, Raph, and Casey all end up sleeping on the floor of the med bay so they can stay near Leo, Donnie, and Splinter (who's keeping watch over Dee in case he has another seizure).
• Staying with the Suffering: Throughout their recovery, each Turtle has at least one family member with them. At one point, when both Leo and Donnie are laid up in the med bay, the rest of the family brings blankets and pillows so they can sleep in there with them.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Sandwich: Happens twice:
  • Michelangelo makes a bed-bound Leo fried eggs for breakfast. But while carrying the plate to the med bay, Mikey gets a cramp in his arms and drops it, ruining the food. Donnie finds him crying on the floor, and helps him remake the eggs.
  • When Leonardo's recovery is further along, Donnie tries to bring him a sandwich for lunch. En route to the med bay, he catches Leo walking around (which he's not supposed to be doing). Donnie drops the plate before he yells at Leo for being stupid and carries him back to the med bay. Once Leo's back in bed (with Splinter watching him), Donnie goes back to make a new sandwich, grumbling about his brother's "complete and utter lack of brain cells".
• This Is Gonna Suck: While Leo's happy to get out of the med bay after six weeks, he gets this expression when Dr. O'Neil tells him that the entire family will be keeping an eye on him to make sure he keeps up with physical therapy and his painkillers.
• Thousand-Yard Stare: Raph gets these pretty often due to his PTSD after the invasion (with his family having to snap him out of it a few times). Donnie gets them, too, most notably when he gets sensory overload from an injured Leo's screaming.
• Trauma Button: Raph does NOT like when people go near his eye. He even starts hissing at one point. Every time he freaks out over this, he breaks down in tears and apologizes. No one holds it against him.
• Weird World, Weird Food: Inverted. When April gives Casey a soda, he nearly spits it out and asks why it's "spicy". April realizes that Casey probably hasn't had good food ever in his life (though he protests that his Michelangelo did pretty good with what food they had).
• Wingding Eyes: Mikey gets these when he gets the idea to call Draxum for backup medical advice.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: When Carol finally meets the Turtles face to face after years of just talking on the phone, she's momentarily surprised... and then decides to just roll with it since these are still kids who need her help.