"Bishop is here."

Those three words alone sent a chill down Raphael's spine. His mind grew frantic and scattered with worry, questioning as to why that dishonorable Utrom even thought about coming to his wedding. Everything was going perfectly until now. Raphael did have a few worries about any possible negative outcome to accrue during his big day, but he never thought that Bishop would show his face.

"Was he here for one final attempt to break Mona and I apart?" Raph thought to himself as he made his way downstairs and out onto the back porch of the farmhouse. His blood boiled from the very thought as he spotted the Utrom outside.

Raph was accompanied by his two brothers, Donnie and Mikey, and it seemed Bishop didn't come alone. Behind him, were the rest of the Utrom Council, all dressed up in fancy attire for the wedding. Although they were invited, you can be certain Bishop was not.

Raph looks on at the one uninvited Utrom, remembering their fight from over a year ago. Raph took a risk on his life and fought Bishop all for the goals he now has achieved. There was a cost however. Raphael carefully lifted up his left hand, going to his upper right arm. His fingers felt the scar through the fabric of his suit, the scar that was left behind from Bishop's blaster when he shot at him during their fight. Raphael can still remember the pain he felt, not just from the blaster, but hearing Mona Lisa scream in agony from the sight of him hurt as he fought for her. He didn't want her to see that. Though Mona was later able to heal Raph, the marking of his fight with the Utrom that tried to break them apart now remains forever on his skin.

Donnie looked over to his brother, seeing him touch his scar. He could see his brother's body begin to shake. Donnie then gently places his hand on Raph's shoulder. Raph looks at Donnie and gives him a reassuring smile. On his right side, Raph feels comfort from Mikey, nodding at him with hope and encouragement for his big brother.

They know he can do it. He's done it before, he can do it again. The scar on Raph's body was worth it for the life he will soon have with Mona, and if Bishop wishes to try one last time to take that away from him, then Raph is willing to fight again for her.

And this time his brothers will be there to back him up if needed.

Taking a deep breath, Raph fixes his tie, rolls his shoulder back, and steps off the back porch, to approach his uninvited guest.

"Bishop," Raph glares as he and the Utrom come face to face for the first time in a year.

"Raphael." He glares back.

"Why the hell are you here?

"My apologies, Raphael," the Utrom Queen said, stepping in between the two men to prevent another fight. Her royal highness was dressed in a lovely blue jumpsuit with a v neckline and a floor length cape, along with shining silver dangling earrings. Presenting herself as a professional and elegant Queen, she continued, "I brought him with me."

"Why? Hasn't he caused enough problems?" Raph growled.

"I thought I made it specifically clear that Bishop was not to attend this ceremony." Donnie adds, furious.

"We understand, Knight, but we have good reason as to why we brought him here!" Rook quickly explains, jumping next to the Utrom Queen. She was dressed in a flowing light blue dress that fell down to her knees, with a one shoulder sleeve down her right arm.

"We still need to keep an eye on him, but we also didn't want to miss your wedding so we thought-"

"That's no excuse!" Donnie says, stopping Rook from finishing her explanation.

"I don't want him here," Raph says sternly, "So either he goes or you all do!"

"Wait, Monsieur Raphael!" Pawn said quickly. The final member of the Utrom council only wore a single blue bow tie tied around the neck of his exposed robotic body.

"Bishop has something he'd like to say to you." The Queen explains with a worried smile, trying her best to handle the situation, wishing to avoid being kicked out.

Raph looks at the Utroms, not convinced. He then turns and looks at his brother, Donnie, giving them a look, silently asking them what he should do.

Donnie says nothing, unsure as well, that is until Mikey speaks up and says,"It wouldn't hurt to hear what he's got to say. What do you have to lose? I mean, you already won, right?"

That was true. Victory was on Raphael's side. It couldn't hurt to at least listen to what Bishop had to say, the council seemed eager for him to hear it too.

Raph turns back to the Utroms, sighs then says, "Alright, fine, but make it quick."

The Queen smiles, "Excellent! Bishop?"

Bishop remained silent, his arms crossed like a stubborn child, before Rook kicked his shin to have him follow the Queen's order. He groans and takes a step up to Raphael, glaring at him. Suddenly, to Raph's surprise, Bishop gave the turtle a proper bow as he said, "I would like to offer you my most humble apologies for the way I have acted and treated not just you, but your future wife as well."

Raph and his brothers were stunned. They couldn't believe what they were hearing. Bishop was actually apologizing. In truth, Raph could tell Bishop didn't fully mean it, given his rather disappointed tone and obvious glare through his dark shades, but it was enough for Raphael. He knew Bishop apologizing was the final nail in the coffin for him, and Raphael flourished every second of him accepting defeat in front of the victor.

Raph then hears the Utrom Queen loudly clear her throat, as if she was signaling for the Utrom to add something else, for the next thing Bishop said was, "And after the ceremony, I would like to personally give you and your wife a wedding gift."

"What kind of wedding gift?" Raph asked suspiciously.

Bishop lifted up his head, looking annoyed, grinding his teeth as he explained, "The kind that is a reward for you, but an eternal punishment for me."

A pleasant smile grew on Raph's face, "I like the sound of that!

"The gift is not just from Bishop, it's from all of us!" Rook explains excitedly, "Consider it a way to show you our most sincere apology for all our actions."

"You guys, how many times have I had to tell you that none of this was your fault." Donnie said, stepping in next to his brother.

"We allowed ourselves to fall for Bishop's lies and manipulation," The Queen tells him, "We've put you all through a lot for allowing Bishop to go on his rain of terror."

"The cherry on top of it is that Queen ordered for Bishop to be the one to give it to you personally." Rook giggled.

"Why not just have Bishop give me the gift now and get him out of here?" Raph asked, glaring at him once again.

"Oh yes, please." Bishop says, glaring back, "I like that idea."

"Because then he'll miss the wedding!" Rook explains, "We know you didn't invite him, but don't you think Bishop witnessing you and Y'gythgba at the altar would be considered the ultimate punishment for him?"

Raph thought for a moment, thinking over Rook's words. She's right. Bishop seeing him and Mona Lisa getting married right before his eyes, the very thing he was trying so hard to prevent happening last year, would be torture for him. Raph knows Mona would agree, so perhaps it wouldn't hurt to have an extra seat just for him.

The smile appeared once again for Raph as Bishop's eyes widened from fear, knowing what the turtle was thinking, "On second thought, that sounds like a fantastic idea."

"Wonderful! And don't worry, Raphael, we'll keep a good eye on Bishop."  The Queen smiles as she looks at her council, "Utrom, let's go to our seats."

"Enjoy my wedding, Bishop!" Raph says in a mocking manner with an obvious smile, waving goodbye as Bishop leaves with the rest of the Utrom, grumbling.

"What do you think the gift is?" Mikey asked once the three were alone.

"Not sure," Raph shrugged, "but Bishop seemed pretty pissed off about it so it must be good."

Donnie looked at his brother concerned, "Are you sure Mona Lisa will be okay with Bishop being here? It's her wedding too."

"I'm not too worried." Raph said, "Knowing her, she's gonna enjoy watching Bishop suffer as much as I do. If I'm lucky she'll end up punching him in the face," a pleased smile then appeared, "That'll be hot..."

"You guys are truly a strange couple..." Donnie mumbles to himself.

"I honestly thought you were going to knock Bishop's light out, but you surprisingly handled that better than I expected," the three brothers hear another voice say, joining in their conversation.

Turning around, Raph, Donnie and Mikey spot their oldest brother, Leonardo, approaching. While his brothers were all dressed in suits for the wedding, Leo went for a completely different look, dressed in a fancy dark blue and black kimono. The haori was a dark blue while the hakama was a mix of black and white stripes. He truly stood out compared to his brothers, not only for dressing in traditional Japanese garments, but looking much like their father, Splinter, from his stance to how Leo walked with pure grace.

"But in truth, please do not start another fight. April will kill you if you turn this wedding she's worked so hard to create into a battlefield." Leo laughed as he walked up to Raph, playfully patting his shoulder.

"What are you wearing?" Raph asked, too focused on Leo's outfit to comment any more on the Bishop situation.

Leo looks down at his outfit then looks back up at his brother and smiles, "You asked me to officiate the wedding and I wanted to look nice and professional. I was able to find this old kimono with the rest of Father's old clothes from when he was still human and it's a perfect fit!

Raph softly chuckles, "Don't you think it's a little much?"

"Well, I think he looks absolutely stylish!" Another voice says happily, entering the conversation. The four brothers turn to see a white rabbit standing tall and proud as he smiles at them. He too was wearing a kimono made of stylistic dark blue, gray, and white fabrics.

He approached the brothers with grace, "Congratulations on your engagement, Raphael San, and thank you for inviting me." He says with an elegant bow.

"Thank you. I'm happy you could make it, Usagi," Raph said, returning the bow.

"And Leonardo San," He smiles at the blue turtle, "It's wonderful to see you again."

A wide smile appears on Leo's face, "It's great to see you too, Usagi! I'm surprised to see you here. I didn't think you'd-"

"Kappa!" A young voice exclaims, interrupting the blue turtle. The Turtles turn to the source of the screech to see a young teenage pug wearing a fiery red kimono with pure golden trim. It was Kintaro, or how Mikey would refer to him as 'Pugtaro'. He's grown up, no longer a small child, but he has kept that annoying spoiled personality that still obviously shows.

He approaches the brothers, "It's great to see you warriors again." He says with a kind yet snobby grin.

"You invited Pugtaro?!" Mikey asked Raph, surprised.

Raph shrugs, giving Mikey a teasing smile, as if he knew Mikey would be shocked by Kintaro's presence.

"Usagi!" Kintaro whines, though he's older he still acts like the spoiled child the turtles met long ago. "I wanna go mingle with the common folk before the wedding begins and I can't do that without my personal bodyguard to protect me!"

"Of course," Usagi smiles faintly, the others could tell he was already getting annoyed by the teenage boy's attitude. He looks back at the four brothers, "Congratulations again, Raphael. And Leonardo, my friend, I hope for you and I to have the chance to catch up later this evening. Come, Kintaro."

"Congratulations, Raphael!" Kintaro says as he follows Usagi out to the viewing area outside to find their seats.

"Well, I guess I should get started on this whole greeting the guests thing you want me to do, huh?" Raph asked, turning to Leo.

Leo chuckles, "Might as well now. Everyone is here. The rest of us will go make sure everything else is ready, so you go mingle."

"Yeah! Hop to it, Mr Big Shot!" Mikey cheers, pushing his brother off to go greet his guests, "This is your day!"

Raph laughs, "Okay! Okay! I'm going! But just know, next time you see me, I'll be a married turtle."

"Yeah, and you won't be my problem anymore!" Leo smirks as the others chuckle, "You'll officially be Mona's problem!"

Raph playfully scoffs as he and his brothers head off their separate ways, Leo, Donnie and Mikey checking on the final touches for the wedding while Raph goes to greet his guests who have just arrived.

The first couple of wedding guests he found were the Mighty Mutanimals; Leatherhead, Mondo Gecko and Dr Rockwell. With them, already greeting and chatting with his team was one of Raph's groomsmen, Slash. The gang of mutant fighters all dressed up for the occasion, with Leatherhead dressed in dark beige pants and matching vest with a clean white shirt and black tie. Rockwell was dressed in a full dark brown plaid patterned suit with a black turtleneck and removed his psychic helmet for the evening. Then finally Mondo Gecko, wearing black shorts and a tuxedo t shirt with a black formal jacket over it.

"Raphael! Congratulations on your wedding!" Leatherhead said happily, approaching the turtle and shaking his hand the moment he saw him, "You are a lucky man for marrying a woman like Mona Lisa."

Raph chuckled, "Thanks Leatherhead, but you don't have to remind me. I already know I'm lucky."

"Why do the Turtles get all the hotties?!" Mondo Gecko whines, before he sparks an idea and leans towards Raph, asking through a whisper, "Say Raph, do you think there's some lonely singles back on Mona's planet?"

"Not now, Jason," Rockwell says, pushing the gecko aside so he can talk to Raph, "Best wishes to you and Mona Lisa, Raphael. I have no doubt that the two of you will be forever happy together."

"Thank you, Rockwell." Raph smiles.

"Well, you're certainly looking more relaxed, Raphael," Slash comments, impressed. "So the whole thing with Bishop went well?"

"Like you said, everything will be fine." Raph says to his old friend, "The hard part is over, so I'm gonna enjoy the rest of today."

The Mutanimals all went off to their seats as Raph made his way to greet his next guest, the fugitive android Professor Zayton Honeycutt. Or, as everyone calls him, Fugitoid.

"I cannot express enough how happy I am for you both!" the professor says as he approaches Raphael with a friendly greeting, shaking his hand, thanking him for inviting him. Fugitoid dressed similarly to the Utrom Pawn, wearing a single black bow tie on his scrawny, but shiney robotic body.

"It seems like it was only yesterday we were all on that ice planet slowly dying of low oxygen and heat. Well, you were going to die, I would've been fine, but still! How funny things turn out the way they do!" Fugitoid smiled.

"Besides that near death experience, that planet was pretty cool. Mona and I were thinking about stopping there on our honeymoon."

"Oh yes! I've heard you two are traveling the cosmos for your postnuptial vacation. How romantic! I just know you two will have a wonderful time!"

Raphael thanked the professor one final time before Fugitoid ran off to his seat, excited for the wedding to soon begin. Raph worked his way to his next wedding guest. Though she's often a hard mutant to find, thanks to Slash, Raphael was able to get into contact with her and send her an invitation.

"Well, Turtle Boy, I never imagine I'd ever see you tying yourself down," Alopex snarks as she approaches Raphael to greet him. The mutant fox woman was dressed in a strapless dark purple dress that flowed down to her knees. She wore black heel shoes, giving her a slight boost in her short height, and held a matching clutch purse.

"And I didn't think you'd actually come," Raph snarks back, "You always gave me the loner vibe, so I didn't think you'd like going to a party surrounded by other people and fellow mutants."

She shrugs, crossing her arms, "I considered not coming at all, but since you and your brothers have helped me in the past, I figure this is my way to show my gratitude."

"Well, either way, I'm glad you made it."

Raphael then quickly took notice of Alopex's disinterest in their conversation, more focused on looking around the area. She seemed to be searching for something, or someone.

Raph smirks, "Slash is by the barn if you are looking for him."

Alopex eyes widened, her cheeks faintly blushing through her fiery red fur as she said, "W-Why would I be looking for him?"

"Because he's your date, isn't he?" Raph teased.

"We-We're just friends!" Alopex protested quickly, her face getting flustered.

Raph chuckles, her reaction was all the confirmation he needed, "You guys keep telling yourselves that. Enjoy the wedding!"

Before Alopex could argue any more, Raphael quickly made his way to greet more of his wedding guests. To his surprise, many old friends and allies from his past were able to make it to he and Mona's wedding: Napoleon and the rest of the Punk Frog gang, Sir Malachi the Sparrow Wizard, Timothy (who is now back to his human form thanks to Donnie perfecting retromutagen years prior). And there was Muckman, Pigeon Pete, Mr Murakami, Jack Kurtzman, Chloe (who Leonardo has stayed in contact with ever since Raph caught him having imaginary tea parties with when she was a little girl, now a young teenager). Of course, Ice Cream Kitty, Dr Cluckingsworth MD, Chompy Picasso, April's dad, Kirby O'Neil, and like Casey said, his little sister and father were able to make it as well!

There was still one more wedding guest Raphael has yet to greet...

"There's my future Lieutenant-In-Law!" Sal Commander said with pride as he approached Raphael with a smile. The old war veteran was dressed in a stylish light gray suit with a dark blue vest and tie. The two men greet one another with a traditional Salamandrian greeting of lifting up their arms in clenched fists, rubbing them together from side to side followed by a strong roar from them both.

"It's an honor to have you here, Sal Commander," Raph says, "I was starting to worry you wouldn't make it on time."

"I'd rather lose my other eye than to miss this occasion. We don't have celebrations like this on Salamandria, but when Michelangelo explained to me the concept of this 'wedding' I was astonished." the commander sighs in amazement. "A whole celebration dedicated to the love of two beings... It's wonderful..."

"This is all happening because you gave me your blessing, remember?"

"Yes, I do, but in truth, you never needed it to begin with. I knew when we all met on the 3rd Moon of Thalos that you are an honorable man with a heroic heart worthy of Y'gythgba's hand. You proved yourself back then and even more now when you fought Bishop for her. A true act of love and dedication on my planet."

"I've heard."

Sal Commander gently places his hand on Raph's shoulder as he tells him, "But it doesn't end there. Once you are 'married' as you call it on your planet, I expect you to continue to prove yourself as the honorable man I know you are."

Raph nods, "I will."

"Good, and with Y'gythgba now going to be your 'wife', all I ask are three things from you: Always be there for her, not just in battle, but in every hard challenge in life you two will face together. Cherish and love her more than you ever have before, and most importantly, make lots of offspring."

"...W-What?"

"You and Y'gythgba are both strong beings, there's no doubt that the two of you will create powerful warriors to join the Salamandrian military one day." The old commander proudly smiles as he pats Raph's back, "I expect my first recruit within the next year or so, and more should be conceived soon after. Perhaps four- no! Five! Yes! Five will do nicely!"

"Five kids..." Raph's eye twitched, jaw dropped after hearing Sal's 'request'. He was too stunned to speak.

"Well then, now that we're on the same page, I must be going. I have to see Y'gythgba before the ceremony begins. Congratulations, Raphael!" The commander says happily as he walks off to enter into the farmhouse, leaving Raphael alone in the fields outside, jaw wide open after hearing everything from his future father-in-law.

"There you are!" Raph suddenly heard, but he did not react. Approaching him was his best man Casey Jones, "Leo told me you'd be out here. How'd it go with the future in-law?"

"Five kids..." Raph said, still processing everything, almost lost in a confused overwhelming trance.

"Huh?"

"N-Nothing!" Raph snaps out of it, "What's up?"

"The ceremony is starting soon, dude." Casey tells him, grabbing his friend and wrapping one of his arms over his shoulder, guiding him over to the wedding area, "Come on. Let's get you married!"