***
Splinter sat in his favorite chair and watched his sons prepare for their journey. This would be one of the most difficult battles they would ever face, and they had the more to risk than ever before. With the exception of Leonardo, his sons had little experience with meditation, and even less in the Astral Realm. Then he remembered what they accomplished when Shredder had kidnapped him, and found new faith in his sons' abilities.
Casey had left for work, seeing as how all the action was over.
Morgan directed the four turtles to sit with her and Raven in a circle around Indigo. The two girls began to chant, and eventually the four Turtles joined in, slowly drifting away.
***
Wow.
That was the only word Michaelangelo could find to describe his surroundings. It was more beautiful than anything he had ever imagined. And he felt like he could stay here forever.
His brothers seemed to share his sentiment, but they were soon pulled from the glowing landscape and dropped into someplace dark.
Morgan turned in a complete circle, taking in the dark, dull scenery. "This is not good."
"We need to hurry," Raven told them.
"What is this place?" Don asked. This place thoroughly confused him. He wasn't seeing, hearing, or feeling, yet he was. This was so unlike anything he'd experienced before.
Help me
Raphael drew his weapons. "That was..."
"Yeah," Leo answered. "Let's go."
The two girls took the lead, and the others followed behind.
At last they saw something other than darkness. Surrounded by a silvery white aura was Indigo. Raven cried out and ran forward.
"No, wait!" Leonardo called out to her. But he was too late. Just before Raven reached her friend a black shadow descended upon her. She was thrown back, caught by Mike but they both fell back. The shadow figure was so dark that it stood out even against these surroundings. And they had no trouble identifying the evil energy.
"Shredder!" Raphael yelled. "Let her go!"
The shadow shifted into a more familiar shape. "She is my vessel back to the world. I will not go back to the void."
Leonardo pulled his swords from behind his back. "Then we'll just have to make you."
"I invite you to try, freak."
Leonardo lunged forward, his sword passing through Shredder like he was made of fog. "What the..." However shadow-like Shredder seemed, his blow was solid enough to send Leo flying back towards the group.
"It went right through him!" Mike cried. "We can't even touch him."
"But it seems he can touch us," Don noticed.
Morgan shook her head. "This isn't the physical world," she said. "Things work differently here."
"So how are we gonna beat him?" Raph asked, growing more frustrated by the second.
"You can't!" Shredder yelled, rushing towards them. They scattered and Raphael launched another attack. This one didn't even reach the target, and he was thrown aside.
"Raph!" Mike called out as he saw his brother fly through empty space. Raphael suddenly stopped and floated downward. Indigo knelt beside him.
Shredder turned towards them. "Just give up, girl!" he hissed.
Indigo placed her hand on Raph's forehead and his eyes shot open.
Help me, my angel
"What's she doing?" Don whispered as they watched Indigo's aura envelope Raphael.
"Helping," Morgan replied in awe.
Raphael rose to his feet, his eyes colored with swirling silver and white. The Shredder actually shrank away from the Turtle.
The energy surrounding Raphael pooled into his hands. He took on a look of concentration and the energy formed beams of light, twisting together to form what resembled a pair of sai.
"This time," Raphael growled, approaching Shredder, "I'm making sure you stay dead."
He jumped and landed in front of Shredder, thrusting his sai forward. Instead of passing through harmlessly, they met with resistance as Shredder was forced to block.
"Now..." Raph swung hard and hit Shredder across the arm.
"You..." Raph twisted away from a strike and followed up with a kick to Shredder's face.
"DIE!" He brought his sai forward and buried it deep in Shredder's chest.
The group watched in horror as Shredder sank to his knees and screamed, his soul tearing apart and then forced from Indigo.
As Shredder disappeared, so did the surrounding darkness. Light and color surrounded them again. The entire group ran towards Raphael.
"Dude, that was awesome!"
"Way to go!"
"I knew you could do it, bro."
Thank you
Raphael turned and watched Indigo fade away. He started to worry, but Raven smiled at him.
"Let's go home."
***
Splinter watched silently as his sons awakened from their trances. He eagerly awaited news of the battle.
Leonardo looked at his sensei's questioning look and smiled. "We defeated the Shredder."
Raven and Morgan lifted Indigo up into a sitting position as she began to stir. Raphael was relieved to see that she was all right after all. Indigo slowly opened her eyes and moaned, "What happened?"
Morgan rubbed her friend's shoulder. "Don't you remember?"
Indigo was finally aware enough to look around. She recognized Raphael, and the others...vaguely... She gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. "Oh my god."
"You're safe now," Don told her.
"Yeah," Mike chimed in. "Raphael kicked Shred-head's butt back to where he belongs."
Raphael helped Indigo to her feet but she fell back against him. Leo smirked as Raph helped her over to the couch. She seemed rather upset by the whole situation. "What have I done..."
"You didn't do anything," Raph snapped. "It was the Shredder."
"How long were we gone?" Morgan asked Splinter.
"Nearly three hours," the elderly rat told her. "I was beginning to worry."
"Three hours?" Mike gasped. "It didn't feel like that long."
Morgan shrugged and tried to suppress a yawn. "Well, it's all over now."
***
Indigo stepped into her room and stared in shock. "Where's all my stuff?"
Raphael grimaced. "Oops, forgot they cleaned the place out."
Indigo rubbed her temples. "Oh man..."
"Hey, don't worry, we'll get your stuff back. I promise. It's probably back at Foot Central."
Indigo sat down on her bed and sighed. "I keep wishing that this is all a bad dream and it'll all go away when I wake up."
Raph stood in front of her. "All of it?"
Indigo reached out for his hand. "Well, maybe not all of it. I'd like to keep my guardian angel."
"You keep saying that. I am not an angel, believe me."
Indigo smiled. "I hope you'll forgive me if I don't." She stood, keeping her grip on his hands. "You have this odd habit of showing up to save me."
"Yeah, well, if you didn't keep getting in trouble..."
Indigo just let out a small laugh and shook her head. "You really are something, Raph."
Raphael gave her an odd smile before leaning in to kiss her. "I hoped you would notice."
Indigo felt her cheeks warm when they where interrupted.
"Indigo, are you up there?"
"Damn, it's my mom." She pushed Raphael towards the window and pulled the curtains just as her mother opened the door.
"Ah, I see you decided to come home."
"Look, mom, I can explain..."
"No need. Since you've already moved your stuff out, there's no since in moving it back in."
"But mom!"
Indigo's mother kept a grip on the door handle. "I do think it's time you got out on your own, Indigo. I've got five other kids to worry about without you disappearing on me."
Indigo cringed as the door was slammed shut. She didn't even realize Raphael had come back into the room until he touched her shoulder.
"I heard. We have room..."
Indigo let out her breath. "So much for life returning to normal."
***