Disclaimer: Nope, nope. I don't own any TMNT characters, sadly. My poor excuse for a life couldn't afford it. x-0; I get my sense of accomplishment from writin' fanfics. BOO-YAH for me! I own a plotline, alright! ::grins stupidly and walks away::

Summary: Sequel to The Good Guys Aren't Invincible. Staying at Casey's grandmother's old farmhouse with April for a little down time, Casey starts seeing some peculiar things in the woods. When the Turtles come to visit, he eventually confides in Raphael and Mikey, but now they are being called crazy by the others.

Note: I got a few chapters written, so I decided to start posting this and hopefully writer's block won't corrupt me while I try to finish. ::crosses fingers:: So please review! And don't be upset if theupdates come a little slower than usual, but it shouldn't be too long. x-0 I hope.

Shadow Games: I

Leaves bustled around wistfully past the old dirty window, falling elegantly to join rest of the multi-colored foliage on the ground. April leaned up against the window-frame and let out a sigh as she watched the autumn air shift and swirl the leaves into a small funnel. She shivered suddenly, wrapping her arms around herself and rubbing them only to remember that there was no heat in the dilapidated farmhouse because they couldn't afford to pay for the oil man to come and fill the tanks. The boiler probably needed fixing as well. "Casey, did you get the fire going yet?" she asked without turning around.

"Almost got it April!" he called back, packing more wood and newspaper strips into the old wood stove. Standing back a little and reaching into his pocket, Casey pulled out a little matchbox, then opened it to take out a single match before striking it along the side of the box. A bright orange-yellow flame burst at the tip, and he used his free hand to shield it as he brought it toward the stove and lit the edge of a newspaper scrap. Grinning proudly as the paper set the dry wood alight, Casey backed up and grinned, turning around to where April stood by the window. "I give you heat!" he exclaimed with victory.

"Finally." April sighed, still not turning around. She and Casey had been staying at the farmhouse for almost two weeks now, and they'd just recently needed the warmth with the sudden turn of the weather lately.

Casey's brief moment of glory was interrupted when a sudden thud sounded behind him and something hit the heel of his shoe. Jumping slightly and turning, he found that a burning log had tumbled out of the stove. "Yikes!" he reached down and picked up the log that was glowing with fire to quickly get it back in the stove before it set the floor alight. "Ouch! Hot! Hot!" he exclaimed in a yelling sort of whisper as the heat began burning through his gloves. Casey tossed it back into the stove and closed the door, twisting the latch so it stayed shut. "Phew." he sighed before peeling off his burnt gloves and disguarding them on the floor. Turning around he found that April was staring at him. He smiled crookedly. "Uh..whoops."

Instead of scolding him for his carelessness, April just shook her head and laughed. "Nice going Casey." she rolled her eyes at his semi-sheepish smile and walked toward the wood stove to absorb some of the warmth. "This'll be nice tonight." she said with a smile.

"Yeh," Casey just nodded. "Oh, an' the guys said they'd be comin' tomorrow."

"That's right, I forgot." April said, glancing at him and rubbing her hands together. "They'll really appreciate the heat with it being so cold out lately, especially since they're cold-blooded."

"Mm." Casey suddenly adapted a curious expression and began walking toward the window to stare out into the woods. The light outside was dimming as the sun had already set, and it would be pitch black out soon.

"Casey? What is it?"

April's voice shook him from the zoning stare and he absently scratched the back of his head and walked away from the window. "Oh, uh, nothin'." April had dismissed the subject easily enough, but Casey hadn't quite told the truth. He thought he'd seen something out there. A strange shadow moving between the trees. Figuring it was probably nothing to worry about, just some wild animals, Casey headed past April and began wandering into the kitchen.

- - - - -

That night, April found herself with a bit of insomnia, so she crawled out from under the layers of blankets over her and walked off down the hall wrapped in her fuzzy robe. As she was passing the room where Casey was sleeping, April paused at the open door and leaned against the frame, looking in. She remembered when they had first arrived at the farmhouse and she decided to do some serious cleaning up. Casey didn't mind all the dust and cobwebs everywhere, but she did.

Casey groaned and mumbled something incoherent in his sleep before rolling onto his side and pulling a blanket over his head.

April noticed that ever since he was hurt by the Purple Dragons back in the city, Casey had difficulty sleeping, or staying asleep. It was no longer due to his injuries though, but instead April figured it had to do with the memory of his beating or something. She sighed with a sympathetic frown as she watched him toss and turn a few more times before settling. He had that tough-guy attitude like Raphael, but she knew there had to be fears, weaknesses within him that he was hiding.

Casey had pretty much completely healed from his broken ribs and other injuries, though he still held a few faint scars on his face, right leg, and back. He was doing so much better than he had been weeks ago, but April would occasionally catch him clasping a hand over his ribs if he accidentally bumped something against his side. She just figured that he might still be a little sore, or that it was just a remembered pain and he was doing it out of habit.

Breathing a quiet sigh, April pulled her robe tighter around herself and walked further down the hall before reaching the steps and heading downstairs. She was trying to be quiet, but it was alittle difficult with the loud creaking noises from the old wooden floorboards. There were no lights on, but the soft glow emanating from the wood stove was bright enough so April could find her way around. She was about to head into the kitchen and brew some coffee when she just realized it would keep her up even longer, so instead she settled for plopping down on the couch and staring thoughtfully at the stove.

- - - - -

Everything was a bluish shade of grey, there was a small room that Casey was standing in. Atleast, it appeared to be a small room at first. Suddenly the walls seemed to expand, the floor sunk beneath him so he was now standing in about a foot of sewer water. Casey looked up when he noticed light reflecting on the water at his feet. The manhole cover was pulled off above him, the light from a streetlight above shining down into the hole. It wasn't daylight as he had originally thought.

Squinting against the light and still peering upwards as if expecting someone to come down the ladder, Casey raised a hand over his brow to shield the light and called out, "Yo, anyone up there?"

He was met with silence for a long while, until something shadowy and circular in shape came through the hole, plunking down in the water between his feet. By the time Casey realized it was a grenade, it was too late. There was a loud bang and a flash and he was thrown back in the water.

Casey's breath was caught in his throat for a moment and he quickly looked himself over to thankfully realize he wasn't in pieces. It was only a flash grenade. "Hey! Who's up there?!" he shouted, glaring up at the hole. "What gives?!" His heart was pounding so hard against his ribcage he thought it would spring from his chest.

A looming figure suddenly leaned over the manhole, blocking the light from outside.

Stumbling back as he climbed to his feet, and knowing something bad was about to happen, Casey staggered back until he was leaning against the sewer wall.

The figure from above was suddenly gone in a blur, and then it (or rather he) was standing in front of Casey. The guy was a mountain; stocky and built, with pulled back blonde hair and a large purple tattoo of a dragon going around his left arm. Casey knew him well. He was the leader of the Purple Dragons.

"Hun!" Casey shouted at him angrily, his face twisting into anger.

The large man didn't respond for awhile, he just stood there staring right through Casey. "Jones," his deep voice suddenly thundered. "First, I'm gonna make you hurt, then I'm gonna get your little green pals and that red-haired chick, and make them watch me kill you before I hand them over to the Shredder."

Casey scoffed, putting up his fists. He probably wasn't a match for Hun, especially without weapons, but it suddenly didn't matter. "Go on!" he yelled, suddenly feeling as if someone else was making him do these crazy things and he was no longer in control, but a puppet being used to be tormented. "TAKE YOUR BEST SHOT!" he screamed, spreading his arms in a gesture that showed he wasn't going to fight back. In his mind Casey struggled for control, but it was something he no longer had the choice to make. His own psyche was against him.

There was a sudden darkness that blocked his vision, covering everything in his view like a thick, dark blanket. Then there was immediate light all around him, and he saw what he'd be facing next. It was Hun, Shredder, Dragon Face, the rest of the Purple Dragons, Foot Ninja, and all the punks on the street he had ever dealt with. Their eyes were all glowing a fierce, violent red before they all dog-piled on him in an attack.

- - - - -

"NO!" Casey gasped, springing forward to a sitting position. Taking in his surroundings as his bleary eyes adjusted, he sighed and turned slightly on his side so that he was leaning against his left elbow in bed. With a heavy sigh, Casey flopped back against his pillows and rested the back of one hand against his sweaty forehead, reeling from the dream he just had.

"Casey! The guys are here, are you up yet?!" he heard April call from downstairs.

Clearing his throat so he was sure his voice wouldn't crack as he spoke, he yelled back his answer. "Yeh! I'll be down in a minute!" Casey closed his eyes as he sat up and flung his feet over the side of the bed, taking in a calming breath. Deciding on taking a shower before greeting his little green pals, Casey got up and dug out some rumpled clothes from the dufflebag under his bed before heading toward the bathroom.

- - - - -

Several minutes later, unlike the one minute that Casey said he'd be down in, he loudly made his way downstairs dressed in his blue track pants and red tank-top, shaking a towel through his damp hair. "Hot water heater ain't workin'." he grumbled, walking in the kitchen where April was sitting with Donatello, Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael.

April let out a frustrated sigh and tossed her arms in the air. "Great," she muttered, "Just another thing around here that doesn't work."

Casey just shrugged with a lopsided smile and jerked his chin up at the four turtles, tossing his towel on the back of a chair. "Hey guys."

"Hey Case." Raphael held out his hand which Casey gave a friendly slap.

"Where's Splinter?" April asked suddenly with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh, he said something about needing time alone to meditate peacefully without all of our 'distractions'." Mikey smiled a little as he made the quoting symbols with his hands.

Leonardo rolled his eyes. "In other words..." he began slowly, tilting his head to the side with a mild sheepish smile.

"...You guys were tickin' him off and he wanted to be by himself." Casey finished with a slight laugh as he leaned up against the counter.

Donatello shrugged. "Eh, that assumption would be correct. Heh." He leaned back in his chair, rocking on the rear legs as he balanced himself with a hand on the edge of the table.

"So, how are things back in the city?" April asked as she got up to pour herself another cup of coffee. After spending most of the night staring at the fire in the wood stove, she didn't get much sleep and was fighting it fiercely that morning with all the caffeine she could consume before having to empty her bladder.

"Well," Leo began, leaning forward against the table and propping up an elbow. "Things with the cops have died down, and they found the Purple Dragons that really tried to rob the bank. But I'm not so sure they've stopped looking for Casey. I think they want him to go to court for the trial of the thugs as a witness."

"Hmph." Casey just grunted and crossed his arms over his chest. "Well they can just forget about that ever happenin'." he grumbled.

"It don't matter that there's gonna be a trial," Raphael grumped. "They're gonna get off free of charges, you watch." he frowned. "With the Foot Ninjas backin' up the Dragons, an' Shredder backin' them up, there's no way these punks'll stay in jail for long."

"I hate to admit it, but Raph's right." Leonardo nodded, his frown matching Raphael's, but for different reasons.

"Dude, the justice system is wacked!" Mikey exclaimed animatedly as he joined in the conversation.

April put her hands on her hips and shrugged. "Well guys, you're here to relax, get away from the city. Let's do some of that." she managed a smile to help brighten everyone's moods and gestured for the turtles to get up. "Who wants to go outside and play a game of....uh.." she drifted off, grasping for suggestions from the bunch.

"Dodge ball?!" Mikey shouted with a playful grin.

"Um...." Leonardo grimaced, his eyes trailing off to the side as he thought of something instead of dodge ball.

"How about a nice game of ninja hide-and-seek?" Donatello suggested, smiling.

"What exactly is ninja hide-and-seek, Donnie?" April asked suspiciously.

Raphael headed for the door and stopped with his hand resting on the knob. "It's the same as regular hide-and-seek, except it's harder...'cuz we're ninja." he smiled a little, though he'd much rather take part in a playful sparring match out in the barn.

"Alright..." April shrugged, not so sure this would go very well. "Um...so, who's going to seek first then?"

Casey abruptly exclaimed, "Not me!"

Mikey, Raphael, and Leonardo promptly followed suit with a string of chorused, "not me's".

Donnie sighed, having been momentarily distracted by something or other. He half-smiled, looking over at April. "Guess it's me and you then."

April dropped her arms and shook her head with a partial smile as the rest of the turtles took off with Casey outside.

- - - - -

Note: Okay, so there's chapter one for ya! Please review!!