Oh my god! It has been forever since I updated this fic! I am so sorry! But here is the next (and really long) chapter!

...

Shadows Ch. 7

"Secrets Revealed"

It couldn't be!

Could it?

Mr. Richards long lost son was standing right there in front of him glaring at him with icy electric blue eyes stealing his and his wife's jewelry.

He had to admit he felt hurt seeing his son stealing, but the shock of seeing him still alive surpassed that feeling. The boy didn't seem to recognize him. He dropped the metal pole and slowly approached him.

"Joshua…" he whispered, police sirens could be heard in the distance getting louder and louder as they approached but then the boy disappeared. He stood there shocked until the police and his wife came into the room.

"Honey, are you alright?!" she told him, he nodded slowly but said nothing, still lost in thought.

"Please tell me what happened." She told him quietly, he turned and looked at her.

"Joshua…"

She frowned.

"W-what about him?"

"He's alive…"

Kali smiled as her newest two brought her the dark looking gems and placed them in front of her.

"Excellent! You may go now." She said and ordered some other shadows to retrieve the gems. Raph and Joshua said nothing and turned to leave, they didn't speak on the way back to their old abandoned subway station but to say their "goodnights" and went to sleep.

Leo stabbed a Kraang droid in the back stealthily and watched as it fell to the ground making some kind of beeping noise and watched as the Kraang inside scurried away. They stayed in the shadows, they had no intention to fight the Kraang, they just came to see any clue about any of them holding Raph captive. Besides, there were too many Kraang for just the three of them to handle, they needed their brother back. They snuck into a room where according to Donnie was a Kraang computer, Donnie went to it and tried to hack into it to see if they had any information about Raphael. When he found nothing, he sighed and looked at Leo who was watching out for any Kraang.

"Nor the Kraang or the Foot Clan have Raph" he said sadly "Maybe he did do this on his own-"

"Donnie!" Leo cut him off having none of his little brother's pessimistic attitude. "Another villain could have him! You can't just give up that easily!"

"Sorry…"

Leo sighed "Let's get out of here and keep looking"

Raph woke up the next day, or night? He really didn't know anymore. He stood up and almost fell, he looked down and saw his legs were also becoming affected and turning a dark shade of purple, he growled. He needed answers. Before he could go find them Keira appeared behind him and startled him. He growled.

"I came to-"

"Kali wants to see us?"

"No, I sensed you wanted to ask something"

"Yes! What the hell is happening to us?!"

She sighed, and seemed to think for a while "Come with me if you really wish to know"

He followed her; they traveled around some dark and old sewer tunnels for some time until they entered an abandoned tunnel.

"What are we doing here" He asked her, barely able to see her in the dark, she having a dark skin color didn't help either.

"We are far away enough, the rest of the shadows can't enter our minds" she said and removed an old brick from the wall, sunlight entered immediately and illuminated the old tunnel, the light blinding Raph for a moment.

"Now, tell me what you wish to know"

"Like I said before; what is going on?"

"You are transforming, it happened to all of the shadows, were once human, some, even animal, the shadows entered their minds, controlling them and making them steal the gems we need, their hearts became obscure and obstinate, their minds making stealing a habit, something normal in their lives, until they transformed completely into a shadow, knowing pretty much nothing of their past" She said.

"I-is there a way to stop it? Or reverse it?"

"You cannot, as far as I now. There may be a way, but, who knows" she said "Anything else?"

"How did this all happen?"

She sighed "if you really wish to know, I'll start from the beginning, many years ago, an alien race from another dimension-"

"The Kraang?"

"Yes, they were making experiments on different reptilian species, they were messing with their DNA and adding chemicals, mutagen as they call it. That is when Kali was created, she was a mix of many different reptilian species, but now she had the power to control the minds of who she wants, she escaped the dimension in an inter-dimensional portal, and escaped into the sewers of this city. That is where I come in, I was once a human, a teenager to be exact I took a dare to enter the sewers from some friends, I wandered around until it was so dark and silent that I was afraid to move, that is where Kali found me, she threatened me to never go back to my family, or she would go after them, she used me to retrieve those gems, who the Kraang also created, the gems helped her stay alive, but she couldn't touch them directly, the were too powerful. Many weeks passed and more people were being victims of Kali, after a while I realized their hearts were becoming obscure, they were emotionless, we were all transforming, but only they were acting more like Kali. I don't know why I wasn't; I was the most skilled of all of them, Kali decided to take me in like her own daughter. She takes the mind of everyone who gets too close to our lair, the shadows can't go to the surface at day, sun light hurts them, that is another thing I'm different" she said admiring the light coming in the room, Raph listened closely.

"Do you think if she is defeated all of this will reverse?" He asked

"I do not know…" She replied honestly "Maybe, but I have never tried anything"

Raph sighed, he could try and defeat them and he could finally go back to his family, but, what if they were still mad at him? They were even happier without him, he sighed again.

"So, did Joshua come to close to your lair?" He asked

"No, Kali kidnapped him, and set up a false murder, she really needed more of those gems, and thought he was a good target"

Raph nodded slowly, a frown on his face.

"So, how many shadows are there till now?"

"2,327 to be exact" Keira said "Over the years numbers have increased greatly, you have no idea how many people wander around in the sewers"

Raph was shocked "That many? How old is this tribe?"

"More than 100 years old"

Raph was even more shocked "A-and how old are you?"

"82 years since Kali found me, in total about 96 years old, the transformation helped me not age as long as I'm in contact with the gems, technically, I'm still only a teenager" she smiled a bit at his shocked face.

"Anything else?" she asked him

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because, I believe you are the one that can save us all, the one that is strong enough to defeat Kali, I see that in you, how it still bothers you to steal, how you still remember your family, how even though you think you have betrayed them, you still wish to go back. I see you have a good, strong heart, Raphael." She said. Silence was present for a moment, Raph thinking about what she had said.

Keira saw movement in the corner of her eye for a moment, her eyes widened slightly.

"We should return" she said and placed the old brick back into its place and led Raphael out of the tunnel.

...

"Ok, Donnie, you will keep a look out for Raph on topside, east and north side of the city. Mikey, you check west and south, I will search the sewers" Leo told them " take your T-phones with you, any signs of Raph or find yourself in any trouble call the rest immediately, now let's go!"

Everyone parted their ways.

A few hours later, Leo called Donnie and Mikey.

"Any sign of him?" He said as he kept walking around the sewers.

"No dude, I already checked the city twice but there is no sign of Raph" Mikey replied.

"Unfortunately no Leo" Donnie said "No sign of him topside anywhere"

Leo sighed; he approached the entrance of another tunnel, when he saw something out of the corner of his eye, a small red piece of fabric stuck in between some wood planks used to cover the entrance.

"Guys, I think I found something, come quick!"

Keira led Raph back to his lair.

"Thanks" Raph said

"My pleasure, I might return in a few hours, so rest for now"

Raph nodded and went back to his place on the couch.

'I must stop this transformation thing' Raph thought to himself 'I will not turn into one of them'

"Are you sure it was our son?" Mr. Richards's wife asked him

"I am positive" He said, she let out a breath.

"But everyone said he was murdered, I still can't believe he is dead"

"He is not dead, I saw him!" he said and sighed "he didn't seem to recognize me though, he was with someone else but I couldn't see who"

She sighed "Let's say he is still alive, why would he be stealing?"

"I do not know"

"The police searched for him around the city, but couldn't find him, they said they were going to give up the search.

He growled "Well if they aren't going to find them, then I will" he said and grabbed the metal pole he had earlier, he leaned in and kissed his wife "Take care, I will be back, and with our son"

"Look at this guys" Leo said as they went to the abandoned tunnel entrance he was earlier "Isn't this a piece of Raphs mask?"

"It could be Leo" Donnie said as he pulled out the fabric "I need to run some tests on it thought, it could just be some random piece of fabric that got stuck in between the wood"

"Ok, do what you have to do, but do it quick!"

"You will go to this mansion on Wall street, they have many gems in there, retrieve them all" Kali ordered to Raphael and Joshua who nodded and left.

They ran over the rooftops until they reached said mansion.

"Let's enter" Joshua said pointing at a chimney.

'If I keep doing this, I will transform' Raph thought.

"No" he said

"W-what?"

"You go, I will wait out here"

Joshua seemed hesitant, but shrugged it off and jumped in, Raph leaned against the back of the chimney.

'I hope this will work'

"No, no, no, no, no!" Kali said to herself "What is he doing!?" she growled "Keira!"

She appeared a few moments later.

"He is not cooperating!" She said "You know what to do"

Keira gave a small nod and began to concentrate.

Raph was still on the rooftop when his head started to hurt greatly, he held his head tightly and shut his eyes close and grunted in pain.

Once again, he appeared in his mind, Keira a few feet away as always.

"Forgive me for doing that" she said, he sighed.

"Why did you not listen to Kali?"

"I figured it would stop this transformation" he replied

"It could, but you are only risking your life"

"Better than turning into a shadow…" He said and waited for her to stop controlling him.

Raphael and Joshua walked into the shadows' lair and brought the gems they retrieved to Kali, after that they left.

Kali made sure they had left before angrily turning to Keira.

"Did you tell him?!" Kali yelled at Keira, who was startled by the outburst and looked confused.

"A-about what?" she said

Kali hissed at her "Don't be stupid!" she said narrowing her eyes "He is rebelling against us! He knows he can stop the transformation! And is strong enough to survive it!"

"I didn't tell him anything!" She said.

"Lies!" she yelled and took Keira by her neck strangling her "You know better than to betray me! I will let it slide this once but pull another stunt like that, and I will have your head!" she yelled empathizing the last part, with that she let her go and slithered away.

"Leo! I have the results!" Donnie said and Leo same right away.

"What did you find? Is it part of Raphs mask?"

"Definitely" he said "but there is something strange, not only has it have Raphs DNA but also something else's, a life form I have never seen before"

"Can you find out what it is? Maybe it has to do something to do with Raph"

"That's the thing Leo, after analyzing more about the other DNA I found something different in it"

"What?"

"Mutagen…"