Chapter 26

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I dodged the low sweep by Donnie, jumping up and catching part of a Dracon blast that was aimed for him. I screamed as it tore through my hind leg, clamping my jaws around the controllers throat and puncturing his jugular. Behind me, Donnie was grunting and making frustrated noises as I tossed the Controller body aside, half limping towards another.

I threw out a frying pan sized paw, taking another down and awkwardly moving to take a stance behind Donnie as he fought.

We were in the fight of our lives, and we were barely hanging on. I wasn't sure if it was the fact that there were so many, or the fact we'd just had a fight, but we weren't working together like we should. It was more... 'You keep me alive and I'll keep you alive' feel, instead of the usual protecting one another.

(Get to a rooftop!) I yelled as I went after another controller (We might be able to thin them out that way!)

"How?!" Was his response as he dodged a blow, kicking another away and smacking him hard with his Bo.

(I'll clear a path!) I focused, feeling myself grow large and my skin becoming leathery. I grabbed a controller with my still forming trunk, tossing him off into the distance.

I moved to hit another, finding my growing weight was now moving too slowly, seeing the Controller raise his weapon-

"Ha!" It was suddenly sliced in half, and then someone punched him right in the face.

"Leo!" I couldn't tell if Donnie was happy to see him or not. I was just hoping those two could-

(Come on!) I lowered my head, barreling into a mess of Controllers, grabbing and throwing them whenever I could, hearing the boys follow me, fighting off the random Controllers I missed.

"Lookout!" I heard Donnie yell, but it was too late, I'd slammed into the side of a building suddenly, lights exploding behind my eyelids as I backed up, hearing a distinct screeching sound from above.

"Jade, move!" I heard Leo yell, looking up to see part of the fire escape had come loose, and was starting to collapse towards the ground.

I backed up as fast as I could, hearing the boys flip out of the way, still fighting, just getting caught slightly by the edge of the metal, feeling it leave deep scratches in my side.

(Dammit!) I yelled, feeling Dracon fire hit me again, as well as normal bullets, going and throwing another off me. I moved my big head scattering some of the ones who were going after Leo, then back to the ones that were after Donnie.

(Can you get up there still?!) I asked the boys, planting my feet and feeling blood start to ooze from my wounds.

I felt my tusks hit bodies, and I saw them both go past me.

"Yeah, but we need you!"

(All right!) I reversed, grabbing another controller and throwing as hard as I could, watching them all come at me.

"Stop!" I heard, planting my feet again and feeling them leap onto my back, then up onto the fire escape.

"What about you?!" Donnie asked as I moved my big head back and forth, hitting whoever I could. They just kept coming!

(Just go!) I snapped, screaming as Dracon fire burnt one of my ears off, blood now pooling to the ground as I reared up, throwing my massive bulk down and squashing Controllers with my huge feet. The impact of me hitting the earth send some controllers sprawling backwards.

"Jade, get ready to shift!" I heard the yell from high above me, then came a grunt, and I saw something hit the ground in front of me.

Instantly smoke filled the air, confusing me for a second.

"Now!" I heard Leo yell, and I closed my eyes, shifting and shrinking as fast as I could. As soon as I had wings I opened them, flapping up and turning to see the boys reach the roof and I joined them, landing beside them as the three of us turned to look down.

"There are too many" Donnie muttered, and we shared a look.

"I don't even know how they found us" I muttered, now back to myself for the moment. I looked down again, watching them scrambling to try and get up, finding it was harder than they thought, now I'd knocked off part of the fire escape. I'd given us time...

"We gotta find Ithiell" Leo sheathed his Katanas, looking at both of us. I turned from one brother to the other, feeling the tension now between the two.

"Boys? We'll all talk later. Right now we gotta-"

The wind suddenly picked up around us, and a shadow loomed, making us all look up.

Above us, a bug fighter loomed, and I could see-

"MOVE!" I screamed, yanking Donnie behind a wall, seeing Leo skid behind something as the Bug Fighter finally opened fire, barely missing us as we ducked.

"We gotta-" A sudden explosion had us all turning around to see the Bug Fighter start to to drift off, its engine on fire as it started to spin, down towards the other Controllers. I heard screams, then an explosion below.

I turned to see an off white gleam in the sky, smiling as Ithiell started to land his fighter.

The hatch opened, and we all went towards it, and into the fighter to see Ithiell and Rtaia there both at the controls.

"Where are the others?" Holding onto the door of the hatch as the fighter now started to move upwards, and I looked down below us.

"Safe. I got them all out first, but..."

"But what?" Leo asked him, and he sighed, working at the controls as I saw the countless controllers below us, noticing some had managed to get onto other rooftops, heading towards where we had been. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Donnie grab onto the other side of the hatch, looking down as well.

"None of our security did a thing against bug fighters blasts... we barely got out of the lair in time"

"How the hell did they know you were there?!" I turned to him, one hand on the door to keep my balance.

"We are unsure. But we believe that they chose random spots to fire at" Rtaia now, and I wondered if Kristiana and Serah were okay. They were the most vulnerable...

"They must have found a way track-" The fighter suddenly rocked violently, throwing us all random ways.

Unfortunately I just happened to be thrown forwards...

Out of the hatch.

I started to scream, my voice caught in my throat as a strong hand wrapped around my arm, catching me and throwing me a little against the underbelly of the fighter.

"Hang on Jade" I looked up to see Donnie had grabbed me, a worried look on his face as the fighter tipped and seemed to slip left in the sky.

"Dammit!"

"We are under attack!" Rtaia cried, and I finally saw the other bug fighters in the sky.

"Get her in!" Ithiell snapped, and suddenly Leo was there, offering his other hand which I took, the two of them pulling me into the fighter. The hatch started to close...

KABOOOOOM!

Another shock rocked the fighter, and the hatch now exploded outwards. The three of us went tumbling, Leo hitting the edge and slipping out, watching him catch the edge with both hands as I tumbled forward, back out the hatch and past him.

"JADE!" Donnie screamed, and I tried to catch onto any part of Leo that I could, finding I was now being blown away from the fighter itself, starting to fall towards the earth.

Oh no...

"Gah!" I yelped as something caught my leg, and I looked up, finding Mihra there, big leathery wings on her back.

"Are you all right?" She asked, but before I could answer a flash of light caught both our attention, and we looked over to see Ithiell and Rtaia were firing back with all they had, then shooting upwards and watching as the fighters followed.

"Oh no..." I watched as they disappeared above the clouds, then yelped as something shot inches from my head, making Mihra jerk.

"We must get to safety" She said, dodging a few more shots from below us as she veered left, flapping her wings for all they were worth.

And all I could wonder was...would Donnie be okay?

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We managed to loose the Controllers, landing on an abandoned building somewhere on the edges of town.

As soon as she put me down, I found we weren't alone.

"Hey Jade" Rachel waved at me, and I looked around, trying to get my bearings.

"Where...what...who?" I couldn't understand what was going on. The lair had been blown up... we had been attacked...and now I found myself with Rachel and Mihra?

"We were on our way back when we saw the commotion" Mihra shifted back, and we all stood there on the destroyed building, not hearing anything as the last of the day was finally vanishing. A slight wind had picked up, but other than that it was quiet.

"I don't know what happened. One minute Donnie and I were fighting, next minute we were ambushed by countless controllers" I looked at my hands then, trying to work out what had happened in my own mind. I hadn't even seen anyone around when I'd caught up to-

Unless I was just too focused on Donnie...

"They must have found some way to find you" Mihra looked concerned "Although, I am unsure how"

"Could they have found a way to track the turtles?" Rachel perked up, and I looked at her.

"Maybe..." I went and sat on the edge of the crumbling building, looking up at the sky and wondering if Ithiell and the others were okay. I wanted to contact them, but I wasn't sure if-

"It is quite possible that my husband may have something to do with this"

We both turned to Mihra, who was looking down, her eyes narrowed.

"What do you mean?" Rachel looked from her to me.

"I told my husband alot of my heritage and tried to explain how our...changes...worked. It is quite possible that they have found a way to utilize something in our blood and track us that way"

"Oh no... so..." I got up, turning around. Realization was starting to hit all of us.

"We need to find the others, and fast" I started to shift, seeing the others starting to change as well.

If Mihra was right...it meant none of the shape shifters in our little troop was safe anymore.

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We had managed to avoid some controllers as we flew above the city, which was bustling now with normal people, as well as controllers. You could tell who the controllers were, as they were looking around like they were after something... or...someone...

I wasn't sure how we'd win this war now, or how the rest of us would be able to hide now, from what Mihra had surmised, was a way to track something in our blood.

All the thoughts and worries went through my mind, watching as we went past the city part, finding ourselves over another wooded area, seeing more controllers trudging through the trees. From what I could see there were alot less then what Donnie and I had encountered not long before... but it was still alot.

Visser One must have had something to do with this. The amount of controllers we'd just faced... they had to have come from other cities. Possibly even other states... there was no way there were that many controllers in this state!

Possibly thousands upon thousands were around...

(Hey! I see something!) Rachel's voice brought me out of my thoughts, and I looked around, my eyes now landing on the same place she must have been looking. I saw a large pillar of smoke rising into the night sky, an orange glow just under it.

(Oh no..) My heart dropped as we all angled ourselves towards it, noticing there were less and less controllers near this area. From what I could tell, they were walking away from it...

My suspicions were confirmed as we all glided over what I could now clearly see was the wreckage of Ithiell's fighter, still ablaze.

(Doesn't look like anyone's around it... should we land?) Rachel wondered, but I was already tipping my wings downward, flaring them at the last second and landing on the dirt. I heard the others land beside me as I rose from the ground, going towards the burning wreckage.

"Ithiell!" I called, heading towards the hatch less door, going to move in but something grabbed me, pulling me back.

"No, do not enter" Mihra now, and we both jumped back as a wire fell towards the door, crackling with electricity.

"But they could be-"

"Yaaaaaah!" A sudden yell, and we both dove away from the fighter as a figure came running full tilt at us.

"Mikey!" The yell, and we turned to see Raph step into the light, finding Mikey there as well, skidding to a stop and turning to look at us.

"Oh, sorry"

"Raph!" Rachel ran towards him, and he took her in his arms, holding her tight.

"Mom!" Came the yell, and Mihra left my side, watching as her and Serah hugged each other.

"My daughter, you are okay"

I managed to stand, seeing Kristiana and Splinter emerge from the darkness as well, going over to them.

"You guys are okay" I hugged each of them, now looking at our strange little troop.

"How did you find us?" Mihra asked, looking at her daughter, then at the others, her arms still securely around Serah.

"We didn't" Raph spoke up, still holding Rachel "We saw..."

He indicated to the fire behind us.

"Dudes, are they in there?" Mikey asked, scratching his head. His nun chucks were still in his hands, and he looked worried.

"Wait here" Mihra suddenly let go of Serah, turning and going towards the open doorway. She closed her eyes, starting to shift into something that sort of resembled a larger version of a porcupine, only bright red, and the spikes were thicker.

I watched in awe as she took off into the crashed ship, and we waited a few tense moments, before she came back out.

(There is no sign of our friends) I watched as she shifted back.

"So...where are they?" I wondered, looking around.

"It does not look like they were taken by any force" Mihra said "There is also medical equipment missing, which indicates that Rtaia has taken her supplies"

"Oh Donnie" I felt a horrible pang in my heart, hoping he was okay, and no one else had been hurt in the crash, or by the Yeerks.

Ithiell...

"We must keep moving" Splinter's ears perked up, looking worried now. It was then that Mihra's ears started to flick forward, looking like she was straining to hear.

"They are coming"

"Let's go then"I said, and Splinter pointed in a direction, all of us starting to run as quickly and quietly as possible in that direction, knowing all of us were wondering where the others where...

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Told ya it'd get interesting!

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