Ch.29: Splintered Souls

Meanwhile, in her cage, Karai was struggling hard to break free from her bonds, wriggling and clawing to get the ropes off of her hands and feet. Worry and frustration warred in her mind.

She needed to get out and break free, otherwise her brothers would be responsible for ending each other's lives.

Shredder had grown even more dangerous now that he had taken on a mutant form. From what he had done, he could truly be called a nesumi from Japanese lore.

Karai's mind reflected back on all of those demon legends even now, part of memory flashing back to the moments when Shredder had acted father-like towards her, and told her these scary tales just before she went to bed. A trait that the Shredder definitely lacked now.

According to the tales, nesumi were rat-like demons who thrived in the power of shadows, and twisted the darkness inside of peoples heart, causing great pain and distress to anyone they encountered.

These dark powers are what worried Karai now. For her mutant brothers were fighting each other, blinded to the truth of who they were trying to kill.

But Karai's eyes were not blind in the darkness the Shredder had cast. Thanks to her snake-like mutation, the young ninja could instantly tell just where her own brothers were.

Karai nearly flinched as she watched Leonardo swing at Donnie and Mikey with his swords. His attacks were brutal, merciless, and it took the younger turtles everything they could to defend. Blood was pouring out from multiple cuts to their bodies. Karai only prayed that they could themselves alive.

Again Karai struggled, but the ropes that bound her remained taught, as well as the gag wrapped around her mouth, drowning out her screams.

Her eyes glared at Raphael, who had almost stood perfectly still the moment this blackness occurred. If Shredder was somehow prodding Leonardo to attack his own kin, why hadn't he made Raphael do the same?

Was Raph struggling to stay in control? His face looked contorted with pain!

"Snap out it Raphael!" screamed Karai in her mind " Fight back! Your brothers need you now!"

"Miwa," suddenly sounded a welcoming voice to all of this chaos.

"Splinter!" thought Karai joyfully, turning to meet the comforting gaze of her dad.

Splinter smiled at the sight of his daughter's cheer, and quickly undid the lock to her cage. The gate slid open, allowing the mutant rat inside, and he busied himself removing her gag and bonds.

"We have to help the others!" Karai spoke once she was free.

"Where is Shredder?" questioned Splinter, noticing the current absence of his foe.

"I don't know," admitted Karai. Soon after he had cast the darkness, Karai's visual upon Shredder had disappeared. There was no telling where he was hiding now.

Grabbing Splinter's hand as they rushed out of the cage, Karai was suddenly shocked when a great force suddenly tackled them both from the side. Splinter's hand immediately slipped from out of Karai's grasp, and young kounchi stood confused to where he could have gone.

When her eyes finally found him, Karai's gaze widened in surprise beholding a bizarre scene. Two Master Splinter's now stood a few feet away growling at each other, claws out and fangs bared.

"I wondered when you would come Yoshi," stated the first Splinter, who had helped Karai, morphing back into his original state. "You may have come in time to save Karai, but not your precious sons. They're already to deep under my spell."

"Stop this madness now Saki!" demanded Splinter, gesturing with his hand.

"I don't think I will," said Shredder, preparing himself for a fight.

At that moment, Raphael surprised everyone by suddenly being on the move, twirling out his sais as he lunged for Shredder's chest, determined to land a lethal blow. Whatever trance that the Shredder had the red-masked turtle under was seemingly gone, and Raph's green eyes blazed with fury.

Master Splinter immediately moved in to aid Raphael in Shredder's assault, and the two ninjas chased the villain around the arena, determined to bring them down.

Karai stood amazed for a second by what had occurred, before shifting her focus back on more important matters at hand.

Not far away, Leo, Don, and Mikey were still trying to end each other's lives. It was time to put a stop to it, once and for all!


Hard breaths leaked from out of Donatello's mouth as he and Mikey were again thrown back by Shredder's double swords. Fresh cuts and bruises bled from both of the younger turtles bodies. If things kept up at their current rate, both Don and Mikey were very likely to die.

Inside in his head, Donatello's brain worked frantically to discover a way out of their desperate situation, but unfortunately found none. Shredder in his new mutant body had proved to tough to defeat.

His martial arts skills were unmatched anywhere in the ninja world.

It was that sudden thought that highlighted a major error inside of Don's brain. Something about this whole situation didn't seem right.

The katanas…the moves that Shredder used to strike every blow, were more similar to Leonardo's techniques. And since when did the Shredder use anything to attack besides his own blades? He never used swords, unless the gauntlets were closer at hand.

Again the Shredder moved into attack, slicing his katanas right towards Don and Mikey's skulls. However, seconds before the deadly steel could reach, Karai suddenly slithered in with her snake form and knocked Shredder away. Don and Mikey both released grateful sighs of relief.

"Karai, how did you get…?"

"Later Donatello!" interrupted Karai "You both should know that we've all been trapped in an illusion by Shredder. The opponent you've been fighting against all this time was Leonardo!"

Shock surged through both of Don and Mikey's shells.

"No way!" said the orange-masked turtle, stunned.

"No wonder I recognized some of his moves," thought Don in his head.

Shredder had created a clever trap, making them think that Leo was the enemy this entire time. There was no doubt that their blue-masked brother now saw the same.

They all needed to get it out of his head that they weren't his enemies. But how could make proof of that?


Sweat beaded across of Leonardo's flesh as tired breath's dripped from his mouth. Worry was starting to slowly creep up his spine. Shredder had multiplied during his former assault. Three villains faced him now, all looking armed and ready to kill.

There wasn't going to be an end to this fight. Shredder would keep driving him mad until he gave up or finally got killed.

"What's a matter?" mocked one of the Shredder's, glancing at Leo cold " Didn't you vow to destroy me? Come now, here's your chance."

Leo braced his katana blades, but suddenly found himself unable to move. Something was restricting him, forcing him not to proceed. Was it some kind of warning that he shouldn't continue to fight?

In a second a hissing sound sounded close by to Leonardo's ear.

"Leo…Wake up!"

"Karai?" asked Leo, immediately recognizing the tone.

"This isn't real!" thought Leonardo finally.

This was all just an illusion that Shredder had created in his mind.

Relaxing his stance, Leo set down his swords, and then slowly started to breathe in and out, meditating in his mind.

A white glow surrounded the blue leader's body for a second before the entire illusion of darkness shattered, and he was able to see the grateful looks of Don, Mikey, and Karai, all looking very relieved.

"Glad you're back to normal guys," said Karai, shifting back into her normal form.

"Yeah, thanks Sis!" said Mikey, and then his focus turned back to Raph and Splinter, who were just finishing their Shredder fight.


To Raphael's eyes he was still in the dark. The darkness that Shredder had conjured up just to ensnare them all.

Moments ago, he had found himself alone, facing the Shredder one on one, slowly being crushed to death by the terrible grip of the rat-dragon's tail. If that wasn't the worst of the horror, Raphael had been forced to stare into Shredder's soulless, red eyes, and been made to listen to his eerie-sounding words as, bit by bit, they clawed in, seeping poison into his mind.

The darkness seemed to grow thicker, and Raphael could slowly feel himself start to disappear, despite his fury struggling for him to be free.

He might had soon been lost, had not a miracle happened right there and then.

When Splinter came in and knocked Shredder away from almost harming Karai, a light had entered Raphael's darkness, and now he could finally see his foe.

Anger burned up deep from within Raph's soul, and he burst himself out of the dragon's tail, swinging fatally at Shredder with his deadly blades.

All of the torture and torment ended right here! He and his brothers weren't puppets for the Shredder to control! His evil deeds had caused nothing but pain for them and this city, and it was time to set the record right!

Master Splinter joined Raphael in his assault, aiding the red-masked turtle whenever he saw the need. A fearless ninja master, and a grumpy turtle on the rampage…Shredder had better pray that he wouldn't meet defeat.

A fierce clash ensued with blades, claws, and kicks all countering against each other. The foes knew each other well.

Shredder was strong, and his new mutated state he proved even more difficult to corner. Sweat poured off Raphael's green skin. This was a very hard fight, and either side was likely to win.

Fortunately, the battle seemed to lean towards good guy's favor as Raphael finally managed to sweep Shredder off his feet with a low kick, and then Splinter pinned him the rest of the way to the ground.

"Woohoo!" cried Mikey's voice from somewhere in the dark. "They've got him!"

For a moment, Raphael's attention turned away from where Shredder was pinned, and he tried to find where his brother yelled in the dark.

"I hope Leo and the others are okay," thought Raph in his mind.

He hadn't been able to see any of his brothers once they had stepped into this nightmare. Though if Mikey was yelling, everything must be okay.

However, just as Raphael was feeling relieved that all of this chaos was over, something happened to change his tune.

"Raphael! Help me!" pleaded Splinter's voice to his ears.

Turning back around to where the fight had stopped, Raphael gasped with amaze when he no longer noticed Shredder cowering under Splinter's feet, but Master Splinter begging at the heel of Shredder's toe.

"Hahaha!" laughed Shredder, extending out his gauntlet blades. "Say your goodbyes turtle. Yoshi's death is now!"

"No!" cried Raph, running to stop the villain before he could strike.

But Shredder's blade was closer to Splinter's chest, and they reached through the flesh, killing Splinter dead before Raphael could even reach to defend.

"Nooo!"

Tears welled up in Raphael's eyes as he gazed upon his master's final moments of pain, before the breath of life finally escaped his soul, and he lay cold and lifeless on the ground. The Shredder grinned, smiling in triumph, blood dripping off of his metal claws.

"Finally" breathed Shredder " after all this time…I've won."

That comment only made Raphael tighten his fists with rage, as he activated the gauntlets on his hands, sliding out the deadly blades. All of the hatred that he felt towards Shredder suddenly erupted in a burst.

There was no conscious thought, just action, and a single word that kept on repeating through the enraged turtle's skull.

"Kill! Kill! Kill!

From off in the distance, it sounded like voices were shouting, begging for Raphael to stop, but the red-masked turtle continued on in his rage, and sliced his deadly claws right through Shredder's chest.

The thrill of revenge only lasted a moment as a shrill scream suddenly sounded and shattered the dark.

Raphael finally found himself waking up into the light, horror and confusion greeting him as he beheld a horrible scene.

Shredder had been knocked out and was still pinned by Master Splinter, and Raphael's brothers stood just a few feet away, terror reflecting in their wide eyes.

Those eyes instantly told Raphael that something was wrong, and he followed their stares down to a gruesome scene, lying just inches in front of Raph's own feet.

The body of their newly beloved sister, Karai, now lay cut and bleeding on the floor, a gash struck right in her side. She had suffered a blow that had been aiming for Splinter, and paid the ultimate price to save his life.

But the mere shock of Karai's sacrifice, was not more shocking than who aimed the killing blow.

Looking down at his hands, Raphael became stunned as he finally realized who delivered that fatal blow. The gauntlets blades were still extended and were stained fresh with blood.

It was her blood. Karai's blood. His sister's blood.

Raphael had killed Karai.