Back again with another chapter. Thanks for all the reviews, they're very appreciated! 3

—

"So how did you end up here, then?" Donatello asked Jaya as she finished her explanation of herself and her abilities - the best that she could give, anyway. She could tell Mikey was awestruck, Raph slightly bored, Leo with a seemingly neutral stare and Don looking at her almost impressed.

Jaya looked at her hands, and despite being the seemingly powerful, confident person she was, looked almost defeated. "I don't know." She whispered. "All of my recent memories are a dark blur, I can't remember anything - where I was, who I was with. Nothing. The last thing I remember going to sleep after traveling home - then darkness."

The brothers looked at each other.

"Don?" Leo looked at the genius for any sign of how this could even happen. But the purple clad turtle just shook his head.

"No idea, doc," He replied. "Dimensional traveling isn't in my line of expertise."

"Maybe we should find the shadow dudes." Mikey suggested, looking around. "Capture one of them and force them to tell us what they want. Just like in the superhero comics."

The other three brothers looked at each other, surprised at Mikey's suggestion of a good idea.

"But didn't they take down Leo?"Jaya commented, having heard of Leo's capture.

"Yeah, but they can't take ALL of us!" Mikey exclaimed. "I mean, we're pretty good." He flexed his muscles, and felt the familiar whack of Raph on the back of his head.

"That could work, though. It's our best bet at this point; besides, we want to know what they wanted with Leo anyway." Don interjected, ignoring Mikey's yelp.

"Then it's settled, we'll go looking for them tonight." Leo stood up, "Everyone get some shut-eye, we'll leave at sundown."

Jaya watched as the turtles departed, unsure of where to go. She didn't exactly have a sleeping quarters.. They all had rooms, she felt like an intruder in an unknown place. An unknown world.

Don noticed her hesitation, stopping on his way to his lab. "Jaya, there's a cot in here you can sleep on." He offered. "I'll show you, and you can show me more of your bending while you're at it."

Touched by the turtle's hospitality, even though she was a stranger in his home, Jaya followed him, slightly flustered as he started asking her to show him some of her bending abilities. Both the turtle and Avatar stayed up a while as they talked, both intrigued by the other's stories. Eventually, Jaya grew tired which the purple clad turtle noticed and decided to leave her be and let her rest.

Still, Jaya was left with a smile as she finally fell asleep.

Master Splinter watched the purple turtle leave, having overheard the whole story before, but choosing not to interrupt. The elder rat figured he'd be of more use trying to meditate on the issue; he'd never be able to stop his sons from helping this young lady, despite his worry over this mysterious shadow creature. He retreated to his room, sitting in meditation position and preparing himself to try to figure out what could be happening.

—

Jaya awoke on the rooftops of the buildings high above her, shivering from the cold fall air.

It looked like the spirit world, except a lot darker. Not at all like the bright colors she was used to - in any world.

She was surrounded by darkness, and used her fire bending to light up the surrounding area.

The shadows around her seemed to move and she just walked further across a seemingly Impossibly long building.

Suddenly, she saw a figure up ahead. It was cloaked with a black gem holding the middle of the cloak together, but it's feet and legs seemed to vanish into the shadows.

"Jaya." The figure whispered as she approached, it's voice raspy. "It's time we met."

"Who are you?" Jaya asked, the flame growing brighter in response to her anger.

"My name does not matter. I'm the one who brought you here, and I brought you here for a reason." The figure slowly floated towards her, trailing shadows as it moved. It was almost ghost-like, which made it really unnerving to watch.

"Yeah, and my friends will help me get home" She held up her hand, ready to strike him if he moved any closer.

"Are you sure they are really your friends, dear child?" The shadow man came even closer to her, and she started to back away. "Are you sure you can trust them?"

"They took me in." She whispered. "I'm not afraid of you. You can't hurt me."

"That is where you are wrong."

Before she could react, the shadow man lurched toward her in a dark surge of blackness, putting out the fire in her hand and making her scream.

—

Jaya woke up, exhausted, knowing that her scream probably woke up half of the lair. She realized she had accidentally fallen off her cot upon awakening and dug her hands into the rock beneath her. Oops.

Removing her hands from the ruined floor, Jaya sat down and surveyed the dim room. All the lights outside were off and she was alone. She suspected Don or any of his brothers weren't awake yet, and Jaya took that opportunity to try to fix the floor with a little bit of earth bending.

Out of nowhere, the light behind her turned on, and Jaya upon instinct sent a rock flying in the direction of the intruder.

She heard the rock hit the wall outside the door as the turtle ducked, with a "Whoa!" following suit.

As her eyes adjusted she realized it was Leonardo and she had just hurled a rock at his head.

"Sorry!" She forgot about what she was doing and stood up, walking to him.

Leo waved a hand and brushed it off, instead saying, "I heard you scream, are you alright?"

"Just.. A dream." She replied.

"Want to talk about it?" The turtle came over and motioned her to sit down.

Jaya started to tell the story, leaving the part about the shadow questioning if she can really trust these turtles.

Leo seemed interest in the concept of the spirit world; she guessed he was the more spiritual type.

"Can you take anyone else to the spirit world?" He asked suddenly, curious.

Jaya thought for a moment. Could she? She didn't think it was possible unless you were trained specifically to do it or you were at the north/south poles. Before she could answer, a yawning Donatello entered the room.

"Hey guys, I heard a crash. What happened?"

Jaya smiled sheepishly and hope he didn't notice what she did to the floor. "A bit of a misunderstanding, I had a crazy dream and Leo scared me. That's all."

She made the mental note to talk to Leo about this again later, and gave him a sort of sign to indicate this. He nodded once and she followed Don into the kitchen as he made some coffee. She was more of a tea person herself, and Don attempted to make her some - it was a good attempt, but the genius didn't quite seem to make as good of tea as he did coffee. Still, Jaya very much appreciated him trying.

—

Soon later the two other turtles joined them. The rat master was still missing from the table, having not met Jaya yet, so Leonardo decided to go check on him to find him meditating.

"Master?" The turtle opened the door slowly and poked his head in, studying the rat. He hadn't moved from his position since last night, but did open his eyes to the appearance of his eldest son.

"Leonardo, I know you are going out to see upon trying to find the ones who trapped Jaya in our world." Splinter put simply. "I trust you will use your judgment to keep yourself and your brothers safe."

Leo nodded, bowing to his master. He wasn't really expecting his Sensei to let him go, but he guessed that the rat understood what kind of situation they were in. He expected he and his brothers would've agreed to help Jaya no matter what, and not many others would have - or would have known how, that is. He and his brothers are probably her best bet, given what they've seen and been through. Helping someone return to their own world shouldn't be too much of an issue.. Right?

"Thank you, Sensei. I'll make sure everyone returns safely." Leo responded with a bow.

"Be careful, my son." Splinter closed his eyes again and resumed his meditation, which Leo took as his key to leave.

Upon inquiry from his brothers, the blue turtle simply said that their Sensei was fine and they should be okay to head to the surface.

So the four turtles and the Avatar girl headed into the sewers as the sky fell dark yet again and found themselves on the search for the possible enemies.