Dimensional Adventure

"Yes!" Mikey cried as he and Leo found another red train.

"It could be the same one", Leo pointed out as they hopped on it. It slowly began to move away from the maze, as they could only tell from the shaking floor because there were no windows on these trains.

"Don't care!" Mikey said, relieved. "I'm just glad to be out of there!"

"Yeah", Leo agreed. "But I hope Raph and Donnie aren't still in there. I think we nearly searched the whole thing! An hour of looking and nothing!"

"Well, let's just hope they're somewhere else", Mikey said quietly.

Hopefully somewhere safe, Leo prayed silently.

()()()()()()()()

"Ok, up here", Kida said.

Donnie and Raph looked at the dead end they had came to, and then looked up at the big vent above their heads, big enough for two people to crawl through side by side. It was slighter higher than their heads.

Kida, being the same size as them, lifted up her arms and took away the front bit of the vent. She leaned it against the wall and turned back to the guys.

"We've gotta cut through here", she said, seeing their confused expressions. "It leads back to the yellow paths. Otherwise, you're stuck".

Donnie looked at Raph and then back to Kida. He nodded.

"How do we know you're not leading us into a trap?" Raph asked, refusing to move unless he was positive that the vent was safe enough to crawl through.

"Do I look that pathetic?" Kida asked, narrowing her eyes.

Raph chose not to answer.

"Fine", Kida said angrily. "I'll go in first if you're so scared".

"I ain't scared!" Raph said back, anger penetrating his voice.

Donnie, feeling an argument brewing, walked over to Kida and bent down, putting his hand on top of the other one. He smiled up at her politely. "I'll give ya a boost", he said, glancing at Raph.

Kida smiled, though she was still looking angrily at Raph. "Thanks", she said as nicely as she could. Putting her hands on the edge of the vent's entrance, she used Donnie's hands to lift herself into it and crouch in a crawling position. She could only turn round a fraction to look at Donnie. Donnie nodded at her and she crawled forward in the dark vent, giving enough room for Donnie and Raph to climb in.

Donnie cupped his hands together again and looked at Raph. "Get over here, Raph!" he said, in a more demanding voice than he had meant to. Then, realising that Raph and Kida obviously had something against one another, Donnie climbed into the vent first, his shell just hitting the top. Kida, luckily, could sit properly in it and she smiled at him.

"Ready?" she asked.

"All but one", Donnie sighed. He turned back to Raph. "Coming?"

"I will if ya move up!" Raph hissed, putting his hands on the cold metal, ready to climb up.

Donnie smiled politely at Kida again, silently asking her to move up. She understood, and shuffled forward a few metres, letting Donnie move up as well. He managed to get into a small sitting position, though it was quite uncomfortable, and his green cheeks glowed slightly red when he noticed that Kida had picked up on this.

"Don't worry", Kida smiled. "It happens. I don't like it either, but it ain't that far to crawl. Heck, some people have even got stuck in here. Takes ages to get 'em out".

The metal in the vent echoed loudly as Raph climbed up, clearly not happy that he'd have to crawl a good distance just to get to his brothers. He was positive that there was another way out, like climbing up the hole they had fallen down in the first place. But seeing Kida's smiling face made him narrow his eyes at her, and he forgot about another way out.

"Come on", she said, crawling ahead of them. "I'm sure you don't wanna look at my butt for ages, so the sooner we're out than the better".

Donnie laughed. "We always have Mikey's butt to look at whenever he sees a manhole and smells pizza. I'm sure the opposite sex isn't much different".

Kida smiled back at him. She laughed. "How would I know? I never look at turtles' butts. In fact, you're the first set of mutants I've seen". She carried on crawling with Donnie and Raph following.

"Look in the mirror", Raph said sarcastically. "You'll soon see one".

"Raph!" Donnie hissed. Why had he just taken a disliking to her?

Kida carried on crawling and managed to look behind her shoulder, pass Donnie, to Raph. She gave him a cold look. "Do you have a death wish?" she asked. She definitely knew where she was going because she kept her gaze on Raph and crawled at the same time.

Raph smiled. "Are you threatening me?"

Kida just growled at him, reminding Donnie of Raph so much, and she turned back round and carried on crawling. Ok, so maybe Raph had seen her in that ice stadium and that she felt guilty for, but she was getting really annoyed of his sarcastic remarks. Oh well, Kida thought, two can play at that game.

()()()()()()()()

The train Mikey and Leo were on came to a stop.

Slowly, the two brothers got up, a train of thoughts running through both their heads. Where was Donnie? Where was Raph? Were they still together? And most importantly, would they be able to find them? As if knowing they were both thinking the same thing, Leo and Mikey just looked at each other for a few seconds, silently wondering if they could save Splinter and find their brothers.

Leo snapped himself out of his thoughts. What was he thinking? It was as if he was giving up already. Sighing angrily for even thinking such negative thoughts, Leo walked over to the train doors and pulled them open, with Mikey behind him.

"It's dark", Mikey said, peering over Leo's shoulder.

"Very dark", Leo agreed, keeping his hands on the train doors. It was so black that not even the ninja eye could see an online of the room, if that's what they were in. Cautiously, Leo stepped inside, and blackness surrounded him. He heard Mikey step in after him, though he could not see his brother in orange, nor the train. It was as if this world swallowed everything in blackness, whether it was alive or not. Underneath his feet, Leo could feel carpet, but he didn't know why it was there.

"Mikey, you ok?" Leo asked, trying to at least get a glimpse of his brother. But Mikey couldn't be seen and Leo's heart stopped when he heard the train running along its tracks.

Mikey didn't speak, and Leo felt a chill run through his lungs.

"Mikey? You there?" Leo didn't dare yell because of what might be in here with him. Suddenly, he felt scared. Scared that something had happened to Mikey, or something had caught him.

"Mikey!" Leo raised his voice a little higher. "Speak to me, bro!"

"Leo . . ." a soft voice sounded out.

"Mikey?" Leo began walking towards the voice, and then slowly started jogging. He couldn't see a thing. This bothered him because Mikey was standing next to him about 5 seconds ago, so surely he couldn't have gone far. Leo hit something, then he realised with a jolt that it was a wall. He ran his fingers over it, searching for a door or something, but nothing touched his hands. Leo pulled out one of his katanna and made a small scratch in the wall. Slowly, he began to walk close to the wall, following it around the room, one hand holding his katanna and the other one sliding across the wall. When Leo reached the small scratch he created, he realised that the room wasn't even that big.

So where was Mikey?

()()()()()()()()

"Ok, this way".

Kida led Donnie and Raph round quite a few corners before they finally reached another vent cover. Raph sighed with relief. 20 minutes of crawling and looking at Donnie's butt was not the most pleasant thing in life. He watched Kida bring her legs underneath her and kicked the cover of the vent roughly. It landed with a 'clang' but Raph couldn't see beyond Donnie and her.

Kida swung her legs over the edge and jumped down a few feet. She looked up and waited for Donnie and Raph to jump down. Donnie struggled to get his legs over the edge so he didn't have to fall down face first, but he managed it, and was shortly followed by Raph, who landed with a 'thud' on his feet.

Kida lifted the vent cover back up and placed it back over the dark exit. It vanished before their eyes and she turned back round to face them, bending over to wipe the dirt that was on the knees of her jeans and on her butt.

She smiled at them when she stood up straight. It was then that Donnie and Raph realised that they were back where they started, standing on the yellow path that sat next to the train tracks either side of them. Loads more yellow paths were over the two tracks, way too many to count.

"I can't help you anymore, I'm afraid", Kida said, making them both look back at her. She smiled apologetically. "I'll try and see how far your brothers have got".

"How are you going to do that?" Donnie asked.

Kida glanced at Raph before answering. "I know this place inside and out", she said simply. "I can always figure out where people are".

"Can't you take us to our brothers?" Donnie asked.

Kida looked at him, her eyes unreadable. "No", she said softly.

"Why the hell not?" Raph demanded.

"I just can't", she said. Donnie's theory about her suddenly popped up inside his head, but he let Kida carry on. "I'm not allowed really, this was kinda a one-off. Sorry. But I'll be watching over you, remember you're not totally alone".

Before they could ask her any more questions, she vanished with a slightly sad expression on her face, leaving Raph and Donnie alone.

"She'll be spying on us more like", Raph muttered.

"I don't know why you don't like her", Donnie said, and he head off up the path.

Raph followed him, surprised at himself for not telling any of his brothers that Kida was always watching them, though Donnie now knew that. But he was annoyed that she wasn't helping them. That she was just watching them as if they were characters from a movie and she was waiting for them to screw up.

()()()()()()()()

Leo ran from one corner of the room to the other and, as he walked around the room, he realised that there was just four walls and no train anymore. It had deserted him. There was no trap door or anything, as Leo soon found out when he stretched up one hand and could touch smooth ceiling. Putting his katanna away, Leo knew that he was trapped. He had a horrible feeling that Mikey was still on the train. That what he heard wasn't Mikey getting off, but instead were the doors closing. Sighing, Leo leaned against a wall before sinking down it. It was then, at that precise moment, that Leo knew he was alone, and that the only way out was if someone found him. The only problem was, he had a feeling that only one person could find him, and she was not allowed.

()()()()()()()()

Kida watched Donnie and Raph pick a train and then made herself visible again. She watched it speed along the tracks and then vanished out of sight before she started walking along the yellow path. She couldn't hold her invisible powers for long, only for about 10 minutes, but she was only supposed to use them in an emergency. Strangely, she felt as though she had to watch Raph and Donnie, making sure they chose their next train right. Luckily, they did.

A strange feeling waved over Kida. As a train zoomed past her she gazed at it sharply, trying to guess if someone was inside it. A turtle was banging on the doors of the train, but it was gone in a blink, along with the orange bandanna. Kida closed her eyes and saw another one, sitting down, his eyes closed also.

"Great", Kida said angrily. "Try and get them together and then two of them get separated. That's just brilliant".

Kida knew immediately that she couldn't help them. Keja wouldn't want that. Sighing, she carried on walking. Why the hell do I have to see everything? She thought, rage pumping through her blood. It's not like I want to! I hate this princess stuff. This - though I hate admitting it - spying stuff. God damnit! Raph was right, dead right. This looking-over-people stuff is a load of -

"Something wrong Kida?" Keja asked her.

Kida jumped. Where the hell did he come from? He was standing in front of her, his hands deep in the pockets of his long coat.

"No, nothing", she replied quickly.

"You seemed to be thinking about something", he said, gazing at her as though trying to look into her mind.

"No - I'm ok. I was just . . ." she looked at him, sighing. ". . . thinking".

"Anything you want to talk about?" Keja asked.

"No. No - it's ok. Forget it".

"You sure?"

Kida breathed deeply. "I'm . . . positive", she replied, struggling to get her words out. What she really wanted to ask was if she could go help the turtle in blue. Leonardo. There was no way he was going to get out of that room unless another train travelled there, and that wasn't going to happen, it never happened, not if she didn't get on the right one and go there. Only she and Keja knew the dimensions, but he wouldn't help the very same people he set a task to.

Keja raised an eyebrow. "You don't seem -"

"Ok, I'm not positive, alright?" she interrupted, a little too loudly. She looked at him, breathing quite heavily. "I helped the red and purple one", she confessed, knowing he would know who she was on about. "They were stuck and I helped them. Now they're going to find their brothers. But, one's trying to break a door down that a train closed on him. The other is stuck and can't get out unless I help, and they've barely been here 4 hours!"

She stopped, catching her breath back as she said it all in one go.

"But", she carried on, "you won't let me help".

"I never said that you couldn't -", Keja began.

"I want to help", she admitted. "At least let me get them together again, please?"

"I -"

"And I promise I'll leave them to it!" Kida said seriously.

"Kida!"

Kida stopped talking and looked up at her Master. He looked back at her with a small smile on his face, though it was barely seen. His beard hid his features and Kida smiled back at him, remembering Mikey's 'Dumbledore' comment.

"And I promise I won't 'bond'", she said, answering his unsaid question.

Keja looked at her for a few seconds, watching her aqua eyes silently beg at him, her hair blowing around her face, reflecting a younger version of her mum. He trusted her, and knew that she wouldn't bond anyway because she was able to block out friendship. He had already seen and heard the sarcastic remarks she threw at Raph. But that Donnie, he seemed the friendly type, and especially so did Mikey. In fact, they all did, but Raph proved to not want to bond.

"Just this once", he said slowly, after thinking about it for a couple of minutes.

Kida smiled, and then shot down the yellow path. Keja watched her stand in front of a train, shout "stop", and then jump on it. She knew where to go. It was the blue one she was going to get first.

()()()()()()()()

"Leo! LEO!"

Mikey banged the door with his fist as hard as possible. After a few minutes they hurt so much that he had to stop, admitting defeat for being unable to open the doors and letting the train take him to whichever dimension it was heading towards. He couldn't believe that the doors had just slammed in his face! What if something happened to Leo? What if something happens to me? Mikey thought with a shock. He had no idea where he was going and now he knew why Leo never wanted them to spilt up. Sighing, Mikey put a hand on his head, praying that whatever dimension he went to next would be an easy one.

()()()()()()()()

"What are you muttering about?" Donnie asked, looking opposite at Raph who had been muttering throughout the whole train ride, and they hadn't even stopped yet! "You're not still mad at Kida, are you? She helped us out a great deal, ya know."

"I just don't trust her, that's all", Raph admitted. "She's so sarcastic!"

Donnie rolled his eyes and stared at Raph, not saying anything.

"What?" he asked. "She is!"

"And you're not?" Donnie asked, leaning forward towards his brother. "Raph, she helped us out of a tight situation. How can you not trust her?"

Raph shrugged. "You didn't see her, Don! That ice stadium, she was watching us, I saw her! I swear I saw her in that stupid maze as well. Explain that? You're supposed to be the smart one. How do you explain that?"

"She has to watch us -"

"Spy on us -"

"WATCH us, Raph", Donnie answered back. "I didn't say spy, you did. Keja said she was going to watch over us, and if that means helping us I trust her enough to let her continue to watch us, so stop moaning about it!"

Raph narrowed his eyes at his brother, who did not normally snap back.

Silence filled the train until Raph asked, "Do you think Leo and Mikey are ok?"

"I think so", Donnie replied, sure of his answer. "I mean, it's gonna take more than a silly dimension to split them up, don't you think?"

"Hmm", Raph simply replied.

()()()()()()()()