Dream Walker

Disclaimer: I deny any ownership of any adolescent transformed shadow warrior chelonians.

Author's Note: This story might have to be upgraded to an R rating depending on how the next few chapters play out. I will try to give readers a warning on change of rating before it happens. Ramica.

Dreams that do come true can be as unsettling as those that don't- Brett Butler- Knee deep in paradise.

Chapter One - The Beast

I woke late, with my mom calling to me to hurry up.

" Jennifer are you out of bed yet. Get a move on" her harsh disembodied voice broke the stillness of my bedroom.

It was the tone that assured me, that I best get a move on, but I am a slow starter and I knew even with trying to hurry up I just wouldn't be fast enough. I yawned groggily, longing to crawl back under the covers but headed to the closet to grab some clothes instead.

I knew it was going be one of those days were you feel like you were constantly running but can never quite catch up to where you should be. I hate days that start like that.

I appeared at the breakfast table wearing jeans and a sweatshirt , my hair still in a wild disarray.

" Jennifer is that anyway to present yourself at the table, really what are we going to do with you girl?" Mom tsked and scolded in turns.

Darren glanced my way and rolled his eyes as he cleared his dirty dishes over to the dishwasher " You know Jen mom always off in a dream world. It is a world all to herself."

I scowled at him.

" Can't be that happy of a place either" he remarked.

" Better then here" I muttered under my breath, as I bit into a slice of toast.

Yep, it was just another ordinary day off to another good start, it was so run of the mill it might have been easy to pass off my nightmare of the turtles being real and hunted, as just that a dream. In fact by the end of the day, with school, homework and what have you I had forgotten about the turtle dream from the night before, but that night I dreamed of the turtles again.

…

Leonardo:

Things had been quiet and the lull between battles was starting to take its usual toll that ended up placing my brothers and I on edge.

There was something about maintaining battle readiness and having no outlet to purge that energy, that could easily wear you down and cause a person to grow lazy because you might be lulled into thinking there was no more fighting, it was over and done. We could not afford to grow lazy, we knew from experience alone, that the uneasy truce would come to an end, eventually and then we would be at war.

The first lull in action was always greeted with a great deal of enthusiasm on everyone's part and we'd all grab the chance to rest and relax, knowing how quickly the tide could change the other way we made the most of taking it easy and enjoying life, as we caught up on unfinished projects.

As time stretched on with no fighting in sight, reading, watching TV or other distractions began to pale. There was a sudden need, or desire to return to our work. It was during these time tempers would flare, battles break out between us, most of those battles involved Raph and I.

Don no matter how long we went between battles he would use every spare moment to his advantage, dragging him away from his lab could often become a tedious chore, though he would often join us in the evening to watch a movie or go on a practice run. Most often during the night, Don would scour the city for any item that he might be able to make use of later on.

Mike and Raph, though good friends had a habit of coming to blows, if only because when Mike got bored he had this unspoken desire to commit seppuku by baiting and tormenting Raphael. However, it was also Mike who was the first to step in to mediate or try to calm Raph down after he and I had agreed to disagree with each other.

I was hoping for all our sakes and our sanity that we would soon get some action.

I knocked on Don's door " Don, morning practice time. No skipping out either, whatever you are in the midst of can wait." I called out.

I listened patiently waiting for his usual protest, or him pleading for another moment as he was in a critical spot with his work. The two most common responses we had learned to expect when interrupting our genius brother while he was busy in his lab.

I heard nothing though and my brow furrowed slightly. " Don?" I called a bit louder, reaching out with my senses. It was possible, and it wouldn't be for the first time, that he had merely fallen asleep in his bed or more likely at his worktable.

I shook my head, I worried sometimes about the time he spent by himself secluded from the rest of us, and worried more over how hard he seemed to push himself. I had told him a while ago that I didn't want him working himself to death.

Don grinned at my response " Eh tu brute" he responded with a light laugh, " That Leo, is the most hypocritical thing I have heard coming from you, simply because you are the pot calling the kettle black." He declared, " I do this Leo because I enjoy it. I find it relaxing, just as you find katas and meditation relaxing."

I had leaned against the counter on his worktable " All right so we are both driven" I confessed, then gave a shake of my head " But who drives us more Don, us, or others? Are we the driver or the one being driven?"

Don looked up from whatever object had been holding his attention, I had no idea what the item was. He arched an eye ridge " That might be a better question to ask Splinter Leo," he countered.

I sighed rousing myself from the memory, I had still heard nothing, and I didn't feel Don in there with any of my ninja senses either. I opened the door and stepped into his lab/workroom/bedroom something I would never do normally, it wasn't polite to go in without being asked or obtaining permission, living in such a small confined space meant we had to learn to respect one another's privacy.

The room was in its usual state just inside the door to the left was a metal shelving unit that held containers with screws, nails, wires and other odds and ends. Then there was Don's toolbox. His bed was against the side wall. A long counter was against the other wall it was separated into four sections, a computer area to the right of the door, a worktable, followed by a small kitchen sink, microwave, and coffee pot, the last area was where Don conducted work using chemicals, made up our potions and poisons that we might have need of in a mission.

There was another section of pipe that Don stored all his projects into, but it was clear that there was no sign of Don himself, or his bo staff, which meant that Don must have gone out on a scavenging trip. Only it was nearing morning topside, and Don wasn't home yet.

Don was not like Raphael, Raph would stay out all hours of the night, often he'd go missing for a day or two at a time, though it always disturbed me when he did that. Don didn't go out much during the day except for short jaunts and wasn't the sort to push his luck. Even when he was wrapped up in scavenging for a certain item he would keep close track of the time and how much longer he had to get back before daylight arrived. Don did not see the need to push the rules the way that Raph or Mike might.

His absence now was so uncharacteristic of him; that I felt for sure that Don must have run into some trouble topside.

I whirled about heading to the dojo to alert the others. Morning practice was going have to be cancelled, searching for Don was to take precedence.

In moments Raph, Mike and I were suited up and heading topside to check all of Don's usual haunts and favourite stopping places. Since I had no idea what was up, I opted for all of us sticking together and starting at the closest areas, then working our way out to the city dump. We could then travel home by way of the sewers and hopefully avoid detection.

At first we found nothing, no spilled blood, no broken or discarded weapons that might have warned us of the Foot coming back. Nor was there any sign of Don himself, if he had come and gone or had never even been there, nothing revealed itself to clue us in.

All we could do was follow the direction that had been decided upon before leaving the lair.

The sun was starting to show itself and I felt very much exposed in the early morning light, my ninja senses seemed to call to me to get underground fast. But we had to find Don first.

Mike gave a low hiss as he saw the rays of the sun " Master, the sunlight we will wither and die" he joked in his best vampire impersonation. " We might even turn to stone in this cursed light."

Raph growled and smacked Mike.

" Ow! What was that for?" Mike complained loudly.

" Cause you deserved it, and you are an idiot" Raph declared " Be quiet Mike."

" Both of you stop it!" I ordered sharply keeping my voice low. My concern for Don probably made my words harsher then I had intended them to be.

" Yes noble son" Raph grunted in a disparaging way, " What are you Leo, a parrot? I mean you mimic Splinter's words and ways so much I gotta wonder if you can even think for your self."

I ignored his insult knowing that if I took the bait we would waste precious time " Come on we still have the dump to check and I want to be out of there before the sun gets up too high" I stated simply moving off and forcing the other two to follow after. " At least at the dump we can hide amongst the rubbish if we have to."

Raph grinned a bit " It is hard trying to come up smelling like a daisy when you live where we do" he quipped.

I smiled a bit " Got that right."

Mike laughed, " A rose by any other name would smell as sweet."

Once we arrived at the city dump we decided to split up just to cover more ground " If you find anything give a mental shout." I told them as we separated.

It was about half an hour later when I heard Mike's yell break inside my mind, the emotion that came with that call was of shock and fear. I used all of that to get a bead and head in a direct line as possible to where Mike was. I could also sense Raph making his own way towards Mike.

I reached Mike first and he was holding a few broken bits of a shattered bo staff, it had broken in three spots, one of the pieces was jabbed into the tied tail ends of a purple bandana, but the mask tails were red with blood.

Don's roku shaku bo had once been six foot in length, one and one fourth thick at the centre, but tapered to three quarter inch thickness at each end. Was now no more then two foot in length for each bit, if that. One of the wooden pieces had blood on the jagged end.

I knew the reason for the staff tapering, tapering in the staff was essential for many reasons, it allowed better balance, it made for easy handling and manoeuvring, it reduced rigidity increasing the strength so that it diminished the chance of breaking, and lastly it made it more powerful for striking, whipping and blocking. I knew it was made of red oak and Don maintained it well.

What then could have caused the staff to break, and not just break but do so in the way that it had?

Raph brushed past me, the shock of seeing what remained for us to find wearing off sooner in a fit of rage, while I was still trying to figure it all out. Raphael dropped to his knees pulling the bandana loose from the bo staff piece, his jaw clenched tight, and his eyes narrowed to mere slits, his body trembled with anger and fury.

I didn't have to be a mind reader to know what he was thinking.

When Raph picked up Don's mask I could see something in the folds tied and held securely by the blood soaked tails.

Raph tried at first to pick the knot apart but he quickly grew impatient and took a small dagger from his belt to cut the knot off all together, opening the folded mask area to reveal a video tape.

There was nothing on the video, no note or other message. The tape inside the video cassette looked like it had been forwarded about ten to fifteen minutes.

" Lets go home" I announced simply, but wearied.

" Are you crazy Leo?" Raph whirled on me his eyes blazing as he stalked up to stand toe to toe with me. " Don is out there somewhere" he gestured to the world at large, " We can't just leave him."

" We don't even know where he is Raph. This tape is our only clue. It is getting lighter and we can't stay out like this for much longer or someone is bound to notice" I pointed out.

" So you are going to do nothing?" he challenged bits of spittle flying from out of his mouth as he spoke.

" I didn't say that! Its just…"

" Every second we wait is putting Don more at risk," Raph reminded me.

" I know that. I am aware of that fact Raph but we can't do anything until we know where Don is. The tape is our only clue to him and his whereabouts." I informed him doing my best to keep my voice low. I watched how tightly he clenched the tape in his hands. " If you break it by accident Raph we may never find him."

I knew that this was how Raph acted whenever any one of us was hurt or in serious danger. He might act like he didn't care but we all knew that he cared very much for all of us, in his own way.

Raphael glanced down at the tape then handed it to me " Fine I'll see what is on that tape then I'm going looking for Don." He declared.

We returned home in silence, and as quickly as we could we were all anxious to see the tape, but at the same time I felt a strong feeling of trepidation fill me as I pushed the tape into the player and rewound it.

I pressed the play button and sat back so the rest of the family could see.

At first there was just a snowy screen, a brief moment of static then it cleared to show an image of Don slumped in chains in what was possibly a warehouse.

A strange distorted computer voice played " For the moment your brother is alive but the one who caused these injuries to him…"

A close up revealed an eye swollen shut, long scratches along Don's right cheek, a huge gaping wound in his left arm that went from shoulder to elbow, the arm also looked broken, there was a tiny trickle of blood coming from his mouth.

" Might not be kept from killing him for very long."

Suddenly a strange noise sounded off tape, it was a sound that caused my blood to turn cold, what came onto the screen did nothing to ease that sudden chill either.

It was a beast, a strange creature, looking nothing like any animal I knew or had even heard of. It moved quickly and jerkily, its blood tipped claws and agitated movement caused Don to raise his head ever so slightly. Don spoke something low his word to soft to hear against the beast strange noises that it kept emitting.

The beast cocked it's massive head as if watching Don then it charged towards him faster then I would have thought it capable of. It moved in an upright fashion. The closest thing I could consider that beast to being was some form of mutation.

Not our sort of mutation, mind you but something truly abnormal, a monstrosity, a creature a thing that was never meant to exist.

" This is what you must face or lose your brother, then one by one the beast will get you too." Came the cold computer voice.

The only other information it gave us was where we could find our brother and the beast itself.

Then the screen turned to snow.

TBC

Pretender Fanatic: In her dream Jen is there, seeing what she relates. If she can change the events remains to be seen because that I haven't decided yet. A gratitude for your insight.

Chibiroseangel: Interesting indeed, and while I have some idea on where the muses are leading me I am not a hundred percent sure on everything they are leading me to in this story. A gratitude for your insight.

Lunar Ninja: Jennifer's description of herself as being overweight and chubby is truly the way she is it has nothing to do with her dream. A gratitude for your insight.

Pacphys: Ah too true, but the best secrets are those that keep one wondering, don't you agree? A gratitude for your insight.

Reinbeauchaser: The muses seemed willing to lead to this chapter before the weekend was done. Where they will lead me, or when, after this is what remains to be seen. A gratitude for your insight.