Here's Mind Games. I wrote this before the episode "Plan 10" came out, which uses a very similar concept. It doesn't make sense that the Kraang would have mind changing guns AND a machine, but it would change the storyline too much if I edited it to make it more canon, so let's just roll with it. :P

Also I want to give a quick thanks to everyone else who reads this; I seriously love you guys. Anyway, enjoy! :)

Mind Games pt. 1

Ara

Ara looked up at the ceiling, tapping her fingers against her leg. Three weeks and four days she'd been sitting here, going topside only once for the meteor shower. Three weeks and four days. How many hours was that? She didn't even know. The highlight of this week had been meeting Leatherhead, even IF he had almost bitten her head off. She looked at the clock. 8:27 P.M. Everyone else would be going up for their nightly patrol pretty soon now. Mikey had supposedly seen Dr. Falco around an old building yesterday, so they'd probably try to track him down.

What would she be doing? She could… read Raph's comics again, watch some TV, try and fail to beat one of Mikey's high scores…Ara shook her head. No. No, no, no. She would not, COULD not do that for one more day, unless she wanted to go crazy. She was getting off this stupid couch for good.

Ara swung her legs around so that they touched the floor. She hesitated only a moment before standing up. No pain greeted the deed like she had half-expected, so she took a cautious step forward. Then another. And another. Ara bounced up and down on her heels, then on her toes, but she didn't feel any tingling or anything out of the ordinary. Ara paused. That thought sounded eerily familiar. Oh yeah, she had thought it before when she was toying with the mutagen. Ara froze. Look how THAT had turned out. Maybe she should go back to the couch after all… Ara shook the thought from her mind. No way. She walked briskly around the pit, then sped up to a jog. She expected a sickening crack to come, along with shoots of pain rising up her foot, but it didn't happen.

With a delighted laugh, Ara walked into Donnie's lab, where he was tweaking the patrol buggy. "Hey, Donnie. What you working on?"

Donnie scratched his chin, deep in thought. "Hi, Ara. I'm just…" He stopped mid-sentence, his head snapping up. "Ara! What are you doing off the couch?!"

Ara shrugged. "Walking. My feet feel fine."

Donnie opened his mouth, shut it, opened it again, then groaned. "You are JUST LIKE Raph, you know that? One time he broke his foot, and you lasted two whole days longer than he did." Donnie pointed to the ground beside him. "Sit." Ara obeyed, and Donnie undid the bandages around her ankles, felt around both feet, then re-did them. "Fine. You can walk. But you have to promise me, no high-speed sprinting and none of your famous mega jumps for at least another week."

"Yes!" Ara shot into the air, then took off to tell the others. "Thanks, Donnie! You're the best!" She trotted into the training room, where Mikey had Leo in a complicated hold while Leo gave him tips on how to improve it. "Leo! Mikey! Donnie says I can walk!"

Mikey's eyes widened in surprise, and he absent-mindedly tossed Leo to the ground. "Really? Awesome!" Leo rose with a groan, rubbing his shoulder. He conked his brother across the head, but Mikey ignored it. "We have to do something to celebrate! How about we do some skateboarding?"

Ara swallowed hard. "I don't think so. First off, I don't have a board. Secondly, I don't know how to skate on a board... or anything else, for that matter."

Mikey's jaw dropped. "You've never gone SKATEBOARDING?! How do you live?"

Ara rolled her eyes. It's called breathing."

"Well, you're learning. Today."

Ara looked doubtful. "About that… I don't exactly have the best track record with things on wheels."

"Well, we're going to improve that record, aren't we?" Mikey insisted stubbornly. "C'mon!" Grabbing her wrist, Mikey lead her out of the lair. He snatched up his board on the way out and shouted to the household that they were going topside for some skateboarding. Within seconds, they were surrounded by exited mutants, all bearing skateboards. Great, Ara couldn't help thinking. More people to witness my utter failure.

She had always hated things on wheels. They were so…wobbly and insecure. The thought of all that spinning and rolling was enough to make her stomach turn in anxiety. Roller skates, skateboards, rollerblades: she disliked them all. And in turn, they disliked her.

They went up their usual manhole, and then scaled a building. Mikey turned to Ara, holding out his board. "Okay, so you—"

"Kraang at 6:00!" Donnie called out, peering over the edge of the building.

Mikey groaned, but Ara breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness." They joined Donnie at the edge of the building and peered over the edge into the dark alley below. The Kraang were in their human suits, loading guns from one van to another. Ara squinted at the guns. They weren't the usual laser blasters. There was a strange symbol on the side…was it a brain?

"What are they doing?" Leo murmured.

"I dunno, but it's nothing good." Raph replied, whisking out his sai and swirling them rapidly in each hand. "Let's take 'em down."

Leo nodded. "Alright. On my count, guys. One, two…" he paused, glancing around him. All of his brothers were already gone, the sounds of battle rising from below.

Only Ara remained, waiting for his signal. She grinned. "They're hopeless, aren't they?"

He shook his head. "You said it. Well, three, I guess."

With a chuckle, Ara launched herself off the building, drawing her sword mid-air and slicing down on a robot's head as she landed. Weaving through a shower of bullets, she knocked the gun out of an attacking Kraang's hand, then sliced him in half.

Out of nowhere, three Kraangdroids came crashing into her, pinning her to the ground with strong metal arms. She struggled fruitlessly for a few moments, then froze in horror. Mikey had his back turned as he took on several Kraang, which gave another alien robot the perfect chance to take him down. The robot snatched up one of the guns they had been loading, took careful aim, then fired. A huge, missal-sized golden bullet shot through the air. Ara tried to scream at Mikey, only to find a hard metal hand clamped firmly over her mouth. The glowing gold bullet struck Mikey squarely in the back of the head, and he crumpled to the ground. His limbs twitched for a few moments, then he stilled completely.

Ara let out a long, horrified scream. It was muffled by the hand over her mouth but still managed to ring off of the walls of the alley. They'd just killed Mikey! As the realization hit her, she was filled with a rage like she'd never felt before, not even towards Shredder. She reared her leg and kicked out at the middle Kraang holding her captive with all her might. It went flying through the air and hit a building on the opposite side of the street with a bang. She flew to her feet, snatching her sword from where it lay and mercilessly slicing the other two until they were nothing but shredded parts.

Her scream had caught the attention of the others, and they had already dealt with the remaining Kraangdroids and were kneeling beside Mikey's still form.

Ara stared in amazement as she approached, wiping the tears from her eyes. Mikey was lying on his stomach, and the back of his head could be easily seen. But it wasn't crushed like she had thought. In fact, it looked just like normal. Leo turned Mikey over, supporting his head with the crook of his arm. Mikey's chest rose and fell at a good pace. Ara knelt down beside him in awed surprise, not believing her eyes. "I…I don't understand," she started. "I saw the…"

"I know." Ara looked up at Donnie, noticing for the first time the drying tears on his face. "I saw it too. It hit him right…" His words trailed off as he shook his head. "What kind of bullets were they?"

"He's coming around!" Raph exclaimed. Mikey's eyes fluttered open, and he looked around in confusion.

"Mikey, are you all right?" Leo asked in concern, propping him up a little higher.

"What?" Mikey sat up, a bewildered look on his face. "Leonardo! Where…where am I?"

Donnie put a concerned hand on Mikey's forehead, checking for a temperature. "What's the matter, Mikey? Don't you remember?"

"Mikey?" Michelangelo asked in confusion. His eyes widened. "Mikey!?" He looked wildly at his hands, which made him seem more alarmed than ever. He ran his hands over his face, felt along his mask, then looked down at himself again. Mikey let out a horrified-sounding groan. "Why does this always happen to ME?!" he moaned. His brothers looking on in confusion, Mikey shook a fist at the sky. "So the rat wasn't enough, eh?! You have to throw THIS at me, too. A little entertainment, huh? Well, I assure you, it is in VERY poor taste!"

Leo blinked. Mikey, what are you TALKING about?!"

Mikey turned to Leo, his big blue eyes as serious as Ara had ever seen them. "I am not Michelangelo."