A/N: . . . Oops. Been a while. Sorry for the wait, but I'm finally free from the monster called school! With summer break comes extra hours at work and plenty of time to dream. So, here I give you the next chapter that you've been awaiting.

You may want to re-read some earlier chapters if you don't quite remember what's happening. It sort of jumps right into it from where it left off.

Chapter 8

"Where exactly did you guys hide this thing?" Casey wondered aloud as he picked his way down the un-kept sewer tunnel that was forgotten years ago.

"Underground Railroad bunker," Leo explained as they came up to the supply room.

"Under-who what now?"

"Would you just—" Raph pushed him through the door and into the cramped space.

"You hid it in a supply closet?" Casey eyed the place wearily before Mikey stepped up.

"Allow me," he said and with a flourishing hand, not unlike the last time, he revealed the secret tunnel.

"Wicked!" Casey exclaimed before taking off down the tunnel.

Raph rolled his eyes and followed behind the others, making sure to keep his senses open for any approaching threat.

"This place is awesome! It's like, totally secret and stuff," Casey spun to take in the whole of the secret bunker.

"I know right," Mikey boasted, "I totally found this place. It wasn't the rat, it was me." He stood with hands on his hips, head tilted up and a proud look on his face that caused Leo to roll his eyes and Raph to groan in annoyance.

"Let's just get this thing and get out of here," Raph said.

Leo knelt down and removed the secret panel to reveal the safe that Donnie had installed what seemed like a life time ago, but was actually only the night before. With a spin of the dial, the lock clicked open and Leo swung open the door.

Sitting nestled in a ragged cloth, the Shock Rock sat innocently. . . or not so innocently. As the safe door opened, the Shock Rock began to glow, much like it had when April had touched before a wave of light pulsed out with a bright yellow flash.

Oo-oO

AAAAAAAHHHHHH! Freaking Finally!

The Shard let out a whoop of excitement as something finally happened. The stupid box was open and she accidently sent out a shock wave in her excitement. Not too subtle, mind you, but after spending hours alone in a small cramped box with nothing to do but count the number of fungal spores floating around (she counted 348), she extended her senses and reveled in the ability to feel something other than cold metal that didn't even allow her radiation to penetrate.

"The heck was that?"

Voices! Glorious sound.

She probed into the small room and immediately recognized two of the four life-forms nearby. The one who spoke was the human, the wild one not the compatible one. The other one she recognized was the Warrior from earlier, the one that wasn't in her database, like the Donnie-life form. A sort-of Testudine.

Where is the Donnie guy? He was fun.

She examined the other life-forms and was surprised to find that they were also not-Testudines, and that none of them were the Donnie-life form.

Lame.

"Was that supposed to hurt?" Drawn back out of her thoughts, the Shard examined the mentality of these new almost-Testudines. This one that spoke seemed simple, like the Wild human, but more childish. His mind was flitting from one thought to another, with a vivid imagination and an odd addiction to food and animals . . . and animals made out of food?

He seems almost as fun as the Donnie-life form.

"I don't like it," the other almost-Testudine said, "this thing has caused us nothing but trouble. Let's just hurry up and get rid of it."

Excuse me?! Who are you calling thing?

The Shard examined the final life-form and almost pulled back from the sheer amount of anger it radiated. It was angry, and suspicious, and . . . worried?

Hmm . . . Oh, they're brothers. He's worried about . . . Donnie? He's not here because something happened. Something to do with me? What did I do? I've been trapped in a box for who knows how long!

"Hurry," the Warrior said as he carefuly picked up the Shard, making sure to hold the ragged cloth and not make direct contact.

I'm not gonna bite.

"So . . ." the Fun one drawled out. "What do we do with it now?"

"I don't know," the Warrior answered as they started running. The Shard tried to figure out what was going on, but extending one's senses didn't work very well while in motion, too easy to get left behind or dragged away unsuspectingly, so the Shard contented with buckling down for the ride.

Oo-oO

"Come on," Leo called back to the rest of the group as they took to the tunnels again, "it's not that much farther to the Shell Razor."

He rounded a corner and slid to a stop as he took in the figures a short distance away. He cursed his inattention, he should have noticed that they weren't alone. He should have stayed vigilant, he knew that Hyper April was wandering around these tunnels, and it seems like he just brought her exactly what she was looking for.

He drew a katana and clutched the bundle tucked under his arm that held the Shock Rock. He fell into a defensive stance as one of the people, a boy, raised a hand in response. The two watched each other warily, but the stare off was short lived as the others caught up with their leader and an overly excited Michelangelo couldn't quite stop in time and blue and orange crashed to the ground.

"Moron," Leo heard Raph mutter as he pushed his little brother off and tried to regain his stance and some dignity.

"Guys," April's voice filtered through his thoughts. "You're alright! Thank God." The boy gave her a look of surprise and lowered his hand.

"Wait, Jay?" Casey asked from somewhere behind him, "Is that you?"

The boy started and his eyes fell on Casey. He kept a guarded look as he nodded. Then his gaze zeroed in on the bundle in Leo's arms and he visibly relaxed.

Leo watched him, not dropping his guard, and adjusted his stance to block the boy's view of his package. "You know him?" He asked Casey over his shoulder."

"Yeah, from school," Casey explained. "New kid, showed up a few days ago."

"Who are you, and what are you doing here?" Leo asked the boy, "With her?" Leo turned his eyes towards to girl who wasn't who she appeared to be.

April, in turn, stepped forward with one hand on her chest. "Leo, it's me." She stepped into the dull light shinning through a grate in the tunnel and that's when he noticed. Her hair wasn't completely white, her eyes didn't glow, heck, she didn't even have the creepy two-toned voice. It was just April talking.

"April?" Leo asked hopefully, his katana lowered to the ground and she smiled at him. "You're back! What happened?"

"April!" Mikey exclaimed from where he still sat on the ground. He sprang up and virtually teleported to April's side, engulfing her in a hug.

"Heh heh, Mikey!" She giggled as he spun her around.

The reunion was cut short when the package still tucked protectively under Leo's arm started to glow.

"What?" He said, holding the thing out in front of him, the cloth slipping off a bit showing pulsing yellow veins.

"Great," Raph huffed, "now what's the thing doing?"

"Knock it off! Are you trying to bring a whole Battalion down on us!" The boy spoke for the first time and the Shock Rock's glow immediately cut off. The others looked at him in surprise and confusion. In fact, Leo didn't know whether it was the fact that he was talking to a rock, or that the rock listened to him. What got him even more was that, after a few moments of awkard silence, he continued talking to it.

"Yes, they're here. I don't know how, but they've found us. No thanks to you."

More silence, as if he was listening to a reply.

"Unbeleivable," Jay muttered, shaking his head. He turned his attention to the others, "We need to move before they track us here. That pulse most likely alerted everyone in town who's looking for her."

"They can track us?" Raph exclaimed.

"They can track the Shard," the boy clarified.

"The what?"

"The Shock Rock," April jumped in.

"Shock Rock?"

"Oh, never mind what it's called," Leo interrupted, getting annoyed at the direction of the conversation. "We're not going anywhere until someone explains what the heck is going on!"

The boy took a deep breath before speaking again, this time in a quiet, even voice. "They are coming here, right now, and it's in our best interest to not be here when they arrive. We need to stay hidden."

"Who are they?" Leo asked, holding the boy's gaze.

"Well, the Tagoo's for one, but there's gonna be bigger guys in play soon."

"What's a Tagoo?" Mikey asked.

"Those little alien things from before? The ones with the noses?" April asked. "You mean there's more of them?!"

"You ran into some?" Jay asked, "How many?"

"I don't know," April scrunched up her face, "There were two groups of them that just came out of no where."

"Two squadrons. That still leaves another three plus their commander. But who knows what kind of reinforcements they've called in by now."

"Who are these people?" Leo asked, "What do they want?"

"Explanations later, please," Jay said. "We need to get out of here."

"Where can we go?" Raph spoke up. "You said they can track us, right?"

"As long as someone stays quiet," Jay looked pointedly at the Shock Rock, "we should be alright. For now."

Leo glanced down at the Shock Rock craddeled in his arm wearily before looking over at this kid who came out of no where, but seems to have all the answers. With a sigh, Leo shealthed his katana before nodding down the tunnel. "The Shell Razor's not far. Then I want explanations."

Oo-oO

"Oh my gosh, Donnie!" April fell next to her friend who still lay unconscious on the floor of the Shell Razor. She buried her face in her hands, "This is all my fault."

"What happened," Jay asked, taking in the scene.

"I'm not really sure," April admitted, "It was when . . . when that thing took over."

Jay nodded and she continued.

"We were in Donnie's mind and there were these gates, and it wanted Donnie to open them but he wouldn't. He tried to fight it, but nothing was landing, then it caught him and . . . and . . ."

Jay glanced over to the Shock Rock again before understanding. "It stole his Soul Key and locked him in."

"Run that by us again," Raph said jolting the boy out of his thoughts.

"The . . . whatever it is that took over April," Jay explained slowly,

"You mean," Mikey interrupted, "the Hyper part of Hyper April?"

"Ugh," Raph groaned. Jay watched in interaction and decided to just go with it.

"Okay then . . . This Hyper, seems to have some sort of psychic abilities that were amplified when it stole a fragment of the Shard's power." At this, he glared at the Shock Rock again.

"Stole?"

"Yes, stole," Jay grimaced.

"How does that even work?"

"I don't know. Let's ask, shall we?" Jay once again turned to the Shock Rock. "Kape, how did it manage to steal, not only a fragment of your essence, Light's essence, but the Index as well?"

"Dude, he keeps talking to the Shock Rock," Mikey whispered to Casey, "It's starting to freak me out."

"Is the Shock Rock, like, alive or something?" Casey asked.

"In a broad sense of the word," Jay mused. "But I guess I should introduce you. You have been looking after her, right?"

"If by looking after, you mean locking the thing in a box in a hidden bunker in the deepest part of the New York sewers," Raph said, "then yeah. We've been taking good care of it."

"You have no idea how many times I've wanted to do that," Jay muttered. He held his hands out towards Leo, who still had the Shock Rock tucked in his arms. Leo eyed the boy wearily, not entirely sure if he should be this trusting of someone he just met. In the end, his curiosity won out, and he reluctantly handed over the burden that had caused them so much grief.

Jay sighed in relief as he finally touched the Shard. The rock let gave off a soft yellow glow that radiated through his hands and filled him with a power that had been fading in its absence. Shard and Guardian finally reunited.

The others watched as the ragged cloth fell away from the Shock Rock, exposing the pulsing yellow veins that glowed brighter as Jay ran his hand over its surface with a smile. As the glow got brighter, his hands and forearms started glowing too, similar to what happened with April, but this seemed more natural. Somehow it felt right.

The glowing veins started to move as the glow intensified, and they slowly lifted away from the Rock's surface and danced around in their newfound freedom. They stretched and weaved around each other until they formed a solid, humanoid figure only about a foot tall. The glow faded until a golden girl floated in the air above the Shock Rock, but still attached by wriggling veins of yellow light.

"This is Kape," Jay broke the silent awe that encompassed the small space inside the van. "She is one of the Seven Shards of Light, and I am her Guardian."

Oo-oO

"Great Flak almighty," the golden girl exclaimed, stretching her miniature arms above her head. "It feels good to be out."

"The Shock Rock is a girl!" Mikey exclaimed a little too loudly in the small space.

"Actually, I prefer Sentient Light of Superior Intelligence," Kape replied.

"Senti-what?" Mikey tried to repeat.

"Please don't get her started," Jay warned.

"Well, lookit you," Kape turned toward her Guardian, scrutinizing him. "The Vacuum sure did a number on you."

"Tell me about it," Jay muttered.

"Okay, okay," Leo jumped in, "Can we please stay on track here. . . Thank you. Now, first things first, what's wrong with Donnie?"

"He's been locked inside his mind," the girl answered bluntly.

"Locked in—wait, what?" Raph tried to process this, "How does that even happen?"

"Someone stole his Soul Key," Jay answered. At the confused, skeptical looks, the golden girl continued.

"Alright, here's where I may lose some of you. So, the mind is a complex phenomenon that works on an entirely different plane of existence," she started, making note of who was actually listening, who was understanding, and who wasn't even bothering to try. "It's through this other plane, the Mental Plane as some call it, that the mind can connect with the soul. But as intricate and powerful that the mind is, it can be vulnerable to outside attacks. In defence, the mind has built walls to protect itself. These walls can be strengthened through practice and training. It seems like the almost-Testudines are well versed in such practices."

"Testudines?" Raph mumbled, but the girl either didn't hear to chose to ignore.

"But it is possible for an assailant to break through these walls. And once they are broken, they cannot be restored. As a result, both mind and soul will never be the same. In some cases of extreme damage, the mind can be completely destroyed and the host doesn't live much longer after that."

"Wait! Are you saying there's nothing we can do!" Mikey exclaimed. "Ow!"

"Shut up and listen," Raph said after he whacked him upside the head.

"If his walls were broken, then no. There would be nothing anyone could do," Kape said simply. "But his walls are as strong as yours." She inspected the remaining turtles. "And you would be hard pressed to find someone strong enough to breaking through such walls. You all must have worked hard in training your minds."

"So if his walls aren't broken," Raph hurried her along, "then what's wrong? Why hasn't he woken up?"

"There is another way to gain access into someone's mind," she answered.

"Soul Key . . ." Leo mumbled. "You mentioned a Soul Key, or something."

"That's right," she nodded, "as the mind connects to the soul to carry out its bidding, so does the soul protect the key to the minds gates. What happened to . . . it was Donnie, right? What happened to Donnie here is this Hyper thing ripped out his Soul Key and locked his soul inside his mind's walls. Without his Soul Key, he cannot open his mind's gates, and he cannot escape."

"So what do we do?" Leo asked. "How do we get him back?"

"To get him back," Kape said, "we get his Soul Key back."

"You make it sound so simple," Raph rolled his eyes then stopped to think for a moment. "Is it that simple?"

"It's possible," the girl glanced at her Guardian who nodded in agreement. "But we can do it, with a little help." At this she looked at April.

"Wait, me too?" April asked.

"Well, you're the one who has his Soul Key," the girl rolled her eyes.

"What? I didn't take it!"

"No, but the Hyper did, and it's still inside you," Jay took over the explanation. "It's weakened from overusing its powers, but you should still be able to feel it in the back of your mind."

"Now that you mention it," April placed a hand on her head.

"So how do we get something from April's head into Donnie's?" Leo asked.

"We just need to synch everyone with the Mental Plane. As long as everyone's in contact in the Physical Plane, we can link up with everyone's minds in the same space."

"Why do I get the feeling that this isn't as simple as it sounds," Raph said.

"Because it's not," Jay said. "This sort of thing takes decades to master. Diving into the Mental Plane is dangerous and if you stray in too far, you can lose your way and never find the path back to the Physical Plane."

"Great," Raph drawled. "So what this any less dangerous."

"Because I've taken decades to master it. That, and I'm not exactly normal people," the golden girl replied. "I know what I'm doing. I can guide everyone through the Mental Plane and back to the Physical Plane."

"Are you okay with this April?" Leo asked, turning to April. She was still on her knees, cradling Donnie's unmoving head in her lap. She stared into his expressionless face with growing determination.

"It's my fault he's like this," she said with that characteristic determination entering her voice. "It's my turn to save him for a change." She smiled up at her friends. "I'll bring him back."

"I like this chick," Kape said to Jay. "No wonder she's compatible."

"Yes, thanks for reminding me about that," he lowered himself onto the ground on the other side of Donnie. "But we'll talk about that after we fix this mess."

At her sheepish expression, he held out the Shard over Donnie's prone form with one hand, he placed the other on his head. April caught on and mimicked his pose, cupping the Shock Rock in one hand and Donnie's head in the other.

"Just stay close," Jay said. "Kape'll guide us through." April nodded.

"Everyone ready," the golden girl asked, her floating form starting to waver above the Shard as the yellow veins started breaking up.

"Ready," April said.

Jay nodded.

"Let's role." Kape's form dissolved as the wiggling veins merged back with the Rock's surface. The yellow glow brightened as the veins invaded the hands that held it and flowed down the arms. Jay's and April's eyes flared a golden yellow as the Shard's power passed through their body, carrying their soul's with it into the Mental Plane.

A/N: Back into Donnie's head. Almost like we've come full circle. As for future postings, I'm thinking about holding off until I've finished the whole thing then posting it all at once. What do you guys think? Post all at once or as I finish them?