Shelby sat on the floor of the training room, looking nervously at the wall. It was time for another seishin-teki-kyo'yo' lesson. Last time she had gotten so close to entering complete meditation but still fell short. Now she had so much on her mind, she wasn't sure she'd get remotely close to achieving it today. Casey was still in the hospital- grade 4 concussions require a few days of monitoring. The Foot Clan was expanding outside of New York City. And whenever was mixed into Shelby's mutagen had been present in the scorpion mutant as well.

Donnie had done a little bit of digging into Shelby's mutation- why she could shift in and out of her wolf form and why Shredder's mind control serum failed. He came to the conclusion that the mind control serum split apart, causing the mind serum to became inert. Part of it attached itself to Shelby's cells, allowing her to phase in and out of mutagen.

If the same chemicals that were in Shelby's mutagen were appearing in other mutants, it could only mean that the Foot had begun experimenting with the mind serum again. Shelby's mouth became dry as she thought about what that might mean for her. Is it possible for the split particles to reverse and reunite after all this time? What would happen to her if it did? What would happen to-

"Deep in thought?" Shelby snapped back to reality as Monica took a seat next to her, flashing an awkward smile.

"I suppose." Shelby muttered. "How are you adjusting to New York?"

Monica hesitated. "It's a lot. April took me out shopping yesterday so I could have my own clothes, so that was nice. Luckily, my parents and grandparents left me their money- I mean, my grandparents' money was supposed to go to my parents and my uncle, but they're all-" She stopped, shaking her head.

Shelby pursed her lips. "You don't need to talk about it if you're not ready yet. I've been in your shoes before. These things take time."

Monica looked at her in surprise. "You've lost your family too?"

That made Shelby squirm in discomfort. "Sorta. My mom died last year and my brothers and I had to move in with my dad. My dad... well, let's just leave it at this, he works for the guy who created that scorpion mutant." Monica's face twitched as she fought a scowl. "My brothers stayed with him, and I," Shelby took a deep breath, "I decided the turtles were more important than playing for the wrong team. My mutation was my punishment, the turtles helped rescue me, and now I'm here."

"Woah." Monica whispered. "That's intense."

"I guess." Shelby glanced at Monica. "What's your story? You know, besides the stuff that's hard to talk about."

Monica sat back slightly. "Well, I was born in San Juan. My family moved to Philadelphia when I was about 4, I think. My parents both worked three jobs each to make sure they put food on the table. They sent any extras to our family still in Puerto Rico. Slowly but surely, my family trickled on in."

"When did you pick up archery?" Shelby inquired.

Monica laughed. "Oh, I was obsessed with it as a kid. That stupid Disney movie, Robin Hood? I really wanted to be the fox. My dad said screw it and got me a bow. I've been shooting since I was... 7, I think. So," she counted the years on her fingers, "12 years."

Shelby nodded, impressed. "But no ninjutsu training?"

"Nope, none."

"Okay... then seriously, I have to know. How did you manage to hide from Raph and Leo when they scoped out that factory?" Shelby asked.

Monica snickered, shaking her head slightly. "Truthfully? Dumb luck. I was sleeping in the rafters when they came in. I literally just did not move and they never came up."

Shelby shook her head. "So much for thoroughly checking out the place."

Monica shrugged. "Men will be men. Even when trained as ninjas, they're lazy."

"I hope the longer you stay here, the more we can sway that opinion." Shelby and Monica turned to see Master Splinter walking in, his green staff clicking against the floor as he went.

"Good morning, sensei." Shelby bowed her head.

Monica followed Shelby's lead hastily. "Hello, Master Splinter. I didn't mean to sound so harsh; it was meant to be teasing."

Splinter raised his hand to silence her as he smiled. "I take no offence. Are you two ready for meditation?"

"Yes." Shelby and Monica both muttered, Shelby's voice a little shakier than Monica's. Splinter sat besides Shelby, folding his legs and placing his hands together on his lap. Shelby took a deep breath, closing her eyes as her chest expanded. She smelled the incense still lingering on Splinter's fur and clothes. The perfume wafting off of Monica. The faint smell on sweat inbedded in the carpet beneath them. The leaves of the tree behind them. The sewer smell- she physically had to keep her face from grimacing as her mind began to leave the room, entering the meditative state.

Her head was empty of thought, but as her mind shut down, her ears could pick up the voices of the turtles elsewhere in the lair.

"Give it to us straight, D. Is the Shredder gonna be able to control Shelby like he originally wanted to do?"

"It doesn't look like it. I don't have the original sample from six months ago, but I do have the notes I took and they don't describe anything different than her recent sample."

"But they have figured out how to make it work on other mutants?"

"It seems so."

"Dudes... You don't think they'll want to go after Shelby again, do you?"

"That... I can't say for certain. I think we should just be careful. Maybe it'd be a good idea to not take her with us when we invade the Foot Headquarters."

Shelby huffed, biting her tongue as her eyes snapped open. She stood, ready to march into the lair and give Donatello a piece of her mind, but she paused when she realized that Master Splinter and Monica were no longer in the dojo. She froze, looking around in confusion. "Hello?" She called out, but there was no reply, no movement, no sound.

Shelby pursed her lips as she walked towards the door to the lair, peering in with a fiery glint in her eyes. "Hey guys, some advise on talking about someone behind their..." she trailed off as she saw that the lair was empty as well. The only sound coming from the living room was static as the TV struggled to find a signal. "... back."

Shelby crept into the living room, every hair on her body standing pin straight. She made a mental note that she needed to start carrying her twin ono on her at all times. She made it to the couch, scanning the area for any sign of a struggle.

"Shelby-"

Shelby instantly perked at the sound of her name. She looked over at the TV as Mikey's face briefly appeared on the screen. "Shelby!" He shouted in alarm, before the screen went to static again.

Shelby rushed towards the screen, her eyes wide. "Mikey?" She demanded, grabbing the box in her hands. Was he somehow trapped in the TV?!

Then, Casey's face appeared briefly. He looked just as alarmed and on edge as Mikey had. "Snap out of it, Shelby!" He yelled, his tone dire. Goosebumps crawled across her body as the screen went to static once more. Casey almost never used her actual name.

Shelby watched as one by one, every turtle, Master Splinter, April, and even Monica appeared on screen, begging her to stop or snap out of something. She sat helpless on the other side. What were they talking about? She was just standing here. What could she possibly be doing? But she had no way to reach them through the screen.

"It's hopeless." A gravelly voice stated behind her. She pivoted in seconds, a growl building in her chest as she stared at the figure of Shredder, standing in the shadows across the lair.

When he stepped out of the shadows, however, it was not Shredder, but Aiden who approached her with malice in his sapphire blue eyes. Shelby's knees weakened as he glared at her. "You're ours now."

"No!" Shelby screamed, running towards him. She leaped to tackle him to the ground, only to face-plant into the wall.

She sat back, dazed as she placed her hand on her forehead.

Behind her, Master Splinter and Monica were on their feet, rushing towards her. "Shelby, what happened?" Splinter demanded. Seconds later, the turtles entered the room looking alarmed and surprised.

"Shelby! Are you okay?" Mikey yelled, trying to make his way to her, but Leo held up his arm, blocking his way.

Shelby stared at the spiderwebs of cracks that she left on the dojo wall, frost crawling across the splintered wood. Ice covered the floor underneath her, which was already beginning to melt as she stood up, stilling holding her head. "Well," she muttered, "I guess I still have some work to do for seishin-teki-kyo'yo'."

"Yeah, ya think?" Raph asked sarcastically.

"What happened?" Leo inquired.

Shelby was with it enough to realize that the truth of her premonition would only cause alarm. Shelby shook her head. "I started thinking about my dad. And then my brothers. I guess my emotions got the best of me."

"So... that caused you to get up and slam yourself into the wall?" Leo raised a brow ridge as he looked Shelby up and down doubtfully.

Shelby's mouth went dry. "Yeah, that sounds about right." She turned to Splinter, who was hovering slightly with concern. "Sorry about the wall, sensei. I'll fix it later... but I think I need to go lay down." She stated, nudging past the turtles to make her way towards her room.

Monica stared off after her, before scoffing. "She's so full of it."

"Yeah, no kidding." Donnie muttered.
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Hey! Hope you're enjoying the book so far! For the last few days, I've just been editing chapters I had written ahead of time and posting one every day. Unfortunately, this chapter was the last one I had saved for publishing.

I've been pretty good at managing my homework so far, so hopefully there will be more updates than what I can normal crank out during a semester.

Either way, thanks for reading and I hope to see you in the next chapter!