. . . .

"I can't have you be killing my new vessel." Night Shade said as he looked up and revealed his bright red eyes. "So, I'll have to be rid of you before you can do anything!"

Za-Naron was shocked when Night Shade said that. But even more shocked when he easily moved the rubble off of Jake's legs and stood up, facing her with a smirk on his face, revealing two sharp fangs and large bat wings sprouting from his back.

"So. . . how about we start?" Night Shade with was a smirk on his face. "Let's test your power on the strongest vampire spirit!"

"You. . . this isn't how things are supposed to play out!" Za-Naron said, angrily. "You're supposed to be on *my* side!"

"Hmm? Is that so?" Night Shade said. "Then I'm afraid that your plan isn't going the way you it too then."

Za-Naron growled in anger as she charged towards Night Shade, but when she went to pounce on him, she missed completely.

"You not feeling like yourself tonight?" Night Shade asked, now on top of a roof, shaking his head. "Poor little aeon. If only you still had your body."

"What the. . . ?" Za-Naron said in shock by how quickly Night Shade had moved.

"I shouldn't be too surprised." Night Shade said, shrugging. "You never were the type to keep yourself together."

"You asshole!" Za-Naron said, flying back up in the sky. "Do you wanna die?!"

"You won't." Night Shade simply said.

"Try me, vampire freak!" Za-Naron said angrily. "You wanted this fight, so you're gonna have to keep it up!"

"I could say the same to you." Night Shade said, as he held his jand out and shot out a large blast of lightning, hitting Za-Naron and causing her to fly back, into a car. "You're weaker than you've ever been in your life."

Za-Naron growled in anger as she charged towards Night Shade and punched him, causing him to go flying through multiple buildings.

"Huh. . . that caught me off guard." Night Shade said, just as he flew out of the building and was now in the air, with Za-Naron.

"You giving up yet?" Za-Naron asked.

"Before we've had a proper fight?" Night Shade asked, a slight chuckle escaping his mouth. "Where's the fun in that?"

Za-Naron growled as she charged at Night Shade, ready to land another punch. This time, Night Shade was ready as he held his hand out and stopped her fist as she was in mid-flight.

Za-Naron gasped as she realized that her attack had been compromised. But it quickly turned into a serious expression as she used her other fist to try and punch him, but Night Shade caught her other fist in his other hand as well.

"You're really bad at this, you know that?" Night Shade said, now with a bored expression on his face. "It's really not fun anymore."

As he said that, Night Shade's eyes suddenly flashed a bright red as Za-Naron suddenly ended up in some sort of trance.

"I can't move. . ." Za-Naron thought to herself as she found herself in this predicament. "What's going on? What is this power?"

. . . .

Meanwhile, deep inside of April's mind, she was still sinking deeper and deeper in the black void of her mind, slowly fading away as Za-Naron was gaining more power.

'Is this. . . where I die?' April thought to herself. 'Am I really going to lose my own body to Za-Naron? Can I even fight back at this point?'

April thought back to all of the good moments she had with her friends. She truly had a good circle of support. But now, it was all going to end.

'I can't fight back. . . I'm too weak.' April thought to herself as her vision became blurry. 'I never got to make up for my mistakes. And I never got to tell Jake. . . how I truly feel.'

April felt her heartbeat getting slower as her vision became distorted as she sank deeper and deeper, drowning in her own guilt and regret.

'Goodbye. . . everyone.' April thought to herself as she finally closed her eyes and succumbed to her failures. 'And. . . I'm sorry. . .'

"Don't give up!" The voice of Jake suddenly called out.

Suddenly, there was a loud splash heard as a figure was swimming down to try to rescue April from her own mind. April felt her body being lifted as she began to rise up, before finally breaching the surface.

April coughed and spit up some water as she suddenly opened the eyes and took a deep breath, trying to steady her breathing after nearly 'drowning'.

"You can't give in to the darkness." Jake's voice said again. "You have to fight back against it!"

"J-Jake?" April said as she slowly sat up and saw a dark shadowy figure with glowing blue eyes.

"You have to fight!" The figure said in Jake's voice. "Don't let her take over! Fight it, April! Fight it!"

As he said that, the shadowy figure was suddenly swept away by a large black claw. And once the shadows cleared, it was revealed that the claw had belonged to a tall black alien creature with glowing blue eyes. This was Za-Naron's true form.

"Don't listen to that idiot!" Za-Naron said. "You will continue to omit to me only!"

April didn't know what to do. The sight of her old enemy made her quiver in fear.

But it was then that April thought about Jake and her other friends. She then formed a serious look on her face as she stood her ground against Za-Naron.

"No. . . I'm done being afraid." April said seriously. "I won't let you control me anymore!"

"Oh, I'm afraid you don't have a choice!" Za-Naron said, evilly. "I've already caused all the damage I need! Your reputation will *never* be safe again!"

"I don't care about my dumb reputation!" April said angrily. "I've come to learn that there are people who will like me for who I am. Not for what I *was*!"

"Oh yeah? And who's that?" Za-Naron smirked.

"My friends!" April said seriously as she began to walk up to the black alien. "They'll always be there for me! Cause they don't care about what I did! They love me for who I am!"

"Even though you terrorized them?" Za-Naron said. "And look at the damage happening now. Everyone will be afraid of you all over again!"

"Then I'll just have to prove that I'm not like this!" April said. "And that starts by getting rid of you for good!"

"I already told you that I can't be truly defeated!" Za-Naron. "I'm forever a part of you!"

"Don't be too sure about that." April said as she pulled out her tessen. "I'll end you right here and now! For good!"

With that said, Za-Naron and April began to battle each other. It was tough since Za-Naron was fast and constantly swiping at April. But she managed to dodge around all of the attacks.

April then threw the tessen at Za-Naron, but she dodged out of the way and went for another swipe.

"You'll never be strong enough to beat me!" Za-Naron said. "Not when you're stuck here with me!"

Za-Naron then suddenly zipped away as April was left confused on where she went.

Za-Naron then suddenly appeared behind her and swiped her claw at her, slashing her across the back, causing April to fall to the floor.

"This may be your mind, but it's still my palace." Za-Naron said. "You'll never escape from it!"

April groaned in pain as she struggled to get up after that attack. But she found herself struggling badly as her blood began to drip into a puddle underneath her.

"This is where you die, April." Za-Naron said as she raised another claw up to prepare for a killing blow. "Any last words before I end your life?"

"Yes." April said with a smirk. "Make sure you keep an eye on your surroundings."

"Huh?" Za-Naron said.

Before anything else could happen, Za-Naron was suddenly hit across the neck by April's tessen, which had come back to her after she threw it.

April then caught her tessen as Za-Naron had fallen over from the impact of April's weapon.

"You little brat!" Za-Naron said angrily.

"It's not my fault you like to talk so much." April said. "You should fix that."

Za-Naron growled in anger as she got back up and charged at April once more, preparing to strike. April then charged at Za-Naron as they were both now going to go for a killing blow.

After they had both completed their attack, April and Za-Naron were now both on opposite sides of where they were before.

Za-Naron didn't look so good as she had just stopped in place. April turned around to face her opponent. Za-Naron did the same, revealing that her neck was cut and was now leaking sparkly blue colored blood.

"Checkmate." April said with a proud smirk.

Za-Naron then fell over at April's feet as her body began to crumble away into nothing, leaving April alone in the void.

Blood then began to seep through April's shirt, showing that she had been hit as well. She was trying to steady her breathing as she watched Za-Naron's body completely crumble away.

April then smiled as a bright light surrounded her and she disappeared from the void of her mind.

. . .

Back in the real world, April had snapped back into reality as she was now back in her own body and facing Night Shade.

"J-Jake?" April said.

"He's not here right now." Night Shade said. "It's only me. . . Night Shade."

"Night Shade?" April said in shock. "What did you do with Jake? Bring him back now!"

"Okay, okay." Night Shade said, as he lowered himself and April back to the ground. "Alright, Jake. . . you can have your body back now."

Night Shade stood by and waited for Jake to return to his body, so he could go back to being in the depths of his mind.

"Hello? Are you there?" Night Shade asked.

"Jake?" April said, starting to feel worried.

There was nothing. Night Shade was still taking control. Night Shade then smirked evilly as he realized what this meant.

"The idiot isn't used to me taking control yet." Night Shade said. "As I figured he wouldn't be."

"What does that mean?" April asked.

"It means. . . that I'm free." Night Shade said with a huge smile on his face.

"Huh?" April said in shock and horror. "No. . . bring him back! I demand you!"

But Night Shade just let out an evil laugh as he floated up in the air as a storm began to form around them and it suddenly started raining.

"Jake. . . ?" April said, sounding worried.

"The time has come once more. . ." Night Shade said, looking down upon all of Jake's friends. "The night you've all been waiting for! Now, bow down to your *new* undead lord!"

To be continued. . .

Jake Moon and Night Shade belong to me

TMNT belongs to Nickelodeon

All rights reserved