By Kali Gargoyle

***

It's that time of year again. October thirty-first. Samhain. Halloween. The one day of the year when the fantastically bizarre doesn't seem so out of place.

"Is everybody ready?"

"I'm ready!" Mike joined Leonardo in the living room, decked out in a Swamp Monster costume. "How do I look?"

"Disgusting," Leo replied, adjusting his samurai armor.

"All right!" Mike cheered. Apparently, that was the look he was going for.

Don came out next, dressed as a hippie of all things. Raph followed soon after as some type of demon turtle, complete with horns, fangs, and gothic-style clothing.

Mike looked over their costumes. "Lookin' good! Where's Kali, Raph?"

"Fixin' her makeup. Hey, I thought you were gonna dress up, Mikey."

"I did, I'm- Hey!"

They all had a good laugh until Kali entered the room. Using her own horns and fangs to her advantage, her was dressed as a gothic demon princess, with a little reptilian flair, to match Raphael, they supposed.

"Took you long enough," Raph grumbled. "Hey, I thought I saw all your costume."

Kali looked upward and touched the silver bejeweled tiara sitting on her forehead. "Gorgeous, isn't it? It was with the rest of my costume when I got dressed tonight. I must have just overlooked it before."

Mike tapped his foot impatiently, not that you could see it under all the "sludge". "Can we go now?"

***

As much as he hated to admit it, Raphael was having a pretty decent time. Instead of freaking out, people were actually complimenting the way they looked. Weird, but a nice change of pace.

Things were going fine until around midnight, when Leo noticed Kali sitting on a bus stop bench, not looking too well. "Are you okay, you look a little sick. Where's Raph?"

Kali waved him away. "He's getting me something to drink, I was feeling a bit queasy. I think it was the pumpkin cookies."

Leo looked unconvinced. "Maybe you should go home."

"No, Leo, really, I'm... fine." Kali clutched the side of her head and let out a pained moan.

"Kali!" Leo grabbed her arm before she could collapse on the pavement.

Raphael saw this when he was returning with the drinks. He instantly dropped them and sprinted over to the spot. "What happened?"

"Bad cookies. Come on, let's get her-"

Kali suddenly struck out at Leonardo, knocking him onto his shell. Then she hit Raph, who stumbled back, but remained standing. The sounds of the fight alerted Don and Mike from down the street. Kali turned on them as they approached, fangs bared, eyes blacked out.

Mike skidded to a stop. "Whoa!" Don raised his bo (which had been masquerading as a walking staff, complete with vines.)

Leo got to his feet. "Kali, calm down." He signed for Raph to sneak up behind her.

Raph cursed his aching jaw as he grabbed Kali from behind. She struggled, of course, letting out a horrible shriek and screaming what could have been words, but the Turtles didn't recognize the language.

By now, they'd caught the attention of everyone else on the street. "We'd better get her out of here," Don advised. "Before someone gets hurt."

"Ow!" Raphael let go of Kali when she stomped on his foot. She slipped between Don and Mike's hands and fled into a dark alley, literally disappearing into the dark shadows. The four attempted to follow her, but quickly realized that she was long gone.

***

"Dammit!"

Raphael punched the wall of the lair. Splinter placed his hand gently, but firmly on Raphael's forearm. "The wall knows nothing of what happened to Kali, Raphael. We need clear minds if we are going to help her."

The four turtles were back in their lair, out of costume, thinking out a plan.

"Any idea why Kali went all nutso?" Mike asked.

"Could be because it's Halloween," Don guessed. "It could have an effect on her demon traits."

"This is our third Halloween with her! This never happened before!" Raphael kicked a small table across the room.

"Calm down, Raph." Leo walked over to him, acting like the voice of reason, as always. "We'll find out what happened to her after we find her and get her out of danger."

***

"Anything?"

"The area where she disappeared is clear." Don's voice came through Leo's earpiece. "I'm moving north."

"Ditto on the report," Mike replied. "Things are quiet here at her pad."

"How about you, April?"

"Nothing on Don's police scanner." There was a pause. "And Splinter hasn't sensed any... disturbances, either."

Leo sighed. "Okay, let's keep at it." He hurried to catch up to Raphael, who was by now several roof tops away. "Raph..."

"We're not gonna find her, are we, Leo?"

Leo was a bit surprised by Raph's suddenly tired tone. "Of course we will, Raph. We have to. She could hurt herself... or someone else."

"Yeah, like us if we find her. She's stronger and faster then us. She could be anywhere by now what with that weird shadow-walking thing she does. She's a god damn demon, Leo."

"Yeah, well, we do have a few trump cards if the worst comes to..."

Raphael turned, his fist stopping less than an inch from Leo's face. "Dat ain't funny, Leo."

Leo stood calmly, not even trying to move Raph's hand. "We'd better find her fast, then."

A shadow passed overhead and they both forgot their fight to look upward, just in time to see Kali diving towards them. Leo jumped aside, but Raphael stood his ground. Kali collided with him and the forced caused them both to tumble off the roof.

"Raph!" Leo leapt onto the fire escape. "Guys, we found her."

Leo hit the ground running. Raph and Kali were still fighting, as if they hadn't even noticed the fall from five stories up. Leo managed to take Kali by surprise, pinning her arms to her sides. It didn't take her long to break the hold, though, and they were braced to fight again. Then Leo noticed something.

"Hey, Raph. Was the jewel on Kali's crown always glowing?"

Raph's eyes fluttered up to the red gem embedded in Kali's tiara. Sure enough, it was glowing a bright red. "No."

He leapt forward with a determined battle cry. Kali caught him in mid jump and pinned him to the alley wall by the neck. Raph continued to reach out for the tiara.

Leo tried attacking while her attention was on Raphael, but she ducked, taking Raph down with her, and Leo sailed right over into a group of garbage cans.

Raphael cringed as Kali kept a firm grip on his neck. It wasn't choking him, so he didn't fight it, he just kept trying to grab that damned tiara. And neither did Kali tighten her grip nor did she block his grasping hands. She placed her own hand over his face.

Raphael let out a blood-curdling scream as pain seared his nerves and electricity sparked before his eyes.

But it wasn't just before his eyes, it was all around Kali and Raphael. Leo tried to reach them, but the protective lighting struck out at him. Mike and Don finally appeared on the scene.

"What's going on?" Don asked.

"Raph!" Mike jumped forward but Leo held him back.

"Mike, no, you'll get electrocuted!"

"Then what do we do?"

Raphael opened one eye. "Kali. I know you can hear me, dammit! I'm trying to help, but I can't if you fight me. Now lemme go so I can get that stupid crown off your head!"

Kali stared back, unblinking, her face a mask of feral rage.

"Come on, Kal, it's Raphael. You don't wanna do this, it ain't you!" Raphael felt his energy draining away. It was hard to keep his eyes open. "Babe, please!"

THUD

Kali suddenly tensed up, then fell forward into Raphael's arms. Raph quickly grabbed the crown off her head and saw her eyes return to normal for a split second before she lost consciousness.

Donatello ran up to check on them. He touched the back of Kali's head. "I didn't hit her too hard, did I?"

Leo and Mike checked on Raphael. "Raph? Raph, say something."
Raphael forced his eyes open and coughed. Leo leaned back and breathed a sigh of relief. He took the tiara from Raph's hand and inspected it. "I guess the cookies were fine after all."

He heard Mike calling for April to pick them up, but he focused on the silver band he was holding. It certainly didn't look like it could cause all that trouble.

"How could that thing cause Kali to be possessed by her demon half?" Don wondered aloud.

"The 'how' isn't important." Leo stood and looked skyward. "It's the 'who' that bothers me."

***

TMNT Fan Fiction