First of all, i am so sorry for not updating so long, it has been over 2 months since last chapter and this makes me really sad.
For this reason i will make this part x-tra long for you so i can make up for the long hiatus.

It will be a heavier chapter and will mostly deal with the events that happened after Zak was thrown out of the Technodrome dealing with Zhetas feelings and how her fragile psyche suffers from yet another recoil.

I am not sure if this will be too sad or not, i kind of suck at writing emotionally so you have to deal with it eventually.

...

Chapter 5

"Solitude"

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Krang and Shredder were still arguing about the situation that happened earlier. They had different views about the Neutrino boy who slipped into the Technodrome. Seeing as he seemed to be a friend of Zheta, Shredder thought it would be not so bad if she could see him, Krang on the other hand despised the single thought of letting one of his arch enemies letting in his beloved Technodrome for even a second. The fact that Zheta willingly had ignored his orders made the whole thing even more delicate to him.

Shredder gave up and decided to retreat into his quarters, maybe a little solitude would help him to get a clear head. Without saying a word he turned around and left Krang alone in a side corridor of the Technodrome where he ranted to himself on and on. Until he recognized that Shredder had left his side, Krang continued to ramble about this Neutrino boy. Seeing as no one listened to him anymore the alien stopped his walking and glared at a stone soldier who was standing around, minding his own rocky business.

"Rock Soldier! Why are you standing around here without doing something???" Krang yelled at the creature who flinched and quickly saluted to his glorious leader.

"Uhh i was standing on sentry duty sir! Checking if anyone is in here you know...or something else..." his voice quickly toned down as he saw the frowning face of Krang.

"Well be more active then! Walk around and not simply stand around like a statue! It makes you look lazy you know?" with a grunt Krang continued his walking and went to the kitchen to get himself a snack. Lately he used stress-induced eating to feel better after a hard day. Not that it was healthy in the beginning but it also showed on his body, mysteriously his android body also gained fat depots just like Krang did.

"Do i look fat?" he asked this question to himself as he looked on his reflection in a mirror of the living room. Krang knew the answer but refused to believe it.

...

Zheta's room:

The young alien was in her brain-form at the moment and was sitting on her desktop chair bended over a computer system she designed and programmed all by herself. The meeting with Zak was still in her mind and a sigh escaped her lips. Her father's reaction was expected by Zheta but she hoped it would never come this far. Now that Krang knew about Zak he sure would do anything to avoid any further contact with him meaning that his casual visits would end with a plop.

Whenever Zheta started to recognize her feelings start to get weird again, making her think of bad things she threw herself into hours of endless programming. Her eyes had a sleepy look and her mind was a blank sheet of nothingness. Trying to ignore the uprising feeling of hurting herself again like so many times before, Zheta started to hammer even harder into the computer keys nearly breaking them. Her eyes started to tear up and a few salty tears were falling on the keyboard. More and more Zheta felt as her heart was crushed underneath tons of rocks, draining out every positive thought she ever had in her life(which were not many).

As she nearly was about to break down in a fit, she suddenly felt something warm rising up in her body. She closed her eyes slowly and waited for yet another sign of warmth which soon followed. It had to be Ukuro! Only he was able to feel pain the same time Zheta suffers from it. They had a telepathic bond which was now responding again.

[[Her mind began to slip away from her body and was travelling down an astral lane right into Ukuro who was already waiting for her. Ukuro embraced his twin sister with a smile and in an instant Zheta felt better. Their embrace felt like an eternity, a soft blanket wrapping up any bad thoughts from her mind.

The twins were loosing their embrace and looked into each others eyes. Words were not needed at the moment, Zheta was simply happy to have emotional support right now instead of letting herself drown into her sorrowful world. They hovered down on the ground, Zheta's head leaned on her brothers, a smile appeared on her face. ]]

Meanwhile in Ukuro's chambers:

Krang was walking up to his failed creation and stared at him with a blank look on his face. He switched on the lights of the room which gave the surroundings a dark red tone. Seeing him floating in this glob of mutagen, disfigured and crippled like he was born, Krang wished that he had the balls to kill him all these years ago. He played with this thought more than once but quickly threw it away seeing as this being was indeed one of his and Shredder's creations, he or better said "it" had his DNA, his very own blood was inside this small blob of brains. Ukuro was born with a condition called Cyclopia leaving him only with one eye in the middle of his forehead and various damaged internal organs making him unable to breath in normal surroundings.

Krang could have build him a special exo-suit but was against it from the beginning. After all he loved to see people and animals suffer, did he not mentioned this once? Even his own flesh and blood was no expection if it dared to turn out like that! He was angry about this failure, seeing something with his superior genes turned into a freaky monster like that...it had to be because of Shredder's DNA he thought. Why did it work before and not with Ukuro was above Krang's head. No matter the reason, Ukuro would stay forever like this, a constant reminder on how fragile the factor DNA can be...

"What am i going to do with you...tell me. Do you enjoy your current state?" Krang whispered, putting a tentacle on the glasses surface feeling the cold touch of it. "Enjoying would be the wrong word i guess...well it's your own fault, why did you had to come to this world disfigured like that? To think a son of mine...a creation of my genius...turning out like you...my dark heart breaks at the solemnly thought."

Frowning Krang turned on his heels and walked out of the room, switching off the lights leaving Ukuro behind in the darkness that was his home...

Down in Shredder's quarters:

The ninja master was deep in trance as he meditated over the current situation on board. In the astral planes he came across thoughts which were not exactly new to him but still a kind of unfamiliarity was with them, an unpleasant feeling.
Shredder opened his eyes slowly as he returned to his body and breathed out slowly. He sat on the ground for a few more minutes then stands up and stretches himself.

"I should meditate more often i think...this was refreshing!" a hearty yawn later Shredder decided to give it another try and to consider a truce with his brainy partner about their earlier situation. First of all however he had to eat something, his stomach was growling loudly, demanding food immediately.

"Better hurry off to find something eatable...hopefully Bebop and Rocksteady thought on filling up the groceries as i had told them..." he murmured as he made his way up in the kitchen. On his way he met Karai who gave him a smile and a short bow before her way led Karai to a chamber she used to go whenever something bothered her. Looking left and right Karai entered the chamber and closed the door carefully. It was the plainest room you can imagine, white walls, no windows or other sources of light. A small candle was lit and Karai sat down on the ground in cross-legged fashion closing her eyes with a sigh. A few moments later her body began to glow and another Karai appeared, better said a shadow version of her. The shadow opened its eyes and was looking around the room.

The spirit hovered over the ground and was slipping through the thick walls of the Technodrome outside where it stopped for a moment. Shadow Karai lingered a few moments in the air then like something hit it's astral body turned around as it felt a presence it had to investigate. This person was the one it was told to spy on.

A non audible sound which should have been the equivalent of a laugh escaped the Shadow's lips and like a dust cloud it was on it's way to the heat signature it had detected.

...

Back in the Technodrome:

Zheta was returning back to her body and opened her eyes with a smile. She was happy again and all the bad thoughts were washed away. She transformed herself into her human disguise and walked over to her bed, falling in it like after a long day of labour work. The soft material of the sheets embraced her body and made Zheta feel comfortable. She began to doze off soon afterwards. Astral Travelling was hard business and very fatiguing if going on for a longer period of time. Every time Zheta was up in this world and came back, her whole body was tired and needed rest.

She did not care about that in this moment. Simply closing her eyes, surrounded by the soft cover of her sheets, Zheta was able to let go for a while. Zak was still in her mind though and this would not change so fast...

...

Ukuro was also back from his little astral trip. He felt that someone had visited him while he was gone. Counting two and two together he figured out that it only could have been Krang as he was the only one besides Zheta who looked after him now and then even it just served as purpose on blaming Ukuro for his condition. He was not happy about his situation either and would it haven't been for Zheta, he would beg Krang to finally kill him for good. Constant pain and the thought of not being wanted and looked down upon as freak or mishap made Ukuro cringe with sadness and yet an ioda of anger mixed up in it too.

For now the only reason to stay alive and to be brave was for Zheta...his little twin-sister who suffered so much and this nearly all the time. He wished to help her someday, his biggest wish would be to being able to protect his sister for once...barely Ukuro knows that this wish may come true way sooner as he wished for it....

Krang in the meanwhile was sitting in his throne dozing a little bit. He was lazy today and had not even the power of doing one of his usual experiments. Yawning loudly the alien didn't recognized that Cheriin had sneaked up on him. Like a cat she jumped on Krang's android body and cuddled up to him. Startled by the sudden plop sound Krang opened his eyes a little and saw his youngest creation cheekily smiling at him.
"Sorry for waking u up daddy!" she said making herself comfortable in her father's lap. Absent minded he stroke over Cheriins head patting her hair in the process.

Krang would never admit it but he loves to spend some time alone with his children, especially Cheri. He tends to pamper her a little bit too much though...She sat up and looked her father in the eyes. She had a special talent in feeling other peoples emotions, this was an unique talent that besides Cheriin nobody was able to do.

"What'sa matter daddy? You look sad!" Cheriin nudged her head into Krang who gave her a weak smile in return. He lifted her up under her arms and did something he rarely does, he started to embrace his youngest child. After this short moment of weakness Krang sat down Cheriin on the ground.

"Nothing, i am fine. Daddy is simply tired, that's all."

"Then you need to go to sleep right now!! Come on, i'll tuck you in!" she took Krang's hand and was dragging him in direction of his chambers. The alien overlord was baffled first and hesitated for a moment until he saw Cheriins serious face and stiffled a laugh. He would play with her for once.

"Alright then, if you insist...i guess i can't say no to such a persuasive girl...lead the way!"

Cheriin was smiling brightly at this and did gladly took the opportunity to share some quality time with her beloved father.
Shredder who had snatched himself a quick snack in the kitchen watched this spectacle and could not help but laugh. He was hiding in a dark corner of the throne room, undetected by Krang(hey he was not for nothing a ninja master, was he???)

"Mhhh maybe this could get interesting...let's follow them." he mumbled to himself and followed the two silently.

...

To be continued.