Sewer Surfing

The Turtles were all in a very good mood. It was the next day and all four of them had enjoyed some deep and much wanted sleep. Mikey and Raph were playing a video game, Leo was cleaning his swords, and Donny was examining his shard of the Amulet of Dragoon. He assumed it was crafted from some sort of ceramic but couldn't be completely sure because the readings were very strange.

"Yep this thing is definitely hot on magic. Let's see what happens when I attach it to my tracking device."

As he began to dig in his pile of instruments and tools for the correct one Splinter spoke up; "I wonder what the Shredder and Krang are planning next. Surely the Sword was not his end result. When he discovers that his true quarry is missing…"

"Actually Sensei I get the vibe that Shred-head had no idea that was in the hilt at all." Donny finally found what he was searching for and went on "Now we're cooking."

"I agree with Master Splinter" Leo said as he slid his sword back into its sheath "We need to try to anticipate their next move and intercept it."

"Well what do you want to do bro" Mikey asked "Take on the whole Technodrome?"

Raph continued that train of thought "Actually that sounds like fun because we've been so very successful every other time we did that. It's not like it's a giant, nigh impenetrable mobile fortress that almost hurled the planet into another universe once."

"Ha ha very funny. All I'm saying is that we need to be on alert for the next phase."

Donny's shout of joy distracted them all; "It works! The tracker works! I'm picking up a signal down in the Earth itself. That must be the Technodrome."

"Major bummer dudes. That means Chrome-dome has another piece of the amulet!"

"Not necessarily Mike. I'm probably getting the Sword; this thing was inside it for a long time and probably left a mystic residue. That's probably why Shredder wanted it; so he could start tracking down the pieces. And…oh…that's interesting."

"What?"

"The blip is moving closer. It's moving upwards."

Donny was proven correct as not only the tracker but also his seismic instruments agreed with him. He gazed at a screen tracking all the current disruption in the earth and said "Hmm…that big reading is the Technodrome but these smaller ones are rising much faster."

A booming, crunching sound filled the tunnels indicating that several transport pods had broken through into the sewers.

"That came from the east tunnels" Leo deducted

"But those are flooded" Raph noted

"Then we go by water" Leo said

"Alright Dudes! Surf's up!"

In very short order the Turtles were zipping along the water logged east tunnels on motorized surfboards. It was dim and the paths turned in unexpected places but the ninjas knew the sewers of New York like the backs of their shells.

"Incoming" Raph announced as Foot Soldiers on similar boards sailed rapidly into view. Soon the Turtles were surrounded and fighting their way through.

"How many of these things does Shredder have?" Mikey angrily mused "You'd think he'd run out of parts eventually."

Despite being fresh from a night of sleep, this battle was harder than usual due to the speed of their travel and the agile ways in which the Foot could maneuver. "Slow up and use strategy" Leo commanded. His brothers proceeded to reduce their speed and began to use similar movements. It was almost as if both sides were skating rather than surfing judging by their high degree of control and balance.

Soon the robots were disposed of and the boys were off again. Donny glanced at the amulet tracker and noticed that the blip had stopped moving. He thought this seemed suspicious but was snapped back to his surroundings by a cry from Mikey.

"Ow my toes! Those rotten Foot are totally fighting dirty!"

He was referring to a whole legion of floating spiked balls littered throughout the water ahead. The Turtles had to swerve like mad to avoid crashing into them but this was quickly made much more difficult by the arrival of more Foot Soldiers. The persistent robots seemed unperturbed by the possibility of hitting an obstacle; in fact many did but if they were able to get up and continue they did so instantly.

"Argh!" Leo had hit a floating ball and had been thrown from his board. He began to tread water with some difficulty because said water was being churned violently and the Foot kept trying to hit him. The others were too busy to help as he swam to his waiting board but as he climbed back on he felt something brush his leg.

"Guys there's something in the water"

"Well good for it" Raph remarked as he polished off the last Soldier "Let's hope it doesn't feel like breathing anytime soon."

But it did; as they continued and finally saw the end of the spiked balls a Pizza Monster erupted from the water. The muscly yellow creature was not a welcome sight; the last time the Turtles had fought these things it had been a very narrow victory. Leo and Donny barley dodged its claws at it passed between them and landed back in the water. It arced through the air again and Raph had to drop to his stomach to avoid losing his head.

"Hit the gas guys" Leo instructed in vain because the others were already doing so. They all had to drop to one knee to stay on their crafts as they rocketed through the tunnels. The thing tried to keep up but it could not match their speed.

"We'll still have to deal with him eventually" Leo noted "Donny are we anywhere near those pods?"

"We actually missed our turn avoiding tall, yellow, and scary. This turn should do nicely; then we double back and we'll be on top of the point of the earlier burrowing."

They followed his instructions and were soon approaching several transport pods that had burrowed right through the stone walls of the sewer. Every one of them was empty.

"Well that figures" Raph said "They were all chasing us not hanging around having coffee and donuts."

Donny was examining a control panel "I guess we could ride one of these back to the Technodrome. Then we could try to disable it from within."

"Too risky" Leo responded "They'd know we were coming."

"I know but it's the best plan we have right now. We could…" But what they could do Donny never got to day because a strange beeping began to emit from the pods. "Move it or die!" he screamed.

Move it they did and just in time; the pods exploded causing the tunnel to cave in and forming a tidal wave they were forced to ride. The Turtles only just held onto their boards as they waited for the turbulent waters to subside.

"Cowabunga" Mikey laughed "Can we do that again?"

The others didn't even dignify this with an answer but instead focused on the ripples in the water. More Pizza Monsters were swimming towards them and the chase was on. The Turtles fought the best they could but the things were too strong. Things were further complicated when a metal gate slammed down before them causing a change in direction.

Donny was trying to devise a plan; last time they had defeated the monsters with an electrical charge. Suddenly a mad idea struck him "Guys stop when we reach the wide cross junction ahead. I have an idea."

The others were confused but agreed in desperation. They halted at the assigned spot and the creatures swarmed. They kept jumping from the water and Leo, Mikey, and Raph did the best they could to just survive. Donny meanwhile was on one knee and feverishly working with the wiring of his board. If only this would work…

"Guys be ready to jump in just a moment."

"Okay; anything to stop this" Leo grunted in pain as a creature slashed his shoulder.

"Now!"

Donny crossed two final wires, gave the signal, and jumped simultaneously with his brothers. His board released a surge of electricity into the water as did the other three when the wave of energy hit them. The Turtles were safe because they were in the air and not touching the metal or the water; the Pizza Monsters were not so lucky. All of them screamed as the jolt surged through them and they shrank back into eggs.

"Righteous thinking Don!"

"Thanks. I emptied our power cells but it actually worked."

Leo was uneasy "Something just occurred to me. The wave, the gates, and the monsters were all herding us to this spot."

Donny dropped to his knees again and examined something that he had not noticed before; small, oddly shaped devices had been attached to each surf board by the Foot Soldiers. He looked at the tracker again and gasped as he found they were directly over the Technodrome.

Before he could share this disquieting news a large hologram of Shredder appeared before them. "You truly are skilled I'll grant you that. You survived my little game thus far but my patience is wearing thin. I'm banishing you to a time warp from which you will never return."

A wave of strange radiation filled the cavernous space rising from the fortress below them and reacted with the devices Donny had discovered only seconds before. The Turtles screamed as everything went black, then all sound faded away, and finally they were engulfed in utter nothingness.