Chapter 10
Temple Guardian
With a hiss that turned into a loud shriek, the massive statue pulled its sword-wielding arms free from the wall behind it. Setting its glowing eyes on the intruders, it shrieked again and moved towards them with its swords held high, and it moved surprisingly fast for a giant stone statue, the stone stretching like it was leather and sounding like rocks being scraped against each other.
With lightning-fast speed, it lashed out with it's ten metre long tail at Donatello and Emma.
"Duck!" Tyroth yelled as he dashed over to the two and pushed them down under the oncoming attack, but he was too slow to manage to avoid it himself, and was struck across the chest so hard that he was thrown away like a mitten, hitting the temple-wall violently and fell to the floor.
"Tyroth!" Sephie cried out, afraid that her mate was seriously hurt, and hurried to his side.
"Ugh… that hurt..." he said, slowly trying to get back up.
Meanwhile, the statue continued to attack, seemingly focusing on Donatello, swinging the six stone blades at him. Donatello had to be quick on his feet to avoid the attacks, which wasn't easy with the winter clothes that he wore.
"A little help here!"
"Hold on, Don! We're coming!" Leonardo yelled as he and the others drew their weapons and rushed to help their brother.
Monalisa too wanted to help, but her new body didn't support her fighting style very well, still, she drew her fans and was ready to support her family.
Emma hurried away from the fight, she wasn't a fighter and would most likely only be in the way. But she didn't know what the others possibly could do against such a thing.
Donatello did a pole-jump to avoid another attack from the statue, almost feeling the wind from the sword as it missed him with only inches to spare. The statue was just about to attack again, but Leonardo interrupted it with a pair of slashes of his own, sparks flying as his katana struck the back, catching its attention, but doing little else.
Raphael and Michelangelo joined their brother, attacking from different angles, and with their help Donatello was given enough breathing room to join the fray. However, just like with Leonardo initial attacks, they weren't able to inflict any damage upon the statue.
"Uh, guys, this isn't working." said Michelangelo, who had been hammering at the head of the statue with his nunchaku, but had to jump off as the statue tried to swat him away with one of its swords. "We need some heavy artillery to down this thing."
"Hey, Big T! How about giving us a big hand?" Raphael shouted.
"On my way!" the dragon shouted back, having taken a very short moment to make sure that he didn't have any hindering injuries left from the last blow. "Care to give me some back up, babe?"
"Gladly." Sephie responded, drawing her bow and readying one of her explosive arrows.
Tyroth ran towards the fight and breathed fire at the statue's face, not doing any damage, but drawing its attention away from the turtles. As it turned towards him, Tyroth ignited his right fist, still running at the statue. With the dragon closing in, the statue raised one of its many sword-arms to strike him down, but as the arm fell, Sephie struck it with her arrow, the explosive tip blowing apart the fingers holding the sword. Without its fingers, the statue couldn't hold its sword and it fell to the ground, giving Tyroth the opening he needed to deliver his Dragon Punch right into the abdomen of the statue.
The fire around his hand took the shape of a large dragon before the punch connected with the stone creature, concentrating into a single point upon impact and exploding through the abdomen, sending chunks and shards of stone flying, and it seemed like the battle was won, but it wasn't.
Before any of the stone fragments touched the floor, they all stopped mid-air for a split second, and were pulled together, completely reforming the statue without any signs of damage.
Being caught completely off guard by its restoration, Tyroth didn't see the next attack coming until it was too late, again getting struck across the chest by the statue's massive tail, and getting sent flying into another temple wall.
"Well, that could have gone better." said Michelangelo. "Anyone else got any bright ideas, 'cause we all know I don't!"
"Donnie?"
"I'm thinking, Leo, I'm thinking!"
The statue then picked up the sword it had dropped, and turned towards the turtles, shrieking at them.
"Think faster, Don!" Raphael said. "This thing ain't gonna wait!"
Resuming its attack on the turtles, the four brothers couldn't do anything except to evade the swings of the large stone blades, while they tried to think of a way to stop it. But Monalisa couldn't wait, for the entire battle, she had stood on the sideline, feeling more like a hindrance with her unfamiliar body, but she refused to let that stop her. Her family needed all the help they could get. With her fans drawn, she slithered to their aid as fast as she could, placing herself between the statue and the turtles.
"Mona! What are you doing?! Get outta the way!" Raphael yelled with worry in his voice.
"No! I won't let you fight alone!" she said, baring her fans to the statue.
"But you're in no shape to fight!" said Donatello.
"I don't care! It doesn't matter if I'm part snake or not, I can't just stand by and watch!"
With Monalisa blocking the statue's path, everyone expected that it would attack her, but it didn't, instead it tried to move past her. But Monalisa wouldn't allow it, she followed the statue's movements, continuing to block it. And when the statue found itself blocked again, it once again tried to move around Monalisa, only for her to block it anew. This continued for several minutes and everyone was confused by its behaviour.
"Why ain't it attacking her?" Raphael asked. "Not that I'm complaining, I'm perfectly fine with that, but, why?"
"Maybe it sees her like a little sister, or maybe a daughter?" said Michelangelo. "You know, since she's half snake too."
"I think you might be onto something, Mikey," said Donatello. "but I think it's less the snake thing, and more Mona's gender that is the deciding factor. The old monk said that Naginalga was a protector of women, that must be why this guardian isn't attacking her."
"But being male, we are fair game. That makes sense." said Leonardo. "Alright, everyone but the girls, out of the temple!"
"Can't say I like that plan, but nothing else has worked so far." said Tyroth. "Good luck, girls."
While Monalisa still blocked the statue, Tyroth and the turtles hurried out of the building, the statue's eyes following their every step. Sephie followed Monalisa's example and positioned herself in the way as well, Emma did so too, if more cautiously than the lizards.
With the males out of the temple building, and the only way to pursue them blocked, the statue lowered its weapons and returned to where it stood when the gang arrived, taking its original pose, the light in its eyes faded.
"I can't believe that worked." said Emma.
"Me neither." said Sephie, putting away her weapons.
"Is it clear to come in?" Michelangelo asked, sticking in his head through the door. But as soon as he did, he saw the eyes of the statue light up again and he quickly pulled back his head with an 'eep!'. "I guess not."
"Seems we can't enter the building at all, you girls have to continue alone." Leonardo called from the outside.
"Be careful in there! All three of you!" Raphael called out.
"We will, hun!" Monalisa called back to her mate, then turned to Sephie and Emma. "If you two are ready, let's get this over with."
They both nodded, and the three half-snakes slithered over to one of the doors and opened it, venturing deeper into the building.
That was a tough opponent, and a rather unexpected kind of victory for the team. But just what await the girls deeper in the grand temple, capable as they are, there just might be something more dangerous than the statue in there.