Chapter 14-Return to New York pt.2
Everyone held their weapons, ready to fight the three monstrous clones as they approached. But none of them could hide their shock and fear. "What are those things?" Leo breathed.
"My guess would be genetically engineered hybrid clones." Donnie reported as he and Mikey dodged the four-arm Shredder's attacks. "Recombinant genetic mutations of Shredder DNA!"
"That's what I was gonna say!" Mikey added.
Splinter ducked as the crab-handed Shredder swiped at them. The four-armed clone went for Ben and tried to sliced him, yet missed. Ben slapped down his omnitrix and became Four arms again in order to make it a fair fight.
The third clone, a tiny Shredder whose head reached about Raph's waist, charged for the red-masked turtle and sliced his tiny gauntlets, only for Raph to jump up and aim his sais for the tiny clone. The clone jumped away with a high-pitched growl. He lunged again, but Leo took his blades and blocked the attack.
"Hold still you puny little—" Leo grunted when the tiny clone swiped at him and suddenly jumped back. He ricocheted off the wall and lunged again, his gauntlet blades clanging against Leo's crab-handed shredder ran towards Gwen, slamming his crab-like hands down to crush her. Gwen jumped back and suddenly ran up the clone's arms, kicking him right in the face.
She back flipped as the clone tumbled and hit the ground while she landed softly beside Splinter. "Whoa, Gwen. Since when can you do that?" complimented Four-arms. The clone quickly stood and swung his arm like a bat, almost knocking the rat and human off their feet. Four arms pushed Splinter and Gwen back when the clone swung his other arm Splinter leaped up and kicked the clone's chest multiple times, causing him to fall back to the ground.
It wasn't long before Ben, Gwen and Splinter backed up right into Leo and Raph. "My sons! On my signal!" Splinter ordered. "Now!" The four of them ducked, causing the crab hand Shredder and the midget Shredder to jump up and crash right into each other. The crab hand Shredder slammed into a breaker box and was electrocuted; the midget Shredder hit the ground hard.
Leo and Raph jumped up and kicked the last clone in the back, forcing him to release Donnie from his hold. While Four-arms helped move Donnie to safety, Mikey and Splinter jumped onto the canisters that held the clones and tipped them over, right on top of the four armed clone and knocking him unconscious.
Mikey's phone suddenly began to ring, and he picked it up. "Mutant Clone Control. You splice 'em we slice 'em." He paused. "Yo, Donnie. It's for you."
Donnie took the phone and pulled the headset from it. "April, what did you find?" Everyone waited for Donnie to listen before the purple-masked turtle ran over to a lab table and reached underneath it. Seconds later, a section of the wall rose to reveal and elevator…..on the other side of the gaping hole in the floor.
"And how are we supposed to get across that?" Raph demanded. "No sweat." Donnie assured, pulling out a rope and hook. "I came prepared."
Donnie swung the hook around and threw it, latching the small piece of metal to the beam above them. He swung across first, landing safely on the other side before tossing the rope back. Mikey caught it next and swung across, shouting like Tarzan from the jungle. "What?" Mikey asked when Donnie stared at him. "At least it ain't 'Cowabunga'."
He threw the rope back and Ben (now in human form) caught it, and after he swung across Gwen grabbed it and swung over. She threw the rope over to Raph, but a snarl reached their ears. Upon turning, the three remaining group members noticed the crab-handed clone and the midget clone regained consciousness; and now they charged right for them.
"I got this one." Raph assured, handing the rope to Leo. Raph knocked aside the clone's claws every time he struck, causing a sharp pain each time until Raph could grab the incoming rope.
"Later Lobster Limbs!" Raph called, jumping to swing across. He jumped up and grabbed the rope, but the clone suddenly sliced through the rope, causing Raph to fall straight down the hole.
"Raph!" Leo called. He and the others rushed to the edge, staring down at their comrades. Raph, out of pure instinct, had grabbed a pipe sticking out from the edge of the hole. "Yeah, what?" Raph snapped. "Uh, raph?" warned Ben. "Aw crud." Hun stared up at the turtle and human, looking both shocked and angry. "So, the Turtles really are alive."
The large man ran over to the machine the Turtles encountered earlier, arming it and aiming it for Raph. "Raph!" Leo called. "Don't move until I tell you." Raph glared at the crab-hand Shredder creeping towards him. "Are you nuts?"
"Trust me, bro!" Leo urged. "Get ready!" Raph readied himself as Hun was about to blow him to kingdom come, and the clone was gonna have dinner. "Now!" Leo called. Raph flipped away to his brothers while the crab-hand Shredder fell down towards Hun, who accidently shot the hole with the missile instead of Raph.
Leo and Splinter helped pull Raph to solid ground as Donnie was working the elevator. "Hurry it up, guys!" Donnie urged, pressing the Up button repeatedly. "We're about to have another clone encounter!" Everyone turned as the other two clones rose, growling at them from the other side of the hole. Mikey stuck out his tongue and made taunting faces at the clones. "Denied!"
"Mikey, I've learned from experience that you should never taunt!" "I'd listen to Ben this time!" warned Gwen. Everyone went wide-eyed when the two clones leaped over the hole and landed on their side, snarling. "Man, I hate being right!" sighed Ben.
"Ah shell." Raph groaned as they drew their weapons. Donnie kept pressing the Up button hurriedly. When the four-armed Shredder lunged for him, Raph knocked it aside. The tiny Shredder clone jumped up and almost attached itself to Gwen, but was knocked back by heat-blast. "Again, de-nied!" "Ben, next time you do that, warn me!" yelled Gwen as she was extinguishing tiny flames in her hair.
The elevator doors finally opened and Donnie rushed inside to hold them. "Hey guys!" Donnie called. Everyone quickly backed up into the elevator, blocking some of the clones' attacks until Donnie pressed a button and the doors closed. Everyone remained tense until the doors were shut before relaxing, panting from the adrenaline rush.
"Okay." Mikey sighed. "Did Shredder, like, wake up one morning and say, 'Hey, here's an idea: mutant clones of me. Really ugly ones!'"
The elevator suddenly jerked, and the doors started opening. The two clones outside growled in effort as they struggled and pulled the doors open, trying to reach the elevator's occupants. "Oh, come on." complained Gwen. Donnie threw one of his shocking shurikens and the two clones fell backwards from electrocution.
"Everybody out!" Leo ordered, pushing the emergency exit hatch open with his sword. "Double time!"
"Nunchaku Express!" Mikey chimed, holding up his nunchaku. "Going up!" One by one, the leaped up onto Mikey's nunchaku and out the hatch, onto the roof of the elevator. Leo and Splinter reached down and pulled Mikey up with them, just as the clones burst into the elevator. Leo slammed the hatch shut before the clones could follow.
"Now what?" Raph demanded.
"Everyone, grab onto the cable!" Leo ordered. "Wait, won't it be too heavy with all of us?" suggested Ben. "Ben's right, the cable will snap with all that weight." Donnie replied. "Who cares, just hurry up!" said Leo as he sat on the hatch as the clones beat on it. While everyone else followed his order, Ben slapped down his omnitrix and became stink fly, allowing gwen to grab on to him.
When everyone had grabbed on, Leo jumped forward and took the rope, just as the clones appeared and charged. "Hang on!" He took a katana and sliced through the cable, forcing Splinter and his brothers up as the elevator car went down while stink fly and Gwen flew safely up. "Get ready!" Leo called. "It's about to hit!" Right on cue, the car hit the bottom of the chute, causing the ropes and cables to ripple and slack, causing the Turtles and Splinter to fly right off the cable.
"My sons, are you all right?" he called up. Gwen was still hanging on to stink fly while Donnie and Raph hanging onto the door to the next level and Leo and Mikey hanging onto a support beam.
"Yeah." Raph groaned, pulling himself up to the ledge. "Peachy." He stabbed a sai into the door and pried it open, allowing everyone to step inside as they climbed up. But all they saw was a long hallway, with a door that had a large Foot Clan symbol on it at the end.
"April, we need the 411 on our current location." Donnie said into his headset. He stepped back outside the elevator and looked up. "Seventy-Two."
"April, can you at least find us a way up?" Donnie asked. "A stairwell or something?" Splinter held his arms out to stop them. "What is it, Sensei?" Leo asked worriedly.
Splinter's nose twitched, sniffing the air. "I sense something." "So do I." replied Gwen.
"Traps." Splinter said, causing slight nervousness in everyone. "We must proceed with caution." The rat master leaped up to the walls of the hallway, bouncing off them in a zigzag pattern that ended with him landing safely on the other side of the hall, right in front of the door. Ben used his omnitrix again, only this time as Xlr8 and sped across the room two seconds without activating a single trap.
Gwen went next, jumping up and running along the wall before leaping and bouncing off the other wall. She somersaulted into the air and landed softly next to Ben and Splinter. Donnie ran across the floor a little ways before giving a tremendous leap, ricocheting off the wall and landing beside the other three.
"There ain't no traps down there." Raph scoffed, taking off down the hall. One of the floor panels sunk under Raph's foot step, and sharp bladed pendulums swung down from the ceiling, nearly slicing Raph in half. Saws jutted out from the walls, but he leaped over those with ease. He continued to run, but stepped on one more panel and a section of the floor opened up right before Gwen, Ben, Splinter, and Donnie to reveal a bed of sharp spikes. Raph gave a tremendous leap and landed a little hard on the other side. Raph chuckled a little nervously.
"Raphael." Splinter scolded. "Your rashness will be the end of you yet." "Hey, I made it didn't I?" Raph shrugged. "And what of your brothers?" Splinter reminded him. Raph looked back and noticed the number of traps he set off, making the hallway that much more dangerous.
"Where have I seen that before?" Gwen said looking at Ben, who returned the insult by only sticking out his tongue.
"No sweat, Master!" Mikey assured as he dodged the pendulum blades. "Mikey got game! Mikey got hops! Mikey be in the zone!" He effortlessly leaped over the saws and the pendulums. "Boo-ya! In your face you puny little girly blades!"
"Go Mikey! Go Mikey!" Mikey cheered, doing a little victory dance. "Go, go! Go Mikey!" Mikey jumped when a pendulum swung towards him, slicing off the tails of his mask. He yelped and ran for it, leaping across the spike bed and landing on his stomach on the other side.
"The trendy new short headbands are in this season." Mikey chuckled nervously, as to alleviate the tension. "All the stylish ninja are wearing them." Raph and Donnie stared at him with a soft glare while Splinter just stared at him tiredly. Ben and Gwen just rolled their eyes.
Leo landed behind Mikey and shoved his torn mask tails into his hand. "No more fooling around, Mikey! Not today!" He stomped past Mikey, leaving the orange-masked turtle to stare in surprise.
Leo pushed open the large doors and everyone stepped inside. The layout came as a surprise to all of them: a dark, stone room, slightly foggy, with a sort of small temple standing ahead of them. Statues flanked the steps to the temple: strange figures wearing geta, bamboo hats, armor and carrying strange spears. A Foot Clan symbol rested beneath each figure in the form of some sort of element.
"These symbols each represent one of the five elements." Splinter explained. "Earth, fire, water, wind, and metal." "What are those things?" asked Ben curiously.
"Look!" Donnie gasped. Everyone turned as one of the statues suddenly came to life and became more colorful. Its armor was now red and gold, carrying a red-orange spear weapon. Its skin was ashen white and its eyes glowed red. And…..it was on fire…
The spirit leaped off his pedestal, brandishing his spear threateningly. His four kin followed suit, each of them approaching the ninjas with their weapons ready. Each spirit had the same ashen skin and glowing red eyes, except their armor was different: one had silver and blue armor, one aqua green and gray, one earthen brown and tan, and one dark gray and gold.
The spirits surrounded the group, raised their weapons and suddenly fired bright bolts of colored lightning towards the ninjas, pushing them back a little and even throwing them in different directions.
Raph sliced his sais through the water spirit, but the blades went right through him. "You can't even touch these things!" Raph growled. Mikey planted a sharp roundhouse kick into the metal spirit, only to pull his foot back sharply at the loud CLANG! "Ow! That's not entirely true!"
The fire spirit began launching fireballs at Donnie, who was forced to either jump away or whack the balls aside with his bō like a baseball bat. The wind spirit created a small tornado, lifting up Leo and tossing him against and again.
Splinter hit the earth spirit again and again, but the spirit kept coming back as though nothing happened. The water spirit suddenly trapped Raph in a bubble of water; no matter how hard he punched at the fluid membrane, it wouldn't break. Gwen tried to break Raph free by using what training she had learned from the shredder, but had no luck. The water spirit then trapped her in a bubble of water too.
Ben looked at the fire spirit, and said "Okay, time to fight fire with fire." Wasting no time, Ben transformed back into heat blast and dashed toward the fire spirit. Heat blast tried to absorb the fire from the spirit, but instead had the fire absorbed from himself, causing him revert back to normal. "Aw, crud." said ben as he dodged a blast of heat.
"There must be some way to fight fire with fire!" Donnie yelped as another fireball hit the rock structure he hid behind. Splinter spied Leo and caught sight of the Sword of Tengu, still on the turtle's back. "Or magic with magic." "Master Splinter!" Leo called. "What are you doing?"
Splinter didn't answer; he leaped into the air, dropping his staff in the process, and grabbed the magic sword from the sheath on Leo's back. The rat landed softly on the ground between Leo and the wind spirit. Ben and the others looked at the power that the sword had and watched as Splinter masterfully wielded it.
"I believe that conquering our mystic foes requires a mystic weapon." Splinter said simply, brandishing the sword threateningly. "But you need the glove, Sensei!" Donnie called, pulling the metal glove from his bag. "Catch!"
The glove clattered to the ground, right at Splinter's feet, but he didn't pick it up. "There is no time! Leonardo, get your brothers away from the temple! Now!" He suddenly swung the sword, letting loose a blast that knocked the earth and water spirits backwards and also released Raph and Gwen from their watery prisons. The spirits, realizing that the rat with the sword was the greater threat, all advanced towards him, raising their weapons threateningly. Ben pulled Gwen to safety as she and the others watched in amazement.
Splinter jumped out of the circle of surrounding spirits and landed softly behind them, glaring harshly and still holding the sword. His paws continued to smoke and burn, but he paid no attention. He swung the sword and let loose a blast, striking the fire spirit and causing its flames to fly backwards and melt the metal spirit.
"Fire melts metal."
He jumped aside as the water spirit launched a blast for him, swinging the sword and striking the same spirit next. The water from the spirit blasted back and the fire spirit burst into a cloud of ash and pieces of armor.
"Water quenches fire."
Next came the earth spirit, who became hit with the sword blast and the bits of earth hit the water spirit. The spirit shook for a moment before disappearing.
"Earth swallows water."
The earth and wind spirits moved for Splinter, who only leaped over their heads and sent yet another blast from the sword before landing. The wind blew back the earth spirit, and he disappeared along with his brethren.
"Wind scatters earth."
Now, it was only the wind spirit left, who immediately created a tornado to deter Splinter's merciless attacks. But the rat held firm and strong, even with the sword causing him so much pain. His hands burned and trembled, but he just clenched the sword handle tighter.
"And I shall quell the wind!" Splinter charged for the spirit, shouting in effort.
Everyone watched in terror as Splinter let out a final, powerful blast from the sword, knocking the wind spirit backwards into the temple. The roof crumbled and broke apart, falling down and crushing the wind spirit…and Splinter.
Gwen looked at the wreckage in horror. "Is he-?" As everyone began to fear the worst, the rubble began moving indicating life. As gray arm emerged from the rubble, the turtles and ben helped Splinter out.
"Leonardo, retrieve the sword." ordered Splinter. Donnie handed Leo the metal glove and the blue-masked turtle went to search for the sword.
"Master Splinter." Mikey gasped. "Your hands." Indeed, Splinter's paws continued to smoke and burn, no doubt from the effects of the Sword of Tengu.
"The Sword of Tengu is a potent mix of science and sorcery." Splinter sighed. "Only a true master can wield it without the protective glove. But there is a price to be paid."
"Makes you wonder what's in store for us on the next twenty floors." Donnie sighed, pulling out the bandages and getting to work on Splinter's hands.
"We still got twenty floors to go?" Mikey gulped audibly. "If we even make it that far." Raph growled. "There's no 'if' about it!" Leo declared. "We will make it to the Shredder. Have you guys forgotten how he forced us from our home? Burned down April's building? Nearly killed us all? Cause I sure haven't! And I'm gonna see this thing through to the bitter end!" He grabbed the Sword of Tengu from the rubble, holding it with pride for a moment before sheathing it.
"Don't forget Leo, he brain washed me and made me his slave." Gwen added. "The Shredder's affected us all; Not just me or you guys." Ben spoke up, "Which means we're all going to fight and defeat him. Together." "I'm with ya, bro." Raph assured. "Me too." Donnie nodded. "We'll see this thing through together." Mikey chimed in. "All of us." Splinter affirmed.
"April." Donnie spoke into his headset. "Any luck finding us a stairwell out of here?" They waited a moment before Leo approached a banner with the water spirit's symbol on it. He sliced through the banner with his swords, revealing a pair of elevator doors. The doors opened to reveal rice paper styled walls and a set of buttons with floors that led straight to the very top floor. Everyone piled in and Donnie pressed the button for the top floor. Fears were soon to be awakened, all of their training lead to this. The nightmare of all nightmares was waiting on the top floor, and there was no turning back.
"There is no turning back now." Splinter noted. "But no matter what happens today, I have never been more proud of you all." Splinter told them with a smile. Ben turned to Gwen and smiled as she smiled back, then readied themselves for the fight to come.
They held their weapons ready as the elevator reached the top floor and walked inside, finding themselves in a sort of small hallway. Another door with the Foot Clan symbol on it stood a few feet away. Leo approached the door first, hesitating a little. Then, he took a breath, jumped into the air, and kicked the doors open. Everyone else followed, looking around the large throne-like room. Glass windows that looked like rice paper doors; a small stool at the end of the hall with a Foot Clan symbol on a banner above it, like a tiny throne; it looked like the perfect, old-fashioned Japanese style throne room, meant for a king.
Suddenly, in four individual bursts of smoke, the Elite Ninjas appeared, wielding their weapons and glaring at the intruders. Leo stiffened at the sight, flashing back to the last time he fought them…..and lost miserably.
"Shredder's Elite Guard." Leo breathed. Raph glared at the ninjas. "You can do it, bro." he assured. "We're all in this together." "You don't know how true that is, freak." They turned at the cruel laugh to see Hun standing in the broken doorway, cracking his knuckles and looking very pleased to have the chance to pound them all to dust. Gwen looked at them, barely remembering what had happened months ago.
Brushing it off, she and the others looked back and forth between the large man in the doorway and the lithe elites on the other side. But the only movement came from the elites twirling their weapons. "Okay, this is new." said Ben confused.
"What are they waitin' for?" Raph asked. "Orders." Leo answered. "Astute as usual, Leonardo." Gwen's eyes narrowed as Shredder approached them, looking the same as when she was under his control: armored up with glowing red eyes. Ben looked at him with awe and fear; for he had never fought any one like this.
"I don't know how you managed to survive out last encounter," Shredder said, glaring at the seven warriors that dared to intrude on his home. "But I can assure you, you will not survive this one." "Your elite guard will not stop me, Oroku Saki." Splinter growled as he stepped forward.
"No Sensei. This is one I have to lead." Leo stopped them. "Elite ninja!" Shredder barked an order. "Attack!"
The ninja quartet leaped forward, only for five mutant ninjas to intercept them. Gwen darted forward, weaving her way around the tiny fights as she ran towards Shredder, ready to strike. Shredder stood ready as well, holding his single set of gauntlet claws ready. The two of them clashed together, once master and apprentice, now enemies, before pushing apart and each adopting a strong stance. Shredder lunged next, aiming a punch for her head. She ducked and swept Shredder's legs, only for him to jump up and back flip farther away. It didn't stop Gwen from charging for him yet again, landing a kick on shredder's chest.
"Curious, I believed you destroyed along with the turtles, and yet here you are now.'' Gwen angrily replied "Better believe it bucket head! You're gonna pay for what you did to me, you monster!" Shredder only laughed at this and said "I made you my servant, why you attack me I do not know, but give this all up and I shall return things to how they should be." "I'd rather die fighting you than live serving you!" Gwen yelled.
Shredder narrowed his eyes and slammed his claws down. "So be it, little girl!" Gwen, glaring into Shredder's glow red eyes, met him in another round of blows, much more difficult than when he was training her.
Suddenly, Leo's fierce shout pierced the air, and she looked over to see him on his back, his swords blocking the blade of one of the elites. "You may destroy me," Leo growled. "But I will not live in fear!" He kicked the ninja off him and jumped to his feet. "Me neither." said Raph kicking the elite ninja away.
As Hun was about to clobber Splinter, he dropped out of his clothing and punched and kicked Hun senseless. "In the words of the ancient master, 'It ain't over till it's over'". The turtles, Splinter and Ben turned their sights on the Shredder, but a sudden rumbling made everyone in the room paused. Something started pushing through the floor, breaking boards and shaking the ground beneath everyone's feet.
Something big and metal suddenly pushed its way through to the top floor. It had four arms, two legs, a round body, many visible weapons and a window that revealed the head of a colored man with some sort of eyepiece over his scarred eye and a neck brace around his neck.
"Baxter Stockman!" Shredder growled. "In the flesh." Baxter Stockman sneered. "So to speak." "You will pay for your false report on the Turtles' demise!" Shredder declared to Stockman. "However, you can redeem yourself. Destroy the Turtles!"
The Turtles, Splinter, Ben and Gwen stood ready to fight, but Stockman didn't even turn to them. He just continued to glare arrogantly at the Shredder. "You blind, ignorant, self-important fool! I didn't make this suit to help you, Shredder; I made it to destroy you! For every punishment you inflicted upon me, I will make you suffer tenfold! You will finally learn to respect my superior intellect!"
"Stockman," Shredder growled. "I'll have your head for this!" "No, Shredder," Stockman corrected. "I'll have yours." He turned to the mutants and pre-teens. "And you, meddlesome creatures, you have interfered with my plans for the last time."
"You believe this guy?" Mikey scoffed. "Wackjob City." "Man, this guy's crazier than Dr. amino, times ten!" stated Ben. "You'll all pay!" Stockman declared. "All of you! Not one of you will leave this room alive! You'll all be crushed by the genius of Baxter Stockman!" "Dangerous Wackjob City." Donnie added.
To be continued...