"What are those things?!" Leo hissed as they backed away from the creatures, "Donnie?"
Donnie's head popped up over his Father's shoulder, having been pushing there when the tanks first broke. "Best guess? Genetically engineered hybrid clones! Re-combinated genetic mutations of Shredder DNA!"
"That's totally what I was going to say!" Mikey stated, desperately flying out of reach as the clones went on the attack.
It didn't take long before they were all separated, Mikey facing off against the four-armed one, Yoshi and Donnie against claw-hands and Raph and Leo against the little one.
"Stay still you puny little- " Leo grunted, as the little one jumped and rebounded off the walls
"Yo! Armed and dangerous!" Mikey yelled at his opponent, as the creature spotted Donnie a little way off, looking vulnerable away from Yoshi and the others, "Wanna wrestle? Let's wrestle!" Shifting into a bear, he attempted to pull the large clone away from his little brother, hoping that Donnie would find a safe spot.
He couldn't even budge him an inch though, the four-armed man grabbed his arms and throwing him back towards the tanks.
"April!" Donnie yelled into his communicator, "Can you find us a way out of here?! Fire stairs, an elevator? Anything!"
/Working on it! I'll have you an answer in a second. \\
It was then that Donnie realised that the four-armed clone had been alerted by his yell and was now heading straight for him.
He couldn't even fight back properly because of his wrist wound from the Foot Tech ninjas.
"Please hurry up." He said in answer to April, holding out his bo staff as he moved backwards, hoping to keep the clone at a safe distance. Unfortunately, he headed straight towards the large hole they'd originally entered the room from.
With a yelp, he fell through it, only just managing to catch himself by sticking his bo staff into a convenient hole, his communicator falling from his head to the ground below.
No more April.
"H-help!" He called out, only to wince as the four-armed creature appeared in his eyeline, "Not you!"
The creature grabbed him; all four arms wrapped around him as he was crushed against its' chest. He screamed in pain, shocking it with all his might, only for it to tighten its grip.
He didn't notice how Leo, Raph and his Father managed to get the other two clones to jump at each, knocking them out for the count.
"DONATELLO!" Yoshi then cried out, leaping over and kicking the creature in the back, sending him flying forwards, dropping Donnie to the ground.
"Donnie!" "Don!" Leo and Raph ran over, wincing when they realised that Donnie was starting to lose consciousness.
"Michelangelo!" Yoshi then jumped over to the tanks, trusting that his two eldest sons could take care of Donnie, "With me!" Together, they jumped on top of one of the tanks, causing it to sway back and forth, until it overbalanced and crashed right on top of the last creature, knocking it out.
For a moment, there was silence… and then Mikey's phone started to ring.
"Mutant clone control!" He answered cheerfully, "You splice them, we slice them!"
/Is Donnie okay? He's not answering his phone or communicator! \\
Mikey glanced over at his little brother, "Ummm… what's the verdict guys?"
"Cracked ribs." Leo stated, gently running his hands over Donnie's chest, "None of them are broken though and there's no sign of a punctured lung."
Mikey relayed the information back to April, who immediately started barking out orders for someone to wrap those ribs up. As Leo pulled the first aid kit out of Donnie's bag, doing as he was told, Donnie held out his hand for Mikey's phone.
As Mikey handed it over, Donnie then pulled a communicator from a secret compartment.
"April." He grunted as his ribs started to ache, "Do you have a way out of here?"
"Donnie… Maybe we should try again an- "
"- We've come this far." Donnie interrupted, hissing as his wrist was strapped up as well, "There's no point in turning back now."
"If you're sure." April sounded disapproving, "There's a private elevator behind a secret panel. I'm also seeing wiring leading to a control button, underneath one of the lab tables near you."
Donnie glanced over in that direction, slowly pushing himself to his feet and limping over in that direction, hands running under the first table until he felt a button, giving it a quick push. A panel opened up seconds later, to reveal an elevator… on the other side of the large hole they'd created previously.
"And how are we supposed to get across that?" Raph hissed, glancing over at his twin as Mikey coughed imperiously, one hand on his chest in a mock-offended manner.
"All aboard Eagle Express!" Mikey shifted in a large eagle, grabbing Donnie first. One by one, he transformed them across.
Raph was the last one, just as the claw-handed clone woke up and raced towards them, Hun on the floor below them, firing a missile up at them, only for it to narrowly miss Mikey and hit the clone instead.
"My feathers are singed!" Mikey whined as they landed on the other side of the hole.
"Hurry up!" Donnie yelled, sending jolts of electricity into the wiring of the elevator, in the hope that it would open quicker, "We're about to have another clone problem!"
On the other side of the hole, the small clone and the four-armed one were pushing themselves to their feet, Mikey pulling faces at them.
It was no surprise when they jumped over the hole.
"Crap." Raph muttered, "Crap, crap, crap."
As the four-armed one immediately went after Donnie, slicing at him in an attempt to stop the teen from gaining access to the elevator, Raph dived in front of him, kicking the creature away as Donnie finally managed to get the doors open, limping inside.
"Guys!"
Quickly, they all backed into the elevator, as the clones leapt at them, the steel doors shutting just in time.
For a moment, there was a stunned silence.
"Okay…" Mikey panted, "… Did Shredder just wake up one morning and say 'Hey! Here's an idea. Mutant clones of me! Really ugly ones!'"
There was a THUD, making them yelp as clawed hands started to pry the steel doors open.
The pain in Donnie's ribs and wrist were starting to over-come him, prompting him to lean back against the walls.
He couldn't continue like this for much longer.
Summoning up his last bit of strength, he used the last of his electricity reserves to shock the clones into unconsciousness.
Leo removed the ceiling hatch quickly, "Everybody out of here! Double time! Raph- "
"- I'll carry Donnie!"
Donnie was thankful for this. He wasn't even sure he could even get out of the elevator without some help. Once they were out, Donnie clinging to Raph's back as the hatch was shut, the clones having recovered, they all turned to Leo.
"Now what?!"
Leo glanced around quickly, "Grab onto the counter-weight cables!"
They all rushed to obey, Leo keeping his weight on the hatch until they were all ready. Once they were, he shot to his feet and grabbed it as well, slicing through the cable as the clones popped up.
They went flying up as the clones dropped down.
"Get ready!" Leo yelled, "It's going to hit!"
Seconds later, there was a loud BANG as the cable lost his tension and flung them all over the elevator shaft. The only one who was able to keep his grip, was Yoshi.
"Boys, are you alright?"
"Yeah." Raph grunted, from his position on another floor platform, "Peachy. Donnie?"
"Ugh."
"Yeah… he's the same." Using his sai to pry open the doors, Raph stopped in his tracks at what he saw.
A long corridor with doors at the end, the foot symbol painted onto them.
As the others joined them, Donnie tapped his communicator. "April, we need the four-one-one on our current location please."
/Did you get a floor number. \\
Poking at Raph to head back into the elevator shaft, Donnie scanned the walls.
"Seventy two."
/That's weird. \\
"What?"
/There's a glitch in the schematic between the 71st floor and the 73rd. Let me run a quick diagnostic. \\
"Can you find us a way up? A stairwell or something?"
/Nada… I'm afraid you guys are on your own this time. \\
They continued to head down the corridor, only to stop when Yoshi held up a hand.
"Dad?" Leo frowned, "What is it."
"… Traps. I'm sure of it. Proceed with caution." He gestured for Raph to hand Donnie over, supporting the youngest on his back as he sprung from one wall to the wall, landing at the other end of the corridor with ease.
Raph rolled his eyes. "I can practically bet there's no traps here." He sighed, deciding to just make a run for it.
And then he stepped on a loose panel in the floor.
Curved blades popped out of the wall, heading straight for him as he rolled to safety, jumping over the circular saws that appeared next, narrowly dodging the secondary lot of curved blades and stepping at another panel in the floor.
Just in front of Yoshi and Donnie, the floor opened up to reveal a pit full of spikes.
Thankfully, he made it over with a running jump.
He winced at the look on Yoshi's face. "Alright… maybe it was a good idea for you to take Donnie."
"Raphael." Yoshi growled, "Your rashness will be the end of you yet!"
"I made it didn't I?!"
"And your brothers?!"
"No sweat!" Mikey called out, shifting into a hummingbird first, "Mikey got game!" Then a hare, "Mikey got hops! Mikey is in the zone!"
Still in his hare form, he dodged the circular blades.
"In your face!"
Yoshi felt like he was seconds away from bursting into frustrated tears.
"Go Mikey! Go Mikey, go, go, AAH!" A curved blade swung down, cutting through the fine hairs on the tip of his hare tail, prompting him to shift back into human form as he made a run for it, making it to the other side.
He let out a nervous chuckle as Yoshi stared down at him. "Ummm, oops?"
Leo, who had made his way through the traps with ease, cuffed his younger brother around the back of the head.
"No more fooling around Mikey! Not today!" He moved over to the large doors and pushed them open to reveal a stone-paved courtyard.
At the other side, was some stairs, two pillars on either side that each had a statue on top of them, plus one in the centre.
There were also symbols carved into the pillars.
"Each of these symbols represents one of the five elements. "Earth, Fire, Water, Wind and Metal."
And then the fire one came to life, jumping from its pedestal and brandishing its spear at them, followed by the others as they surrounded the group.
"Be ready for anything my sons." Yoshi reached behind him, checking that Donnie was okay.
There was nowhere he could leave his youngest to keep him safe.
The elemental warriors aimed their spears at them, blasting them with brightly coloured rays, sending them flying off in different directions.
"Do technicolour rays count as anything?" Mikey groaned, feeling like his back was just a mass of bruises from being blasted into a stone pillar.
As the warriors advanced on them, Raph threw tiny explosives at them, only to watch as they went right through the water elemental.
"You can't even lay a hit on these guys!"
Mikey was already mid-kick when Raph said this, cursing as he kicked solid metal. "Nope! Not entirely true!"
Donnie, having been separated from his Dad after the initial blast, was dodging fire blasts as best he could as Leo was sucked up into a tornado, flying up into the air, before being dropped back to the ground.
"You want to play tornados." He hissed, the wind building up around him, "Fine, let's play."
Yoshi was having his own problems with the earth elemental. Every time he destroyed it, it rebuilt itself, forcing him to backflip to safety when it shattered the concrete ground below him.
As Raph was trapped inside a bubble of water, face turning red as he struggled to breathe, Donnie cowered behind a stone pillar.
"There's got to be some way to fight fire with fire! Think Donnie! Think!"
He was forced to run as the pillar he was hiding behind was destroyed.
He didn't know that he'd been overheard though.
"Or magic with magic." Yoshi mused, glancing over at his oldest for a moment, before jumping over towards him, backflipping over Leo's hand and grabbing the mystic sword.
"Dad! No!"
The skin on his hands started to blister and burn, forcing to him to try and breathe through pain. He couldn't let this stop him.
"I believe, in order to defeat our mystic foes, we need a mystic weapon." He hissed.
"But you need the glove!" Donnie yelled, rummaging in his bag and pulling out said glove, "Catch!"
He threw it over towards his Dad, who didn't even look at it.
"There is no time!" Yoshi glanced over at Leo, "Get your brothers away from the Temple!" He slashed the sword in front of him, sending the earth and metal elementals flying, "NOW!"
Another slash sent the water elemental flying, popping the water bubble that Rah was trapped in, giving him the freedom to finally breathe, hunched over on the ground as he gasped and sputtered.
Yoshi waited until Fire was in front of Metal, slashing again as the fire from the first elemental melted the second. He repeated the manoeuvre to use the Water Elemental to put out the Fire one.
He then used it for Earth to soak up the Water Elemental.
Then for the Wind one to scatter the Earth one.
When he faced the Wind one, he spun around several times, building up the momentum before he struck out at the warrior, sending it flying into the building behind, sending it crumbling to the ground.
And on to Yoshi himself.
"Dad!" Leo screamed, racing over to the last location of his Father, sighing in relief as his Dad stuck his arm up through the rubble he was loosely buried through. The oldest three ran over, all moving the rubble as quickly as they could.
Mikey and Raph supported their father on either side of him, as Yoshi winced in pain.
"Leonardo… retrieve the sword."
Picking the metal glove off the ground, Donnie gently handed it over to Leo, who took it with a grimace.
"Dad, your hands!" They heard Mikey exclaim, prompting Donnie to slowly make his way over… only to take a step back.
"The sword of Tengu is a potent mix of science and sorcery." Yoshi winced, "Only a true Master can wield it without the protection of the glove… but there is a price to be paid."
"So… Donnie?"
They all glanced over at the youngest, who shook his head at the thought of being a 'true Master'.
"I suspect Donatello can handle it because of his powers." Yoshi chuckled weakly, "Although we can't rule out the possibility."
"Let's just worry about what we have to face on the next twenty floors." Donnie winced, reaching into his bag and pulling out the first aid kit again, feeling his wrist and ribs twinge at the thought of what they had yet to go through.
As he quickly disinfected and wrapped up his Father's hands, he heard Mikey gasp, "We still have twenty floors to go?!"
"If we even make it that far." Raph muttered, "Donnie can barely move and Dad's palms are red raw, what if- "
"- No! No ifs!" Leo called out, glaring over at them, "We WILL make it to the Shredder. Have you guys forgotten how he forced us from our home, not once, not twice, but three times over! Have you forgotten how he killed our Mother?! How he burned down April's building in an attempt to kill us all… AGAIN?! Because I sure haven't…" He reached down to grab the sword, "… and I'm going to see this through to the bitter end!"
"I'm with you bro." Raph got to his feet, as Donnie nodded.
"Me too."
"Yeah!" Mikey helped Yoshi to his feet, "We'll see it through together!"
"All of us." Yoshi agreed, hands shaking slightly with the pain. They all then turned to Donnie, who was already calling April.
"April, any luck finding us a stairwell out of here?"
/Best I can find is a private elevator on the west side of the building, but I don't know if it reaches your floor. \\
Relaying the information back to the others, they all started to look around, only for Leo to spot something odd behind the tapestry with the Wind Foot Emblem on it. Slashing through it, he sighed in relief at the sight of the elevator doors.
"Over here!"
They headed towards it, as Donnie spoke to April again, "So, where does this take us?"
/Straight to the top boys… straight to the top. \\
It wasn't a reassuring thought as the elevator doors shut.
"There is no turning back from here." Yoshi broke the silence, "Know this. No matter what happens today, I have never been more proud of you all." He turned to Donatello, "Stay hidden, understood. You are no shape to face off against the Shredder."
Silently, Donnie nodded, knowing that his Father was right.
With his ribs and wrist, it would be a death sentence.
The elevator opened back up to reveal a small hallway, sets of doors on either side of them.
They focused on the left set of doors, Leo jumping up and kicking through them.
It looked like a throne room, despite seeming to be completely devoid of life, somewhere that they could definitely see Saki sitting.
As they moved further inside, clouds of smoke suddenly popped up in front of them, revealing familiar figures.
"Shredder's elite guard." Leo whispered, voice trembling slightly.
"You can do this bro." Raph whispered, "We're all in this together."
And then came a low, sinister chuckle from the smashed doorway.
"You don't know how true that is, freak!" Hun chuckled, cracking his knuckles as they all remained where they were.
"What are they waiting for?" Raph tightened his grip on the handful of, what would be, small explosives.
"… Orders."
"Astute as usual, Leonardo."
Shredder emerged from the shadows, dressed in his armour, red eyes staring out from the helmet.
"I don't know how you managed to survive our last encounter, but I can assure you… you will not survive this one."
Yoshi moved forwards, stepping in front of his sons, "Your Elite Guard will not stop me Saki, and you know it!"
"No!" Leo grabbed his Father's shoulder, pulling him back, "This is one I need to lead."
There was a moment of silence, as the Shredder raised his hand into the hair. "Elite… ATTACK!"
The four Elite Guard leapt into the air, one of them immediately going for the obvious target.
Donnie.
Donnie grunted as he was knocked to the ground, swearing that he could feel his ribs shifting in him. Managing to roll out of the way of the next attack, a spear stabbed straight through his bag, prompting him to quickly remove it as it was thrown across the room.
Raph's wrist was pinned to the pillar, as Mikey was almost knocked out because of a fallen lamp.
Yoshi moved to rush to his son's defence, only for the back of his robe to be grabbed, Hun lifting him into the air, grabbing his walking stick and throwing it away.
Leo in the meantime, was backing from his own foe, only to trip over the bag that Donnie had once been carrying, leaving him sprawled across the floor, the Elite Guard darting towards him, blade prepared for that killing blow.
He couldn't help but flashback to that night when these Elite Guard had surrounded him on all sides, beating him both physically and mentally.
"No!" He brought his katana up to block the blow.
He was done living in fear.
He kicked the Elite away and went back on the attack, spotting Raph doing the same to his own attacker.
Yoshi had a different method of dealing with his problems.
Swiftly untying his outer robes, he dropped to the ground, dressed only in a tank top and his loose trousers, knocking Hun out with an expert nerve pinch. Catching his robe before it could land on the ground, he quickly put it back on.
"In the words of the old Master… it ain't over til it's over."
Suddenly, the ground started to crack, the floor breaking into large chunks as it was pushed up, sending the group and the Elite flying. Crawling up through the hole, was a large mechanical suit, with four arms and what looked like, enough weaponry to take down an army.
"What is this?!" Shredder growled, before he spotted the face through the glass window, "BAXTER STOCKMAN!"
"In the flesh! So to speak."
"YOU WILL PAY FOR YOUR FALSE REPORT OF HAMATO YOSHI AND THE BOY'S DEMISE!" The Shredder then paused, "However, you can redeem yourself…DESTROY THEM!"
Stockman just chuckled, "You blind. Ignorant. Self-important. FOOL! I didn't make this suit to help you! I made it to destroy you! For every punishment you inflicted upon me, I will make you suffer ten-fold! You will finally learn to respect my superior intellect!"
"Stockman." Shredder growled, "I will have your head for this!"
"No Shredder… I'll have yours." Stockman then turned to face Yoshi and his sons, "And you meddlesome brats, have interfered with my plans for the last time!"
"Can you believe this guy?" Mikey hissed, "Whack-job city!"
"You'll all pay! ALL OF YOU!" Stockman screamed, "Not one of you will leave this room alive! You will all be crushed by the genius of Baxter Stockman!"
As the scientist cackled, Donnie shook his head in dismay.
"Dangerous whack-job city!"
