Author's Note: And here it is at last, the final part of this epic fight. Thank you for your patience through my (many) cliffhangers!
Rescue Time
Saki was having a hard getting himself together. In his defense, this situation was worse than anything he could have imagined.
Not only was he in the Shredder's lair, but his daughter, his nephews - who had apparently come back to the oasis just in time to engage an enemy they couldn't outmatch - and three other teenagers were here, too.
Saki looked at the barrier of rocks. He couldn't see any opening in it, and the fact that he wasn't hearing anything probably meant there was none.
Raphael and Leonardo were on their own.
Saki refused to think about how his brother would feel if he lost both his eldest children to the Shredder. At least his own daughter was alive, even though she was hurt - and firebending, something she must have hidden from him for who knew how long.
He needed to focus on what he could do, maybe find a way back to his reckless nephews.
He needed more information.
"What happened?" he asked Karai.
He didn't realize how harsh his tone had been until he saw her crestfallen face.
He felt his heart sink. No matter how angry he was at her - at them, at everyone, at himself - he loved her more. And he could see that she needed to be comforted.
His wife would have found the right words for that.
As she wasn't here - as she hadn't been here in years, as she was dead because she was trying to do the right thing, and it looked like Karai was walking in her footsteps and it frightened her father - Saki tried to find something to add.
But Karai was already beginning her tale, explaining how Yoshi, Splinter, Casey and a waterbender named April had decided to travel through the frozen groundwater tables to reach the Shredder.
The news rejoiced Saki. With some luck, people who actually knew what they were doing would reach them soon.
As his daughter went on, explaining how she and her companions had traveled through the mountain, how they had found evidence that their ancestors had built and used tunnels, how they had discovered the frozen warriors that had come with Saki - and how the Shredder had found them - his mood darkened again.
He couldn't believe what these teenagers had done.
"Do you realize how stupid it was?" he said as soon as Karai had finished her account of the recent events.
Again, he realized too late that maybe it wasn't the best thing to say.
"We had to do something," Karai pleaded, her expression stubborn even though her voice was shaking a little. "And if we hadn't, you might have died here."
This can only end badly, Saki wanted to tell her. And I would rather die than see you or the others get killed.
"You said that you had found other firebenders frozen in ice," he said instead. Do you know where they are now?"
Karai took a deep breath. "Slash and Spike are looking for them."
"We'll also need an exit," Saki added, more to himself than to her. "The path you took is bound to be underwater."
He didn't mention that if there wasn't, they might very well be trapped here until someone came to rescue them.
Saki took a deep breath. He would take things one step at a time, and do what he could for the people he was able to protect.
He was standing up - his legs felt wobbly, but he had nothing broken as far as he could tell - when a boy that Saki recognized as Bradford's son Slash came running to them.
"I found more frozen warriors!" he yelled. "Sir," he added when he saw Saki. "I, uh, am glad you're back."
"Where did you find them?" Saki urged him.
Slash led them through the rocks until they reached a small cove. And indeed, here they were: the men and women who had followed Saki's orders and been trapped in ice as a reward. The blocks were scattered against the rocks, but they didn't look too damaged.
"Let's free them," Saki said. "One at a time, so we have more and more hands to help us with this task."
He didn't look at his daughter, but he didn't comment either when she moved next to him and raised her hands, ready to firebend.
He had hoped she didn't have that skill, and taken every opportunity he had so she couldn't discover whether or not it was the case. But she had, and they better put it to good use.
Karai wanted to scream. Why did his father have to be so harsh? She had gone all this way for him. And it was because of him - because of her - that Leonardo had shown them the rest of the tunnels, and ended up fighting against the Shredder.
Couldn't his father… she didn't know, just show a hint of gratitude?
But of course it couldn't be that easy. She should have known it would be too much for him: her injury, her firebending, Leonardo and Raphael alone to fight their most powerful enemy.
She kept looking at the block of ice in front of her. Because of Angel's insistent gaze, she didn't dare to put too much strain on her injured arm - even though she wanted nothing more than to unleash her frustration and anger.
With both Slash and Saki helping, it didn't take long to melt the block. They gathered around the body, careful to not let it fall on the rocks.
And Karai immediately noticed that something was wrong. It wasn't warm like his father's had been, it was… still cold. And it kept rigid even though they were trying so hard to warm it.
"I think he didn't survive," Angel finally said, swallowing hard.
Silence fell.
Saki kept a neutral face as he slowly let the body rest against the rocks. "Let's melt the next block," he said.
In the light of the fireballs, Karai could see how tense her father's shoulders were. She hadn't known the deceased warrior very well, as he was rather young and hadn't been under her father's command for very long - but of course, it would only make it worse for Saki.
To her relief, the next person they freed was alive. It was an elder woman, who looked at her, Angel and Slash in surprise.
"What are you doing here?" she asked.
"We came to help you," Karai answered, her gaze fierce.
The woman looked insistently at her firebending hands, then glanced at Saki, but she didn't comment.
As more and more warriors were delivered from the ice, their work became faster. Most of them had survived, but it didn't ease Karai's grief for those who had lost their lives to this ice prison.
They had freed maybe two thirds of them when Spike joined them, panting.
"I've been looking for you everywhere!" he said. "I think… I think I found an exit."
The exit mentioned by Spike was the entrance of a tunnel. Saki examined it, frowning, trying to decide whether or not it was reasonable to explore it.
Most of his warriors had followed him, but he had let four of them to free those who were still prisoners from the ice.
"It's going up," Spike said. "Maybe it'll lead us to the surface?"
Saki didn't miss the hope in the teenager's voice. He decided not to crush it. After all, maybe Spike was right?
And they couldn't stay here forever. He had sent his people scouting the area, and the tunnel Spike had found was the only potential exit.
Now came the delicate part.
He turned to his daughter and her friends.
"We're going to explore it. You're staying here," he said, marking a clear dividing line between adults and teenagers. "Maybe this tunnel is leading to the surface, but maybe it's leading to the Shredder."
He hadn't forgotten how the enemy had trapped him in another tunnel, and it made no doubt in his mind that the teenagers would be safer here. Once the tunnel had been secured, he would come back for them.
"No," Karai said.
At first, Saki thought he hadn't heard correctly.
"I'm not leaving you a choice."
"You never left me a choice," Karai retorted. "And still, here I am. I'm a firebender whether you like it or not and I'll fight for my home and my family. Which includes you, by the way."
She looked so much like her mother. So proud, so fierce.
It was unbearable.
As he watched her sternly and she didn't back off, he realized that she might very well follow him no matter what.
Saki was enough of a tactician to know when to retreat.
"I'll go first," he said. "If it looks like there is any danger, you run away. Understood?"
Karai watched him, surprised - she had clearly been expecting more resistance.
The other warriors were looking the other way, although Saki saw some of them hide a smile - the first since they had been set free.
He ignored them and entered the tunnel.
Yoshi had lost track of time as he, Splinter and Casey followed April through the frozen water. They must have walked for hours in the tunnel she was creating for them. The ice was everywhere around them, endlessly mirroring their lights.
It was beautiful, foreign and beautiful. It would have been easy to forget that the man who had created such beauty wanted nothing but to harm people.
April's gestures, round and slow, held a power that Yoshi could feel, hidden right below the surface. He had no difficulty believing that she was a master of her craft.
He thought about the improbable circumstances that had brought her here, in the oasis - which of course reminded him of his son Leonardo.
Yoshi was grateful that Leonardo was alright and back home, even though the teenager was in danger like everybody else.
At least he wasn't plunging right into the Shredder's den like Yoshi.
Yoshi would do everything in his power to make sure that this danger ended, tonight. No matter the cost to him.
He had to protect his family and his home, like Saki had intended to do.
Are you still alive, brother? Are you waiting for help somewhere?
In front of him, April slowed down.
"We're coming closer," she whispered. "I feel a disturbance in the ice."
Yoshi tried to feel what April had noticed, but to him, there was no difference. He still increased his vigilance, getting ready for an attack.
A few feet later, April stopped abruptly.
"It's water in front of us, not ice," she said. "And it feels like it's not in a tunnel like this one." Her forehead wrinkled as she focused deeper. "We're about to enter a cavern."
"Then we reached the place we were looking for," Splinter said. "The Shredder's lair."
Adrenaline rushed through Yoshi's body. This was it; their final stand.
He kept control of his impatient firebending. "We need to find solid ground. We can't fight underwater."
April nodded pensively. "I could scout it out, see how it presents itself. I would seal the ice behind me so you would be in no danger of drowning."
"I'm going with you," Casey said.
April gave him a fond smile. "You're not swimming that good yet."
Maybe Yoshi imagined the slight blush on Casey's cheeks. He couldn't help wondering whether there was something between the two.
"If the Shredder notices you and attacks, we won't be able to help," Splinter pointed out. "I agree with Casey. It'd be safer if we stayed together."
"You'll be vulnerable underwater," April said.
"I can swim, too." Splinter glanced at Yoshi. "I'll help Yoshi out. Can you prevent the Shredder from feeling our presence?"
April tilted her head. "Hiding waterbending is easier done with ice than liquid water. I could, but no more than a minute. Maybe less."
"It'll be more than enough to reach the surface. We must be near the cavern's walls, there are surely rocks we can climb on."
"And if there isn't?" Yoshi asked.
He didn't particularly want to be the one to point out obvious flaws in their vague outline of a plan, but somebody had to do it.
"I could create an ice platform so you could stand," April said. "But the Shredder would likely try to melt it, so I would have to focus on that rather than on the fight."
"There is only one way to find out," Casey said with determination. "We haven't gone that far to stay behind."
Yoshi nodded. The three firebenders extinguished their fireballs, and suddenly they were plunged into darkness.
"Hold your breath," April said. "And expect the water to be cold."
Yoshi couldn't see her face, but her voice sounded calm and determined. He didn't bother mentioning that the cold wasn't a problem for him. He took a deep breath, as did the others, and one second later his whole body was immersed in water.
Yoshi felt Splinter put an arm around his waist and pull him along. He remained as motionless as possible in order to avoid getting in the way.
He wondered when and where Splinter had learned how to swim. So much of the old man's youth remained a mystery.
Yoshi promised himself that if he survived this night, he would ask him.
A moment later, they reached the surface. Yoshi filled his lungs with air, expecting obscurity and silence - but the cavern was bathed in a dim, bluish light, and it was anything but silent.
As Splinter led them towards a shore of rocks - the old firebender had been right, they were indeed near the cavern walls - Yoshi turned his head to take a look at the racket.
And he opened his mouth to yell even before his brain had fully registered what was happening.
"RAPHAEL! LEONARDO!"
April should have felt more tired after hours of waterbending through the ice, but the power of the full moon was calling to her, sustaining her, and she was swimming through the water with ease, Casey in tow.
She felt the waterbending at play nearby; its power was radiating through the waves to her. It efficiently hid her own waterbending and the group swimming to reach the surface, but it was concerning her.
If this was the Shredder like she believed, what was he waterbending for?
She got her answer when her head broke through the water surface.
A dark shadow was rushing towards two small silhouettes, launching a shower of ice shards at them. The two silhouettes fell into the water just when Yoshi was yelling their names - an unnecessary piece of information.
April had already recognized them.
What are they doing here? she thought, torn between admiration and concerned anger.
How had Leonardo and Raphael managed to find that place - and before the adults, no less?
These boys were resourceful. They would accomplish great things if they didn't get killed first.
Luckily, she had no intention of letting them die.
She motioned for Casey to set foot on the shore and dived back into the water. The light was too dim for her to see underwater, but she didn't need to; she could feel the two bodies falling deeper and deeper - a sure sign that Leonardo must have lost consciousness.
It meant that he wouldn't be able to hold his breath. She had to be quick if she didn't want them to drown.
Calling upon her waterbending, she shifted the water current so the bodies would move towards her. She had both of them on the shore and was already starting to expel the water from their lungs when she heard the Shredder yell.
"Do you think you can save them?"
His cold tone was filled with so much fury that she would have shivered if she had been any less focused on her task.
"We'll hold him off," Yoshi told her, his voice holding just as much cold fury. "Take care of my sons."
April nodded and moved so the three firebenders could stand between her and the Shredder.
She was getting ready to start a cardiac massage when the two teenagers started coughing as one.
Leonardo had been drifting in a strange dream, filled with cold water and dark shadows, and all of a sudden everything was hurting.
He coughed and coughed, and he slowly regained awareness of who and where he was.
"Raph," he croaked.
"'m here," Raphael answered, his voice just as rough.
Reassured that he and Raphael hadn't been separated, Leonardo forced his brain to focus and assess their new situation.
He realized several things at once.
First, neither he nor Raphael had died and this wasn't any afterlife. This was good news, although clearly unexpected.
Second, it was because April had fished them out.
Third, April was here.
Fourth, his father was here too, and he looked more intense than Leonardo had ever seen him in his life. He had known that Yoshi was a powerful firebender, of course, but there was a difference between knowing it and witnessing it.
Fifth, his father, along with Splinter and Casey, was fighting the Shredder.
"Are you okay?" April asked.
Leonardo nodded, and Raphael gave a groan that could have meant either yes or no.
April looked him over and apparently decided it was a yes, because she stood up to join the other adults in their fight.
A fight that Leonardo could only watch, fascinated.
This fight was harder than any other Casey had ever taken part in, but it was still not as hopeless as he would have thought.
That guy - the Shredder - was intense, but not as much as Casey had expected it. Had the Shredder's powers been overestimated? Or had something happened to him before they had arrived?
The Shredder sure seemed furious against Raphael and Leonardo. But what could the two teenagers possible have done to him?
Or maybe the Shredder's secret power was something more mundane, like a superhuman endurance. So far it was a tie, although they were four and their enemy stood alone. The Shredder's attacks - ice shards, huge waves of water, liquid tentacles trying to coil around their feet and drag them into the water - were met with fire or defeated through April's skill.
This woman sure knew how to fight.
He wanted to look at her and smile, maybe tell her something clever and funny, but he knew it wasn't the right time.
They had an enemy to defeat.
The tunnel was smooth and had no decoration, but it wasn't denied of some elegance. Saki wondered whether the earthbender Stockman had made it.
It was straight enough that Saki could see any potential danger coming, and gently sloped.
And more importantly, there was no water on its ground.
Saki was leading the way, Karai on his heels. The others had tacitly decided to give them some space, as if they expected them to have a conversation or something.
And granted, maybe a conversation was in order. He just didn't know where to begin.
What did his wife used to say? Ah yes. 'Start with one word. Then complete the sentence.'
"I… did not want this for you," he said, not sure where he was going.
Karai tensed. He feared that he had hurt her - again.
"After your mother died," he went on, "I couldn't… I didn't want you to have the same fate. Our lives can be dangerous. I don't know what I would do if…" He cut himself off. This was awkward, especially here, especially now.
"I understand," Karai said softly. I don't want to lose you, either. But I can't protect you, and you won't be able to protect me my whole life."
She didn't mention that he had already failed to protect her - that she had faced the Shredder without him. Maybe she hadn't even thought of that. Maybe it was just Saki's guilt talking.
"I can't lose myself," Karai added in a whisper. "Do you understand?"
Her voice was pleading, and it pulled on his heart strings. He opened his mouth to answer her… and all of a sudden he heard the unmistakable racket of a battle.
They were arriving at an intersection, and while the tunnel on the right seemed to keep going up, the one on the left was leading to an aperture filled with blue and red lights.
He felt the firebending at play.
"Stay here," he told Karai, and he began running towards the fight.
The tunnel was opening in a wide cavern, apparently in the middle of the wall. Far below him, Saki could see small figures fighting. He recognized his brother Yoshi, his mentor Splinter, and the warrior who had accompanied Leonardo - Casey. He didn't know the woman who was with them. Was she the waterbender that Karai had mentioned earlier?
He couldn't see his nephews, but maybe - hopefully - they were behind the barrier of fire that Yoshi, Splinter and Casey were opposing to the Shredder.
"What is it?" Karai asked.
While she hadn't gone all the way to him, she was still too close for his liking.
"Go back," he whispered to her, trying to think about a way to help in the fight without giving away their position.
The Shredder was outraged.
He could have ended this fight in seconds if he had been able to bloodbend, but he couldn't do that anymore. Not without his precious crystal. And these people were powerful, at least as much as the firebenders he had killed at the height of his power, two hundred years ago. They had even managed to find a master waterbender.
So far he was managing to hold them at bay, but how long could he last?
Would he have to run away? No. No, it wasn't an option. He had to destroy them - to destroy them all.
Maybe he could return Leonardo's trick against him and collapse the ceiling on them.
With a thin smile on his lips, the Shredder rose inside a column of water, ready to end this once and for all.
Saki hadn't expected the Shredder to suddenly reach his level, carried by water. And when the Shredder turned to him, looked at him, it was only thanks to his years of training and experience that his body took a fighting stance.
"You," the Shredder whispered. "You'll pay."
Saki understood too late that the Shredder wasn't aiming at him but at Karai, who was running away like he had told her - but too late.
He repelled the first ice shard destined to his daughter, and the second, and the third, but not the fourth - so he launched himself forward and received it right in his chest.
Karai had almost turned the corner when she heard her father's gasp, mixed with the sound of something hard tearing apart something soft.
She looked back, and saw her father fall, an ice shard planted in his chest.
It had only been a few seconds since Saki had begun exploring the new tunnel.
It had only been a few seconds since the two of them had been talking heart-to-heart for the first time in forever.
"NO!" she yelled.
Someone - Angel - pulled her by the arm, and the next ice shard landed on the wall next to her head. The other warriors pushed them behind, ready to defend if the Shredder entered the tunnel and turned the corner - but the ice shards stopped coming, and they couldn't hear any footsteps.
Karai collapsed in Angel's arms and sobbed all she was worth.
If Leonardo had been surprised to see the Shredder rise into the air, he was astounded to hear his cousin's yell.
Why would Karai be here? She was supposed to be on the other side of a rock barrier. It had been his plan, his clever plan. Right?
He raised his head and saw a figure falling from the cavern wall, a figure that looked familiar. Saki? Had the others managed to rescue him after all?
And was Leonardo's uncle still going to die here?
Leonardo found it hard to breathe.
The Shredder prepared to strike again, but a wall of fire created by Yoshi and Splinter prevented him from reaching the tunnel where Karai must still be.
April caught Saki's body in a wave, with Casey covering her. But the Shredder didn't try to stop her; instead, he turned towards the ceiling above Leonardo and Raphael's head.
Leonardo had a sick feeling he knew what the Shredder intended to do.
"He wants to collapse the cavern on us!" Leonardo exclaimed.
Raphael put his hand on his arm.
"Let's try it again," he said calmly, his gaze fierce.
Leonardo immediately understood what his twin meant. He had had some time to recuperate, and adrenaline was once more flooding his veins. He took a deep breath and reached for his last reserves of strength.
"Go for it," he said.
Raphael took a fighting stance and created a middle-sized fireball that ended in a sharp tip. Leonardo wondered if he had gotten the idea from the ice shards the Shredder kept throwing. He stood behind his twin, his hands on Raphael's arms, and sent a water tentacle spiraling around the fireball.
They released their half-fire, half-water weapon in perfect harmony. It passed through the Shredder's defenses, like the first time, and hit his right arm.
The Shredder yelled in pain and outrage.
April watched in surprise as Raphael's fireball went through the Shredder's defensive waterbending, protected by Leonardo's own abilities.
"Nice," Casey said. "Do you think we could try the same?"
His voice was strained. He was trying to distract the Shredder by sending exploding flames near his ears, but the Shredder was dodging them and coming dangerously closer to the ceiling. And she wasn't managing to bend the water he was using to rise above them.
At her feet, the man that had fallen from the ceiling - or more likely, from a tunnel that came out on the middle of the wall for some reason - wasn't moving. She didn't know whether or not he was still alive, but she couldn't check on him now.
"It can't hurt to try," she said.
Casey created something that looked like a spear of living fire. She enclosed it in an armor of water and Casey threw it.
Both their hearts beat in unison as they kept it flying right to the Shredder's heart.
The spear hit his target.
The Shredder stopped dead in his tracks. There wasn't a sound as he vanished in thin air, bit by bit, until nothing in the cavern reminded them of his presence.
Nothing except for the deadly injury on Saki's chest.
Saki felt something soft wrap around him. It was… water? Cool, but not icy like before.
To his surprise, his mind was becoming clearer and clearer. He opened his eyes to see a women smiling at him.
The woman took a step back, and Saki tried to sit up straight. He grimaced at the sudden pain in his chest.
"Take it easy," the woman said.
"Who are you?" Saki asked.
He tried to look for the Shredder, but their enemy was nowhere in sight. The bluish light had vanished and their part of the cavern was now brightly light by multiple fireballs.
Could the fight be over?
"My name is April. I'm a healer, among other things."
"I… Thank you," Saki said, remembering he had heard about her.
April left his side, replaced by a teary-eyed Karai.
"You're alive," Saki said, smiling stupidly.
"I'm sorry I didn't run away at once," Karai said, wiping her tears furiously. "I'm still not sorry I came here for you."
"I'm sorry I didn't help you becoming who you wanted to," Saki said. It was easier to apologize if she was doing it too.
Behind Karai, he could see his brother Yoshi, an arm wrapped around each of his sons.
So they survived, too, Saki thought.
And yes, maybe Yoshi was on to something here.
Saki carefully extended his arms towards his daughter. She put her head against his shoulder, allowing the hug - so Saki closed his arms around her warm body.
Alive. She was alive.
Yoshi was content to keep hugging his sons as April healed his brother, then helped Karai, Slash, Spike and Saki's warriors to join them inside the cavern.
He tightened his hold on them when Saki slowly woke up. His family was safe, all of them. It was… It was more than he had dared to hope. It made it all worth - the fear, the pain, the exhaustion from their relentless fight.
Only when he felt his sons begin to shift did he release his grip on them a little.
"What were you thinking?" he said.
He wasn't really angry; he was too tired for that.
Maybe later.
Leonardo and Raphael exchanged an impenetrable glance.
"We thought we could help," Leonardo explained. "And we did, I think."
"You sure did," Casey said.
Yoshi glared at him in the hope that Casey would understand he wasn't supposed to praise his sons for disobeying him and almost getting killed in the process.
"What? They did," Casey protested, completely oblivious.
April took him by the elbow and whispered something in his ear.
"Oh, right," Casey said as both walked away. "They need some space. I get that."
Raphael grinned, a sight that rejoiced Yoshi's heart. He still kept his stern tone.
"You put yourself in great danger. You could have died here."
Leonardo met his gaze. "It was my idea. Raphael wasn't that enthusiastic."
"But I didn't try to talk you out of it," Raphael protested.
Yoshi chuckled in spite of himself.
Leonardo was about to reply, but a few rocks detached themselves from the ceiling.
"Or maybe we can talk about it later," Leonardo suggested.
"Yes, let's leave that cavern and tell the others that they can stop trying to collapse it on us," Raphael said. "It would be a shame to be flattened now."
April was already beginning to lift the others back to the exit tunnel through a water column.
"Let's go home." Yoshi ruffled his sons' hair, just because he could. "I'm sure your brothers and mother are worried sick."