Chapter 16 : The Trial of Earth
Leonardo had the girl lead the way into the next chamber. As soon as they crossed the threshold, a door slid shut blocking their retreat. The ninja looked worried.
Okay," Leonardo said evenly. "Obviously going back isn't an option in this chamber. Whatever they're protecting it's got to be special."
"This is one of their treasure chambers?" The girl asked as they began their trek through the mud.
"I don't know," Leonardo admitted. That first trap caught me as well as you, so I think it's set automatically. Whoever stumbles into this area is vulnerable."
"Do you think that there will be more such traps?" The girl asked.
"I don't know," Leonardo said, "but I definitely don't trust this place."
They walked along together in the mud with the female ninja taking the point. Leonardo was behind her watching her every move. He knew the others were going to be angry with him for not leaving her there, but he didn't care. He didn't like these mermaids, or their tricks. He was sick and tired of being a pawn in this strange game of theirs.
It's not their fault the Shredder is after their treasures. His conscience told him. If you had been more understanding to Michelangelo, you might know more about the mermaids. He would have told you if you had asked. It's your own fault you're clueless about what's going on. You refused to help Mikey, and he nearly got killed by Hun. You're letting your brothers down and you know it! Ever since that mermaid came into your life you've been messing up! The others would be better off without you!
His heart was heavy as he realized how he had failed his brothers. He moved slower and slower through the muck which was making him feel worse and worse. It would probably be better if I sank down into this yuck and never came back. I'm totally useless to my family.
"Stop it, turtle! Stop it now!"
The female ninja's voice cut through his despair. Before he could address her she reached out and slapped him across his face hard once.
"Stop thinking those things, turtle! Snap out of it!"
The blow startled him. He shook his head out and suddenly saw that he was up to his knees in the muck. The ninja girl was before him grabbing on to his shell. "Come on turtle! You have to fight it!"
Did he want to fight it? If he sank below the mud would anyone really care? As much as the girl was pulling at him he felt himself sink deeper into the mud.
"Stop thinking that way!" She demanded. "The more unhappy you are the faster you sink! Don't you want to get out of here?"
"You don't understand," Leonardo said, full of remorse. "I let Mikey down! I let them all down! I let my fears get the best of me!"
The ninja laughed at him and shook him harder. "Do you think you are not doing so here? Giving in to your doubts? If you sink all the way into the mud turtle, you will never free your brothers from this place! You will never defeat the Foot Tech Amazons. They will take over this place, destroy your friends and family, and I shall escape from you."
That got Leonardo angry. He pushed her down into the mud, and tried to draw his sword on her, but he found that she had taken them while he was sinking into the mud, and they were about a foot away from him. She had also retrieved her own weapon from his belt.
"I am not such a fool as you believe." She said mischievously.
Now Leonardo was more than mad. He struck out at her with a flying dragon kick. She blocked that and the next blow. She wasn't trying to strike him. She was just blocking his attacks. When he realized that he stopped winded and confused.
"So now you are angry, yes?" she asked. "You're despair is no longer sending you into the mud below? Good"
Her pleased reaction confused him. Then he realized what had nearly happened to him.
"It's....it's this place. It was making me remember...." He trailed of unsure of his own feelings.
"It made you remember that which troubles your heart the most," the young female ninja said gently. "The more you dwelled on that which causes you grief the more you slipped into the mud. This place is a trap."
Leonardo nodded as he retrieved his swords. "As much as the other chamber was," he said. He looked over at her and smiled. "So am I your prisoner now?"
To his surprise the girl smiled back. "I believe we should have a truce for now," she said thoughtfully. "Alone either one of us might succumb to these pitfalls, but if we work as allies perhaps we shall survive."
"Good idea," Leonardo said still thinking of the close call he had just had. "Let's keep moving then." As they started trudging through the mud that now only came to his ankles Leonardo said, "By the way, you can call me Leonardo."
The Ninja girl smiled at him. "My name is Freyja."
Benten was with Murial, Lillian, and two other mermaids when the four of them burst into the great hall.
"Benten! We've got a major problem." Michelangelo began.
Sylvia ran right up to her grandmother and jumped into her arms. "Grandmother, Leo's trapped in the trials of healing! We cannot get him out."
Murial frowned, as she looked down at the three remaining turtles. "If you haven't noticed we have an invasion to repel."
Raphael muttered under his breath. "Yeah, I almost repelled my brothers thanks to you."
Benten looked sternly first at Raphael, then at Murial, but said nothing to them. To Michelangelo she said, "My friend, If Leonardo has entered the trials I can do nothing. By his own strength and wits must he free himself."
"But Benten," Michelangelo answered. "Something went wrong! Leo followed one of the Amazons in there, the lead one. I thought you couldn't have more than one person doing the trials at a time."
Loraine, one of the other mermaid, now looked up. "Are you saying that Leonardo is in the trials with someone else?" The three turtles and Sylvia all nodded.
"Impossible!" Murial said.
"Fine, say it's impossible, but we saw it happen! Little purple ninja girl went in the door, Leo went after her, and then the door turned to stone!" Raphael said angrily.
Lillian looked up at Benten confused. "How can that be? The Trials are to be taken alone. The gateway should have turned to stone the instant the girl crossed the threshold"
Benten frowned in thought. "I do not know," She said. "For now we shall treat the trials as if it were normal." She looked down at Michelangelo sadly. "My child I am sorry but we have to leave Leonardo be for now. I assure you the trials will not harm him. Right now he and the ninja he pursued are safer than the rest of us, for while they are within the trials no one else can reach them.
"Why can't you just do whatever it is you do and just free him?" Donatello asked.
"The healing waters were a gift from the spirit of the earth to my people," Benten explained. "Normally those whose responsibility it is to distribute the waters go through the trials so that they know their own mind and heart, and so are better able to heal others. Once the trials have begun they cannot be stopped, or interfered with."
"Which is why only one person is allowed in the corridor at a time," Donatello said nodding. "That way the person doing the trial isn't interfered with."
"Yeah but that other ninja is in there with him!" Raphael said. "What's gonna happen now?"
"That is what puzzles me," Lillian said. "The doorway should have shut the moment your ninja entered the passage. That it allowed Leonardo to pass through speaks of something unusual."
"Unusual or not, it will have to wait." Murial said. "Those Foot ninja you repelled earlier are back, and in greater numbers, and our first line of defense have abandoned their post!" That last statement came with a glare for the ninja turtles.
"Peace," Benten said. "They needed to report this odd turn of events to me, but now we must refocus on driving away the Foot."
"What about Leo?" Donatello asked.
"He is beyond our reach for now." Benten said sadly. "He cannot aid us in our battle, and we cannot aid him in his. Now we must prepare to repel our enemy."
Coming Soon Chapter 17: Halfway Mark
Donatello was still standing, but Michelangelo was still dizzy, and Raphael was still trying to struggle to his feet. Megan, a mermaid who was amazing with a smaller version of Benten's trident, was suddenly hit by the laser and fell against the pedestal holding the Gorgon's head. The box teetered, and slid off of its pedestal. Megan slid across the floor, and snapped down on the box before the lid could open. Her eyes were wide with fear.
"Megan!" Donatello asked. "What is in there?"
"The Gorgon's head!" Megan answered back sharply with fear. "It is forbidden to look upon it."