Hello, ya'll! Back again, on time, happily!

And guess what? Pulse officially had one hundred reviews! I'm so happy! And I have all of you to thank so: Thank you, very, very much!

Well, here's Chapter 11! Hope everyone likes this one. I sat around forever thinking it up.

Beta read by Janajyo.

Disclaimer: The TMNT do not belong to me, unless you're referring to the various merchandise I own that bears their logo. Yeah, that's all mine.

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New York City. November 27, 2306 AD. 4:05 AM.

Standing still, Callis tried to keep a calm demeanor as he waited for the turtle to continue. He exchanged a cautious glance with his two kin behind him.

All three were wondering how exactly this one had been able to understand the contents of their files, but they were even more worried about how much he knew.

They were about to find out.

With a flick of his wrist, Callis gestured for the two Ardors to come out of the darkness and keep a closer eye on the remaining terrapins. Once slipped a Tric, he approached the one in purple and spoke carefully. "Ya mind elab'ratin' on that?"

Donatello, as he was called, stretched his fingers a little. "That message you were trying to send off didn't even work." He explained. "Instead of sending it three hundred light-years into space, you sent it three hundred years into the past." He grinned. "Want me to go on?"

Callis shook his head before looking at the mutant's brothers. "And how did you discover this?"

"Don't know…" Don sighed. "But I knew I was right."

And indeed, Callis was sure that he was. That message had been sent out five years ago, with no answer. They'd begun to wonder what was happening.

The fact was… Nigel Callis was dying.

A useful gift such as shape-shifting came with a painful burden; an Ardor could only keep one given body for so long before they began to retain that shape… permanently. And that included mostly everything about it, namely life-span and digestive system.

At the age of two-hundred and twelve, he was stuck in a body that should have deteriorated by seventy-five. He couldn't eat the human meat in this form, for he would become gravely ill. Thus, the only time he could revert back to his Ardor form, a time that wouldn't last for very long, was to eat.

He should've been up to his neck in the spoils of this conquered planet. He should've been healthy, living up to an age of four hundred, perhaps.

But instead, he was sickly, dying, and cut off from his home world, with no more than three of his kin.

And this turtle knew all about it. Even worse, he knew of their mistakes.

At that point, Callis decided that this Donatello would be the first to die.

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Currently, Michelangelo couldn't understand anything that was going on at the moment. One second, they were talking about Callis' disgusting body; the next, it was over some silly message and time travel.

Sighing, Mike laid his head back down on the table. This is so confusing.

The light pulsed.

While Callis was silent, glaring daggers at his brother in purple, Mike thought about it again. Their captor had said that the light attracted Ardors, even allowed the species to camouflage themselves.

Maybe if they could find a way to stop it from doing its job, they would at least have one less thing to worry about.

Grinning slightly, the ninja thought that this was a good plan. Unfortunately, he then remembered that the source of this light, a mineral apparently, had yet to be seen by them.

Well, so much for that idea.

Another flash came. But this time, it wasn't a light blue.

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Don knew he had struck a nerve with Callis, he just didn't really care. His head was pounding, he was tired, and he wanted to get out of this place.

The teenager did find it interesting that the shape-shifter had such a weak-spot about his current physique, however- not to mention impending death. He'd some to understand Callis' predicaments, and was hoping to use them to his advantage, if he needed to.

But first things first- the four of them needed to get out of here. While speaking with Callis, a conversation that involved glaring for the last half, Don had been gently wriggling left arm out of the strap that has lashed it down.

There was hate and hunger in Callis' eyes.

That finally done, resisting the urge to go back to sleep, Don fingered the buckle next to his stomach. Undone, he would have little trouble sitting straight up.

Finished, he lay still once more, shifting his attention between Callis, and the strange device between his hand and his suit. Don had heard it go off a few times today and figured he knew how it worked. He just hoped it was just as successful on Ardors. Once Callis was close enough, Don decided to grab it.

However, he hadn't been expecting him to turn into that Ardor form.

His brothers yelling out to him; in a matter of five seconds, Callis had shed his human skin and turned into a vicious, three foot tall beast. Just as his teeth came only inches from his side, Donny moved. Suddenly awake, he sat up and crossed his left arm over his chest, reaching for the gun-like item as it fell, support lost in the change.

He caught it.

It was as simple as Don had thought. Just pull the one little trigger; that's all it took.

Luckily for him, in the purple-banded turtle's sudden movement, Callis had just barely missed his target. Instead, his jaw had bitten down on nothing but air, neck colliding painfully with the end of the table. Wind knocked out of him, Callis moaned and began to sink to the floor, reverting to his human form even as he did so.

It wouldn't take long for him to get back up. Don had learned from their battles with these aliens; they were rather thick-skinned.

Aiming carefully, he shot him quick.

A long and thin stream of bright electricity shot towards Callis, hitting him in his right thigh. He screamed, fidgeted, then became still.

Before he could examine him, Don quickly remembered the other two Ardors in the room. Turning, he made one shot, but missed the second target.

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When he saw Callis get blasted by the Tric, all Raph could think was, Way to go, Don!

Even as his brother was dealing with their captor, the red-clad turtle had started fumbling with the bands containing him, being especially careful with the one over his broken leg.

Once Callis was down, the other two Ardors were on Don like glue. He got one of them quickly enough, but the second creature was missed.

Luckily, Raph was out and in position by then. Risking further injury, he leapt off his table and tackled it. Much to his surprise and pleasure, the Ardor cushioned his fall, leaving his busted leg in the same condition it had been when he jumped.

At least it wasn't worse.

Rolling off of it, the Ardor swiped at him, nicked him on the shoulder, before being shot at by the Tric. It went down smoothly.

Silence in the room, besides their breathing. Raph looked up at Don. "How long do ya think it'll work with them?"

Donny shrugged, somewhat tired. "I dunno. But we better get out quick."

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Getting out was easier for the two who had already done so, but not so much for Mike and Leo, neither of whom could move their right arms very well. The leader was slightly embarrassed, only able to get his left hand free without help.

But he didn't think anyone would remember that. They were too busy trying to escape with their lives.

Once all four of them were free, the first thing they had to do was figure out how to make it through the mansion as quickly as possible. This quickly became rather difficult once all of their injuries were summed up. Don had a concussion, Mikey a broken arm; Raph couldn't walk without help thanks to his damaged leg, and Leo himself really couldn't move his right arm very well for the time being.

They would make do, though, the blue-clad turtle figured. If worse came to worse, they could help each other in their area of need.

Just in case, they took the remaining Trics off of the other Ardors. Raph and Don got the first two, and it was eventually decided that Leo would take the third, considering that he was ambidextrous.

Leo spared a glance at his bloody shoulder, trying not to look at the skin that was drooping off of it. He couldn't move his upper arm in any way whatsoever- not without bursting into an intense pain, anyways. Vaguely, he wondered if he'd be able to hole two swords again.

Door opened, they moved out, making a plan as they went along. "Hey," Mikey said to them, "remember what he was saying about the light? How it helps them to camouflage?" They nodded. "Well why don't we take it out? It might give us some sort of advantage?"

Snorting, Raph leaned against the wall, hobbling along for the time being. Eventually, when he had to, someone would help him. "What do ya know. Occasionally, he does have a bright idea." He whispered.

Looking tired, Don stared at the light for several seconds. "Yeah, but where do you think we'll find it?"

Mike shrugged. "I don't know- you're the one who read Little Miss Ardor's special diary, Don!"

Suddenly, Raph stopped. "Hey, come look at this."

Rolling his eyes, Mike came over. "I see nothing, dude."

The temperamental brother smacked him upside the head. "No, you idiot! Look," He grabbed Mikey's hand and ran it over the surface of the wall. Leo did likewise.

It wasn't part of the wall.

Crouching down to what he assumed was Ardor level, Leo felt along the sides. There was a button. Pressing it gently, the 'wall' slid open.

"Cool!" Mikey shouted. "It's an elevator!"

"Shh!" The three of them hushed him at the same time.

Holding the door open for them, Mike say inside, looking around. Leo was the last to enter, mouth drawn into a grimace.

Even bending down as he just had was painful.

After what seemed like forever, without any decent elevator music to pass the time by, the box finally reached its destination. Opening, the four turtles saw a near replica of the mansion.

Minus, of course, a deeper glow coming from each room.

"Well, ain't this peachy." Raph stated.

Sighing, Leo couldn't agree with him more.

Stepping out of the elevator, the ninjas walked around, carefully opening each door just a crack.

There was a lot of technology, stuff that they might come back to if they didn't find anything better, but nothing they wanted for the moment.

And then they came to a room made of glass.

There was an Ardor in it.

Suspended in a light red cage, surrounded by that blue light, it opened its eyes. The red cage dissipated, and it stepped forward until it was only two feet away from them.

Cocking its head, it stared at each one of them before narrowing its eyes at two in particular. Raphael and Michelangelo. At any second, it looked as if it was going to jump through and tear them apart.

It was at that moment that Leo did one of the most ludicrous things in his life.

Not caring about the glass, he backed up quickly, his brothers doing likewise, and aimed at the Ardor, Tric in his left hand. The bolt of electricity went straight to its target, but, of course, did not hit it directly.

Glass shattered into thousands of pieces, hurling towards the creature and back towards them. But by that point, they were moving again. Don helped Raph while Leo and Mikey ran as quickly as they could into the duplicate hallways from below before coming to a stop.

There, they listened quietly for any sound of the enemy.

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Terribly, terribly short, I know! And I'm sorry! Had I kept the length of this story at twelve chapters, it would've been longer… just not as suspenseful.

I do my best, honestly. I try to make it long, but sometimes, you just have writer's block.

Oh, hey! That Ardor you just last saw, he's the one Raph and Mike took down/spared in Chapter 9… he just doesn't remember that last part.

Anyway, I hope you liked, and please review!