CHAPTER SIX
Having spent as much time as they could afford mediating, the Turtles travelled along the sewer network towards the manholes that led directly up to the warehouse district.
They could hear the marching feet of many foot soldiers above them.
"Deep breath, brave heart" Leonardo said.
With a sharp intake of breath, the Turtles popped open the manhole and threw themselves into the fire.
The Foot soldiers came at them with swords and daggers, some managed to impact a few of the green machine, which sent them reeling back, but they were able to press onwards and take the fight back to them, managing to score direct hits which obliterated their opponents.
They pushed ahead, the mediation and grasp of this reality's mechanics giving them the additional strength, speed and stamina to shake up the sensation of exhaustion that would overtake anyone at this crucial moment.
Other Foot soldiers turned up on the scene, this time holding large electrically charged javelins, which they threw at their opponents.
Donatello deflected a couple of them with his Bo Staff, but one impaled Raphael on the shoulder, and gave him a few searing volts.
To the Turtles' horror, they saw Raph gradually begin to fade out of existence, only to quickly reappear, no sign of marks on his body and his shoulder was clear with no sign of the javelin.
"You look like you just came out of the shower and not the wringer" Donatello remarked.
"You had us worried there" said Leonardo.
"Yeah, it looked like was game over but you've been given extra life" Michelangelo responded.
"Raph, what did you see on the other hand when you vanished? It's crucial we know" said Donatello as he swept a few Foot Soldiers off of their feet and tore his Bo staff across all of their heads as they gradually rose up, decapitating several of them in succession.
"Could your curiosity about the great beyond wait until we're a little beyond these footloose losers?" said Raphael as he resumed the battle.
The doors of a large black security van opened and more Foot Soldiers spilled out, each brandishing more javelins and daggers.
Donatello spotted a large tub of engine oil perched next to the van, he instinctively took out a pocket lighter from the back of his shell, lit it up, attached it to the front of his Bo staff and gave the container a large whack, spilling its contents out on to the floor and instantly igniting it.
The vat exploded, taking out the van and several of the Foot Soldiers along with it.
"Bedaubing, bedauboom" remarked Raphael.
"Now that we've given ourselves a little breathing room, it's time you told us what you can about the other side" Donatello asked.
"Well it sure wasn't greener" Raphael replied.
Meanwhile, April O'Neil was trying to wriggle free of the tight rope that bound her hands and feet. Rocksteady and Bebop were taking turns watching over her as well as keeping a sharp eye out for signs of the intrusive Turtles.
She was having little success in breaking free.
"I've got a good mind to call for help" said April as she twisted her body around, trying to rub her bonds against a concrete pillar to the right of her.
"I told you we should have tied her to a chair" said Rocksteady.
"Taping your mouth shut would have sufficed also" came a light and gentle feminine voice from behind them.
April turned around, it appeared only she could hear this.
There, standing before her, was a little girl in a velvet frock with light tap-dancing shoes, clutching a small plush doll in the shape of a Turtle.
"Where on earth did you spring from?" April said.
"Certainly from nowhere on Earth" said the girl.
"You shouldn't be here sweetie, it's too dangerous, scamper" April insisted.
"Who are you talking to?" said Bebop.
"Yeah, pipe down, you'll attract the attention of them toitles" said Bebop.
"You guys don't see a little girl standing right there?" April asked.
"Great, those ropes are cutting off the oxygen to her pretty mind" said Rocksteady.
April ignored their comments and focused on the mystery before her.
"Who are you?" she asked.
"This is why they should have gagged you, we can't have a private conversation if all you're going to do is react aloud to everything I'm saying" the girl said, expressing slight annoyance.
"I don't follow, do you want me to whisper?" said April, curious as to how she could proceed.
"Whisper with that pretty mind of yours" the girl replied, poking April in the forehead.
April smiled.
"I get it, you can read my mind, and you're like something out of a Steven King novel" she said.
"What do you remember?" the girl said, still speaking aloud, but to little reaction from April's captors.
"How far back do you want me to go?" said April.
"Past this life if you can" the girl requested.
"Past this life? Are you into reincarnation or something? Was your dad a Buddhist?" asked April.
"You could say that, I have forged new lives from old. Strange, yet familiar, but I need to know how this all began for you, this journey you're on. I made you forget something, and I'm debating whether or not I should put it all back the way that it was"
"And what if I can't reflect the way you want to?" said April, again attempting to break loose of her bonds with an almighty tug of the ropes bounding her hands.
She felt cornered by both the girl and her captors. Somehow she instinctively knew the girl was just as dangerous as Bebop and Rocksteady were, only in a different way.
She didn't know why she had just asked that last question to the girl, all she knew was thinking past what she knew would prove difficult. She was more puzzled as to why a part of her assumed reflecting on a previous life ought to be an easy feat.
Almost as if what lay beyond her current life had been fairly recent.
"If you can't reflect, if you can't look through your previous choices, you'll leave me with no choice at all" the girl said, saddened.
Back at the Technodrome, Shredder stood in awe as the dimensional portal flickered into life, sending forth further reinforcements from Dimension X.
General Tragg approached him with paperwork containing schematics for the portal.
"The modifications will be made as soon as the fifteenth legion have passed through, are you certain you can position the battery in time for the experiment?" Tragg asked.
"The battery is proving a difficult task, but it's manageable, very soon I will have its secrets at my disposal, and when I do, there will be so much more of me around, those who oppose me will find it difficult to easily dispose of the name and face of the Shredder"