Summary: The Lotus Ninjas return to the underground city and discover its crystal moon power is missing and its human population have turned into monsters.
In the Crete Fortress, Donna was completely focused on her latest project inside her lab. She began examining the underground crystals with her earth magic, so she can craft up a cure for the people who had been turned into mutated monsters by the Foot Clan geneticists. Phantom stood next to Donna and placed a tray of food and a glass of water on the desk before walking away from her creator's work space. Donna was too absorbed into her work that she paid no attention to her sisters, who made their way towards her.
"Donna, you haven't slept in the past few days." Ella said. "You've been missing training, skipping on patrols, and sending out your duplicate to cover your attendance at school."
"Whatever experiment you're working on, you need to rest." Lee said.
"Look, I know I should take some time off, but I can't." Donna said, picking up a glowing bluish-white crystal in her hands and looking at her sisters. "I've been trying to create a cure for our friends trapped in the underground city. When we fought the High Mage, he told us the power of the cavern's crystal moon infuses your friends with its regenerative energy. And because of that, they turned back into monsters whenever they strayed from the city's crystal moon for too long." She looked back at the crystal. "No matter what, I will find a cure. We promised them."
"And you will." Ellie said. She formed a tornado around Donna and levitated her out of the lab. "But first, eat dinner and rest your brain."
"Agreed." Ella and Lee nodded as they followed their younger sisters.
Inside her bedroom, Donna slept peacefully on her bed.
"Donatella...Donatella, wake up."
Donna opened her eyes at the sound of that familiar voice. She found herself standing right towards Nuala as they floated above the underground city.
"Nuala?" Donna spoke.
"Donna, I…need your help." Nuala said urgently. Her body was beginning to glitch out of place. "I don't have…much time. Because of your connection…to the crystal, you must be able to…hear it."
"Hear the crystal? What are you talking about?" Donna asked.
Nuala turned around and pointed her finger at Quarry and Venetta in their human form until they both changed into their monster form.
Donna then looked up at the crystal moon. The crystal moon suddenly started to vibrate with sound, melting and pouring all over the city. The crystalline liquid then drowned Quarry and Venetta. When they floated out of it, they emerged back into their human forms once more.
"Hear the crystal, Donatella." Nuala called out. "You will…find…the answer."
Donna suddenly woke up from her dream and quickly sat up.
"That's it! Hear the crystal!" Donna exclaimed. "Thanks, Nuala. I owe you."
In her lab, Donna placed an empty glass beaker under the two floating crystals. She took a deep breath and her eyes glowed bright purple.
"Sonikkusukurīmu." Donna casted.
Donna inhaled deeply and released waves of pure purple magical energy from her mouth, hitting straight towards the crystals. The glowing crystals started to vibrate and then melted into liquid, pouring down into the glass beaker.
"It worked!" Donna shouted happily as she sat up straight from her seat. "It really worked!"
Ellie, Ella, and Lee walked inside the lab with yawns.
"Donna, what are you doing up so late? You're supposed to be asleep." Ellie groaned sluggishly.
"Behold, the crystal's liquefaction." Donna said as she presented the glowing beaker in front of her sisters. "After a series of testing, I've learned that the crystals react to sound. When exposed to heavy sonic bombardment, they break down and liquefy. With this crystalline liquid, we can conduct an antidote serum and cure our friends from their mutations and leave the underground city forever."
"Way to go, D." Ella said with a smile.
"Well, Nuala is the one who deserves all the credit. She gave me the hint in my dream." Donna said.
"Isn't it the same dream you had like the one before we went to the underground city for the first time?" Ellie asked.
"Exactly." Donna answered. "I never got Nuala's clue until now."
"We gotta get this antidote back underground right away." Lee said.
"Lucky for us, I've been practicing my earth magic that might lead us straight down to the underground city." Donna said.
Donna lifted her glowing hands forward, summoning a gigantic dark purple rose out of the ground. The giant rose blossomed and a pale lilac circuit board pattern began running all around the flower from inside and outside.
"Hop on." Donna said.
Donna, Ella, Ellie, and Lee walked into the techno-rose. The techno-rose closed and walked out of the lab in a spider-like motion.
Outside, the techno-rose landed on the grass behind the Statue of Liberty. It burrowed straight into the sewer tunnels that led to the bottom of the cavern. Its stem-like appendages started to spin around into a drill and tunneled through a nearby wall, which Donna programmed a shortcut to the underground city.
As the techno-rose reached the lava pit, it crawled onto the wall. Inside, the Lotus Ninjas looked at the screen that displayed the underground city completely covered in darkness.
"Uh no! The crystal moon!" Donna exclaimed in shock. "It's gone!"
Lee, Ellie, and Ella gasped.
"But how?" Ella questioned.
"The crystal moon was up on the ceiling the last time we were here." Lee said. "It can't just disappear like that."
"And without the Crystal Moon, our friends are now turning back into monsters." Donna said. "I'm gonna put it on camouflage mode, so we won't get spotted by them."
Donna pressed her hand on the petal and concentrated on her magic, surrounding the techno-rose with a pulsing purple aura and turning it completely transparent. With that, the invisible techno-rose then began to crawl farther into the city.
As the techno-rose walked through the empty, the Lotus Ninjas stared at the screen that displayed the deserted areas.
Then suddenly, the techno-rose halted for a moment.
"Uh, Donna. Why did we stop?" Ellie asked. She turned to Donna and her eyes widened. "Uh no. Not again."
Lee and Ella turned their heads to Donna, whose eyes glowed bluish-white. After a few seconds, Donna shook her head as her eyes returned back to normal out of her trance. Donna placed her hands on her head with a groan.
"A crystal daze?" Lee asked.
"Yeah." Donna replied. "It's coming from the tower."
The techno-rose proceeded to walk forward until it arrived in front of the tower in the center of the city. It halted in front of the entrance and bloomed, escorting the mystic kunoichis out on the ground.
"Alright, girls. Let's do this." Donna said.
Donna, Lee, Ellie, and Ella rushed towards the tower entrance.
The Lotus Ninjas walked into the room and up on the stairs that led them to an unknown empty chamber room. When they walked to the center, Lee gasped sharply. She closed her eyes and focused on the strange auras, where she detected several frozen statues on the first floor in some sort of suspended animation.
"Uh, girls, you're not gonna believe this." Lee said. "Remember when the High Mage told us about his extinct race? I'm sensing a lot of auras down below us, but they're frozen."
"Why am I not surprised?" Donna asked as she crossed her arms.
Lee gasped again as she detected two more auras coming their way.
"What is it, Lee?" Ella asked.
"We got company." Lee said in alert.
The Lotus Ninjas look towards the doorway and see a shadow.
"Nuala!" Ellie exclaimed.
"Thank goodness." Nuala said. "Am I glad to see you. I need your help."
The sounds of hissing made the girls turn to see Venetta stalking them.
"Venetta?" Ella said.
"Since the Crystal Moon was gone, Venetta and the others have turned back into monstrous creatures." Nuala explained. "I've tried everything, but I can't search for the Crystal Moon or any other way to revert them."
"Keep her restrained." Donna said. "I'm gonna try the antidote serum on her."
"You got it." Lee said.
Lee, Ella, Ellie, and Nuala ran forward and surrounded Venetta. Ella, Ellie, and Lee ensnared their mutated friend with long chains made of magical energy. Nuala, on the other hand, summoned two stone tentacles from the ground and then wrapped around Venetta with tightness. With all of their strengths, the girls were trying to hold down their out-of-control friend.
From aside, Donna cautiously took out the beaker and prepared to create a serum. She magically constructed a syringe gun filled with her serum.
"Got it." Donna said.
Donna ran over to Venetta and injected her with the antidote serum. Venetta roared and struggled to break free as she started to revert into her human form again.
Venetta looked up at the Lotus Ninjas and Venetta.
"I knew you would come back." Venetta smiled.
After Lee dressed up Venetta, Nuala and Donna conjured a large circular stone platform, where everyone sat down on.
"I always knew you would come back with a cure. I can't thank you enough." Venetta said. "I know you all call me Venetta, but my real name is Roxanna."
"Well, Roxanna. Donna's the one who created the cure." Ella said, pointing her thumb to Donna. "We weren't able to turn you back to normal if it wasn't for her."
"But I have to know. What happened to the Crystal Moon?" Donna asked.
"The whole reason the Crystal Moon is gone is all because of us. After we lost patience being trapped down here, we've decided to store a lot of crystals to find a cure ourselves. But it was hopeless in the end. That's when we believe a large piece of crystal from the Crystal Moon might work." Roxanna explained. "We gathered some explosive geodes in hope of breaking off a perfect sizable piece of the Crystal Moon. Unfortunately, we didn't realize how powerful those geodes are until it was too late. It's our impatience that led the entire crystal moon falling straight into the molten lava. Without its regenerative power, we all were reverted back into savage, mindless monsters. But now, you can cure all of us. We can all finally be free from this place and go home."
"I would, but I only had two crystals to make one serum." Donna pointed out. "I was able to sense every available crystal around this tower, but without the Crystal Moon, they're useless. The only way for me to make enough serum for everyone is to bring back the Crystal Moon from the lava."
"Uh, excuse me?" Ellie questioned. "In case you've forgotten, it's lava. I don't suppose to have a powerful spell for us to swim down there without getting burned or melted into crisps."
"Just one…fusion." Donna answered. "I know it sounds crazy, but it'll work. We could try to use the fusion spell and swim down into the lava to retrieve the Crystal Moon. Just like the crystals I've collected to make the serum, the near-indestructible properties of Crystal Moon only liquefy from sonic vibrations, not heat.
"Just one question. Who's gonna fuse for this plan?" Ellie asked.
"Me and Ella." Donna replied.
Ella's eyes widened.
"Say what now?" Ella asked in disbelief.
"Ella, a combination of your fire magic and my earth magic will allow us to withstand the lava. I managed to test this theory for a while before working on the serum. If we fuse and concentrate on tracking the crystals, then tracking the Crystal Moon will be a piece of cake." Donna explained.
"Yeah, but…" Ella said.
"So, no pressure then." Ellie smiled, patting her hand behind Ella's back. "You got this."
Ella rolled her eyes with a groan.
"Alright, let's get out there and do what we gotta do." Lee said. She detected five familiar auras coming from the first floor. "But first, we've got some friends who might be able to help us."
Outside the city, the Turtles and the Lotus Ninjas explained their own version of the plan on retrieving the Crystal Moon, which both teams understood and got right on it. The Turtles and the Lotus Ninjas located the crystal cable from the old underground tram, securing one end to the tram tower and the other end around a sturdy rock ledge that will equip a giant-sized variation of the old block and tackle. In Donnie's term, the ledge should provide them with a good angle for optimum leverage, allowing him to take the Turtle Tunneler down into the lava to hook the cable to the crystal moon. At the same time, Nuala, Sydney and Roxanna collected explosive geodes as part of the plan.
Once that's completed, Donna and Ella stood towards each other as they joined hands with determination.
"Yūgō!" Donna and Ella casted.
Donna and Ella slowly turned themselves into a mass of purple and red light, melting together into an amorphous blob and assembling into one being. The mystic fusion has the height of an adult with a curvaceous body and fair skin. She has long maroon-colored hair tied back in a low braided faux hawk hairstyle with a darker maroon-colored jeweled band and jade green eyes. She wore a maroon zip-up leotard that has silver cuffs at the neck, leg, and arm holes. She also wore maroon knee-high heeled boots and black fingerless gloves.
Lee, Ellie, the Turtles, Nuala, Sydney, and Roxanna looked stunned.
"Pretty cool, right?" The mystic fusion said with a smile.
"Remarkable." Nuala said in awe.
"With the power of fire and earth, you'll be able to withstand the lava." Donnie said in realization. "Great thinking, Donna."
The mystic fusion blushed.
"Oh, it's nothing." The mystic fusion said with a shy smile.
"And I've got the perfect name for this fusion." Ellie beamed. "How about…Ranatella?"
"Ranatella?" The music fusion repeated. She pondered for a moment and shrugged her shoulders. "It's not a bad name. I guess."
Donnie started up the Turtle Tunneler just as Ranatella stretched her limbs.
"You ready, Ranatella?" Donnie asked.
"Ready when you are." Ranatella replied with a thumb-up.
"Engaging infrared scanner." Donnie said. "Let's do this quickly. I don't know how long the heat shields will hold."
Donnie drove the Turtle Tunneler straight into the lava. Ranatella took a deep breath and jumped into the lava. The Turtle Tunneler sank down to the bottom of the molten sea. As Ranatella swam down next to the vehicle, the Turtle Tunneler began to pull the crystal cable from behind.
Meanwhile, everyone else had finished placing the explosive geodes around the base of the tower.
"Explosives are in place." Leo informed through his headset.
"Now all we gotta do is sit back and wait for Donnie's signal." Raph said.
Then suddenly, everyone heard a monstrous roar. Leo turned on his Tech-Pack's spotlights, shining the area to show all of the mindless mutant monsters that had gathered on top of nearby buildings from above.
"Or we could keep busy by fighting for our lives!" Mikey exclaimed.
One by one, the mutant monsters jumped down and surrounded Leo, Raph, Mikey, Lee, Ellie, Nuala, Sydney, and Roxanna.
"Donnie, we got company up here!" Leo called.
"Stall them, but try not to hurt them." Donnie ordered as he continued driving the Turtle Tunneler alongside Ranatella.
"Hurt them?" Mikey questioned.
"Easy for him to say." Ellie remarked.
The Turtles and the Lotus Ninjas began dodging and repelling the mutant monsters' attacks. Roxanna and Sydney backed away to the wall when one of the mutant monsters crawled towards them. Nuala summoned several stone tentacles and began wrapped three mutant monsters, but only one of them knocked Nuala away towards Roxanna and Syndey, who quickly caught her. Lee and Ellie took notice as they quickly rushed after the mutant monster. They conjured up a magical force field that surrounded Sydney and Roxanna for protection before unleashing their magic at the mutant monster.
Donnie and Ranatella kept moving around in search of the Crystal Moon. Ranatella swan forward and her eyes finally caught the sight of the glowing massive crystal.
"There's the Crystal Moon." Ranatella said, pointing her finger forward. "We found it."
"Good." Donnie said. He looked at the screen that displayed the depleting heat shields. "I better keep an eye on the heat shields. They're starting to go."
Leo began using the grappling cables from his pack to avoid the mutant monsters while Raph blasted the two large mutant monsters with concussive stun blasts. The spider-like mutant monster shot out a blast of web at Raph, who quickly dodged out of the way. Raph fired more stun blasts that knocked the spider-like mutant monster into the lava. As Raph kept firing stun blasts at the other large mutant monster, the spider-like mutant monster climbed right back out of the lava, proving to be impervious to the molten rock. Mikey continued running from the mutant monsters until he got backed into a dead end, but Leo lowered himself on his grappling cables and rescued his brother by pulling themselves out of the way just as the mutant monster can land an attack.
Lee and Ellie, on the other hand, continued firing elemental blasts at the mutant monsters that were coming in their direction while protecting an unconscious Nuala, Sydney and Roxanna at the same time. All Sydney and Roxanna can do is watch in fear.
Meanwhile, Donnie and Ranatella are heading straight to the Crystal Moon.
"Heat shields are down to fifty percent. Structural breach in two minutes. We have to pick up the pace." Donnie informed Ranatella. "We're almost there."
"Roger that." Ranatella nodded.
Raph continued firing concussive stun blasts on the mutant monsters, but the cyclops-like mutant monster managed to grab Raph's Tech-Pack and lifted him off the ground. It crushed Raph's Tech-Pack that exploded and dropped the mutant ninja turtle to the ground. Mikey leaped on the cyclops-like mutant monster's back, but the cyclops-like mutant monster smashed him against the wall behind.
"Donnie, hurry!" Leo called through his headset as he ran away from the two mutated monsters. "I don't know how much longer we can keep this up!"
Leo jumped off the ledge and pressed a button that shot out a grappling hook. He began swinging on the grappling line and kicked into the cyclops-like mutant monster before it could corner Mikey and Raph. He then turned around to see the spider-like mutant monster crawling down the wall behind his brothers.
"Guys, look out!" Leo shouted.
Mikey and Raph noticed the spider-like mutant monster before running away from it. The spider-like mutant monster spat out another blast of web at the three fleeing turtles, wrapping them tightly in cocoons of webbing and capturing them all at once.
While the Turtles laid helplessly on the ground, the spider-like mutant monster turned to the Lotus Ninjas and spat out another blast of web that only wrapped Lee tightly in cocoons of webbing, making the mystic kunoichis collapse incapably on the ground. That left Ellie the last capable fighter standing.
In the lava, Donnie began wrapping the crystal cable around the Crystal Moon.
"Crystal Moon is nearly secure." Donnie said.
"How are the heat shields, Donnie?" Ranatella asked.
"Heat shields are almost gone. I only have thirty seconds before I'm cooked." Donnie informed. "I just have to lock off the cable."
But Donnie missed securing the giant gemstone. He then looked around to see the Turtle Tunneler was getting hotter and everything was sparking from heat overload.
"Heat shields are down to ten percent, Ranatella." Donnie groaned.
"I got you covered." Ranatella said.
Ranatella dove down and locked off the cable.
"Yes! Thanks, Ranatella!" Donnie shouted through his headset. "Guys, go now!"
The three Turtles and the two Lotus Ninjas are struggling against the webbed cocoons just as the mindless mutant monsters are closing in on them.
"We're kind of tied up right now." Mikey retorted through his headset.
"Ellie, you're our only hope!" Lee said to Ellie.
"I'm on it." Ellie nodded.
Ellie sprang high over the mindless mutant monsters. Her eyes then glowed bright orange.
"Sonikkusukurīmu." Ellie casted.
Ellie inhaled deeply and released waves of pure orange magical energy from her mouth, hitting straight towards the geodes. The geodes exploded around the tram tower, causing it to fall and pulling the cable that successfully dragged the Crystal Moon out of the lava. As soon as the light from the Crystal Moon illuminated the mindless mutant monsters, its regenerative energy began to revert them back to their human forms.
Then, Leo sliced through his webbing with his katana swords. He slashed his brothers and his friends free from the webbed cocoons. Nuala managed to regain consciousness just as Lee and Ellie removed the force field. While Nuala, Sydney, and Roxanna rejoined the other humans, the Turtles and the Lotus Ninjas all cheered.
"Don, you did it!" Leo said through the headset. But he only heard static buzzing on the other end. "Don? Ranatella? Can you hear me?"
With no response, the Turtles and the Lotus Ninjas ran to the lava pool shore. But there's no sign of the Turtle Tunneler nor Ranatella.
"Uh, they didn't…they didn't make it." Mikey said sadly.
"No, wait." Lee said, lifting her hand and concentrating on her aura sense. "I'm sensing their auras. They're still alive!"
Suddenly, Ranatella came bursting out of the lava and landed onto the shore. She was actually carrying the Turtle Tunneler with both hands.
The Turtles and the Lotus Ninjas cheered in relief.
As Ranatella placed the Turtle Tunneler down, Donnie stepped out of the vehicle. Raph, Mikey, and Leo rushed over to hug their brother.
Ranatella closed her eyes, splitting back into Donna and Ella. Lee and Ellie rushed and hugged their sisters with smiles.
Afterwards, Donnie and Donna began working on the antidote serum from the recovered crystals. They then inoculated the humans with the antidote serum, curing them all one by one.
After that, the Turtles and the Lotus Ninjas led the cured humans back to the surface. The Lotus Ninjas magically levitated Sydney, Roxanna, and the other humans out of the manhole one by one. Once the Turtles hopped out, everyone found themselves in a city alleyway just as the sun was rising in the sky.
"This is it, guys. Daylight again." Donnie said.
All the humans gasped in amazement at the beautiful sight of the sunrise. Sydney and Roxanna looked at the sky, shedding a tear of joy from their eyes.
"What's wrong?" Donna asked as she and Donnie walked up to Roxanna and Sydney.
"I-I'd forgotten how beautiful it was." Roxanna said as she continued gazing up at the sunrise.
The humans walked forward into the city, but Sydney and Roxanna looked back at the Turtles and the Lotus Ninjas.
"Thank you from all of us. We owe you our lives." Sydney said with a smile.
Sydney, Roxanna, and the rest of the humans walked out of the alleyway as Donna and Donnie waved goodbye at them.
"Come on. Let's go home." Leo said.
"See you around, ladies." Raph grinned.
"Right back at ya, tough guy." Ella winked.
Raph, Leo, and Mikey skillfully leaped back into the open manhole cover. Ella, Lee, and Ellie bounced the wall of the alleyway to land on a building rooftop. As Donnie approached the manhole, Mikey popped back up.
"Donnie, you may be a pain in the shell, but I'm proud that you're my bro." Mikey smiled.
As Mikey ducked down, Donnie turned around and walked up to Donna.
"You know, I never get the chance to tell you thanks for helping me with the serum." Donnie said.
"Well, you're not the only genius here in this city." Donna smiled.
Donna leaned over to kiss Donnie's cheek. Donnie blushed with wide eyes and held his right cheek.
"See you around, Donatello." Donna said with a wave.
Donna sprinted on the wall and leaped on the building rooftop.
With a happy smile plastered on his face, Donnie dove into the open manhole.
Sonikkusukurīmu – Japanese for sonic scream
Yūgō – Japanese for fusion
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