FicWad

Chapter Twenty Five: Demons and Dragons.

In a large field, Master Splinter stood gazing off in the distance towards five shadowed figures. At that moment, a demonic looking horse galloped towards the shadowed figures and as Splinter leaned in closer, he realized the figure on the horseback had a spear extended towards his sons, who were paralyzed in fear.

“No, get out of the way, stay away from them!” shouted Splinter as he moved forward, but the scene in front of him moved further away each second, as he watched as the figure ran his spear forward, laughing coldly, as a glowing pair of red eyes and a bright green light appeared in the distance, as one by one, he watched his sons drop to the ground. In helplessness, Splinter dropped to his knees, he tried to get towards them, but they had been pulled, out of his reach, as the figure turned its attention to Splinter and rushed the old rodent. A bright shimmer of solid gold light appeared in front of Splinter, with the rat leaning forward. The figure became corporeal giving Splinter a chance to see what exactly stood in front of him.

Before Splinter could determine what the figure looked like, his eyes snapped open, he sat in a room inside the Lap of the Gods, just finishing his meditation and looked around, he was alone, no doubt his sons had already left for the lessons that day. Despite the vague nature of certain aspects of the vision, Splinter had a good idea of what everything meant.

“What have you gotten yourselves into, my sons?” asked Master Splinter as he shook his head, talking to no one in particular. “What have you gotten yourselves into?”

With that, Splinter leaned forward, attempting to return to meditation, but uneasy imagines continued to plague the aging mutant rodent that made any attempts to undergo this relaxing process next to impossible.

In the main chamber of the Lap of the Gods, Harry, Raph, Mikey, Don, and Leo sat around, legs crossed, as the Ninja Tribunal looked at them from high above.

“The four pillars of the warrior, strength, spirit, weapons, and stealth take constant application to master,” stated Shakara calmly. “Most only master one or two, but understanding of all four is crucial to applying your abilities and pushing yourself towards the limits of your potential. Few can achieve a certain level by applying all four pillars in synergy.”

“Those who will prove themselves to be beyond a level of most warriors but yet many fail in their attempts to do so, because they are unwilling to properly take time to understand exactly what their potential could be,” stated Con. “Total mastery one or two pillars being totally mastered is a great accomplishment, but the total mastery of all four proves true character, the one with the heart of the warrior.”

Harry’s eyes snapped up at recognition of those words. He heard those in relation to him a couple of times in the past and needless to say, hearing those words once again interested Harry greatly. Until he knew differently, all Harry could do was treat this as a coincidence, but still, it was extremely interesting.

“The books that you have read so far will only give you a certain grasp of the pillars, the mind needs to be applied to firmly grasp everything we can teach you,” concluded Juto. “Only with time, you can excel with complete mastery. As today and every day your training continues, until the time that the ultimate darkness arrives, we shall monitor closely to gain a sense on how your abilities within the four pillars evolve. Some will crash, while others will arise. Only your minds can determine exactly which category you fall in.”

Hisomi clapped his hands and the doors behind them sprung open behind the group, causing them to look over their shoulders.

“You are to report to the edge of the bridge where Hisomi will be joining you within the next hour on a very crucial lesson regarding the pillar of stealth,” stated Con calmly and the Turtles and Harry made their way to their feet to obey, as they walked towards the bridge as the Ninja Tribunal instructed, as the group began to talk among themselves.

“So, did any of you get any of that?” asked Leo.

“Some of it I did, some of just raised even more questions in my mind, just like anything they tell us to be honest,” replied Harry candidly. “The books seemed to be a bit hit and miss about how well they relate to what I know, some of it does seem familiar to me, from the Slytherin library, but truthfully a lot of it is very foreign. I would not be surprised if it had even been lost centuries before the founders.”

Harry sighed, looking thoughtful before continuing to talk.

“Japanese and Britain magical philosophies are slightly different, the theory, how they work, what is required to get them to work, all that stuff,” said Harry. “The books help a lot to bridge the differences in philosophies, but there’s a lot that even I’m learning.”

“Well, I get some of it, but it’s just a lot to take it in,” stated Don and the others nodded in agreement.

“Yeah no kidding, reading all this theory just to deliver one attack, just tell me what to smash,” stated Raph. “Man, this Tribunal, they over complicate everything, all this information, my head’s swimming and it’s not like they make anything clear.”

“Yeah, and now we have a lesson with the mighty Hisomi,” remarked Mikey, as the group reached the edge of the bridge, before Mikey turned his back. “Yes, the great large dude, I am the master of stealth, the master of invisibility, but I don’t need to speak a word…”

At that moment, Hisomi had appeared from the shadows and was standing behind Mikey, as Mikey was going on and on about the large, silent member of the Ninja Tribunal as he stood in the distance.

“Uh Mikey,” said Harry urgently as he pointed over Mikey’s shoulder towards Hisomi, but Mikey did not seem to catch onto what Harry was saying to him, continuing to talk about Hisomi.

“Oh, big guy, can disappear and clap his hands to open things, the great Hisomi, member of the Ninja Tribunal…who’s standing right behind me isn’t even,” said Mikey gulping as he slowly turned around, seeing the large Hisomi standing right behind him, arms folded, as he peered at Mikey. “Uh, hi, Hisomi, we were just talking about you…nothing personal you see…just a joke…”

A loud smack connected with the back of Mikey’s head and the Ancient One stood behind him, looking very irritable at the antics of the fun loving terrapin.

“Michelangelo, it would be prudent for you to run your mouth less and exercise your mind more,” commented the Ancient One in a stern voice as he glared at Mikey, who at least had the decency to look sheepish at his antics. “Now, I am here to help Hisomi instruct you five with this lesson. Considering he has forsaken the ability to speak to completely master the ability of stealth, you may find it very difficult to understand what he expects of you. Thankfully, I have learned this and will help you as well, perhaps in time each and every one of you will understand the teachings of Hisomi on your own, without the need of words.”

Hisomi nodded, before he pointed down the bridge and the group watched him, every one of them looking confused, except for Harry, who had an inkling what Hisomi wanted, because of some subtle legilimency techniques, but still he awaited the Ancient One to confirm what the large Tribunal was saying.

“To move towards mastering the pillar of step, an elementary method would be to cross the bridge without being seen or heard,” explained the Ancient One and Hisomi nodded by the Ancient One’s side, before he inclined his hand across the group. “Hisomi requests a volunteer to be the first individual to attempt this elementary skill.”

Harry inched forward, preparing to volunteer, but the large master of stealth’s eyes were not fixed on Harry, instead he turned to Mikey, before he nodded and pointed towards Mikey, who gulped, he was going to pay for his fun from earlier.

“Michalangelo, step forward towards the edge of the bridge, remember you must get across it without being seen,” stated the Ancient One.

“Get across that thing without being seen, looks impossible to me, look how rickety it is,” commented Raph as he looked at the bridge but in a blink of the eye, Hisomi was on the other end of the bridge and he shot back again, before he nodded towards Raph, before he motioned towards Mikey, as Mikey took a few steps forward towards the bridge, screwing his eyes shut.

“Mikey, remember, concentrate, visualize yourself moving from one end of the bridge to the other, do not let any doubt cross your mind, and focus, block everything else out,” muttered Harry calmly, and his brother nodded, eyes still shut, as he concentrated as hard as possible.

“Okay, focusing, focusing,” muttered Mikey and as he concentrated, the amulet wrapped around his neck began to power up. Mikey was surrounded in waves of orange light, where he threw all caution to the win and propelled himself forward, attempting to cross the bridge. For a fleeting second, Mikey thought he could have made it across the bridge with little trouble flat. Unfortunately, there was the issue of Mikey’s concentration being broken that caused him to stop right in the center of the bridge and at that second, the bridge began to rumble, as something rocked it from beneath. A second impact caused Mikey to fall backwards, breathing heavily as something attempted to come at him. “What is that!”

“You have awoken the guardian underneath the bridge,” stated the Ancient One in a somber tone of voice, as another rumble from underneath the bridge shoot it, as Mikey attempted to get up and get away, but from the water a large beastly figure sprung up right in front of Mikey, turning it’s attention towards the one that disturbed its slumber.

Harry looked at the large dragon that had turned to face Mikey, as it snorted towards his brother. The dragon was much bigger than the Hungarian Horntail that Harry had fought in the Triwizard Tournament as it circled Mikey, as time seemed to freeze. The other three Turtles moved forward, but Harry put his hand up, prompting them to stop.

“No, you can’t fight it head on, it’s powerful, not even magic can pierce the skin of most dragons and this one is more powerful,” said Harry, as he urgently attempted to formulate the plan, as he the dragon stalked Mikey.

“Oh man, someone do something!” shrieked Mikey, as he attempted to crawl backwards, but the dragon had swerved in behind him. Mikey breathed in and out, his easiest way of escape had been blocked and he peered over the side of the bridge, it was a long way down to the water and the dragon was not helping matters by rocking the bridge as it flapped its wings from high above. “Okay, listen, I’m really sorry for crossing your bridge, I’m sorry for waking you up, please don’t eat me, forgive me, I didn’t mean to, I’ll be more quiet and stealthy and…”

Mikey stopped as the dragon snorted towards him, before it flew back down towards the edge of the bridge and quickly, Mikey rolled towards, while the group looked at their brother, who looked shaken up, breathing heavily, as Hisomi stood in the distance, an uncaring expression on the ninja master’s face, as Mikey finally regained his bearings before he looked up towards Hisomi.

“So do I get a re-do?” asked Mikey but all this earned him was a sharp smack right to the back of the head courtesy of the Ancient One and Mikey turned towards the old master with an incredulous look on his face. “What?”

Sometime later, the Ancient One was back in the temple, where Master Splinter was sitting in the distance, attempting to deal with the uneasy thoughts that plagued her. In the background, Ginny sat, arms crossed, eyes darting at the window, but not too interested in what was happening outside. The truth was, the Ninja Tribunal seemed a bit shady to her on how evasive they were being. Granted, she knew what Harry was trying to do, in an attempt to gain information, but still Ginny did not like it one bit, after the fact they were dragged here for some great evil. At first, Ginny speculated that they were talking about Draxxor, the dangerous demon from the Realm of Darkness that battled Salazar Slytherin and the rest of the Founders, but given what Harry had told her about how they talked about this darkness, it was something else, something different, but something very powerful all the same. She wandered outside for several hours, before returning here when she suspected she had been followed. Whether it was by the Ninja Tribunal or anyone else, she could not be for sure, but Ginny sensed that it was someone that she did not trust, so she returned here immediately. When Harry returned, she would have to tell him of this.

“They had to cross that bridge, with that large water guardian underneath it!” shouted Master Splinter angrily, as he sprung up, the Ancient One taking a few steps back. “They have only been here for a short time, they are not ready for such an opponent.”

“What is this water guardian?” asked Ginny calmly and the Ancient One shook his head and indeed Splinter seemed to be a bit reluctant to tell Ginny exactly what it was either, but the glare that the young woman was shooting towards the two caused no room for argument.

“It’s a large dragon, that lives underneath the bridge not to far from here,” commented Master Splinter and at that point, Ginny sprung up to her feet.

“They had to fight a dragon for training,” said Ginny softly, in a dangerous voice and the Ancient One shook his head, before he calmly looked towards Ginny.

“No, of course not, they did not have to fight it,” stated the Ancient One and Ginny relaxed slightly. “They merely only had to get past it, it’s an elementary stealth maneuver employed by the Ninja Tribunal to train new Acolytes, it’s perfectly…”

“ELEMENTARY, TO GET PAST A BLOODY DRAGON!” yelled Ginny, who already detested the Ninja Tribunal by the fact they had their minions attack Harry and the others, before dragging them off, before she sprung up, the floor beneath them began to shake. “I bet this thing was large, much larger than the Hungarian Horntail that Harry had to get past…and…they had to get past it…putting them in unnecessary danger…this bloody Tribunal….they have no regard for anything, anyone, don’t give a damn.”

Ginny began breathing heavily as she sunk back into the chair, angered beyond all words as Splinter also did not look too pleased and even the Ancient One acknowledged their anger, also having sensed some form of resentment from the others. In fact, the only one that seemed to be willing to completely put aside his anger towards the Tribunal long enough to train was Harry and even he seemed to not trust them as far as he could throw them. The Ancient One did in fact know about the Tribunal all too well and knew that they could be among the harshest taskmasters in the world.

On a mountain side, Leo, Raph, Mikey, Don, and Harry were sitting, where Shakara faced them, looking at the acolytes with slight disdain before she addressed them.

“Strength is about the mental elements as well as the physical elements, so first your mind must be trained to visualize what must be done, before it is done,” stated Shakara simply, before she raised her hand up and effortlessly smashed a boulder to dust right before the eyes of the group, before she turned towards them, with a slightly superior look in her eyes. “Now, which one of you would dare attempt to emulate this feet of strength.”

Naturally, Raph sprung to his feet and walked towards the boulder. Harry sat, calmly, he suspected that an advanced particle vibration would weaken the rock, allowing it to be easily smashed. Still, Raph looked at the boulder, facing it, before he reared back his arm. Raph punched the boulder with full force, before he fell backwards, clutching his arm in pain as he fell to his knees. His brothers got up to step forward, but Shakara should no sympathy, just disgust.

“Weak, pathetic, you have an aptitude for the physical strength, but you are mentally weak, once you apply your mind, then you will be able to do this rudimentary feat of strength,” said Shakara briskly, before she raised her arm and effortlessly smashed the boulder into dust, as Raph nursed his injured arm, before pulling himself up. “Only then will you feel the satisfaction of victory, but until then, you will feel nothing but unbelievable agony.”

Shakara paused, to ensure that all of her words sunk in to the entire group, before she continued the lesson. Needless to say, there was a lot of work to be done on the majority of this group of acolytes before they were fully ready. It was the hope that there would be time enough to completely train them, before the dark rising that they had all envisioned began.

In a dark room, surrounded by torches, the weapons master known as Juto walked forward, turning towards the Turtles and Harry, peering at them through narrowed eyes, before he turned his neck towards a large structure that looked very much like a decapitated dragon’s head. The mouth sprung open and fire shot out of the throat, prompting the Turtles and Harry to take a step backward, eyes widened in awe, but Juto just turned to them with disgust.

“The Spirit Forge, maggots,” said Juto.

“Shishou or not, he better lay off that maggot talk,” muttered Raph to Harry, who nodded slightly in agreement by his brothers side, but if Juto heard Raph, he chose not to acknowledge him.

“You have pathetic twigs and scraps of metal, useful for fighting off insects, but against real threats, you would be crushed in a matter of seconds if this is your only line of defense, so you will require new and more powerful weaponry,” stated Juto calmly. “Now, those who are worthy will find what they require from within the Spirit Forge, but I must warn you, those who are unworthy will suffer dire consequences. Now who dares step forward and be the first to try to pull a weapon from the Spirit Forge.”

The group stood, unmoving, they were a bit reluctant to try their luck, truth be told and Juto just looked at them, as if he almost expected their reluctance.

“No one, well I expected as much from the insolent brats of that pathetic rodent,” commented Juto and this prompted several angry glares from the quintet of ninjas, as they moved forward.

“Oh no, I did not just here him badmouthing Master Splinter like that, let me through, I’ll show you how worthy I am!” shouted Raph, but Juto just looked amused at the turtle’s burst of anger, before stepping to the side, allowing Raph to move towards the Spirit Forge. Quickly, Raph reached forward and sparks flew from the Spirit Forge, before he reached in and for a second, time seemed to slow down to an absolute crawl, before he pulled out a large three pronged spear like weapon. Raph looked it over, nodding approvingly

“Congratulations, warrior, you have not embarrassed yourself, now would you other maggots like to attempt to test to the Spirit Forge,” prompted Juto, and at that instant, Mikey walked forward, pulling out a weapon that resembled a staff with two Kusari-Gama chains on the end. Mikey nodded approvingly at his weapon and Don reached forward into the Spirit Forge, before he pulled out a larger, thicker Bo Staff with blades on either side. Leo stepped forward and reached into the Spirit Forge, before he pulled out a large bulky sword, with a miniature dragon on the hilt. Leo struggled to hold it up, staggering around, but managed to find a way that worked after a few seconds.

The group waited with baited breath, as Harry approached the Spirit Forge. Everyone wondered what weapon their youngest brother would get, no doubt something really powerful and advanced would come out. Harry reached forward, but the fire of the Spirit Forge extinguished.

“Was that supposed to happen?” asked Don, as everyone exchanged completely baffled looks as the Spirit Forge remained immobile, but Juto did not give any hint to what he was thinking, as he turned to face the acolytes.

“All of you who chosen a weapon will learn exactly what uses they have all in due time and for some, certain uses will come instinctively,” stated Juto. “All will be revealed in due time.”

The group walked off, that seemed to be the Tribunal’s answer to everything, ‘All will be revealed in due time’. Harry looked off in the distance, wondering exactly why he did not get a weapon. Perhaps his abilities were not as strong as he thought it was.

“You know, I think that Spirit Forge thing was whacked, you really should have gotten something Harry,” said Raph slowly towards Harry, in an attempt to boost his brother’s spirits but Harry just shrugged indifferently, as the others looked at him.

“Harry, are you okay?” asked Leo as he leaned forward towards his youngest brother but Harry just nodded his head calmly.

“Fine Leo, everything is just fine,” said Harry in a tone of voice that he hoped came across as indifferent, but there were still some weird things going on. As an actual wizard, a part of Harry did in fact suspect that he would grasp the teachings of the Tribunal better than his brothers. However, there were a couple of things that pointed against that, the amulets had caused waves of magical energy to flow through them. Certainly, Harry had felt something coursing from the amulet, but the fact that he had not seen anything was driving him up a wall. The latest misadventure with the Spirit Forge and it not granting Harry a weapon also was a small hit to Harry’s ego, something that he vowed to try his hardest to block it out of his mind, not to allow it to pollute his training.

Con faced the group as they sat around in a circle, nodding towards them.

“Physical abilities are the most useless, while mental strength is key from completely mastering your spirit form,” lectured Con, as he faced the group. “On the highest plane of concentration, your spirit will manifest into a physical, corporeal form that can be utilized for battle and only the most powerful manifest into a dragon, signaling a ferocious and vicious, efficient fighter.”

The group nodded, as Con paced back and forth, before he continued his lecture.

“Now those even with the smallest amount of mental strength can manifest a slight projection of their spirit form, but more mental concentration is required for it to project a distinguishable manifestation,” explained Con. “Now, clear your minds of all thought and concentration, concentrate in bring your inner spirit forms and if you train your minds sufficiently, they will come up.”

At that moment, the group screwed their eyes shut and at the second, Harry began to illuminate a blinding shade of gold. Magical energy swirled around him, before it shot up into the air, and held for a brief second, but before Con could get a good luck at it, Harry collapsed to the ground, feeling rather dazed and dizzy.

“Impressive, no doubt you have the potential for something powerful, but it will take a bit more mental strength to completely manifest, without exhausting yourself,” commented Con in a mysterious voice as the group seemed a bit more confused by these words, but at that moment, the other three Ninja Tribunal members moved forward, turning to Con.

“One of the artifacts has been sighted, it’s being guarded right next to a river not far from here,” informed Shakara and Con nodded in agreement, as the Turtles and Harry looked positively baffled at what was going on, but knew better than to ask.

“We should send the Acolytes to retrieve the artifact, it would be a prudent way to test the skills they have been taught so far,” suggested Juto and the others nodded in agreement, before Shakara turned towards them.

“You five Acolytes will retrieve a very important item to the threat we are facing, by a river on the other side of the village,” stated Shakara. “There you will find a cask, but be warned, the guards will not be willing to part with it easily, you will need to apply everything that you have learned to properly retrieve the artifact.”

“Go forth now and retrieve the cask, the fate of the world rests on it,” ordered Con as he extended one arm forward curtly, and thus the Turtles picked up their weapons, with Harry leading the way, as the moved across the village to the river.

“Man those guys are a right ray of sunshine, aren’t they?” asked Mikey as they moved forward, still adjusting to the sheer weight of their new weapons, it was much tougher to lug these around then the weapons they were used to.

“Man, I thought we here to train about this mysterious threat, not that anyone’s exactly clued us in on what it was, but here we are, playing a group of errand boys,” said Raph moodily.

“Maybe if we retrieve this cask, they’ll be more willing to tell us what’s going on here,” said Don but Raph had a look on his face that indicated he very much doubted that the Ninja Tribunal would even come close to letting them in on anything any time soon, as they walked forward, but they stop suddenly.

“I think this might be the place,” remarked Leo and Harry peered out, nodding, before he turned to the others.

“Good assumption, considering the large amount of Kappas that around that rock and look, that must be the cask,” remarked Harry, as he peered out to see what seemed to be dozens of Japanese water demons, a creature that seemed to be overlooked as a threat as far as dark creatures were concerned, but could be more trouble then they are worth, especially when they were near a large amount of water.

“So any ideas on how to get across Harry?” asked Leo hopefully and Harry looked forward, but Mikey looked thoughtful.

“Leave it to me, I can get across without them seeing me and back with the cask,” remarked Mikey and before anyone could say any differently, Mikey screwed up his eyes in concentration, with large spirals of orange magical energy circling around Mikey, before he rushed forward, through the water, towards the rock where the cask laid. The group looked up, as Mikey climbed onto the rock. Quickly, he lifted up the cask, but this minor act blocked his concentration, causing Mikey to return to normal and the Kappa looked up, before they turned their attention towards Mikey.

“MIKEY GET OUT OF THERE, NOW!” yelled Leo urgently, but the Kappa had moved towards Mikey and Mikey attempted to leap forward, but the Kappa grabbed him by the ankles. Squirming, Mikey attempted to pull his way through, which prompted the others to rush into the water, at the Kappa and swing towards the Kappa, but just went the Kappa were about to get hit, they twisted their forms before they traveled through the water.

“Man, you can’t even touch these things,” remarked Raph as he jabbed his weapon towards the Kappa but the dark creature moved through the water, before it came right behind Raph, thumping him across the back of the head, before Raph spun around, but two more shut from behind him. Harry rushed forward, sending jets of orange light towards them, but the Kappa managed to move back through the water, evading the attacks of the group, as they continued to move through the water.

“It’s difficult to beat them when they are in the water,” grunted Harry as he moved forward, desperately attempting to put a Kappa out but the Kappa dove into the water. Several advanced on Mikey, but Harry flicked his wrist, causing waves of fire to blast towards the Kappa. The water demons scattered, splashing into the water, before coming up at strategic points, attempting to move through, as the others moved through.

“Surely there’s something you could do to isolate them from the water,” suggested Don desperately and Harry dove forward, forcing a pair of Kappa away from Leo.

“An evaporating charm could be done, but with the amount of water here, it could take hours,” remarked Harry feebly, as the Kappa attempted to grab his arm, but Harry sent a magically simulated electrical pulse, knocking the Kappa back, forcing him to retreat back to the water with a splash.

“Surely something could be done,” pleaded Leo, as the Kappa grabbed a hold of Leo’s new weapon. Leo slammed the Kappa down, as a small pulse of magical energy flew through the water, causing the water level to be dropped.

“Hold that thought,” said Harry, as he blasted the Kappa away, before he rushed forward and grabbed the weapon right from Leo. “Sorry Leo, but I’m going to have to borrow this.”

Harry swung the sword down, causing a high impact evaporation charm to pulse from his body, through the sword, causing the water to dry up among them. The army of Kappa moved desperately towards the few remaining puddles, but it was not enough water for them to sustain their strength, so they collapsed to the ground. Harry pushed the sword back towards Leo, before collapsing down across the dried river floor, breathing heavily.

“HARRY!” shouted the Turtles in unison, as they saw the fact that Harry could barely move.

“Only put a time delay charm….water will come back in about a day….get the cask…” breathed Harry, as Mikey and Raph pulled Harry up to his feet, with Harry’s legs dragging behind him, as they dragged him off, trying to get Harry to safety to the Lap of the Gods, where he could rest, as Don took the cask, before the group walked back to the Lap of the Gods.

When the reached the temple, Ginny burst out the front entrances, as she saw the state that Harry was in, looking absolutely worried, as she kneeled down right beside Harry as his brothers sat down, as Master Splinter and the Ancient One walked out as well.

“Harry, are you okay?” asked Ginny as her bottom lip trembled as Harry just feebly looked up at her with his green eyes and a strained smile.

“Fine Ginny, I’ll live,” said Harry weakly, but he felt absolutely drained from having evaporated all of that water with the weapon.

“What has happened?” demanded Master Splinter.

“Fought Kappa….dozens of them…to get artifact,” said Harry. “I’ll be fine…”

“You could have died!” yelled Ginny as she looked at the Tribunal with an accusing look in her eye, but none of them seemed all that concerned.

“That matters little, as he should have been left, if it could have jeopardized the cask,” stated Con coldly and Ginny reached for her wand, shaking angrily, but Harry gripped her arm firmly, as Shakara calmly snatched the cask from Don’s hand, before stepping back.

“Yet, you jeopardized the lives of my sons, without telling them the entire story of why they were brought here,” countered Master Splinter and everyone looked towards the Tribunal.

“Three artifacts that are dear to the dark threat that you may yet face cannot be reunited, this was one of the artifacts, another is still out there, and a third has been in our possession for quite some time,” said Con calmly, as he opened the top of the cask. “Perhaps this will convince of the danger that you are facing.”

The group peered forward, and gasped in surprise as the cask opened to reveal a very familiar looking helmet, the helmet of the Shredder!