FicWad

Chapter Twenty Seven: The Beginning of the End:

In a temple, the five heralds of the Shredder stood around a swirling pool inside a temple with an opened roof. They peered high above to the sky outside, through their mystic energies they saw omens of events that were still to come.

“It is written in the skies, the five shall undo the chains of time and free the dark one,” declared the fire foot mystic in a wicked, devious voice, as he looked up.

“And we are the five,” added the water mystic in an equally devious voice. “We shall free the master”

“Raise him from his captivity so he can unleash chaos upon the world,” continued the metal mystic.

“Truly, the end will be near for all,” said the earth mystic with a devious glint in his eyes.

“For it begins tonight,” concluded the wind mystic, as a swirling vortex of magical energy appeared in the temple, before the five heralds disappeared from sight, preparing their schemes to bring forth the Shredder. The world would not know what hit them.

Around this time, a ship moved through the ocean, heavy waters splashing against it, as it returned to the Lap of the Gods. On the ship, the weary forms of the Turtles and Harry stood, leaning against, gathered around a large wooden box, which contained another artifact, the gauntlet of the Shredder.

“I hope the Ninja Tribunal appreciates what we went through to get this thing,” grumbled Raph, as he looked at it. “The guards weren’t all too willing to give it up without a fight.”

“No kidding, I’m going to be feeling that thing smashing me into those rocks for a long time,” added Mikey, as he leaned against the side of the ship, wincing as he favored his injured ribs. “Still, at least the Tribunal will have all three artifacts now, they can safely guard them, this is over right?”

Harry turned himself slightly, looking out to the sky. He wondered if the artifacts would have been much better off spread out and not in one place. It would be much more difficult to consolidate them together to resurrect the Shredder. Yet the Tribunal was adamant about having the Turtles and Harry go forth and collect them. Now the helmet was back in the possession of the Lap of the Gods, and soon the gauntlet would be as well. Still, in the back of his mind, Harry feared that the Tribunal was making a mistake or perhaps they had some grander scheme in mind with the artifacts now in one place. Despite the role they had played in teaching Harry enough that he had a better control over his mystical abilities, something about them seemed less than trustworthy to Harry. Perhaps he was just being paranoid, but he doubted it very much.

“Guys, we’re here,” announced Leo, as he peered out and the Ninja Tribunal, along with Master Splinter, the Ancient One, and Ginny were awaiting their return on the edge of the Lap of the Gods.

“Hand over the artifact,” said Con shortly and Don reached up, handed the box towards Con, who calmly took it. “At last, all three of the artifacts are in one place and safe from the heralds of the Shredder.”

“We should take this artifact inside, immediately,” said Shakara. “I have sensed great forces of darkness in the air all day, it is very unwise to linger outside, especially of the heralds are on the move once again.”

“Yes, that would be obvious, but first we must take the Acolytes down to the third artifact, in the off chance that an attack occurs and they are the only one’s in a position to escape with the Acolytes,” said Juto and Shakara looked at him like he had lost his mind. “Yes, I know of the risks, but it is an even heavier risk to not have the coffin be saved should an attack occur.”

“A prudent suggest, Hisomi lead them downwards, while we take the artifact inside,” said Con with a nod, before Hisomi lead the way, with The Turtles, Harry, Ginny, Master Splinter, and the Ancient One following them. In the back, Splinter and the Ancient One had calculating looks on their face, allowing the others to move slightly ahead, as Hisomi lead the way down a winding set of stairs, all the way towards the coffin containing the body of the Shredder. It was a long trip, deep below the Lap of the God temple itself, to keep the main and most dangerous artifact safe from those who would use it for their own devious means.

Shakara followed Con and Juto into the temple, where Con opened the door, the wooden box containing the gauntlet tucked underneath his arm.

“I still am rather reluctant to agree that it was a good idea for the acolytes to know the location of the body,” said Shakara. “Granted they have much improved, but still, it is deep, I doubt that even the most powerful magic could penetrate the protections without our assistance. And more knowing about the location would do more help than good…”

“It is just an extra precaution, you can never be too careful,” argued Con shortly, as he moved forward, towards another room, but Shakara stopped. Loud moaning sounds could be heard from the other side of the door, and she stepped to the side investigation, truthfully the behavior of Con and Juto had been rather peculiar, even for them and she pushed the door open, eyes widening at the sight she saw as she reached the inside of the room.

On the wall hung Juto, pinned up by the sleeves of his robes by daggers, blood dripping to the ground and right next to him, Con was just slightly stirring, as he looked up at Shakara. On the floor laid the battered forms of Master Splinter and the Ancient One.

“The heralds are here…” muttered Con, as he attempted to pull himself to his feet, but the door in front of them burst open, to reveal the cackling form of the wind mystic. The herald blasted a large gust of wind towards Shakara, who blocked it, but the form of the imposter Con moved his way in, dropping his cover to reveal that he was in fact the earth mystic. He jammed his staff down into the ground and a miniature earthquake erupted, causing Shakara to have to leap out of the way, but a large burst of rock struck her full on, dropping her to the ground, as the form of the imposter Juto appeared from behind, skin melting to reveal the fire mystic, as he held up the cask, containing the helmet of the Shredder.

“Insolent Ninja Tribunal, you have done the work for us and now one final artifact before we have all we need to resurrect the master,” thundered the fire mystic triumphantly, as his other two fellow mystics made their way forward. Shakara rushed forward, but the earth mystic raised his arm in the air. A large, thick rock wall erupted from the ground, sealing the nearest exit, and allowing the three heralds to make there way down towards the chambers below to join the others.

Con pulled himself to a standing position, shaking the mental cobwebs loose, before he reached over and freed Juto from his predicament. The injured Ninja Tribunal member staggered, wounded, but an intense look etched on his face, as Master Splinter and the Ancient One pulled themselves up, looking battered and quite bruised.

“Come, we go around the long way, the acolytes and Hisomi are walking into a trap as we speak,” said Con and they moved towards the back entrance, as there was more than one way to get into the chambers below ground, even if this way would take much longer. It was the hope that the training they gave would see their acolytes through until they could deal with the heralds.

Hisomi reached the final stair before he moved his way to a large wall of rock. Reaching forward, the master of stealth placed his hand on the rock, causing the rock to shift slightly, giving way to a doorway. Walking inside, Hisomi placed his hand on a large slab of rock and once he had activated it, the coffin containing the body of the Shredder laid. It gave off a rather chilling aura, as Harry shivered as he looked forward, he got an extremely evil sense off of the coffin and giving whose remains were inside, he suspected it was for good reason. He looked towards Ginny and his brothers, they had equally apprehensive looks.

“The final artifact,” said Master Splinter, before his eyes glowed red, as Splinter and the Ancient One morphed into the metal and water mystics.

“Guys, it’s a trap!” yelled Leo, when he suddenly realized what happened, but one of the heralds raised his hand, sending a large tidal wave of water towards them. Harry closed his eyes, as a burst of hot wind came from out of nowhere, counteracting the water, causing it to evaporate in an instant, before he motioned for the others to move forward, but the second herald had attempted to sneak around, moving its way to the casket.

“OH NO YOU DON’T!” yelled Raph loudly as he sprung up and jabbed his weapon towards the ground, as the other shielded there ears, with a large sonic boom echoed throughout the area, causing the rocks above the metal mystic to crumble, the jagged edges pointing. Pieces of metal deflected them but Don leapt up, spinning around, as a large purple cyclone burst from his weapon, knocking the rocks back.

“This tests our patience, time to wrap this up,” said the water mystic in a bored voice, as he rose up, blasting large jets of water from his hands. Quickly, Leo moved forward, using his weapon to slice at the jets. A sizzling sound echoed through the tunnels, as the water evaporated for the most part, as Harry sprung up behind the other herald of the Shredder, as he made another attempt to grasp the coffin. A large wall of conjured fire had forced the metal mystic to rethink his strategy, as he moved around, not wishing to melt, as the water mystic circled the group, creating a second attempt of a tidal wave to wash away his adversaries, but Hisomi had already made his way around to stop the heralds from walking off from the coffin.

From behind, the other three heralds floated from above, eyes narrowed, before the fire mystic raised his hands, and sent a large blast of fire towards the back of Hisomi. The large master of stealth made more noise than he did in quite some time as he smashed to the ground. The wind and water mystics joined their powers to create a large hurricane effect, directing them towards the Turtles, Harry and Ginny. Harry attempted to part the storm, but the two combined mystical elements had washed them off. The group struggled to keep afloat, as the chamber was flooded, as the heralds cackled, as more water was blow towards them, huge cyclones of wind keeping them off balance. Unless they found a way out of here soon, they would be crushed under the large amount of water pressure, as the heralds formed a protective barrier, shielding themselves from the hurricane, as they walked over to the coffin.

“An amusing diversion, but really, you had little chance against us at all, you pathetic whelps,” taunted the fire mystic, as they prepared to haul the coffin out, as Harry desperately clung onto a large section of rock, attempting to keep his head above the water, as he reached forward, as he moved toward his brothers and Ginny, desperately trying to help them, fighting against the miniature hurricane conjured by the heralds, but no matter what Harry tried, the hurricane seemed to fight.

The heralds prepared to shift the coffin away, but the wall behind them slid open, to reveal the other three members of the Ninja Tribunal, along with Master Splinter and the Ancient One, all looking towards the heralds, with determined looks on the face, not to allow them to pass.

“You have gotten this far, but we will fight to the very end to ensure that you do not depart from this temple with any of the artifacts,” said Con, as the heralds were knocked backwards, having been caught off guard with the swift attacks by the Tribunal, but they rebounded, circling the Tribunal, shooting bolts of mystical energy, but to their credit, the Tribunal fought off every single attack, they could not under any circumstances allow the heralds to leave with all three artifacts, as it would bring certain doom upon earth.

Harry attempted to keep his head above water, he saw the Tribunal and the Heralds battle off in the distance, knowing that neither group cared. He saw the others just barely keeping their heads above, as the top of Harry’s head was dangerously close to scrapping the top of the chamber, a very anxious situation as Harry’s head was all that was remained above water. He saw the floor deep below, if he could somehow bypass the mystical spells placed around them by the heralds, he could stop this. Concentrating hard, Harry forced through the spells, struggling as they fought him every step of the way. A large hole was magically drilled through the rock. Breathing heavily, knowing that time was of the essence; Harry managed to force another spell through the hole, that if it had worked correctly would have created a sort of vacuum effect, removing some of the water.

Much to his relief, the spell had worked. A loud sound indicated the water was being pulled out of the chamber, the levels dropping significantly. In the distance, Harry still saw the sounds of combat, but the others relaxed their attempts to keep afloat, as Harry moved over, spotting the combined mystical elements. Harry concentrated hard, attempting to separate the two mystical elements. The powerful spells had fought against Harry, but Harry managed to pry them apart. With the hurricane effect sufficient eliminated, the water lowered until the group grabbed to the ground.

“Good thinking Harry,” said Ginny quietly, as the others nodded in agreement, relieved that Harry had been able to find a way to prevent them from dying a rather messy death, but the sounds of battle nearby proved that they had only weathered one storm. Now a wounded Hisomi had rejoined the battle, but the heralds were relentless, as Master Splinter and the Ancient One moved over towards Leo, Raph, Don, Mikey, Harry, and Ginny.

“Are all of you alright?” asked Splinter and the group nodded, as the Ninja Tribunal still engaged with intense battle, the heralds losing some ground, but when the Tribunal attempted a lethal attack, the heralds managed to push back the attack, forcing the Tribunal to back off, as the heralds attempted to slip through and move off with the coffin.

“Yeah, we’re fine, but the Tribunal looks like they’re gong need all the help they can get,” said Leo anxiously, as they moved forward, as the Tribunal just barely blasted the heralds away from the coffin, causing the minions of the true Shredder to reevaluate their attacks.

“Right, Ginny, please stay here,” said Harry, he did not want her to get hurt and given the look on her face, Harry suspected that Ginny understood that no matter how good she was at dueling, the heralds were several levels above her at power and would flatten her in a matter of minutes, as Harry, the Turtles, Master Splinter, and the Ancient One moved forward to help, as Ginny stood back. She had her wand at the ready, not knowing how well it would help, as she watched Harry move in, shooting a heavy blast of water towards the fire wielding herald, forcing him to scatter to avoid being wounded.

The earth and metal mystics moved towards the coffin, but Mikey closed his eyes and darted from behind them at an intense speed. The burst of Mikey moving forward had caught the heralds to drop down to the ground, allowing Con to rise up. The two heralds were blasted backwards from the coffin, as Harry continued his battle against the fire mystic on the other end, managing to keep it off balance with fire. The earth mystic had disappeared and seconds later, it was evident where he had went off to, as he burst back up from the earth from below, sending vibrations from above, knocking everyone off balance. Another loud rumble, as the earth mystic traveled, attempting to jar the coffin loose from its foundations.

“Not today!” yelled Don as he managed to spring up, before he spun his weapon around. A large cyclone of wind ripped through the ground, pushing the earth mystic out of the ground. The mystic gave a loud groan as it smashed forward into the rocks, dropping down. Raph zoomed forward, a loud crash further put the earth mystic back but the mystic was not done, as it grabbed onto the wall, vibrating the rock. As a result, the roof of the chamber began to cave in. The wind mystic circled, causing the rock to fly right towards their enemies. Even with the help of the Tribunal, it was still a constant struggle to help keep them from getting buried from the rocks in this small area of the chamber.

“I don’t know how much longer we can keep this up!” yelled Mikey in a hopeless voice, as he moved around quickly to get a better move. “And there’s making another move towards the coffin!”

“We have bigger problems,” said Harry through gritted teeth. “Keep the rock fall away from me, I think I can stop it if there are no external distractions.”

“Everyone focus, keep it away from Harry,” prompted the Ancient One and sure enough, the rocks were pushed back, as Harry managed to cancel the vibrations, which stopped the rock fall, but the heralds had their hands on the coffin. Quickly, the Ninja Tribunal moved forward, and forced a desperation attack towards the heralds. The heralds partially blocked it, but it did work to an extent as the five heralds of the Shredder were forced into the ground.

A loud thunderous sound from above them caused the chamber to rattle, a result that indicated that the defeat of the heralds was only just temporary.

“Go, take the artifacts as far away from this place as you can manage,” ordered Con, as he turned to the acolytes. “Do everything in your power to ensure that they are safe.”

“We will hold them off as long as possible, just leave now,” added Shakara, as Don moved over towards the helmet and gauntlet, which had been on the ground to the side, before he picked them off. Harry pointed towards the coffin and struggled to levitate it from the ground. Instinctively, Ginny moved over, assisting Harry. The combined efforts of the pair just managed to hoist the coffin from the ground. Leo pointed forward, as they all moved forward, the artifacts have been secured. They quickly moved up the stairs as fast as possible, as they could hear the heralds burst from their temporary containment and the sounds of battle could be heard.

“We’re almost there, just a couple more minutes,” stated Leo in a reassuring voice, to groans from both Harry and Ginny, who despite their great amount of magical power, struggled to keep the coffin up over their head.

“Well leave it to this lot to make everything so hard, we can barely keep it above our heads,” said Ginny and Harry nodded.

“Hang on Ginny, almost there, just a few more steps,” said Harry in a reassuring voice, as sweat rolled down his face, his right knee buckling slightly, but Harry managed to block these minor annoyances out of his mind. He watched as they finally after a few minutes, reached the top of the stairs. Leo was the first to reach the door. In an instant, Leo pushed the door open and as they reached the next room, the sight that greeted them caused to gasp in surprise.

“No, the heralds,” breathed Leo, eyes widened in horror, as he saw the smirking forms of the five heralds, as looked at the group.

“Wait a minute, if they got here first that means…” said Don before he trailed off.

“That means that the Ninja Tribunal is no more,” supplied the fire mystic, as his fellow brothers raised in the air, as they raised their staffs. “Stand down and hand over the artifacts, any attempt to fight us will result in your demise. Hand them over and we may make your ends a little less drawn out.”

“No, no matter what, we won’t let you get these artifacts!” yelled Leo in a defiant voice as the others nodded in agreement, before he sprung up, swinging his weapon, causing a heavy burst of mystical energy. This attack only served as a mild deterrent to the heralds, who circled around their enemies, as Harry and Ginny placed the coffin down. The water mystic propelled itself right towards Harry, but with a flick of his wrist, Harry bounced the mystics attack back. Ginny give a scream as the metal mystic dove towards her. Quickly, Harry swerved in front of the mystic. The mystic impaled Harry right in the arm with the attack, dropping him to the ground. Groaning, Harry pulled himself up, blood dripping from his arm, as a loud bang echoed from Raph putting the earth mystic to the ground, before it could work its magic.

“Harry,” muttered Ginny quietly, as the fire mystic dove towards them, a wall of fire bursting at them, attempting to fry them to a crisp. Thankfully, Mikey was in position to help, as he blitzed forward, the gust of wind from his super speed attack had flung the fire mystic’s attack towards the side, allowing Harry to move forward. In an instant, the water attack from one of the heralds was redirected, splashing into the wall of fire, forcing the fire mystic back

“Insolent wizard, thinking you have true power,” growled the fire mystic, as he circled his arms, as large fire balls were sent towards Harry and Ginny, but as the others were tired up. Harry concentrated, feeling power welling up inside him and a large metal wall rose up from the ground, blocking the attacks, before Harry transmuted the wall into water. Another flick of his wrist had sent the tidal wave of water towards the mystic, forcing him to shoot into the air in a burst of hot flames, before dropping down on the other side.

Don engaged the wind mystic in battle. Both wind attacks pushed against each other, but the wind mystic appeared to be dominant figure, but Master Splinter threw his walking stick forward, breaking the wind mystic’s concentration for the briefest second. This was only long enough for Don to sneak in another attack, blasting the wind mystic off balance, as from the other end, Raph rattled the metal mystic with several attacks, that managed to knock the mystical warrior to his back. Quickly, the heralds pulled themselves up, shakily turning to face the entire group, who had circled around the artifacts guarding them. The heralds just responded with this action with loud laughter.

“I suspect each and every one of you fancy yourselves as protectors, worthy to combat us just because the Ninja Tribunal taught you a few rudimentary tricks,” taunted the metal mystic, but Harry just stared back, he would not let the taunts phase him and given the looks on the faces of the others, they would not fold either.

“Now a taste of true power!” thundered the earth mystic, as he waved his hand towards the ground, the earth began to rumble. Harry prepared himself to have to fight another minor earthquake, but the rocks fused together, forming a giant beast. The fire mystic raised his staff and blasted a jet of red light towards the rock monster.

“Go forth and eliminate the acolytes of the Ninja Tribunal,” ordered the fire mystic and the rock beast gave a loud growl, as it moved forward.

“Any suggestions?” asked Leo.

“Yeah, take this thing out, before it takes us out,” said Raph as he closed his eyes, before he raised his weapon and sprung forward, but the beast raised its paw, smashing it into Raph. Raph dropped to the ground with a thud, scratch marks on his chest from where the rock had scraped against it. “Man, I can’t get close enough to drill through it.”

The rock beast took a deep breath, before it spat lava right towards everyone. They scattered in different directions, as Don attempted to attack it from behind, but fire shot from behind it, forcing Don to scatter. The beast sprung up towards Harry, as Harry closed his eyes, standing his ground, as the rocks holding the beast together, began to vibrate together, sending them in every direction. Harry focused the attack towards the heralds, burying them underneath a heavy rock fall.

“Way to go Harry!” praised Raph but Raph’s eyes widened, as a large hissing sound appeared, as a large monster made of fire rose from the ground. “Or not.”

Large flames erupted from the ground, as the new threat moved towards them, forcing the group to run, to avoid being scorched. Ginny had the misfortune of being trapped against the wall, breathing heavily as the fire beast moved towards her, raising its hand high in the air, hot sparks flying everywhere. A streaming jet of water from her wand did not even stagger the beast. Ginny felt a sense of helplessness that she did not like at all and quickly, Harry sprung over, blasting the beast away from Ginny. The fire creature only staggered, as Harry helped Ginny up, grabbing her hand reassuringly.

“Focus all your attacks towards him, we need to put his fire out and we need to do it now!” yelled Harry, as Leo had just barely avoided a fireball attack. The Ancient One moved out as quickly as he could manage, attempting to divert the attention of the beast away from the group. Sure enough, the beast was diverted, allowing Raph, Mikey, Don, Leo, and Harry to screw their eyes shut, concentrating hard, as the ground beneath the fire monster burst open. Cool jets of water erupted, almost with a geyser effect. The monster erupted, sending small blasts of fire, but not it was mostly cooled down as it slammed against the ceiling, only a flew small cinders remaining. The group relaxed their attacks, as the monster was defeated.

“Grab the artifacts and let’s go,” said Leo urgently, and sure enough they moved forward, but much to their displeasure, the five heralds had already beaten them to the artifacts when they were dealing with the fire monster. Eyes widened, as their blood seemed to run cold when they realized that despite all their efforts, the heralds had won this battle. “No!”

“Such a pity, all this power, all this effort expended to defeat us, but it was all for nothing,” commented the wind mystic, as he held up the helmet in one hand and the gauntlet in the other, almost taunting the group, who stepped forward, but a large wall of fire burst from the ground, preventing them from moving forward. “From the ashes of your accursed Ninja Tribunal our dread lord Shredder will rise again and bring chaos among the world.”

Harry motioned for the others to stand back as he attempted to push his way towards the wall of fire. With each anxious second, Harry fought harder, as he pushed his abilities past all established boundaries, as he, along with the others, watched hopelessly on what was transpiring on the other side of the wall. The wall faded, but a magical portal had been opened, with the heralds pulling the coffin through. Just as the coffin disappeared through the portal, the coffin disappeared, leaving the fire mystic to face off against the ground, as he backed off through the portal.

“On behalf of the master, we thank you,” commented the fire mystic with a mocking bow, as Harry rushed forward, before he shot a burst of light, forcing the portal to remain open, as the fire mystic had already passed through the portal. Harry squatted down, struggling with all of his might to leave the portal open.

“EVERYONE MOVE NOW!” shouted Harry desperately. “Go, I’ll try and get through, but you need to leave…leave now! I don’t know how long I can keep this open, through the portal, come on, hurry, hurry, now!”

One by one, with anxious looks through their face, Leo, Raph, Mikey, Don, Master Splinter, and the Ancient One moved through the portal, as Harry’s arm shook. Ginny lingered for a second, but a pleading look in Harry’s eyes had caused her to reluctantly pass through. Once Harry knew that the others was safely through, he rushed forward. The portal began to close shut, but quickly, Harry desperately dove right through, his feet passing through just as the portal sealed itself shut.

Harry looked up, as Ginny had wrapped her arms around him, looking relieved that Harry had been safe, and truthfully, everyone else had let out the breath they had been holding in.

“Harry…thankfully you got out but they have them, the artifacts, they have them,” said Ginny, breathing a sigh of relief, as Harry looked up with the others and Raph had decided to voice the same thing Harry had been thinking.

“We’re back in the city, in New York,” said Raph in a surprised tone of voice and the others looked around, also in shock.

“Why would the heralds come here?” asked Leo in a confused voice and the others shrugged, that’s what they wanted to know as well, but Master Splinter pulled himself to his feet, looking rather thoughtful as he leaned on his cane.

“I do not know why they have come here, but I do know what their victory signifies,” said Splinter quietly. “It begins”

Harry looked up in the sky, perhaps it was a figment of his imagination, but he spotted a large black cloud in the sky that resembled the helmet of the Shredder and the wind whistling through the air sounded like taunting laughter.