Aspect Elemental: By Amanda Flowers

Stranger things had happened that day. He put his hand back into the wall of water, then his whole arm. The water in this room was different from the water before. His arm was buoyant here; he would have to swim. He doubted if he could breathe in this type of water, and didn't want to try. He simply plunged into the wall, swimming upwards towards the source of light.

He emerged indoors, in a brightly lit room. The water he had been swimming in was no more than a fountain in here, spraying water above him that glittered in the light of the crystal chandeliers on the ceiling and the blue-flamed torches below. Leo climbed out of the water, stepping on a floor that was marble flecked in blue. Similar fountains to his stood all around, though there was one very different from the others. Within it stood a pyramid of stairs, water cascading down the sides, one dry marble walkway climbing to a platform on top.

Leonardo stepped into this wide fountain to explore the platform, finding it shallow enough to wade in. He awed at the sight before him, and took another step.

Suddenly, the water he was about to step in began to simmer. He stepped back. The resting water began to grow: a column of it spouting straight up into the air, almost solid. In the blink of an eye, the column had shifted again, into the form of a woman. Her skin was of the palest green: her eyes, the deep blue of the ocean. Her body remained as the column of water--a gown that merged her with the fountain itself--just as her hair was water, like a stream that tumbled down her back. Her hands were three-fingered, and webbed, with long jade claws at each tip.

Leonardo looked once at the hands, and into the deep blue eyes. "Aquaria?"

As he spoke this simple word--more than a guess, he thought--he saw a brief rush of emotion in those sea-blue eyes. As if the creature of water had sensed something that made her very sad, and then dismissed it. "I could be," she evaded.

Leo nodded. "Of course." Was she?

   "You...are in the Trial by Water," she explained. "Leonardo...guest of the Water Elemental..."

She was waiting for something... Of course! Leonardo pulled the necklace from his belt, and saw the woman of water cast a long, aching glance at it. But something held him back. "Are you the Water Elemental?"

   "I am one," she insisted. "So are you..."

   "Are you Aquaria?"

The woman squinted, almost deciding.

Then, with no warning, she attacked. Her arm flashed out, green claws meeting green skin, scraping at Leonardo's face. He cried out, and stumbled back, but his training did not fail him. In the space of a breath he had drawn his sword, and was on the offensive. His first strike should have been telling: it was right to the gut. However, upon meeting the creature's gown it sliced nothing but pure water, and whisked clean through.

The blue lips smiled, and the water demon used that space to attack again. Luckily, her next strike was evaded.

   "Hi-yah!" Leo leapt to the air, aiming high with his blade, endeavoring to reach the creature's flesh, the more vulnerable neck and shoulders.

He succeeded. The wound in the neck sprayed pure water as it was cut. The woman screamed, and, for a moment, Leonardo felt remorse. "Ready to talk?" he asked her.

The creature held one arm to her wound, and limped. But she looked up at her opponent and hissed, water spraying pitifully from her throat. She slashed at him again with her free hand.

Leo blocked the long claw with his sword, and shoved it away. The water creature attacked again, and was parried the same way. She took her hand away from her neck and struck; this hit Leo unprepared, and he staggered.

Still, he saw that this strange being was wounded mortally. He hated to kill, but she had left him no other option...and there was something strange in this kill. Something hollow, almost staged.

He brought his blade up and drove it forward, driving into the unprotected neck. The water demon screamed, her watery blood foaming within her greenish throat. She coughed, sputtered, and dropped to the water, holding herself up with a single hand that remerged into the pool as it made contact with it.

Leonardo stood above her, ready to attack again, just as ready to accept a surrender. The woman looked up at him with sadness and longing as her life-water drizzled from her mouth. Just before her body dropped into the pool, Leo thought he saw another look in those eyes: a glimmer of mischief. Then, like her, it was gone. She dropped back into the fountain's water, and was a green puddle, then, was nothing.

Leonardo sighed relief and replaced his sword. He bent down to retrieve the dropped necklace out of the cool fountain, and slipped it back into his belt.

As he was rising, a strange sound caught his ears. "Huh?" It sounded like...someone was clapping.

He stood up fast, and faced the central fountain. A figure rose over the top of the pyramid, ascending upon stairs on its reverse. It was a woman...only, it was more...

It was a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.

Like him she wore a blue mask, slightly lighter in shade, and tied to one side, the ends flowing like ribbons in the fountain's light mist. Also like him she carried swords; the hilts of them peered from behind her back. Curly black hair dripping with water cascaded from her head-- unusual for a reptile, but stunning. Her eyes were blue, like the demon's had been, but greater: deeper, and more understanding. She clapped a few more times, then stopped her hands, and laughed. As she stepped off the front of the pyramid and neared, Leonardo saw the letter inscribed on her belt.

A.

Leo stammered. "What is your name?"

   "You should know, Leonardo," was her soft reply.

He took a step back. "Aquaria?"

She laughed again: the sound of a river running. "Of course!"

Leonardo closed his eyes tight. It was too important now to remain calm, to get the facts. He stared at her, looking into her eyes, not breaking concentration. "So why have you brought me here, who are you, and...what are you?"

The girl turned away, walking over to her pyramid again, and starting to climb back up the stairs. "I am the Ruler of the Water Element. I have brought you here to be tested, Leonardo."

   "Why me?" He advanced on her, slightly.

In one swift motion she turned on the stairs, drew out a single sword, and pointed it in Leo's direction. He saw that the blade was perfect, flawless, and sharp. Surprised, he backed down, but she made no move to attack.

   "Because you are strong in my element," Aquaria answered. "And, as you have proven, a worthy fighter." She took a few steps in his direction, pointing the tip of the sword at Leonardo's face.

A pause. "Am...am I supposed to kneel?"

Aquaria smiled. She stepped down into the water, and turned the blade around, offering it to Leonardo, hilt-first. She looked up into Leonardo's gaze.

Leonardo accepted the sword, and energy flowed through it into his body: cold, healing energy.

He had completed the Trial by Water.

The last thing Leonardo saw before the whole world vanished was fathomless blue eyes.

The room was huge, rectangular. Instruments, pipes, and wires lined the metal walls, and, in the center, a metal altar stood, beckoning, inviting. The man approached it wordlessly, and gazed down at the prize sitting upon it: arm guards, lined with blades. The ones at the hands were longer, nearly swords, sharp and deadly, shining as if they generated their own light. Quickly, he removed his own, letting them clatter to the steel floor, and replaced them with his prize, those perfect new weapons. Shredder smiled under his mask as their power entered him, like a thousand blades slashing him again and again.

The metal-skinned creature at his side shared that smile. The Shredder had completed the Trial by Metal.

The trials for the turtles had only begun.