Aspect Elemental: By Amanda Flowers

It curved high, and missed. Raphael spat.

The flame thrower fired at Leo again, and the scent of sizzling flesh filled the room.

Raphael tossed his sai in frustration. It nearly missed the bat-creature as well, but managed to knock the robot slightly off-course before burying itself in the far wall.

The flame thrower turned, aiming now for Raphael. Raph dared it with his eyes.

Leonardo looked down to his blackened hand, and flinched. It was a miracle he was still conscious. Maybe...

As before, he concentrated on water: on turning his flesh into water. The hand first, then a streak up his arm, each time quickly returning the flesh to solid green before it dripped away. It was working! The arm came away completely healed! He concentrated on his other arm next, then his body. In an instant Leonardo rose to his feet, completely whole. He was invincible!

Raphael shot off another fireball, missing his foe by nearly half a foot. "Must be out of MP!" he quipped.

   "I got it, dude!" Michaelangelo leapt straight up into the air, and, laughing, hovered. He could fly! Mike swung his leg around, knocking the swirling kick into the side of the metal bat. He reached the edge of the room, grabbed onto Raphael's sai, and tossed the weapon down into Raph's waiting hands.

   "Thanks!" Raph shouted, as he drove the weapon into a nearby Foot Soldier.

   "Let's just shake things up a bit," Donatello said, grinning. He held out his arms, and the ground began to shake, Foot Soldiers tumbling left and right. Michaelangelo laughed, and began to swirl one of his nunchaku. The force created a whirlwind that knocked several of the robots back, and--to Michaelangelo's unbridled delight--they exploded as they smashed headlong into the wall.

Raph pulled his arm back for one last good shot... The wave of fire flew true, igniting the wing of one of the flying beasts. Raphael laughed.

   "I'm going to rain on their parade," Leonardo suddenly declared. He held his arm in the air and clenched his fist, and great clouds opened up above the army of robots. The water drenched the remaining flame thrower, making its weapon useless, and shorted out each remaining Foot Soldier.

The water extinguished the flames on the ground, and Leonardo lowered his arm.

Michaelangelo touched his feet to the slippery ground. "Smooth goin', Fearless Leader!"

   "Guys, we gotta hurry!" Raphael ran blindly through the tunnel even as the layer of water on the floor burned his feet like acid.

   Don't waste time! You've...got to...

   "I know! I'm coming!" Raphael bolted down the hall, the other turtles right behind him. Perhaps they understood his haste, but he knew only he could hear the angry voice that throbbed in his head.

Raphael reached the entrance to the cylinder room, and without thinking threw a wave of fire at the door, smashing it into the room.

The cylinder was here, and Helion was inside. More strangely, more alarmingly, he was not alone, for the outside of the machine was once again manned by Krang and the Shredder.

   "The Turtles...?" Shredder sputtered. "But...how...?"

   "Shredder?" Leonardo was incredulous.

   "Stand and fight this time!" Donatello shouted.

   "What does he mean, this time?" Krang wondered.

Raphael was in shock, nearly accusing the Elemental. "So, working with Shredder, huh? I should have..." Then he noticed something, something frightening. Helion was already on his way to the grave.

The fire that gave him his existence was turning on him, consuming him. His extremities were already charred, and pits of ash surrounded his flickering eyes. You IDIOT! You're...too late...

   "Who is that, Raphael?" Donatello wondered. "Your Elemental?"

Raphael bolted for the cylinder, smashing his shell into it full-force. He swore out loud.

   You should...have come!! Now... The Fire Elemental dropped to his knees.

   "You shouldn't have chosen me!" Raphael shouted, smashing again into the glass, not even making a dent. A nearby console exploded into flames, and Shredder rushed to extinguish it.

Another console exploded. It's all a waste! the Fire Elemental screamed.

   "Looks like your machine's backfiring again, Shredder!" Donatello dodged a blast of laserfire from Shredder's attacking mutants, but he could predict the outcome of all of this. He couldn't hear the Elemental's pleas.

   "Shredder!" Raphael saw his Elemental was dying, but knew there was nothing he could do. He screamed wordlessly, and fire consumed the entire column of glass.

   "Dude!" Michaelangelo shouted. "What are you doing?"

   "This isn't coming from the machine!" Krang declared.

   "Helion, you shouldn't have chosen me!" The ground shook. "I didn't understand!"

   Stop whining! You...you useless...

   "I'm not letting you die!" The ground shook even more ferociously now, knocking everyone onto the floor.

For a moment, Donatello puzzled. Shouldn't Earth be causing...?

Suddenly, he understood.

   "The volcano!"

   "Raphael!! Dude, stoppit!" Mike shouted.

Leonardo glanced over and saw leaping flames char the Shredder's body. He stammered in amazement. Was that really...?

Donatello ran over to the portal, swiftly punching in the codes that would get the turtles back home to the Lair.

Tears streamed down Raphael's face...the Elemental was dead, ashes. "I'm so sorry..."

Amid the fiery carnage, the portal opened in the wall. "We've gotta go!" Donatello shouted. "This whole place'll be buried in fire!"

   "The Shredder..." Leonardo stammered. He stumbled, but ran to the portal.

Michaelangelo pulled on Raphael's shoulder. "Come on!"

   "No..." The rising flames had no effect on Raphael's body, even as they burned into Michaelangelo's skin. Raph slumped to his knees. "I'll...just stay..."

   "Come on!" Mike yanked Raphael by his arm, up to his feet, and shoved him through the portal. The turtles stumbled into the Lair with a deafening explosion behind them.

   "That is twice, now, Talloc..."

   "Grant me peace, Lord..."

   "Twice now..."

The bare feet stepped into the layer of snow, one foot after the other, each time a sheet of chill running through the thinly clothed body. Viento had not known weakness like this in nearly a millennium.

Suddenly the great silver orb grew above the horizon, like a rising moon.

   Are you sure about this place? she asked the voice in her head.

   Quite sure, the feminine tones replied. We know now all will be safe.

Viento crossed her legs and sat in a snowbank, facing the great silver planet without fear. Even still, she drew a small dagger from a sheath on her leg. They wouldn't be taking her to her grave without a fight.

Raphael could feel flames kissing his feet as he leapt from the glowing portal and into the Turtles' Lair. There was a deafening crash before the portal sealed away. Then, silence.

Raph wiped red-hot tears from his eyes, embarrassed. He'd promised himself he wouldn't get overinvolved in this search for destiny. And just because of the death of one...one complete jerk...

   "Two of the Elementals, dead," Donatello declared. "But two, still alive."

   "We need to get to the Arctic, and fast!" Leonardo decreed, and immediately Donatello began to alter the coordinates on his interdimensional portal.

Raphael rose to his feet. "Do you guys realize what I--" he halted-- "what we just did? That was the Technodrome that exploded!"

   "I know," Leo answered evenly. "Even more importantly..." He held back.

   "What?"

Leo replied with silence. He decided, somehow, it wasn't right; he would not reveal what he had seen. After a moment, he turned to Raphael. "There was nothing you could have done."

   "Yeah, dude," Michaelangelo added. "Everyone makes mistakes." There was a slight wrinkle in his voice as he thought of what might lie ahead. Next...came Viento.

   "We can mourn the dead later," Donatello declared, still level-headed. "Right now we've got to concentrate on keeping the remaining Elementals alive." Don turned a knob on the control panel for his portal. "If my calculations are correct, this will lead us directly into the cylinder room." He pressed the fateful button; the portal opened wide.

   "I hope she's okay," Michaelangelo stated softly. He was the first to enter.

The heavy column was raised from the ground, leaving clear space on the top of the cylinder's controls. Just enough space for a person to stand under the column before it slammed down and locked tight into the floor, sealing her there forever.

Viento kicked and struggled against the strong arms that held her back, but without her former powers, there was nothing she could do to escape. The rhinoceros held her left arm; the warthog her right, and the weak body she had chosen to inhabit did her little good against their brute force.

   "Quickly! Get her into the chamber!" the Shredder shouted.

   "We're tryin'!" Rocksteady shouted, pulling hard on the arm of the light woman. She spat in his face, and he growled.

It was then that the portal appeared, a doorway into light, glowing green.

   "There's still time!" Donatello declared, upon seeing the scene.

But he had spoken too soon, for at that moment the cylinder lowered, making contact with the metal platform below and trapping the Elemental within.

   "No way!" Michaelangelo rushed at the mutants on the platform, banging on them with driving speed, banging even harder on the imprisoning chamber.

Leonardo froze upon seeing the Shredder standing at the console of the machine, and through foggy hearing heard his declaration, "Turn up the power! I'll take care of these bothersome mutants!"

The turtle was barely prepared for the attack.

Michaelangelo sent the mutants aside--they immediately attacked the two other turtles on the floor below--and stared at the woman within the glass chamber. Somehow she was fading even faster than the other two had, her skin becoming transparent nothingness in front of his eyes.

Her dark, all-knowing eyes flickered with realization. Don't try to save me! she spoke, softly, into his mind. Just destroy this place! It's the only way...to...

   "Full power!" Shredder shouted. His opponent now was recovering from a shock, parrying him blow-for-blow.

   "According to your notes, proper draining should take hours!" Krang yelled. "Too much power might overload the system!"

   "He's right, Shredder!" Donatello declared. "Shut the machine down, while there's still time!"

   "Are you going to listen to this?!" Shredder at last knocked one of Leonardo's swords away. "Put it on full power!"

The pleas in Michaelangelo's mind grew softer and softer, each time urging him to ignore the Elemental's plight...

   "It's not working how it's supposed to!" the alien declared. Shredder, frustrated, disarmed his opponent, and, missing the opportunity for the victory, dove for a lever on the machine. The power levels surged.

Viento, with one final silent scream, vanished.

Mike glared. "It's one thing to beat up on us!" he shouted in pure frustration. "But nobody...nobody hurts my Elemental dudette!" The air in the room shimmered.

A gust of wind knocked Shredder back. "What in the--?"

He looked up, and a realization hit him, even as Krang declared it. "That turtle's causing this!"

The center of the room became a blossoming funnel cloud, tearing through the still air, knocking both villains and heroes to the outer walls of the room. Only Michaelangelo stood fast in the chaos.

   "How...are you...?" Shredder managed, forcing the words against uncooperative air.

   "Well, dude, it's a long story, and I doubt you'll be around long enough to hear it!" A great streak of lightning tore from the ceiling of the room. "You killed her!" Mike shouted, unable to control the power he felt inside him. "And now you're going to pay!"

   "We don't have time for this!" Donatello shouted. "Elterram!" He ran against the force of the wind, planting his feet strong into the ground, inputting coordinates for the portal as the wind blinded him.

   "We gotta get out of here..." Raphael agreed.

Michaelangelo ignored the others, and a section of the Technodrome's wall tore loose in the wind. Another followed, then another, until empty white sky was visible in the topmost openings.

Shredder was pressed against the wall behind Leonardo as the turtle began to crawl through the gale over to Donatello. "Turn on the portal!"

Donatello pushed the button, opening the gate, as Michaelangelo's building tornado pushed all of his adversaries against the crumbling wall. Then, in a great tumult of shouting and chaos, the wall behind the four villains gave way, the wind pushing them through the torn gap and into rooms beyond, then again through a howling tunnel of air, further and further into white nothingness.

The wind died, and Michaelangelo was stunned. The Technodrome was in pieces, and...

Raphael grabbed his shaking hand and led him through the gate.

A blanket of hopelessness covered the turtles as they made their final leap into a new Technodrome. Cold, angry tears slid down Michaelangelo's cheeks; Raphael's hard heart had been softened. Leonardo felt nothing: pure emptiness.

Only Donatello could stare resolutely into the darkness. It wouldn't happen this time.

He stepped onto the metal floor with assurance. Elterram under the glass--he would not have predicted any otherwise--and from the looks of it, nearly gone, all his features hardening into one, solid, lifeless stone. Krang and Shredder operated the devious machine; the mutants stood guard. The past repeating, until the turtles could manage to get it right?

There was clam in Donatello's voice as he addressed the assembly. "Krang, turn off the machine, or this Technodrome is going to explode."

   "What are you talking about?" the alien asked.

   "How did you get here?" Shredder demanded. He noticed all too well the looks on the Turtles' faces, all as if they had braved death to reach him, and he would be amused had he not been so puzzled. Something began to tug at his mind.

   "The machine will not work," Donatello maintained. "It's going to backfire and destroy the Technodrome!" He looked again at the fading Elemental, sure that logic and not battle would be the way to win this war. "You have to trust us! For all our lives!"

Krang found this statement rather amusing.

Leonardo glared. "They're all going to die." He turned around, anger in his eyes.

The turtles gawked. Their leader, giving up?