Aspect Elemental: By Amanda Flowers

   "Go through with your plan if you have to." Leo's voice was resigned, saddened. "We won't stop you."

Michaelangelo whimpered.

   "It seems you turtles have finally come to your senses," Krang bubbled, pushing the switch.

Shredder blinked, more confused than ever. The turtles came all this way just to tell him to...? There was a missing piece somewhere!

   "Leonardo, what are you talking about?" Don demanded.

   He may be right.

   "What?" Donatello looked up to the Elemental, the source of the strong voice that ran through his head.

   He... Elterram was fading fast. There is only one chance...for us now.

Instantly Donatello understood why the other turtles had acted so strangely confronting their Elements...but there was no time to speculate... "Chance? What chance?"

   But...it...

   "Anything!"

   "On second thought, maybe they're more far gone than they were!"

Krang laughed. He looked suddenly over at Shredder, noting the torn look in his cohorts eyes.

   "Who's he talkin' to, boss?" Bebop asked. Then, even he noticed that something was amiss. "Boss?"

   We...have taught him...to forget...

Donatello looked at Elterram, then at Shredder. "Forget what?"

Silence.

   "What is it we have to do?"

   "There is nothing we can do," Leonardo spat.

   This place. Destroy it. A chunk of rock crumbled from Elterram's face as his obsidian eyes vanished into the stone.

   "I...can't just leave you..."

   Do it.

Donatello swallowed, closing his eyes. He raised his hands to the sky, and a faint rumble coursed through the room.

Krang, stunned, took a step backwards from the machine.

Don opened his eyes, glaring almost as darkly as the now-silent Elemental's had. He finally understood. The machine had never been what had backfired. It was the others, their powers and their emotions uncontrollable. And now that the cycle had begun, it had to be completed.

Raphael began to murmur, soft enough that he was the only one to hear his own speech. "It's my fault. I let him die. I've never let anyone die..."

The earthquake increased, shaking everything. Lights began to go out.

Michaelangelo looked toward the ceiling with teary eyes just in time to see a huge panel that had come loose from the metalwork above. He dropped to the floor to dodge it, but his legs were crushed under the weight.

Shredder fell against the console of the machine. "This...can't be..."

   "They're all going to die," Leonardo affirmed, staring with anger at the defeated Elemental. "Just finish it."

A wall caved in on the turtles' right side as Donatello concentrated his power.

   "All going to die..." Leo muttered.

Another panel fell from above, crushing a portion of the hideous machine.

   "Aquaria..."

The walls fell inward all at once, and the ceiling, no longer supported, crumbled. There were screams, flashes of light, the sound of shattering glass...

Then, nothing.

The moment after Oroku Saki awoke, something attacked him, a stab of pain like a sword in his heart. No, no, not a physical sword, but an emotional one, internal, intense, stabbing him again and again. He had not felt its like since...

The Trial.

The Trial! Suddenly everything came rushing back to him--how he'd destroyed the armored beasts of the Metal Element, how he'd bested its traps, how he'd met the Metal Elemental and received from him the plans for the Element draining machine and...the weapons, the ultimate Metal power!

He wrenched open his eyes, and rose to his feet. He had been moved! Before, he had stood in the room that held that wretched machine, the one that had failed him...not once, but four times! And, after each failure...

Death? He shuddered at the sudden remembrance; yes, four times--once at the mercy of each of the four elements--he had met his fate, and then been revived, his memories deleted. He nearly stumbled, and caught himself on the smooth metal wall. This room, narrow and steel-walled, was where he before had defeated a great silver warrior; now, he would have to defeat...

Here he ventured a look out of the corner of his eye to the heart of the room, and saw, as he expected, those hideous turtles. Each woke in turn, taking in his surroundings with groggy eyes.

   "Shredder!" one exclaimed--Donatello, drawing out his bo.

   "I remember it now..." Shredder muttered, a mixture of awe and laughter rising in his voice.

   "Where are we?" Leonardo demanded. "Explain yourself!"

   "The Elements!" Shredder rose to his full height. "You were...tested? Answer me!"

   "Yeah..." Michaelangelo offered. "So?"

   "Then..." And then, Shredder understood... He had met his fate four times--once for each Element--not at the hands of the draining machine, but at the hands of each turtle! "You had the power! Not them!"

   "That's right, Shredder!" Donatello cried. "They gave us their power. And now we will use that power to avenge their deaths!" Donatello focused, concentrated for the strongest quake he could summon, but even before he got the chance...

   "But, I, too, have that power..." Shredder held out his palms, and bloodless cuts appeared in both surfaces. Long, perfect metal blades grew, slowly, from each hand. "What power I could not get from them," Shredder began, "I will steal from you!" At this cry both his arms were enveloped in the shining blades, weapons of death replacing humanity.

For one, chilling second the turtles stared him down.

Then, Shredder attacked.

He lashed out at Leonardo first, metal slicing through air, then reached out with the other arm for Raphael. Raphael dropped to the ground and rolled away, twice barely dodging the deadly stroke. Donatello rushed to aid him, then was knocked back as the extended sword split into two, one half striking him with its flat and sending him to the floor.

   "All right, dude! It's payback time!" Michaelangelo shouted, the only turtle left unassailed. With his newfound speed he dove through the metal attacks, seeking an opening, and striking the Shredder again and again. Blow after blow found their marks, but bounced off skin that rang out like armor. Laughing at the attempt, Shredder knocked him back.

Leonardo saw his chance. He drew his katana and flew at the Shredder with a cry...

He connected, cutting deep into his shoulder. Shredder stood fast, as not blood ran from the wound, but a liquid metal, like mercury, that healed the cut as soon as it had appeared.

Shredder laughed again. "You think that can hurt me? Try it again, if you dare!"

   "Leonardo, he's Metal now!" Donatello cried, halfway to his feet. "Don't use your swords!"

   "I would have guessed that!" snapped Raphael.

   "Good thinking!" Leonardo threw the offending blade across the room, and, in the same motion clenched both fists tight. Rain poured from the empty indoor air, tumbling onto Shredder's armor.

Momentarily, Shredder was shocked, as he received the final proof of the turtles' augmentation. But he had no time to ponder it; he countered the rainstorm by raising his arms above his head and forming a metal shield.

   "You will never beat us, Shredder!" Leonardo declared. He concentrated on the rain, on altering the chemicals within it, and watched as it began to rust Shredder's shield away.

Frustrated, Shredder tore the rusting barrier away from his hands, and flung it like a discus at the turtles' leader. He shouted for a moment as the rain, like acid, rusted away his flesh, then regained his strength as the storm, masterless, quickly died down.

Now Donatello straightened himself, an idea forming. "Shredder, you may be Metal, but Metal is derived from Earth. Therefore..." He remembered how, before, he had disintegrated part of the Technodrome wall. Maybe, now... Donatello summoned all his energy, and focused on Shredder's armor.

For a moment, Shredder felt a strange sensation, as if his very skin was pulling away from him. He struggled to regain control of the element that was now inseparable from his body, and pulled the armor closer to his flesh, manually pumped the metal blood through his veins. He stared Donatello straight down, and there was sudden silence as the two, frozen in time and space, struggled, one Element against another.

   "Nice try...mutant..." Shredder strained.

   "You'll find I...don't give up so easily," Donatello countered, though he felt his mental grip slipping away.

   "My control over metal is greater than yours," Shredder said with confidence.

Raphael rose to his feet, throwing his now useless sais to the floor near Leonardo's swords. "Shredder, you killed Helion, and all the other Elementals! And you've ticked us off so much...that you deserve...to...die!" Flame licked behind his eyes, nearly uncontrollable.

   "Raphael, no..." Donatello struggled to keep Shredder at bay. He was losing his grip...

He was running out of options. Quickly he thought of a way to save himself without allowing Raphael to lose control. Letting down his concentration on the metal armor for a fraction of a second, he broke free, and snapped his arms up toward the sky. A great chunk of rock that had been buried deep beneath the floor sprang up, tearing the metal like paper, and forming a protective wall between himself and his adversary that lodged tight in the ceiling of the room.

Silence. Donatello slumped against the wall he had formed, locking the Shredder inside a prison of stone. "That..." he gasped, "should hold him for a while."

The entire room shook as Shredder smashed full-force against the other side of the wall.

   "Not for long!" Michaelangelo observed.

   "We can't hide from him, Donatello!" Leonardo exclaimed as the wall shook again. "We have to face him..."

The wall shook again, and began to crumble.

   "Come on, Shredder, that's it! Get mad!" Raphael shouted, the fire building up inside him.

A fist of solid metal tore down the earthen wall, then another. The silver arms beyond the barrier rose up, tearing through rock which tumbled in chunks to the torn floor. At the same time, two larger metal hands appeared in the center of the floor, a distraction, buying Shredder more time to escape. One swiped at Donatello, who dove aside and landed on the floor; another grabbed Michaelangelo tightly, expanding and contracting around him, trying to separate him from the air that was his entire soul.

   "I'll set you free!" Leo shouted, and put all his efforts into disintegrating the disembodied fiend.

   "Come on, Shredder..." Raphael muttered, watching as the villain broke his leg through the barrier, then his head, now stepping through...

Raphael could control it no longer. He let the flame loose as Shredder emerged, watching it ignite in the human's very heart and explode, melting armor and searing flesh. Raphael cackled as the light spread; Shredder struggled again to keep the armor a solid object around him, not letting it melt away completely.

The giant hand that had first targeted Donatello struck at him again, this time in force. Halfway to his feet, he dropped down again, bruised.

The creature around Michaelangelo finally succumbed to the watery assault, and crumbled away. Leonardo turned, and cringed, seeing Shredder burn as he had once before.

Shredder's strength was failing him, and though he reformed his hands into long, solid swords, he was unable to lash out at Raphael. Instead, he chose a nearer and already weakened target--Donatello. He hit him first with a blade, then dove at him, driving into him with flaming fists, scorching him, battering him. Leonardo and Michaelangelo cried out for their ally, but Raphael saw the pair through a haze, only realizing in the back of his mind what his flame was causing.

Raphael snapped to full consciousness with a shout. "What am I doing?" He released his hold on the flame, letting it die down. Shredder pulled himself up; Raphael sunk down, seeing the blood drizzle from Donatello's mouth. "I'd have killed them both! Just to avenge..."

A glare from Shredder silenced him. The tip of the long sword that had once been the man's arm rested flush with Donatello's neck. "Not another step," Shredder warned, and the other turtles fell back. Shredder was weak, but he felt triumphant. "Time to give yourselves up."

   "Never," came the feeble cry at his feet. Donatello gasped. "Someday, Shredder, all the blood on your hands will come back to punish you." He coughed, bleeding through his throat. "Destroy Earth, and all the Elements will die, even yours..."

Shredder remained unfazed, but halted for just a moment.

Both Leonardo and Michaelangelo saw the opening, and took it. They concentrated both of their powers--Michaelangelo created a fierce windstorm; Leonardo a pounding rain--and blasted them at the Shredder, pushing him against the wall. The remaining tendrils of flame died out, and the wind, rain, and ice cut into the villain's wounds.

Donatello staggered to his feet. "This is vengeance, Shredder...for Elterram, Aquaria...and all the Elementals." He pushed the last of his strength into the floor, shaking the ground beneath Shredder's feet.

   "Dude, you killed Viento... Now you're gonna know how it feels!" Michaelangelo added.

   "I'll never...surrender..." Shredder managed.

Raphael was the most fazed, but raised his voice with the others. "I got mad...I almost killed you!!" he shouted. I was just like you!! But I'll never...never be that way... So just... BACK OFF!" He shut his fist tight at the cry, and a single flame exploded among the wind and rain. Shredder looked out at him with shock, then dropped away into unconsciousness.

One by one, the Elemental powers died away, and the Shredder dropped limply to the floor.

Silence.

Raphael blinked. "I... I didn't..." He glared at the charred body.

   "No, there's no way we..." Leonardo stuttered.

   "He's not--" Michaelangelo began.

   "No, he is not," a voice answered, one calm, strong, and alien.

The turtles backed away, looking to all sides for the source of the voice.

The wall near the fallen Shredder began to shimmer, and a tall, silver being stepped directly through it. The creature's skin was smooth, flawless; its features were thin.

Michaelangelo broke the silence. "Majorly bodacious!" he awed.

   "You must be the Fifth Elemental," Donatello deduced. "The Elemental of Metal."

The Elemental looked at Donatello with unblinking eyes. "You are correct." Without another word it kneeled down next to Shredder's body. The Elemental pulled off one of Shredder's blades, placing it on his own arm.

   "What are you doing?" Leonardo demanded, making ready to attack again.

The creature gave no answer, only gazed at the weapon as it merged with its own arm. It sighed, some kind of relief filling it, and the turtles watched in amazement as tiny cracks and fissures spread their way across the unmarred silver flesh. Parts of the Elemental's body squared off; others separated; its hands became darker and three-fingered. Finally, a long horizontal slit appeared across the creature's face and began to open, dividing the entire visage in two. Behind this slit was a pure white sphere, which slowly revealed itself as a single, great, blue eye.