::---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------::
(Aden's P.O.V)
The principles of air.
I already had an intrinsic understanding of how it worked, why it worked and now the question remained, what was I missing from attaining complete control over the easiest example of freedom?
Air was untamable and uncontrollable due to what it represented. At first I could only manipulate it. Carve a path for it to move through but not command it to move in a certain direction. yet that had changed. Ever so slowly, my control had evolved with practice. My way of thinking had changed and now I could say with utmost confidence, I was a master over gaseous matter.
The only thing left was that I couldn't produce air by myself (Haha there's a joke somewhere there). Not like I could manifest flames from my own internal energy. But I had a feeling I could change that.
I breathed in and looked out at the wide expanse of my realm. You might think I was in my air dimension but you would be wrong. I stood before the chaos rift separating my realm into two. Tangible reality and the darkness born out of me losing control of my chaos side.
When Order Avatar State had expelled all the Chaos scars from my dimension to other planes, this had been left behind. A curtain that seemingly stretched out to circle my tens of millions of miles long dimension at the edges. It was weird yet oddly fitting.
The reason I was meditating there however was the duality. No air was present in the void yet it freely blew in the material section of the dimension. Life was prevalent on one side and the totality of darkness dominated the other. It was a marvel that followed no rules except those that I myself made.
I opened my eyes. That's it.
For so long, I'd been saying that my powers made no sense. And that line of thinking had been what had led to me using air bending to attain invisibility. That's the path. Just like how I had created a path for the air to follow, that's what I had to do here. I had to create a path for it to express itself in a different way.
A way that was dependent on what I wanted and not what was possible. Logic took a back seat and intuition burned true.
I immediately used my perk, Spark of enlightenment and sank into a deep meditation. When I opened my eyes next, I knew I would have access to a whole new world.
(With The White Shadow)
Mercy's surprise was palpable, though she did not allow it to show on her face. Most of her attention was on the animals coming out of the portal blocking the entrance to that section of the docks.
Smoking bodies and seared off body parts from creatures that seemed prehistoric and distinctly alien were harpazardly strewn about. Her energy blasts were no joke.
That and the help from the four giant talking turtles and they were making good progress on staying alive, despite the attack from 2 different parties. The limo was armored and would have been the perfect way to get out of the encirclement if it wasn't for the portal. There was only one thing they could do. Mercy had called in reinforcements of the elemental nature and it had just arrived.
None of that was what surprised her. Neither was it the fact that 2 of the turtles were pushing back and taking down the enhanced creatures, making The Brain buzz with frustration. Nor was it that the other turtle with a Katana was fighting against what someone would have mistaken for the League and winning.
No. What surprised Mercy was the prowess of hopefully their soon to be new hire. The White Shadow moved with fluid actions and within seconds he'd taken down all the Ninjas standing between him and who was most likely their leader. He had used no abilities, just pure combat skill. And it seemed he had no intention to change his combat to styleto what he usually used, even when faced to what looked like more dangerous versions of the grunts he'd taken down.
Mercy had evaluated him before but the information on what she had on him was being revised.
The five of the new enemies had an aura of red around their bodies. They were clad in a strange variation of Samurai armor and wielded staffs with pincers at the end that crackled with streaks of formless power.
The White Shadow spared a glance her way and nodded imperceptibly. Strangely, Mercy understood what he wanted. They needed to concentrate on moving away. Something about the armored figure blazing with power sent him on edge and she got the feeling that he wanted Lex away from there.
Mercy nodded and decided to break out the heavy guns. Now that the reprogrammed Red Tornado was around, Mercy could focus on securing a way out of here while the android concentrated on clearing the perimeter for them.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
"Get ready Sir. I am getting you out of here in time for your appointment with Chairman Wu."
Mercy told Lex as the prosthetic arm pulsed with even more energy.
Lex calmly nodded.
"Good. The faster we get done with that meeting, the least time I will get to spend time around his foolish antics."
'Five new enemies', The White Shadow thought.
"So be it."
Then he exploded forward.
The five figures floated up to the sky. Power flared off their forms in waves.
"Die for the master, mortal!"
One of the figures swept out it's staff towards him, long snakes of water striking out at his form from different directions. The White Shadow stepped forth and flipped over the attacks.
His feet landed on the metal roof of the container and bent the chasis. His knees buckled and then timely pushed him up in force that allowed him to jump towards the foot water mystic.
His fingers interlocked into double fists, giving off the feeling of a hammer and landed on the crab like helmet on top of the Foot Mystic's head. The figure was launched to the ground and above it, The White Shadow braced his knees on it's back. They landed hard enough that the foot mystic was immediately put down.
Then he repeated the previous action, rolling back and exploding towards another Foot Mystic. Fire faced him but he powered through, the chi from the mystic failing to harm due to his own coating of white flames.
"What is this power?!"
The Foot Mystic shouted in alarm, this being the first time any of them had felt The White Shadow's true power.
His question went unanswered as the shield of flames he was trying to create before him was destroyed by a heavy kick. The armor broke and the staff fell off the Mystic's hand as he too joined the first mystic in unconsciousness.
Jet flames threw The White Shadow up, escaping the rock bullets flying his way. He flipped and came down in a spin, rolling in the air with a barely detectable white aura covering him and turning his form into a distinct shape of a ring.
"Attack him!"
The remaining Mystics all converged their inner power and released elemental blasts towards the white wheel descending. The attacks landed, manifesting into three streams of white air, brown earth and gray metal.
The White Shadow plowed through the attacks indiscriminately.
A few tens of meters away, another confrontation had just ended. Or rather, begun. Leo kicked off the last Ninja from the roof of the container and pointed his Katana at the Leader of The Foot Clan.
"Shredder! Surrender and come peacefully. I will not allow you to spread your corruption onto this world."
Leonardo ordered.
On the inside the teen turtle was feeling strange. His spine shivered with fear as he looked at the majestic figure of their long term and perhaps greatest foe. Something was different and Leo above all, always trusted his instincts. He didn't rush in yet.
Leo flinched as a thunk! sounded before him. Something was stabbed onto the container. It was Leo's second Katana.
"Take it. You're going to need it."
Shredder instructed casually. It wasn't done with mockery. He truly believed Leo would need it.
Leonardo grabbed the handle of his blade and tested it's weight. It felt good to have both of his weapons back. Then he blurred. Not as fast as The White Shadow but faster than the Foot Clan Ninjas by far.
Leo opened with a round kick, delivered with the momentum of the sprint. The Shredder's forearm blocked the attack almost impetuously.
"Weak."
He commented and pushed Leo away. The turtle flipped and landed on his legs, already planning his next move.
Breath and spittle flew out of his mouth as an elbow was burried inside his solar plexus. The attack had come in too fast and deadly. All the force from the sudden speed displayed by Shredder acted against Leonardo and he found himself smashing upon the hand of a crane hanging above the containers.
He clattered to the roof of the container below and took a knee, trying to breath. Leo's eyes were wide yet blurry.
"Leo!"
He heard Mickey's panicked shout just as a thump landed before him. The reverberations echoed through his knees.
"Your resilience is admirable. But it, such as everything else when faced with a god, is found wanting."
Leo tried to raise his head or even the hands holding his two Katanas but found himself oppressed by a sudden force coming from everywhere. The aura exuded by Shredder was staggering! This was not the Shredder they had faced countless times before.
"I am more. I am the truth that cannot be denied. You stand..."
"Blah blah blah. Shut the fuck up and get ready for an ass-whooping."
The White Shadow walked up from behind Tengu Shredder and threw something on the ground near him. Shredder turned around and narrowed his eyes. A broken section of the staff belonging to one of the Foot Mystics rested near his feet.
"What is this supposed to be? A warning? A threat? An insult?"
Shredder wondered out loud.
"A promise. I will break you in half."
The White Shadow breathed out, stretching his neck.
"I see." Shredder intoned calmly, kicking Leo lightly yet the turtle was launched backwards at high speeds.
"I suppose I'll kill you first then."
The White Shadow whistled at the claim.
"Ambitious."
The first clash happened in midair. Elbow clashing against elbow. Pure physical might tested against each other. A force rippled out that destabilized the flight of an enhanced eagle as well as momentarily stopping the other fights. The containers groaned from the mere initial shockwaves. Then thunder rumbled out as both combatants landed on the ground heavily.
"What the??"
Mickey's mouth was left open in amazement.
"Mickey! look out!"
Raphael tackled the distracted turtle away from the charge of a white tiger that was jumping towards the floating figures of Mercy Graves and Lex Luthor.
Red Tornado hoisted them with his aerokinesis and started carrying them away. From this high angle, Mercy pointed her energy weapon at The Brain and fired. A brown bear tanked the blow, allowing the Brain to take cover behind a container. By the time he thought of sending any more enhanced creatures, the three of them were already too far away.
"Sir, what about The White Shadow?"
Mercy asked.
Luthor looked at the figure of Arkythyne Boltagon and the stalemate between him and the armored foe. Luthor smiled.
"What about him? He can handle himself. Oh and Mercy get someone to investigate and if possible...'contain' our new friends." His eyes shifted to Leo's fallen form, and the other three fighting with The Brain's forces.
"Something tells me they hold a lot of secrets."
Then their figures quickly disappeared into the city.
:----------------------------------------------------------:
Ok, I promise this ends in the next Chapter.
So now we have actually established the presence of alternate worlds. Get ready for the future.