Hi everyone, a pleasure to see you all again. Before we begin, I want to say that I have managed to watch Frozen II and it was a great movie, not as good as the first, but it was very nice and touching. The only real issue I had was that it didn't have a real "antagonist" or bad guy in it. However, I might change that as I plan to write my own Frozen Turtles story based on the plot from the movie, while also blending elements from the "City at War" arc in the TMNT 2012 series, but we'll work out those little details later (but one thing is for sure, don't expect the Turtles to sing).
But we are now nearing the end of this story and it has been fun writing it all, and I am grateful for all your support. This is one emotional episode for sure, so without further delay, let us get started.
The Evil of Dregg
It may have taken some time; but after the Ulixies had been taken to a nearby Service Station, it had undergone some much-needed repairs. And now that the repairs were all finished, the Ulixies was reading for take-off to resume its course to the location of the final fragment of the Heart of Darkness.
Everyone got in their stations as Donnie and Professor Honeycutt made a final check-up. "Status everyone?" Leo requested.
"The tachyon drive is repaired." Donnie reported. "We are fully-fuelled and functional!"
"Then what are we waiting for? We gotta burn space-fuel like yesterday!" Kristoff exclaimed as the Ulixies took off from the station.
"Ladies and gentle-bros; we got some important news." Mikey announced as he and Olaf walked onto the bridge, getting everyone's attention. "The holo-simulator is repaired…"
"And our super fun Snow-Pizza-Hug-Land theme park is almost ready!" Olaf exclaimed. "Free snow! Free pizza! And best of all… free warm hugs!"
Most of the group rolled their eyes. "If you two built it, I don't wanna see it." Raph commented; resulting in Mikey blowing raspberries at him while Olaf looked down in sadness.
"Sorry guys, but we really don't have time for all that." Anna said.
"Yeah, in case you've forgotten; the Triceratons just stole back two of the Black Hole pieces and have a major head-start on us to get the third." Karai reminded.
"And if they managed to complete the weapon, we won't be able to time-travel again like we did last time to fix it." Donnie also put in.
Elsa sighed as she sat down. "How did this happen? We we're starting off so strong, it felt like we we're actually going to win and save the Earth; but now… out future looks just as bleak as it did before."
Everyone on the bridge wanted to say something that could lift up Elsa's spirit, but they all felt the same way as her, even the ever-cheerful Olaf wasn't as optimistic. And it wasn't just their bleak outlook, all these months in space was really starting to take its emotional toll on everyone.
"My friends, I know this journey has been arduous." Honeycutt began. "But there is still a chance. If we can destroy the last piece of the Black Hole generator, at least we can slow the Triceratons down." However, everyone's attention was caught by an alarm that sounded on the bridge.
"What's going on?" Sven questioned. "Are we under attack again?"
"No, it's a distress signal." April saw the readings at her station. "To us?"
Honeycutt quickly put it on screen; though many were shocked to see who the signal was coming from; no one was more surprised than Raph.
"Mona Lisa?"
"Brave Raphael…" She began as Raph walked toward the screen. "We were attacked. Commander G'Throkka has been captured. I need your help."
"Captured? By who?" Raph questioned.
"A vile bounty hunter called Armaggon."
Nearly everyone gasped at the mention of that name, all save for Casey who shouted "Yes!" Only to be smacked upside the head by Karai. "Ow!"
"Armaggon?!" Kristoff exclaimed. "But I thought was eaten by that space sea monster!"
"Wait... if he's alive…" Anna's eyes widened in shock. "Wouldn't that mean…?"
"Dregg's alive to." Leo finished with a glare on his face, even Elsa scowled at the mention of the vile insect lord.
"Oh no… not Dregg and Armaggon!" Olaf dreaded.
"Professor, can we meet up with Mona Lisa?" Elsa asked the Fugitoid.
"Already have a rendezvous set." Honeycutt put in the coordinates.
"We'll be there soon Mona." Raph told her. She nodded as the feed cut out and the ship made its way to the rendezvous point.
Mona Lisa's personal ship docked with the Ulixies as she entered and began to make her way to the bridge.
"Oooh Raph, kiss-kiss." Mikey teased the red-clad Turtle.
"Bet you're really happy to see her again, huh Raph." Anna teased as well, much to Raph's irritation as he shoved both of them aside right as Mona Lisa walked into the bridge.
"Mona!" He exclaimed with a smile the second he saw her.
"Raphael!" She exclaimed in a tone that was just as elated. The two slowly walked towards each other and locked hands. "It brings me great joy to see you again."
The moment their eyes locked, it seemed like the two were in their own personal universe with no one to invade it.
"I'm so glad you're okay Mona Lisa." Raph said with a smile; only for the moment to be interrupted by a loud cough from Leo, getting their attention.
"Awe. They're so cute together." Olaf gushed, but the group chose to ignore it as they got to the situation at hand.
"So, what happened out there?" Leo asked Mona.
"Armaggon has captured G'Throkka and delivered him to the planet Sectoid-1." Mona informed.
"That's Lord Dregg's home world, he controls the entire system." Honeycutt told the group.
April looked up the information on the planet stored in the Ulixies' databanks. "The Explorer's Guide to the Universe says it's one of the most feared and evil parts of the Cosmos." April said.
"And let me guess, that's our next stop, right?" Kristoff assumed.
"Yep." Elsa confirmed with a nod.
"Hold on, what about our mission?" Karai asked. "We're already way behind the Triceratons."
"Our friends come first." Elsa quickly told the Kunoichi. "The Salamandrians have done so much to help us in the past, now it's our turn to help them."
"Don't worry Mona, we'll help you rescue Sal Commander. He's one of us." Raph assured her as he placed both his hands on her shoulders.
"Yeah! To Dregg's home-planet and save our friends!" Olaf cheered.
"Dang, that sounded pretty epic little snow-dude." Casey noted with an impressed smirk.
"Very well then." Honeycutt knew he couldn't change this group's mind once it was set on a goal. "Course to Sectoid-1 plotted and initiating tachyon-warp."
"Thank you, Raphael. Thank you, brave warriors." Mona thanked as everyone smiled at her and the Ulixies entered hyperspace. However, Karai noticed something odd in Mona's tone. Nothing sinister, but it didn't sound enthusiastic, more… shameful.
Anna shivered. "So, we're going to the home of one of the cruelest guys in the universe. Something tells me this won't be pretty."
"Don't worry Anna, this time, we'll make sure to squash that bug for sure." Kristoff stated.
"And his little shark-pal to." Sven added.
Soon, the Ulixies came out of warp, and into the system. It appeared to be like an asteroid-field, only instead of asteroids, they were massive bug-hives. In fact, the second they came out of warp, tiny bug-stains appeared on the main-window. Already the group began to feel grossed out.
"Welcome to the Sectoid System." Honeycutt informed everyone. "Population: bugs! Lots and lots of bugs."
"This is just gross." Anna already had goosebumps.
"Yeah, I don't wanna sound mean, but I do not like this place." Olaf agreed.
Casey, however, didn't appear as grossed out. "This is the most metal part of the galaxy I have ever seen!"
"Really, Jones?" Karai questioned as she dragged her hand down her face.
"It's not metal at all, but organic rock." Honeycutt explained. "This system used to be even more grand and populated, before Dregg took power. He's of a race of ancient cosmic insects that created these hive-worlds."
Raph already looked tense as he saw the large bugs flying all around the ship.
"Wow, bet this is majorly freaking you out Raph." Mikey leaned in close to tease his brother. "Being afraid of bugs and all."
"Not in front of Mona, Mikey!" Raph shoved Mikey away as he tried to wipe the frightened look off his face. "I'm totally fine. No prob! Not itching all over or freaking out! Not me!"
"Aw, you wanna a hug to make you feel better Raph?" Olaf offered as he tried to hug Raph's arm and comfort him, only for Raph to shove him off.
"I just said I'm fine Olaf! No hugs needed!"
Anna walked closer to Mona and whispered to her. "Raph won't admit it, but he's not exactly comfortable around bugs." She teased slightly mostly at Raph's expense.
Mona Lisa had an understanding look. "I do not blame him. I myself find this part of the galaxy to be quite disturbing."
The Ulixies made its way deeper into the system, towards the largest hive-planet in the area. "I think I've located Dregg's headquarters." Honeycutt informed the group.
"Take us down, but not too close. We don't need to advertise that we're here." Leo told the Professor. "Everyone get ready."
The Ulixies landed rather roughly on the uneven ground and extended its exiting platform as the door opened; allowing the group to step outside.
"Come my friends. I will lead us to Dregg's lair." Mona took the lead with everyone else close behind him.
Everyone looked around at the odd and abnormal landscape. "Okay, out of all the places we've been to on this journey, this has to be the weirdest." Kristoff pointed out.
"Was never too fond of bugs myself either." Sven agreed as he looked more than a little grossed out.
"It's like walking across a giant wad of slowly-baking pizza dough." Mikey observed.
"Only not nearly as appetizing." Elsa shivered.
"It's an organic compound, not unlike hornet-hives back home." Donnie informed, only to be smacked in the back by Casey.
"Thanks for the info, Donnie-pedia." Casey joked.
"Knock it off, you idiots." Karai lightly scolded as the group continued to walk across the insect-hive-like landscape.
"If this place is supposed to be one large hive, shouldn't there be holes or…" Anna suddenly screamed as a hole opened underneath her and she fell.
"Anna!" Leo jumped in after her and caught her hand, while driving his katana into the wall to halt their fall.
"Thanks Leo." The princess breathed in relief, but that relief quickly faded as they looked below to see multiple glowing green eyes coming from the darkness below. "Uh oh."
Leo and Anna quickly climbed out of the pit and ran back towards the group. "Look out! We got company!" Leo warned.
They all turned to see a large swarm of alien-insects all flying towards them. "Oh space apples!" April screamed as everyone scattered and drew their respective weapons to fight off the large bugs.
April brought out her gun to shoot several of the bugs coming her way. Anna tried to help her out, only to be knocked down as a bug tried to bite down onto her, which she barely held back.
"Get off her!" Kristoff grabbed the bug from behind and threw it off before cutting it down with one of his hatchets.
"Thanks, babe." Anna said as he helped her up.
"Don't mention it."
Sven pried off a large stick-like piece of the hive from the ground and used it as a blunt weapon to knock back any bugs near him. Mikey gave him proper back-up as he used the extended chain on his nunchuck to ensnare a bug from behind the mutant reindeer and spin it around to smash any other bugs near him.
Olaf screamed and tried to run around the swarm of bugs; but Leo and Elsa came to his defense as Leo used his katanas to slash at all the bugs that were close while Elsa threw out multiple bolts of her magic to freeze and shatter all the ones further away from them.
Honeycutt's energy-guns came out of his arms as he opened fire, despite multiple bugs swarming him, thought they were unable to get through his metallic body. However, he still received aid as Karai came in and quickly sliced the bugs with her own short blade before they even realized what was coming.
Mona Lisa backed away as she pulled in an incoming bug and threw it away before drawing her arm-blade to slice another. Raph jumped in alongside her to impale the bugs she missed with his sais; but several more tried to come in, only for Mona to shoot them down with her own blaster. Raph and Mona shared smiles as they were already a great team.
Casey threw his bat out and about as he tried with futility to smash any bugs that were near him with April providing what cover she could with her blaster. Casey batted one bug away that brandished its stinger, but it came towards Donnie as he tried to bat several bugs away with his staff.
"Heads up!" Casey warned Donnie, but when the purple-clad Turtle turned around, the bug landed on its face and stung him. Donnie gave muffled screams as he tried to take it off, but it wouldn't budge.
"Hang on Donnie!" Kristoff came in to wrench the large bug off his face and throw it away just as his friends killed the last of the swarming insects. "Donnie, are you alright?" Kristoff asked but he gave an audible gasp as he saw his friend's face. It was bloated in all sorts of areas, covering his eyes and even his mouth. "Guys! We got a problem!"
All the heroes came together as they looked to Donnie's face with either disgust or frightened concern; all save for Casey who couldn't help but laugh, only to be bonked onto the head by Sven.
"I'm hideous." Donnie moaned as he felt his face.
"Professor, is he going to be okay?" Anna asked with concern.
"Oh dear." Honeycutt saw the condition he was in and didn't like it. "We should get him back to the ship immediately!"
"Okay; Elsa, Raph, Mikey, Casey, Anna, you're with me and Mona Lisa, we'll go for Sal Commander." Leo told the group. "Olaf, April, Kristoff, Karai, Sven; you guys go with Donnie and the Professor just in case you run into any more bugs."
Everyone nodded as they all split up and went off in opposite directions.
After a few minutes of waking; Mona Lisa had led the group consisting of Raph, Anna, Leo, Casey, Elsa, and Mikey towards a large black citadel which appeared to have an insect-like skull on the top with massive fossilized insect-wings for added decoration.
"Well, that's one scary place." Anna gulped.
"Let me guess, Dregg's home?" Elsa asked Mona.
"Indeed." Mona Lisa confirmed.
"Dudes!" Mikey exclaimed. "That castle is straight out of Crognard!"
Raph didn't like the look of this place one bit. He covered his arms as he felt his entire body itch. "If this castle is… one giant bug… where do you think they keep the dungeon?"
"Lord Dregg is known to cage his prisoners in his throne room. He sees them as trophies." Mona Lisa answered.
"Great, just great." Elsa muttered. "The one place where he'd be expecting us."
"Everyone stay sharp." Leo stated. "We're walking straight into the lion's den."
"I think you mean hornet's nest." Casey joked slightly.
"Casey, now is not the time." Anna told him as they made their way towards the fortress.
There was virtually no door so there appeared to be nothing to stop them from entering. However, they all had to exercise the utmost caution as Lord Dregg was one of their most dangerous enemies yet and had learned by now not to underestimate him. Entering 'full-ninja-mode', Leo took the lead. He made sure the opening-way was cleared and quietly motioned for everyone to follow; which they did, being as quiet as possible.
"Whoa." Casey looked around, already liking this place as he guarded them from the rear.
The group had quietly traversed down a tunnel and deep towards the center of the castle; making it towards the large and darkened chamber that appeared to be the throne room.
"This place is so metal…"
"We know Casey!" Raph exclaimed in a harsh whisper. "Metal! Everything on this stupid planet is metal! Shut up already!"
"Guys, please be quiet!" Anna whispered as well.
They all looked and saw at the center and bottom of the throne room, what appeared to be Sal Commander lying flat on the ground.
"Sal Commander." Leo stated as the group quietly ran down toward him; but Mona stayed behind as she had a guilty look on her face.
Elsa made her way towards him first. "Commander… Commander, it's us." She tried to reach for him, but the second she did, his entire body vanished as it appeared to be only an illusion created by multiple firefly-like insects. "What…?"
As soon as it vanished, something grew out of the ground above them. Though Elsa, Leo, and Raph were able to avoid it; Mikey, Casey, and Anna ended up trap in what appeared to be a dome of solid amber.
"Hey!" Mikey exclaimed as he, Casey, and Anna tried to knock on the dome.
"What the heck?!" Casey shouted.
"What's going on?! Anna exclaimed in a startled fright.
"Anna! Guys!" Elsa shouted with worry as Leo drew his blades; but before they could make a move, they all heard a familiar, yet sinister, laugh. A giant hive-like lamp shined up from the top of the throne room and illuminated the entire chamber, including the ruler of the planet that sat on top his elevated and overly decorated bug-themed throne.
"Lord Dregg." Leo glared.
"Finally." The Insect Lord sneered. "The Turtle aliens and Cryokinetic female are mine."
"You mean ours, Dregg. Don't you count old Armaggon out of the deal." The Shark-like bounty hunter stepped into the throne room, along with the real Sal Commander who had a shameful look on his face.
"Commander?!" Elsa exclaimed out of shock upon seeing him. "What's going on here?!"
"Isn't it obvious?" Dregg stated. "You've all been betrayed. You did well… Y'Gythgba."
Everyone gasped as they saw Mona walk down with a look of shame and guilt written all over her face. But none were more shocked, and even hurt, than Raph.
"Mona… how could you…?" Raph uttered, not even finding his voice properly.
Armaggon laughed as multiple Vreen descended from the ceiling. "Fools! You fell right into my trap!" Dregg gloated.
Raph fell to his knees in utter shock and disbelief. "Mona… why…? Why did you… betray us… betray… me?"
Neither Mona, nor Sal Commander, answered as Leo drew his katanas and Elsa readied her magic. They were immediately put on the defensive as they surrounded the downed Raph with all the Vreen closing in around them.
"Raph! Elsa! Free the others!" Leo told them as he went straight for Armaggon, but a Vreen dropped a green smoke-bomb in front of him to temporarily blind him before the Vreen took him and flew into the air.
"Leo!" Elsa was about to go after him; but two Vreen grabbed her from behind. "Get off me!" She channeled her ice powers to freeze and shatter them just as Leo sliced the Vreen that was carrying him and fell down to impale another before landing right next to Elsa; but two large bug-rockets from Dregg himself blasted the ground both of them to send them flying and knock them unconscious.
"Leo! Elsa!" Mikey and Anna exclaimed at the same time as Casey used his baseball bat to try and bust their way out of their prison, but he couldn't even make a dent. They turned to see Armaggon laughing as he made his way towards the downed and emotionally hurt Raph.
"Come on bro! Snap out of it!" Casey tried to tell Raph.
"Get up Raph! Help us!" Anna tried to call to him as well, but it was no use. Raph had all but lost the will to fight as he dropped his sais.
"You're pathetic!" Armaggon stood over Raph as he drove his elbow into him to knock him onto the ground. He punched him repeatedly in the face, but as he did, Raph didn't see Armaggon punching him. He saw Mona.
"Why…?" That was all he could utter before everything went black.
Moments later; Leo and Raph had been placed in the same prison-cell as Mikey, Anna, and Casey. Elsa however was in a different predicament. She was contained in an organic-sack hanging right next to Dregg's throne, filled with an orange-like substance. Though her eyes were just weakly open, she couldn't even move her body.
Dregg himself snacked upon tiny insects in a bag as he gloated to his prisoners. "Once I discovered the red Turtle had a thing for the Salamandrian female, the plan came easily."
"Hey, who hacked their intergalactic love mail? Armaggon! Who captured the big lizard? Armaggon!"
"Alright! We get it!" Dregg interrupted Armaggon's self-praise.
"Just sayin!"
Raph regained his consciousness inside the cell as Anna and Mikey helped him up. "Raph, what happened back there?" Leo questioned.
"Leo, take it easy. He's been hurt in the worst way possible." Anna stated.
"Sal, what happened? Why'd you sell us out?" Mikey asked Sal Commander as he and Mona stood outside their cell.
"Forgive us." Sal Commander said. "This was not our choice."
Anna glared at Dregg as she saw the predicament her elder sister was in. "What are you doing to my sister you oversized mosquito!?"
"Do not fret, she is still alive." Dregg explained. "She is confined in a special paralysis. She can still see and hear everything around her, but she is unable to twitch so much as a finger, much less use her powers. But do not worry, now that she is mine…. Her powers will do me so much good." He sneered as he dragged his finger along the casing as Elsa glared at him. "Speaking of power, I desire the fragments of the Black Hole machine."
"You're too late, Dregg. The Triceratons have them." Leo told him.
"What?!" However, the insect lord noticed someone was missing. "Wait, where is the other Turtle?!"
"And that little pink meat-bag and his furry friend with the antlers?" Armaggon questioned as well. "I still got a score to settle with those two losers."
"They're all the way across the galaxy Dregg!" Leo bluffed. "And they're bringing with them an entire army of Utrom and Triceraton allies!"
"That's right! Nobody messes with the team of Kristoff, Sven, and Donatello!" Anna exclaimed in pure defiance as well.
The Ulixies – Medical Center
Donatello laid on the platform, his face even more swollen than before. "I… I really don't think this is a normal reaction." Donnie mumbled as even his mouth was swollen. "Cause my face is…"
"Damn, that is one nasty bug bite." Kristoff uttered as he, Olaf, April, Karai, and Sven were on the other side of a glass window.
"Hold still D. Fugitoid's on this." April told him.
"Maybe I can kiss it to make it better?" Olaf suggested.
"I really doubt that." Sven's eyelids lowered slightly.
Professor Honeycutt was able to scan Donnie to determine the affect the insect's venom was having on him. "Oh dear. This is really bad!"
"Can you save him, Professor?" April asked.
"Cure the sting of a Zax-bee? One of the rarest venoms in the known universe? Why yes! Yes I can!" Honeycutt's arm converted into a three-way injector as he prepared to operate.
As Honeycutt began the procedure, Karai glanced back towards the entrance to see nobody coming in. "Don't you think they would be back by now?"
"You're right, Karai. We haven't even gotten a call from them yet." April noted.
"Well, considering the amount of luck our group has, I wouldn't be surprised that they ran into trouble." Kristoff pointed out.
"Well, we should go out and help them then." Sven suggested.
"What about Donnie?" Olaf asked.
"Yeah, we should stay here just in case the ship is attacked by Armaggon again." April suggested.
"Makes sense but… somehow… I just can't help but get this feeling. Like something bad has happened." Karai voiced.
Dregg's Citadel - Throne Room
"You promised to discuss the terms of our home-world!" Sal Commander exclaimed to the Insect Lord.
"We trusted your word, Dregg!" Mona Lisa exclaimed as well.
"Your home-world?" Anna voiced from inside her cell.
Armaggon chuckled. "Yep. Dregg's got an entire armada primed and ready to invade the lizards' planet. And if you're lucky, your planet might be next." He laughed. This caused Anna, Leo, Mikey, and Casey to look in surprise and realization. Dregg must have blackmailed their friends into doing his bidding. Elsa even heard it from her personal confinement as she glared at Dregg himself who didn't appear to notice.
"Indeed, you did trust my word." Dregg descended from his throne via his wings and landed in front of the Salamandrians. "Come, let us speak in private. Armaggon, keep your eye on our dinner guests." Armaggon chuckled as he glanced at the prisoners. "And don't eat them."
"Ugh, you always take the fun out of everything, Dregg." Armaggon complained just as the Insect Lord left with Sal and Mona right behind him. However, Mona spared a glance at Raph who simply turned his head away from her.
The Ulixies – Medical Center
Donnie's distorted vision began to clear as he could see the relieved faces of April, Kristoff, Karai, Sven, Honeycutt, and Olaf all smiling down on him. He got up and felt his face, he was completely cured.
"Fugitoid! You did it! I'm my old handsome self again! Thank you!" Donnie exclaimed as Olaf leapt up to give him a hug.
"Welcome back Donnie!" Olaf exclaimed in joy as Donnie chuckled and patted the small snowman on the back.
Just as Olaf let go, April walked by his side. "Thought I lost you for a minute there." She kissed him on the cheek, resulting in Donnie falling with a dazed smile; as well as amused and teasing chuckles from Karai, Kristoff, and Sven. Donnie quickly got back up, however.
"Wait… hold on. Has anyone heard from the others?"
"Their comns are down." The Fugitoid informed. "We have to assume they were captured."
"Well we gotta go and save them!" Olaf exclaimed.
"Hold on Olaf." Sven stopped the snowman from leaving.
"Charging in head on into Dregg's home-turf where he controls virtually everything?" Karai voiced sarcastically. "Yeah, that's not gonna work."
"Karai's right, we need to be careful here." Kristoff agreed. "Considering they captured three of our best fighters and Elsa."
"But we have to try! We can do it!" April stated.
"Got any plans as to how though?" Sven questioned.
Donnie picked up the injector that Honeycutt used to help cure him as he got an idea. "Hey Professor, that anti-venom you treated my sting with… gives me an idea."
Dregg's Citadel
Lord Dregg had led Mona Lisa and Sal Commander into a chamber that appeared to be line with large insect-eggs, no doubt housing his soon-to-be Vreen soldiers and other insectoid monstrosities that Dregg would soon command as they hatch.
"Now that you have the Turtles, Ice Queen, and their allies, you must relinquish our home world!" Sal Commander told him. "Call off your fleet!"
"Do not order Lord Dregg!" The Insect Lord exclaimed as he used multiple glowing insects to show live footage of his insect-fleet approaching the Salamandrian home-world. "Not when your planet is beneath our armada."
"You promised you would not attack Salamandria if we brought… the Turtles…" Mona said dejectedly, experiencing a great deal of regret over betraying her friends, especially Raph.
"Well you brought them, and I released your commander." Dregg said. "But… No planetary invasion? I don't think so."
"You fiend! What have we done?!" Mona Lisa exclaimed in shock and despair.
"You have no honor, insect" Sal Commander shouted in anger as he was more than ready to attack Dregg right here and now; but unfortunately for him, multiple Vreen soldiers walked in from behind to capture them as Dregg merely laughed.
Throne Room
Leo, Mikey, and Casey worked on finding a way out of the cell as they banged against the cell walls; only for Armaggon to kick the wall from the outside and knock them down.
"Knock it off! Don't wear yourselves out just yet. I've been wanting to munch on you chumps for a long time." The shark bounty hunter grinned.
"Why don't you come in here and say that to our faces guppy-boy!" Casey challenged, but Armaggon just laughed before walking away.
Anna glared in his direction before she saw Raph looking about as broken as one would expect, not even glancing up at his brothers and friends. The princess had a sympathetic look on her face as she kneeled down and put a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"You okay Raph?"
"What do you think." He uttered as he turned away. "Go ahead, laugh. Tell me I deserve this. Tell me I was wrong to trust her."
"No, I'm not gonna say anything like that." Anna told him. "I know exactly how you feel. When someone you trusted, someone you felt strong feelings for, just stabs you in the back. I know what the kind of pain is like, and how hard it is to get over. I am so sorry Raph" The red-clad and broken-hearted Turtle weakly looked up to Anna as she continued. "I really am sorry; but, there's one big difference between now and then. Hans was a total jerk, he betrayed me only for himself. But, I heard what Mona said; she and Sal Commander… they did this because Dregg threatened their home, just like how the Triceratons are threatening Earth. She's not a bad person, you know that. After everything we've all been through, we both know she's good."
"But look at where we are now." Raph didn't seem as encouraged by that speech as Anna thought he'd be. "Unless you got a way to fix everything, I don't know how we're gonna get out of this."
"Come on, the Raph I know wouldn't give up so easily like this. We'll figure a way out!" Anna stated as she looked around and noticed something at the top. "Hey guys." She got the attention of everyone else. "Doesn't this part, look different from everything else." She felt along the top, along the spine where the dome was generated from.
Leo, Mikey, and Casey exchanged smiles with her as they may have just figured a way out of this.
Outside
Multiple Vreen were patrolling the perimeter of Dregg's citadel, keeping an eye out for the comrades of the heroes their lord captured.
"Hey! Over here!"
All the Vreen looked to see Olaf, April, and Honeycutt shouting and waving to them.
"Hey buggy freaks!" April called.
"Hello!" Honeycutt waved.
"Who wants a hug?!" Olaf called as well.
The Vreen all sprang to action as they chased the trio over a hilltop where the trap was sprung. Karai zoomed in from an elevated point with her blade to sever the wings from the Vreen and send them falling to the ground. Though they survived; they faced the trio of Donnie, Kristoff, and Sven. They each held a canister with a spray-nozzle, though Sven had two strapped to his back as he held a nozzle in each hand.
Donnie was the first to move as he sprayed a blue gas-like substance in the face of one Vreen. The second tried to charge towards Donnie, but Kristoff leapt in the way and sprayed into the face of the incoming Vreen that tripped and fell. The last two charged as well, but Sven stood firm in front of them and sprayed from both nozzles into their faces. The second each Vreen was sprayed; they all shivered and screeched before they fell to the ground. They were now dead.
"Nice." Karai smirked as she and everyone else regrouped while Donnie blew off the top of his nozzle like a cowboy would his gun.
"Donatello, your plan to turn the anti-venom into a bug-spray was brilliant!" Fugitoid congratulated.
"Nice going Donnie." Kristoff patted his friend's back.
"Yeah that's right, I'm bad!" Donnie smirked with pride.
"You're not bad Donnie, you're good! Super good!" Olaf said, confused by the statement.
"It's an expression, Olaf." Donnie clarified.
"Let's save the celebration until we're done here." Sven reminded the group.
"Yeah, save some for the castle." April agreed as the group made their way towards Dregg's citadel.
Throne Room.
Armaggon crouched down, his back towards the cell, as he mumbled to himself how much he wanted to eat the prisoners. But with his back turned, it was the perfect opening for the group to spring their escape plan. Leo nodded to Casey who smirked as he produced his electric toaster from his glove and shot it into the spine, causing it to fall over and the amber around them all to shatter; freeing the heroes.
Armaggon turned around in surprise as the Vreen came down, ready for battle. "You gotta be pulling my fin!"
"Anna, get Elsa! We'll hold them off!" Leo stated as he drew his blades.
"Got it!" Anna ran to climb up the throne while Leo, Mikey, and Casey engaged Armaggon and the Vreen in battle.
Mikey flailed his nunchucks at Armaggon to knock him back a bit, but before the bounty hunter could counter, Leo already leapt up from Mikey's shell to slice at Armaggon and kick him back. Casey meanwhile skated to avoid a claw strike from a Vreen and bash it down with his hockey-stick.
"Goongala!" Casey shouted as he charged another Vreen while Anna had managed to climb up onto Dregg's throne and make her way towards her imprisoned sister.
"Don't worry Elsa, I'm gonna get you out of here!" Anna tried to pry it open, but Elsa's eyes widened as she couldn't warn her sister of Dregg suddenly appearing behind Anna and grabbing her by the back of her head and lifting her up. "Let me go!"
Dregg threw Anna towards the ground, where she hit Raph, who still kneeled in despair, both skidded to a halt on the ground before Dregg appeared and brought down Mikey with a punch, a kick to Casey, and Leo with a claw strike. All five of them were thrown into a pit off toward the side of the throne room.
"No!" Mona Lisa exclaimed as she and Sal Commander were brought in, escorted by their Vreen captors.
Leo, Mikey, Anna, Raph, and Casey all screamed as they slid down the pit and towards a smaller hole at the center, which appeared to be organic as it even gave an animalistic sound as all of them, expect for Raph, fell in. Raph was able to grab the edge, just barley, but he couldn't maintain his grip much longer.
"You vile monster!" Sal shouted to Dregg who just laughed.
Mona could only look in shock and terror as Raph lost his grip and he fell. "Raphael!"
The group of five groaned as they got up to look at their surroundings. It was dark, yet a blacklight-like shine filled the area to give them some form of visibility as the walls appeared to be made from dark blue intestines, and even the group was covered in some kind of pink slime.
"Gross!" Anna tried to scrub the stuff off her. "Where the heck are we, now?"
"Um… are we in some giant bug-belly?" Mikey questioned.
"It's way cozier than some Kraang worm stomach. Trust me on that." Casey stated.
The group suddenly heard some kind of hissing snarl coming from the organic wall on the side as they saw a pair of eyes shine through the darkness beyond it.
"What the…?" Leo's eyes widened in fear as even Anna looked more than a little frightened.
The source of the sound crawled out of the wall to reveal an enormous scorpion-like monster with a metallic exo-skeleton. It roared at the five who would serve as its next meal.
"Or…. maybe not…" Casey uttered.
Mona Lisa and Sal Commander couldn't see what was going on in the pit below, but they got a good idea from the sounds coming down below, and even Armaggon's gloating behind them.
"Nothing ever survives a Scorpinoid. They'll be dead soon." Armaggon chuckled.
However, Mona Lisa and Sal Commander looked towards each other. They hated this; they betrayed their comrades who put their unquestioning trust and loyalty on them, and they betrayed that trust. However, with Dregg making it clear that he had no intention of keeping his word, nothing was going to stop them from making things right.
Mona drew her arm-blade and tried to strike out, but it was caught by Armaggon's own arm-blade as he smirked. "Ha! Nice try!" He knocked her down with a single punch. Sal Commander was about to lash out, but Armaggon had already caught his punch and kicked him down as well. They would have gotten back up, if not for the Vreen descending upon them and pinning them to the ground with their feet.
"Foolish!" Dregg exclaimed. "Now I will have Salamandrian to feast upon instead! And as for your planet… a literal smorgasbord!" He glanced towards the still-captive Elsa as she glared at him with all the hate she could muster. "And now with this unique life-form under my control, all the planets in the universe shall bow at my newfound power! Today Dregg wins! Yes! Go Dregg! Go Dregg go! Go Dregg go! Go Dregg go!"
However, not all hope was lost as just around the corner of one entrance way; Karai, April, Donnie, Kristoff, Sven, Olaf, and Honeycutt looked ready to strike back.
"This is bad." Honeycutt voiced.
"Oh no." Olaf placed both his hands over his mouth. "What are we gonna do?"
"Well, I don't know about you, but I really wanna wipe the smirk off that maggot's face!" Karai uttered, glaring at Dregg.
"Same here." Kristoff voiced with even Sven nodding in agreement.
April soon got an idea. "Maybe, you might have a chance. And I think Armaggon might be able to help us out."
Scorpinoid Pit
Raph struggled in the painful grip of the Scorpinoid's claw and was ready to feast down on him; but Anna quickly pulled out her laser pistol to shoot at the monster. Though this didn't it, it did get the creature's attention as it threw Raph away to the wall and ran after the fleeing Anna with a growl. Leo and Mikey tried to provide Anna help, but Raph struggled to get up, not out of physical pain but the emotional turmoil he still felt.
"Get it together Raph!" Casey exclaimed to him.
Raph clenched his fists as he knew Casey was right, as was Anna before. Now was not the time to worry about what Mona did, that can wait. Right now, his friends and brothers needed him.
Throne Room
Karai hunched over an edge as she quietly nodded to the rest of the group, waiting for the distraction. April held out her Aeon crystal and channeled her psychic powers through it.
"Just like our training, April." Honeycutt whispered. April was able to focus her powers on the sack of bugs that Armaggon was holding to serve as a snack. She telekinetically launched the sack from Armaggon's hand towards Dregg's head. He growled as he glared at Armaggon, assuming he threw it at him.
"Hold up Dregg! I didn't throw it!" Armaggon tried to reason with him, but the Insect Lord didn't appear to be listening as he angrily flew down toward him.
"You aquatic simpleton!" He smacked the bounty hunter and grappled with him.
"Get off of me you freak!"
This was the perfect distraction as Karai used her snake-like agility and ninja-stealth to quickly and quietly jump and run along the wall up towards the throne where Elsa was still incased in the fluid. She looked in surprise to see Karai who drew her sword to cut open the sack; spilling all the fluid out as Elsa fell out. Karai caught her as the Ice Queen coughed and spat out any of the fluid that made it into her mouth.
"Blah! Yuck!" Elsa regained her breath.
"You okay?" Karai asked.
"No." She was quite angry. "But I know exactly who to take it out on."
Donnie jumped in-between the Vreen that kept Mona Lisa and Sal Commander pinned to the ground as he used his bug-spray to kill and knock them off the two Salamandrians.
"Are you guys okay?" Donnie asked as he and Olaf ran to help them up.
"Donatello… Olaf… we have failed you." Mona Lisa said in regret.
Kristoff and Sven ran in with their canisters of bug-spray to keep any remaining Vreen back as April used her pistol to shoot down an organic tube that hung down from the ceiling. She caught it and dragged it toward the Scorpinoid Pit where she began to lower it to her struggling friends.
"Guys! Up here!" April called to them.
Casey was the first to try and grab it, though he slipped at first, he quickly caught it just as Leo jumped on and they were the first to begin using it to climb up. Anna wasn't far behind, along with Mikey and Raph.
Meanwhile; Dregg and Armaggon continued their scuffle when they finally noticed the sounds of battle as they turned around in surprise to see Elsa, Karai, Donnie, Kristoff, and Sven fending off the Vreen soldiers with little effort.
"No!" Dregg flew towards Elsa, but before he could make contact, Karai came in with a kick to his chest to knock him off course. She didn't even give him a chance to recover as she slashed and hacked at him with her sword; however, he was able to catch her last attack and slam her onto the ground to disorient her. Dregg opened his mouth to devour Karai whole; but Mona Lisa came in from behind to punch him in the back of the head and knock Dregg back, freeing Karai from his grip.
Mona Lisa drew her sword. "I made a terrible mistake, and I intend to rectify it."
Elsa ran by Mona's side. "Not alone, you're not. We can work things out after we deal with this monster." She stated as she created a set of dual ice-katanas
"Agreed." They both engaged Dregg with their swords as Donnie continued to use his bug-spray on the Vreen but eventually ran out. He was about to be overwhelmed, but Sal Commander came in with his own sword to cut the Vreen down as he helped Donnie fight them back.
April meanwhile continued to try and help her friends out of the Scorpinoid Pit; but was knocked back by a metallic head-butt from Armaggon. "I'm gonna enjoy this!" He chuckled.
"And I'm gonna enjoy this!" The bounty hunter turned around only to have his face smacked by Kristoff using the canister of his bug spray as a blunt weapon. The impact actually knocked out a few of Armaggon's teeth as he staggered back. Kristoff came in with the same attack on Armaggon again, but when he came in for the third, Armaggon opened his mouth and bit into the canister before shattering it in his mouth with a crunch. He then punched Kristoff in the face to knock him back.
Before Armaggon could make any further move on Kristoff; Sven came in with a punch to Armaggon's face before taking both of his metal canisters and using them as blunt weapons as well to deal greater damage on Armaggon's body. He even sandwiched Armaggon's head in-between his blunt weapons. Kristoff came back in with his hatchet as he swung upwards and sliced right into Armaggon's throat.
The shark-bounty hunter coughed as he felt his injury just before both Kristoff and Sven delivered a double-upper cut to his jaw to send him flying up and over the edge, down towards the Scorpinoid Pit, just as Leo, Raph, Anna, Mikey, and Casey all climbed out. Before Armaggon could even recover, the Scorpinoid's claw reached out from the pit and pulled him in. The last sound Armaggon ever made was a scream before he was devoured. There was a loud burping noise coming from the pit soon after.
As all the heroes regrouped to fight back; several more Vreen came down from the ceiling to try and subdue them, however, Honeycutt had managed to station himself on top of Dregg's throne where he converted and shifted his body to expose his fusion core and fire a massive beam of fusion energy straight through the palace; leaving a massive hole in the wall he shot. This caused the palace to shift and quake as debris fell from the ceiling; crushing multiple Vreen as several of the heroes tried to run or dodge out of the way, even Dregg got buried underneath it all.
"Is everyone alright?!" Olaf exclaimed to the whole group.
"Worry about that later! Let's get out of here now!" Leo exclaimed. With no need for debate; all the heroes made a bolt for the escape. Raph was about to leave as well, but Mona placed a hand on his shoulder.
"I am so sorry I didn't tell you the truth, Raphael."
Raph did not appear to accept her apology, however. "I trusted you, more than anyone in the galaxy! And you betrayed me!" He then ran after his friends. Mona looked dejectedly, but knew she deserved it. She followed everyone else, but Anna ran alongside her.
"It's alright." Anna began. "Raph won't admit it, but I know he still cares about you. He just has… anger issues and he knows how to hold onto a grudge. But I know he will forgive you."
"How can you forgive me so easily?" Mona asked the princess. "I betrayed you, almost got you and all your friends killed, and your sister was almost made a living weapon because of me."
"It wasn't your fault." Anna replied. "Dregg used you. Look, we can worry about all the drama later. For right now, let's just get out of here."
"Yes, that is a good plan." Mona Lisa agreed.
The large group had made it out of the citadel and were running back to the Ulixies as fast as their legs could carry them.
"We gotta get off this giant bee-hive!" Leo exclaimed to Honeycutt as he accessed the controls in his robotic arm.
"I'm remotely preparing the Ulixies for take-off!"
"UNLEASH THE SCORPINOID!"
Everyone turned around in shock to see a large army of Vreen soldiers flying through the air with the massive Scorpinoid marching down beneath them; and Dregg himself riding on the giant monster.
"YOU WILL NOT ESCAPE!" Dregg yelled.
Olaf gulped. "That's a lot of really big bugs."
Mona Lisa and Sal Commander drew their weapons as they prepared to make their stand. "Wait, what are you doing?!" Elsa exclaimed.
"Go all of you! Get to your ship!" Mona stated.
"We'll hold them off!" Sal Commander exclaimed with a Salamandrian roar.
"By yourselves?!" Kristoff exclaimed.
"Are you crazy?!" Donnie also shouted. "What about your planet!? Your people?!"
"We can't just leave you guys!" Anna also stated.
"Go!" Mona insisted. "Save your world! And Raphael…" She turned to the red-clad Turtle with a sincere smile. "I will always love you!" She turned and roared as she and Sal Commander charged to face the army of insects.
Though all were surprised at this, none was more shocked than Raph. She just said the L-word to him! "You love me…?" A smile formed on his face. "She loves me."
"She loves you Raph!" Olaf exclaimed with a wide smile as he jumped around him. "She loves you!"
Everyone smiled as they all gathered around him. "I think I've seen that kind of look before." Anna smirked at him.
"Come on, we're not letting them stand alone!" Elsa stated. She stomped her foot and threw out her hands to create a massive patch of ice in front of the group of heroes which began to grow and expand to reveal a small army of at least thirty Ice Dragons. All of them roared as they expanded their wings and shot towards the sky.
Raph drew his sais as he was the first to charge in, followed by his brothers, along with Anna, Karai, Kristoff, Casey, April, and Sven, even Olaf who rode on his shoulders. Elsa even created her ice-wings and took to the skies along with her Ice Dragons.
"CHARGE!" Olaf exclaimed. "FOR THE POWER OF LOVE!"
Raph was on the attack first as he jumped and jammed both his sais into a Vreen soldier. He hacked, sliced, and kicked any Vreen that was around him, being fuelled by pure determination to save the one he loved. Nothing would stand in his way.
Leo used his katanas to slice up any Vreen around him as Karai ran alongside her brother, slicing the enemy with inhumane speed to render them all to itty-bitty chunks. Donnie spun his staff as he blocked one strike before jamming the blade at the end of his staff into the chest of one Vreen before spinning to decapitate another. Mikey extended his nunchucks to crush the head of an incoming Vreen before twirling and throwing the chain up to catch another Vreen flying at him before pulling it down hard to squash another Vreen on the ground. April and Casey stood back-to-back, shooting and bashing down any Vreen that stood in their way.
Elsa threw out both her arms to create a large blizzard to freeze all the dozens of flying Vreen in front of her. They then all fell and shattered on the ground as all her Ice Dragons were on the attack. Several of them engaged the Vreen with their claws and teeth; needless to say, the Vreen were no match for them. The other Ice Dragons flew closer towards the ground and blasted their blue-fire from their mouth to bombard the large clusters of ground-bug-soldiers with their attack; freezing and shattering them upon contact.
Sal Commander used his sword to cut down a Vreen but was surrounded by five more. However, he didn't get a chance to fight them by himself as Kristoff hacked down one from behind with his hatchet before cutting down another the same way. Sven yelled as he charged and impaled a Vreen with his antlers before raising his fists to crush another one. Olaf jumped off of Sven's back and landed onto the face of another Vreen, distracting it momentarily for Kristoff to slice at its chest with his hatchet, killing it.
Sal Commander could not contain his surprise. "You… you returned…?"
"Of course, we did." Kristoff stated. "Friends don't abandon friends!"
"How… can you still call us friends after…" Sal Commander couldn't find the words.
"You were trying to save your world, just like we are." Sven added. "We get it."
"Let's all fight together!" Olaf stated. "So, we can save both our worlds together! And we can all go home and live happily ever after!"
"What he said." Sven nodded.
"So, what do you say Sal? You with us?" Kristoff smirked as he offered his hand. Though the hand-offering usually meant combat under Salamandrian standards, Kristoff mealy extended his hand in friendship, something that Sal Commander knew and accepted as he shook his comrade's hand with a smile.
"Yes, I am with you!" Sal stated as they stood ready.
"Let's go!" Kristoff exclaimed as they reengaged the enemy.
Anna shoot down two Vreen flying towards her, not too far from Mona Lisa's location. Though the female Salamandrian looked in surprise to see the human fighting alongside her, she looked in terror as Dregg's Scorpinoid loomed over her and she didn't even notice.
"Princess Anna!" Mona Lisa ran and pushed Anna out of the way just as the Scorpinoid lashed its tail, striking Mona in the back. Anna looked toward her from the ground in shock. Even Raph saw Mona fall to the ground.
"MONA!" Raph practically screamed.
With a vengeful yell, Raph attempted to leap at Dregg, but the Scorpinoid he rode on moved out of the way as Raph rolled and took a combative stance. He dodged the strikes from its stinger-tail, but Dregg roared in pain as he felt a blast on his side; coming from Anna who shot at him with her laser pistol; though her look wasn't as vengeful as Raph's, she was still plenty angry at him. Dregg not only blackmailed and betrayed Mona Lisa, threatening their own home planet, but Mona took the attack from Dregg that was meant for her. Anna was sure to make Dregg pay for what he did, and Raph wasn't far behind either.
The Scorpinoid knocked Anna down with a claw-swipe and grabbed her in its grip; but this left Dregg open for Raph to jump onto the monster and attack. He grabbed and tackled Dregg, pinning him to the back of the Scorpinoid, and punching him repeatedly in the face. But Dregg kicked Raph off of him; however, Anna was able to pull herself out of the Scorpinoid's grip as she ran and tackled Dregg from the back, trying to wrap her arms around his throat. But Dregg reached behind to grab Anna and pry her off, leaving him vulnerable to a slash from Raph's sais. The red-clad Turtle gave a yell as he gave a powerful uppercut to Dregg's jaw, which actually appeared to knock his head right off.
Both Anna and Raph practically screamed at the robotic cylinder-like head underneath.
"NO FAIR!" Dregg's severed head shouted, despite it being removed from his body. "NO FAIR! I'LL DESTROY YOU CREATURES! I'LL DESTROY YOU ALL!"
However, Raph still laid several fierce and devastating punches and kicks all across Dregg's body before picking it up and throwing it off the Scorpinoid. Raph then jumped off the creature and ran to his downed lover with Anna right behind him. The Scorpinoid was about to pursue after them, but several Ice Dragons all flew down to bombard the creature with multiple ice-fire attacks and blast it back, and freeze it over in the process, killing it.
"Mona!" Raph picked her up as he looked at her with worry. "Mona…"
"Is she going to be okay?" Anna asked as she kneeled right beside him.
Elsa flew as she looked around the battlefield to see most of the Vreen had already been defeated; but she gasped in shock as she saw the injured Mona with a grief-stricken Raph and a concerned Anna trying to help her. Elsa landed as she saw a few Vreen soldiers helping Lord Dregg put his head back on his body. She glared hatefully at the monster.
"Dregg!" She stomped her way toward him, her magic surging and radiating through her body immensely. "You want my power so badly?! HERE! HAVE IT!"
She created an enormous sphere of magic; surging with ice and snow and cyan-colored bolts before she threw it up into the sky and stomped her foot onto the ground. Ice spread from her feet, straight towards Dregg. Before he could even understand what was happening, ice spread out from the ground and all around him, freezing him from the outside and sealing him in ice. But that wasn't the worst of it. The ice-ball she threw up into the sky exploded out as it spread a wave of cyan energy all throughout the sky; which began to darken with greyish-white snow clouds that spread everywhere. A gentle flurry of snow began to fall to the ground as even the ice Elsa created on the ground began to slowly spread all over.
All the heroes had finished fighting the last of the Vreen as they saw the change in weather. "Whoa, who called in Jack Frost?" Casey questioned.
"It's… snowing…?" April held out her hand as she could see the snowflakes falling down.
"Dude… it already feels like a freezer in here." Mikey shivered.
"What… is this….?" Sal Commander asked, never seeing anything like it.
"Elsa's power." Leo said. "This is it at its strongest."
"It's just like… Arendelle. When she froze it over." Kristoff noted.
Olaf looked towards Elsa with concern, having a good idea what she just did. "Elsa…?"
Everyone's attention, however, was caught as the Ulixies quickly flew towards them as it began to land in front of the group. "Everyone quickly, get on board!" Honeycutt instructed as he remotely guided his ship. "The temperature is dropping very rapidly!"
Raph and Anna tried to help up Mona Lisa as she was barley conscious. "Don't worry, you'll be fine." Anna tried to tell her.
"Just hang on Mona. You'll pull through." Raph stuttered, almost on the verge of crying. "You'll pull through…" That was the last thing she heard as everything went black.
Mona Lisa groaned as she awoke in the Ulixies' medical center. She looked to see the concerned heroes looking relieved that she finally awoke.
"Hey there sleepy-head." Mikey waved.
"You're finally awake! Yay!" Olaf cheered.
"Welcome back." Kristoff nodded with a smile.
She turned to see Raph looking at her with deep concern as Professor Honeycutt made a final treatment with his built-in scanners.
"Do not fret my dear. Soon, you will be feeling one hundred percent!"
Sal Commander approached the group as he bowed his head. "Queen Elsa, brave warriors, we ask for something impossible: your forgiveness."
"Already given." Elsa assured with a warm smile as she put a hand on her shoulder. "It wasn't your fault; Dregg is the one to blame."
"Trust us, if there's one thing our group knows; it's how to give second chances." Karai added with her own smile, having experienced that for herself.
"If I may, what exactly happened back there?" Sal Commander asked, referring to what Elsa did.
"I cast an eternal winter on Dregg's home world. One I have no intention of lifting." Elsa answered.
"Normally, I wouldn't be too fond of going along with something like that…" Anna said. "But, given everything that monster has done to all of us, I'd say he deserves it."
"I see." Sal Commander nodded in agreement.
Mona Lisa sat up on the med table as she faced Raph. "I am so sorry Raphael. Will you ever find it in your heart to forgive me?"
Raph said nothing as he placed his hand on hers. He gave a sincere and loving smile, silently telling her that he truly has forgiven her. They both took each other's hands as their eyes closed and touched noses.
Everyone in the group smiled at this affectionate display. However, Sal Commander's smile soon vanished.
"My friends, we are truly grateful for your kindness. However, while Dregg's home world may be forever imprisoned in ice, his fleet still remains a threat. We must return to our home."
"It's alright, we get it." Leo assured. "Go save your planet."
Mona and Raph broke off as the female Salamandrian stood tall and addressed the group. "However, once we are certain that our home is safe, we will return to aid you. Just as you've helped us save our home, we will help you save yours. I swear it."
"Thank you." Anna nodded.
"Raphael…" Mona Lisa was about to say something, but Raph already knew.
"I know… I love you to." He said with a smile. Mona Lisa gave a final smile herself as she and her commander left the med bay to return to their ships and save their home planet from Dregg's forces.
Raph's smile remained on his face, even after Mona had left. He felt a hand on her shoulder as he looked to see Anna who had a real smile on her face as she nodded.
"Come on guys." Raph turned to his family and friends. "Let's finish this mission."
Done.
So yeah; that was a bit of an emotional roller coaster. However, the heroes were able to not only save Sal Commander and Mona Lisa, but Elsa even cast an eternal winter on Dregg's planet; and given how powerful we've seen that spell can be when she accidentally cast it on Arendelle, and how much bugs don't like the cold, you can expect things to be extremely difficult for Dregg from this point forward (no less than what he deserves).
And Armaggon is FINALLY gone for good. Kristoff and Sven were able to deliver the finishing blow on the ruthless shark bounty hunter, knocking him into the Scorpinoid pit where he was eaten alive.
Raph has also confessed his love to Mona Lisa who has done the same; but no one is going to tease him for it. I hope you liked the interaction between him and Anna during this episode as she gets what it's like to feel betrayed by someone she loved; only difference is, Hans was an irredeemable scumbag, while Mona Lisa is a true warrior who was forced into a no-win situation by an even bigger scumbag.
Only two chapters remain in this story, but I am planning on doing an Epilogue right after. The heroes have to hurry and catch the final piece of the Black Hole generator before the Triceratons do. Can they make it in time? Find out as we near the climax for this story.
Merry Christmas, and if I don't see you soon enough, Happy New Year!
BOOYAKASHA!