The twins and Kara soon found themselves on a shuttle along with a bunch of other young girls and boys brought to Hondo to be taken to Pleasure Island.
Unlike the other kids, Kara was less than excited to be going.
Sapphire sat in Kara's lap as she stroked the pegasus' back.
"Well, here we go again." Sapphire sighed.
"If I only had my phone, I could call for help." Kara said. "It's a good thing Dad got the replacement plan, at least. It was getting out of date, anyway."
The twins, meanwhile, sat with a young Rodian.
"Greedo's the name." said the Rodian. "What's yours?"
"Anakin," said the android in blue. "That's my twin Carmine."
"Hi." Carmine said.
"Ever been to Pleasure Island?" Greedo asked.
"No, but Mr. Hondo gave us-" Carmine said until he was rudely interrupted.
"Neither have I. But they say it's a swell joint. Plenty to eat, plenty to drink, and it's all free. You can even tear the joint apart, and nobody says a word."
"Sounds like a big scam to me." Kara said.
"Who let a killjoy on this ride?" said Greedo.
"That's our big sister Kara." Carmine said.
"I'm telling you guys, something is off about all this."
"How'd you even get on this ride?" Greedo asked.
"I was dragged. And seriously, guys. Some strange men are bringing a bunch of kids to an unknown location in the middle of the night without any of our parents knowing where we are." Kara said. "Don't you find that even a wee bit suspicious?"
The twins started to calculate that hypothesis into their computer minds.
The statistics in their heads told them that the method of their transportation was indeed shady, according to many sites on stranger danger and the chances of terrorists hiding behind seemingly innocent personas by offering their targets seemingly pleasant temptations. But, the child inside both of them was overloaded with anticipation to experience all the things that were offered on this special place called Pleasure Island. And what Greedo said to them next, sealed the deal.
"Come on. You know you want a chance to do what you like. It's not like your parents can punish you if they don't know where you are. Besides, don't they just want ya to be happy? And on Pleasure Island, you won't need to go to school ever again. It's easy street."
And so, the twins ignored Kara's initial warning, and got onto the bigger cruiser that even more kids were on.
Kara reluctantly followed onto the ship with Sapphire, and they were on their merry way. And while the twins weren't looking, she decided to activate the trackers that were wired in their shoulders. If Qui-Gon soon noticed the kids didn't arrive at the station as scheduled, he would be able to find them.
The Cruiser soon took off and made its way to another world, where they landed at a port on a large island surrounded by a tall fence.
The kids excitedly exited the cruiser as the gates were opened, and inside, it looked like a kid's paradise inside.
Lots of exciting things to do. Merry-go-rounds, roller coasters, Ferris wheels, food stands with all kinds of sugar-filled and deep-fried treat foods, there were even special areas where kids could roughhouse, underage smoking, and a place that looked like a shopping mall where everything was free.
All the kids rushed to do all sorts of fun stuff.
Kara and Sapphire rushed through the park, looking for the twins.
"Anakin! Carmine!" Kara called. "Where the heck are they?"
"This place is enormous!" Sapphire said. "Look, it might be best if we split up to cover more ground. And whatever you do, don't fall for the temptations!"
"I'll do my best." Kara promised.
And the girl and the pegasus split up in search of the twins.
Anakin and Carmine, meanwhile, walked with Greedo through the park.
Carmine was happily munching on a bunch of food. He was so glad to finally be eating something. He'd eaten an entire pizza, two cotton candies, an entire pecan pie, and was now munching on his fifth triple scoop ice cream.
Anakin, on the other hand, mostly ate ice cream, and found chocolate to be his favorite.
"AGH!" Anakin held his head. "BRAIN FREEZE!"
The kids just laughed.
And they came upon the Rough House.
"Hey, let's go poke someone in the nose." said Greedo.
"Why?" Carmine asked.
"Just for the fun of it."
"Okay."
And the twins went in with their new friend.
Kara, meanwhile, walked around, looking for her brothers.
She tried asking other kids if they'd seen her brothers, but they either said they didn't or ignored her completely.
Kara held her nose as she ran by Tobacco Row. Why any child would even think about doing that stuff, she had no idea, but she'd learned about drugs in her homeschooling, and the effects of overdosing early on.
Kara jumped with a scream as a big vase hit the ground and shattered, barely missing her. And she looked up to see it was because of a model home that , according to the sign outside, was "Open For Destruction."
"I've gotta find those two and get them out of here." Kara told herself.
Sapphire, on the other hoof, flew high up into the air to get a better view, hopefully finding the twins.
"Carmine! Anakin!" Sapphire called. "Olly, olly oxen free."
But in such a big place, it was really difficult to find specific kids.
Meanwhile, Palpatine called for his men to close the gates.
"Give a little brat enough rope and they'll make jacks of themselves." Palpatine sneered.
Hours went by. And suddenly, Pleasure Island was like a ghost town.
Kara and Sapphire met by the pizza booth.
"Did you see them?" asked Sapphire.
"Nope." Kara sadly shook her head. And then her stomach growled. "But I am hungry."
Sapphire looked at where they were.
"Well, it wouldn't be bad if you only took what you needed at this point." Sapphire said. "You'll need your energy."
Luckily for Kara, there was one pizza left. She munched a couple of slices. They were a little cold, but she wasn't complaining. Sapphire even helped herself to a piece of cheese pizza, being a vegetarian and all.
Meanwhile, the twins and Greedo were in a gambling building where they played pool.
Carmine sat in a chair, licking the frosting off a cupcake, while the two older boys were playing pool and smoking.
"Where do you think the other kids scampered off to?" Anakin asked, smoking a cigar.
"No idea." said Greedo, also smoking. "They'll turn up. You're havin' fun, ain't ya?"
"Not me so much." Carmine said, holding his nose. "How can you guys stand that stuff?"
"How come you can't?" Anakin asked his twin.
"Apparently, my olfactory sensors are a little more sensitive than yours."
Anakin shrugged and inhaled a couple more times.
"You smoke like my grandma." Greedo laughed. "Do a bigger breath. Like this."
Greedo took a bigger breath.
Carmine scanned the effects in his processor.
"I advise against it." said Carmine. "Excess smoking increases risk of cancer, lung disease, diabetes, heart disease, strokes, chronic bronchitis, gum diseases, and premature wrinkles."
Anakin scanned for those effects too and decided to throw the cigar away.
"Carmine is correct," said Anakin. "I'm not losing my good looks for this thing."
"Suit yourself." Greedo said. "Scaredy-cats."
Just then, that was when Kara burst in.
"Carmine! Anakin!" Kara exclaimed. "There you guys are!"
"What the hay do the two of you think you're doing?!" said Sapphire angrily, landing on the pool table. "Drinking? Smoking? Playing pool?"
"Who's the horse with your sister?" Greedo said.
"She's our conscience." said Anakin. "Sapphire, where have you been?"
"A better question is why have you two been ignoring us? How do you ever expect to be real boys with behavior like this?" Sapphire said.
"Can you guys even imagine how much trouble you'd get in with Dad from all this?" Kara said. "Forget grounding. You guys could go to jail for this! And by doing this stuff you're not only preventing yourselves from becoming real boys, but you're also going against your prime directive of protecting me by endangering yourselves. And more importantly, you've disappointed and upset me greatly. And the very thing you're so far failing to protect me from more than anything else is a broken heart. And the easiest way someone can get one of those is when someone they love stoops to a dark path."
Kara had tears in her eyes as she said those last two sentences.
"So, go ahead. Make fools of yourselves. See if I care. Sapphire and I are getting out of here." Kara said.
And so, the girl and pegasus both left.
Kara and Sapphire both headed to the front gates where they'd entered. But, the doors wouldn't open.
"Don't worry, Kara." Sapphire said, seeing a small hole in the door. "I can fit through here and open it from the other side."
Except... when Sapphire got to the other side, she found many crates being loaded onto the cruiser. Crates filled with what looked like baby donkeys.
"That's odd. Where'd all those donkeys come from?" Sapphire wondered.
"Alright, let's have another." Palpatine called.
And a donkey wearing a blue shirt and a baseball cap was brought to Palpatine.
"And what's your name?" Palpatine asked.
And the donkey boy brayed.
"Okay, you'll do." said Palpatine, ripping the clothes off and throwing him into another crate. "You'll fetch a nice price."
And then, another donkey, this time in a dress, was brought to Palpatine.
"And what might your name be?" asked Palpatine.
"Carrie Anne." said the girl.
"So, you can talk?" said Palpatine.
"Yes, Sir." said Carrie Anne, looking like she'd cry. "I wanna go home to my daddy!"
"Take her back!" said Palpatine, throwing Carrie Anne into a pen with some other donkeys. "She can still talk!"
"Please! I don't wanna be a donkey!"
The kids all begged to be let go, but Palpatine snapped a whip.
"You kids have had your fun." said Palpatine. "Now pay for it!"
"Kids?!" Sapphire said. "So that's what-?"
Sapphire quickly got back to the other side and told Kara what happened.
"We have to warn the twins!" Kara said, and she and Sapphire ran as fast as they could to find the twins.
Greedo kept playing pool, while the twins contemplated what Kara said.
"Kara really sounded hurt, Carmine." Anakin said.
"She's right, though." Carmine said. "We were programmed to protect her from many threats, but we failed to protect her from the true worst thing anyone can experience."
"A broken heart. And just think how heartbroken Dad will be when he finds out we didn't return home."
"You're better off anyway." Greedo said. "How do you expect to be real boys?"
That was when donkey ears appeared on Greedo, to the twins' shock.
"Are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Anakin said quietly to Carmine.
"Donkey ears?" Carmine said.
"Yup."
Little by little, Greedo also grew a tail.
"Maybe now's a good time for us to get out of here, Ani." Carmine said.
"I think you're right." Anakin said. "We should go find Kara and apologize."
"Did he just call you Annie?" Greedo laughed, and then brayed like a donkey. "Did that come out of me?"
Greedo soon realized he had donkey ears and began to get scared. And when he looked in the mirror...
Greedo screamed and panicked as he began to turn more and more like a donkey.
"Help! Help me! Call your sister! Call anyone!" Greedo begged as his hands began to turn into hooves.
Greedo panicked more and more, turning completely into a donkey, kicking and braying in fear, making a huge mess.
That was when Carmine grew a tail and Anakin grew donkey ears.
"Oh no!" Carmine panicked.
"What do we do?!" Anakin said.
"I don't know! None of my research indicates what to do in a situation like this!"
Fortunately, that was when Kara and Sapphire arrived.
"Guys!" Kara said.
"Kara!" The twins exclaimed, running to hug their sister.
"The kids!" Sapphire said. "They're all donkeys!"
"Oh!" Kara panicked, getting another glance at her brothers. "You too! We have to get out of here!"
"But wait!" Carmine said. "We can't abandon those other kids!"
Kara thought and said, "You're right. You guys can use your defense systems to get them out. Come on!"
Kara grabbed Greedo and started to run with her brothers.
Palpatine and his men continued to load the crates onto the cruiser, when suddenly the gates were blasted down with a bunch of blaster bolts, lasers, and strong firepower.
"Release the kids!" Anakin exclaimed in his robot voice.
"Surrender the children." Carmine said in his robot voice.
Carmine and Anakin both fired at the villains, Carmine dance fought, and Anakin used various karate and wrestling movements he knew, making many of the felons fall into the ocean below, while Kara grabbed the keys from Palpatine's coat and unlocking the cages.
Sapphire kicked the gate to the pen down and freed the kids in there.
"Quick! Everyone onto the ship!" Kara called, guiding all the kids onto the ship. "Hurry!"
All the donkeys, not seeing any better options, ran as fast as they could to get onto the ship. Kara made sure her brothers got onto the ship before getting herself on board and closing the door.
"Remember how to pilot a ship, Anakin?" said Kara.
"It's what I was programmed to do." said Anakin.
Anakin hit all the right controls and warned everyone to hang on tight. And before they knew it, the ship was in motion and soon put into hyperspeed.