Hey, guys! Calmoose here! I just wanted to warn you ahead of time that you should remember that this is an AU of the Star Wars galaxy. So please bear that in mind when you read this.
Chapter 5: Riddle of the ancient Aeons
Leonardo stood atop a water tower above the busy streets of New York. Feeling the bright sun shine down on him and the cool wind caress his face as he watched and listened to all the people in the streets below.
The blue clad turtle couldn't hold back the smile that came to his face. Here was his city, his home, all back, and yet there was just something a bit off about it.
He quickly brushed away these thoughts before turning his head to look around a bit. It was only then that his eyes widened when he saw a familiar figure standing on the rooftop.
"Sensei?!" Leo gasped before a big smile of joy came across his face. He then jumped off the water tower and onto the roof Splinter was on. He then ran towards him, reaching his arm out to finally feel the warm embrace of his teacher, his father, at long last.
But alas, Leo's hand simply phased right through Splinter's body, painfully reminding Leo that it was just a hologram and not the real Splinter.
"Leo?" The door to side slid open to reveal Donatello standing at the doorway as the entire simulation faded to reveal the holo chamber. "I'm sorry to bother you, but Fugitoid wants us all on the bridge." He then noticed his big brother's somewhat solemn look. "Is something wrong?"
"Yeah, I'm fine, D." Leo responded. "I'm on my way up." As he walked out of the holo chamber, he felt Donnie place a hand on his shoulder.
"It's Master Splinter, isn't it?" Donnie questioned. Leo knew he couldn't lie, so he simply gave a sad nod in reply.
Donnie tightened his grip on Leo's shoulder a bit. "Hey, I miss him too. We all do." He told him sympathetically. "But now we have chance to change Splinter's fate, so don't get so caught up about it."
Leo gave a sigh as he placed a hand on his younger brother's before trying to smile. "I know, the mission takes priority."
With that, the two brothers walked out of the holo chamber and towards the bridge.
An angry yell was heard, followed by the sound of flesh against flesh before a Triceraton officer was knocked to the ground, beaten and battered.
"Where is it?!" Captain Mozar angrily questioned as he beat down another one of his officers. "The Triceraton who finds the first fragment of the black-hole generator will be promoted one full rank!"
"There is a strange interference blanketing the whole planet, sir." A Triceraton officer spoke up as he typed away on his console. "But I believe that the scanners indicate that the fragment is located somewhere on this continent."
The main screen then zoomed down on a large planet below, mainly focussing in the middle of large continent in the middle of the planet.
"Assemble a search party! Find the fragment at any cost!" Captain Mozar ordered. "But do not alert Central Command of our location, no matter what happens!" He then shifted his gaze to the planet below. "It will be Mozar who finds the fragment first."
The planet, from afar, appeared to be covered in a large grayish cloud with small patches of dark red seen seeping through the clouds. It didn't really seem like a very friendly planet at first glance, but it was indeed the planet where the first piece of the blackhole generator was located.
"They can't see us on scanners, right, Fugitoid?" Raph asked as the Ulixies hid amongst a small asteroid field, allowing them to see the Triceraton ship that orbited the planet. "Are you sure this is gonna work?" Raph questioned.
"The Triceraton's are convinced that the first piece of the Blackhole-Generator is on that planet." Fugitoid stated. "We just need to reach it first."
April, however, seemed unsure as she placed a hand on her head and sensed the planet. "I'm just going to say it now," She spoke up. "something just doesn't feel right about this mission."
In a short amount of time, the group donned their space suits and entered a smaller pod. The Fugitoid stood in the middle as his entire robotic bosy was covered in machinery up to his head while Leo, Raph, Donnie, Mikey, April, and Casey all sat on six chairs around the pod.
The pod then launched from the ship and flew directly towards the planet.
"Activating cloak." Donnie announced as they neared the Triceraton ship, pressing a few buttons on the dashboard.
"Better work this time, Donnie." Raph grumbled as the last time they tried a cloak with a Kraang ship, it didn't work.
Casey, of course, was extremely excited as usual. "Finally, a little excitement.!" He cheered. "It's been like a whole week since something awesome happened!"
Leo rolled his eyes with a tolerant smile, despite Casey's overeagerness to charge into danger head-on. However, he soon noticed that April looked a little more stressed than usual.
"April, are you alright?" He asked out of concern.
"I'm fine, Leo, it's just... that planet is radiating a strange power... it just feels.. dark." April replied, a little unsure of herself.
"What do you mean 'dark'?" Mikey asked. "Like it's night here?"
"No," April said, "I mean dark as in... pure evil."
"Evil, you say?" Professor Honeycutt questioned as the pod entered the atmosphere and flew through the clouds. "Nonsense. This is Tython: one of the oldest, most beautiful paradise planets in the galaxy! It's gorgeous down there."
However, as the pod flew through the planet's skies, they failed to notice that someone was watching them from the planet below.
A small blue and white astromech droid let out several beeps and whistles as a certain Jedi master walked up to the edge of small cliff. He then looked back up to the sky where he saw the Triceraton ship still orbiting the planet. He also noticed the Triceraton ship was deploying small fighters from it that were headed for the planet's surface.
"If the Triceratons are here, then what I sensed is true." Luke Skywalker stated. "There must be something special about this place."
For a time, Luke had been training his students at his Jedi academy on Yavin-4 when he heard a strange calling in the Force. Deciding to investigate, Luke had taken his T-65 X-Wing and followed the call to this strange planet.
Artoo let a loud whistle, getting Luke's attention.
"You stay here, Artoo." Luke told his loyal astromech friend. "Their scanners have probably spotted us and that other ship that just landed."
Artoo then let out a beep of acceptance as he seemed to understand. But then he let out a few bleeps of concern.
"Don't worry, Artoo." Luke said reassuringly as he began to walk into one of the planet's many forests. "If I'm not back in a while, contact Han and Leia."
However, as Luke ventured into the forests, he couldn't help but feel tense as his fingers brushed against the hilt of his lightsaber.
He could feel it, this place was strong in the Force.
The Dark Side of the Force.
When the pod landed and the group stepped outside, they quickly noticed that the planet was not beautiful at all. The sky instead was blood red, the ground was dry and barren, with all the plants and foliage looking like a mix between rotten fungus and decayed trees.
"Uh... on Tython, does 'beautiful mean 'terrifying'?" Leo questioned a tad nervous.
"Well... I have been... occasionally wrong." Fugitoid admitted with a nervous chuckle as the group walked into the nightmarish forest.
"Whoa," Casey said, holding his hockey stick close to himself as the group brushed past the strange plants with their own respective weapons. "This place is like..."
"Pure evil?" April dryly finished. "Like how I sort of warned about earlier? Yeah, no one listens to the psychic."
Donnie activated the scanner on his staff and began scanning the plant life around them. "All of the flora and fauna here are very strange." He said. "I don't understanding these readings at all."
Mikey suddenly stopped when he saw some kind of small, black-furred, yellow-eyed creature standing in front of him. "Aww, little monkey-caterpiller-space-rat thing." He cooed as he put away his laser tonfas and knelt down to the little alien. "Aren't you cute.." He raised his finger to pet it, only for the creature to bite his hand. Mikey screamed in both fear and pain as he waved his hand around wildly to shake the creature off before it finally let go and landed in some decaying bushes.
"Nice one, genius." Raph stated sarcastically as he walked past his little brother. "Now you probably have space-rabies."
"Space-rabies?!" Mikey questioned fearfully as he began to imagine himself foaming at the mouth.
"This world.." Fugitoid began, his robotic voice shaking slightly. "It was once a vast beautiful garden... it held ancient repositories of all sacred knowledge on the cosmos. In fact, this planet was where some of the first Jedi Temples were built! Hardly any technology was ever built here. The Aeons must have fled this planet. And without their divine power... look at this world!"
"What are Aeons?" April asked.
"The Aeons were powerful, ancient creatures who are said to be some of the first beings who evolved in this universe." Fugitoid explained. "Now they've all... gone away."
"What about the Jedi?" Leo asked. "Who are they?"
"The Jedi were, and are, the keepers of peace and justice throughout the galaxy, defending the universe for thousands of years." Fugitoid further explained. "They were an organization of warriors as well as practitioners of the light-side of a powerful cosmic energy simply called 'The Force'."
"The Force?" Raph questioned.
"Yeah, what kind of lame name is that?" Mikey also questioned.
"From what I have recovered from ancient Jedi archives, the Force is an almost mystical energy said to be created by all living beings that binds the galaxy together. This allows force-users such as the Jedi to use incredible powers such as telekinesis, mild telepathy, superhuman agility, and foresight."
"So what happened to them on this planet?" April asked.
"Well, some ancient historians say that they were driven off this planet long ago by their ancient enemies, the Sith, who were practitioners of the Dark-Side of the Force." Fugitoid theorized. "However, they were recently defeated by Jedi Knight, Luke Skywalker and his father, Anakin Skywalker, in 4 ABY."
While the group was slightly interested in knowing more about the Jedi and the Sith, they couldn't help but feel more uneasy about the Aeons. These creatures were so powerful, and yet they just... vanished? Just like that? What could've done that?
As the group continued treading through the forest, Donnie looked at his staff-scanner and became even more frustrated with the results.
"This energy is really screwing up my readings!" Donnie exclaimed grumpily as he began shaking his staff a bit.
"So fix it, genius." Casey said, purposefully bumping into Donnie. "I thought you were supposed to be the smart one." He added mockingly.
Donnie scowled as he glared at Jones. "That's right, I am!" He replied in a low voice. "Which clearly makes you the stupid one!"
Mikey, meanwhile, actually laughed as he strangely seemed to find the argument quite funny. "That definitely makes Raph the angry one." The orange clad turtle quipped.
"I'm clearly the handsome one." Raph argued. He then walked up to Mikey. "Here, Mikey. Fist bump." Mikey happily complied with a vertical fist bump, but Raph ended up twirling his fist and smacking Mikey down on his helmet.
"Ha! Your the gullible one!" Raph laughed.
That seemed to really get to Mikey as he got up and suddenly pushed Raph back. "I'm tired of you picking on me!" He shouted in an uncharacteristically angry tone. "Ever since we were little, you've been giving shell-wedgies, wet-willies, and reptile rug-burns-"
"Mikey! Raph! Enough!" Leo shouted, practically growling at them as he turned to them. "We're on a serious mission here! So stop it!"
Raph and Mikey glared at each other once more, but then a series of animalistic noises suddenly filled the air, catching everyone's attention as they looked up see a large group of humanoid bat-like creatures flying towards them.
"Everyone, take cover!" Leo ordered as the group split up to find cover behind any tree, bush, or rock that was nearby.
The demonic-like creatures landed on the ground, looking around and sniffing the air for the group. The group tried to keep as quiet as they could as the creatures searched for them.
After a few seconds of searching, the creatures seemed to give up as they flew off into the sky.
"What were those things?" April questioned as the group came out from their hiding spots. "Some kind of space demons?"
"Space demons?" Casey exclaimed excitedly. "Wicked!"
"I am uncertain." Honeycutt replied, ignoring Casey's rather irritating excitement. "Those creatures however are definitely not native to this planet."
Raph then hopped down from a large tree he had been hiding in. "Let's just move." He grumbled. "Now we've got demon-bats and Triceratons to worry about." He then placed a palm on his helmet as he felt like he was getting a headache. "I hate space so, so much."
Elsewhere on the planet, a small team of Triceraton star-fighters each landed on Tython's barren surface, with Captain Mozar leading the squad in his personal fighter.
"We should have just beamed down." Mozar growled as he and his team stepped out of their star-fighters.
"The planet's strange energy blocks off the outside world." One Triceraton trooper told Mozar as he looked at one of the scanners. "If we had, a many number of things could've gone wrong. Mass displacement trauma, twisted limbs, molecules scattered, and-"
"No matter!" Mozar interrupted. "Find the fragment, no matter the cost! Or I will leave you here on this nightmarish world!"
"Sir, I believe I have a reading." Another Triceraton soldier reported, getting Mozar's attention. "This way."
Leo led the group further into the forest as he used one of his laser katanas to cut away at some of the foliage blocking their path. However, as the group walked by, Fugitoid seemed to notice something as he did a quick scan of the area around them.
"Well, this isn't good." He stated as he finished scanning the area. "We're going around in circles."
Everyone gasped and growled in anger as Donnie's back stiffened, his left eye twitching a bit. They had been going in circles this whole time?! Letting out a growl of frustration, Donnie shook his scanner/staff viciously, only for it to short out. Useless hunk of junk!
"Ugh, we've been walking for miles, Donnie." Casey complained as he stomped over to the purple clad turtle. "That scanner is as useless as that gap in your teeth!"
"Oh, let's not go back there, Casey!" Donnie shot back. "We all know my gap is way more awesome than yours!"
"My gap is way bigger than yours!" Casey argued. "You've got a baby gap!" The two then butted their heads together, growling like feral dogs as they looked ready to rip each other apart.
"Will you two cut it out?!" Mikey said as he got in between them, trying to break up the oncoming fight. "You're more annoying than Raph!"
"I'm annoying?!" Raph questioned before his face twisted into an angry scowl. "That's it!" He then tackled Mikey as the two began wrestling on the ground.
Casey also brought up his baseball bat and smacked Donnie across the face before he jumped on top of the purple clad turtle and got him into a headlock as Donnie struggled furiously to get free.
"Get off of him, man!" Leo exclaimed as he tried to pull Raph off of Mikey, only for his hotheaded brother to elbow him in the gut before Mikey tackled both of them.
"Guys, what are you doing?!" April questioned frantically as she tried to pry Casey off of Donnie. "Professor, a little help?!" However, she was then knocked into a small rock wall where she noticed some strange form of alien writing on it.
Meanwhile, everyone was still fighting and lashing out at each other before the ground in front of their feet was suddenly pelted with blaster fire, causing everyone to stop fighting as they gazed up the Fugitoid with a bit of fear as he aimed his wrist mounted blasters towards them.
"YOU MUST ALL STOP!" He shouted as his twin blasters folded back into his arms. "Don't make me smack you!" He then raised his left hand. "You see this?! This is my smacking hand! I'll use it!" He threatened, causing most of the group to inwardly gulp a bit as they released each other.
"He's right, guys." Mikey said as he got off of Raph. "What the heck is wrong with us?"
"We have more important stuff to deal with." April stated, tearing some vines off the wall to reveal the writing on it. "Like this."
"Looks like it's from some ancient civilization." Leo guessed as the group observed the ancient writings.
"Duh." Raph said rather sarcastically, getting an eye-roll from almost everyone.
"A mountain... at the summit of it's peak... carved into the shape of gemstone." Honeycutt translated, tracing his robotic hand along the markings. "What could it mean?" He mused.
They didn't have very long to think about this as the familiar screeching of the space-demons filled the air as the group turned to the skies and gasped when they saw a larger group of space-demons coming down towards them. Everyone quickly hid in the nearest spots they could find as the demons landed and began sniffing around for the group, who tried their best to stay hidden.
"Those guys are like the pinnacle of extreme metal." Casey uttered to himself from where he hid, just barely containing his excitement.
Just then, one of the demons gave an animalistic call before it took to the skies with the rest of the demons following it. Taking his chances, Leo quietly snuck out from his hiding spot and watched as the demons flew away.
"Phew!" Leo breathed a sigh of relief. "Too close. Thank goodness they're-"
He was cut off when he heard the screech of a demon right behind him. His eyes widened in terror as his face visibly paled. Some ninja he was.
"They're not gone, are they?" Leo fearfully questioned as the demon lunged towards him. Leo quickly turned around, drawing one of his laser katanas and blocking a claw strike from the demon.
Pretty soon, all of the demons came flying back and began swarming the group. One tried to pounce on Mikey, but the orange clad turtle blocked it with his laser tonfas. However, the force of the pounce when he blocked it caused Mikey to stumble back and accidentally fall on top of Raph.
"Mikey, you're in my anger zone!" Raph growled, bearing his laser sais before ducking under a slash from a demon and punching it in the face.
One demon managed to tackle Casey and pin him to the ground as the young vigilante struggled to get free. The demon, however, was shocked in the back by Donnie with his staff, only for another demon to grab him by the helmet and fly off.
The demon carried Donnie high into the sky before dropping to the ground. Luckily, Donnie allowed himself to land on his shell and bounce himself back onto his feet.
Leo drew his blaster to shoot one of the demons, only for Donnie to get in the way as the purple clad turtle tried to defend himself from another demon.
"You're blocking my shot, Donnie!" Leo exclaimed angrily before another demon tackled him and carried him away.
"Leo, hold on!" April cried as she fired her blaster at the demon, hitting it directly in the chest and causing it to let go of Leo.
As Leo crash landed on the ground, Raph found himself cornered by two demons as he tried to beat them back. "Booyakasha!" Mikey shouted as he tried to get the drop on them, only for the demons to fly away and causing Mikey to accidentally hit Raph.
"MIKEY!" Raph shouted as he got up, his emerald green eyes practically on fire. "I could've handled it!" He then gave Mikey a hard shove, causing the orange clad turtle to trip and land helmet-first on a rock, unfortunately shattering his helmet.
"Oh, no! Mikey!" Raph's eyes immediately widened in horror as he quickly realized and regretted what he had done.
Raph quickly rushed to his little brother's side as Mikey began screaming and suffocating, his eyes nearly bulging out of their sockets. However, after a few seconds of dramatic overreacting, Mikey's face returned to normal.
"Whoa... dudes! We can breath air here!" Mikey gasped. "Sweet!"
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief as they each took off their helmets. It felt good to take a breath of fresh air.
"Donnie, you telling me we could breath this entire time?!" Raph angrily questioned as he stomped over to the purple clad turtle.
"Back off my shell, man!" Donnie hotly retorted.
Before their argument could go any further, April quickly got in between them. "Guys, fight demons now, kill each other later!" She told them.
"Finally, yes!" Leo exclaimed with an eager smile as he could now fight without worrying about cracking his helmet. He then took out one of laser katanas and slashed at few demons coming his way, even killing a few.
"Leo, duck!" April shouted as she fired her blaster at a demon standing behind the blue clad turtle, who quickly ducked down as the blaster fire hit the demon, killing almost instantly.
Leo swung his laser katana at another demon before jumping over the claw swipe of another. "Behind you!" Leo called to April before he delivered a kick to a demon trying to ambush her.
Donnie twirled his staff before jabbing into the chest of one demon, electrocuting it before another demon grabbed Donnie by the shoulders and sent him crashing into a tree. He then slid off the tree into a nest of thorns, causing Donnie to comically bounce up and down, landing on the thorns repeatedly.
Casey laughed hard at Donnie's expense, only for Raph to knock him down as a demon forced him back. "Out of my way, Casey!" He growled as he lashed back out at the demon attacking him.
"No, you stay out of Casey Jones' way!" Casey shot back as he got up and went after him, accidentally knocking down Leo in the process.
Mikey tried to lash out one demon with his laser tonfas, but ended up nearly hitting Leo, who growled and raised a fist at him, causing the orange clad turtle to laugh nervously. They were then caught off guard as Raph and Casey were thrown into them, knocking them down and causing Leo to accidentally hit Donnie and knock him back into the thorns.
"Cowabunga!" Mikey shouted as he tackled another demon, twirling his laser tonfas. He then paused as looked around to see no more demons were in the area. Smiling to himself, Mikey put away his tonfas and gave himself a pat on the back. However, his victory was short-lived as Leo furiously tackled Mikey.
Mikey quickly got up as Leo tried to punch him, only for Donnie to tackle him as Raph and Casey quickly followed suit. The boys were now all piled up, rolling around the ground as the continued to fight each other.
"Guys!" April, who was strangely unaffected by the rage, shouted as everyone suddenly stopped fighting. "You need to stop this! It's not you! It's the planet that's affecting you!"
"The rage..." Leo growled as he struggled to get ahold of himself. "It's so hard to control!"
"Then focus it one the demon dudes!" Mikey told him, pointing towards the sky as another pack of space demons came flying towards them.
The group armed themselves, ready for another fight.
Leo slashed a demon across the chest with his laser katana while Raph stabbed another demon in the back with his laser sais. Donnie batted away three demons with his staff with Casey smacked two other demons with his bat. April and Fugitoid fired their blasters at the demons while Mikey pummeled as many demons as he could with his laser tonfas.
However, as they continued to fight the space demons, they quickly realized that more and more were coming, and they were quickly starting to get overwhelmed.
The group huddled together as they soon found themselves surrounded by several demons. Suddenly, a few of the demons came forward and spat a strange thick foam on them, much to the group's disgust.
"What is this?!" April questioned as the foam immediately began to solidify, trapping the group.
"It smells like sour cream." Raph stated as he struggled to get out. "I hate sour cream!"
"Looks like it's some kind prey-incasing spit that solidifies on touch." Donnie mused.
The demons approached the group, looming over them as they feared that this was the end. When suddenly, one of the demons was stabbed from behind with bright green glowing blade.
The demons and the group turned to see a human man in his late twenties, with blonde hair and dressed in black robes, carrying a strange hilt that emitted a beautiful green laser blade.
As the man pulled his weapon out of the now dead demon, the other demons roared as they charged towards the man. The man then proceeded to cut down several demons with his weapon in quick succession with relative ease and precision. The group couldn't help but feel a bit in awe as the man easily took on all of the demons by himself.
After cutting down several demons with his lightsaber, the man turned to see several more demons charging towards him. Then, in a moment that shocked the whole group, the man flung his hand forward and the demons were suddenly thrown back by some sort of invisible force.
Once he was done, the man turned to the group who were still stuck in the solidified spit.
"I heard you call out." The man said. "Sounded like you needed help."
"Yeah, we do." Leo replied. "Could you get us out of this?"
The man simply nodded before raising his lightsaber and gently slicing open the solidified spit, freeing the group.
"Dude, that was awesome!" Mikey cheered, "you were like bam! And then pow!" He began to mimic the man's fighting movements.
Raph quickly covered his mouth with his hand. "Yeah, yeah, more on that later, Mikey." He then turned to the man. "So, why'd you help us?"
"Because you asked." The man simply replied.
Leo then stepped forward and offered his hand. "Thanks for helping us. I'm Leonardo, by the way." He then gestured to his brothers and friends. "These are Raphael, Donatello, Michelangelo, April, Casey, and Fugitoid."
"Nice to meet you." The man stated, accepting Leo's hand. "My name is Luke Skywalker."
Fugitoid couldn't help but gasp. "Luke Skywalker? As in Grand Master Luke Skywalker?!" He questioned almost giddily.
"Why, yes. That's me." Luke replied. "And your the infamous Professor Honeycutt, right?"
"Oh, why yes, I am." Honeycutt said, eagerly shaking Luke's hand. "It is an honor to meet you, Master Jedi!"
"Don't mention it." Luke stated humbly. However, even more screeches filled the air as the group turned to see now hundreds of demons flying towards them.
Leo pulled out his blaster and was about to aim it at one of the space demons when Luke put a hand on his shoulder. "No." Luke stated firmly. "There are too many. We're going to have to retreat."
Though a tad hesitant, Leo reluctantly complied as he put away his blaster as the group ran as fast as they could with the space demons right on their heels. Running as fast as their legs would carry them, the group dashed through the forest, brushing past low-hanging branches and foliage as they continued to run with Luke and Leo leading the way as they slashed at the plants in their way with their respective weapons.
The group soon came to a small clearing before they found themselves completely surrounded by the demons. However, the demons suddenly stopped when the group came before a large stone totem pole.
As if they were afraid of something, the demons roared and snarled at them before turning away and flying off.
"Whoa, what just happened?" Raph questioned as the others put away their weapons while Luke deactivated his lightsaber.
April turned around and gazed up at the stone totem pole. "That statue..."
"Yes!" Mikey cried happily as he jumped onto the statue, hugging it tightly. "Thank you, statue! You are awesome!"
"What is it, Professor?" Donnie asked as the group walked up to the statue.
Luke put a hand on his chin. "It appears to be some sort of... guardian." He mused.
"It's a depiction of the Aeons. The beings that fled this world." Fugitoid answered. "Perhaps the demons drove them off the planet a long time ago."
"Well that's a total bummer." Casey dully commented.
"Bummer?!" Leo questioned. "Look what happened to their world!" He said, gesturing to the horrid environment around them. "You have about as much sensitivity as a rabid dog!" He said as he accusingly poked Casey in the chest.
"Look, just because your leader, you don't have to get in everyone's face!" Raph stated as he stomped over to Leo.
"Don't start on that leader thing again, Raph!" Leo growled. "You've always been jealous of me!"
Raph's eyes widened a bit before he scowled deeply. "Jealous?!" He angrily questioned as April and Donnie tried to hold him back. "Maybe that's because you were always Splinter's favorite!" He then got free from Donnie and April's grip before he drew his laser sais.
Leo let out a low growl as he drew his laser katanas before the two brothers charged at each other, ready to tear each other apart.
"Enough!"
Before Leo and Raph's blades could even touch, they suddenly found themselves frozen in mid-attack by some unseen force. Everyone turned and saw Luke with a firm expression on his face and his hand raised, indicating that he had stopped the fight.
"Fighting each other is getting us nowhere." The Jedi master stated as he released the two turtles. "Your anger won't help anyone, you have to focus."
Leo and Raph looked to each other, their eyes full of concern and slight horror at what they had done.
"Your right, Luke." Raph agreed before turning to his brother. "Leo... I'm sorry." He apologized, his voice breaking slightly. "I don't understand what's going on."
"It's the planet." Leo said, placing a hand on Raph's shoulder. "It keeps messing with our heads. We have to remember that, and like Luke said, we've gotta focus." He then turned to Casey. "And, Casey, I'm sorry about what I said to you." He said sincerely.
"Nah, I deserved it." Casey admitted. "Truth is, I'm about as freaked out as everyone else. I guess I just tried to hide it." He then huffed a bit. "Didn't really work out so well."
"No, but your still fun to hang out with." Donnie told him as he slung an arm around him. "Even if you are an impulsive idiot."
"Thanks, brainiac." Casey smiled as the two of them fist bumped.
"Hey, guys, did you notice something?" Mikey asked, pointing to statue as the small gem imbedded in it's forehead began to glow a bright blue before it shot a small beam out in one direction. "The statue.. it's pointing."
"Then let's see where it goes." Luke stated as they all began to follow the light.
Meanwhile, Mozar and his squad of Triceraton soldiers continued to search the forest, as Captain Mozar was becoming more and more frustrated.
"Fools!" Mozar exclaimed. "I should throw you all into the Tri-Arena for such incompetence! Where is the fragment?!" He then back-slapped one of his soldiers, knocking the soldier down before crushing the soldier's scanner with his foot.
"Bah!" Mozar scoffed. "Your technology is worthless here!"
"Captain Mozar, sir," Another soldier fearfully spoke up, "it is the planet that is infuriating you, not our tech-" He let out a yelp as his scanner was suddenly blasted out of his hands by Mozar with his blaster.
"Next time, it will be you, Zaras!" He warned.
There was suddenly small beeping noise coming from one of the scanners. "I'm getting a signal, sir." Another Triceraton soldier reported. "It appears to be... a droid?"
Mozar batted away two of his soldiers as he walked up to the soldier with the scanner. "The Fugitoid." He growled. "He must be after the fragment as well! Track him, Lieutenant Zolvax." He then narrowed his eyes a bit, making Zolvax step back a bit. "And pray you do not lose him."
Back with the group, they continued to follow the beam of light through the forest before they came into a large clearing. From what they could see, the beam of light shined toward the top of a giant pyramid temple in the center of the clearing.
"That is one dope alien temple, yo." Casey remarked as the others gazed up at the temple.
"Did the Aeons make this?" April asked.
"I don't believe so. This temple doesn't quite match their style of architecture." Fugitoid stated. "Perhaps this is the Jedi temple that was built on this planet."
"So, why would the light lead us here?" Donnie questioned. "This is a Jedi temple, right?"
"Maybe the Jedi built their temple on the ruins of the Aeons without knowing it." Raph guessed.
"Or maybe they did and maybe this is where the fragment is!" Mikey suggested.
Everyone, with the exception of Luke, looked at him in surprise as that was actually a reasonable guess.
"If that's true, then the Jedi, after they built this temple on the ruins of the Aeons, must have known the fragment was dangerous." Donnie stated. "So they have to have hidden it somewhere in the temple to keep it out of the wrong hands."
"A brilliant assumption, Donatello, and you as well, Michelangelo." Honeycutt agreed. "I am willing to bet my internal processor that we will find the fragment somewhere in this temple."
"Be on your guard." Luke advised as the group approached the temple. "Though this place is abandoned, there might still be some things still active in there."
"Luke's right." Leo agreed. "I'll bet you this place is loaded with booby traps."
"Eh," Raph shrugged. "What's the worst that could happen?"
Practically everyone rolled their eyes as they all knew never to ask to that question, lest they jinx themselves. The group then walked towards the temple, going up a small flight of stairs that led into a small entrance.
Once they entered the temple, the door immediately closed behind them.
Honeycutt shined his optics like flashlights while Luke ignited his lightsaber to provide some illumination.
"Wow... amazing..." April gasped as she looked around the temple.
Donnie looked to walls and noticed a series of hieroglyphics etched into them. "It's definitely alien." He observed.
Leo also walked up to the wall and observed the hieroglyphics. "What does it say, Professor?"
"It appears to be some sort of ancient form of aurebesh." Honeycutt observed before he cleared his robotic throat. "Ahem, 'When the Soul-Star... reaches the mountain peek... eh... the light of the Aeons... shall illuminate all'."
"What the heck does that mean?" Raph questioned, leaning back against the wall.
"From the sound of it, it appears that this 'Soul-Star' must have been an important artifact to the Aeons." Luke observed. Although he himself didn't know very much about the Aeons themselves, he had heard many stories and rumors about them, which frankly fascinated him.
As Casey paced around the hallway they were in, he spotted a small button on the wall. "Yo, what do you think this does?" He then raised his hand to press it.
"Casey, no!" Leo shouted, but he was too late as Casey pressed the button, resulting in a giant saw-blade coming out of the wall and slicing off one of Fugitoid's arms, much to the group's alarm.
"Oh, dear." Honeycutt said as he looked down to his now dismembered arm.
"It does that you big dummy!" Donnie shouted at Casey as more and more saw-blades began to spring out from the walls and the floor, ready to slice the group to pieces.
The group quickly ran through the hallway, dodging, ducking under, and avoiding several saws before they cleared the hallway and entered a small chamber.
Raph then stomped over to Casey while the group regained their bearings and Fugitoid reattached his arm. "CASEY!" He shouted. "STOP. TOUCHING. STUFF!"
"That was totally my bad." Casey sheepishly apologized.
The group then proceeded to continue exploring the temple, coming across several training rooms, observatories, banquet halls, archives, and even an abandoned Jedi council chamber, it only when they went down to the lower levels of the temple that the architecture started to look more and more ancient.
Finally, after about an hour or so of exploring, the group entered a massive chamber with a large pyramid-shaped altar at the center, and at the top of it, held the thing that they were looking for.
Honeycutt gave an astonished gasp. "There it is."
"The first piece of the Black Hole generator!" April gasped.
"Yes!" Leo cheered, as did a quick high-three with Raph. "We did it!"
"I was right!" Mikey also cheered. "It was here!"
The three turtles were about to run up the stairs to get it when Donnie suddenly stopped them.
"Whoa, wait, hold up!" He exclaimed. "What's it doing on an altar, anyway? Has anyone thought of that?"
"Donatello is right." Luke agreed. "It could be a trap. And besides, why would the Aeons put a fragment for such a dangerous weapon on an altar like it was something they worshiped? And why would the Jedi just leave it like this?"
"Who cares?!" Raph questioned, rolling his eyes uncaringly. "We found it first! We rule!"
Leo, Mikey, Casey, and April all cheered as they made their way up the steps while Fugitoid, Luke, and Donnie remained at the bottom of the altar.
"By the luck of the great Zanmoran."
The group turned around and most of them gave audible gasps at the sight of Mozar and his troops walking into the chamber.
"Not only does Mozar find the fugitive android and gain the opportunity to battle a Jedi, but he collects the first fragment of his prize!" Mozar stated pridefully as his four soldiers aimed their blasters at the group. "Obliterate them!" He ordered.
The Triceratons opened fire on the group, forcing them to scatter to avoid the laser fire.
"Booyakasha!" Mikey yelled as he jumped down from the altar and landed on the back of another Triceraton, knocking the trooper down.
"Wretched terrapin!" The Triceraton cursed as tried to smack the orange clad turtle away, only Raph to come in and lash his sais at the trooper to kock him back. Raph then tried to hit Mozar with a round-house kick, but Mozar stepped out of the way and slammed Raph into the wall with his fist.
Mozar then tried to crush Raph's face with his prosthetic foot, but Raph quickly rolled out of the way while the previous Triceraton trooper got up and charged towards the red clad turtle.
Donnie avoided several blasts from a Triceraton before flipping gracefully over the trooper and jabbing his staff into the Triceraton's back, electrocuting the trooper and giving Leo the opening he needed as he slashed the Triceraton across the chest with his laser katanas, knocking the trooper down.
Casey avoided a punch from a Triceraton before using his hover-skates to glide across the first set of stairs on the altar as he laid down a few photon pucks and smacked them into the Triceraton's face, distorting it and allowing April to shoot the trooper with her blaster, killing the Triceraton.
Luke quickly ignited his lightsaber as he blocked several blasts from a Triceraton before rushing forward with an inhuman amount of speed and kicked the Triceraton in the abdomen, knocking the wind out of the trooper before slashing it across the face with his lightsaber and killing the soldier. Another Triceraton charged towards him, but the Jedi quickly jumped out of the way and with a powerful force-push, sent the Triceraton flying into the wall.
Just then, Mozar charged forward towards Luke, holding a large electrobaton. Mozar swung the electrobaton at Luke, but the Jedi quickly blocked it with his lightsaber. He then thrust his hand forward, causing a powerful force-push that sent Mozar staggering back. Taking this moment to his advantage, Luke rushed forward and slashed Mozar's arm. The Tricaraton captain grimaced and looked to his injury before swinging his electrobaton at Luke, forcing the Jedi to block. However, the swing was so strong that it knocked Luke's lightsaber out of his hands, and causing Luke to fall on his back.
Mozar tried to press his advantage as charged for the downed Jedi, raising his electrobaton above his head. However, Luke quickly used the Force to pull his lightsaber back into his hand and blocked the electrobaton as it came down. Struggling, Luke used the Force to enhance his strength as he forced himself back to his feet, his lightsaber still clashing with Mozar's electrobaton. Eventually, the two pushed off of each other as a Triceraton soldier fired his blaster at Luke, forcing the Jedi to deflect them with his lightsaber while Mozar went for the altar.
"Oh my cog!" Fugitoid cried as he ran for his life from another Triceraton before he found himself trapped in a small corner of the chamber. Honeycutt quickly jumped out of the way as the Triceraton rammed into the wall. The Triceraton roared and raised it's fists over the Fugitoid, who shifted his entire body using four his four robotic appendages like a tripod and exposing his fusion core for a few brief seconds...
*BOOM*
April turned around at the bright flash of light to see Honeycutt standing over a small plum of smoke as Fugitoid simply gave a nervous smile and a wave.
Leo stood near the top of the altar and deflected several laser blasts with his katanas before jumping onto a Triceraton's head and flipped off of him.
The Triceraton quickly chased after him as Mozar almost casually walked up the stairs of the altar before finally reaching the top.
"At last." He muttered with a smirk. He raised his hand to reach for it when he felt something trying to pull him back. He turned around to see Donnie pulling on his tail as the purple clad turtle quickly realized how stupid his move was. As for Mozar, the Triceraton captain simlpy flicked his tail to send Donnie flying off the altar and onto the ground.
Mozar then took the fragment and put it over his shoulder before leaping off the altar and onto the ground.
"No!" Leo yelled as the remaining Triceratons gathered around Mozar who held the first piece of the Black-Hole generator.
"The first fragment belongs to Mozar!" The Triceraton captain declared as he and the three surviving Triceraton soldiers opened fire with their blasters to keep the group at bay as they made their way to the exit where two of the soldiers placed a couple thermal detonators near the doorway.
"It has been set in stone." Mozar continued as the thermal detonators exploded and caused a large cave-in, trapping the group in the chamber.
"And it is now sealed in stone." Mozar finished. "Triceratons, back to the ships!" He ordered as he and his soldiers began to take their leave of the Jedi temple.
Meanwhile, back in the chamber, Leo and Raph struggled as they tried to pull away at some of the rubble blocking the doorway before Fugitoid used some sort of gravity beam while Luke used the Force to try and move some of the debris out of the way, but just barely doing so.
"Low on power." Fugitoid said as he stumbled a bit. Using that gravity beam had put quite the strain on his robotic body. "We must find another way out."
Raph pounded his fist into his palm. "When I get my hands on those horn-headed freaks..!"
Leo placed a hand on his shoulder to calm him down. "Come on," Leo said, "there's gotta be a back door or something."
The group then began searching around the chamber for any sign of a secret passage or a back door. However, as they did, April and Luke strangely found themselves gazing up towards the empty altar.
The Triceratons quickly made it outside the Jedi temple as they intended on carrying the fragment back to their ships.
"The fragment is mine to possess." Mozar sneered sinisterly. "The Emperor will make me an admiral for this!"
However, one Triceraton soldier heard a series of strange noises from behind them and turned around. "Captain Mozar, look!" The trooper exclaimed fearfully.
Mozar and the other Triceratons turned around and looked to the skies to see hundreds of space demons swarming the sky before shooting down towards the Triceratons.
Mozar simply scowled, this was going to take more time than he thought.
Back inside, the group looked all around as best they could for some kind of exit, but so far they had found nothing.
"Come on!" Leo muttered to himself as he felt along the wall. "Trap door... secret passage..."
"We're losing time!" Donnie exclaimed. "They're getting away!"
However, while the others were still searching for an exit, they failed to notice that April and Luke and gone back up the stairs to the now empty altar.
April placed a hand on her head as if to sense something before she turned to Luke, as if asking if he could feel it.
"I sense it too." Luke quietly replied to the young girl as he could feel the Force compelling him to do something. Looking at the altar, the young girl and the Jedi spotted two identical blue gems imbedded into the altar.
Trusting their instincts, (or in Luke's case, the Force,) the two simultaneously pressed the blue gems like they were giant buttons. Once they did however, the entire chamber suddenly began to shake.
The rest of the group turned around at the sudden shaking to see the pyramid altar collapsing inwardly.
"April! Luke!" Donnie exclaimed as the group quickly rushed over to where the pyramid once stood. They looked down and were legitimately surprised to see that the structure hadn't actually collapsed, but rather came downward, revealing some other kind of small chamber underneath the floor.
"We're okay!" April said as she and Luke waved their hands reassuringly, much to everyone's relief as they climbed down to where they were.
"And it looks like we've found something." Luke added, gesturing a large gemstone shaped like a four pointed star with a stone ring in the middle of it imbedded in the stone.
"What is that?" Raph asked.
"It's the Soul-Star!" Honeycutt exclaimed in amazement. "The symbol of the Aeons! Containing the power of life itself!"
"Well, if it's so important, what's it doing down here?" Donnie asked.
"It was hidden away." April guessed. "And the planet turned evil." Her eyes then widened in realization. "I get it now! 'When the Soul-Star reaches the mountains peak, the light of the Aeons shall illuminate all'!"
"So what does it mean?" Mikey asked, still not getting it.
"It means that if we were to put it back at the top of the temple, it will change this planet back to the way it was." Luke clarified.
"Then let's do it." April said as she tried to pry it off the wall. "We're putting it back where it belongs." The second it was pulled off the wall, they the sound of stone beginning to shift along the wall on the far side of the chamber, and a stone door slide open to reveal a hidden passage way. "Back on top of the temple."
Back outside, Mozar and his remaining soldiers fired their blasters at the demons that began to swarm around them. But Mozar knew this was a waste of time. The longer they waited here, the more likely the Fugitoid and his allies including the Jedi would be able to escape and catch up with them.
While he wasn't necessarily afraid of them by any means, he did however, know the power of a Jedi, and had seen first hand how dangerous a Jedi could be. And he was not going to take his chances with that.
"Back to the ships! We have the fragment!" Mozar ordered as he and his fellow Triceratons made a break for the landing zone with their prize.
Exiting the secret passage way, the group managed to get outside along the side of the temple, about halfway up the ancient structure.
"If we reach the top, and put the Soul-Star back where it belongs, I think it'll drive away the demons." April stated. "At least... I hope."
"'You hope'?!" Raph questioned. "You could be totally wrong!"
"Giver her a chance, Raph!" Donnie exclaimed, defending April. "We have to-" The group then heard the familiar sound of the demons screeching. "Oh no."
"Here they come dudes! Run!" Mikey cried as the group quickly began to make their way up the stairs of the pyramid with the demons already on top of them.
Leo turned back and looked down with a glare. "The Triceratons are getting away!" He shouted.
"Let them go!" April stated. "We have to do this! It's not just about saving Earth. It's about saving the galaxy!" She continued to climb up the stairs when a demon suddenly blocked her path.
"April, toss me the crystal!" Raph called out.
April threw the Soul-Star to him like a frisbee while Mikey tackled the space demon, clearing her path.
"Hurry, Raphael!" Fugitoid shouted as Raph carried the Soul-Star up the stairs. Just then, a demon swooped in and grabbed Fugitoid by the shoulders with it's talons before dropping him off the side of the pyramid, resulting in Fugitoid comically tumbling down the stairs.
"Almost there!" Raph shouted as they neared the top of the temple. However, another demon quickly swooped down and grabbed him by the leg, lifting him off the stairs.
"Raph!" Leo called out. The red clad turtle then tossed the Soul-Star to Leo as the demon carried him off. Leo, however, didn't make it very far as another demon grabbed him by the shoulders. "Donnie, catch!" He shouted, tossing the Soul-Star like a frisbee towards his purple clad brother, who stood at the edge of the pyramid, ready to catch it.
However, a demon quickly flew in and grabbed the Soul-Star before Donnie could. "No!" He cried. "The Soul-Star!"
Acting quickly, Casey whacked the demon with his hockey stick, sending the Soul-Star flying into the sky and into the swarm of demons. The demons moved in to grab the Soul-Star, but Luke used the Force to grab it levitate it over to April.
"April, go!" Luke shouted as he ignited his lightsaber and sliced a demon that tried to grab him with it. "We'll cover you! Get the Soul-Star back where it needs to be!"
April silently complied as she finally reached the top of the staircase and stood atop the temple. At the center of the roof of the pyramid was a large shrine. April didn't know how to describe it, but she knew that was where the Soul-Star had to go as she made a mad dash towards it.
The demons began swarming around her as she got closer to the shrine, forcing her to pull out her blaster and fire at the demons. A demon then rammed her in the back, sending her and the Soul-Star flying towards the shrine.
Now seeing hundreds of demons about to swarm her, April quickly got up, picked up the Soul-Star, and shoved it into the shrine.
In doing so, there was a bright flash of light as a large wave of energy shot out from the shrine. The demons that were quickly encompassed by it all began to glow a bright white as the wave of sky blue light washed over the landscape of the entire planet. Everyone made up to the top of the temple just in time to see the environment change around them. The sky turned from blood red to bright blue, the dark and twisted lands became a lush green garden, all of the negative energy in the air had seemingly been washed away, replaced by a great feeling of peace and enlightenment.
"It's working!" Leo exclaimed, putting a hand on his head. "It feels like a huge weight of my head." He stated as neither he or the others could feel the anger and fear in their minds anymore.
The group soon also noticed that the demons themselves were beginning to transform, their black bodies fading away as their appearance evaporated into dust to reveal something else, something much more divine. Where once the Hellish demons floated were now creatures that looked like they were angels straight out of Heaven.
"Th-the Aeons!" Fugitoid gasped in amazement.
"Whoa... look at that..." Raph also breathed in awe.
The angelic creatures that were known as the Aeons gracefully floated down to the group, looking upon them with gratitude.
"Thank you." One of the Aeons spoke, his voice old and carrying great wisdom. "You have saved us, from ourselves."
"From 'yourselves'?" April voiced in confusion.
"The demons were the Aeons all along?" Mikey questioned in surprise.
"The Utrom gave us the fragment to protect." The Aeon explained. "but it's immense power entranced us. We Aeons have never allowed technology on our world before. We desired to know it's secrets. We began to worship it's technological power, and hid away our beloved soul, thus corrupting our world and us with it. We became monstrous, horrible things. And when we hid away our Soul-Star, the evil was nearly complete." The Aeon then turned to Luke, his eyes full with nothing but respect for the Jedi master. "Fortunately the Jedi came and built their temple on our planet, staffing off the evil with their light side energies. For many years, they were able to keep the darkness from spreading on this planet, but then their war with the Sith drove them off the planet, resulting in this world being lost to darkness." The lead Aeon then held his hand up as he spread his fingers similarly to the Vulcan sign for 'Live Long and Prosper'.
"Thank you, my friends." He said with a small smile. "For saving our world."
The Aeon then telekinetically broke off a tiny piece of the Soul-Star and gave it to April. "Take this," The lead Aeon stated. "it is a tiny fragment of our Soul-Star. It will bring you both luck and power."
April held the crystal in her hand in amazement. "Wow, it's beautiful." She said.
The Aeons then turned and flew off into the sky, some even waving farewell as the flew through the sky.
"Goodbye, glowly angel dudes!" Casey waved.
Arriving back at their respective ships, the group felt that it was time to leave the planet, but not before some well-earned goodbyes.
"Thanks for helping us, Luke." Leo thanked as he shook hands with the Jedi master. "It was honor to fight by your side."
"Your welcome, Leonardo." Luke replied.
"You know, you could come with us." Mikey spoke up. "You could help us fight the Triceratons."
Luke chuckled a bit. "I'm afraid I can't, Michelangelo. I have my own duties to the galaxy." He then looked to the rest of the group. "But, if you ever need help, you'll know where to find me."
He then placed a hand on Leo's shoulder. "May the Force be with you." He then looked to the others. "All of you."
With that, Luke getting back in his X-Wing while the Turtles, April, Casey, and Fugitoid waved goodbye as the X-Wing took off and blasted into space.
A little while later, the group was back in the Ulixies as it left the atmosphere of the now purified planet.
"Floor it, Honeycutt!" Leo ordered. "There's still time to catch up with the Triceratons!"
The Ulixies then shot into hyperspace, allowing the group to relax for a little bit.
"Whoa, bros." Mikey said, folding his legs on top of his station. "What an adventure."
"Yeah, we got to meet an actual Jedi!" Casey exclaimed. "How cool was that?"
"The Utrom made a big mistake when they entrusted the fragment to the Aeons." Raph stated.
"Yeah." Donnie voiced as well. "If ancient cosmic beings can be transformed like that... I guess it goes to show anybody can be corrupted by power."
As they spoke, April simply leaned against the railing, admiring her fragment of the Soul-Star as it twinkled in her hand.
Few! I'm finally done with this chapter! And I finally put Luke Skywalker into this story after so many people requested him to be. Hope you all enjoyed this chapter and I will see you all later!