Episode 13: The Hour of Darkness – Part 3
*Note: Alright guys, I'm headed out for a vacation to Illinois, but I didn't want to leave you hanging, so I'll be posting four parts today. This is one of them. That way it will take care of every day I would have posted. We are approaching the turtle entrance I've been waiting so long for! 5/31 I'll post again! Thanks again for anyone still reading.
SMASH! SMASH! SMASH!
The three yelped and backed out of the way as the huge pincer from Mako's stony looking tail slammed into the ground, shaking it beneath their feet and causing electric voltage to fly in every direction. "Mako!" Jess plead, dodging another strike and flinging out of the way, her back hitting into the metal and crushing her tail against it.
"Stop trying to reach him – there's something wrong with him!" Kaela called, flinging her ribbon dart. It twirled through the air, grabbing near the top of Mako's tail and she yanked. Feeling the motion, Mako flipped around and lunged at Kaela, his pincers cutting where her throat had been only a second ago.
Ethan wasn't concerned with Mako. His eyes burned and he lunged with a yell onto the green power generator and flung his naginata as hard as he could towards Shredder. He hit the end out of his way with ease. Ethan turned and struck at Kitsune. The blade for several moments looked like it was hurtling through the air to pierce her heart and Ethan expected to see red, but instead, the point of his weapon rebounded, as if it had hit a solid wall and Kitsune watched him with interest. "What the –!" Ethan cried.
"You will find that I am not so easily dispatched, doubutsu." Her voice was soft and deadly. "Kenta, remove him from my sight. I'm eager to see how well he can fight."
Kenta? Ethan thought wildly and then, a shadow appeared in the sky. For a moment he only saw huge leathery wings and then suddenly he was slammed off the power generator and crushed into the ground. Air burst from his chest and he felt weight on his sternum. A shriek sounded just above him and a flash of fangs appeared. Before they could pierce him, he flipped himself up and slammed the figure off of him.
It was another mutant. This one had a dangling earring like a fang, patterns of purple up the sides of his arms where he likely had tattoos. "Look what has happened to me!" He hissed, his thin arms scraping against the ground, his wings folding back behind him, his voice whiny. "You will all pay for what has happened to me!" There was no clarity in this bats eyes.
Suddenly, everyone paused.
An odd ringing sound appeared in the air.
Kitsune and Shredder looked up towards the sky.
With a crash and a shower of electricity, the hum of voltage vanished and the lights of New York City went out into total darkness. Ethan could see fine still, and he knew that Jess was going to be okay – but his worry immediately settled on Kaela. "Kaela!" he called over the sound of Shredder's laughter. He had succeeded in destroying the power grid. Not good! Ethan jumped to his feet and with a spin, kicked the bat across the face and he fell backward, gagging as he did so.
"I can't see!" Kaela called.
Then suddenly, Kaela was screaming. Ethan spun as he sprinted towards Kaela. Mako's jabbing stinger had struck her near the shoulder and with a sickening squelch! It came out again, ready for another jab at her.
"MAKO, NO!" Jess slammed into his side, kama's falling to the ground and the two crumbled to the ground.
Before Ethan could reach them, and for the second time that day, he was thrown off his feet by sudden force and felt his back skid against the ground until the power generator stopped his slide with a hard bump to the shoulder. A giant ox had appeared from the maze of wires and cords. He snorted angrily, his huge horns bent down to impale Ethan against the generator.
"Shame." Kitsune muttered. Ethan looked up to see that she was looking down at him. "I had so hoped that you would have put on a good show for me, chisana panda." The ox bellowed and burst forward towards him. Ethan jumped out of the way just in time, his naginata hanging loosely in his hands. He was beginning to feel dizzy again from the two impacts he had taken, but if he didn't recover soon, he was dead. The ox was preparing for another charge.
Jess gripped Mako around the middle and would not let him go. He screamed and writhed for a few moments and for a moment, she was sure that she was about to feel a sharp jab in her spine, but then suddenly his claws were vanishing back into his hands, his tail slipping out of sight and with a crunch of bones, vanishing. "Mako?" Jess didn't let him go, didn't look up, but kept her head close to his chest.
"Jess?" Mako whispered, his voice trembling. "Jess, you need to run."
"No." Jess said. "You need to run."
Mako nodded, sweat dripping from his face. "Find me." he whispered.
Jess let go and jumped to her feet, screaming as she hurled a fistful of shurikans at Kitsune. They bounced off around her, but it gave just enough time for Mako to slip away and vanish into the darkness, panting as he went.
Shredder yelled, "NO! DO NOT LET ANYONE ESCAPE!"
"Damare!" Kitsune snapped. "Kenta! Trent! Mako o mitsukenasai!" The moment she had spoken the words, the two turned, their eyes clouded over by an odd, distance and vanished into the darkness, chasing after the Purple Dragon.
Ethan reached Kaela and fell to his knees. She was cradling her shoulder and tears were pouring down her face. "I'm fine." She managed to say, "It's just the venom – it burns so much." she gulped down a sob and wiped at her face, getting to her feet and gritting her teeth.
"Kaela." Ethan murmured worriedly. He then turned to Shredder and Kitsune who watched from their perch. "Shredder!" Ethan said loudly. "Come down here and I'll take you! One on one! Let's end this crap now!"
"You are beneath me, panda." he hissed, his voice echoing in the metal, the darkness billowing around him. Kitsune had become calm again.
"No, Shredder!" Ethan yelled again, "You are beneath everyone around you! Master Hamato, Master Splinter, everyone has more honor than you!" he could tell that he was striking nerves. Shredder was growling behind his mask and he jumped down from the perch, throwing his cape away.
"I'll end this quickly, boy." He said.
But before either of them charged at one another, the loud sound of sirens broke through the sky. New lights were joining. At first, red and blue could only be seen on the horizon, and then suddenly, hundreds of lights were flashing in every direction. "Saki, we must flee." Kitsune said.
Shredder didn't say another word but ran, Kitsune already vanishing into the darkness like a shadow that had never been there. Ethan turned and a flare appeared, the red light dancing in every direction. The face of Sam appeared next to it.
"Sam!" Ethan, Jess and Kaela said in unison. He was wearing a t-shirt and a pair of shorts for a change and Ethan felt that he looked entirely different in this outfit.
"You'll want to get out of here quick!" Sam said. "The police will be here in just a few seconds." Ethan nodded and gave Sam a thumbs up to thank him. The three then turned and ran, vanishing into the dark and back down into the familiarity of the sewers.
"You powers are useless!" Shredder pounded his fist against his chair in fury, causing Bradford, Xever, Tigerclaw, Zeck, and Storengo to all flinch as they stood at either side of the massive cement throne raised above them.
Kitsune however, did not flinch. Instead, her stare became pointed as she looked up at Shredder. "Do not trifle with me, Saki." She said quietly, but with the deadly accuracy of a poison dart. "I am not your servant and you will do well to remember it."
Shredder growled under his breath but did not say another word. "Not only did we fail to overcome the Power Grid, but those three Hamato fools got away. On top of it all, Karai has not returned in days from her mission." his fist was trembling.
"Patience, Oroku Saki." Kitsune muttered, "My magic is temporary when I do not have a lengthy amount of time with my subjects. That boy, Mako was only able to escape because your hasty attack did not allow me enough time to cut and retie the cords of his heart."
Slowly standing, Shredder turned to look at her, his arms behind his back, his voice trembling from the rage that seemed to emanate off of him and cause his servants to look away. "Then what do you suggest we do to remedy this, Kitsune?" he asked once he was able to control his voice enough not to yell at her.
Kitsune smiled at him with her usual cunning smile. "I have already calculated this, Saki." She said quietly, "Kenta and Trent are downstairs, bound and silent in their prisons. I will have sufficient time with them. We will send them to find Mako and Karai. All will be taken care of in time." She then narrowed her eyes at him, her pencil thin eyebrows arching into a glare. "But, my magic does come at a price."
Shredder crossed his arms across his chest. "What is it that I could offer you, Kitsune? You have lived ten lifetimes."
Chuckling, Kitsune put her fingers up to her lip, the kimono sleeve covering the lower half of her face like a curtain and then she looked up at Shredder, her eyes filled with fire. "When the chance arises, those three Hamato children will be given to me alive. They will join the Foot Clan as my servants."
Shredder nodded. "It is a deal."
Ethan blinked blurrily at the television screen. It was near one in the morning and the news fuzzed in front of him. He had never felt so tired in his life. Jess lay on bean bag next to him, eyes closed, snoring. Kaela lay on the bed, her shirt was half off, looking more like a toga and a bunch of bandages had been wrapped tightly around the puncture wound that she had received. Luckily the effects of the venom had worn off. It wasn't deadly poison like Karai's. The thought of Karai made his body hurt and so he turned on his side on the bean bag to try and rid himself of thoughts of her wandering the sewers alone. Or perhaps captured by Shredder again and put under something much worse than the Brain Worm. Ethan could remember the look in Mako's black eyes. It was the same look in the Ox and the Bat. But it was not the same look that Jess had when the brain worm was messing with her. That time, Jess had vanished completely. It was like she had become a different person. But Mako had still been Mako when he attacked them and Ethan knew it had something to do with Kitsune.
The witch was burned in his mind. She was someone from their past, that was undoubtedly true. But who she was, Ethan couldn't even begin to fathom. He wracked his brain, but it only made him more tired as he did so. He turned on his side again as the news returned from a long commercial break.
"We bring you more startling and odd news and some answers concerning today's blackout from downtown New York today!" The man was saying grandly with flowing blonde hair that looked like it had been gelled too much. "Late tonight, there was a disturbance at the city power grid. Several police officers claim that mutant animals were involved again! We urge all citizens to be on the look out for any suspicious activity, and not to confront any of these dangerous animal mutants." Ethan hit the power button, not wanting any more stress than what he was already feeling.
Great! He thought to himself. Now we are going to have an army of New Yorkers trying to kill us for the power on their satellite cutting out for an hour. He moaned and turned on his stomach, stuffing his face into the beans in the bag. All he could hope for, was that the turtles would show up sooner rather than later.
This was his final thought before slipping into the blackness of his dreams, his eyes closing and his limbs going limp, losing the fight against sleep.
Ethan was human again.
Immediately when he opened his eyes and looked at the huge white arch of Washington Square Park and felt the flesh on his hands, he knew he was in the same dream.
"Here we are again." Jess said with a hint of aggravation. The three didn't waste time and Ethan checked mentally in his head everything that was happening.
The triangular space ships.
The amber light.
The huge Black Hole Weapon being placed on the ground.
The turtles jumping out to stop them.
It was at this time that the three of them ran to the park bench and hid behind it, just as they did last time, and they watched from their spot, weaponless and helpless as the turtles fought against the huge dinosaurs. Triceratons was what one of them had called themselves. Then, just like last time, they began to lose. Casey Jones was thrown to the ground. Bishop – the strange Kraang that seemed to be helping them was blasted by the huge Triceraton guns and fell tot he ground, still. Michelangelo cried out for him and a second later, before the turtle had his head blasted off, a shurikan flew form the darkness.
Hamato Yoshi had shown up again, just like last time. "We heard you might need some assistance." He said, the horde of other mutants and April appearing from the Washington arch as a car flew into view and smashed the nearest Triceratops. The huge crocodile Leatherhead, the giant turtle with a jagged black shell, the gecko with a skateboard, the pile of trash with a face, the monkey with the helmet and the pigeon with seemingly no brain. Ethan counted them all off. In April's hand was a fan weapon – Ethan never knew she could fight.
"Kick their Jurassic." Michelangelo said, just like last time, and the battle was renewed against the Triceratons. The turtles moves were strikingly similar to that of their own they had learned from Master Hamato. Casey, armed with roller skates, threw several hockey pucks to the ground. "Goongala!" He cried, hitting them with his hockey stick. As soon as they hit a nearby Triceratops, they exploded in plumes of red and black.
After Hamato Yoshi took out three Triceratops at once with his chain weapon, he straightened, his rat ears perked up. "We must stop the Black Hole weapon from being triggered."
"Slash, Leatherhead, take that machine down now!"
A second later, just like before, Leatherhead was thrown down by one of the massive creatures as Slash repeatedly slammed his huge, black, spiked mace against the Black Hole Weapon. It grazed off without so much as a scratch. Ethan knew what was coming next. More pillars of amber light appeared and a massive Triceraton appeared, his feet made of metal, his maw covered with another long silver plate to hide some sort of disfigurement. He grabbed the monkey and threw him against the ground his helmet sliding against the ground. Throwing a tiny metal device, both the monkey and the huge turtle that Leonardo had called Slash were imprisoned in bubbles made of crimson. "This battle is over. You have all lost." He put his arms behind his back as Leatherhead equally got sucked away into a bubble.
"LEATHERHEAD!" Michelangelo jumped forward but the metal mawed Triceraton snatched him from the air.
"Foolish little one, you are coming with me." A second later, the pillar of light appeared around them and the two of them vanished as Raphael cried for his brother along with Hamato Yoshi. They were gone, just like last time.
And just like last time, Casey Jones was the next to get trapped in one of the bubbles. "Casey!" April cried, but she was being dragged away by Raphael. "I'll come back for you!" The whole crowd of mutants that had not been trapped were vanishing through the white arch, flanked by statues and then were gone into the night, leaving Ethan, Jess and Kaela alone again with the Triceratons and their new prisoners. The Monkey, Leatherhead, Slash, and Casey Jones floated a few inches from the ground, trapped.
This was where the dream had ended last time – only this time, it didn't end.
"Now what?" Kaela whispered nervously. "Should we try and get those guys free?"
Jess ignored what Kaela said and grabbed Ethan by the shoulder. He looked down at her, still surprised to see her human features again. "Ethan, I think that Black Hole thing is the Heart of Darkness." she said. "I think that is what Master Hamato wanted us to get rid of."
So, are we seeing the future? Ethan wondered to himself. If that were the case, would he not be a Red Panda and Jess a fox? Working this out was beginning to hurt his head. Ethan slowly leaned back down until they were all hidden from the view of the giant dinosaurs. They waited for several long moments and Ethan looked around curiously. The dream had not yet ended and here they sat. "Are we supposed to do something?" he wondered aloud to the others.
Jess and Kaela peaked their heads up over the edge of the bench to look. The Triceratons were still plugging away at the Black Hole weapon while others, still carrying the huge guns in their hands, patrolled around the outer edge of the park. The fountain splashed ominously in the quiet, accompanied by only the occasional beep from the touch screens that the Triceratons were working on. "Maybe we are supposed to save the ones in those bubble things." Kaela suggested, pointing at Casey's which was the nearest.
The four trapped prisoners were whispering to one another and then went back into solemn silence. Casey's eyes kept trailing over to the guards, the skull mask balanced on the top of his head. "Without weapons, I don't know how smart that is going to be." Ethan muttered quietly. "Those things only have to punch us once and we'd be out."
"So, what do we do?" Jess asked.
"For now, we wait." Ethan replied.
And that is exactly what they did. The Triceratons continued to work and they sat for several long moments, staring at one another nervously. Occasionally Ethan would stick his head up to check but nothing had changed and the dream hadn't ended. "Alright." Ethan said, exasperated after what had to have been twenty minutes or so. "We obviously are supposed to make something happen. So, here's the plan. We are going to go around back the other way. One of us needs to distract the Triceratons somehow."
"Triceratons?" Jess asked with a raised eyebrow.
"That's what they called themselves. The Triceraton Empire." Ethan said back with a shrug. "I dunno! I don't make this stuff up." Ethan checked after hearing the sound of footsteps, but nobody appeared. "Next, we will . . ." He paused. He had heard a girls voice, and it sounded an awful lot like April. Jess and Kaela joined him and they stuck their faces up over the park bench.
One of the Triceratons spoke. "The timer is repaired." He said, his voice as gruff as the others and he backed away from the machine, a tiny timer had appeared. "This planet has mere nextons to live." Suddenly more Triceratons appeared in several large amber pillars of light.
Ethan turned back to the others, "We better improvise and do this quick. That looks like a timer for the weapon and I don't want to see what happens if it goes off."
"Sounds good." Kaela nodded in agreement and the three slowly turned to stand.
"Duck down!" Jess grabbed Ethan and Kaela's shirt and dragged them to the ground.
"Kaela, what are you—." Ethan began but Kaela pointed, eyes wide. Ethan turned back around. Figures had emerged from the White Arch. Rocksteady and Bebop were the first. Then Tigerclaw and Rahzar. Finally, Shredder and, Ethan couldn't believe his eyes – April and Hamato Yoshi were with him.
"Now I'm confused." Ethan said slowly.
"Now?" Jess asked, her voice thick with sarcasm.
The whole group attacked the Triceratons, seemingly out of nowhere. Why are they working together? Ethan wondered as April began slamming one of the triangular contraptions, freeing Casey Jones. He fell to the ground and said something to April with a relieved smile on his face. But Ethan could see that Triceratons had noticed her and were gaining, their guns raised.
Ethan made a motion to help, but Tigerclaw appeared first and fired his guns, the bullets transforming to ice that formed over the barrel. "Quickly, run!" He shouted to April. Ethan stood stunned. Tigerclaw just freakin' helped someone! The sound of the timer could be heard over the sound of yells and hollers as Shredder and Hamato Yoshi worked together to silence three Triceratons who fell to the ground in defeat.
He turned to look at his two sisters who were watching with mouths agape at the craziness that was happening in front of them. Nothing made sense to Ethan anymore. "Why are they helping each other?" He asked aloud, but more to himself than to his sisters.
One of the huge Triceratons fell to the ground and slammed over the top of Hamato Yoshi who struggled out from underneath the big monsters hand. "Hurry Saki! We have no time!" He called as he finally got back to his feet. Hamato Yoshi began sprinting towards the Black Hole weapon, hand outstretched as Shredder followed close behind, catching up from behind.
Suddenly Ethan could remember the smell of smoke, the sound crackling fire, and the look of Master Hamato's face when Shredder killed him – and he knew exactly what was about to happen. Kaela opened her mouth to cry out and Ethan felt the world slow as he watched Shredder finally catch up to Hamato Yoshi and the two blades on his gauntlet slammed into his back, shoving through and piercing out from his chest.
The rage that Ethan felt inside him burst into a bonfire and he felt his body tremble as Hamato Yoshi collapsed to the ground, Shredder standing over him. "NO!" The turtles cried in unison. April screamed a moment later and Ethan felt himself get thrown back as if by an invisible wind and he slammed into the dewy grass behind him with Kaela and Jess.
A loud final ringing sound echoed around Washington Square Park.
The Black Ring levitated into the air, separating apart and a huge black infinite void appeared and like a vacuum began to suck up everything on the ground. Ethan gazed up at the machine in horror as white and black blended together with purple and a deafening roar of wind being thrown around them echoed in his ears. He was lifting up off the ground and he grabbed at Kaela and Jess. Their hands met and they flew upward towards the black and white. "NO!" Ethan cried and before he closed his eyes and felt the feeling of nothingness behind him, he saw something pearly white appearing from the sky . . .
Then he was waking up again, the dream still filling his mind and the feeling of nothingness that was too familiar turned his stomach. Kaela and Jess were groaning next to him. Jess flipped up, holding her head, but Kaela stay on the couch, holding her wound. "Guys." Kaela finally said when he was able to speak again, "I think . . . that was our past." he said. "That actually happened to us."
Jess gulped, "And somehow we have a second chance."
Ethan nodded, "This time, we stop the Heart of Darkness."