Episode 17: War of the Heart of Darkness – Part 2

Cool wind brushed against Ashina's fur as they sprinted back through the streets. They had a new job now – defend the stupid Vizioso, black clad figures who were heaving the boxes of glowing mutagen between them. This slowed them significantly. Lord Nightshade took up the lead, blending into the darkness so well that sometimes Ashina couldn't see him at all – even though he was only a few feet in front of her. Gore was on the other side of the boxes, Bloodmaw hung back behind them and finally, EmberEye took the head closest to their sensei.

Bloodmaw spoke up. "Sensei, Shredder's followers aren't that far away. I can see them coming up on us!" They were drawing nearer to Washington Square Park, and then from there they would take a left and would make their way to their hideout in the China Town area. Ashina could hear that Vizioso's guard were beginning to pant and grunt, the mutagen glass jostling together. Ashina could only hope that they didn't drop it or smash any of the mutagen – for their sake.

At for Bloodmaw's concern, Lord Nightshade either did not care enough to respond, or did not have time, for he said nothing in return, but continued his sprint, the others following as quickly as they could behind him. Up ahead, in the empty streets, Ashina began to realize that something was very odd.

There was no light here.

Not a single window had yellow light glowing from it – not a single street light was on. Perhaps Lord Nightshade had noticed this and that was the reason for his haste. Did Shredder have some sort of control over the power grid? Ashina looked back behind her to see that Bloodmaw had been correct. Tigerclaw, The zombie wolf, and the fish were following close behind. It was hard to make them out in the darkness, but they were gaining on them. The mutagen was slowing them down.

Suddenly, a new concern appeared. Wild noises were sounding from up ahead. The sound of firing guns and shouts could be heard. Perhaps it was the Kraang. As they finally reached the white arch, Ashina turned to see what the commotion was.

What she saw, she could hardly believe.

Giant Triceratops with huge, square shaped guns were advancing on the Red Panda, Ethan, the fox, and the human from the Hamato Clan. They were the same ones that had been in the warehouse the night before. A strange black ring had been placed over the fountain and it was very clear that the Hamato Clan students were losing to these huge, bipedal dinosaurs. Ashina skidded to a halt. "Lord Nightshade!" She exclaimed. He halted this time, along with the mutagen and the others of the Shinotomo Clan.

Bloodmaw gave her a look like she had just lost her mind. "What is it?" Lord Nightshade asked as if he was totally unaware of the fight at Washington Square Park that was happening right next to them. His voice had lost some of its coolness and was replaced instead with something more tense.

A fire.

"The Hamato Clan is there!" She pointed towards the Washington Square Arch. "It looks like they are fighting some sort of monsters! We should investigate further." Suddenly, as she was saying it, she realized how out of bounds she was sounding. She turned to see that the Foot Clan lackies were catching up to them at a fast rate of speed.

"I couldn't care less." Nightshade snapped. "All that matters is that we complete the mission successfully. Should anyone cause us to stop again, I will deal with them swiftly. None of you here are irreplaceable." That shut all of them up. Nightshade then turned and continued the sprint. Ashina backed up a bit and shoved Bloodmaw forward to take her spot and she traded him for the rear of the mutagen.

Bloodmaw didn't say a word – likely from fear of what had just happened. Ashina continued to sprint and she glanced back at the Hamato clan. They worked together with a sense of teamwork – although it certainly looked like they were losing. Ashina longed to be in a group like that. The last thing that she saw was the shadow of Tigerclaw, the wolf, and the fish slowing to a halt and then changing directions towards Washington Square Park.

It took all of her willpower not to double back. In her heart, she grieved that she may never see those three again.

"It seems the turtles did not make it here on time." Mozar said pridefully, a smile on his face, his eyes flashing as he looked at the three in front of him. "But I do have some new sport." He lurched forward and slammed his fists on the ground.

Ethan, Jess, and Kaela scattered out of the way. More amber blasts burst from the Triceraton weapons and they were forced to retreat even further away from the fight towards the Washington Square Arch. "It's useless. We're screwed!" Jess said as they were backed out the other side of the arch.

Mozar was slowly making his way towards them, pulling out one of his own guns, his smile still spread on his face. He had every intention to suck their earth into the black hole. "You earthlings are so amusing. You take on so many forms and it seems only the deformed ones have the strength to attempt to defend your world." He aimed his gun at them. "No matter. I have no issue obliterating more of you personally before the Black Hole Generator devours your home." he fired again and they were forced further away, backs now to the archway.

"We need to retreat and regroup." Kaela said, panting, clutching her ribbon dart close to her.

"There isn't enough time." Ethan yelled back over the sound of another blast from Mozar that shattered bits of the pillar all around them, bits of it stinging at the back of Ethan's neck. He turned to see that there were more shadows approaching them.

As soon as they drew near, Ethan could tell exactly who they were and his heart dropped into his stomach. Tigerclaw, Bradford, and Xever. "Are you freakin' kidding me?" Jess said brandishing her kama's in their direction. "We have to retreat now! There's no way that we can beat all of them!"

Ethan suddenly remembered their dream and an idea appeared in his mind. A dangerous, crazy idea. But that was about all he had left. They were coming on them and Ethan quickly ran – but towards them. "Ethan, what are you doing?" Kaela yelled after him.

"Hold Mozar off for just a sec!" Ethan said.

"Okay!" Jess said sarcastically, "You go hang out with your friends and let us know when you are ready to fight again!"

A blast from Mozar's gun nearly blew Ethan off his feet.

Tigerclaw, Xever, and Bradford halted in their tracks, clearly puzzled why their prey would suddenly come to them rather than run for it. They prepared their weapons to fight, but Ethan had no intention to do so and just to show it, he quickly holstered his weapon.

This puzzled them even more.

"Listen to me for a second!" Ethan panted, flattening his ears against his head from exhaustion, his tail dropping behind him, paws on his knees. "Those Triceratons are about to fire a weapon that will literally kill everyone on earth – including you guys!" They gave him looks like he was absolutely crazy. "I've seen it happen before – you have to believe me!" Ethan turned to look at Mozar who was advancing on Jess and Kaela who had flung themselves from behind cover and were trying to retaliate. But the other Triceraton guards were closing in on them and dodging them would prove impossible soon. "Please help us! We don't have much time!"

"Do we believe him?" Xever asked. "That sounds crazy to me."

"But vaguely familiar." Bradford growled under his breath.

Tigerclaw turned to glare at Ethan. "We will deal with these creatures on one condition. I trust we can have your word."

"Okay, whatever." Ethan said hastily hearing Jess and Kaela shouting from behind.

"When this fight is over, you return with us to Master Shredder without a fight."

Ethan didn't like the sound of that, but there was nothing else he could do. "Okay, deal." he said.

Somehow, he knew it. If these goons would be willing to partner with the turtles to stop the Black Hole Generator, surely they would be willing to do something similar again for them. Ethan spun on his feet and sprinted back towards Jess and Kaela, Shredder's servants behind him. He couldn't help but grin. In a day of only seeming defeats, this was something that was cool.

Mozar looked up in anger. "What is this?" He bared his fangs and bent his head down to show his horns as if to intimidate their attack.

"I found us some reinforcements." Ethan called to Kaela and Jess and he jumped, balancing on the end of Mozar's gun for a split second and then he jumped up over the big dinosaurs head and landed on another Triceraton.

Tigerclaw, Xever, and Bradford barreled past the shocked Mozar and attacked the Triceraton guards. Ethan brought his naginata down into the one he was balancing on's eye. He yelled in fury and thrashed his head, falling to his knees. Ethan was thrown off but he used his reflexes and skid across the stone of the park, jumping back to his feet. Now they finally felt like they had at least a small chance of success. He turned to look at the Black Hole Generator. The scientists had locked on an object that looked familiar to Ethan.

Then he realized what it was.

It was the timer for the Black Hole Generator.

And it was starting to count down.

"Hold them off!" Ethan shouted. "I'll try and stop the Black Hole Generator!"

"We got this!" Kaela shouted. Her ribbon dart spun around Mozar's horn and she wrenched, pulling his head down and Jess slammed her Kama's into the bridge between his eyes, sparks flying in every direction. Mozar screamed in fury and threw Kaela off with a swipe. She hit the side of Washington Arch and fell to the ground, heaving for breath.

Jess jumped in front of her to dodge another attack from Mozar and she slashed one of her kama's into his gun. Electricity spilled in every direction and the gun began to smoke. Mozar glared and then threw the weapon away. "No matter. All I need are these." He lifted his huge, leathery fists and Jess backed away just in time to avoid getting splattered across the ground.

Ethan sprinted for the Black Hole Generator. A Triceraton jumped in front of him to stop him, but Tigerclaw blasted him with a series of ice shots from one of his guns. "Run! We will hold them off!" Ethan nodded and sprinted the last few yards, seeing Xever and Bradford taking down a Triceraton from the corner of his eye. With a scream of effort, he slammed the blade into the back of A Triceraton and it pierced through skin. The scientist screamed and fell onto his side. Ethan wrenched his weapon back out and looked at the ticking timer.

It was still counting down, flashing with orange light that was vanishing in a triangular formation. Ethan wasn't sure how it worked, but it did not look like they had much time. He slammed the naginata against it, not sure what else he could do. He could scratch it up, but it didn't seem to be doing any damage to the machine. He switched tactics and tried to hit the generator itself, but it glanced off without even leaving a mark.

They were likely only a minute away. There was no time left.

Time had run out.

Mozar must have gotten through because a second later, Ethan felt himself getting snatched up from where he was standing. Mozar was grinning at him. "You're planet only has mere nextons to live." he said.

Ethan didn't know what an nexton was, but it sounded brief.

"Why are you doing this?" Ethan snapped. "To kill the Kraang? This is the dumbest reason ever!"

"No." Mozar said back with anger in his voice. "I will make those turtle fools pay for everything they have done to interfere with the Triceraton Empire."

Ethan had no idea what that meant – but obviously the turtles weren't here and so as far as he was concerned that wasn't a very good reason. He kicked his feet against Mozar's mouth but it did little.

"Let go of our brother!" Jess and Kaela appeared behind him and both swung their weapons. A dart slammed Mozar in the good eye and kama's sunk into his sides. He yelled in defiance and threw Ethan.

He felt his body skip like a rock against water several times against the ground until he found that he was skidding away. Most of the Triceraton guards were still battling with Tigerclaw, Bradford and Xever. But it was clear that none of them were near to winning. There was no way that they were going to win this fight.

Mozar slammed his fists against the ground and Jess and Kaela were forced to fall back on either side of Ethan. "Victory for the Triceraton Empire!" Mozar shouted to the air, raising his fists into the air.

It was over.

"I'm sorry guys." Ethan said, reaching out to put his arms around their shoulders. "I dont' think there is anything more that we can do."

"We tried." Kaela said with emotion in her voice.

Suddenly, amid the sound of the clock ticking down its last few seconds, a new sound had emerged. It was a deep humming noise. Wind began to rush around them, ruffling Ethan's fur and whiskers and the clothes on his body. He looked up with squinting eyes.

A white ship was descending down on them.

It almost looked like something Apple would have created. It was glowing, and so sleek that it almost looked like it could be made of glass.

"WHAT?" Mozar yelled in fury. "NO! ATTACK THAT SHIP!"

A ramp was opening on the underside of the huge ship and several shadows could be seen from inside, although it was hard to tell who they were. The ship landed, but nobody was listening to Mozar's order. They were still preoccupied with Shredder's servants.

Then Ethan heard one word from a voice he recognized in his dreams.

"BOOYAKASHA!"

A blast of a laser burst from the white light and hit the timer just as it hit its last second. It exploded into tiny bits and the sound of the timer dimmed into nothing. The Black Hole Generator stayed stagnant.

Ethan couldn't believe what he was seeing.

Four shadows had jumped out from the ship and landed across from Mozar on the other side of the fountain, brandishing ninja weapons.

Four turtles.

And they were wearing space gear. Leonardo who wore a blue bandanna had a pair of katana in his green, three fingered hands. A look of authority spread across his face, although he couldn't be much older than Ethan. Standing next to him was the one with the red bandanna, looking angry and significantly more burly than his brothers. A pair of sais were in his hands.

On either side was the orange one and the purple one, Michelangelo and Donatello, sporting nun-chucks and a bo staff.

The turtles had arrived.