Episode 17: War of the Heart of Darkness – Part 3

Ethan could hardly believe the incredible timing that had just happened. There the four ninja turtles stood, having emerged from the giant white ship behind them. Three more figures appeared from the blinding, white light. Both were people Ethan knew on a more personal level – one was April O'Neil. Her red hair could be recognized anywhere, even if she was wearing a giant yellow jumpsuit. Standing next to her was Casey Jones – dressed in space garb with his a hockey stick in his hands. Ethan wasn't surprised.

The third and final individual looked much like the ship. White, made of metal of some kind, with orange eyes that reminded Ethan of his phones emoticons. "Hello everyone." he said in a thick British accent.

Jess was the first to actually find her voice. "It's about freaking time! We've been looking for you guys everywhere."

"Who the heck are you?" Raphael asked, brandishing one of his sais in Jess' direction. She looked a little shocked that she had gotten attitude back and so she didn't answer at all.

Even Tigerclaw, Bradford, and Xever stopped to stare. "The turtles." Tigerclaw said lowly, his voice filled in intention that Ethan didn't really like at all. "We found them."

"Actually, we sort of found you." Donatello responded, spinning his bo staff into attack position.

"Dudes!" Michelangelo cried, pointing at Kaela, Jess, and Ethan who still had arms around each other. "More mutants!" Feeling awkward, Ethan immediately dropped his hands from Kaela and Jess.

Leonardo who was looking at Ethan with a bit of confusion turned to the robot behind him. "Fugitoid, we need your help fighting these guys."

The robot he had called Fugitoid shook his massive white head. "I'm sorry Leo, but like I told you, I will be taking the Black Hole Generator."

"No you won't!" Leo snapped back.

"ENOUGH!" Mozar shouted. "Nobody will be taking the Black Hole Weapon anywhere!" He pointed to one of the scientists that was cowering in the wake of the huge white ship. "Send for repairs immediately! I'll hold them off." The Triceraton immediately nodded and zapped back in a pillar of amber light, disappearing as if he were never there.

"Let's kick their dino-butts!" Michelangelo shouted.

Ethan jumped to his feet as if he too were taking part of that command and he spun his naginata smoothly. At the same time, the four turtles, Ethan, and his sisters attacked Mozar. Their weapons flashed in every direction around the dinosaur leader who blocked most with his forearm and head. He dove his head down and rammed with his horns, forcing all seven of them to retreat. April suddenly threw a fan that dashed off the Triceratons horn and then back to her. Ethan had no idea she knew how to use a weapon. "Goongala!" Casey jumped on the dinosaurs back and slammed his hockey stick so hard into Mozar's head that the wood shattered into splinters around them.

Ethan heard Donatello cry to the others, "I think these three are Hamato clan! They are using the same techniques!" As the turtle twirled about Mozar's legs, slamming his bo staff into his sides, he continued, "Seiyonage, motekotegyaku, kochogiri! They know all of the Hamato forms!"

Mozar slammed his fist into the ground and Ethan was forced to cartwheel backward clumsily, but two hands reached out to help him keep his footing. It was April. "T-thanks." Ethan said. "For the catch." He noticed oddly that Donatello was watching him suspiciously while still dodging attacks from Mozar with his brothers, Jess and Kaela.

April gave him an odd look and then leaned in closer. "Ethan?" she asked. "Ethan, it is you!" He was surprised that she had managed to recognize him so easily. "Well, it looks like you got . . ." April seemed to be trying to find words that were polite. "Mutated." she finally said blandly.

"Yup. Jess too. Thanks for the homework help when you were on earth." Ethan said with a grin and then the two dashed back into the battle. Mozar was obviously losing. Even this captain didn't seem to be able to take on this many enemies at once. With a swing of his arms like a pinwheel, all of them retreated back a few steps. More of the Triceratons had beamed down and were gaining on Tigerclaw, Xever and Bradford. Those three were looking more and more worn down.

"There is nothing you can do to stop the Triceraton Empire from destroying this world!" Mozar yelled at them, but he was breathing heavily and his eyes were looking more and more unfocused. There was simply no way that the Triceratons could win this battle. The tables had turned. Ethan glanced over to see the Fugitoid robot had gone back into his ship and the ramp had vanished away. Suddenly, an echoing voice shouted: "I'm afraid I have some very bad news!" Ethan glanced around, but then realized from the British accent that it was the robot from inside the ship. Somehow he had managed to activate some sort of speaker. "Incoming!"

Another ship burst through the atmosphere and sped to the ground. Ethan's mouth dropped open.

"Is that a giant . . . bug?" Kaela asked confused.

Donatello who stood next to her nodded. "Oh yes. One that you don't want to mess with either."

Raphael groaned, leaning backward dramatically. "This guy? Again!" he shouted to the air, as if it had done him some kind of wrong.

Now that Kaela mentioned it, the ship looked remarkably like a massive, disgusting bee. A figure slid out from the control panel and landed on the ground of Washington Square Park. If Ethan had been terrified before – he didn't want to know what he was now. The Triceraton Mozar looked like a particularly mean pit bull compared to who had just arrived.

He looked like a deranged, mutated bug. He was a see through purple in color. Inside Ethan could see organs, dotted with extra eyes all around him. His mouth opened at a slant to show bladed teeth, four green eyes glaring down at them from his bulbous head. He had four wings on his back, green and filmy with veins that you could see. Two smaller arms were attached to his central body, but he had two long, human like arms, save for the fact that they were tipped with nails like blades. "Who – or what – is that?" Ethan gasped, pointing at it with the end of his weapon.

"Impossible!" Mozar shouted. "We ensured your death!"

"Or so you thought, you Jurassic swine!" the creature shouted dramatically, pointing one of his bladed fingers at the Triceraton captain. "Nothing can slake my lust for your blood." Ethan wasn't sure if he felt horrified or if he was going to laugh. Whatever this creature was, he was bathing in the drama of the moment.

"It's Dregg." Leonardo informed them, glaring at the intruder.

"He's been stalking us, like, all over the universe." Michelangelo added off offhandedly.

The giant insect turned his attention to them. "That is Lord Vrinegath Dregg to you!" he said pointing his finger to them now. "And I have come to dissect you and feed upon your insides."

"That's disgusting." Kaela said under her breath.

Donatello turned to them, "I've seen a lot of dissections, having done a few myself, and I gotta tell you, this wont be pretty."

"No kidding!" Raphael said sarcastically.

"Vree, attack!"

Suddenly, the ship burst several large insects, green in color and towering over them at what Ethan would guess to be seven feet tall. "Aw, crud." Raphael added. The insects screeched and lunged at them, Mozar jumped back fending off several of them himself.

One came screaming at Ethan and he sliced it in half, green goop splashing the ground around him, and it smelt awful. The second he had done so, a second had replaced it, but Kaela snatched it from the air with her ribbon dart and send it flying into the ground with a sickening splat. Ethan took the advantage to run forward. It appeared Leonardo had thought the same thing, for they both sprinted past the others to take on Lord Dregg. "Come and meet your deaths, mutant scum!" his voice turned into a hiss at the end. Ethan jumped forward and swung, but his weapon was caught by one of his long, claw like hands. A second later he felt a fist slam into his stomach and sprawled onto the ground.

"No! Fox dude!" Michelangelo jumped forward past the Vree that he had just thrown to the ground where it lay twitching.

"I'm a red panda." Ethan groaned from the ground, face on the ground.

Leonardo lunged forward with his swords but Lord Dregg caught them with his spider like fingers and with the sound of dry heaving, he burped up what looked like acid puke.

Leonardo jumped out of the way just in time, grimacing and now, weaponless. Lord Dregg threw the two blades to either side of him, his wings fluttering as he laughed joyfully at the success of his attack. Michelangelo tried to slam his nun-chucks into his side but Lord Dregg swung his arm and swapped the turtle out of the air like a bug. Lord Dregg burst into more fits of laughter as Ethan slowly got back to his feet.

This guy's tougher than he looks!

And Ethan didn't want to admit how tough he actually did look.

"Retreat! Retreat!" Mozar shouted as more Vree insects buzzed his direction to take him on, along with April and Casey who had managed to remove the Vree between them and the colossal dinosaur. Their emerald colored skin shivered as their blood spewed across the stones, the consistency of water. Triceratons were already vanishing. Mozar pressed a button on his belt, and with a flash of amber light, he disappeared with his comrades. The Triceratons were gone, leaving the black hole weapon alone, quiet and unused by the fountain.

The Fugitoid's ship glowed bright white, as if someone had turned on the power switch. "I'm sorry, my friends, but you must trust me." The British voice echoed over Washington Square Park. The ship slowly began to lift off.

Leonardo turned and looked up at it, despair on his face. "No! He's going to steal the Black Hole Generator!" He leaped to his feet and sprinted for the ship. Lord Dregg returned to pummeling the others, now that most of his Vree had been dispatched and lay in pools of their own green colored insides.

A clear, blue beam shot out from the bottom of Fugitoid's ship like a glowing pillar and the black hole generator was caught in it and lifted into the air before Leonardo could reach it. "I will miss you, turtles." The voice echoed in the park as the ship ascended up into the atmosphere. Ethan could still see the winking amber light of the Triceraton ship.

Donatello stared up at it. Ethan could practically hear the cogs turning in his head as the turtle eyed the ship as it slowly vanished into the sky, the black hole generator being pulled along behind it. A light bulb seemed to have gone off as his eyes widened and he turned to the others. "I . . . I get it now." he said. "He said the only way to destroy the black hole generator is a combination of fusion and dark matter."

"Which means?" Casey said, glaring up at the ship as it vanished.

"The ship uses dark matter and the Fugitoid is powered by a fusion core." Donatello's expression grew sad.

Leonardo's eyes grew wide as they looked up at the sky. Even Lord Dregg had paused to see what was going on. "That's why he wanted us off the ship! He didn't want to steal it, he's . . . sacrificing himself."

"No, Fugitoid! Don't do it!" Mikey cried up to the sky as if he could be heard.

Ethan was surprised to hear the robots voice, only it seemed to be coming from some sort of communication device in the turtle's white space suits. "It has to be this way my friends. If you knew my intent you would have surely tried to stop me. And for that, I thank you." There was a pause and the sounds of machinery working as the turtles exchanged looks. "Let it be known, you are my friends. And I love you all."

"No!" Lord Dregg cried, "I wanted that Black Hole Generator! It was supposed to be mine!"

A second later, the skyline flashed with light and an explosion of fire could be seen in deep space. The white ship had vanished, along with the color of amber. Ethan knew very little about what had happened with this Fugitoid robot, but he knew that whoever he was, he was gone, along with his ship, the black hole generator, and the Triceraton army.

Lord Dregg turned to the turtles in fury. "If I cannot have the black hole generator, then I will take your shells as my prize."

Ethan turned to fight, but noticed that with the Vree all gone, Tigerclaw, Bradford, and Xever were fleeing, their backs turned to them, running into the oncoming light as New York's lights turned back on. They apparently didn't want to take on the full force of the Hamato clan. "You want to take us on?" Leonardo asked, turning, "We killed all of your Vree, you're outnumbered Lord Dregg."

The insect glared with his horrible huge, four sets of eyes and bared his series of long sharp teeth together, his fists turning into clenched fists. "You haven't seen the last of me yet, turtles!" he turned and retreated back into his ship. Ethan could feel fatigue and see it on the turtles faces and so nobody made a move to attack him as he vanished into the huge hornet looking ship. A second later the bee blasted off into the dark, stars winking in its wake.

Washington Square Park that had previously been alive with activity and noise had gone quiet once more. If someone could take away the Vree and their blood as well as the craters from the Triceratons attacks, it would look like it always had in the middle of the night. Only the four turtles and the three siblings stood in the court yard, looking at each other awkwardly. The turtles were solemnly removing their space equipment from their shoulders and shelled backs. "We have a lot to talk about." Ethan finally said, stepping up to Leonardo and putting his hand on his green shoulder with a smile.

Leonardo smiled back and nodded. "Yeah, no kidding."

"You three said that you had been looking for us." Donatello said walking up to Ethan as Kaela and Jess approached, standing in Ethan's shadow.

Ethan nodded. "It's hard to explain everything here, but our master was Hamato Yuta. His sons are Oroku Saki and Hamato Yoshi."

"Dude, that is so sweet!" Michelangelo pumped his fist into the air, a huge grin spreading across his face as he slapped his three fingered hand onto Leonarodo's back, throwing his brother forward with the momentum.

Jess took a step forward, "Master Hamato told us to find the turtles and help you stop the Heart of Darkness."

Leonardo turned to his brothers and then looked back at the fountain where the water was splashing quietly – ignorant of all the craziness that had just ensued there. Ethan could still hardly believe that he was looking at the four turtles. Blue, Red, Purple, and Orange. They were exactly where they needed to be . . . and they had done what they had promised their master they would do. Ethan smiled, feeling happier than he had in a long time. The quiet of the night was the greatest reward that he could have asked for.

"So, I totally get that we have a lot to talk about, but I'm dead tired. Can we go home?" Raphael asked, rubbing his fingers across his head, eyes pinched tightly closed.

"Home sounds nice." Leonardo said. He then turned as if he were confused and looked about Washington Square Park. "Where's Master Splinter?"

Ethan looked nervously at Kaela and Jess and they looked down at the ground, clearly just as unwilling as Ethan. The turtles seemed to have noticed the change in the demeanor, all four of them directing their attention at the three siblings.

It seemed that Kaela was the bravest. "We have been looking for him too and we . . . couldn't find him."

"There is a way to find him." A voice called out before the turtles could react to Kaela's bad news. The voice was very familiar. Bishop's robot body was twitching. It seemed that the Utrom, brainy part of him had fallen back into his robot vault and although the body didn't straighten up and its mouth didn't work, a voice still projected from it.

"Bishop!" Michelangelo was the quickest to the body. He slowly lifted up the torso so it looked up at them and propped him up against a nearby tree. "Dude, I totally thought you were toast."

The voice stuttered and became an electronic, guttural, low noise before continuing. "I m-m-must return to Dimension X, but as-as-assuredly, there is an explanation as to where your for-for-former Master Splinter has g-g-g-gone." The voice went quiet again as Ethan followed after Leonardo, Kaela walking beside Donatello and Jess behind Raphael until they had gathered around their common friend. "If you would be so kind to pre-pre-press the button on my w-w-wrist." the arm twitched toward Michelangelo who looked down, scratching his head and then looking up with a nervous smile.

"Um. Donnie?"

"Right." Donatello walked up and brushed Michelangelo out of the way as he knelt down on his knee pads he was wearing and opened a hinged door on Bishop's wrist. A few moments later of Ethan watching curiously, a beep sounded and a pinkish Kraang portal appeared next to Bishop.

The robot jerked again. The pinstripe suit smelled of burned fabric and Ethan wrinkled his overly sensitive nose. "I will return w-w-when I have fou-found something of use." The droid's head bowed until its chin touched its chest. "Goodbye." he slowly slide backward into the portal and a second later, with a pop, the portal vanished.

The turtles were quiet, the solemn feeling continuing. "We'll find him." Ethan said.

"You're going to help?" Leonardo asked.

Jess nodded. "Duh. We helped you with the Black Hole Generator, but we're not done yet. We owe Shredder a good beating, and we need a new master."

Raphael grinned at her and Ethan was unsure if he was excited or angry. "I like her."

Jess looked away clearing her throat.

Leonardo smiled. "Then let's go home."

The turtles stood again and the seven slowly made their way to the damaged Washington Square Arch together.

Shredder already knew when his servants walked through the front doors that they had failed yet again to do as he had commanded. He hadn't really expected anything different. If anything, he was surprised to see them alive – The Shinotomo Clan had not managed to kill them all. Yet, they did not look at the ground with shame as they usually did, approaching his throne and bowing at the foot of the stairs. Kitsune waited by the chair, gliding behind him without hardly a sound, save the whisper of her kimono on the stone. "You come to me empty handed again, don't you." Shredder said lowly, feeling rage ignite inside him and his mind began to seek for the dark secret places for the worst of punishments he could do. He needed to take his anger out on someone.

Tigerclaw looked up, his eyes showing uncertainty. They did not meet Shredder's own. "Not exactly." he said slowly, a slight growl in his voice. As he spoke the words, another figure entered the room – one unlike any Shredder had ever seen, even the past strange years in New York.

He appeared to be a large insect, four wings folded behind him, his four sets of yellow eyes like glowing lights and a wicked smile on his strange, 'V' shaped lips. "I followed your pathetic mutant terran friends back to your home." the bug said, towering over the bowed figures at the foot of the stairs. He did not bow himself.

Kitsune shuddered and withdrew from the creature. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't squash you where you stand, bug." Shredder snapped, feeling that perhaps his servants may be spared. He could take out his hatred on this thing until it was a purple smear on the floor of his throne room.

The bug did not seem too intimidated. "I am royalty! Do not disrespect the name of Lord Dregg, or you too will become an enemy of mine – and that is something you do would do well to avoid, Terran."

"Answer my question." Shredder could feel his body trembling at the way this creature was speaking to him.

Kitsune leaned in until her head was only inches from the side of his helmet. "Perhaps it would be best to simply be rid of this creature." She said with disgust, her eyes not leaving the one who had called himself Lord Dregg.

Clearly realizing that his control of the situation was beginning to slip, Lord Dregg spoke again. "You desire the turtles. As do I." He drew closer to the stairs, his wings buzzing behind him excitedly, but his feet remained level on the ground. His huge claws drew in front of him and his glowing yellow eyes spilled mirth into the air. "After seeing your servants fight, I believe that we may be able to work together to ensure that these foolish mutants never see the sun rise in this galaxy, or any other for that matter."

Shredder slowly leaned over until his elbows rested on his knees, his fingers closing together in front of him. He looked at Tigerclaw, Bradford and Xever who seemed extremely uncomfortable to have the insect nearby. Lord Dregg then piped up, "You would do well to know that I also have an army of my own children at my command." he said it rather smugly.

Shredder looked at Kitsune who stared right back at him passively. He then turned to look at the insect who stood at the base of his stairs. "I'm listening." He said quietly.

To Be Continued . . .