- Chapter 98 -

Revenge of the Triceratons

Down in the engine room of the Ulixes, Donnie was helping Professor Honeycutt work on improving the ship.

"Hmm…" Donnie mused, "I estimate we'll get 27% more power out of the ship's thrusters."

"27.2%, to be precise," Honeycutt corrected, turning to him. "Without your help, Donatello, we would not have gained that extra .2%!"

"Well, thanks, Professor. But I've gotta admit, since we started working together, I feel barely qualified to be your lab assistant."

"We have to start somewhere. Besides, I have the added benefit of a robotic enhancement. Considering everything you've done with your simple reptilian brain, you're well on your way to becoming as much of a genius as I am."

"Uh, thanks," Donnie said flatly. "I think."

"Oh, I didn't mean it like that," Honeycutt assured, patting the purple turtle on the back. "You have a sharp mind and you're quite gifted. But you grew up on Earth, so naturally you're three thousand years behind the standard transdimensional concepts of physics."

"Three thousand years?!" Donnie exclaimed. "I'm a galactic idiot!"

Honeycutt flinched, looking flustered. "Oh no! What I meant was-!"

Suddenly, he was pulled away by a green and yellow halo. Hisako and April stood in the doorway, pulling him over.

"Best quit before you dig a deeper hole," April warned.

"Yeah," Hisako added. "Open mouth, insert foot."

Suddenly, an alarm went off, and everyone quickly hurried to the bridge. Vee looked over the monitor, paling.

"Oh, crap…" she let out. "Guys, the Triceratons tracked us down!"

"Damn it…" Leo cursed. "Everyone into positions!"

They scrambled to do so when a red light began beeping.

"Incoming message," Kagome reported.

"On-screen," Honeycutt ordered.

Kagome pressed the button, and the screen powered on, showing a picture of Mozar. "Attention, Starship Ulixes, This is Commander Mozar of the Triceraton Republic."

Splinter came forward, locking eyes with Mozar. "What do you want?"

"You know what I want. You are completely surrounded. Hand over the fragments of the Heart of Darkness you have collected, and I won't be forced to blast you into space dust."

"You'd do that anyway!" Raph spat.

Mozar glared at him. "You dare impugn my honor, boy?!"

"Well, you work for a sleazy good for nothing like Zanramon," Raph said matter-of-factly. "Need I say more?"

Mozar clenched his fists and looked enraged before managing to calm himself. "Last chance. Hand over the pieces!"

"You want 'em?" Raph shot back. "Then come get 'em yourself!"

Mozar sighed.

"Very well then. Prepare to be boarded." He turned off-screen. "Teleport an attack squad aboard that ship!"

"Sir, we can't." a soldier reported from off-screen. "It's impossible to teleport through their ship's fiber plating."

If Honeycutt had lips, he would be smirking at that. "I knew splurging for that would pay off. No one will be teleporting onto my ship without my permission."

"Commander, let's just destroy the ship," the soldier suggested. "The black hole generator's fragments are indestructible. We can get it from the wreckage."

Mozar glanced back at the turtles, his eyes scanning all of them with a conflicted expression on his face. His eyes locked with Hisako for a moment, but he closed his eyes and turned away.

"If we must… End communication."

The screen shut off at that.

"Professor," Leo began, "I think it's time for a tactical retreat!"

"Agreed," Honeycutt said, sitting behind the driver's seat. "We don't have the firepower to take them."

"Strap yourselves in, children," Splinter warned, doing so himself. "I have a feeling this will be a bumpy ride."

They all strapped in just as Honeycutt gunned the thrusters and they took off, several Triceraton fighters in hot pursuit.

"How are we gonna outrun the entire fleet?!" Casey demanded.

"Here's hoping my thruster upgrades paid off!" Donnie shouted.

He slammed his fist onto a button and the ship sped up as Honeycutt frantically looked over his display.

"Almost ready for Tachyon Jump! Once we get far enough away-!"

"Brace yourselves!" Leo ordered.

Just as they did so, something hit the ship, rocking it violently. Honeycutt looked over his monitor in horror.

"Oh, no! Warp Engine 2 is down!"

"We gotta get that engine up and running!" Donnie insisted, standing up. "I'll see what I can do."

"No, my son!" Splinter interjected, grabbing Donnie's arm. "It is too dangerous. We will have to find another way to escape."

Onboard Mozar's flagship, he saw the damage the Ulixes had taken.

"Now they cannot escape us." Despite the apparent victory, he remained conflicted and morose. "It's a shame it had to come to this... but it must. Ready the Decimator Cannon!"

The ship began powering a massive laser…

Honeycutt perked up, looking at his display.

"We're being targeted!" he exclaimed.

Right on cue, they saw the screen, just as Mozar's ship fired a massive orange laser.

"Incoming!" Mikey yelled.

"DO A BARREL ROLL!" Honeycutt shrieked (1).

They did so, the laser missing them by millimeters.

"Oh, my God…" Kagome gasped, turning to Honeycutt. "What was that?!"

"That was the Triceraton's Decimator Cannon. It's a weapon capable of destroying a planet," Honeycutt confirmed. "It would have completely obliterated us had it hit, though it's not as clean as the Heart of Darkness."

"Well, good thing it's gonna hit that moon instead of us," Mikey remarked.

Everyone turned to him at that.

"Uh, what moon?" Hisako asked.

Mikey pointed and they looked out just in time to see a large moon before them get hit by the Decimator's blast.

"BRACE YOURSELVES!" Leo screamed.

Everyone grabbed onto something just as the moon exploded, creating an asteroid field that they frantically darted around.

"AH!" Screwloose shrieked as he clutched onto Wingnut's shoulder. "We're gonna die! Good thing I'm wearing clean underwear!"

Wingnut held him close, trying to keep him safe as they finally cleared the field.

"Okay…" Leo sighed. "I think we're out of the bad part."

Back on Mozar's ship, he had gotten a message from Zanramon.

"Report," the Prime Leader ordered.

"We have the Fugitoid's ship right where we want it," Mozar replied.

"Good. Ready to launch a Rock Rocket. I want it armed with a biological payload. The Skeevix Virus."

Mozar gasped in shock.

"The Skeevix Virus?!" he exclaimed. "But Prime Leader, it's illegal in over two thousand systems!"

"Are you back-talking me, soldier?!" Zanramon demanded. "I said, load the virus! I want that ship dismantled and that accursed crew destroyed!"

Mozar hesitated, then ultimately gave in.

"As you command, sir," he said reluctantly. "Soldiers! Prepare the Rock Rocket!"

On the Ulixes, Donnie's display showed another object approaching them at high speed.

"What did they launch at us this time?!" he demanded.

Before they could do anything, the rocket impacted the front of the ship with debris from the impact flying in and beheading Honeycutt, whose head landed in Hisako's lap. Hisako let out a horrified scream.

"PROFESSOR!" she shrieked, holding his head out.

As the hole left from the impact began to suck them out, Leo held on tightly, reaching for a switch.

"Gotta… seal… the hole!" he let out before hitting the switch.

He was just in time, small devices opening up and spraying adhesive foam into the hole, closing it up.

"If that patch takes another hit, we're in trouble," April said fearfully.

"And without the Professor, we aren't gonna be able to do anything at all," Donnie said meekly.

"There's gotta be something we can do!" Kagome insisted.

"Here's some advice: keep this ship flying!" Wingnut cut in. "The Triceratons are still on our tail!"

"Donnie, isn't there something you can do?" Leo asked.

"C'mon dude, you're the smartest turtle we know," Casey added. "There's gotta be a way to get out of this."

Swallowing his uncertainty, Donnie stood up. "Vee, divert power to the thrusters, on the double! Hisako, help me out. We'll see what we can do about the Professor."

Hisako clutched the head, looking it in the eye. "Don't worry, Professor. We'll have you back in shape in no time."

As this was going on, Screwloose found his attention drawn to the Rock Rocket. He flitted over to it and tapped it once. After a minute, it cracked open, spilling green glop onto the floor and getting everyone's attention.

"What the hell is that?!" Raph demanded. "Meteor shit?!"

The gunk suddenly sprang to life and scurried away further into the ship, shrieking all the while.

"Uh, guys?" April piped up. "That 'meteor shit'... It's alive."

"Well, duh, Red," Casey deadpanned. "It did move and run away."

"No. I mean I'm getting multiple life readings from it." She turned to Hisako. "Tell me you sensed it, too."

Hisako gave a terrified nod. "They're hungry…"

"Then we must pursue it," Splinter declared.

"And why are we chasing after the hungry sentient slime?" Mikey asked nervously.

"Oh, I dunno, Mikey," Kagome said rhetorically. "Maybe because it's rampaging through our ship, and will probably cause a lot of damage if we don't stop it?"

Mikey groaned. "I hate it when she makes sense."

Mozar found himself once again communicating with Zanramon.

"Infection was successful, Prime Leader. The Rock Rocket penetrated the Fugitoid's vessel."

"Excellent. The Skeevix Virus will destroy their ship in mere nextons from the inside-out. And the Heart of Darkness will be mine at last!"

He laughed evilly while Mozar just looked disgusted over the whole thing.

Back on the Ulixes, the others split up, leaving Donnie and Hisako on the bridge, trying to fix the Professor. Hisako closed her eyes, a hand on her Aeon crystal, and sighed in relief.

"I can still hear him," she reported. "Thankfully, the head had a preservation unit."

"Good to hear," Donnie remarked, looking at her. "Hisako, go help them find that meteor creature. I got this."

"You sure?" Hisako asked, tilting her head quizzically.

"Well, I…" Donnie finally caved in. "I don't know! This ship is awesomely complex! I-I'm not as smart as the Professor, okay?! I just build stuff out of junk and Utrom parts!"

Hisako took her brother's arms, making him face her. "Hey, it's okay. We all have faith in you. Nobody expects you to be as smart as the Professor."

Donnie still looked unsure.

"You're smart enough to help Dr. Lillja build a robot like Metalhead, right?" Hisako asked him, getting a nod. "Then there's a way you can rebuild Professor Honeycutt." She gave him a squeeze. "And I'll stay and help. It never hurts to have someone there."

"Okay." Donnie nodded, feeling his self-confidence come back as he looked over his display. "There's a nebula up ahead, made of gas. The clouds there, along with the ship's cloak, should help us hide. Hopefully, we'll have enough time to fix the Professor and give Mozar the slip."

"Hopefully," Hisako agreed. "I'll man the wheel. You do what you do best."

Back on Mozar's ship, the Ulixes suddenly disappeared from their radar. Seeing this from his own ship, Zanramon scowled.

"What happened?! Where did they go?!"

"I don't know," Mozar replied. "They just disappeared from our scanners."

"Find them, Commander! It's one ship. ONE! SHIP! Send the fighters out, and flush them out by any means necessary!"

"Sir, with due respect, I don't think that's necessary," Mozar said. "The Skeevix Virus should be doing its work."

Zanramon slammed his fist down, shaking the screen. "I don't care! They defeated the Spasmosaur, and escaped the arena! I refuse to take any chances, Commander! Flush them out! Do whatever it takes!"

"I-" Mozar sighed. "Of course."

Zanramon nodded at that. "Good."

On board the Ulixes, the others came across several hatched cocoons in the rec room, dangling from the ceiling.

"What the hell are those things?" Casey asked. "Eggs?"

"They look more like cocoons," April corrected. "But they're empty."

"Meaning that whatever was inside that meteor is now running rampant in the ship," Splinter realized.

"Everyone be on your guard," Leo warned. "I've got a bad feeling about this."

Suddenly, the electricity went out and everyone tensed up. A wire dangled down, seemingly cut in half. Raph examined it closely.

"They chewed through the wires," he reported.

"Whatever they are," Kagome piped up, "I'd say they're short, there's a lot of them, they have glowing green eyes, and…" She put a hand on her Shiranui blades, "basically look like gremlins."

Everyone turned to her, confused.

"How do you know that?" Wingnut asked.

"Because one of them is right over there," Kagome said, pointing.

They looked, and gasped at the sight of a small gremlin-like creature tearing into a panel, chewing on more wires. They jumped, and Raph threw its sai, hitting the gremlin and knocking it down. It hissed like a cat, snatching up the sai and chewing on it. Out of the blue, another gremlin dropped from the ceiling on Kagome's head, clawing at her. Kagome shrieked, clutching at it.

"GET IT OFF!" she screamed.

Seeing this, Raph scowled and grabbed one of Leo's swords off of his back, running over as the gremlin knocked Kagome to the ground.

"HEY!" he shouted.

The gremlin turned just in time for Raph to swipe the sword, cleanly taking its head off. Kagome panted, a hand on her chest before she shoved the headless body off of her shoulders.

"Space gremlins…" Casey muttered. "Where's the space Gizmo?"

"Dudes, it's like that Twilight Zone episode!" Mikey exclaimed. "With the Gremlin on the plane? If we don't get rid of these things, they're gonna turn this ship into an all-you-can-eat buffet!"

A third gremlin suddenly appeared, but Vee quickly punted it into the open Think-a-Food Machine, slamming the door shut before grabbing the plug.

"Eggs!" she shouted. "Microwave style (2)!"

A pop sounded, along with a small screech, and the machine opened up to reveal the gremlin had exploded all over the inside.

"Nice thinking, Vee," Casey congratulated. "Always loved that scene in the movie."

"You would," Raph said flatly.

Kagome looked at the oozing green mess on the machine's inside and gagged, turning away.

"I'm not cleaning that up," she said firmly.

The remaining gremlins chittered angrily at each other for several minutes, then suddenly turned and ran out of the room.

"Uh, where are they going?" Vee asked.

"The engine room!" Screwloose realized. "That's the worst place they could destroy!"

"What are you talking about?!" Mikey demanded. "They already took out the TV!"

Everyone just glared at him.

"You are not all that bright," Wingnut deadpanned.

"We prefer to think of him as 'delightfully dumb'," Vee told him.

"Hey!" Mikey objected.

-X-

Back in the cockpit, Donnie and Hisako fiddled with Honeycutt's severed head.

"Okay, I-I think this should do it," Donnie said. "Possibly. Hopefully."

Honeycutt's eye lights slowly flickered back on.

"H-h-h-h-h-hello, fellas!" he stammered. "Phew, thank goodness my brain was in stasis. I feel so light-headed. Literally."

"Professor, thank Bushido." Hisako sighed in relief. "Are you okay?"

"More or less," Honeycutt replied.

"Professor, we're cloaked but not for long," Donnie cut in frantically. "We need more power. We need you!"

"Take me to the engine room. I have spare parts in the storage closet. You can put me back together, Donatello. I know you can."

"I've got up here, Don," Hisako assured him. "You worry about the Professor."

Donnie nodded and quickly hurried to the engine room with Honeycutt's head in his arms.

-X-

When he got down there, he stopped short, gaping to see the others facing off against the gremlins near the power core.

"What in the name of-?!"

"Long story short, the meteor shit turned into space gremlins," Vee explained. "And they're trying to sabotage the engine!"

"The Skeevix Virus?!" Honeycutt exclaimed. "I never thought the Triceratons would go that far!"

"Trust us, Prof," Screwloose interjected. "There's no low Zanramon won't stoop to get his way."

Suddenly, the ship began to power down completely.

"Oh, dear!" Honeycutt cried. "They've damaged the engine!"

"If the power's out…" Donnie said with growing horror, "Then… then we lost cloaking! We're out in the open and can't get away!"

"AHHHH!" Mikey shrieked, hands on his cheeks. "We're gonna die!" He suddenly calmed down, and asked, "Right?"

"Yyyyep," Raph said flatly.

"AHHHH!" Mikey screamed again.

"Stop panicking!" Leo ordered.

"Leonardo is right," Splinter added. "Panicking will do us no good. We must rid ourselves of this menace, and bring the ship back online."

Donnie hurriedly looked around, eventually finding the spare parts Honeycutt had mentioned.

"Found 'em!"

He began hastily putting him back together, while the others dealt with the gremlins. The engine room became a giant gore fest, the turtles and co. hacking and slashing at every gremlin they found and trying to keep them from doing any more damage.

On Mozar's flagship, the commander saw the Ulixes was still standing and informed Zanramon.

"They've defeated the Skeevix Virus?! Impossible!"

"These beings are more resilient than I could have ever imagined," Mozar mused. "Perhaps... they stand a chance against Krang after all."

"Are you questioning my plan, soldier?! The demise of Krang will be on my hands! No one else's!"

"But sir, we have been trying to defeat him for centuries. These beings-"

"This is our battle, Mozar! We don't need help, and we don't need them! Now, even if the virus failed, they still crippled the ship. Board the Ulixes and take back the fragments, NOW!"

Mozar's fists clenched, and for a few minutes, he was sorely tempted to resist. Eventually, however, he gave in and sighed.

"As you command, Prime Leader," he said through clenched teeth.

In the Ulixes' cockpit, Hisako jumped at the sound of a loud thump. She looked up just in time to see what was left of the Rock Rocket ripped away to reveal a trio of Triceraton soldiers.

"You?!" Hisako exclaimed, her crystal glowing as she got into a fighting stance.

"You two, retrieve the Heart of Darkness," one soldier, the leader, ordered the others. "I will handle the Turtles and their allies."

"Like hell, you will!" Hisako shouted.

She threw her tessen at the leader, who ducked and charged at her, grabbing her in a bear hug while the other two quickly hurried out. Hisako struggled furiously, eventually blasting him off. As she made to follow his men, the soldier grabbed her by the ankle, yanking her down before grabbing her by the head and lifting her. Before he could do anything, a blaster shot hit him in the chest and knocked him back. Hisako dropped to the ground, turning to see a fully rebuilt Professor Honeycutt emerge, arm cannon at the ready.

"Hello there. Miss me?"

"Professor!" Hisako shouted, smiling.

"In one piece once again," Honeycutt replied. "Now, let's jettison these ruffians from my ship!"

They clashed once again, and after a bit, the soldier raised a hand to his helmet, listening to something before grinning.

"Too late, Professor Honeycutt. My men have escaped with the fragments."

"NO!" Hisako screamed.

"Mission accomplished," the soldier taunted, activating his flight pack and flying out. "Farewell!"

"No…" Honeycutt muttered. "No, no, no…"

He and Hisako ran to where the pieces were being kept. As predicted, the door had been forced open and the pieces were gone.

"No…" Hisako whispered, shaking. "They got the Heart…"

Footsteps sounded and the others ran in. They were all covered in green goo, but it was clear they had managed to finish off the last of the gremlins.

"The Triceraton fleet's moving in to finish us off!" Donnie said hurriedly. "We gotta get outta here!"

Honeycutt snapped to attention. "I can use my fusion core to give our engines the power they need, but it may fry the ship in the process."

"Better a fried ship than none at all," Splinter decided.

The Ulixes powered up and escaped. From his ship, Mozar watched them go, doing nothing to stop them.

"Commander, the Turtles have escaped," one of his soldiers reported.

"So they did," Mozar said flippantly. "No matter. We have what we came for."

The soldier blinked in surprise. "But sir, didn't the Prime Leader order us to destroy their ship?"

Mozar turned away with a shrug. "What the Prime Leader doesn't know won't hurt him."

On board the Ulixes, the group reeled from their failure.

"Damn it!" Kagome kicked the wall. "All that hard work, for nothing!"

"This is all my fault," Donnie lamented. "I should've done more. Maybe we could've escaped."

"Donnie, stop it," Leo said firmly. "It's because of you we're still alive. If you hadn't gotten the Professor back online, Mozar would have gotten us for sure."

"Leonardo is right," Splinter agreed. "And all is not lost. If we collect the final piece, we may have a fighting chance."

"Yes," Honeycutt nodded. "But my ship is barely functioning. I need to get to a service stop for repairs before we can do anything."

"Do what you have to, Professor," April told him. "We've got some cleaning to do anyway."

"Yeah," Mikey added, looking down at himself in disgust. "I've got gremlin guts in places I didn't even know I had."

Everyone shared a small laugh, then broke off to begin cleaning.

Author's Note:

(1): If any of you don't get this reference, I will be very disappointed.

(2): I looked it up. If you microwave eggs in shells, they'll explode.

Well, that stinks; the Triceratons got away with the pieces. But there's the last fragment left to go; it's not over yet.

Also, yeah, my Mozar is much closer to the 2003 version than the 2012. If it wasn't clear, he deliberately let the Ulixes go at the end to spite Zanramon.

Please R&R. Until next time!