- Chapter 100 -

The Ever-Burning Fire

In the rec room, everyone was watching TV. After a minute, Kagome sighed, looking down.

"What's wrong, Kagome?" Vee asked.

"It's just… I'm tired of space," Kagome admitted. "I miss Earth. I miss Mom."

"You're not alone there. We're all ready to be home."

"I just wanna see Robyn and my dad again," April admitted.

"I know, guys," Leo said. "And once we get the last piece, we can finally go home."

"But will getting the last piece be enough?" Hisako questioned, idly petting Midnight. "And what's to stop the Triceratons from following us to get it?"

"Then we fall back on Plan B. Fight them off back on Earth."

"We got this," Raph insisted. "I know we do."

"I know. It's just…" Hisako stopped her petting, grimacing, "Old fears, I guess."

At that moment, the loudspeaker flared to life.

"All of ya, get your tails to the bridge!" Screwloose ordered. "The Prof has something to tell you!"

They immediately rushed to the bridge.

"What is it, Professor?" Leo asked as they arrived.

"Please be good news," Donnie begged.

"We're nearing the location of the last piece," Honeycutt replied. "The planet Magdomar, which translates to 'planet of ever-burning fire.'"

"Aw, man…" Mikey groaned. "Couldn't we just once go to the planet of comfy pillows and endless free pizza?"

"Question: Can our Enviropacks survive on the planet?" Vee asked, ignoring Mikey.

"Yes, of course. Now, I must warn you of one thing, before I forget again." Honeycutt pressed a button, revealing a diagram of six monstrous-looking creatures. "The final fragment is guarded by one of the six great Cosmic Monsters of the universe."

"Like Cthugga!" Mikey piped up, pointing at one of the images.

Sure enough, one of the pictures on the diagram was Cthugga. Hisako squinted, seeing that one of the creatures had more than a passing resemblance to Krang's Rock Soldiers.

"No way…" she let out. "That's where he got the DNA for Traag and Granitor."

Wingnut looked closely at another picture, confused. "Is that a… disembodied cow head?"

They all looked, seeing that was precisely what it was. Splinter's eyes widened in recognition.

"Ah, yes. Cudley the Cowlick. He was used as an alternative means of accessing the Battle Nexus when Kasumi and I were children."

"Wow…" April deadpanned. "I don't know what to say."

"Don't think there's anything to say, Red," Casey said.

"Anyway, this is the monster that guards the fragment on Magdomar," Honeycutt cut in, pointing to an image of an intimidating-looking fire creature. "An ancient Vorkathian Fire Beast, protecting the final fragment of the Black Hole Generator with its life."

Mikey squinted at it. "Boy or girl?"

"It's female," Honeycutt replied, confused. "Why?"

"I'm gonna call it Cinder."

Kagome raised an eyebrow. "Cinder? Why?"

"'Cause that's all that'll be left of anyone who tries to mess with it," Mikey said matter-of-factly.

Vee groaned, facepalming. "Mikey, why are you like this?"

Before anyone could say anything else, the scanner beeped and Donnie looked it over, gasping.

"Uh-oh, the Badyear blimp is already here!"

"Shit…" Leo cursed. "Mozar!"

"How'd he get here before us?!" Hisako demanded.

"It doesn't matter," Splinter said. "We need to land and find the fragment before he does."

They began to go in, but suddenly, an explosion rocked the entire ship.

"What in the world?!" Honeycutt shouted.

The communicator suddenly flickered to life, revealing the face of Dregg.

"Oh, not you again!" Hisako snapped.

"Did you shell-dwellers seriously think that you could escape my wrath?" Dregg demanded. "You destroyed my Scorpinoid! He was my favorite pet. I loved him. Now prepare to meet a horrifying and depressing end!"

"What is this, the galactic conqueror's meet-and-greet?" Mikey demanded.

"Evasive action!" Honeycutt declared.

He started flying toward the planet itself. Raph and Casey manned the guns, shooting Dregg's ship right in the head as they made their escape. Everyone braced themselves for a bumpy landing.

The Ulixes landed heavily planet-side, screeching to a halt near a pool of lava.

"Is everybody okay?" Leo asked once their stomachs had caught up to them.

"We're alive," Casey replied. "Does that count?"

Honeycutt ran diagnostics, sighing in relief.

"The ship hasn't suffered major damage," he reported. "And we're just a few clicks away from where Mortu and I stashed the fragment."

"Which most likely means that Cinder creature is nearby," Kagome remarked.

"Guess we're walking from here," Hisako mused.

Everyone started gearing up, preparing to go out.

"We won't need to worry about Cinder if we're quick enough," Honeycutt said. "Head north. Good luck, and stay cool." He laughed. "Get it? I made a funny."

Everyone groaned at that.

"Damn," Vee let out. "And I thought Mikey's jokes were bad."

Back in orbit, Dregg approached Mozar's ship in his own. As he approached, the communicator flickered to life, revealing the image of Zanramon's face.

" State your business, " he ordered.

"I am Vringath Dregg, ruler of Sectoid 1," Dregg replied.

"Why would criminal scum dare to contact the Triceraton Republic?"

"We share a common enemy," Dregg answered. "The Gamaron filth and their pathetic allies. I propose we set our differences aside to destroy them."

Zanramon thought it over. "Perhaps…"

"They're here, on their way to the final fragment of your adored Black Hole Generator. I will help you claim the fragment of your silly toy. All I'm asking is for the Gamarons to be handed over to me. Alive. As well as forty million credits."

Zanramon was silent for a few minutes, then nodded. " Very well. If you find the fragment first, the money and the Gamarons are yours. "

"Excellent," Dregg said with a smile. "I'll be in touch."

With that, he hung up.

Planetside, the Hamato/Lee family, April, and Casey were going along, dealing with the intense heat. Some quite vocally.

"Good God, this heat is unbearable!" Vee griped. "I'm sweating like a razorback hog!"

Hisako, April, and Kagome were putting their hair up in buns. April handed Vee her a hairband, which she used to tie her own hair in a bun.

"It's times like this having long hair bites," Kagome muttered.

"Think I can have one of those?" Casey asked.

Hisako handed him one, which he used to tie up his semi-long hair as well.

"Who thought being bald would work in our favor?" Mikey remarked, only to get a hairband flung at him. "Ow! Where are you keeping all those?!"

"A girl always has spares," April said simply.

Hisako suddenly stopped, sensing something.

"What is it, Hisako?" Splinter asked.

Rather than answer, she whirled around just in time to catch one of Dregg's chest missiles with telekinesis and send it back.

"Please, tell me someone saw that," she said. "'Cause that was frickin' awesome."

Dregg narrowly dodged the missile, glaring at them from a distance.

"Why am I not surprised?" Donnie spat. "Some people are just too stupid to quit!"

"Ignore him," Leo insisted. "We need to get to the Heart Piece."

"Leo, Lord Bugazoid's after the Heart too, remember?" Raph reminded. "We're gonna lead him right to it."

"Right…" Leo sighed. "New plan. Half of us hold off Dregg and lead him away. The other half go after the piece."

"I'll take Dregg," Vee decided. "I've got some anti-bug aggression to work out."

"I'm with you," Kagome told her.

"Same here," said April.

"I'll take fighting over hunting," Casey remarked.

"Guess we're staying," Hisako agreed.

"Got it," Leo nodded. "Good luck, guys."

The Turtles and Splinter rushed off after the Heart, leaving Vee and the humans of the group to deal with Dregg.

-X-

As they went along, something caught Raph's eye. He went over to it.

"What the…" he let out. "What's this?"

He lifted it, revealing it to be an orange egg with red and black speckles.

"An egg?" Donnie questioned.

"Umm... even I know that picking up a strange egg on an alien planet is a bad idea," Mikey said.

"Michelangelo is right," Splinter agreed. "Best put that down."

Before Raph could do so, the egg began to shift around and crack open. Everyone flinched and Raph held it away from himself. After a minute, the egg hatched fully, revealing a cute little alien turtle with reddish skin and eyes.

"Awww…" Raph cooed. "Hey, little guy."

He flipped him onto his feet as the tiny turtle let out a chirp.

"Aw, look," Mikey let out. "He's almost as cute as me."

He went to tickle under its chin, only for the turtle to snap at him.

"Hey!" Mikey yelped, jerking his hand back. "Not cool!"

"Hmmm…" Raph mused. "How about I call you Chompy Picasso?"

" Not a good time to adopt an alien pet, Raph," Leo said flatly.

Raph just slid Chompy onto his shoulder like he used to carry Spike. "I dunno. It's kinda nice to have a turtle on my shoulder again."

"What you need to do is find out who his mom is and give him back," Donnie insisted.

"We're on a mission to save Earth, not alien turtles!" Leo snapped.

Splinter looked up and gasped. "Take cover!"

They quickly hid behind an outcropping of rocks as several Triceraton ships landed. They all peeked out from it as the pilots exited their ships.

"And now this mission got even more complicated," Leo groaned.

One soldier raised a hand to his ear.

"Prime Leader, we're near the spot where Dregg's Vreen reported seeing the fragment. Moving in."

"Oh, no…" Mikey let out. "Supervillain team up."

"Dregg double-crossed the Salamandrians and the Inuwashi Gunjin," Raph reminded them. "It ain't gonna last."

"Either way, we need to motor," Leo insisted.

"Agreed," said Splinter. "Move with the shadows. We cannot afford to be seen by either party."

They moved in the shadows in full ninja mode, slowly and silently. It wasn't long before they found the fragment. It was in the middle of a rock formation in a lava pool, far out of reach by conventional means.

"Bingo!" Donnie declared.

"Great," said Raph. "But how are we gonna get to it?"

Chompy let out a chirp, and suddenly, the rock formation began to move. Mikey's eyes widened.

"Uh, did you guys see that?" he asked.

"If you mean the formation moving seemingly on its own, then yes," Donnie replied.

The formation emerged, revealing it to be part of a spiked shell. The shell's owner emerged as well, revealing it to be a colossal turtle made of rock and lava.

"Cinder!" Mikey gasped.

-X-

All across the planet, the various groups saw Cinder emerge.

"Whoa…" Vee let out in shock. "That's a giant turtle."

"One of the great beasts…" Dregg muttered.

"The Guardian of Magdomar," Mozar concluded.

On board his ship, Mozar turned to Zanramon.

"Prime Leader, your orders?" he asked.

"Bring it down, or cripple it so we can get the fragment," Zanramon replied. "Stand your ground to the very end."

Mozar was stunned but knew the consequences of noncompliance.

"Y-yessir." He grabbed his comm, hitting the call button. "Fire on the beast!"

Out of the blue, several Triceraton ships flew in, firing on Cinder. Dregg's ship joined the fray as well, as April, Vee, Casey, Kagome, and Hisako ran up to the others. The ships struck her shell and she roared, the firefight looking like something from a Godzilla movie.

"Okay, that's Cinder," Kagome remarked. "But where's the fragment?"

Leo pointed up to the fragment, still embedded high up in Cinder's shell.

"Oh… that's a problem," Hisako let out.

"The only way to get that thing is to climb Cinder," Mikey mused.

"Then that's what we're gonna have to do," Vee decided.

"You want us to climb up a giant turtle in the middle of a firefight?!" Mikey demanded. "Why not just have Hisako and April mind carry it over here?"

Chompy let out a happy squeak, getting everyone's attention.

"What the-?!" Kagome exclaimed.

"Whoa, dude," Casey remarked. "Cute baby alien."

Cinder suddenly stiffened and looked down, seeing them there. Her eyes seemed to lock on Chompy in particular. April's eyes widened in realization.

"Guys, that little creature…" she began, "I think it's Cinder's baby."

"Raph…" Hisako said, "You just kidnapped the child of AN ALIEN SUPER BEAST!"

"I didn't kidnap him!" Raph defended. "I just found his egg in the middle of nowhere!"

"Newsflash, idiot. THAT WAS HER NEST!"

As Cinder glared down at them, Raph quickly held out Chompy.

"H-here," he stammered. "No charge for babysitting."

Cinder reared back her head, her mouth heating up. April and Hisako moved on instinct, getting in front and grabbing each other's hands. They began glowing brightly, their crystals hovering as they created a force field just as Cinder unleashed a blast of fire. The force field held up for a full minute before Cinder's blast dissipated. As soon as it did, Raph set Chompy down and backed off, allowing the little turtle to toddle over to his mother.

"And this is why you don't pick up random eggs you find," Leo said flatly.

Cinder picked up Chompy and slowly turned away. Seeing the chance, Vee ran forward, jumping onto her back and beginning to scale her shell. Everyone watched in utter shock, afraid to call out for fear of startling Cinder.

Vee eventually made it to where the fragment was lodged and braced herself against it, pushing at it with both legs. She nearly fell before April and Hisako caught her, and backed by their telekinesis, Vee pushed with all her might, managing to dislodge the fragment. The two began carrying her over, fragment in hand when out of the blue, Dregg's ship swooped in. It snatched the fragment in a tractor beam.

"No, damn it!" Kagome screamed. "We had it!"

Dregg took to the sky. Seeing this, Cinder roared and took off after him. The two psychics struggle to keep a grip on Vee, pulling her safely back to the ledge with the family. Both collapsed, out of breath.

"We have to follow that ship!" Leo shouted.

In space, Zanramon found Dregg contacting him.

"Zanramon! I've got your precious weapon fragment, but you must destroy the Guardian, give me sanctuary and one hundred million credits. Otherwise, I drop it into a star."

"You vile pirate…" Zanramon spat. "Fine."

"Destroy the beast?" Mozar questioned. "Sir, we can't!"

"We can't," Zanramon replied, eying a nearby dwarf star. "But that can."

Just as Dregg's ship docked, Zanramon powered up the Decimator and fired it at the star. The star began flickering and expanding, and their ship zipped away.

-X-

At the same time, the Ulixes made it out of Magdomar's atmosphere, just in time to see everything.

"They're firing the Decimator into that star?" Wingnut questioned.

"Surely they would not be so foolish as to trigger the destruction of that dying star-" Honeycutt shook his head. "What am I saying?! Of course, they would!"

He gunned the thrusters, and the ship jetted away as the star exploded, the resulting supernova catching Cinder and seemingly vaporizing her.

As soon as this happened, April and Hisako both collapsed, clutching their heads and screaming. The others materialized by their sides, holding them as tears streamed down their cheeks.

"So many voices... just gone." April let out. "Oh, my God…"

"They were so scared…" Hisako added, clenching her teeth in rage and horror. "Zanramon...You heartless fucking monster…"

"Even Chompy…" Raph lamented.

Mikey looked at his back, noticing something. "Uh... then what's that hitching a ride in your shell?"

On cue, Chompy crawled out onto his shoulder, chirping.

"Chompy?!" Raph exclaimed, stroking his head happily.

Despite everything, April and Hisako managed a smile at the sight.

"Well…" April began, "At least he's okay."

"Guess Raph got his new pet after all," Mikey mused.

Kagome turned to Leo, a somber look on his face. "Leo… what do we do now? Odds are the Triceratons have the complete set by now. We failed…"

Leo looked down, then looked up with an expression of determination. "Not yet. We knew there was a chance this would happen. Right now, we just need to get back to Earth. We meet up with the ground troops and get everyone ready."

He looked out the window, his fists clenched at his sides.

"Once we get there… It's the Earth's last stand."

On board the Triceratons' flagship, Dregg handed the fragment over to Zanramon.

"As promised." the insect king said. "Now, where's my money?"

"Right this way," Zanramon replied.

He led Dregg to an open room. Dregg entered, seeing it was completely empty… and suddenly, the door slammed shut. Dregg whirled around, seeing Zanramon just outside through the one window.

"Zanramon!" Dregg shouted. "What are you doing?!"

"Giving you your reward, Dregg," Zanramon smirked as he pressed a button. "Your eternal reward…"

A door on the other side opened, and Dregg was suddenly yanked out into the vacuum of space with a scream. His form iced over as he was left to freeze and suffocate.

With that, Zanramon walked back to the bridge, seeing Mozar's furious expression.

"Why are you looking at me like that, Mozar?" he demanded. "Dregg is a known trickster and betrayer. It was only a matter of time before he would have tried to do the same to us."

"This is not the Triceraton way. Causing supernovas, betrayal… these are the actions of a… a… a Krang!"

Scowling, Zanramon grabbed him by the horns.

"I'm in command here, Commander! I make the rules now! I am the Triceraton way!" He shoved Mozar back, the grizzled commander stumbling before falling as Zanramon loomed over him. "You know the penalty for challenging my authority. Commander Mozar, you are hereby stripped of your position and sentenced to life in prison."

Two soldiers grabbed Mozar and dragged him away, while Zanramon turned away, reveling in his triumph.

"It is done…" he declared. "The Heart of Darkness is complete, and I know just what planet to test it on."

-X-

As Mozar was dragged away, something hit one of the guards, causing them to drop him. Mozar got up, just in time to see a massive figure take out his guards. The figure stepped out of the shadows, revealing it to be Traximus, who offered him a hand up.

"It seems another has finally seen the truth," he mused.

"Traximus…" Mozar quickly took his hand and allowed himself to be pulled up. "Zanramon has completely lost his mind. We have to stop him."

"And we will," Traximus assured. "But for now, we must retreat and wait until the time is right."

With that, the two Triceraton defectors hurried away to an escape pod.

Author's Note:

Next chapter, the Turtles in Space arc wraps up. Stay tuned for the pulse-pounding conclusion to this epic saga.

Please R&R. Until next time!