TMNT Saturday Morning Adventures Continued # 9

 By Mark Rodriguez

The Shredder has stolen a rare meteor from the TCRI labs while the Turtles were busy dealing with the Rat King. While the Turtles have been busy with several adventures and facing several villains, Shredder has been busy finding ways to forge the meteor into another 'ninja sword to nowhere'. It seems he has finally succeeded when he enlisted the aid of a master swords smith, Kai Eddiku. 

"Cutting Through The Universe " (The Sword of Eddiku part 1) opens up in the Turtes lair as Michaelangelo is weidling a sword and protective gear to assist Leonardo with a new technique. Splinter says one of the best ways to defend is to remove the opponent's ability to attack. Splinter leaps at Michaelangelo with a sword, who blocks the attack. He tells Michaelangelo to strike back. When he does, Splinter swings his blade and it shatters Michaelangelo's weapon.

The Turtles are amazed and Raphael says it's lucky they get their weapons wholesale. Splinter says the technique will not work against someone as skilled as the Shredder but it should stop any average opponent. He will teach this to Leonardo and Raphael says he gets all the flashy moves. Donatello says they all get flash moves, and Raphael says 'not in the videogames he's been playing'. Just then a glowing silhouette in the form of a woman appears before them.

Renet the Time Mistress appears and tries to warn the Turtles about something affecting their universe before 'it's too late'. The Turtles are as confused as Renet is since from her time traveling perspective, she just talked to them five minutes ago. Splinter asks for more information but Renet says she can't say anything because she arrived too early. She says anything she says now can really mess things up like giving the Turtles visible nostrils and tails. Renet says she'll see them in the future and vanishes.

Raphael says they have enough on their plate without worrying about time travelers warning them about their impending doom. He thinks the crew is overdue for a long story arc as it is. Splinter tells Leonardo he must work on learning the new technique because he might need it sooner rather than later.

Meanwhile at the Shredder's secret lair, Kai Eddiku personally delivers the newly crafted sword to Oroku Saki himself. Shredder is pleased and Krang says the sword will be perfect. Kai is surprised to see Krang but wants to do a portrait of him. Krang tells Bebop and Rocksteady to get rid of him. Kai gives them his business card and Bebop and Rocksteady give him his pay and toss him out. Bebop asks if they should toss his card too, but Krang says to keep it in case he wants an official portrait for his royal palace.

Krang aims a laser gun at the sword and blasts it, making it glow with energy. Shredder can feel the energy coursing through the blade and Krang says he should now be able to cut through space and time. Shredder says the original Sword to Nowhere opened a hole to another dimension that allowed him to go anywhere, but wonders how he can cut to a specific time period. 

Krang says the sword should have psychoreactive properties, so he just needs to know the time and place to direct it. However if he's not completely certain, their could be disastrous results. Shredder tosses the sword over to Bebop and tells him to cut through time. Rocksteady suggests going back a few years to their old hideout. Bebop cuts through time and pulls out one of their old gang members. 'Grunt' is surprised to see Bebop again 'in a great costume'. Bebop asks if he still owed him 20 bucks, and Grunt says he just stole  a twenty and gives it to him. Bebop takes the cash and pushes the guy back through the portal. Shredder is glad to see that the sword works and even an idiot can use it.

Krang says the sword has self-regenerating energy but it does need time to recharge. It is rumored that the energy from being used in battles charges it up faster. Shredder senses the sword is tired, and determined cutting through time and space must wear it out faster. He says they don't need to cut through time to get some money, so he opens a portal and tells Bebop and Rocksteady to grab some bags and join him.

Shredder, Bebop and Rocksteady appear inside a bank vault and start filling up the bags with cash. The portal fizzles out due to being left open too long, and the sword needs time to recharge before they can open another one. Shredder decides they can just escape the regular way, so Bebop and Rocksteady bust through the door, scaring all the people in the bank.

As the villains try to escape, the Turtles show up, having heard the commotion. Shredder tells Bebop to give them the money, to which the mutant warthog tosses a bag into Michaelangelo. Raphael says he should have seen then coming, and Michaelangelo hits Bebop with a jumpkick. 

Leonardo clashes swords with Shredder tells him that they're outnumbered. Shredder says that four against three is barely an advantage. As they fight the sword starts to glow and Shredder realizes it's charged up. Shredder decides to test the sword's limits and opens up a huge portal. He summons a large amount of Foot Soldiers and sends them against the Turtles. 

Shredder says he's not leaving without the money and kicks Leonardo back. He claims to be the greatest ninja the world has ever known, and Raphael throws a Foot Soldier head at him. The Turtles point out that Master Splinter will always be better than him. Shredder says he realizes the Turtles are trying to make him angry so he can make a mistake, but he still has the ultimate advantage with his sword.

Shredder says he can open a portal and send dinosaurs after them, or he can open a portal to their worst nightmares, or he can do both. He opens a portal as dinosaurs and Creepy Eddie peak through. Leonardo decides to try out his new technique, despite him not being well versed in it and Shredder being too skilled for it. Leonardo swings his sword and shatters Shredder's blade. A big flash makes Leonardo, Shredder, Bebop and Rocksteady disappear, leaving the Turtles confused.

Donatello says Shredder has used a sword like this before, and it was alien technology. He says Leonardo used his technique just as Shredder was using his power. Michaelangelo wonders if this was what Renet was trying to warn them about. Donatello says he'll have the shards of the sword examined with TCRI. He adds with luck Leonardo and Shredder are in Jersey, but if time travel is involved, they could literally be at any place and any time. We see that Leonardo and Shredder ended up in ancient Japan. 

My thoughts- 

One of the most unexpected surprises was seeing Renet make her appearance in this issue. As many know by now, Renet is one of the Mirage comics characters that never appeared in the 80's cartoon. We see the return of Dan Schoening that draws the characters looking exactly as they did in the show's first season, so we get to see how Renet might have looked like if she was ever in the 80's cartoon.

We finally get to see Shredder craft the new version of the Ninja Sword to Nowhere and further his plans. This time the sword can cut through time and space, so that's bigger trouble for the Turtles.

We get some more callbacks and references as always. This time even the cover is a reference to the cover of TMNT II The Arcade Game for the NES. For a real deep cut, we get to see of the original gang members that Bebop and Rocksteady were with before those two were chosen to be mutated. 

We get a panel where Raphael has an L on his belt buckle instead of an R. This is of course, reference to the several animation errors in the old series in which one of the Turtles would have the wrong bandana color, the wrong weapon, the wrong initial or even the wrong voice. We also get a Creepy Eddie cameo. Good thing it was just a cameo. With his wacky powers, Shredder almost made things worse for himself as well as for the Turtles.

The only thing not all that clear in the story is the technique Splinter showed Leonardo. The most I get from it is take a specific stance and swing your sword in such a way that it somehow shatters the opponent's sword? I wish it had a more unique look to it, or at least a name, or something to make it stand out more, especially since it's the thing that sets off the upcoming issues. 

Either way, things are getting interesting, and I can't wait to see what happens next. What will happen with Shredder and Leonardo stuck in ancient Japan? How will they get back home now that the sword has been destroyed? And what happened to Bebop and Rocksteady? Where did they go?