TMNT Saturday Morning Adventures Continued # 10

 By Mark Rodriguez

The Shredder finally succeeded in forging the Forever Blade which can cut through time and space. He decided to test it out with a bank robbery and the Turtles show up to stop him. During the fight, Leonardo uses a new technique that shatters the sword just as Shredder was about to create a portal. There's a big flash and Leonardo and Shredder are gone. While the rest of the Turtles wonder where they went, we see that Leonardo and Shredder ended up in ancient Japan, without a way back!

'This Circle Really Isn't That Flat' (The Sword of Eddiku Part 2) opens at TCRI, where Professor McGuffin is studying the shards of the Forever Blade that Donatello managed to find after their recent battle. McGuffin remembers the meteorite ore being pretty much indestructible and asks how it was forged into a sword and shattered. Donatello says the person that stole the ore used other-dimensional technology. The professor would want to meet him and Donatello says he really wouldn't since that guy is worse than Chrome Dome.

The professor detects a trace of unidentifiable energy, but it's very faint. He states if this is the energy that allows the sword to cut through time and space, this spark needs to be fanned into a flame. Michaelangelo compliments his metaphor. Donatello wants to verify his findings at his lab, so McGuggin gives him the shards and floppy discs in a messenger bag to take home. Raphael feels this was a waste of time but Donatello says he now has a place where he can start. 

In feudal Japan, Shredder blames Leonardo for their current predicament and starts attacking him. Leonardo says he was the one trying to unleash dinosaurs in the city. As they fight an arrow is shot between them. Several samurai on horseback arrive and ask why the ninja is fighting with a turtle spirit.

Shredder says Leonardo is a kappa and he has abducted him when he tried to stop his evil plans. Leonardo says he's lying. The men silence them and say they don't have time for this. One of the men states their master is impatient and wants the sword he made for him as soon as possible. Shredder recognizes the man's voice.

Shredder realizes this man is Eddiku Yuri, the spirit he summoned a few weeks ago, but in this case, he's still alive. Shredder recognizes what time period he's in and knows how to get home. He runs off and Leonardo gives chase, but he is stopped by Eddiku's men. The men say they have made them late, so Leonardo will explain this to Lord Hayao. Leonardo says he has to stop Shredder and their lousy aim won't prevent him from doing so. The men say their arrows were a distraction as another man hits Leonardo on the back of the head and knocks him out.

At the Turtles' Lair, Donatello is analyzing the shards for alien energies but can't find anything new that the professor hasn't already found. Just then Renet arrives and introduces herself, but the Turtles already know her since she had already arrived once before. Renet sees only three of the Turtles so she figures she must go further down the timeline. Michealangelo tells her to wait since they need her help. Renet says she isn't supposed to interfere. Raphael says she already did that the first time she showed up. 

Raphael asks Renet if the thing she was trying to warn them about involves all four of them. She says it usually does. Raphael adds that if she helps them get Leonardo back, it wouldn't be interfering, but streamlining the timeline. Renet is convinced and agrees to help.

A short time later, Renet shows the crew that Leonardo is stuck in feudal Japan. She might be able to bend a rule or two but she can't just 'zap' Leonardo back to the lair. Donatello says they don't have a time machine, and Renet says they do. 

Meanwhile, hundreds of years earlier, Leonardo wakes up and sees that he is tied up alongside Eddiku Yuri. Yuri explains he forged a sword for the castle's master, but when they samurai brought Leonardo, Lord Hayao was worried that keeping the sword would offend the spirits. Yuri has been tied up until they could question Leonardo.

Leonardo uses a shuriken he had hidden in his belt to cut free. Lord Hayao and his men arrive before they can escape. Lord Hayao asks if the sword is cursed, since a spirit arrived the same day Yuri delivered it to him. The castle's master determines that is Leonardo is not a curse, then he must be here to challenge him for the blade. Yuri tells Leonardo this is why he was allowed to keep his swords.

Leonardo fights with Lord Hayao and kicks him back. Lord Hayao swings his sword and cuts a hole in reality. The man is impressed by the sword's magic. Shredder arrives and says the sword is actually alien technology and he tosses a grappling hook to snatch it from Lord Hayao's hand.

Shredder says he knew the original Forever Blade disappeared from Lord Hayao's castle but he never dreamed it was because he was the one that stole it. Leonardo tries to attack him but this time his technique doesn't shatter the sword. Shredder says the previous sword was much more brittle than the original. Shredder uses the sword to slice a portal leading back to New York and escapes, leaving Leonardo stranded in ancient Japan.

Just then a portal opens behind Leonardo which shows the rest of the Turtles, Splinter and Renet back in the lair. Donatello says a transtemporal dimensional portal won't stay open for too long, so Leonardo leaps through it before it closes. Yuri comments that they're gone, and Hayao says they will now discuss replacing the sword that was stolen from him.

Back at the lair, the others explained that Renet helped Donatello set his portable dimensional portal to create a portal through time. Raphael says it took a lot of effort but it seems they have to do it again to get Shredder back as well. Leonardo says shortly before they arrived, Shredder found a better version of the sword and escaped to the present day. He asks Renet if that's what she was trying to warn them about. 

Renet apologizes and says it's something else. Leonardo asks how he was able to understand Japanese and Renet says it's a side-effect of time travel. Raphael asks for a hint, but Renet says she's already interfered enough. She says for now they should focus on the Shredder.

The Shredder returns to his hideout and Krang asks where he found this new sword. Shredder says he intends to use the sword to bring back the Technodrome!

My thoughts-

This was a cool story and I like how that one story in the Halloween Special tied together with all this. In that story, Shredder summoned the spirit of Eddiku Yuri to help craft the sword, but he recognized him and refused to help. This story explains how they first met, which was pretty clever and not overly explained. Shredder did recognize his voice, and that was enough for us to connect the dots without anyone saying 'so THAT'S why he hated Shredder' or whatever. 

Another note was that in that story, Shredder said the first thing he'd do when using the sword is to go to that era and teach Eddiku a lesson. Since the sword determines the location based on the thoughts of the wielder, maybe that's why Shredder and Leonardo were tossed into that particular time era. Very clever for anyone paying attention. If they ever do a trade paperback for this trilogy, I hope they include that Halloween special story in there since it does fill in a few gaps, and it's even drawn by Dan as well.

While it made sense to have Renet return since she is a time traveler and this story involved time travel, I wasn't expecting her to return til the next story. Like I said in the last issue, this one is drawn by Dan Schoening who draws the comic as if they were stills from the actual show. This gives us an idea of what Renet might have looked like if she were in the original show. Also one of the variant covers is also drawn by Dan is a homage to the TMNT III movie poster but with the cartoon turtles replacing their live-action counterparts.

For a random cameo, when Lord Hayao accidentally opened a portal with his sword, we saw some of the pig samurai from Usagi's world. Or at least how they were portrayed in the 80's cartoon show.

I'm also not sure if this was intentional or not, but Lord Hayao looks like he'd be the ancestor of that 'Throw The Bum Out' guy from the first episode. With the way the writers of this series dig deep into the 80's show references, it might be on purpose.

Things are going to heat up as Shredder is now back with not only a better Forever Blade, but the original Forever Blade. I do wonder whatever happened to Bebop and Rocksteady, since they also vanished when Leonardo and Shredder did, but they weren't sent to Japan. They also weren't back with Krang at their hideout. Where are those two?