Long ago in Japan, there existed a ninja clan known as the foot. It was a well known peaceful organization.
Among the Foot's ranks was Hamato Yoshi, he was a man at the peak of his life, he was a great ninja warrior and was known for his wise mind and intelligence.
But there was another man, who was as well known as Yoshi, his name was Oroku Saki, his skills were at the same level as yoshi but he was known for his ruthless and merciless nature with his enemies.
The two were like rivals most of the time and despite saki's constant disapproval of yoshi's gentle ways, they were good friends.
Until they met Tang Shen. She was a beautiful women with hair as black as the night sky. Her eyes always shone with mirth.
Hamato Yoshi often clashed Oroku saki over the love of Tang Shen. They're rough friendship all but vanished.
When it became clear that Tang Shen loved only Yoshi, saki arrived at her home and started a fire there, thinking that if he can't have her then no one will, especially not yoshi.
Both of the friends turned enemies faced off against each other in the fire, though they were equally skilled. However, with a stroke of luck on yoshi's side, he managed to pushed saki back and leave to search for his lover but Tang Shen perished in the fire, leaving behind a heartbroken and devastated yoshi.
Yoshi then, in an attempt to smother the agony of loss, decided to go to New York city. There he founded a small martial arts school -just like Tang Shen wanted- that quickly gained fame and credit. For now everything was fine.
While all of that happened in New York, back in Japan, Oroku Saki continued to train so he can become stronger so he can extract his revenge on yoshi. He was fueled by a thirst for vengeance for both taking away Tang Shen and for disfiguring his face forcing saki to hide behind a metal helmet.
Saki eventually became high-ranking member of the organization, and was tasked with leading a branch of the Foot in New York aiding his objective of revenge. Once there, Saki adopted the mantel of the shredder and led the clan to the highest ranks of the underworld, specializing in burglary, espionage, and assassination. Yet the entire time, Saki sought the opportunity to slay Hamato Yoshi.
One night Yoshi returned home to find his apartment ransacked. Yoshi then saw the Shredder, who revealed his identity as Oroku Saki.
To say that yoshi was shocked would be an understatement. Saki launched his attack on yoshi with all of his pent up hatred. They both engaged in a fight that made saki aware of the difference in strength between the two.
That only made him angrier, his hatred growing into despise. He was weaker than yoshi, and after all of his training. So in order to save his life, knowing that yoshi wouldn't hesitate to kill him this time, he targeted yoshi's emotional wound that was still fresh in both of their minds despite the time that had passed.
In the end yoshi abandoned his house and ran away from the scene as saki did the same.
Yoshi's fear of being hunted like a measly prey by saki got the better of him as his panicked and frightened brain decided to hide in the sewers at least for now.
Around the area of the manhole that yoshi used to entre the sewers, a blind man was crossing the road when a truck labeled "T.C.R.I" almost ran him down. A young man ran out to save the blind man, the two random citizens were safe. But as the truck swerved, the back doors flew open. A container of glowing green goo fell out and was subsequently washed down the drain...
...Down the drain and directly at the place of where yoshi had ventured through the sewers and the jar of goo crashed beside him, coating him with its viscous contents.
Yoshi immediately tried brushing the green goo off of him as fast as possible as he knew that it might cause him some damage (It was quite obvious from its appearance alone)
However he wasn't fast enough. The green contents had already taken effect on him.
It was a painful procedure, he could feel his bones shifting, his muscles contracting and relaxing at a fast pace. But the pain was more intense in his lower back and his skull.
By the time it was over, he was gasping for breath as he laid on the cold concrete floor of the sewers.
His vision was blurry but he could clearly see his -now- four fingered furry grey hand. It had taken him a full ten minutes for the shock to wear off. Though he couldn't stop himself from twitching when he saw his tail.
Yoshi searched for a clean enough pipe that could show his reflection, only to be greeted by a face of a huge rat, black eyes staring back at him.
'I'm a rat now. A huge mutated rat. Great.' He thought sarcastically. He suddenly felt very tired. All the adrenaline that had been previously pumping in him had faded from his system, leaving him worn out.
He sagged his shoulders and decided to search for a place to spend the night. He deduced that it was best to stay hidden in here for now, who knows what would the world do to a giant, talking, intelligent rat roaming around.
They would probably want to dissect him 'in the name of science'. He felt a shudder go through him at that thought. Just thinking about it gives him goosebumps.
He doesn't want that to happen to him, i mean, who would? Hopefully whatever that substance did to him, it would be only temporary.
This is all so very troublesome. It was overly infuriating!! He sure hopes that all this misfortune would end soon.
But for some reason he felt that things would only get complicated from here on out...