Prologue Part 1A

Rings of Fire: Raphael's Viewpoint

I never thought that I would ever be outdone, or outsmarted, hell, or even outclassed. But I do know one thing...that day...I was angry. I was more angrier than I ever was in my whole fucking life. That day started out just like any other: Mikey watchin' his stupid cartoons, Don holed up in his lab all damn day, and Leo trainin' and meditatin' with Master Splinter. Then there's me...the maniac, the loose cannon, the hothead, the 'evil' one: beating the holy hell out of my punchin' bag. It's a hell of a way to get the blood flowing, and I intended on makin' use of it. Donny has his geek stuff, Mikey has his games, Leo has...whatever he has. Me? The punching bag right here? This is my world. My own little piece of heaven. I wasn't really paying too much attention to my bros and my father at this point, since I was too busy fuckin' this bag up. Heh, I was killin' it! As I stopped to wipe the sweat from my forehead, I saw Leo and Splinter talkin' about something. I wasn't one to pry. Hell, I didn't care. I just kept hitting my bag, imaging some Purple Dragon scumbags or some Foot Clan bastards as my targets. Each one I imagined made me hit the bag harder. I can hear Donny now...getting all pissed at me for breaking the chain again. Eh, what does he care? He never trains on this baby! Oh well...that's big brained Donny for ya.

At some point during my exercisin', Splinter tapped me on the shoulder with his walking stick. He told me he was going out for a walk, and that he would be back later. I whatevered it and went back to beatin' my bags' ass. I'd say about, eh, I dunno...2 hours passed by, and I was reeking of adrenaline. I grabbed my sais from the ledge and put them on my belt. I see Mikey on the couch watching TV with his cat Klunk. I find it a bit odd that someone wants to spend so much time with that nut. Oh well, I guess that cat doesn't know any better. It was looking dead in the lair, so, I decided to go out and get some air myself. As I was heading towards the entrance, Leo stopped me. He always wants to know what i'm doing, where i'm going or why i'm leaving. Shit, you'd think he was our damn mom or somethin'! Anyways, I tell him i'm going out to get some air. Leo gives me his 'holier than thou' look, and moves aside so I can leave. Sometimes, I really hate my brother. I really do.

So, there I am, walking through the sewers of New York. The smell of this place would probably gag a human, but for me, this was home. I decided to go down the old abandoned sewer tunnel that connected Ashland Ave. and Ridge Blvd. This place was blocked off when we were kids, but...I ain't no kid anymore. And to be honest, I don't see what the big damn deal was from the jump. As I walked through this old tunnel, all I could think about was me and my bros laughin' and playin' in these old sewers. Playin' follow the leader, hide and seek, tag, and all those other kiddie games. Splinter hated the fact that we went so far into the sewer system, so, he gave us barriers. Heh...I never listened to his 'words of wisdom.' This is probably why I always got in trouble as a kid. Oh well...it is what it is. So, I head towards the Oak Ave. manhole exit, and I hear a faint sound. Sounds like someone talkin' or somethin'. So, me being me, I go and see what's going on. I stick to the shadows and I head eastward towards the noise.

"...think...gonna...YOU?! Damn...BASTARD!"

That was all I could really make out, due to the fact that I was a few hundred feet away. So, I kept going in the direction of the sounds. As the sounds get louder, my mouth started drooling...because I knew there was probably some punks that I could put a hurtin' on. Heh heh. So, as I turn the corner and peek my head around, what I saw sent fear and anger into my head. I saw this guy with his hand around Master Splinter's throat, pinning him against a wall of the sewer. He had a dagger pointed directly at Splinter's heart. I didn't think twice about it: I sprung from the shadows and took out my sais. This bastard picked the wrong family member of mine to fuck with. As I ran towards this bozo, he put Splinter in a chokehold of sorts and pointed the dagger into Splinter's back. This pissed off so much, to the point of me going berserk.

"Oh boy...another FREAK! This must be my lucky day!", the strange man said tauntingly.

"What did you just call me punk!?", Raphael screamed.

"Oh, what is this? You actually care about this rat thing? And I thought this was going to be an easy job!", the stranger said with a sinister smile on his face.

Master Splinter always told me to calm myself and think before I acted. That was the last thing that went through my mind...before I did what I did. I lost it. I leaped at this bum with my sais forward. He rolled out of the way with Splinter in his arms. My sais were jammed in the concrete wall of the sewer, and I was struggling to get them free. What I saw next will stay in my mind forever: the sick bastard put his left foot on Splinter's chest and his right foot on Splinter's head, squatted down and slit my sensei's throat. Cold...blooded...murder. I ran at the guy, and started giving him the beating of his life. I was BEYOND berserk at this point. I wanted to kill him...no...I NEEDED to kill him. Splinter always told us that killing was the LAST RESORT for us, if we didn't have any other options. I didn't see any other options to go by, so this fucker had to die. He took my father from me. He was going to die today.

I grabbed his bloody face and slammed it hard against the concrete wall of the sewer. As he lay on the ledge twitching, I aggressively pulled out one of my sais and jammed it in his throat. It felt so good to kill that sorry excuse for a human. As I saw the last sign of life from his body leave him, I hurried over to my fallen sensei. I saw the pain in his eyes, even though he couldn't say anything other than gurgles and gasps. I couldn't leave my father to die in this sewer: I had to take him home. I know he would have wanted to be around his sons when he passed on. This was my chance to do something right for a change. So I picked up my father and ran back to the lair, fighting back the tears that filled my eyes so many times. As I came into the lair, I dropped to my knees with Splinter in my arms. Just then...it hit me. He was injured, and I was too late, too rash, and too hotheaded to save him in time. All I could do was close my eyes and scream to whatever god was listenin'...