Agamemno-contingency #468
File Name: Galapagos
Deep in the sewers of Ney York, specifically Manhattan, four ninjas inhabit the underground as their home, turtles in fact. Their origins begin roughly 15 years ago. Hamato Yoshi, a good friend of mine from my training days, put himself to self-exile after the death of his wife and disappearance of his child at the hands of Oroku Saki. Seeking to start anew in New York, Yoshi was on his way to his new apartment with four, newly purchased baby turtles. While following someone suspicious, Yoshi was caught and forced into a fight. The suspicious group was dealing in a transaction involving an extremely volatile mutagen that was released from the canister during the battle. The turtles came into contact with the mutagen and mutated; as they were most recently in contact with Yoshi himself, they were mutated by the introduction of human DNA into their own. This mutation gave them anthropomorphic features including bipedal movement as well as human sentience complete with cognitive thinking and critical analysis.
Hamato Yoshi himself was mutated as well, but as his most recent contact was with a rat that passed by he was mutated into an anthropomorphic rat. Knowing the world would not accept them, Yoshi took on the name Splinter and decided on hiding away in the sewers with the mutated baby turtles. Taking them in as his family, Splinter raised the four baby turtles and gave them their names: Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, and Michelangelo, after the great artists of the Renaissance Period. Feeding, educating, and teaching them the art of ninjutsu as if they were his own sons, Splinter prepared them for anything, seeing great potential in them. In a sense, they are his sons as the mutagen mutated the turtle based on Hamato Yoshi's DNA.
Thanks to the human DNA that was introduced into their systems, they now exhibit a longevity much like that of a human's as they are now fifteen years old and exhibit the typical life stages of the average human, currently being in their adolescence. In inclusion, they exhibit the ability to train and gain strength. They have pique-physical conditioning thanks to Splinter's training regimen and mastery over their individual weapons and a decent level of hand-to-hand combat. The four turtles can be identified by the color of their masks and the weapon they carry.
Leonardo is regarded as the eldest son and is recognized by a blue mask and two katanas on his back. He has mastered the art of bushido and two-sword style to an above average level and is comfortable in both long-range and short-distance combat. A well balanced fighter that could become a powerful ally, or a dangerous foe depending on who you ask, as such, he was appointed as the leader of his brothers by Splinter. But there is a way to counter him. Leonardo is still new to his position as leader, young and inexperienced. When fighting him, attack him psychologically in order to target his anxieties and doubts about himself in order to create an opening for a decisive strike. Neutralize him offensively by disarming one or, better yet, both his swords. Leonardo's skill in one-sword style is not as great as when he dual wields his swords but the trade-off is that his swings will be much more powerful.
Donatello is regarded as the second-oldest and can be identified by his purple mask and bō-staff. Of all his brothers, Donatello is the most intellectual of the group and has a genius-level intellect. With his impressive engineering skills, he has constructed an impressive array gadgets and vehicles from seemingly useless junk. It's easy to imagine what he could possibly construct when he's not drawing material from piles of junk. But, for all his engineering skill, Donatello's creations are still limited by the materials he constructed them out of and structural weaknesses can be exploited. Donatello's bō-staff is meant for long distance combat and comes with an extendable blade to convert it into a naginata spear weapon. As a long distance fighter he is skilled in keeping his distance and maintaining his territorial range of attack and is proficient in both bōjutsu and Okinawan kobudō. Countering him is difficult and will require that you venture into his range and maintain a close distance, making his long-range weapon useless. Rarely, there will be an opening for a direct attack stemming from the fact that Donatello tends to overthink things in order to create an effective strategy. If you keep up a continuous assault without giving him a break there will be a higher chance of finding this opening.
Raphael is the third oldest, can be identified by his red mask and twin sai weapons, and is described as the problem child of the group. Raphael is proficient in the use of his twin sai weapons, both offensively and defensively. Raphael's weapon is an ironic choice as the twin sai is more suited for defense then offense, mainly used in conjunction with hand-to-hand combat and is meant for piercing rather than cutting as a sword would be known for. Given Raphael's predisposition towards offense, this forces defense into his fighting and gives him more balance as a fighter. Rather than take this concept more to heart, Raphael instead incorporates the twin sai into a fighting style that can pierce through defenses and give him a new dimension in fighting ability. As strong as he is, Raphael is even simpler to deal with. Luckily he's as hotheaded as he is powerful, get him angry and Raphael will be easier to manipulate. The angrier he gets, the sloppier he gets. Easy to predict.
Finally, Michelangelo, the youngest of the turtles, can be identified by his orange mask and nunchaku. He is a master of chained weapons, not just the nunchaku, but also the kusarigama, making him a deadly foe. Michelangelo has the most raw talent of the turtles and a natural affinity for ninjutsu to the point of easily copying forms when he is inclined to observe and passively moving his body on instinct when fighting. This is also exemplified by his proficiency with the nunchaku, an unpredictable and seemingly difficult weapon to master. Luckily he is more focused on being comedic relief than in training. Michelangelo is young, naïve, and a slacker that can be overpowered. Avoid his kusarigama by obstructing the path of the swing and restrain his arms to prevent him from properly using his nunchaku.
Additional notes: The sensei of the turtles is a force to be reckoned with as well. Splinter is a master of all forms of weapons and Hamato clan martial arts and ninjutsu, to the point where even the upper echelons of the Foot clan know well enough to not confront him needlessly. Extreme caution must be taken into consideration when confronting him.
