My name is Leonardo. Well, it took me awhile, but I managed to see Oroku Saki for who he really is, the Shredder. Of course, to get to this point, we have to fight a bunch of Foot Ninja, which wasn't easy. Then, we had to go up against Hun again, definitely not easy. But the real nightmare is about to begin; now, we have to face the Shredder, and something tells me, this is really not going to be easy.
(!)
The brothers snarled at the Shredder as he removed his helmet, revealing his face as Oroku Saki. "The time for games has ended! No more charades! You see me as I am and it will be the last thing you will ever see." He smiled wickedly as he put the helmet back on. "Prepare to face your destiny and your doom."
"Well," Donny said nervously. "He's your buddy, Leo."
"And he's certainly got a nice sense of personal style," Mikey joked nervously. "I mean, nice outfit."
"Something tells me he didn't get dressed up for nothing," Raph growled.
"Guys," said Leo. "We're in for the fight of our lives."
"Let's make it one to remember," Dante said.
The Shredder then commanded, "Foot Ninja, attack! Destroy them!"
The brothers attacked the ninjas, and it was relatively easy...until the Shredder played dirty and attacked the brothers in the middle of their fights. First, he attacked Mikey, then Leo. Then he attacked Donny and tossed him to the ground, making him vulnerable to an attacking ninja...only for Raph to block the attack. "Watch your back, Brainiac!"
"Isn't that what you're for, Raph?"
Raph then knocked the sword out of the ninja's hands. It flew across the roof before stabbing a generator, causing a tremendous explosion that sent everyone flying off the roof.
(!)
Dante groaned as he sat up. There was a cut running down his head and he was disorientated. "Gotta...find...brothers..." Then his eyes widened when he saw... "No..." The Shredder was walking out of the burning rubble completely unharmed!
"Foot Ninja!" he shouted. "Find the turtles and the boy! They cannot be far! Do not allow them to escape!" Then he and the Foot Clan heard the sounds of police sirens. "Foot Ninja, disappear! Report to me when you find them!"
Dante walked away from the burning building and ran off to hide, still holding a hand to his cut.
(!)
Eventually, Dante stopped in front of a house and knocked on a door. "Please," he said. "Let this house have some healing supplies." A door opened and a woman in pajamas stepped out. "Yes?" she said. "Oh, my goodness! What happened to you, child?"
"I was jumped. Please, I need a band aid, anything."
"Oh, those no good Purple Dragons," the woman said as she led him in. She had him stay in the kitchen. "Now you stay here, I'll go get some gauze and peroxide."
Dante nodded as soon as the woman left. As the seconds passed, he realized he wasn't alone. Peeking his head out from the doorway was a boy about his age with blond hair and wearing red pajamas. "Hey," Dante said. The boy instantly hid away. "It's okay, I won't bite."
"Truly?"
"Nope."
The boy then revealed himself. "Why are you here?"
"I got jumped by the Purple Dragons."
"Really? Are you that vigilante in the hockey mask everyone talks about? Cool!"
"Uh, no. Do I look like a buff man?"
"No."
"There's your answer."
In that instant, the woman, obviously the boy's mother, came back with some medicine and some bandages. "Now you sit still and I'll dress this wound."
As the woman cleaned and dressed the wound, Dante watched the boy who was eyeing the whole thing. This was the first time he had been close to a human his age. "Your kid is nice," he said.
"Zach? Oh, yeah. He's always trying to be tough like his older brother."
"I can relate to that. My brothers are always tougher than me. I always have trouble catching up to them. Heck, one of them always teases me about it."
The woman hummed as she applied the bandages around his head. "Well, you're going to catch up eventually. I always tell my boy, 'He's going to slip eventually, then he'll one day look up to you.' That will happen with you and your brothers as well."
"I hope so."
Then Dante's eyes widened when he saw a group of Foot Ninja walk by the alley. Thank goodness they didn't see him. "Uh, listen, thanks for patching me up, but I'm sure my brothers and dad are worried of where I am." And he got up to leave.
"Wait!" called out Zach. "Will we see meet each other again?"
Dante smiled. "Probably. Just watch the rooftops."
"Just watch the rooftops?" asked Zach's mother. "What do you mean by..." But he was gone. The only sign of his presence was the now open window.
A voice upstairs called out, "Mom? Zach? What are you doing downstairs?"
"Nothing, Walt," the woman said. "Just go back upstairs. Your brother will be with you shortly!"
"Okay."
Zach looked out the window. "I didn't even get to know your name."
(!)
Eventually, he found Leo, cornered by a group of Foot Ninjas. "Oh, great." He was about to charge when someone jumped down and helped Leo: a man in a dark coat with blue hair tied into a pony tail. He wore a gold amulet designed like an octopus. In his hands, he carried a glowing blue katana. The moment he saw the amulet, Dante's mind suddenly went blank.
(!)
The man in the trench coat made VERY short work of the Foot Ninjas. Then he approached Leo. "Okay this is new," the turtle said. "You're definitely a ninja, but you're not one of them."
"I am simply a guardian," the man said. "Beyond that I cannot tell you anything more."
"That's pretty helpful," Leo said sarcastically.
"I am sorry, but I cannot reveal everything to you now. Just know you are caught up in a battle that is bigger than you can imagine.
"I pretty much heard that already from Oroku Saki."
The man nodded. "Yes, it was the only truth that the Shredder told you. But know this: by rejecting the Shredder and his evil, you have made an ally this day." He reached his hand forward. Leo smiled and shook his hand.
Suddenly, a can clattering made them turn around. Dante stood at the alley's entrance. "Oh, it's you," Leo said with a sigh. "Have you found the others?" Dante didn't respond. Instead, he grabbed a sword from one of the fallen Foot soldiers and pointed it at the man in the trench coat. "Whoa! Dante, he's not one of the Foot! He saved my life!" Dante ignored him and charged straight at the man.
Leo blocked him with his own swords. "Dante! What the shell has gotten into-" A kick to the groin then to the face shut him up. Then Dante continued to attack the man, who blocked every single one of his attacks.
"As I suspected. You are one of them."
The man then grabbed Dante by the arm and brought him into a head butt, knocking him unconscious. Leo ran up to the boy. "What the shell was that all about?"
"This is one of those things I cannot reveal. Not yet anyway." He handed Leo a bottle. "Give him these suppressants. This will control his behavior the next time he acts like this. Don't tell him what has happened."
"Acts like this? What is wrong with him?"
Suddenly, a car's headlights shined on them. Headlights belonging to the Battle Shell. Donny poked his head out the window. "Hey, Leo! Need a ride?"
Leo smiled. "Sure! Guys, I'd like to introduce you to..." But to his shock, his "guardian" was gone. "...the mystery ninja."
(!)
Dante groaned as he slowly woke up in an unfamiliar room. It took several seconds for him to realize he was in the Battle Shell with his brothers. "What happened?" He tried to stand up, but was very dizzy.
"Dante!" Leo helped him up. "You're okay?"
"Yeah...what happened to me?"
"You got knocked out by some Foot Ninjas."
"Really? I don't remember that. I remember leaving this nice lady's house and finding you in an alley with some weird man. After that, nothing."
"And I thought I had bad memory problems," said Mikey.
It was then Dante noticed the pantyhose wrapped around Mikey's leg. "Why do you have women's underwear wrapped around your leg?"
"It was the only way to make a splint for my sprained ankle."
"It doesn't matter now," Splinter said. "What matters now is that you're safe."
Dante squinted. "Dad? What are you doing here?"
"This." And he slapped Dante and his four brothers. That instantly sobered Dante up. "OW!" he and Mikey said at the same time.
"Hey!" exclaimed Donny, rubbing his cheek.
"What was that for?!" shouted Raph.
"For being so foolish," scolded Splinter. "You should never have tried to face the Shredder alone! He is far too powerful."
"You're telling me," said Donny. "I've got bruises that have got bruises."
"And did you see the way that Shredder just walked through that fire?" asked Leo.
"Yeah," said Mikey, doing an Arnold Schwarzenegger voice. "He's like the Shredinator or something."
"It didn't even touch him," Dante said, a shiver running down his spine.
"You have stirred the hornet's nest," said Splinter. "He will not rest until he finds us."
"Then what do we do, Master?" asked Dante.
"Let him find us," the old rat said after a pause.
"What?"
"I have long wished to avenge my Master Yoshi. Now is the time."
"But how do we let them find us?" asked Donny.
"Sit still."
"I don't know, Master Splinter," said Mikey. "Sitting still isn't one of our strong points." The rat glared at him. "Right. Sitting still it is! I like sitting still. Sitting still's good!"
(!)
The rat and the boys waited on a rooftop with a water tower not too far from the Battle Shell. They didn't have to wait long. A group of Foot Ninjas jumped onto the roof...followed by the monster himself, the Shredder.
"Dude..." shuddered Mikey.
"Let the butt kicking begin," said Raph.
"Foot Ninja, ATTACK!" commanded the Shredder.
The boys and the Foot charged with each other and locked their weapons.
"Remember my sons," said Splinter. "Even the mighty oak bends before the raging storm winds."
"Huh?" asked Mikey, confused...and distracted from blocking a Foot Ninja's fist.
Splinter groaned in annoyance. "Be careful and don't be overconfident!"
Raph, Leo, Donny and Dante made short work of one group of Foot Ninjas. Mikey on the other hand, ran into some trouble. He kicked a ninja with his bad foot, making him yelp. At first he thought it couldn't get any worse, but fate proved himself wrong when he kicked four more ninjas with his bad foot. He hopped around on one foot, clutching his bad ankle. This proved to be a great distraction for the Shredder to use: he kicked Mikey in the face, sending him flying into a water tower. To make matters worse, he landed on his bad leg. Mikey let out a scream of pain, scaring away some birds.
Meanwhile, Donny struck one Foot Ninja in the gut with his bo staff, then pushed back another. Unfortunately, he failed to see the Shredder behind him. Luckily, Raph saved his tail and kicked the Shredder away.
Shredder immediately got back up and shouted, "GET THEM!"
One ninja threw shuriken at Leo, who blocked them with his swords.
Donny crossed his bo staff with a Foot Ninja's.
"Hold your staff high," Splinter coached. "Sweep with the left foot from that position."
Donny ignored him as he bashed three more ninjas. "Jeez, now you're backseat ninja-ing me, Master Splinter!" Then he became instantly afraid when the Shredder jumped in front of him and punched him in the gut, sending him flying at a wall.
Meanwhile, Leo clashed swords with a ninja and pushed him away. Suddenly, the Shredder appeared behind him and was about to slash him when Raph blocked the clawed gauntlet. The Shredder picked him up and threw him at the wall next to Donny.
Mikey found himself cornered by a group of Ninjas, but he manage to bring them all down with his nunchucks. Unfortunately, the Shredder appeared behind him and smacked him at the wall next to his brothers.
Leo defeated two more Ninjas only to be bashed into the wall by the Shredder.
The Shredder heard foot steps and turned around...only to be stabbed in the gut by Dante. "Gotcha," he smirked.
For a brief moment, the Shredder was in pain. Dante smiled in victory. But then the smile instantly vanished when the Shredder not only pulled the sword out of his bleeding gut, but also use it as a lever to lift Dante off the ground. "What are you?!" demanded Dante.
"The Grim Reaper."
And he grabbed Dante by the throat brought him down upon his knee and tossed him into his brothers. The Shredder loomed over them and raised his clawed gauntlet. "None of you will leave here alive!"
"SHREDDER! NOOOOO!" Splinter blocked the gauntlet with his walking stick in the last minute. "You destroyed my family once, I will not allow it to happen again!"
"RAH! No man or freak can defeat me!"
"That remains to be seen!"
The Shredder pushed Splinter to the water tower. The rat showed no fear. In fact, he dared the Shredder to come at him. The evil man complied, charging at the rat and slashing at him, but all his attacks were blocked by the walking stick. Then the Shredder slashed one of the tower's legs, weakening it. Splinter got an idea. He lured the Shredder to the other support structures, and made him slash them as well.
The water tower started to sway...
Splinter's eyes narrowed. "This is for my Master Yoshi!" And he kicked one of the legs. The Shredder gasped and made a run for it, but it was too late. Water sprayed out, sending him and the Foot Ninja flying off the building. The Shredder stood up...then his eyes widened when he saw the water tower falling right at him. It landed on him with a crash.
Splinter looked down at the scene while the brothers looked on in awe.
"Master Splinter," gasped Leo.
"You okay?" asked Mikey.
Splinter sighed. "Come. We have avenged my Master Yoshi. Let us go home."
"I'm all over that," said Donny.
"Yeah," said Raph.
"I gotta tell you," said Leo. "Home never sounded so good."
"And after all that," Dante said. "I could use a nap. A very, very long nap."
(!)
Unbeknownst to the brothers and Splinter, the Shredder's clawed gauntlet popped out of the mess of steel and wood.
