Raphael made a face as he left the cinema. He'd seen E.T. - The Extra Terrestrial. He didn't like it at all.
"Yuk," he said to himself. "Where do they come up with this stuff?" After all, how could any self-respecting Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle enjoy a far-fetched story like E.T.?
He pulled up the collar on his trench coat and began the walk home. It wasn't long, however, before he got sidetracked. Right nearby, two hoodlums grabbed a little old lady's purse and began running away with it - towards Raph!
It was easy work. Raphael stuck out his foot, tripped the one carrying the purse, and caught the booty as it flew out of the hoodlum's hand. He tossed the purse to the astonished lady. The hoodlums were too surprised to react. They just ran away to the relative safety of Central Park at night.
Raph watched them go and followed them into the park just to be sure they wouldn't cause any more trouble. It turned out it wasn't the hoodlums who caused the next piece of trouble. While they were trying to escape into darkness, Raphael saw a guy in a hockey mask, carrying a golf bag filled with bats, clubs, and sticks, attack the fleeing hoodlums.
"That was a crime, you purse-grabbing pukes - and this is the penalty!" the masked man said before he began beating up the hoodlums with all the tools from his bag of tricks. "Two minutes for slashing. Two minutes for hooking. And, my personal favourite: two minutes for high sticking!" The hoodlums were at his mercy!
Raph thought it was one thing to frighten off a pair of purse-snatchers and another altogether to beat them to a pulp with a hockey stick. He actually felt sorry for them. Something had to be done! Raph stepped in.
"How about five minutes for roughing, pal?" Raph asked the masked man.
The man looked at him, surprised. "Who made you the referee? You did your part. Now these guys need a lesson!"
"Not like that, they don't," Raph said. "And not from you."
The hoodlums took advantage of the pause in the action. They ran away. Neither Raph nor the masked man noticed them leave. Each was too upset by the other's anger to care about them.
"Looks like you're the one who needs the lesson," the masked man said. He took out a baseball bat and began swinging. It didn't take long before the tables turned and Raphael overpowered him. When he'd been beaten, he challenged Raphael one more time - with something to think about.
"Man, you're crazy!" the masked man said.
"I'm crazy?"
"Yeah, and dangerous!" the man told Raphael.
Raphael thought that was odd. That was just what he thought about the masked man. He watched him disappear into the darkness of the park. Then it was time to return home.
"Raphael, come sit by me," Splinter said, surprising Raph on his return.
Raphael didn't want to talk to Splinter then. He was uncomfortable with what the masked man had said to him and he didn't want to think about it. Splinter had a way of making the Turtles think about things they didn't want to think about.
"Could this wait until morning?" Raph asked.
"You will listen now," Splinter said. Raph sat down. Splinter lit a candle and began speaking.
"My master Yoshi's first rule was: Possess the right thinking. Only then can one receive the gifts of strength, knowledge, and peace. I have tried to ease the anger you have, Raphael, but there is so much! Anger clouds the mind. Turned inwards, it is an enemy. You do not have to face this enemy alone. Do not forget your brothers, and do not forget me."
Raphael thought about his anger. In a way, his anger was just as violent a weapon as the masked man's hockey sticks and baseball bats. If that was true, then what he had done to him was no better than dropping out of a tree to attack two hoodlums who had already learned their lesson.