Tora, the Blizzard Beast

Author's note: Hello, readers. Thanks to playing "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge," it got me back into TMNT. Like many kids from the late-1980s to early-1990s, I was a huge Turtle fan. I had been watching old episodes of the 1987-1996 show. It also led me to watch the 2000s show (the one from 2003 to 2009). I may get to the 2010s version (2012-2015) at some point. Not sure about Rise of the TMNT, but I might.

This story will touch on a character that was exclusive to the NES port of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Arcade Game. The character is Tora, the boss of one of the levels in the NES version, who was also created by Konami. Being that the arcade game was released in 1989, the NES version came out in 1990, sometime between seasons 3 and 4, or during season 4. . Think of this as a potential episode involving this character as this will be set in the 1987 TV series.

With all of this being said, enjoy!

Winter was close in New York, as the turtles hung out in the sewer doing their usually training exercises. Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo had dummies set up in some of the rooms. Splinter stood there with his stick and his arms crossed as he watched his students commence their training.

The dummies had purple makeshift masks and also purple cloths on them, as they looked like the Foot soldiers that their sworn enemy Shredder sends after them quite often. But these dummies weren't typical, as they moved a bit, like they were robotic.

Leonardo felt a sensation and drew his katana swords and swung one towards a dummy that came up from behind. Raphael jumped from his feet and flipped backwards as he noticed from his peripherals that the dummy closed in on him and drew one of his sais as he threw it towards the dummy.

Michelangelo quickly drew his nunchucks and twirled them. "Okay, dude, you want to play that way? Bring it!"

Donatello drew his bo staff and spun it around and then swung it towards a couple of dummies that went his way. The two dummies dropped, but another came his way and closed in.

"Whoa, dude, hold on!" Michelangelo said as he jumped up and delivered a dropkick to the dummy. Donatello noticed the dummy that came up that Michelangelo took down.

Splinter clapped at the effort Michelangelo put in. "Excellent work, my students." The rat looked towards Donatello. "Donatello, you should be more alert."

"Don't know what happened," Donatello said. "I set up these dummies the way I wanted to, but this one just started acting up."

"Yeah, maybe you didn't look hard enough," Raphael said with so much sarcasm.

"Oh, come on, Raphael, Donatello still did a good job, but maybe that dummy had some bugs," Leonardo said.

Donatello's eyes widened. "Uh, yes, the machine had some bugs."

Splinter cut in. "Still, Donatello, in any situation, you must be alert at all times. Your friends could have encountered the same problem, but they also showed their primal instinct."

"I don't know about you guys," Michelangelo said as he put away his nunchucks. "But all this training made me hungry. I am thinking of making a chocolate chip and almond pizza. You guys hungry?"

Leonardo and Raphael looked at each other at hearing Michelangelo's suggestion.

"Uh, I'll get back to you," Leonardo said.

"I don't know about you, but I could go for a pizza, no matter how weird Michelangelo's recipes are," Raphael said. "After all, I'm started to feel cold. A nice warm pizza could do it for me."

Leonardo and Donatello looked at their comrades. They came to a realization that it was starting to feel cold at in the streets of New York. While New York can get really cold, it only snowed during some parts of the winter.

TECHNODROME

In the deep underground lied the Technodrome, a large spherical vehicular weapon with a large steel eye at the top. The turtles' archenemy, The Shredder, along with another sworn enemy who went by Krang, had their base of operations set up there. Not by choice, by any means, but they manage to make their way back to Earth's surface whenever they could.

"Oh, it's always so hot down here!" Shredder's deep voice caught the attentions of Krang, as well as Shredder's slow-witted minions, Bebop and Rocksteady, a mutant warthog and mutant rhinoceros, respectively.

"Those turtles always get the best of us every time," Shredder said with so much rage. "Oh what I would do to be in a colder climate."

"Gee, Boss," Bebop said and grunted. "You know, you might be right. I always feel like it's hot down here."

"Yeah, I kind of miss the cold, too," Rocksteady said.

"Won't you morons just cut it already?" A screechy voice was heard coming from what looked like a live brain with a face and also manned an android. It was Krang.

"It's bad enough to hear you whine about the heat when we know the turtles are still out there," Krang said.

"You have a plan, Krang?" Shredder said with a touch of sarcasm mixed with derision.

"I wouldn't be talking if I didn't," Krang said.

Despite Shredder and Krang being partners, it was clear that the two did not like one another. With Shredder being a ninja from Japan who headed the Foot, Krang was an alien from another planet. The two crossed paths and started working together. As for Bebop and Rocksteady, the two were human before they became mutated animals. They were also members of a gang in New York City.

"Would you enlighten me?" Shredder said.

Krang's android guided a device towards Shredder, who then looked closer at the android's hand.

"What is it?" Shredder said.

"It's a weather converter," Krang said. "It comes from the planet Traglodoon. It's known to be an ice and snowy planet."

"Okay, so what will this do?" Shredder said.

"It will make the whole world cold," Krang said. "When it gets cold, those turtles won't stand a chance and then maybe we can catch them once and for all."

"That's what you said last time," Shredder said.

Krang knew that Shredder was going to doubt his plan. "Which brings me to my next plan. I have enlisted the services of a bounty hunter from Traglodoon."

Krang's android had reached some controls as a beam went off close the wall of the area of the Technodrome that they were all in. As the beam flashed, a large silhouette had appeared in the shape of a large being. The silhouette looked tall and muscular. It took a few seconds before this being was now shown.

It was large and white. It looked like a hybrid of a polar bear and a wolf, but it moved like a human. Whatever this thing was, it looked like it could have been human before, as it wore jeans but the bottom hems looked torn up, as did the right knee near the inseam. However, this being wore snow boots despite having some ripped up jeans and also wore a black leather jacket.

"I would like for all of you to meet Tora," Krang said. "Tora is a bounty hunter from Traglodoon. He could help catch those turtles."

"Tora?" Rocksteady said as he looked to Bebop, who also had a look of confusion.

Tora walked towards Shredder and Krang. "Hello, who am I going after?"

Shredder went to the controls for the computer as on the monitor, a picture of all four turtles and their rat mentor was shown.

"I want you to defeat these blasted turtles and the rat, and then bring them to me," Shredder said.

Bebop and Rocksteady looked on as Tora seemed familiar to them. The voice sounded familiar, as did the clothes, as they knew someone named Tora when they were still human. In fact, Tora had a similar vibe to someone they knew, except this Tora was human last time they checked.

"That won't be a problem for me," Tora said. "Those puny turtles are no match for me."

"Splendid," Krang said. "See, Shredder, I told you I had a plan."