It was close to 7pm at night in Japan. A girl in her late teens was driving on a moped with three big pizza boxes sitting in the back. The girl's name was Mikiko Kawamoto, Mico for short. She was in her late teens and had short black hair. She wore a jacket, a checkered hat, a scarf, and wide-legged pants with flower patterns on them. Mico was a high school student. She didn't have many friends, and what friends she did have didn't seem genuine. She had just recently applied for a parttime job as a pizza delivery girl to make a little money. She was currently on her way to deliver three large pizzas to a mysterious customer who apparently lived in one of the darkest parts of town. Not many people dared to visit that part of town as it had one of the highest crime rates. However, Mico was desperate for the money and was willing to take the risk. She came to a stop at the entrance of a dark and dirty alley between two buildings. Mico looked at the directions on a piece of paper, then back to the alley in front of her. It was ominous, but this was the place she had to go.

The delivery girl dismounted her moped, grabbed the pizzas, and started walking cautiously down the dark alley. Mico became more and more paranoid the deeper she went in. Some of the anxiety went away as she came to a dimly lit area illuminated by a single light hanging from one of the buildings. Suddenly, she heard a loud noise like something hitting a nearby trash can. She turned to find three thuggish-looking young men wearing black school uniforms. The one on the left was large and overweight with big teeth and short black hair. The one on the right was short and thin with black hair and thin eyebrows. The one in the middle was tall and skinny with short black hair, an underbite, and his left eye was opened wider than his right. The three boys started ominously approaching the lone delivery girl. Mico could tell by the facial expressions of these three delinquents that they were not friendly. She wanted to run away but was frozen with fear.

"What have we here, boys?" the middle one said eyeing the girl. "A little lost girl."

"Something smells good, big bro Dosu-Roku," the big one said taking a whiff of the air.

"Really good," the thin one said with a creepy grin.

"Did… anyone order pizza?" Mico asked nervously as the three boys got closer and closer.

"Did you order anything, Ken?" Dosu-Roku asked his companion.

"Nope," Ken, the thin one, replied.

"You, Go?"

"Not me," Go, the big one, answered.

"I didn't order anything," Dosu-Roku said. "But we'll happy to pay for them, as well as other things." He gave a creepy grin along with a menacing chuckle which his friends mimicked.

Realizing the delinquents' intentions, Mico turned around and made a break back the way she came.

"Get her!" Dosu-Roku ordered his companions.

Ken and Go took off after the scared fleeing girl.

Despite her best efforts, the two boys caught up to Mico and grabbed her, causing her to drop the pizza boxes. She was thrown to the ground on her back. She struggled to get up, but both Go and Ken held her down while Dosu-Roku approached ominously.

"Help! Somebody help me!" Mico screamed but no one answered.

"Well boys, where should we start?" Dosu-Roku asked his cohorts and pulled out a switchblade. "Shirt or pants?"

"Shirt!" Ken lecherously answered.

"Yes, shirt!" Go agreed.

"Alright then!"

Mico watched in terror as Dosu-Roku squatted down and moved the knife closer and closer to her face, all the while he and his cohorts chuckled maliciously. Then with his free hand, he grabbed the collar of her shirt. She closed her eyes and braced herself for him to cut open her shirt. However, just as he was about to start cutting, they heard something hit the ground. They didn't see what it was, but upon impact, it released a blinding cloud of smoke that engulfed the area.

"What's going on?!" Go asked coughing and rubbing his eyes.

"I don't know!" Dosu-Roku responded.

Mico was coughing and rubbing her eyes as well. She could her attackers doing the same thing. But then, she began hearing the sounds of things jumping on the ground and through the air, blows landing on flesh, painful grunting, and then silence. When the smoke finally cleared, the girl found to her surprise her assailants lying on the ground, tied up and with bruises on their faces. She looked over to the spot where she dropped her delivery only to the see that the pizza boxes… were gone! In their place was a wad of cash. Mico picked it up to examined it and found that it was… American dollars.

Later that night, Mico went to a local police station to file a report.

"Then when they jumped me, this cloud of smoke suddenly appeared," she told an officer. "And when it disappeared, they were all beaten and tied up, and the pizzas were gone! The only thing that was left behind was this." She showed the wad of dollars to the officer. "I think it's American money."

Little did she know was that someone else was also listening to her story. A young man in his late teens with blonde hair and blue eyes wearing a light-colored long coat was sitting in a nearby chair eavesdropping on Mico's report. After he had heard all he needed to hear, he got up and left the station.

At a humble house in an urban neighborhood, a small family was getting ready for dinner. A mother was cooking in the kitchen with her daughter helping with the cooking and setting the table while the father and his preteen son sat in the living room watching TV together.

"Miki, can you go tell Akira that dinner will be ready soon?" the mother asked her daughter.

"Sure thing, mom," she replied. She left the kitchen and headed upstairs.

The girl's name was Miki Makimura. She was a slender high school student in her late teens with brown eyes and short brown which she kept together with a yellow headband.

"Akira," she called knocking on a bedroom door. "Dinner's almost ready. Don't take too long or it'll get cold."

Inside the room was a young man, late teens, lying on a bed staring up at the ceiling. His name was Akira Fudo. He went to the same school as Miki. Due to his father being good friends with her father, he was taken in by the Makimuras while his parents traveled abroad. He had an athletic build, short black hair combed forward, sideburns, and dark eyes with black markings underneath them. He wore a black shirt and black pants.

"I'll be down in a minute," Akira responded. Then he heard his phone ring. "Hello?" he answered it.

"Akira!" a young man's voice was heard greeting him. It turned out to be the blonde man who eavesdropped on Mico's report to the police.

"Ryo!" Akira said happily. The man known as Ryo Asuka was Akira's childhood friend. "How's it hanging?"

"I was down at the police station not too long ago and I heard a girl making a report on being assaulted by some punks and then being saved by some unseen entity," Ryo informed.

"Was anyone killed?" Akira asked concerned.

"Surprisingly no. The punks were found tied up and badly beaten, but no deaths."

"Do you think this has anything to do with the demons?"

Not too long ago, after reuniting with Ryo after many years, Akira found himself thrust into a world he never believed was real. His friend had shown him that monstrous creatures, known as demons, who had ruled the Earth long before man, were starting to resurface and make plans to take back the planet. In an effort to fight the demons, Akira gained a new powerful body that they hoped would even the odds.

"I'm not sure. Usually death follows whenever the demons strike."

"Do you know who the girl was that talked to the police?" Akira asked curiously.

"Just some pizza delivery girl. She also reported that whatever saved from the thugs also made off with the pizzas and left American money behind."

"That is strange," Akira said confused.

"We might want to keep our guards up should this thing ever strike again," Ryo suggested. "We don't know exactly what it is."

"Well, whatever it may be, it'll have to deal with Devilman!" Akira said confidently sporting a bloodthirsty grin with fangs among his teeth.

Elsewhere, a young woman had rented an apartment room and was unpacking her bags. She was Caucasian and looked to be in her 20s with reddish brown hair and bluish green eyes. Her name was April O'Neil. She was a reporter for New York's Channel 6 news agency and a skilled programmer. As she was unpacking, four shadowy figures began sneaking silently into the room. The shadowy figures had heads, arms, and legs like regular people, but their body shapes weren't quite human. The four shadowy creatures silently approached the unsuspecting April from behind. Not a single one of them made a sound. They were mere feet from the woman when she finally realized she wasn't alone. She turned around, and…

"APRIL!"

The intruders were four huge humanoid turtle-like creatures. Each one wore a different colored bandana and gear that carried ninja weapons. Judging by the tone of their voices, they all sounded like they were in their mid-teens. Now anyone who comes face-to-face with four giant turtles would probably scream their head off. Miss O'Neil, however, wasn't fazed by their appearance in the slightest.

"I was worried about you guys," she said in a scolding tone. "Where have you been?"

"Kicking butt for the first time in Japan!" the turtle with the red bandana answered with pride. His name was Raphael, the second eldest of the four, and carried twin sai on his belt.

"It was awesome!" the turtle with the blue bandana said. His name was Leonardo, the eldest of the four, he carried two Ninjato swords on his back.

"Righteous!" the turtle with the orange bandana added. His name was Michelangelo, the youngest, who carried a pair of nunchakus on his belt.

"Spaztastic!" said the turtle with the purple bandana. His name was Donatello, the third oldest, and he carried a bo staff on his back.

"Spaztastic?" the other three turtles responded looking at him confused.

"Super-tastic?" Donatello suggested to which the others just rolled their eyes.

"So, did you guys pick up dinner as well?" April asked.

"Ta-Da!" the four turtles presented her with three large pizza boxes.

"Pizza. Great." she responded unenthusiastically. "We're only in Japan, why bother trying anything different."

"Exactly!" the four turtles agreed oblivious to her sarcasm.

April unpacked a laptop and started setting up while her four reptilian friends each ate a slice of pizza. They enjoyed them as if they were food from Heaven.

"Okay guys, I should have the camera ready for video any second now," April announced.

Hearing this, the four reptilians put down their beloved food and gathered around the laptop screen. A second later, a man in his late 20s with black hair and blue eyes appeared on the screen. His name was Casey Jones, a vigilante living in New York.

"Hey, guys!" the man greeted everyone.

"Casey!" the four turtles reciprocated.

"How's it going?" Michelangelo asked.

"Hope keeping New York clean hasn't been too much trouble," Raphael said.

"Actually, crime here has been pretty slow since you guys left," Casey replied.

"Wanna hear how our first butt-kicking in Japan went?" Michelangelo asked excitedly.

"I'll be right here listening. There's someone here who's really eager to talk with you guys."

Casey turned his screen till it showed a big, elderly, humanoid rat creature sitting in a cross-legged posture on screen. The rat wore a raggedy red robe and had bandages wrapped around his hands and feet.

"Who's gonna tell him?" Donatello asked the others.

"You, Leo, you," Michelangelo suggested gesturing to Leonardo who stepped forward.

"We have had our first battle in Japan, Master Splinter. They were vicious, but we kicked…" he explained excitedly. But then he settled down and spoke in a calmer tone giving a fist and palm salute. "We fought well, Sensei."

"Were you seen?" the old rat known as Master Splinter asked in a raspy voice dripping with wisdom, to which Leo shook his head 'no'. "Do not forget, my sons, that you are in the land where ninjutsu was born. You cannot afford to lapse. Even though you are trained in their fighting style, the people there would still not understand. No matter where we go, our domain is still the shadow. We move in and out of darkness, strike our enemies quick and hard without warning, and fade away without a trace."

"Understood, Master," Leo respectfully acknowledged.

"Teacher's Pet," Raphael mocked his brother earning him a glare from Leo.

"Raphael!" Splinter said in a scolding tone. Once he all his sons' attention again, he regained his composure. "Have you made any discoveries?"

"No," Leo replied.

"Nuh-uh," Michelangelo added.

"Nothing," Raphael said.

"The guys we fought tonight were just a gang of ordinary street punks," Donatello reported.

"Maybe there's nothing too big happening here in Japan," April suggested.

"I think not," Splinter disagreed. "During my meditation last week, I felt a great disturbance in the flow of the world's ki. A dark and terrible evil is making its return and will throw the world into chaos. I sent all you to Japan because that is where I feel the disturbance is strongest. We must find the source of this growing darkness and stop it. We may be the world's only hope."

"We will continue to stick to the shadows and inform you of anything we find, Master," Leonardo replied respectfully. The rest of his brothers nodded in agreement.

"Good luck, my sons."

With that, the video conference ended leaving the four young reptiles and their human friend to think of their next move.

"So, what now?" Michelangelo asked.

"I don't know, Mikey," Donatello replied. "I wish we knew exactly what we're supposed to be looking for."

"You guys think maybe the Foot might be involved in this?" April suggested.

"If they are, we'll give them another taste of Turtle Power," Raphael replied eager to fight.

"Master Splinter wound not have sent us here if he didn't think something was wrong," Leonardo said. "We need to stay alert and keep our eyes open for anything not human."