Shortly after the two Foot mutants escaped, the moment of truth arrived.
Originally, the NY group planned to tell them everything, but they suddenly appeared, so they had to postpone the conversation until later.
Now that they were rid of them, it was time to tell them about their greatest enemy, so they gathered in a room so they could talk without interruption.
"So, those are your greatest enemy?" asked Raya.
"Yes." said Leo.
"The ones who, according to you, are as serious as the Druun?" asked Namaari.
"That's right." said Raph.
"Aren't you exaggerating a bit? We crushed those foot-bots and those two mutants ran away with their tails between their legs." said Tong.
"Never better said." said Boun.
"They're not the real problem, their leader is." said Karai.
"You mean the leader they said they wanted to meet me?" asked Sisu.
"But who is that guy?" asked Raya.
"In order to tell you better, I'd better go back to the origins of the Foot and my clan, the Hamato clan." said Splinter, catching the listeners' interest.
"You'd better not listen, Noi. It's not a story suitable for minors." said April pulling Noi onto her lap and covering her ears.
Despite understanding, Noi crossed her arms in complaint.
The ongis didn't hesitate to do the same.
"Many years ago, in the feudal era of Japan, my home country, there were two very powerful ninja clans. The Hamato clan, whose belief was equality and justice; and the Foot clan, whose belief was survival of the fittest. For centuries, both clans were bitter enemies." began Splinter.
"Why? Did something like Kumandra and the Dragon Gem happen?" asked Sisu.
"I'm afraid it was about much more than that. It was a matter of which belief was the strongest and which clan should be the one that stood as the most powerful of all." said Splinter.
"After hearing that, I'm surprised that in 500 years no kingdom has ever gone to war with another for supremacy." commented Tong.
"Me too." said Boun with a shrug.
"Almost 70 years ago, a great battle happened between the two clans. After days of battle and the loss of many for both sides, the Hamato clan rose to victory and the Foot clan was destroyed. However, amidst the ashes of the battlefield, my father heard a cry and then discovered that the cry came from a baby." said Splinter.
"Oh my god." said Raya in horror.
"What did you do with it?" asked Sisu.
"Even though he was a child of the Foot, my father didn't see him as an enemy, but as a victim of a cruel war. Therefore, he decided to take in the baby and raise him as his son, as my brother. That baby was given the name Oroku Saki." said Splinter.
"Wait, what? You said that Oroku Saki was Splinter's greatest ninjitsu rival." said Namaari remembering when the turtles told them about their origin.
"Yes, but we didn't tell you anything else about him." said Leo.
"Until now." said Donnie.
"Saki and I grew up as brothers even though we weren't related by blood. Over time, we became rivals in almost everything. Something you may have noticed in my children as well." said Splinter.
"Neither confirm nor deny." said Mikey as Raya, Namaari and Sisu chuckled.
"I hear you. If you knew how many times my siblings and I competed…" said Boun.
"However, as the years went by, what was once a friendly rivalry eventually turned into something more, especially when we both fell in love with the same woman. Tang Shen. She was beautiful, compassionate, intelligent, strong and a little temperamental." said Splinter with a smile as he remembered the woman he had loved.
"Sounds like someone I know." said Raya and Namaari in unison before looking at each other with surprise that then turned into a slight chuckle.
"As I told you, our rivalry became something more. In every challenge we had, I always won and that made him decide not to lose to me for having Tang Shen." said Splinter.
"So he didn't want Tang Shen for love? He wanted her just to prove he was better? That's pretty low." said Tong.
"What happened then?" asked Raya.
"Tang Shen realized what was going on between us and in the end, he chose me." said Splinter.
"Well, she was right. If I were her, I wouldn't want to be with someone who only wants me as a prize." said Sisu crossing her arms.
It was then that everyone noticed that Splinter's state was one of sadness.
"Something happened, didn't it?" asked Raya.
"Yes. Despite that, Saki didn't stop. He tried to convince Tang Shen to leave me and go with him. One day, he insulted me in front of her and when I couldn't stand it, I hit him. After that, Saki cut off any relationship we had and left." said Splinter.
"Well, he was insulting you in front of your partner. You had a right to defend yourself that way." said Tong.
"True, but I could have ignored him. Let his insults roll over me like water over a stone. Unfortunately, it didn't end there." began Splinter, causing the listeners to linger on the story. "Years later, Tang Shen and I had married and had a daughter we named Miwa." said Splinter making Karai smile.
However, everyone noticed that it wasn't just Splinter, everyone else showed faces of sadness and slight anger.
"But while I was living a dream life, Saki had discovered the truth about himself, about being from the Foot clan and that it was the Hamato clan who destroyed him. At that moment, the anger and jealousy he felt for me turned into hatred and revenge." said Splinter.
Raya couldn't help but feel the same way as him, for when Namaari killed Sisu, she let the hatred and rage consume her and all she thought about was to finish her off in revenge and it almost cost everyone's lives, but luckily, she was able to let those feelings go and go help the others.
However, she felt that didn't happen with him.
"Saki gathered warriors of all classes. He subdued them all and restored the Foot clan with him as its leader, thus taking a new name that had belonged to the leader of the Foot clan for generations. A name that would strike fear into anyone just by hearing it. That name was… Shredder." said Splinter.
He was right.
Just by hearing that name, everyone in Kumandra's group (except Noi and the ongis who had their ears plugged) felt a shiver of fear when they heard that name.
Even Tong felt some fear and that wasn't what they were afraid of anything.
"Saki and his new followers launched a massive attack on the Hamato clan. Because they were unprepared for it, they were unable to defend themselves. In the end, everyone from the Hamato clan, warriors, men, women, elders and children died at the hands of the Foot clan." said Splinter.
Raya couldn't help but put her hands to her mouth in horror when she heard that they had wiped out an entire clan without showing mercy or anything like it.
It wasn't just her, everyone was horrified at that.
"It didn't end there. That same night, Saki came to me with the intention of killing me. I tried to talk to him, to reclaim the brother he once was to me, but as soon as I looked into his eyes, I no longer saw Oroku Saki, but a man consumed by darkness. The two of us got into a brutal fight. Even though we were almost evenly matched, Saki used his darkness to become stronger and overpower me, leaving me immobilized. He was about to give me the final blow, but then… Tang Shen stood in the way… and took the blow instead of me… dying in the process." said Splinter with great pain at the memory.
Everyone in Kumandra's group gasped in horror at hearing that as Namaari put her hands to her mouth in shock and Sisu's pupils shrank.
"Saki blamed me for it and in his anger, he burned down my house. He left me for dead when the house collapsed on me, but my suffering didn't end there, as Saki took my daughter, whom I thought had died on that night along with my wife. With Shredder thinking I had died, I wanted to get away from that place that only caused me pain, so I moved to New York and the rest you know." said Splinter.
Raya and Namaari shed tears of sadness, Tong had an angry expression on his face, Boun just looked on in disbelief and Sisu was completely horrified to hear the story of a man who suffered so much pain for someone he once considered his brother.
"H-How… How could he… do such a thing?" asked Raya.
"I've never heard anything so… horrible." said Namaari.
"I… never… never imagined… that there could be a human so… evil." said Sisu.
"Not even the Druun were so ruthless." said Boun.
"To do something like that to his own brother…" began Tong before slamming the table hard to the point of almost breaking it. "That makes me sick!"
"Unfortunately, it didn't end there." said April uncovering Noi's ears as they were done with the rougher topics.
"After our first overseas adventure, Shredder found out that Splinter had survived, so he came to New York to find him and finish what he started." said Leo.
"And he brought most of the Foot clan with him." said Mikey.
"When he found out we were Hamato Yoshi's apprentices, he put us at the top of his target list." said Raph.
"Not just them. Anyone associated with us also became a target for Shredder, even our friends' families." said Donnie.
"Sometimes they used us as bait to lure them into a trap or hurt us physically to hurt them emotionally and mentally." said Casey.
"And… did you… ever… fight him?" asked Raya.
"Yes and honestly, we were lucky to have survived." said Leo.
That left Kumandra's group surprised.
They had seen the turtles fight and they could tell they were very talented, but to hear that they took on one man and almost died was very disturbing.
"Wait a minute." began Sisu before looking at Karai. "Is that why they call you both Miwa and Karai?"
"Yes, when he took me, Shredder renamed me Karai and raised me as if I were his daughter. For many, he made me believe that he was my father and that my real father was the cause of my mother's death. When he found out he was alive, he sent me to kill him and the turtles, but in the end, they opened my eyes to the truth," said Karai looking at her real family with a smile.
Even though she was raised by an evil man and deceived all her life, everyone smiled to see that she was finally reunited with her real family.
"Well, we already know who your leader is, but who exactly were those two mutants that attacked us earlier?" asked Raya.
"You said their names were Rahzar and Fishface, right?" asked Namaari.
"Technically those are names Mikey gave them when they mutated." said Donnie.
"What do you want me to tell you? I'm an expert at naming mutants." said Mikey.
"Their real names are Chris Bradford and Xever Montes. They were normal humans before they ended up accidentally mutated." said Karai.
"And things got worse when he allied with the Kraang." said Leo.
"Wait, what? He allied with the same guys who want to conquer your world?" asked Boun.
"The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Shredder and the Kraang had us both as primary enemies and Shredder saw that he could use Kraang technology to his advantage." said Splinter.
"Where do you think he got those foot-bots from?" asked Karai.
"He also got the mutagen from them with which he turned some more of his minions into mutants." said April.
"That Shredder must be pretty persuasive if he can get his own men to decide to turn into monsters. Uh… no offense." said Tong.
"No offense." said the turtles in unison.
"But there's one thing I don't understand." began Sisu drawing the attention of the others. "You said that they were coming for me. Why?"
"Something tells me it's not to have a dragon's head hanging over your fireplace." said Casey.
"I think I know why." began Leo getting everyone's attention. "I think Shredder is after your powers."
"My powers?" asked Sisu in confusion.
"That makes sense. You said the first Dragon Gem was created with your siblings' magic." said Donnie.
"Magic that you now possess." said Mikey.
"And if you create one of your own and Shredder gets hold of it…" began Raph.
"He would gain immeasurable power and become unstoppable." said Splinter.
"Great." began Sisu patting her face. "As if fighting the Druun and dying only to be resurrected wasn't enough, now I happen to be in the crosshairs of the most psychopathic human in two worlds!" said Sisu before crossing her arms.
"Don't worry, Sisu. We won't let that guy get his hands on you." said Raya.
"He'll have to go through us first." said Namaari.
"Exactly. I'm not afraid of a guy like him." said Tong.
"Neither am I. Well, maybe a little." said Boun.
Noi let out a couple of squeals as he threw fists in the air, as did the ongis, as a sign that he would fight for his friends.
"I admire your courage, but I recommend you all be prepared. Even though the Foot has lost this battle, it doesn't mean it will give up." said Splinter.
"He's right. I know Shredder well enough to know that he will strike again and who knows what he will send to do so." said Karai.
Kumandra's group became a little nervous, for although they were determined to stand up to them to prevent Sisu from ending up in their hands, they were still worried as they wondered what Shredder would do next.
