The turtles are blindfolded by the side of their masks, while Yuuki had a normal blindfold, holding bamboo sticks as part of their training. Everyone came to Casey's farmhouse for a break from everything. However, Splinter wanted to use their time to train and not relax.
"Master Splinter," Donnie speaks "When you said that we we're coming up here for a little rest and recuperation, I though maybe you meant rest and recuperation."
"Ah, Donatello, there is nothing more restful for a ninja than rigorous training." Splinter explains. "It brings focus and-" He hears game noises from behind him and turns to see Mikey with his eyes glued to the screen of the videogame he was playing, with his mask off. Splinter smacks it out of the turtle's hands.
Mikey kneels down to pick it up "Gamedude! Speak to me Gamedude!"
Splinter drags him back to the others by his mask. Casey and April were relaxing in the shade by the trees watching. Venus sat with her legs crossed reading a book while Mona leaned over her shoulder reading along with her as Venus helped her.
"Now, defend yourselves." Splinter said.
"Uh, sensei, we got zero visibility here." Raph pointed out. Splinter flips over them and charges at Leo, who defends himself. Raph blocks his staff as do Donnie and Mikey. Then Yuuki blocks it as well.
"Not bad, huh, sensei?" Mikey asked.
"Not bad at all." Splinter kneels on one knee "We are finished for the day." Everyone except Leo puts their bamboo sticks down. Splinter trips them, causing them to fall into each other like dominoes and landed on the ground in a pile, but Leo jumps over them at the last second.
"Master Splinter, you said that we were finished." Donnie said.
"A true ninja should never believe everything he hears." Splinter bows to the blue mask turtle and he bows back "Well done, Leonardo."
"There goes Leo making us look bad again." Donnie retorts as he stands up.
"Yeah, Leo doesn't always get it right." Raph murmurs as he stands, straightening his mask back into place.
"What was that, Raphael?" Splinter calls out.
"Uh, nothing, sensei." Raph answers, nervously walking past him. Leo helped Yuuki as he helped pull her up off of the ground.
"Come, let us sit and talk." Splinter said as they approached April who was reading and Casey, who was lying in his lounge chair. Venus was meditating on the blanket while Mona silently played and picked with the dandelions as they sat on the blanket that was laid out.
"No big deal, really, but I was thinking about the first time we met the Shredder and how he almost had Leonardo here going over to the dark side." Raph said, waving his fingers.
"He did what now?" Venus questions, intrigued.
Leo groans and places an hand on is forehead "Oh, here we go again. You know, I still feel like an idiot about that whole thing." He explains.
"And I don't blame ya. The Shredder almost had you believing that he was a good guy, remember?" Raph asked.
"The Shredder invited you and Yuuki to a little party, and like suckers, you went...alone."
"Hey, I was kidnapped. I didn't really have a choice." Yuuki chimed in.
"Don't interrupt."
"Sorry."
Leo looks around suspiciously until he sees Yuuki being surrounded by a dozen of Foot ninjas. He growls and quickly pulls out his swords and jumped "Mind if a cut in?" He asked, landing next to her facing the ninjas.
Leo looked over his shoulder at Yuuki "Stay close to me no matter what." She nodded.
Three ninjas made their move. They launch themselves at Leo and Yuuki. Leo kicks two of them knocking them back. The other one throws a lunch at Yuuki and she quickly side stepped tripping them. They fell into on top of three ninjas. Another one draws their sword making a charge at her from behind. Leo flips her spinning her around kicking them out of the way. One comes up from behind Leo. Yuuki tapped them on the back they turned around and she punches them in the face sending them flying last Leo. He looks in surprise then smiled.
They hear clapping and turn to see a man standing in the shadows. "Impressive. Very impressive." He comments and stops clapping. "My agents said that you were good, but their description doesn't do you two justice." He steps out with a grin on his face, standing a few feet away from them.
"I am Oroku Saki, eighth generation master of ninjitsu and you both are?" The man finishes, gesturing to the two. Leo puts away his swords "Leonardo, and this is Yuuki." Leo said, bowing, while Yuuki silently stared at the man standing behind the turtle.
"I felt that it was urgent that we meet. There are things that you need to know. You have been caught in the middle of a battle that is so much bigger than yourselves, but, you must know, there is a force. A corrupt and evil force that is out there, right now, working its insidious tentacles into every aspect of our world." Saki sighs and looks at the Foot Clan symbol.
"Unfortunately, the only thing standing against this evil force is me and my humble army of ninjas. We stand alone against them, as my master did and his master before him. It has been my destiny to fight for the side of good," "I was hoping that you would find it in your hearts to join me and fight against this evil. We could stand together."
Mikey breathes deeply "Join me Leonardo and Yuuki. I am your father." He mimics in a deep voice.
"I can't believe you bought the Shredder's whole twisted story." Raph replies.
"Neither can I." Leo murmurs
"Do not feel bad my son. You hoped that his words were true. It is the nature of a good heart to hope." Splinter tells him, placing a hand on his heart.
"I'm just glad you guys opened my eyes, especially you sensei and Yuuki. I should have seen through the Shredder's lies. I should've seen it coming." Leo said. Sitting beside him, Yuuki took Leo's hand holding it "Don't be hard on yourself. We all make mistakes."
"Yeah, well, I'm just glad that the Shredder didn't see Master Splinter coming." Mikey comments, pointing at Splinter.
"Remember the first time we went to face the Shredder?" The Shredder knocks Donnie back, sending him sliding into a wall. "He kicked our shells all over the place."
The Shredder raises his gauntlet getting ready to strike Leo from behind "No!" Leo turns to see Raph blocking the gauntlet with his sais. Shredder picks him up by his belt and throws him to the wall. Mikey is surrounded by ninjas. Yuuki jumps in to help him fight them. While he was distracted, Shredder kicks him into the wall and he lands on his injured foot "Ow.."
Yuuki saw the Shredder coming after Leo as he was fighting some ninjas. She charged at Shredder but he quickly turned around and kicked her away. Sending her flying into the wall, hard. She slumped to the ground along side the three brothers.
"Yuuki!" Leo called out to her in alarm. He rushes over trying to get to the others until Shredder blocked his way. Shredder knocks him into the wall.
"None of you will leave here alive!" Shredder narrows his eyes into slits and raises his gauntlet getting ready to deliver the blow.
"I thought for sure that the Shredder was going to finish us all off."
"Yeah, too bad he forgot one thing," "A little 90 pound weapon of mass destruction we like to call our dear old dad."
Splinter jumps down from the water tower and blocks the gauntlet with his staff. "You destroyed my family once, I will not allow that to happen again."
Splinter strikes Shredder with his staff and jumps to the water tower, glancing at it. He gestures to the Shredder with his finger. Shredder charges at him and tries to punch him, but Splinter dodges and uses his staff to block more blows. Splinter evades him as he slices at the rat with his gauntlet, hitting the support beams of the water tower. Splinter gets an idea and quickly moves away as Shredder slices more beams. The water tower starts to creak. The Shredder notices.
"This is for my Master Yoshi!" Splinter declares and he kicks one of the support beams, allowing the water tower to fall. The turtles and Yuuki move away from the water tower as they climbed up the wall. Shredder makes a run for it as the tower collapses down on him, spraying water everywhere as it breaks. Soon, it stops and Shredder is on the ground, wet, along with his army of ninjas. From above, the water tower falls on top of him.
"I thought I had avenged my Master Yoshi," The Shredder gauntlet rises up from the wreckage "But the Shredder was not finished."
"Finished? I wonder if he'll ever be finished." Casey comments.
"He does have a habit of coming back." Leo pointed out.
"Yeah, remember April's place?" Donnie asked.
"I wish I could forget it." Mikey said, with his head on his knees.
Leo crashes through the windows. They give a look of shock and he lands on the floor, bruised.
"Leo!" Donnie exclaimed.
"Leo, what happened?!" Raph demanded.
Mikey kneels beside him holding his head, gently. Leo struggles to open his eyes. "Who did this to you?!" Raph asks as his vision clears. They all look worried. Leo grunts and closes his eyes. Raph scowls in anger and clenches his fists.
"I'm gonna find out who did this." He growls, pulling out his sais walking towards the window.
"No, Raph, wait." Leo calls out, hoarsely. He kneels next to him and Leo pulls him closer
"He's back the...Shredder." He mumbles, weakly.
The door bursts open and the Shredder steps in. "Oh, crud." Raph mutters under his breath.
"It's really him, like Leo said." Mikey said as the Shredder stands before them.
"Say farewell to each other while you still can."
"Oh, yeah, Mr. Spiky pants? Well, you should be saying...farewell...to, uh, yourself!" Mikey retorts, nervously.
"Oh, yeah, Mikey that got 'em." Raph deadpans. Shredder narrows his eyes at them.
"Guys, I say we shred his butt once and for all!" Raph declares. They charge at him. Shredder punches Raph down before knocking Mikey to the floor. Donnie leaps with his bo staff and Shredder grabs his weapon before sending Donnie flying into a pole next to Leo, Splinter, April and Yuuki. The Elite jump down in front of the Shredder.
"Finish them off." Shredder orders.
The Elite charge at the turtles, knocking them down one by one. Mikey jumps to the door and opens it "Everybody in here! We can hold them off!"
As Raph and Casey fend off the ninjas, April and Yuuki help get Leo inside. Splinter, Raph and Casey run inside. Mikey locks the door and Shredder barricades it with a metal bar. Pulling out a sphere, he presses it and throws it to the ground, the shop catches on fire.
"Like the Phoenix, I have risen from the ashes!" He said, swiping an pipe, which causes steam to come out.
"Hey, this door's getting hot." Mikey tells them, trying to open the door. "It's jammed! It won't open!"
"Gas plus flame equals...let's book now!" Casey realizes. "We gotta get out of here!" Raph exclaimed as he and Mikey tried to pry the door open with their weapons. The fire grows larger and larger until it finally explodes, knocking the police back.
"That was NOT a good day." Leo comments. April sighs, sadly, as she hugs her knees.
"I really miss that old place," She turns to them "Do you think he's gone for good? The Shredder?"
"I don't know. I sure thought Leo here finished him off at the Foot Headquarters." Raph said.
Leo lands in front of the fire, holding the Sword of Tengu, glaring intensely at the Shredder, who has Leo's swords. The two narrow their eyes at each other. They grip their swords tightly before the Shredder leaps into the air. Leo jumps as well.
They yell as the inch closer to each other in the air and a slice is heard as they land. Leo turns his head at the Shredder before seeing his head fall off of his body. The body crashes to the ground, dropping Leo's swords. Leo sheathes the Sword of Tengu away while Raph hand his own swords back to him. The five stared down at the Shredder, silently. The Shredder is no more.
"But it wasn't the end of him. Remember what happened the night our pals the Utroms were finally gonna beam themselves back home?"
Mortu kneels down and crawls out of his body. "Donatello, would you do me the honor of powering up the transmat?"
"Sweet!" Donnie exclaimed, excitedly. Suddenly, shurikens are thrown at the panel. It sparks and Donnie jumps away from it. "The Shredder came back into the TCRI building...badder than ever!"
They look to see the Shredder and the others have returned. "As long as I live, you will not leave this place alive!"
Shredder drops something and the device sinks into the floor, beginning to countdown. Weird red lines began to glow and seep through the floor and spread throughout the room. "Seems like he's always trying to make sure we never leave anywhere alive." Donnie and Mikey walk over to the device. Donnie bends down to pick it up.
"Do not touch it!" Mortu exclaimed as he runs over to them. "It is an Utrom implosion device, the techno organic virus it contains will destroy you. Already it had thoroughly infected the system. The entire building will implode in less than ten minutes!"
Everyone gasps in shock and horror. The turtles, Yuuki, Mona, Venus and Splinter stand against the Shredder.
"Bomb schomb. You guys are forgetting the freaky part of that whole ordeal," The Shredder leaps at them and fights them. "The Shredder's true identity!"
"You pathetic creatures have interfered with my plans one time too many! For that, you shall pay with your lives!" The Shredder raises his gauntlet to strike, but Splinter blocks it with his staff.
"Shredder, there is no time!," Splinter protests. "The building's about to implode. Even you could not survive!"
Shredder uses his other claw and breaks Splinter's staff in half. "Then we shall perish together!"
Donnie tries to use his staff to hit the Shredder, but it only breaks in half and Shredder kicks him. One minute was left on the bomb. The Shredder then knocks down Splinter. Mikey attacks and manages to get in a few hits while Raph and Mona penetrates his armor with sais. Leo slices at his armor.
"Guys!" Donnie calls out as he runs to the control panel. "Use your weapons to penetrate his armor, I think we can stop him for good!" They stab their weapons into the armor and Yuuki throws her Tessen penetrating right through it.
"You pathetic creatures," The Shredder groans as he is still standing "Cannot defeat me!"
"Don't be so sure!" Donnie shouted as he connects two wires. A large spark flies and hits the Shredder, electrocuting him. He howls in pain. He falls down to the floor with a thud. As they walk to stand around his fallen body, they hear a noise coming from the Shredder and they look to see smoke seep out from the Shredder's stomach, opening up. A pair of eyes glared at them.
"Ahh!" Mikey screamed. "Man, when we found out that the Shredder was an Utrom, I nearly soiled my shell!"
The Utrom growls and jumps latching his tentacles around Yuuki's face. She squirmed trying to get him off. "Nasty little bug." Raph comments.
"Get it off!" Mikey shouted as Leo tries to get the alien off but the Utrom snaps at him. Splinter uses his staff to pry the creature off of her and flings the alien across the room.
"Guys, quick!" Donnie calls out. They run to the transmat. The Utrom follows them right at their tails. The bomb counts closer and closer to zero. The Utrom jumps to catch them, but they disappear. He screams as a look of horror is on his face and the bomb goes off.
"How come every place we go, things get blown up?"
"Just lucky, I guess."
"Lucky? Yeah, but that last time wasn't so lucky for the Shredder." Donnie pointed out.
"There's no way he could have survived that, right?" April asks.
"I dunno, April, the Shredder may play rough, he may play dirty, but he don't play dead." Mikey answers.
"Yeah, but he sure leaves a path of destruction wherever he goes. I can't help but think of Master Yoshi." Leo explained.
Yoshi practices his skills and Splinter copies him. "Not only was he Master Splinter's sensei and your father, he was also an guardian sworn to protect valuable secrets of the Utroms. Secrets that the Shredder and his forces would stop at nothing to learn."
Suddenly, Hun punches the door open. "But, he didn't go down without a fight though."
"Yeah, from what Master Splinter says, Master Yoshi was one tough dude." Mikey said.
"I wish we could've met him." Donnie commented.
The ninjas and Hun trap Yoshi. "You have to admire Master Yoshi's courage."
"He was defiant to the last." Shredder enters the room.
"Yeah, he really threw in the Shredder's face."
"Like some else we know."
"He who lives without honor...will end without honor!"
"Even though it cost him his life." Shredder raises his gauntlet before delivering the final blow to Yoshi. Splinter closes his eyes as a haunting sound of a slice hits his ears.
Splinter sighs. "When I think of my Master Yoshi, my heart aches. But, I know that Master Yoshi kept his honor to the end. A true warrior. A true Guardian. A true father."
Casey stands up enraged. "With the Shredder and Hun and the Purple Dragons!" He grabs his chair and smashes it against the trees. "The heartless goons, like, I just wanna gaaah!"
Everyone stares at him uncomfortably. "I think what Mr. Jones here is trying to say is, we're all sorry for your loss Master Splinter." April sits down with him, holding his hand. She turns to Yuuki "And you as well."
"I may not remember him, but at least I have you guys and my parents. That's good enough for me. " Yuuki said, smiling.
"Thank you," Splinter bows to April. "We have all suffered at the hands of the Shredder."
April and Casey look down at their hands before glancing back up at each other. They quickly retract their hands and Casey scratches his neck sheepishly and April blushing.
"You guys wanna know the funny part?" Donnie ponders.
"There's a funny part?" Raph asks, sarcastically.
"Well, not haha funny, but kinda ironic. I was thinking that the Shredder had a bigger hand in our lives than we know. Without the Shredder, we'd all still be pet turtles in a glass jar right now." Everyone give him confused looks.
"What'cha talking about Willis?" Mikey asked in a deep voice.
"Well, allow me to explain. As you all might recall, we got mutated by that strange ooze when we were only babies."
"I remember as if it were yesterday. You were all so cute." Splinter comments.
"The ooze that mutated us came from the TCRI building, right? And why did the TCRI building even exist? Because the Utroms were trying to build their transmat so they could go home! And why did the Utroms need to go home?" Donnie continues.
"Because they were late for dinner?" Mikey jokes.
"No, because an evil prisoner they were transporting across the galaxy sabotage their starship. Causing them to crash-land on Earth centuries ago. And they've been trapped here ever since. And who was the evil prisoner who caused the Utroms so much trouble? He was in fact, ah, drum roll please...the Shredder!"
Night-time has fallen, and everyone was surrounded by the campfire as they listen. "Ahem, ergo the Shredder had a direct hand in our creation. See what I mean?"
They give Donnie confused looks "I think I speak for everyone when I say, no." Raph answers.
"Ladies and mutants, how NOT to tell our origin story." Mikey said, sarcastically.
"No, listen, if the Shredder hadn't made the Utroms crash in the first place, then they never would have developed the ooze. And if they never developed the ooze, we'd never had been mutated and if we've never been mutated, we'd be eating fish flakes in some kid's aquarium right now!" Everyone went silent taking in the information.
"Whoa, that's really deep." Mikey scratches his head.
Raph shivers. "Being that closely related to the Shredder makes me feel...dirty."
"Hmm, the Shredder may be apart of our origin, but it is we who chose our fate." Splinter said.
"And even if the Shredder is still out there, no matter what he throws at us, no matter how much he messes up our lives, nothing he does will change the most important thing: that we're family," Leo puts his hands on Yuuki's and Mikey's shoulders.
Mikey bursts out laughing. "Leo, that was off the charts of the sap 'o meter. You've been watching way too many after-school specials, bro." He points a marshmallow at Leo's plastron.
"Just eat your s'mores and keep quiet, Mikey. Leo's got a point." Raph said. Mikey throws throws the marshmallow at his nose and he growls, clenching his fists. Yuuki covers her mouth as she snickers.
Mikey continues laughing, rolling on his back "You are so dead, laughing boy." Raph charges at him.
"Watch the graham crackers!" Leo warns, but it was too late as Raph and Mikey rolls over them as Raph tackles Mikey. Leo and Donnie got up and jump into the fight to stop them. Casey stands up "Pile on!" He exclaimed as he jumps into the pile as the others watched.
Yuuki couldn't hold it anymore and she busts out laughing out loud holding her sides. Her eyes watered from laughing to hard. Mona watched in silence not knowing if she should intervene or not. Venus stood up and walked over to the rolling pile yelling at them, trying to get them to stop.
"Well, it's definitely a family. Do you think we'll ever be able to teach the kids some manners?" April said to Splinter.
"Miss O'Niel, teaching the art of ninjitsu is hard enough. I am afraid even I cannot work those," He answers.
In the middle of the night, while everyone was asleep, a creak from the floor boards, and the sound of a door shutting woke Donnie up. He rubs his eyes walks to the window to see Venus. He opens the window then climbs out on to the roof, shutting it quietly. Then he follows after her to the lake behind the farmhouse.
As Venus inches closer towards the bank of the lake, she heard the sound of a twig snap.
She immediately gets her guard up. "Who's there?!" She shouted. She saw no one there. Venus frowns then bent down and picks up a rock then throws it at the bushes.
"Ow!" Donnie falls out of the bush holding his head, rubbing it. Surprised, Venus covers her mouth, mortified. She runs over to him "I'm sorry!" She apologized profusely, scanning it to make sure that wasn't bleeding. Donnie stands smiling sheepishly "It was my own fault for snooping. You have nothing to apologize for."
" Still, I'm sorry. " Venus answered.
"What are you doing out here?" Donnie asked
" I just going for a midnight swim." She said. "Would you care to join me?"
" Okay. " Donnie said.
Donnie's eyes widen "Uh, V-Venus, what are you doing?" He asked, nervously as he saw her taking off her armbands then finally her belt, leaving just her mask on. She was almost completely naked in front of him. He quickly covers his eyes and glances away, blushing.
She turns around, smirking "You do swim do you not?" Venus asked as she neatly laid her stuff in the ground.
Donnie stammered as his eyes fixated on her, completely entranced "Oh, I swim, p-pretty girl-" He immediately corrects himself "pretty good, pretty good, it's good, swim good, I swim pretty good. " He answers nervously. She laughs. Donnie takes off his wrist bands and elbow and knee pads then finally undid his belt and laid them in a pile along with his bo staff.
Venus stepped into the water, with Donnie following after her. They shiver as the cold, soothing water brush again their skin. Then, Donnie jumps into the lake with a big splash, also splashing Venus as well. Venus dives in after him swimming deep.
The moonlight reflected in the water, illuminating it. Donnie was captivated as he watched Venus swim, gracefully under water. He had never seen anything so beautiful. Eventually, they came back up to the surface for air.
As they catch their breaths, Donnie turns to Venus "What was your people like?" He asked, curious.
"So many questions." Venus answers, smiling, shaking her head.
Donnie blushed. Venus smiled "Well, we were like your Earth terms, to monks."
"And how do you fight knowing exactly where to hit?"
Venus pauses and looks away from him "My eyes." She said, bitterly. Donnie gives her a confused look. "Your eyes? What do you mean?" He asked.
Venus turns back to him staring at him silently then reaches for the knot on her mask to untie it letting her mask fall around her neck. Pale translucent pupiless pinkish lavender eyes stared back at him.
"My eyes enable me to see chi flow in the body and where to hit it to blocking the flow." She explained. "Some of my people have this gift but it is sought after by many."
"Is that why Zanramon told you belong to him because of your eyes? " Donnie questions.
"Yes. Also, whose ever offspring that I have, they will inherited it as well." She tells him.
"Have you and him ever?" Donnie asked.
"Thankfully, No. We never had the chance to." Venus answered. They floated in their backs looking at the starry sky. Venus turns her head to him "Say, Donatello, would you like to help me rebuild the Turtleoid race?" She teases.
Donnie's eyes grew wide, he wasn't sure if he heard that right, and he immediately looks at her, shocked " W-What?!" He said, in disbelief. "Y-you m-mean you and I-I? R-Right now?!" He was extremely nervous. Never before in his life, he had a woman asked him to do something intimate with him.
Venus laughs. She shakes her head "No, I don't mean, right now. What I meant is, in time, when both of us are ready." She said.
"Then it's a promise." Donnie agreed. Venus smiles until She notices Donnie smile drop. "Is something wrong?" She asked, worried.
"It's nothing, really." He tells her. "It doesn't seem like nothing." She said "Come to think of it, you look like you had something on your mind all day." He looks at her silently. Venus swims over to him "Please, I like to help."
He sighs. "Back at the TCRI building, before we even met you, there were so many questions that I wanted to ask the Utroms. I wanted to know why we were mutated the way we are now. Why were we here? That we weren't just a mistake. But I guess that's all that we're ever be." Donnie splashes the water hard with his fist. "I thought that we were special. I just wish that I had the chance to ask them but I guess I never will, now." Then, he felt something press against his shell.
Donnie turns his head to see Venus, close to him with her hand on his shell. She leaned and rested her forehead against it.
"You are special...to me." She replied, softly. Donnie felt his heart flutter. He never felt like this to anyone before. He smiles sheepishly "You're special to me as well." He said. Venus returns the smile, blushing.
"Come on, let's head back before the others know that we're gone." Donnie said starting to swim back.
Donnie and Venus swim back to shore and gathered their gear putting them back on and walked back to the farmhouse.