Reflections
The jar containing the four Turtles floated in blackness.
"Sometimes you revisit the past."
The jar then shattered open upon hitting the ground and the canister of ooze fell and shattered, leaking ooze, which covered the Turtles.
They appear, now mutated, standing with Alex as they pull their weapons out.
"Other times, the past revisits you."
They all stared at Elite Guard, the Water Mystic, some Foot Tech Ninjas and some members of the Purple Dragons. They all turned to see they were completely surrounded.
The Purple Dragon with the mohawk vanished when Donnie swung his bo staff at him.
Same for the Guard with the battle axe when Mikey swung a nunchuck.
And also with a Foot Tech Ninja with Raph's sais, Alex with the Water Mystic and Leo with the Purple Dragon with the blue ponytail.
"Those moments can blur the boundary between memories and reality."
All of their enemies vanished until a large version of the Shredder appeared, holding all five brothers in his open palm as he laughed with malice.
Everything went white as Splinter opened his eyes from mediating, looking at his sons, as well as Alopex, Tiger Claw, Mona Lisa and Rebeca, all meditating.
"And yet sometimes, the past is a mirror in which we can see the reflection of what danger the future holds."
Splinter stroked his chin as he started thinking of what he saw in that vision.
Everyone was at the Jones family farmhouse to kick back and relax after everything that happened at the TCRI building, which occurred about five days ago.
The Battle Shell was parked next to the barn while Casey, April and Rebecca relaxed by a tree on a lawn chair and picnic blanket.
Meanwhile, everyone else was in the middle of training. All of them, except Splinter, were all blindfolded. The Turtles used their own headbands, Tiger Claw used his scarf and the rest used cloth. And all of them wielded bamboo sticks.
Alex changed from his long sleeve henley to a white short sleeve t-shirt with a v-neck.
"Master Splinter, when you said we were coming up here for a little rest and recuperation, I thought maybe you meant rest and recuperation." Donnie complained.
"Yeah, did you really have to deceive us like that?" Alex agreed with Donnie as they stood with everyone except Mikey. He didn't mind training, he doesn't like being manipulated, no matter how Splinter defends himself.
"Ah, my sons, there is nothing more restful for a ninja than rigorous training." Splinter replied. "It brings focus and -"
He heard beeping behind him, so he turned to see Mikey playing a video game with his headband lifted up so he could see.
Mikey chuckled until Splinter knocked the game out of his hands with his walking stick.
"Game Dude! Speak to me, Game Dude!" Mikey panicked as he bent down and picked up the game device.
Splinter then pulled on his headband, dragging him to everyone else, making him repeatedly say "Ow!".
April, Casey and Rebecca watched from where they were. Casey relaxed on the lawn chair while April lay on her chest, reading a book and Rebecca sat up. Now that she was no longer a Guardian, she relieved herself of her uniform and now wore normal clothes, currently wearing joggers and a sports bra under a grey button up shirt.
Mikey covered his eyes with his headband as Splinter pointed his walking stick at his sons and his new pupils, who were able to keep up and got along with everyone since properly meeting at TCRI.
"Now, defend yourselves." He told all of them.
"Uh, Sensei, we got zero visibility here." Raph pointed out.
"If only you had ears like me and Ti." Alopex taunted as she and Tiger Claw flicked their ears.
"Oh, ha-ha." Raph chuckled sarcastically.
Splinter jumped over the group and landed in front of Leo, swinging his walking stick at him over head, but Leo blocked him with ease and swiped at him, but Splinter jumped away in time.
He landed in front of Raph and swung his walking stick to Raph's right, though he was blocked and jumped away when Raph tried to swipe at his feet and whacked Donnie's pole from above.
Then he landed to Mona's right and swung for her head, but she blocked the attack and tried to hit him with her tail, but Splinter flipped over at Alopex and tried to swing his walking stick down on her head, but she blocked him from above and shoved him away towards Tiger Claw, who twirled his bamboo stick to block Splinter from hitting his chest and tried to kick him, but Splinter jumped over towards Alex, who instantly blocked Splinter mere inches from his face and grabbed his walking stick, throwing him away.
Splinter finally landed in front of Mikey, who blocked an attack towards his legs.
"Not bad, huh, Sensei?" Mikey asked as he rested his bamboo stick on his shoulder.
"Yes, not bad at all." Splinter replied as he sat on his knees.
Everyone, except for Alex and Leo, dropped their sticks and removed their blindfolds.
"We are finished for today." Splinter then said.
But then he tripped Mikey with his walking stick, making him fall onto everyone else.
They all yelped and both Alex and Leo jumped up before Raph and Tiger Claw could fall on top of them and flipped over everyone, landing on the other side.
Rebecca watched with a proud smile, seeing how her son was just like Lance, being among the very best trained.
"Master Splinter, you said we were finished!" Donnie said in annoyance.
"Yeah, what gives?" Mona groaned, being the rookie in comparison to everyone else, she was trying to get used to now becoming a ninja, or a kunoichi, a female ninja.
"A true ninja should never believe everything they hear." Splinter pointed out as Alex and Leo approached him, Leo turning his headband normal and Alex removing the cloth.
"Well done, Leonardo and Alexander." He told them and they bowed back.
"There goes Alex and Leo making us look bad again." Donnie bemoaned as Leo helped him up.
"It's not our fault you guys don't put as much effort as us into training." Alex retorted as he helped up both Alopex and Tiger Claw.
"Yeah, well Leo, in particular, doesn't always get it right." Raph muttered as he straightened his headband while standing up.
"What was that, Raphael?" Splinter asked.
"Uh, nothing, Sensei." Raph said as everyone walked over to April, Casey and Rebecca.
"Come, let us sit and talk." Splinter said.
"It's no big deal, really." Raph said as they all sat down. "But I was just thinking about the first time we met the Shredder. And how he almost had Leonardo here going over to the dark side."
"You what?" Mona frowned, having never heard about this till now.
"He lied to me and Leo to try and make us work for him, and while I didn't fall for it, Leo clearly did" Alex said, putting Leo in his place, making Leo sigh.
"Here we go again." He cringed, placing a hand on his head. "You know, I still feel like an idiot about that whole thing."
"I don't blame you." Raph replied. "The Shredder almost had you believing he was a good guy, remember?"
Alex and Leo remembered very well.
The two of them approached the warehouse they were invited to.
"The Shredder invited you two to a little party. And you went… alone."
The two then opened the door and entered, finding themselves in a large empty room.
"Hello? Is anyone here?" Alex called out.
Various Foot Ninjas appeared out of the shadows and surrounded the pair as they pulled out their katanas.
Within seconds, the two punched, kicked and sliced at all ninjas, knocking them out and leaving them moaning and groaning in pain as they lay.
Then they heard clapping and turned to see Oroku Saki standing in the shadows.
"Impressive, very impressive." Saki said before he stopped clapping. "My agents said you were good, but their description doesn't do the both of you justice." He then stepped out of the shadows. "I am Oroku Saki, eighth generation master of ninjutsu. And you are?"
Alex and Leo put their katanas away and stared Saki down.
"I'm Alexander, and this is my brother, Leonardo." Alex introduced themselves.
"I felt it was urgent that we meet." Saki then said. "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."
He then sighed before turning to the wall that had a large Foot symbol on it.
"Unfortunately, the only thing standing against this evil force is me and my humble army of ninjas. We stand alone against him as my master did and his master before him." Saki said as he turned back to Alex and Leo. "It has been my destiny to fight for the side of good." He then walked up to the pair. "I was hoping you would find it in your hearts to join me and fight against this evil. We could stand together."
Everyone sat silently while Mikey breathed hard.
"Join me, Leonardo, I am your father." He said, imitating Darth Vader, earning a whack to the head by Tiger Claw.
"Knock it off." Tiger Claw growled.
"I just can't believe you bought the Shredder's whole twisted story." Raph told Leo.
"Neither can I." Leo shuddered.
"At least I knew right away he was nothing but a liar." Alex said.
"Do not feel bad, my son." Splinter reassured Leo. "You hoped his words were true. It is the nature of a good heart to hope."
"I'm just glad you guys opened my eyes. Especially you, Sensei." Leo said gratefully. "Like Alex, I should've seen through the Shredder's lies. I should've seen it coming."
"Yeah, well, I'm just glad that the Shredder didn't see Master Splinter coming." Mikey pointed out.
Alex and the Turtles stood in front of the supports of a water tower on a rooftop, facing the Shredder and some Foot Ninjas on the other side of the rooftop.
Shredder glared at Alex and the Turtles, who glared back.
"Remember that first time we went to face the Shredder?"
Shredder sent three palm strikes at Donnie, launching him right into a wall.
"He kicked our shells and ass all over the place!"
Leo was blocking and attacking a ninja with a katana until he kicked him away, unaware that Shredder landed behind him and raised his gauntlet to strike him down, which Alex and Raph spotted.
"Oh, no you don't, cheapskate!" Alex yelled as he and Raph blocked Shredder's gauntlet with their weapons.
Alex then tried kicking him, but Shredder grabbed his leg and Raph's belt, throwing them right at the wall, crashing next to Donnie.
Mikey faced four ninjas as he spun his nunchucks as a couple more approached him from behind, which he noticed and whacked them and the other four out before Shredder landed behind him and punched him right into the wall, groaning in pain.
Leo launched himself at a ninja, kicking them away until he noticed Shredder in front of him, who punched him so hard he was launched into the wall, crashing among his brothers, who all gathered together.
Shredder approached them as his Foot Ninjas crawled away while Splinter watched from on top of the water tower.
Shredder then raised his gauntlet, ready to strike down all five brothers.
"None of you will leave here alive!" Shredder bragged.
"I thought for sure the Shredder was going to finish us all off."
Splinter then opened his eyes.
"Well, he clearly forgot about our best weapon: Master Splinter."
Splinter jumped down and blocked Shredder's strike with his walking stick.
"You destroyed my family once! I will not allow that to happen again!" Splinter swore.
He then deflected Shredder's strike and hit him in the back, knocking him away before jumping over to the water tower, where he looked at the support beams and had an idea as Shredder turned to him.
Splinter dared Shredder, who charged at him with a growl.
Splinter got underneath the water tower and ducked and stepped aside from a couple of punches and then blocked Shredder's gauntlet and kick before stepping back and continued blocking and dodging until Shredder sliced one of the support beams and again as Splinter dodged him.
Splinter jumped over at another beam, which Shredder sliced as Splinter jumped away.
Shredder continued slicing through the beams until the water tower creaked and teetered, making him realise what he had done as Splinter glared at him.
"This is for my Master Yoshi!" He swore before kicking one of the beams.
Shredder gasped as the water tower fell his way.
Water started spilling out as Shredder ran before getting swept up in the water and right before the water tower crashed and splintered open, causing the water to gush out over the edge of the rooftop, sending Shredder's Foot Ninja onto the fire escape while Shredder landed on the street below.
He then looked up as the water tower fell directly over him, making him growl before it seemingly crushed him.
Among the wreckage of the water tower, Shredder's gauntlet rose out.
"I thought I had avenged my Master Yoshi. But the Shredder was not finished."
"Finished? I wonder if he'll ever be finished." Casey pondered.
"He does have a habit of coming back." Leo said.
"Like an annoying cockroach." Alopex growled.
"Yeah. Remember April's place?" Donnie reminded everyone that was there when that happened.
"I don't think I'll ever forget." Alex said with a distant voice.
In April's apartment, Alex and the Turtles, except for Leo, were ready to leave and search for him when he came in through the window, covered in bruises and cuts all over his body, and crashed onto the floor.
"LEO!" Alex yelled in horror.
"Leo, what happened?" Raph questioned before they, Mikey and Donnie gathered around Leo, Mikey lifting his head.
"Seeing Leo like that was just frightening."
Leo was able to briefly open his eyes and see his brothers, groaning in pain as he did so.
"Who did this to you?" Raph asked.
"Come on, Leo, tell us!" Alex demanded in a shaky voice.
Leo didn't answer as he closed his eyes, too exhausted and in pain.
Both Alex and Raph felt their blood boiling as they stood and growled.
"I'm gonna find out who did this!" Raph snarled as he twirled his sais.
"So will I! No one hurts our brother and gets away with it!" Alex growled as he pulled out his katana.
They were about to jump out of the shattered window when Leo spoke.
"No, guys… wait." He strained through the pain.
They turned to their brother and crouched down next to him.
"Who did this, Leo?" Alex asked.
"He's back… the Shredder." Leo replied before passing out.
Later, after some fighting in the apartment and in the shop, Shredder kicked the front door off its hinges with the Elite Guard standing on either side and entered.
"Oh, crud." Raph muttered.
"It's really him, like Leo said." Mikey panicked.
"And still up to his cheap and lazy tactics." Alex snarled with contempt.
"Say farewell to each other while you still can!" Shredder sneered.
"That won't happen, cheesegrater, because you will not have your revenge! Revenge you don't deserve after all you have done!"Alex snarled, baring his teeth, making Shredder growl.
"SILENCE, BRAT!" Shredder roared.
"Guys, I say we shred his butt once and for all!" Raph then declared.
He, Alex, Donnie and Mikey all yelled as they leapt at Shredder.
Raph tried kicking his face but Shredder ducked and punched Raph in the face, knocking Raph onto his shell.
Mikey then tried whacking him, but was hit in the plastron and a nunchuck was knocked out of his hand as he crashed onto the floor.
Donnie leapt in, swinging his staff down over his head, but Shredder jumped back and kicked Donnie away, grabbing his staff as he did so, knocking him right into a metal beam next to April and Leo.
Alex then charged in, swinging his katana, which was blocked by Shredder with Donnie's staff. He then tried punching Alex, who leaned back and swung his katana at a gap in Shredder's armour, cutting him and sparks formed.
This made Shredder roar and kick Alex in the chest, knocking him away.
The Elite Guard then jumped in front of Shredder.
"Finish them off!" He ordered the Elite Guard.
They charged at Alex and the Turtles.
Mikey flipped away from the Guard with the trident and ducked when he swiped for his face before whacking his head with a nunchuck, making the Guard stumble back before both Mikey and Alex kicked him in the chest, knocking him right into a display case.
Raph spin kicked the Guard with the spear away in the face.
Donnie jumped towards the two Guards with the battle axe and the double bladed sword, jumping over their swings and landed on top of their weapons as he kicked them both in the face.
Alex faced the Guard with the nagamaki, who tried slicing him, but Alex dodged him and became a blur as he slashed his katana on the Guard's arm before hitting his face with the pommel and then kicked his crotch and stomach, knocking him away.
Mikey then jumped over to a metal door at the back of the shop and opened it, turning the light on to see a large closet.
"Everybody in here, we can hold them off!" Mikey told everyone.
Alex, Raph and Casey held off some ninjas while everyone else entered the closet.
The three then ran in and Mikey closed the door before more Foot Ninjas could attack.
Shredder approached the door, grabbing a piece of metal, which he used to keep the door shut, placing it between the door handle and a gas pipe.
He then pulled out a circular device, which he pressed before throwing it over his shoulder, when it exploded and set the whole store on fire.
"Like the phoenix, I have risen from the ashes!" He sneered before slicing open a gas pipe before turning to the fire.
In the closet, Mikey pressed his hand against the door, sensing it heating up.
"Hey, this door's getting hot!" He said before trying to open the door, which wouldn't budge. "It's jammed! It won't open!"
"Gas plus flame equals…" Casey said, putting two and two together, realising what was about to happen. "LET'S BOOK, NOW!"
"WE GOTTA GET OUT OF HERE!" Raph shouted as he and Mikey started banging their weapons against the door.
The fire continued spreading until it made contact with the leaking gas.
The whole building instantly exploded, knocking back all police officers before they all ran off as the building continued exploding and went up in flames.
"That was not a good day."
"No doubt worse for you two." Alex said to April and Rebecca.
"I truly thought I lost you that day." Rebecca said sadly, recalling the overwhelming heartache she felt when seeing the building in flames. This made Alex place a comforting hand over his mother's.
"I really miss that old place." April sighed sadly. "Do you think he's gone for good? The Shredder?"
"Who knows. We all thought he was when Alex and Leo that night at Foot headquarters." Alopex replied.
The top of Foot headquarters was engulfed in flames.
Alex and Leo faced the Shredder, the latter of the two wielding the Sword of Tengu with the protective gauntlet. And Shredder wielded Leo's katanas.
Both sides stared each other down as they clenched their weapons tighter.
They then jumped and yelled as they did so. Once they were close enough, they slashed their weapons before landing on the ground, Shredder standing and both Alex and Leo crouching.
The pair turned to see Shredder's head and arms fall off. The former rolled towards some debris and the latter's hands let go of Leo's katanas.
The body then fell to its knees and onto its chest.
Leo put the Sword of Tengu away as he and Alex approached Shredder's body, the former picking up his katanas as their brothers gathered by their side.
"But, of course, that wasn't the end of him, thanks to what we later learned of him."
Outside of the TCRI building, the military surrounded the building.
Inside, in the transmat room, everyone, including Mortu, stood, while the Guardians, who held the Council in their hands and Honeycutt stood on the platform.
"Remember that night our pals, the Utroms, were finally gonna beam themselves back home?"
"Donatello, if you would do me the honour of powering up the transmat?" Mortu asked Donnnie as he crawled out of his exo-suit.
"Sweet!" Donnie grinned.
As he worked on the control panel, some shurikens hit the panel, causing it to short circuit and a jolt of electricity destroyed some nearby exo-suits.
"The Shredder came back at the TCRI building."
Shredder appeared with Hun and the Elite Guard.
"Badder than ever."
"As long as I live, you will not leave this place alive!" Shredder sneered as he raised his gauntlet.
Earlier, when Hun carried him in his arms, Shredder dropped a device from his hand that bounced along the floor until it stopped, when a timer of ten minutes started and red lines spread out from it and across the whole room.
"Seems like he's always trying to make sure we never leave anywhere alive."
"Yeah, because he just can't accept losing, no matter what."
Donnie approached the device and reached for it when Mortu ran up to him.
"DO NOT TOUCH IT!" He yelled. "It's an Utrom implosion device! The techno-organic virus it contains will destroy you!"
Donnie backed away from the device.
"Already it has thoroughly infected the system." Mortu said with concern as he ran over to the control panel. "The entire building will implode in less than ten minutes!"
Everyone gasped in horror before turning to the device.
Shredder then appeared in the doorway with Hun and the Elite Guard.
"Bomb, shomb! You guys are forgetting the freakiest part of that whole deal. The Shredder's true identity!"
Shredder leapt at everyone and kicked Leo away before sweeping Raph, Mona and Splinter off their feet.
Both Mikey and Donnie charged at Shredder, who then punched them away.
Alex, Alopex, Tiger Claw and Rebecca charged, but Tiger Claw got kicked away and Alex, Alopex and Rebecca got punched in their chests.
Shredder got onto the platform of the transmat device and both Alex and Leo kicked Shredder, making him twirl around for Donnie to whack his staff into Shredder's face.
He tried slicing him, but got kicked in the face by both Raph and Mona.
He tried slicing them, but they dodged and Mikey came in, kicking him in the face towards Tiger Claw, who tackled him onto the platform before flipping away for Alopex and Rebecca to axe kick Shredder in the face and chest, jumping away from a slice by Shredder.
After Honeycutt, Mortu, the Guardians and the Council transported themselves to the Utrom homeworld with the transmat, Shredder looked at the group in fury.
"You pathetic creatures have interfered with my plans one too many!" He snarled with deep loathing. "For that, you shall pay with your lives!"
He swung his gauntlet down to strike, but it was blocked by Splinter's walking stick.
"Shredder, there is no time! The building is about to implode! Even you could not survive!" Splinter pointed out.
Shredder then broke his walking stick in half.
"Then we shall all perish together!" Shredder swore.
"Not all, just you!" Alex swore back.
Donnie yelled as he threw his bo staff at Shredder, which broke in half as he caught it before getting kicked away by Shredder next to the implosion device, which had one minute and twenty seconds remaining.
Shredder kicked both Splinter and Rebecca right into the control panel before Mikey kicked him back and whacked his nunchucks at him.
Raph and Mona then charged at him and slashed their weapons at Shredder, making electricity spark out from his armour as he yelled in pain.
Then Alopex and Tiger Claw leapt in and sliced their weapons at Shredder's back and legs, making more electricity spark, Alex and Leo doing the same at Shredder's sides.
"Guys, use your weapons to penetrate his armour!" Donnie told everyone as he kicked open a cover by the control panel. ""I think we can stop him for good!"
Leo tossed one of his katanas at Splinter, who caught it before leaping in the air and sliced some of Shredder's armour open.
Then Alex, Leo, Raph and Mona all charged in and stabbed their weapons into Shredder's armour, followed by Rebecca, Alopex and Tiger Claw.
Then Mikey threw his nunchucks, which were embedded in Shredder's shoulders.
"You pathetic creatures cannot harm me!" Shredder moaned in pain.
"What we're seeing suggests otherwise! HIT IT, DONNIE!" Alex yelled.
Donnie connected two wires, which made electricity jump out and hit Shredder directly, who screamed in pure agony before landing on his back on the floor.
Everyone then surrounded and looked down at him as steam came out of his stomach before that and his chest opened up. A pair of eyes opened up.
Then out came the red Utrom that made Mortu's ship crash land on Earth centuries ago.
"To learn that the Shredder was an Utrom may be one of the most shocking surprises."
Shredder growled at Alex before leaping at him, only to get spin kicked by him towards Splinter, who whacked him with one end of his walking stick hard into a wall before crashing onto the floor and crawling away to hide.
"Nasty little bug."
Donnie pressed some buttons on the control panel for the transmat.
"Guys, quick!" He called out to everyone, who ran towards the platform to leave the building.
Shredder popped up and tried to get after them as the timer now had only nine seconds left.
Shredder then leapt at everyone, only to just miss them as they fully dematerialised.
He then screamed at the top of his lungs just as the timer reached zero.
The whole building was then engulfed in a bright light, making the soldiers run for cover.
When the light vanished, all that remained was a large hole with water trickling in.
"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've survived that, right?" April pondered.
"I don't know, April, the Shredder may play rough, he may play dirty, but he don't play dead." Mikey reasoned.
"Yeah, but he sure leaves a path of destruction wherever he goes." Leo agreed.
"Just like what he did to Master Yoshi and my father." Alex reminded everyone gravely.
Yoshi performed some katas in his personal dojo, which Splinter, a normal rat, mimicked.
"Both being Guardians, sworn to protect valuable secrets of the Utroms, which Shredder would stop at nothing to learn about."
Just as Yoshi performed a roundhouse kick, his door was smashed apart by Hun, who entered with some Foot Ninjas.
He yelled and pointed at Yoshi, making the ninjas charge at him. A couple of them did, but Yoshi jumped over them.
"They didn't go down without a fight, though. Especially Yoshi."
Yoshi then stepped aside as another ninja tried to kick him before shoving him away.
"Yeah, from what Master Splinter says, Master Yoshi was one tough dude."
Yoshi then blocked a fourth ninja's punch with his elbow before kicking him away across the room, which Splinter watched from his cage.
Yoshi blocked a fifth ninja's punch with his right forearm and leaned back his head to avoid another punch until the ninja went behind him and wrapped his arms under Yoshi's armpits, allowing a sixth ninja to approach and attack him.
"I wish we could've met him."
Yoshi jumped over the sixth ninja's punch and kicked him right into an antique vase before breaking out of the fifth ninja's grip.
Hun fired a handheld weapon, which shot out a couple of wires that wrapped around Yoshi's left wrist.
Then three more ninjas fired wires that wrapped around Yoshi's right wrist and both ankles, which he struggled against.
"You have to admire Master Yoshi's courage."
"Yeah. Strong and defiant till his last moments."
Shredder then entered the dojo and stared down at Yoshi.
"Yeah, he really threw it in the Shredder's face."
"Wasn't afraid to stand up to Shredder's lack of honour until his last breath."
"He who lives without honour will end without honour." Yoshi warned Shredder, his face drenched in sweat.
Splinter watched helplessly from the windowsill as Shredder raised his gauntlet and slashed at Yoshi, killing him as Splinter closed his eyes.
"Even though it cost him, and later Lance's, their lives."
Splinter let one of his paws go on the windowsill and hung on the other, limp in heartache from losing his beloved master.
Everyone sat in silence as the sun was setting, respecting both Lance and Yoshi.
"It still hurts when I think of my husband." Rebecca sobbed through fresh tears, making Alex hug her.
"My heart aches, too, when I think of my Master Yoshi." Splinter replied as he closed his eyes for a moment. "But we know that Master Yoshi and Lance Reed kept their honour to the end. True warriors and true Guardians."
Casey clutched his fists and snarled as he got up in anger.
"Th - the Shredder and Hun!" He roared, punching the air. "And the Purple Dragons!" He then grabbed the chair he sat on and banged it against the tree. "Bunch of heartless goons!" He then threw the chair down. "Why, I just wanna - GAH!"
Everyone looked up at him, taken aback and stunned by his outburst of primal rage.
"I think what Mr. Jones here is trying to say is…" April said, standing and holding Casey's hands as she guided him to sit down on the picnic blanket. "...we're sorry for your losses, guys."
"We really appreciate it, April." Rebecca nodded gratefully.
"Yes, Thank you." Splinter bowed his head. "We have all suffered at the hands of the Shredder."
This made both April and Casey realise they were still holding hands, so they let go. April blushed while Casey looked sheepish, making Alopex and Mona look at each other with knowing grins.
"You guys wanna know the funny part?" Donnie told everyone.
"There's a funny part?" Raph asked in confusion.
"Well, not 'ha-ha' funny, but kind of ironic." Donnie elaborated. "I was thinking that the Shredder had a bigger hand in our lives than we know. Without the Shredder, us four would still be pet turtles in a glass jar right now."
This left his turtle brothers, and even Alex in shock of this notion.
"What you talkin' about, Willis?" Mikey asked in an accent.
"Well, allow me to explain." Donnie replied.
The four Turtles flowed towards a storm drain and fell into the sewers, followed by a canister of ooze from TCRI.
"As most of you might recall, we got mutated by that strange ooze when we were only babies."
The Turtles fell down a waterfall and landed on their feet next to it before the canister smashed open over them, covering them in the ooze.
Splinter approached them and looked down at them.
"I remember it as if it were yesterday. You were all so cute."
"You should've seen me as a baby. I was the cutest Salamandrian, according to my guardians."
Splinter then held up one of them by their tail. It shook off the ooze, covering Splinter in it.
The Battle Shell was parked in an alleyway opposite of the TCRI building.
"The ooze that mutated us came from the TCRI building, right? And why did the TCRI building even exist?"
Within the transmat room, a Guardian walked onto the platform of the device and stood with two Utroms while everyone watched.
The transmat powered up and the Guardian and Utroms dematerialised in a bright blue light.
"Because the Utroms were trying to build their transmat so they could go home. And why did the Utroms need to go home?"
"Because they were late for dinner?"
"No, you bonehead!"
In the engine room of the Utrom ship, Shredder appeared with two sparking wires held in two of his tentacles, making Mortu and the security team gasp.
"Because an evil prisoner they were transporting across the galaxy sabotaged their ship."
"Goodbye, captain." The Shredder sneered before connecting the two wires together, causing a huge shockwave that coursed throughout the ship, exploding the engines and making the ship crash into pre-Feudal Japan.
"Causing them to crash land on Earth, centuries ago."
Among the wreckage, the Utroms on the bridge gathered themselves.
"And they've been trapped here ever since."
Shredder knocked out the helmsman out of the exo-suit and got in it himself. He then got up and walked up to the helmsman, who was trying to crawl away, and picked him up as he laughed with malice before throwing him away.
"And who was this evil prisoner who caused the Utroms so much trouble?"
The Shredder then walked through the doorway of a burning warehouse and held up his gauntlet.
"He was, in fact - drum roll, please - the Shredder!"
It was now nighttime and everyone sat around a roaring fire that Tiger Claw made.
Donnie then cleared his throat.
"Ergo, the Shredder had a direct hand in our creation. See what I mean?" Donnie said to everyone, who looked at him confused, even Alex.
"I think I speak for everyone when I say no." Raph told him.
"Ladies, gentlemen and mutants, how not to tell our origin story." Mikey remarked as he held a marshmallow on a stick.
"Yeah, even I was confused by how you worded it, Donnie, and that says a lot." Alex agreed with Mikey.
"Well, how about this? If the Shredder hadn't made the Utroms crash in the first place, then they would never have developed the ooze. And if they never developed the ooze, we'd never have been mutated. And if we'd never been mutated, we'd be eating fish flakes in some kid's aquarium right now!" Donnie explained in a simpler way.
Now that everyone understood what he was saying, they were all stunned.
"In addition, if it weren't for the Shredder, me and Lance would never have met, as we met when we first joined the Guardians, and Alex would never have been born." Rebecca realised. "And Splinter, Alopex and Tiger would never be mutated as well."
"Whoa. That's really deep." Mikey said in stunned shock.
Raph shuddered in disgust, as did Alex, Alopex and Tiger Claw.
"Being that closely related to the Shredder makes me feel kinda dirty." Raph admitted.
"Same here." Alex nodded with a scrunched up face.
"Hmm. The Shredder may be part of our origin, but it is we that choose our fate." Splinter pointed out how different they are from Shredder.
"And even if the Shredder's still out there, no matter what he throws at us, no matter how he messes with our lives, nothing he does will change the most important thing. That we're family." Leo then explained, placing hands on Mikey and Alex.
Mikey ended up laughing, earning glares from everyone.
"Leo, that was off the charts in the sap-o-metre. You've been watching way too many after school specials, bro." He mocked.
"Don't make fun of the truth, Mikey." Alex spat.
"Exactly, so eat your s'mores and keep quiet. Leo's got a point." Raph sided with Alex, resulting in him getting a marshmallow thrown at his face, to which Mikey laughed so hard he was on his shell.
"You are so dead, laughing boy!" Raph snarled as he got up and stormed up to Mikey.
"Watch the graham crackers!" Leo cried out, only for them to get stomped on by Raph as he tackled Mikey and they started wrestling and rolling on the ground.
Soon, Alex, Leo and Donnie joined in and wrestled as well.
"Pile on!" Casey cheered before joining in.
"Ah, what the shell?" Tiger Claw shrugged before he pounced towards the brothers and Casey, joining in as well and they all started rolling all over the ground and wrestled each other.
Meanwhile, Splinter, April, Alopex, Mona and Rebecca watched on.
"Go on, Raph, kick their butts!" Mona cheered Raph on.
"Ti, you better help Alex out and team up!" Alopex told Tiger Claw.
"Well, it's definitely a family." April sighed before turning to Splinter and Rebecca. "But do you think we'll ever be able to teach the kids some manners?"
"Miss O'Neil, teaching them the ancient art of ninjutsu is hard enough. I'm afraid even I cannot work miracles." Splinter replied.
"I agree. Even Alopex and Ti were hard work to raise and train as a Guardian." Rebecca added.
But regardless of all that, there was no denying that everyone was one big happy family. And no one can say otherwise.
Honestly, as far as recap episodes go, I don't think this one's bad. I consider it to be an epilogue to the various arcs involving the Shredder up to this point in the show.
Btw, I had the idea that from time to time, Alex will change the kind of clothes he'll wear, mainly his tops.