Hamato Samurai

Episode 11: Mousers Attack!

*This means a line is dramatic, emphasized, or in the background*

The turtles are in the dojo with Splinter for one of their weekly training sessions. They were practicing their stances, but you know them; they can turn anything into a competition.

"What, are you fighting a guy in slow motion?" Raph snarks.

"I suppose I could do it faster if I ignored my form... like you." Leo countered.

"Ignore this form!" Raph jumps at Leo and tries to hit him, but Leo continuously blocks each one. Master Splinter calmly walks to them and makes them stop by striking their nerves.

"Competition is an excellent motivator. But not when it turns you against each other!" Splinter reasoned as the two oldest stood up. "So now, you will spar each other in teams."

"Okay." Leo agreed. "I'll take Don..."

"You will take Raphael." At this, the blue and red turtles went quiet. They were brothers, and they loved each other, but they didn't always see eye to eye. They were like peanut butter and tuna. But that wasn't the only problem. "You two must focus on working together, not competing with each other."

"Okay, so it's me and Raph against Mikey, Sam, and Donnie?" Leo asked, unsure. Compared to him and Raph, the three younger turtles were smaller in size. They were strong in their own rights, but still. "Uh, isn't that a little unfair?"

"Wait, what're you trying to say?" Donnie asked, feeling insulted.

"Well, how to put this gently?" Raph started. "We're way better than you guys."

Sam growls, and Mikey scoffs. "At fighting, maybe."

"Uh, that's what I meant."

"Oh. Fine." The three younger siblings didn't like that at all. Sam could be vicious when provoked, Donnie was a genius, and Mikey was unpredictable. Sure, they weren't as muscular as Leo and Raph, but that didn't make them bad fighters. Besides, it would be three against two; how could they lose?

The turtles stood at the ready; one team was grinning smugly, and the other was scowling indignantly. When Splinter gave them the signal to go, the three younger turtles unfortunately found themselves defeated within a minute, sprawled on the floor, seeing stars.

"Seeing stars. Seeing stars." Sam grunted.

"Well, you were right, Sensei." Raph spoke. "Working together is fun."

XXXXXXXX

In the Shredder's lair, Dogpound was entering the throne room to receive orders from his master.

"The Purple Dragon gang agreed to raise our cut to 80%. No complaints."

"It seems your mutated form has its advantages." Shredder commented. "But do not forget our primary goal: locating Splinter and the turtles."

There was a giant fish swimming in the water beneath the floor, covered by a sheet of glass like a tank. That giant fish was Xever, who turned into a snakehead after Bradford spilled that mutagen on them.

"If I weren't stuck in here, I would have caught Splinter by now!"

"But you are stuck in there." Dogpound taunts him by tapping on the glass, creating an obnoxiously loud sound in the water. "I'm sure you'll have your chance to shine one of these days. Master Shredder might get hungry for sushi."

"Why don't you jump in the water and say that?!"

"Enough, Xever!" Shredder shouts. "Bradford is right. You are useless to me this way." At that, Xever swims away, quite terrified, and Shredder turns to Dogpound. "I am counting on you. Find me information I can use... or Xever won't be the only one missing his legs."