New Friend, Old Enemy

"New Friend, Old Enemy" is the fourth episode of the animated series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012 TV series). It premiered on October 13, 2012.

Major Characters

 * Michelangelo
 * Donatello
 * Leonardo
 * Raphael
 * Chris Bradford
 * Xever.

Minor Characters

 * Shredder
 * Master Splinter
 * April O'Neil

Locations
NYC, and Sewer Lair

Plot Synopsis
The episode opens with one of The Shredder's top henchmen (Chris Bradford) training with and defeating several Foot Ninjas within a room (which is in one of Bradford's dojos). When finished, yet another top henchman named Xever slides open a nearby, concealed door, revealing the back of The Shredder silhouetted there. Shredder then notifies to Bradford that his old sworn-enemy, Splinter, is still alive after all of these years and that he is apparently training his very own clan of ninjas, and he then tells Chris that he must hunt them down and wipe all of them out....Bradford quickly assures his master that he will most certainly not fail, as he just assembled an army of reliable warriors and ensured that the Foot was to be officially brought back in business. Despite Bradford and Xever's little ongoing 'petty rivalry', the two must work together in order to successfully hunt down/annhilate the Turtles...

The scene then shifts to the Turtles jumping across some rooftops in the city, challenging each other to see who can do the absolute best flips, leaps...etc. Raph is the very last one to do so -- but instead of doing a more intricate and impressive move, he simply jumps straight forward and tackles all of his brothers down. After getting themselves back up, the group quickly hears a noise nearby and they all quickly draw their weapons out, only to find a guileless cat....Raph then teases Leo that he might actually be able to win this fight. Mikey quickly grows fond of the small cat after hearing it's owner call it's name. Mikey then decides that he must return it to him, despite his brothers complete disapproval. So, he goes down and gets yelled at by the terrified man and then assaulted by the cat (which is energized by it's owner's words), falling down a nearby fire escape. After quite a brief discussion about Mikey wanting to be friends with/believing in humans - and Chris Bradford, primarily - (who is seen on a large billboard that is nearby), they are quickly ambushed by dozens of ninjas (The Foot Clan), and while the warriors are initially a challenge, our heroes manage to hold their ground, although they are soon attacked by a larger, masked man, who unbeknownst to them, is Chris Bradford himself. He quickly engages the four of them, and, using his brute and utter strength, he is able to gain the clear upper hand in the brief fight. After this little skirmish, the police quickly arrive near to the scene and both teams escape before being spotted....

Leo later discusses the fight with Master Splinter and how the battle was not 'fair' at all (in regards to how it was coordinated), but, at first, Splinter is rather confused by his son's words and then pins him down, telling him that he should always be seeking out victory and not fairness in a fight. Meanwhile, the other Turtles are hanging out with April in another room in the lair, while Mikey is excitedly reading a magazine which has an article in it devoted entirely to Bradford. April at first tries to convince him that he already has a human friend: her. But Mikey, putting in the fact that they saved her life, claims that she has to like them (this apparently makes an extreme difference to him). Raphael then says that it's too bad that there isn't a place where "freaks can meet each other and see how hideous they are" in an apparent attempt to frustrate Mikey. April then gets an idea - and asks if she can see Donnie's computer for just a second.

She then shows Mikey a site where people can meet and become friends online so that they don't necessarily have to see each other in person. Mikey then makes Bradford his very first friend (and Bradford's 5,287th friend) and subsequently goes off to meet him...The other Turtles actually allow him learn a valuable lesson, with Raph stating "The guy's gotta learn somehow, one way or another."

While Bradford is walking towards his own house, Mikey leaps down and surprises Bradford, whom immediately starts attacking him with multiple shurikens, but once Mikey promptly explains himself and his appalling actions, Bradford asks him to come inside to join him...While all of the Turtles investigate where The Foot must've successfully been able to observe them from, Mikey (after returning) still continues to brag about his friendship with Bradford and he continues to tease Raph that the latter was wrong (incorrectly spelling it "rong"), until all 3 Turtles get really tired of listening to him. Mikey then goes off to meet Chris yet again. After utterly surprising Bradford once again, he tries to get Mikey to reveal all of his top secrets, in order to traitorously find the location of Splinter somehow. Mikey then inspects a 400 year-old encased Katana in the Dojo. Bradford asks about his sensei, but Mikey replies that some things must simply be kept secret. The man then unwillingly teaches Mikey one of his own, professional moves, "The Death Dragon", whom Mikey ends up teaching to his brothers a bit later on, revealing Bradford's true motives -- when Splinter recognizes a seemingly familiar/ancient move (that was used on him before) during the course of a brief sparring match between Leo and Raph. They quickly learn that their youthful brother is in grave danger (as the latter heads off to meet his brand new "ally" YET AGAIN).

Meanwhile, Mikey is just arriving at Bradford's Dojo and is wondering if they planned him a suprise party. He is then attacked once again by both Chris and Xever this time, and whilst he desperately tries to fend them off, he is eventually overwhelmed and defeated. Mikey then ponders over who his hostile assailant is and, at first, he is prompted to take a wild guess and asks if it is the man with the cat that he ran into much earlier. Bradford then quickly removes his helmet, however, revealing his face, leaving Mikey completely appalled...Xever then recommends finishing him off and Bradford claims that nothing would make him happier at this point. However, he also mentions that something else is keeping them from doing this....The two then exit the scene and turn all of the lights off.

Leo, Raph, and Donnie soon arrive and are successful in saving their little brother, who was ultimately tied up by both Bradford and Xever. They then return to the sewer and are unkowingly followed by Bradford and Xever (who spotted them with binoculars), along with quite a few Foot troops. The Turtles, however, had intelligently arranged for all of this to happen and they quickly pick off all of the Foot Soldiers with ropes, and they then face off against the two that can be qualified as masters; Bradford and Xever. The two are able to put up a really good fight against our heroes, but when they end up switching opponents, the Turtles end up gaining the sheer upper hand. Mikey then personally defeats Chris by using the very same technique that he had taught him - and then the two dishonorable villains are truly defeated when they are flushed down the nearby sewer drain by Donnie and Leo......

After that, each of the Turtles promptly celebrate with a slice of Pizza back in the lair, but Splinter is still quite wary. Donnie then asks why he isn't hungry and Splinter replies that it's because he now knows that Shedder knows that he is alive - and even worse - The latter now knows about the existence of the Turtles as well. Splinter then tells them that this war is long from over - The struggle has merely begun....Later, Raph is seen cheering up/consoling Mikey, who is now very rueful about believing the best in people. Raph agrees that it is his fault, but also says that he is quite an awesome guy and tells him that he deserves way better friends than random 'psychotic killing machines'. Mikey, rather encouraged by his brother's words, quickly un-friends Chris Bradford and then smiles with a hint of revenge...

Gallery
See: New Friend, Old Enemy / Gallery 

Trivia

 * Chris Bradford's Foot Clan uniform looks very similar to The Shredder's costume from the Mirage Comics sans the trident blades on the helmet, right down to the red coloring. Bradford also bears a striking resemblance to Chuck Norris.
 * The friending site which April showed Mikey is called "My Face, so-so social" - which is most likely a pun towards Facebook by both name and overall layout and MySpace.
 * The other tabs Mikey was browsing through as seen during his conversation with Raph were:
 * Ain't it hot news: Ninja Aliens?? - this particular title could be a reference to Michael Bay's Ninja Turtles re-boot movie and the controversy surrounding it due to Bay claiming that the movie would depict the Turtles as aliens rather than mutants.
 * Plus, the video on the page had a picture of Snakeweed's concept art
 * In the beginning of the episode, when the turtles are fighting the Foot, Leo is mistakenly shown with four swords: two of them he is holding, and the other two in his sheathes.
 * The Billboard Breakout is a playset based on the Billboard in wich Mikey and Bradford were hanging out that has been released in 2014