The Tournament

The Tournament is a backup story printed in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Amazing Adventures issue #6.

The Tournament
Production Details
Published in	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Amazing Adventures issue 6
Production Staff
Story	Fabian Rangel
Art	Billy Martin
Colors	Heather Breckel
Letters	Shawn Lee
Editor	Bobby Curnow
Publisher	IDW Publishing
Navigation

Appearing in The Tournament

Major characters

• Donatello
• Emporium Manager (debut)
• Fong (debut)
• Leonardo
• Michelangelo
• Raphael
• Sid (debut)
• Tsoi (debut)

Minor Characters

• Hamato Yoshi / Splinter
• Casey Jones
• April O'Neil

Main Locations, Vehicles, and Accessories

• Arcade games
• Bō
• Emporium Pizza & Arcade
• Katana
• New York City
  • Turtle Lair
• Nunchaku
• Sai

Synopsis

Splinter sees his sons off as they are about to leave the lair for their patrol. Raphael expresses eagerness for a fight. Splinter asks them to wait a moment, and counsels them that they may becoming too quick to use force and admonishes them to think about their options and only use violence as a last resort.

As the Turtles traverse the city's rooftops, they spot three Purple Dragons—Fong, Tsoi and Sid—roughing up a man on the sidewalk. The man manages the Emporium Pizza & Arcade, and the Purple Dragons are exercising a protection racket on their claimed turf. The Turtles drop down to confront them, and Leonardo orders, "Unhand them, villains!", but Leo's artificial hero-talk irritates Donatello. The two groups are prepared for a fight, when Leo has a different idea. Leo proposes a gaming tournament between Turtles and Dragons—if the Turtles win, the Purple Dragons would have to stop bothering the Emporium. Raph is immediately appalled by the suggestion they battle with games instead of violence, but Leo repeats Splinter's most recent advice. Fong asks what the Purple Dragons get if they win, and the Emporium manager agrees that the winner gets free pizza for a month. The Turtles and Dragons agree to the terms and shake hands on the deal.

The Emporium itself is filled with arcade games, much to Michelangelo's delight. First up, Donnie and Fong face off in a redemption game with a basketball hoop. Donnie brainstorms complex mathematical calculations (as he did in Follow the Leader) and wins over Fong. Next, Raph and Tsoi face off in skee ball. Raph proves to be very bad at this game and is so infuriated when Tsoi wins that Leo and Mikey have to physically hold him back. Next, Sid demonstrates considerable skill in a dance-based rhythm game, getting the game's high score. Mikey dances next, but proves to be even better at the game, racking up a perfect score even as he completely stops looking at the game screen. The manager announces the last game challenge—Space Heroes Pinball, to which Leo confidently volunteers to play for the Turtles.

A little while later, as a foregone conclusion, Leo has won the pinball challenge, and the Turtles win the tournament. The Purple Dragons walk off dejected as the manager makes good on his agreement to give the Turtles free pizza for a month.

The Turtles return home with some Emporium Pizza and tell their story to Splinter, April O'Neil and Casey Jones. Splinter in particular is pleased that they didn't resort to unnecessary violence. Casey suggests taking April to the Emporium on a date, but she declines, much to Donnie's amusement. But the gathering quickly turns into a fight as Raph realizes Mikey has eaten the last slice of pizza and angrily pounces him. Splinter realizes his sons are still not mature enough.

See also

• The Tournament/Gallery
• The Tournament/Transcript