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Some TMNT stuff really isn't for little kids. |
Oroku Karai has found herself caught in a power struggle with the mysterious Dog Star Clan, a struggle she intends to win...But a surprise encounter with the leader of these would-be rivals yields a shocking revelation that could spell disaster for Karai's claims to her rank among the Foot. Will Karai fold under pressure or rise up to claim her birthright?
Appearing in #2[]
Major characters[]
Minor characters[]
- Blood Lightning (debut)
- Tanaka Danno (debut)
Locations[]
- Japan
- Foot Clan's mutant compound
- Oroku Karai's penthouse
- The Singing Rabbit
Synopsis[]
Karai dresses down Natsu and Casey and demands a debriefing when they bring back a single cybernetic finger after their weeks-long fact finding mission.
Casey and Natsu explain that the Dog Star Clan has essentially been extorting money from multiple gangs in the city, and to flush them out, they decided to muscle in on their biggest "client", the Blood Lightning, to cut off their cash flow. Their plan eventually works, and a Dog Star member sneak-attacks Clyde.
Natsu and Casey try to fight off the Dog Star, but he keeps one step ahead of them in the fight. Throughout the fight, Casey is annoyed that the Dog Star keeps speaking Japanese, but after he smashes Casey's mask, Casey prods him into speaking English by telling him he had some very important message to impart. The Dog Star allows Casey to tell him his message before he finishes him off. Casey then tells him what he has to say, is that his attack failed to knock out Clyde. The Punk Frog suddenly returns the favor of the Dog Star's earlier sneak attack by appearing behind him and giving a deep slash to the chest, embedding his sword into his body. The Dog Star self-destructs in shame.
Karai deems their ability to self-destruct as useful information, but still questions why they brought the finger. Casey says they thought that she could perhaps use some magic to trace the Dog Star through the finger as a conduit. Karai explains that her magic skills are not yet to a level such as that, and with her grandfather off doing whatever and Toshiro dead, there is nobody to guide her through lessons. Natsu brings up that she learned ninjutsu from just a book, but Karai says that Saki's spirit guided her through it. Karai says they'll have to continue to resort good old-fashioned violence and intimidation to get what they want, and set their sights higher than the street-level thugs.
Natsu and Casey both object to Karai going out on her own, considering that even after Toshiro healed her, she wasn't at 100% capacity. Karai insists that she has been training the last few weeks and is back to full strength.
At a karaoke bar called The Singing Rabbit, a couple tries to get in but is violently turned away by one of the bouncers. Karai uses this opportunity to sneak past them and into the club. Karai bursts into a private room and demands the patrons to produce Tanaka Danno to her. Karai fights her way through the security detail, then reaches Danno and says she needs information on the Dog Stars.
Meanwhile at the Foot Clan's mutant compound, Zodi asks if Krisa is looking for a new place for them to live, as she can hear Rocksteady snore from four rooms away. Krisa says they're lucky to find as much space as they have in Tōkyō, and that she's actually searching for stuff regarding the Dog Stars for Karai. Zodi wonders if Karai's even capable after her run-in with the gang weeks ago, and that they should find a new leader to follow. Rocksteady, already ticked at her comments about him, grabs the barbell Bebop had been bench-pressing and bends it and angrily tells her that they follow the boss no matter what. Zodi calls her a weak human, which angers Rocksteady more, and he smashes the ground. Zodi taunts that he's afraid of a normal human, but Rocksteady grabs Zodi's new stinger prosthesis and says that a normal person wouldn't go to the lengths that she did for her. He crushes the prosthesis in his fist, then walks away, telling her that if she doesn't respect the boss, he'll smash something that'll hurt a lot more next time.
Karai enters her penthouse apartment the next morning via a grappling hook, when she encounters a man standing inside, telling her that she owns the building and could enter from the street. She throws a shuriken right through him, revealing that it's a hologram. He identifies himself as Yoshi Chen, jōnin of the Dog Star Clan, and he is finally affording Karai the attention she had been seeking from them.
Notes and trivia[]
- Natsu uses the outdated westernization of the word ninjutsu ("ninjitsu") when asking Karai about her learnings.
See also[]