Live Christmas Special Part 1

It was nearing closing time at the mall. Michelangelo and Mondo Gecko were relieved that they only had a few more minutes before their gig as a mall Santa and an elf were over. Another kid was placed on Michelangelo's lap. "Ho ho ho! What do you want for Christmas, little dude?" "I want an Electrozapper action figure so my Bugman figure has someone to fight." "We'll see if you get one, boy. Escort him back to his parents, my elf!"

"That's no elf", said the boy. "He's too tall." "That's because I eat my green vegetables, kid. Eat your green vegetables, and you get big and strong like me." The boy went back to his parents without further questioning and the voice over the intercom said "Attention all shoppers! It is closing time! Get all your Christmas shopping done lickety-split and rush home for the holidays!" As soon as everyone left, Mondo Gecko removed his elf cap and put on his regular hat. "I am so glad our job's over. It was humiliating, but it's worth it to see so many children happy and to earn money so I can buy a decent gift for my girl Candy."

"And I can get presents for my brothers, sister, and surrogate father", said Michelangelo. After changing out of their silly costumes and into their regular duds, the two friends parted ways and met up with their groups. "It's time for us to host the Christmas telethon we promised April", said Leonardo. The Turtles entered the Channel 6 News Studio, where April O'Neil and Jim McNaughton got them ready for the premiere.

"Where did you get that necktie, Hamato Leonardo", asked Jim McNaughton. "Our surrogate father Splinter gave one for me and my brothers when we turned 18. I felt that we may as well look our best to convince the people to call for our telethon." Splinter also arrived with his brother Hamato Takeshi, his uncle Hamato Giyogi, the samurai rabbit Miyamoto Usagi, and the Turtles' recently mutated biological parents, Giotto and Virginia. "Christmas is a time to be with family", Splinter explained. "I do believe our family is together."

The cameras began rolling. "Live from Channel 6", April announced, "It's our annual Christmas Telethon, with our hosts the heroes in a half-shell known as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. We have their leader Leonardo." "Hello, everyone." "The scientific genius Donatello." "Season's greetings." "The aggressive Raphael." "Hi." "Michelangelo the party dude." "Cowabunga." "And their sister Venus de Milo." "Um, hi. Please don't hurt me!"

"Our heroes will give you some entertainment in exchange for donations to fund a destitute orphanage down the block from here." Leonardo got up and began to speak. "As we know, Christmas is a time to be with family, and we have a rather impressive family. Our story begins with the tale of a man named Hamato Yoshi, now our rat sensei Splinter."

Splinter put on a slide-show as he told his backstory. "I was a young man in Japan who was trained in ninjitsu alongside my younger brother Takeshi by our uncle Giyogi and the wise master known as The Ancient One. Takeshi and I eventually went our separate ways, and I followed my family's proud tradition of leading the Foot Clan, a tradition that began centuries ago from the guidance of my ancestor Hamato Koji.

One of my students, Oroku Saki, sought to usurp me, but we were too evenly matched for me to lose. During a fight, Saki tore off my right ear and I clawed at his face, giving him scars on his cheek. My one true love Tang Shen was so horrified by our quarrel that she fled in terror, but she hoped to see me again once things died down.

A sensei visited my school and Oroku Saki made his move by killing my sensei The Ancient One and framing me for his murder. I was kicked out of the Foot Clan and I fled to America, while Oroku Saki took over the Foot and corrupted it into an organization of crime, donning bladed armor and dubbing himself the Shredder.

In America, I was so destitute I had no choice but to live in the sewers, where I lived happily with the rats, one I kept as a pet named Ogata. Then one day a young man named Chet Allen purchased five turtles from a pet shop, but he tripped and dropped them down a sewer grate, giving me five new friends.

The Shredder had somehow met and formed an alliance with Krang, an evil warlord from a race of brain-like aliens known as Utroms who had managed to escape his prison from Dimension X, and the Purple Dragons, a street gang that wasn't to be underestimated. He found out about me living in the sewers and dumped a container of Krang's mutagen into the sewers in an attempt to kill me.

However, I was not killed by the mutagen. Instead, it mutated me and the turtles. I had most recently been in contact with the rats, so I changed into a bipedal rat-man. The turtles, however, changed into humanoid forms because I was the last thing that touched them. The fifth female turtle was so frightened by our mutations that she ran to the surface, where she met Miyamoto Usagi, a samurai rabbit from a world populated by humanoid animals that was stuck in feudal Japan. He raised the female turtle as his daughter, while I raised the remaining four as my sons.

Knowing that it was only a matter of time before my new sons would face danger, I named them after my favorite Renaissance artists and trained them in ninjitsu. I named my eldest son Leonardo, gave him a blue bandanna, and trained him to use katana swords. I named my second eldest son Raphael, gave him a red bandanna, and trained him to use the sai. I named my third son Donatello, gave him a purple bandanna, and trained him to use a bo staff. My youngest son was named Michelangelo and I gave him an orange bandanna and trained him to use nunchakus."

"Life had not been easy for me at the time", said Miyamoto Usagi. "It was unbearable to be stranded in modern day New York, but I learned to adjust and my surrogate daughter helped me see it through. I named her Kamekun, which was Japanese for 'turtle child', and I trained her in combat because I, too, knew that the outside world would be dangerous. I had heard of the Purple Dragons and that they murdered the father of a young man named Casey Jones. I did not want anything to happen to my little Kamekun. Eventually, when she turned 13 years old, I sensed an enchanting aura around her and taught her exclusive techniques in healing, telepathy, and telekinesis."

"And my powers are not very potent", Venus explained. "I can use my healing magic to heal others, but I cannot heal myself. I can read thoughts and control inanimate objects, but it requires concentration to use those powers and there are some people and objects I can't manipulate."

Splinter finished up the story. "My sons were reunited with Kamekun during their first battle with Shredder and his minions. After banishing the crooks to Dimension X, they returned home to me and I trained Kamekun in ninjitsu. I knew that she was the fifth turtle that went missing 13 years ago, so I gave her a cyan bandanna and named her Venus de Milo after the famous armless statue. My children have fought the Shredder to this day, but they have also made plenty of friends and allies to this day. It was unfortunate when I reunited with Tang Shen only for the Shredder to murder her right in front of me, but my Turtles are always there for me."

"And we are pleased that our offspring exists as benevolent protectors", said Giotto. "After Virginia laid the eggs that would hatch into these five, the two of us were shipped to a zoo, where we remained until earlier this year, where the Shredder mutated us as part of an attempt to defeat those Turtles. We became human because the last living things that touched us were our caretakers. We never were the child-raising type, but we appreciate Hamato Yoshi and Miyamoto Usagi for being outstanding surrogate parents."

To be continued.