Splinter and Mizuki sat in the living area as they watched an old film that focuses on a hero fighting off crime bosses. Mizuki perched criss-cross beside Splinter, her back straight and an interested expression on her face.
"Where's our free grub, noodle man?" One of the crime bosses demanded.
Raph mimicked the hero on the screen. "Okay, ha. How 'bout some—hot soup?"
He grabbed Donnie and Mikey by the front of their shells and threw them over his shoulders as the hero on the screen did. Donnie and Mikey both fell face-flat on two bowls of noodles as the crime bosses.
A noodle splattered on Splinter, who slurped up the noodle as he continued to watch the scene in front of him.
"Too spicy for you?" Raph continued to mimic the hero with a laugh. "Everyone's a critic. Hm."
Mizuki got up and paused the movie. She turned to face Splinter. "So, this hero? This is Lou Jitsu?" She asked him.
"He is known throughout the world as a celebrity for years," he replied to her, nodding. "No one knows what happened to him or where he went off to, but they all still remember him through his movies and other merchandise."
"Seems like a worthy hero," Mizuki remarked, impressed.
"Man, 'Teriyaki Shakedown' always gets me so—" Donnie looked up and inhaled. "—jazzed!"
"Yeah, Lou Jitsu's the business!" Raph grinned.
Splinter threw the remote at him, prompting him to yelp and fall to the ground. Donnie and Mikey's eyes went wide with confusion and astonishment.
"Then why do you insult the master with your poor technique?" Splinter said.
"HOT SOUP!" He jumped off the chair and grabbed Donnie and Mikey again. He flipped them onto the bowls once more, but harder than Raph did before. Mizuki went wide-eyed at the stunt the rat mutant had pulled.
"Do not worry," Splinter went on. "Someday, you will be great ninjas with a little practice...is something I would say if I were a liar."
"That's nice of you to say, Pop," Mikey got up. "But I'm tired of practicing."
"Yeah, we can be heroes like Lou Jitsu!" Raph added.
Splinter laughed and walked away. "Nice try."
Mizuki got up to help Donnie get up from the floor. "Master Splinter, with all due respect, I believe in them. Even though they were inexperienced fighters, they had managed to fight off Draxum and defeated him. I saw their fighting skills when I was imprisoned. I see no reason why they aren't heroes yet."
"She's right," Mikey piped up. "We got the squillz, we got the tight color-coordinated team look."
"Let's do it! Let's go out and bust some bad guys!" Raph fist-bumped Mikey.
"But just one problem. Where are we going to find bad guys for you to fight off?" Mizuki asked.
"Good point, Mizzy," Donnie pulled out a tablet from his robo-shell. "I also feel like we need a case to get the juices flowing a bit. You know, let's see what the Internet has to say about it, shall we..." He started searching for any crimes committed in New York. Leo got up from behind the chair and sat on it upside-down.
"Yo, Leo, we're gonna be heroes!" Mikey exclaimed.
"Okay, what's the plan? Solve the city's rat problem?" Leo asked with a bored look. He got hit by Splinter in the tail and yelped, falling off the chair.
"Hey, now. I am standing right here." Splinter scolded.
"Pfft, no way! We're crime fighters!" Raph said.
"Have you found anything, Donnie?" Mizuki questioned Donnie.
"I got one," he showed the others a headline with a picture of a spine in x-ray form breaking. "Check this out: The Spine Breaking Bandit!"
"Yeah! Go big or go home!" Raph chuckled.
"If you want to risk yourself going on a stretcher, then you may wish to do so," Mizuki sarcastically said. "What else do you have?"
"Uh, okay, here's something: The Long Island Mangler!" Donnie rounded up another headline with a picture of a person beaten up and his body all tangled up.
"Okay, Donnie," Leo placed his hands over the tablet screen. "I appreciate you giving your best effort, but maybe we should save mangling and spine-breaking for, I don't know, our second day?"
Donnie and Mizuki stared at him with deadpanned looks. The purple bandana turtle pulled up another article and read it over. "All right, well," he started. "This one's kind of lame: someone stole paper from a delivery truck?"
Mizuki looked over his shoulder to read the article. A picture revealed two people carrying boxes, a few papers falling out.
Leo snatched the tablet from Donnie's hands and smirked. "Not on my watch! That's exactly the kind of junior-level mischief we can put an end to."
"Really? That'll make us heroes?" Raph commented, raising an eyebrow.
"Leo, please, it's only paper..." Mizuki started.
Leo stopped and chuckled. "It's only paper? I'm so sorry. Donnie, what did she just say? Did she say it's only paper?"
"Yup," Donnie answered.
"Did she say it's only paper?" Leo continued to laugh.
"Yes, she did."
"Okay! That's what they all say," Leo started, more determined. "You think the road to hero town is paved with real crime? No! It's paved with the tears of the poor paper man. And who helps that guy? I'll tell you who: We are who."
"Yes!" The brothers cheered. With Mizuki in tow, they exited the lair.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Soon, the turtles and Mizuki are now in the cities and searching for the bandits who took the papers from different places. While avoiding being seen by people, they jumped from roof to roof of buildings, the moonlight and stars guiding them as lights.
The group eventually landed on a roof of an apartment and hid to get around being seen. Donnie pulled out his goggles to search for the bandits.
"What kind of weirdo steals paper?" Raph asked.
"A dreamer!" Mikey replied. "You look at a sheet of paper and see nothing. They see possibilities—"
Raph hit him from behind, causing him to groan and fall to the ground.
"There's one store they haven't hit yet," Donnie added as he scanned the area. "And it is right over there—oh, convenient."
They saw the bandits responsible for the paper being stolen. Mizuki narrowed her eyes at the strange bandits. Where has she seen those men before?
"How 'bout we go stealth and make 'em wish they stole toilet paper?" Raph suggested.
Mikey, Donnie, Leo, and Mizuki both chucked at his little remark before they all jumped off the roof and started for the crooks.
Two men with magical flames flowing from their heads and orange paint on their faces stacked papers into a white truck while checking if someone is watching them.
The brothers and Mizuki silently crawled down the walls from behind. Mikey landed on Raph, which prompted both to fall to the ground by accident. Leo, Donnie, and Mizuki easily landed near the crooks, who turned to find them ready for combat.
The crooks went in different directions as the turtles and Mizuki started after them.
"You two go left. Mikey, Mizuki, go right. I'll take the roof and swoop down like a boss," Raph ordered before he climbed up the other building to chase down the thinner man.
With Mikey and Mizuki in one direction and Donnie and Leo in another, they chased down the crooks.
Mikey and Mizuki went after the bigger man, who turned around the corner. Mizuki saw a bright pink light and lightning bolts from behind the corner just as Mikey threw his kusari-fundo at a fire hydrant. By then, she realized something.
"Mikey, wait!"
Mikey didn't listen to her warning in time and instead collided with Donnie and Leo. The three ended up in a pile, left in confusion and devastation, as Mizuki zoomed in around the corner.
"Where are they?"
"That is you, right?"
"Swoopin' like a boss!" Raph jumped down towards the three turtles.
"No, no, no!"
They tried to warn him too late. Mizuki leaped out of the way in time before Raph came down on his brothers hard.
The dark-blue-braided girl saw the white truck the bandits are on drive away from where she stood. With a low growl, she started after them. A whizzing car suddenly blocked her path, but she avoided getting run over. She then noticed the van was too far away to aim her weapons.
She cursed in Japanese before turning towards the turtles. "Are you guys all right?"
"Uh, quick question: Did we seriously just get schooled by paper thieves?" Donnie asked back.
"I don't swoop like a boss. I swoop like a noob," Raph said, defeated.
"Man, this seemed like a really cool idea until we didn't succeed at it," Mikey added, crestfallen.
Mizuki went from sympathetic to serious in a matter of seconds at their discouraged state.
"No. Oh, no, no, no, no. I will not allow mutant brothers who want to be heroes to give up simply because they got outsmarted by thieves," She proudly stated. "I want them to try as hard as they can, regardless of their past failures and flaws. I want them to be proud of who they are and fight for the good of New York."
"That's the spirit, Mizzy," Leo got up and smiled at her. "Mikey, where's your...legendary optimism?"
Mikey groaned in response.
"Raph, where's your, ya know, your go-getter attitude? And Donnie, where's your—your thing, your emotionless passion?"
"Here," Donnie quietly replied.
"We can still catch these lame old paper crooks and be heroes!" Leo went on.
"Yeah, that's gonna be hard. This was the last paper store in town," Donnie added.
Leo pondered for a moment. He smiled when he came up with an idea. "Or was it?"
"Yeah, I—I literally just said that."
Mizuki noticed Leo's smirk and understood instantly. "Not unless we open our own."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
With the items they needed to attract the thieves, they put it all into motion. The brothers and Mizuki worked as hard as they can on their plan, disguising salami as paper and preparing the biggest part of their plans. Soon, they managed to complete it.
Raph and Leo held up a cardboard front with words badly written in front of an alleyway. Large cardboard with a sign reading "Leo's Paper Hut" and cut-out holes acting as windows and a door with a sign that says "Open" stood in the hole of the alleyway. Mikey gasped in awe at the sight. Mizuki placed her hands on her hips and smiled with pride. Raph and Leo fist-bumped one another.
"It's beautiful," Mikey whispered.
Later, Donnie pushed out a sign reading "Paper on Sale" and went back inside. Leo and Mizuki prepared some salami stacks while Raph stood in front of another one.
"Do you really think that this is going to hook the thieves?" Donnie asked. "The only paper we have is made from salami which is round. Paper is not round."
"Yes, it'll work," Leo assured.
Mizuki saw Raph in front of one of the stacks. "Raph, stop eating the plan!"
Raph grumbled something as he stopped eating the stack.
April stepped up to the cardboard front with a piece of paper in hand. She sighed as she walked up to the door and pushed it open. "Phew. Okay. You can do this."
She walked in through the door. "Hi, I'm here for the job interview...aw, no." Her voice trailed off when she saw the turtles and Mizuki standing there. Mikey popped up from behind the makeshift desk wearing a glasses and mustache disguise.
"Man, I thought it was weird to have a job interview at midnight," April remarked, her hands on her hips, as she walked towards Mikey.
"Ah, Miss...O'Neil," Mikey read from a clipboard.
Lights from outside shone, the sounds of an engine dying down.
"Customers!" Mikey gasped. He hid underneath the desk as the others went to hide in a box.
"April, you're hired!" Mikey popped out from underneath the desk, scanning April, and handed her the script. "Just follow the sales script and remember the customer is always right unless they're a psychotic paper thief."
"Uh, okay," April replied reluctantly.
"We'll be in the back," Mikey then hid in the box with his brothers.
Mizuki hid underneath the desk and prepared her fans.
"Welcome to Leo's Paper Hut," April said from the script, just as the mysterious thieves strolled up to her. "Can I interest you in our—"
However, her eyes went wide as a large hand reached out to her.
Inside the box, the brothers waited for April to finish, only to hear muffled shouts from outside.
"What is 'mm-mm-mm'?" Mikey mimicked her cries. "She's supposed to say..." he looked down at the script for a second. "...paper."
"It's working half-well," Mizuki muttered from her hiding place.
The turtles popped out from the box and yelled, ready to fight. Mizuki jumped out from underneath the desk and pulled out her fans fully. They found April dangling on the roof beam tied up and the salami-paper stacks gone.
"April! The salami paper!" Donnie exclaimed.
"It's gone!" Mikey shouted.
Leo ran out and saw the crooks had gotten away again.
"No way!" He yelled in frustration and kicked the sign near the entrance. The cardboard with the large sign fell down, revealing the whole alleyway fully.
Mizuki jumped up the walls, landed on the roof beam, and cut April loose. With her over her shoulder, she landed on the ground safely and untied her from the ropes.
"Sorry, April. We're trying to catch those thieves who took the paper from all over the place," Mizuki apologized.
"You could've called me sooner," April remarked.
"This is supposed to be easy. How do we keep losing these clowns?" Leo complained.
"Leo, do you really think I would have let you make salami paper without putting a tracer in it?" Donnie smirked. He pressed a button on his arm device to activate the tracer.
Raph gasped when his stomach growled. The teens saw a red dot repeatedly blinking. Mizuki slapped herself on the forehead in exasperation.
"It's okay. I put two," Donnie pressed another button.
The same red dot blinked within the white van of the thieves, which drove to a certain location.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A while later, the teens arrived at the docks where the paper thieves had gone to. They hid behind some boxes, watching them in the shadows.
"Okay, guys, this is our moment," Leo said as he viewed through the binoculars. "They may have given us the slip before—"
"Twice before!" Mikey interrupted.
"Thank you, Mikey," Leo acknowledged. "Twice before, but now we've got them cornered and there's nothing that can stop us."
The turtles and Mizuki snuck into the boat where they saw the stacks of paper being stored away. They eventually came across the room where they saw the thieves standing in front of the paper.
Leo swooped in and landed feet first, his sword ready. The others came in after him, with their own weapons.
"Okay, twerp and..." Leo started as the two men turned around to face them. "Surprisingly big man. It's five against two, so what saw we just call it a day, right?"
"Whoa! They're got footprints on their faces!" Mikey pointed out.
"Uh, are those flames on their heads?" Raph raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"Feels like a real hazard for a paper thief," Donnie commented.
Mizuki studied the men's attire once she got a closer look at them. The instant she recognized them, her eyes widened. "The Foot Clan."
"You! I'm gonna grind your bones with my fists!" The buff Foot member threatened.
"Ooh, that's inspired," the other Foot member, whose voice sounded like an old man's, added. "We're both gonna grind your bones."
"Right. Listen, bubs," Raph started. "Before we put our footprints on your faces, we gotta ask: what's with all the paper?"
Smirking, the Foot Clan Lieutenant picked up a slip of paper and quickly shaped it into a small figure.
The turtles and Mizuki titled their heads confused. "Yay, arts and crafts!" Mikey gleefully said.
"I don't think so," Mizuki replied.
The Lieutenant threw the figure, which transformed itself into a real-life soldier, towards the group, who gasped in awe and shock. The soldier yelled and hit Raph against the wall.
"Uh, hey, maybe we should fight now and register our amazement later," Donnie suggested.
"Agreed," Mizuki nodded.
Leo ran forward with his sword ready and slashed at the soldier. The figure disappeared from his hit, followed by raining dark red confetti. The turtles suddenly panicked as they tried to fight off the confetti and spit out the small bits that floated in their mouth.
"Guys!" Mizuki's shout caught their attention. "It's just confetti."
"Huh. Oh, yeah," Raph understood.
"Paper viscera," Donnie said.
The Lieutenant created more figures, which changed to more live soldiers running toward the group.
Raph charged forward first, his tonfas ready. As one soldier leaped at him, he hit it, which turned into more confetti. Raph then grabbed onto a pipe overhead and kicked another.
Mikey threw his kusari-fundo at the two chasing after the oldest brother, destroying them. However, another one grabbed his weapon and pulled him towards it. Mikey fell to the lower level just as more were coming in at him.
He yelled and threw his kusari-fundo at a pipe above and spun around, changing them to more confetti.
While the turtles fought off the others on their own, Mizuki took on two soldiers. She threw her fan at one behind her, who disappeared from her hit, and kicked the guard in front of her swiftly in the face. Grunting, she threw down her weapon on the guard.
The figure vanished, only to be replaced by falling confetti. Mizuki stood up and smirked at Donnie, who had seen her fight off her own combats. He blushed when she smiled at him.
"We're getting nowhere fighting the guys! We gotta take out the source!" Leo yelled, sitting on top of a small tower of paper.
He charged forward at the buff man, who pulled out his knives and blocked off his attacks. They repeatedly tried to attack one another with their swords before they flew off their hands.
"Okay. You think you're pretty good, huh?" Leo asked his opponent.
"Indeed," the buff Foot member replied to him.
Leo tried to hit him in the face with his foot, but the Foot member caught him by the ankle, went up behind him, and hit him. The attack sent Leo flying against the wall.
"Leo!" Mizuki cried.
"You are good," Leo groaned.
Suddenly, the stacks of paper started to fly around the two Foot members. The figure grew taller with the soldiers the Lieutenant made until it fully transformed into a large monster.
The turtles and Mizuki gasped.
The monster picked up Leo and started to squeeze him with his big hand.
"Leo!" Raph yelled. "Donnie, it's piñata time!"
Donnie smiled and charged at the monster, his staff chasing to a hammer. Mikey, Raph, and Mizuki followed behind.
The monster repeatedly tried to smash down the group, who dodged its attacks. Donnie and Mikey clung to the hand that held Leo hostage and tried to free him from its tight grip. The monster, however, grabbed Donnie and Mikey as well in its other fist.
Raph and Mizuki watched on horrified as the monster gripped the three brothers. They then saw the Lieutenant, who is controlling the creature, smash his fists together, chuckling darkly. The monster followed his motions, with Leo, Donnie, and Mikey groaning with each impact.
Raph's eyes narrowed. He charged toward the Foot Lieutenant. "Hero town! Population, me!"
"Raph, no!" Mizuki reached out to him.
The Foot Brute stood in front of the Lieutenant, smirking at the large turtle.
Raph yelled and ran at them with his tonfas ready. The weapons sparked red with lightning, and red fists appeared over Raph's hands. He grabbed the Foot members and spun them around until he tossed them over his shoulders. The two Foot members hit the wall and slid down, groaning.
Mizuki stared at Raph wide-eyed in amazement. Raph glanced at his hands and gasped. They then saw the monster tumble down as dozens of paper fluttered downwards from its form. Raph instantly rushed to Mizuki, covering her as the monster form was destroyed.
Not a second later, the turtles and Mizuki popped up, gasping for air.
The two Foot Clan men also appeared from beneath the paper and glared at the group.
The buff Foot man then picked up a paper and tried to make a figure soldier. Leo saw sprinklers above him and gasped when he had an idea.
"Mikey! The sprinklers!" he ordered.
"I'm on it!" Mikey replied. He took out his kusari-fundo and threw up towards the sprinklers. The fire spirit opened up, prompting the sprinklers to activate.
"Nice!" Mizuki cheered.
The buff Foot man was able to finish his origami figure only to see it tear down from the contact with water. "You may have shredded our plans for now. But next time, you will feel the fury of 1,000 feet!" he growled at the team.
"Oh, you're on fire today!" The Lieutenant complimented him. He picked up a slice of salami and tried to form it into a soldier like he had done with the paper. He threw it toward the group.
The salami shifted itself to a melting figure, causing the turtles and Mizuki to gasp in disgust.
"Ew! That's nightmare fuel, man!" Mikey groaned.
The salami soldier melted down in front of Raph unfortunately.
"Huh, who knew," Mizuki mumbled to herself.
"Okay, salami origami doesn't work," Donnie remarked.
Raph looked up and saw the two Foot men are gone and lit up. "Hey, look, they vanished!" He pointed at where they were before.
"Then what are we looking at?" Donnie asked.
Raph saw the pile of salami in front of him and drooled hungrily. Mizuki and the brothers gasped lightly.
"Oh, what is that? Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it," Leo shook his head.
"No, no, no," Donnie tried to tell Raph, who slowly walked towards the salami pile hungrily.
"Raph, do not even think about it!" Mizuki attempted to stop him.
"Raph, no!"
Raph picked a small pile of salami.
"Look at me! No!"
Despite their warnings and attempts to stop him, Raph started chewing on the salami. Mizuki covered her mouth to hold back her laughter and disgust. Leo placed his hand over his mouth and gagged.
"No!" Donnie yelled.
"Ugh! Gross!" Mikey groaned.
"What? Five-second rule," Raph shrugged.
"So does this count as a win?" Mikey asked, turning towards the others.
"Well, I don't know. Let's think about it," Leo stated. "Did the bad guys get their big supply paper?"
"Nope," Mizuki smirked.
"Well, did they build their army of soldiers?"
"Nuh-uh."
"Are they otherwise thwarted, and we unscathed?"
"Yes!" Raph, Donnie, Mikey, and Mizuki both answered in unison.
"Hero mission accomplished, my friends!" Leo declared.
The brothers then jumped at Leo and laughed in triumph, play-fighting with one another. Mizuki smiled and shook her head at the group, her arms folded.
Their first mission a success, but there will be more challenges to conquer.