A YJA Moment - The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Not much was known about the four Turtles before they became the urban legends that they are today.  It is believed they were a young child's pets who got released into the wild and wandered into the sewers. They would have perished in the offal if it hadn't been for the Murdock Incident.

A shipment of Mutagen was being transported from the T.C.R.I. building in downtown New York when a young boy named Matt Murdock ran across the street.  The truck containing the toxic substance crashed and flipped, spilling its radioactive contents all over the boy and the rest of the street.  The chemical then oozed into the storm drains and into the sewers.

The Mutagen fell on the young turtles, altering them and giving them anthropomorphic features.  Aided by the rat Splinter, also changed by the chemical, they found refuge in one of the forgotten sections of the New York Subway.  There they made a home for themselves, using both the sewers and the train tunnels to get across the city.

As the Turtles grew, they were given names by Splinter, who based them on Renaissance painters.  In addition, he spent many years educating them and training them in the ancient art of Ninjitsu.  Though they looked identical, each one was unique - Donatello was a brilliant mind; Michaelangelo was streetwise; Leonardo was disciplined, and Raphael was strong-willed and determined.

After becoming Ninjas, Splinter then tasked them with discovering their origins.  Finding the remains of one of the Mutagen containers, the Turtles focused their investigation on the Trans-Continental Research Institute, or T.C.R.I., which was only a few blocks away from where the accident took place.

As they attempted to infiltrate the T.C.R.I. Building, they encountered shadow warriors belonging to the Foot Clan, who were protecting the business from intrusion.  The head of this force was a man clad in bladed armor who called himself The Shredder.  When given a description of this new threat, Splinter knew it was the murderer of his master Homato Yoshi, the man known as Oroku Saki.

Now the Turtles have another task - bring down the Foot Clan and seek vengeance upon The Shredder for the death of Homato Yoshi.