The Legend of the Kuro Kabuto

The Legend of the Kuro Kabuto
Season 2, Episode 20

Airdate	June 15th, 2014
Writter	Doug Langdale
Director	Alan Wan
Prev. and Next
Prev. The Wrath of Tiger Claw	Next Plan 10

The Legend of the Kuro Kabuto is the 20th episode of the second season and is the 46th episode of the series. It aired on June 15th, 2014.

"Who dunnit???"

Official Description[]

While Leo tries to convince the team to help him rescue Karai, the Shredder's helmet is stolen by a master thief and falls into the Turtle's unknowing hands.

Plot Synopsis[]

The episode begins with the Shredder's old friend Ivan Steranko reflecting on his 'need' to have the Shredder's legendary helmet to complete his own collection of trophies, among which are several of Alexander the Great's treasures. Steranko openly says that he'll need someone to steal it for him, resulting in a mercenary, Anton Zeck, entering the room and trying to insinuate himself into the potential mission, asking if he'll be forgiven by Steranko for his apparent 'little mistake' if he steals the helmet. Steranko denies that Zeck's mistake was little, remarking that the mistake was shooting him in the eyeball (explaining why one of Steranko's eyes has a diamond prosthetic in it). Zeck comments 'Not on purpose' and then humorously promises that he'll make the situation run smoothly, but Steranko says that the Shredder's lair is well guarded and the people he's deployed to go there have never returned. Steranko then asks his man why he thinks he's worthy for the task, to which Zeck responds by showing the Steranko that he stole one of his prized possessions ('the Spear of Destiny') without Steranko noticing, and replaced it with a spear made of marzipan. Once again, Zeck promises to be successful and shows off an ability of his to turn invisible with a Tron-like suit.

The scene cuts to Leonardo peering into Master Splinter's bedroom. Leo notices that Splinter seems to be silently grieving about Karai being taken away for the second time, but Leo chooses not to bother his sensei further. Raph brings in some Pizza for all of his brothers to munch on, but Mikey starts complaining that he should be buying at least two pizzas and accidentally lets a smoke bomb fall onto the pizza, causing it to disappear and scatter itself throughout parts of the living room. Leo then enters the room and tries to galvanize his team members into rescuing Karai. Raph thinks that, whether or not Karai does believe the truth, she must have a very tough time turning on the Shredder; Donnie shares this opinion. Leo voices his disappointment about his brothers questioning his leadership role whenever he makes a choice that they don't like. This makes Raph proclaim that their brother is their leader 'more or less', though Leo still isn't content with this reply. Leo says that he knows what's right and goes to check out the Shredder's lair to see if he can spot any weak points. Reluctantly, all three of his brothers tag along sheerly to keep Leo out of trouble.

Meanwhile, in the Dungeon of the Shredder's lair, Karai sits in her cell and solemnly claws at one of the doors with a miniscule weapon. The Shredder then walks up to the opposite side of the cell and explains that he never wanted Karai to end up in the position she's in. He tells her that the only reason she isn't with her father now is because he is a 'scum' and that, if Karai were to experience what it is like to be brought up by somebody like him, she would not be the person that she is. He then backs up his own words by saying that what he decided to do was the only thing that was 'right', hoping that she can understand this. Obviously, not the reason why he took her away from her real father. The villain leaves and Karai once again starts to claw at the cell door she's nearest to.

Zeck locates the Foot HQ and jumps onto its roof. He uses a virtual compass to bore a small hole in the roof that he goes through and slides down to the throne room floor with a rope before seizing the chance to dash behind the Shredder's throne. Somehow knowing that the helmet is located in the drawer on the back of the throne, he successfully overrides all of the security codes present, slides open the drawer, stuffs the helmet into a bag of his, and attaches it to his body. However, Rahzar and some Foot-Bots then open the doors to the room, Rahzar commanding them to search the place. Rahzar is not able to spot the now invisible thief, though he uses his sense of smell to locate him and knock him down after hitting him in the gut. Just when Rahzar is about to finish him off, however, Anton is able to turn the tables on Rahzar by throwing balls of glue at his feet, causing him to trip. The master thief then starts to project multiple (very harmful) energy beams at the Foot-Bots from a device located on the top of his head, literally an energy version of his hair! He then throws a detonator into a nearby wall and escapes with what he needs. The Shredder then returns from the dungeon and asks Rahzar about the current situation. Rahzar confesses that a man has nabbed his helmet, and he shows the Shredder a business card that Anton decided to leave behind. Rahzar is then ordered to bring the entire clan before the Shredder.

Meanwhile, the Turtles are driving across town in the Shell-Raiser and Leo confirms that their best bet would be to tunnel into the Shredder's lair from down below. Mikey then advises to tunnel down from above, sarcastically reasoning that this would confuse them. Raph appears to be dead set against all of the options that are thought of. Soon, Donnie spots Zeck on his Infrared camera, and he appears to be running from them. However, on Donnie's regular Surveillance camera, nothing at all is seen. Nonetheless, Donnie tells Leo to pause and step on the breaks but Zeck turns their way just in time to be hit by the Shell-Raiser. Due to his armor, the man is barely harmed at all, although the pressure knocks him right onto a sidewalk, where he vanishes in an instant. The brothers wonder if this is another Kraang defense mechanism, but, before they can get lost within their thoughts, Raph notices a blue backpack lying in the middle of the street nearby. He opens it up, only to unveil the Shredder's helmet, which he shows to his brothers in disbelief.

Then, a gigantic squadron of Foot-Bots line up on the rooftops wielding an array of weapons and ready to confront the Turtles. The Turtles then fight them until they are satisfied with the majority of them getting terminated. The brothers then retreat with the helmet, while Zeck manages to attach a small tracking beacon onto the back of their vehicle as they are driving away from the scene. Meanwhile, the Shredder tells every one of his lackeys that their current priority is to find his helmet (the Kuro Kabuto) and have it returned to him, regardless of the consequences. Fishface then asks why he couldn't just search for a different helmet. Disrespected, the Shredder knocks Fishface to the ground and tells every one about the Foot Clan's founder (Koga Takuza) and how he was an expert in swordsmanship that was thought to have the potential of being Japan's most skilled warrior. He completely devastated hundreds of the samurai that opposed his power, and he took their weapons as trophies. He gathered each and every one of these tokens and combined them with forgery to make a metallic artifact that would stay undamaged for over 1,500 years - the Kuro Kabuto. This helmet was used by one leader after another and slowly became one of the Foot Clan's infamous symbols. Not very long ago, the Shredder took on the vow of protecting it with his own life. The Shredder promises that, if his henchmen fail to retrieve it, there will be major penalties.

We then cut to a scene of Fishface running across the rooftops alongside the airborne Stockman-Fly. Fishface resolves on getting the helmet back so that they will not need to look at their master's ugly facial features any longer, admitting that the Shredder's look is even more ugly than what Stockman-Fly is. Elsewhere, Rahzar states he has just picked up a faint scent originating from somewhere in the city. Tiger Claw says that he has just picked up a very strong odor and concludes that the man it's coming from is carrying multiple devices and electric motors, along with ozone. Rahzar remarks that Tiger Claw's sense of smell is pretty good for a cat, but Tiger Claw tells him that they can fight side by side without their respective species clouding their judgement. Although, Tiger claw does want to eat Fishface, because he's a fish. Rahzar would be okay with it just to shut him up.

Meanwhile, in the Shell-Raiser, Leo believes that they should get the better of the predicament that they're in and try to trade the Shredder's helmet to the Foot in exchange for Karai. However, Raph believes that Leo is simply delusional and that this whole mission is a waste of their resources. Zeck glides from one rooftop to the next with long rays of energy that can be created by devices positioned near his feet. After he eventually ends up getting side by side with the Shell-Raiser, he uses the same trick that he did on the Foot-Bots so as to knock the Shell-Raiser on one of its sides. He then uses his motorized backpack to glide down the wall of a nearby building. However, he pauses and takes a minute to say that the city has gone downhill when he sees Rahzar and Tiger Claw together. Both mutants then notice that the Kabuto they're looking for is lying on the street down below and they battle the Turtles to claim it. The brothers actually put up a strong defense against the two brutes and, after Mikey tosses the helmet up to Donnie, the brothers take to a nearby rooftop and try to prevent an even larger fight from breaking out. However, this is not possible, as Fishface and Stockman-Fly both join the fray. Things only start to become more harsh by the minute, especially when a billboard nearly pulverizes Donnie, Mikey, and Raph, along with the Shredder's helmet.

While Raph is trapped underneath the billboard, he acquiesces on the fact that Leo should save Karai and gives the Shredder's helmet to him. With Tiger Claw and Rahzar closing in behind him, Leo makes the split second decision of running away, while Raph and the others deal with both Fishface and Stockman-Fly. Leo manages to conceal himself inside of a dumpster and he throws a piece of refuse at some other trash cans and this, luckily, diverts the villains' attention. Just as Leo walks out of an alley way, he hears thief laughing nearby and ends up kicking Zeck onto the sidewalk, where he places a bag that is full of diapers over his neck. Zeck believes that this bag is the one that contains the Shredder's helmet. The Foot Clan then pursues Zeck, easily knocking him over. Just then, however, Steranko arrives in a helicopter and he distracts the Foot Soldiers with a bunch of projectiles. Zeck then climbs into the helicopter with the use of a rope and Steranko asks him if he obtained what he needed to. Zeck responds "Of course I got it", only for Steranko to reveal that the bag has been packed with diapers (it is possibly due to Leo quickly snatching the helmet, before replacing his bag with diapers), angering him to the point where he tells Zeck that he'll pop his head like a blueberry.

Meanwhile, Leo carries the Shredder's helmet all the way back to the mastermind's lair. After entering through a hole right next to the clock tower, the Shredder greets him and asks "Why does the fly enter the spider's web??". Leo's response is that all of the spider's henchmen are out. Leo then goes through with the proposal that he mentioned earlier on. The Shredder comes to an agreement surprisingly quickly and orders a lone Foot-Bot to have Karai released from the Dungeon. After hearing about the revelation that Karai was imprisoned, Leo quickly realizes just how objectionable the situation is and stunningly asks Shredder why he should have done this ruthlessness to Karai, since he was the one who raised Karai from infancy. The Shredder says to him that, in any conflict, the stronger foe is always the one prepared to do what the weaker one could never do. Soon, Karai is brought out of a hallway with a sack covering her head. The Shredder then demands his helmet be given to him, though reminds Leo that there isn't any way he can walk out of this without a fight. After hearing this piece of information, Leo sets the helmet down adjacent to his feet and draws a single Katana to fight the Shredder with. The Shredder briefly fights Leo and easily corners him against a nearby wall, commenting that his sensei is a coward and that Leo should have never tried to do this alone. However, just then, it is revealed that Leo's three brothers have followed in his footsteps and arrive to battle as well. All four of the Turtles still appear to be incapable of defeating the Shredder, but they manage to provide a distraction so that they can get to Karai relatively quickly. Donnie then puts a smoke pellet into the Kabuto and tosses it into the Shredder's hands, only for the latter to get blinded for a few seconds. However, right after the Turtles have made their escape, the Shredder puts his helmet back on and laughs suspiciously.

After carrying Karai onto a nearby rooftop, the Turtles revel in what they have done and Raph proclaims that he and the two others actually needed to come along, with Leo confessing that he really is 'more or less' the leader. Leo sets Karai down and, after taking off the sack on her head, it is revealed that this Karai is nothing but a replica that had 'her' face replaced with a rectangular bomb and was deceptively repeating the words "Let me go!!". The brothers then try to make a quick run for it, but the bomb detonates and thrusts them high into the air, ending the episode in a comic style.

Shredder's Wisdom[]

In any conflict, the winner is the one who is prepared to do what the loser is not.

Character Debuts[]

Anton Zeck [Soon to be Bebop]

Production[]

Trivia[]

'Stockman-Fly' was in this episode, but instead of speaking he just buzzes.

Errors[]

In lots of scenes, Fishface's air tanks are missing.
When Zeck is hit by the Shellraiser, he is shown to not be carrying the bag containing the Kuro Kabuto
When Zeck is collected by Steranko in the helicopter, he is shown to be flying it, after Zeck enters the helicopter after throwing a flashbang at Stockman-Fly, he is not flying the helicopter