On the Trails of Purple Dragons

In *Mutant Ninja Turtles Gaiden*, there is a fictional novel called ***On the Trails of Purple Dragons***. It is written by Mikael Buonarotti, who in reality is the mutant turtle Michelangelo Hamato writing under pen name.

*On the Trails of Purple Dragons* is the first novel written by Mikey after his brother Raphael discovers for the first time that Mikey has been writing novels about some of the most traumatic moments in their lives as brothers. When Raph discovered this in Chapter 7: *The Untimely Clash - Raphael vs. Michelangelo*, he proceeded in Chapter 8: *The Cowards* to beat Mikey within an inch of his life as the two bitterly argued over the crux of their 17 years of conflict and estrangement. Raph came to regret almost killing his brother, but they were more alienated than ever, as Mikey refused to stop writing fictionalizations of their lives, and Raph still resented this.

Mikey combed through his diaries and proceeded to write *On the Trails of Purple Dragons*, which approximately corresponds to the events of *Eastman and Laird's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles* Volume 1. In Chapter 10: *Rational Voice? Enter Casey and April!!!*, the novel immediately becomes Mikey's best-selling book, earning not only critical acclaim and windfall sales for the turtle novelist, but also provoking the attention of the New York Police Department, who publicly confirm that some of the events fictionalized in the book are based on real events not previously disclosed to the public. But for the first time since he became a novelist, Mikey is feeling the greater weight of how his writing affects his family, especially Raphael. Their niece Shadow Jones reassures Mikey that being worried about Raph's feelings is a good sign.

April O'Neil and Casey Jones learn for the first time of Renoir's existence, and Casey angrily heads to Raph's lair to ensure that the new ninjutsu student is properly hazed with a binge-drinking session. While talking with Raph, the topic arrives at Mikey's new book, and Raph's contempt for Mikey's writings. April immediately demands that Raph read the novel's final page. That final page is a personal comment on the author, dedicating the novel to his brothers and acknowledging that their past together has made them an integral part of who they are. This fundamentally contradicts Raph's harshest assumptions of Mikey being greedy and selfish, deeply shaming the turtle.

The details revealed in *On the Trails of Purple Dragons* have another effect—in *A Prelude to...*, it is revealed that the police have been using newly-learned details corroborated by the novel to launch devastating operations against much of New York City's criminal underworld, and especially hard-hit is Eikichi Gotoh's New York City Foot Clan. The vengeful Gotoh declares that Michelangelo Hamato must die for the damage his writings have inflicted on them, and hatches a plan to kidnap Shadow Jones, lure Michelangelo out of seclusion, and kill him. Eikichi's Foot launch their operation on Christmas Eve, in a story arc that continues for the next *eleven* chapters and drastically reshapes Mikey's character development. Among the many events that occur that Christmas, Michelangelo and Raphael finally heal the 17-year-long rift between them, Mikey decides to return to life as a ninja, and he resolves to retire as a novelist; this effectively makes *On the Trails of Purple Dragons* his final novel.

A copy of the book makes a cameo appearance in Chapter 15: *And So the Pages Turn...*, seen in an alley trash can.

## See also

* *Dishonor, Despair, Sorrow and Illusions*, Mikael Buonarotti's first novel