Karai (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)
Karai is a character featured in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. She is a member of the Foot Clan, second in authority to Shredder.
Karai was abandoned by her parents at a young age, but Oroku Saki (The Shredder) found her and took her in. From there, he taught her the ways of ninjutsu, raising her as his daughter.
Season 2
Template:Spoiler Karai originally comes to New York (in both the comic book and the 2003 TV series) in order to restore peace to the city after the Shredder has supposedly been defeated. She meets with the Turtles and Casey Jones, and, after a brief altercation, she proposes an alliance with them. Karai promises that the Foot Clan will not attack the Turtles again if they agree to the alliance. All accept this proposal, apart from Raphael, who refuses to team up with the enemy.
Karai impersonates the Shredder (voice, armor and all) in order to bring together the Foot, the Purple Dragons, and the Mafia. They all meet at the Foot stronghold, and a battle begins. During the battle, Karai is hit, which causes the Shredder's helmet to fall off, exposing her face. Realizing that someone has been impersonating their master, the Foot turn on Karai. The Turtles and Casey Jones enter the battle. Just as Karai and the Turtles are about to be blown away, Raphael enters along with Splinter. Together they defeat the Mafia, Foot, and Purple Dragons. Karai makes the Foot swear allegiance to her.
The next time the Turtles come in contact with Karai is when they trace a Mech-Splinter bot, which has attacked them, to the Foot stronghold. The Turtles, unaware that the Shredder is again in control of the Foot, decide to eliminate him once and for all. Hun and the Elite capture Leonardo, Raphael and Splinter, and to test Karai's loyalty to him, the Shredder orders her to finish them off. Hun decides to make things more interesting, and allows Leonardo to fight Karai (since they both have katanas.) Leonardo defeats Karai, and gives her a chance to follow her own code of honor instead of the Shredder's. She is unable to kill Leonardo, meaning that she is unable to follow the Shredder's way. Michelangelo, Zog ( a Triceraton soldier) and Donatello regroup with the others, and together they defeat Hun and the Elite Foot Ninja. They then leave Karai on her own. Splinter and the Turtles defeat Shredder once again (or so they think) thanks to Zog's sacrifice. Karai finds the Shredder, however, still intact, minus a right leg, and they take off in a helicopter.
Season 3
After the Triceraton invasion, the Shredder, posing as his alter-ego Oroku Saki, helps to restore the city. His real plan, which is eventually revealed, is to return to the Utrom homeworld in a spaceship which he has created, and take it over. Karai secretly meets with the Turtles, and agrees to help them to disable the Triceraton anti-gravity generator in order to return the city of Beijing, which the Triceratons have suspended high above to the Earth, to the ground. After a successful mission, Leonardo tries to convince Karai to leave the Foot (who think she's dead). Karai says that she cannot turn her back on her "father", regardless of his evil.
The next time they meet, the Turtles, Splinter, Professor Honeycutt (the Fugitoid), Leatherhead, Casey & April O'Neil successfully infiltrate Shredder's new stronghold and discover his true motives in helping the city. The Shredder has to leave earlier than planned due to successful inflitration by the Turtles and Bishop/Dr. Stockman and his forces. Leonardo says that he cannot allow Shredder to leave the planet, since he is planning to invade and enslave the Utroms. Karai says that the Utrom are evil - they have hunted her "father" all his life. Leonardo tells her that she has been lied to, as it is the Shredder who is evil.
Shredder is almost defeated. He is saved by Karai, and they leave in the spaceship along with Dr. Chaplin. The Turtles and Splinter manage to board before the spaceship takes off. They encounter the Shredder once again, but are defeated this time by his new exo-suit. During the battle, Leonardo is stabbed accidentally by Karai. Shredder is about to finish him off, but Karai intervenes and tells him that the Turtles are defeated, and to leave them in their own dishonor. Shredder smacks her aside and is about to kill her when the ship is attacked by Agent Bishop/Dr. Stockman. The Turtles, with the help of Professor Honeycutt, successfully blow up the ship, but the Utroms teleport in just in time to save everyone before the ship is destroyed. The Shredder is tried and exiled to an ice asteroid. Karai and Dr. Chaplin are sent to jail on Earth. As she is led away, Karai tells Leonardo that this isn't what she wanted .
Season 4
All isn't known of Season 4 yet, but so far Karai ordered the Mystic Foot Ninja to attack Splinter and the Turtles while they were meditating. They were unsuccessful in their task. For the season finale, it is possible that there could be an intense showdown between Karai and the more aggressive Leonardo.
Other Info On Karai
Though she serves the Shredder, Karai shows that she doesn't always agree with his plans. Her own code of honor and morality sometimes conflicts with his, which makes her unable to perform certain tasks for him. Karai was raised by the Shredder as though he were father, so it's hard for her to just turn her back on him, though it is possible that this could happen in the future.
There are hints of a possible romance between Leonardo and Karai as the series progresses.