Disclaimer: I do not own TMNT or anything to do with TMNT.

Challenge - #005: hauntings

AN: It was made for a challenge at tmntflashfic. Please enjoy and review!

Mikey leaned forward, shoveling popcorn covered in pizza sauce and sprinkles into his mouth as he watched the four teenage sleuths and their dog unmask the monster.

"Old man Jenkins. Old man Jenkins. It's gotta be Old man Jenkins…," Mikey moved closer to the TV.

"Mikey you'll mess up your eyes being that close to the TV."

"Shh! I gotta see who the villain is Leo!" He yelled back to his brother while keeping his face glued to the screen. Mikey gasped as the villain was revealed. "Hank? I knew it!"

"Weren't you just saying Old Man Jenkins?"

"Leo…," Mikey whined at his older brother before looking back at the screen and mimicking Hank as he said his favorite line.

"You meddling kids!" he let his voice go as deep as he could manage before laughing and looking back to see a bored expression on Leo's face. "Come on, that was a classic."

"It's four teenagers and a dog going to places that people say are haunted, but it always turns out to be some kind of scam instead that involves some guy in a mask. It's repetitive and speaks volumes about their self-preservation."

Mikey gasped, "D! How can you say that? Daphne has a lot of purses." he frowned at his older brother who facepalmed.

"My point is they're just kids."

"Exactly," Leo nodded while Mikey looked at his two older brothers.

"So what you're saying is...that kids can't go out and solve mysteries?"

"It just seems impossible Mikey," Don's voice took a gentle tone, "So maybe you shouldn't read too much into it."

"Scared he'll think he can be like 'em? Like he tries to be his superheroes?"

Mikey heard Raph's snort as his red masked brother plopped down in the bean bag chair and leaned back.

"Mikey wouldn't d-"

"That idea is…," Mikey jumped up as he felt the rush of excitement, "Perfect!"

"What!"

All three of his older brothers stared at him, but he continued to grin as the idea planted more in his mind. "We can be like the Mystery Inc.!"

"Mikey they're teenagers…"

"So are we, Leo."

"They risk their lives every night to take down villains."

"We do too D!" Mikey laughed.

"They just some idiots with a stupid van."

Mikey's grin widened more and he pointed to the back where the garage was located, along with their van as his brothers all gave a collective groan.

"Come on guys. It'll be fun. There's four of them, and there's four of us."

"They also gotta dog dummy," Raph snorted.

"And two are girls…," Don shook his head, and Mikey huffed.

"Sheesh stop looking at every detail!"

"But weren't you ju-"

"So Leo's Freddy. He comes up with the plans and he's the leader and stuff. Don's Velma since he's like real sciency and stuff,and I'm Shaggy because he loves food like I love food," He grinned before noticing the scowl on Raph's face.

"Ya makin me Daphne!" he yelled, and Mikey was suddenly caught between a wall and a fist.

"Um...I...because she's the good looking one and so are you?" Mikey's eyes closed tight waiting for the hit to come but opened one of his eyes after feeling nothing.

"Makes sense." Raph let him go and moved back to his seat like nothing happened.

Mikey grinned though inside his heart was still beating fast. Raph could be scary sometimes;though most of those times it was because he pranked him.

Or teased him.

Or broke something.

Or messed with him until he chased him.

"Mikey are we gonna do it or…?"

"Huh?" he looked at his brothers confused before Don pointed to the TV and Mikey looked over at the ending credits of "Scooby Doo." He blinked before his mouth opened wide in the shape of an O.

"Isn't Shaggy supposed to be less of an idiot?" Raph snorted.

"Hey!" Mikey huffed and crossed his arms. He couldn't help that there was so much happening and he happened to notice it. It was just too hard to focus on one thing. He started to grin. "We need a mystery!"

"We could go find out what the Krang are up to," Leo suggested as Mikey shook his head.

"Nope."

"Mikey that's a real mystery."

"They're tryin' to take over the world bro…that's not a secret."

"We don't know that for sure Mikey."

"Uh yeah, we do!" Mikey started to hold up his fingers, "One, they're aliens. Two, they have human body things. Three, they keep changing people into mutants. It's classic throw over all humans 101!"

Leo blinked at him, "That doesn't mean…I mean…"

Mikey slowly began to smirk.

"Never mind." his oldest brother grumbled.

"Ya know what? I like this idea. It already has Fearless lookin' like he knows nothin'." Raph smirked, and Mikey held back a laugh while Don shook his put a hand to his chin while chewing on his lip as he tried to think. Suddenly he snapped his fingers.

"Ol' man Jenkins house! We'll go there!"

"Mikey, as great as your enthusiasm is," Don kept his voice a gentle tone, "There's one…no, two problems. We don't know a Jenkins, and there is no old man Jenkins house."

"D, there's ALWAYS an Ol' man Jenkins," Mikey sighed while looking at his three big brothers. If not for him, he was sure the three of them wouldn't know anything sometimes, and Don was supposed to be the smart one!

"Mikey's that…wait…when did you get my laptop!"

"Always had it bro," Mikey sat with it in his lap and typed in a search for "Ol Man Jenkins."

"No, you didn't. I was just looking at you. I only looked away for a second…I…"

"Donnie, Let it go. It's…Mikey," Raph's tone was nonchalant.

"Got it!" Mikey grinned and turned the laptop around, "See," he smiled more while drawing the word out.

"There's really an old man Jenkin's house...," Don blinked at the laptop and began reading the description. "This is…"

"Like an old as fuc-"

Mikey put a hand over Raph's mouth, "Bro! You can't use that word with kids around," Mikey gave a look before slowly taking his hand off of Raph's mouth.

"What kids, dodo brain?" Raph yelled.

Mikey sighed. Yeah, his bros needed him. Badly.

"So we go to Ol' man Jenkins…"

"Mikey they say this place is haunted, like really haunted," Leo looked up at him.

"Well duh, bro. It would suck to go looking for ghosts and stuff, and solve a mystery if you don't have a haunted house."

"You peed on the couch during Ghostbusters…"

Mikey turned red and heard Raph snicker, "That was different…," he mumbled with his arms crossed over his plastron.

"Then da time ya ran out screamin' out ya room bout some pizza man?"

"That really happened!" Mikey glared at Raph.

"And aren't you scared of squirrels?" Don asked as Mikey's eyes went wide.

"Squirrelanoids are not squirrels bro. They are evil!" He looked around and let his voice drop, "E-vel," He hissed with his fingers moving toward his brothers who rolled their eyes.

"Are we goin' or not?" Raph got up with a bored expression on his face.

"To the Mystery Machine!" Mikey yelled before running off to the van.

"Hey! I never said we can call it that!" Don yelled after him.

Mikey could hear his brothers behind him as he walked;making his way to the van before stopping and looking at it, "Hmmm…," Mikey tapped his chin, "We need to repaint it."

"Mikey…," Raph growled.

"Because only my great looking big brother could make it look like the real Mystery Machine?"

"You have a point," Raph started to grin, and Leo's mouth gaped.

"You…can't be serious? Mikey, don't you think that you're taking this too far?"

"Shut up fearless!" Raph smirked, leaving out then coming back quickly with a variety of different kinds of paints in cans and sprays. Mikey didn't even know so many types of paintbrushes or colors existed. Was his mask actually orange? Or that tangerine thing?

"D...you have to get in character!" Mikey grinned before running off to his room. He kicked over boxes and looked around. He stopped at his bed and felt around under it before grinning at his find. He quickly pulled back the covers and saw his fake glasses with a nose and mustache on the sheets.

"I guess some fake glasses won't hurt," Mikey pulled off the nose and mustache before running back and bringing it to Don.

"Thanks, Mikey."

"No prob bruh!" Mikey laughed.

"Do we really want all them flowers?" Raph yelled from the other side of the van.

"I can't believe you guys are really doing this…," Leo mumbled.

"You guys really did this…," Leo blinked, and it only made Mikey grin more as his blue masked brother kept staring at the new and improved "Mystery Van."

"Raph did great right?" Mikey thought the flowers and hippy design were cool and definitely perfect. Raph had managed to make it look totally awesome. Maybe he'd prank Leo and not Raph next time.

"What did you guys do to the Shellraiser…?" Leo kept staring.

"Internally nothing. Wait...where's my glasses?" Don looked through his pouches.

"Don not yet!" Mikey groaned.

"But I really los-never mind!" he took them out of one pouch and put them on,blinking a moment, "How do I look?"

"Hmmm…," Mikey looked at Don closely, "Gnarly dude!"

"Gnarly?"

"Shh...I'm in character D," Mikey grinned.

"Are we goin' or not?" Raph snorted.

"Wait!" Mikey took off his mask and put it around Leo's neck, then grinned feeling satisfied as his older brother looked at him. "What? You needed an ascot."

"Let's just...go," Leo shook his head and got in the van with Mikey getting in the back after his other brothers got in first. He was feeling giddy as they left the sewer and made it onto the road, thanks to Don's geniuses…

Was that a word? He wasn't really sure.

He looked around as Leo drove. He felt pretty sure that he'd forgotten something as the time went on.

The pizza was in the corner. The cooler with the sandwiches was in Mikey's secret area. The ice cream was in the cold whatever thing that Don had said was for keeping something cold. The trap stuff was somewhere,and he knew that he remembered the other pizzas.

His brow ridges had furrowed before his mouth gaped open as it came to him. He opened his mouth to tell Leo but then closed it. He was sure that he could solve this problem himself. He grinned before picking up his phone and dialing a number.

"We're here…," Leo went quiet as they all got out of the van. Mikey was still trying not to notice how the trees all looked like they were out to get him,or how the dark seemed gloomier. At least no one said that they were out of gas.

"Good thing too, we outta gas," Raph snorted, and Mikey's eyes widened.

"You're not supposed to say that!"

"Mikey if you're scared…," Don put a hand on his shoulder.

"Nope. I'm not scared. No need to go back D," Mikey laughed then laughed again as his brother looked at him.

"I wasn't going to say that. I was going to ask if you want a Scooby snack," Don held up a box, and Mikey grinned at the sight.

"When did you even make those? Ooo...I bet you used some secret formula? Or you probably invented some cool thingamabob."

"Actually...I just asked April to go to the store. They were on sale," Don laughed, and Mikey could feel his cheeks heat up as he held out his hand, "Here you go," he poured a handful into Mikey's hands, and he grinned before stuffing them into his mouth.

"Yo! What about me?"

Mikey turned, cheeks stuffed full of Scooby snacks while trying to swallow as a dark-haired, lanky teen came up with a headband on that had pointed doggy ears.

"Casey?"

Mikey looked over at Raph's mouth hanging open.

"What ya doing here? And in THAT"

"He offered food," Casey shrugged, "And said that Don would make it where we can see the new UFC pay per view for free."

Raph kept staring before shaking his head. "Bonehead…"

"Mikey!" Don gave Mikey a look, but he looked everywhere as he whistled before sliding over behind Leo.

"Guys shh...," Leo put a finger to his lips as they all went quiet. Mikey's head peeked from behind his brother before he squinted his eyes, seeing an unnamed truck go behind the old house. A guy came out the house, and Mikey was pretty sure that it was Ol' man Jenkins as he peeked outside and slowly went back in.

"Okay...that was strange," Don spoke up.

"Maybe we should check it out…"

"Or maybe not?" Mikey smiled at Leo.

"Wasn't this your idea?"

"Yeah, but that was before Creepy Mcvan!"

"I'm with Mikey," Casey smirked.

"Ain't you supposed to bark and be on all fours Jones?" Raph snorted.

"Scooby talks!"

"Not like that," Raph crossed his arms.

"Roh, rike ris?"

Mikey tried not to laugh as he saw Raph's eye twitch during Casey's Scooby talk.

"Never do that again…," Raph shook his head, and Mikey looked back, seeing the van leave. The bad feeling that Mikey had didn't leave with it.

"Let's go guys…"

"Leo that's not what you say!" Mikey yelled louder than he meant to.

"Mikey, didn't you just say you wanted to go?"

Mikey squinted at Leo before pulling out a piece of paper from one of his pouches and crossed his arms while looking at Leo. His brother opened up the folded piece and looked down at it a moment before looking back up at him.

"I get to do catchphrases?"

"Yep!" Mikey watched Leo grin and glance back at Raph before clearing his throat.

"Looks like we have a mystery on our hands. Let's split up gang!"

"I thought splittin' up wasn't till we actually did stuff?" Raph rose a brow ridge.

"Yeah but kids attention spans aren't that high, and we've already been pushing it with the scary ride over here that took hours."

"What kids?" Raph looked around, "And it was just 30 minutes!"

"You're not adding commercials bro," He felt a smack to his head and winced, "Ow!"

"Okay go in first then split up," Leo announced before they all went to the door. It creaked as he opened it slowly, and Leo went in first before they followed. The house looked no better inside than it did outside;even the mirrors looked like something out a creepy funhouse.

"How does anyone even live here? Everything looks old or worn out and…," Don made a face, "There's holes everywhere. It smells weird…."

"Are we talkin' bout here or home?"

"Not funny Raph," Leo deadpanned as Mikey looked over all of the stuff they passed as they walked. He wondered if someone sneezed would it make a dust cloud like in the cartoons.

He passed by old worn out chairs as he watched Don go over to some weird machine looking thing that he'd seen in movies. He wondered if the poor guy couldn't afford a TV.

"Either way, it's like he disappeared…," Leo looked around, and Mikey stopped with his eyes going wide.

"Zoinks!"

"Mikey that's not even a word," Don's voice was teasing, but Mikey was too busy staring in front of him with his eyes wide, "And I refuse to believe that anyone can just disappear."

"We do it all the time," Raph smirked.

"Or he's a ghost…," Mikey whimpered.

"Mikey…, "Don sighed. "There's no such thing as ghouls, poltergeists, apparitions, or ghosts. "

"I don't think he got the memo," Casey pointed with a shaky hand as Mikey's brothers finally looked where he and Casey were;the guy who was at the door with a cane was hunched over as he stood. The clothes that he had on looked like something out some old show. Mikey could picture him screaming at kids to get off his lawn. There was only one problem.

"Are we're all seeing through this guy?" Leo asked calmly.

"Yep." Raph nodded.

"So it's not just me."

"Unfortunately no." Don gawked before backing away as the figure started coming closer.

"I told you guys this place was really haunted!"

"Mikey I only have one thing to say to that," Don took another step back.

"To come up with some super-duper plan?"

"Nope. Run!" Don grabbed hold of Mikey and took off.

"But we don't even have chase scene music!" Mikey shrieked as his brother pulled him as they run.

"Mikey!" Don gave him a look before pulling him around the corner and inside of a closet. "Okay so we have a ghost that's outside and probably wants...what does he want Mikey?" his brother looked at him with his eyes wide.

"I don't know! It didn't say!"

"This was your ide-" Don went quiet. "Mikey...where's Scoo-I mean Casey?"

Mikey looked around as he heard Don feel on the side walls and Mikey could hear something from behind them, "Uh oh…" He gulped as a strange glow came from inside the closet they were in.

"Why are you saying uh oh? You think he hurt Casey?"

"This is just usually the part where the ghost is right behind us…"

Don took a deep breath, "He's right behind us, isn't he? That's why it's suddenly more light in here…"

"Yep…," Mikey didn't dare to glance back as he felt eyes on him.

"Oh good then," Don went quiet a moment as he calmly opened the door before taking off, "Run again!"

"I was supposed to do some cool way to confuse him!"

"Not now Mikey!"

"No chase scene. No cool getaways either?"

"Mikey not now!" Don stopped and looked around quickly. "I think we lost hi-"

"Get me down so I can kick ya…," Raph continued yelling as Don even gasped at what else Raph was saying.

Mikey blinked as he heard the words coming out his brother's mouth, "Woah...good thing the writer had the sense to only let us hear that."

"The...what?" Don blinked at him.

"And I don't think ghosts have those…"

Don facepalmed, "Come on let's go see what's going on."

Mikey nodded but the longer they walked through the place, the more he wished he shook his head. Whose bright idea was it to visit a haunted house anyway? Oh yeah…

The place kept creaking,then some wind kept brushing Mikey's skin making him jump. Houses were not supposed to have winds. Nor blinking lights. Lights were supposed to stay on. And why wasn't Raph yelling anymore? And where was Casey Doo?

"Go back..."

"Eep!" Mikey jumped into Don's arms, hearing the howling sound coming from the walls telling them to leave. "Okay, I admit it. I'm scared!"

"I kinda figured that after you gripped my arm hard enough to stop circulation..." Don took a deep breath, looking around before slowly walking out and putting Mikey down. "We'll be okay Mikey."

Mikey nodded his head, he was trying to believe Don, but his brother's shaking wasn't putting him at ease. He held on to Don's arm again as they crept slowly through the house and his brother stopped.

"Jinkies!"

"Is it a clue?" Mikey breathed out, feeling a bit more relaxed when Don used the line and smiled at him.

Don went over to a table against the wall and picked up a jar that lacked the dust and cobwebs of the other knick knacks on it, "It might be…I think I just about figured this out."

"Already?" Mikey blinked at his genius brother.

"Yeah, but we need to find Raph, Leo, and Casey..."

"Hmm…," Mikey tapped his chin trying to remember where he heard Raph's voice coming from. He leaned against the bookcase then fell on his shell "Ow!"

"Mikey you're a genius," Don smirked and went over, holding out a hand for Mikey as he took it.

"Yeah but you never said being a genius was such a shellache," Mikey made a face as they started walking. The place had twists and turns, and Mikey noticed a few weird looking walls right before Don pointed up to something suspended and Mikey saw a creepy bubbling cauldron under it.

"Ghosts and witches?" Mikey's eyes widened.

"Stop talkin bout witches and just get me down!"

Mikey looked back up again and tsked. "Danger-prone Raphie strikes again."

"Mikey…," Raph's eyes narrowed.

"Let's get you down Raph," Don looked around, and Mikey saw him take out some shuriken. After a thoughtful look crossed his face, he threw them directly at what was holding Raph up.

"Wait! I ain't tryin' to fall in the-"

Don had quickly moved, and Mikey blinked at both his brothers in a heap on a floor.

"Oh good, I calculated it right."

"Donnie I am so killin' you!"

"What were you doing up there anyway? Was it the ghost? The witch?"

"No...It was Leo!" Raph growled, "He had the bright idea for some kinda trap using me as bait since Mikey wasn't around to use."

"Hey!" Mikey huffed before looking, "Um...was the trap for them?" Mikey pointed to the old creepy man ghost and the woman that matched with greenish skin.

"I'm gonna say yeah…"

"Yay! Now we can do the chase musi-"

"Guys look out!"

Mikey looked back as he heard Leo's voice. He saw the cauldron spill out and he took off running, not wanting to guess what had been in it. He barely noticed the ghost and witch running along with him until he barreled into them and they all hit a wall.

"Ow...ghosts aren't supposed to be painful!"

"That's because they aren't ghosts Mikey," Leo came over, and Mikey got up looking back at the cauldron goo on the floor, "And she's not a witch. They're mutants…"

"Mutants that are helping the Krang. Remember that machine we passed? It was a projection screen. It made the ghostly image of him," Don pointed to man, "And that eerie glow was mutagen. What we passed on that table was a sample."

"Wait...they're making mutagen?"

"No, they were trying to help the Krang perfect it. And in an abandoned house that no one goes to would be perfect but they have to make sure no one comes."

"So they made the house haunted dumdum to scare off folk," Raph smirked.

"Wait...but how did Leo know to make a trap? We found the clues!" Mikey pouted. There was no chase scene music. No wacky stuff. No masks. Just more Krang and more dumb mutants.

"I didn't. Just usually if we're involved in Krang are too." Leo shrugged, and Mikey groaned.

"So not fair…this isn't how it was supposed to go...," Mikey pouted as he heard the Ghost dude and Witchy start to stir from the floor and look at them.

"There's no point in denying it, we know what you were up to," Leo pointed his finger at them. "This is just another hidden Krang base."

"And we would have got away from it if not for you meddling turtles!" Witchy hissed.

"Are you happy now Mikey?" Don looked at him, and Mikey grinned.

"Yep works for me."

"Good now we can bash 'em," Raph cracked his knuckles.

"Raph they don't even seem dangero-"

Ghost dude's mouth opened and goo came out of it. Mikey narrowly dodged it as he saw the rotting hole in the floor where his spit hit before dodging Witchy's untrimmed nails as she tried to claw him.

"You were saying Leo?" Don moved so he would not get hit.

"I was going to say go easy on them. But…," Leo pulled out his katanas from his back.

"Bout time we got some fun in," Raph smirked before he charged.

"Wait for me!"

Mikey swung his nunchuck right as Casey came running in.

"Where were ya even at bonehead?" Raph yelled.

"Waitin' for the action shellbrain!" Casey laughed.

"You got lost didn't ya?"

"Shut it tortoise!"

"Any more lines we need to say, Mikey?" Don moved from a hit as he used his bo staff.

"Just one bruh!" Mikey laughed as he ran to jump on Ghost dude while twirling his nunchucks, "Booyakasha!"