Feline Clash

Author's note: On the Stealthy Stories site, near the end of last year. I came up with a form of AU characters to play. These particular AU's were large cats, not turtles. The felines were raised and trained on a military base of their world and managed to escape. In this story I am joining my AU felines with a TMNT story. My thanks to Askre, for the title as I didn't know what to call this story.

Disclaimer: I don't own the turtles, Splinter or April and Casey. I do own the RF's -which stands for Ramica's felines. Michael a Siberian Tiger, Leonard a mountain lion (cougar, puma), Rayel a black panther, and Don a cheetah.

Chapter One - A lost cat.

Mike nestled under the blankets of the bed, pulling them up closer around his shoulders, although he was awake he had not yet decided if it was worth getting up. The chirping of a bird entered his semi-conscious mind reminding him that just the day before Casey had driven the turtles and Master Splinter out to the farm house for some rest.

Well, Splinter wanted to go off into the woods on some meditation thingy, but for Splinter that was rest, because he would be alone and doing as he pleased, just as his sons could do what they pleased at the farm house. In fact Splinter had left shortly after they arrived, taking only a few provisions and his walking stick.

The first day on the farm was never that restful there was cleaning, dusting and airing out while, Casey had to go and pick up a few perishable groceries such as eggs, milk, and so on that the turtles had not packed from their home in New York sewers.

Still the knowledge that they were on the farm, or as Mikey much preferred to call it, on vacation, was more then enough to pull the turtle out from his tent of blankets. He walked over to look out the window. It was early morning yet, the last few stars hung stubbornly in the dark bluish black sky that was showing hints of red from the sun that had yet to put in an appearance.

There was the lone elm tree standing about seven feet beyond an old tire swing, that now hung silent over the long green stalks of grass, beyond the tree, was a large field of longer grass that moved and swayed slightly in the early morning breeze. A few small birds were waking and giving a cheerful good morning through chirps, trills and low calls as if even they didn't want to disturb the morning peace.

Off to the left, in the field of tall grass was the old barn, bits of wood had fallen off, it leaned a bit and the colour on the boards were a dull brownish. Mike smiled a little he had no doubt that Leo, who really had no idea of what a vacation was, would be out there practicing katas in the empty area they had cleared up some years before to use as an exercise/dojo area.

Mike stretched back a little hearing his shell creak a little in protest as he tried to lean back, he then reached with his right arm over to scratch an itch, or possibly a bug bite, on his right shoulder. He yawned and then headed for the shower.

The hot water woke him up quickly and when he was done he dressed in his gear, and headed downstairs to start breakfast for his brothers.

The wafting aromas of fresh coffee, frying bacon and eggs roused Don and Raph. Don yawned and headed for the shower, Raph glanced at his sleepy eyed genius brother, and knowing Don was never fully awake until he had at least one cup of coffee in him, and that the hot water might be limited, suddenly moved at ninja speed.

"Emergency," Raph declared as he cut in front of Don at the bathroom door, entered the washroom and shut the door in Don's face.

Don glared slightly, " There is no emergency," the turtle insisted.

"Well, there won't be if the hot water tank wasn't so old , it could only handle heating so much hot water at once," Raph retorted, his voice sounding clear even with the door shut between them, the sound of water hitting the tub followed shortly after.

Don smirked a little and cut down the hall to the back stairs that lead to the kitchen of the farmhouse, once in the kitchen he went over to the kitchen sink and turned on the water taps. " Leave that running Mike I'll be right back," Don informed Mike. Don then went from the kitchen to a small half bathroom that was between the living room and kitchen, not to mention that it was directly underneath the main washroom and shared the same pipes. Don calmly preceded to do what was necessary.

A few seconds later there was a screech from upstairs about cold water. and Raph appeared moments later with a towel wrapped around his mid-section, he was dripping wet and leaving puddles of water behind him as he entered the kitchen, to find Don sitting at the table with a cup of coffee and his morning breakfast.

"What the hell was that all about?" Raph demanded sharply, glowering at the purple masked turtle.

Don just flashed a quick grin, " I'm sorry Raph it was an emergency." Don said casually.

"You know darn well what you were doing," Raph accused.

Don simply nodded, "It is possible," he agreed.

Mike watched the two with an arched eye ridge, amused at his brothers antics, while bothering Raph was usually his game and Mike reserved it for when he was extremely bored and admittedly, it was a good percentage of the time, it wasn't all that uncommon for Don to remind either Raph - or even himself - that he was not a turtle to be messed with.

Don might not care to fight, he might prefer other things, but Don did have a keen sense of justice and had his own brand of payback. Such payback often lay in the fact he would not repair a certain item for his brothers that they broke.

Mike now grinned, " Well at least you aren't late for breakfast bro," He stated casually slipping a plate with bacon, eggs and toast on to the table for Raph. Then turned back to the stove to place the kettle on so tea would be ready before Leo came in.

For a moment Raph stood with arms crossed his chest dripping water as he glowered at Don, but he said nothing more though he might have thought many things, but Don did not seem in the least intimidated by Raph's posturing. Finally, Raph grunted and went to towel off before sitting down to breakfast.

Mike dished up his own plate and joined Don at the table, " Good one Don."

Don nodded, "Thank you, and I bet it is the last time he tries to cut in front of me to get a hot shower."

XXX

Mike had decided to go for a long walk leaving the property to enter the woods that backed onto the property of the farm, all of them rather enjoyed the freedom they had here,and of course took advantage of it. True, they did have to hide if they heard people, but the woods were far out in the middle of nowhere and the only other people out this way might be occasional hikers, who drove out to the country for a picnic or hike. Or, from a few other people who lived in the area. In other words it wasn't like hiding in a city and the turtles could move much more freely enjoying the sunshine and fresh air.

Mike tried to stay away from the proper hiking trails and foot paths as an added precaution. He walked along humming a tuneless song under his breath, listening to the occasional sound of some bird, or small animal moving through the underbrush. He knew he was nearing a small clearing if only from having been here before, well that and the trees thinning, was enough to assure him the clearing was close.

But as Mike neared the meadow beyond the trees he thought he heard a strange crying sob, and his sharp ears almost picked up the sound of a voice. On top of that there was the sound of metal, not like of a fight with sword against sword, but more like something thumping into a large chunk of metal.

Mike's curiosity went up and slowly he went forward being very careful to use the tree shadows, and the grass in the meadow to his advantage. In the meadow was a large tube with the words Caution: wild animal trap. Posted in white letters on the side, but now that Mike was closer he could hear the words coming from the trap.

"Bad Place. Bad bad, bad. Let out. Let out!" The voice whimpered and whined repeating, often with another word tossed in here or there. Then the voice would stop all together and there would come the loud almost bong noise of something trying to run into the metal.

Mike arched an eye ridge, "Uh animals don't normally talk." He muttered to himself, as he glanced around as if to see if there was anyone coming to check the trap. " Leo would kill me if I get caught but I have to see what it is." In his haste to see who or what was in the trap, Mike stood up and went directly to the front of the cage where the metal bars had come down securing what ever was inside.

As he came round and looked through the bars he saw some sort of leopard. Lying on the cage floor there was tears in its yellow eyes, and the cats chest was heaving badly. Suddenly the cat sprang up and blinked as it looked at the giant turtle outside the cage.

The cat pawed at the closed door, "Get Don out. Don don lost."

Something about the cats spots and markings clicked, " Your a cheetah, but cheetahs aren't common here." Mike stated, he had seen some animal documentaries, and while he might not be his genius brother, he knew enough about the cheetah to know it was extremely fast, and it didn't live in the United States, it lived in Africa. Then he realized the cat had indeed spoken. "I think the trap was meant for some one else. Don't worry I'll get you out." Mike vowed.

He paused for a second, "Did you say your name was Don?"

The cheetah trembled giving sad beseeching eyes to Mike, it nodded. " Don-don. Tse -ta." It sniffed and gave a low pleading chirp.

"Don-don Tse-ta huh? Okay if I let you out, you won't kill me right? I mean I don't want you trying to hurt me for helping you."

"No hurt. Let Don -don out." The cheetah begged, "Don good yes?"

"I sure hope so," Mike replied as he jumped to the top of the cage and lifted the door of the trap, the cheetah wasted no time in zipping out of a small opening and taking off to the forest. Mike laughed and clapped a hand to his thigh, " He's going be halfway to California if he keeps that speed up."

Mike then shut the door again and headed for the woods, before who ever planted the trap here came around to check on it. As Mike slipped back into the shade of the trees he realized there was some other odd things about the cheetah. Besides, the rather obvious fact it was a cheetah outside of it's home range and could talk, there was the fact the hind legs hadn't looked like a cat's hindquarters, not that it seemed to effect Don-don who traveled on all fours, in any way.

Mike scowled, and headed up in a tree to wait for a while just to see if the ones who placed the trap would come. He'd been waiting for some time and was growing hungry and about to give it up when he saw some movement in the meadow, four or five humans in camouflaged wear, carrying rifles strode up to the trap.

One pulled out a small flat item that looked like a cell phone. He pressed a button and a holographic image came up of some other military person.

"The trap has been sprung, but nothing is in it. Not even the bait, Sergeant."

"That only means that we could be on the right track. One of the other cats must have helped free the prisoner. Keep an eye out for any signs and return to base."

Mike scowled as he slipped out of the tree and carefully put distance between himself and the military types in the meadow. He hadn't gone far when something grabbed him and Mike yelped in fear. But he found his mouth quickly covered by a three fingered green hand.

"Mike be quiet, there are a whole bunch of military people in the area. I don't know what they are doing here but we don't need their attention on us." Leo warned sharply, in a very low tone before removing his hand.

"Leo, you scared the hell out of me, then want me to be quiet about it?" Mike scoffed shaking his head as if to say his brother had given him an order that was almost impossible to follow. "They are after some sort of cats. I don't know why they want these cats, or how many there are. I do know there is a cheetah, and Leo I think the cheetah is at least part mutant."

Leo gestured Mike to follow him and as the two turtles moved further into the bush being careful not to leave a single track, or snap any twigs. Leo listened to his brother's words "Tell me what you heard and saw Mike. I just hope that these people won't cause Splinter any trouble."

Mike chuckled under his breath, " Come on Leo, you know as well as I do Splinter can avoid them" Mike said quickly, hardly giving it a moment's thought. Then he explained about the talking cheetah. Leo didn't interrupt accept to warn Mike to be careful when his foot had accidentally rustled the leaves of a bush.

The blue masked turtle simply took in what Mike had to say, " I have a feeling our break might not be as relaxing as we thought. We are definitely going have to be more careful this time around so we aren't found out. Where did the cheetah go Mike?"

" I have no idea Leo, that cat was going like a bat out of hell when I let it out." Mike confessed with a shrug as they finally left the woods together and headed for the farmhouse.

Suddenly the two ninja spun around as they heard a very soft thud of feet hitting the ground behind them. There sat the cheetah, it's tail laid straight out behind him, the hind legs seemed longer, more muscular and the feet looked a bit bigger too. Even the fore feet looked quite large, with the digits on the fore feet looking longer then on a cat, in fact they had an almost finger look to them in spite of being covered in hair.

The cheetah looked around "Help Don-don." The cat pleaded, opening it's mouth and talking, "Don-don Tse-ta lost. No find Ray. No find home. No go bad place. Scared." The cat whimpered and shook all over, cringing slightly as it did so.

Mike took one look at the cat, and though it's markings were off from Klunk, somehow the cheetah's behaviour made him think that Don-Don was nothing more then an over grown house cat. He couldn't help but go and tentatively rest a hand on the cat stroking it's fur. The cat leaned into him as if seeking reassurance. "What do you think Leo?"

"What do I think?" Leo echoed, arching an eye ridge. "This cat followed us without either of us knowing. It is wanted by the military people who are around the area." He began with the obvious arguments.

"It talks Leo, it is a fellow mutant, and look at this face!" Mike countered gesturing to the cheetah's face, with the spots and black teardrop line markings, and the almost hopeful crossed with a woebegone expression one could ever find, in it's yellow eyes. " I think Don-don is young. You can't let the military have him, it would be like handing me over to them."

Leo sighed, it would be easier to let the military officials have this cat, hopefully find the others and clear out. But Leo knew in his heart the fact the cheetah could speak, and it's almost child like way of speaking, not to mention the darned expression, which was almost as bad as Mike's puppy dog eyes was enough to melt his heart and he nodded.

Leo dropped to his knees, "We will see what we can do for you Don-don Tse-ta." He vowed solemnly.

The cheetah chirped and came forward to rub against Leo purring happily.

TBC