When Splinter contacted Donnie, the turtle was living with Professor Rockwell, April O'Neil, and Rahzar. We all know Chris Bradford was mutated into Dogpound but in this world there was no fight with any Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to make him mutate into the super mutant he is today. And how did a human like April end up with three mutants in the middle of an uninhabited continent?

Three Years Ago

Antarctica

"Ow!" Dogpound growled as he hit his head on the door leading to the lab. "You shoulda built these things lower."

"Rockwell didn't account for such a large mutant living here when he built the facility." Donnie told him. "And we did build a door for you."

"The hangar door doesn't count." Dogpound grumbled. "I'm the only one who ever goes out into that freezing hell. Why doesn't Rockwell ever go out there and do it? He's psychic, he could probably do that stuff faster anyway."

"Because, my mammoth akita mutant friend, I am needed here in the lab." Rockwell spoke as the two mutants entered the room. "Your mutant body makes you most resilient to the harshness of this land. You know my chimpanzee form cannot survive out there."

"Doesn't mean I like doing it anymore than you." Dogpound mumbled.

"Lighten up, Dogpound." Donnie punched him gently.

"Yes, lighten up." Rockwell said. "You may just have a short period of time away from the cold. You remember my associate Doctor Falco? He's contacted me and informed me that he has obtained some samples of the mutagen that made us all into what we are. He's coming over with his assistant so the five of us can study its properties."

"Four of you." Dogpound said. "It's not like I'll be of any help."

"That's not true, Dogpound." Donnie said.

"I don't have brains like you two. I'm just the brawn." Dogpound shrugged. "I know it, you know it. No use denying it. Besides, I'll enjoy my break."

"Maybe we could hang out with Falco's assistant." Donnie suggested. "Its been a while since we've met anyone new. Maybe he'll be fun."

"I sincerely doubt he'll want to hang out with muties like- wait." Dogpound paused. "Why is Falco… y'know…?"

"Bringing another human here?" Rockwell finished. "Do not be alarmed. He said she has experience with mutants. He was a professor at her school and when her father was mutated, he went to him for help. She proved most useful and took interest in mutants so he took her as his assistant."

"She?" Donnie questioned. "As in a girl?"

"That's typically what that means." Dogpound sighed. "Don't get any ideas, shell brain."

"I'm not 'getting any ideas'." Donnie mocked Dogpound's tone. "I've just never met a girl. At least I don't think."

"That's kinda sad." Dogpound said.

"You two can talk about our upcoming guests when they arrive." Rockwell said. "Right now, I would appreciate it if you prepared the spare living quarters."

"Right O!" Dogpound said.

"We're on it, Rockwell." Donnie smiled.

A few days later, Donnie and Dogpound were practically bouncing in excitement as they watched Rockwell guide the oncoming plane to the landing pad.

"You're slightly off course, Falco." Rockwell was saying. "Rotate your trajectory six degrees to the left and speed up by 13% and you should land directly on the landing pad."

"Roger that." Falco responded. "I really cannot wait to tell you about-"

"Land now, research later." Rockwell interrupted. "Flying and discussing chemical substances possibly from another world that can alter a being's genetic structure surely do not mix well."

Falco made some disgruntled sound. "Fine."

"So what do you think Doctor Falco's assistant is like?" Donnie asked.

"Probably some boring teenager." Dogpound responded.

"What makes you say that?" Donnie asked sounding disappointed.

"Would any cool person choose to spend their time helping some crazy scientist in a lab?"

"Are you saying I'm not cool?"

"You're a mutant. That automatically makes you cool. But if we were human, I wouldn't be caught dead talking to you." Dogpound told him. Donnie looked slightly hurt then saw Dogpound's grin. Dogpound laughed and Donnie lightened up.

"Oh dear." Rockwell muttered.

"What is it?"

"Falco, some sort of object just appeared on the radar." Rockwell informed. "Its closing in on your location."

"I'm sure it's nothing- holy mackerel!" Falco cried out. "What is that?"

Donnie and Dogpound were at Rockwell's side. "What do you see?"

"It's… some sort of spacecraft!"

Rockwell scoffed and Dogpound and Donnie relaxed. "I did not take you for a jokester, Falco."

"I'm being serious!" Falco screamed.

Another voice came from the background. A female voice. "Professor, its firing up some kind of weapon!"

"Rockwell, we're-" the comm's audio was replaced with audio. The sensors in the lab began to flash signalling the plane was going down.

The three mutants in the lab sprang into action.

"Donatello, prepare the med bay." Rockwell ordered. "Bradford…"

Dogpound nodded and ran out of the lab, remembering to duck his head to keep it from hitting the ledge above the door, and dashed across the lab to the hallway. He paused before one of the doors and slammed a button on the wall beside it.

The door lead to a larger room. On the parallel wall, there was another button which Dogpound hit and the wall slowly began to split into a massive door. Dogpound tore the door open with his enlarged arm to speed up the process.

Dogpound stepped into the familiar cold that was Antarctica. He winced at the feeling of ice against the pads of his feet and the freezing wind in his fur. But now wasn't the time to complain. He had a mission.

"Rockwell, where did they land?" Dogpound yelled over the wind, hoping that Rockwell was following him.

"Keep heading West." Rockwell told him telepathically.

"Got it!" Dogpound responded and bounded in that direction. In the distance, he could see the fallen plane and a stream of smoke rising off of it.

As he neared, another flying object neared the plane as well. It looked like a UFO. It circled the air above the ship before landing beside it.

Dogpound poured more energy into his legs and willed them to go faster. He began cursing this bulky, slow body under his breath.

The UFO had already taken off by the time that he got there. Dogpound ripped a hole in the plane and tore his way in. Almost immediately, he saw a girl lying unconscious on the floor.

"You must be Falco's assistant." Dogpound mumbled. He took a step towards her and the plane lurched. He stopped, realizing the plane hadn't landed in a balanced position. His weight was bound to set it off.

He looked at the girl. There was no way she was just going to get up and walk over. She was shivering violently from the cold already, she would probably die in a few minutes.

Dogpound knew he had to grab her somehow. He took another step and tried to tread more softly this time. The plane only shook a little bit. He took another and slowly began to make progress.

He'd been keeping his eye on the girl but some instinct told him to look up. A storage unit on the roof was open and in it he could see a canister of some glowing substance. And it was leaning dangerously far out of the storage unit.

Sensing he had to hurry, Dogpound took another step but in his haste, he did not step lightly. The plane lurched and the canister began to fall.

In a moment of panic, everything seemed to slow down for him. Dogpound, no longer caring about the plane's balance, took a few running steps and threw his body protectively over the girl blocking the canister from hitting what would be his target.

The canister fell and shattered on Dogpound's back. The glowing contents splashed over him and immediately burned through his fur. Dogpound screamed in pain.

"Bradford, are you alright?" Rockwell's voice entered his mind. "I sense you are in pain."

Dogpound could only respond with a louder scream. He felt like something was burning him alive and that something was crushing him at the same time. He felt the thick layer of fur and skin smolder and dissipate. He couldn't breathe, it felt like his chest was ripping itself away from his body. His head pounded as his skull began to shrink and his muzzle began to elongate. He shut his eyes and tried to block out the pain.

After several minutes which felt like hours, the pain faded but wasn't gone. He felt another kind of pain, one that he hadn't felt since he was human. The bitter cold. Looking down at his body, he was his thick, furry arms were replaced with skinny black ones. Looking at his hands, he saw his massive paws were gone and he now had long claws.

Remembering the girl, he checked on her. He sniffed her. He didn't smell death. She wasn't mutated either. He'd kept her safe. Dogpound- no, not Dogpound. He wasn't Dogpound anymore. He was something else. He didn't know what to call himself.

Well, whoever he was picked up the girl and pulled her over his shoulders. It wasn't as easy as he was used to but it wasn't difficult. He climbed out of the plane, it didn't bend under his weight, and onto the ground.

He nearly howled when his foot hit the ground. It was freezing. It felt like his skin was being burned off all over again. He realized his body didn't have any natural defenses against the cold anymore.

He secured her on his back and dropped to all fours, ignoring the burning cold, and began to run towards the lab. Towards home. He found he was going much faster despite his new weakness to the cold.

Pretty soon, he found himself at the door that he'd torn through earlier. He slipped through it. The room blocked out the wind but he wasn't home safe yet. He was too tired to pound at the door so he weakly clawed at it like the hound he was.

"Donnie…" he said tiredly. "Rockwell? Open up… please…"

He doubted anyone could hear him but after a while, the door opened.

"Woah." Donnie said when he saw him. "What happened to you?"

"N-not n-now." he chattered. He realized his teeth elongated into fangs. Not the most comfortable to chatter with. "L-let us in, D-donnie…"

Donnie looked over the other mutant's shoulders and saw the girl draped over them. He'd been so distracted by his friend's new appearance that he didn't notice the girl.

Donnie wasted no time helping the two in. Feeling the warmth of the lab,he began to slump over in exhaustion now that he'd reached safety.

"Not the time to sleep." Donnie told him. He caught him in his arms but the turtle didn't have the strength to support the weight of both of them. He turned and called down the hall. "Rockwell, they're here!"

And that was the last thing the mutant that had once been Dogpound and before that had been Chris Bradford heard before blacking out.

He woke to the feeling of warmth. After feeling such a cold, he couldn't think of anything that he loved more than warmth. Other than maybe food. His stomach felt more empty than it usually did when he was hungry. Warm food, he decided, was better than anything in the world.

He blinked hard against the lights in the med bay and struggled to come back to full consciousness.

"They're waking up." Donnie said.

At the sound of the word 'they', the waking mutant's head snapped up and he began looking around the room for the girl he'd saved. He relaxed when he saw her on another med bed next to him.

He hadn't realized it before, but she was beautiful. He mentally slapped himself into not looking before he could start, she was way too young for him to be checking out. Maybe in a few years but certainly not now. She was probably around Donnie's age. Maybe twelve or thirteen? He turned his attention to her waking face.

She groaned softly and blinked her eyes open. They were unfocused then fell on him.

"Thanks for saving me, Rahzar." she smiled quietly. She didn't seem put off by the fact that he was a mutant.

"You're welcome." Rahzar smiled back. His chest and face suddenly warm. Neither of them said anything, they were just silent for a few moment

"How are you feeling?" Donnie interrupted their silent stares. Rahzar found himself glaring a bit but made himself stop.

"I'm fine. A bit tired and kind of cold." she told him.

"I'll go get you a blanket." Donnie said and began walking out of the med bay.

"Hey, I'm cold too." Rahzar said.

"You're a mutant with fur and she's a beautiful young human girl, she needs it more than you do." Donnie said. Rahzar gave him a warning look but Donnie ignored it and walked out of the room. "I'll be back with Rockwell in a few minutes."

Rahzar and the girl were now left alone. They looked at each other.

"So… what's your name?" Rahzar asked.

"April O'Neil." she answered. "What's your's?"

"Chris Bradford but they've been calling me Dogpound since I got mutated." he told her. "But I'm thinking that name's not really fitting anymore. I kinda like what you called me. What was that again?"

"Rahzar."

"Rahzar. Rahzar." he experimented with the word. "I like it. How did you come up with that?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. When that mutagen fell on you, you started screaming and it sounded like you were saying Rahzar. I guess it kind of sounded like a name."

"You were awake for that?"

She nodded. "Yeah. I can't thank you enough for doing that; y'know, protecting me from the mutagen. Sorry you got mutated."

"Better me than you. I was already a mutant." he said. "Besides, I think I like this better. I'm smaller, faster. I get cold now but I think it's a good trade off."

She giggled. Rahzar tilted his head in confusion. She laughed harder. "What?"

She gestured to the top of her head. "Your ears, they're flipped over like a dog. Its kinda cute."

Rahzar frowned and touched his head. He flipped his ears back in their natural position. He ran his clawed hand across his jaw, feeling the new boney structure. "You don't think I'm scary?"

She shrugged. "Kind of, I guess. Wouldn't want to meet you in a dark alley."

Rahzar was hurt for a moment before he realized she was kidding.

Before he could say anything, Donnie and Rockwell came into the room. Donnie put a blanket on April's lap and Rockwell started looking over them.

"You two seem fine." Rockwell announced after awhile. "But you should stay here in the medical room for a few days. Afterward, I would love to discuss what happened today with the two of you and study Bradford's new mutation but until then, get some rest."

Rahzar smiled. He looked over at April. He could definitely wait 'until then' if he had his new friend waiting with him.

Author's Note: First chapter of this story!

This story is kind of just explaining how things happened differently in this world, since its an AU. I'd appreciate any reviews or suggestions. I have some ideas but I haven't written any yet so this'll probably be updated semi-irregularly. Hope you enjoyed!