"We're going out to April's for a bit. You coming?" Leo asked me as he popped his head into the kitchen.

I shake my head, my signature smile lit up on my face. "Nah, dude! I'm cooking dinner right now, so be back by…" I look to the clock on the opposite wall of the kitchen, standing on my tiptoes, "around 7:12pm!"

Leo nods with a roll of his eyes and a small smile on his face. "Whatever you say, Mike."

"Are you sassing me?" I ask with playful defensiveness, much like a mother would have.

Leo shook his head as he left my kitchen. "See ya later, Mikey."

I smile lightly as I move my way back over towards the oven. "Alright, Donnie likes Hawaiian, Raph likes all meat, and Leo likes pepperoni. Better get cooking or they'll have my head!"

And with that I begin to make the pizzas. I roll out the dough, put on the sauce, sprinkle on the cheese, and then add the certain toppings that each of my brothers favor.

"Alright," I say as I rub my hands together, "gotta pop these bad boys in one at a time. Our oven isn't that big." I place in Donnie's pizza first and set the timer on the oven.

The entire lair is extremely quiet due to me being the only one home. Master Splinter was out in Japan for a retreat for two months. That gives me an idea! I run to the freezer door and open it revealing a happy looking Ice Cream Kitty.

"Hey, Kitty! How are you?" She mewed in response, licking her paw afterwards. Soon the oven beeps, and I run over to the oven. I grab an oven mit and open the oven, hot steam immediately hitting my exposed skin.

I slide the rack out and take out the pizza, the rack brushing against some of my exposed skin. I yelp in surprise pain as I almost drop the pizza. I place the pizza on the counter before looking at the burn on my arm.

It was a deep red, and the blister was beginning to form already. I groan. "Man, this hurts." Oh, well, I think. I've had worse burns than this.

I take Raph's pizza and place it in the oven. I then walk back over to Ice Cream Kitty and take her out of the freezer and place her on the table. She knows immediately what's up and takes out her cars with a happy meow.

I smile back at her and get my cards out of my secret hiding spot in the cabinets of the kitchen. It's an amazing hiding spot mainly because the only other person I allow in my kitchen is Master Splinter. That's because he's least likely to burn it down.

Fifteen minutes into the game I have to stop so I can take Raph's pizza out. Then I put Leo's in. That's when I return to the game with Ice Cream Kitty.

She places her card down and I gasp. "How'd you get that card?! Give it!" And with that the two of us are in a fight for the card. That's not necessarily a rare sighting. Ice Cream Kitty was known to play dirty in card games like this. And in our fight for the card my head bangs on the table. I hiss in pain and Ice Cream Kitty immediately stops fighting me as she meows in worry.

But my eyes shut before she can do anything.

OoOoOoO

I groan lightly as I come to, my lungs burning. I look around at my surroundings. Strangely, I'm lying on the table next to a melting Ice Cream Kitty. I look at her, but I don't quite understand the situation yet.

"Ice Cream Kitty?" I ask in a gentle groan. She meows urgently, her mouth tugging against my bandana. I smell smoke, but my head hurts too much to really care.

"What's wrong?" I ask as my eyes begin to slip shut once more. That's when I feel a sharp pain in my hand. My eyes widen and I look at my hand. There was Ice Cream Kitty, her teeth sunk into the flesh of my hand.

I sit up, ready to scold her for biting me, but that's when I notice the kitchen engulfed in flames. Oh, shoot, I think! No wonder she was trying to wake me up! I gather her up as best as I can in my arms, some of her ice cream slipping in my arms.

I look around the kitchen, looking for any sort of an exit that wasn't covered by the heat of the scorching flames. Ok, ok, ok, Donnie said that you could put a wet towel around yourself if you're in a fire to prevent burning. I look around the kitchen looking for a towel or blanket that would surround me.

There wasn't one big enough.

I cough roughly, my lungs burning while the black smoke invaded my pink, expanding, muscles. How long had I been out? The question had been brief in my mind, but it had been there. I needed to get Ice Cream Kitty out of here and fast. Maybe I couldn't get out, but maybe she could.

I look to her cooler by the fridge, and I fill it with ice that had been in the fridge that had already begun to melt. I put her in the cooler even though she protested the action, her meowing furiously and clawing at my arms in attempt to stay with me. I ignore all of her actions and shut her in the cooler before throwing it out into the non-burning living room.

My eyes at this point are burning just as much as my lungs. Soon, the smoke fills the room too much, and I fall to my knees from lack of oxygen. Water, I think, I have to get water! I place a hand over my mouth as I rise up back into the smoke, my eyes once again burning from the thickening smoke.

My other hand fumbles for the cabinets since the smoke is so thick that I can't see. Wait…what's even causing the fire? I look around the kitchen looking for the source. When I do, my heart sinks into my stomach.

It's the oven.

That means I can't pour water on it because it's an electrical fire. I may not be the smart one, but I'm not stupid. I look around the kitchen for a fire extinguisher. Do we even have a fire extinguisher? I don't think we do. I groan. I look to the fire that's building almost like a wall. Can I just run through it?

Probably not.

Soon the burning sensation in my lungs becomes too much, and I fall to my knees. There's no way out, I think. I'm finished.

"Ice Cream Kitty? What's wrong girl?"

"Hey, do you guys smell smoke?"

"Oh, gosh, guys, there's a fire!"

"Wait, where's Mikey?!"

"Mikey?! Mikey?!"

"Mikey?! Michelangelo?!"

"I think he's in the fire! We have to get him out!"

Suddenly, sleep seems nice. My eyes begin to droop before I shake my head weakly. No, Mikey, stay awake. But I can't.

I just can't.

My eyes droop, and I know nothing more.

OoOoOoO

I sit up abruptly, gasping for breath. I look around frantically, looking at my surroundings.

"Woah, easy there, Mike." I hear a soothing voice say as they push me back down.

I look around the room, my eyes darting around, my breathing still fast and heavy.

"Mikey, I need you to calm down, ok?" I hear Donnie say as he stands beside my…bed? When did I get into a bed? Wait…this isn't my bed. Is this the…sick bed?

Slowly, my breathing begins to slow as I calm down, my head pressing against the pillows behind me. "Good, ok, how do you feel?"

"Fi…" But before I can finish, I erupt into a violent set of coughs. I feel gentle pats on my shell.

"Easy there, bro," Raph tells me as he hands me a glass of water. "Here," He tells me, "drink this." I gladly obey, and I press the glass to my lips allowing the cool water to dribble down my throat.

"Good," He tells me. He takes the glass from me when I'm finished, and he helps me lie back down. "You scared us real bad, bro. We almost lost you."

"Scared…you?" I gasp out, my throat raw and raspy. "Dude…you weren't…trapped in a…f-f-flame…prison."

Raph chuckled sadly. "Yeah," He told me, "right."

Leo entered to lab, a sad smile on his face. "Hey, Mike," He greeted me, his blue mask wet with…tears? Leo was crying? "How are you feeling?"

"F-Fine." I tell him. I move my arm gently, but almost immediately stop as a burning feeling erupts into my arm, and I hiss in pain.

"Careful," Raph tells me, "you got burnt up pretty bad."

I nod gently, my head hissing in an earsplitting headache. Man, when did they get me out? I remember looking for towels or blankets before throwing…wait…

"Is Ice Cream Kitty ok?" I ask even though my throat screams at me in protest.

Leo nodded gently. "Calm down," He told me. "She's just fine. She actually escaped the cooler you put her in and found us before we got here. She seemed so stressed. We practically ran the rest of the way here after seeing her like that."

"Where is she?" I ask, my head spinning, my throat burning.

Leo smiled sadly. "The fridge and freezer were destroyed in the fire, so she's still in the cooler. April said she'd bring a mini-freezer until Donnie can make a full on fridge and freezer."

I nuzzle my head against my pillow. "I wanna see my kitty."

Raph nodded gently as he stroked my head gently. "I'll go get her." With that he left the room in search of my kitty.

Donnie came over to me, painkillers and a glass of water in hand. "Here. I know you must be in some type of pain."

I muttered a thanks before downing the two pills and glass of water. Donnie neared me with a flashlight. "Open wide," He told me. I obeyed and opened my mouth wide. He looked around for a bit before allowing the flashlight to fall to his side. "I knew your voice sounded a bit off. Your throat looks pretty irritated. I wouldn't speak for about two days or so. I'm putting you on vocal rest for about two days."

I groaned in response. Great, I think. I'm stuck being stuck in my head.

"Here's Ice Cream Kitty." My heavily accented brother told me as he placed the cooler in my arms that held my precious kitty. The Ice Cream, mutated, kitty rubbed her face against my cheek letting out a content and relieved purr.

She licked my cheek and I liked hers back. Poor kitty, I think. She's stuck in this small cooler until April comes with the mini-freezer.

"She seemed pretty relieved to see that her daddy was ok." Donnie said with a content smile.

I laugh lightly, happy to see my little kitty ok.

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