This story happens before Klunk and before Baka. I do not own either of those kitties nor the TMNT's. It is a separate cat story featuring my kitty, Buster, as the hero! Yes, hero. He has to save himself and as you know, cats are quite self-serving. They're the only players in their life story; everything and everyone else are just bit parts – pun intended! All I can say is, Raph better start running now!
As a side note, I thought of this theme from watching Buster 'long' for the outside. He'd love to chase bugs and birds, but – amazingly – he is allergic to the outside. He gets very sick…so he has to stay inside, much to his personal angst!
I was hoping for a one shot, but it's not going to be. Maybe under ten chapters. I hope, anyway!
Oh, and since I am involved with two other stories that are on-going, I can't guarantee that I'll update very quickly. Just hang in there, though! Be blessed.
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CHAPTER 1 – THE STINKY TUNNEL
He was free! Finally, after years of captivity he was free! Ah the sweet smell of freedom and going wherever the heart pulls. Well, 'sweet' may not have been the best word to describe where he was, considering he was prowling the bowels of The City. However, 'free' certainly was!
He had moved unwillingly to this noisy, busy, and foreign town, far from his home out west. Though for most of his life he had been held captive, at least it didn't smell as bad as this place did. Yet, home was where you found it, sometimes, and right now he decided he liked his present 'digs' better than the cage he once called his own.
There were scary things, though, that kept his ears and eyes on edge. He couldn't quite tell what they were. However, occasionally he would catch a glimpse of them and for a moment his memory would be triggered. He had seen something like them once before in his barely five years of existence. In fact, if he wasn't mistaken, there had been four of them. The sad thing was they were kept in a tinier cage than he had been. Still, they were smaller than he was so maybe they didn't mind it as much. He thought about them and wondered what had happened to them. He did know that after the last one had disappeared, his captor had taken their cage away. Remembering his 'friends' and how much fun they were to watch with their long and tempting tails, he became just a little melancholy.
However, in that next moment, he caught sight again of the familiar 'thing' he had occasionally glimpsed since he had entered the 'smelly' tunnels. He crouched down instinctively and waited. Huddling against the cold damp concrete wall, he watched. His ears were turned as far forward as he could make them, waiting for the 'thing' to emerge. Finally, it scurried into view.
Yes! He was right. It was just like his friends that had mysteriously gone away one by one. Only… this one was bigger. Moreover…it wasn't in a cage. Then… it saw him. He just froze. What was it going to do? He didn't know because the only experience he ever had with something like this had been behind bars – with him on the outside. It wasn't that he didn't want to know. There had been something about them that had piqued his natural instincts. However, he never had a chance to explore that aspect of his personality. The cage that they had been kept in kept him from finding out. Now, however, here was his chance!
He talked to it to see what it would do. In reply It let out a terrified 'squeak' and took off. Well, here was something fun, he thought. He decided right then and there to just do what nature told him to do. He gave chase!
Up through the tunnels they ran, one in the lead with the other frantically trying to catch up. The one in the lead, however, knew the tunnels quite well and before the other realized what had happened, the leader ducked into a small crack in the tunnel wall. Unfortunately, the other was just too big to follow and so he sat there at the opening, grumbling about the unfairness of it all.
He waited and wondered why they made holes big enough for the 'thing' to get into but too small for him. It just didn't seem quite right. After a time he realized that the 'thing' was not going to come out; at least not for a while. Therefore, because he was now feeling a little hungry, he decided to go and see about finding some food.
That was the big disappointment about being 'free'. Food had to be found. Before, when he was held captive, food was given to him. That and the fact he didn't have to worry about the sky when it became wet was the only consolation for being imprisoned. Since he had been free, though, he had gone more days hungry than ever in his life. Still the euphoria of being on his own could not be quelled. He loved his independence more than a filled tummy.
He searched the long tunnels for many hours and was starting to tire of the grumbling his stomach made. He was just about ready to find a way out of the stinky place when his nose caught the scent of something wonderful.
Food!
He couldn't decide what it was but it was certainly better compared to the stench of the sewers. Therefore, with his mouth watering he followed the trail it afforded.
In no time at all, he soon found himself standing before a door. As he stared, for some reason it seemed out of place. For the many days that he had been wandering alone in the tunnels, this was the first resemblance of a cage that he had seen. It kind of made him nervous, but his stomach told him this was where he would find food!
He sat there and listened. He could hear noises from inside, voices that were vaguely familiar but whose language was still not his own. What alarmed him, though, was that their speech was very similar to his captor's language. However, he realized right away that it wasn't his captor, but someone else entirely.
If they lived here in this tunnel, maybe they had escaped a cage like the one he had been kept in!
However, just as he was about to let them know that he was outside, the door suddenly opened. He scurried back and into a nearby shadow. He watched as two of the strangest people he had ever seen walk out the now opened doorway. Frightened, he thought of maybe running off and looking elsewhere for nourishment.
Yet, the delicious smells that came from the exposed cage now assaulted his senses. In his mind, he knew that this was where he would find food. He also noticed that the door was starting to close. If he didn't make a decision now, he may never get a second chance.
Quickly he noted that two more of these strange creatures came out of the almost closing door. They pushed it further open to allow their bulk to pass through. They chattered on about things that did not interest the silent observer. He waited, gauging his timing. He watched as the creatures meandered up the tunnel while the door to their 'cage' gradually closed. Before it could complete its descent into the door jam, he streaked in full speed. His timing couldn't have been any better. Just as the end of him made it into the lit 'cage', the door completed its journey to closure.
Standing inside the 'cage', he now stared in wonder. There before him just as surprised as he, stood – yes, it stood – the largest 'thing' he had ever seen. It was even larger than the one he had chased earlier and with a tail that was amazingly long. Only this 'thing' carried a stick and refused to run.
This didn't look good at all.
Holy kittens what had he put himself into now?