Mikey's Adventure, Part One

Leo flew through the Lair, his heartbeat pounding in his ears and his feet making slapping sounds on the floor. He'd been out with Karai and Shinigami on a (Splinter-approved) patrol when he'd gotten the text.

Mikey hurt. Get here now.

The directness of the message was enough to let Leo know how bad Donnie thought it was. So the leader had rushed home immediately.

He arrived in the lab, panting, but straightened up immediately when he noticed his youngest brother lying half-conscious on the cot. "What happened?" Leo asked, his eyes roving over Mikey's bruised and broken body. About half of it was covered in bandages and there was a cast on his right leg.

Donnie sighed, washing his hands and stepping towards the doorway. "I'll let him explain that one to you. I need coffee."

As soon as he was gone, Leo knelt next to Mikey's bedside. "What happened, little brother?" he asked gently.

Mikey's lower lip quivered and he sat up a little. "It's a long story..."

"I've got time."

"W-Well... you know how I asked about your katana and you told me not to play with them cuz they weren't toys?"

"Yes."

"Well I might've borrowed them... and taken them up to the surface."

"What? Why?"

"To practice! You just look so cool when you're using them and I had to use them that one day and I thought you wouldn't mind if I got some more practice in and-"

"Mikey," Leo interrupted, putting a hand on his brother's arm. "What happened next?"

The orange-banded turtle sighed and closed his eyes, remembering. "It all started with the cat..."


Drip. Drip. Drip.

Mikey wrinkled his beak as he walked through the sewers on the way to the surface. The recent rain had really flooded some parts of the New York sewer system - meaning bigger puddles and worse smells than usual. The near-constant dripping of pipes was nothing new, but it did get annoying after a while. And then his ears caught something that didn't sound like dripping.

Clang.

A small shriek escaped Mikey's lips and he whipped around, holding one of Leo's katana out towards the noise. "H-Hello?"

"Mew."

His baby-blue gaze snapped down and landed on a fuzzy grey form crawling out from inside an old soup can. A kitten.

Immediately, Mikey sheathed the katana and dropped to his knees, scooping up the kitten and cooing. "Aww, look at you! Aren't you just the cutest little thing? What are you doing all the way down here, little guy?"

"Mew," the kitten replied, gazing up at him with huge green eyes.

"Don't you have a home?"

"Mew."

Mikey pursed his lips and leaned against the tunnel wall, absentmindedly stroking the kitten's head. In response, the fuzzy animal curled up in his large palm and proceeded to go to sleep.

I wonder if the guys would let me keep him? He's not that big, and even though Leo doesn't really like cats, I don't think this little guy would cause that much trouble.

The orange-banded mutant chuckled a little as he watched the kitten sleep. He gently tucked it into a large pocket on his belt, but left its head sticking out so it could breathe. "If I'm taking you home, you're gonna need a name. How about...Mittens?"

Immediately, the memory of a small, vicious black-and-white cat rose in Mikey's brain. He shuddered.

"Nope. Not Mittens. What about Sir Snuggles?" The kitten yawned and rolled over a little and Mikey beamed. "Alright! Sir Snuggles it is! I'll call you Double S for short. Now, come on. You and I are gonna go do some training!"


"So you found a stray cat and decided to take it with you up to the surface while you practiced with my katana that you took without asking."

Mikey shrugged as much as he was able, putting on a sheepish smile. Leo sighed, shaking his head...and abruptly freezing as his gaze landed on a soft, gray-furred form sleeping a few feet away from his little brother.

"And you brought it home?!"

"Not it, Leo," the youngest protested. "Sir Snuggles. Double S. The Cat King. Mr.-"

Another sigh escaped Leo's mouth and he squeezed the bridge of his beak in between two large fingers. "I'll deal with that later. What happened after you found the c- I mean, Sir Snuggles?"

"Well after I walked another ten minutes through the sewers..."


"This is gonna be the best night ever, Sir Snuggles. We're gonna have so much fun! Ooh, I'll have to introduce you to pizza. I think you'll love it!"

In reply, Sir Snuggles yawned again and waved a paw in the air. Mikey's grin widened and he started humming a happy little tune as he climbed through a manhole and up onto the surface.

Almost immediately, he noticed them. Three men, cornering a cowering blonde woman in the alleyway not too far from his current position.

"Aw, yeah. Time for the Mikester to shine!"

Screaming his fiercest BOOYAKASHA, the orange-banded turtle leapt towards the thugs and took them down within seconds. The woman ran off screaming at the sight of the "ugly green mutant freak" that had saved her.

Mikey's smile flickered for a moment. Typical. Save their butts and all they do is scream or faint or run away. Or all three.

He sighed and shrugged it off, ascending the fire escape to get to the roof. It was time to start practicing. "I'll show Leo that I can practice just as well as he can. I can focus when I want to- Ooh! Gum!"

But the pink thing by his foot wasn't gum. It was a skateboard wheel.

He frowned and picked it up, examining it. "What the shell?" Suddenly, something hard came flying out of the darkness and clocked him on the back of the head. He yelped and spun around, his eyes searching the shadows. Another something flew and hit him on the cheek, slicing into his skin. Blood welled from the wound. "Ow! Cut it out!"

"Stay away from me!"

Mikey froze as the small, watery voice emanated from behind an AC unit. "Hello?" A third object hurtled out of the shadows and this time the ninja caught it. A rock. "I'm not gonna hurt you, whoever-you-are. I'm one of the good guys."

"My mom said that you mutants are dangerous and you'll eat me."

"Dude!" Mikey was honestly offended. "I'm vegetarian! Well, except for pizza. And meat. And cheese. And-"

"So you aren't gonna eat me?"

"Heck no. Why don't you come on out? I'm not gonna hurt you."

There was a brief pause and then a blonde head poked out from behind the unit. The boy's face was dirty and scraped up and his brown eyes were filled with anger and maybe a little bit of fear. "You look weird," he announced, crossing his arms. "You sure you aren't an alien?"

"Nope. I'm a regular pizza-loving guy! Well, turtle. At least, I was a turtle before I got mutated. Now I'm half-human. Or at least I think so. That's what Donnie says anyway."

The boy watched him curiously, cocking his head. "What's your name?"

He puffed out his chest, a smile automatically appearing on his lips. "I'm Michelangelo, but you can call me Mikey, or the Mikester, or Dr. Prankenstein, or-"

"Geez. You sure talk a lot, don't you?"

The smile disappeared again. "Not always. What's your name, little dude?"

"Don't call me little," the boy snapped. "I'm eight years old. My name is Hayden."

"Cool! So...uh...what're you doing up here, Hayden?"

Hayden flushed. "I came up here to practice my skateboarding tricks and my wheel popped off and I got locked out."

"DUDE! You skateboard?!"

"Duh. Who doesn't?"

"My boring older brother. Can you do any good tricks?"

The eight-year-old grinned, revealing a few missing teeth. "Is Tony Hawk's middle name Frank?"


"So I spent the next twenty minutes teaching H-Dude some new tricks and then I helped him get back into his apartment."

"His parents could've seen you!"

"Calm down, dude. They were asleep. He waited until they went to bed before sneaking out his window."

"How'd he get locked out?"

"The window pane slipped back down and locked accidentally as soon as he climbed outside. All I had to do was pick the lock and let him in."

"Then what happened?"

"That's when it really started to get hairy. I went back up to the rooftops to start practicing with your katana and Shred-Head found me."

"WHAT?!"

"Seriously, shut up or I'm not gonna tell you anything else."

"...sorry, continue."

"As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, that's when it really started getting hairy."


As soon as Mikey stepped back onto the rooftop, he knew something was wrong. And it didn't have anything to do with the heavy breathing coming from the shadows.

"Aw, come on, guys. You're really lousy at this sneaking and hiding stuff. You sound like freaking Darth Vader." Unable to hide his grin, the youngest turtle immediately started his best impression of the Dark Lord. "Join me, Michelangelo. I am your father."

"I am no father of yours, freak."

"EEP!" Mikey shrieked and jumped back as Shredder, Razhar, Xever, and about thirty Foot Bots emerged into the light. "Dude, I almost soiled my shell!"

"I did not wish to know that," Xever muttered. Rahzar nodded in agreement and took a few steps back from the mutant turtle.

Mikey just grinned again. He was still on a happiness-high from everything that had happened tonight. There was no way he would lose to these guys. He set Sir Snuggles onto the rooftop and the cat promptly curled into a ball and fell asleep again. "Sit tight, Double-S. I'll be right back."

Within ten minutes, the Foot Bots lay in smoking heaps of metal around the roof. All that left was Shredder, Xever, and Rahzar. And Mikey knew just how to deal with them. He almost laughed. It was gonna be so easy he wouldn't even need his 'chucks.

"Giving up, turtle?" Xever asked when he noticed Mikey putting his weapons away.

"Nah. I just had a question for you guys."

"A question?" Rahzar repeated gruffly. "What kind of question?"

"Who cares?" Shredder growled. "Get him, you fools! Kill him!"

"No, no, Master. This could be important." Xever crossed his arms and turned his beady gaze back to his opponent. "What is your question?"

Mikey's cheeks split in a massive grin. "Ever been to a rodeo?"

A/N: So I'm gonna end this chapter there...what do you guys think so far? Good? Bad? Meh?

All I can say is that our little Mikester is definitely up to no good. ;)

Please review.