I was reading Soldier! AUs of some of my other fandoms and then….well this showed up. So I decided to do an AU where humanoid animals are normal. I don't own TMNT, I just enjoy playing in the sandbox. I am also playing around with Boot Camp just so we're clear here. I am not Military so I apologize for mistakes I make, and I am very aware some of what I'm writing would not be allowed in actual boot camp.
Summary: Michelangelo Hamato made a choice. He didn't tell his father or his brothers. He just went. Now he's dropped shell first into the consequences of his actions and he is so over his head, but he'll make it back if it's the last thing he does.
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Michelangelo knows he should tell his family what he's planning. He knows he should, but he also knows his family would never allow it, so he plans.
He leaves early in the morning, hours before anyone should be up, before the sun is even a thought in the sky, with a small bag of supplies that he knows he would be allowed. He leaves his Shell Cell at the home and off, and he leaves a note on the table. All it says is I'll be back later-Mikey.
It's vague and he knows it. He knows they'll assume he means later in the day, but by the time they realize and start to worry Mikey will be gone. He won't even be in the state anymore, but instead he'll be in South Carolina's Parris Island. He'd planned this for a long time, his plane ticket is ready, he'll be gone by the time they start looking for him, and he won't even be in the state so he knows when they look they won't find him.
He leaves another note in his, for once, clean room.
I love you all. I'll come back I promise.
He hides it so they won't see it when they come in. They'll have to look for it. It's behind his Limited Edition Justice Force 1 comic, the one in its wrapping. (Ironically the comic he had supposedly 'lost' that had inspired the manic cleaning spree of his room as far as his family was aware.)
And then he's gone.
Day one and Mikey is so nervous he thinks he might puke.
Humanoid animals may be common enough that people don't scream when they see him, but they're still rare and everyone had been staring. They hadn't since the moment they stepped out of the bus, but he feels like they are. Michelangelo knows some humans are likely to treat him like dirt. Just because humanoids are normal enough to not cause mass panic, doesn't mean some hate groups don't exist. It's like racism.
Mikey knows some of these recruits are likely to be bad about what he is, but he's glad to see he's not the only humanoid in the group. He can see a fox hybrid five people to his right, there's a wolverine over to her right and a few more throughout.
All of them are standing on those iconic yellow footprints, it's late at night, and the Drill Instructor is screaming at all of them. Mikey wants to fidget, but he doesn't. He had seen the DI lay into a guy in the front two rows ahead of him and he really doesn't want to start his stay off with a scream-fest two inches from his face. So he stands like he has been instructed and forces himself to pay attention to the information coming out of the bat-humanoid DI who is still screaming at everyone.
Shortly after the welcoming speech, everyone begins processing. Contraband is taken from the recruits who brought it in, and Mikey wonders if anyone had looked at the list of 'permitted' goods besides what appears to be ten people excluding him: he sees the fox and wolverine are among those ten. Then comes the physical exams and the famous haircuts that Mikey is glad to say he didn't need: perks of being a turtle. He felt kind of bad for some of the girls getting processed. They had their hair chopped off to just above the shoulders and some of them had hair down to their butts.
The next three days are nothing but exam after exam, instruction on receiving orders and the chain of command for both the Marines and the Navy, how they're supposed to greet and salute those of higher rank- everyone at this point- instruction on Naval terminology, the Uniform Code of Military Justice, weapons safety, standing interior guard and, for those with normal human feet, how to break in boots properly. It also includes the Marine's stance on humanoids and the utter lack of toleration they have for acts of hate, a few rules and regulations they have to follow involving instincts and food needs.
Mikey's head is spinning and he hasn't even made it through the introductions yet, but he's stubborn and determined.
On the bright side, Mikey passes his Initial Strength Test. For males the IST entails 2 pull-ups from a dead hang, 44 sit-ups in 2minutes, and a 1.5mile run in less than l3minutes. Mikey breezes through it, thanking his father silently with every move.
He's assigned barracks mates, the people he will be working with through boot camp and sleeping with. All of them are males since males and females have separate sleeping arrangements. There's six of them including Mikey, and besides the Wolverine hybrid who, as it turns out is a Wolverine-Slow Loris mix and is therefore poisonous which Mikey thinks is awesome, Mikey is the only humanoid on the barracks. Their group has three females in it when their working elsewhere however, and in that case Mikey finds that they have another humanoid and she is the fox hybrid- a fennec fox-black backed jackal to be precise- and Mikey learns that she is a bit of a badass.
Mikey makes a note to introduce her to April when it's all over if they manage to get along well enough.
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These are technically chronological drabbles, so the length varies. Some of the chapters will be short. Others will be a 'regular chapter' length. Soooooooo. There. Warning given. Hope y'all like it.