The Pig and the Rhino

A/N: OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG new eps, new eps I'm DYINGGGGG and April and CAsey finally got to participate!

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Casey was putting his feet up on the couch, hands casually behind his head, as Mikey flopped on the floor watching Crognard the Barbarian. He would've moved, but Mikey liked to get right up close to the TV - way too close, honestly. If he pulled that, his dad would yell at him that he was gonna rot his brain and ruin his eyes.

Good times.

Casey grinned to himself lopsidedly. The way Mikey was kicking his feet lazily in the air reminded him of his little sister. She did the same thing when she was watching Pony Princess Party.

It hurt that they were no closer to finding them - and he had to face the possibility that they might never find them again…but little things like this kinda felt like a sign…like his little sister was waving hello.

Only, y'know - with Mikey's feet.

Well, whatever. It made him feel a little better.

The TV abruptly shut off and Mikey let out an annoyed groan.

"Let's get this meeting started," Leo said, in his most leader-y voice.

Sweet! Time for some action. Maybe they'd finally let him crack some skulls this time around.

"Alright," Raph said, "I've got things to do and bad guys to mess up."

Casey grinned. As usual, Raph was right on his level.

"Karai's still out there," Leo said, his brow furrowed with concern, "The last thing she said to me was the word 'comet.'"

Casey eyed the turtles as they clustered around Donnie typing away. He angled his sneakers on the back of the sofa so that they hid Donnie from his view. Ahhh….much better. If only erasing him from reality was as easy.

Yeah, he and Donnie had been getting along better lately, since that whole thing went down with Speed Demon, but…lately, he was seriously rubbing him the wrong way. Especially now that they were living in such tight quarters.

Especially now that they were living in such tight quarters with April.

Speaking of tight - April was draped over the counter, completely oblivious to the fact that her short shorts (and everything in them) were pretty much right at eye level. Casey tried very diligently not to stare.

Right. Meeting. Comet. Aliens. Theories.

"So what's that supposed to mean? A giant comet's coming? The earth's doomed?"

"Feels like it could be a location," April said, thoughtfully, "Maybe where she'd hiding out?"

Casey tried to pay attention while April was talking, but felt his eyes drawn irresistibly to April's butt…man, she really had a nice -

"Donnie's found three locations with the word 'comet' in them," Leo replied, "D?"

Casey resisted the urge to roll his eyes as Donnie held court.

Oo, you did a Google search. A round of applause for the resident genius. Please, even I could've -

"We've got Comet Cleaners on Bleeker Street, here…Earth versus the Comet Creeps is playing at the Argosy Theater here…and then we've got the Coney Comet roller coaster on Coney Island here. So one of these places could be her lair…theoretically."

"Oo, oo, oo!" Mikey begged, "Can I check out the Comet Roller Coaster? Pleeeeease? Come on, Leo, hook a turtle up!"

Casey's ears perked up, and he sat up on the couch. Were they splitting up? Was it splitting up time? He subconsciously leaned in a bit closer to April.

"Donnie and April, you take Comet Cleaners," Leo said, without even stopping to think about it, "Raph and Casey, you take the movie theater…me and Mikey will check out Coney Island."

Casey's jaw hung open. Oh come ON! He glanced over, and Donnie was already giving him that smug little gap-toothed grin, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.

Ugh! How come nobody ever saw THAT?! Donnie could be such a jerk sometimes, but when he complained about it, HE was the jerk?

Casey felt a mild surge of annoyance at Leo. So that's how it is, huh? Like Mikey said - "hook a turtle up," right?

He dismissed the idea as sour grapes as soon as it occurred to him, though - Leo didn't care about stuff like that. He was so focused on finding Karai, all he cared about was the mission.

'Sides, he and Raph had always worked together in the past, so it probably seemed logical to Leo to pair them up. Hey, at least he actually got to DO something this time around. Maybe he n' Raph'd even get to K.O. some Kraang bots. That'd cheer him up.

He just wished Donnie didn't have to be such a smug little dork about it.

Hey…y'know, Donnie was pretty sneaky…he wouldn't put it past him to ask Leo if he could pair up with -

Whoops. Wasn't paying attention. Donnie had just thrown what looked like a weird dart-gun with a jar of Tang attached to it their way…Raph caught it, fortunately.

"Each team gets one," Donnie was saying, "It'll be weeks before I finish more."

"So in other words, don't waste it," Raph said, "Gotcha."

Casey eyed the jar of Tang-lookin' stuff, and his respect for Donnie begrudgingly climbed a few notches.

Okay, so…maybe he IS kind of a genius. I mean - how many people can just make retro-mutagen with stolen junk in an abandoned pizza parlor?

"Karai's condition is unique. There's no guarantee this'll even work on her," Don qualified, with a nervous downwards glance.

It seemed like he was already bracing Leo for the worst. Casey didn't want to jinx anything, but he kinda had a bad feeling about the whole "Karai" situation. Maybe it's just 'cause Raph never liked her much, but…it felt like more than that, this time around. Like they were fighting a losing battle.

But, he knew that when the time came to find his Dad and his little sister - he'd want them fighting by his side, no matter how hopeless it seemed. So they had to try.

"All we can do is try, Donnie," April said, mirroring his thoughts exactly.

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Casey followed Raph, as they slunk behind the movie screen. The cheesy 50's dialogue washed over him…some movie about alien brains.

Yeah. Little close to home, there.

The whole thing struck him as weird and creepy anyway. A movie? Seriously? Who is still screening movies? The whole city is shut down! There isn't even anyone in the theater! Clearly the Kraang aren't watching it. Was there just like - one lonely dude up in the projection booth? Just keeping the lights on, because he didn't know what the heck else to do?

That thought made him even sadder. He tried not to think about it too much.

"Aaah, these Ooze Specs aren't workin' right," Raph complained, as they hit the street, "Maybe I should call Donnie."

Casey grumbled. Sure, the Boy Genius's Wonder Goggles were busted. He'll know how to fix 'em. Oh wait - if he did, they'd already be working. Right now, he was probably drooling all over -

"It's not your specs, dude," Casey replied in irritation, "We searched every inch of the place. Karai's definitely not here."

"Let's check one last time," Raph said, turning back to the theater, "Maybe there's a basem - "

He was cut off by a loud roar from behind them.

Oh crud.

Casey spun on his heel, ready for anythi -

Um. Okay. Maybe ready for anything except THAT.

"Vell, vell, vell, Komrade Zeck make good on information," drawled the humanoid rhinoceros with a thick Russian accent, "Turtle here…and strange human friend?

"Woah - another mutant?"

Wait - "Strange human friend?!" Who was he callin' strange?! This guy was…well…actually?

"Dude - he's kinda rad!"

"Rad," the hulking gray behemoth replied with a menacing grin, "and Strong!"

And with that, the giant mutant rhinoceros casually picked up a car and threw it their way.

CARCARCAR DUDE CAR

It's weird what you notice in moments like that. For example, with his back pressed flat against the ticket booth, Casey observed, as the car flew inches past his face, that there was some pretty bad salt corrosion on the undercarriage. Gotta be careful with that…one good pothole, and you're leaking coolant.

Dude should really take better care of his car.

Said car landed with an almighty crash of rent metal, and Casey turned his head instinctively and shut his eyes against flying bits of automobile.

Yeah, well - salt corrosion was the least of their worries now.

He kinda hoped Raph wasn't dead. He probably wasn't - I mean, if he had time to get out of the way, Raph totally did with his whole, bein' a ninja thing.

With a wordless battle cry, Raph flung himself head-first at the raging Rhino.

Ah, good. Not dead.

Let's dance.

Casey hastily fished some exploding pucks out of his bag, and dropped them to the ground. He fired them expertly almost as soon as they hit the pavement - five perfect slap shots, five explosions right on target.

Hah! Eat that, Hornhead!

Heh. S'probably what Mikey was gonna -

Oh. Um.

Not only had he swatted Raph away like a fly, not only was he was still standing, it looked like the explosions had absolutely zero effect. Their attack didn't even make a dent. He just glowered back at him with an evil glint in his beady little eyes…

"The July of fourth," he drawled sarcastically, "Fireworks do you nothing.

Casey screwed up his war face under his mask. Popping out his skates, he unleashed his favorite baseball bat, and made a wide arc, building his momentum.

"Well let's see what this does! GOONGALA!"

With all his strength, he swang for the bleacher, aiming right for the thing's nose - a broken nose was always a crowd-pleaser. Hurt like a mother, was dizzying, even blinding, because the eyes inevitably watered, and -

Orrrr you could just shatter your favorite baseball bat. Great.

"Okay, that didn't work."

Just like the car, it felt like the huge gray fist with the gold sickle was coming at him in slow motion - but there was absolutely nothing he could do to stop it. His mask dispersed the force of the blow over his entire face, and he felt his feet lift off the ground, as he went sailing through the air, landing with a crunch back at the ticket booth. He groaned, and the ground shuddered as the rhino-freak started stomping towards him.

"NO! Casey!"

At the sound of Raph's voice, the beast turned and made its way towards Raph. Casey watched, through blurred double-vision as he hooked Raph with his horn, drove him fiercely into the ground, and charged, dragging him across the pavement until he flung him against the wall. Raph slumped to the ground and was still.

No!

Casey scrabbled over on his hands knees, shaking Raph by the shell in a panic.

"Raph! Wake up, Raph! Wake up!"

Don't be dead, dude, seriously, don't be -

There was snort from behind him, and Casey slowly turned, his heart thudding in his chest.

Yeah, this is gonna hurt.

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A/N: OMGOMGOMGOMG MIGHTY MUTANIMALS I CAME BACK TO LIFE AND THEN DIED AGAIN!

Also, "I don't wanna be a pig! The ladies don't love pigs!" WELP there goes my head!canon that Zeck is gay. :P OH well! XD