Here it is, as promised... although, i guess i did kinda push the "at least within the week thing"... Enjoy!

Chapter 5

S.O.S in Pizza Sauce

Charley was stunned when he heard the exclamation about fleas… that was so…

He couldn't even find a word for it. But he finally shook it off when Klunk leapt onto the kitchen counter. The smell of pizza drifted into Charley's senses and his stomach growled, reminding him of the reason he had hitched a ride via kitty in the first place.

Quickly untying himself, he slid off, carefully, making it to the kitchen countertop and, he narrowly avoided getting stepped on by Klunk and hid under the toaster. He sat there for a moment, unwilling to process the fact that he was, indeed, completely alone. Ashely was gone, and Stephen was gone.

Charley growled under his breath," Well, there's NO way in hell I'm going to end up like them. I'll get out of this."

He then proceeded to locate the pizza, which was a few hundred meters from the toaster. Looking around quickly, he raced ahead, unseen by the Lair's occupants as he made it to the platter where the leftover pizza lounged.

Quickly, he tore a few pieces of the massive meal away and sprinted back to the toaster.

8~8~8~8~8

"DONNIE!" Raph bellowed.

Don groaned quietly as he stood up and went to see what was wrong now. He had been looking around for signs that maybe they had a tick infestation… maybe this was another indication…

"What is it, Raphael?"

"LOOK."

Don looked. There appeared to be signs that a rodent or insect of some sort had taken a fancy to their left-over pizza and had decided to nibble it.

Don sighed and muttered," Ok… that's it. I'm going to the store to buy a couple of foggers. Geez…"

"What the shell is a fogger?" Mikey asked, coming into the kitchen at that moment. Before Don could stop him, Mikey nabbed the piece of pizza with the nibbles on it and bit into it, grinning," Good pizza…"

Raph turned around, to keep himself from exploding into laughter, but a snort did escape as he left the kitchen, unable to believe his good luck… or Mikey's bad luck. Same thing.

Don's mouth hung open just a little before he slowly answered Mikey's original question," A fogger is like a bomb… only with poison instead of explosives."

"Oh… Cool. Why don't we use those as weapons?" Mikey asked with a grin as he gulped down the rest of his pizza.

Don shook his head," I'll be back in a few hours. Tomorrow, we're going to stay over at Leatherhead's, so I can bomb whatever pests are hanging out here."

~8~8~8~8~8~8

Charley's mind was awhirl. He had to get out of here! before the… pest treatment. This was utterly insane. Who the hell was Leatherhead? And…

Charley tried to force himself to think a little more clearly. He had heard one of the reptiles mention training… were they human experiments? Where were the scientists in charge of this operation?

And… How was he going to get out of here alive?

Scowling, Charley decided to try to send out some flares. Pizza sauce and a sheet of plain white paper. He just needed to make the lettering big enough….

8~8~8~8~8~8~

Leonardo shook his head quietly as Donatello explained the "problem". Mikey had been bitten, it seemed, by a tick… and the rats were getting to the uncovered leftovers on the kitchen counter. It was time for another extermination day… the day where Donatello bombed the Lair to rid it of those annoying and sometimes harmful pests.

Leo frowned as he wondered. There had only been two incidents… he paused as he realized that Mikey had been the source of both… or at least, mostly.

What if… What if Mikey was doing this as a practical joke?

Leo groaned quietly when he reached the kitchen counter and saw a message written with pizza sauce….

Help! My name's Charley and I've been shrunk!

"MIKEY!"

8~8~8~8~

Charley scowled," Ah that sucks… that just sucks."

The turtle in the blue mask had COMPLETELY misinterpreted the message as a practical joke.

"Now what…" he mused quietly. His eyes widened in horror. It was now getting to him… he probably wouldn't make it back to "normal"… if he lived that long.

Charley ground his teeth and silently came out from under the toaster. He looked around and decided his best bet was to hitch a ride out of this place, and just survive the bombing of the Lair. After? He'd cross that bridge when he got to it.

8~8~8~8~8~8~8~

Mikey protested," i didn't write it! Who the shell is Charley? And… does he wear sketchers?"

Raph glared as he muttered," Did someone put extra sugar in that shell-head's cereal this morning?"

Leo rolled his eyes as Don asked," Mikey, seriously, this isn't funny!"

"But I'm telling you, I didn't do it!"

Leo was fixing to began his "responsibility" lecture, when Donatello interrupted," Ok, look, apparently, the whole tick-incident is getting to his brain. I'm planning to bomb the Lair tomorrow, so, after training, I suggest we all head over to Leatherheads."

Raph held up a hand," LH is going to kill Mikey, you realize that, don't you? I mean, if he's gonna be cooped up-"

"Raph, it's just one day. If it really comes to that, we can use that straight-jacket I ordered last month."

Leo nodded," I agree."

Mikey nodded," Yeah, that's… wait, what? WHAT STRAIGHT-JACKET?"

LOL... Ok, next chapter, within the space of next week, i promise!