Eya!

Well, long week... and here's the chapter, as promised! it's kinda short... and i kinda have a feeling there's not much more left.. but we'll see how it goes!

Chapter 6

Of Stowaways

Charley waited, biding his time, as the he watched the humanoid turtles getting ready for that night's "patrol"… whatever that meant. That meant… he actually had no idea.

""I'm going to go over to Leatherhead's for a second, guys," the turtle, whom he figured was Don, yelled as he bent down to grab a tool bag and headed out. The turtle in the blue (Leo) called back in response," Awright, Don, but don't be late for training!"

"Hey, it's me!" Don chuckled as he raced out the door.

Leo grunted under his breath," Exactly…"

Donatello suddenly backtracked into the Lair, looking sheepish," Forgot something…" he put his bag on the countertop.

"Now's my chance," thought Charley, as he rushed forward, climbing the folds of the bag that was thrown onto the countertop. Moving quickly and painfully, he found a pocket and slipped into it and found, to his delight, a folded cloth. He nestled into the folds of the bad-smelling cloth and prayed that he wouldn't get squashed.

As Charley waited, he gritted his teeth in sudden anxiety. He heard the big turtle approaching and suddenly, WHOOSH!

"OW!" Charlie screamed in pain as he felt himself whacked against the objects of the bag, he didn't want to even THINK about what might have happened if he hadn't been in the protection of the pocket and the cloth.

And then, he was being bashed against the insides of the pocket, as the turtle set off in run.

Charlie bit his lip, but he couldn't keep from shouting or screaming in pain whenever a jolt of pain splashed through his body.

And he didn't know whether it was fortunate or unfortunate that the turtle didn't hear his cries of pain.

Suddenly, something hard hit Charley from behind, in the back of his cranium, and he blacked out immediately, losing all sense of direction.

~8~8~8~8~8

Leatherhead glanced up as Donatello knocked gently at the doorway," Leatherhead?"

"Come in my friend. How have you been?"

"Well, besides fighting the contagious effects of Mikey's outbursts of insanity, not too bad. How about you?"

Leatherhead chuckled," I have been well. Is something the matter?"

"Well, as a matter of fact, it seems that certain pests have started to invade our home, so it's time for our annual perimeter bombing."

Leatherhead nodded," And in order to do this, you will need a place to stay, yes?"

"Affirmative. How could you tell?" Don chuckled.

"Eh, lucky guess," Leatherhead chuckled in return as he added," My home is open to you and your family, of course. I have some work to do, in the tunnels, so Michelangelo will have no need to restrain his usual antics."

Donatello sighed with relief," Leatherhead, you're the best. Thanks a bunch… That just means keeping Raph from killing Mikey… but then, that's a daily battle anyways…"

Leatherhead was still chuckling wryly as Donatello left.

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

Hey.

You thought I was dead, didn't you? Not a chance. The cat… I don't know why, but he didn't eat me. He didn't even step on me.

I have never felt so grateful in my entire life. Dunno, why, it was just a cat… Anywho, so, I heard the turtles talking, I mean… well, who couldn't?

Since I'm so small now, everything's loud. So… yeah, I know about… well, I'm not sure what exactly happened, but I'm pretty sure Charley and Stephen had something to do with it.

The whole "pest" issues, I mean. The best course now, is to get the heck outta here. I don't know how long, or how strong the poison is, but if it can kill insects bigger then me, then I'd better get outta here for a while. But where can I go?

It's a good question. I need to find a way… a SAFE way to hitch a ride. How though…. hmm.

I suppose… well, look. I've already figured out a couple of things. One, if I'm going to remain this size… forever… then I'm going to need a semi-permanent residence. Secondly, Stephen and Charley are just going to use me if I try to find them again… and I'm tired of letting that happen. Maybe it's inhumane, but I'm not going to try to find them. I have to learn to look out for myself, instead of following Stephen and Charley around like I used to.

And third… I just had a thought. The cat is probably not going to stay here. I could hitch a ride with the cat somehow. I suppose this could end badly… very badly for me, but it's better then doing nothing. If there's a God in this universe… please help me. If I die, let it be quick.

8~8~8~8~8

Ashley peered from under the table as she looked around carefully. She had stayed there, listening and observing as her mind worked to process the harsh information.

Somewhere along the lines, she had seen the large mutant rat, returning to the Lair from wherever he had gone. The purple masked turtle, returning from his excursion, headed over to the rat to quietly discuss the plans with him.

Ashley waited as she watched, observing and calculating and listening. She had never thought of herself as being the calculating type… but now that the occasion called for it, she was realizing so many more things then she would have dreamed possible.

The first conclusion she had come to, undeniably, was that she had to get out of the turtle's home. Well, no DUH.

But as to how…

She realized that stowing away with ANY of the turtles was a mistake. The way they all treated their stuff… well, they were a lot like teenage guys, so, go figure.

She had three other options. Ashley could repeat history and stow away on the cat… she could try the escape on foot…

OR she could try to stow with the rat.

Art first, she had shuddered with revulsion at the thought cause frankly… she didn't like rodents. She REALLY didn't like rats… And THIS was most DEFINITELY a rat to end ALL rats…

But what other option did she have? The rat, the more she watched him, seemed the most gentle… in other words, she had a good feeling that she stood a better chance of surviving if she somehow could get into either his bag of belongs or maybe even… hide in his pocket or something?

Ashely felt her heart beating hard as she made her decision.

8~8~8~8~8~

Charley came to... and he groaned in pain as he felt his head. it was sticky with blood. That can't be good... He groaned as he gingerly checked himself out. No broken bones... no sprains... just a lot of bruises. He put his hands to his ears... oh no. That's where the blood was coming from. No wonder it was so quiet...


Review! please ^_^

And... next chapter... NEXT WEEK!