Feline Clash

Disclaimer: If a cat can be owned, then that is all I own for all the rest aren't mine.

Chapter Ten- On the Hunt

Leonard stirred and gave a massive yawn, he stretched upward elongating his body as he spread his body in as many directions as possible as once, as only a cat could. He gave a contented rumble as he tossed off the blankets and emerged from the sleeping bag.

He noticed Don was awake and patting playfully at the end of Michael's tail that twitched and moved as the tiger slept, on top of his bedding with only a light blanket covering him.

"Don shall we go hunting? The others will be hungry when they wake." Leonard suggested.

"Hunt, klunk hunt. Don hunt Klunk Leon." Don rambled cheerfully as he tore over towards the cougar, slamming on the brakes and banging into Leonard's leg almost bowling his friend over.

"Sssh, quiet Don we don't want to disturb the others," Leonard said quickly gaining his balance. "I'm going get some weapons and then we can go. Want to wait outside?" Leonard inquired, hoping that Don would agree.

Don chirped happily and took off jumping down out of the hay loft, landing on his side on the lower floor of the barn before scrambling to his feet and racing out the door.

Leonard chuckled softly as he quickly searched the packs and pulled out a new pair of pants, and collected the bow and arrows he had made the other day. Before heading outside to join Don.

The morning light was still a few hours away and the sky was still well lit by stars. Yet, there was no denying that the day was coming from how much lighter the night sky was in the lower areas of the horizon.

"Don?" he called softly, his ears twitching.

Don charged in attacking him from behind and Leonard laughed, "You are in a good mood this morning. I'm sure you can find some rabbits for us to share, or possibly some ground birds - you know the type I mean?"

Don cocked his head, "Hunt Klunk. Don Hunt now hunt klunk."

"Yes, we are going hunt now. Let's go." Leonard agreed gesturing to the fields beyond the barn.

The two cats found that the long grass gave them the perfect camouflage and while Don's incessant chatter, tended to scare off more game then he would find through proper hunting techniques. Leonard, though realized that keeping Don quiet was almost impossible, allowed his friend to rattle on. However, Leonard kept his weapon at the ready and any time he heard Don claim of seeing larger prey shot an arrow.

They neared the forest and Don paused, sitting up straight nose twitching. His body trembling as he licked his lips in eager anticipation. Leonard looked in the direction the cheetah was looking in, there were a couple of deer grazing in the meadow.

"Ah now that is a meal for us, Don go around." Leonard gestured with his hand, "Don't let them get to the woods."

Don chirped and took off, he moved towards the bush and then back towards the deer "Klunk! Hunt. Get Klunk!" he shouted cheerfully as he launched into full speed.

The deer's head shot up and went to run, but they were dealing with a predator the like of which they had never seen before -one that could run at incredible speeds and turn almost as fast.

The deer snorted in fear, at one point they separated going different directions to throw off the strange smell and the noise of the predator that chased them.

Leonard noticed one of the deer veering his way he notched an arrow and had another ready, he let fly with the first, reloaded and shot the second in a quick fluid moment. Leonard smiled as he saw the deer fall, he looked up wondering where the other deer and Don had gotten too.

"Don? Don!" Leonard called sharply.

He headed towards the deer he downed and cast a hurried look through the long grass, by now the stars were fading and there was hints of dawn showing in the morning sky.

Leonard knew in the excitement of the hunt Don could chase the deer for a good distance. Worse, would be if the cheetah ran into some of the military who was here.

A swishing sound of grass caused Leonard to turn to see Don dragging back the other deer.

"Oh Don you caught the second one. All by yourself too, did you wear him out?" He wondered.

Don opened his mouth panting heavily, the cheetah looked like he was going drop. Leonard reached out and gratefully scratched Don around the head. "I know for a fact Michael could eat just about one of these by himself." He looked around wondering if he could pack both of the deers by himself.

XXX

Leo woke, as was his nature, early he rose up and went straight outside to practice some katas and do some morning meditation. He considered the things that they would need to do, to assist the felines who were out in the barn.

'First off it would be good to learn exactly what it is that they do know in fighting and about our new enemies. I know Donny has decided, to learn about the equipment that the military has- so I don't have to worry about that.'

He mentally went over the list, ' I'm also going have to work with Michael to teach him how to deal with his anger problems. It is clear most of the cats look to Michael - maybe because he is largest, and strongest of all of them- but he can not rule with an iron paw.'

Leo took a breath, then there was also trying to figure out how the cheetah Don would fit into the family. Splinter had once said, everyone in the family needed something important to do, but the cheetah was also most likely the weakest link in the feline chain.

' Don is bound, to cause trouble when we go up against the military and I have no idea if he is able to manage a weapon. Don is like a child, while the cheetah might have speed, he mentally is not capable of battle.'

These of course were just some of his thoughts as he practiced his katas. He sank down into a lotus position to begin his meditation period. Suddenly he sensed something and turned in time to see the cheetah coming towards him.

"Morning there Don."

"Klunk hunt! Klunk!"

"You went hunting?" Leo noted that the cheetah had no weapons or food on him. 'Must have chased away the food.' Leo then heard a grunt and looked up to see Leonard walking slowly through the grass.

Leo rose to his feet and headed, over toward the cougar mutant, and saw Leonard was dragging two dead deer behind him, not to mention a couple of rabbits tied to the cougar's belt.

"You caught all that?" He asked impressed, he knew that the large cats were good hunters but had been surprised by the amount of food that Leonard had acquired.

Leonard nodded, "Don actually caught one of these deer on his own. I'm not sure how," the cat's brow furrowed, in uncertainty, "Trust me none of this will go to waste. We all eat a lot of meat, but I'm sure we could spare you some if you like."

"I'm sure we wouldn't mind some," Leo admitted, "My brothers and I have had wild game before." Leo recalled, "My father once took us out in the bush here and we lived for over a week on nothing more than what we could gather from the wilds. He also taught us about what is edible or what plants could be used for healing."

"It is good training. We were taught much the same thing at the base, but much of it comes naturally," Leonard confessed. "We cats are instinctively carnivores and hunting comes natural, the hard part for us was learning to use weapons."

"Klunk. Hungry Leon, ungry so klunk." Don moaned.

Leonard glanced at the cheetah and tossed one of the rabbits towards Don. Don purred as he snatched the rabbit up and disappeared to eat it. "We usually cook our meat but Don is not too particular since he has been changed."

Leo nodded, "It is understandable. Tell me does Don know how to use a weapon?"

"He used to know many weapons, but now…" Leonard sighed and shook his head, " I don't know. He could probably manage a small knife or something similar, but it would be carrying it he'd need a belt of some kind. I might be able to make him one out of one of these deer hides," Leonard suggested. "Of course there is the chance he'd lose both knife and belt."

Leo chuckled at the weary expression that passed on the cougar's face. "You don't seem as irritated by Don as Michael does."

"Understand, when we were expected to do certain missions it was necessary to listen up, and heed the command leader's orders. Acting quickly on them." Leonard began to explain, "We were first taught to obey the orders of superior officers, then we were put together on certain missions with each of us given a chance to lead."

Leo listened carefully, "So, Michael was more or less selected as your leader?"

Leonard nodded, "Yes he was. He was the best leader, the best to command and the one who could insure we followed through quickly. It is instinctive."

"Like when he went after Don? It was because Don didn't obey so he punished him and forced him to stay."

Leonard shook his head, "The chain of command must be obeyed and if you don't you bring punishment on yourself. We had electric shock collars, that the officers would use to punish us when we did not obey."

Leo sighed, as he expected Michael had learned it, and it had been enforced through the military base that the felines had come from. It was going take a lot of work to get them to a point where they would, or could be a team.

"I have a feeling I have my work cut out for me." He said, "Let me help you with those deer, I would like to see about doing some sparring with you and the others later."

Leonard's brow furrowed deeply and he grimaced a little, whiskers twitching uncertainly, "What is sparring?"

Leo blinked in surprise, "Sparring is a practice fight, you don't really mean to hurt your opponents but it helps hone your skills. You must have done some sparring back at the base," he explained simply.

Leonard gave a small grin, "Ah, I think I understand but we were trained by holographic techniques and by robot instructors, you see we were encouraged to kill our instructors. Killing was important it is what we were trained for, it was our whole up bringing." Leonard paused, "I don't know if we can fight without meaning to hurt our opponent."

Leo took a deep breath at this information, "Well that might make things more challenging for us. But it would be good for us to see where you are at Leonard, and it wouldn't be so bad how to teach you to hold back a little."

XXX

It was after breakfast and the four turtles and felines gathered in the field outside the barn. Don paid little attention to the others he was too busy chasing little bugs, or his own tail to bother with what the others were saying or doing.

"My brothers and I are going show you what sparring is first, then I would like to see you guys join us in a sparring match." Leo informed them, "Leonard has already informed me that you four-well, mostly three, as I doubt Don will fight much," Leo corrected as he spared a glance to the cheetah, " Were trained with no knowledge, or understanding of what sparring is, that all your training is towards killing."

Raph cut in, "Hold on there bro, Leo ya telling' me that these guys might be tryin at kill us when we fight them?"

"It is quite possible, Raph" Leo said with a nod, "And we will have to be ready for it."

Rayel smirked and chuckled, her tail moving with contentment. "Now this ought to be fun." She practically purred.

Raph grinned, "Bring it on!" he crowed triumphantly. He relished the idea of being pushed and he was quite sure that he- with all of his years of training - was quite up to the challenge of fighting, and besting the cats. Raph knew that Rayel was quick tempered and fast to strike, Michael would bear a lot of weight and muscle but it still ought to be an interesting work out.

The four turtle boys did a quick demonstration of sparring, they moved quickly dodging blows and attacking one another, leaping or blocking strikes from the others.

Michael smirked, by seeing this demonstration he could see some of the strengths and weaknesses of the four chelonians. Whereas, they would reveal nothing to the turtles before hand.

Leonard saw the smile on the tiger's face, "Remember it is for play, Michael they don't want us to kill them."

Michael rumbled softly, "Then they must fight to live."

Leonard growled at that reply, " They want to help us, and we could use some help. Keep that in mind Michael."

Michael shot a scathing look towards Leonard. His tail twitched sharply, and gave a low grunting coughing sound. "As you wish Leonard, but the turtles must fight well if they expect me to let them walk away."

Leonard grunted uneasily, and hung his head. He hoped the turtles were able to handle two large felines who would be pressing them to their limit. 'I hope Michael doesn't kill them.'

TBC