Chapter 10:

All things considered, it had been a good week. Except for when Splinter asked me to grab him a cheesicle and I discovered what Mikey meant when he referred to Ice Cream Kitty. My shrieks caused everyone to run to my rescue and then laugh at me when they saw me and the frozen cat screaming at each other.

Otherwise, I'd been kicking back and relaxing, almost like a normal kid. I wasn't going to think too much about the life I led which caused me to consider this normal. I probably would have been playing video games with Mikey if he hadn't been grounded all week.

As it was, I had discovered a complete collection of Super Mecha Robo Force Five tapes. It was the worst, most badly-dubbed anime ever and I couldn't get enough of it, binge watching it in marathon runs.

The only thing more fascinating to watch was the turtles' training sessions. Everyone seemed a little annoyed the first time Mikey invited me to come observe, but my sheer, undisguised awe at seeing a bunch of humanoid turtles fighting like they were freaking Jet Li eventually won them over. I was even acquiring a taste for Mikey's cooking. Well some of it anyway.

Aside from the daily samples I provided Donnie to work on concurrently with the retro-mutagen, I really was enjoying myself. I was kind of disappointed when Donnie declared the retro-mutagen ready.

Now I was standing here outside of the splash guard Donnie put up after reinforcing Kade's cage with a tranquilizer jab stick full of retro-mutagen. Although reluctant to stab Kade, I really was the only one who can safely do it in case he spewed again.

I stuck him with the needle end and was flung back by his violent thrashing. For a moment it felt like I was flying before I collided with the brick wall behind me, causing star bursts of light in front of my eyes and shooting pain from the back of my skull down my spine.

"Oww."

My vision cleared in time to see a screaming Kade-bird contort and twist back into a human form. Well, I couldn't unsee that. Why couldn't I have just been knocked out for a few minutes? He groaned on the floor and I staggered over to him, head pounding.

"Ugh." I couldn't unsee that either.

"Dude, why isn't he wearing any clothes?"

Donnie sighed. "Mikey, they were probably destroyed in his first transformation."

"Oh."

"Maybe you should get him a towel or something."

"On it."

Kade looked up at me blearily. "Eli?"

"Welcome back."

I was lounging in the passenger seat, while Kade drove us back to headquarters, thinking about my goodbyes with the turtles. I was really going to miss them. Well, maybe not as much as Mikey would miss me. I was pretty bruised up from his goodbye hug.

They might not believe me, but this is not the weirdest thing that had ever happened to me. The least forgettable maybe, but not the weirdest. I hoped I'd see them again someday.

I glanced over at Kade and sensing my eyes on him, he glared back at me. "Just remember. We didn't find the chemical and we will never speak of this again. Ever!"

I just smiled. "Whatever you say boss."

Note: In case anyone is interested. The name of the para-intelligence organization that Eli and Kade work for, ORION (OmniResource Intelligence Operations and Networking) is an homage to the Archer animated series, where similar organizations are named ISIS (International Secret Intelligence Service) and ODIN (Organization of Democratic Intelligence Networks). When the opportunity arose, I couldn't help myself.