Well, here it is. I'm not sure how long it's gonna be, but I'll add another chapter if I have to. Rated PG-13 for language, suggestive dialogue, and blood (Marcel's impenetrable skin isn't so impenetrable). There are movie quotes and references in this. You guys probably won't figure it out unless I tell you. This will have a somewhat tragic ending.

Forgive me of any confusion I might cause you.

I'm cleaning myself, Michelangelo's watching Crognard, my Noivern's sleeping, Raphael's using the punch dummy, and Donatello is probably in his lab. After the turtles finally got ungrounded after the whole Muckman thing, I went back to having a laid back, carefree lifestyle.

Speaking of which, the last time I saw Kirā, he acted like he was plotting something. He acted very persuasive. More persuasive than me, I'll admit. Something about the "Canidae" Project. How a Mightyena's bark can be worse than its bite. And a Mightyena bites hard. If the bite is worse, prepare for a curse, if the teeth are bared, then humans beware.

Kirā explained to me that there's been a decline in the Mightyena population due to mutants. I refused to believe it, but he talked me into it. I discussed it with the turtles, they couldn't believe it, either. Leonardo vowed that they'd get to the bottom of this.

Somewhere in his territory, he's kept a computer where he listed all of the Mightyena that have been murdered in New York City this past week. No matter how much they breed, the population of Mightyena keep declining. I spoke to Kirā about this yesterday. Here's what he said;

"Let me guess. This latest victim was also a male, just like the others." I asked him the other day. "Smartass. How the hell did you know that?" Kirā asked, a bit surprised.

"It's a guess, but an educated one." I said.

"Anyway, this time it was a tight-assed Mightyena that's taken out his last cat." He said. "His throat looks exactly though someone tried to rip it out, but it was still there." He explained.

"Was he castrated?" I asked, knowing the question was a bit unnecessary.

"Clayton did have his jewels intact, but, he couldn't get up anymore." Clayton was the name of the Mightyena that, evidently, recently died. Male, shiny, level thirty-five. I had a sneaking suspicion about this whole Canidae Project.

I had a nightmare last night that somebody was using dead bodies of various Pokémon as if they were some kinds of marionettes. It scared the hell out of me. Luckily, Leonardo and his brothers helped me to get over it.

Enough about this for now. I'm starting to get nauseous just talking about it.

"Hey guys, ever notice how the cartoons are kind of just like our missions?" Michelangelo asks, snapping me out of my thoughts. "A little bit. Not all of them, but I get your point." I reply. "Speaking of missions, I know what our next one should be. Kirā," he answers.

I blow out a breath, twiddling my fingers. "Why don't we take him down once and for all?" Raphael asks. I flinch when the punch dummy flies across the room. "I don't know. I still feel suspicious about the whole Canidae Project." I mutter under my breath. "Because of that impulsive, over-emotional state right there," Leonardo answers with a grin. "Who are you calling impulsive and over-emotional?" Raphael screams, his eyes white. Angered myself, I stand up to get in his face. "You, that's who!" I scream back. Raphael just stands there and growls at me. I half expected him to punch me or something. But he just stands there. Weird.

I let my breath out. I didn't even realize I was holding my breath. "Sorry. My mind's still all discombobulated about Kirā's Canidae Project. I didn't mean that." I say to him, putting my paw on his shoulder. He closes his eyes and puts his hand on top of mine. "I'm sorry, too," he mutters.

We both sit back down. "Mutants? Killing Pokémon?" I ask no one in particular. "I know. What kinds of mutants?" Leonardo asks. "Kirā didn't say. This project is confusing as hell. My head hurts just thinking about it. I can't think of any mutants who would kill innocent Pokémon."

"I don't really think innocent is the word for it," Raphael says. "Mightyena can be vicious when threatened, but otherwise, they're docile." I explain to him. "Canidae. Where have I heard that word before?"

A loud bang scares me out of my fur and wakes Noivern up. Donatello walks out of his lab. "Whoa. Did Raphael blow a gasket?" He asks. Raphael growls, I manage to hold back a laugh. I turn to see Leatherhead and Pātonā just showed up. And he looks terrible!

"Turtles, Marcel," he says. We run up to him. "Sweet mother of mutation, Leatherhead, what happened to you?" I ask him with worry laced in my voice. "I bring dire news. Slash and Rockwell have been captured by Kirā." He explains.

"Kirā?" I ask him. "But he said he was busy trying to crack the case of the Canidae Project. He's been was working day and night to try to keep the Mightyena population under control. What does Kirā want with them?"

"I wish I knew," Pātonā says. "Of course, the smartass didn't say. Oh, and about the Canidae Project, Marcel, I have a message from Kirā to you."

We all look at each other. "Okay. Spill it." I say. "Do any of you know the meaning of the word Canidae?" He asks. "I've heard the word before." I start. "But I'm not completely sure what it means."

"Canidae? That's the genus of animals like wolves, foxes and other animals related to dogs." Donatello explains. "Oh. That makes total sense. It has the word 'canine' in it. Why didn't I figure this out before?" I ask myself.

"So it's a scientific name for all the family divisions, "dogs" as they're usually called. Is that accurate?" I ask Pātonā. "According to Kirā, yes. He also said that evolution has created an astounding number of various creatures. Not one however deserves the respected wonder the genus Canidae has earned."

He takes out a piece of paper with a list of all of the murdered Mightyena this past week.

"Wow! What did he combine on this list." I say in astonishment. "Those who live in the city, name, age, gender, marking. It's all on here. At least, that's what Kirā said. It's still all a bunch of nonsense to me."

"Incredible!" I exclaim.

"Yes it is. Even better if it can help us solve a murder. Which it probably could." Pātonā adds. "Did you know it? All of the dead brothers?" I ask him. "No, but Kirā does. He claims that the two were on the prowl after some female in heat." Pātonā explains.

"There is nothing about this I understand." Raphael says. "I'm with ya on that one." Donatello agrees, scratching his head. "I... I have an idea. Find out if they were shinies or not. That may lead us to a new tie-up." I tell Pātonā. "Simple enough." He points to something on the list. I walk next to him, looking at the list.

"Well, according to Kirā's records, none of them were particularly aristocratic examples of Canidae." Pātonā says. "But both the same, so they weren't just excited and male. They were both shinies." I say.

"Um, I hate to interrupt your little meeting, but can we talk about this later?" Leonardo asks. Oh, right. "Yes, we can. I apologize." Pātonā says.

"Okay, back to this topic, if Slash and Rockwell were captured, then what happened to Pigeon Pete?" I ask. As if on cue, I hear laughing. Pigeon Pete files in. "Wow, now this is a secret lair," he says, looking around the lair in awe. Pātonā rolls his eyes. "Anyone but Pigeon Pete," Raphael says. I lightly backhand him on the arm. "A tire swing! Is that a real Space Heroes machine?" Pete comments. I shake my head, laughing. I love this guy.

"The only thing this place needs is some bread," he says. "We got something better than bread. Pizza crusts, brah," Michelangelo says, holding out pizza crusts. Pigeon Pete immediately loves it. "Where've you been all my life?" Pigeon Pete asks.

"Why couldn't Kirā take him instead?" Raphael complains. "What's wrong with him? I think he's fun," my Noivern says, wagging his tail. "Hey, I'm not crazy about Slash, but—" I cut Leonardo off. "Maybe you're not, but I am." Leonardo gives me a look.

"Listen, he's proven to us that he's changed since the, um, incident. He only tried to kill us one time. You two might not be very good friends, but Slash trusts me." I explain to him. My opinion might not matter, but I had a few words to say.

"Well, okay, for you." Leonardo says with a chuckle. "The Mutanimals are our friends, and we must rescue them," I tell everyone.

"We're standing on a rooftop near a lair of some sort. It had a group of Mightyena. Some male, some female, some shinies, some weren't. The odd one out had pink and red fur and a robe like the one that kings wear. It was a light gray and white.

"That must be the leader." I say, pointing to whom I thought was the leader. "I can see Slash and Rockwell," Noivern says.

"That bird dragon of yours has better defective skills than I thought." Upon hearing that voice, we start scanning the perimeter. A flapping noise, and a medium sized tuxedo cat lands at the same time. "You!" Raphael says, rolling up an imaginary sleeve. I put up a paw to stop him. "I'll handle this." I tell him.

I calmly walk up to Kirā. "Did you receive the message that Pātonā was supposed to give you?" He asks. "Yes, he did. Here's the list back." I answer, handing him the list. He takes it politely. "I have a question for you. Leatherhead here comes in saying that you captured Slash and Rockwell. Is that true?" I ask him with a slight edge in my voice.

"I did witness it, but I had nothing to do with it. I was simply accused of something that I didn't do." Kirā says. I narrow my eyes at him and slowly turn away. "You don't believe him, do you?" Leonardo asks, whispering in my ear. "No, I don't. Leatherhead doesn't make things up."

Several howling noises caught our attention. I turn to see Slash and Rockwell running from a small group of Mightyena. We jump down and take them out quickly. Easily, I should say. Too easily. Something's strange is going on here, and I intend to figure out what.

Okay, I'm stopping here for now. How am I doing? Did anyone notice the movie references and quotes? If you did, let me know!

I'm having a hard time giving this story a genre. It's like Mystery, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, and Mystery merged into one. I'm probably better off not giving this a genre at all!

Anyway, Part 2 is in progress right now. I split my draft in half. The next chapter is in Kirā's POV. Is he innocent? You'll have to wait and see!