Here is the next chapter I don't own the characters from 2003's "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" Fast Forward Season nor those from "Moo Mesa."

Please read and enjoy rather than suing.

The blonde's bull's head spun from side to side as his eyes narrowed. "Where's Cowlorado?"

A white and black head poked itself out from behind an overturned table. "Here I am Moo!"

Leo and Mikey's eyes widened. Both recognized "Cowlarado" as one of those Mikey had slid off the banister into. The thin cow wore a large, toothy grin as he straightened up smoothly from behind the table and brushed himself off like he hadn't a care in the world. Then he looked around and gave a long, low whistle. "Wooooeeee! What a mess Moo! Do you think Dakota did it?"

Leo, Raph, and Mikey's mouths dropped open. Then a blue bull near the swinging door's asked in the deepest voice Leo had heard there yet "What'd you say?" This newcomer with a badge on his jacket and small beard growing off his chin glared at the shorter bull behind the table.

Cowlarado's form stiffened. His grinning teeth grit themselves into a grimace as his eyes shifted to meet "Dakota's" glare. He chuckled breathlessly. Leo looked back to Raph "Reminds me of you and Mikey."

Raph grinned unashamedly at the very large bull with bulging muscles snorting in the still grimacing in the slighter bull's direction. "Yeah."

Leo then turned and approached the blonde bull. The leader decided to talk to these guys while they seemed chatty. He stopped a few steps in front of this "Moo." Strange name, but he wasn't going to say anything about that. He jabbed a thumb toward himself. "I'm Leo." He then gestured with his thumb to Raph behind him and then Mikey. "These are two of my brothers: Raph and Mikey."

Leo let his hand drop back to his side. In the periphery of his vision, he saw his sensei still slumped in the chair he'd put him in. Outwardly, he remained still. Inwardly, he shook his head at himself. He wouldn't draw attention to Splinter yet. His sensei was still too vulnerable and their situation too uncertain.

Leo tried to keep his muscles from tensing in worry as he thought about it. He needed his face and form relaxed and his voice smooth. Since the real enemy had left them with these "drones," said drones hadn't seemed inclined to attack like the little elves earlier. So, Leo looked up and met the blonde-haired bull's gaze nice and easy. "We're just visiting until we can head back home. We don't mean to cause any trouble here."

The butter-colored bull with a badge raised an eyebrow. Then he put his human-like hands on humanoid hips but let a short snort out of his cow-nostrils. "Then how'd this mess around us get made? I doubt a twister came in for a cold Sarsaparilla."

Leo gave a small smile, but it fell away as he heard Raph shout from behind his shell. "Dude, everyone else attacked us!"

Leo's head turned to glare at Raph over his shoulder. The hothead raised his hands off his hips and toward the ceiling. "What? It's the truth Fearless!"

The blue bull raised an eyebrow from behind the blonde bull he'd walked up to stand just a little behind and to the right side of. "Fearless?"

The cat lady behind the bar put a hand to the band of her flower hat. Her half-closed eyes stared straight ahead as she half-murmured half-purred almost to herself. "I don't remember any of that. But then, I don't remember who to charge all this to at all? These masked turtles showed up, as if out of nowhere, and then it all goes fuzzy …"

Several voices of other animal-like bar patrons began murmuring their concurrence with her. The blonde bull's eyes widened. He lifted a finger to his wide cow lips as they pursed, and his brow furrowed. "Well then, this could be one hard case to solve …"

Leo looked up into the bull's still scrunched up face. "I don't think anyone already here was in their right minds for a while. Maybe they were …" He raised a green, three-fingered hand and reached for a reason these computer programmed folk might buy that wouldn't … exactly be a lie. He'd have to talk to Donnie about it later. He hoped he'd get to talk to Donnie about it later. "Hypnotized?"

Cowlarado gave a shout from his side of the room while slapping a hand over his face. "Oh, Moo! It's that bad circus act all over again the one with the crystal! I thought we put them all away!"

Leo began shaking his head. "Maybe not. I didn't say we saw a crystal or circus, but it might be a … similar situation."

Moo looked up to the ceiling face still wrinkled in thought. "Maybe …" The Marshall looked back down at Leo with half-closed eyes and pointed a finger at the turtle's plastron. "Where did you strangers say you were from again?"

Leo kept his form still and loose. His voice was soft and monotone as he replied. "Far away."

"But what part of Moo Mesa: Jersey City, Minnesota Flats, Bootlick?"

Raph's eye ridges and voice rose. "Moo Mesa and Bootlick are you guys for real?"

Leo turned his head. He met Raph's gaze with a glare. "I guess so, Raph." Leo looked back to the Marshall his eyes widened and muscles loosening again. "Look, I'm afraid we've never seen any of those places."

Leo's attention snapped away as he noticed the humanoid vulture in the top hat had his cool eye focused on him again while standing near the door. The Blonde Bull glanced back over his shoulder, probably to see what Leo was looking at, before meeting the turtle leader's gaze again with a grin. "Don't mind him. I'll keep Boothill from bothering ya."

Leo heard Raph's voice rise. "Boothill? Are you serious?"

Moo nodded. "Definitely."

Leo turned to watch his brothers again. Mikey now had both hands smashed into his mouth while his cheeks were puffed out and turning red beneath his green scales. Raph was grinning bare faced. Leo glared at them. Then he heard the swinging doors squeak and slap shut. He turned to look at them. The vulture was gone.

Leo looked back to the badged bull. "Like I was saying … We were kinda brought here against our will. My brothers and I don't even know exactly 'how' we got here."

It was the truth … in present company. If "Donnie" were with them, he might be able to explain exactly how the computer had placed them here. Without him, all of them just knew the basics: Holographic dojo, Cody's programming for their benefit, and a mysterious enemy who had taken over the system to extort passwords from Cody.

The wrinkles melted away from the blonde bull's face as his hand fell back to his side. "I'm mighty sorry to hear that stranger." He then held his hand out. Leo glanced at it briefly before his gaze flicked back to see a smiling bovine face. "My name's Moo Montana. I'm a Marshall on Moo Mesa. What would you like me and my deputies to call you?"

Leo reached out and took Moo's hand trying to meet it grip for grip. Moo's hold was mighty firm, promising strength. He squeezed a bit, but not nearly enough to be painful. The turtle nodded up at the cowboy doing the same. "My father named me Hamato Leonardo … but my brothers and friends call me Leo."

The cow pulled his hand back still smiling. "Oh. Go by your family's name shortened, do ya? Must be a good name then. What about your brothers though? Doesn't it get confusin?"

Leo waved a hand. "No, it's ..." He let the three-fingered hand fall back to his side and shook his head. "Never mind." He better change the subject and gather some more information while he could. "So, is this your town? How long have you all been here?" He turned his head slightly to keep his brothers and father in sight.

He still saw the Marshall shake his head. "Oh, it's not my town exactly. My deputies and I are just passing through after taking an escaped outlaw back to federal prison. We woulda taken the train back to Cowtown from there, but no sooner did we drop off the one we caught we heard another criminal escaped. So, we tracked that one through Niagra Desert to here. This here is Cowloon north of Strawberry Short-Cut."

Leo heard a raspberry behind him. He turned his head and frowned. Mikey had both hands plastered over his mouth, but his cheeks were puffing out. The eyes behind the orange mask were crinkled almost shut, yet still shone.

Marshall Moo had turned his head to look at Leo's brother, but then turned slightly wider eyes with raised brows back to Leo. "Is your brother in the orange bandana alright?"

Leo nearly grit his teeth as he replied. "He's fine."

Raph leaned nearer Mikey while raising a hand toward the back of the orange ninja's head. "Let me help him get even better."

Dakota's deep voice asked, "Why do you three wear masks?" He turned a hard as flint stare on Leo's brothers.

Leo froze. Raph straightened arm frozen in the air. As the hothead stared back at Leo the weight of his gaze was like lead. The hand not in the air went to grip the handle of his sai. Leo shook his head before meeting the stare of the blue bull. "We've worn them since we were kids. They identify us from one another since we resemble each other so much."

Moo Montana tilted his head and stared at Leo in silence. The ninja felt a weight settle in the air between them too. His muscles tightened.

The blue bull crossed his arms and raised another eyebrow. "Huh, seems mighty strange."

Mikey broke in with a grin. "They also identify us as ninja!"

Montana turned his stare on Mikey and scratched his head under his hat. "What are ninja?"

Leo grit his teeth. How to explain without seeming more suspicious? A creak from the saloon's doors turned his head. The Marshall turned his own body sideways to look. Then his form stiffened.

Leo's eyes widened. A figure stood in front of the doors now slamming back into place. The form was tall, straight, with long, branching horns coming out of a black draping cloth covering the figure's face and even falling further over the top part of its chest. It wore a hat atop the dramatic mask. A low, smooth, deep voice emanated from behind the cloth. "Evening folks."

Moo snorted beside Leonardo. The Cowboy's voice sounded tighter than Leo had heard it before. "Masked Bull."

Leo's muscles tightened. This time, he let them. He took a step forward putting himself directly in front of the newcomer, though several strides still separated them. He bent his legs and shifted his weight. He raised his eye-ridges as the "Masked Bull's" gaze shifted to meet his. "I came with a special offer for the newcomers. Join us in getting rid of these lawcows for good," The eyes in the mask swept over Cowlardao and Dakota, who were also standing tighter-muscled while staring back too, before settling hard on Marshall Montana who was outright glaring and snorting, "and we'll make it worth your while in gold."

Leo raised his eye-ridges further, but kept his gaze locked on the eyes he could see through the holes in the mask. The only part of the face he could see. "And if we don't?"

Those eyes in the mask narrowed. "Then we'll treat you the same way we're about to treat them."

What do you think?

God bless

ScribeofHeroes