Amber took a deep breath in, then let it out with a blissful sigh as she entered the kitchen.

"Man. I cannot tell you how much I love the smell of fresh pizza in the morning," she commented.

Raph chuckled, "I can't argue with you there."

Just as the black doe was about to sit down, she frowned. Something wasn't right. She glanced around the room. Something was missing, or more rather, someone.

"Uh, where's Mikey," April questioned.

Amber chuckled a relieved sigh.

"Okay, I'm glad it wasn't just me who noticed something wasn't right. I'll be back."

The mutant goat trotted off. Once she reached Mikey's bedroom door, she loudly knocked on the door. No answer. She let out a sigh, then kicked the door open. The orange clad turtle jumped off his bed with a scream, flopping to the floor like a sack of potatoes.

"Amber," he whined, "What gives?"

"Sorry, Mikey. Breakfast is ready and you ain't out yet, so I thought I should see if you were okay," Amber chuckled as she helped him up.

A slight blush rose to his cheeks.

"You were worried about me?"

"Well, duh. Goodness knows Raph ain't gonna worry 'bout ya. Come on!"

Amber dragged him out of his room and led him to the kitchen. Usually, he was drooling at the brilliant scent of the pepperoni and cheese pizzas, whose smell filled the entirety of the lair. Her brown eyes narrowed. There was obviously something wrong with him.

"There he is," Leo announced with a bright smile.

"Now that everyone is here-"

Before Splinter could finish, Mikey grabbed a slice of pizza and shoved it in his mouth. After the first few chews, he frowned. Everyone watched with wide eyes, his pace becoming slower and more concentrated with each passing second. Once he swallowed, his brows creased more.

"What's wrong, Mike-"

Mikey held up a three-fingered hand, silencing his purple clad brother. He grabbed another slice, this time of the cheese. The same thing happened.

"Mikey," Amber questioned, genuine concern in her voice.

"I-I can't… TASTE ANYTHING!!"

Everyone glanced at each other in confusion.

Raph crossed his arms.

"What do ya mean, you can't taste anything?"

"What do you mean, what do I mean," the youngest turtle asked, going into panic mode, "Normally, the pizza tastes so good, there are no words to describe it! But now it tastes like NOTHING!"

Donnie hummed in thought, then raced off to his lab.

"My beautiful pizza," Mikey sobbed, looking at the pizzas on the table as if they were dying.

Amber patted his shell comfortingly with a heavy sigh. Raph rolled his emerald green eyes, getting an elbow in the side from the leader of the group. April glanced around at everyone, not sure how to react. Splinter just stared, eyebrow raised.

Donnie came back with a blindfold, a wooden peg, and a few sealed containers. Before Mikey could say anything, Donnie blindfolded him. He slipped the peg on his nose, then opened one of the containers, exposing a block of badly mouldy cheese. Everyone present turned their noses up at the foul stench. He held it up to his brother's face.

"Can you smell this," Donnie asked.

"Uh, no," Mikey answered, "Why, what is it?"

Donnie hummed.

"Interesting."

He grabbed another container. Just as a white wolf with ash-grey ears walked into the kitchen area, Donnie opened it. At the stomach wrenching scent of old, curdled milk mixed with the mouldy cheese, her blue and green eyes watered. Her skin went as white as the fur covering it. She put her hand over her mouth to stop herself from hurling. Everyone else put their hand over their noses, not liking the smell, but not as affected as her.

"What is that," the wolf managed to ask, exposing her thick German-like accent.

Donnie looked over, his eyes brightening when they landed on - possibly - his best friend.

"Oh, hey, Jazmine! I, uh, forgot you were coming today. Uh, Mikey claims he can't taste or smell anything -"

"If he can't smell that, he can't smell at all."

Almost hurling again, she closed her eyes to regain her composure.

"I'll, um, wait for you. I-in the lab."

With that, the she-wolf disappeared as Mikey gasped.

"I can't smell anything," he shrieked, ripping the blindfold off, "But why can't I taste anything?!"

"Because you need to smell to get the taste of what you're eating, genius," the red clad brother stated.

Mikey's baby blue eyes welled with tears.

"WHY ME," he cried, wrapping his arms around Amber.

Again, Amber patted his shell as she hugged him back.

"There, there, Mikey."

~~

As the day progressed, Mikey slowly accepted the fact that he couldn't smell. With this slow realisation, he refused to eat anything, which was reasonable. Why eat anything if it only tastes like the most tasteless thing of all – cardboard? Amber, himself and Ice-cream Kitty just sat in the goat's room playing the X-Box or in his room reading his comic books.

"Hey, everyone," Casey greeted in his usual, cocky way.

Mikey looked up from the comic he and Amber were reading on the couch.

"Oh, hey, Casey."

"Aw, what's wrong? Feelin' down since you can't smell anything?"

Everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at him. Amber narrowed her eyes.

"How did you know he couldn't smell anything," she questioned.

Casey gulped and chuckled awkwardly.

"I, uh, um…"

Mikey gasped, "You did this to me, didn't you?!"

"Well, I…… no?"

Amber stood up from her place beside Mikey. Glaring at the human body, she handed Mikey the comic. She cracked her knuckles. Casey gulped again, this time audibly to all present.

"Hey, D," she began, "Can I borrow your Staff?"

Donnie smirked, "Yeah, sure."

He threw it over to her, the mutated goat catching it with ease.

"W-whatcha doing with that," Casey asked nervously.

Amber gave a dark chuckle.

"You messed with my Mikey. Now we get to see how hard I have to hit you to bust ya open like a piñata."

At the words 'my Mikey', a deep blush appeared over the turtle's face. Jazmine smirked at him, causing him to blush more.

"C'mon, Ambs, let's talk about this," Casey tried to reason.

Amber tightened her grip on the Bo Staff.

"Well, maybe ya shoulda thought 'bout this before you messed… with… MIKEY!"

Everyone cracked up laughing as Casey screamed like a little girl, Amber chasing him around the lair. For the moment, the human was faster… but for how long was the question.

~~

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