A/N: Many apologies for my lame chapter name. My BFF (Silverwinged Griffin) hit the 'Submit' button before I could object. But I honestly couldn't come up with another one, so oh well. In case you were wondering, my story is set in the new cartoon series. Hope you like this chapter!

Chapter 5

Ape-like wolf-beast.

April grimaced as she wiped flecks of scrambled eggs off her tank top. She, Akasha and the turtles were in the kitchen, cooking breakfast. Mikey was attempting - and failing - to fry eggs, with much flailing of limbs and airborn pieces of egg. Leo and Don were setting the table. Raph was still in bed, and Akasha was helping her aunt wash up the dishes from the night before. Akasha had pursuaded April to let her stay for a little while longer, although she made Akasha phone her mother and let her know. Akasha had put up a fight, but in the end she gave in and left a message on her mother's answering machine.

"Is Raph up yet?" Akasha asked, dodging a chunk of egg from Mike.

"No," April said. The egg hit her on the shoulder, leaving a greasy mark.

"Sorry, April!" Mikey apologized. Akasha snickered.

"Do you want me to do that?" she asked, pointing to the yellow mass in the frying pan.

"I can do it!" Mike protested stubbornly. "I just need to practice!"

"I doubt you'll ever be able to fry eggs, Mikey," Leo joked as he placed a plate on the table. "No matter how much you practice." Mike chucked a lump of egg at his older brother, who easily jumped aside. It smacked Don on the back of the head.

"Hey!" he said. "Would you be careful, please?"

"I was aiming for Leo," Mikey grumbled, turning back to the stove. April went over to Don.

"You okay?" she asked him.

"Yeah, fine," Don muttered, staring pointedly at the floor.

Akasha and Mikey traded meaningful glances.

"What's all the noise?" Raph walked in, yawning loudly.

"Mikey's making breakfast again," Akasha informed the red-banded turtle. He looked slightly disgusted at this news.

"Oh, great, I just fancy scrambled eggs," he said sarcastically.

"Fryed eggs," Mikey corrected.

"Yeah, whatever." Raph sat at the table, straightening his bandana. "Are ya goin' home today?" he asked Akasha.

"No," she said, sounding relieved. "April's letting me stay longer. How 'bout you?"

"We should go see Splinter," Raph shrugged. "He doesn' know we're here yet. Ya should come with us, an' meet him."

"Maybe," Akasha said absently, drying the inside of a saucepan with a deft stroke of her cloth. "When are you going?"

"After breakfast, I think," Raph replied. "Why?"

"Just wondering." Akasha sniffed the air. "Do I smell smoke?"

She was answered by a yelp from Mikey. The frying pan had burst into flames.
"Turn it OFF!" April yelled. Mikey fumbled with the dials on the stove. He managed to turn them down. The fire died instantly.

"Phew," Mikey puffed, wiping his forehead. "Do you wanna order takeout or somthing? Unless you'd rather eat this." He presented them with the blackened interior of the frying pan.

"Chinese sounds good," Akasha said hurriedly. "I'll order, shall I?"

The turtles and Akasha made their way along in the sewers, skirting heaps of garbage. Akasha wrinkled her nose at the foul stench.

"How do you guys live down here?" she asked. "Don't you lose your sense of smell or something?" Mikey grinned.

"You get used to it," he told her.

"Come on!" Leo called from ahead of them. "Sensei will be worried if we don't get there soon."

"We're comin', Leo," Raph said. They reached a large steel door. It filled the whole end of the tunnel from floor to ceiling. Don walked forward. A small panel opened revealing a tiny keyboard. Don punched in a combination. The door grated and opened. Akasha gasped.

The lair was large and circular, a metal staircase led to a balcony that wrapped all the way around it. Along it, several door stood. She guessed they were the bedrooms.

A living area was to one side, complete with a multi-screened television set. A black-haired man sat there, the battered remote in his hand. He looked extremely bored, and flicked channels rapidly. At the sound of the door opening, he turned around in surprise. A look of glee crossed his face.

"Guys!" he called happily. "Watcha bin' doin'? An' who's the chick?" he gestured to Akasha.

"This is Akasha," Leo told the man. "Akasha, this is Casey Jones, one of our friends." Akasha nodded to him.

"Where's Splinter?" Don asked Casey. Casey pointed to a set of double doors at the other end of the lair.

"Meditatin', or sumthin'. Don't ask me, he just told me not ta' touch nothin'." He shrugged.

The turtles headed for the room.

"You'd better stay here, Akasha," Raph warned her. "He might not be to happy with us at the moment." Akasha watched as the traipsed through the doors. A gleam of light caught her eye. It was a glass paperweight. She walked over to it.

It sat on a bookshelf, on top of a pile of ancient parchment diagrams. Her eyes strayed to the books on the shelf. She ran her finger along the old cracked spines, tracing the words embossed in gold, faded with age. She loved old books. She slid a particularly interesting-looking volume off the shelf and let it fall open. She held it close to her face, closed her eyes, and breathed in its slightly musty scent.

"Whatcha doin'?" Casey had come up behind her. Akasha jumped violently and snapped the book shut, embarrassed at being caught in such a strange position.

"Nothing," she said quickly, her cheeks turning red. "I was just looking at some books." She scanned the front cover for the first time. It was in Japanese, she thought. She did not know any Japanese. Perhaps the turtles did?

"You are Akasha, I presume?" She spun around. An aged rat stood before her, a walking stick grasped in one clawed hand. He cocked his head, fixing her with a beady black stare.

"Yeah, that's me," Akasha shrugged. The turtles stood behind their sensei. They looked slightly ashamed for some reason.

"My sons tell me that you are Miss O'neil's neice. She had not told us she had one." He said it as if he was merely stating a simple fact, but Akasha recognized him to be requesting answeres. She sighed.

"My mom isn't a person that April wanted to mention," she said. "She is, um, a bit …strange, I guess, to those who don't know her. She's a scientist, actually. Not many people get along with her." Splinter nodded.

"Yes, scientists usually get, er, caught up in their work. I have experienced this in Donatello." He motioned to the purple-clad turtle to his right. Don looked a little embarrassed.

"Yeah, Donny sure is a tech freak," Raph agreed.

"My mom's more into mutating animals and humans into monsters," Akasha said gloomily. Splinter looked at her sorrowfully.

"I see," he said quietly.

He seemed to notice the book she was holding.

"You like books?" he asked her. She nodded enthusiastically.

"Yep, I love books." She stroked the book's cover. "What does this say, anyway?" She showed Splinter the volume she held.

"It is an old book I used to read to my sons," Splinter told her. "It was one of their favorites. Japanese legands, I believe."

Casey laughed loudly at something on TV. Splinter shook his head.

"Will you join us for dinner, Miss-?"

"Andrews," Akasha said. "Akasha Andrews. My mother took on my fathers' name. She didn't keep 'O'neil'."

"Miss Andrews, then. Would you stay? We are having pizza, I believe. My sons insisted."

"Pizza, huh? Sure. I like pizza, just no anchovies."

"Here, here!" Mikey called.

"I'll call April, shall I?" Don asked quickly. "She could come down too."

Mikey tipped Akasha a huge wink.

"What?" Don asked in confusion.

"Nothing, nothing. You go and call April," Mikey smirked, shoving Don towards the phone on the table next to the TV set.

"He is so totally obvious! " Mikey said pityingly, watching his brother eagerly type in April's phone number.

"Leave him be, Mike," Akasha told the orange-banded turtle sternly. "Are you gonna order the pizza?"

Mikey pulled out a small shell-shaped cell phone from his belt and began to dial the pizza delivery number. Akasha followed the other turtles towards a long wooden table in yet another part of the lair. She sat down next to Raph.

"Case, ya comin'?" he called to the black-haired man.

"Yeah, be right there," was the careless reply.

April soon arrived, the pizza soon afterwards. Casey slouched over form the TV set and began to wolf down pizza. April and Splinter were the only ones with any manners, Akasha noted.

"So, my sons, will you be staying here tonight?" Splinter asked after the turtles' fifth course. "Or has Miss O'neil been hospitable enough to let you stay at her apartment?"

Leo swallowed the last of his pizza before answering.

"I think we were going to stay at April's," he said. "If it's okay?" he turned to April questioningly. She shrugged.

"You can stay if you want," she drained her glass of fruit punch. "It would give Akasha something to do. She's not prepared to go home yet, I don't think."

Akasha shook her head vigorously.

"We can stay at April's place then, right?" Mikey asked his sensei, grinning evilly at Don. Akasha kicked his shins under the table.

"Ow! Whaaaat?" he whined.

"Behave yourself Michelangelo," Splinter told his youngest son.

"We'd better get some've our things, then," Raph said, chewing on a crust. "Mikey'll prob'ly wanna get some comics an' stuff."

"Nah, I can read Akasha's," Mike replied. Akasha glared at him. "If she'll let me," he added quickly.

"Come on, guys," Leo got to his feet and began to pile plates together to take to the kitchen. "It's getting late."

They cleared the table and washed and dryed the dishes. Then the turtles said goodbye to their sensei and left. Casey decided to accompany them.

The seven of them were soon topside, sneaking along towards April's apartment.

"Ugh, what's that smell?" Akasha hissed.

"We're not in the sewers any more, Ash," Mikey reminded her.

"I know that! But that smell. Is reminds me of something… I can't remember…"

"Come on, we're almost there!" Leo skirted a garbage can and headed for the side door.

"Wait!" Akasha sniffed the air. "Something doesn't feel right." She heard a noise behind her. She whirled around.

And screamed.

The creature that stood before her stepped forward into the light of a nearby street lamp. The light illuminated a hulking figure. It greatly resembled a wolf, mangy fur covering most of its body, but it was much bigger, and stood on its back feet, and leaned on its knuckles, like an ape. It snarled, flecks of foam sprayed the turtles and their companions.

The turtles drew their weapons. Don pushed April behind him.

The monster roared and lunged forward, slicing at them with its long yellowish claws. Raph dodged and jumped onto the wolf's back, punching it on the back of the neck. It had no effect; a heavy iron plate was securely fastened there with a thick chain around the beasts' neck.

"Help me with this!" he yelled to Leo. His brother jumped up beside him and sliced the chain with his katana. The wolf-mutant roared and rolled over on the ground, dislodging the turtles. It righted itself with a grunt, eyes searching for a target.

"Run!" Leo shouted at April and Akasha. "Get inside the b-" He was cut off as the beast's tail, armed with a long, sharp spike, soared out of nowhere and knocked him off his feet.

Casey struck the monster's side with his baseball bat. There was a splintering crash and the bat broke clean in two. Casey's eyes widened.

"Casey, look OUT!" Raph pushed his friend out of the way as the mutant lashed out with its front paw. It missed them by inches.

Don and Mike were struggling to tackle the thing's tail, with limited success. April tried to sidle around the creature to help them, but it saw her and snatched her up in its huge paw.

"APRIL!" Don screamed. He lept up onto the beasts arm and struck it, hard, on its elbow with his bo staff. It shrieked in agony as its elbow cracked with a dull crunch. It dropped April and retreated, howling in pain.

"Are you okay?" Akasha asked as she began to help her aunt to stand.

"Don?" she asked dazedly. "Where's Don?"

"I'm here," he ran up to April and knelt beside her. "You okay?"

"Yeah… What's happening?" she shook her head to clear it.

"We got rid of it. What was that thing?"

"Um, I've got an idea," Akasha said quietly. "I think it was one of my mom's experiments."

"What was it doing on the streets?" April seemed to be recovering. "She usually keeps them in her lab."

"Your mom creats these things!" Don looked horrified.

"I don't agree with her," Akasha said defensively.

"I imagined them a little smaller," Don said, shuddering.

The other turtles came over to them, sheathing their weapons.

"Nice one, Don!" Raph gave his brother an enthusiastic high-three. "I didn't think ya had it in ya."

"Lets go," Leo said, starting towards the door to the apartment building. "It might come back."

The others caught up to him. April and Don lagged behind.

Akasha heard April mutter, "Thank you, Don," so that no one else could hear.

"Don't mention it," he said.

Akasha hurried to catch up with the others, leaving them in private.

A/N: Well? What are you waiting for! Review! (please)