Disclaimer: I do not have any claim to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles compared to Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird as well as those they entrusted to adapt it from comic books to cartoon shows and anything in-between.

[DTF]

The Dynamic Duo of a Turtle and a Fox

[DTF]

Busted

[DTF]

Near the Hudson River, in northwest Chelsea, Manhattan, a large compound was located that served as the New York City headquarters of a centuries old organization of ninja that had embedded itself into organized crime to survive and prosper in the modern era. They were known as the Foot Clan, and under their leader, or jōnin, the Foot as a whole were tasked with fulfilling their master's vision of a new world order.

That was where Alopex came in, for unlike the majority of her clan, she was not Human.

While most of the Foot trained elsewhere, a mutant arctic fox, whose attire consisted of bandages around her waist and a dark cloak, practiced her jabs, uppercuts, and roundhouse kicks among other moves on a punching bag. As her general appearance implied, she was once an ordinary, wild animal in Alaska before scientists in the Foot's employ mutated her into the humanoid form of a pre-teenager to serve as one of her master's many assassins, and given the name Alopex, in homage to her species. The blue warpaint on her white-furred and golden-eyed face was a trait Alopex picked herself in homage of her pre-mutation birthplace.

It was midday on December 31st during Alopex's training, and just as there been slow activity over the past few days, it had been personally stressful for her. Not too long ago, in-between Christmas Day and New Year's Eve, she was assigned by the Shredder, as the Foot jōnin referred to himself in the criminal underworld, to track down a group of four mutant turtles and one mutant rat that the clan had spotted for some time that seemed to be trained in ninjutsu of all things. With the assistance of certain street thugs, Alopex nearly came close to finding their home before the one mutant turtle she encountered had her made and forced to retreat.

It was an embarrassing debacle, especially since the closest excuses for information that Alopex could get was that the turtle who outsmarted her was named Raphael, he associated himself with a Human named Casey, and he views the other turtles as his brothers while the rat is their apparent leader. Nonetheless, Alopex had no intention of being humiliated by any of her foes again the next time she went into battle.

A throat clearing sound caught the mutant arctic fox's attention before she stopped practicing and turned to see her immediate superior in the Foot Clan approach her professionally, yet approvingly, especially when Alopex respectfully bowed to her. Of Japanese descent with black hair, Oroku Karai was clothed in black and grey with a red scarf around her neck that matched the wrappings around her waist, silvery guards on her shoulders, arms, and legs, and her katana blade hung from her waist in its sheath. All in all, Karai fit the image of the Foot's secondary leader after the Shredder, what the Japanese refer to as a chūnin, quite nicely. Her preference for carrying her surname before her given name even in English helped in that regard as well.

"I see you are doing well, Alopex," Karai appraised in light of Alopex's hard training.

Raising her head, Alopex replied, "Yes, Chūnin, but I confess to being impatient. I know none of us should haste Master Shredder's will, yet I am eager for action all the same."

Making a knowing chuckle to herself, Karai stated, "In my experience, eagerness for conflict is never an unusual thing. Still, I came to you specifically, because I expected such restlessness, and thought that you could have something to do before the new year replaces the old. I already talked with my grandfather and he agrees that you should get out on an assignment."

Gaining interest in a possible task, Alopex asked with a slight smile, "What will the both of you have me do then?"

In response to the mutant's inquiry, Karai handed her a photo of a bright green jewel in a display case alongside a noted address on the photo's back.

"From what our informants have gathered," Karai started to say in light of Alopex's curiosity, "several thieves have been hired by an outsider, who seeks the Dresden Diamond in this photo out of interest to its long-term exposure to radiation. Their heist is set to occur tonight during the museum's big New Year's party, but while I can imagine that they will succeed, their escape will provide the perfect opportunity for you to steal the Dresden yourself."

Humming in thought, Alopex glanced from the photo to Karai and said, "About this outside employer, Chūnin, is it who I think it is?"

Seeing where Alopex was coming from, Karai answered, "As far as we know, the outsider is just a typical crime boss of Human nature. Truth be told, with how green the Dresden is, I wouldn't be surprised if it was made of solid mutagen, but we won't know for sure unless we get our hands on it. If it's important to us, we'll keep it and perhaps create more mutants from it. If not, we'll arrange a profitable arrangement with those wealthy and influential that would be interested."

Showing a smirk, Alopex commented, "It's basically a no-lose situation then?"

Reciprocating the look, Karai replied, "Naturally, my good comrade. Still interested?"

[DTF]

As far as undercover assignments went, Detective Kara Lewis of the New York Police Department really had not expected her infiltration in a jewel heist to go as unexpectedly as it did. Having presented herself as an expert thief to her four partners in criminal, Kara was quick to buy a black cat costume to fit in the museum's costume party at night, and as much as she denied her coworkers' questions, Kara really thought the costume, the orange purse with black spots that went with it, and even the painted whiskers on her face complimented her auburn hair quite well.

Fashion concerns aside, Kara was determined to swipe the Dresden Diamond from under the real criminals' noses, get close to the big man behind the operation, and make sure he would find his way behind bars after months of police work. Of course, while that was what she preferred to happen, the apparent hacker of the group in the orange-masked turtle costume, Carl, had made Kara's expectations go south.

Remembering Carl from their one-time meeting, he struck Kara as skilled in computers as he claimed, but hid his nervous side so well that she and the others almost did not see it. He was not used to working with unfamiliar people, people he was not sure he could trust to cover his back, and if Kara had to be honest, she would not blame him if he had last minute jitters.

The Carl she scouted out snarfing party food, however, acted more socially than the Carl from earlier did, yet seemed to have little idea of what was happening around him. Going for a turtle costume with a slight ninja theme instead of a generalized lizard was one thing, but as soon as he was offered the opportunity to show off his technical talents, that Carl turned it down using intelligent-sounding gibberish and instead got through the security lasers in an athletic way that Kara could not believe her eyes.

Even more so, he purposefully triggered the alarms, followed by taking advantage of the gang's hot tempered ringleader, who ironically wore a Zorro costume, to escape with the Dresden in hand.

Having no desire to be outplayed by a novice excuse of a lawman, Kara was able to beat "Carl" to the museum's rooftop, and corned him with her gun in hand, but was once again surprised to see the clown had grabbed her own firearm when she was in the middle of berating him. Whoever the guy in front of her was, Kara was starting to doubt he was stupid as his costume looked. And as crazy as it sounded, Kara was even more unsure if it was really a costume, given the way "Carl's" facial expressions went.

"Well, well," a feminine voice called out and both Kara and "Carl" turned to see another person was on the roof with them, if it could even be described as a person. The newcomer was a tall arctic fox that stood on her hind legs in a pretty Humanlike way, wearing tattered clothes, and had dark blue warpaint over her gold eyes. The fox grinned viciously in "Carl's" direction before saying, "This night is turning better than I hoped. One of Raphael's brothers, I presume?"

While Kara was trying to wrap her head around what was going on, the guy next to her sheepishly chuckled as he uttered, "And I guess you're Alopex, right?"

"Love to play twenty questions with you, but I'm on the job." The fox then extended the claws on her very hand-like paws and said coldly, "I already took care of "Zorro" and his idiot backup, so hand over the diamond, and I'll reserve the beatdown on just you, while I still have time."

Kara could tell that the fox, Alopex she figured her name was, had an intense grudge for someone related to "Carl," and would not hesitate to take it on him and perhaps Kara herself to substitute the lack of the real deal. Seeing her unlikely partner frown heavily, Kara felt that "Carl" was trying to figure a way out of their current mess before he finally had an idea.

"Get down, cat lady," the turtle shouted as he pushed Kara back and brought out his two nunchucks just as Alopex extended her claws and started slicing "Carl" with them.

From what Kara understood, nunchucks, or nunchaku as they were fancily called, were a ninja weapon made up of two sticks connected at their ends via a length of rope and used for locking joints. "Carl," though, did not mind of using his nunchucks to strike at Alopex as best he could, while also keeping her claws away from his whole body.

'The idiot does know how to fight,' Kara thought to herself, while also taking out another gun of hers that she previously hid in her right boot. Even with "Carl" helping her out, the hardened cop had no intention of sitting a fight out.

Firing her weapon at Alopex, Kara had gotten the fox's attention, and was surprised to see the latter come straight at her in response just before she whacked Kara on the head and down to the ground. Fortunately, "Carl" was not far behind in Kara's defense.

"Step away from the cat, foxy babe," he yelled, charging with his nunchucks twirling.

Alopex had none of it, though, as she elbowed the turtle down to the ground, forcing his weapons out of his three-fingered hands. "Don't call me that," the fox snarled as grabbed onto "Carl's" head with both clawed hands and then growled with warning, "Now give it to me!"

Kara could see "Carl" was terrified and in pain. Before she could get up to help, however, she heard the guy grunt out, "All right, dudette. You'll get it." Not liking the sound of that, especially when she saw Alopex loosening her hold on the turtle's head, Kara was just about to get up and end this when she saw "Carl" pull a stunt that left her in gobsmacked shock:

Himself kissing the surprised fox on the mouth at the same time the fireworks went off at midnight to signal the new year.

"What the," was all Kara could comment on at the sight, especially since the way "Carl" was leaning his head into Alopex's, and how the latter was clearly in disfavor with it, were both signs that they definitely were not wearing costumes.

Breaking up the kiss, "Carl" then pushed Alopex to the ground and quickly ran to Kara clearly on edge, but showed a shaky grin as he placed the Dresden in her hands, saying, "My name's actually Mike, officer."

"Uh, Kara," was all the bewildered detective could say before the clearly mutant turtle, or whatever he was, began to ran past a stirring and very angry Alopex.

"Catch me if you can, Al-Gal," she could hear Mike tauntingly shout as he then ran over the museum's rooftop and kept on running and jumping from building to building in a way that would make most parkour experts jealous.

"You'll pay for that," Alopex yelled back as she gave chase in the same manner, leaving Kara alone at the scene of the fight.

"Wow," Kara said in complete amazement at how things went that night. Her undercover gig turned in a way she had not expected at all, and left her with more questions that she knew would not be answered for a while, if ever. Nonetheless, as she placed the diamond in her purse for safekeeping, Kara could only turn to where her unlikely friend ran off to and say with a smile, "See you, Mike. And thanks."

[DTF]

"Stupid, stupid Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle," Michelangelo was frantically telling himself as he ran as fast as he could from the very vindicative kunoichi fox chasing after him as a predator would its prey. In truth, Michelangelo, who was called either Mike or Mikey for short by his three brothers and the few Human friends who knew about them, did not regret getting Alopex away from Kara the policewoman, but looking back, he could have pulled off a good, Dresden-handed punch to the mutant fox instead of kissing her, which even he thought was insane.

Rationalizing that the New Year's movie he watched earlier, where the happy couple kissed just as midnight occurred, must have been on his brain at the time, Mikey nonetheless, knew he had to ditch Alopex before she either beat him black, blue, and read all over for his crazy move, or worse, tracked him down to his home in the sewers of New York. Neither he nor his family had any idea on who Alopex was working for, but even Mikey, who viewed himself as a good-hearted jokester, did not want to find out in a life-threatening way, especially if those he loved got caught in the middle.

Finding his way to an alley way between two buildings that fortunately neighbored a sewer lid for Mikey to escape through, he decided to wait there in case Alopex was nearby, and much to his displeasure, saw that he did not have to wait long at all for the mutant fox to drop in after him. Taking out his nunchaku, Mikey proceeded to swing them at Alopex as she came at him with her claws.

"Was the first kiss that bad," Mikey asked jokingly in-between strikes. He knew his act was out there, but he did enjoy it somewhat. Plus, as his father, Master Splinter, would say, "an angry opponent, is a beatable opponent."

"Shut up," Alopex snapped, looking like her temper was reaching a boiling point, but still not succeeding in getting her claws into Mikey, which is what he was going for.

With another swung of her claws failing to get Mikey, the Ninja Turtle decided to humor the situation even more with classic wittiness. "Oh, I get it. We kissed without a proper introduction on my part. I'm sorry about that. I was named Michelangelo. You know, after that famous Italian artist-,"

"You're more aggravating than Raphael," the mutant artic fox yelled out as she kept on attacking him. However, after roundhouse kicking Mikey to an alley wall, Alopex did what she could to restrain her temper, and looked at the turtle with a narrow-eyed smirk. "I see what you're doing now, Michelangelo, but a kunoichi rising to the rank of chūnin knows better than to be fooled by lowlife cannon fodder."

Mikey felt burned by the fox's words about him, but then his mind picked up what she said about herself. If Alopex was a chūnin, or about to receive such a promotion, then she was part of a ninja clan. Remembering Splinter's revelations he shared with all four of his sons, Mikey included, the orange-masked Ninja Turtle had a hunch that he felt had to be confirmed by the fox, so, just before Alopex was about to pull out something from her cloak, Mikey blurted out, "Oroku Saki!"

Caught off guard by Mikey's words, Alopex turned to him in disbelief with what looked like a flashbang in her left hand. "What?"

Seeing that he had her attention, Mikey then slowly asked with emphasis, "Do you know of a guy who lived in feudal Japan named Oroku Saki?" In all honesty, what Mikey really wanted to know was if Alopex was a modern day member of the Foot Clan that Hamato Yoshi, who Splinter was reincarnated from, was once a member of. Thinking over what he just said, Mikey probably should have phrased the question differently, considering that Saki, who executed him and his whole family hundreds of years ago, was dead by the twenty-first century.

"You know the real name and birth era of my jonin," Alopex blurted out, wide-eyed and incredulous, perhaps before she even realized what she was telling Mikey, which was more than what he expected, actually.

"Your jonin?! As in present tense?!"

Seeing and hearing the Ninja Turtle's shock, the mutant arctic fox realized the leak she handed out to him, and the expression she gave Mikey was clear evidence that she felt compelled to permanently silence him. Thinking fast, Mikey dodged an incoming claw slash and grabbed hold of Alopex's head to give her another kiss long enough to seize her flashbang while her mind was focused on the second forced mouth contact that night.

Stepping back from the mutant fox with the flashbang in hand, Mikey turned to his angry foe and cheekily said, "We gotta stop doing that, I know," before jumping and turning his head away from the flashbang he set off with a throw to the ground. Once he was sure that Alopex was too dazed to pursue him, Mikey ran off to find a different sewer lid than the one he found previously for the sake of caution, and upon finding one, made his way down before running back home.

All in all, Mikey had a wild night between attending a party, getting roped in two jewel heists, kissing a girl for the first time, making a quick New Year's handshake with a police officer, and then kissing the same girl from before who laid a literal bombshell for him. Thinking about his brothers and father, though, he knew he had to tell as much as he could about the night's events with them, even if the amateur scientist among them was hard to convince about the supernatural.

[DTF]

When Splinter was mutated alongside three of his reincarnated sons well over a year ago, the four did what they could to find a good living space in the New York sewers where they would reside without detection. Filling their lair with appliances and furniture for the sake of living comfort, Splinter and the turtles that were with him, Leonardo, Donatello, and Michelangelo, did what they could to make the most of their arrangement, and were all pleased to have reunited with the missing member of their family, Raphael, before their second Christmas began, followed by the new year.

While Splinter had taken the form of a grey-furred, mutant rat wearing a brown and black martial arts gown with a walking stick by his side in his present life, and all four of his boys were mutant turtles, it did not change the feelings of warmth and love that he had for his children in his prior lifetime as Hamato Yoshi. Having told his sons the story of how they were all mutated from lab animals, yet carried the souls of an older Japanese family, Splinter was admittedly saddened that the revelation caused a rift between Donatello and his brothers, especially Leonardo, on the validity of reincarnation, but had help that they would reconcile in due time.

Having heard the arrival of a new year from the sounds of fireworks occurring on the surface, Splinter was about to ask his three oldest sons on where Michelangelo was at, but was relieved to hear the latter return home before he even asked. Nonetheless, seeing the frantic look on his youngest's face left Splinter concerned, and what Michelangelo immediately informed him and the others was indeed troubling.

As they all sat cross-legged on the floor during Michelangelo's story, Splinter had gauged the reactions of his older sons to their brother's tale.

Leonardo, blue-masked and strapping the sheaths of his katanas to his back, initially responded annoyed, yet internally jealous perhaps, that Michelangelo had snuck into a Human party for New Year's Eve, then looked worried that the younger Ninja Turtle had gotten involved with crime as well as somewhat impressed that he was able to prevent a theft. It was the other part of Michelangelo's experience, involving Alopex, that had Leonardo in dreadful silence, for which Splinter could relate.

Raphael, wearing a red mask keeping a sai on each of his directions, had a similar response to Leonardo's, but looked angrier when the mutant arctic fox he encountered not so long ago was mentioned. If Splinter had to guess, his second oldest felt somewhat humbled by the way Alopex nearly tricked him, and more importantly, felt concerned for his friend, Casey Jones, since his one-time foe knew of him as well. The fact that Alopex had an entire ninja clan backing her up would increase the danger even more so.

Donatello, in a purple mask and carrying his Bō staff at his back, looked surprised at his younger brother sneaking into the party, about as proud as his other brothers had for the crime prevented, and then a mix of skepticism and unease when Michelangelo relayed Alopex's last comment to them all.

Hiding his own fear and burning anger at his old enemy's apparent living status, Splinter calmly uttered, "The Foot Clan is here in New York," yet could not resist adding gravely, "with Oroku Saki as their leader still."

Donatello could keep silent anymore before finally saying, "How is that even possible, Father?" Seeing Leonardo about to snap, however, the second youngest of Splinter's sons added brusquely, "Reincarnation talk aside, Leo, even you can agree with me that Human beings can't live for centuries."

Put on edge by his brother's words, Leonardo nonetheless nodded, replying, "Okay, fair enough on that last part, Donnie."

Groaning to himself at the sight of his brothers somewhat arguing, especially since he was positioned in the middle between them, Raphael declared, "Look, we can worry about Alopex, the Foot, or whatever comes our way tomorrow. Right now, I just want to get some rest."

"Yeah, Raph's right, bros," Michelangelo said, somewhat downcast. "I was just letting you all know what she told me. Sorry that it's bad news, no matter how you slice it."

Splinter then chuckled, partly to get his youngest's mind off the somber mood and partly out of pride for how compassionate he was, and then said to Michelangelo, "It's no matter, my son. For now, I suggest you get some sleep." He then exhaled as he added to himself, "We will have to 'slice' our rousing predicament another day."

[DTF]

Seated in a makeshift throne room at his clan's New York compound, Oroku Saki, otherwise referred to as the Shredder in the criminal underworld, wore similar attire to his latest descendant, Karai, but with bladed gauntlets on his arms, a red cape in place of a scarf, and helmet that included a face guard. Listening to Alopex's report on the Dresden Diamond with Karai to his right, the Shredder thought in cold contemplation as the mutant arctic fox revealed certain information that he had not expected. While he applauded his mutant student's quick execution of most of the witnesses, and did not feel threatened that a lone law officer would tell of Alopex's existence and be considered insane as a result, it was the words Alopex had picked from the mutant turtle that had Shredder on alert somewhat.

"These mutant ninja turtles know of me," he curiously repeated, and then added, "Or at least of my past life? How could that be so?" Turning to Karai, he said with authority, "Granddaughter, remind me what we know of these mutants."

Standing at attention, Karai replied, "As I recall, Grandfather, all of these turtles have been seen at night associating with a mutant rat just as each of them have specific weapon styles. Katanas, sai, Bō, and nunchaku. In addition, they all wore red masks, but according to Alopex, this Michelangelo she encountered wore orange."

Immediately raising a hand to gesture for silence from Karai, Shredder absorbed that last statement in quick procession, and having listened to all the individual weapon styles, thought back to a memory he had placed in the back of his mind centuries ago. A time when he watched his old friend train his four sons in ninjutsu. Turning back to Karai, he then asked, "Aside from Michelangelo and Raphael, do we know if the other turtles have worn blue and purple masks?"

The specific question caught both Karai and Alopex in surprise to the point they exchanged bewildered looks before the former returned her gaze to Shredder and answered, "I cannot say for certain, Grandfather. If I may ask, though, what prompted such a line of thought."

"Something about these mutants reminds me of the past," Shredder allowed himself to somewhat satisfy Karai's curiosity. He then raised his hand and said, "You both have my leave to rest for the night."

Alopex, however, looked unnerved by Shredder's lack of forthcoming. "Master Shredder," she started to say before she let out some anger in her words, "when will the time come for us to deal with these turtles once and for all?"

His scowl hidden behind his face guard, Shredder replied, "That time will come when I say it will, Alopex. Now dismissed!"

Unsatisfied, but obedient, Alopex bowed her head apologetically before departing, followed by Karai, leaving the Shredder at his throne alone. In hindsight, it appeared that Alopex's unresolved conflicts with two of the turtles had left her as distracted as her pre-mutated background did. Each was a tiresome concern, but Shredder was determined to put them at ease under the right circumstances.

The Foot could not afford any distractions while General Krang remained at large to conquer Earth, the world that needed a Human to rule over it. Yet regarding the mutant turtles and rat, the man behind the Shredder could not help but feel a mix of surprise, acceptance, and somewhat intrigue. It would seem that he was indeed mistaken all those years ago, after all, in believing that death was truly the end of Hamato Yoshi and his sons.

"If the old rat is who I think he is," Oroku Saki was telling himself as a smirk formed underneath his face guard, "then I can imagine the conflict for this world will only get more interesting, especially when a meeting is properly arranged." Making a lowly chuckle, he then added, "Perhaps it is something to discuss with my beloved Kitsune when I find her as well."

[DTF]

Learning about the minority of fan art and fanfiction that depict Alopex paired with other Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles aside from Raphael got me thinking about branching myself out, so here we are with Michelangelo/Alopex in an IDW canon divergent story. I have ideas for Leonardo/Alopex and Donatello/Alopex as well, but I started with the youngest Turtle for the sake of argument. It is going to be pretty slow burn, though, given the circumstances, but at least no one has to wait years in-universe and out for Mikey and Alopex to kiss, even if the first two were distraction kisses.

I was somewhat tempted to pair up the Turtles individually with Ninjara from the Archie continuity in one-shots, but the problem with Archie TMNT is that I do not know where to start since it might as well be pretty self-contained compared to other settings, especially since it got canned before it would have resolved things. Henceforth, I mostly made what if memes of pairing Ninjara with the Turtles that were not named Raphael on DeviantArt, and did the same with Horridus of Savage Dragon with the Turtles not named Michelangelo.

I mean, I could make a kind of fusion depiction that would allow Ninjara to pair up with Mikey, Donnie, or Leo in the right situation, but I already have a long-term TMNT fusion in the planning stages that features Raph/Alopex. In addition, I am not sure my tentative Super Turtles idea would be the best way of using Ninjara, so there you have it.

Then again, I suppose mixing the 1987 animated and Archie Comic continuities in a long story format is a possibility, especially since they had similar enough beginnings before the latter diverged from what the former was presenting. Maybe even add certain toy figures that were made for the former, even if the characters they were based on never appeared in the show itself. However, each side would have to be balanced, considering how they both differ from one another, so it is something to think about. And even if I do not do it, I would like to see if some other writers would do it.

There is also the character, Mona Lisa (I am a bit iffy on the 2012 alien version, though, all things considering), but considering that the Alopex stories I have in mind will pair her with a different Ninja Turtle than Raph, I think there are some shipping possibilities for Mona's IDW version, depending on the story. Still, I suppose I will just have to see how it all goes.

Anyway, I was admittedly lost for a time on why the Foot Clan would be interested in the Dresden Diamond, considering Kara Lewis is pretty much the only element from Mikey's micro-series issue to be referenced since then. Sure, the big crime boss behind the heist sounded like he could be the Shredder, but unless someone confirms it, I do not want to act prematurely and be potentially proven wrong later.

All the same, I talked with 00virturezero on FanFictionNet about it, and it felt like a good idea that even with the Foot aspiring for world domination in the IDW continuity as they usually do elsewhere, they still do the usual assassinations and thefts for money and favors, whether anyone contracted them to begin with or not. It worked for the Foot in the Image continuity, after all.

I initially thought about having Mikey figure out a way for Donnie to be more open-minded to the idea of the supernatural just so he could take his warnings of Oroku Saki "the immortal" more seriously, but decided to opt that out. It saved time and something told me that whatever Mikey could come up with under my direction would not have had the same impact as Professor Zayton Honeycutt's comparison between the teleportation devices from Dimension X to the idea of reincarnation.

Lastly, just to let you all know in case it was not clear enough, the following points of view, part by part, are, in order, Alopex, Kara, Mikey, Splinter, and Saki.