It was nearing nightfall when both Panthera and Mikey woke up.

Mikey had moved so that he was cuddled against her, her tail wrapped around his thighs and her head on his. Much like Onca and herself used to do back in South America. But that was a bad memory for her to get lost in.

He was cute, for a turtle, she mused.

Mikey stretched, yawning. Panthera moved away, stretching her back and feeling the strain pull at her muscles.

"So, uh," Mikey said as he scooted off the mattress. "I guess I should be going."

Hopping off the bed, she nodded and moved towards the window. She sniffed the air, and jumped up onto the crates that was under it. No smell of humans, or Tiger Claw. No one had been around the warehouse. She looked back at the turtle and nodded towards the window.

"Oh, so it's safe huh? I can't wait to tell my bros about you, Panthera. You're the coolest cat," he jumped up to her level and smiled. "I mean it. You are a cat. Well, a spotted cat. You're a cheetah, or a leopard. Huh, my bro Leonardo is called Leo."

She blinked at him. He really didn't have a care in the world, or any idea about the scientific physiology of felines. But he was a cute turtle, even if a little scatter brained.

"So, I uh, should be going. Coming?" He asked moving so that he was stepping through the window.

She hopped back down off the crate and turned, sitting down. Her tail tapped the cement floor, waiting for him to move. If he stayed here too long then people would surely find him here. He was better off heading home, back to his family.

"I'll take that as a no then. So, uh, thanks you know. Tiger Claw really wanted to crack my shell open. So, thank you, Panthera."

She nodded, more like bowing her head in gratitude. He would have been a good friend, if she didn't always bring sorrow to the ones she had found over the years. No one seemed to be safe, not with those things after her all the time.

They looked at each other for a long time, her amber eyes looking at his bright blue eyes.

"I uh, can I come back, you know?"

She probably wasn't going to stay there for much longer. If a jaguar had a collarbone then she would have shrugged but she didn't, not in this form. Instead she opted for a different way to send the turtle off. Panthera turned and disappeared into the warehouse, disappearing into the shadows under the overhead walkway.

"Okay, Dude. Bye." Mikey sighed before he jumped out of the window and headed for the nearest manhole cover.

She stayed out of sight, and waited until she was sure he had left. Maybe she could find out where those things were, have them change her back to a proper human. She had been wanting to stay in human form but when that jaguar spirit took over, it lasted for days on end. This was the longest she had stayed in this form.

She lifted each of her paws, looking at the large feline claws. She swished her tail and sighed, bowing her head. With Tiger Claw on the loose there was no doubt he would be out there looking for her. After what she had done just to get out alive.

Panthera sighed and looked around at the place she'd been staying in for the last couple of weeks.

It was about time to move on, she thought to herself.

Mikey couldn't have been happier to be back in the sewers. He was extremely happy to be getting back to the lair so that he could tell his bros what happened. He was oblivious to the fact that he had been gone for nearly a day, but he wanted to tell the guys about the awesome cat thing that saved his shell from Tiger Claw, Karai and those Foot Bots.

"Guys, guys, guys!" Mikey yelled as he hopped the turnstiles into the lair. "You guys won't believe what happened to me."

"Mikey!" His three brothers yelled back, running up to him.

He opened his arms, expecting to be hugged. But that wasn't what he got. Not in the least.

Leonardo was the first to reach him, smacking him upside the head. Raphael fully tackled him and Donatello didn't have a chance to smack at him because Master Splinter had called off his brothers.

"Dudes, what is wrong with you?" Mikey asked from he was laying on the floor near the pinball machine.

"What's wrong? What's wrong? Mikey you were gone for twelve hours!" Donnie yelled as the orange banded turtle got off his shell. "You could have used your shell cell."

"I, uh, didn't think about it. Panthera was sort of," he was cut off.

"Who?" Leo asked.

"Panthera, at least that's what Tiger Claw called her."

"WHAT!" Leo, Raph and Donnie yelled.

"Yeah, I was like, you know running because that's like what I do. Anyway, I was attacked by a bunch of them Foot Bots. I got knocked off a building and then in an abandoned garage parking lot. I thought I was a goner, Dudes."

"Mikey," groaned Raph, slapping himself in the head.

"Michelangelo, please continue your tale." Master Splinter said.

"All right, all right. So there I was facing off with Karai and those Foot Bots and out of nowhere there was a roar. And not something like a tiger, but a raspy cough roar thing. Kind of sounds like Raph when he's puking."

"Mikey!"

Of course Mikey ignored his brother's yell. "And that's when Tiger Claw said that it was a female from when they, the Kraang, were experimenting on them. And then out of nowhere, I felt something run between my legs picking me up off my feet. I wrapped my chucks around it's neck, whatever it was and we practically flew out of there. Booyakasha! And guess what, I was riding a cat, a really giant spotted cat. She was huge. She took me to a warehouse and she fed me pizza and we slept together."

"What?" Raph looked at his brother.

"Not like that, bro. That's just gross, you know." Mikey shook his hands. "She found me near daybreak and by then I was shell tired. I slept through the day, she never left my side. And when I woke up, she was still there. She showed me how to get out of the warehouse and she didn't want to come with me. I mean, I don't know why she decided not to go."

"Why didn't she?" Master Splinter asked.

"Because all the time that I was there, she didn't speak. She was a giant cat, man, with red eyes. But she acted like she understood me. Would nod, and stuff like that. Come on, I want you guys to meet her. She's real, I tell you. Please!" He started begging, by jumping up and down. "Please, please, please, I want you guys to meet her." He even used his big blue eyes to his advantage.

Leo, Donnie and Raph looked at the mutant rat master. A cat and a rat meeting surely couldn't be a good thing, at least that's what Mikey's brothers thought when looking at Master Splinter.

As for Master Splinter, he ran his fingers over his chin hair. His dark eyes landed on Mikey, who bit his bottom lip, folding his three fingered hands together and tried to beg with his eyes, like he usually did with his brothers.

Master Splinter sighed. "Of course, you may go."

"Sweet, come on guys. Let's take the Shellraiser!"

"I don't know about you guys, but this doesn't sound like a good idea." Raph pointed out.

"To you maybe, but if Mikey thinks this cat thing is okay, who are we to judge. Look what happened with Leatherhead." Donnie pointed out.

"Yeah I know, but most of the time it's almost always Mikey's fault when something goes wrong." Leo added.

In the end the three remaining brothers followed their youngest brother to the modified train car known as the Shellraiser.

I would like everyone to know, this generation Mikey is hard for me to write. But I like that he loves befriending people, and his carefree nature is appealing, at least to me. I hope you guys like this installment. See you in the next chapter!