I hate predicting, or speculating or whatever. But, since I will never get to see this now (stupid Rahzar *waves fist at sky*) I'm writing it. I guess this is technically an AU, one where Dogpound never double mutated. Whatever you want to call it. My little prediction Tigerclaw, a cat mutant assassin character that's coming into the new season. Eventually. (That's what Shredder's doing in Japan right now, I think. Getting Tigerclaw.)

Dogpound was walking down the hall to his room, having nothing to do since there were no missions. In the old days he'd run his school on these days, but now… He suddenly stopped, as some scent reached his nose from far down the hall. He couldn't place it, but it just aggravated him, it wasn't the usual scent that did that, since there was no way this was turtle. He took a deep sniff, trying to place it. He hadn't quite learned how to distinguish so many new scents, it's like as a human he had never smelled anything, and now he had to learn what everything in the world smelt like. He followed it, and the closer he got, the more he had to resist growling loudly at it. Erghh! It just ticked him off for some reason! He stopped when he got to the doors that led to the Shredder's throne room, where he could hear a conversation between the Shredder and someone else. "Now, will you work for me to destroy the Turtles?" What? Shredder was replacing him? No, no no nonono, this couldn't happen. Ignoring his common sense that told him to stay far away, Dogpound walked right into the room.

"Master, what's going on?" he stopped short, and sharply inhaled as he saw a man-sized gray tiger standing down in front of the Shredder. Without him thinking, a growl came out of his throat, and the tiger responded in kind with a long hiss. He took a threatening few steps towards the cat, who held a paw at his belt, on the hilt of his sword, still hissing. "You're replacing me? With a cat?" he winced internally as the question came out like that of a hurt child.

"What's the matter, mutt?" asked the cat smoothly, "Thinking that because you're 'man's best friend' you can't be replaced by a more superior animal?"

Two responses flew into his head at the same time. "NO!" "I am not a dog!" In the end he stood there silently, using another growl as his only retort.

"Oh, scary. My fur's absolutely standing on end" he replied with a smirk, completely unfazed. "Now" he said, turning to the Shredder, "About my pay…" With him turned around, Dogpound felt like there was something wrong about this tiger, something off. He combed his mind, trying to place what was wrong. Looking the ground in thought, he saw a glimpse of his tail. Ah, that's it! For some reason this pussy-cat doesn't have his tail. He could use that. "What's the matter, kitty? Lose a cat-fight recently? I'd say you lost a bit more than that." He chuckled to himself, glad to have found a place to insult this stranger, when before he even knew what happened he was on his back, with a weight on top of him and a sharp knife at his throat.

"Don't laugh about that!" he hissed. "When I find the man responsible, he will pay dearly for what he did."

"What are you talking about?" shouted Dogpound. How could he be so worked up over something so little?

"I lost my tail in duel with a no good cheating scumbag. After I had rightfully won our duel, he attacked me from behind." He brought the knife deeper onto Dogpound's neck, so he could feel the sharp blade on the skin beneath his thick fur, "This is no light matter, and if you think it is, I ought to fight with you, cut off your tail, see how you like it."

Dogpound looked him in the eyes, his red iris daring him to do it. "Fine, do. You'd just be doing me a favor. I can't stand the thing. Losing it would be just one step closer to being like a human again." The tiger's eyes widened from their narrow slits, and the pressure from the knife was slightly removed.

"Human again?" he asked in a slightly far-off voice.

"Yeah, human. As in, the things that live on this planet that aren't freaks like us."

"Freak." He repeated quietly, and looking like he was lost in some far-away memory, before shaking his head and reapplying pressure to the blade at Dogpound's throat. "You just be grateful for what you have, Dog" he hissed lowly. He threw him forcefully down to the ground, and turned back to where the Shredder had been watching the scene with interest. "I'm sorry about the delay, Master Shredder. You're guard-dog here needed to learn something about respect."

"Hmmm. I was told of your skills, but now that I have seen them in person I'm certain that you're the one for the job."

"But, Master." Practically begged Dogpound from where he was kneeling on the floor. "What about me? And Xever?" He added quickly as an afterthought, to make it seem like it was in more than one person's best interest.

"The two of you have been useless to me. After you're failure on the hotel, I brought you back, thinking that you might have finally made yourselves into something useful. But you're just as useless as mutants, maybe even more so. Now, leave my sight, I have business to take care of."

Looking back and forth between his enraged Master, and the cocky tiger, he bowed to his master, and stood, giving a passing growl to the tiger, who didn't even flinch. He just stared coldly and calmly at him as he walked out the door.

It took a long time of walking before he finally could no longer hear their conversation. He growled lowly to himself, replaced by a cat, just when he thought that his life couldn't get any worse. "I hate cats" he muttered to himself.

I can't wait for Tigerclaw, I really hope he's coming soon. Finally, a cat mutant! Plus he was mutated as a little kid, and we've never seen that before. My version is probably totally wrong, but this is how it turned out. So, we'll just have to wait and see what the real one's like. R&R Possibly until next chapter, no clue.