"However, most trespasser are humans, mostly men. But you, however..." Mokoshan murmured, his eyes fell on to Alopex.
"M-Me?" Alopex stammered, nervously.
"You too are of the moon. Just as we are." Mokoshan replied.
"Yet your scent is different, almost familiar, but sweeter, more subtle." Mokoshan said. "I must come closer!" He hopped down from the cliff, landing in front of the group. Alopex froze, trembling slightly as she saw the large humanoid wolf slowly approach closer to her. "Do not be afraid. At least not yet." The wolf replied. "You...your beauty is remarkable. What is your name?" Mikey frowned narrowing his eyes at the two then back Mokoshan warily. He was getting way too close to her.
"Alopex." Alopex answered him.
"The pleasure is mine, Alopex." He smiled softly.
"I... I don't know what to say."
"I do. Look fido, why don't you just head back home and put on some clothes or something?" Mikey retorted, stepping in between Alopex and the large wolf
"Mikey!" Alopex hissed.
"Fear not, sweet moon eyes. This simpleton's words fade through me." Mokoshan smiled at her, ignoring Mikey.
"Simpleton? Why I oughtta-" Mikey sputtered. Then Donnie stopped him, holding Mikey back. "Mikey, calm down. He's letting us go. Don't make him angry." Suddenly, the wind began to pick up and snow was blowing wildly. The pack of wolves, along with the humanoid wolves, began to retreat walking over to Mokoshan, heading into the woods. Everyone watched still keeping up their guard as they left.
"But for now, we must depart. We shall meet again." Mokoshan said, waving goodbye to Alopex and vanished in a gust of snow before everyone's eyes.
"He...He's gone." Alopex murmured.
"He's disappeared in a gust of snow." Donnie replied.
"Whoa." April said. "Mysterious, much?"
"Golly." Alopex murmured, smiling to herself. She stared at where the wolf leader had left in a daze, wondering who he was. He was so nice to her.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's get back to camp." Mikey huffed and stormed off, his feet crunching in the snow as he left. The others followed behind him, along with Casey and April, heading back to the campsite to set up for the night.
"April, what just happened?" Casey asked her.
"I'm not really sure, Casey. But I have a feeling this is going to be a long, long, night." April sighed.
Yuuki blinked as she stirred in her sleep and opened her eyes to find Leo's sleeping bag empty next to her. Must be on his moody patrols again. She sighed and sat up to see the soft glow of the campfire through the tent. Yuuki saw the others were still inside their tents, sleeping. However, she blinked in surprise when she saw Alopex sitting by the fire, staring into it, silently.
Yuuki crawled out and walked over to her and sat down as Alopex stirred the wood to keep the fire from going out . "Alopex? You up for a little girl talk?" Yuuki asked.
"Across inter species lines? Sure, have a seat." Alopex replied.
"What's bothering you? You've been really out of it for the past couple days." She asked Alopex. "You and Mikey never fight like this."
"I don't know. I feel bad. I don't want to! Believe me! But every time I see Mikey, I just want to snap at him, but I can't help it. For the past couple of weeks, I've felt drained, I'm always hungry and then I get sick after I eat." Alopex answered.
"Yeah, I can tell after you wolfed down a couple of raw fish, not even cooked yet." Yuuki snickered. Alopex frowned at her.
"You don't think that you're, you know?" Yuuki hinted.
"I'm what?" Alopex questioned.
"I don't know, maybe, pregnant? Did you and Mikey-" Yuuki drifted off.
"There's no way. He's a turtle, I'm a fox. We're two completely different species." Alopex sputtered.
"But aren't you two different species as well? I'm just saying, maybe it's a possibility that you could be. You clearly have all the symptoms. Just answer this last question: Are you late?" Yuuki asked her.
"Yes." Alopex replied. Yuuki decided not to press her anymore about it. She was tired and cold and wanted to head back to sleep.
"It's getting late. We'll figure something out tomorrow." Yuuki assured her. "But I really think that you should tell Mikey about this. He has to know." Alopex stood and walked back to her and Mikey's tent, going inside.
"Good night, Yuuki." Alopex said.
Yuuki got up and headed back inside Leo and hers tent and crawled back into her sleeping back. As she closed her eyes, Yuuki heard a faint zipper sound as the flap of the tent opened and closed.
"Welcome back. Did you have a nice patrol on your own?" She asked Leo as he laid down beside her, getting into his own bag.
"It was fine." She heard Leo's short response.
"Are you going to tell me what's wrong?"
"There's nothing wrong. Just get some sleep. We're going to need it in the morning." Leo spoke.
"Why can't you just tell me what's wrong? Is it me?-"
"No. It's me. I'm not good enough for you."
"Leo, don't say that. You are. If you're talking about our last fight against the Shredder, you everything that you could. We all did." Yuuki spoke.
"By blowing ourselves up."
"But we didn't. The Utroms saved us, and the Shredder has been stopped. He's finally gone." Yuuki interrupted him. "We're all here. I'm here. You have to let this go, Leo. It is not good for you."
"I lost you once. I don't plan on losing you again."
"I can't lose you either."
Oh, this is going to be a long night, indeed...
Morning came and everyone packed up and climbed back into the van, back on the road again.
"Come on, don't treat me like this! Talk to me!" Mikey whined.
"I'm not in a talking mood right now, Mikey!" Alopex growled.
"Fine then! Just forget it! Forget everything!" Mikey shouted, frustrated. He blinked in confusion and saw a man hitch hiking on a cliff, with a walking stick. The Native American's eyes met with Mikey as the van sped past. "Huh? Hey, back there on those rocks. I think I saw an Indian watching us."
"That's probably 'cause there's not much else to do out here, dude." Casey replied. Up ahead on the road was a gas station and April pulled up and parked then van then turned to the group.
"Okay, we've made it to the gas station. This is the last one for miles. So I need you guys to please keep it down while I'm out tanking up, alright?" April asked everyone and her and Casey stepped out to refuel the van. A man came out to meet with them and started to talk with April and Casey. Mikey turned his head reading the store's sign.
"Cold front? They sound more hospitable than being back here." Mikey commented.
"That's it, Mikey! I'm moving up front! Donnie, switch with me!" Alopex growled. She unbuckled her seat belt and crawled over the seats.
"Watch it!" Raph shouted.
"Quit shoving!" Donnie shouted as Alopex pulled him out of his seat and he was forced to move back down to Mikey.
"Watch your tail!" Venus shouted.
"Why don't you all just shut up!" Alopex shouted. Casey and April shared nervous glances at each other as they saw at the shop owner shift his gaze towards the window to look inside, wondering what was going on.
"Heh. Kids." April laughed.
"Sure enough. Can't live with 'em. Can't live without 'em but hey at least yours sure sound like a lotta fun." The gas attendant smiled.
"Big fun, believe me. I'll be sure to mail you their adoption papers! Take care!" April said and her and Casey quickly paid him and walked back into the van and quickly sped off. April glanced up her rear-view mirror, looking at Mikey and Alopex. "Mikey and Alopex, you two really are acting like a couple of kids."
"Sorry, April." Alopex replied.
"Yeah, sorry." Mikey stopped when he saw the same native again, climbing down the rocks. He quickly pointed out the window. "Hey! There's that same Indian dude again! Back there over on those rocks!"
"Where? I don't see anyone?" Raph asked.
"Me neither. So, how long have you had these hallucinations?" Donnie joked and laughed a little. Raph joined in, laughing with him.
"Guys, I'm serious!" Mikey insisted.
Later, April parked the van seeing that there was a nearby camping ground about a mile. Everyone grabbed their bags and started to hike up the mountain. Raph noticed several footprints in the snow. "Hey, check these out. Tracks." He pointed them out to the others. Donnie and Venus walked over to examine the footprints.
"These look like caribou or maybe a moose." Donnie said. "And these look like they belong to wolves."
"And these, they're human." Raph said.
"That's weird." April murmured. As the others continued, discussing about the suspicious tracks. Mikey pulled Alopex to the side.
"Ali, we need to talk." Mikey sighed. "I know that I can be a pain sometimes. If I did something or said something to make you upset, I'm sorry, I really am. I have to tell you this. I love you; I really love you; you know."
"I know, Mikey. I'm sorry. I love you, too." Alopex told him before she paused. Mikey noticed.
"Is there something wrong?" He asked her concerned.
"Mikey, there's something that I have to tell you-" Before Alopex could finish what she wanted to tell Mikey, the two heard Raph whistle to them. They turned and saw Donnie calling them over.
"Hey, you two-act like ninjas and get over here." Donnie said. They went over and regroup with the others as they were crouched low to the ground.
"What is it?" Mikey asked.
"Looks like the mystery of all of those tracks is solved. Those wolves must've been tracking that caribou. Looks like they've got him too." Donnie explained. In an open meadow, the group saw a pack of wolves eating their prey that they had taken down.
"Yes, but what about the human tracks?" Mona asked. Alopex's eyes widened when she saw a glimmer of metal and turned to see the same old man from yesterday. He was hunter and his target was the wolves!
"Oh kami, look! That man over there has a gun. And he's aiming it at the wolves!" Alopex exclaimed. "We have to stop him!"
"Get down! He might see us!" Donnie shouted, trying to her down. Venus did so as well, trying to help him. Alopex broke out of their grasps and quickly charged at the wolves, trying to get their attention.
"Run!" Alopex shouted as she tried to warn them. "Run, my cousins! Run for your lives!" The old man's eyes widen in shock, seeing Alopex jumping out of the woods and running towards the wolves. His finger accidentally squeezed the trigger of his gun, firing off several shots. Mikey watched in horror as did everyone else as they saw Alopex fall to the ground.
"ALI!" Mikey screamed and immediately jumped out from his hiding spot, running over to her. "I'm coming, babe!"
He was relieved to see that she was still breathing and bent down, holding her in his arms. Alopex reached out to him and Mikey grabbed her hand. "Mikey...he...he shot me." Alopex struggled, crying a little. Mikey saw red and heard footsteps crunching in the snow as the hunter approached them slowly. Before the man raised his gun, Mikey quickly grabbed it and ripped it from his hands. The man stumbled back in shock.
"Come here! I'm going to take this gun and shove-" A little boy ran in front of Mikey, stopping him from getting to the old man.
"No, mister please...!" The boy shouted, pleading to Mikey.
"What?" Mikey stopped, surprised, seeing him.
"Please don't hurt my grandpa!" The small boy pleaded again.
"You got lousy timing, kid." Mikey growled.
"Moon eyes!"
"Now what!?" Mikey turned his head, seeing Mokoshan next to Alopex. The old man and his grandson ran as soon as they saw him.
"Moon eyes..." Mokoshan bent down and picked Alopex up, carrying her in his arms. "Fear not, our healers will cure you. I just hope that I'm not late." Mikey tried to rush towards them.
"Hey, Mokoshan, you ain't taking her anywhere!" He cried out. The snow began to blow, getting heavier and heavier. It was getting harder to see. "Come back!" He saw Alopex and Mokoshan, disappear, vanishing in front of his eyes as he lost them in the blizzard. "Ali."
"Mikey, we have to set up camp. The storm is too strong to go after them right now." Leo said, stopping him as he grabbed Mikey by the shoulder.
"You set up camp, Master Leonardo. I'm going after Alopex!" Mikey shouted.
"Mikey! Don't argue with me! Where are you going to go? They're gone without a trace. And with this storm you can't even see a thing. Now, c'mon, we have to wait it out till it's gone." Leo told him.
"And Besides, Mokoshan's seems like an alright guy. We have to trust him that he'll help Alopex. Come on, Mikey." Donnie insisted as Venus helped him set up the tents. The others were quickly setting up theirs as well as they tried to bolt them down, from getting blown away.
"Fine." Mikey grumbled under his breath.
"Alright, everyone into their tents before they freeze!" April shouted.
"Yes, mom." Raph said and crawled in, meeting up with Mona. He handed her a couple of blankets and she took them from him.
"Thanks, Raph." She moved closer to Raph and pulled the blankets from them to share as they got warm. "Do you think Mikey's going to be alright? He's all alone in his tent."
"He just needs to cool off. I just hope that he doesn't do anything stupid." Raph said.
"Yeah, it's not like he's gonna go out in this blizzard." Mona replied.
Unknowingly to everyone, as they rested and tried to get warm inside their tents, Mikey climbed out of his. He was completely bundled up in his heavy coat and wrapped his scarf around his face for some protection against the cold. The wind blew wildly as the blizzard continued to get heavier, blowing snow everywhere. Mikey boots crunched in the snow as he left the camp, determined to get Alopex back.
"Hang on, Ali. I'm going to get you back."