Love Never Lost

Invasion of the Squirrelanoids: Part 1

Brooke's POV:

Donnie's in the back of the Shellraiser telling me which way to find the next mutagen canister.

Donnie: "Take a right. No, left. Left!"

I swerve to the left, gripping the steering wheel from the impact of the sudden change in direction.

Me: "Donnie, there's a reason I don't ride rollercoasters."

Donnie: "I'm sorry, Brooke. There's still so many mutagen canisters out there, my tracker's having trouble zeroing in on a single reading. Turn right!"

I swerve to the right.

Raph: "Whoa, I think I just got shell-lash!"

Suddenly, Mikey lets out a scream from his station in the back. I glance behind me to see that he's reading one of his horror story comics again.

Leo: "Hey, Mikey, you wanna stop reading your comics and pay attention to the mission?!"

Raph takes the comic from Mikey.

Mikey: "Hey, that comic's in mint-"

Raph slaps Mikey across the face with it.

Mikey: "Near mint condition. Don't mess it up."

Raph: "Great, another horror story. Guess who's gonna be up all night again?"

Mikey: "What? No. I was up all night 'cause I was polishing my grappling hook."

Raph: "Right. Seriously, Mikey? What are those horror comics good for other than freaking you out and-"

Suddenly, Donnie's tracker starts beeping rapidly.

Donnie: "Got one! Stop here."

As Donnie walks out with his ooze specs, I park in an empty alleyway.

Donnie: "My ooze specs are picking up a mutagen trail. Come on!"

We all walk out of the Shellraiser to follow after Donnie.

Leo: "Remember, this might be another trap, so we need to be careful."

Donnie: "Guys, over here."

We follow his gaze to see one of the canisters.

Donnie: "It's half empty, but one more mutagen canister recovered."

Then, we hear a scream of horror. The guys turn to Mikey while I follow the sound to a movie theater.

Mikey: "Wasn't me."

Me: "Nope, it was this guy."

The guys walk over to me to see a man seemingly terrified by a squirrel.

Raph: "Why is that dude afraid of a cute, tiny, little squirrel?"

Suddenly, the squirrel darts out a long tongue, crawls into the man's mouth, and travels down the man's throat into his stomach.

Mikey: "Now can I scream in horror?"

{Time skip}

Leo & Raph lug the unconscious man into the Shellraiser for Donnie to examine in his lab.

Mikey: "Dudes, this is a terrible idea. This is exactly how the alien got onto the ship in my comic book."

Raph drops the lower half of the man.

Raph: "Maybe Mikey's right. I mean, the comic book thing is totally crazy, but I can think of a million other reasons it's a bad idea to take this guy back to the lair. Starting with Splinter."

Donnie: "Raph, that squirrel was clearly a mutant creature, which means this is our fault."

Me: "And our responsibility to fix it. Leo & I will deal with-"

{Time skip}

Leo: "Master Splinter, let us explain."

Splinter: "Indeed. Please explain the reason you have brought a complete stranger into our secret, hidden lair!"

After a brief explanation, Splinter is at ease with our situation. He walks off to meditate as Leo & I enter the lab.

Me: "Ok, we're cool. But let's try to get this guy out of here before Master Splinter is done meditating."

Leo: "Where are we at, Donnie?"

Donnie: "Running an internal scan right now to see if -Yep, still in there."

We look to Donnie's computer screen for the X-ray, only to find that the squirrel has duplicated within the man's stomach.

Raph: "Alright guys, if you need me, I'll be beating Leo's & Brooke's high scores in pinball."

Me: *scoffs* "You wish."

Raph smirks when the man jerks up and starts speaking gibberish.

Man: "Pink eye, red eye! The ham went flying! Woot-woot!"

Leo: "I think that freaky squirrel made him a little nutty."

Mikey: "Dudes, I got this. I can totally translate crazy. He's saying, 'The squirrel licked some ooze and transformed into a mutant. It's been chasing me for days now, but I'm totally ok'."

Raph: "If by 'ok', you mean 'totally insane'."

Me: "Well, at least no one will believe a crazy guy if he talks about giant ninja turtles living in a sewer."

Suddenly, the man regurgitates both squirrels from his stomach.

Donnie: "This is unprecedented! The squirrels replicate inside a host. They divided like a single-celled organism."

Mikey: "That's exactly what happened in my comic! Well, not exactly. They exploded out of the dude's butt."

Man: "Aah, leprechauns!"

The man runs away, screaming in fear.

Raph: "I'll show our friend to the door."

Raph follows after the man while the rest of us watch as the squirrels eat Raph's leftover popcorn.

Donnie: *whispers* "We need to catch them. They're emitting dangerous amounts of energy."

Leo: "Move very slowly. We don't wanna startle them. Steady, steady."

The squirrels turn to us with a collective hiss as their tongues dart out.

Leo: "Get 'em!"

First, Leo lunges after them, then me, then Donnie, then Mikey, then Leo again. We chase them all around the lab, knocking a few things over.

Raph: "Well, our friends gone. But we still have plenty of crazy."

They rush out of the lab doors and into the lair.

Leo: "Help me seal off the lair! We can't let 'em escape."

Raph: "Well, I don't exactly want 'em in here with us!"

Raph and Mikey follow one squirrel into Mikey's room, and the rest of us follow the other into the dojo.

TO BE CONTINUED