Chapter Text
How did that old shoe saying go? You couldn't exactly remember.
After all, you, frankly, were too busy focusing on the more important matter on your hands.
Or, well, paws, now.
Somehow, for some unknown and bizarre reason, you were now living inside the fluffy furry body of a cat. How? Why? Who? All were questions that you'd sure like answered, but with your current streak of luck so far, weren't going to get told to you at all.
Which is just great!
Note the sarcasm.
Currently, you had just woken up from your sleep, having opened your eyes to a night sky that glittered not with stars but with city lights. Skyscrapers stretched high into the sky, fading out of view and looking as if they went on forever, a never ending tower of apartments and madness. The last thing you remembered was that you had been in your room, on your bed, and completely out of the way of any sort of supernatural happenings whatsoever.
Which is why it is incredibly hard to fathom why you're suddenly in a city, of all places, disregarding the whole cat thing.
Taking a couple of minutes to freak the hell out and have a mini panic attack, you came back to your senses.
You needed to survive this place, but most importantly, you needed to get back home.
So, deciding to make your way back to your home, however long it may take, you ventured off into the inky night, stepping paw after paw through the thin fog. It wasn't long before you'd gotten a hang of your extra set of legs, the feeling almost coming to you like second nature. Though it didn't stop you from fumbling around every once and a while, coming close to falling on your newly earned furry face.
'First things first.' You thought to yourself, 'How in the world am I going to get home?'
You had no phone on you, nor any sort of item that could guide you back home. So, you were basically screwed until you could snatch a phone from a poor bystander or find something else out there that'd help.
Walking through New York (You assumed. It was the only big city that came to your mind.) you quickly learned that finding a map or some sort of electronic device to use to find your way back home would be difficult. Especially since you're unsure if your paws could even register on a phone screen.
And you're not confident in your pickpocketing abilities, especially as a cat.
With no thumbs.
Hooray.
-
You peered through a store window, attempting to read a sign that hung on the opposite side of the glass.
Shit. Shit. Shit. The letters were all jumbled up and your brain couldn't even begin to comprehend what sort of misshapen mess of words were written before.
A sharp sense of panic flashed through your stomach, your chest becoming painfully light.
'Of course I had to lose the ability to read things. I'm a cat now, I can't just have it easy, now can I?'
Placing a single paw on the window, you slowly slid it downwards, as if it would somehow change the messy letters on the sign. With a huff, you pulled your paw away, and-
Oh.
Nevermind. The glass was just smudged. You're fine.
The panic you felt earlier melted away into a puddle of relief.
Quietly, you decided to never think of this ever again. The embarrassment would be too much to handle.
Now, knowing you 100% have the ability to read like a normal human being, you took the chance to try and read the sign.
But before you could, a hand ran down your back, causing you to shudder and leap backwards, letting out a yowl of surprise.
"Oh crap- Sorry little kitty!" A voice hurriedly apologized.
Frozen still, you huffed out a frustrated breath of air, turning to look at the person who decided it was a good idea to pet a random stray on the sidewalk. Seriously, though. Did they not know fleas existed? Do you even have fleas? You feel like you'd know if you did by now…
The human who stood before you had crouched down to your level, a hand on their knee and another up in the air, presumably the one they'd used to pet you. Brown curly hair fell atop their head, crimson glasses perched on their nose and a comfy green jacket hung on their shoulders.
The two of you held an awkward staring contest, eyes locked, yours squinted in an accusing glare.
Sure, you were a cat now, but that didn't mean you'd let just anyone pet you! Who knows what kind of germs they've got?
The human muttered something to themself before blinking slowly at you.
Wait.
What.
What in the world are they doing?
Wait wait wait-
Collecting your thoughts, you tried to remember stuff you had learned about cats before, faintly recalling a small factoid (Which you were now unsure was even true or not) about cats showing their love to you through slow-blinking.
Was this person trying to calm you down so they could pet you or something?
'Hah. No thank you! Sorry random person, but I'm on a mission!'
Without a second to spare, you turned and continued your journey on the city sidewalk, determined to not get distracted by any store signs or humans who wanted to be all buddy buddy with you. Faintly, you could hear the person sigh behind you, most definitely watching you hurry away from them.
Sure, they seemed nice, but going home was on the top of your to-do list.
-
It had been about two weeks since you'd woken up as a cat, and so far you had barely made progress in your quest back home.
You had managed to steal someone's phone and made it to the Map App, but it'd been taken away from you before you could do anything more than type in the first letter of your house.
(It had also taken you way too long to even get the phone reacting to you with those paws of yours.)
So, you decided the next best thing was to walk until you found your way home.
Which was quite obviously a long way back.
Especially now that you're a cat, and so many more things are dangerous to you now.
You couldn't reach any button to stop the cars on the road from running you over on the damn crosswalks, kids would giggle and try and pet you almost constantly, and dogs not on their leashes would gladly take time out of the day to chase you down-
It's safe to say you're exhausted and you may or may not have thought of giving up once or twice.
But you persisted.
And day after day, you noticed things here weren't exactly… Normal?
It was usually just small little inconsistencies you noticed. Like how a famous guy on TV had a slightly differently spelled name, or a brand looked a smidge off from what you remember them to be. It was enough to get you suspicious of what was going on.
And then you met April.
The same person you'd met at the start of your first week, and the same person you were now staring up at in utter confusion.
She had stumbled upon your temporary sleeping space the day after you met her (Which was literally just a nest of bird feathers under a dumpster), and had given you a small nibble of the ham on the ham sandwich she carried with her.
Since then, she'd visited you in your home, handing you scraps of food every time she came by.
Which was often, since she passed the alleyway on her way to school.
Your quest to go home hadn't been completely forgotten, nor your want to be human again, but getting some good food from April definitely made you consider just enjoying the life you had now.
Of course, though, the second she left it was back to planning and scavenging for food.
Your 'walk until you get home' plan was a bust, so you'd opted to stay underneath that one dumpster, especially now that you were getting visits from April every day and a good source of non-moldy food.
Leaving would be giving up a good portion of what was letting you survive this accursed city.
And now you were stuck sitting in front of her today, her having coaxed you out from under your shelter and telling you she wanted you to meet someone.
Of course, she assumed you couldn't understand her, and had 'pspsps'd you over to her, taking cautious steps back to make sure you were paying attention.
From the pocket of her jacket appeared another… Cat?
No.
That was not a cat.
The orange animal had far bigger teeth than it should have, and eyes that looked at you in a definitely intelligent sort of way. It behaved way too much like a human for you to be comfortable. April smiled and picked it up, setting it gently down on the pavement in front of you and letting it creep cautiously towards you.
It then hurried forwards and booped its nose with yours, a smile on its furry face.
"Oh my gosh, what are you." You meowed, feeling the need to say something despite no one being able to understand you.
The creature took a step back, chirping in reply, "Well, I'm actually a-"
"Little kitty, meet Mayhem!" April exclaimed, crouching down and doing jazz hands behind Mayhem at you.
…
You lept back and raced towards your nest, only to be intercepted by your new talking acquaintance, Mayhem. Said acquaintance had teleported in front of you, back arched yet somehow non-threatening. You, on the other hand, scrambled back to stop yourself from bowling right into Mayhem's side, skidding to a halt, "W-What?"
"It's okay! It's okay! Calm down." Mayhem's eyes flickered to the girl behind you before landing back onto you, "I'm guessing you're not used to non-feline animals talking to you, right?"
Uhm.
"Yeah. Yeah- Exactly, that's it." Stuttering out a clearly rushed answer, you tried to get used to the feeling of actually being understood for once in the short while you've been a cat. It was incredibly disconcerting.
Deep down you were in fact thankful that you wouldn't be driven crazy by being stuck in your thoughts all the time, but the whiplash of the situation was driving you slightly crazy nonetheless. After all this time the first being that could understand you wasn't even human, or even another cat! It was a strange teleporting thing that just so happens to be weirdly intelligent like you. You were starting to wonder if they were in the same situation as you were-
If so, then you'd have a whole 'nother problem on your paws, and you were not prepared to go hunt down whatever was turning innocent people into animals.
Lowering their arched back, Mayhem sat down, puffy tail curling around his paws, "Sorry for the scare, then. As April said, I'm Mayhem! Who're you?"
Oh, right-
With a quick meow of your name, Mayhem chirps joyously and gives you a closed eyed smile.
"You two getting along well?" April spoke up from her place beside you two, reaching to pet Mayhem's head, "I sure hope so! I've been dying to get some cute pics of you two together for days."
You could practically feel the embarrassment of putting on a stupid pet costume already.
This was definitely karma for something.
"I should totally start calling you something other than 'little kitty', too. But I just can't think of a name!" You listened in worried silence as April began to ramble on about the different kinds of names you could be given, like 'Bucky', 'Daisy', or even 'Calamity'.
(That last one April seemed to like a lot, especially since it went hand in hand with Mayhem's name.)
Tuning her out, you shot a glance towards Mayhem, who happened to do the same.
"We're gonna be here for a bit." He chirped.
—
Ever since that day April and Mayhem have been taking up your spare time.
Just waking up? Mayhem is there to visit until he’s off to do… Whatever they do when he’s not around you or April.
(You felt the need to ask what a creature like him would even do one day, but he’d only shrugged his shoulders and teleported away.)
Just came back after stealing a sandwich or two from a citizen? April's there to feed you some tuna and register your stolen food meaningless.
About to head to bed?
Okay, actually… The night time was one of the times where you were free to do whatever you wanted instead of scavenging, getting fed by April, or trying to find a way back home in-between the visits. Unfortunately, you had to sleep.
Apparently your sleep schedule is now even more screwed than before, due to the fact you're a cat, so now you kind of feel the urge to sleep more often.
On particular nights, though, you weren't feeling drowsy at all, with just enough energy stored up to stay awake all through most of the night. Which you quickly found out was rather boring without technology to distract you.
Of course, this was the city! People and other animals still roamed the streets, but it was a toss of a coin on whether or not you'd encounter someone who just liked yelling at cats or a raccoon who wouldn't hesitate to scratch your nose off. So, you developed a habit of climbing up onto the rooftops or higher places whenever you had the energy, where only small birds could get you.
Or, apparently, giant fucking turtles.
Did you mention that?
Yeah, giant turtles.
(You were now fairly certain that you weren’t in the same world you were previously in. Yay.)
You promise you're not going absolutely mad, those were definitely turtles sitting only two rooftops away from you. All four of them were sitting peacefully together, hanging around and acting as if they weren't just gigantic monstrous turtles!
Not really monstrous, since they definitely weren't ugly… But you get the point.
Pacing back and forth, you contemplated heading over to interact with them. It's not every day you get to see giant turtles in the city of New York! A one in a lifetime chance, you'd say.
Though… You were still incredibly nervous. Just because they seemed chill now doesn't mean they aren't assholes! Maybe they like kicking cats! Or pushing old ladies! Or setting fire to wildlife!
So, you stayed and watched them talk, peering only slightly over the edge of the rooftop to try and see them without being seen yourself.
"No, no, listen-" The one with the blue mask took a bite out of a slice of ham and pineapple pizza, "You don't understand. Technically, they're able to be milked. Just like you milk juice out of an orange, you can milk juice out of a blueberry."
Immediately, the purple one stood up and pointed a finger at Blue, "That's called juicing, 'Nardo. You can't milk an orange or a blueberry!"
"The terms are interchangeable!" Nardo replied with a shrug.
"No they're not!" Purple waved their arms around.
From beside the red masked turtle, a little orange turtle held up their phone to Purple, showing the taller turtle something. Nardo leaned over Purple's shoulder, peering down as the blue light of a phone reached their eyes.
Purple gave Orange a glare as Nardo clapped their hands together in joy, "See! Blueberry milk! I'm right!"
Whipping around to face Nardo again, Purple hissed out a reply, "That's not how that works and you know it!"
You stumbled backwards, losing your balance on your hind legs and falling back. A bird behind you screeched in alarm, fluttering up into the night sky above as you pushed yourself back up.
Curse your stupid cat body…
Trying to return to the position you were in before, you stood up on your hind legs and let your front paws curl over the edge of the rooftop, ready to continue listening. Instead of seeing the incredibly stupid argument continue to play out, you noticed all the turtles had their eyes dead set on the spot you were standing.
Ah. Right. The bird.
"Awh! Look! It's just a cat!" Orange cooed, leaping up from their spot and placing their slice of pizza back in the box. They wandered towards the edge of their own rooftop, waving at you, "Hey there little guy."
Red followed close behind, eyes practically shining as they spied you looking back. Patting Orange's head gently, Red turned to mutter to them, earning a concerned look as Red began to leap over the alley gaps and make their way towards you.
Immediately knowing that you were probably going to get smothered with love (since these guys definitely didn't seem like a threat now) you ducked down and hurried to find a way off of the roof. Unfortunately, the only way down was in the alleyway Red had already jumped over, having reached your roof in a matter of seconds.
The two of you stood there, just staring at each other.
"C'mere little fella…" Crouching down, Red held out his hand to you.
And just like last time, you still did not want to be pet, so you stayed completely frozen.
From behind Red appeared Nardo and Purple, who'd both climbed onto the larger's back. The two watched closely as Red inched towards you, sharing a look with each other for a moment or two. Orange had settled down on the edge of the rooftop beside everyone else, head swaying side to side carelessly.
Red clicked their tongue once or twice, pausing their movements and letting you decide what to do next.
…
Oh fucking hell, fine.
Going against your wishes not to be petted, your body moved towards Red, and you lowered your head to rub it against his palm as gently as you could. At this, Red giggled and took this as a sign that it was alright to begin scratching behind your ears, occasionally running their hand down your back a couple of times.
Oh.
Well this is. Kind of nice, actually.
Being pet is not that bad…
(You will not be caught dead saying that out loud, though.)
A minute or two passed of Red giving you scratches before you were gently picked up from behind.
It turns out, as you were distracted, Orange had made their way behind you, curling their fingers underneath your cat body and lifting you from the ground effortlessly. You then found yourself tucked right into their plastron and cradled like a baby.
"Isn't she so cute?" Orange spun around, "She's so nice for a stray!"
"I think it's a he, actually." Red added, leaning over to give you another scratch or two.
"I don't think so-"
"Well there's a way we can figure that out." Purple butted into the discussion, raising their hand like they were in school.
Before Purple could do anything, though, Nardo pushed them aside, giving their forehead a flick, "I'd rather not see a cat's junk tonight, Donnie."
This earned Nardo a huff, but before he could even start to argue, he was cut off, “Listen, lets just focus on the fact an animal doesn’t hate Raph’s guts for once. I am so proud of you, big bro!” Nardo congratulated, patting Red’s shell and wiping a fake tear from his eye.
Orange gasped, maneuvering you around in his hands so that you were held out to the other turtles, his hands supporting you under your arms, “It’s got to be a sign! We should totally bring them home!”
Nardo nodded his head, “Yes, Mikey, exactly!”
“I’m not opposed to the idea.” Donnie chimed in.
As soon as Donnie finished speaking, Raph began to look nervous, “Listen guys, as much as I like animals, I don’t think it’d be a good idea to bring one back to the lair. I mean, we’re kind of busy with our hero stuff. I wouldn’t want this little fella to get hurt-” Raph had leaned to scratch behind your ears one last time.
Hero stuff?
“C’mon, Raph, who’s gonna come after a cat?” Nardo questioned, placing his hands on his hips.
“Bad guys, that’s who! We don’t even know how to take care of a cat!”
Bad guys?
Did you get chucked into a superhero comic or something? Out of all the universes that fate could transport you into as a cat, it was this one. Damn your luck.
Mikey shook you around slightly, pulling you back into his plastron. You gave him a warning growl, daring the turtle to shake you again like you were some stuffed toy. His only response was to keep you still in his hold, “Well…. We can’t learn if we don’t try!”
“We did try! Months ago! With that little dog robot Donnie built as a test run!” Raph reasoned.
“Second time’s the charm!” Mikey replied back.
Raph choked on his words, waving his hands back and forth before he heaved out a sigh, giving in, “Alright, alright. But I’m not the one telling Pops.”
The other turtles looked at each other, and you could just tell that a competition was about to begin by the look in their eyes. Slowly, Mikey handed you over to Raph, who only watched with a knowing look as his brothers began to crouch down, ready to sprint.
“Last one back to the lair tells dad!” Nardo shouted, and then disappeared into a blue portal without another word.
For a second, Donnie and Mikey shared a frustrated glance, then bolted right off the rooftops with their own weird tools, hurrying as fast as they could past Raph, leaving the two of you alone together.
You stared up at him, and he looked down at you.
“I can guess this happens a lot, doesn’t it?” You meowed.
Raph gives you a light chuckle, supposedly making his way towards this ‘lair’ that he’d mentioned. Momentarily you’d perked up, assuming he’d understood you, but when he spoke up and called you a ‘nice little kitty’, you mumbled to yourself, disappointed.
Well damn.
You’d run, but these guys, as loud as they were, were interesting.
It… It wouldn’t hurt to find out what their deal was, would it?
-
Why the hell was he heading into the sewers?
Oh no no no, you were not going to go down there, especially as a cat. You shivered in disgust at the thought of the amount of grime that'd coat your fur if you even stepped a paw into that sewer hole. You'd smell like the sewers for weeks! April would definitely try and give you a bath! And it won't be fun!
Hissing, you scrambled out of Raph's hold, leaping down and backing away from the sewer cover that he'd just lifted up. He sent you a confused look, reaching to pat your head and huffing in defeat when you ducked away. Nah, no thank you. No dirty sewer turtle hands were going to touch you in any capacity today. Nuh uh!
Surely there was another way into their home?
You supposed they'd have to travel by sewer to get anywhere and not be noticed, but that doesn't mean you were willing to do that too!
"It's okay- Our home is just down here! It's completely safe." Raph attempted to reassure you.
Ah.
They live down there.
Fun.
You know, maybe you weren't as intrigued any more. You were extremely tempted to turn your back on these crazy turtles and run away. You were wasting your time dawdling around with weird beasts and creatures! It was about time you tried to find your way home again!
But so far none of that has worked. You'd gotten absolutely nowhere by yourself…
And traveling through dimensions as a powerless human-turned-cat… Yeah, not really easy to do.
Perhaps if you powered through it and stayed with them for a little while, they'd lead you to some convenient interdimensional portal, if you were lucky. But all in all, thinking about it, they seemed like the best chance you had at getting home.
And you figured that you just couldn't pass it up, as much as you'd despise even laying a finger on any sewer floor.
So, reluctantly, you let Raph pick you up again, lowering the two of you into the sewers and closing the cover above you.
Guess you're staying a little longer than you'd planned.
-
The sewers were as smelly as you suspected.
Well, until you'd made it to the turtle's actual living space. The smell had definitely faded away a lot, and the water looked relatively… clean.
Once you and Raph had entered the main area, you had been gently set down, allowing you to explore to your hearts delight. It took a moment to adjust to walking again, but once you did, you strolled towards the middle of the platform. Raph stayed still behind you, most likely watching you find your way around things. To see if you were correct, you looked his way, and he was, in fact, watching you, face scrunched up in thought. He seemed a smidge out of it, but it didn't look like he was stressed, so you continued to poke around, staying in Raph's line of sight.
The only things you could find were a couple of bricks, a thrown aside skateboard, and some blank sheets of paper with grease stains on them. Other than that, you found two large boards that leaned on the side of each wall, opposite to each other. They reminded you of skateboard ramps. With the random skateboard nearby, you assumed that's probably what they were supposed to be…
"So, who lost?" Raph asked.
You noticed that the rest of the turtles had walked into the area while you had been thinking, Mikey and Donnie settling down in their own personal spots. Nardo, instead, made his way over to you, crouching down and leaning back to sit on the floor. He reached a hand out towards you, but you backed away, sitting down with your back towards him. The turtle whined but didn't make another move.
"Leo did!" Mikey called from his spot, kicking his legs as he caused ripples in the water around the platform.
Who was Leo?
"Really? Where'd you portal to this time?" Holding back a laugh, Raph went over to sit next to Mikey.
Nardo groaned, "Paris. And before you ask, no, I did not get any souvenirs, I was trying to win."
Wait, so is his name Nardo or Leo?
Is Leo just a nickname?
But who would name their kid Nardo…
Is it- Is his name Leonardo? Are literally all the turtles named after real old dudes? Really?
Donnie hummed, "And how'd that work out for you?"
"Donnie! Shush!"
"Alright."
The turtles had then begun to joke around with each other, completely forgetting you were even there.
There's only so much bickering you can listen to before you go absolutely mad, so you decide to hurry off and adventure by yourself.
Which is how you found yourself in a strange… Living-room area, standing behind a comfy seat that you know a real cat would absolutely adore shredding to bits with their claws. Fortunately for your new acquaintances, you wouldn’t dare rip apart such a comfortable looking chair! In fact, you really want to sit in it. So, you gingerly trot your way in front of the seat, leaping up onto it and plopping down right into the cushion. Kneading your paws against it, you purred and leaned your head on one of the soft arms of the chair, the closest you could get to a smile on your furry little face.
All was peaceful.
“Hey… Dad?”
Until Leo walked in.
“Well I guess he isn’t here…” The turtle strolled up to the seat, leaning an arm against the back of it while looking around the area. His eyes scanned the room before falling upon you, nestled comfortably upon the chair without a care in the world. Drowsily, you looked up at him, and he looked down at you, “Oh, kitty-! You better hop on out of that seat, I don’t think he’d enjoy a cat taking his favorite spot in the lair!” Leo reached down to nudge you with one of his hands, but you sent him a glare and a frustrated growl. You don’t really care if their pops didn’t want you in his seat, he could go grab a new chair or sit on the ground! Simple as that!
“Kitty- C’mon-” Leo reached under you and attempted to pick you up from your sides, pulling you away from the precious couch. A hiss left your mouth and you tried to wiggle out of his grip to no avail, so you did what any cat would do.
You let your claws out.
Latching right onto the arm of the chair, your claws sunk into the fabric, keeping you connected to the chair as Leo desperately tried to peel you off of it. He tugged harder, and you held on as long as you could.
RRRIIIIP!
“No!”
You let go of the chair and dangled from Leo’s hands as he stared blankly at the disaster you’d created.
It seems you had lied. Not even you could resist shredding that nice fabric to shreds…
“Shit shit shit shit-”
Letting you go and drop to the floor, Leo pushed down the stuffing of the chair back into its place, only for more to spill out onto the ground. Hopping foot to foot in an anxious dance of panic, the turtle began to pace back and forth around the chair, muttering to himself.
You, on the other hand, stood silently as Leo had a meltdown, shuffling back as you were in his pacing pathway.
“Oh he’s so gonna ground me.” Leo stopped pacing, placing his hands on the torn up arm and leaning close, “Maybe I can…” He began muttering again.
“Blue? What are you doing?” From behind the both of you, a small rat man, surprisingly taller than you, made his way into the room, a bag of freshly popped popcorn in his grubby paws.
‘Do not tell me that's their dad…’ You thought, exhausted.
“Nothing, Dad!” The turtle spun around, sitting on the torn up arm and using his leg to nudge you to the side and behind the recliner. You could see him sweating bullets, and faintly, the cartoonish sound effect that went along with it in the background. For a moment you wondered if the cartoon sound effects would play for you too, or if they only affected people born in this world..
“Uh huh... Now, move! I’m just in time for my commercials and I don’t want to eat cold popcorn while I do!” Dad’s nose scrunched up.
Leo chuckled, “Well… Before you do, I have something to tell you.”
Dad raised an eyebrow, encouraging Leo to continue, although he didn’t look very patient.
“We found… A pet!” Then, out of nowhere, you were lifted up and held from under your front legs, shown off to this small rat man who did not look pleased at all.
Dad's eyes narrowed at you. You glared back.
“Just wanted to let you know- So you wouldn’t, you know, kick ‘em out or anything! We’ll keep it as far away from you as possible when you’re busy!”
Dad’s eyes narrowed even further.
“Okay, bye!”
Then, with you in hand, Leo sped out the room.
Seconds later, a yell echoed through the lair.
"MY CHAIR!!!"