I stopped running after about 10 minutes and leant against a nearby wall, catching my breath. My mind was a swirling mass of confusement. I still feared Raphael and I was unsure of how violent he may become towards me. Hot tears rolled down my cheeks as I debated my options. I could either return in the hope that Raphael had cooled off, or I could head back to the cardboard box.
I wanted to return to the abandoned underground station where the turtles lived, but I was scared of Raph. I eventually decided to see if anyone would come and look for me and if they did I would return with them.
I sank to the floor and squatted on my heels, resting my head in my hands. I sat quietly for about an hour before I realized how ridiculous I was being. Even if the turtles wanted to find me, it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack. The sewers were so vast and I was so small.
I climbed to my feet and walked slowly back along the path which I came from. I reached a junction and paused to wonder which path I had run from just an hour previously.
I chose the left, although I still wasn�t sure, and I followed the path at a slow walk for 15 minutes or so. I didn�t recognize anything and I finally reached the conclusion that I had gone the wrong way.
I was just about to turn around and head back when I saw, out of the corner of my eye, a broken canister with some sort of glowing ooze spilling from it. I crouched down and picked up the two halves of the canister, placing them together. There was some writing along the side of it, but I couldn�t make it out in the gloom of the sewers. I put the two halves back down and rubbed some of the ooze between my fingers. What was this stuff?
I turned sharply as I thought I heard someone call my name. As I turned I accidentally sliced my right index finger on the sharp edge of the canister halves.
I quickly turned back, squealing at the sharp stab of pain.
�Shit.� I cursed, watching the blood start to pulsate from the cut. I heard my name called again, clearer this time, and I recognized Leonardo�s voice. I smiled happily. They did like me. They did want me to stay with them.
�I�m here!� I yelled ignoring the pain from the cut and walking swiftly in the direction where I guessed the voice was coming from.
�Andy? ANDY?� Leonardo called again, rounding the corner in front of me. He grinned as he caught sight of me. �Thought you might have headed back up to the streets.� he said. �Then it would have been more difficult to find you.�
�Naw. The sewers are much nicer than up there.� I replied, recalling the treatment I had received from people.
�Anyway, you can come back to the lair, uh, if you want.�
�Is Raph...� I started.
�Gone out.�
�Okay. But are you sure he won�t mind if I�m there when he comes back?�
�Um. He isn�t coming back. Not in the near future anyway. He�s gone to stay with a friend called Casey, Casey Jones.�
�Oh.� I started to feel a little bad that I appeared to have driven Raph from his home, even though I hadn�t actually done anything to upset him in my knowledge.
Leonardo headed off back the way he came, checking to see that I was following. We arrived back at the lair a few minutes later and found Don and Mike waiting for us.
�ANDY!!!� cheered Mikey, coming and giving me a hug. I brought my hands up and placed them on his plastron in mock self-defense. I then felt a twinge of pain in my finger as I remembered the cut. The pain had been there since the accident, but was a sort of dull throbbing that I had chosen not to notice. Mikey saw me cringe slightly as I felt a sharp pain from the finger and he noticed the blood.
�Geez, Andy. What happened to your finger?� he asked, taking my right wrist in his hands and examining my finger.
�I cut it on some sort of canister.� I explained.
�Ouch.� said Mike in sympathy. �Well we ought to wash it.� He gently tugged me over to the sink in the kitchen and stuck my hand under freezing water.
Yaaaaarrrrrrgggggghhhhhh!� I squealed, �Cold water!!!�
�Heheh!!� laughed Mikey, splashing some in my face.
I squealed again and splashed him back.
�It�ll heat up in a mo.� Mike explained, smiling and wiping the water from his eyes. A few seconds later the water did start to warm a bit. Michaelangelo gently washed away the dirt clogged around the cut using a mixture of disinfectant and water. Once the cut was completely clean, Mikey patted it dry with a towel and then kissed it better before Donatello walked into the kitchen, carrying a box of plasters. He located one that was the right shape and stuck it over the cut. I giggled. It was a Thomas the Tank Engine plaster.
The rest of the day continued peacefully. Everyone went about their own activities, making time for some sparring in the evening. I went to bed early that night as I was feeling slightly groggy and out of it for some reason.
I awoke suddenly in the early hours of the morning to find myself being choked by my PJ top. I tugged at the neck to try and loosen it from being caught around my back, but it didn�t loosen. It was then that I realized that something was seriously wrong.
I sprung out of bed and raced to the mirror to see what the problem was. I let out a squeak as I caught sight of my reflection.
Raising a hand tentatively, I touched the mirror and gawked in horror as the reflections green hand rose to meet mine. I dropped my eyes down to my body and yanked off my PJ�s (which had been given to me, like the rest of my stuff, by April).
I was a turtle.
I screamed loudly and backed away from the mirror, colliding with my chair. About half a minute or so later Mikey, who was in the room next to me, poked his sleepy head round the door.
�You screamed?� he joked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He then noticed my apparent change in species. He gawked at me for almost a minute.
�Uh, I�ll get the others.� he said finally, backing out.
I sat on the edge of my bed and looked more closely at my new body while I waited. I wasn�t quite the same as the others. For a start I still had hair on my head and the tiny hairs covering most of my skin. The other turtles had smooth reptilian skin. However my skin was green with darker patches in some areas.
I stood up and headed for the mirror again. This time looking at my face. My eyes were still the same as they had always been, the same bright blue colour, but that was where the similes ended. My human nose and mouth were history and had been replaced with a turtle beak.
I pulled my long, light brown hair over my shoulder and half turned to look at my shell. It was actually quite pretty with a swirling, grooved pattern which reminded me strongly of something, I couldn�t recall what though. I flipped my hair back and ran my hands down my front. I was naked, but it didn�t feel like it. It felt like wearing a swimming costume.
I turned to the door as there was a small commotion outside it. Mikey came back in, followed by Leonardo and Donatello. There was complete silence as everyone stared at me. I started to blush slightly which prompted action. Everyone started to talk at once.
�What the..?�
�How�d this..?
�Holy shit!�
Donatello started to busy himself with trying to find out how this happened. He questioned me about how I�d cut myself the day before. I told him everything, including the canister this time.
�The ooze!� declared Donatello as I finished talking. Just at that moment, Splinter walked in.
�What is the cause of all this noise.� Splinter asked.
�Andrea has come into contact with some ooze and mutated.� explained Donatello. �Unless the ooze was the same as the one that mutated us originally, but containing properties to mutate her into a turtle, I still don�t get how she got the DNA into her body to transmogrify her into a turtle though.�
�I do.� I said suddenly, looking up. �It�s from when Mikey kissed my finger better yesterday.�
�Aahhhh!� Donatello exclaimed. �That would explain the similarities between you two!�
Mikey had turned to face my bed and was giving me a clear view of his carapace. I realized where I had seen the swirling pattern on my shell before. It was the same as Michaelangelo�s.
Mike turned round to face me. We stared at each other.
�Doesn�t that make us kinda related?� queried Michaelangelo.
�Yup.� agreed Don. �Genetic brother and sister, but I�d need to get some of the ooze to check before I could be sure.�
�Does that mean I�m related to all of you?� I asked, my brow creasing in concentration. I got a round of puzzled looks.
�Well aren�t you all brothers?�
�Oh no.� chipped in Leonardo. �We�re not actually related. We just came together when a kid wanted to buy some pet turtles.�
�So I�m only related to Mike?�
�Genetically.� Donatello confirmed. �Probably. I can�t be sure until I can test some of the ooze.�
�Do you remember where the ooze was?� inquired Leonardo.
�Sure!� I said.
�Well then lets go!� Mikey grinned, bounding out if the door. I followed my new �brother� feeling on
top my world which had just been turned inside-out and upside-down.