Oh god, I haven't posted anything in forever... It's been, what, 3 months? *giggles nervously* whelp, sorry guys. I've had this saved on my phone since LAST summer, so obviously it's an AU and set before Slash & Destroy. I hope there's no OOC characters but that's to be expected with my crappy writing. Also, I skimmed it, so tell me if there are any errors. I guess all I have to say right now is enjoy! R&R

Unexpected Mutations

Rating: K+

Idea: What would happen if Spike got mutagen splashed on HER?

Chapter 1

"Honestly, I can't believe ya actually like that show! It's stupid!" Raphael complained to his older brother. "Can't ya change it to something else that actually has a purpose?" Donnie rolled his eyes; this was a daily occurrence for them. Mikey was reading a comic book upside down, and April was looking over his shoulder as he browsed the Internet.

Leo rolled his eyes. "Raph, ''Space Heroes'' is a great show, and Captain Ryan is an awesome leader!" He didn't even look away from the TV screen. "If you hate it so much, go do something else. Today during training I noticed your katas were a little sloppy."

Raph clenched his fists, and Leo smirked inwardly; Raph would always take the bait. "I'M not leaving MY living room!" He stalked over to Leo and jabbed the back of his shell.

Leo paused the show. "Oh yeah?"

"Shell yeah! I ain't leaving!" Leo turned around to face his annoyed brother. By now, April was watching with wide eyes. She definitely wasn't used to this. Donnie looked up occasionally to see if he needed to break their spat up.

"Uh, Raph?" Raph whipped around to glare at the redhead who interrupted them. "I need to go home; I have an essay due next Tuesday. Can you walk me home?" April gave him a hopeful smile.

"Why don't ya ask Lover Boy over there to walk ya?" He jerked a thumb in Donnie's direction. "I gotta deal with Lame-nardo!" Leo matched Raph's glare evenly.

Donnie instantly perked up. "Yeah! I don't mind walking you home, April!"

"I know." April dismissed his suggestion with a wave of her hand. "But I need someone really STRONG and really BRAVE!"

Mikey giggled from underneath the pages of his comic book. "Dude, you just got dissed!" Donnie glared daggers at his little brother.

"Why I'm going to CRUSH you!" He lunged, barely missing the orang clad turtle. Donnie chased Mikey around the lair, growling and snarling threats.

"LEOOO! HELP ME!" Mikey squealed, wailing, shrieking, and dodging attempts to have his shell kicked. Donnie had quickly entered the state Mikey had dubbed 'Doomsday Donnie.'

"I suppose I can walk with you." Raph puffed out his chest and walked towards the exit, only pausing once to gently pick up his pet turtle, Spike. He placed Spike on his shoulder.

April winked at Leo as she grabbed her bag and followed Raph out, not noticing Donnie's jaw dropping. He mouthed the words 'Thank You' as she and Raph trudged out. As soon as the duo was gone from sight, he grabbed the remote and un-paused ''Space Heroes.''

The walk through the sewer tunnels was silent and awkward, neither one daring to say a word. All they could hear was their footsteps and the disgusting squelching of mud. April supposed that the only reason it was so awkward was because they never really hung out together; her relationship with the red clad turtle was probably the most distant out of them all.

However, for a second, April could have sworn she heard someone mumble something. Then again... And then again!

"Did you say something?" April grabbed his arm, looking over her shoulder to make sure they weren't being followed.

Raph looked at her sideways. "I wasn't talking to ya." He admitted.

"But no one else is down here!"

Raph looked at her as if she had a third eye. "Actually, you're wrong! Spike's here, too!" He bristled slightly. "Are ya calling Spike a nobody?"

"No, no, no!" April reassured, waving her hands in front of her chest. "I just didn't know if you said something to me or not!" He loosened up a bit, and his shoulders relaxed ever so slightly.

"Oh," he grunted. "Whatever." Both teenagers continued down the dark tunnels silently until Raph blurted out,

"I was talking to Spike!" He blurted out, not meeting her eyes.

"Really?" She smirked a bit at big, tough Raph talking to his beloved pet. "What were you saying?" She asked curiously. I mean, what type of secrets can a walking, talking mutant turtle have?

"Now that's none of your business!" He retorted. April held up her hands in surrender and he grunted out an apology. "Spike here is my best friend. He knows everything about me." Raph petted the little turtle on the head as he crawled up onto his shoulder.

"Looks like someone really loves him!" She cooed in a sing song voice. All she got in response was a smirk. Out of the corner of her eyes, she could see Raph pressing his cheek against the top of Spike's, and she knew the answer. Spike seemed to wink at her.

Yes. Wholeheartedly, yes. Raphael, the tough, hotheaded turtle loved his little pet more than life itself.

April smirked in spite of herself. Who'd've guessed? Once they approached the manhole cover, Raph gave her a boost up and then leapt up himself, immediately going into the shadows. The sidewalks weren't very crowded, which surprise April. Usually they were jam-packed. Raph insisted on sticking to the shadows though.

Every now and then, the redhead would give a glance to the shadows beside her, and two fluorescent green eyes would blink back in reassurance.

April could finally see her aunt's house in the distance, so she turned to face the hidden ninja. "Hey, Raph. There's my aunt's house, so-"

"I CAN'T FIND SPIKE!" A panicked voice interrupted her, and two neon green eyes met her, swirled with terror.

"Okay, okay, it's okay!" April soothed. "We can go look for him! Don't worry!"

"We HAVE to find him!" Raph's breathing was steadily increasing and off-kilter. "Come on!" He grabbed her hand and pulled her into the shadows with him.

"My aunt is going to KILL me!" April griped under her breath.

Raph whipped around and glared. "What was that?"

"Nothing!" She said, scanning the ground. 'Remind me never to get on his bad side!' She thought to herself. The hothead was practically crawling around on the concrete, muttering and cursing under his breath. April ducked into an alley and peeked around a huddle of trash cans.

One mischievous turtle was crawling around in front of a large stack of empty, black garbage bags.

"There you are!" April cooed. "Your bestie has been looking all over for you!" Spike looked up and blinked up at her, but continued on his journey of walking around near the trash bags. In one fluid motion, he stuck his head underneath the bottom sack. A faint, blue-green shine peeked out, reflecting off the dirty grey bins around it.

"Huh?" April breathed out. She swooped up the naughty turtle in one hand and in the other knocked down the stack of bags.

Two untouched containers of mutagen laid there, looking all shiny and pretty but deadly.

"Oh, crap!" April swore to herself. She was jerked out of the stupor when a cold hand gripped her shoulder. "Raph, look at this-"

"The one known as 'you' is not allowed to be in the place known as here. The one known as 'you' shall be terminated from the place known as here." One business Kraang robot was standing behind her, and several more without their disguises were behind him.

April clutched Spike close to her chest as the two undisguised Kraang grabbed her upper arms and began dragging her away. The business Kraang bent over and picked up the mutagen.

"Hey! Put me down!" She kicked her feet at the ground, hurling insults at the aliens. 'Where the heck is Raph?' April wondered, a little more than ticked off that the red-clad turtle hadn't saved her yet. She DID have a curfew, after all.

Her RED knight in silver armor flipped down into the alley from the fire escape, Sai out and swinging. The two Kraang gripping her arms were immediately disposed of.

"Thanks!"

"No prob, Ape." He whirled around, stabbing the robot sneaking up behind him. "Keep watching Spike for me, will ya?"

"How many times have I told you NOT to call me that?" She yelled, exasperated.

"Hey, you can't say jack while I'm risking my shell to save ya!" He smirked as he took a defensive stance.

"Oh yeah?" She cocked her head. 'Bring it, turtle!'

"You want me to leave you at the mercy of the Kraang?" Raph teased, turning his back from her to fend off his attackers. April, throughout her giggles, didn't notice the robot coming up behind her.

Raph turned around to take out the last two Kraang, which unfortunately were behind April. His eyes grew wide. "April! Look out!" He lunged at the aliens, stabbing through both their chests. The second Kraang holding the mutagen jars released both of the containers. The glass cracked and shattered on impact, and the blue goo splattered all over.

April jumped backwards to avoid the splash. The back of her head snapped against the alley's wall, and as a reflex, both hands grabbed it as she collapsed to the ground.

"NO!" Raph howled. His beloved Spike fell in slo-mo through the air and into the puddle of ooze. With one last buzz of adrenaline, he lunged to catch him but missed and crashed against the wall beside the fallen teenager.

He shook her, but her head lolled limply about, and her eyes were unfocused. He whipped around to check on his beloved pet; Spike was lying still in the puddle.

"Ugh," April groaned as she pushed herself up into a sitting position. She rubbed the back of her head and took in the sight of Raph sitting with his head in his hands beside the slew of ooze. "What happened-OH NO!" Raph looked up and turned around, eyes brimming with tears.

"Raph! I'm so, so sorry!" She pushed the wave of dizziness away as she stood up unsteadily to go comfort her friend. "It was an accident! I promise!"

"April, go home." Raph turned his gaze back to his pet. "I just want to be alone right now."

"Raph, I-"

"JUST GO!" Raph roared. April opened her mouth to say something else, but clamped it shut as she turned and staggered out of the alley. Maybe she hit had her head harder than she thought.

Raph brought his knees up to his chest and put his head in his hands. "This is all my fault," he whispered, letting the tears fall to the asphalt. God knows how long he sat there, mourning the death of his pet. After all the tears had fallen, he sniffed and wiped his eyes. He had to go home now; he knew that Leo was probably freaking the shell out.

Raph clenched his eyes shut as he straightened out his legs; he didn't want to look at his lifeless pet quite yet. Strange, his feet bumped into something big. But he hasn't say by anything that close to him...

Cautiously, Raph opened his eyes. He was NOT prepared with what he saw. Strangled gasps forced their way out of his lungs, and his eyes practically bugged out of his skull.

One petite, skinny female mutant turtle lay in front of him. Her light green skin reflected patterns from the puddle of ooze she was laying in. Her shell was small, smaller than his, and her plastron was a lighter shade of yellow. Red hair was fanned out everywhere, and pieces of it were sticky and stuck on her cheek. Her face was huge, because she didn't have on a mask or eyes were closed, so he couldn't tell what color her eyes were, but he bet they were beautiful.

SHE was beautiful.

He scooped her up in a heartbeat, cradling her to his plastron. Raph began running as fast as he could back to the lair; he didn't stop once. He made it back in record time, not hesitating to barge into the living room.

Immediately, all three of his brothers were all up in his face.

"Raph! What happened?"

"Oh my gosh! Raph!"

"Raph? Are you hurt?"

"Mikey, go get some pillows and blankets for the couch! Now!"

"Wait, is that blood?"

"MIKEY!"

"Okay, okay! I'm going! Sheesh.."

Raph had tuned out his brothers; he just saw Leo up in his face lecturing and asking questions, and Donnie giving orders. He saw Mikey practically tripping over the stack of blankets he was lugging in and dump them on their sofa.

"Raph?" The red-clad turtle was jerked back into reality when Leo laid a warm hand on his arm. "Are you okay?" Raph dragged his gaze to Leo's face and gave a quick nod. "Good, good. Can you tell us who you're holding now?"

"It's.. It's.." He couldn't bring himself to say it; in fact, he didn't believe it himself!

"She's beautiful!" Donnie breathed. Leo nodded his head vigorously in agreement, his eyes wide as he scrutinized the girl's face.

"Dibs!" Mikey yelled out, sticking his head in between Leo's and Donnie's. They both jumped and smacked his bandana tails. "Hey! Ow!"

"Raph," Leo spoke slowly and over pronounced every word like he was speaking to a child. "Why don't you go put her on the couch?"

Raph glared at his older brother. "Do I look like a toddler to you?" Still, he began to make his way to put her down. The girl squirmed a bit as he began moving again, and instantly he stopped and everyone surrounded them.

She stretched, yawning and showing off two rows of perfect white teeth. Her eyelids fluttered and she opened them. Light green eyes met neon, and the girl grinned.

"Hello, Raphael."

Okay guys I haven't been completely honest... One of the reasons I haven't posted in a while is because I sort of dropped out of this fandom...? I mean, I still vaguely keep tags on it, and I still read all updated stories fanfiction sends me. I watch the show with my little sister to know what's still going on, but I haven't written anything in months. I don't know if I'm going too. I think I will to post all other pre-written stories I have so you can read them. About my WIPs, I hate to find a good story and it be unfinished, so I want to finish them, I just don't know how long it will take me. Just be patient guys, okay?

Whew... Sorry for ranting. Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please review! :)