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"Red Rat"

The den was quiet as Splinter rested in the armchair; it was the most comfortable piece of furniture they had ever scavenged, and while the turtles were out on patrol, the master could rest quietly at home without their raucous behavior forcing him to seek solace somewhere else. He cared about Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello and Michaelangelo deeply, but every father-figure could use a break from their children every now and again.

A low deep rumbling of thunder outside almost shook the walls of their home, but with sturdy concrete surrounding them on all angles, it was more the anticipation of the storm that made it seem a lot closer than it was. Rain was finding its way through the sewer's many cracks, nooks, crannies and folds and draining somewhat copiously into the den as he sat with his eyes closed, simply listening to the sounds going on around him. The television was off, there had been a power outage earlier, but Donatello had managed to get the grid back online before they left. The downpour was good for them; a good way for the turtles to return to their more aquatic roots. Splinter himself preferred to remain dry. A rumbling of his stomach prompted Splinter to open his eyes and glance down at his form; age had definitely worn a bit of a pudge to him, but he was still spry as they came. He eventually worked his way out of the leather recliner and made his way across the den; certainly there were a few left overs from the night before he could eat. Passing the kitchen he spotted a half-eaten pizza sitting on the counter; not being partial to the meal, Splinter considered passing it up in the hopes of finding something more palatable, but decided to grab a slice of it nonetheless. Using his cane, he deftly opened the door to the refrigerator and pulled out a few ingredients for tea. Cold pizza and hot tea while the weather outside went ballistic was an oddly appealing idea to the old ninja master. He extracted a kettle from one of the cabinets and filled it with water, turning on the stove, he placed the kettle on the burner.

"For all the conveniences April has helped us get in here, this one is perhaps the one I am most grateful for." He said with a chuckle.

*BOOM*

Splinter jumped at the sound, an explosive blast of noise suddenly causing the entire kitchen to shake. He stayed himself with one hand on the stove and the other clutching at his cane. "What in the--?" He muttered to himself before another violent shake threw him to the ground. Every light overhead began to overload and explode out sequentially until the entire room went dark. He winced as he began to get back to his feet. Whatever had happened had gone far beyond just the den. The sounds of car alarms could be heard in the streets overhead, as his eyes began to re-adjust themselves to the darkness, Splinter could hear cracking in the ceiling, then just as he looked up he could feel the debris falling down on him, as if the sky were falling down and he was instantly trapped. "NO!" He shouted angrily as he wriggled to free himself. As he struggled, he could feel the ground under him begin to sag a bit as the weight of him plus the debris collapsed that in as well. Splinter fell into the darkness, but something striking the back of his head silenced his screams, and everything went black.

The sound of wind woke Splinter from his sleep; he jerked to his senses and found that he was crumpled up on his side on the floor of some chamber. As he turned over he winced as his neck cracked and his spine straightened out. "Nnhh..." He moaned softly as he got back to his feet. His cane was gone, not that he relied on it all the time, but it certainly helped. There was a strange illumination in the cave as well, as Splinter looked around, he realized that he couldn't have fallen down here from the sewer; there were no holes above him to show where he had fallen through. As he walked along the wall, he let his hand slide along the smooth surface and the illumination came from somewhere above him. As he approached the upper edge of the slow ramp up, he could hear the sounds of something like fire crackling, his ears perked up.

"Hello? Is anybody there?" He asked. There was no response, but the light faded as though it were moving. Splinter gasped at the realization and lurched forward. "Hey! Wait!" Without realizing it, he had overstepped and the stones at the top of the hill and fell forward. Thinking quickly, he turned the fall into a roll and landed upright again, just in time to see what looked like a flame exiting through a small hole in the base of the cave wall. "Just one moment! I need your help!" He flung his arms into the small entry, and could hear someone making their way up it, but he didn't expect it to be big enough for any human to crawl through. Splinter pushed his way inward and felt immediately that the hole was barely wide enough even for him. "If I wanted to be a spelunker, I would not have studied ninjitsu..." He muttered to himself as he climbed.

Two yards, five yards, ten yards later, the cave tightened down on the rat's shoulders, but he managed to squeeze himself through. After this long, a natural feeling of claustrophobia began to settle in, and the desperate need to get out of this place faster. His shirt tore away from his shoulders, his arms, tugs against his back began to pull it free from his torso. Soon the tatters began to snag on the smallest outcroppings and kept slowing him down and he began to unfasten his shirt. As his gray-furred body slipped from his robe, he found a lot more freedom. He could feel the breeze of a cool wind up ahead and more quickly, he scurried to the exit and with a gasping breath he emerged from the cave and pulled himself up onto a soft mossy ground. Collapsing onto the grass, he panted, trying to re-collect himself after his encounter. "P-please..." He stammered for a moment.

As Splinter looked up, he saw the strangest creature walking toward him; he walked on four-legs, and looked like some combination of a cat and dog in his face. His tail was lit like fire on the very tip of it; and it was smolderingly hot as he approached. "Who--who are you?" Splinter asked.