The chocobos had been as dubious as they'd been at first, but after an hour in the saddle Mikey had to admit he was starting to get the hang of this mounted-warrior stuff. Or maybe that was just his butt going numb.

But his brothers weren't complaining, so he wouldn't either, or at least only enough to be entertaining. Leonardo was riding abreast with the generals, discussing tactics, and Raph and Donny were being obnoxious in their own special ways; Mikey was toying with the idea of charging in on one or both of them to mess with them when another chocobo drew in alongside him and he found himself riding alongside the shogun himself.

"I hope the men haven't been giving you trouble," Lord Kisaragi said, as placid as if riding with kappa, fiends, turtles dammit happened every day.

"Uh- nope." Which was true, as far as it went. "Helps that the little princess likes us, I think."

Kisaragi smiled - his smiles were rare, but mention of his daughter usually brought it out of him. "Yes, well, wild as she is, she's a good judge of character. You do your best to survive, young man. It would make her cry to hear of your demise."

Mikey grinned. "Hey, ninjas have honor too, you know, and it's dishonorable to make a little girl cry."

And wonder of wonders, that was an actual chuckle. "Indeed."