Leo knew why the Foot would want to feed him bad food; as another way to torture him. At the moment, he was glad his brothers weren't there to see him.

He just didn't feel good at all. He ended up throwing up a few times, he felt overly warm and Leo was sure that he had a fever, and without the water, he was getting dehydrated. He felt bloated and sore. He had a feeling he had been poisoned or he had food poisoning. He wasn't sure which.

He was resting as best as he could and that was all he could do to beat the illness. He was still only given water once a day, but it wasn't enough. They did try feeding him as well, but he wouldn't eat.

He was starting to feel a little better after four more days of rest, but before he could fully recover, more ninjas came in and pulled him to his feet and dragged him from his cell. He was ready to see his brothers and hoped he would get to see them again, but that was probably hoping for a little too much.

He was taken back to the surgical room and a sense of dread washed over him. He wondered what more they could do to him.

Leo was tied down and could only wait to find out what they had planned.

The doctor appeared and looked Leo over with uncaring eyes.

"What is it this time?" Leo moaned.

"You have been seen having some serious digestive upset, not eating anything and only taking water. It's time to get to the bottom of this problem." The doctor said, pulling on a pair of gloves. "And I've been instructed to do it in the most intrusive way possible."

Leo's eyes widened, in fear at what the doctor was implying. A chill went through Leo's stomach and he felt a preemptive pain in his side. He knew he wasn't going to like this if it meant what he thought it was.

The doctor prepared a needle and syringe with a liquid in it.

Leo thought he was going to be, at least, sedated for whatever the doctor had planned. If he had to go to surgery, then he'd be more than happy for the sedation. At least he would get some rest.

The needle was put into a vein on his right arm. Then the bandage on his side was untied in preparation for what was to come.

Leo was soon feeling groggy, but he didn't go completely to sleep. He could just vaguely hear the doctor say something.

"The Master wants you to be partially awake through this." But Leo could barely register it and his vision was blurry. It made him feel sick and dizzy, only aggravating his nausea more. He was mainly seeing shadows through his hooded eyes.

A loud noise, like a revving engine filled the room and Leo cringed.

It took his mind a moment to realize that it was a saw and the sore turtle began to feel some more agonizing pain going on in his stomach. The doctor was cutting into him while he was awake!

His body was numb enough that he couldn't move but, even in his sedated state, Leo could feel enough of the probing and the pain was too much for him. He couldn't help the scream that erupted from his throat.

The doctor also had some assistants in the room too to help just in case they were needed. And as the saw went deeper into the plastron, of course there was a lot of blood flowing, and the assistants were required to keep the blood loss in control.

Between the mix of the drugs and the pain, he didn't even know that the Shredder was in the room with them. The Shredder was pleased to hear the turtle could still scream so well. It was like music to his ears.

The doctor sawed into the left upper part of the plastron, just below the ribs, where the stomach was concealed underneath. The pain was too much for Leo and he slipped into unconsciousness.

The man wanted to see if there was damage inflicted from the bad food, and why the turtle wasn't getting much better. He had to be sure. He could have done the study microscopically, but the Shredder wouldn't allow it.

He probed into the stomach to see that the lining in the stomach was indeed inflamed. He also checked on some of the intestines, and they too were inflamed. Something in the food had to have been that bad to have caused this. There had to have been some bad bacteria in the food, or it wasn't thoroughly prepared right for this to happen.

No wonder this turtle had been in such pain and wouldn't eat, and why he had been so sick.

Leo had an infection in his organs. From what the doctor could tell, it was obvious that this turtle had gastroenteritis. Only time would heal this infection. He would be in pain a little longer.

The doctor sewed up the incisions and sewed up some tissues as much as he could while his assistants sucked up any excess blood. After sewing him up again, some glue was applied to the cut plastron and bandaged up again, set to heal.

Then he put some substance into the stomach via a gastro-nasal tube, something that would be easy for his damaged stomach to digest. He was just giving the turtle a little boost in eating again. It had been a few days since his last meal.

The doctor knew that the turtle was going to be in pain again when he woke up. That was the point, his master wanted to make him suffer some more. It left the doctor wondering how much more the terrapin would be able to withstand.

He was taken back to the cell to wake up. This time, they didn't even bother putting any shackles on him.

Leonardo woke up a little while later, and it took a little bit for his vision to focus, but when it did, he saw he was in the cell again. His head felt like it was spinning. It had to have been the drug.

But the more he came to, the more it hit him. There was powerful pain going on in his stomach. His bandaged hands immediately clutched his middle, groaning in the process. The pain hadn't been this bad before, but now, it was way worse than it had been before. It hurt to even breathe!

The pain was so bad it forced Leo to roll into a ball. His hands clutched his stomach and he lied on his good side with his legs brought up. But the injured ribs made him go back to his back.

Leo wanted his brothers to come rescue him and get him out of there so they could go home together. His mind screamed: "Master Splinter! Help me!"

Master Splinter, April, and Casey had been keeping an eye out for the Foot and the turtles, but there was no sign of them.

Splinter was out with Casey when, all of a sudden, he got a headache and fell to his knees. "Master Splinter!" Casey was at his side in a second. "What's wrong?"

"I… I don't know. I just felt like someone was trying to send me a message." Splinter said, holding his head.

"What sort of message?"

"I don't know. There is only one way to settle it. We should go back to the lair so I can meditate and try to find out the answer." Splinter said.

They went back to the lair so Splinter could meditate without having to worry about possible enemies attacking.

Splinter got comfortable and began his breathing to settle and go to the astral plane.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" He asked.

…..

Leo couldn't move it hurt too much. He was just lying on the floor, trying to do some slow, deep breathing to soothe his stomach the best he could. But while he was just trying to relax, he felt something else on the back of his mind, like someone was calling to him.

He hadn't tried to meditate much since his capture, as the humans could come in anytime and do as they saw fit with him, but this pull was too strong. He had to try to answer it.

Leo was still in too much pain to move at the moment, but with the right breathing, he centered himself and tried to take his mind off his pain and into the astral plane.

He heard a distinct voice in the distance from in the astral plane. He was on the ground, and he got up to go see who it was.

"Hello?" He called out.

"Leonardo?" Leo saw and heard his father.

"Master Splinter? What are you doing here?" Leo asked, running up to embrace Splinter.

"I heard you, my son. Do you know where you are?" His father asked.

"I'm sorry, I don't, Sensei. My brothers and I awoke in the terrible place the Foot are holding us. They won't give any of us any information on where we are." Leo explained.

"How are you right now, Leonardo, and your brothers?"

"Scared mostly. The last I knew, all of my brothers are fine. I'm the one that's in terrible shape. I've been doing this to keep them safe, and so far, it seems to be working."

"I'm proud of you, Leonardo. You are doing what any leader and loving big brother would do to keep his brothers safe. But hold on, my son, we will find you."

"Please hurry, Sensei. I really don't know how much longer I'm going to last. Oh! I'm in so much pain!" Leo had winced when he felt a strong jolt of pain.

"We are trying to hurry Leonardo. Try to hold on a little longer."

"I'm trying. Please hurry!" Leo begged. He couldn't concentrate on staying any longer because he was in so much pain.

Then the meditation was over.

Leo was more than happy he had at last spoken to his father in so many days. But Splinter and their allies needed to hurry if they were going to save him and his brothers.

I did what I could with the surgery. I had some tips to help me out. Hope nothing was too off.

Reviews very appreciated.