Part 11-Lost Then Found

Leo, Raph, and Donnie entered the forest, which was darker than it was when Leo and Donnie visited it last time. They turned on their flashlights and looked around the first part of the forest to see if they could find any signs of Mikey, but so far, they found nothing.

"Oh, Mikey…where are you…? Please, be ok…" Donnie said worryingly since he and Mikey had a closer brotherly bond than anyone else, and he was also worried about Mikey's current condition because not only was he still sick but he was wounded as well.

"Don't worry, Don; we'll find him…" Leo reassured his purple-banded brother despite feeling worried about Mikey on the inside.

"Hey, guys! Look!" Raph suddenly shouted out before Leo and Donnie ran over to him to see what he had found. When they got there, Raph pointed his torch towards something on the ground, causing the other turtles to look at it with wide eyes.

"Is that…blood?" Leo questioned nervously with a feeling that he might know whose blood it could belong to.

"Yeah, and it's still fresh…which means that Mikey shouldn't be too far from us…" Donnie answered and confirmed Leo's insight after he assessed the blood.

"Well, dat's good cos it looks like he left us a trail!" Raph said as he pointed his torch straight ahead where more blood spots were splatted on the ground in a straight line.

"Nice one, Raph! Let's go!" Leo complimented his red-banded brother before he, Donnie, and Raph followed the blood trail in a hurried manner.

A few minutes later, the turtles came to a sudden stop when they noticed that the blood trail had ended, but there was still no sign of Mikey from where they were standing.

"Great…Now what?" Raph grumbled in frustration.

"Why did it stop here?" Leo questioned in confusion.

"Well, my theory is that Mikey must have suddenly realised that he was leaving a blood trail, so he stopped here and then somehow used something, maybe his mask, to stem the bleeding from his bullet wound before he carried on running…" Donnie explained his theory as to why the trail stopped.

"Ok then, so which way could he have run off to now? There's nothin' here ta tell us where he could've gone!" Raph said in a firm but concerned tone since he was getting worried about Mikey on the inside.

"Calm down, Raph…getting worked up about this won't get us anywhere or help us find Mikey quicker…" Leo said calmly as he placed a hand on his immediate younger brother's shoulder.

Whilst this was happening, Donnie pointed his torch at certain parts of the forest as he looked around the area to see if he could find any more clues to Mikey's whereabouts. It was then that he noticed a large hole in the bottom of the forest's rocky ledge on the other side from where he was standing, which turned out to be a cave.

"Guys, look! A cave!" Donnie alerted his brothers as he pointed his torch at the large hole before Leo and Raph ran towards him to see for themselves.

"Whoa…do ya think Mikey's in there…?" Raph questioned as he looked at the cave with disbelief.

"Only one way to find out…let's go down and see…" Leo answered before he slid down from the edge of the forest clearing, with his other brothers following his lead.

Once they all got to the bottom, the turtles reached the cave's entrance and pointed their torches to see what's inside before Raph spoke in a whisper.

"What do we do now?"

"Hmm…Let me try something…" Donnie answered before he leaned in and shouted Mikey's name.

"Mikey! Mikey, it's me, Donnie!"

Leo and Raph were startled slightly when Donnie called out for their baby brother, but they composed themselves and followed his lead after a minute of silence and no reply from inside the cave.

"Mikey!" "Mikey! Ya there, bro!?"

The turtles listened closely into the cave to listen in for any signs of Mikey being in there whilst they heard their own voices echoing inside. After a minute went by with no other sounds coming from inside the cave, Leo and his brothers looked at each other with disappointed looks on their faces and they turned around to begin looking for Mikey elsewhere.

Then;

"B-Bros… that you…?"

The three older brothers froze and their eyes widened in surprise as they looked at each other with hope showing on their faces when they recognised the voice coming from inside the cave.

"Mikey…" Donnie said in disbelief as he turned back towards the cave entrance and decided to enter inside to try and find Mikey, with his older brothers following him closely from behind.

/

The cave...

The three older turtles slowly and quietly walked into the cave and shined their torches around to make sure that they did not bump into any walls or trip over any rocks on the ground. They soon came to a corner and Donnie, who was further ahead from his older brothers, was the first to peer his head round it from where he was standing to have a look around.

When he looked closer at the right side of the area in front of him, Donnie noticed something big and green laying on its side on the ground, causing him to gasp and his eyes to widen when he recognised part of the shell-covered back in front of him.

"Mikey! Guys, he's over here!" He said out loud before he quickly moved towards his baby brother, who slowly turned onto his back and looked over at Donnie with a tired but relieved smile on his face as soon as he saw his immediate older brother coming over to him.

"D-Donnie…I knew…you'd find me…" Mikey said tiredly before he managed to see a glimpse of his other older brothers as well. "R-Raph and Leo…are here too…"

"Of course we would come and find you, Mikey…we wouldn't leave you wounded and alone like this…" Donnie replied as he knelt down to Mikey's level and placed a comforting hand on his chest. It was then that he noticed that Mikey wasn't wearing his mask and saw that it was used to temporarily bandage his wounded leg, proving his earlier theory right.

"Oh, Mikey… thank goodness you're safe…" Leo then said with a sigh of relief as soon as he saw him before he and Raph hurried to Mikey's other side.

"Man, ya had us worried, bro…Ya doin' ok?" Raph said in concern when he saw how tired and in pain Mikey was.

"Y-Yeah…just hurts…in my leg…" Mikey answered before he winced at the pain shooting from the bullet wound in his upper left thigh, which was being unwrapped and assessed by Donnie.

"Well, you did the right thing in using your mask to stop the bleeding, Mikey…there's no exit wound so the bullet is still in your leg. Luckily, it hasn't reached the bone…" The purple-banded turtle said in his 'Doctor Don' voice whilst using his torch and gauze from the first aid kit to look at the bullet wound.

"Do we need to get the bullet out, Donnie?" Leo asked calmly despite the worry building up in his heart and mind.

"I'm afraid so, Leo…we can't leave it in there or it might cause more damage if we move Mikey with it still inside his leg…" Donnie answered sadly before he noticed Mikey shivering a bit despite wearing his new jacket. "Are you cold, Mikey?"

"A-A bit…" Mikey answered shakily.

After hearing that answer, Raph immediately got closer to Mikey, unzipped his own jacket, and covered his baby brother up warm with it, before he gently lifted his baby brother's top half into his arms and placed his head on his plastron. Meanwhile, Donnie reached into the first aid kit, got out a pair of tweezers, and then looked at Leo and Raph before he spoke.

"Ok, you two; I need you to keep Mikey still whilst I try and get the bullet out of his leg…"

After receiving a nod from both Leo and Raph before they went into position to hold Mikey still, he then looked at his baby brother, who had a scared look on his face, and spoke.

"I know this will hurt, Mikey, but I'll try and make it quick, ok? Hold still, now…"

Mikey nodded slightly to confirm that he was ready before Donnie moved closer to the bullet wound with the tweezers.

With everyone ready, Donnie began the procedure; he slowly inserted the tweezers into the entrance of the bullet wound, causing Mikey to gasp and flinch as he felt pain shoot from his leg straight away. "Ngh…"

"Shhh…it's ok, bro…it's ok…" Raph soothed Mikey as he tightened his hold and held his baby brother close to his chest.

"It'll all be over soon, Mikey, just hold on for a little bit longer…" Leo said whilst he restrained Mikey's legs to keep them from moving due to the pain.

Donnie continued on until the tweezers reached the bullet. He then widened the tweezers and grabbed the bottom of the bullet.

"Got it…" He whispered to himself before he started to slowly pull it out from the damaged muscle.

"Ngh…Aarrgh…!" Mikey groaned and yelped in pain whilst tightly gripping Raph's arm hard before he gasped for air when the bullet was finally removed completely from his leg.

"There, it's out…and still in one piece too…You can relax now, Mikey…" Donnie said with a sigh of relief as he showed the bullet to the others before he went to work on cleaning out and wrapping Mikey's leg with fresh bandages.

Mikey did just what Donnie said and closed his eyes as he relaxed and laid his head onto Raph's plastron, causing the red-banded brother and Leo to smile before he released his baby brother's legs and moved next to Donnie to give him a hand.

/

10 minutes later…

The turtles exited the cave, with Raph carrying a now sleepy Mikey in a bridal-style hold and Leo and Donnie walking in front of them to look out for any more enemies that might appear out of nowhere during their return back to the camp. After a moment of silence and not moving, Mikey suddenly spoke in a panic when he remembered something important.

"April! I-Is she ok…? She's not-"

"Easy, Mikey, calm down…April's fine and unharmed, thanks to you…" Leo reassured his baby brother as he walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"O-Oh…good…I'm glad she's ok…" Mikey said with a sigh of relief after hearing that April was not hurt.

"Yes, and we can't thank you enough for protecting her, Mikey…That was really brave of you back there…" Donnie said gratefully to his immediate little brother as he walked over to rub his head affectionately.

"Yeah…I can't believe dat no one else saw dat attack comin'…I'm proud of ya, bro…!" Raph said with a smirk.

"Ha, ha…Thanks, bros…" Mikey said with a bashful smile before he stifled a yawn.

"Get some rest, Mikey…we'll make sure that we all get back to the camp safely…" Donnie said softly with a warm smile.

Mikey nodded in understanding to Donnie's words before he closed his eyes and laid his head on Raph's shoulder as he fell asleep in seconds.

"Alright, guys, let's head back and check on April and Casey…" Leo said quietly to avoid waking up Mikey.

Raph and Donnie nodded in agreement with their leader and older brother before they all began their walk towards the campsite so that they could leave the forest altogether.