Hunoi=brother

Quani-su grokame?=What is so funny?

Michelangelo antu jakua = Michelangelo is your weakness

Toguma = everyone

rubuni=Stay close

Pue'tu tataga? = Can you still fight?

Isi= yes

Le'ai aua tulemi= Don't push yourself

Io soti bulei= I am fine

Moto ravu!= Move faster!

Inei!= Now!

Okulaais= Cowards

Chapter 16

Back in the village, Nati was giving Mikey his daily checkup. She had unbandaged his head and got a good look at his wound. "How is your head, hunoi?" she asked.

"It's fine. I don't have any headaches and I'm not dizzy." he said as he listed off the symptoms that he knew she was going to ask about.

"Right, good." she placed a clean bandage over the wound once she saw that it was healing well.

"By the way, I don't think you've ever called me your brother before." Mikey noticed.

"Oh... well, since I will be marrying your brother soon I figured I should start getting used to calling you that." she said nervously. "You do not mind, do you?"

"Of course I don't mind, you're going to be family soon."

"Thank you, I appreciate that." she said as she unraveled the bandages from his arm. "Do you think he is okay?"

"...You're worried?"

"Of course I am." Nati sighed. "I know all four of you are perfectly capable at taking care of yourselves, but it still worries me that he is out there with Kai's men on the run and on top of that he has to take care of April at the same time."

Mikey nodded his understanding. When he went on his little adventure, he didn't have to worry about any secondary factors. He could just go into the cave, avoid making Arazue angry, get what he wanted and leave. Having to take care of someone that doesn't know anything about this world and on top of that he basically has to find the source of their current lakra problem. He has to deal with a lot, but Mikey fully believed that he would be fine.

"Yeah, I get that, but this is Donnie we're talking about. If anyone can take care of all of this, it's him."

Nati sighed. "You are right. I should have more faith in him. He will come back to me."

"There you go." he said with a reassuring smile.

Nati changed the bandage around his arm and he stood up to leave. "Thank you, Michelangelo."

"No problem, sis."

Mikey left the room as Nati stayed behind to clean up the mess. As he walked out, Avery came into the infirmary holding an animal in her arms. It was the little uxto that Mikey brought in after it was attacked. Avery had been treating him at their house so they wouldn't have to use up a spot for the small animal when it could be used for someone else. Mikey would bring him all sorts of treats for him to eat while he was recovering. He still had a small amount of bandage wrapped around his body and around one of his back legs, but other than that he looked so much better. "Look who is feeling better, Michelangelo."

When the uxto saw Michelangelo, he jumped out of Avery's arms and into Mikey's. "Hey buddy." he said with a smile as he scratched him behind the ear.

The uxto made a happy chittering sound as he was pet. "It seems he has taken a liking to you." Avery mentioned.

She was right, usually after Avery fixed up the animals he brought in, they would immediately want to leave to go back to their home in the wild, not stay and be given pets. Mikey suddenly had an idea. "Can we keep him?"

"Quani!?" Avery exclaimed. She honestly was not expecting him to say that, even though she should've known it would happen. "I do not think that..." Before she could even finish her sentence, Mikey turned on the puppy eyes, which Avery couldn't resist. It even looked like the uxto was also participating, giving her some puppy eyes of his own. She groaned. "Very well. He can stay."

Mikey whooped as he happily held the uxto in the air. "What do you think?" he said to the furry creature. "You wanna stay with us?" The uxto happily chittered and cuddled up in his arms again. "Awesome. I think I'll call you Klunk Jr. or KJ for short." he said as he began to head outside. "Come on, I'll introduce you to everybody."

Avery sighed as she heard Nati giggling next to her. "Quani-su grokame?"

"Michelangelo antu jakua."

"Yes, you may keep laughing as if the same thing does not happen to you with Donatello."

Nati clammed up after that and blushed before wandering off to help her other patients. Avery smiled triumphantly before doing the same.

With the other vao in tow, Don and April set out to find this group of people. There was a long stretch of a lake that they had to get through first. There were boats prepared and waiting for all of them to climb into. Those with wings flew up ahead to give them a fair warning if there was any danger up ahead. "So, what exactly is the plan, Don?" April asked.

"I won't know until we get there and fully assess the situation, but as of right now if they're all grouped together like we were told then all we have to do is surround them. They'll have no way to escape."

"Should be easy enough."

"It should be, yes." Tasura said. "But it is likely that they have set up some sort of trap for us."

"Highly likely, I'm sure." Don said, as they rowed their way down the river. "Hopefully, the guys that we sent ahead will be able to see what's coming for us."

"Whatever you have planned, we will follow, Donatello." Tasura said and the other vao agreed. "You tell us what to do."

"They really have a lot of respect for you." April mentioned.

"Of course we do. He, his brothers, and two others did what thirty vao could not. They freed the katu of Ezdic and defeated Kai. That deserves all of our respect."

"Not only that," one of the female vao said. "But before they officially recruited any other vao they were essentially protecting three villages on their own. It can be difficult enough taking care of three different villages when there are thirty of us and they did it with only four. They are amazing."

Don felt a little embarrassed at the compliments. "We just did what was right." he shrugged without looking back at any of them.

"Yes, but you did it in a way that no one thought of. That is why it will be an honor to fight alongside a Rowandi of Ezdic."

"Thanks Tasura."

"And when this is all over, there is something that a few of us wish to ask you."

"Um, sure okay." Don said, now curious about what that something might be.

As they made it to land, they climbed off their boats and hiked their way toward the perceived hideout. Before they could get much further, those that flew ahead came back. Landing in front of the group, they took the time to explain what they saw. "You must be cautious, there are lakras up ahead and they are acting erratically."

"I figured this would happen." Don said.

"What do we do?" April asked.

"There is not much we can do. If they smell us, they will turn their attention to us, so we have to fight back." Tasura said simply, removing his flail from his hip.

"This isn't going to be fun." Don said, he took out his bo staff and handed it off to April.

"Why are you giving this to me?" she asked.

"To protect yourself. If they come for you, you might have to fight."

April took a deep breath. "Okay, what about you?"

"Don't worry about me. I can handle it." he walked over to Luna. "Now, what you want to do is aim for their weak spots. Here." he pointed to an area on Luna's body right by her leg. "Their joints are a very sensitive spot. Hurts like crazy if you hit them hard enough. It works on any of the legs. Another spot you can aim for is the eyes, but that would require you to get way too close to their mouths, so it's probably not a good idea. Just stick with the legs." he explained to her.

She nodded, understanding.

"Alright, let's go then."

Tasura turned to the rest of the vao. "Toguma, rubuni. There are lakras ahead of us." the vao responded by pulling out their weapons and staying close to the leaders.

It wasn't long before they spotted their first lakra. The lakra wasted no time, as soon as it saw the group it sprinted toward them with a roar. The group split up to get out of its way and without hesitation, Tasura whacked it right on the side of its head with his flail and his lakra followed it up by ramming into its side. Having had enough, the lakra ran off.

"Well, that was easy enough." April stated.

"It is not over yet." Tasura pointed to the brush as about five more approached them. Then more and more followed. They were soon faced with lakras of all sizes.

"Remember what I told you." Don said to April right before all those lakras attacked them. They were able to get out of the way, some just barely. It became an all out brawl between the clearly poisoned lakras and the vao and their lakras. The sick lakras were completely out of it. They could all tell by the movements that they weren't doing well at all, but they had to do what they needed in order to survive. Even if it meant hurting those who were sick.

In the chaos April and Don got separated from each other. Don could only hope that she was okay as he had problems of his own. He was faced with two brown and black lakras. He pulled out his knife and prepared for them to pounce. "Hopefully, I won't have to use this."

They pounced on him with a roar and Don dodged out of the way of both and managed to jump onto the back of one of them. In their mindless rage, the lakra that Don was on top of tried to buck the turtle off of it. While the other pounced on him, trying to get to Don. Not realizing that it would attack one of its own in the process. Don managed to keep away from the mouths of both of them. When the one attacking chomped down on the one trying to buck Don off its back, that's when things turned in Don's favor.

They started attacking each other. Don hopped off its back and watched for a second, waiting for an opening. One had chased off the other and Don took the opportunity to attack the remaining one. He kicked it right in the joint just like he showed April and it yelped in pain. It didn't back down, but he could see it hobble slightly. As it pounced again, Don moved out of the way. "I'm sorry about this." he brought the knife down where he had kicked it earlier. With another yelp the lakra hobbled off.

Don sheathed his knife knowing that the wound wouldn't be fatal. Lakras can take way more of a beating, but that didn't make Don feel any better about it as he ran to help the others.

April was lucky enough to avoid any conflict for a little while until one of the vao got knocked back near her. The lakra that he was fighting spotted the red haired human and made its way toward her. She got into a defensive stance and swung at it when it got close enough. It was disoriented for a few minutes before tackling April to the ground unexpectedly. Luckily, April had time to bring the bo staff up to protect herself from the fangs bearing down on her. She would've been done for had Luna not come to her rescue, ramming into the other lakra and knocking it off of April. The lakra ran off after recovering. April looked to Luna. "Thank you."

Luna responded with a chuff. She decided then that it was best to try and stick with April to keep her safe.

It was a hard fought battle, but eventually they were able to push back the sick lakras.

Don breathed a sigh of relief and ran to April and Luna. "Are you guys okay?"

"Yeah." April said and Luna chuffed.

"Good." he gave Luna some good pats. "Thanks for protecting her." Luna chuffed again and licked his face. "Tasura, is everyone else okay?"

"Generally, yes. Only a few have suffered minor injuries." Tasura said.

Don nodded. "April, help me take care of the wounded."

They both got to work tending to wounds of the other gurdians. "Pue'tu tataga?" he asked as April wrapped bandages around the arm of one of the vao.

"Isi."

"Le'ai aua tulemi." Don said.

"Io bulei." the vao said defiantly.

Don nodded. "Okay, I'll leave you to it, April."

Don, April and any other vao that wasn't injured spent a short time taking care of the wounded and giving them a chance to rest a bit.

After the short respite, they all got moving again. As they moved further in, the land became more swamp like. The vao were on high alert as they hiked through the ankle deep, swampy waters. April was quiet, so they could focus on what was happening around them and also because she was on high alert herself. She snapped out of it when a sudden awful smell assaulted her nose. "Ugh, what is that smell?"

"It's probably the smell of a rotting corpse. We're in Myazima swamp."

"What's a myazima?" April asked.

"They're these slime creatures that live in the trees. They feed on whatever is unlucky enough to walk underneath them. Mostly animals, as people know to avoid this area for the most part. The smaller ones will just take bites out of you, but the queen can eat you whole."

She gulped, not looking forward to seeing these things. After a while, she felt something crunch under her feet, looking down she saw what looked to be bones. She gasped. "Donnie!" she exclaimed.

Don looked down and saw that there were definitely bones on the ground along with the source of the awful smell. The bodies of wildlife were at the beginning stages of decay. Several chunks were taken out of them. It was probably able to get away, but still ended up dying from its wounds. "We're definitely getting closer." using Hotris' sight, Don could see the white auras of an entire swarm of myazima not too far ahead of him. He looked back. "Tasura, there are myazima up ahead."

Tasura, also used his sight and saw the same. "I see them. There also seems to be a narrow path through where there are none of them."

"Yeah, we need to line up." Don said.

Tasura nodded and turned to the others to warn them. "Wait, we're going to go through them?" April asked.

"It's faster than going around. There's no telling how big this swarm." he said. When he noticed how nervous she was, he knew that he had to reassure her. He put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry. As long as you don't walk directly underneath them, nothing will happen. Stay right behind me and you'll be fine, okay."

April nodded. With that, they made their way toward the hoard of slimey tree dwellers. April looked up at the trees above them and saw black blobs hanging from the branches and there were tons of them. The blobs had only one eye and a mouth with sharp teeth that was repeatedly opening and closing making a very unnerving clicking sound. They made their way through the narrow pathway making sure to stay out of their reach. April looked to her right and saw a giant blob in the middle of them. It was more of an indigo color, but still had one giant eye and a massive mouth. Don could tell April tensed up without even looking at her. He looked over and saw what she saw. "That's the queen." Don explained. "That's the one that can swallow you whole. It should go without saying that you shouldn't go near there."

"That shouldn't be a problem." she said as she continued to follow her friend's footsteps.

They eventually found their way out of the hoard. "Okay, I think we're in the clear." Don told the rest of them.

"Wonderful, now let us finish this." Tasura added. "They should not be too far ahead. I suggest we keep quiet from now on."

"Okay, everyone gather around." Don said and they did. "Here's what we're going to do..."

Up ahead sat the hideout for Kai's men. Their shelters were hastily put together, as if they were prepared to make a run for it if they needed to. There were about thirty of Kai's men. Ten of which were keeping guard over a small ditch that held five other people. They had them secluded to this spot to keep them from escaping. They looked to be one large family. The family consisted of red and blue people. A mother, a father, a teenager boy and girl, and a younger boy. It was definitely the missing family.

They were surrounding a pot over a fire. Inside it were a lot of shriveled up, brown butuli leaves. Boiling them down to fully extract the poison from it.

One of the black hooded people went up to the ditch and started yelling orders. He was most likely the leader of this group. "Faster! Moto Ravu!"

"We are moving as quickly as we can." The father said. "This takes time."

"It is taking time that we do not have. Those vao could find out about this place at any moment. We need more."

"My apologies. We are doing all we can. Please, just give us time to..."

"I do not think that you understand the urgency of our situation. Perhaps you need a little motivation." he reached down and grabbed onto the hair of the teenage girl, pulling her away from her family. She screamed, terrified of what might happen to her.

"No please!" the woman yelled, trying desperately to get to their child. Her husband had to hold her back as Kai's surrounding men pointed their weapons at them.

"Moto ravu!" the leader ordered again, this time pressing a blade to the girl's throat.

The rest of the family reluctantly got back to work, moving a little bit faster. "That is better." he turned away from them, taking the crying girl with him.

What happened next, no one was prepared for. A single arrow was fired. It flew through the air and hit him right in the shoulder. "Argh!" he yelled in pain, releasing the girl to grab his injured shoulder. That single arrow caused massive panic among Kai's men. "They're here!"

Don sat up in a tree as he replaced his arrow with another and took aim. He let out a shrill whistle that got everyone's attention. A volley of arrows rained down on them in that instant coming from every direction and taking out several of the guards in the process. The family ducked in cover, including the girl who was now released from the leader's grip. With their forces weakened due to the unexpected attack, Don yelled out. "Inei!"

The rest of the vao came out of hiding, brandishing their weapons and the lakra brandished their sharp fangs. The leader crawled his way over to the ditch where the family was as a fight broke out. Leaving the teen girl alone. That's when April swooped in, getting her attention and beckoning her away from the fighting. The girl hesitantly followed her.

"Thank you, but... my family is still in there."

"I know. I'm going to go get them. Just wait here, alright." she told her.

The girl nodded and April went back in and armed herself with Don's bo in case she gets attacked on her way over to the ditch. She was able to maneuver there right after the leader got there. The father was protecting the rest of his family as best he could as the leader loaded up on as many poisoned darts as he could carry. April dropped down on top of him knocking the darts out of his hand. "Quick, go!" she said to the family.

She helped them climb out. Once they were all out, they made their way to safety with the help of other vao. As April climbed out she felt someone grab onto her leg and drag her back down. She kicked him off of her and got ready to fight him if she had to. He looked her up and down. "You are not a vao."

She shook her head. "No, I'm not."

"Then this should be simple." he picked up one of the darts on the ground and went to attack her with it. That move would have worked on anybody without any training, but April was not one of those people. She easily blocked his attack and pushed him back. She finished it with a swift kick to gut. He stumbled into the pot that still had boiling water in it. He yelled out in pain, as he was burned by the scalding hot water and the fire keeping it hot.

"Nice." April heard someone say. She looked behind her and Don was there. He held his hand out to her.

"Thanks." she grabbed his hand and he pulled her out of the ditch.

The scene was still chaotic, but they managed to capture some of them and some were killed. All with no casualties on their side.

Once the rest realized that they weren't winning this fight they started running, including the leader who, after recovering, had picked up a few of the darts and climbed out of the ditch as best as he could on his own. Just as Don had planned. "April, stay here with the others. Luna!" he called out and the gray lakra pulled up next to him so he could climb on. "Those that can, come with me."

Don rode off with some of the other vao in tow. There were six of them that managed to get away and the vao chased them. "Remember Luna, we're only chasing them, do not pounce." he said to her and she huffed back.

The vao chased down the remaining people, making sure to cut off any escape routes as they did. They weren't trying to capture any of them, they were leading them somewhere and it didn't take long before they led them right into their trap. The vao stopped, moving far enough.

When they noticed that they weren't being chased anymore they stopped, wondering what was happening. Not knowing that they were sitting right underneath the hive of Myazima. They seemed to catch on when they could hear the ominous teeth clicking right before they were attacked. The slime creatures stretched down and began feasting. Kai's men had only two choices in that moment: run back into the hands of the vao and stay alive or stay there and die.

As dedicated as they were, most of them did not want to die and chose to be taken in. The vao were happy to take them without any further struggle.

"Okulaais!" the leader shouted, wincing as he was being chomped on. "Kai will never forgive you for your cowardice."

The remaining followers were silent as they were tied up by the other vao. "Take them back to the others." Don told them. The vao did what they were told. "It doesn't have to be this way. You don't have to die." he called out to the leader.

He winced some more as his skin was torn apart by the myazima, but still accepting the pain and accepting his fate. "I will die for my katu. You think this is over. Far from it. Kai will be liberated. You have not won!" he said before limping toward the gaping maw of the queen myazima. The queen stretched down swallowing him whole.

Don just shook his head as he watched before climbing back onto Luna's back and riding away.

Well, that is one dedicated follower.