A/N: - So…here is the next chapter…you'll be seeing a lot more vomit through the next few chapters! Not pleasant but at least it proves that Marcie (who I do own) can do something useful for someone! We all want the turtles to kick Shredder's ass once and for all…but nothing's ever simple for the heroes in a story, is it? If it was, there would be no excitement! Anyway, please review and continue to enjoy this story as much as I have enjoyed writing it. But I will have to bring the story to a close at some point…but the question is when…have fun reading!

The days passed slowly and the turtles grew steadily weaker, Master Splinter very rarely coming out of meditation as his sons began to lose their abilities to fight skillfully due to the illness caused by the poison. Mikey was throwing up all over the place as was Donnie while Leo and Raph were often overcome by dizziness or by the clouding of their vision. But at least it was peaceful; Raph has practically lost his voice and Mikey was never really in the mood for talking as he was too busy emptying his stomach multiple times a day – even when there was nothing to empty. Donnie spent a lot of time sat on his own, rocking back and forth in a vain effort to keep himself warm. Leo spent his time muttering to himself and trying to find a way out of their dingy prison. The stench was awful from the vomit that seemed to coat about a third of the floor space overall. Just the stench was enough to make someone gag. They were being given food now, the only problem being that none of them could keep it down for more than half an hour! It was usually a low down new recruit to the Foot that fed them but today no-one had been. They were given one meal a day at irregular times each day to stop them figuring out what time of day it was. They may not have been able to keep it down but they still wanted food so they had something to throw up instead of stomach fluids or just dry heaving.

"Good morning, guys," a familiar male voice greeted as they opened the food hatch in the door and passed through a tray of food.

"Casey!" Raph exclaimed, jumping up to go and meet his friend but stumbling several times on his way to the door. He clutched the inside of the now open food hatch for support.

"Hey, Raph," Casey whispered, "look, you gotta keep your voice down as Hun's waiting at the top of these stairs. But I'm allowed to feed you guys now and maybe I can keep you updated on Shredder if I get any tit-bits…although he is very careful about talking in front of me. You guys look awful…"

"You'd look awful if you hadn't been given the antidote for the bluddy poison!" Raph snorted sourly.

"Look, I could try and get hold of some for you but Hun doesn't let me out of his sight…only to go to the loo and even then he waits outside or leaves me with a Foot Elite ninja."

"Nah, don't worry. Just keep us informed of what time of day it is when you bring us food, ok?"

"Sure, Raph," Casey smiled, but was stopped by the sound of Hun's deep voice, "I gotta go – hang in there and say hi to the others for me."

"I will. Thanks, Case," Raph smiled at his friend as the food hatch was shut and bolted. At least now they had someone they could talk to…Shredder must be stupider than they thought he was in the first place. Raph turned and rested his back against the metal door, sliding himself down onto the floor and looking across the room, squinting to make out the forms of his sleeping brothers. At least they knew it was morning now. And Casey could help them keep track of time…which had to be a good thing.

   "That's right, Don, just empty your system," Leo gripped Donnie's shoulders as his younger brother threw up for the third time so far since they had been awake. Raph had told them of Casey's visit and that had given them a little hope to be going on with, "I told you eating the food wasn't a good idea just after you'd woken up!" Leo scolded Donnie as the turtle in purple shakily straightened himself up and stood with Leo's help. Said brother was looking more exhausted than any of them because Raph had now started throwing up everywhere and Leo had taken on the role of keeping them all in one area of the room while they vomited. So, naturally, Leo was worried about when this stage of the illness was going to hit him and who would look after them when that happened.

   Two days later that stage came. It arrived suddenly. Leo was assuring Mikey that he would start to feel better soon and that the illness was nearly over when he felt a sharp pain in his stomach. He cringed silently as he realised that he was about to suffer the same stage of illness as his brothers. Donnie already seemed to be recovering. The reason Donnie was recovering early and Leo lasting longer then the others before being ill was probably because he and Donnie were the ones who'd hesitated and had, therefore, eaten less than the others. Donnie was now able to walk and alarm bells began ringing in his head moments before he heard a nasty choking sound in the darkness. Rolling his eyes, he shuffled over, still a little off balance, expecting to find Mikey on his knees and Leo once again covered in his little brothers vomit.

"Leo, you should learn to sit behind him in stead of sitting in the line of fire!" Donnie laughed as he started to make out the silhouettes of his brothers. But there was something strange about them. Mikey was led on his side, unmoving, and Leo was doubled over on his knees and gasping for breath as he threw up over and over again. Donnie sighed and knelt beside his brother, "so the vomit finally got you too, huh?" he gripped his brothers shoulders tightly as Leo had done for him, hoping to offer something in the way of comfort.

"Was…talking to…Mikey…" Leo gasped, gagging between every other word, "suddenly…felt like…sick…"

"Don't worry bro. A few more days and you'll be back to normal."

"What's going on? Something sounds like a strangled cat!" Raph was using the wall as support as he walked towards them, "and this time, it ain't me."

"Leo's going through the same stage as us…just as I'm recovering from it," Donnie explained to Raph, "he'll be ok in a few days."

"Damn."

"Excuse me?"

"I was hoping for a week's peace and quiet…no such luck!" Raph said, holding up his hands in mock surrender to show it was a joke when both Leo and Donnie glared daggers at him.

"Can you just stop being so insensitive for once, Raph?" Leo just about managed to blurt out before retching again.

"He has a point, Raph. He looked after you and didn't make comments so it's only fair that you return the favour. I know you're still suffering from it but we could do without you making pointless and unhelpful comments every minute of the day!"

"Sorry, Don, but I'm just trying to keep things at least slightly normal in the group. Besides, what else is there for me to do?"

"Well, if you're feeling better, you can help me out a bit," Donnie suggested, knowing all too well what the answer would be.

"Nah, I think I feel a dizzy spell coming on. I'm gonna go and lie down," Raph put on a dramatic stagger as he left Donnie with Mikey and Leo.

"Typical," Donnie muttered, still gripping his older brother's shoulders but letting him gently down to the floor when he realised that Leo had passed out. Letting out a deep breath, he sat by his two sleeping brothers and looked from one to the other, hoping that both would recover in time for their battle with Shredder. Shredder had obviously under-estimated their strength and speed of recovery. If he wanted them weak then he would have to fight them soon. Otherwise they would recover and would either defeat him or have some chance of escape.

"Donnie, you'll wanna hear this!" Raph yelled over to him. It seemed Casey had arrived and was standing at the door, a look of nervous fear on his face.

"What's up?" Donnie asked casually.

"It's Shredder. He's planning to fight you tonight. He's upping the stakes so you have to fight him. He says if you don't fight him then he'll kill April and me."

"What?!" Donnie's eyes widened.

"What do we do, Don?" Raph whispered.

"I don't know. When does he want to fight us?"

"He'll send me back down to fetch you in four hours; at six o'clock tonight. I gotta go before Hun finds out I've told you what's going to happen. I just thought you deserved some warning." Casey bit his lip and hurried back up the stairs, leaving Don and Raph frozen in the doorway.

"Wrong, ain't it?" Raph broke the awkward silence.

"What? Us having to fight the Shredder?"

"No, seeing someone like Casey so nervous and freaked out that he's scared to talk to us for fear of discovery. The Casey I know wouldn't care."

"But he cares because if he makes one slip-up then he and April will both die and we won't have anyone to keep us sane."

"What's happened, dudes?" a voice behind them asked. Raph and Donnie wheeled round to face Mikey and Leo, who were using each other for support. Both had dark rings under their eyes and were obviously fighting off a great deal of nausea.

"We have to fight Shredder." Donnie answered simply, keeping his voice deliberately calm.

"We knew we would have to…" Leo said, confused, "…so why are you looking shocked?"

"We have to fight him in approximately four hours. Casey's just dropped the bombshell…"

"Bluddy Shredder could've at least given us a little more warning!" Raph kicked at the metal door but winced sharply as his foot connected with the solid iron of the door. His three brothers were stifling laughter and glancing guiltily at each other, knowing they should probably help Raph, who was currently hopping round the room in agony, but they needed the mood lightened and Raph kicking the door had certainly relieved some of the tension in the room.

"Don't hurt yourself, Raph. We'll need both your feet in this battle!" Leo grinned shakily, still leaning heavily on Mikey who was leaning back equally heavily. If one had stepped away from the other then they would both have fallen to the floor.

"We don't stand a chance. Sensei's still in meditation, Casey and April are both serving the Shredder and Leo and Mike aren't capable of doing much. Heck, they can't even stand up properly. And you, Raph, are still a little wobbly on your feet and I'm still getting the headaches." Donnie went through the list, looking around the room as if a miracle was going to appear any second.

"How come you and Leo seem to be on a different time span with this illness?"

"Because I only ate one sandwich and Leo only ate two. You and Mikey ate who knows how many! And with Mikey weak in the first place he was always going to suffer longer. Shredder under-estimated our strength. If he'd got the right dosage into our bodies then we'd all be out cold right now or in the same state as Mikey and Leo." Donnie grimaced. The thought of what was going to happen and what could've happened was not particularly pleasant and he didn't really want to dwell on it for too long.

"So…what do we do brainiac?"

"I don't know. Anyone got any ideas?" Donnie looked hopefully at his three brothers, willing them to come up with something. His gaze eventually locked with Leo's and Donnie knew his brother had something in mind, "Leo? What are you thinking?"

"I'm not sure this will work…it's going to be risky."

"Well, risky is all we got at the moment."

"I know, but this plan doesn't involve fighting Shredder," Leo waited for the shocked gasps and confused mumblings from his brothers to subside, "we get Casey to distract Shredder with April's help. Then we go up behind him and Donnie knocks Shredder out with his Bo."

"All very well, but how do we actually get out of there?"

"We climb. There are beams across the roof. I saw them in my dream and if we climb them then we can drop from above onto those with April and Casey. We free them and get out of there, fighting if we have to."

"That won't work," Raph scoffed.

"You got any better ideas?" Leo snapped. Raph shook his head in response and Leo continued, "Two of us will have to stay on the floor to keep the attention off those attempting to climb onto the beams."

"Ok, but who stays?"

"We'll need you on the floor, Don," Leo replied, "and Raph will climb. Then we'll see tonight which out of me and Mike are feeling more up to the job."

"Got it," Don nodded, "now you and Mikey need to rest. We don't want you two throwing up all over the place tonight." Leo didn't argue and he and Mike walked off, the only things keeping them upright being each other.

    "Guys?" Casey whispered through the hatch, "Guys, it's time to go."

"Sure thing, Case. Donnie, you explain the plan to him." Raph called to the turtle in purple.

"Ok, and you wake Mikey and Leo. And try to snap Sensei out of meditation." Donnie called back, making his way over to Casey, his reptilian body illuminated by the dim light that hung from the ceiling.

"Fine…" Raph gave a short bark-like laugh.

"Gently, Raph," Donnie hissed to his brother, knowing that Raph would grab any opportunity to irritate Leo. And the last thing any of them wanted was a fight between Leo and Raph when they were supposed to be fighting Shredder.

"Damn you, Donnie," Raph cursed under his breath, shaking his fists. He stood over a sleeping Mikey and nudged him gently with his foot, "Hey, vomit face, get up! We got a fight to go win!"

"Not now, Raph…" Mikey groaned.

"Come on, Mike, we have no choice in this." Raph hauled his youngest brother to his feet and was relieved to see that Mikey could walk by himself. The rest seemed to have done him the world of good. Raph pointed him in the direction of Donnie before heading over to where Leo was curled up asleep, clutching his stomach and twisting uncomfortably. Raph was planning on waking him up in the most unpleasant way he could think of, but when he saw the leader's discomfort he decided against it; Leo was not going to be in a good mood when he woke up, "c'mon, Leo. You gotta wake up now and help us fight the Shredder," Raph shook his brother gently, "it's your plan we're using so we'll need you to help us."

"Raph?" Leo got to his feet unsteadily, swaying a little. He looked worse than he had before he'd slept.

"You don't look too good, bro,"

"King of the obvious as always." Leo grumbled. Raph punched him playfully on the arm but wasn't quite prepared for the reaction. Leo stumbled and had to grab Raph so he didn't fall. Raph hadn't punched him hard so why was he struggling so much. He took a slow step forward and started making his way over to Donnie and Mikey who grabbed him as he began to slip.

"Leo, you can't do this." Donnie fussed over his brother.

"Mikey, you'll have to climb the beams with Raph." Leo said, completely ignoring Donnie.

"No probs, Leo. You'll be fine," Leo's little brother patted his brother's shell, the same comforting and friendly grin on his features that had often made the other three feel a lot more optimistic about their situations, "we'll beat the Shredder. It's that or we have to escape."

"Yeah, but the risk makes our skills all the more acute, right Leo?" Raph imitated his older brother from a fight they'd had a long time ago with Baxter Stockman's mousers.

"Sure, Raph, but risks don't always make you fight better. Sometimes it's the risk that can lose you the battle or even get you killed."

"See? You're feeling more like your old self again already!" Raph spread his arms in a joking manner, but there was also some sincerity in what he said. If Leo began to order them around or give lectures about how a ninja should behave and fight then he would forget about his illness for a while. Raph glanced quickly at Donnie and winked and Donnie knew instantly that it was his job to fight as badly as possible but without putting himself or his brothers at risk. That way Leo would insist on demonstrating what he should be doing and tell him what he was doing wrong. It wasn't a great plan, but it was the best they had.

A/N: - When I say 'they' I mean Donnie, Raph and Mikey because if Leo knew the plan it would defeat the object of it…Leo is supposed to not know the plan so that when Donnie does stuff wrong in battle he genuinely thinks his brother's being thick and purposely tries to correct him thinking nerves must've blocked out proper fight tactics from his head.

Keep reviewing -