Chapter 12-All Hands on Deck!
The group finally arrived back at the large boat without running into any more problems during their return.
As soon as they got on board, Adam and Raph were guided into one of the living quarters below deck by the Ancient One before they carefully lowered Mikey down and stepping aside to allow Donnie to check on him for any changes to his wounds or fever.
Unfortunately, he discovered that Mikey's fever had spiked slightly higher than it was earlier and there was a small amount of blood seeping through the bandages on his wounded side.
"This isn't good; he's slowly starting to deteriorate! We need to set sail right now!" Donnie said firmly with urgency towards the others before Leo stood forward to speak.
"Alright, here's the plan; Donnie, Master Splinter and the Ancient One will remain here and do everything they can to try and keep Mikey from getting any worse, whilst me and the rest of us will work on getting this boat going. Adam, you ok with steering the boat by yourself?"
"Yeah, you can count on me!" Adam answered him with a determined look and a fist placed over his chest.
"Good, now let's do this!" Leo said before he and the other acolytes went up towards the deck, except for Raph who took a moment to take one more look at his sick and wounded little brother.
"Raphael, do not worry about Michelangelo. He is strong and will not let his wounds or fever defeat him. Now, go and help the others, they will need your help," Master Splinter reassured his red-banded son.
Raph nodded to his father's words. "Take good care of him, guys…" He said before he left to go and help the others, with Master Splinter watching him go and then turning back to his two sons.
"Are there any herbs or other healing remedies stored in this boat somewhere, Ancient One? We really need more than just cool water to reduce Mikey's fever, and we're also low on bandages!" Donnie asked the Ancient One whilst continuously dipping and placing the wet cloth on Mikey's forehead.
"I am not sure, but there may be some herbs in the storage room where the food used for cooking is stored," the Ancient One said as he continued to think of other places where first aid supplies and medicines are being kept on the boat.
"I will go with the Ancient One and have a look for you, Donatello, you stay by your brother's side," Master Splinter said before leaving with the Ancient One to go and look for the medical supplies.
After watching them leave, Donnie turned back to look at his little brother, who was breathing slightly quicker than before due to the sky-high fever and began to groan whilst moving his head slowly from side to side.
"Shhh…it's alright, Mikey…I'm here…" Donnie said soothingly to Mikey as he placed a hand on his blanket-covered chest to comfort his little brother as best he could until Master Splinter and the Ancient One returns with the much-needed medical supplies.
Not long after talking to his brother, Donnie saw Mikey's eyes open halfway and then slightly turn his head towards him.
"D-Don-nie…H-Hurts…" The orange-banded turtle whispered with a stutter before letting warm tears fall from his eyes due to the pain and discomfort that he was experiencing.
"I know, little brother…I know…but don't worry, Master Splinter and the Ancient One are looking for some medicine that might help you with the pain and fever, ok?" Donnie told him softly with a warm smile whilst gently brushing away his little brother's tears from his cheeks before he saw Mikey nod weakly and then closed his eyes to doze off again.
A moment later, Master Splinter and the Ancient One came back and in both of their hands were two rolls of bandages each and what seemed to be transparent glass jars with some honey-like syrup and green and red-coloured tea leaves inside them.
"These were all that we could find, my son," Master Splinter said before placing them next to Donnie before the Ancient One spoke.
"The red tea leaves in the medium-sized jars will help to reduce his burning fever and the green-coloured tea leaves in the small jars will help with numbing the pain, whilst the honey in the slightly bigger jars will help with preventing infection from entering his wounds."
"Thank you both," Donnie said with relief in his voice before getting to work with changing Mikey's bandages, whilst Master Splinter began to prepare the tea-brewing process with the green tea leaves and water from the wooden bucket to make the numbing tea that would help numb the pain and allow Donnie to remove Dark Fang's claw nail from Mikey's shoulder without causing him more pain and distress.
After he removed the blood-covered bandages and exposed Mikey's side, Donnie cleaned it out with a wet cloth and then opened the jar with the honey inside and poured a small amount onto the wound before wrapping it up again with a fresh bandage, and after Master Splinter finished making the numbing tea and handed it over to him, Donnie lifted the now half-awake Mikey's head slowly and placed the teacup close to his lips.
"Mikey, drink this tea, it will help numb the pain," he said slowly before Mikey opened his mouth and accepted the tea by drinking it in small sips since it was still warm and he wasn't too keen on the bitter taste. Soon, Mikey began to feel the effects of the tea and could barely feel the pain that he was experiencing not long ago, making it a sign for Donnie to give himself the go-ahead on removing the claw nail from his shoulder.
"Master Splinter, I'm going to need you to place this cloth on top of the shoulder wound as soon as I remove the claw from it to stem the bleeding until I patch it back up again, ok?" Donnie instructed his father as he handed him a clean cloth before he began the process of removing the old bandage from Mikey's shoulder. He then wrapped his fingers around the claw nail and started to slowly pull it out whilst being careful not to damage the shoulder more.
Once the claw was completely out, Master Splinter placed the cloth on top of the shoulder wound straight away and kept the pressure on it until Donnie was ready to clean and wrap it up with new bandages.
Throughout the whole extraction process, the only thing Mikey did was flinch once due to the weird moving sensation in his shoulder, but he didn't feel any pain after it was pulled out completely. After cleaning the wound and pouring some honey on top of it, Donnie grabbed the other fresh bandage and wrapped Mikey's now claw-free shoulder with it.
"There, that should bide us more time until we get back to the temple," He said after wiping the sweat off of his forehead and looked at his handy work on Mikey, who fell asleep again shortly after Donnie finished patching him up.
"Well done, Donatello," Master Splinter praised his purple-banded son as he placed a hand on his shoulder.
"The numbing effects will wear off after around 15 minutes, so why don't you go and help the others with steering the boat whilst I help Splinter prepare the red tea leaves for Michelangelo's fever?" The Ancient One said to Donnie, who was worried at first but knew that Mikey would be in safe hands with them whilst he was above on the deck.
Donnie stood up and bowed to Master Splinter and the Ancient One after saying 'thank you' to them both and then walked up the stairs to go check on the others.
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Meanwhile, on the dock…
Everyone was preparing the boat to leave the island; Adam was at the captain's wheel and was using his chi spirit power to steer and direct the boat towards the temple's location, whilst the others were keeping an eye out for any more enemies or issues with the boat during the sailing process.
"You know; I doubt that we will hear the end of what the Tribunal Masters will say when they find out that we came back without the Shredder's artefact," Faragi pointed out after a moment of silence.
"I know, Faragi, but what choice do we have? There was no way that we would carry on with the mission with a seriously wounded and sick team member. We can't risk it since he is already starting to get worse," Leo said with his voice slightly firm but soft at the same time due to his concern for his youngest brother.
"Hey, Mike's gonna pull through dis, Leo, he's stronger and tougher than ya think," Raph said with a determined look on his face as he walked towards his older brother, with Torra following him from behind.
"Raphael has a point, Leonardo, we should all believe in him as he endures and fights his current condition," Torra said, backing up Raph's words.
"You're right, guys…sorry for being a bit negative earlier. Mikey is a strong and brave ninja and will fight this long enough to pull through it all, no matter what," Leo said with a more confident tone in his voice, earning a smile and a nod from those around him before he spotted Donnie coming towards him from beneath the boat.
"Don, how's Mikey?" He asked his purple-banded brother, who walked closer to him and the others before he answered him calmly.
"I've cleaned Mikey's wounds as best I can and replaced the bandages with new ones. The claw nail in his shoulder was also removed without any problems, thanks to the numbing tea that Master Splinter and the Ancient One found in the storage area. Right now, they're waiting for the numbing effect to wear off before they could give him some tea that would help with his fever, so at the moment, he is comfortable and resting."
Everyone sighed in relief after hearing that, but only slightly because they all knew that Mikey wasn't out of the woods yet since there was still a chance that he could take a turn for the worse again during their sail back to the temple.
"Guys! There's something coming straight towards us, in the water!" Joi suddenly alerted the others, who then gathered to where she was standing to see for themselves. It was then that a big and dark silhouette could be seen approaching the boat on the left side before it rose from beneath the sea.
Once the curtain of water had washed away, the acolytes looked up in shock as they saw a large serpent-like creature with fan-shaped wings, sapphire blue-coloured scales and sky blue-coloured eyes, and it was looking down at them with its mouth wide open, which contained sharp teeth and two fangs on the top and bottom parts of its mouth.
"A sea dragon! I've seen this before in one of the books I read back in the temple's study room. It has the ability to create strong whirlpools with its roar whenever it feels intruded by outsiders in its territory!" Donnie stated whilst still in shock over what he's seeing in front of him.
"Raph, go down below and warn Master Splinter and the Ancient One. The rest of us will try and keep the sea dragon from damaging the ship!" Leo instructed his red-banded brother, who nodded and took off straight away to go and let Master Splinter and the Ancient One know about what's going on before he and the others turned to look back at the creature with weapons ready just as it began to attack.