Poss'
Toddler Turtles
2005 season
Intro
Disclaimer: No I am not the one responsible for inventing the ninja turtles and Master Splinter. I am also not responsible for the Toddler Turtle figurines – I would like to thank the guys down at playmates for that. They are totally radical dude! I love my Toddler Turtles. I am now starting a new series of Toddler Turtles – YEAH! So anyone who wants to see the Teenage/adult mutant fighting style turtles – this is not for you.
Yeah there will be fights, there will be pizza, and yes various antics of the four turtles will be recorded – though all events take place before they became the lean mean green fighting machine we are all familiar with.
Also due to the fact I ma a child of the 80's and am old enough to have witnessed the turtles from a humble little cartoon to what they are today, most of my stories will be set in the 80's or early 90's.
I would also like to mention that the turtles are only kids – they have not yet developed into the turtles they are on TV just yet – so no flaming me if one of them does something out of character.
So without much further yapping, let us begin by turning back the clock and see what adventures and mishaps of
Leonardo, Donetello,
Raphael and Michelangelo
Not forgetting Master Splinter's reactions to the antics of his young sons.
Enjoy.
Notes:
Splinter is not an old rat yet – he's middle aged in this series.
For the benefit of my stories:
Leonardo is oldest, followed shortly by Donetello and then Raph and Mikey are about 6 months younger.
Toddler Turtles
Raphael's fear.
"Tonight on NBC, Missing Persons. See how the police track down those on the missing person's file. Tonight only on NBC, followed by America's Most Wanted."
"Raphael, please turn that off now."
"Oh but I wanted to see that!" Raphael got up and did what his father had asked him to do.
"You will have nightmares if you watch those shows, come on, it's time for bed. Is your brother already asleep on the couch?" The giant rat asked.
"Yeah he fell asleep ages ago," Raphael said, "How come Leo and Donnie get to stay up an extra half hour?"
"Because as I have already told you, you and Mikey need more sleep than they do. When you are older you can stay up half an hour later too."
"They only six months older than me," Raphael complained, "I can stay up just as long as them." Raphael pointed to his older brothers who were playing a board game.
"I thought you liked having your own bed time story without those two around? You and Mikey get all of my attention for half an hour, without your brothers interrupting."
"Yeah but Mikey is usually asleep," Raphael pointed out.
Splinter chuckled, "Yes, your brother seems to be the big sleepy head of the family. I do hope he out grows it, I don't think I can carry him to bed for much longer!"
Splinter bent down and picked up his youngest son.
"Piggy back?" Raphael asked.
"Alright, come on then," Splinter waited for his son to climb onto his back. He was used to having two or three of his sons climbing all over him. It used to be four at a time, until he admitted to them that they were getting too big for all four at once to climb on him.
"Say good night to your brothers," Splinter said, trying to find the balance with Raph on his back and Mikey in front of him.
"Good night Donnie! Good Night Leo," Raphael called to his brothers playing chess.
"Night Raph, night Mikey" came the older turtles.
"Mikey's asleep," Raph informed them, as he was carried into his room by Splinter.
"Hop into bed, while I tuck your brother in," Splinter went about putting his youngest son to bed. Raphael meanwhile climbed into his bed and waited.
Once Splinter had finished with Mikey, he walked to the other side of the room, where Raphael sat.
"Story!" Raph cried.
"Shh! You'll wake your brother," Splinter said gently.
"What kind of story do you want to hear tonight, my son?"
"One about missing persons and murderers," Raph told truthfully.
Splinter gave his son a concerned look, wondering where Raphael got such an idea from, and then he remembered – television.
"What is a missing person?" Raphael suddenly asked, he was only six going on seven.
Splinter smiled at his son, he was pleased to learn that his son was more curious than anything else related to such matters.
"A missing person is someone whose family has not seen them for a long time. They may have gone out one morning to buy a newspaper and never came back. The family miss their loved one very much and because they don't know if the person is alive or not, they tell the police and then they try and find the person."
"Why do people go missing?"
"I don't know my son. Maybe they are kidnapped or they hit their heads and forget who they really are."
"I thought only children were kidnapped," Raphael asked.
"Sometimes grown ups are too."
"Why they big and can fight the bad people off," Raphael replied.
"Sometimes they can not fight if the person ties them up."
"That's mean tying people up," Raphael yawned.
"Yes, it is very mean. Now I think it is time for you to be asleep."
"Oh, but Splinter," Raphael pleaded as he was tucked in by his father.
Splinter patted the bald green head, "Good night my son and have pleasant dreams. No dreams about kidnappers now." Splinter smiled down at his son.
"Yeah I'm dreaming about winning lots and lots of money," Raphael said, as he rolled over to face the wall, "Good night, Splinter".
Splinter walked to the door, he turned the light off, but made sure the door was left ajar for Mikey, if he was to wake before daybreak. Mikey was still afraid of the dark and this was the main reason Splinter had temporally separated the four turtles. Once asleep Raphael usually slept right through to morning, so the light never bothered him, like it did the other two.
It was past midnight and all through the sewers the sewer rats scattered about and the tiny trickle of water was the only sound one could hear. Down one tunnel and round the bend, there was movement within a small lair, which to the common eye looked more like a home, than a part of the sewer's tunnel system.
A light padding of tiny feed could be heard, as they crept from one room to another. They opened the door to peek in. They stood there sucking on their blanket, thumb in mouth. The blanket was soaking wet not from the dribble, but from the sweat of the youngster holding it.
He crept over to the bed, where a giant rat slept. Splinter being a master of ninjitsu and used to the interruptions of sleep that only a parent knew of, had already sensed the youngster's presence. Splinter held out his blanket for the youngster to climb in next to him, which is just what the youngster did. Splinter quickly awoke startled by the wet blanket as it touched his skin.
"Raph? Raphael?" Splinter was surprised to look down and see that his second youngest son was trying to curl up to his father and was shivering.
Splinter placed his hairy hand on top of the boy's head, feeling for a temperature. His son's temperature wasn't too high, but his son was shivering and shaking all over.
"Raphie, please tell me what is wrong?" Splinter tried to pull the blanket out from under his son. A wet blanket couldn't be doing the young turtle any favours. Raphael held on even tighter to his blanket.
"Want Splinter," was all the youngster could say.
"I'm here my son," Splinter consoled his son. Splinter was fully concerned for his son and picked him up and held him in his arms. Raphael grabbed hold of the hair and wouldn't let go. Splinter started to rock his son, like he used to rock all his sons when they were just infants.
After what seemed ten minutes of Splinter gently rocking and patting his young son's shell, Raphael spoke.
"Don't go."
"I'm not going anywhere my son. Why do you say such a thing?"
"Don't want you to be missing. Kidnappers would be mean to you," Raphael began to cry into the long hairy arms.
Splinter was shocked; Raphael already understood that the world up there can be a cruel place for five mutants who lived in the sewer. Splinter had rarely spoken of this to his sons, for they were yet to venture too far from home without Splinter's presence.
"My son, it is okay. I am very careful when I go up to the surface."
"But they might kidnap you. What if they did? What do we do?" Raphael cried.
"Raphie, you will have your brothers to help look after you," Splinter said, "You are lucky there is four of you, so that when the day comes when I am not longer here – but believe me my son, that is a very long time away. I am sure you will all be well and truly grown up and no longer needing me to care for you."
"But I'd miss you."
"I'd miss you too. But remember I will always be with you, here", Splinter pointed to the young turtle's front plate, which housed the organ in question. Splinter smiled, he was pleased that all four of his sons had the protective shells around their vital organs – which would help them keep safe if anything was to happen to them.
"I will always be in your heart, my son, even when you can not see me, look inside there and you will know I am with you."
"How do I look inside my shell?" Raphael asked, "It's all hard."
Splinter smiled warmly. His son had now stoped crying and was now beginning to worry less about kidnappers. Splinter made a mental note to keep an eye on what his sons watched on television from now on.
"I do not mean you physically look inside you. But you look at where you keep your memories. Can you remember something that happened last week?"
Raphael thought for a moment and then laughed.
"Yeah, Mikey was painting Leo's shell with pink paint."
Splinter chuckled at the week before when he had caught young Michelangelo trying to paint his brothers. He had already managed to paint poor Donnie and a wall. Splinter had a hard time trying to help his oldest sons to clean their shells of the pink paint. His youngest son hadn't seen what he had done wrong either, even though Splinter had told him to only paint on paper.
"Yes, I remember telling him that we don't paint people or the walls," Splinter said.
"Well, as you get older you will have other memories of your brothers and me, which when bad times come you can look back on and remember how much fun it was back then."
"Don't think Leo and Donnie would like that memory but! They didn't like having pink shells. I wouldn't."
"Yes, you were lucky that day. Knowing your brother he would have painted you also, if he hadn't been caught."
"Yeah." Young Raphael yawned.
"I think it's time you went back to sleep."
"Can I stay in here?" Raph was still young enough to use his baby sad face on Splinter, which offcourse would melt any parents' heart. Splinter was no different to a human parent, those looks tugged at him also, until he gave into them.
"Yes, you may stay here, but for tonight only!" Splinter informed his little son.
"Good Night, Splinter."
"Good night, my son. I hope you have a happier dream this time."
"I won't dream, I will remember nice things that happened."
Authors Note: Yeah I know not your typical Raph, as we all know him ten years older. You got to remember the turtles are only about six/seven in this story. They haven't truly developed into the teenagers we know off the show yet. So Raph's not such a hothead yet. Though he is starting to question why Leo (and in this story Don) get special treatment. He's slowly starting to catch up to them developmentally (He's six months younger than Leo), but not enough to compete with Leo fully in anything dramatic.