The ABC's of Turtle Tots

'G' is for Geta

By: Soniclover28

Geta: wooden-soled Japanese shoe


The sky was gray, and when the sky was gray, it meant that the rain was coming.

When the rain was coming, it meant that water would fall and slip into the lowest places of New York.

When the rain slipped into the lowest places in New York, it meant that the water would go to the sewers.

When the water goes to the sewers, it meant that it would flood the certain tunnels that were perfect for skateboarding.

And when those tunnels that were perfect for skateboarding got flooded…

…it meant that Mikey would be bored.

Like, hit-your-head-repeatedly-on-the-tree-in-the-dojo bored.

"Mikey, you're gonna get a headache," Donnie said, not even looking up from his book. He was up in the tree sitting on a branch to get some peace from his three brothers. And then Mikey had come and found him.

"I don't care," the freckled turtle groaned, and bumped his head on the tree again. "I'm so bored…!"

"Go watch Space Heroes with Leo, or something," Donnie suggested with an exasperated roll of the eyes, and Mikey paused in cracking his skull for a moment before replying.

"No, he's sick," Mikey sighed, and hit his head on the tree again.

"What about Raph?"

"Grounded."

"Sensei?"

"Grounding Raph."

"Well, what do you want me to do about it?" Donnie shut his book with his thumb on the page he was on, and gestured down to Mikey.

The freckled turtle, with his head pressed up against the tree holding his weight, only shrugged.

Donatello rolled his eyes again as Mikey continued the thump-thump-thump of his head hitting the tree, and tried to resume his reading.

'Maybe if I wait long enough he'll knock himself out,' Donnie thought, glancing down in mild amusement.

Eventually, the older brother tuned out the rhythmic thumps, and got through a whole page of his book before his brother started the whining.

Oh, the whining.

"Auuuugh." Mikey kept moaning in despair, as if being bored were actually hurting him.

"Auuuuuuuuuugh…"

Donnie's eye twitched.

"Auuuuugh…"

His eyes glared down to his little brother.

"I'm so boooooreeeeed…"

"Mikey—"

"Auuuuuuuuugh…"

"Mikey, sto—"

"Auuuuuuuuuuuuugh…"

"Mikey!"

At the squawk, Mikey lifted his head from the tree to see his brother scowling down at him in annoyance. The ten-year-old simply stared at him for a moment before letting his head fall back on the tree with a soft 'thump'.

Donnie sighed with a defeated look on his face, and his hope for finishing his book faded as he hopped out of the tree. The purple-banded turtle grabbed Mikey by the arm and started to drag him out of the dojo.

"Where are we goin'?" Mikey asked, but let himself be pulled.

"To find you something to do."


"Lion King?" Donnie suggested, holding up said VCR tape.

"Seen it."

"Little Mermaid?"

"Seen it…"

"Winnie the Pooh…"

"I'm not a baby."

"Beg to differ," Donnie muttered under his breath, and sighed in defeat. "Okay, so no movies; what about a video game?"

Mikey pondered for a moment, shrugged, and said, "Sure."

So Donnie pulled out the crate that held the very few video games they had.

"Sonic the Hedgehog?"

"Beat it."

"Sonic the Hedgehog 2?"

"Beat it."

"Donkey Kong?"

"Nah."

"What about your Gameboy? Isn't it in your room?"

"I lost the charger."

Donnie let his head smack against the T.V., and stood up again to face his little brother. The ten-year-olds stared at each other for a moment—one innocently and the other a deadpan.

"Oh, could I go into your lab? Maybe I could help you with something," Mikey grinned, and hopped off of the couch in the pit.

"Wha—no!" He exclaimed. The chocolate-eyed turtle crossed his arms. "You always break my stuff."

"C'mon, please, Donnie? I won't break nothin', I promise!"

"…Fine. But if you so much as scratch a beaker, you're leaving."

"Okay!" Mikey beamed, and ran past Donnie and through the slightly open doors of the lab.

When the family of mutants had first moved in to the subway station, the storage room of the place had been cram packed with boxes and junk and furniture and who-knows-what else. Donatello had begun cleaning out the room just recently, hoping to turn it into a lab of sorts. It was currently holding countless boxes and stray items on one half and the other occupied with tools and projects in the making.

"When're you gonna clean all this up?" Mikey asked, inspecting a few of the boxes crammed together.

"Whenever I get the chance, I guess. I really need to—I'm running out of room over here," Donnie smirked. "Maybe you'd like to that today?"

"Pfft—nice try. But I do wanna look through these; might find somethin' I want," Mikey replied, and carelessly tipped over a box, watching as its contents spilled out with a crash.

"Mikey!" Donnie exclaimed, "What did I just say about not breaking anything?"

"You said don't break your stuff," Mikey retorted, sitting down cross-legged by his new junk pile. "This is mine now, heh," He chuckled and stuck his tongue out at his older brother.

Donnie merely rolled his eyes and padded over to his work desk.

Mikey began rummaging through the pile, at first only finding subway train tickets and a few manuals and then finding a few dollars and change. He made two piles separate from the main one; one for the stuff he wanted to keep, and one for the junk he was going to throw away.

After about ten minutes he was finished with the first box, and took all the stuff he didn't want and put it back into its cardboard home. He shoved the box behind him, and simply dragged out another one. This one held emergency tools—first aid kits, and the like. He put that aside for Sensei to look through, and, by the time dinner had rolled around, Mikey had a mountain of items to show his family.

They were gathered around the giant pile in Donatello's laboratory, watching as Michelangelo grabbed and distributed his new finds to his family.

"And—and this, Raph, I think you'll like this—" Mikey was saying excitedly as he dug through his enormous pile that was almost as tall as he was, and pulled out a red, octagonal shape, and held it up for his family to see.

"A stop sign?" Raph gave him a deadpan.

"I thought it'd look cool in your room, bro," Mikey said, handing the traffic sign to his older sibling.

The red-banded turtle shifted his eyes from the sign to his brother, sighed and took the gift, anyways. Who knows, maybe he'd actually use it.

"And, Leo, I found this for you," Mikey continued, and pulled out a little action figure. He turned and handed it to his brother, who hadn't been feeling well all day, and, after receiving a nod of thanks, Mikey turned back to his pile again.

"And I saved these just for you, D," the freckled turtle picked up a pile of notepads and notebooks alike, and sat them down with a thump in front of the gap-toothed turtle.

"Ha-ha, thanks, Mikey," Donnie said, and started flipping through them.

"And I found heels, you guys!" Everyone looked to see Mikey stuffing his three-toed feet into a pair of wooden shoes with two pegs on the bottom of them.

He stood up, and imitated the catwalk by strutting proudly with his hand on his hip. Every step he took made a click on the floor. His brothers laughed, and even Splinter had to smile.

"My son, those are not heels. They are a Japanese shoe called geta," Splinter explained. "A rare find for a place like this, I might add."

"Oh, wow! Have you ever worn some before?" Mikey asked excitedly. The elevated flip-flops added about two inches to his height, and when he tried prancing around, he wobbled, almost fell, but caught himself on his father.

"Yes, but it has been the longest time," the rat replied, his eyes glinting fondly at the old memory.

Encouraged by his father's good-natured nostalgia, Mikey didn't take the pair of geta off until he'd passed out all his goods and played with them with his brothers.


"Hey, Donnie?" Mikey addressed, as he plucked off his new footwear and set them on the floor beside the couch.

Donnie looked up from the book he'd been reading earlier that day, and Mikey couldn't help but smile.

"Thanks for hanging out with me today."

Donnie couldn't help but smile back and turn his gaze to his book again. "No problem."

"We should do it every day," Mikey suggested, scooting closer to his brother excitedly.

A look of terror appeared on Donnie's face, and his eyes snapped back to his brother. "No! I-I mean, don't you think Raph and Leo'll wanna play, too? And, hey, the tunnels will be clear tomorrow, so you can go skateboarding. I'll even give the wheels a tune-up, if they need it."

"Uhm," Mikey blinked, a bit taken aback by the response, but nonetheless nodded and smiled. "Sure, sounds awesome, D."

"Great! Go get your skateboard, I'll be in my lab!" With that, Donnie abandoned his book and bolted to the lab.

Mikey was left dumbfounded on the couch, blinking in the direction Donnie had left in.

Shrugging, Mikey put his geta back on, and click-clacked to his room and back to the lab with his skateboard in hand.

Donnie, as promised, took care of the skateboard and sent Mikey on his way, giving a sigh of relief as he left. He trotted back to the couch, picked up his book, and resumed reading. The sound of Mikey's shoes echoed throughout the lair, and it took a few moments to tune it out, but Donnie managed...

...for about twenty minutes.

"Hey, Donnie, I'm bored."

Donnie's eye twitched.