turtle tot stories | tmnt 2012

Bubbles!

It was a nice, normal afternoon in New York City. Down in the sewers, everything was peaceful-the running sewer water, the pipes transferring whatever was in them along the sewers, everything. Even the lair was quiet.

At least until Splinter came back.

Master Splinter entered the lair, his arms weighed down by brown paper shopping bags. He'd just visited the market to buy more supplies; he was wearing a hat to cover his face and a long brown trench coat to cover himself, to disguise himself from the humans.

As Splinter walked into the lair, he was instantly greeted by his four sons. They ran up to him eagerly, eyes wide with excitement, jumping up and down with glee.

"What'd you get, Daddy?" they chorused. "What'd you get from the store?"

Splinter chuckled.

"Calm down, my sons," he said. "I have bought more food and supplies for us. But I have also bought you four a special surprise."

The four little turtles began hopping up and down again; their eyes got wider and they clapped their hands with excitement.

"What's the surprise?" they asked together.

"Patience, my sons," Splinter told them. "I will show you soon."

He walked to the kitchen to put the shopping bags away, his four sons at his heels. In the kitchen, Splinter placed the brown paper bags onto the table, then stuck his hand into one of them, digging around until he found what he was looking for.

"This is your surprise," he said, taking the thing out of the bag.

It was a light red, plastic container of bubble mix.

"What is it, Daddy?" little Leonardo asked.

"It is bubble mix," Splinter told him.

"Bubble mix?" Donatello squeaked. "What's that? I've never read about that in any of my books."

"Allow me to show you," said Splinter.

He peeled the lid from the bright red container, dipped the little "stick" into the bubbly liquid, took it out, and blew into its little hole.

As Splinter blew, a big bubble wriggled out from the hole and floated up into the air, moving gracefully up and down away from them.

"Whoa!" little Leonardo gasped, his blue eyes sparkling with wonder.

His other three brothers were staring at the bubble in awe, too, watching it float away into the distance.

"Wow, Daddy!" Mikey exclaimed. "You made a bubble!"

"I can make bubbles, too," Raph said. "They come out of my nose sometimes."

Splinter grimaced.

"Very...intriguing, Raphael," he managed. "But perhaps we should stick to blowing bubbles with our mix, not with our noses."

"Okay," Raphael mumbled dejectedly, looking down at his big green feet. "But I'm blowing first!"

He pushed past his brothers (who mumbled indignantly at him), and ran up to Splinter, who gently placed the bubble mix in his son's three-fingered hands.

"Be cautious not not spill this," he warned his second-oldest son.

"I got it, Dad," Raph replied.

He grabbed the "stick" in his meaty green hand, dipped it in the bubbly liquid, took it out, and blew.

An average-sized bubble, not as big as Splinter's but still a good one, wriggled out and floated up into the air. Raphael looked up at it in pride, his arms folded over his plastron, while his brothers looked on in awe.

"My turn! My turn!" little Michelangelo hurried up to Raph and reached out for the container.

"Settle down, Michelangelo," Splinter gently held his youngest son back with one hand. "I have bought you each your own containers of bubble mix."

He reached back into one if the shopping bags and pulled out three more plastic containers of the mix-one blue, one purple, one orange. He handed the orange one to Michelangelo, who took it eagerly.

"Hooray!" he cheered, jumping up and down joyously. "Now I can make my very own bubbles! Thank you, Daddy!"

He charged forward and grabbed his father in a bear hug, then ran to the main room of the lair to start his bubble blowing. Leo, Raph, and Donnie charged excitedly after him, holding their own containers if bubble mix. Splinter walked behind them, a smile on his face.
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Splinter stood from afar, watching his four sons blow their bubbles joyfully. Leonardo and Raphael were blowing and blowing, watching the bubbles float away and chasing after them gleefully with squeals of excitement.

Donatello was studying his mix; he dipped his finger into the bubbly liquid, studying it. He almost put it in his mouth for a taste-test before Splinter rushed over and stopped him.

"Sorry, Daddy," he'd said apologetically. "Just doing a scientific taste-test."

He'd gone back to blowing bubbles after that, watching them float off in fascination before chasing after them, jumping up and trying to catch them as they bobbed out of reach.

Little Michelangelo was blowing his bubbles eagerly, gasping with surprise and excitement whenever they popped. One popped right on his nose, and he squealed and toppled back on his shell, laughing. Splinter watched him with a grin.

The little orange-clad turtle blew another bubble and stared up at it with his blue eyes, watching it float away. But the poor bubble didn't get too far before Raphael charged forward, jumped up...

...and popped it.

"RAPH!" Mikey shrieked, tears welling up in his eyes.

"Michelangelo!" Splinter rushed over and bent down to his son's side. "What is the matter?"

"Raphie killed my bubble!" little Mikey wailed. "He jumped up and poked it, and it went pop! He killed it! He killed it!"

"Raphael!" Splinter scolded, turning to his second-oldest son. "That was a very naughty thing to do. Your brother did not do anything to you, so why do you do things to him?"

"I...I dunno," Raph replied quietly, looking down at his feet. "Sorry, Dad."

"Do not apologize to me, Raphael," Splinter told his son. "Apologize to your brother."

He stepped aside to reveal Michelangelo, crying quietly, his tears rolling down his face and onto the cold, hard ground. Raphael approached his little brother slowly. He hesitated, then reached out and placed his hand on little Mikey's shoulder.

"I...I'm sorry, Mikey," he managed quietly.

"That's okay, Raph," Mikey replied. "But that sure wasn't nice. You killed a bubble. And now I don't have any bubble mix left."

Everything was quiet for a moment.

"Here, Mikey," Raph said finally, handing his little brother his red container of bubble mix. "You can have mine. We can share."

"Really?" Mikey brightened and his eyes lit up.

Raph nodded.

"Thanks, Raph!" little Michelangelo beamed.

He squeezed his big brother in a bear hug.

"And hey, you wanna see how we can blow bubbles without using our mix?" Raph asked, a mischievous hint in his voice. "It's really cool."

Mikey nodded eagerly.

Within seconds, Leo, Mikey, and Donnie were running up to Splinter, their eyes wide and sparkling with awe.

"Daddy! Daddy!" they chorused excitedly.

"What is it, my sons?" Splinter asked, smiling at their enthusiastic faces.

"Raph just blew a bubble out of his nose!"