This Paint 3D illustration I made this morning features one of my favorite OC's, Leather the brown bat. I have touched on his adventures fairly recently as of uploading this picture. Though this time, it's focused on this cute bat's early years as supposed to his mid-youth appearance I usually go with when tackling this character's experiences. To clear things up, this is not an AR piece, rather a ''back when...'' type of illustration.

🦇 The cute and frail toddler bat awakens inside a giant cave, filled with freshwater and hundreds of stalagmites. Although he knows this place like the palm of his hand, Leather starts to feel uneasy... like there's someone watching him... As it turns out, there actually is! ''M-Momma...?'', Leather whispers. His voice merges with the crackling of the warm, comfortable diaper he is wearing, before disappearing among the various rock formations and hallways of the cavern system. Then the sound disappears completely, together with the crinkling sound of his diaper... Leather is supposed to feel safe inside this cavern, and yet... the fact that someone is looming around here, is... concerning, to say the least. His parents have been away for almost three days now, and it isn't very likely they will be returning anytime soon. Leather shoots up from the cold floor when he hears a sudden <BANG!> coming from the darkness surrounding the pool of water. That man is sabotaging the cavern system by blowing up the various rock formations within the cave...! Leather flutters in the direction of the opposite hallway, away from the pool, in order to navigate the cave towards the upper stalactite ceiling. This is the only place where the sun rays are able to shine through the earth, and thus the only place to light up the flooded cove below, revealing a violent stream of water flowing across the bottom of the cave. Here, Leather will be safe for the time being. If only his parents and his other relatives were here to help him out, to potentially protect him from the menace that is threatening this underground wonderland. Leather isn't planning on leaving the cave through the lit-up holes in the ceiling, because he doesn't appreciate strong sunlight. Then, Leather gets an idea... If he could hide inside that stream of water down-below... Having no other option, Leather decides to face the water, and he dives into the cold, deep flow. He can feel the freezing-cold liquid enter his diaper, but that is the least of his concerns right now. The little bat holds his breath, and watches some colorful fish swim by as he is hiding from the danger above... Finally, Leather paddles towards the surface, both because he is curious about the safety of the circumstances, and because he starts to run out of breath. He knows from experience that he can't hold his breath for very long -- back when his mother was teaching him how to swim, he learnt this the hard way. Momma bat had to fish her little son out of the water to prevent him from being sucked into a whirlpool that connected the sunlit pool to the rest of the lower cavern systems, which are completely flooded with dangerously-cold water. If she had been a few seconds later, Leather wouldn't sit here in front of the pool like he does right now. Even though Leather is now soaked from being submerged, you can still distinguish his flowing tears from the rest of the cold liquid that's now covering his body. After Leather shakes himself dry, that's when the young bat notices a faint blue-colored item, sitting behind a lime pillar that has been formed inside the cave. The ever-curious critter he is, Leather swiftly flies over to it, sits down in front of the peculiar stone segment, and folds one of his tiny wings around it. As another deafening bang echoes through the gloomy area, and the bright light of the accompanied nearby explosion lights up the cavern system, in just a split-second Leather is able to decipher what has been carved into the ancient azure-colored object -- in a flash, he can distinguish a picture of his long-gone parents, with himself being cradled in his mother's caring wing... So this was supposed to be a birthday present for him, gifted by his parents before they left the cavern... Leather squeaks a few times, lifts the azure stone tablet up into the air using every last bit of his tiny body's power, and proceeds to fly off into the darkness, abandoning the underground pool in the process. He knows that they had to leave him here. But Leather also knows, that if there are any of these treasured items left behind, he MIGHT still have a chance to track down his family and find them back. With those thoughts buried deep within his mind, like the many hidden secrets buried within this cave, Leather continues his flight, in search of his family, his relatives, his parents. If he is able to find them, together they may be able to rid their home of the men that are sabotaging the place...

🦇 THE END