Iɴᴅɪɢᴏ & Sᴀɴᴅsᴛᴏɴᴇ || ᴀ ᴛᴍɴᴛ ғᴀɴғɪᴄ '16【✓】

02 || Degraded

Marching through the sewers with a large pack on his shell, an eight-year-old mutant reptilian scavenged the unexplored tunnels of his underground world. The leg bottoms of his light blue overalls were soaked, gaining mud and garbage in the fabric fibers as his feet splashed in the filthy water.

The young mutant listened and jammed out to a few modern hits on his homemade radio he put together out of a small boombox and one football-sized speaker. With the help of his logical thinking, he had the intelligence of Albert Einstein and he was proud of it.

He looked all over the interior of New York's sewers, searching for abandoned human knick-knacks so he could add them to his growing collection back home in a place he and his family called the lair.

Gasping in curiosity, he sees a shiny object in the running water he strolled in. He leans over his knees and plucks it from the water, flicking it around to get the extra water off. It's round, had numbers 1 through 12, and is made to be worn on the wrist. "Another watch." He says, shoving it into his overall pocket.

Pushing up his glasses, the mutant child glances up at a sewer drain, seeing the sunlight beam on him like a spotlight. Being the tallest out of his brothers, he could see people strolling with handbags, cell phones, and dogs around the Manhattan streets. He would fantasize about himself and his brothers going on the surface one day, taking in real sunlight and being a citizen of New York. But if he thought logically like he usually does, he knows for certain that someone like himself won't ever be accepted. He should know because he has looked at his reflection every day since he could walk.

His eyes don't come off of the outside world...he's so intrigued.

"Donatello!" A young voice calls from the tunnels. His name had been hollered and that meant it was time to return to the lair. Donatello turned away from the sewer drain, Shutting off his music and walking the route home. He heard his name being called by his older brother, Leonardo, the potential leader of his siblings. "Donnie!"

Don jogged, picking up the pace until he saw Leo at the end of the tunnel. "I'm right here, Leo."

"Where have you been? Dad doesn't like it when we wander off into the tunnels!" Leo scolded his younger brother.

"I didn't go off the radar, Leo." Donnie scoffed, walking into the lair with his pack still on his shell.

Leo sighed, following Donnie through the lair. "What are you doing in the tunnels, anyway?"

"Exploring," Don replied, slipping his pack off his shell and approaching his bed full of blankets and pillows. "You know? To travel in or through an unfamiliar country or area in order to learn about or familiarize oneself with it."

"I know what it means." Leo told him, watching Donnie strip his play gear from his body. "I mean, why are you doing that?"

Don takes off a piece of gear from his head, replicating a pair of goggles. He placed them down on his bed and sometimes he would ask himself the same question: Why does he explore the tunnels every week? He's been doing this little hobby since he was five years old. "I..." He began. "I guess it is associated with my growing development." He smiled.

"There are always other hobbies, man." Leo folds his hands together. "You know how much father doesn't like us leaving the lair without him."

Sometimes, Donnie felt like he was being loved and appreciated by Leo, but there are times when his other brothers degraded his hobbies and intelligence. "I've said this multiple times, Leo... don't ask me to change because I can't." He paused. "You enjoy reading and training. Raph likes to listen to music and lift weights. Mikey is amused with his drumset and video games. And I like inventing and exploring. Why don't you like that? Dad is okay with me being smart."