Baytle - HowDidItStart part 5

Part 5
"Good morning, little guys!" I greeted the Baytle as I entered the shed with a big box full of scientific goodies I won't describe you not to waste your time. Anyway, I got no answer. "Guys?" I called them once again. Their box was empty. I was already starting to panic, when I heard a melodious noise coming from the bunch of old logs in the corner. I took the big piece of wood on the top, that was vibrating and emitting that sound, and gently shook it; four little heads popped out of it, with a questioning look. The Baytle were jollily chewing on the log's insides, and I had caught them with their cheeks full of the sawdust they had produced. I bet it tasted wonderful for four wood-gnawing bugs.

"'Morning!" I told them, and they cooed in response; after gulping their breakfast, that is. "You make a really nice music when you eat, you know?" The bossy one gave me a look that may have meant: "Of course we do. What did you think, that we made music without even knowing?" I totally had to write this: 'The Baytle make music when they eat. They're awesome.'

"Today – I began saying – I want to see you battle." They were all lined up on the table now, and looked at me as if I was crazy. "Yeah I know, yesterday I didn't want you to battle. But I have a rule here: no battling without my permission. I want to test your powers and fighting style – I showed them my note book – so that I can write about them. And you'll have your very own Pokédex entry when I'll be done studying you, so it's worth it I think, mh?" No objections, just curious faces.

I took the four of them in the large courtyard outside the shed and put them on the grass. "Show me what you can do!" I harangued them, and threw a Pokéball. Inside was my beloved Stunky, Stanley. He came out with flashing white light, and growled, glaring at the four Baytle. Stanley isn't a powerhouse, but he's still a strong Pokémon, and very faithful. I don't regret not letting him evolve. I always use him in battles with young Pokémon. For this battle, I had assigned a number to each Baytle in order to tell them apart more easily, as I wanted them to fight 4v1 all together: 1 was the bossy one with the long face, 2 was the happy one with messy hair, 3 was the one with big brows and 4 was the sulky one.

"Stanley, battle these Pokémon, please. Use Bite!"

Stanley snorted, looking at the Baytle with an easygoing attitude. He charged into them and tried to bite Number 1's head, but he dodged and attached to his leg. Stanley looked very annoyed, and kept kicking until he had sent 1 rolling on the ground.

"Use Faint Attack on Number 1, Stanley!"

Now, you can't dodge Faint Attack, but I was amazed at how Number 3 jumped and placed himself in front of Number 1, performing a very nice Defense Curl and protecting the other one. Stanley tackled into him instead on 1, but it didn't have much effect. In the meantime, Number 2 had squirmed his way towards the Skunk Pokémon, and as soon as he had reached him, he jumped in the air and landed on his back, where he started biting viciously at his skin. Stanley howled in pain, and, after raising himself on his hind legs, landed on his back, squishing Number 2 onto the ground. The small Pokémon squealed in pain, and couldn't manage to move for some time.

Stanley got up and growled at 1 and 3. "Use Faint Attack on Number 4, now!" The Stunky turned to the sad-looking Baytle and, with a large grin, charged at him. Number 1 and Number 3 went after him and stuck themselves onto his tail's soft fur. He stopped in the middle of the charge, and gave them an intimidating look, but Number 4 took advantage of this situation to hit him with a Headbutt on his chin, making him totter. Number 3 had recovered a bit in the meantime, and quickly reached the other three and started helping them to send Stanley KO. The Skunk Pokémon slammed himself on the floor and started rolling around swiftly, leaving a wake of half-fainted grubs behind him. He got up and looked at what he had done.

Number 2 was obviously unable to fight further: he was lying on the grass, half curled, and kept squeaking like a squeezable toy; Number 1 was trying to crawl toward Stanley, but he was having a rather hard time; Number 3 was sitting and sobbing in pain (his expression was heartbreaking) and Number 4 had his head stuck in the ground, and kept squirming in a desperate attempt at setting himself free.

"Huh, Stanley, that's enough. I think we've gone too far."

Stanley approached Number 4 and helped him getting his head out of the hole by grabbing him with his claws. The Baytle looked at him in fear and started wriggling his body, but Stanley wanted to look at him better, so he kept studying him without worrying about his protests. As for me, I hastily gathered the other three on a soft heap of cut grass. I felt, once again, horrible, and I slapped myself right on the cheek. "PROFESSOR BYONA! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?- I shouted –You've taken them away from a bad place and you have already managed to make them faint twice. Already. YOU SUCK!" I stopped, as the four were now bunched together and were staring at me as if I was an angry Ursaring. I cooled down.

"You help each other a lot during the battle. This is very fascinating, and very cool to see. But I guess it's not the time for observations right now. You four need some medical aid right now."

"Baytle."

I had never worked on the battle wounds of a grub before. I found it rather interesting. The Baytle were covered in bandages and gauzes now, and looked at me with grudge. This made me feel even worse, but they seemed to find me quite funny, and as soon as they noticed I was frowning, they started giggling. "Baybaybaybaybaybaybay!"

After tickling them and giving them some fresh wood as a present in order for them to forgive me, I decided to let them alone for the rest of the day, but that night I kept them in my room. I knew they had each other, and that would've been enough to spend the night without need of further company, but I just couldn't resist the temptation of having them with me. I understood that had been an excessively rushed decision when, during the night, I found them curled by my side in my bed, rather than in their box with their pillows.

"You can't sleep here. I don't even let Jackdolum sleep here."

A chorus of chirps of objection came from under the blanket. I sighed.

"Get out."

"Baytle."

"Out."

"Baytle."

I knew it was Number 1 answering. "I don't want to grab you and put you in the box. Just please worm out of my bed."

"Baytle."

"Please."

"Baytle."

"PLEASE!"

"Goo goo g'joob!"

"Aw, never mind. You can sleep in my bed tonight. Ok? Just try not getting squashed by me."

They answered with a series of super happy little squeaks and crawled toward me until they were close to my body, and they started cuddling with me, purring. Sharing the bed with four spoiled (and they were dying in a cage just one day before!) overgrown worms. Who knew it could've been this cute?