In the anthro pokemon universe of Primrose Valley, Deven finds out he’s going to be stuck spending the weekend with a sitter and is willing to resort to drastic measures to turn the tables on them.
Primrose Valley
Who Needs Babysitters
By CalexTheNeko
“Oh come on!” Deven protested. The green and brown noibat crossed his arms in an epic pout. “I’m more than old enough to stay home by myself! I mean… I’m in middle school!”
“Maybe for a few hours.” His noivern mother spoke with a disapproving look. “But your father and I are both going to be gone for the entire weekend. You need someone around to look after you.” She was currently standing at the stove working on dinner while Deven sat at the kitchen table.
“But! I mean! I’m basically an adult!” Deven protested. “I mean! I’m close to evolving! Look how long my tail is! And my wingspan! And I’m over eighteen years old anyway! Cause of the six years I spent growing up a second time in the forest!”
“Oh yes, that story again.” His mom replied dismissively. “About you and the faerie boy.”
“That really happened!” Deven protested. “Arzure and Zeelo could back me up! And you’ve seen him! The orange espeon, he was the one who had magic! And then he opened up some kind of portal in the lake! And six years passed before we came back out, but it was over in an instant.”
“Yes, so you have told me.” His mom rolled her eyes. “And I admit… Your espeon friend is a bit strange, but he’s not some magical faerie. He’s not even a fairy type. Just a strange kid.”
“But! Remember that time I brought the blue scorbunny by That was Arzure after playing a game with him!” Deven explained.
“Didn’t you have him over last weekend?” His mother asked. “He still looked like a raboot to me.”
“Well yeah!” Deven replied in an exasperated tone. “That’s cause after we were all done playing he changed back to normal! Well except Zeelo, he had to wait to hatch again before he could go back to normal. You remember! I showed you his egg!”
“Yes you showed me -A- riolu egg.” His mom replied. “It could have been anyone’s.”
“But it had brown stripes on it!” Deven protested. “That proves it was Zeelo!”
“Zeelo is hardly the only riolu in existence to have a unique fur pattern.” His mom replied. “It’s very common. Your egg also had brown markings.”
“Yes! But uggggh!” Deven slammed his head against the table.
“Honestly, the fact you keep making up such farfetched stories like that isn’t helping your cause.” His mother replied in a firm voice. “Making things up isn’t really going to prove that you’re mature!”
“They’re not made up.” Deven spoke knowing it was futile. “And even if they were, I could still handle myself for one weekend”
“Look, your dad and me will be gone the entire weekend. If something were to happen there’d be no way to no way for us to get back here quickly.” She explained. “It’s for the best you have someone responsible here to take care of you.”
“More like boss me around.” Deven huffed. “And not let me have any fun. Babysitters always tell me when I have to take a bath and when I have to go to bed and what I have to eat.”
“Deven, we leave your sitter with instructions to do those things.” His mom replied firmly. “The fact you can’t be trusted to eat properly and go to bed on time is just adding more to the list of reasons.”
“Ugh then fine.” Deven crossed his arms. “Stupid sitter. I’m not a baby.” He huffed. He couldn’t believe his luck.
The next morning Deven recounted the conversation with his mother with his riolu friend Zeelo. They were the same age and in the same grade, at least for right now. Zeelo had a few brown stripes on his ears that separated him from most riolus. As they were both at school they were actually dressed, somewhat. Deven had a pancho on that covered most of his body, while Zeelo was just wearing a long blue scarf.
“I mean I kind of see her point.” Zeelo was trying to get Deven to calm down. “I mean… It’s not like your parents ever saw any of the stuff we went through. I mean, -YOU- didn’t believe me and Arzure till you had experienced it yourself.”
“That’s not the point.” Deven complained. “Now I have to deal with someone telling me what to do all weekend. And they’ll probably be super smug about it too. My parents always find the worst sitters. The last one made me go to bed early. They’re the ones who need someone watching them. I’d do a better job than any of them do.” He paused at that. “Actually… That’s an idea. I don’t suppose you think I’d be able to convince Calex to show up and make the babysitter younger than me. Then I could be in charge for the entire weekend.”
“Uhhhhh…” Zeelo glanced over at the empty seat in the classroom that belonged to Arzure. “I do not think that’s going to be an option.”
“Eh is something up?” Deven asked noticing where Zeelo had looked. “Where is Arzure anyway?”
“Was playing hide and seek with Calex after school yesterday.” Zeelo explained. “I played for a bit but had to go home earlier… And um well… You know how Calex gets and likes to make things interesting. So it turned more into hide and go shrink and well…” He pointed to Arzure’s seat. “If he’s not here today then there’s basically one of two things happening. Either the game ended, and he lost. Which based on the fact they were placing bets, means he’s currently still shrunk and spending the day as Calex’s pet… Or alternatively, is still shrunk and still seeking an even tinier Calex who is hiding in the forest, the game ongoing. Either way, no idea what size they planned to play too, but I doubt either one is bigger than an inch tall, which will make searching the forest for them take a long time.”
“Uggh.” Deven groaned. “I could do it if it wasn’t Friday, but my parents are expecting me home right after school. They’re going to drop me off at the sitter’s house.”
“Sorry.” Zeelo shrugged. “But you can’t rely on Calex to be able to magically take care of everything for you.” Zeelo paused. “Although, if you really wanna go that route there is another option.”
“Don’t keep me in suspense what is it?” Deven asked.
“Well, Calex isn’t the only one who can create magical effects. “You could try getting a potion to make them younger. Anyone can make them if you have the proper ingredients.”
“Except I don’t have time to go searching for ingredients!” Deven protested. “Or to learn how to make a potion.”
“You might not have to.” Zeelo grinned. “There’s a kid at school who sales them.”
“I’ve never heard anything about that!” Deven responded louder than he intended. This got a disapproving stare from their teacher.
“Well, it’s kind of one of those things you don’t openly advertise. Pretty sure teachers would shut it down real quick.” Zeelo explained. “So it’s sort of a referral program. Gotta know a customer.”
“So where is he?” Deven asked.
“He sales them at lunch time.” Zeelo explained. “You know the courtyard behind the cafeteria?”
“Isn’t that off limits?” Deven asked. “Which I never really understood, why build a courtyard next to the cafeteria then forbid students to go eat outside?”
“It is, which means it’s secluded, and there are plenty of places to hide in a hurry if a teacher shows up.” Zeelo explained. “Just sometime during lunch sneak out there when no one is looking, and then when asked what you’re doing there say: ‘Just looking for something blue.’ And then he’ll show you his wares.”
“Something blue” Deven asked. “Are all his potions blue in color or something?”
“Nah it’s just a pass phrase, so that he knows you were referred by someone.” Zeelo explained. “If he just openly offered these to every student someone would tell a teacher.”
“Makes sense.” Deven grinned. “Can’t wait to see the look on the babysitter’s face when I wind up in charge for the entire weekend.”
“Don’t go too rough.” Zeelo warned. “You can’t keep them that way forever and they’ll tell your parents if you cause too much trouble.”
“I won’t do anything to them they wouldn’t have to me.” Deven grinned. “Just tell them when to eat, give them a bath and make em go to bed early.” He grinned. It was looking like the weekend might turn out to be fun after all.
Lunch time came eventually, and Deven looked at the double doors leading to the back courtyard. Unfortunately for him one of the teachers on lunch duty was hanging out right in front of it. While he doubted the teacher knew about the potion seller or his plans, Deven couldn’t help but take it slightly personally. Was the world conspiring to make him spend the entire weekend being bossed around? He was debating how he could try to distract the teacher and then sneak past. Luckily, the solution resolved itself. Apparently, a few students had gotten into an argument and it was starting to get really loud. The teacher was forced to leave her post and go deal with them. This gave Deven the chance he had been looking for. He had sat as close to the door as possible. He got up and walked towards a trash can to dispose of what was left of his lunch. Once certain that no one was watching him, he quickly slipped out the door into the courtyard.
Deven had never actually seen the courtyard before. It was fairly simple in design. Most of it was concrete, then there were a few bushes and flowers around the edges of it. Then it was mostly filled with the same long tables as were in the cafeteria. Other than that, where was a small grassy field that was fenced in to prevent anyone from leaving the school out this way.
“Hey.” A voice spoke up as Deven stepped outside. He looked up to see a piachu wearing a simple pair shorts and a t-shirt, as well as a blue knit hat over their head. He also had a stone carved into the shape of a lightning bolt around his neck. “What are you doing here? This area is off limits. If you don’t leave, I’ll have to report you.”
“Are you a hall monitor or something? Deven asked. He had never seen a pichu old enough to be in middle school before.
“Something.” The pichu crossed his arms.
“Well you’re not supposed to be here either.” Deven stuck his tongue out. “So you can’t report me without getting in trouble.”
“You sure about that?” The pichu grinned.
“Uh huh.” Deven paused as he remembered what he had come out here to do. The pichu was trying to get him to leave but was clearly not supposed to be out here himself. Why would they put a hall monitor someplace that no one was supposed to be? He realized at once this was probably the person he was looking for. Of course, they’d try to get him to leave. If Deven wasn’t a customer, they could get the pichu in real trouble. “Look, I’m just out here cause I’m looking for something blue.”
“Well you could have opened with that.” The pichu complained. “How am I supposed to know you were referred to me if you act like that.”
“You’re the one who tried to make me to go away first!” Deven complained.
“Yeah, cause you’re someone I’ve never seen before so had no idea to know you were a customer.” The pichu shrugged. “Anyway, name’s Nelly.” He picked up a backpack off the floor and unzipped the front revealing a large selection of vials filled with different colored liquids. Each of them was carefully strapped in place to ensure they wouldn’t break or spill.
“I’m Deven.” The noibat introduced himself. “That’s… A lot of stuff.”
“Different clients got different needs.” Nelly explained. “But, they’re mostly shrinking or youth potions. Those tend to sell the most.”
“That’s what I need! The youth potion I mean.” Deven explained. “My parents are going to be out of town for the weekend and insisting I need a babysitter.” Deven snarled as he said that. “I don’t want to spend the entire weekend being bossed around by someone on a power high.”
“So, you want to make them younger?” Nelly grinned. “Alright… So, how far we wanting to go… You want them the same age as you, younger, a baby, an egg?”
“Huh you can revert someone all the way back to an egg?” Deven looked thoughtful. It wasn’t that long ago when he had been turned back into an egg. It hadn’t actually been that unpleasant experience. Was the best nap he had ever taken, and then when he woke up got to have quite a bit of playtime. Plus, the babysitter definitely couldn’t cause trouble if they were just an egg. He only saw one problem. “How long do they stay an egg?”
“Varies.” Nelly shrugged. “A few days to a few weeks. A really potent one could make it last months, but those are on demand only. It’s really awkward if one of those get spilled and I have to take the unfortunate victim back to their family, and figure out who their family is, and explain it’s going to be five months before they hatch.”
“I see.” Deven considered for a moment. Turning his babysitter into an egg would certainly immediately solve his problems. But, there was the issue they’d still be an egg when his parents got home. On one hand that might get them to take his claims a little more seriously. On the other hand, he was pretty sure he was going to be grounded for life if they came to pick him up and the sitter had been reduced to an egg. Probably not a good idea. “Okay, maybe not an egg… But you can make then a little baby?”
“Oh yeah easily.” Nelly explained and took out two vials one that was filled with violet liquid, the other with green. “The only question is do you want them to devolve as they get younger or not.”
“Wait, doesn’t getting significantly younger always devolve a pokemon?” Deven asked confused.
“Normally yes.” Nelly explained. “But if you know the exact right ingredients to pick you can make a pokemon younger while having them keep their evolved form.” He grinned. “Sometimes I find it’s more fun to let them stay evolved but still feel so small next to me. It allows for extra teasing.”
“Hmmmm. Yeah I can see that.” Deven grinned. “Alright, give me a potion that can make them as young as possible without devolving them or turning them into an egg.”
“Alright, sure, will you be paying in cash or card?” Nelly asked.
“Excuse me?” Deven seemed confused.
“How do you intend to pay for the potion?” Nelly asked. “Do you have the $5 on you to buy it now? Or are you going to be trading cards for it. Just so you know, I won’t accept commons.”
“You mean cards like in a game.” Deven paused. “The official Pokemon League card game?” He asked.
“Yeah.” Nelly replied. “Trying to put together a stronger deck. I’ll take a single uncommon if I don’t have it, otherwise you need at least threes. Pretty much any rare I’ll give you a potion for, and a holo I’ll give you two.”
“Ah… I don’t have any of those on me…” Deven reached into his poncho and pulled out a small little wallet. Five dollars was a lot. That was half a week’s allowance! But it was that or deal with the babysitter all weekend. “Alright, I’ll pay money. Can’t believe you charge so much.” Deven got the money out of his wallet.
“Hey they take a lot of time and effort to make.” Nelly happily accepted the money then gave him the violet potion. “You just need to get it on them for it to work. You can load it up into a water gun, throw the vial at them, though broken glass around a baby is usually a bad idea, dump it on them when they don’t expect, filled a balloon, pour it into drink, just open the bottle and fling it at them. You get the idea. As long as the potion touches them, even just a tiny splash it’ll work its magic.”
“I see.” Deven gave a manic grin.
“Oh… But be careful.” Nelly warned. “If you get it on both of you then you’ll be joining them as an infant for the duration of the weekend.”
“Duly noted.” Deven carefully placed the potion vial into a pocket. “Alright, now I’m looking forward to tonight.” He grinned.
The rest of the school day didn’t last long and Deven was soon back home and being loaded into his parents’ car. He was still wearing his poncho to easily conceal the potion but couldn’t hide his grin at what he was planning.
“Alright, what are you up to?” His mother asked from the front seat. “You wouldn’t be smiling so much if you weren’t up to anything.”
“I’m not doing anything.” Deven complained.
“Uh huh.” His mother replied. “You better not be planning to make things hard on your sitter.” She gave him a stern look through the rearview mirror. “He has my number so can call me if you act up.”
“Noted.” It took everything Deven had not to giggle. His babysitter wasn’t going to be capable of even talking, let alone calling someone on the phone. But he had to calm himself. If he acted too excited his mom might catch on to that he was up to something and search him. And while she might not know what the potion was he highly suspected he’d still get in trouble for carrying it. Or worse, she might regress herself or him trying to find out what it was. It might be amusing to see her regressed to a baby for a few minutes… But then when the potion wore off well… He might as well go buy one of those potions to turn himself into an egg for several months he’d be grounded for so long. Would be the only way not to make it feel like an eternity.
“Hmmmm.” His mother looked at him suspiciously, but she dropped it as she backed the car out of the driveway and began the drive towards his new babysitter’s house.
It wasn’t a long drive. Despite having an official league gym Primrose valley was not a large town by any means. There were only a couple of residential districts and all of them were fairly close together. As a result, it had only been a few minutes by the time they arrived and their car pulled into the driveway of a two story house. Deven was brought to the front door where his mother rang the doorbell and then they waited.
A few moments later a raichu answer the door. He was definitely still in his teenage years and had two extra sets of brown stripes over his thighs and his upper arms. He also had exceptionally long crimson colored hair that was tied back into a ponytail. He wore a pair of black shorts and nothing else. Deven bet he was older than him once you accounted for pocket dimensions and weird timeline stuff.
“This Deven?” The raichu asked as he bent down on a knee to get eye level with the noitbat. Hi, I’m Gale, you’re going to be crashing here for a couple of days.
“I know how a babysitter works.” Deven sighed. “You don’t have to explain it to me.” Deven already felt patronized.
“Well okay then…” Gale stood up seeming nonplussed. “You can head inside and make yourself at home. I need to talk to your mom for a few minutes.”
“Uh huh sure.” Deven worked his way past Gale and into the house. It wasn’t much different from most houses he had been in. The room was decently sized, he saw a TV mounted on a wall and a few game systems hooked up to it, a couch, loveseat and coffee table. There was also a set of stairs leading up to the next floor. Deven reached into his pocket and felt the potin trying to think about how he was going to use it. He really should have just brought a water gun. Now he was going to have to figure out how to dump the potion onto the babysitter. It looked like the upper floor had a balcony. Maybe he could hide up there later and then pour it down. Or maybe he should just open the vial and splash it on him as soon he came back inside.
“Alright Deven.” Gale appeared back in the living room. “We have a spare guest room downstairs so feel free to make it your own, you don’t have to worry about bunking with anyone. I do have a younger brother close to your age, so if you want someone to hang out with; they’re upstairs right now.”
“A brother?” Deven froze midway through taking the potion out. That was something he hadn’t accounted for. He had assumed it would just be him and the sitter in the house. The brother was a complication. They were around Deven’s age. Did that mean that they were older or younger than him? Would he just be putting someone else in charge? Or would they enjoy bringing their older brother down to size with him. He hesitated, realizing he probably should meet the brother before doing anything.
“He’ll probably want to meet you.” Gale continued. “He’s bored out of his mind since our parents told us to stay home this weekend. Ours are out of town as well so it’s just us three.” He turned a head towards the stairs and the next words he shouted made Deven freeze completely. “Nelly! Come down here! We have a guest staying with us for the weekend.
Nelly. The same pichu who had sold him the potion. That was the younger brother of his babysitter. Sure enough, Nelly appeared coming down the stairs a few moments later. Nelly also froze when he saw Deven and the two’s eyes met.
“Oh.” Nelly said realization kicking in. He hadn’t realized his own brother was to be the victim. Nelly didn’t have anything against regressing his brother. Or shrinking him. Or doing both. Or turning him into an egg, shrinking it to the size of an ant and leaving it in the middle of a tiny maze just to mess with him when he woke up. Gale and Nelly had a certain rapport where this type of mischief was expected from each other.
But that was the thing, from each other. It was just a bit of sibling rivalry, and though maybe sometimes tempers got the better of them and things escalated beyond what they should have, they still for the most part got along. At least as well as brothers could. However, that did not mean that others were given free reign to cause the brothers the same level of mischief. Gale was extremely protective of Nelly despite their fights. Frustratingly overprotective at times. And Nelly… Well, he supposed he would prefer people that weren’t him not cause trouble for his brother.
“Deven…” Nelly got halfway down the stairs before looked at the noibat.
“You two know each other?” Gale asked.
“Sort of…” Deven rubbed the back of his head. “I mean we’ve seen each other at school and all.”
“I see.” Gale looked between the two.
“Yeah, so haven’t really interacted much before.” Deven continued. It was strange, he felt as if the raichu was suddenly staring right through him. A terrible thought occurred to Deven.
Did Gale know that his younger brother knew how to make youth potions? If so, Gale might now be expecting trouble. At the very least there was a high chance that he’d recognize the potion when he saw it. Which mean Deven absolutely had to get him by surprise. And hope Nelly wouldn’t interfere.
“So you two have any classes together?” Gale asked.
“Not really.” Nelly replied.
“Yeah, just you know kind of seen each other around before.” Deven replied.
“So never interacted much at all?” Gale tilted his head seeming confused.
“Not really.” Deven replied. “Just kind of passed each other in the halls.” Deven was confused as to why Gale was pressing on this point so much. It was making Deven a little uncomfortable
“That’s all huh?” Gale put his hands on his hips. “Then why did the two of you both freeze like a deerling in headlights the second you saw each other?” Gale smirked. “Strange reaction for two people who have barely interacted with each other.” The tip of Gale’s long flexible tail twitched as it moved closer to his waist.
“Well the thing about that…” Deven tried to come up with an explanation.
“Forget it, he’s already figured it out.” Nelly gave a sigh and a shrug as he finished coming down the steps.
“I take it you’re still selling potions at school then.” Gale seemed amused rather than angry. “You’re going to get in so much trouble doing that someday you know.”
“That’s a problem to deal with down the line.” Nelly managed to grin.
“Sooooooo.” Gale leaned against the couch, his tail still twitching eagerly. “You two were quite surprised to see each other… Meaning whatever you bought from him Nelly didn’t who you were planning on using it on.” Gale gave a predatory grin. “Soooo, how bad am I going to get it this time?”
“This time?” Deven paused and looked between the two.
“We sort of mess with each other sometimes.” Nelly explained. “Okay actually a lot. But point is he’s pretty much experienced every potion I can make up to this point. He’s a good guinea pig really.”
“Turnabout is fair play I suppose.” Gale shrugged. “And it’s not like I don’t get him back.” He paused. “Though maybe sometimes things go a bit too far. Spending a week as a toddler lost in the carpet fibers was a bit much.”
“But it was such good training!” Nelly insisted. “Teaches you to improvise and how to get around difficult terrain.”
“Um training for what?” Now Deven was confused.
“Pokemon League.” Gale replied. “I’m an official combatant. Though… Haven’t really gotten anywhere in tournaments yet. Still learning, things like reading body language to anticipate what people are going to do.” He paused. “But even without training didn’t have any difficulty putting it together. Plus, you’ve had your hand in your pocket since you stepped inside. So… What’s going to happen to me?”
“You’re seem… Awfully calm about this.” Deven hesitated but realized there was no point hiding it. “Turn you all the way back into a baby.”
“Heh.” Gale gave a warm smile. “Guess I should thank you for not leaving my in an egg for a month.”
“So, you’re just okay with this?” Deven squinted.
“Well ok with you trying but…” Gale’s tail whipped around near his waist, grabbing a vial from his own pockets. “But… I have a younger brother who can brew magical potions and sells them at school. I may not have predicted you being one of his customers, but I also knew there was a fairly large chance of him causing trouble tonight. So I brought something just in case.” His vial contained an identical violet liquid.
“I thought it weird you still had your shorts on despite being home already.” Nelly put his hands on his hips.
“Well… Looks like me and Deven have our cards on the table.” Gale gave Nelly a sideways look. “Nelly care to tell me what you brought down to cause mischief tonight.”
“What makes you so certain that I-“ Nelly paused as Gale just looked at him. “Ok fair. I actually had the same one.” He stared at Gale. “But in my defense, I hadn’t decided who I was going to use it on yet! Or if it all. Was going to see which was funnier, or who was being annoying.”
“So how do we go from here?” Gale grinned. “Either one of you can splash your potion at me, but I’ll have time to retaliate. Whoever decides to make a go at it first will also wind up an infant.”
“Maybe…” Deven replied. “But if I’m fast enough I can get you first and escape.”
“Abouuuut that.” Nelly opened the lid of his potion and looked at Deven. “I might have to nail you if you turn my brother into an infant. Just on principal. I mean, at that point he’ll be my younger brother then I have to be protective of him. You get how it goes.”
“But you sold me the potion so he wouldn’t be able to boss me around.” Deven opened his potion and turned towards Nelly. Would it be better to hit him, then just live with whatever Gale’s rules were for the night?
“This is a predicament.” Gale opened his own potion. “If we’re not careful all three of us could spend the weekend as infants.”
“Uggh this isn’t fair, ruining my entire plan.” Deven looked between Gale and Nelly trying to make a choice. Should he just put the potion away or go for it. Well, he hadn’t come this far just to back down at this point. “GAAAAH!” Deven thrust his potion bottle forward sending the liquid flying straight for Gale as he himself dove behind the couch for over.
Gale leaped up over the couch, and nearly out of the splash range of the potion as he dumped his own down onto Deven. However, a little bit of Deven’s potion managed to splash the tip of his paw as he was coming down from the jump.
“Ah dang it.” Gale just seemed mildly annoyed about what was about to go down.
“Nooooo!” Deven whined as he was hit too. Both raichu and noibat began to regress.
The effects were a lot more dramatic for Gale since he was eighteen. His hair shortened considerably as he grew smaller in age. He maintained his species, and so he kept his long flexible tail, but it was noticeably shorter in comparison to his body. His shorts slid down around his ankles, which he treated as a mild nuisance at best quickly kicking them off before he could get tangled up in them. As he continued to get smaller he grew unsteady on his feet as he fell forward onto all fours. He was an infant now, reduced all the way down to a newborn.
Deven’s changes weren’t as dramatic but had some odd effects. Since the potion was designed to keep someone evolved when they got younger Deven’s noivern features didn’t disappear as he got younger. Though his tail was a little bit shorter and wings not quite as wide. He ran into an issue that hadn’t impacted Gale though, and that was that his poncho was a lot heavier and harder to discard than a pair of shorts once it was suddenly growing big on him. Deven shrunk into the poncho disappearing beneath it completely. Some garbled noises were heard from inside the poncho before a newborn noibat managed to squirm its way out of it.
“Rai.” Gale tilted his head looking around him. The world was gigantic, but this was not a new experience to him.
“Noiiiiii.” Nor was it new for Deven. He crossed his arms and glared at Gale. He couldn’t believe he was stuck as a baby too.
“Chu!” Gale stuck his tongue out playfully at Deven. It appeared despite his failed attempt to dodge Deven’s potion he was taking it in good humor.
“Well, that… Wrapped itself up.” Nelly giggled. “Looks like I’m the one in charge for the weekend.” He paused. “Though I guess that means taking care of you both now. Hmmmm I should come up with some fun games before I put you two to bed early. You’re both really young so can’t stay up very late.”
“Rai.” Gale’s cheeks sparked and a small thunderbolt shot forth striking Nelly in the hand. It didn’t hurt the pichu, but was enough to make him jerk his hand back by instinct, and as a result dump the potion all over himself.
“Oh so not fair.” Nelly whined as he started to get smaller. He quickly took his hat off and tossed it aside before it got to big for him. His shorts fell off him pretty quickly. He made an attempt to take his shirt off as well before becoming too small for it, but only managed to get it about halfway off his torso before it became cumbersome and he lost his balance. Falling over backwards tangled up in the shirt Nelly gave an annoyed squeak. After a few seconds, the pichu freed himself from his shirt, climbing out revealing himself to have been reduced to a newborn as well. Free of his oversized clothes he crawled to where the other two and gave both of them an annoyed look. He was naked now except for his thunderbolt necklace, which was one more item than the other two had.
“Rai?” Gale shrugged. This was not the scenario he would have chosen. But he could work with it. He was in a pretty good mood today, and he had gotten both parties responsible for the planned mischief even if he had become collateral damage himself.
“Noooooi.” Deven continued to sit there with his wings crossed grumpily. At least right up until he realized something. Yes, he was a baby again. But so were Gale and Nelly! Meaning neither one of them were in charge! Which Deven supposed he wasn’t either. But that meant, there was no one who could boss him around or make him do anything he didn’t want to tonight. He looked at the younger Gale and began to giggle as he realized in a weird sort of way he had won.
“Rai.” Gale wrapped his tail around one of Deven’s arms and dragged him towards the kitchen. The raichu found it personally amusing that the noitbat apparently expected him to just stop being a babysitter simply because he was a baby. Gale had been babysitting Nelly since he was twelve years old. And Nelly tended to hit him way harder than this with things. He crawled towards the kitchen dragging the noibat with him. Anytime Deven resisted Gale gave a very light shock, again not enough to hurt him but enough to get his attention until he finally came along.
“Chuuuuu.” Nelly followed along after them. He wasn’t happy about the situation. But it was dinner time and he was hungry.
There was a problem, none of them were old enough for solid foods anymore, so the dinner Gale had planned to make was going to have to be replaced. But of course, having been in this situation before Gale was prepared.
Once in the kitchen he released his tail from Deven and crawled towards the pantry. Perhaps his tail wasn’t as long as when he was an adult, but it was still pretty long. Stretching it as far as he could, he could just catch the end of the knob on the pantry. From there he hooked the end of the thunderbolt shaped tip of his tail on the handle and pulled the pantry open.
Most of the food was of course up on shelves well beyond the reach of even Gale’s tail. However, there was a large box on the floor. Gale crawled towards it and grabbed it to prop himself up on his knees. There he hit a switch and the box sprung open revealing a number of different items in it. A lot of baby food, applesauce, formula. It wasn’t the most appetizing of meals but Gale and Nelly had both learned to live with it when these incidents happened. This box did not exist by coincidence. It was their emergency ‘Oh shoot we’re both babies what now?’ supplies. There was enough in here to last Gale and Nelly a month should it need to. That meant even with the addition of Deven there was no risk of running out before the potions wore off in a few days.
There were some things in there more appetizing than others though. Gale produced a few juice boxes, jars of food, and then some plastic spoons.
“Rai?” Gale looked at Nelly and held one of the jars of food out.
“Pi.” Nelly nodded and grabbed onto the lid. Gale held the bottle while Nelly the lid and they twisted it in opposite directions to get it open. After doing the same with two more bottles, Gale placed a spoon in each jar, placed one in front of Nelly one in front of Deven and kept one for himself.
He then managed to push the straws into the juice boxes and spread those out as well. He smirked as he served everyone their dinner.
“Noi.” Deven crossed his arms and turned his head away. He wasn’t going to eat baby food.
Nelly meanwhile wasted no time. Mostly because he had been through this enough times to just be used to it. He finished his dinner and then crawled back to the living room to look for something to play with. Gale, likewise ate his own food rather quickly, even if he did make a few disgusted faces while eating it.
Deven crossed his arms and refused to eat. Instead he tried to crawl after Nelly and promptly found his leg snagged as Gale grabbed him with his tail again.
“Rai.” Gale pointed at the food.
“Noi!” Deven turned his head away.
“Raichuuuu!” Gale maintained his hold on Deven’s leg, then grabbed a spoon filled it and did his best to make airplane noises as he moved it closer to Deven’s mouth.
“Bat.” Deven said irritated and took the spoon. He could eat perfectly fine on his own. He shot Gale a glare while he was eating, but eventually finished the entire jar and Gale released his leg so he could go after Nelly.
In the living room Nelly had spilled open a box of toys intended for young children. This was another of the chu brothers’ emergency supply caches. In case of boredom tip over chest. They had a lot of these boxes hidden around the house, in a variety of sizes for different needs.
Nelly was playing with blocks at the time, stacking them together to make a castle. Unfortunately, the castle was immediately sieged upon by a massive dragon. Or at least that’s how Deven envisioned himself when he belly flopped atop the castle knocking over all the blocks.
“Pichuuuuuuuuu!” Nelly replied angrily.
“Noi.” Deven stuck his tongue out. For his teasing he got one of the blocks thrown at him. It was a wooden block too. “Baaaat.” Devin scooped up blocks of his own to throw at Nelly.
“RAIIIIIIIIIIIII!” Gale was between them in an instant. He had his tail wrapped around Deven’s arm while he grabbed Nelly’s right hand with his own hands. “Chu rai rai chu raiiiii.” Gale lectured them. Naturally, there was no direct translation, it was just baby gibberish. But the two understood that they were being lectured.
“Noi.” Deven tried to jerk his hand away but discovered the raichu’s tail was surprisingly strong, especially for so young an age.
“Pi.” Nelly turned away and refused to face Deven.
“Raiiiiiii.” Gale’s cheeks sparked. He had no intention of shocking them. He was not even aware he was doing it. Just being so young had he a little less control at the time and so his frustration was starting to show visible signs. “Chuuuuu rai.”
“Baaaaat.” Seeing the sparks, Deven reluctantly calmed down and dropped the block in his hand.
“Pi…” Nelly had lost interest in the fight anyway and started to rebuild his castle.
“Raaai.” Gale watched them closely for a few minutes than after deciding that they weren’t going to fight again crawled back and leaned against the couch and watched. Eventually, blocks gave way to a fight again, but this time it was playful wrestling and Gale saw no reason to get involved.
The wrestling match lasted awhile, and in the end, it was unclear who won. Both sides being incapable of speech made them unable to present their arguments. And most of the time they had just been rolling around a little but and it was up for debate on if anyone had actually been pinned or not. Unable to determine a winner themselves they turned to Gale to decide. He couldn’t talk either, but he could at least point and pick out a winner.
Except Gale had disappeared. Deven and Nelly looked around frantically. They had been so engaged in their match they had completely failed to notice the raichu slip off. Nelly perked his ears up listening for sounds of his brother. For a moment he thought he heard running water. But then it stopped. But it was followed by the sounds of something scratching at a wall somewhere on the first floor.
“Noi?” Deven had heard it too. And while if he could talk he would say he wasn’t scared, the noise certainly surprised him. He looked at the pichu then the two of them exchanged glance before they slowly started to follow the sound of the scratching noise. It led them out of the living room down the hall… And then to the bathroom. The door was open only a crack, but the noise was definitely coming from in there. The two slowly pushed the door open and crawled in…
Only for Gale to appear from behind the other end of the door blocking the exit from the bathroom. It didn’t take long to figure out what was going on. The tub was full of warm water and soapy bubbles. It was bath time.
Deven tried to fly, his wings weren’t very strong yet but if he could get up high, he could escape the raichu. However he didn’t rise very high into the air before Gale used his tail like a whip and wrapped it around Deven’s ankle preventing him from escape.
While Gale was preoccupied with Deven, Nelly decided to make a break for it, hoping he could quickly crawl around Gale and escape the bathroom. Gale seeing this move pointed one of his hands at the door and a beam of energy fired out shutting the door. He looked a little exhausted from it and Nelly realized what it was. His Hyper Beam. Just a tiny baby version of it.
In hindsight, maybe the potion that devolves him would have been a better idea. The noibat and pichu were trapped in the bathroom with the raichu intent on seeing them clean. Nelly had no way to reach the door handle to try to get out, and Deven tried but Gale firmly dragged away from the door and kept his tail wrapped around him to prevent him from escaping. In the meantime, Gale pushed his body against Nelly pushing Nelly closer and closer to the bath.
Dang it! It wasn’t fair. Even if they were all reduced to infants in a fight Gale still had the edge, and not just because of his evolution. He simply had training and knowledge, knowing the right places to apply pressure to push someone back. He wasn’t going to win any league fights in his current shape, but he was easily able to take his little brother. It wasn’t like with Deven where there was no clear winner, Gale soon had Nelly pinned to the floor then dragged him to the bathtub. The pichu squirmed as much as he could but the effort of wrestling first Deven and now Gale had exhausted him. And the moment he let himself rest he felt Gale behind him, and then beneath him as the raichu pushed the pichu up and over into the bathtub. Once in the tub, Nelly accepted his defeat and simply sulked.
One down.
This entire time Deven had been flapping his arms trying to escape, but Gale had kept his tail lassoed on him through his not releasing his grip once while taking care of Nelly. Now he whipped his tail towards the tub. Had Deven been older, this wouldn’t have worked. But at his current age maintaining flight was hard enough, he couldn’t do much to resist suddenly being jerked above the tub. But he was still above it! Not in it! He kept flapping his wings as hard as he could but… The bathwater! It was getting closer! His little baby wings were getting tired. He tried to keep flying… Then felt Gale’s tail release him right as he plopped into the tub with a splash.
“Pichuuu.” Nelly giggled at Deven’s predicament.
“NOI!” Deven splashed water at Nelly. And with that it was on, the two forgot they didn’t want to be in the bathtub and instead had a splash fight.
Gale allowed them to have their fun for a bit, then he grabbed the tub and pulled himself up and into it with them. After all, he needed cleaning up too. And he couldn’t reach them from outside the tub at his current age anyway. The splash fight abruptly stopped as the other two turned to look at him, and both of them were suddenly afraid as they saw his impish smirk. So, they did what they could. They splashed water at him.
Gale paddled forward in the water and reached Deven first. A little water splashed in his face was nothing after he had taken a full-on Hydro Pump the other day. The water was already soapy and Gale grabbed Deven and began to rub the soapy water into his fur, making sure to get all over his body. Deven struggled all he could but the raichu completely had him. And then suddenly, he was free. Gale had let go of him. He looked at the raichu, who just smiled and splashed water at him rinsing off the rest of the soap spuds off. Deven decided to not engage him again and try his wings once more before the raichu’s tail got him again. He lifted off and flew out of the tub landing on a rug nearby. He had done it! He had escaped the bath except!
Except he had already been given a bath.
“NOIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!” Deven protested as he realized that he was being babysat by an actual baby.
“Chu?” Nelly calmed down a little when it was just him and Gale in the tub and actually cooperated. Gale helped Nelly scrub himself down and rinse off then Nelly returned the favor helping Gale clean himself up. Once done, Gale pushed Nelly up to help him out of the tub before crawling out himself. Then he moved to the door grabbed the handle with his tail and opened it up releasing his charges. They were happy to be free and crawled away as fast as possible as if escaping despite having already had their baths.
Gale let them go for now. Besides, he had to prepare for his next trick. Nelly and Deven eventually returned to playing in the living room once they realized Gale wasn’t pursuing them. And this time they wouldn’t let any strange noises lure them away from the room.
That was fine, because they were right where Gale wanted them. It was getting late, meaning there was only one thing left to do. Gale reappeared in the living room pushing a pile of blankets and pillows. Nelly and Deven stopped to watch as Gale arranged three blankets on the ground to lay on, and then three more to go over them, and of course three pillows.
“Rai.” Gale pointed at the impromptu beds indicating what time it was.
“Noiiiiiiii!” Deven tried to shout never. He flapped away and this time Gale didn’t get him with his tail! Ha he had finally won! And yet, as he flapped in the air the raichu just continued to sit on the floor and smirk at him. Deven wasn’t sure what was going on, but he had done way more activity than a tiny infant would usually do and every flap of his wings made him more tired. After a few minutes he landed on the floor with a flop too tired to move.
“Rai.” Gale simply rolled Deven into one of the beds, placing his head on the pillow and placing a blanket over him. He then looked at Nelly and gave a look that was clearly asking if he was going to be difficult.
Nelly considered. But… They had done this song and dance before. As long as they were the same age Nelly wasn’t going to win. Maybe if he could turn Gale into an egg, but his potions kit was at the top of the stairs which were rather daunting to climb. After some consideration he finally decided to just crawl into the bed on his own. He was pretty tired anyway.
“Rai.” Gale nuzzled against his little brother affectionately before tucking him in with a blanket. Then he crawled into the last bed himself.
One night down. Two to go. This was too easy. But Gale didn’t have much time to focus on his victory. Much like Deven and Nelly he was completely exhausted. He was soon fast asleep, and the house was completely silent except for the occasional snores three little infants.