I Won't Let Him

HIKIKO

For the kids of FARAWAY, their journey through the forest to visit BASIL's house was supposed to be a normal one...

That was until they heard the scream of a familiar boy calling out for help.

"AH! NO! SOMEBODY, PLEASE HELP!"

SUNNY, normally easily distracted and lost in his own world, had perked up immediately at the voice of his friend, "BASIL?"

"Sounds like he's in trouble." HERO murmured seriously, before quickly running after the noise, "We should probably hurry to see what's wrong!"

Not needing to be told twice, the entire group raced towards the end of the forest to reach BASIL's house as quickly as possible.

What they saw when they arrived was too shocking for words.

There BASIL was, in the middle of the chaotic mayhem, running around as he desperately begged, "No, stop it! Please, don't ruin my garden anymore! All my plants...!"

Surrounding him from all sides were a group of POTATO BEETLES, making a huge mess as they partied on top of BASIL's garden and feasted on every flower they like a buffet. Poor BASIL was left only to watch helplessly as his hard work was left to ruins by the heartless creatures.

"HYEA HYEA HYEA HYEA!" One of the POTATO BEETLES laughed, "Eat up as much as you can boys! Momma is gonna be so proud of us tonight for bringing home dinner!"

Disgusting monstrosities they are, being insects the size of an average person's head. From far away, they looked like potatoes with wings, but in actuality, the potato skin was only a camouflage for their hard shell. They were inconsiderate, rude to anyone they met, and smelled horrible to boot.

Several of them invaded BASIL's property as they laid waste to each patch of garden on sight. It must have been like a massacre for the poor boy, to have him watch his hard work being eaten like that.

HIKIKO ran up to BASIL, crouching to his level and asking in concern, "BASIL? Are you alright? Are you hurt?!"

BASIL, hearing the sound of familiar friends, turned around with a relieved cry before running up to HIKIKO and hugging her tightly, "HIKIKO! The POTATO BEETLES are eating my garden! I keep asking them to stop, but they won't listen to me!"

HIKIKO went to comfort the poor boy by hugging him back tightly, "There, there, don't worry. We're here now to help."

Stepping up from behind, AUBREY proceeded to assert her dominance as she screamed out to the beetles, "HEY! What do you bullies think you're doing to our friend's garden?! You're eating all of his flowers!"

Only one of them seemed surprised by the audacity of AUBREY calling out to them, as it indignantly replied back, "His flowers? What the heck are you talking about?! We found this place first, fair and square! These flowers are all ours!"

"Hey, that's not fair!" KEL shouted back, "What do you mean you found this place first?! BASIL has been living here his whole life! He planted all of these flowers, not you!"

"Oh yeah?" The beetle looked around for show, then asked, "If these flowers belonged to him, why don't any of them have his name on it? Nobody was around when we showed up here, so that means these flowers didn't belong to anyone! So scram you little shrimp!"

"That's not nice, Sir." HERO, ever the peaceful mediator of the group, stepped up to plate with a stern glare, "These flowers were on BASIL's property. You had no right to come waltzing in and suddenly claiming these flowers as your own!"

A different POTATO BEETLE gave a dismissive scoff as it gulped a clawful of daisies, "Property schmoperty! If he wasn't here first before we showed up, then that means we were here first! It's finders keepers, losers weepers! He should have stuck around if he didn't want anyone taking these flowers! Who would be dumb enough to leave their territory unguarded?"