what happens if one of Lake's bats gets injured/destroyed when he's in Swarm Mode? Do they correspond to body parts? Will he reform missing a toe or something? Or an eye? Or his weenis??
I actually plan on showing a little bit of this in the comic...! 👀 But it won't be for a while yet, so...
Not to give away too many details, but turning into multiple creatures is actually a completely different process/ability from shapeshifting into one animal, and that's why Lake can do the bat swarm but can't do a singular bat, as he discussed with Heliotrope. That's because, as you guessed, to turn into multiple of anything, you're fracturing your body (and consciousness) into a bunch of smaller pieces, and you have to learn how to control them all remotely. It's a much more alienating, un-real experience than controlling one body, even an animal body, which is why it's supposed to be a lot harder...
And though Ashley inferred that Lake was impervious to damage during their fight with the infected werewolf, that's not actually true. As you guessed, the individual bats are still vulnerable to damage. I don't think it's as literal as "Bat 27A corresponds to this portion of his buttcheek" but it would certainly be bad for him if someone were to target his bats...
For the record, when Sorrel turns into mist, he's actually just doing an even more advanced form of this technique! Except instead of a few dozen bats he's controlling a few hundred thousand Sorrel droplets. You can see why it's not a skill for beginners. Like Lake, he is also still potentially vulnerable even in mist, just a lot harder to hit.
In conclusion leave my boy's wenis alone
