Mason and the Minish Door, Chapter 1

O-kay, everybody! Time to begin the 2nd story of the Viridi Saga.

Chapter 1: The Mysterious Door

Dimalanta Household

The sounds of wood clashing rang from the backyard of the Dimalanta home as Mason Dimalanta and Sheila Frantic clashed wooden blades against the other. It was a beautiful summer’s day, so the two best friends were spending it doing what they loved: playing with each other. A cold, refreshing Purple Flurp sat on the table beside them as they rapidly swung their toy weapons. “Ye’ll not get yer hands on THIS loot here, Captain Raccoon!” Mason exclaimed, trying to sound like a pirate.

“Arr, that’s what ye think, but I’ll be makin’ ye walk the space-plank, scurvy dog!”

“Aw, not the space-plank.” Mason moaned.

Inside the home, Yin Dimalanta smiled as she watched her son play with his best friend from the kitchen window, doing dishes. “Awe, aren’t they adorable, Matthew?” she asked her husband, who sat at the table, reading a newspaper.

“Hehe. They’re like a mini me and Marine.”

“True. Good thing THAT didn’t happen, though.” Yin said, wiping her hands dry. “Still, with a friendship like that, you know they’ll end up dating soon enough.” The Chinese woman walked away afterwards.

“Whoa, save that for the teen years, Yin.” Matthew chuckled.

At the same time, Dillon York and Leanne Grayson were also over, sitting on the living room floor and battling in Super Smash Bros. Universe, with Dillon’s socks kicked off on the floor. The male shadowbender was unable to focus as a bunch of flies were buzzing around him, and he was trying to swat them away. As a result, Leanne was able to beat him and win the battle. “Hoo-hoo, yeah!” she fist-pumped.

“Ah man! Mason really oughta do something about these flies.” Dillon whined, trying to smack them away. “What’s their deal?”

“Probably because of how much your feet smell. You really oughta keep your shoes on.” Leanne suggested.

“No way. My feet get real sweaty. In fact, just last week-”

“O-kay, don’t need to hear any of that. Anyway, at least Ash is taking care of ‘em.” The two looked behind them as Leanne’s shadow was trying to snap the flies in her hands and also eat them.

“Boy, shadows have weird appetites. Where is Mason, anyway?”

“Oh, he’s outside, playing with Sheila again.”

“Man, those two cannot stay away from each other, huh? Why don’t they just confess already?”

“Because Mason is too shy. Even though they’re just as obvious as your parents. Anyhoo, wanna keep going? Charizard is TOTALLY gonna kick your butt!”

“Not if good old Lucas has anything to say about it!”

Outside, Mason and Sheila kept powerfully swinging their wooden swords at each other before Sheila was able to make Mason’s fly right out of his hand. Mason watched it fly off before Sheila swung her leg and kicked Mason off his feet, afterwards tipping her sword at him. “And ta Sheila go the spoils, eh?” With that, she took the Purple Flurp can and twirled it around before cracking it open, proceeding to have a sip. She then walked over and placed a foot on Mason’s chest, holding him down as she said, “But as an act of good will, I present to you a gift.” The Faunus raccoon reached into her back pocket and pulled out her own can. Mason smiled as Sheila stepped off of him, allowing him to stand up. “To best pals.” She smiled, tossing him the can.

Mason cracked the can open and touched it to hers as he repeated, “To best pals.” Both friends then proceeded to have a drink. When they finished, they both released loud burps at the others’ face. The two of them joyously burst into laughter.

Unknown Location

A team of human construction workers tirelessly sawed down trees in a forest and scared away animals. From the darkness of her quarters, the mysterious female being angrily watched this happen through her crystal ball. “Ugh! LOOK at those humans! Do they not care for ANYTHING?”

“Hmm, they are quite a sticky sort of bunch, aren’t they?” the butler asked.

“I’ve waited long enough! It’s time to drop the first of my Minish Doors!”

“Oh, well, that should make for some fun.” The other lady said, still polishing her nails. “Turn them all into bugs so that other people will step on ‘em, right?”

“Er, something like that. Anyway, I only have one, so let’s start off small. Eee hee hee! Small!”

“Why not this happy couple?” the butler asked, showing the image of Mason and Sheila in the backyard on their crystal ball. “Nobody seems to be watching them.”

“Ooooh, it’s that raccoon girl.” The goddess growled. “I HATE that raccoon girl! It’s just so disgusting to see the result of a HUMAN mating with a creature of the earth. Drop the Minish Door on them NOW, Arlon!”

“Right as you say, Mistress Viridi.” The eyes of the butler glowed a bright red as his blue-lit finger gently pressed a small button.

Dimalanta Household

“So Mason, didja hear?” Sheila asked as the two sat at their backyard table. “Planet Vaporia’s started their own Kids Next Door! We should totally check it out, Mate!”

“Mm, I dunno, Sheila. My dad told me about that place, and, it sounds kinda scary.”

“Ahh, that’s what it used to be, eh? Where’s your sense of adventah?”

“Mmm…” Mason still looked unsure.

As Sheila tilted her head back to have another drink, her eyes widened at the sight of a glowing green meteor in the sky. She wiped the soda from her mouth and asked, “What’s that?”

Mason’s eyes also widened at the meteor. The strange object fell faster toward the earth and crash-landed in the forest area, several feet from their house. “It… landed in the forest.”

“Well, let’s go check it out!” Sheila yelled, already dashing into the forest. “Er, Sheila? Wait!” Mason quickly ran after her.

Mason kept after his raccoon friend past all the trees before finally bumping into her from behind as she was staring at something. Mason stepped beside her, and both stared curiously as some strange double-doors stood before them, decorated with odd, forest-like designs. “Whoa… what is it?” Mason asked.

Sheila carefully stepped closer to the door, reaching out to touch it, and the doors suddenly slid open as her fingers were inches away from touching it. Mason stepped closer as well, their eyes transfixed on the swirling green portal that waited inside. “Blimey… it’s some kind of portal.” Sheila said quietly.

“I wonder where it leads…”

“Well, only one way to find out. Let’s go in, Mate!”

“Hold on!” Mason grabbed Sheila’s arm to keep her from going further. “We don’t know what this is, Sheila. It could be dangerous.”

“Danguh? Oi LAUGH at danguh! HA HA HA HA!”

“Eh hehe. Still, I have a bad feeling. I mean, doorways don’t usually fall from the sky and contain swirling portals. What if it leads to some sooper hazardous dimension?”

“And what if it doesn’t? Either way, Oi’m checkin’ it out!” She was about to step in again.

“Sheila,” he held her back, “I REALLY don’t think we should-”

“Ah, come on, Mate, what’s the worst that can happen? We get lost inside some parallel universe with no way of comin’ back? This could be the discovery of the century! Oi’ve GOTTA see it!”

Mason released a long sigh of defeat. “Well… then I’m going with you.” He decided, taking her hand.

Sheila smiled at him and nodded, “Even bettuh!” The two faced ahead at the strange vortex and sucked in a breath of anxiety. Without another second to spare, the two stepped inside, and the doors closed behind them.

The two stood in the middle of a vast, infinite plain of the swirling greenness, wondering where they were. “So… where is this?” Mason asked, his voice echoing.

“Maybe there’s some kind of a secret entrance.” Sheila whispered.

“Either way, this is making me dizzy. Let’s find wherever this leads and head back ASA- Whooooaaaa…” The entire dimension began moving around in a slow, wavy motion.

“Oooof… I’m gettin’ sick, Mate…”

“We shouldn’t have had that… Purple Flurp… Ulp…”

Back at the house

Yin gathered some clothes into a laundry basket and held it up as she saw Haruka walk by her room. “Oh, Haru? Could you go outside and ask if Mason has any dirty clothes lying around? I’m about to do some laundry soon.”

“Sure, Mom!” Haruka smiled before hurrying to the backyard.

Unknown jungle area

Mason and Sheila had finally made it out of the vortex, holding their heads dizzily as their bodies were bent over a little. “Man, Oi’m feelin’ woozy…” Sheila groaned.

“We shoulda waited ’til our stomachs settled.” Mason said.

“Oi, what is this place?” The two looked up and viewed around the mysterious jungle. They appeared surrounded by towering, green trees, as well as even larger trees, which had normal-colored brown trunks.

“Are we in… some kind of jungle?”

“Well, I was right, all roight. This place is a BEAUT! Jus’ look at all the places we could set up totally ripper treehouses!”

“I dunno, Sheila, I feel like there’s somethin’ very familiar about this—WHOA!” Mason yelped and grabbed Sheila’s arm at the sight of a tremendous ladybug several feet away.

The polka-dotted bug looked in both directions before flapping its wings and taking off. “Aw, STREWTH! Didja see how BIG that thing was, Mate? !” Sheila asked excitedly. “It coulda had us for DINNUH!”

“Yes, it could’ve. I think we should head back, Sheila.” Mason suggested, slightly shivering with fear. “Who knows what else is lying in this jungle.”

“Ah, come on, Man, we only just got here! We gotta explore MORE of this jungle!”

“N-No way, Sheila! I’m gettin’ out of here!” The Dimalanta boy hurriedly ran back toward the doorway. He tried sticking his fingernails in the gap, but despite all his efforts, it wouldn’t budge open. “Oh no! It’s stuck!”

“Masooon.”

“Huh? What was that?” Mason asked frightfully.

“It sounded like Haruka.” Sheila replied.

“Masooon.”

“But why would Haruka be here?”

“Oi dunno. Le’s go look for her.” With that, the two friends ran in the direction of the voice.

Real world

“Masooon?” the poisonbender child called, walking into the forest. “Mom needs you for somethiiing.”

Jungle area

“Oi! ’arukaaa? Where ARE you?” Sheila yelled out as the two approached an enormous brown wall of bark, which was the root sticking out of an even bigger tree.

“You think she’s up here?” Mason asked.

“Let’s find out.” The duo then began climbing their way up the massive root, which wasn’t too hard, seeing there was a lot of spots to grab or stand.

“MASOOON?” the voice grew louder.

“Yeah, I think she’s up-” But before Mason could finish, just as they reached the top, a gigantic shoe stomped down on the root, causing a tremor that made the two drop and scream on their way down.

As Sheila shook her head from the drop, the raccoon girl looked up and gasped widely at the being before her. “Oi, look a’ this.” Mason looked up as well, his mouth growing just as wide.

Standing on the tree root was a massive Haruka, hundreds of feet taller than they were. “MASOOON? Mom wants to know if you got any dirty UNDIES.”

“Ohh…” Mason blushed in embarrassment. “B-But what happened?”

“Oi, she’s bigger than my HOUSE!”

“She’s bigger than a lot of houses…” Mason stuttered with fear. “Sheila… you think that door shrunk us?”

“Ah, come on, Mason, doors don’t shrink you. Oi’m actually startin’ to think the entire world grew.”

“HEY, MASON!”

“LOOK OUT!” Mason cried, the two jumping out of the way before Haruka stepped on them.

“MASON, WHERE ARE YOU?”

“We gotta get her attention!” Mason decided. “Fly us up there!”

“Erm, okay!” Sheila wrapped around Mason’s arms and began rapidly spinning her tail, slowly flying them up higher toward Haruka’s face. “Oi, blimey, she’s so big.” Sheila panted, struggling to carry Mason up. “Oi wish we brought along some jet shoes or somethin’.”

“Just a little bit farther, Sheila.” As the giant girl stood in place and tapped her foot in thought of where Mason might be, the two eventually flew close enough to her face. Mason began yelling, “HEY! HARUKA!”

“OI! ‘ARUKA! OVER HERE!” Sheila began yelling.

“Huh?” They somehow caught the girl’s attention. Haruka faced ahead and took notice at the two before her. “EW, BUGS!” Without giving them a chance to escape, the goth girl clapped her hands together, smashing them inside.

When she reopened her hands, the two dizzily shook their heads as Sheila dropped both of them to the ground below. The two barely recovered as they held their aching heads. Haruka held her hands open and aimed down at them as she echoed, “Time for some poison.” A tremendous cloud of purple gas emerged from both her hands and flowed down to Mason and Sheila.

“Eek, time to counter!” Mason gasped, immediately throwing his hands up and releasing green gas directly upward, holding the purple gas back and shielding them while Sheila ducked. Unfortunately, he was struggling to keep away Haruka’s much-bigger gas, and the purple pushed through. The two quickly held their breaths as Mason grunted, “Play dead.” The two kept their mouths and noses shut as they dropped to the ground in a dead fashion.

After a few minutes, the purple smoke cleared away, and the two squinted their eyes open. Their eyes and mouth widened with horror as Haruka’s foot hovered above them. “Gotta make sure they’re dead!”

“HARUKA, NO!!” Mason cried.

Without hesitating, the Dimalanta girl stomped her foot on the two and twisted it along the ground. “There! That should do it.” The blue-eyed girl then proceeded to walk back for her house. “MOOM, I couldn’t find Mason anywheeere…” The child walked away, leaving only a shoeprint in the mud.

After Haruka left, Mason Dimalanta lie squished in the shoeprint, though still in one piece. The poisonbender groaned and gripped his head as he helped himself up, covered in mud. He shot his eyes open, suddenly remembering Sheila. "Sheila? Sheila, where are you!" he frantically searched around, worried for his friend.

"WOOHOO!"

"AAAH!" Mason jumped back when Sheila popped out behind him.

"Man, that was totally EPIC! We just got squished like li'l ol' bugs! 'ow offen does THAT happen, eh?"

"Sheilaaa! This is serious! We got lucky then, but the next person that stomps on us could actually kill us!"

"Ooh. Well, that'd be a sad way to die, eh?"

"Shyah, no kidding. We've gotta find a way to get back to normal."

"Are you kiddin', Man? We've only just started this adventah! Don't you want to know what your HOUSE looks like at this height?"

"Frankly, I'd rather not find out. Though, seeing as the door is shut tight, we'll need to grab somebody's attention so they can help us. So I guess we're going to my house anyway. Let's hurry and-"

"Meooow."

Mason's face became frozen with horror. "…Did you hear something, Sheila?"

The two looked off in the distance as a tremendous cat crawled around and sniffed the ground with its nose, thankfully not in their direction. "Oi, look 'ow BIG that cat is! Oi bet HE could help us! OII! 'ere, kit'y, kit'y, kit'y!" Sheila called, patting her legs and making a cat-calling noise.

Mason immediately ran and clapped his hand over her mouth. "Sheila, I don't think that's the kind of help we want."

The cat stopped in place and began skimming around for the source of this noise. It seemed to take notice of Mason and Sheila and slowly stepped over, with Mason keeping a look of pure horror. The cat stood just inches away from the tiny children and lowered its head closer to get a good look at them. "Ah, see? 'e's lettin' us go for a ride! Le's get on, Mate!" Sheila took Mason's hand and helped her friend climb onto the nose of the cat.

The cat raised its head up and tried to rapidly shake them off, but Mason and Sheila kept a tight grip on its hair as they screamed. Unable to shake them off, the cat began pouncing around aimlessly, and the two kids held onto it like a bull at the rodeo. "Woohoo! Now this beats a bull at the rodeo ANYTIME, Mate!"

The cat kept hopping around and thankfully ran straight for Mason's house. The titanic cat leapt right into an open window by the front door as Mason and Sheila finally dropped off onto the massive carpeted floor. "Oi, 'ang on, you little bugger!" Sheila's mother, Marine Frantic yelled, grabbing the cat in her arms. "You aren't supposed ta be in here." The raccoon woman dropped it through the window and closed it to keep it outside. "There we go!"

Mason and Sheila just recovered from their drop to watch the raccoon woman head up the stairs. "HEY! MRS. FRANTIC! COME BAACK!" Mason cried.

"Ah, she's long gone, Mate." Sheila told him. "Bu' look! There's Dillon and Leanne!" she pointed over at the two playing games on the living room floor.

"Oh, good. Maybe they can help us." The shrunken duo proceeded to run over toward their giant friends, who were miles away from where they were at that size. They had to make several leaps across the threads in the carpet, but were able to make it over to Dillon.

When they were just several feet away from the gigantic male shadowbender, the two were tired out from all that running, taking a moment to catch their breath. "Okay…" Mason panted. "Let's try and get their attention." However, a strange whiff suddenly reached Mason's nose. "Ohh, gross!" he pinched his nose shut.

Sheila sniffed as well and covered her nose at the smell. "Oi, what smells like skunks gettin' tagether for a garbage fire?"

"Dillon's feet." Mason said, taking notice of the boy's bare feet on the floor. "Gee, just because that guy comes here a lot, he thinks he can just lay his socks wherever. How often does he wash his feet when he takes a bath?"

"Well, hey, on the bright side, this makes it easier to grab 'is attention. We can just tickle him!"

"Ew! No way! Besides, that's too dangerous, he'll probably just think we're bugs and step on us. We need to get up to his ear or something. Euh, but that smell is just so horrible. I'm just hopin' it doesn't attract-" His eyes widened at the sound of loud buzzing. "FLIES!"

Dozens of gigantic, horse-sized flies flew around in the air above them at high speeds. One of them swooped down at them, and Mason yelled, "Look out!" as he grabbed and ducked down with Sheila. The two crouched as low to the carpet as they could as the many flies swooped down, just inches over them. "Man, what do we do now?"

"Only one thing TO do: hitch a ride, eh?"

"W-What?" Sheila stood up and spun her arm around before firing a Light Sphere and perfectly hitting a fly close by. She used her power to link a light chain from her hand to the fly and grabbed Mason's arm in her other one as they were propelled upwards. "Whooa-whooa-WHOOAA!" Mason screamed, while Sheila kept an excited smile on her face as they zoomed around in the air, hanging tight to the linked chain. Sheila swung them around the gigantic fly before landing them perfectly on its back.

"Woohoo! Now this is a hootenanny!" Sheila cheered as they began zooming around the air at high speeds. "Check out what this can do! Hiyah!" she kicked the fly's sides.

"WOOOAAA!" Mason kept a tight grip around Sheila's hip as they flew around in hyper-fast circles, the raccoon girl seated on it like a horse as her fingers gripped tight to its skin. Mason kept his eyes shut tight as the duo soared straight out of an open window. Sheila cheered to the heavens as they were now flying miles above Mason's house (at their height).

"Oi! Look at 'ow 'igh we are, Mate!"

Mason carefully squinted his eyes open and glanced down toward the world below. The two were flying thousands of feet above the street. "GAAAH!" Mason cried in fear, holding tighter to Sheila's waist as the powerful winds blew past their hair. "Sh-Sh-Sheila! I think we should get down now!"

"Ah, quit worryin', Mate. I got this under control."

"W-What if a giant bird comes along and eats us?"

"Aw, that's crazy, Mate. 'ow're them big ol' birds gonna see a couple of tiny pals like us, huh?"

Mason carefully turned his head and looked behind them, his eyes widening. "AAHHH!" A gigantic, house-sized bird was hot on their tail with its beak wide open.

"Wuh-oh. Oi stand corrected. OI! BEAKFACE! Come 'n' get us if ya THINK yer fast enough!" Sheila kicked their fly and sped even faster, dodging just before the bird snapped its mouth on them.

From the ground below, a regular-sized person could see a little bird just flying aimlessly around in one spot, aiming to catch a tiny fly. The wind brushed through their hair as they went even faster to escape from the bird, swiftly dodging as it kept snapping its beak at them. "This oughta lose its trail." Sheila smirked as they flew at full speed towards a telephone pole. "'ERE WE GOOOO!" Just before crashing into the pole, the two shot right down, and the bird pierced right into the wood and got its beak stuck. "Woohoooo!" Sheila cheered, flying them back up and at a safer altitude.

"WHOA! That was close!" Mason sighed in relief. "Now can we please fly back to my house?"

"Okay, Mate. Hold on tight! Hyah!" she smacked her fly again and made it fly down towards Mason's house. The two flew back through the living room window as Dillon and Leanne were still playing videogames.

"Fly around Dillon's face and try to get his attention." Mason told her. Sheila did so and made the fly fly around the boy's face. However, this only annoyed Dillon as he was trying to focus, and he shook his head and tried to swat them away. The two just decided to fly back up higher. "Okay, never mind about that. There's gotta be some way…"

"Oi know! We'll land on 'im, eh?"

"Um, okay…" Mason replied, unsure.

"Okay: on 3." Sheila instructed as they were flying back over Dillon. "1, 2, WOOHOO!" Sheila grabbed her friend's arm and joyously slid off the fly's back.

"Waaahhhh!" Mason screamed as they rapidly dropped the hundreds of feet. The two tiny children took perfect land in the blue streak on Dillon's hair.

The duo bounced off the hair strands downward and soon landed on top of Dillon's scalp. They shook their heads from the fall and viewed the sights around them. Mason and Sheila stood in a forest of humongous, midnight blue trees that completely blocked their way through or above. "Whooaa… it's like a FOREST up here, Mate!" Sheila gaped in amazement.

"I think I preferred the forest itself." Mason stated with a look of worry as he viewed around the thick forest. "I can't tell which way is which."

"Boy, imagine what beauties lie on top of Dillon's head! We gotta explore around here, Mate!"

"I'd rather hurry and get through here before Dillon suddenly decides to take a bath. He's busy playing games now, so we probably have time. I think we should walk to the side of his head and climb down to his ear."

"Good idea! There's gotta be LOADS of stuff to discover inside there! It'd be like a cave to us, Mate!"

"Er, yeah…" Mason only kept his confused look as he began moving past the thick trees. "Let's get going."

While Dillon was trying to focus on beating Leanne, the York child felt a slight itchy feeling in his hair, but decided not to bother with it now.

"Okay, we're in the black parts." Mason observed as the two were progressing through the black strands of Dillon's hair. "We should be getting close to his side. Let's just move slowly and be careful not to make him-" Mason stopped when he bumped into Sheila.

"Oi, LOOK!" Sheila smiled and pointed. Mason stared disgustedly at a couple of bugs, who were tugging at Dillon's scalp, the creatures as big as dogs to them. "What ARE these things?"

"Are they… lice?" Mason cocked a brow.

"Loice? Oh, strewth!" Mason tried to stop her, but Sheila hurried ahead and kneeled down to pet one of the lice. "Oh, you li'l buggahs. Who says you blokes are vicious? You aren't scary at all! Hehehe!"

The ground suddenly began shaking below them. "What's happening?" Mason asked.

Meanwhile, the itching on Dillon's scalp slowly started to grow, so the boy finally decided to lightly scratch the spot where he felt it.

Mason's eyes widened as he looked back the way they came. "LOOK OUT!" he cried at the sight of the tremendous yellowish-white fingernail, scrapping through the thick-treed scalp. Mason and Sheila were too late to avoid and were pushed away with the finger.

On Dillon's end, the boy continued to lightly scratch his scalp as tiny specks of dirt fell past his right ear.

"AAAHH!" the two screamed, being pushed over the right edge of the forest and dropping past a great, wide cave.

"Oi, it's his ear!" Sheila cheered, quickly grabbing onto Mason as she used her tail to fly. She kept her grip on the boy and gently landed them on the edge of Dillon's ear.

"Whoa, that was close…" Mason sighed in relief, again.

"Whoooaaaa…" Sheila once again stared in amazement at the size of the cave-sized ear. "It's HUUUGE!"

"HEY! DILLON! HEELP!" Mason started calling.

"'EY, DILLON! SHADOW BOY! IN YOUR EAR!" Sheila called as well.

"DILLON, GIVE US A HAND!"

"Numbuh 13.2036, can you HEAR UUS?"

Dillon paid no mind to the two in his ear and kept trying to beat Leanne at Smash Bros..

"Ahh. He can't hear us over that game." Mason pouted.

"No problem, Mate! We'll just go further in!" With that, the chipper raccoon proceeded to start her trek into the dark cave. Mason put on his worried expression and carefully followed her.

As Dillon kept his focus on the videogame, he began to feel a tickly feeling in his ear this time.

"Ewww!" Mason groaned as the two were walking through a river of earwax, the substance reaching up to their waists. "Dillon really needs to take a bath…"

"Ah, it's not so bad, Mate. This stuff actually looks good enough to eat."

"Yeah…" Mason replied, disgustedly looking around. "At least there aren't usually any bugs crawling around inside someone's ear. Let's just make our way to the eardrum and try to—Sheila, don't!" Mason was too late as Sheila dipped her finger in the earwax and sucked it off.

The raccoon girl smacked her lips as the taste slowly sank in. Once it did, her face was frozen with shock. "Whoa… this stuff is AMAZING!" The excited raccoon quickly dipped her hand in more of the stuff and drank some more. "Mm-MMM, this is good!" Mason's stomach began turning as he watched the gross sight before him. "Oh, man! They really oughta use this as a food topping, eh?"

Mason couldn't hold it in anymore. "BLEEHH-"

"-EEHHH!" The barfing echoed in Dillon's ear. The shadowbender raised a brow and began twisting his pinky finger into the ear.

Mason felt the cave begin to quake as he held his aching stomach. The boy looked back and gasped as the humongous piece of flesh was twisting its way in. Before they could get further, the giant finger pushed them even further into the cave.

Outside, Dillon pulled out and observed his finger as it was covered in some earwax. He decided to wipe it on his shirt and continue playing.

The finger thankfully released the two children, and they stood up to find themselves at the end of the cave. "Look, Mate! There's 'is eardrum!" Sheila pointed at the huge drum above them. "Arr, this oughta give 'im a wakeup call." Sheila smirked, spinning her arm and charging a Light Sphere.

"Sheila, NOO!" But Sheila didn't listen as she fired a charged Light Sphere and greatly pounded Dillon's eardrum.

The shadowbender's face was frozen with pain. "OOOWWW!" The boy gripped his head and began shaking it around.

"What's wrong?" Leanne worriedly asked, pausing the game and crawling over to him.

"Er, there's something in my ear! IT HURTS!" The boy tilted that end downward and started smacking the opposite end.

Mason and Sheila failed to stand their ground as the cave suddenly tilted down the way they came. "WAAAAOOOHH!"

Dillon kept smacking his head as the two tiny kids dropped straight out of the ear at a high speed, landing with a thud on the carpet. "Come on, Dillon." Leanne stood up and helped her friend up. "Why don't we go up to the bathroom and see if Mason has any medicine for your ear?"

As the tiny duo recovered, they felt two enormous shadows pass by them and looked up as Dillon and Leanne were walking away. “Hey! Hey!” Mason yelled.

“’EEYY!” Sheila yelled.

“GUYS!”

“WAIT UUP!” However, the two just continued up the stairs without a single notice.

“Well, that failed.” Mason pouted.

"At least the flies are gone." Sheila shrugged. However, the two put on expressions of fear at the sound of a snarling noise behind them. The two carefully turned their heads as Leanne's shadow, Ash loomed over them with a Cheshire-grin.

"AAAAHHH!" The two hightailed away before Ash could clap them in her hands.

"A-Ash! Ash, wait!" Mason called.

"SSTOOOP!" Sheila cried. The hissing shadow kept her vicious grin and tried to snap them, but the two were thankfully able to dodge its tremendous hands.

"We've gotta stun it somehow!" Mason yelled.

"I know!" Sheila began spinning another charged Light Sphere, shooting it directly up into its face. The tiny speck of light seemed to stun the shadow as it winced in pain and rubbed the spot. "Haha! It worked!"

"But where do we hide?"

Sheila looked around. "In there!" She pointed at Dillon's socks lying on the floor. The two dashed over to the closest sock as fast as they could, making a leap inside just before the shadow regained her vision. Ash skimmed around the carpeted floor in search for where the two bugs had gone. She grabbed the sock they had crawled in and studied it intently, hearing the two scream as they dropped to the other end of the sock. A wicked grin plastered on her face as she was about to eat it, but before she could-

"Ash, what are you doing?" Yin asked, holding the laundry basket as she took the sock away. "Shouldn't you be with your master?" Ash held her head down in shame and drifted away. When she was gone, Yin held the sock by her face and took a whiff, wincing at the smell. "Euuh! Just because Dillon comes here a lot, he thinks he can just leave his socks wherever." The woman grabbed the other one and dropped it in the basket before heading up the stairs.

"Oh well. He won't mind if I wash it, too, then." The two heard Yin's echoing voice say as they climbed out of the sock.

Mason looked up as the gargantuan woman loomed over them, her eyes focused on the path before her as she carried whatever it was they were in. "It's my mom!" he exclaimed.

Sheila smiled widely at the landscape before her. "Ohh, STREWTH!" The excited child ran out and plopped onto the soft field, moving her arms and legs around like a snow angel. "I've always wanted to lie down in a laundry basket, but Mum said I was too big! Well, LOOK who's the li'l bugger now!"

"Sheila! If we don't get out of here, she'll throw us in with the laundry! MOOM? MOOOOOM!"

"Oi, what is she, deaf?"

"No, Sheila. We're too tiny, she can't hear us. We've gotta get off this thing."

"Well, there ain't nothin' wrong with going for a swim in the washer, eh?"

"I don't think I could keep up with the currents, we better get out of here."

"Whooa!" Sheila yelped as the boy began pulling her by the wrist. They gave another mad dash across the soft field of clothes, getting ever closer toward Yin's shorts.

"We're almost there!" After reaching the end, the two leapt out of one of the holes and gripped tight onto Yin's shorts. However, the woman's moving leg quickly caused them fall, and they had a rough landing onto the harder floor below, the Chinese woman just moving along like she didn't notice a thing.

The two once again struggled to stand and gripped their heads after the painful landing. They felt the floor quaking some more and looked up as Haruka was calmly walking their way from the other side of the hall, an innocent smile on her face. The two hurriedly dashed over to her side, and as her foot stepped close to them, they leaped and grabbed tightly on the side of her sock. The two kept their grip as Haruka’s feet kept moving up and down, using all their strength to climb on top of her foot. Once they arrived at the top, they took a moment to catch their breath. “Okay, let’s get her attention.” Mason decided. However, Haruka suddenly came to a halt when the doorbell rang throughout the house.

"I'LL GET IT!" Haruka yelled, dashing for the door. Mason and Sheila struggled to hang on as her feet moved faster and faster, the two quickly becoming dizzy. As she rapidly stepped down the stairs, the two immediately bounced off to the floor once she reached the bottom.

Just before Matthew could answer the door, Haruka skidded to a stop in his way and grabbed the handle. "I got it!"

"Oh, you!" Matt chuckled.

Haruka proceeded to answer the door, finding Cheren and Panini on the doorstep. "Hey, Haruka, is Mason home? We were wondering if he wanted to watch me and Panini have a hotdog-eating contest." Cheren asked.

Mason and Sheila brushed their pants off from the fall and looked up at them. "Oi, look, Mason! It's Cheren and Panini!"

"Why is EVERYBODY coming to MY HOUSE today?!"

"Last I saw, he and Sheila were playing in the backyard." Haruka answered. "They weren't back there when I looked, but you can check if you want."

"Okay then." Panini agreed as she and Cheren went around toward the back. Haruka happily skipped away and let the door shut.

"Matheewww? Did you remember to bring the groceries in?" Yin called.

“Umm… YES.” Matt yelled back. As Sheila’s father, Elijah Frantic walked by, Matt grabbed onto his arm and said quickly, “Quick, help me get the groceries in, Eli,” pulling the man outside with him.

"Oh, Dad…" Mason disbelievingly shook his head.

Forest area

"Boy, kind of weird that Mason would have a forest right by his backyard." Cheren said as he and Panini searched around the forest.

"Knowing Sheila, she probably dragged him off to some adventah."

"Well, let's hope they didn't get in to too much trouble, right?" Cheren joked.

"Oh please, what could they possibly run into…" The two stopped in their tracks when they suddenly encountered a strange and mysterious door.

"Whoa… what is it?" Cheren whispered.

Panini curiously stepped closer toward the door and gave a knock, and it suddenly came open and revealed a green, swirling vortex. "It's some kind of a… portal." The two stood there and stared amazingly for a bit. "…I betcha you're too scared to go." Panini smirked, nudging his arm.

"Who, me?" Cheren smirked. "I'm more worried about you."

“…I’ll go if you go.”

"Let's do it."

"Beatcha there!" she exclaimed, running ahead.

"Hey, wait up!" Cheren quickly followed her in. The double-doors closed behind them as the mystical green energy brimmed from the doorway, the sounds of dizzy moaning on the other side.


Next time, Mason and Sheila will keep trying to get someone's attention. And it looks like someone else is caught in the mix now! ;D How will this fair out? Find out next time! ;D

Bonus: Swimming

“Yeeaah!” Lee Andrew Grayson cheered, dropping into the pool from the diving board.

“Wheeee!” Haruka cheered, diving in after him.

“Waterbending baaall!” Melody Jackson exclaimed, creating a bigger splash of water after dropping from the diving board.

The many operatives were happily playing in one of the many pools at Sector J’s treehouse. The sun was shining, sparkling the beautiful reflections off the water as children playfully splashed one-another. The only one who wasn’t having fun was Mason. The Dimalanta boy was glumfully seated on the edge of the pool, his feet rested on the first step into the water as his head was rested on his hand, wearing the floatable life preserves around his elbows. “Oi, come on, Mason.” Sheila spoke as she approached her friend with her usual cheerful attitude. “Why don’tcha wanna get in the water?”

“Because he can’t swim, remember?” Lee Andrew swam over and said. Haruka accompanied him and gave a light giggle at this.

“Ah’m gettin’ there first, Leanne!” Dillon York exclaimed, racing Leanne Andrea to the diving board.

“Oh no you’re not!” she yelled back.

“Oi, fellas, wait for me!” Sheila yelled after them. Mason depressedly watched in her direction.

All three kids climbed onto the ladder and gathered on the diving board together. They ran across and- “YAHOOOO!”, all three of them leapt off and created a powerful splash of water. As Sunni and Darcy Chariton were relaxing against the lawn chairs, reading books, Sunni’s eyes widened at the notice of the humongous tidal wave shadowing over them. The two were engulfed by the large wave, and Sunni put on an annoyed look as they were dripping wet. Darcy, however, didn’t look too bothered by this and kept reading.

“Woohoo!” Sheila cheered as they resurfaced. “Talk about a real pool-emptier, eh?”

“Just watch where you’re diving next time!” Cheren Uno yelled at them from a few feet away, his eyes squinting from the loss of his glasses due to the splash. “I lost my glasses! I can’t see without my glasses!” The nearsighted boy then began moving through the pool, feeling around the water in search of his glasses. Along his way, he kept accidentally touching and feeling around other children in the pool.

“Come on, Mason, get in the pool with us!” Dillon encouraged as he and Leanne swam over.

“Maybe Sheila can teach you how to swim!” Haruka smiled gleefully, directing them over to the raccoon girl happily backstroking along the water, using her tail as a propeller.

“We know ya wanna be in the water with her!” Dillon joked, making everyone release light giggles.

Mason growled in frustration at this comment. However, the boy looked over at his swimming raccoon friend, watching as she dove beneath the water and swam fast using her tail-propeller. She didn’t wear a swimsuit, only her regular clothes, except her sandals were off, so she was barefoot. Mason really loved how carefree she was, because of that. Deep down, he’s always wanted to learn how to swim, for the reason that he really does want to be in the water with her.

Sheila swam back over to her friend and raised her head back above the water as she asked, “Yeh, Mason! Oi wouldn’t mind teachin’ ya!”

“Or you could get Melody to teach you how to swim.” Leanne suggested. “She IS the Ocean Princess.”

“Hehe, yeah, but… I think I will learn from Sheila.” Mason decided.

“Aw, strewth!” Sheila fist-pumped, walking up out of the water and grabbing Mason’s arm. “Come on, Mason! Le’s go to a pool that isn’t crowded.” With that, she led her friend away from the group as they quietly snickered behind them.

Meanwhile, Melody saw something at the bottom of the pool while she was swimming and dove under, grabbing Cheren’s glasses and coming back up. “Hey, Cuz! I found your glasses!” she called, tossing the glasses over to her cousin.

Right now, Cheren was still feeling around the pool, laying his left hand on somebody’s foot when the glasses suddenly bonked him in the head. “Ow!” he yelped, grabbing the specks in his right hand and slipping them back on. Once his vision was returned, however, he instantly found his left hand rested on Panini Drilovsky’s foot. “Oh… umm, hi, Panini.”

“Aw, already massaging my feet since you know I’m so going to kick your butt in Pokémon Black?” she smirked.

Mason followed after Sheila as the two climbed up a ladder to a higher pool. Mason couldn’t help but gaze at how beautiful Sheila looked dripping-wet. When they arrived at the top, they found the pool was completely free of other kids, and they were the only ones there. “Before we begin, Mate, ya might wanna wear this.” She suggested, slipping on the conchshell necklace around his neck.

“Oh yeah… this…” he remembered.

“Gotta ‘ave some good luck, roight? Let’s get to it! Now, the first step ta swimmin’ is not bein’ afraid ta get in the water.” Sheila instructed, holding Mason’s hand as she led the boy down the steps into the pool. “And when you’re beginnin’, it’s best to hold on to the side of the pool, and jus’ let your legs float behind you, eh?”

Mason followed Sheila as they were gripping the ledge of the pool, using their hands and feet to move along further from the stairs. As Sheila instructed, Mason held the side of the pool and gently let his legs drift along the surface behind him. He glanced to his left as Sheila was doing the same. The blue-eyed wereraccoon smiled at him, and he sheepishly smiled back.

“Now, le’s get ta floating.” Sheila instructed as she gently kicked herself away from the ledge, slowly drifting along the surface on her back. “Firstly, don’t panic. Me mom always told me how Mr. Beatles couldn’t swim ‘cause he was always flailin’ his arms like a crazy li’l cheerleaduh. Just clear your mind of all that drowning hoo-hah and let the water gently carry your body along…”

Mason calmly closed his eyes and took a whiff of breath through his nose. The raven-haired boy gently kicked the wall and pushed himself away. He spread his arms and legs out to let the gentle flow of the currents move his body along. He was able to relieve the panic in his mind he would usually have about drowning, feeling very calm and peaceful as the relaxing waves carried him. The boy slowly opened his eyes and was met with the bright rays of the sun. He squinted and glanced to his left, seeing Sheila’s beautiful form floating along the water’s surface as she looked and smiled at him. The raccoon released a light chuckle and grinned, showing her pearly whites. Mason blushed and gave his own light chuckle, then- “Whoa!”, he suddenly felt himself struggling to stay above surface.

“Hold on, Mason.” Sheila spoke up, grabbing under her friend’s arms to keep him floating. “I gotcha.” Mason stopped flailing his arms and looked behind him, blushing even more as Sheila’s hands were wrapped around his arms. “Remember, panicking is what killed the hyena.”

“Uh, hehe. Right…” he still blushed.

“Um, sorry if I distracted you. If ya want, I could get Melody.”

“No, no, you’re doing great.” He quickly assured. “You’re, uh… a great teacher.”

“Hehe. Thanks, Mate. Anyway… ‘ow ‘bout we try going underwater?”

“You-You think I’m ready?”

“Well, sure!” she smiled. “Just take a big breath, and let li’le tiny bubbles out of your nose when you’re underwater. And when you’re feelin’ out o’ breath, just come back up. Are ya ready?”

“Sure.” He nodded. With that, both friends sucked some air into their lungs and went fully underwater. Mason and Sheila looked and stared at each other, their cheeks puffy from holding in all the air as they slowly released tiny bubbles of air from their noses. The two exchanged smiles as Mason nodded. The two took hands and swam side-by-side as they kicked their feet to move along. When they made it to the pool’s edge, they changed direction and swam the other way, performing a small whirl as they still held the other’s hand.

Mason could only stare at how beautiful Sheila looked under the water, her long, raven-colored hair floating distortedly along the currents. Right now, Mason completely forgot about being at a swimming lesson, let alone the fact that he couldn’t swim well. It just felt so wonderful being underwater with her, swimming side-by-side with the most beautiful person Mason ever laid eyes on, the closest friend he could ever hope to have. All those times he didn’t know how to swim, and he always watched as Sheila swam under the water and had fun all by herself. Now, he was finally swimming with her, and it was the most magical feeling he ever had.

After a while, the two came to halt, taking breaths of fresh air after resurfacing above the water. “You did pretty good there, Mate.”

“Thanks to you.” He smiled, still catching his breath. “You may not be a waterbender, but you’re the best swimming teacher in all the KND.”

“Ahhh. You c’n be too nice sometimes, eh? Anyway, ‘ow ‘bout we take a break? I c’n teach you ‘ow to swim more after a couple ice cream cones, ‘ow ‘bout that?”

“Sounds great.” He agreed. The two proceeded to climb out of the pool, and Sheila rapidly whooshed her hair around to shake the water off, Mason smiling and shielding himself as the water shot on him. As they went to get ice cream, Mason was eager for the next lesson.

Lol I actually got those swimming steps off a website. I ain’t a very good swimmer either. XP Though I looked them up just for the one-shot.