Mason and the Minish Door, Part 4: Carol's Playtime

Dimalanta Household

By the time noon arrived the next day, all the house guests began to crawl around the floor, searching intently for the two missing kids. They heard the doorbell ring, and Matthew went over to answer it. "Hey, Angie! What brings you here?"

The woman in question was Angelie McKenzie, a thin young woman with light-brown hair, a green top with white shorts, and thin, but sturdy bare legs. "I received Rachel's text about the situation last night. I decided to get one of my old friends and bring her over. She says she might know a way to fix them."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Could you bring Cheren and Panini here?"

Matt sent the news to Rachel, and the Uno mother proceeded to bring the tiny kids in her hand. The duo waved up at Cheren's aunt Angie, who seemed rather adored. "Hm hm! Everyone, I'd like you to meet my friend, Chiri."

Angie held an open hand to Rachel's. Standing on it appeared to be a light-yellow, chipmunk-like woman. Her eyes were big, black, and beady, ears long, she wore a purple beret, and had a light-purple dress made of grass blades. "Hello, you two!"

"Whoa! What are you?" Cheren asked.

"Tehe! I'm a Minish! After your mom relayed the story to Angie, she suspected it was a Minish Door that shrunk you."

"A Minish Door?"

"They're magic doors that are only supposed to appear every hundred years. I'm not sure why one has appeared now, but you'll need my help to get it back open. Could you lead me to where it is?"

"Yeah!"

Angie carried them all to where the kids directed. Once at the door, she set them all on the ground. Chiri approached the little door and placed her hands to it, uttering some kind of incantation. Before their eyes, the swirling green vortex opened. "There! Now you'll be able to grow back!"

"You sure it's not just gonna make us smaller?"

"Hehe, you'll be as small as Gupna if that happened! But I promise you don't have to worry."

The kids took her word and entered the vortex. Angie picked Chiri back up, watching as the portal expanded to human size. It opened back up, and Cheren and Panini came stumbling out. "It worked! We're big, Panini!" Cheren embraced her in a hug.

"And Ay'm still bigger than ya!"

"Only by a few inches!" The two broke away and viewed the tiny woman on Angie's palm. "Thank you, Chiri. We really owe you one."

"It's my pleasure!" she replied in a tiny voice. "Now, what about these friends of yours? Have you found them?"

"No, but we should help get on that. Mason and Sheila have to see us looking for them. We just need to be careful not to overlook them."

…

Yin entered her daughter's room and saw Haruka lain depressedly on her bed. She sat on the bed, touching a hand to her shoulder. "What's wrong, Haru? Don't you wanna help look for your brother?"

"I don't think he wants my help…"

"Why not? Did you get in a big fight before they shrunk?"

"Well… not exactly, but… when I went out to look for them… I saw them… flying by my face. I didn't know it was them… so I squished them. Squished them like bugs! I know they're OK now, but… Mason needed my help more than ever, and I tried to kill him. He'll probably hate me for the rest of his life…"

"Well, if you really think he's mad, then you need to make it up to him. You can do that by helping find them. We have a way to fix them now, but they need our help first."

"You're…you're right." Haruka pushed herself up. "Besides… I'm the doctor of Sector V. My mission is to heal physical ailments and save lives. And shrinking is a kind of ailment, right?"

"I would imagine so! So, let's get to work, Doctor Haruka!"

Unknown mansion

Mason and Sheila were woke by light tremors. As morning light peered through the giant window, the owner of the room woke from her slumber. She was a girl of about 10 years old. She took a bath in her washroom and fixed her long, light-blonde hair to be very wide and puffy. She wore a very frilly light-green dress with a white blouse underneath. On her head was a darker green ribbon with a blue pearl. Rings adorned her fingers, which had pointed, but trim nails. A pair of clean, white, elegant stockings covered her feet.

The girl hummed a merry tune as she dressed herself. She put a thin coating of pink lipstick over her mouth, and her smile reflected the radiance in her pretty blue eyes. Freckles also dotted her face. "She looks pretty nice, I'd wager!" Sheila said hopefully. "Let's ring the bell and give her a holler, Mason!"

"Yeah, let's try it…"

"Hm, hm hm, huh?" The rich girl heard a ringing sound. She looked to her large dollhouse. The jingle bell in its attic was being rung by something. "Hu-!" She let out a gasp. Only one thing could be ringing that bell!

The girl crouched down and carefully pulled off the roof of the house. Her gargantuan eyes peered over the rim. "Huuuuu!" She let out a gasp of awe: there were little people inside her dollhouse!

"Hey! Little girl!" Mason called up. "Don't freak out! We need your help!"

"Yeah, take us home!" Sheila yelled.

"No… way!" The girl beamed in a voice that almost sounded like Haruka's. (They both share a voice actor, Kerry Williams.) "Did I…did I finally find the Minish?!"

"Uh…Minish?" Mason cocked a brow.

"Oh, I've waited so long for Minish to come to my dollhouse! I didn't even put new treats in, yet! Ooooo, you're so cute! Let me pick you up!"

The giant lay an enormous index finger down. The nail was big enough to stand on. "Orright! See, Mason, this worked out just fine!" Sheila eagerly jumped on the nail.

"I don't know about this, Sheila…" With hesitation, Mason climbed on the nail. They were raised out of the house, up to the girl's looming irises.

"Tehe!" Seeing them up closer seemed to make her happier. "You're so teeny! But… you don't seem anything like the Minish I heard read about."

"We're not Minish!" Mason yelled. "We're humans! Er, well, I'M human. Sheila's a Faunus. The point is, we're not supposed to be like this! Could you please help us?"

"You're… not Minish?" The girl frowned.

"Yeh!" Sheila yelled. "We need you to take us back home!"

"Awww… I was so sure I could finally have Minish pets."

"P-Pets?" Mason stuttered.

"But… this is my first time finding little people. And you guys are just as little as Minish… so, maybe you'll be just as good." Her smile returned, feeling hopeful.

"Uh…" Mason's heart began to sink in anxiety. "L-Look, Miss, we really need to get home. Could you please just take us?"

"Oh, it's okay, little people! This is your new home!"

"Hey, we don't wanna live here!" Sheila shouted, marching further up the finger. "We wanna get back home to our mates!"

"Hehehe! You're so squeaky! Are you angry, little girl?"

"Yeah, and I'm gonna punch you in the eye unless you help us!"

"Hee hee hee! You can't punch me, silly! You're way too tiny!"

"I'll show you tiny!" Sheila began to spin her fist, light building up.

"Sheila, wait!"

A sunny sphere launched up at the giant's iris. "AH!" She shut her eye, for the tiny sphere burned her retina just enough to hurt slightly. "Hey, that was mean!" Her other eye furrowed. "I'm gonna have to punish you for that!"

"You're the only one getting punished if you don't—hey, hey, hey!"

"SHEILA!" The raccoon was suddenly grasped in the girl's other fingers. It wasn't enough force to crush Sheila, but she struggled for breath.

The girl discarded Mason on her drawers and used her free hand to grab a jar. She dropped Sheila inside the jar. "Now, stay in there until you learn how to behave." She placed the jar before her window, letting sunlight burn brightly in the glass prison. "I'll leave the lid off, but don't think about trying to escape."

"HEY! Let Sheila out of there!" Mason yelled.

"Besides, I like boys much better!" She lightly picked Mason back up. "So, I think I'll just play with you!"

"Come on, kid, please! We just wanna get bigger!"

"Oh, that's right! I never introduced myself! My name is Carol Masterson. I'm the richest girl in Virginia!"

"The richest girl? I've never heard of you."

"Well, today's your lucky day! From now on, I'm your new owner! And I'm gonna call you Pixiefairy!"

"What the…what the heck is wrong with you?!" This girl seemed to have no respect or concern for them at all. As Mason feared… she really was some kind of spoiled rich kid.

"I wish I could put you in my fairy dress… but it's too big. Wait! Maybe I can order an even smaller one!" Carol carried Mason over to her laptop, which was black and had a "$" on it. She opened it and began to look up "ant size fairy dresses." "Oh! There's a few companies who make them! Let's order one right away!"

"This can't be happening…" Mason cringed as the girl began to mash the keyboard. He could seize this chance to run… but where was he going to go? Even if Sheila could escape and they made it out of this mansion, how would they make it back home?

Sheila was unable to build enough momentum to fly herself out of the jar. Even when she tried to punch through it with lightbending, her light merely phased through the glass as easily as sunlight. "Huff…huff…" Still, with all this bright light peering into her prison, it felt as invigorating as it was sweltering. She began trying to absorb this light into herself.

Dimalanta House

The friends decided to call Mikaela Chariton over. The Filipino woman used her Aura Sense to try and search for any tiny presences in the house, but all she found were bugs. Angie's Seismic Sense couldn't find any human-like footsteps outside the house either. "I'm sorry, guys… I'm not having any luck." Mika said.

"What if…what if something really has happened to them?" Yin asked horrifically.

"Honestly, there's so many of us moving around." Lee Andrew replied. "I…I wouldn't be surprised if-"

"Don't say that, Bro!" Leanne shouted. "Maybe… what if they accidentally got washed down a sink or something?"

"That…that's not out of the question." Matt replied. "After Yin thought she saw the kids, I… washed her face in the sink."

"WHAT?!" Yin shouted. "You washed our son down the SINK?!"

"And my DAUGHTER?!" Marine bellowed.

"I-I-I didn't know, I'm sorry!"

"But if that's what happened, we'll have to check the whole sewer or something!" Aurora argued.

"Man, this is awful…" If that really was the answer, Cheren began to feel hopeless. Two of his operatives could very well be lost forever…

Masterson Estate

"Da, da, daaaaa!" Carol presented to Mason a ballet onesie and tutu with fairy wings. "Can you believe how fast it got here? Nothing's too expensive for my money!"

"Carol, I am not putting that on!"

"Yes you are." Carol glared. "I'm your owner now, so you gotta do what I say. Because if you don't, you're gonna be punished. Now, put it on." She slammed her finger to the desk for emphasis.

"Sheesh…" Mason nervously took the dress and begrudgingly swapped out his clothes for it.

"Hee hee! Now you look like a real pixie fairy, Pixiefairy!"

"Carol, what's wrong with you?! This isn't how you're supposed to treat people!"

"So, what? No one else wants to be friends with me. Even when I offer them money, nobody likes me. Even the Minish never wanted to visit my dollhouse. But you're gonna be friends with me even if I have to make you!"

"Carol, we CAN be friends with you! But you have to help us! If you help us get big, we promise we'll be friends!"

"Nuh-uh! If you get big, you'll never wanna speak to me again!"

"Well, we could, if you'd be nice to us!"

"I'm the sweetest, nicest girl in Virginia! Way nicer than that nasty one over there." Carol carried Mason back over to Sheila. She seemed to be spinning her fists as her body grew brighter. "Ha ha! What is she even doing in there?"

To Mason, it seemed like Sheila was actually building her strength. Was she actually planning something? "…Carol, I think Sheila's burning up! You have to take her out of that jar!"

"But she looks kind of pretty in there. Like a little firefly!"

"Carol, please!" Mason folded his hands and looked up with pleading eyes. "Please let my friend out of there?"

"Hmmmm…" Carol stared down at him. He looked positively adorable begging her. It made Carol feel rather powerful. "Well… okay! But you have to do something for me first~"

"W-what?"

Carol smiled wide and raised Mason to her mouth. "You, have, to, kiss, me."

Her lips shaped each word with emphasis. Mason's body flushed red, eyes locked on the enormous pair of soft, pinkish lips. "K-k-k…kiss you?"

"I've never kissed a boy before. And you're the cutest boy I ever met. Give me a great, big kiss, and I'll let your friend out."

"Er…" Mason almost considered blasting a Gas Bomb in her mouth, but he probably didn't have the strength to leave an effect. "F-fine. But you can't kiss me back, okay? You might accidentally suck me in."

"Oh, fine. Mmmmmwwww…"

She puckered her lips and brought them to her finger. Swallowing all the pride in his system, Mason put his own lips to Carol's. She could feel him with a tiny tickle. The idea that such a small boy was kissing her sent her heart aflutter. At the very least, Mason already had his first kiss with Sheila… but the act of doing this in front of Sheila felt so humiliating. Catering to this rich diva's whims… Mason felt sick to his stomach and began to hate her more and more.

"Mwah." Mason let go.

"Mmm hm hm hm! Oh, Pixiefairy! That was the sweetest thing anyone's ever done for me!"

"Can you please free Sheila now? In fact… I bet she's really jealous about that."

"Really?" Carol perked up. "No wonder why she looks so angry." She reached down and picked the jar up, raising it to her eyes. "What's wrong, Sheila? Are you angry that Pixiefairy kissed me and not y-"

"YAH!!!"

Sheila blasted a HUGE beam of light directly through the glass. "AAAAAAHH!!" Blinded by the light, Carol threw both Mason and Sheila into the air. Sheila flew out of the jar and flew to grab Mason in the air. As they watched Carol stumble back on her feet, rubbing her eyes, Sheila said, "Now's our chance, Mason! Let's get her!"

"How are we going to do—thaaaaaaaaaat!" The friends divebombed down as Sheila used her tail to steer them. They landed on the side of Carol's puffy hair.

"The same way we did it to Dillon, mate! Let's go in!" The two dropped atop Carol's ear and were able to get inside.

"Hey!" Carol twisted her finger inside, but the two bolted and made it too far in. The inside of her ears were so clean that there was little wax to impede them.

"How d'ya like THIS?!" Sheila threw a sphere at her eardrum.

"AAAAAAAHH!" Carol clasped her ear in pain.

"Mason, you stay here and talk with her! And I'll make her listen."

"AAAH!" Carol screamed, feeling a punch behind her retinas. "OW!" A punch struck her brain. She shook her head frantically, but the tinies remained steady. "Stop it, stop it! Please!"

"Sheila, she said the 'p' word! I think we got her! Hey, Carol, are you going to listen to us now?!"

"You two are so mean! All I wanted was to be friends!"

"Well, friends don't keep each other as pets! They don't threaten to punish them! If this is how you treat people, then you're never going to make any friends! We may be little people, but we don't deserve to be treated this way! Now, are you gonna help us, or will Sheila have to keep punching you?!"

"One more for the road!"

"OW!" Carol cried, feeling the back of her nasal bridge be punched. Mason's harsh words and the pain forced Carol into crying. She had never been scolded or disciplined before; she always thought it was for normal kids. "Stop it, please! I'll buy you whatever you want!"

"We want you to call our parents! Do you have a phone?!"

"Yes, of course!"

"Good! Now, pick it up, dial this number, and tell them to come get us!"

"Okay, okay! Just stop yelling at me…" Carol meekly went to collect her iPhone. She dialed the number as Mason instructed.

Dimalanta House

Matthew went to answer the kitchen phone as it rang. "Hello? …Yes, this is the Dimalanta House. …You have our little people? I'm sorry… who is this?"

"Matthew, who's on the phone?" Yin asked.

"I… You what?! You have Mason and Sheila?! WHO ARE YOU?!"

"What, were they kidnapped?!" Cheren gasped.

"I see… alright. Let me write it down." Matt quickly scribbled an address on a paper. "We'll be over there shortly. Thank you." He hung up. "Yin, that was some girl. She says she has our kids!"

"What?!"

"Let's go!" Matt, Yin, and Haruka rushed out to the car. "It's the Masterson Estate! She says she'll meet us outside!"

Masterson Estate

Carol compliantly walked out to her front gate, tears dripping as she sobbed. Mason couldn't help but feel pity for her. "Hey… we're sorry if we were too hard on you." Mason said.

"'ey, don't apologize to her, Mason! She made you dress like a fairy!"

"Just be quiet." Carol stated. "I'll give you back to your parents so you can leave me alone. I'll just play with my three parrots… and my 5 turtles and 10 camels and my mutant canary."

"Uh…okay?" Mason was baffled by the notion of all those pets. "Don't your parents ever play with you?"

"My mom's always too busy at work, and my dad left us two years ago. And the servants always do what I say, so they're no fun. I just wanted some friends who were my age."

Carol made it outside and stepped out the front gate. The mansion was set on a cliff overlooking Cleveland Beach. As she waited for Mason's parents, the boy in question decided to climb out of the ear. He climbed his way across Carol's hair and dropped onto her little nose. She rolled her eyes together to see him. "Carol, it's nice that you're doing this for us."

"I'm only doing it so she'll quit hurting me."

"Well, did you at least learn a lesson from this?"

"Yeah… I learned that I just can't have friends, even if I make them."

"Yes you can, Carol. You just have to be nicer to people."

"But I am nice to people. I always offer kids money, but nobody wants it."

"Well… some people just don't want money. Or, maybe they were afraid they'd have to pay you back, or something. But you can't just buy friendship with money."

"Then how did you make friends with that nasty girl?"

"You want me to punch you again?!" Sheila yelled from inside.

"Me and Sheila met when we were little. We played at the beach, I thought she was really fun, and… we sort of hit it off. And ever since, I loved playing with her. She gets a little annoying, sure… but she's my best friend. Every day with her is a blast."

Sheila felt warm hearing that. She felt bad for putting Mason through this experience… but was thankful to him for putting up with her. "But we can be friends, too, Carol. Once I'm big… I'll come to visit you later. We can do something fun."

"…" Her tears stopped flowing as she focused on him with hope. "Do you promise?"

"Yeah! And if you want more friends, maybe you could join the KND someday."

"The… KND?" Carol had considered that a few times. She wondered what the KND would be like… and if she would fit in well with them.

A car came driving up the road. It parked near the mansion as the Dimalantas stepped out. "You! Are you the girl who called?" Matt asked.

"Uh-huh! I have your Pixie—I mean, Mason here…" She picked him up on her finger.

"Mason!" Haruka excitedly (but gently) picked him up. "Thank goodness! But, where's…"

"Right here!" Sheila poked out of Carol's nose.

"Sheila, what are you doing in there?!" Yin exclaimed.

"No time to explain! Just pick me out!"

Haruka held her finger under for Sheila to drop. "How did you end up finding them?" Haruka asked.

"Uh, I…"

"We'll explain everything later." Mason assured. "But Carol let us stay at her house last night. She was really nice to us. Right, Sheila?"

She was baffled by Mason's turn of view towards the rich brat. "Uh…sure, mate, whatever."

"Mmmm…" Carol blushed.

"Well, thank you, Carol." Yin smiled. "We were worried sick about these two. Please let us know if there's anything we can do."

"Uh, well…it would be nice if Maseyfairy can come back to visit sometime! I never got to do nails with him~"

"I see…" Matthew smiled awkwardly.

"Oh, gee…" Mason cringed.

"We'd better get them home. Thanks again, Carol! We'll see you later."

"Okay!" Carol waved the family farewell as they began the drive home. "Hm hm hm!" With a little twirl, she returned to her mansion. She kept Mason's promise in her heart and would await his return. And over time… she began to consider his proposal."

Dimalanta House

The rest was over with no trouble at all. Mason and Sheila were brought to the Minish Door as Chiri helped size them back to normal. The friends were ecstatic to have two of their favorite people back!

"Man, I can't believe all that happened!" Dillon exclaimed after hearing a recount of the story. "So, THAT'S why my ear started acting funny!"

"I'm really sorry, Big Brother." Haruka said, walking over to hug her brother. "If I had only noticed you before, you coulda gotten outta this a lot quicker. I hope you can forgive me."

"Of course I forgive you, Haruka." Mason smiled and hugged his sister back. "I love you. And hey, if you had noticed us, we wouldn't have gotten to go on this awesome adventure! You're the best, Haru."

"Oh, Mason!" Haruka hugged her brother tighter. "I love you, Kuya!"

"Aw, but dude! The part where you fought the Mighty Poo was awesome!" Chris exclaimed.

"Ulp…" Francis gripped his aching stomach. "Easy for you to say… I'll never be able to use the bathroom the same way again…"

"Well, now that it's over, whaddya wanna do now?" Aurora asked. "Wanna go up to Moonbase and celebrate?"

"Not really." Mason said. "I need a bath after clashing with a mountain of poo."

"Me, too." Sheila stated disgustedly. "Let's go home, Ma. Oi'm filthier than an army guy workin' in a outhouse."

"Aye, that sounds right top cricket, eh?" Marine agreed before leading her daughter outside.

"I'll see you later, Sheila!" Mason yelled and waved.

"Take care, Masooon!" Sheila happily waved and walked away. With that done, Mason headed upstairs, a smile plastered on his face as he was getting ready for his bath. He couldn't WAIT for the next adventure.

Hoagie's Airflight

"Good afternoon, passengers, this is your captain speaking." Hoagie's voice came from the plane's speakers. "We'll be landing in Cleveland very shortly. If you take a look out the windows to your left, you can see the chilidog factory in all its glory."

"So after we land, don't forget to stop on by." The pilot finished before switching off the speaker.

"Ahh, the chilidog factory… sure brings back memories, eh Hoags?" Hoagie's copilot, Ace asked.

"E-yup. But now instead of fighting some crazy old man, we're carrying passengers."

The Spanish pilot then looked up in the sky and noticed a bright, expanding light. "Um, Hoagie? …What's that?"

Hoagie munched on an apple crumble before answering, "Oh, this? It's an apple crumble. Don't get too grossed, but it's actually made out of-"

"Not that! That!" Ace pointed up above.

"Hm?" Hoagie looked to where he pointed and noticed the strange light. "I dunno… but it's coming straight at us! Quick! Everybody fasten your seatbelts, we're changing our course!" With that, the two pilots stomped the gas and sped away even faster. The many passengers burst into screams and gripped the seats as tight as they could. They were able to get away just in time before the tremendous object crashed right on top of the chilidog factory, appearing to be some kind of atomic bomb-like force as the factory and all the land around it was swallowed in a powerful explosion.

The passengers and pilots watched with sheer amazement and fear as the blinding light from the explosion engulfed the entire area. "Whooooaaaaa…"

Moments later, Sector V and a bunch of other kids showed up, mouths completely dropped open speechless as where the chilidog factory once stood was replaced with some kind of tremendous ball of wood and branches. The Supreme Leader and his second-in-command took land just in time and hurried over to see what happened, the lot of them standing a good several fields away from the mass. "W-What-" Cheren tried to say.

"Eee heeheeheeheeheeheehee!" a girly giggle echoed across the land. Before their very eyes, the image of a colossal figure appeared. A teenage girl wearing a long, flowing dress that appeared dark pink around the bottom, red in the middle, and purple at the top, in which the different colors were divided by vines that went around the dress. On her chest was a large purple rose, and she bared long, whitish-blonde hair that reached all the way down to her ankles, and seemed very disheveled and went everywhere. At the point where the hair reached her head, it was tied up with rose thorns, and in her right hand, she held a staff that held the design of a scorpion type creature.

The many operatives stared with shock as the being began to speak. "Filthy Kids Next Door, TREMBLE before me! I am Viridi, Goddess of Nature! SUPREME ruler of the Earth and all living things! For many eons, I have sat and watched as you and the rest of your filthy kind mended trees to use as your 'base of operations', and desecrated the land to make room for your, PARKING lots and oh so precious chilidog factory. But now, I've had enough. You humans have strayed TOO far from your intended path. Your chilidog factory was only the first of many to meet the wrath of my Reset Bombs. Soon, many other such locations will follow, until Earth has been returned to its original state! BYE-BYE, KNDorks! Gah hah hah hah hah hah!"

By the time the apparition had vanished, the groups of operatives remained speechless.