Welcome back, me hearties! I actually had time to write another chapter today! We're gonna start the next planet today! Uhhh, I can't think of much to say. Thanks to my reviewer(s), I guess. Wouldn't be able to go on without 'em. Alright, let's go.
Chapter 14: Nigel Shrinks
After finishing their lunches, the team of four, with Luvbi in the team now, were in their ships, drifting close to Planet Kateenia, their next destination. "I wonder what's on Galactic Radio." Ava said to herself as she pressed a button in her ship. The radio was activated in each of their ships as music started to play.
"Good morning, citizens of Galaxia, and welcome to Channel 5000. I am Linda," a woman said on the speakers.
"-And I am MORBO." A male said in a loud, gruff voice. "For today's broadcast, studies of the Earthican female, and their ways."
"We now go to Johnly Wordsington from Planetary Studies. Johnly?"
"Thank you, Linda." The voice of a British man spoke. "First, let us talk about the speaking habits of the Earthican female. The Earthican female seems to speak the same language as Earthican males. But of further studies, when Earthican females speak of certain items in low quantities, they occasionally refer to higher quantities. For example, if an Earthican female says she is going to buy a couple groceries, you can clearly see that she has bought several pounds of groceries upon her return. Next, let us observe the way the Earthican females interact with each other. When interacting, Earthican females appear to have many compliments to say to each other. However, within the privacy of their habitats, the Earthican females speak to their young about negative features they have found in the other Earthican females. And as you can see here, the young often result in getting a headache. However, when a group of Earthican females take a certain distaste in another Earthican, they tend to favorite each other over that someone, and often deny that someone's reasoning when it goes against the other Earthican females. When we return, we will look at the daily rituals of the Earthican squirrel: observed as Earth's most intelligent species, as we have captured live footage of it deceiving a simple bigheaded human locked in a treehouse of his own making."
"Thank you, Johnly of Planet... 'Neweenglind'." Linda spoke. "And now, we return to our regularly scheduled program, Really Loud and Annoying Orchestra." The radio began to play an orchestrated remix of the song "Prince Ali" from Aladdin. The orchestra was really loud and totally killed the peace and quiet of flying through space. After another series of notes, they decided to switch the radio off.
"So, let me get this straight:" Dib began, "the Irkens were created by a dark spirit called the Nightmare King, who is also the one responsible for creating this 'disease', and he gets all his power from scaring kids?"
"If what Dimentia says is true." Nigel replied.
Dib was silent for a moment. "Well, it makes as much sense as all of this other stuff. But there's one thing I don't get: how did Dimentia know about the disease in the first place?"
There was silence. "I've been thinking the same thing." Nigel replied.
"Yea, I hath been thinking the same thing myself. And methinks our fair leader is not telling us all she knows." Luvbi replied.
"Maybe, but it's probably best not to question it too much." Ava replied.
This earned her suspicious glares from her teammates. "Why is that, Ava?" Nigel replied.
Ava was silent. "I don't know. I just... I have this feeling. That's all." She said in a worried tone.
"Okay..." Nigel replied, slightly suspicious. "Well, let's just focus on what we're doing now, then."
"The planet's dead ahead!" Dib exclaimed! "I can't wait to see what this one has!"
Fort Francis
Inside a room in the base on Planet Kateenia, the nerdy chameleon, known as Francis, was speaking to the Almighty Tallest on his screen. "Neeerrr. Is that strange fellow gone?"
"As far as we can tell, his new web cam is off." Replied Red. "Anyhoo, back to the main subject: our spy just reported and they are definitely headed your way. They're coming to find an operative known as 'Number 1-Inch'. Know anyone by that name?"
"No. Not really. Though he might be one of the Kateenians my Meowmaids have been capturing. They may be small, but they're such fassscinating creatures! I just have to catch some while looking for Shrink Wisps!"
"Yes, well anyway, if they come to your base, they'll no doubt find your Star Piece."
"You do have a plan for getting rid of them, don't you?" Purple asked.
"Nerrr her her her. Super geniuses like me always have a plan! And it's hi-technicaaaal!"
"Well, on another note, what are you doing with the Shrink Wisps in the meantime?" Red asked.
"I'm using them to power my Meowbots. Seemed more convenient than locking them in jars."
"Well, as long as they don't get away, then it's fine. Right now, just focus on destroying those GKND."
"A juicy reward awaits if you do!" Purple exclaimed.
"Almighty Tallest OUT." With that, the screen shut off.
Francis then looked at his watch and said, "Neerrrr. I still have plenty of time before Power Rangers comes on. I think I'll go catch some more Kateenians." With that, he exited his room.
Planet Kateenia
The team of four soon landed on Kateenia's surface. The mariachi band was sitting on another rock, playing their music. "Ah, Planet Kateenia. Home to the Kateenians, the smallest intelligent life forms in the universe. It is on this strange little planet that our bald hero will encounter a little problem that will most certainly lead to his unfortunate end."
As the team stepped out of their ships, Dib couldn't help but wonder, "How do those guys get around, anyway?"
The rest shrugged and looked around the surrounding area. They landed close to what appeared to be a vast mountainous region. The landscape was colored a tannish-yellow, and the sky was yellow with white clouds. It certainly was an odd color to the eyes. "So, what are the people of this planet like?" Nigel wondered.
"I've never quite been here before," Ava replied, "but the people here are supposed to be little. I mean REALLY little."
"In that case, better watcheth where thy feet moves. Thankfully, I hath none." Luvbi said.
"Okay, first things first:" began Nigel, "we need to find this base and see what's up. Let's move." With that, they proceeded forward. (Play the "Sweet Mountain" theme from Sonic Colors.)
Stage 8: Kateenia Canyon
Mission: Cross the vast mountains.
The GKND ops began their trek down a hillside, which led to a long, snaky path over a chasm. Across the chasm was what appeared to be an Irken fort, with a towering metal wall, and two giant turrets on the sides of it. In the distance, they could see a squad of SIR Units fly out toward them. The agile robots flew around in midair as they launched quick missiles. The kids were able to dodge, but it was a little tricky due to the small foothold. When Dib dodged, he was nearly blown over the edge, but Luvbi was able to fly behind and blow him back on.
Ava and Nigel tossed their swords and N.I.N.S.T.A.R. to knock the robots out of the air, but that's when some Irken ships sped out of the base and launched missiles at the path, making the road ahead collapse. Luvbi flew over the chasm and spun a whirlwind so that the three could jump across, the wind blowing them onto the next part of the path. In the distance, they could see the base's turrets activating. Beneath their feet were blinking target markers, indicating where their missiles would land, so they had to jump off of the markers beforehand.
As they ran ahead, the missiles were coming faster and getting harder to dodge. Luvbi was using her wind gusts to blow the projectiles to the side, but she was losing her steam. Nigel stayed behind Luvbi as he extracted his V.I.S.S.I.L.E., launching the missile and driving it toward the fortress. He rammed it into the right turret and was able to blow it up. He had Luvbi keep defending them so he could launch a missile into the left turret, destroying it as well. The rest of the way across the road was easygoing, but when they neared the base, a Hunter Destroyer mech charged toward them. There was no room to go around it, so Nigel quickly launched a V.I.S.S.I.L.E. to get the first strike, but it continued toward them. The robot began to launch quick missiles, so they all had to dodge as Dib ran forward and tried to beat the mech with his mech-arms. As he damaged the robot's right leg, Ava swung her swords into its left, eventually doing enough damage to make it tumble.
They reached the massive fort, but there was no way past the great metal wall just yet. On the left side of the fortress appeared to be a metal walkway, fit for Nigel's M.A.G.N.E.B.O.O.T.S., so the bald Brit walked up the side of the fortress, joined by Luvbi who floated up there, leaving Dib and Ava to themselves. When Nigel and Luvbi reached the top of the wall, they looked in the fort's yard and saw Irken trucks entering garages, holding big, glass containers that contained very tiny, yellow alien kids with pointy heads, which Nigel believed were the Kateenians.
"Can you believe these Kateenians have their own Kids Next Door?" an Irken guard, standing below where Nigel and Luvbi were, asked a second guard. "We can kill 'em with bug spray."
"I dunno. I heard this race was one of the strongest in the universe. I can see why."
"Why? They start a great war or somethin'?"
"I dunno. But they do make good eatin'."
"What? You eat them?"
"Why do you think we're catching them?"
"I dunno. Same reason we catch any kid?"
"We catch kids to serve adults, right? Well, they'll be serving us by filling our bellies."
"...Wait, wouldn't the pun be that we are serving them?"
"Er; no! No! It's not that, it's-" Nigel jumped down from his place and smashed the Irken's head. Before the other could react, Luvbi shot down and air-blasted him right over the wall, where he fell beside Ava and Dib. The alarms sounded as all soldiers turned their sights on the duo. Nigel avoided them at the moment and charged after the row of trucks holding the Kateenian kids. He launched bombs from his B.O.O.M.E.R. at the glass containers and shattered them, the hundreds of Kateenian children falling to the ground.
"Woohoo! The giant saved us!" a Kateenian boy exclaimed as the many kids gave tiny, squeaky cheers.
"Hey, Mister! Can we play Frisbee on your giant bald head?" a little girl asked.
"Just get out of here, kids; we'll handle things here." Nigel ordered. The swarms of Kateenian hurried in the opposite direction of the wall, but screamed in fright when a few Megadoomer mechs stomped in their way, the robots looking hundreds of feet tall to the tiny aliens. The first Megadoomer was about to squish a bunch, but Nigel quickly threw a grenade at its foot and knocked it down. "Luvbi, hurry up and find a switch to open that wall so Ava and Dib can get in!" Nigel yelled.
"Careful, or thine barking orders may harm the teeny aliens' ears." Luvbi remarked before flying into a small building that was connected with the huge wall. There were several Irken guards with shock rods standing guard around a large wheel on the floor. The Irkens leapt at her, but Luvbi blew them in between the handles of the huge wheel before sucking in some air, and blowing a powerful blast at the wheel, making it spin at a high speed.
Outside, the massive metal wall opened downward like a door, and Ava and Dib charged in to start attacking the Irkens. They saw Nigel in a battle with some Megadoomers and hurried over to join him. "Watch where you step, guys; these are the Kateenians." He cautioned.
"Aww, look how cute they are! I wanna take one home!" Ava smiled.
"Me too! These're the kind I'd like to study!" Dib said.
"We're supposed to be SAVING them! From being dinner, most likely!" Nigel yelled.
"They're edible?" Ava asked. "I'm hungry."
"Ava!"
"I'm kidding!" With that, Ava jumped onto one of the Megadoomers and slipped into the cockpit, knocking out the Irken inside. She took control and blasted the other Megadoomer, then faced what looked to be the other entrance to this place. She smirked and launched a missile to blow a hole in the entrance, and the Kateenians immediately scampered in that direction. "Can I at least TASTE one of you guys?" Ava called.
"Just find a Kateenian bug or something and eat that." Nigel remarked.
"A Kateenian bug? Wouldn't those be, like, near amoeba size?"
The four kids escorted the Kateenians to the exit, where they then followed a tiny opening in the cliffside wall, safely getting away. Afterwards, the operatives followed a new path, a cliffside path that led downward along a mountain slope. At the end of the path was another GKND weapons stand, in which Numbuh 20x40's hologram made itself known. "Taday's special weapon, an all new C.A.T.I.F.I.E.R.! Why waste ammo on the small fry when ya can make cute li'l Eartican kittens outta them and have some fun! 'Course, in this particular environment, ya might want ta keep them away from the locals, otherwise these baddies will become a whole new type of deadly! That's 4,500 Bolts for a new C.A.T.I.F.I.E.R.."
Nigel held his Infi-Cube under the scanner and allowed him to take the Bolts. He was given a strange-looking ray gun that was designed like a cat's head on the tip.
Galactic Kids Next Door: C.A.T.I.F.I.E.R.
Causes All Targets Immediate Felinization Imminently Ensuring Recognition
They arrived at an open area on the base of the mountain, where an Irken drill was trying to dig a tunnel into the side of the mountain. Nigel tossed his B.O.O.M.E.R.s to blow up the drill, and when the Irken fell out, he used the C.A.T.F.I.E.R. to turn him into a harmless kitten. A Yellow Drill Wisp also came out of the drill, and Nigel absorbed to spin into his drill form. "DRILL!" With this, he easily burrowed his way through the rest of the would-be tunnel, creating a path for his friends to pass through the mountain. They came to another open area, where, oddly enough, strange, small clockwork cat robots were roaming about, scanning the area.
"Master Francis requests 20 more Shrink Wisps before Power Rangers, meow!" one of them said in a cat voice.
"Intruders have appeared. Subjects marked as GKND operatives. Master Francis orders them to be terminated. He also would like us to remember how schweeeeet Terminator was. Meow!"
With that, the mini cat bots made little alarms as they charged at the operatives. Nigel blasted them with C.A.T.I.F.I.E.R.'s ray and, ironically enough, turned them into cats. A larger Meowbot then dropped into the area, twice their height, and started launching mini Meowbombs at them from a cannon in its mouth. The robot was too big for the C.A.T.I.F.I.E.R. to affect, and its armor seemed to be impervious to their other weapons, too. However, Luvbi noticed how it had to open its mouth to shoot the Meowbombs out, and when it fired the next one, the Nimbi child blew the Meowbomb back in and blew the larger robot up.
A Rocket Wisp was released and flew into Nigel's body. They saw there wasn't any way out of that enclosed area except upwards, and when they looked up, they saw several more Meowbots floating around with rockets on the bottom. "I don't suppose I'm invincible in my rocket form?" Nigel asked.
"I think you're just as vulnerable in your Color Forms," Ava answered, "except for the parts that're meant to be deadly, like Drill Wisp. So stuff like flames could hurt you in rocket."
"Sigh. Alright, better hang on. ROCKET!" The three of them held onto Nigel as he morphed into an orange rocket and shot straight up the mountain, narrowly avoiding the rocket Meowbots. He reverted to normal as they all landed at the top, then began to take the rocky pathway downward.
Flying Meowbots came up at them and blasted small missiles, but Luvbi took care of them easily by blasting them away with a gust. Down below, they could see the path was leading them down into a trench, and on the sides of the trench, Irken tanks launched missiles straight at the team of four. The kids hurried down the mountain slope as Nigel threw N.I.N.S.T.A.R.s to blow the missiles up. A swarm of missiles was locked dead on them, too many for Nigel to slice, and when Luvbi saw them coming, the angel child blasted a gust of wind and sent the three rolling down the mountain, the angel dodging the missiles and flying after them as they entered the trench.
There was barely anywhere to walk within the trench except for a few narrow, crumbly pathways, the rest of the trench was a deep chasm of sharp stalagmites. SIRbots were sent down there and they began using missiles to blow up parts of the walkways, so Ava threw her swords at them to slice their heads off, the operatives having to quickly hurry across. They reached a safe foothold along the left wall and saw a foothold along the right wall, but a gap divided the two footholds. Nigel held onto Ava and latched the above wall with the G.R.A.P.P.L.U.H. to pull them across, while Luvbi got behind Dib and blasted him across with an air blast, smashing the bigheaded boy against the wall.
Luvbi simply flew over on her own as the other three now had to make tricky jumps over unstable platforms, which rested on tall, skinny stalagmites and fell down whenever they set foot. One of the platforms was already gone, leaving the pointy stalagmite, so Luvbi blew a whirlwind around it for them to jump into and get an extra boost.
Along the right side of the trench, the mariachi band was mindlessly playing their music, standing on a small ledge. "Have you ever noticed, compadres, one would believe the inside of the trench to be dangerous. But it is actually the top of the trench that is dangerous, and the inside is perfectly-" a SIRbot shot a missile below their stand and caused them to fall to the stalagmites, where the tips of the pointy rocks pierced their bottoms and sent them flying. "Yooooooowww!"
The kids were able to reach the safe foothold as Nigel tossed N.I.N.S.T.A.R.s at the attacking SIRbots. One of the SIRbots had cyan eyes, and as expected, it released a Cyan Wisp when Nigel destroyed it. He wanted to launch off, but he didn't really see anyway to go from that ledge. The only thing ahead of them were parts of both canyon walls that stuck out and connected, blocking the way.
Dib was currently scanning these walls, and he reported, "These walls are crumbled. I bet a Golf Bomb would do the trick!" With that, the bigheaded human took aim with the Golf Bomb and whacked it over, totally destroying the walls blocking their path. They had a clear view of a series of cyan diamonds, the three grabbed onto Nigel as he became a-
"LASER!", and bounced around the series of diamonds. They took a speedy land at the end of the trench, the other three having become dizzy as a result.
"Prithee, I will never be used to that." Luvbi moaned. The rest of their way ahead appeared to be a clear, rocky field, free of any hazards it seemed. They pressed on as their search for the Star continued. (End song.)
"Seriously, why don't we ever park close to where we need to be?" Dib asked after walking for what felt like hours.
"Mayhap so we alarm not the residents." Replied Luvbi.
"Plus there's not much sense of adventure doing it the easy way." Said Ava.
"Yeah. I guess."
After a few minutes of more walking, Nigel noticed something ahead. "Hey, what's that?" They looked ahead to see a group of Meowbots carrying jars of Kateenian children.
"There're more Kateenians." Dib pointed out.
"Who do those cats work for anyway?" Ava asked.
"We'll ask after we help those kids. Galactic Kids Next Door: Battle stations!" With that, the team of four charged to the Meowbots.
"Good day, kitten freaks." Luvbi said, getting their attention. "How wouldst thou like to see a gesture that will bloweth thee away?" With that, Luvbi shot a blast of wind at the robots and blew away the jars of Kateenians. The jars hit the ground, causing them to shatter. The tiny aliens ran away shortly after.
"Quick. Get those aliens, meow." Said one of the robots.
"I don't think so!" Dib shouted as he ran to the Meowbots going after the aliens and destroyed them with his mech arms. Some of the larger robots opened their mouths to reveal cannons, which began shooting at the heroes.
Luvbi dodged a few cannonballs swiftly before blowing one of the balls back in the direction of the robot. The robot's cannon was clogged, causing it to explode. "Quick. Back to the fortress. Meow." One of the robots said before they all took off.
"Well, that was easy." Ava said, sheathing her swords.
Nigel looked over to where the robot exploded and noticed something pink coming out from the smoke. It was a pink Wisp, but a brighter pink than the spike ones. It had one eye, a round head, and it looked smaller than an inch. "Look! It's a Wisp!" Nigel pointed.
"That's strange. I've never seen a Wisp like that one before." Said Ava.
"Me wonders what it dost?" said Luvbi.
The Wisp then flew over to Nigel and shot up his nose. "Whoa! Here we go!" he exclaimed as his body glowed bright pink and he felt the Color Power acting on him. After the light faded, he opened his eyes and examined his body to see what happened. So far, nothing. "Hmm. That was strange. I wonder what-" he said as he took a few steps back, but walked into a strange, black wall.
He looked up to see a giant, white foot above the wall, and realized that the wall was actually Ava's sandal. He was totally shocked when he saw Ava, Luvbi, and Dib towering over and looking down at him with confused expressions. "WHOA! How did you three get so big all of a sudden?!"
"Uhhh, hate to break this to you, but we've been our normal sizes as long as we can remember." Dib said, his voice echoing.
"It would seem that yonder Wisp thou absorbed shrinketh thee down to bug size." Luvbi guessed.
Nigel looked around to see the area they were in was A LOT bigger. "Wait. I'm small?"
"Awe, look how CUTE you are! You're so tiny!" Ava squealed, getting a look of annoyance from Nigel.
At his size, his friends' voices seemed to echo for miles when it was probably just a few feet. "Well, this is officially the most useless Wisp ever. How am I supposed to do anything at this size?"
"Methinks thou wouldst make a good house pet. Ha HA!" Luvbi joked.
"I'm on board with that! Can I put you in a jar and make you my pet human?" Ava giggled.
"Stop it, guys! I already feel powerless at this size!" the small Brit replied. He was actually a little afraid at seeing his friends so big. Not that he thought they'd do anything to hurt him, it was the idea of being that small. He looked about as big as Ava's toes.
"Well, the Wisp should wear off pretty soon." Dib said. "I mean, they all do eventually, right?"
"Yeah, you're right. But in the meantime, I better stay out of action. Ava, you think you can-" but before he could finish, he was snatched away by a long, sticky tongue from an unknown origin.
"Hey, where'd he go?" Ava asked, looking around.
"Neeerrrr. I caught a grey-skinned, football-headed Kateenian." Said an unknown nasally voice. Before the team's eyes, the nerdy chameleon, Francis, appeared out of nowhere. "My two friends, Nick and Zach, are gonna freak when they get word of this find!"
"Hey! That was our friend you captured!" exclaimed Dib as they readied for battle.
"Neeerrrr! You're the ones the Almighty Tallest warned me about!"
"Thou hearest that? A companion of the Tallest be a foe of us. Now, cougheth up our friend!" Luvbi demanded.
"Neerrrr. I'd love to stay and fight, but I must return to base. I can't miss this week's episode of Power Rangers Samurai. No way am I going to trust my Recordomeow to tape an episode so epic!" With that, he disappeared.
Ava tried striking the spot where he stood, but she hit nothing but ground. "Crud! We have to go after them!"
"Sorry. Your friend's long gone now. Now that that freak, Francis, got him." The team looked around to see where the squeaky voice came from.
"Who speaks?" Luvbi asked.
"Down here." The team looked to see a little tiny Kateenian girl standing behind a pebble.
"Awe, hello there, little girl!" Ava greeted with a look of glee, getting on her knees to have a better look.
"Do you know something about that guy?" Dib asked.
The girl nodded. "That was Francis. He's the geek to end all geeks. The Irkens built a base here recently and he moved in. Ever since, he's been catching Shrink Wisps and us Kateenians and doing who-knows-what with them. He's a major fanboy. Whatever he takes, there's no getting it back. So, you giants can kiss your little friend good-bye."
"That's not good enough to scare us off." Ava replied. "Anyone who takes our friend like some collectible is just begging for a bruising! Where does this geek live?"
"He lives in the castle just up ahead." The girl answered, pointing to a castle in the distance.
"Come on! Let's go knock his braces off!" Dib exclaimed.
"And let us hurry, for at his height, he is another bug waiting to be squished." Luvbi replied. With that, the team trekked forward to Francis' castle, with the mariachi band playing their music on a rock.
"And so, the brave heroes moved forward to Fort Francis in a desperate attempt to rescue their friend. Little did they know that all their efforts would be in vain. But at any rate... we need medicine for our bottoms." The owls moaned as they all rubbed their sore behinds.
Fort Francis
Francis had made it back to his castle, where he entered a room with a small cage inside it. He stuck his tongue, holding the shrunken Numbuh 1, inside the cage and released him, closing the cage up afterward. "Neeerrrr! I have to get a picture of this, now!" he said as he drew out a rather large camera.
Numbuh 1, angered and covered in saliva, stood up, turned to him and said, "Alright, listen you! Just who do you think you-" he tried to finish, but- "YOW!" screamed in pain when the enormous camera flashed, making his tiny and sensitive eyes dizzy.
Francis then lowered his camera and got a better look at the human. "W-Wait a minute. You're not a Kateenian. You're..." Francis gasped, "You're Numbuh 1! Former leader of Sector V and Earth representative of the GKND!"
At this point, Numbuh 1's dizziness had worn off. He looked to Francis and said, "Wait, how do know about-" but before he could finish, he was blinded by another camera flash.
"This is so hi-technicaaaal! I never in all my life thought I'd actually meet someone from Sector V! Although, I expected you to be a bit... taller."
"How do you know about Sector V, anyway?"
"Neeerrrr. Are you kidding? Codename: Kids Next Door is probably, like, the schweeeetest show ever! I watch it whenever it's on! For a cartoon, it has the most incredible graphics! Not like other shows, like Spongebob or Billy and Mandy, where the background clearly looks like it was hand drawn. Not to mention, the characters of your show have 10 fingers, while in most cartoons, the characters have 8 fingers. My friend, Nick, watches it, too, but he doesn't appreciate it like me, yet for some reason-"
Nigel was getting annoyed. "Are you going anywhere with this?"
"Oh, oh, right, right. Anyway, since you're here, I need to ask you a few things. First of all, who do you think looks hotter in a vacation outfit: Numbuh 10 or Numbuh 362? I have pictures of them just in case." He pulled out two posters of Numbuhs 10 and 362, wearing their vacation outfits. "I would've had pictures of them wearing bathing suits, but they never really wore any throughout the series, so this was the best I could get."
"What kind of question is that?!"
"Oh, come on! You can't look at them like this and not think they're hot!"
"Ugh, fine! Numbuh 362."
"Neeerrrr! I know, isn't she? I guess all the girls have that quality! By the way, in Numbuh 362's full name, Rachel T. McKenzie, I've always wondered, what does the T stand for?"
"I don't know, now let me out of this cage!"
"I can't let you out, yet! I have so many more questions!"
"If I answer your questions, then will you let me out?"
"Uhhh, no. As it turns out, you're on the Tallests' most wanted list. I'll ask you the questions, then I'll turn you over to them."
"Why are you working for the Tallest, anyway?"
"Well, they gave me this base for catching some Shrink Wisps for them. And they said that if I catch you and turn you over, they'll give me the latest Pokémon cards! Plus new ones that haven't even been released yet!"
"You're going to hand me over for some nerdy trading cards?"
"It's NOT nerdy! It's a strategy based game, thank you very much. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go watch Power Rangers Samurai. This episode's going so schweeeet!" With that, he left the room, leaving Numbuh 1 in his tiny cage.
"Well, hasn't this day been perfect?" he said to himself sarcastically. "We come down to a simple planet to rescue some operative, and I get shrunk down to bug size and get captured by the king of nerds! Well, better him than Harvey." He shivered from the thought.
"Well, someone's in a bad mood!"
Nigel looked around to see where the voice came from. "Who's there?"
"Up here!" he looked up on a high shelf to see a Kateenian boy, who hopped down some pictures stuck to the wall until he was down to where Nigel was. He wore a red jumpsuit with a black belt, black rubber gloves and black boots.
"So, Francis's latest catch, huh?"
"Who are you?"
"I'm Kweeb, Kateenia representative of the GKND. Don'tchu read the infoboxes? I'm Numbuh 1-Inch. And apparently, so are you!"
"So, you're the one that was sent down here to check out the castle. I'm Numbuh 1, GKND Earth representative. My name is Nigel Uno."
"Oh yeah! You're the new operative from Planet Earth! But I could've sworn you were... taller."
Numbuh 1 sighed. "I WAS taller, but I absorbed a stupid Shrink Wisp and it shrunk me down to this size! But it should wear off pretty soon."
"Oh, bad news there."
Nigel looked worried. "What do you mean?"
"You see, there's a reason why Color Powers are so limited. Peoples' bodies are so cramped for those Wisps, they can hardly stay in them for long. The Shrink Wisps are another story. They're already so tiny, when they enter your large bodies, they get so comfortable so quick, they almost never wanna leave!"
"You mean I'm stuck like this?!"
"Unless that Shrink Wisp gets bored of it in there, yeah."
"But if I'm small, shouldn't my body be too cramped for him now?"
"My guess would be that the Shrink Wisp shrinks WITH the body."
"I can't be stuck like this forever!"
"And what's so bad about being 1 inch tall? We Kateenians have been like this our whole lives, and we aren't complaining."
"Well, maybe because everything here is fit enough for their small sizes. I bet most Kateenians don't even know they're really tiny."
"Probably, but I've been serving in GKND for nearly 50 years, and I'm pretty used to it, despite being this small. True, I probably could've wish for Jirachi to make me bigger, but on my planet, we believe that strength isn't determined by size!"
"Well even if that's true, I much prefer my normal size over this. Isn't there any way to get this Shrink Wisp to leave?"
"Well, the only other way for a Wisp to leave your body would be for you to absorb another Wisp."
"Is it even possible for me to absorb another Wisp at this height?"
"Anything's possible. I mean, I served in GKND 50 years without being crushed!"
"Well, where can I find a different Wisp here?"
"I'll tell you a little secret. Something even Francis doesn't know: there's another type of rare Wisp here besides the shrink ones. There are actually Clear Wisps here, too; Wisps that turn you invisible. Since they're clear, they're harder to see than shrink Wisps. But they're both good for being sneaky."
"So, we find one of those Clear Wisps, and I absorb it and return to normal size?"
"Yep."
"But how do we get out of here?"
"Leave that to me!" With that, he went around to the front of the cage, pulled out a ray gun and fired it at the lock destroying it. "There! Free as a bird!"
"Where to now?"
"I think I saw a few Clear Wisps in one of the upper rooms. But first, we have to find my ship. It was taken from me when I was captured. (But I did escape, of course.) Let's go up here." With that, the tiny two hopped their way up the hanging pictures of Kateenians. They got to the shelf Kweeb was on earlier and saw a hole in the wall their size. "We'll use this hole to get out of this room. Let's go."
Before they could enter, they gasped when they heard the doors to the room begin to open. "Neeerrrr. I forgot my notepad."
"Hurry!" Kweeb exclaimed as they ran in the hole.
Francis came shortly after. "Ah, here it is!" he said as he walked over and picked up his notepad. He then turned to look at the cage where Nigel was locked and gasped. "Oh no! H-How did he escape? Oh, the Tallest are going to kill me when they find out I let him escape!... Huh?" He looked up to the shelf and noticed the whole in the wall. He opened a nearby drawer and pulled out a stethoscope.
He pressed the stethoscope to the wall to listen for where they are. "Wow, this place is pretty narrow, huh?" He heard a voice say that sounded like Nigel's.
Francis then whistled, and a Meowbot with hammer hands came into the room. "What is it, Master Francis? Meow."
"We have a couple of pests in the walls. Right there!" he pointed to a spot in the wall. The robot then readied its hammer and destroyed that part of the wall.
The tiny operatives screamed at the impact. It nearly missed them by an inch (to them). "Keep going! But stay quiet." Kweeb whispered as they moved slightly faster.
Francis listened for them again. "There." He pointed as the robot smashed the wall, missing them slightly. "There." He repeated as the robot sent another strike. "There." The robot struck again.
The two operatives moved a little more, but stopped when Kweeb whispered, "If we're still, he may leave." The two stood their spots, trying to be as quiet as a mouse.
Francis listened hard for them and smiled when he heard a slight breath. "There." He whispered to his robot. The robot then struck the spot where he pointed and successfully hit the operatives. Kweeb fell down a hole that was left in the foothold by the impact and was holding on to Nigel's hand.
"Neeerrrr! There you are!" Francis was about to grab them when Kweeb used his free hand to pull out his ray gun and shot the Meowbot, burning a hole through it. The robot then began to crackle and spark and eventually explode on Francis.
While Francis was recovering from the blast, Nigel helped Kweeb up and the two continued down the small secret passage.
Francis removed his soot covered glasses and coughed out soot. "Medics!" he said before fainting.
Nigel started to catch his breath when they got far enough away. "Impressive weapon."
"Hehe. Like it? It's my Tri-gun. Well, I want it to be... so far, I've designed it to shoot and stun, but I wanna install a shrinking function."
"Do I need to shrink any more?" Nigel retorted.
"Hehe. I don't actually need to shrink enemies, but sometimes, it's handy. For gettin' back at those bullies who like to step all over you."
"Ironically, I had to defend a friend of mine back in kindergarten because he was too short. Seeing me like this will make his day."
"Don't worry, I'll help you get used to it. Now, come on. We'll take the underground sewer area." With that, Kweeb climbed first down a ladder of nails into a dungeon of darkness, and Nigel worriedly followed after him. (Play the "Blarg Space Station" theme from Ratchet & Clank.)
Stage 9: Forbidden Sewers
Mission: Make your way through the sewers.
"Numbuh One of Planet Earth, as Kateenian representative of the Galactic Kids Next Door, it's my greatest pleasure to welcome you to the universe through a Kateenian's eyes." Kweeb announced as the two came out of a hole by the ceiling in an underground room with sewer pipes. The room would feel cramped to a regular-sized person, but it was huge and vast to their size.
The two climbed down a rocky wall as Nigel spoke, "It really is expansive. When I turned small outside, my friends were ginormous. How does one live like this?"
"Years of practice and adjusting to everyone making fun of you and kicking you around. Let me show you the basics."
When they reached the ground below, they approached a small, shallow river that looked only 6 inches deep. "I wouldn't try to swim it." Kweeb cautioned. "Six inches to a regular-sized person is deep enough to crush our skulls. The water's too thick for our tiny arms to help us swim."
"And now I feel more like a little Wally." Nigel replied, rolling his eyes.
"Hehe! Let's look around for stuff that might help." The two walked toward the other side of the cavern and saw an alien-like beetle crawl out of a tiny hole. The beetle was as big as they were as it came to snack on them, but Kweeb simply shot it a few times with his Tri-gun to knock it out.
The two found a hole in the wall up ahead of them and entered, carefully sneaking through the small cave. The cave path split into two routes, but on the road to their right, there was a giant earthworm that had a mouth with hundreds of teeth, keeping an eye out for some prey. When Kweeb tried to shoot it, it was quick it avoid, and they couldn't get close without it trying to snack on them. "Guess we're not going that way." Kweeb figured as they followed the left route. The duo found a room where four robots, that looked like high-tech W.A.T.C..H.B.O.T.s, were unconscious. "Hey, I know these guys!" Kweeb said as he pulled out a remote. He pushed a button on the remote, and the robots sparked to life. "Check it out, Nigel. These are-"
Galactic Kids Next Door: M.I.C.R.O.B.E.S.
Microscopic Intelligent Comrades Really Offer Best Efficient Services
"They're robots I build for the GKND for spying missions. Their micro size makes them unspottable. Just like me!"
"Well, can they help?"
"Heck yeah! Watch this!" Kweeb pressed a button that caused the M.I.C.R.O.B.E.S. to follow him. They went back into the room with the giant earthworm, and Kweeb commanded the robots to attack. The robots ran around the earthworm to draw its attention away as it tried to eat them, but this allowed Kweeb to shoot the worm with his Tri-gun and wipe it out. They were able to proceed and find another robot, similar to a M.I.C.R.O.B.E., but it was slightly taller and had an axe on one arm.
Kweeb sparked the robot to life and it stood up. "Some of these M.I.C.R.O.B.E.S. are designed for other purposes than fighting." Kweeb explained. "This one is able to extend to great heights and chop weaker materials down. Could come in handy." They led the robots out of the small cave and were headed back into the open sewer area, towards the shallow-but-still-deep river. They noticed a single leaf growing from the cracked wall up above, and Kweeb had the Extendo M.I.C.R.O.B.E. stretch up and chop the leaf from its stem. The leaf drifted down on the edge of the river, and was as big as a boat to the little operatives.
"How can a simple leaf grow in this damp dungeon to begin with?" Nigel asked.
"Maybe the Florans used to live here?" Kweeb said.
The operatives and robots boarded the leaf boat and safely floated across the river. The tiny team hurried around a corner in the massive cave and soon came to a small trench. Of course, a normal-sized person could easily step over it, but, as always...
"I bet one of my Bridger M.I.C.R.O.B.E.S. is on the other side somewhere." Kweeb said. "You have M.A.G.N.E.B.O.O.T.S., don't you? You 'em to get over that metal pipe. Take my remote."
Nigel looked and noticed the metal pipe that led up the wall and eventually came down on the other side of the trench. The mini Brit started his trek up the pipe, walking along the side as he passed over the trench. A couple of Cave Critters crawled out of the wall on the side and onto the pipe as they attempted to eat Nigel, but he pulled out his S.H.O.O.T.E.R. and kept the bugs away. He eventually reached the other side, where he found a fallen Bridger M.I.C.R.O.B.E. behind a tiny stalagmite. He pushed the remote and turned the robot on. Afterwards, he had the W.A.T.C.H.B.O.T.-like creation extend a bridge to connect both sides of the trench, allowing Kweeb and the others to get across.
"But couldn't we have just used the Extendo one to do that?" Nigel asked.
"Sheesh, Nigel, just because they're robots, you can't expect them to do so many things at once. Cut 'em some slack."
"Ugh."
The duo arrived at a small cliff that was too high for their robots to climb. Nigel saw plenty of tiny stalactites cover the ceiling up above, so he decided to fire a V.I.S.S.I.L.E. and bomb the ceiling, causing a stalactite to come down, stick in the ground, and topple over, touching the edge of the cliff. This enabled the operatives and the robots to walk up. But once they did, Kweeb immediately saw what was ahead of them. "Wuh-oh, Nigel. There's a Tetramite hive up ahead."
"Relax. I've dealt with Tetramites before."
"At this size?"
Nigel gulped. "Not so much..."
"Yeah. They have people like us eaten in a wink. Just stay behind these rocks and try and make our way to that cavern over there."
In one of the holes on the hive, an eyeball was looking around, searching for prey. They kept watch on the eyeball and quietly crept their way from behind the tiny rocks. At one point, however, the eye spotted them, and a couple of Tetramites charged out to feast. Thankfully, the M.I.C.R.O.B.E.S. ran out and drew the Tetramites attention, causing the giant bugs to attack them instead. When they finished chewing away the robots, breaking them into pieces, the Tetramites crawled back into the hive.
"Wow... those robots are noble."
"Yeah, but they're quick healers." Kweeb said as the parts of the robots immediately put themselves back together. "Kateenian technology at its finest!"
The operatives and the robots successfully made it into the small cavern. A few Cave Critters got in their path, but Kweeb sent the M.I.C.R.O.B.E.S. to take them out. Above them was a cracked metal pipe where they heard an echo. The source of the echo seemed to come from Francis's room.
"Go-go, Power Rangers!" the guitars sounded from the TV. "Go-go, Power Rangers!"
"Neeerrrr! This show is the greatest in the latest installments of Power Rangers! But I certainly hope crazy fangirls don't get obsessed over the cheesy pairings again. I mean, what crazy fan would only like a show only for its pairings? Shhooooo not schweeeeeet."
The duo reached the end of the passageway and got to an outside area. They appeared to be along one of the outer walls of the castle, and there was a path that led up between the cracked bricks. They followed the way upwards, bringing the robots with them, until they reached a tunnel that led to the pathway above the wall. The two operatives looked up as an Irken child stood in place, his back to them as he held a blaster, his eyes weary.
"And now your next lesson, taking on foes that are much bigger than you." Kweeb said.
"And I assume you'll teach me that in a way that doesn't involve getting squished like a bug."
"Heheh. We'll let the M.I.C.R.O.B.E.S. demonstrate. Follow me, boys." Kweeb commanded as he and the robots approached the giant Irken. Nigel watched as they climbed the Irken's legs, up his skirt, and much to Nigel's disgust, under his clothing. The Irken dropped his weapon and began dancing around frantically, his body itching from the tiny creatures under his suit. When he bounced around, facing Nigel's direction, the bald Brit aimed his V.I.S.S.I.L.E. and fired away, blowing up in the Irken's eye and making him topple over. Afterwards, Nigel watched as Kweeb and the M.I.C.R.O.B.E.S. crawled out. "You learn fast, my little Padawan." Kweeb remarked with a bow.
"I'm still taller than you by a few inches."
"Centimeters."
"Whatever. Let's keep up that pace."
Other Irken soldiers were on patrol on that wall as the tiny duo pressed forward. Once again, Kweeb sent the M.I.C.R.O.B.E.S. up the skirts of the patrolling aliens while he and Nigel shot them while they were distracted from the itching. After taking out a couple soldiers, they found another M.I.C.R.O.B.E. unconscious on the ground, and was designed with some kind of megaphone on its head. Kweeb activated the new M.I.C.R.O.B.E. and said, "This one's the Soundwave Emitter M.I.C.R.O.B.E.. It sends out a soundwave that only targeted beings can hear. Watch." With that, he made the robot face upward and look at a winged Meowbot flying overhead. The robot sent out a soundwave signal that caught the Meowbot's attention, and it immediately flew down.
The operatives hid behind a pebble as the Meowbot landed, searching around for the source of the signal. The operatives and robots quickly hurried from behind and climbed up its back. They were safely on its head as the Meowbot took to the air again, flying toward an open window of the castle. The Meowbot got close enough as it turned and prepared to fly back, but the kids quickly jumped off onto the top of the windowsill. They walked to the side of the sill and carefully made their way down the cracked end of it. They reached the bottom of the open window and walked inside, dropping down onto the floor below. They heard the echoing creak of a door opening at one end of the hall and looked in worry as Francis appeared.
"Neeerrrr. Those Power Rangers sure can be crazy. But I had better begin looking for those kids again before the Tallest call back. Hound-Meow: begin searching." As he spoke, a Meowbot with a hound-nose, attached to a leash by Francis, began sniffing around the floor,
"Uh-oh. I don't think we're small enough to hide from that cat's senses." Nigel said worriedly.
Kweeb sighed, "Sorry, M.I.C.R.O.B.E.S.. It's time to part ways. Take care, guys." The robots saluted as they all charged toward Francis's direction.
The giant nerd took notice of the microscopic robots immediately, sporting a wide grin. "Neeerrrr! Microscopic nanodroids! I mean, 'nano' is the same thing as 'micro', but MY, what a fascinating f-i-i-ind! I must take these robots to study them!" With that, he caught each of the little robots in his tongue. "Come on, Roaster." The nerd tugged on the Hound-Meow's leash and made it come along, despite that the Meowbot was struggling and trying to point Francis in the direction of the shrunken operatives.
"Those are some robots." Nigel said as they watched the nerd leave.
"Sure are. Quick, let's hitch a ride on this Meowmaid." Kweeb instructed as he noticed the patrolling robot. He and Nigel hurried over as Nigel fired his G.R.A.P.P.L.U.H., grabbing Kweeb and pulling them up onto the robot's head, undetected."
Well, there you go. Our new partner, Kweeb. Kweeb does, in fact, belong to me. The scene where Nigel and Kweeb are making their way through the wall is similar to the scene from The Borrowers. Francis and his Meowbots are from Super Paper Mario, and will hopefully be the last Paper Mario characters. I came up with Planet Kateenia, but the aliens are the same ones from Krypto, the Superdog. I also own the Shrink Wisp. I couldn't think of a better fitting color, so I just made it a brighter pink. Until the morrow. Ciao.