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TheTinyInuMason — Secrets Among Friends: Chapter 5
Published: 2012-04-23 11:00:12 +0000 UTC; Views: 2212; Favourites: 15; Downloads: 4
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Description Chapter 5:
"Alright you little prick! This time I'm ending it," I shouted. Flint had riled me up for the last time. The usual snark he responded with only proved to make me angrier.
"Just try it you titanic twit," he shot back. I couldn't take it anymore, and lunged at his tiny form. He was quick though, every time I tried to make a move he would dodge it perfectly, making small cuts every time I missed. It was getting to be very painful and very annoying as I watched my damage increase slowly but surely. Finally though, he slipped up. He turned to run around me, but tripped from the weird angle he tried to move in. I saw the opportunity and brought my foot down to finish him. I have to say, there was a satisfying sound as I made contact and took his life.
"GAAAAAAH," he screamed. The announcer followed. "This game's winner is: Goku!" The screen changed from a battlefield to a blank white area with Goku closer to the camera and Kirby clapping in the background. Flint was visibly raging at his latest loss. "This is just because I have to dance on these damn buttons to play! If I had use of both my arms those last few matches would have gone COMPLETELY different!"
I couldn't help but laugh. No matter the person, Smash Bros. has a way of bringing even the best of friends to the verge of ending each other. "Ah ah ah, no excuses. Take your 15 losses like a man! Wanna keep going? You can try for an even 20!" He jumped off the keyboard and into my lap and promptly dug his heel into my leg with a backward kick. It hurt for a second, but honestly he was just too funny. So much anger in such a tiny form.
It had been a couple days since he told me about his parents, and we've gotten closer ever since. It took a bit, but I finally got him to talk to my mom. He told her why he hadn't come downstairs, her reminding him of his mom, and she responded like every mother would. She brought him close and gave him the closest thing to a hug she could considering the size difference. He's practically a part of the house now. We wake up, get dressed, brush our teeth (amazing what you can make out of floss and a pipe cleaner), totally normal things. It was almost like we were brothers in those few days.
"Come on, I'm not leaving until I take you down," said Flint. He jumped back onto his controls, ready to go another round. "Oh, and this time I want Naruto." I moved our tokens to the appropriate character, choosing Sora for myself, and picked the stage. A large, flat expanse with no obstacles to obscure our battle. The announcer shouted out, "3, 2, 1, GO!" And we were upon each other immediately. He really was good with dodging and blocking. I was able to get plenty of decent hits in, but pretty soon I realized he was practically juggling me! The match persisted with him having a lead over me by at least one life the whole time. Finally we were both down to our last lives, but my damage counter was huge. I decided the best course of action would be to just charge him and hope for the best. Just as I began to run at him, we both heard Mom call from downstairs, "Flint! Could you come downstairs? I'd like to ask you something!" I noticed Flint was distracted for a moment, so I took my opportunity and smashed him off the stage, ending the game.
"What the- Hey!"

                                                                   ===*~*===

"Ok, you know you cheated in that last match! I had you finished before Avalon called me down," he protested from my shoulder. We had decided it would be more convenient for me and less degrading for him to just ride my shoulder instead of being carried in my hand. As we made our way down the stairs I responded very simply.
"Yeah, I know. I saw an opportunity and took it. You should have been paying more attention." I didn't have to look over. I could feel him staring daggers at me. Once we were downstairs Mom called from the back room.
"Flint, Mason, come here," she called. We walked... er, I guess I walked, he rode, into the back room to see Mom, purse in hand, ready to head out somewhere. "Flint, I've been meaning to ask. Is that your only set of clothes?"
I wasn't sure why, but this had never occurred to me. I know he must have a sentimental feel for them, but you've got to get tired of wearing the same thing all the time right? "Yeah, they are. What would I need another set of clothes for?" She visibly gasped at his response.
"Well that just won't do. If you live under my house, you're going to look good doing it. It's hopeless for Mason and his love for hoodies, but there's still hope for you." She walked up to us and held her hand out in front of Flint. We both just looked in confusion. "Well, come on! I'm going to take you shopping for a new set of clothes!"
Flint and I both looked at each other. I wasn't sure what he was thinking, but I was kind of unsure. I loved my mom and of course trusted her around Flint. It was the idea of taking him out into public that worried me. I had a feeling that was his thought process too. "Um, Mom? Do you really think it's such a good idea to be taking Flint out into public? What if some creeper sees him!" Now I do have hope for the human race, but I've seen some things on the internet. I'm fully well aware what could happen if the wrong person got a hold of Flint.
"It's fine. I wouldn't let a thing happen to him." She curled and uncurled her fingers in a 'come here' sort of gesture. Flint jumped from my shoulder and into her hand, which she raised up to her own shoulder for him to climb onto. Because of my mom's long and full hair, he almost disappeared on her shoulder. "See, this way he can we can still talk, he can see where we're going, and it'll just look like I've got a Bluetooth!" I had to hand it too her, that was pretty clever. I was just putting my shoes on to go too when Mom stopped me. "Up up up, no. You're well enough to get back to school soon and I know you haven't finished your homework. We'll be fine. When we get back I want to see at least two subjects finished." Mom of course had the final word on the subject and left through the back door, waving. I saw her hair wave a bit too, which I assumed was Flint.
"Well, this is gonna be an entertaining afternoon." I know she just said she was going to pick out clothes for Flint, but if I know Mom she'll wind up on a small shopping spree. I made my way into the living room and glared at the backpack I had tossed into the corner when I came home early a week ago. "Ugh, let's get this over with." I crossed the room to my backpack and was just bending down to grab it when I froze. There was something watching me. I could feel it. I continued to go for my bag to get my work. I pulled out my Stats book, figuring I should at least take care of the most difficult subject first. I made my way to the couch, when that feeling came up again. I swiveled around as quickly as I could to try to catch a glimpse of whatever was there. I was greeted by the empty sight of the computer room. "You're just being paranoid. The cats are asleep, Flint's out with Mom, and there's no such thing as aliens."... I wasn't sure where that last part came from. For some reason whenever something scares me my first thought is aliens. I made my way back to the couch and started my work when it happened again. This was becoming ridiculous! I decided to calm my nerves by proving to myself there was nothing in the house watching me. I set my book down and began searching every nook and cranny of the house. The attic, living room, bathroom, mudroom, kitchen, walk in closet, everything. When I was sure everything had been checked my nerves calmed down and I headed back to my work spot on the couch. I sat back and relaxed as I continued my work. I wasn't really sure when I fell asleep.




I was tired. Running for so long was muddling my thoughts, preventing me from thinking clearly. I pushed my glasses back up, feeling them slip off from running so long. I was having trouble remembering why I was even running. Then I felt it. My whole being shook as I heard loud, heavy crashing sounds behind me. Boom, boom, boom. Getting closer and closer. Remembering why I was running helped me collect the rest of my thoughts. For some reason I wasn't scared. At least, not deathly scared. I could tell this wasn't life or death, but I still felt a sense of urgency. I couldn't get caught, not this time. My thoughts were interrupted by the solid wall I had rammed into, not paying attention. I sat back up and turned around to be greeted with a figure. I looked up at it, and up, and up, and up until I could see it's face. Two green lights shown down on me from it's face. All I could think was, "Wow." She was beautiful.

                                                                   ===*~*===

"So have you and Mason been getting along well," asked Avalon. She didn't look at me as she spoke, instead focusing on the quickly moving world outside the massive window. This massive and terrifying thing we sat inside was called a "car", and humans rode around in them all day apparently. It was unsettling to see the massive world around me moving so quickly, so I sat in the passenger seat focusing on the thread count to avoid the window.
"He's...  kind." That sort of thought hadn't occurred to me. After losing my parents, I would have never thought of being so close to a human. Yet, here I was openly yelling at one about a "video" game, and casually conversing with another! "I'll admit, it's nice to be with others." I was surprised when I felt a gentle stroking down my back. I looked to her and saw she was simply comforting me, like any mother would. Like my mother would.
"Well, I think you'll be hanging around for a while." That scared me for a second, making me tense up slightly. She must have caught this and corrected herself. "I'm not going to force you to stay or anything, but I just have this feeling." She stole a look at me and smiled before returning her gaze to the window. "Trust me."
Thing is, I did. Why did I trust them so willingly though? After all those years. Was I just that lonely? No, that didn't seem like it. For some reason, I just trusted them. I kept my guard up, just in case, but it was becoming increasingly obvious that I probably didn't need to. I decided to joke at her to ease the tension a bit. "Yeah, you're probably stuck with me for a while." I ended with a chuckle. She laughed too before speaking again.
"Alright, we're here." She lowered her hand to me for me to climb onto. I did so and was deposited on her shoulder, hidden by her hair. "Let's see if we can't find you an interesting new look!"

                                                                   ===*~*===

I woke up without really opening my eyes. I knew where I was and that Mom would probably be back soon with me not having a single subject finished in my homework. I persisted to lie there on the couch, hoping I could fool my brain into think the rest of me was asleep so it would too. I felt a light weight on my chest which I assumed to be Arya in my freshly wakened state. I went to pet her when a very different feeling greeted my palm. Instead of the long cat-like body of fur, I made contact with only air and one small portion of fur. It felt strange though. Not loose or smooth, but tight. I opened my eyes to see if there was something wrong with my cat, and had to double check my head to see if I was really awake.
Sitting on my chest was a girl, roughly my age.
She was on her knees, looking up at my hand in confusion. I noticed the tight patch of fur I had found was really a large pony tail. Her hair was jet black and was short and wavy around her head. She obviously had much more hair though, as her ponytail was massive. It was tied up rather high in the back of her head, yet still almost reached the middle of her back. She wore a sleeveless gray top with dark blue Barbie jeans and sandals. The top showed off much of her skin, though thankfully completely covering her chest. Her skin was just a few shades shy of completely white. Looking down from my hand and making eye contact, she actually smiled upon seeing I was awake. I couldn't help thinking that her smile looked cute. What caught me after really getting a look at her though, were her striking emerald green eyes. They were brilliant and seemed as though someone had actually replaced her irises with gemstones.
"Mornin' Giant!"
Her voice was sweet, yet had some sort of quite authority to it. I was baffled by this waking image so all I could do was respond simply. "Um... morning?" I was so confused. I mean, I was used to Flint. I just never expected to see another borrower. After his story, he made it sound like there weren't any others in my neighborhood. I tried to make intelligible conversation with her to see who she was. It didn't go well. "I- I um. You are, you're... Uh... Morning?" What was that? Now she'll just think I'm some blithering idiot.
She laughed at my attempt at the English language. "Um, morning. Didn't we go through this?" I felt my face redden. I tried again with more productive results
"Yeah, yeah we did. Um, who are you?"
"My name's Catherine. Everyone just calls me Cat though." she replied. "And you are?"
"Mason."
"Well Mason, nice to meet you. I have to say though, you gave up way too quickly before you nodded off there. You could have caught me if you kept at it!"
"Wait, that was you that I felt watching me?"
"Yup, I'm damn good at Hide-n-Seek, huh?" Who was this girl? After every movie I'd seen and every fan fic I'd read, and especially after my first meeting with Flint, I figured the last thing a borrower would be doing would be sitting on a human's chest out in the open talking about 'Oh, you could have caught me!' She interrupted my thoughts. "So, mind if I ask you something?"
Polar opposite of Flint, I swear. "Um, sure. Shoot."
"What's your relation to that other borrower? The one with the gray, perpetual bedhead." I laughed a bit at her description. It never occurred to me that Flint doesn't really do anything with his hair, so it always has this anime shagginess to it.
"Flint? He stays with us."
"As a pet?"
"No."
"Slave?"
"No!"
"Toy?"
"CELESTIA NO!"
She held her ears at my shout. I didn't mean to, but the questions had caught me off guard. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to shout." As calm as she seemed, I didn't want to risk scaring her away. That fear was dispelled pretty quickly though.
"It's cool. I'm actually kind of used to it." She began moving her finger around in her ear comically as she spoke. "Didn't meant to interrupt you there. So what's his deal?"
"Well, Flint's looking for a permanent home. Until he finds one, we suggested he stay here." I was starting to relax a bit in the conversation as well by this point.
"Huh, don't you have to leave now and then to find places? I don't see him heading anywhere too often," she said staring me in the eye. It was starting to feel like she was interrogating me now.
"See, the day after he decided to stay, he and my mom had a bit of an accident. She didn't know he was staying yet and scared him. He's just waiting for his arm to heal up." After I defended myself a thought occurred to me. "Hey wait, how do you know he hasn't been going anywhere?"
"Oh, I've been chilling here for about a week now. I was planning on showing myself about when you found... Flint was it? I decided to use him to see how you would react to a borrower." She finally jumped down from Mason's chest and onto the ground. He didn't want to say anything for fear of being rude, but he was getting very uncomfortable with his head at that odd angle to speak to her. "Congratulations, you pass! Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go set my bed up. Cool if it's in your room?" She didn't wait for a response and instead was already making her way to the staircase, scratching the lounging Arya's belly on the way. Mason sat up and watched this tiny enigma hop and leap out of sight up the stairs.
"... What... just happened?"

End
Related content
Comments: 27

wookywok [2014-01-27 18:21:25 +0000 UTC]

naruto, goku, and sora aren't playable in ssb...

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

TheTinyInuMason In reply to wookywok [2014-01-27 18:28:00 +0000 UTC]

www.mcleodgaming.com/index.php

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

wookywok In reply to TheTinyInuMason [2014-01-27 18:29:32 +0000 UTC]

...that's a fangame...

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

TheTinyInuMason In reply to wookywok [2014-01-27 18:52:14 +0000 UTC]

I fail to see the point of if it's a fan game or not. It exists, it's a game, and they were playing it. Check mate, home run, touch down, I am the master of sports ball.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

wookywok In reply to TheTinyInuMason [2014-01-27 19:26:24 +0000 UTC]

Yes, but it has a different title. Stale mate, Yer out, we are tied 1-1.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

TheTinyInuMason In reply to wookywok [2014-01-27 19:50:28 +0000 UTC]

Do me a favor and point out where I named that the game was Brawl

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

wookywok In reply to TheTinyInuMason [2014-01-28 03:09:33 +0000 UTC]

You didn't. The game you mentioned in story is called super smash flash.

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

Phoenix-FireMage [2013-12-06 01:49:11 +0000 UTC]

Well, that was weird...
Anyhoo, cool story!

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

WatairDragon [2013-05-07 10:32:21 +0000 UTC]

Wish you would continue the story. I saw comments from April, and got excited that they were recent. Just noticed April 2012

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

TheTinyInuMason In reply to WatairDragon [2013-05-07 15:15:48 +0000 UTC]

Sorry. I will tell you though, that come this summer I'm planning on rebooting this and another old story of mine, since I love the characters and don't want to outright abandon them. This is old though, and not quite up to par with my current writing, so this story line is dead. Just not the characters.

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

FrancisJeremyXavyer [2012-07-29 04:30:26 +0000 UTC]

Where's chapter 6? I read it a while ago, now it's gone! What's going on?

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

TheTinyInuMason In reply to FrancisJeremyXavyer [2012-07-29 04:57:42 +0000 UTC]

I've taken chapter 6 down. It was too short and I honestly just was not happy with the final result, so if I didn't like it I shouldn't settle for giving my watchers table scraps. I'm going to try to rewrite it and if all goes well give the story an actual end.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

FrancisJeremyXavyer In reply to TheTinyInuMason [2012-07-29 23:04:25 +0000 UTC]

Ok, sure thing.

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

TabiTabiNoMi [2012-05-01 21:05:11 +0000 UTC]

Well, that ending setup for following chapters coloured me confused. Great chapter!

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

TheTinyInuMason In reply to TabiTabiNoMi [2012-05-01 21:37:39 +0000 UTC]

Pray tell, what color IS confused?

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

TabiTabiNoMi In reply to TheTinyInuMason [2012-05-01 22:18:14 +0000 UTC]

Somewere inbetween green and the smell of napalm.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

TheTinyInuMason In reply to TabiTabiNoMi [2012-05-01 22:20:09 +0000 UTC]

Beautiful.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

wookywok In reply to TheTinyInuMason [2014-01-27 18:37:07 +0000 UTC]

I thought it was between the color monkey and the smell of unnessacary replying...

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

cewilson5 [2012-04-23 16:32:44 +0000 UTC]

Harumph!! You give me too much credit!!

But I still like this chapter a lot!!

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

TheTinyInuMason In reply to cewilson5 [2012-04-23 18:50:07 +0000 UTC]

Give ALL the credit!

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

cewilson5 In reply to TheTinyInuMason [2012-04-23 19:30:12 +0000 UTC]

Gah!! No! I won't take any of it! Ever!!

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

TheTinyInuMason In reply to cewilson5 [2012-04-23 20:35:46 +0000 UTC]

Everyone! I wouldn't be close to this done if not for this person here!

HA! Now it's on the internet and everyone can see that you had a hand in this!

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

cewilson5 In reply to TheTinyInuMason [2012-04-23 21:25:13 +0000 UTC]

Gah!! Oh noes!!

Geez! That's it...uh...something bad!! (If that's okay with you.) LOL!!

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

TheTinyInuMason In reply to cewilson5 [2012-04-23 21:52:25 +0000 UTC]

I'm openly lol-ing! I swear you really are like a tiny!

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

cewilson5 In reply to TheTinyInuMason [2012-04-23 22:02:54 +0000 UTC]

Lol!! I am not trying to be!!

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

TheTinyInuMason In reply to cewilson5 [2012-04-23 22:06:34 +0000 UTC]

Don't try to do anything different, it's funny!

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

cewilson5 In reply to TheTinyInuMason [2012-04-23 22:17:50 +0000 UTC]

Well I am not changing! Lol...but I still don't understand.

Thanks though!

👍: 0 ⏩: 0