Time of a Big Princess

(Cubed Cinder and DJYellow22)

Chapter 1, written by Cubed Cinder

After one final turn of the wrench and after wiping the sweat coming down his head, Jeff took a few steps back and took a deep breath. He had done it.
"Ahhhh... my latest and greatest invention is now completely done." Jeff said. He stared proudly at the capsule-like contraption, the cockpit big enough to hold four people at once. It looked a bit more normal compared to the Phase Distorter invented by his father (the great Dr. Andonuts), but he was sure he'd be just as proud as his friends would be. And speaking of his friends, Jeff ran inside the Snow Wood Boarding School, his home where he took great care of himself, and picked up the telephone.
"Hey, Ness! You have to see something! Can you and the others get to Winters right away? Great, I'll see you then!" Jeff shouted.

Hours later, Jeff heard the front door knocking. He ran towards it and opened it up. On the other side were his former traveling companions Ness, Paula, and Poo. Even though their journey had ended with Giygas' defeat, the four still remained friends and kept in close contact with each other (especially Ness and Paula).
"So, what's going on, Jeff?" Ness said.
"Yes, you sounded very excited on the phone." Paula said.
"This had better be good, young man! You are interrupting my important training!!" Poo said.
"Oh, this visit will be worth it to all of you, don't worry. Just follow me." Jeff said.

After leading his friends to his little lab, they all saw the big device and wondered what exactly it was, because Jeff could always be a bit unpredictable with the stuff he would try to invent.
"Hmmm? So what's this?" Ness asked.
"This, lady and gentlemen, is the latest and greatest creation of my young inventing career. I give you... the Good Times Machine!" Jeff said as he held both his hands in front of the device to show it off. There was no reaction from the three kids... in fact, you could hear the quietest of Mr. Saturn if you paid attention.
"Good Times Machine? Kind of a silly name." Ness said.
"Most interesting, the concept is. But what does the machinery do?" Poo said.
"I guess it allows people to have a good time?" Ness asked.
"Well, depending on the circumstances, yes, but that's not the point of this machine. This is a one-of-a-kind time machine!" Jeff said.
"Time machine?" Ness said with sweat coming down his head.
"One of a kind?" Paula said as she tried to look impressed.
"The great thing about this time machine is that it will render itself and its passengers invisible. We will not have to worry about accidentally changing the events of the past any longer!" Jeff said.

Ness, Paula, and Poo just looked at each other with uneasy looks on their faces.
"So... aren't you guys impressed?" Jeff said. Ness knew better than anyone how hard Jeff works on his inventions, so a thumbs down type impression was definitely out of the cards, especially for a device like the one he was looking at.
"Oh... yes, Jeff, we are very impressed! You've come through again just like you always have, right guys?" Ness said as he gently ribbed both Paula and Poo to join in on the faux praising.
"Yes, Jeff-san! You did a most excerrent job!" Poo said.
"Yeah! Yes, Jeff is so smart when it comes to building things!" Paula said with sweat running down the side of her head.

"So? What say we give this thing a test run? How about we travel to say... the future? I mean, now that Giygas is gone, the future should look really bright!" Jeff said.
"Hey, that's a good idea." Paula said.
"I'll agree to that." Ness said.
"Then to the future we shall travel by way of Jeff-san and his crazy invention!" Poo said. After Jeff's three friends hopped inside the cockpit of the Good Times Machine, Jeff joined up with them. All four had plenty of room to move around, and this was important for Jeff so that he could operate the control panel.
"Alright... setting course for the future." Jeff said.
"So just how far are we going?" Ness asked.
"Oh, I would say about 12 years or so. I think that's a safe enough distance." Jeff said.
"Safe enough distance?" Paula said.
"Well... go too far and we might have to wear those robot bodies again! Okay, here we go!" Jeff said. After pressing the buttons, the time machine started to glow a bright blue, and it disappeared along with the four heroes inside.

After traveling through what seemed like the very fabric of time and space, the group finally saw brand new scenery out the window. It was much different than both what they were expecting and what they had been used to. The land looked kinda dark, with odd colors around the ground. When the door opened, the four stepped out and looked around.
"Hmmm... the future certainly looks, colorful to say the least." Ness said.
"A lot of purple around... but look at this!" Paula said. She ran over to what looked like a tall patch of purple, blue, and dark green. She thought they might be trees, but they looked more like blades of grass.
"Those look like blades of grass, but they're much too big to be grass, right?" Ness said.
"I know. This is some weird land we've stumbled onto. Are we still in Winters?" Paula asked.
"Hmmm... I'm sure I performed all the calculations correctly... still, something doesn't feel right." Jeff said.

And just as Jeff said that, the ground started to shake at different intervals. Poo was the first to see where the shaking was coming from.
"GOJIRA!!!" Poo suddenly shouted as he sprinted away from the Good Times Machine. Ness and Paula looked to see why Poo was running away, but Paula was the next to look to her right. There were three people and a brown dog headed their way, and they were all huge!
"Eeeek! Giants!" Paula shouted.
"Run everyone!" Ness shouted as the group, including Jeff, took cover behind one of the blades of grass.

The 'giants' that the four heroes were running from were actually the new heroes of this land, even though they were all still learning that fact and that they were still trying to get along with each other. Leading the pack was the 12-year-old blonde haired boy Lucas, and behind him was Kumatora, the so-called princess of Osohe Castle where she and the others had been walking from. Also with the group was Boney, Lucas' faithful dog, and the former thief turned DCMC musician Duster. Of course, they weren't really giants. Our four heroes were about to find out that they had actually shrunken down to a miniature size.
At the same time, Jeff watched as his precious invention got crushed underneath Lucas' shoe like a tin can versus a pickup truck.
"Oh no..." Jeff said.
"Um... Jeff, please tell me you have another way of getting us home?" Ness said.
"Well... not at the moment. But I can see why the time machine made us invisible to the point where we can't mess with the flow of time." Jeff said.
"What you mean, Baka!? Answer us already!" Poo shouted.
"The machine shrunk us to this size!" Jeff shouted.
"Huh? We're shrunk?" Paula said.
"So we're not only stuck in this time period, but also tiny?" Ness asked.

Meanwhile, Lucas stopped his walk after he felt he had stepped on something. He also heard the slight cracking sound as he made that step.
"Hey! What are we stopping for!?" Kumatora shouted.
"(Yeah, woof! Just as I got my legs up to full speed too!)" Boney barked.
"Sorry... I just stepped on something. Something hard too." Lucas said. He looked underneath his shoe and saw all the metal pieces that formerly consisted of the Good Times Machine. Of course, he wouldn't yet know of that for a little while.
"Pffft, it's probably just some toy some little kid left behind." Kumatora said.
"Not a very exciting looking toy if I must say." Duster said.

Down below, Ness saw that the giant Lucas had felt himself crushing the time machine. He suddenly had an idea come across his head.
"Hey, why don't we meet up with those giants?" Ness said.
"Huh? What for, Ness?" Paula asked.
"Well, if we don't do something, we'll likely be stranded out here in the middle of nowhere... and I didn't bring any bread or hamburgers with me, so we'd starve by the end of the day!" Ness said.
"Ness comes to a very logical conclusion. I did not foresee these events happening and therefore forgot my own survival gear." Jeff said.
"But may I remind the three of you of how small we are? They are like the mighty dinosaurs to us! They may see US as prey and scarf us down without thinking about it!" Poo said.
"I think it's too late to think that..." Paula said as she pointed behind Poo and saw Ness running towards the group of giants. He ran up to one of Kumatora's red boots and started shouting. Eventually the others joined up with him.

And Ness's first part of the plan worked. Kumatora looked down by her boots at the shrunken people... the problem was how she saw them from her perspective.
"Hmph... another group of weird looking ants. I guess I'll just stomp you because I'm in such a mood." Kumatora said as she lifted up her boot.
"Yikes!!!" All four heroes shouted as they watched the boot raise up into the air...

Chapter 2, written by DJYellow22

Kumatora's large shiny red boot was lifted into the air slowly in a very terrifying manner to the four shrunken heroes. "Oh Dearest me!" Jeff cried out in a worried manner. Today wasn't so very great for him. His Good Times Machine show off was more of a failure, and now, his friends and himself were going to be crushed by a strange red-haired girl from the future. How swell.

Kumatora was just about ready to slam her foot onto the grass, and make the little bug sized people into red juice for her enjoyment when suddenly, a familiar brown dog came running up to her left ankle, and started to bark at her. "Bark! Bark bark! (Kumatora! Look at them! They don't at all look like bugs! Listen!)"  

"Gah! Boney, what the hell do you want?!" Kumatora moved her gigantic boot away from the four shrunken heroes, and focused onto Boney instead. "You stupid little mutt..." She muttered angrily at the brown dog, clutching her fists at him.

"Now Boney, don't go running and barking up at Kumatora like that." Duster told Boney, limping on his left leg as he ran up to the furious princess, concerned dog, and shrunken down children. "Because you know how Kumatora can be sometimes." Duster said, smirking slightly as he did so.

"Oh shut up Duster!" Kumatora hissed at the man, turning at him with a incredibly pissed off expression on her face. "You should know already, I am the princess of Osohe Castle!"

Ness and the others watched the man with the Paralyzed leg, the brown dog, and the most frightening of them all; the Red Haired Teenage Princess continue to argue. "Do you think they finally forgot about us?" Paula asked Ness, still watching the three giants continue to bicker and argue about something. "Err... I guess so." Ness shrugged at them.

"I believe this is perfect time to escape from them!" Poo exclaimed, with a serious tone in his voice. "We do not know of the other gigantic creatures, and how their personalities are! I have deep thoughts they are as bad, or even worst then the giantess!!"

"Now, now, everyone..." Jeff tilted his glasses in a slightly stereotypical fashion. "Like Poo said, we don't know anything about the other three giants.. Though I suppose they do look somewhat nice. If we can get their attention, I believe that they might not see us as insignificant being like the giantess sees us.."

But before any of the shrunken heroes could come up with an idea with what they should do, a huge, looming shadow approached the four of them, it was the blond haired boy with the yellow and red striped shirt. The four heroes looked up at him suddenly, they all froze because of how sudden he appeared next to them.

Lucas gazed down at the four little bug sized creatures with a incredibly curious look on his face, the little gluts did not look like bugs at ALL to him! After looking very closely at the small humanoid like creatures... They looked like children! Really! Carefully, Lucas kneeled down towards them, and carefully got out his left hand, and before the tiny kids could even react to it, he snatched them in his hand!

"Oh no!" "Oh my!" "Aggh! What are we gonna do?!" Voices came from Lucas's hand, before the boy brought the hand towards his face, and carefully and slowly opened up his hand. "Hello?" Lucas asked the small people. "Don't worry, she just thought you were little bugs is all, I'm sorry if she was going to crush you or anything.." Lucas said, his voice sounding nervous and timid as he talked to the tiny kids.

"Oh, well... Thank you I suppose." Jeff said, looking curiously at the giant boy. "I think she would have really crushed us if that dog didn't bug her about something!" Paula said. "Giant boy, I appreciate your help, and I completely understand the situation. I bow to you." Poo bowed to the giant. "Thanks." Ness simply replied, giving Lucas a thumbs up.

Lucas turned towards the bickering trio, and sighed slightly. "Guys! Guys!" He called out to them, hoping to get their attention. "Hey! Lucas! Why the hell are you holding those stupid little bugs?!" Kumatora suddenly hissed, running up to the 12 year old boy with a furious look on her face.

"That's because they aren't bugs!" Lucas shouted up to her. "They are real people! Just really, really tiny looking!" Lucas raised his hand up to Kumatora's face, and showed her the shrunken heroes. "What the..." Kumatora looked at them in a slight bit of shock. Was she feeling a emotional feeling that made her feel sorry for almost killing them? No, she was just surprised they were human beings is all.

"Well, gosh darn it." Duster came limping towards Lucas, he also gave a close look at the tinies in Lucas's hand, and was as equally shocked. "They aren't bugs! And here Kumatora was, almost about to squish those poor little creatures.."

Boney also came running up to the group, randomly barking as the others think he's doing. "Bark bark bark! (See, I told you they weren't bugs you guys!)"

Ness and his friends sighed with relief, now all of the giants knew they existed, and knew they weren't bugs! "Well, I'm glad you guys know we aren't bugs or anything.." Ness laughed. "I mean, we were just about this close to being squished by that girl!"

"Well now." Duster laughed slightly, standing up tall and proud, smiling at Lucas and the four shrunken kids, "I think we should all introduce ourselves to you four. I'm Duster, I have a lot of skills I learned from being a former thief. I'm also pretty good at the Cello-Bass." He smirked slightly as he said this. "Maybe you can also call me Lucky, mkay?"

  "I'm Lucas." Lucas smiled down at the shrunken four with a slight smile, his voice still had a slightly nervous tone to it. "It's really nice to meet you four, it's always nice seeing new people.." Lucas smiled, looking down at them carefully.

"Woof! Woof woof! (And I'm Boney Woof! I'm Lucas's father's pet! Yeah!)" Boney barked. Lucas giggled at his pet. "Oh, and he's my pet dog, His name is Boney."

Kumatora rolled her eyes slightly, she was not going to greet them as happily as everyone else was. But, she had to at least say something. "I'm Kumatora." She said plainly, with a slight smug tone in her voice. "I'm the Princess of Osohe Castle you know." She smirked slightly as she said this, hoping to immediate the shrunken ones. "Don't ever mess with me, okay?"

Ness and his friends listened to all of the heroes introduce themselves. "And I guess we should introduce ourselves as well." Jeff commented. "I'm Jeff. I'm sort of the reason why we all are here in the first place.. But I'll tell all of you about when we have more time I suppose."

Paula then smiled. "And I'm Paula. I'm a little tough, but I'm a pretty much sweet girl. " She giggled, happily looking up at the other giants peacefully.

"I am.. Poo." Poo said gracefully, ignoring the sudden giggles and very, very small laughs coming from Duster and Lucas. "I am not ashamed at all of my name, I'm grateful of it."

Finally, it was Ness's turn to introduce himself. The boy shyly looked up at the giants, and gave them all a thumbs up. "I'm Ness, some of the towhee might consider me a leader or something, even though I'm sort of the youngest."

"Well, it's nice to meet all of you!" Lucas smiled gracefully, looking down at all of them with a wide smile. "So, Lucas." Duster walked up to the 12 year old boy, gazing curiously at the shrunken kids. "What are we gonna do with them?"

"I'm not really sure.." Lucas shrugged slightly. "Maybe we can just take care of them or som-"

"I got a much better idea!" Kumatora suddenly interrupted, smirking evilly as she walked up to Lucas. "I'll take them to Oshoe Castle, and I'll treat them the way they deserve to be treated!"

"Uh, what?" Lucas tilted his head a little nervously at Kumatora. Duster however just sighed and patted Lucas's shoulder. "Don't argue with Kumatora Lucas." He whispered. "She gets kind of cranky when people disagree with her." Lucas gave a small sigh. "Yeah.. I guess that can also be good."

Suddenly, to Lucas and the tiny heroes surprise, Kumatora's hand came down towards them, and suddenly snatched them up in it. Before Lucas or Duster could react to this, Kumatora started to run off, away from the other three. Where was she planning to take the bite sized heroes?

Inside of Kumatora's hands, the four shrunken heroes were bouncing around everywhere. "What just happened?!" Ness shouted from inside the hand. "Well, I guess that the girl took us and.. And I think she's going to take us somewhere?" Jeff tried to say, but was being constantly interrupted by being thrown around everywhere.

"Well, I think she should stop soon!" Paula cried out. "I think my dress is going to get ruined if she keeps on running like this!"

Sadly for the little heroes, Kumatora couldn't hear them, and even if she was able to hear them, she probably listen to any of them,(Besides for possibly Paula, because she's the only other girl.)

Suddenly stopping in her tracks, Kumatora gave a slight smirk as she opened up her hands, revealing the four shrunken heroes. "Well, well, well." Kumatora smirked down at all of them, giving each of them a slightly menacing stare. "Well, as you already know, I am Princess Kumatora." She said, with a slight smug like tone in her voice.

Kumatora looked down at them curiously. She noticed the girl looked displeased and annoyed. "What was your name?" Kumatora wondered. "Hmm... Paula was it, right?"

Paula sighed up at Kumatora. "Well yes, I am Paula, and I really don't appreciate to how your treating us right now.."

Kumatora nodded down at Paula, for some reason, unlike the rest of the shrunken heroes, she for some reason considered the girl more worthy then the boys. "Well then, I'm sorry then." She said in a oddly sweet voice. Suddenly, Kumatora gently picked up Paula with her other hand, and placed her onto her shoulder.

"Oh... Uh, I guess it's fine." Paula shrugged. "You did kind of scare me when you took us away from Lucas."

Kumatora laughed slightly. "Well, I'm sorry about that, okay? I really wasn't trying to come off as menacing, but.. That just kind of happened, okay?" She looked back down at the shrunken boys, and slightly smirked when she saw how confused they looked. "Hey, Uh.. Kumatora?"  Ness looked up at the giantess, with fear obviously hidden in his words.

"What is it, you little worm?" Kumatora barked at Ness. It seemed a little strange, why was Kumatora acting kind with Paula, yet acting very hard with Ness and the others. "Oh, Uh.. Nothing."

Kumatora rolled her eyes, annoyed at the little boy. "Psst, whatever." Kumatora sighed. "Anyway, you three are in for the time for your life. Becoming little pets or slaves to me, whichever you like better." She giggled. "Oh, and if your wondering why I didn't say four.. Paula's too good for that kind of stuff, after all, she's more worthy then the three of you!"

"Wha...what?!" The three shrunken boys gasped up at Kumatora with a surprised look on each of their faces. "You.. You can't do that at all!" Jeff shouted up at her, his voice cracking up.

"Tough luck then." Kumatora giggled. "As soon as I get back to my castle, the three of you are going to become my little pets, for the rest of your life. Heh heh!" 

Suddenly, Kumatora was in front of a incredibly large castle, known as Oshoe Castle, her own castle to be exact. She opened the large twin doors, and walked inside of the large castle. "Behold Paula." Kumatora giggled. "This is my domain, ya understand?"

"Well.. It does look nice!" Paula said. She had to admit, she would love to live in a castle just like this! Even though she didn't like how her friends were being treated by the giantess Princess, she had to admit, the princess was treating her pretty well, and the castle was huge, and just marvelous!

Ness and the other boys however gazed up at Kumatora with worried looks on their faces. Suddenly, they could see that Kumatora was beginning to sit herself down, and placed the shrunken boys onto the floor. "So, well, as you already know, You listen to me, and me only, you understand that?" Kumatora told the shrunken boys, smirking devilishly at them.

Poo looked up at the giantess with a angry glare, he spat at the ground, and growled up at Kumatora. "Never shall I obey someone such as yourself! I have too much pride to be considered a pet to the likes of you!"

"Hmm, okay." Kumatora smirked. "Well, I'm fine with that. Though, i'm not sure you'll be fine with what I do with little bugs like you who don't obey me." Chuckling, Kumatora stood herself up, and gazed down at Poo with a delightful smirk. Suddenly, she raised up her right boot, and giggled as she started to slowly put it down. "Goodbye!"

Poo suddenly gasped and fell onto his knees, he did not want to die, despite the honor he had. "Forgive me Princess Kumatora!" He shouted in defeat. "Don't crush any of us!"

Paula knew that what Kumatora was doing to her friends was not right at all. In fact, it even seemed a little bit evil coming from a princess. But, did she want to get in Kumatora's bad side like the other shrunken hero's have? Not really, she doesn't want to be constantly threatened by her, so she stayed quiet as her friends continued to be abused by the giantess.

  "Oh yes Princess Kumatora!" Jeff nodded up at the giantess. "We are you servants, we will do anything to please you." He told her. His voice sounded a little sincere, which was odd, seeing as how only a few moments ago was he frightened and afraid of the giantess!

Ness looked at Jeff with a puzzled look on his face. "Ness, look behind me." Jeff whispered to Ness. Behind Jeff was a Multi Bottled rocket that he was hiding and was ready to fire up at the giantess. "I hope this works, at least enough for us to get away.."

"Well now, let me think for what I should make you little bugs do first.." Kumatora started to ponder. Jeff saw this as a chance to use his little weapon and get the heck out of here! Quickly, while Kumatora was thinking, Jeff ran up to the giantess, and placed the multi bottled rocket right in front of her. Setting it off quickly, Jeff ran back to the other shrunken boys. "Okay guys, it's going to go off right now, let's get the heck out of here!"

 "Huh?" Kumatora looked down at the suddenly scrambling shrunken boys, but before she could do anything about it, the multi bottled rocket suddenly went off, tiny explosions flying up in the air. "What the hell?!" Kumatora shouted, covering her eyes and swatting a few of them away. None of them did hit Kumatora, but they did annoy the giantess quite a bit!

Suddenly growling when she noticed that the three shrunken boys had somehow escaped from her, (Thanks  to that very annoying distraction.) Kumatora stood up,and slammed her fist onto a table. "Those little brats.. Thinking they could get away from me? Princess Kumatora?!" Kumatora looked at her shoulder, and noticed that Paula looked quite a bit distressed and afraid of her. "Oh... I'm sorry if I scared you Paula. But, I kind of need to go find those little bugs, kay?" Kumatora smiled at her, suddenly placing the girl onto the nearby table. "I'll be back as soon as I find those stupid bugs!"

Chapter 3, written by Cubed Cinder

Paula could only watch as Kumatora stormed out of the room, no doubt to chase after her similarly tiny friends. She felt helpless, not only being so small but also unable to go anywhere except on the table Kumatora put her on.
"Oh... I wish I could help Ness. But what can I do?" Paula said. She tried hard to think of a solution, but she just wasn't capable of thinking that deeply. Only Jeff could come up with a very elaborate plan. And that's when she could only pray.
"I wish, I wish, I wish for the safety of my friends, and I wish there was something I could do." Paula said.

Either by sheer coincidence or because her prayers were heard (much like when the whole world offered their support for their fight against Giygas), Paula was taken aback when another gigantic figure suddenly appeared in front of her. It was the spirit of Hinawa, better known as the mother of Lucas. Unlike other times when Hinawa visited the real world, she was completely solid, allowing her to touch and interact with nearby objects.
"Huh? I could feel a strong pray for help, but my little boy is nowhere to be found..." Hinawa said, thinking she would be seeing Lucas in the same area. But instead, all she saw was a table... and a tiny girl on that table.
"Wait... I'm feeling the prayer coming from this table..." Hinawa said to herself. She leaned in towards the table, and that's when she got her first look at the shrunken Paula.
"What an incredibly small young girl... was it you who sent that prayer, little one?" Hinawa asked. Paula at first didn't know what to say.
"Well... um... yes, yes it was." Paula said. Hinawa gently picked up the little girl and dropped her onto the palm of her left hand.
"Is there something I can do for you?" Hinawa said.
"Well, can you help my friends? They're as small as I am and they're being chased by a normal-sized lady. I think she's going to hurt them..." Paula said.
"Wait... I can sense my son coming. Don't worry, I can get him to help your friends." Hinawa said.
"You can!? Thank you!" Paula said.
"Still, we must find your friends just in case. Which way did this other lady go?" Hinawa said. After Paula pointed in the direction she remembered Kumatora running in, Hinawa walked the other way, presumably towards the front of Osohe Castle. As Hinawa was quick to point out, it would have to be Lucas who saved the day.

Of course, luck and good fortune weren't smiling on the three tiny boys. They were running like crazy trying to find a hiding spot before the gigantic Kumatora showed up. They were just able to take cover behind a stone statue before Kumatora came stomping into the room.
"Come out come out wherever you are my little boy toys. I promise I won't hurt you... much!" Kumatora said. Even when taking cover behind the statue, those red boots looked very menacing to all three boys, especially when she paused to scan the area around her.
"I must take this moment to sincerely apologize in advance to the two of you." Jeff said.
"What for, Jeff?" Ness asked.
"For getting you all in this mess. Now it appears as though we will never get back home, let alone survive this mess." Jeff said.
"Don't worry, we'll get back home, and I know how." Ness said.
"How you propose that, young Ness?" Poo asked.
"Poo... you know PSI Teleport, right? If I combine my PSI Teleport with yours, it may allow us to warp through the space-time barrier and get us back home!" Ness said. As Ness was talking, he and the others watched as Kumatora walked forward.
"Hey, great thinking! It's amazing what psychic powers can do despite the advantages that science shares." Jeff said.
"I find that highly questionable, but we shall worry about that when we return." Poo said.
"But first we gotta escape from the giantess... AND rescue Paula." Ness said.

The three boys stepped out from their hiding place thinking they were in the clear... but Kumatora was not an easy woman to fool. She slammed her boot down right in front of the trio.
"Heh heh... you three must think I'm really stupid! I could sense you were hiding behind that statue all this time! I know this castle inside and out!" Kumatora said. She reached down in an effort to pick them up.
"Run!" Ness shouted. The three boys got away just before Kumatora could scoop them up. They took cover behind the statue again, thinking she wouldn't be able to reach them there. But she was much smarter than that.
"Oh you three are so easy. PK Fire!" Kumatora said. She kneeled down in front of the opening the three went in and pointed a finger towards them. A small speck of fire went flying towards the surprised trio.
"Nande kuso!! That girl knows PK!" Poo shouted.
"Ow owowowowowowow!!!!" Jeff shouted as he went flying out the other side of the statue trying to avoid the flames, as did Ness and Poo. They were all able to avoid the flames, but could only watch as Kumatora quickly stepped in front of them and picked them up, holding them in front of her grinning face.
"Got ya! Thought you could outsmart me, the great Princess Kumatora, could you?" Kumatora said.
"Please! Don't hurt us! We'll be good, we promise!" Ness said.
"He's right! I will even teach you the ways of the Mu!" Poo said.
"Sorry, but you're going to do what *I* say. And here's what will happen if you don't." Kumatora said. She slowly brought the three boys towards her mouth.
"Eeeeek!" Jeff shouted.

Not that she was actually going to eat them, but it appeared that way when Lucas (with Paula on his shoulder), Duster, Boney, and the spirit of his mother, Hinawa, all arrived in the same room. Even if he would get in trouble later given Kumatora's personality, Lucas shouted as loud as he could.
"Kumatora, stop!!!" Lucas shouted. Kumatora quickly covered up the three boys and looked forward at Lucas and company.
"Oh, Lucas! Don't scare me like that, or you'll be washing my floors for a week!" Kumatora shouted.
"Kumatora... those are our new friends. You can't eat them." Lucas said.
"But I wasn't..." Kumatora said.
"Woof woof! (Yeah! Besides, look how innocent and defenseless they look!)" Boney said.
"Shoot! Even I wouldn't want to hurt them little fellas." Duster said.
"Kumatora... please. My son doesn't want you to hurt his new friends. Please give them to him." Hinawa said in a very calming motherly voice. Lucas couldn't help but smile and think of all the wonderful times he and the other members of his family (his brother and father) shared. Kumatora knew there was no standing up against this tag team.
"Oh, alright." Kumatora said as she walked over and dumped all three boys on Lucas' hand. Paula slid down his arm and joined up with her friends.
"Oh thank the heavens you're all okay!" Paula said as she hugged every one of them, especially Ness.
"Hey, we're a pretty tough bunch, aren't we?" Ness said.
"I couldn't have put it more eloquently." Jeff said.
"I still wish to one day learn of your strange language, young Jeff." Poo said.
"Besides... I'll just try to learn some PK Shrink spell one day!" Kumatora said. Lucas and Duster couldn't help but laugh, but Kumatora put on a mean face towards Duster.
"Especially half-brained idiots like you! I'll shrink you to the size of an ant and make you my personal slave!" Kumatora shouted.
"Whoa! Hey! Nothing personal! I was just pulling your leg!" Duster said. As the two continued their mini argument, Lucas looked down at the shrunken group.
"Gee, I'm sorry you've had to go through all this, and I'm afraid I don't know how to return you to your own world still." Lucas said.
"Oh, don't worry about that. I have a plan. Can you take us outside, please?" Ness said. Lucas nodded and walked out of the room, with the spirit of Hinawa behind him.

Once everyone made it outside, Lucas placed Ness and company on the ground next to his feet.
"Are you sure this will work, Ness?" Lucas asked.
"Hey, if it doesn't, you'll have to take care of us until we come up with another plan." Ness said. Hinawa walked in front of her son and leaned forward.
"And don't you worry about that. My son is the greatest caretaker in the world." Hinawa said with a smile.
"Mom!" Lucas said, blushing a bit. Duster's Rope Snake laughed a bit as it slithered out of Duster's backpack.
"Mind your business!" Duster said as he gently pushed the snake back inside. Kumatora wasn't watching the whole thing. She hated to see her little toys go, but could do nothing about it. And she hated goodbyes of any kind to begin with.
"Okay... Jeff, you jump on Poo's back. Paula, you get on mine." Ness said.
"Of course she should." Jeff said under his breath.
"Oy futoi!" Poo said as he felt Jeff hop on his back.
"Alright, Poo? You ready?" Ness said.
"I was born ready, just like the sandy winds of Dalaam!" Poo shouted.
"Alright, let's go!" Ness shouted. As Ness and Poo held hands and the two started to run as fast as they could, Lucas waved the four heroes of the past off.
"Goodbye! I won't forget you!" Lucas said.
"PSI Teleport Alpha!" both Ness and Poo shouted. The two started to pick up running speed despite the added weight on their backs. As soon as the duo both hit 88 miles per hour, they went blazing out of sight.

Lucas had a sad look on his face. He really liked those four kids even if he was bigger than them. Hinawa could sense this sadness and patted her son on the head before she too started to fade away.
"There there, my son. You will meet many more friends and grow stronger on your journey. And always remember that I will be watching you..." Hinawa said before she vanished, and Lucas noticed this too. Lucas finally held his head up high, knowing that there was no time to reflect, but time to move forward.
"Alright! Enough of this mish mash! Come on, we better get a move on!" Kumatora suddenly shouted before pushing the two men aside and walking forward.
"Yes, Princess!" Lucas jokingly shouted. Duster and Boney looked at each other with curious faces before they too walked forward. The journey continued for our heroes.

---

As for the other group of heroes? All was quiet inside Jeff's workshop... when suddenly a beam of light grew larger and larger until it rematerialized into four human beings. Of course, they were Ness, Paula, Poo, and Jeff. Ness and Poo both watched as they were coming up fast on a wall.
"Look out!" Ness shouted. Of course, they couldn't stop in time and they all crashed into it, encasing everyone in black ashes... which always happens when the user of the Teleport spell runs into something solid like a wall.

As Paula and Jeff hopped off the backs of their carriers, everyone brushed off the black ashes.
"*cough cough* That's why I've never really liked the Teleport spell." Paula said jokingly.
"I agree... this is one area science would clearly win out on." Jeff said.
"Urusai! We made it, didn't we?" Poo said. Ness looked around and recognized the area they were in, especially as he walked near the window and saw the outside scenery.
"Yes! We did it... I see some of Winters out there." Ness said.
"And this is indeed my laboratory. I recognize that broken toaster anywhere!" Jeff said with a smile on his face.
"Wait... not only that, but we're back to normal size too!" Paula said.
"The young lady is correct! Somehow we have grown back to our normal proportions." Poo said.
"Hmmm... I wonder how that happened." Ness said.
"Perhaps we traveled to a time period where the entire planet has greatly expanded, including the people we met?" Paula said.
"It's not that! I'm almost certain the teleportation process restored our size because of the molecular structure reset our bodies went through. And also..." Jeff said, but before he could ramble on with some other scientific theory in his head, Ness held a hand in front of his mouth.
"Forget it, Jeff. Let's just be glad we're home and forget this whole time traveling thing ever happened." Ness said. Paula was quick to cheer Jeff up.
"But don't worry, Jeff! You just go back to the drawing board and start all over!" Paula said.
"Yes, you're right! Science marches on! The Good Times Machine may have ended in spectacular failure, but I shall not rest until I have built the perfect time machine!" Jeff said.
"In the meantime, don't call us until you've perfected it." Poo said. Everyone couldn't help but laugh over Poo's witty remark.

And so everyone, except for Jeff since he was already there, went back to their respective homes, putting behind them another grand adventure. Ness, in particular, thought deeply about Lucas. He had this weird feeling in his psychically-gifted mind that he was going to meet up with him again.

But it wouldn't be until a quest known only in the record books as The Subspace Emissary happened.

END