This group of one-shots will introduce my favorite Nextgen Kid, along with two of her friends. Some of the segments in this chapter were written by my friend, Mika (Numbuh 6.13), who also helped make several of the main characters. While I made my own edits to her segments, I still wanted to maintain parts of her writing style.
Prelude to Adventure
A peaceful noon on Azultown's eastern beach. The waves brushed along the shore, but the beach was completely barren, except for one woman. Marine Frantic, the 25-year-old Mobian raccoon, sat on the beach with her right hand propped against the ground behind her, and her left leg stretched out. She clutched a bottle of rum in her left hand as she drank. Marine was dressed sloppily; in a small, light-green T-shirt that greatly showed her belly, and short black shorts. Her arms went over her shirt, but it was kept up by her cleavage. She had no shoes on her orange-furred legs and her expression looked drunk.
Her sky-blue eyes focused intently on the sea. A particular spot had been emitting slight bubbles. She was focused on that spot for several minutes. Waiting…
"GAAASP!" Finally, someone emerged from that spot and swam to shore. She was Sheila Frantic, Marine's 5-year-old daughter, in a green T-shirt, black shorts, and bare feet. She was a tan-skinned Australian human, but had brown raccoon ears and a tail. She hurried up to her mother and dropped a few small shells, two gold coins, and a necklace, still dripping wet.
Marine had another drink and grinned widely. "Well, it looks like ya made it, Sheila!"
"Pleah!" she angrily spat some water out. "Wot was all THAT for, Mum?! I swam all the way down there just for junk! Oi almost drowned!"
"He he he! Well, wasn't it a thrill, Sheila?! Divin' ta dark depths, not knowin' what lies?"
"Hmmm… well, maybe a little bit. But Oi wanted ta find a whole CAVERN o' treasuhs!! But I only found a few itty-bits!"
"Heh heh heh." Marine wrapped an arm around her daughter. "Sheila… the whole point to adventurin' is exploring brand new places, learning new things, and using those new things to explore OTHER places! I mean, Ay taught you how ta swim so ya could see what lies under the waves of our own beach! And now that you're a great swimmer, aren'tcha glad ya saw what was under there?"
"But I didn't FIND anything!!" she stomped in anger. "Wot's the point of goin' to all this rubbish if ya don't find anything?!"
"Sheila… have I ever told you about the King of the Pirates?"
"King o' the… Pirates?"
"Yeh… ya see, Sheila, the best people in this entire world are pirates. Pirates sail the briny sea, free from all the troubles o' the world, lookin' fer only adventures. They chase dreams and the wind shows them the way. But there was one pirate… who was greater than all the others. 'e was the King. And he sailed this WHOLE world. Legends say that before 'e passed on, he left a GREAT treasure, the most amazin' treasure anyone's evuh seen. 'e told the world, if they wanted 'is treasure, they could have it. But they'd have ta find it. And so… hundreds o' pirates, all over the world, set sail to find it."
"But did anyone evuh find it, Mum??"
"Hehe, o' course not, Sheila! Ta this day, no one even knows if the treasure was real. He mighta just been trickin' a bunch of blokes inta goin' out and havin' great adventures. All we know for sure is… it worked."
Marine turned her daughter around to face the endless sea. "Sheila… the sea is endless. The UNIVERSE is endless. There's no limit to how many adventuhs you could have. That's what all them pirates thought. Maybe there was a treasure, maybe there wasn't. But because o' that bloke… so many people got to experience that freedom. Oi want you to have that kind o' freedom, too. There's so much in the world ya wanna look at. So many great things…"
Oddly, Sheila felt enticed by her mother's words. Her young blue eyes couldn't look away from the sea's endless waves. Just what great things was she talking about? What could possibly exist over those waves? More importantly, is the treasure really real? Now, more than ever… Sheila wanted to know.
"And it's not just the sea Ah'm talkin' about." Marine mentioned. "Adventuh can exist anywhere. Have ya ever wondered what's above those clouds?" Sheila looked up, gazing at the fluffy white clouds overhead. "Or under the earth?" Sheila pressed her left raccoon ear to the sandy ground. "Even the grass beneath our feet! Oi bet there's LOADS of adventures right under our noses!"
Sheila gripped her nose and pulled it up, trying desperately to look under it. She let go and shook her head. "But Mum, Oi thought pirates were bad?"
"Ehhh, there are bad types out there, Sheila… loike Davy Jones or Blackbeard. They were pretty bad blokes. But they lived by the same morals, Sheila: pirates are free. They've raised their sails, and marked the sea their territory. They've seen many wonders our eyes could nevuh comprehend. They've seen the world… for what it is…"
"…Didju ever try to find the treasure, Mum?"
"Weeell, Oi did. But then Oi found me own treasure."
"Really?? Wot??"
"Your dad. And then Oi got you." She smacked Sheila's back. "You're the shiniest treasure I evuh coulda had. And I want ya to have a happy life."
Sheila felt touched by her mother's words. An ecstatic expression appeared on her face as she said excitedly, "Let's go find it, Mum!"
"Hm?"
"The treasuh, the treasuh!" Sheila jumped. "Let's go find it together and have RIPPER adventuhs!"
"Hehehehe!" Marine plopped a hand on her head. "Yer too young, ya little dinga! But when yer a little older… Oi want you to take yer friends and have GREAT adventures! And find all sorts of ripper treasuhs!"
"I WILL, Mum!!"
"Ah know ya will… now, come on." Marine stood up. "We're drivin' down ta Virginia fer a few days." She walked away as Sheila ran after. "You're about to meet yer first mate."
Who was that first mate Sheila was talking about? Find out now. Play the Cutscene Theme from Sonic Rush Adventure!
Beach
The bright noon sun shone high as Sheila Frantic perched onto a stone along a rocky shore. "Avast, first mate! The treasure be on the other side of that there cliffside, eh?" she exclaimed, aiming a wooden toy sword.
A black haired boy with dark grey eyes and black swim trunks limped forward. "Can't we take a break, Sheila? This whole 'pirate' thing can be really exhausting, y'know."
The chipper raccoon girl jumped down to him. "C'mon, Mason! 'ave a little fun, ya grumpy codger!"
"Don't you ever get tired?"
"Ah know how ta have fun! Mate, what's wrong with you? You've been downer than two seagulls drunk on rum!"
"I…I dunno. I've just felt… tired all week. Upset and…"
"Why're you upset then??"
"I don't know!"
It wasn't that anything was particularly wrong. Nothing bad happened. Mason simply didn't have Sheila's energy. He couldn't justify why he felt upset. It was just… part of him.
"Well, wot's a sheila to do, aye?" Sheila twisted a pinky in her right raccoon ear (not that she had any human ears). "You wanna just go lay under a tree then?"
"…N…no." And yet, the prospect of being away from Sheila did make him upset. He didn't know why she was so energetic, so happy… but being with her did make him happy.
"Then gimme a smile!" Sheila stuck fingers in his mouth to stretch it.
"Sheila!"
"Crikey, you'll become a seahorse if ya stay like that, mate! Now, c'mon! Le's go find that treasure! Adventure awaits!" And she continued on with gusto.
"…Aye-aye!" The boy followed with renewed enthusiasm.
The two of them came to a hidden area below a small cliff (that looked similar to Pride Rock) and found a strange conch shell necklace under a rock. "…Aw, strewth! Ah heard a story about this!"
"You did?"
"Yeah, me mum told me! A man and his beloved were off to sea… and the wife crafted this charm for good luck! But a storm took their ship… and when it seemed the gods would claim them, the man put this over his wife… and only she survived."
"Oh…" Mason felt upset all over again. "But why's it here? Just… on this random beach?"
"Maybe she lives in town, eh? Maybe she left it 'ere, praying for his return… ah well. Why don't you have it, Mason?" She put the necklace over him.
"M-Me?" Mason blushed.
"You 'ave trouble swimmin', don't ya? Keep it for good luck! 'Cause we're goin' sea searchin' now!" Sheila raced off to the sea. Smiling, Mason put a hand over the necklace, rushing after her.
This next part was written by Numbuh 6.13, with edits done by me.
Mika's Note: Hello, fanfiction people! This is one of the future kid pairings I have planned out! It debuts Matthew and Yin's daughter, and David and Ashley's son.
Purple Rose
Creak… creak…
It was 4 o'clock AM in the neighborhood, so it was terribly quiet, and every little sound could be heard. In this case, you could hear a swing being swung in a backyard nearby.
The swing was a wooden one, with two strong ropes making it hang from a tree's branch. It was also adorned with flowers in a certain pattern, which was blue, red, blue, and red flower.
Sitting on the swing was a young, 9 and ¾ year old girl, swinging slowly to an unknown beat that only she could hear. Her long, ebony hair flowed down behind her back, reaching up to her waist, and her mysterious midnight-blue eyes gazed at the sky in thought.
"Hey…"
The girl was startled as a familiar voice popped out of nowhere. Then, it clicked, and the girl ventured, "Lee?"
"Yeah, it's me." A boy with bowl-cut hair moved closer to the fence which separated him from the swing where the girl swung. His hair slightly shrouded his eyes, and he was half the girl's height. It was apparent that he had just woken up, because he was still wearing his Yipper pajamas and slippers. "What are you doing here, Haru?"
Haruka Dimalanta sighed. "I'm just swinging here. Can't a poisonbending freak get some time of her own on the swing?"
"A freak?" Lee repeated, sitting on the grass. "You're not a freak, Haru. You're blessed with special talents."
"You don't understand." Haruka said, jumping off the swing. Her midnight-blue sundress fluttered in the light breeze as she looked toward the green plains beyond her home. The wind blew leaves around her as she continued to speak. "No one has uses for poisonbenders, Lee." Haruka muttered, her eyes narrowed at the plains. "We control poisons that harm a human's mortal life, and other toxic things that are dangerous. I don't see how you wouldn't consider people like that freaks!"
Lee and Haruka were silent for a moment, before he mumbled, "You're special, Haru." His robin's egg-blue eyes gazed at Haruka's midnight-blue ones.
"Why?" Haruka's voice was slightly choked up as she clenched her fists uncharacteristically.
"Poisonbending's useful. You just haven't seen how, yet." His voice seemed to resonate a tone of a boy who had seen much more than what an average boy has seen. "Haru, let me over there. I have to tell you something only your ears should hear."
Silently, Haruka opened the door in the fence, letting Lee enter the Dimalantas' backyard. Her bangs were shielding her gaze from Lee, so he couldn't see the look of utter disbelief in her eyes. Once Haruka had closed the gate, she turned to Lee, her gaze searching for an easy answer. "Well, what were you going to tell me?"
"All I wanted to say was," Lee stated, stepping closer to her. He leaned in towards her ear, and Haruka listened carefully. "All I wanted to say was that maybe you are a freak in your eyes, but in my eyes, you're just a rose that turned a pretty purple. Oh, and a rose that gained some pretty untouchable thorns." And with that, he straightened up, and lightly leapt over the fence, partly because he wanted an easy exit, and partly because he could do so.
Haruka stared after him, the wind ruffling her nightgown's ruffles subtly as she watched him enter his next-door house without so much as a glance back in her direction. She turned to go back inside her house, but her satin slipper stepped on something thorny. For a moment, Haruka's eyes watered. It suddenly occurred to her that her father, Matthew, had worked in the garden with her twin brother, Mason, to clear away all the weeds and everything thorny. So, why did she step on something thorny?
Raising her foot daintily, Haruka could make out a long and lithe green stem, riddled with relatively sharp and spiky thorns. Her eyes moved to the right of the stem until she saw a very delicately dyed violet rose. Picking it up gingerly (without touching the thorns, which was very hard to do because it was nearly covered completely in them), Haruka examined it before looking back at Lee's house. Then, without another word, she reentered her home.
Two years later, a purple rose bush bloomed in Haruka's garden.
This segment was written by Numbuh 6.13, showing Mason and Haruka's relationship. (Also, edits done by me.)
Teach Me
Aah. The blissfully peaceful neighborhood of Cleveland, Virginia. It is 6:00 A.M., and so, there were no kids awake, leaving their parents in relative peace and quiet for the time being.
"Teach me!"
Well, I did say for the time being.
"No!"
OK, picture this. The Delightful Mansion. Then, move your gaze to the side. No, not that side, the other side, the other side! OK, good. That's the Dimalanta household, where Matthew, Yin, Haruka and Mason Dimalanta reside.
"I said, teach me!"
OK, ow, those voices hurt my ears. Who am I? I'm Mika, Numbuh June-13 of the KND. Otherwise known as Numbuh 6.13, the author of this one-shot. So stop paying attention to me and pay attention to the yelling voices behind the Dimalanta home.
"I said no!" a boy's voice yelled.
In reply to his statement, a girl's voice – Haruka's – demanded, "Why won't you teach me?"
"You're a girl!" Mason stated plainly. "Girls and poisonbending don't mix!"
In response, Haruka harrumphed and glared at him with her midnight-blue eyes. "Well, I'm a poisonbender whether you like it or not, so you have to teach me!"
"And what are the consequences if I don't teach you?" Mason hissed uncharacteristically, his black hair messed up because he tugged on it in frustration. It didn't help that he looked totally angry because he was wearing his favorite black T-shirt with a flame design on it.
Haruka smiled, well, smirked. She was definitely used to getting her way. "If you don't, Mum and Dad's gonna ban you from hanging out with Sheila."
Mason visibly paled. He cherished his moments with Sheila, and he didn't want his parents to actually ban him from her. Then, his fists furled and unfurled as he said, "You little-"
"Ah ah, remember about your temper!" Haruka's mouth curled up in a slight smile. Mason was so much fun to tease. "Sheila won't like it if you're a big ol' hothead!"
Mason sighed in defeat, but otherwise he reluctantly said, "Fine. I'll teach you how to poisonbend. But why not learn from Dad or his friends, they're fairly good. …Well, except Kaleo's dad, unless you wanna know how to fart."
There was silence from Haruka before she replied, "I want to learn from you. You're my brother, and Dad's nearly always too busy to teach me good tricks. Mum's not a poisonbender, so I'm turning to you."
"Oh." Immediately, a blush graced his cheeks as he realized that Haruka was putting her faith in him.
Haruka smiled before punching her brother on the shoulder lightly. "Baka. Even though I fight with you, you're still my brother. And siblings always care about each other, right?"
"Y-yeah." Mason twiddled his fingers before he suddenly felt his twin sister's fragile arms wrap around him in a hug. Immediately his cheeks flared up in embarrassment.
"Arigato, Kuya. (Thanks [Japanese], Big Brother [Tagalog].)" Haruka said before letting go of her brother. She then – almost instantly – whipped her brother with a gust of purple poisonous gas. Mason was flipped over and he belly-flopped onto the grass.
The boy blinked as Haruka teased, "Be alert, onee-san! Always be prepared!"
Then, a smile crept over his face as he stood up and tut-tutted Haruka. "That's not how you're supposed to bend! It goes like this…"
Numbuh 6.13 wrote this segment introducing Sector Z's children.
But Daaaad!
"Come on… come on…"
Since it was a quiet 4 o'clock morning in the neighborhood, you could hear every single noise coming out of houses with windows open. And it just so happened that the only house with their windows open was the Grayson Home.
In one of the rooms, a boy and a girl played Guitar Hero furtively, their fingers mercilessly tapping the colored buttons to the beat of "Dirty Little Secret," the girl's chosen song. It was the boy who had spoken, and he was currently neck and neck with his sister as they reached the last measure. Unfortunately, he missed a button, and lost a multitude of points, considering his sister chose Hard, and he chose Beginner.
"Aw…" The boy moaned, looking at the very big difference in scores.
The girl looked at him, which seemed strange, considering her brown bangs covered her eyes, which were a bright green. "…You fail…." She said simply.
"So what if I failed?" The boy retorted, taking off the guitar. "You couldn't even play to the beat of Digimon Adventure's 'Butterfly' on Medium, Leanne!"
Leanne Andrea Grayson looked crossly at her brother, but didn't say anything as she took the Wii remote out of the guitar she wore. "I'm bored, Lee. Can't we wake up Lulu and Denny?"
"You know Aunt Ogie wouldn't allow that." Lee Andrew Grayson looked unhappily at the Wii Remote. His father, David, had bought the Wii for all of their family members to play with, which meant everyone had their own remote. Cool, right?
"Diwata?" Leanne asked quietly, absently twirling the remote in her hand.
Lee shook his head. "Aunt Luna won't allow her to play either. It's too early." He tossed his Wii Remote into the box unhappily.
"Then we can eat breakfast." Leanne started towards the door to the big room she and Lee shared. "And don't you dare joke about breakfast. It's not a break."
…
"Morning, Dad. Morning, Mom." Lee said as he entered the dining room.
Leanne followed suit, only this time greeting the other people in the room. "Hi, Aunt Luna, Uncle Bruce, Aunt Olivia, Uncle Leonard."
Bruce Uno, a blonde man in a green sweater, looked up from his newspaper. "Ashley, have you been teaching them good manners? You know we aren't the Delightful Children anymore."
"Aw, come on, Bruce." Luna Martinez-Uno smiled sweetly. "Let Ash have her fun. She'll teach them good manners if she wants to. Right, Ogie?"
Ogie Ravenhearst-Whitby looked at them out of her glasses, and from the top of her book. The portly, tannish-skinned woman's eyes seemed to be smiling. "Yes, Ashley definitely will. She won't listen to you, Bruce."
"I most certainly will not." Ashley Sommers-Grayson smirked as she slid Lee and Leanne's plates towards them. "You two are certainly up early."
"I challenged Leanne to a Guitar Hero marathon." Lee boasted. Unfortunately…
Leanne said, "He lost on Beginner level." She smirked at her brother before taking a bite out of her scrambled eggs.
Lee glared at her, his blue eyes narrowed before he turned to his mother. "How come Diwata, Lulu, and Denny can't wake up this early?"
"They're nine years old, Lee." Lenny leaned back on his chair. "They'll wake up sooner or later, because it's Saturday."
"Wait for it…" David signaled with his fingers three, two, and one, just before three nine-year-olds burst into the room hyperactively. One of the children was a girl with blonde hair and a green sweater with a brown utility sash. As they hurried towards their respective parents, David smiled smugly at his son.
"Hi, Lee!" The blonde girl greeted to the sandy-blond.
Lee chuckled. "Hi, Dee Dee."
"What's for breakfast?"
"Ooh! Do we have paaancakes?" A small, but pudgy brown-skinned girl asked. Her round glasses nearly toppled off her face as she climbed into her father's lap. Her black hair, tied up in pigtails with two ribbons, bounced as she jumped up and down on Lenny's lap.
Lenny smiled at his daughter. "Yes, Lulu. You can request pancakes." His daughter's full name was Columbine, but she really preferred Lulu or Colly.
"How 'bout waffles? I love waffles!" A peach-skinned boy tugged at his mother's sleeve excitedly. You couldn't see his face because he wore his father's old football helmet. He was Daniel Whitby.
"Yes, Denny." Olivia giggled softly as she winked at Ashley knowingly.
Leanne looked at the others, quite unamused as she said, "Mom, could I go visit Mason Dimalanta?"
"Why, so you could make kissy faces at him?" Lee made a kissy face at his sister, who stuck out her tongue in reply.
"No, he's got Sheila already, doofus. And look who's talking, being a gentleman," Leanne emphasized the word, "to Haruka?"
Lee looked embarrassed as Dee Dee, Lulu, and Denny all crowded around him. His face was red as he tried really hard to endure their questions.
"Do you really like Ate Haru?" Dee Dee asked curiously, using a term her mother Luna often used for her. She was an only child, so Dee Dee never knew how to be called an older sister, or Ate.
"Have you kissed her?" Lulu bounced around him excitedly, giggling with glee. Kissing always interested Lulu.
"Do you liiiiike her?" Denny asked smugly.
David laughed as he stood up and shooed the three away from his son. "Alright, you three, eat your breakfast. Leanne, of course you can, if Lee goes, too."
"But-"
"No buts." David said firmly. "Either he goes, or you both don't. Or else I'll call Moonbase and proclaim your crushes on Haruka and Francis."
There was momentary silence in the dining room as Dee Dee, Lulu, and Denny munched on their breakfast. The adults were busy with their own things, and the twins just stood there, frozen, until the twins both screamed unhappily,
"DAAAAD!"
When developing your characters, try to apply situations or instances you encountered in real life! This came to mind when I was shopping with my mom one day.
You Have Strings
An average sunny day in Cleveland. Mason Dimalanta was walking downtown, joined by his friend, Dillon York. They didn't speak much, but it was pretty… weird. Dillon was intricately focused on Mason's sweater. All the little bitty dirt pieces and loose hairs that were common on his clothing. Except on various parts of that sweater were little white strings. As they walked, Mason felt a force lightly pinch his sweater from behind. He didn't mind at first, but it started to get annoying and curious. When Dillon seemed to reach and touch Mason's neck, the latter stopped and turned angrily, "What're you doing?"
"You have white strings on your shirt. Also this pink one." Several white strings and a pink one lay on his palm.
"So, what?"
"Why do you have strings on your shirt?"
"I dunno, it got mixed with the towels when Mom did laundry. Stop it."
"Stop what?"
"Stop touchin' my strings."
"Why?"
"I don't want you touchin' my strings."
"Why?"
"'Cause."
"You want them back?"
"No, but I don't want you touchin' 'em."
"Okay."
"Good." So, they kept walking. Mason felt Dillon poke his back again. "Didn't I just say?!"
"I put the pink one back."
"Why?"
"It's pretty. It's shaped like an 'M.' Like Mario."
"Sigh…"