And Now, After a Long Hiatus...

...We retreated back into the woods to regroup...

When last I left our Superhero tale, Shaggy, The Aviator, Lizzard and I were in the woods of Canterbury, contemplating our next move. The others were trapped inside a burning church, surrounded by an acre or so of enemies...both of the cultmember variety and ninja persuasion.

After a moment of discussion, the Aviator and Lizzard rushed back through the woods to get our vehicle and make a fly by, hoping that we could possibly just swoop down out of the sky and load our friends on board...

Shaggy, however, was not satisfied with this plan... He had every intention of taking as many evil-doers as possible down...

I intended to assist in his plan.

As bait.

The minute Lizzard and the Aviator were headed back through the woods and out of earshot, I took off running back to the church. I burst through the tree-line and into a group of Cultmembers, shouting and waving my arms, demanding that they surrender before I did something... really... bad...

They stopped what they were doing. Momentarily they recoiled and a few of them even took a step backward.

Then they realized that I was alone... and they laughed.

As they rushed me, en masse, I took a moment to revel in their stupidity...

It was then that Shaggy burst through the woods behind me and began shooting.

I put my head down, closed my eyes and rushed forward, fully prepared to take out anyone who stood in my way, with nothing for protection but my extreme solar flare-do (my hair can withstand nearly any assault by man or beast).

Luckily, this was unnecessary... within moments an entire group of the villains had been incapacitated with shots of bone from Shaggy's fists... not to mention a succession of quick kicks to the head (the taller members of the group had been so distracted by my seemingly suicidal rush that they had completely failed to make any attempt to dodge my quick friend).

I felt a flush of joy and endorphins... Any fear I had that we might not kick ass and save the day was now completely gone and I reached my hand out and jumped in the air for a quick "super" high-five before rushing forward, closer to the church itself...

The question now was... How would we get inside to save our friends?

The answer was obvious, thanks to an enormous ladder leaning against the side of the burning structure.

Unfortunately, the ladder and the side of the old church, were hot to the touch. The second my skin met the metal of the climbing device, I felt a sizzle and drew my hand back with a yelp of pain...

What to do?

And then I felt it... The charm around my neck began to grow cold... Reaching up, I touched it.

As per usual... at this point, something strange began to happen...

I looked up, searching the vicinity to see what Shaggy was doing and also looking for villains in my immediate area... There were none yet.

Shaggy however, seemed to have increased in size... and he was looking at me very strangely...

I wanted to ask why he was staring at me, when the ground began to rush toward me.

And then I began to comprehend... The ground wasn't rushing at me... I was rushing toward it...

I was shrinking.

As soon as I took my hand away from the charm, I ceased to become any smaller...

(And it was a good thing too...I really can't afford to get any shorter...)

I rocked a little on my heels and looked down...I was only about two feet tall now. I hadn't just gotten shorter, I was actually like... a mini-me...

After the look of shock left his face, Shaggy actually began laughing so hard, I thought he might fall out of the sky himself...

And then another band of ninjas came rushing around the corner of the burning edifice...

Luckily, laughter hadn't dulled my friend's sense of fury over his own suffering, or that of our friends, and he barrelled forward, a furious torpedo of flying bone splinters, fists and feet. As he dove through the air and directly into the chest of the largest ninja, the air seemed to crackle around him, sending the hapless ninjas flying. In no time at all, there was a pile of them with Shaggy hovering in the air above their bodies, cracking his knuckles and smiling a devious smile.

Before I had time to say anything (or do anything for that matter), he bounded through the air back toward me, said, "Uhh... I think we can rescue those feebs sometime today, don't you?"

Reaching down, he grabbed me by my upper arm and took off up the side of the church.

As I was hoisted unceremoniously into the stratosphere by my friend, I could only think one thing...

'HOLY SHIT, WHERE'S THE OFF BUTTON?"

I must have been so shocked that I actually screeched a little, because Shaggy laughed again and then said, "No balls! I bet you wouldn't trust me to drop you through that hole in the belfrey roof to Seymour and Boe..."

Closing my eyes against the sight of the church, which seemed to be growing smaller and farther away the higher we got, I mumbled a quiet 'Holy Mother of Carlos' to myself and then yelled,

"Yeah yeah, I trust you... Just do it!"

The next thing I knew, I was rocketing downward, back toward the church, falling through space toward a hole in the roof... Screaming in my head all the way...

...What a rush!