Author's Note: Hullo! This is my first fanfiction, so reviews would really help. This was proof-read by divine Comedian. While you're at it, check out their stories; they really do rock! Now for the actual story. Onwards Aoshima!
A small dwarf woke to a crash. He opened his brilliant violet eyes and pulled his yellow-green covers up to his nose.
"H-Hello? Grumpy? Doc? Is th-that you?" Bashful stammered. He glanced around the room only to find that his fellows were in their beds, asleep. He mustered enough courage to peek out the window. A blue-grey bull stood outside, ramming its head against the wall. Bashful slid out of bed, pulling on a baggy green sweater, long grey pants, and sneakers. He literally silently crept downstairs and out the door.
The bull came toward the shy dwarf, whom was holding out his hand to the animal.
"What are you doing here?" whispered Bashful.
In response, the bull ran at the clothesline, grabbed a pair of red pajamas with its horns, and laid them before his friend.
"You want me to be the Big Bash? But, I can't! I just don't have the guts." He patted the bull's head. "I'm sorry, boy."
The animal crouched and flung Bashful onto his back. The bull ran to the edge of town, which was on the verge of destruction. The town was cracking down the middle, not harming the houses, but it was a matter of time until the castle split.
"Queen Delightful! We gotta save her!" The bull smiled up at the dwarf, who grinned determinedly back down, tying the pajamas around his neck like a cape. "Let's go, boy!"
The bull took off like a whirlwind, bursting through trees, which ripped the top part of Bashful's tall hat, making what was left look like a mask. His messy strawberry-blonde hair whipped in the wind. There was a determined glint in his purple eyes.
The duo tore through the town, a green and grey blur. Bashful, having become the Big Bash, gripped the horns of the bull and pulled back. The animal jumped, making it into the castle through a window. The glass shattered and flew behind them. The superheroes ran through the palace to the queen's chambers. The bull kicked down the door.
Bashful jumped off and shook the ruler awake. "You're in danger. Come with me." He grabbed the tiny dog at the foot of the bed, knowing he was important to the queen, and the latter's hand.
Queen Delightful, fully awake, followed the Big Bash onto the bull, who charged out of the shaking building. Debris rained down. Rumbles shook the castle.
"We aren't going to make it!" screamed the queen at the top of her lungs as rubble sprinkled down on them.
"Yes. We. Are!" On the last word, Bashful pulled the bull's horns back and they jumped in a perfect arc. The group plummeted, the queen yelling, her dog yelping.
The bull touched down and dug its hooves into the ground. Queen Delightful slipped off deliberately, holding her dog.
"Thank you! You saved me!" The blonde gently pressed her lips to the hero's cheek.
Blushing furiously, Bashful bowed. "Glad to be of help." He rode off, stopping to call, "The 7D will be glad to repair the damages done to your lovely home, I'm sure." He continued on his way, grabbing the rest of his hat from the brambles. His face was tomato-red and he couldn't stop smiling.
He got of the bull and pinned up the pajamas. "Thanks again. We make a great team." Bashful petted the bull, who affectionately rubbed its head against the dwarf's hand. The secret hero reattached his hat and waved goodbye to his bull.
Bashful headed back inside, and made himself some porridge. At 7:00, the alarm rung upstairs, and the other dwarves woke. Footsteps were coming downstairs, and Bashful hastily wiped off the lipstick print on his cheek. Doc was first to arrive at the bottom of the stairs.
"Good morning, Bash. How long were you up?" he asked, grabbing fruit from the fridge.
"I just got up. I couldn't sleep." Bashful looked down at his food, hoping the smart dwarf wouldn't see through him.
The rest filed down and ate hungrily. A knock sounded at the door. Bashful tensed. Who could that be this early? Happy opened the door to a boy with a satchel.
"Mornin', sir. Have a newspaper! The Big Bash is back!" The boy thrust a paper into Happy's hands and ran off.
"The Big Bash is back?" Happy repeated, curious. He laid the newspaper on the table, and Bashful saw his own face on the front page, though disguised. The headline read, "The Big Bash saves Queen"
The 7D talked excitedly, Bashful not joining. He didn't like the popularity, even though people didn't know it was him. The thought of being discovered as a hero and being talked about made Bashful's stomach churn.
"Hey, Bash. Who do you think he is?" Sneezy asked in his nasally voice.
"Um...well...if he wears a mask, maybe he doesn't want to be discovered." Bashful bit his lip.
"Well if this Big Bash guy keeps doing what he's doing, we'll be put out of business," complained Grumpy. "The queen won't need us anymore."
"C'mon, Grumpy!" said Happy. "The Big Bash hardly ever shows up! And when he did, there was nothing we could do about the problem." He whipped out his guitar and strummed a few notes with an Irish tune.
"Oh, boy," groaned Grumpy.
The Big Bash will stop at nothing
To save the queen.
Yes, he's the bravest fellow
She's ever seen!
He'll save the day
upon his bull.
You gotta admit-
That's pretty coooool!
Happy grinned. "I made that up just now!"
While the rest chatted, Bashful slipped under the table. He slid back a floorboard that his the entrance to one of his secret passageways, because you never knew when you needed to escape. He lowered himself into the small tunnel and curled up under the scene. Bashful pulled his hat lower over his face. Hearing all the commotion about his alter-ego really did make him nervous.
Then, the sound of bells echoed through the cottage. Bashful hurriedly pulled himself out of his tunnel and popped back up at the table. "The queen needs us!"
The dwarves spent a good portion of the day repairing the town and castle. The others mostly complained, but Bashful was happy to do it for the queen. It should be mentioned in this story that Bashful has a major crush on Queen Delightful. So he swept debris, hammered, glued, all the while thinking of the greater thing he had done. And the kiss the queen planted on his cheek. Bashful nearly fainted just thinking about it.
Bashful was filling the crack in with dirt, when his bull came charging toward him and sat down. "What? Is someone in trouble? You know I can't be a hero."
The bull scoffed as if to say, "Please. You've been a hero twice already. You saved the queen from death, Bashful!" Then he shook his head.
"Just wanna hang out, huh?" Bashful smiled and patted the animal's head. "You know what? I never named you." He thought, leaning on his shovel. "The Bionic Bull can be your superhero name, but you'll be John to me."
The bull happily pawed the ground. Bashful grinned, feeling he had a close buddy that understood him.
"Bashful! There's a bull behind you!"screamed Sneezy suddenly. The other dwarves whipped around, Sleepy waking up. Doc pulled a whistle from his hat and blew.
Bashful turned and saw his bull squirming in agony. He threw his arms around John's neck, hoisting himself up. He stood, covering the animal's ears tightly as to protect from the whistle. Bashful was sure his face was flushed when he yelled protectively, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING? YOU SEE A BULL BEHIND ME SO YOU TORTURE IT?" He never wanted any harm to come to his buddy.
Doc lowered his whistle in surprise. The group stared with wide eyes.
"Do you know this bull?" asked Sleepy.
Bashful became aware that this was the bull that always accompanied the Big Bash. "No...Sorry..." Biting his lip, the dwarf lowered himself from the bull. "Sorry I yelled," he whispered as he picked up his shovel and scooped some dirt. He was then alerted by screams of terror. Bashful turned to see John charging at Dopey, who was whistling frantically, trying to use his animal skills to call off the bull.
No such luck.
The rest of the 7D were screaming and trying to get the animal away from the mute dwarf, but John's eyes were locked on Dopey's red hat. Even Sneezy's powerful nose didn't knock the bull off course.
"Floom," muttered Bashful.
Bashful, not wanting to draw attention to himself, ducked behind a wagon and tried to whistle. He soon realized that he didn't know how. Instead, he pulled back his sleeve, for he didn't want to give any clues to who the Big Bash was, and held out his hand, in which lay an apple from the inside of the wagon (which was mostly filled with carrots). Something red.
The bull's attention was grabbed the the glisten of even brighter red, and ran toward the cart, huffing. Bashful's eyes narrowed. "Come on..." He jerked the apple toward him at the last moment, causing the bull to turn sharply, though keep sliding a bit. Bashful stood to get his sidekick and take him home, but the rest of his group thundered past him.
The 6D ran around the animal, wrapping it in rope. Doc quickly tied the bonds and the bull fell over.
"If Bashful was here, we couldn't have saved ourselves," Grumpy remarked.
"I wonder why he stood up for this bull," yawned Sleepy.
"And where's Bashful now?" Doc wondered.
"C'mon, let's just get rid of this thing," said Grumpy rudely.
Bashful gasped. They cannot hurt his pet! The shy dwarf ducked through secret tunnels like lightning, and grabbed his cape from the line. He tore off the top part of his hat and hid it under the hamper. He ran back, covering ground speedily. He dug his heels into the ground in front of John. The Big Bash got on his knees and started to untie the ropes.
"What do you think you're doing?" questioned Grumpy, standing above Bashful.
"I'm getting my bull," Bashful said lightly, finishing with the bindings. He hoisted himself onto the back of the Bionic Bull. "Though I can't imagine why he was tied up in the first place." He couldn't stop the icy line from escaping his lips. It wasn't something he would normally say; he was usually sweet.
"For your information, your bull attacked Dopey," Grumpy snarled.
"It would seem your friend is wearing a red hat. The Bionic Bull attacks the colour red." Bashful usually wasn't cocky or foolhardy.
"That animal's insane! It sees red and attacks anything!"
"Not while I'm here." Bashful patted John's head. He steered the animal over to Dopey. The dwarves backed up, dumbfounded and frightened. Dopey's hat was in clear view, but John merely stepped forward, sniffed, and chewed on some grass. "See?" the Big Bash said. He was about to ride off when Doc said,
"Hey! Bashful has a sweater like that!"
Bashful and John froze and slowly turned around.
"Hey! He does!" Happy grinned. "Do you know Bashful? He's one of the 7D! You might not; he's shy."
"And he's always hiding," added Sneezy.
"And being all scared," Sleepy contributed.
"He's no use. I've been trying to make it the 6D for a while now," Grumpy chuckled.
Bashful's masked face clouded over. His violet eyes glazed, as if he was trapped in a nightmare while awake. His grip on the horns of his pet loosened so that they were just hanging there, limply. A worried John rushed off carefully, not wanting his owner to fall off, but knowing he had to get him out of there.
The talk continued.
"He acts like a five year old."
"He barely, if at all, helps."
"He just doesn't understand things."
"If he's always googly-eyin' the queen, how's he s'posed to do anything?"
As the duo ran through the woods, John could feel Bashful laying his head on the former's nape, hot tears on his fur. Quiet sobs originated from the small body, making the bull's heart crack. Fury burned inside of the great beast. How dare Bashful's so-called "friends" insult him behind his back! If Bashful wasn't there, John would've charged.
They were just getting out of sight of the town, when a high "Yoohoo!" stopped them. The queen herself came up next to the bull, smiling. Bashful buried his face in the short fur of his sidekick.
"I wanted to thank you again for saving me," Queen Delightful began. "There will be a humongous party in your honor tonight around seven-ish. I hope to see you there!" Concern sunk into her features. "Is everything alright?" She prodded his arm gently.
The small dwarf looked up, trying to hide his tears. His plump face was a brilliant shade of red; tears stained his face, flowing from his big eyes. He just wanted to go home, curl up in his thick blanket, and hide from the cold, judging world. He didn't wanna face anyone, much less the queen, his crush.
Queen Delightful drew back, surprised. "What happened?" she asked, sympathy and worry drowning her tone.
Bashful bit his lip. He thought having an alter ego with which he could show his true colours would wash away his shyness, but it didn't. It had certainly worked last time, but now he wanted to run and hide.
"Nothing, your majesty," he lied with much difficulty.
The blonde stood, an naively confused expression on her face. "So why were you crying?"
"Um..." It's always hard to lie on the spot (unless you rock at life). Bashful thought. Why would a fearless superhero cry? "Well...I-" Thankfully, the queen's advisor chose that moment to appear.
"Lord Starchbottom! What are you doing here?" asked Queen Delightful, startled.
Starchy ignored the bull and crying hero. "For the party tonight, do you want Jenny Jollywood? She finally got that frog out of her throat."
"Don't be silly! We must have Bashful sing again! Only the best for the dwarf who saved me! Twice now! Did you know?"
"But...it's Bashful! You know how he is!" Starchbottom looked like he would do anything to get Bashful not to perform. Intrigued, Bashful listened in.
"I dunno, how is he? Not ill, I hope! He has the most wonderful voice!" Blush creeped over the nearby dwarf's face, along with a smile.
Lord Starchbottom sighed, annoyed. "No. I mean his stage fright!"
"He was fine last time," responded the queen blankly.
"B-But-"
"No more excuses, Lord Starchbottom. We must have Bashful perform! I can't wait for the Big Bash to see the star of Jollywood!" Queen Delightful clasped her hands happily and skipped off, her dress flowing.
Bashful had moved John into the trees, choosing a perfect hiding place for the hiders, time, and place. It was his special talent.
Starchbottom rubbed his temples. "If that Bashful sings again, I'm done! Done! What am I gonna do?"
What does he mean, "done"? Bashful's mind was occupied, so he didn't think much on the problem of being two different people in the same place at the same time. Thankfully, the hurtful comments his "friends" had said were pushed to the side also. And how could my singing ruin Starchy?
The advisor left and John the bull was lead back to the cottage. Bashful was chewing gently on his lip, lost in thought. This time, he was pondering why Starchy didn't want him to sing. It definitely wasn't for the sake of Bashful. He didn't have stage fright anymore anyways; he quite liked performing. He just didn't like the attention and fame. Besides, Lord Starchbottom only ever thought about himself.
Bashful slid off the bull and turned to the clothesline to grab his hat from under the laundry basket. The basket was gone, the drying clothes missing. The shy dwarf's face fell. He swiftly removed his cape and whipped the mask part of his hat off his face, just in case he got caught, which wasn't likely, considering his epic hiding skills.
"Go in the woods, boy," he called back to John, taking off his beloved hat. The bull snorted in understanding and ran into the forest, Bashful's pyjama-cape hooked onto his back. The shy dwarf pulled his mask off reluctantly, showing his young pale face. He had always hated not wearing his hat. It made him feel exposed and more vulnerable than usual.
But he powered through and ducked into a tunnel hidden under one of the poles of the clothesline. He squeezed through the tunnel, enjoying the small space. He had to get inside without being too obvious. He would have to make it look like he was in the house this whole time.
Bashful slipped his mask into the back pocket of his grey pants as he crawled through the earthy tunnel. He resurfaced under the dresser. The dwarf got out from under it, looking around. The room was empty of dwarves and, unfortunately, his hat. Voices originated from the next room over. The shy dwarf strained his ears to listen.
"Where do you think he is?"
"I hope nothing bad happened to him! He never goes anywhere without his hat!"
Bashful realized that he was the subject of conversation. How often did his fellows talk about him? What did they say?
Bashful swallowed back the hurt and slipped around the room, unseen. His precious hat was sitting limply on the table. The dwarf's bright violet eyes locked on his target, none of the usual timidness in their depths. There was too much at stake here-his true identity, who Bashful really was-to be afraid. Which was funny, because that gave him every reason to be scared.
The shy dwarf hid under the stove, anticipating his next move. Suddenly, Dopey raised his head and sniffed the air. He jumped off his chair and walked about the kitchen on all fours, his nose twitching just above the pulled-up neck of his blue sweater.
Bashful pressed himself to the wall as far as he could go. As Dopey reached the stove, Bashful became painfully aware that his face was exposed.
Dopey stopped at the front of the appliance and barked. The rest of the 6D, whom had been on their friend's heels, shared glances. Doc alone crouched down and looked under the stove, where Bashful squirmed uncomfortably.
"Bashful?" exclaimed Doc, surprised.
"Bashful?" repeated the rest, dumbfounded.
"What are ya doin' down there?" asked Happy. "We have your hat."
Bashful tried to corral his messy mane, to no avail. He wished for his hat, both to hide his identity and his flyaway hair. But forget about that! He was cornered, caught in the act.
"How long were you down there?" Sleepy asked in his calm voice.
"Guys, guys. It's obvious he was here since he called us off for harming the bull," Doc said.
"Of course! Because he felt so bad!" Sneezy said.
Bashful blew out his breath. The explanation had been worked out for him; he didn't have to bear the pressure of coming up with an ababi. Finally, the others ignoring him and talking about him as if he wasn't there came in handy. Bashful easily came out of hiding, his pining gaze on his hat. He would really enjoy hiding his face right now.
"But why was your hat under the laundry basket?" Grumpy inquired rather rudely.
Bashful gulped. He had forgotten about that loose end. "I was...um...and...that bull..."
While the 6D interrogated their youngest member, something else was happening at a much, say, gloomier housing.
Hildy Gloom growled in her throat. She pushed her crystal ball away and turned to her blue-haired husband. "Grim, we have a problem." Her tone was harsh.
The aforementioned husband was poking around in the fridge. "I know what you mean. We're out of hummus."
The pink-haired witch slammed her fists on the table in frustration. "No! I meant that masked hero!"
"Which one?" asked Grim, licking peanut butter off his finger.
"The one on the bull, Grim. He's back."
"Was he the one that burst through like, woosh! And then he was like wha! and he saved the queen! Cuz, he's awesome!"
"NO, HE'S NOT! In case you forgot, he's the one who stopped our plan! He's the one who stopped us from getting the queen's golden skybucket! He's back, and he already saved the queen from our earthquake."
"Seems he always appears when the queen is in trouble," said Grim, dropping peanut butter onto the carpet.
"Exactly. He's a loyal servant to the queen. He's worse than the 7D! At least the 7D rely on teamwork; if we knock out one, the rest are near powerless! But this Big Bash…
"GET RID OF HIM, GRIMMY!" Hildy screamed loudly, causing her husband to shrink back.
"Anything for my Hildy Wildy," grinned the wizard as he grabbed his magic broom and soared out the door. "Oh boy…" Grim realized little too late that he had no idea where to start finding the masked hero.
Bashful slumped in one of his favorite alcoves, his mind clouded with thoughts. He had finally escaped his fellow dwarves and their questions. He hugged his legs to his chest and laid his head against the backboard of the dresser, which stood in front of the shy dwarf.
His head snapped up when he heard Happy's voice.
"Sorry Queen Delightful. We can't find Bashful anywhere! But I'm sure he'll turn up in time for your party."
"I do hope so. It won't be much of a party without Bashful." The queen's voice reached Bashful's ears, making him blush and grin goofily. "He's providing the music!" The happiness drained from the dwarf. He was only needed for music?