"Oh, my head…" groaned Bert as he sat up groggily and rubbed his eyes.
Ralph, Melissa, Cedric and Sophia were waking back up too. They all took the backpacks off their backs and stepped out of the cubicle and their eyes squinted at the intense sunlight. The cubicle wasn't inside the mansion any more; it stood in the middle of a large outdoor plain of land, surrounded by and mounds of rubbish and unwanted items. "What's happened?" asked Ralph.
"Well it looked like the machine got destroyed," Cedric said.
"Yeah, I knew that," replied Ralph. "What I meant was what happened while we were out?"
"Gee Ralph, I don't know," said Cedric, "but whatever has happened, it doesn't look good. Look at this place," he said as he looked around at the trash-filled mounds. "It's nowhere I've ever been before."
"I see what you mean," Melissa spoke. "This certainly isn't Sneer Mansion."
"But where are we?" asked Sophia. "This place looks strange. We could be miles from the mansion…"
Bert suddenly jumped up and interrupted: "Hey, I know this place! This is the junkyard. I pass this place on my paper route. It's only about half an hour away from Sneer Mansion. I know the way!"
"The junkyard?" asked Cedric. "But if someone cleared up the remains of the machine and put them here, why take us here too? Surely they must have seen us."
Melissa pointed to one of the giant mounds. "Look at that bike! Is it me, or is it much larger than a normal bike?" The gang looked at the rusty bicycle frame Melissa had spotted and Cedric went pale.
"That's weird," said Ralph to her, "Not even a whale could control a bike like that."
"Of course a whale couldn't, the bike doesn't even have wheels," added Bert.
"This doesn't seem right," Sophia pondered. "It's not just the bike. Look at everything else around it. Everything next to it looks big too."
"Yeah, everything," Bert repeated. He noticed Cedric looking at the floor. "Hey Cedric, you look kinda worried about something…"
"That's right, Bert," replied Cedric, "Because I've realised what's happened. You know when the machine was breaking down?" The gang nodded, eager to find out. "Well, it must have still been working when we hid in the cubicle. We've been shrunk."
"What?" asked a surprised Ralph.
"Oh no!" said Sophia.
"That's awful" said Melissa.
"Shrunk?" asked Bert to Cedric. "Uh, Cedric…how small are we now?"
Cedric looked around. "Well, uh…I guess we're about a couple of inches tall…"
"Really? That's…that's…that's brilliant!" exclaimed Bert excitedly. "WOW! Imagine us, this small! Hey, that's cool!"
The gang seemed shocked at Bert's reaction. "What? Bert, you're not serious, surely?" asked Melissa.
"Sure I'm serious," Bert replied.
"But Bert, don't you realise the problems we'll have being this small?" she asked again.
Bert looked a bit crushed at this and giggled nervously. "Well…uh…no…what problems?"
"Yeah," said Ralph. "Problems. Since we're only a couple of inches tall now, we won't be able to reach anything we'd usually be able to in the house or anywhere else. Imagine trying to get up and down the stairs."
"True," said Bert, "But I still think…"
"And I think it'd take a lot longer for you to do your paper route now, don't you?" Melissa questioned.
Bert scratched his head. "Well, yeah…uh…"
"And what about trying to get one of those peanut butter popsicles you like out of the fridge?" asked Sophia. "It would be impossible for you to open the door and get one from the top shelf."
Bert looked at the floor in dismay. "Oh. No, I didn't think of that. Well, what are we gonna do? I mean, we gotta do somethin'. We could make the machine grow us back."
"Yeah, but the machine is completely destroyed, remember?" explained Cedric. "There's pieces of it all around us, see?" He pointed to one of the huge bin-bags with rubble falling out of the side.
"Well we can just build a new one, can't we?" asked Bert.
"We can't do that," said Melissa. "We don't know how to make one. But we can get the pigs to try and fix it, can't we? They were assembling it earlier with Cedric."
"That's not a bad idea," agreed Ralph. He stepped towards Cedric. "Cedric, there was a manual came with it, wasn't there?" Cedric nodded and Ralph turned back to the rest of the guys. "Then we can do that then. We can do what Melissa said and go back to the mansion to get the pigs fix the machine and get us back to normal height."
"Yeah!" said Bert as he put the shrunken backpack on his back. "Let's go now!"
"But it'll take ages to get there at our height," said Sophia, checking her wristwatch. "It could take until tomorrow to get back to the mansion. It's the afternoon already."
"Tomorrow?" asked Bert, stunned. "But what about shelter for the night? And what'll we do for food?"
"That's alright," said Cedric. "We've all got the camping equipment and food with us. We can use them. See?" He pointed at the backpack Bert was carrying.
"Oh yeah, I forgot about the camping stuff," said Bert. "Well come on! We've gotta get to the mansion! It's this way!" he shouted enthusiastically as he pointed up to the huge trees above them. The gang began to step away from where they were and started making the long climb up the steep slope that led to the rubbish tip.
"Say," said Ralph, "I wonder what Schaeffer and Broo are doing now…"
At that exact moment, Schaeffer was walking through the forest towards the Racoondominuim, with Broo running along in front of him. Schaeffer didn't have a backpack with him, he didn't really need one, but he held a bag containing a barbecue and some other things for the camp. Broo ran around in a circle and barked playfully.
Schaeffer laughed. "Not long now. I bet the gang will be really pleased to see those tricks you've learnt. There it is," he said when the Raccoondominuim came into view. Broo sped up and wagged his tail as Schaeffer knocked on the door. There was no reply. Schaeffer looked confused and knocked the door again.
Still no reply. Schaeffer was beginning to get a bit concerned. "It looks like no-one's home," he said to Broo. He looked at the door and saw the note that had been pinned there earlier that day. Schaeffer took it and read the letter aloud: "Gone to Sneer Mansion. Meet you there." He looked at Broo again. "I guess we've got to go to the mansion to see them. I wonder why they went there," he said to Broo as they began to head to the mansion.
They soon arrived at the mansion and Schaeffer knocked on the tall door and Cyril answered. He was accompanied by Snag, who growled viciously at Broo to make him scared.
"It's you," said Cyril in an annoyed tone. "What do you want? And make it fast; I'm expecting an important phone call very soon!"
"Excuse me, Mr Sneer, I was wondering where Cedric and the Raccoons are. I read a note from them saying they'd be here." He held the note up to Cyril.
There was a moment's silence as Cyril thought. "Well I don't know where they are," he replied. "And I haven't seen them. Cedric was packing for your camping trip last night. Perhaps you're too late for them? They may have left without you!" He laughed evilly.
"They'd never forget us! If they did, why did they leave us a note?" Schaeffer protested. Broo looked past Cyril and caught sight of the pigs, and alerted Schaeffer. "What? Good thinking. Mr Sneer, Broo asks if the pigs know where they are," he told Cyril.
Cyril scowled and closed the door until it was slightly ajar. He glared up the stairs and shouted "Pigs!" to get the pigs' attention.
The pigs were worried when they heard their boss's voice. "Oh no!" whispered Boyd, "Do you think the boss has found out about…that?" The others shrugged their shoulders and they rushed up to Cyril and stood in a line in front of him, like soldiers waiting for a command from a general.
"Yes sir? You called, sir?" the pigs said nervously.
"No, just stand there whenever you please (!)," Cyril said sarcastically at them. "Of course I called, you bacon-brains! I want to know where Cedric is, now! One of his friends is asking for him."
The pigs sighed with relief. "Phew," said Floyd, "We thought you were gonna ask about…I mean, no, I don't know."
"And I'm not just asking you, I'm asking those idiots too!" Cyril pointed at the other pigs.
Boyd and Lloyd gulped. "W…we…we don't know either, sir…"
When Cyril heard this, he almost choked on the cigar he held with his teeth. "What? You don't know? You should know!"
"Well sir, we have checked security, but none of the cameras showed them leaving the mansion," said Floyd quickly.
"None of them," Boyd added, giving Floyd a nudge in the ribs. "We thought they'd already gone until we checked."
Cyril began to feel worried. He left the pigs for a moment and walked back to the door, where Schaeffer and Broo were still waiting. "Excuse me, please…" Cyril said, trying to sound calm, as he booted Snag back into the mansion and closed the door abruptly. Shouting could be heard from inside.
Schaeffer looked up at one of the windows above him and then at Broo. "Hmm, something is definitely going on here. Cyril looked genuinely worried, and I'm starting to feel a little concerned too. Come on Broo, we'll go to the campsite; they may be there." He walked out of the iron gateway with the puppy.
But the gang weren't at the place they had planned to camp, and they weren't visible when the dogs were walking through the forest. The gang were to set up camp near the base of one of the large mountains that pierced the sky, but when Schaeffer and Broo arrived, the place was eerily empty and silent. They climbed a bit further up the mountain and scanned the horizon for any sign of the gang, but there was none. Perhaps if they waited a little longer, then the gang would show up? Schaeffer sat down on a large rock to wait for the Raccoons and he tried to keep their spirits up, but there was no show.
Schaeffer sighed and picked up Broo. "Gee Broo, it looks like there isn't going to be a camp tonight," he reluctantly explained. "Where could the gang have gone? They're not anywhere we'd expect them to be. Even Cyril Sneer doesn't know where they are. It's as if they just disappeared completely." Schaeffer carried Broo back down the mountain and made another visit to the Raccoondominium, where Schaeffer wrote another letter ("Just stopped by earlier – no-one in or around, see you soon") for the Raccoons and posted it through the letterbox before setting off back to the cabin with Broo.
Back in the hallway of Sneer mansion, Cyril had the pigs stood in a line once again and was still shouting at them. "What do you mean, 'none of them'?" Cyril demanded. "And why were you looking at security footage?"
"We were checking all the videos in case there was any sign of…uh…" Floyd tried to think of an excuse.
"Yes?"
"…Birds! Everybody loves birds," Lloyd told Cyril.
"I love birds," Boyd said. "I like it when they eat the bird-feed I put on the lawn for them every morning."
"You'll be turned into feed if you don't try to find Cedric now! If he hasn't been seen outside, he must still be inside…with those pesky raccoons! I can't have them in here. Start searching every room in this mansion NOW!"
"But sir, supposing they got outside without the security devices sensing them?" suggested Lloyd.
"It can happen," Boyd added.
"Hmm," Cyril pondered. "Yes, it can happen. In that case, you three get outside and search the forest while I stay here and search the mansion. I don't want Cedric to be in any danger, wherever he is. Now get going!"
The pigs saluted their boss and replied with "Yes sir!" before scuttling out the front door.
When the pigs were gone, Cyril made his way to a table by the stairs and sat down at it. He put his hands on his head and sighed. "Why has Cedric just vanished so suddenly? Was it something I did?"
Before Cyril could think any more, he heard the phone ring from upstairs. Cyril rushed to his office and picked the phone up. "Hello? Mammoth? Listen, we'll have to do this business deal some other time. I can't do this now because I need to find my son. What's that? …it doesn't bother you? Well it matters to me! My son's safety is more important than this business deal…I don't care that this is the 'one more interruption'! I'm hanging up now. The deal is off!" Cyril slammed the phone down and he looked so mad he could explode.
"Gargh! I've cancelled the biggest deal I could have ever signed, the biggest amount of money I could have received!" He breathed slowly and tried to relax. "But it doesn't matter," he told himself, "Cedric is more important than that deal, and I have to find him before he gets hurt. I suppose I could start looking downstairs first," he said softly as he turned to walk out the room.