A.N: Hey there, everyone! I'm finally back with the next chapter of "Masked"! Sorry this took so long once again, I had a bad case of writer's block where I simply couldn't decide on how to start the chapter. It was hard to decide which characters to focus on as there are so many great ones to choose from, but I finally got it. Don't worry, the next chapter probably won't take this long to write and upload. So in the last chapter, we saw the huge get together at Butterfly's. There we got to see all of the masks partying and having a good time. Lamby then met some of the other masks and even befriended Thingamajig and Whatchamacallit near the end. Speaking of Thing and Whatcha, this chapter's all about them. Yay! This one was very fun to write because these two are among my top favorite masks that have been on TMS thus far. Overall, I hope you enjoy and let's start the show! ^^
The Next Day:
Following the epic Friday night bash at Butterfly's, everyone was exhausted. The wild party seemed to have drained everyone who attended of all their enthusiasm and energy. To the relief of many, the following day was Saturday. Ah, glorious Saturday: the first day of the weekend. A day where everyone is off work and school. A day where they are free to kick their feet up, relax, and sleep in.
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!
The blissful peace of the morning was suddenly shattered as the loud and repetitive screaming of an alarm clock echoed through a small, cramped apartment. The green monster who resided there was rudely woken from his deep sleep.
Thingamajig groaned as he pulled the pillow over his head, trying desperately to block out the clock's shrieks. He tiredly reached his hand out and slapped at the 'off' button to make it shut up. After silencing the alarm, he lazily laid there for another minute. He squinted his tired eyes to see the time on the clock.
7:00 a.m.
Thingamajig gave a tired sigh. The reason that his alarm was going off at such an early hour during the weekend was because he had a scheduled practice with his team that morning. He loved playing Basketball; with all his heart. But he didn't always look forward to early practices; especially early ones held on Saturdays. The fact that he attended that wild party the night before didn't really help much either.
It took every ounce of willpower that the tall athlete had to lift himself out of bed and stand upon his large fluffy blue feet. Once he managed to accomplish that, he stretched and stifled a yawn before slouching out of his bedroom.
He rubbed his eyes with his arm as he sleepily stumbled through the living room of his apartment. The monster lived alone so he had the whole place to himself. But since he was a G-League player, he didn't have a lot of money to work with. Therefore his apartment was rather drab without much furniture or decor. It had the basic accommodations that a home needed. It also didn't help that the place wasn't very spacious. The apartment consisted of only one bedroom, one bathroom, a living room, and a kitchen that was very cramped. The ceilings were a little low too which made moving around quite a challenge for the green monster due to his extreme height. Thingamajig didn't entirely mind, though. All in all, he was just thankful to have a roof over his head and a warm bed to sleep in every night. It may not have been much, but it was home.
The monstrous athlete entered the kitchen. He pulled out a plate from the cupboard as well as a loaf of bread to make toast. Thingamajig popped four slices of bread into the toaster and waited impatiently for the bread to be done toasting. Incidentally, when the slices popped up, they were really burnt. Sighing, he buttered the toast and took his plate into the living room where he sat down on the couch. He took a few big bites of his toast before grabbing the remote and clicking on the television. The first channel that came on was the local news. The reporter was a raven with a silver beak.
"And now we will go to Mr. Ice Cube with the weather. Ice?" The raven said,
The camera then switched over to a guy with a literal blue ice cube for a head. He was clad in a tan suit and tie. The cube of frozen water smiled and spoke up.
"Thank you, Raven." He replied, the camera then followed him over to what looked like a satellite map of South Carolina. "As you can see, the areas of Florence and Lake City will have partly cloudy skies today." Ice Cube said,
On the map, a band of green and yellow splotches were moving towards where Maskglen was located. Thingamajig felt his stomach fill with dread.
Ice Cube spoke again, "For Maskglen, Charleston, and other cities near the coastline, expect things to be a bit more chilly and wet outside as an approaching cold front will run into the warm front that has been over us for the past week. The rain we're having today should be light. But there's no doubt that it won't stop until tomorrow morning."
"Great. Out of all the days Whatcha and I walk to an early practice." Thing grumbled to himself, the monster grabbed his toast to take another bite but was disappointed to find that it had gone completely cold. He grimaced at his food and sighed again before standing up from the couch and taking his plate to the sink. Following his miserable breakfast, Thingamajig managed to snag a quick shower and changed into his sweats before leaving the apartment. He packed his sports bag with the usual things: water bottle, snacks for later, his all-purpose bag. But most importantly, eye contacts so he wouldn't risk breaking his glasses while playing.
Thingamajig grabbed his keys and checked one more time to make sure he had everything before leaving for practice.
Thingamajig walked down the street in the pouring rain. His long dark green coat was zipped and his hood was pulled up over his long spiky green hair. He stopped when he reached a certain apartment complex and waited. A good minute or two went by before a familiar blue hairy face stepped out the front doors.
Whatchamacallit walked towards his taller friend. He was not the super energetic pile of hair that he normally was. He too was extremely tired. His long red white and blue hairs were messier than normal and his one blue eye was bloodshot and half-lidded.
Whatchamacallit approached Thingamajig. He put his hand to his head and groaned.
"My head hurts." He said miserably,
"Maybe you shouldn't have drank so much last night." Thingamajig retorted,
"Really? Wow, I never would've guessed!" Whatcha fired back sarcastically, "Besides, how was I supposed to know someone would spike the punch?"
"You didn't have to drink six cups of it! You were a total party animal last night, Whatcha." Thing smirked,
"Hey, it was the music, man. It was one of those 'in the moment' type things." Whatcha replied,
Thingamajig walked forward down the sidewalk before turning back and gesturing for Whatchamacallit to follow him. "Come on, we gotta get to practice."
Whatcha groaned again and he followed his friend.
They walked a short distance to practice. It took a little longer to get there than expected due to the rain holding up traffic which made the crosswalks slow as well. Before the two friends knew it, they finally reached the stadium where their team played. Golden Mask Stadium: Home of the Maskglen Oddities. Since it was a small town G-League team, the stadium wasn't nearly as big as the one over in Charlotte, North Carolina. But no one could deny that it was still pretty impressive.
The two monsters walked into the training center. Thingamajig pulled his phone out of his coat pocket and looked at the time.
"Aww man! We're running late!" He said worriedly,
"Don't worry, Thing. Maybe Coach won't notice." Whatcha said reassuringly,
The duo made a beeline for the locker room. Behind the thick doors they could already hear the indecipherable chatter of their teammates. They both passed the security face scan and went inside. Upon entering the locker room, the rest of their team all hustled past them heading out onto the practice court.
They walked in only to be greeted by their head coach. He was another odd looking creature like them. Only instead of a hairy monster, he was a white ghost floating just barely off the ground. His empty black eyes narrowed as he folded his arms across his chest.
"Majig! Macallit! Where have you been!?" He snapped, "I swear, in my one hundred years of coaching I have never met any players who were more tardy than the two of you!"
Both monsters winced at their coach's yelling. It wouldn't have mattered all that much if it had been the first time they were late to practice. But it wasn't. This was their third time they showed up after the rest of their teammates. So, obviously, their coach was rather perturbed.
"If you two weren't my best players, I would have you both kicked off the team faster than you can say 'fast break'! I expect much more punctuality." He said, the phantom now sounded much more disappointed than angry.
"Sorry, Coach Phantom. The rain really held us up." Whatchamacallit explained, he decided to leave out the fact that he and Thingamajig both went to a party the night before out of fear of being reprimanded even more.
Their ghostly coach gave them a cold stare for a moment before pinching the bridge of his nonexistent nose.
He let out a sigh. "Fine. Just don't let it happen again." He warned them,
"Not a problem, Coach." Thingamajig replied,
"Yeah." Whatchamacallit nodded,
"Good." The ghost said,
The three of them stood there in an awkward silence for a few seconds before Coach Phantom spoke up again.
"Well what are you both still standing here for!? Suit up and get out there with everybody else!" He snapped,
"Yes, Coach." Thing and Whatcha said together and they scrambled to put on their practice uniforms.
The practice was, as always, rather long and grueling. Coach Phantom had the whole team working their tails off to get in All Star shape before their next game.
First they all took turns practicing shooting 3-pointers on the court. Each player noticed that there were less basketballs on the rack than normal.
"Okay, so instead of having ten shooting attempts today, you're only going to have four. There's no room for error. Make them count." Coach Phantom warned them,
The team then got in a single file line and took their turns shooting the baskets. None of the players seemed to have too much trouble making threes. Each player made one or two baskets at the most.
Whatchamacallit stepped up to the taped spot on the floor when it was his turn. He reached over and grabbed a ball from the rack next to him and focused his one eye on the rim. He bent his knees and straightened back up shooting the ball towards the hoop. The ball bounced off the backboard and into the basket. Then he made another basket. Then another. He ended up missing the last one.
"Good job, Whatcha." Coach Phantom said, although he was praising him, he didn't sound all too enthusiastic. "Next up!"
Whatchamacallit looked at Thingamajig as he walked up to the spot.
"Beat that, buddy." He taunted playfully, he then headed to the back of the line.
Thingamajig smiled and rolled his eyes before he grabbed a ball from the rack and bent his knees. He too focused and aimed for the rim. Due to his height, he was the starting Center for the team. Normally shooting threes wasn't quite his forte, but he was still determined to make the baskets anyway.
He released the ball sending it flying. Much to everyone's surprise, it swished right into the basket; nothing but net.
Thing sent a smirk back to his teammates then proceeded to grab another ball and make a second clean swish into the basket. He repeated the perfect shots about two more times before his turn was finished. His coach and teammates, including Whatcha, were stunned. He had made all four baskets perfectly.
"Very nice work, Thing! I see you've been working on that shot." Coach Phantom said very impressed,
The tall green monster gave a proud smile before heading to the back of the line. He stepped right behind Whatchamacallit who looked back at him.
"Pfft, showoff." He murmured,
The smug look didn't leave Thing's face for the rest of the drill.
Shortly after finishing the shooting drill, Coach Phantom decided to have the team split up for a 5v5 practice game where they would play one five minute quarter. The team that scored the most points by the end would win. Overall that went pretty well. Whatcha and Thing were on the same team together which only made the game more enjoyable for them. Near the very end of the game, their team was far in the lead.
"Come on, guys. Hustle, hustle, hustle!" Coach Phantom encouraged,
Whatcha had the last possession. There were twenty seconds on the clock. Making one more basket would seal their victory. He dribbled the ball through his legs performing a crossover move as he ran down the court. He could see the seconds ticking down. Now the clock was at fifteen seconds.
He was suddenly stopped when one of his opposing teammates tried to guard him up. But he combatted this by performing a pump-fake move which threw the player off guard and with that he dribbled past his opponent.
Ten seconds left.
Whatchamacallit's one eye noticed Thingamajig running towards the hoop. He motioned for his friend to pass it to him. The red white and blue monster lobbed an alley oop. The ball flew toward the tall green monster who jumped up and caught the ball dunking it into the basket. The buzzer went off and the game was finished with them as the winners.
To finish off the practice, the team headed to the workout room. Everyone separated and went to their respective stations. The two best friends both split off to do their own workouts as well. Whatchamacallit went to lift some weights while Thingamajig went over to the treadmills. The music was loud and the air was thick with the smell of sweat. After a short while of running, Thing decided to spot Whatcha with his lifting. The tall monster stood beside the hairy one encouraging him and counting the number of bench presses that he had made.
"8...9...10!" Thing counted, "There, you completed your third set of reps, Whatcha." He said impressed,
Whatchamacallit lifted the weights one more time before setting them back and sitting up. He brushed back his long blue hair that was now drenched in sweat. "Phew! That was a lot." He said, trying to catch his breath.
Thingamajig patted him on the back. "Hey, you did good, man."
The hairy monster smiled up at his friend. "Thanks, dude."
Suddenly Coach Phantom came into the workout room and blew his whistle. Everyone in the room immediately stopped what they were doing and looked at their coach.
"Everybody gather around." He instructed them,
The players did as they were told.
"Alright, guys. This has been a very productive practice. I expect to see you all at the game tomorrow night. On time..." He shot both Thingamajig and Whatchamacallit a look.
Whatchamacallit got all defensive. "Why are you looking at just us!?" He said,
"See you all tomorrow." Coach finished, and with that, he walked away.
All of the players put the equipment back and chatted amongst themselves as they left the room. Thing and Whatcha were the last to leave, as always. All of the players headed to the locker room to shower up before leaving for the day.
Both Whatchamacallit and Thingamajig tiredly slouched their way down the sidewalk away from the training center. Although their practice went well, they were still pretty worn down. Not to mention, they were now back out in the rain again.
"Man, I'm starved!" Whatcha said exaggeratingly,
"Yeah, I know. All I had this morning was burnt toast." Thing said chuckling,
It was then that the duo noticed that they were walking right past their favorite bakery. Café Mystère.
"Hey, wanna grab a bite here?" Whatcha suggested,
Thing shrugged, "Eh, sure. Why not?"
They entered the bakery making the little bell above the door ring. The place was rather spacious yet had a cozy feel to it. It had burnt orange walls and dark amber tiles lining the floors and the lower halves of the walls. Red booths were lined against the large windows while matching stools were positioned at the bar. Miss Bee owned and ran the place all by herself. The hardworking Anthophila was well loved by all of Maskglen's citizens for her warm and kind nature. Not to mention she had what many thought to be the best food and baked goods in town.
Bee was standing at the counter when she noticed Thingamajig and Whatchamacallit walking up.
"Thing! Whatcha! How wonderful to see you two again!" Bee greeted them cheerfully,
"Hey, Bee." Whatchamacallit waved,
Bee took note of their worn down expressions. "You two had another early practice, huh?"
"It actually wasn't that bad. But we had to get up early." Thingamajig replied, "And we were accidentally late again."
"Yeah. Coach really tore us a new one." Whatchamacallit added,
Bee hissed through her teeth. "Yikes. I'm sorry, guys. Sounds rough." She said,
"Oh, that's not even the worst part. We had to walk to practice in the rain." Whatchamacallit said slightly annoyed,
She gasped, "Oh you poor things! You still look cold. I have just what you need..." She disappeared into the kitchen. After a minute, she came back out with two steaming bowls of broth with vegetables floating at the top. The very sight of the food made the two monsters salivate. But they minded their manners.
"Here you go! Two bowls of vegetable soup for my best customers!" She said,
"Thanks, Bee. You're the best." Thingamajig said with a sincere smile, Bee just beamed back at them.
Thingamajig and Whatchamacallit paid Bee and took their bowls over to one of the booths. They sat across from each other and proceeded to completely dig in. The soup quickly warmed their bodies which made them both feel so much better. Neither of them said a word to the other as they were both too invested in their food to make conversation. But that didn't last long.
"Well, well, well. If it isn't Thing and Whatcha." A deep voice said,
Both Thingamajig and Whatchamacallit looked up from their bowls of soup at the voice. Three guys were sitting over at the bar right across from their booth. The three men turned their bar stools around and faced the monsters. On the leftmost stool sat a hippo dressed in a shiny silver jacket, boots, and hat while also in a black shirt and red shorts. Black thick-framed glasses and a gold chain were his accessories. On the rightmost stool sat a little green alien creature with yellow eyes wearing a red and white helmet and purple outfit. He was seated in what looked like a protective metal sphere with two long red levers. On the center stool sat a white bengal tiger with piercing blue eyes and razor sharp teeth. He wore a gold and blue striped pharaoh's neme but had on a leather jacket with jeans and matching boots.
"Oh. Hey, White Tiger, Hippo, Baby Alien." Whatchamacallit said,
White Tiger: Star of the football team in town. The Maskglen Beasts they were called. He was Tight End for the team as well as team captain. And for good reason. His love for football was almost as passionate as Thing and Whatcha's love for basketball. Not to mention, he was an extremely skilled athlete with immense speed and strength.
Hippo and Baby Alien were White Tiger's teammates. But they were also his friends. Many saw them as more of a posse rather than a group of friends. At first glance, some people were slightly intimidated by them. But in reality, they were really cool and got along with almost everyone.
"Hey, what's up?" The one known as 'Baby Alien' spoke up in a deep voice,
"Always good to see you." Hippo said,
"You too." Thingamajig nodded,
Suddenly Hippo noticed how worn down the two monsters looked. He grew concerned. "Whoa, what happened to you? You guys look horrible." He asked,
Thingamajig took a deep breath. "Long practice." He replied,
"Dang. That sucks." Baby Alien replied, "Don't worry, we've been there. Our practices are a lot like that."
Hippo scoffed and looked at his extraterrestrial friend. "Really, dude? Exactly how is it hard for you!? You don't even have to run! All you do is fly around in your metal baby carriage!" White Tiger, Thingamajig, and Whatchamacallit all chuckled.
Baby Alien groaned, "Come on, guys. We've been through this! I'm not really a baby! My species just happens to be much smaller in size compared to others!" He then gestured to the metal sphere he was seated in. "And this is not a baby carriage! It's a rocket pod that my kind uses to get around faster." He then pulled a lever which caused his little pod to levitate slightly off the bar stool before landing it again.
"Regardless, we understand what you're going through." White Tiger finished,
"It wasn't the practice that was bad. It was more so Coach Phantom. He was really irritable today." Whatcha explained,
"Yeah, he's really intense." Thing agreed,
White Tiger sighed, "Face it. You guys really should have considered playing football with us. Our practices can be brutal but not as bad as yours. Plus our coach, Coach Deer, is a lot more understanding and laid back. You two would probably like it. We could really use some guys with your height and build on the team."
Thingamajig picked up his bowl and eagerly downed the rest of his soup. He wiped his broth-covered mouth with a napkin before speaking again.
"We appreciate the offer, but we're not big football guys." He said shrugging,
"Yeah. We just don't see ourselves running around in a helmet getting tackled for the ball." Whatchamacallit added,
The bengal tiger quickly responded, "It's not that different from basketball. You just run with the ball instead of dribbling. Come on, guys. Think about it! Football is great! Trust me, there is nothing more thrilling than kicking the ball high into the air, dashing across the field to catch it, and the loud roar of the crowd when you score that touchdown!" He then imitated the sound of cheering fans.
"Tempting, but we're still gonna pass." Whatchamacallit said,
White Tiger shrugged, "Fine, suit yourselves. I guess we are all allowed to prefer different sports. You guys love basketball and we love football."
"I'm much more of a baseball guy myself." A voice spoke up,
All five guys looked to see their friend, Rhino, sitting alone in one of the other booths. The large mammal just smiled at them before going back to drinking his coffee.
"See? Nothing wrong with sticking to your passion." Tiger said,
"But the door's always open if you change your minds." Hippo continued,
"Thanks anyways." Thingamajig said, he and Whatchamacallit stood up from the booth and headed for the door.
"See you guys later." White Tiger and his posse waved,
"See 'ya." Thing replied, and with that, he and Whatcha were out the door.
And that's going to do it for Chapter 4! I apologize if it was a little boring to some viewers since we only really saw their basketball practice. I'm an NBA fan who really loves basketball so it was genuinely fun for me ^^ And yes, I made sure that their practice was mostly accurate to an actual basketball practice. I promise the next chapter will be a bit more interesting. Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed and I will see you all next time. Bye guys! :D