Mark's finger slipped over the "Power" button to his computer, tapping anxiously on the device as it booted up. He measured the benefits of every site he could use, mind lingering on each for a second; the potential was overwhelming!

Adult sites were his first idea; but that a memory of one show he'd seen a month back interrupted that. An actress pinned another under for nearly half an hour before the latter fainted from the pressure. Even the more common, gentler shows could take a wrong turn; besides, they were public. The teen's fear, shame, and reason narrowly beat out his libido, though not enough for him to stop his search.

Streams were also too open. If a wide enough audience knew he had a hacked device, it could grab some attention from unwanted people. He wanted to know he could get away fast before leaping in front of a camera. And one-on-one chat-rooms? If someone was expecting him, that would just ruin the fun!

The desktop's icons all loaded. Mark clicked on his browser and made his decision, eyes shifting in either direction. He needed a place to enter and exit quickly, leave no traces, where he could be totally anonymous. He typed in the URL: "www.4chan.org/por/".

The first topic forced his hand over his mouth. It bore a portal address, with the image field containing a hairy, broad-shouldered man in a bright pink dress. The people replying, 100 posts down, were in some sort of heated debate about the merits of handplay. That was all it took for him to close the window. No need to expose himself to that quite yet. 4chan might be fun later, but it was risky. He wanted to test this in a controlled place; one with the lowest danger possible. A safe space.

"A safe space," the young prodigy mentally repeated to himself. "A safe space..."

He replaced the URL with the following: "www.tumblr.com".

Theeere it was. At least one blog there was bound to have a receiver ID. Mark typed in a few keywords, looking among the users. After a few good minutes of sifting through arguments, half-asleep rambling, fan art, and reblogged quotes, he landed on a target.

Typing the code into his device, it came up with an error - "Receiver closed, not accepting request signals. Try again later." With only a few button presses, he made it disappear, replaced with the entry portal to a new room. Shutting his eyes in excitement, the boy stepped in.

The very first thing that struck Mark was the smell. Sickly sweet. Artificial, but distinctly strawberry-like; an air freshener, probably. A warm glow emerged from a sun-like orb high in the sky. The boy had to squint and stare for a moment before he realized it was just a lantern. Its illumination spread over pastel-coloured walls in the distance, filled with photos of handsome boys, cute animals, and Union Jacks. Some cut-out letters hung next to each other, forming motivational slogans. A purse rested right next to the receiver; it had an even coating of buttons with smiling faces on them, some of which Mark recognized as video game characters.

He'd made it. Holding the device tightly, he took a moment to let it all soak in. Sure, he'd been small before - but with nobody in the room, it suddenly felt vast. A whole world of possibilities spread out, far beyond mere voyeurism.

Feeling like a brave explorer, he took his first step from the receiver, to the table. A slight tap sounded when his shoe hit the wood, like a pebble being tossed into a lake. And indeed, an ocean of bed sheets laid barely out of reach. Aiming the device at a plushie resting on it, Mark fired - and with another shot just below his feet, he teleported himself there, sliding down the doll's fuzzy surface to the sheets. With a laugh, he moved his arms in a paddling rhythm, feeling the silky-smooth cover giving way under his tiny arms.

Something creaked suddenly to his right.

An alarm blared in Mark's miniaturized head; the weight of all his worries accumulated over the device crushed him in one stomp. He instantly pressed a few buttons on the device, sealing the portal. As the door opened wider, he hid in a ridge formed by the sheet, eyes peeking out and darting around quickly. Finally, they fell on the creature that opened the door, remaining stuck there.

The walls contrasted the deep, blue-dyed hair, waving cleanly with a little white ornament at the top. It wobbled as she walked forward, along with the rest of her body; Mark had trouble telling if it was just his perspective, or if she was so jumpy that her assets jiggled with every movement. A soft humming rang out from her lips - moving between various peppy songs that the diminutive boy couldn't put his finger on. He got a jolt of fear as her face turned his way - the wide eyes swallowed him, and the little smirk below her wiggling nose didn't make him feel "safe" in any sense.

Her pale hand reached out, sweeping above him; the digits skillfully wrapped around the plushie he'd just slid down. She pulled it into her arms and caressed it, with all the glee of a girl half her age. Mark simply kept staring as her soft breasts squeezed it, giving way to the toy's form gently before wrapping around its sides. If he'd stayed on that animal, he might've been mauled in the blogger's bosom. Or he might've simply been caught between them, caressed in their warmth. She placed it back down with an echoing giggle, showing how effortlessly this blue-haired girl could shape the vast landscape. Like a goddess...

Well, only a goddess as long as Mark was in her room. And certainly not an omniscient one. He didn't want to deify any old person when he could teleport away, and meet another girl just as big and impressive. If anything, the idea that every girl would look like a towering colossus made Mark feel even smaller. This was only his first test, a drop in the pond, the beginning of a whole world of adventures! Why waste time here when he could be -

A thump below interrupted this train of thought. The massive room's owner had her back turned to the bed. Her skirt lay on the floor. Both huge digits had slipped into the waistband of her frilly underpants. The individual strands making the clothing visibly twisted to encompass her heavy backside as she pulled down. It seemed to wiggle teasingly, the crack between both plump cheeks peeking out gently. Before he could register what was happening, her left leg darted up, she started tugging it further down the soft thigh.

Mark considered this new development seriously. Why rush when he could enjoy the fruits of his success? The juicy, perfectly-round, peach-coloured fruits just a few feet away... Maybe he could stay a few more seconds.

Whilst SCIENCE awaited, Mark could not flee - he made it his duty to stay in the room, watching the giant blogger undress.

Her posterior was slowly freed of its underwear, a few drops of sweat visible from Mark's place on the bed. It kept rhythmically bopping while her lips kept leaking the Frankensteinian mishmash of upbeat pop songs. The white frills of the panties were now spread out over the carpet's fibers below.

Sure, portals weren't new, and this perspective wasn't exactly fresh; but something about this pulled him in. The mountainous scale of her backside? The thrill of taboo? Her seeming lack of attention?

By that point, she'd started to move her hands near her chest. She fiddled with something between them for a second; her top became looser, sliding a little down her slender shoulders, and her hands moved lower to continue the process. Mark realized: she was taking her shirt off. He tried glancing around her for a better view, but her chest lay juuuust out of his field of vision...

Wait! The portal device!

Aiming at the sky-like ceiling, the miniaturized teen created a portal right above the blue-haired girl. Her humming stopped for a second; he froze, hiding behind a tiny clump of sheets. When his head peeked back up, his titanic hostess simply shrugged and kept unbuttoning. All clear. He shot a portal right next to him on the bed; sticking his neck in, he directed his gaze downwards.

It was bizarre, looking at her from above; she didn't seem so overwhelmingly massive at this height. Her facial structure suggested she was around his age. And indeed, as she undid more of her shirt, her bra slowly became exposed. He squeezed in tighter, trying to get a better perspective.

A few footsteps shook the shrunken visitor; he held the side of the bed for support. This girl was now moving to her closet, reaching in for something. Some fancy costumes stuck from out of it, with unnaturally bright colors. Was that a martial artist's gi? And a pirate's outfit hanging to the left of it? And right there - a jumpsuit? She finally pulled out a sailor uniform, with a new pair of underpants, walking back to the center of the room with them. This titaness he chose at random - was she some sort of cosplayer?

At that second, she peeked upwards.

In shock, Mark's arms flung back - knocking the rest of his body through the portal. He fell from the ceiling, watching the photos decorating the wall become a blur. His eyes centered on this girl, as did her eyes on him. Her jaw dropped instantly, revealing a cavernous mouth - that he was heading right towards! No matter what he tried to do to steer away, the shrunken boy was victim to the forces of gravity as he passed her pink lips. He brushed briefly against her tongue, his face dampened with her saliva, before her esophagus' muscles grabbed hold of him.

Her voice echoed everywhere, but the sound of her heartbeat and motion of her muscles drowned it out. Mark had no idea if she was even saying anything concrete, or just choking. It almost seemed like she was trying to say "I can't breathe!" The slimy walls groped him up and down, feeling around his minute body. A sudden force jammed him in the ribcage; it felt like this massive girl was pressing against her neck. He squirmed helplessly, completely closed in by the mass of muscles and fluids.

With a few more painful tugs, and an ear-splitting gulp, the walls pushed him further along - forcing Mark into the belly of the blogger. The stomach acids below were like a lake, with little islands of half-digested snacks and pools of coffee. After another fall, Mark landed headfirst into part of a doughnut. The sweet taste filled his mouth, mingling oddly with all the odors around. He heard the soft sloshing of liquid below, like waves in a sea. The pinks walls all around pulsated in and out, with odd moans and groans. His hand grasped the portal device tightly, struggling for anything solid in this shifting digestive microcosm.

The portal device! Thinking quickly, he fired right below himself; it might overload the gun, but it would be worth it for the fresh, fruity air. And once again, he began falling - this time with his eyes shut, not daring to see where he'd land.

It stopped. He felt like his body was still falling, but there was something underneath him. Warm, with slight crevices. Opening his eyes, Mark looked around; the colour of white flesh. The blue-haired cosplayer caught him again - this time, with her hands. Her face stood only a few feet away, eyes wider than ever. He was at a loss for words. She stared closer, nose twitching a little; it was hard to see her mouth from the way she'd positioned it. The huge pupils glanced to the portal, then Mark's face.

The girl murmured quietly, thought Mark could hear: "I... I can't even..." After a second, she spoke up:

"Ooh! Just what I needed for my costume!"

The two shared a mutual, awkward stare for a moment. Her blue eyes blinked calmly, as if what she said explained everything. Mark just lay in her palm, dripping with chewed-up sugary food, trying to make sense of the cosplayer's words. Slowly, his captor's eyebrows moved, one lowering and the other rising - giving off a mixed sense of confusion and smugness. He still couldn't make out her mouth from the position - never mind the chest that he risked his life to catch a glimpse of.

Mark shuddered, still holding onto the portal device. He tried firing it behind him, not even bothering to aim, just rapidly pulling the trigger. All he got was progressively briefer fizzles. He tried to edge back, but the tips of her slender fingers formed an impenetrable wall, through which nothing - and nobody could pass.

There was a weird wobbling below his back. The floor got closer - then further away. She reached down to her discarded shirt, holding it between her fingers - and roughly rubbed a corner over his teensy body, cleaning some of the junk she'd picked up in her stomach. There was just a hint of care in her touch, like she'd handled smaller people without breaking them before. However, her shirt's smell wasn't exactly freshening. The strength made him drop the portal to the ground. Drat! At the very least, she didn't seem to have noticed it.

As she squeezed Mark's limbs, she noted: "Yeah, the muscle definition there's a liiittle lacking, but I'm not one encourage negative body images..." From this view, he could finally see her face in full detail - and every little flex and motion her tongue and lips made as she was wiping him clean. Continuing, she flopped him on his stomach, scrubbing his back, and rolled him back up. When her careful hands came up to his cheeks, she nearly screamed in excitement. "Your face, though! It's so symmetrical! If I took a letter opener and ran it down the center of your skull - we'd have matching halves! Veeeeery nice." At this, her pinky finger slipped from the side of the shirt, her nail lightly tracing a line from Mark's forehead to his chin. She giggled a little as it came to the base. "Also, I like your shoelaces."

Trying to get on good terms with this girl, he spoke to her: "Uh, we've obviously gotten off on the wrong foot here. My name's Mark. What's yours?"

Her eyes were half-shut, face moving slowly into a smug grin. "Really. You enter a girl's place, and you don't know her name. Theoretically speaking, if something bad were to happen to you here, you wouldn't even be able to tell the police where you are." Her eyes loomed closer, staring him down.

At this, Mark shivered. Did she really mean this? Still attempting to appeal to her humanity, he said: "P-please, don't kill me. Or enslave me. And d-don't make me into a pet."

"I'll do far worse." A catlike grin swept across her face. "I'm going to OBJECTIFY you!" The blue-haired blogger dropped her shirt, lifting the now-free hand to her mouth to let out an echoing, artificial laugh that could only be described as Oh-hohohohohooo! Out of fear, Mark made no reaction, simply frozen in place. Once she blogger noticed this, she gulped, her face turning a bit red. "Er-hrm. It'd probably be easier just to show what I mean."

"What." Still too shocked and unsure to muster any emotion, his utterance was barely-audible and completely flat.

Her fingers fidgeted up and down as she leaped around the room, looking for something. The same odd mishmash of pop tunes rang through her lips, now much closer to Mark. Her erratic movement gave him a closer look at the room's decorations - from the posters on the wall to the toy animal he'd landed on. She petted the plush creature, before finally tossing a sneaker on the bed with a loud THUMP. Mark watched, still anxious to retrieve his portal device, as she undid the laces, and pulled them straight out of the shoe. It looked not unlike a thick, black rope. The comparison became even more suitable as she clutched his wrist, and tied one end of the lace around it.

Finally, she released his tiny body from her palm. He felt himself in free-fall for a terrifying moment, before, like a bungee cord, the shoelace bounced him back up. And up. And even higher still. He felt himself being lifted by the strings, feet unable to touch the ground. Finally, after a long rise, he dropped quickly onto another soft surface. Mark gulped. It didn't take long for him to realize where his captor had placed him. Two great hills on either end of him, covered in white cloth. Above, the girl's face craning down to look all over him. The binding shoelace was wrapped around her neck.

The cosplayer was using Mark like a necklace.

"There! Isn't that, like - it just makes you want to give all of your yes, doesn't it?" Mark struggled, kicking into her cleavage, trying to push his way out. Violently grabbing for a pair of thick glasses, the tumblr girl put them on before explaining: "I mean - sure, it's the perfect way to have a little Tinkerbell or Navi accessory for my costumes. But also, wearing a human like clothing? That'll seriously get people talking about how they treat women like accessories. And men, sometimes. And maybe about how much others have to suffer to make clothing we wear everyday. Really - " she cupped her hands around each of her breasts, bouncing them up a little to snuggle their captive - "isn't it our duty to encourage discussion about this stuff?"

Still trying to get away, Mark protested: "But isn't - isn't this - URGH - kinda mean?"

She paused for a moment, a finger underneath her chin. He could feel her breathing underneath him, as her lungs expanded and shrunk rhythmically. Finally, she answered: "Of course not, you silly little thing!" She poked him teasingly in the face, his whole body squeezed into the cleavage. "It's a social experiment! Not to mention - it's a-dore-a-ble!"

The diminutive boy's heart sunk as he kept trying to squeeze out. Nope, this girl couldn't be reasoned with. Time to abort the mission. But the shoelace around him was astoundingly tight - and her chest's shape made it hard for him to move one way or the other. Every time he squirmed, he felt himself sliding down one mound, and pressed into another.

"Besides," she said, "you know what's really mean? Sneaking into people's places without asking their permission! I mean, sneaking into their houses when they give you permission is fine, but I don't remember telling anyone they could surprise me here."

Mark pressed both legs against the chest, trying to push himself away. If he put enough pressure in, maybe, the rope would snap...

In an instant, the teensy boy felt himself being lifted from his fleshy prison. The young cosplayer had undone his restraints. She dangled him in front of her eyes, still glimmering with that same weird mix of knowing confidence and thinly-chained excitement. "But still, I want to make sure you're not -too- uncomfortable. So if you don't like being breast-bound..."

The blogger squatted down, lifting her left foot up. She twisted the constraining ropes around her ankle, as her heel flexed in and out slowly. She was planning to use him as an anklet, now?! Mark's head turned away in disgust - and, to his brief relief, he could make something out on the carpet. The portal device! At first glance, it looked relatively unharmed. This could give him a good excuse.

"Listen," Mark started - spitting a bit as his mouth hit the side of her leg - "This is a big misunderstanding. My portal device kinda fried up, and it zapped me into your room. I didn't mean to intrude, at all. Ever. Anywhere. So if you could just send me back..."

Still occupied tying the little accessory to herself, the girl spoke back: "Impossible. Those devices are tested like crazy. Why would it just leap you into a random receiver - and a locked one, too?"

His hands fidgeted together as much as they could, with the strain of the rope-like shoelace on them - along with the pressure from her skin as she flexed her foot around to see it from all angles. "I kinda... I might've made a modification or two."

Suddenly, he dropped to the floor - hard. She let go of him completely. For the first time, he could see the full view of her body from the front; and it was impressive from this angle, especially her nicely-shaped thighs. But more urgent matters were at hand. He tried to reach for the portal; but before he could regain his breath, the blogger had already snatched it up in her index and thumb, and was eying it curiously. She took a pair of glasses from her table - but it was obviously just for show, as they didn't have any lenses.

"You HACKED this? Do you know what that could mean?"

From the floor, he shrugged quietly. "I'm a really smart guy?"

"Let's analyze what could happen here!" She flipped it around, with a concerned gaze. "A: men in black will try to chase you down and squash you. B: someone wanting to take over the world could steal this. Or, finally, C: the device glitches out, makes a portal somewhere in another dimension, aaaaand demons start coming from the moons of Mars."

Her hand fiddled idly around the trigger - in quick succession, the device shot out two portals onto the floor. With exaggerated curiosity, the girl adjusted her fake glasses - and with a misplaced twitch, dropped them into the entrance. They came out on the other side, quite a bit larger than her head. Now, her surprise gained a whole new level.

"That... That shouldn't happen! How much did you modify this device, anyway?"

Mark remained quiet. In trying to make excuses, he'd only dug himself deeper and deeper in - and now, she had his gun. If he said the wrong thing, demons from Mars' moons would be the least of his concerns.

The blue-haired cosplayer gave the device a quick look-over again. She touched the frame of the giant, fake glasses slowly, testing to make sure they were real.

"Well," she shrugged, "that happened." She kicked the thick frame back through the portal, and watched it pop back out at normal size, expertly catching it in her left hand. With her right, she placed the device down. "I'd -love- to see exactly how much trouble this thing could cause, if you hadn't come so close to the con's opening."

Mark stayed silent, feeling her prancing shake the carpet while she faded into the distant cupboard. The room to her door was much too far away for him to reach. His hipster hostess, high in the sky, glanced over her shoulder to make sure he was still there.

"Don't look so nervous, I've got a costume for you already! It's classy, not too common, not something that'll look silly in a year... Yet, easy to identify!" She tossed a faded green tunic out - it landed over the boy's tiny body, hiding the world behind a fabric curtain. As quickly as she'd placed it on him, she tore it off and sent it through the portal on the wall. It popped out from the floor, shrunken. At that size, Mark could indeed recognize it: Link's tunic from Zelda.

"That's your costume." The colossal cosplayer gave the look of a game show host about to reveal an answer. "As for mine..." Her immense heel popped while she reached into the cupboard, pulling out a pink wig, a flashy gold bikini, and fake plants. She grinned down widely, spreading her arms a mile out, as if she were waiting for applause. "The Great Fairy! I WOULD say this could be very enjoyable for you, but that'd be making assumptions about your sexuality." For another moment, they were both totally silent again. Mark just staring up as the mountain of a young woman started slipping in, removing more of her clothes... "Well, put it on! We're tight for time!"

Mark looked at the tunic, shaking his head. "Are you crazy?" He gazed back at the woman, skin still nearly-flawless even when it looked enlarged multiple times.

She tisked. "Language." Seeing how the minuscule Mark wasn't moving, she took the dressup job into her own hands - as well as her victim. Her fingernail dove into his shirt, tearing a hole in it. The teen shuddered, but didn't dare to squirm. Soon, his clothes were in tatters, leaving his body exposed to the elements. The titan manipulating him smiled, wide enough to swallow him whole again - but it was hard to tell why. Did she like what she saw? Had she come up with some scheme? Was she just holding back laughter at his pathetic shrunken body? Whatever the case, it stayed as she slid the costume onto him. She grabbed the golden chain of a necklace from her drawer, and wrapped it around him.

He kept still, mostly out of fear. This costume couldn't possibly work. No matter how cute or manipulative this girl might be, she'd be wearing a struggling, shrunken man in plain sight. SOMEONE would notice and save him.

"By the way," she said, "you'd better behave at the con. It'd be a shame if this smart boy with such a promising future was found guilty of breaking-and-entering a lady's chambers with an illegally-modified and unpredictable gun." The close-up motion and sound of her winking eyelashes nearly made Mark hurl.

"There!" She laughed, putting the cap on. The golden chain fit snugly around his waist "You look perfect. Now, wait in this box until I'm ready!" She looked around the room momentarily, putting a finger to her mouth. "Box, box box box..." Her eyes closed in on the size device near the table. She nodded to it. "I'll have to bring that along... Oh, this works!" She dashed towards the cupboard, and pulled out a white boot, taller to Mark than most buildings downtown. She let her grip loosen, watching from afar as he plummeted in - making a soft landing in the heel area. Rubbing a newly-formed bruise, he gazed up, staring right into her blue eyes. The faint odor of female musk entered his nose.

He tried the best he could to calm down, and possibly appease her. "L-look... I screwed up with the size device. I can understand that. Sort of. But really - keeping me trapped in this empty, smelly - I mean, a barren room without any food or water? Isn't that a bit t-too far?"

The blogger's lower lip flopped down. She crossed her arms in disgust, glaring back down. Then her mouth trembled. Followed by her hands. Then her nose started wriggling. Finally, she put a hand to her mouth and gasped: "Ohmigod, why are you doing this to me? No, I - well, yeah, but - you're right! You're absolutely right!" She turned her head in shame. "I am figuratively Hitler right now! I can't ignore your basic human rights!"

Mark sighed happily, his head feeling lighter - he hoped it was from the sense of freedom, not from the humid air. His captor's shadow went away, illuminating the shoe's interior; but from the sounds of her continued fretting, she hadn't gone far. When she came back, she held the portal device, and fired it - but the opening landed just above Mark's reach. With that, she dashed away again, shaking the floor.

Confused, he gazed into it - and a bag of chips emerged from the other end, shrunken. The shrunken teen looked closer; a shrunken soda bottle hit him squarely in the jaw.

"There!" Her voice boomed from the other side. "I won't keep you in without food or drink! Oh, also..." She pushed the following items into the portal: a romance novel; volume 2 of an untranslated manga with pretty boys in uniforms; a poster reading "hang in there"; and a bottle of peach-scented air freshener. "Now you're all set."

"Great..."

...

Mark had trouble telling how long he stayed in for. For a while, he wondered if the convention was even starting that day - the blogger could have a slanted definition of "tight for time".

None of the entertainment the blue-haired girl brought into the boot was of much interest. And every time the little Hero of Time tried to relax and think of a way out, he could feel the walls shaking.

He realized: there was a balance tying him in place, along with the golden chains. She could only threaten him as long as she had his modified size ray. If he could retrieve his device, she had no evidence of his intrusion; he could teleport away. Even if he managed to slip out WITHOUT the gun, she couldn't ask someone to help her chase him - or else she'd be arrested, too, for kidnapping. But how to esxcape from inside her worn footwear, or tied to her body? He tried loosening the chains around him again and again - to no avail.

Finally, the shaking halted. Her smiling face loomed above - now heavily made-up and decorated with sparkles, but still overpoweringly cheerful and confident. If anything, the Great Fairy costume made her features more striking and intimidating. "Welcome to the con! They're just slowly catching onto portals in this town, so you'll look ESPECIALLY stunning here." She glimpsed back and forth before chuckling: "It also means the Weapons Check didn't think to look for shrunken guns!"

The glittery fairy tugged the tunic-clad hero out by the binding golden links, wobbling him back and forth a little. She turned it around in a circle, giving him a panoramic view of the convention center. They were in an immense hotel lobby, with many warm lights - like twelve suns in the distance - and rows of powerful doors shutting off even larger rooms. This area was fairly closed-off, but he could hear loud chatter of dozens of other titans just around the corner.

"It's a smaller venue, but what can I say?" She tucked the boot in a bag. "I like the personal feel these have. Less celebrity showoffs, more cool costumes!"

Her voice was low, but there were very few people there - only a couple of boys caught in an argument. Both had pretty snappy suits, one blond and one brunet. They spoke with animated voices and motions. Suddenly, the latter started shouting louder, and leaning forward in an aggressive motion...

"Hey!" The Great Fairy cosplayer noticed them and shouted, hurting her shrunken passenger's ears. "Leave him alone!"

The blond, shivering, said: "No, i-it's okay, we can handle..."

"Mind your own business, Gilda!" The brunet answered with a glare. Mark saw his captor's long, almost-bare arm reach behind her head, snatching his device and taking aim. "What are you-" A portal opened under his feet, cutting him off. A flash of surprise twinkled in his eyes, turning to fear as he fell in - and emerged from a portal on the wall, not much taller than Mark.

She approached the other boy, cooing calmly: "It's okay. You're safe now." He yelped like a cornered kitten and scurried away. His shrunken companion tried to follow, screaming, before she brought her boot down on him. Opening-first. She scooped him inside, trapping him in the same makeshift room Mark just exited.

She tucked it away in her bag once more. "Huh, the response time's faster than the rentals. That's some great tinkering you did!" She wiped it on her costume, looking down to the chained teen, before pulling it back up again. "Aren't you happy I'm putting it to good use? Stopping bullying, shifting paradigms, and looking pretty cute while doing it~"

Mark groaned. If she made a habit of firing the portal device off, she could get in trouble - and that'd mean she'd have nothing to lose by revealing his work.

"Alright!" The cosplayer interrupted his thoughts. "As promised, I'll let you choose how I wear you. Bracelet, necklace, or anklet - what would work best?"

"Good choice! You'll be in full view!" She picked up the golden chain bound to his waist, and slid it over her pink wig.

Yeah, Mark thought. And safe from being stepped on.

Just like during her trial earlier, he fell between the two mountain-like, pale orbs of smooth skin. The chain behind him was all that kept the teen from losing himself in her cleavage. She pressed both tits together, securing him in place - and testing his resistance to compression he'd be subjected to later. It would be a long day for him in her immense chest.

The little Hero of Time felt his world wobbling for a moment while his captor took out a pamphlet. "It's still a while before any panels or screenings I'd like to go to." Her finger tapped on the paper. "Can't miss the one on gay superheroes. Or Evangelion ReDeath, that's always waaay better when you watch it in a crowd." Mark took a glimpse of the paper, noticing a map: that gave him an idea of the convention's layout, at least. Besides a few rooms for workshops and such, they had set a spot aside for reading, arranged a sizable gaming room, and drawn arrows pointing to the hotel's bathrooms and cafeteria. She pulled it away again and declared: "So our first stop is the Dealer's Lounge! It's always full of people, so I'll have a great chance to show off - I mean, show you off!" She hummed again. "I wonder if I'll meet a handsome guy for the dance at the end? What do you think?"

Mark shrugged. "If you don't shrink them and get us arrested first."

She laughed it off, squeezing him tighter than before. "Silly! I'm not going to shrink anyone... Who doesn't deserve it. I have standards."

With that, they set in motion. The hall was warmly-lit, giving both cosplayers a perfect view of the other guests. The attendees' demographics skewed slightly towards female. As the blogger had said, many were in costume, looking bright and full of energy. Some really elaborate (or revealing) getups made Mark's head turn; usually followed by his new owner turning it back, with suppressed anger in her forceful fingers. A few people glanced down at his shrunken costume, too. They often giggled or cooed, noting how adorable it was. Others gave looks of worry and unease - before continuing on their way, deciding that if nobody else seemed concerned for the boob-bound little boy caught in chains, they shouldn't bother. Some guys gave him discrete thumbs-ups; as if bouncing back and forth near a hipster's bikini top at miniscule size was some sort of accomplishment. One girl patted him on the head, removing his hat - when his holder reach down to grab it, her chest swayed from the natural pull of gravity. He felt like a bungee-jumper. Soon, she reached back up, and stuffed him in place again.

It took time for Mark to get used to his carrier's bouncing. She leaped towards anything or anyone that grabbed her attention, causing unexpected shifts in Mark's sense of gravity. The constant thunder of footsteps and chatter was like a rhythm she danced to, gracefully weaving in and out of crowds. He shivered with every motion, feeling like he'd disappear among the sea of towering outfits if she placed one step the wrong way.

There was a close scrape as she bumped into someone else; he was very nearly squashed between the Great Fairy's tits and another pair. The feeling of supple skin pressing from one side while cotton attacked from another wasn't painful - more "suffocating and claustrophobic." They both apologized to each other quickly, before the other visitor noticed her tunic-clad accessory.

"Wow! That's sooo cute!" She brushed Mark's face, leaning in with glowing eyes. "Did you actually sew that little costume?"

The tiny teen could feel her body heat rising. She said: "Hah, no - my hands aren't that precise. I just miniaturized one I made before."

"Do you mind if I have a picture?" The other girl tugged a cellphone from her fake school uniform. "I'd love to show this to my girlfriend, we've been looking for inspiration!"

"For your GF, sure! Any particular pose?" They started walking to an a wall, partly out-of-the-way.

She shrugged. "Uhm... let's let him decide."

Mark squirmed a bit, holding tightly to his chain. "How about an action shot, with me riding on her ear..." ...next to the portal device, he thought. As long as she held it, there was a chance that he could escape.

"Don't be so shy!" His kidnapper laughed. "You're the star, you'll be in focus! How does this sound: a long, passionate kiss?"

Mark flinched. Was this some kind of trick? "S-sure?"

With that, she placed an index finger under either of his tiny arms, and lifted him from her chest. The chain was long enough for him to reach her lips. Her glossy, pink lips, with every line in them perfectly visible, slowly puckering out and approaching his body.

"Yes!" The cameragirl cheered, focusing her view. "Keep on pretending to reel back in horror, that's perfect!" Obediently, he kept trying to squirm aside as the lips engulfed him. He could feel a faint drip of saliva sneaking into his neck, making him gasp. The air smelt vaguely like her stomach. His face was turning green as his costume. The photographer tapped the screen, before moving to a lower angle. "Nice desu ne, nice desu ne... Alright, thank you!" With one more snap, she gave both The Great Fairy and her necklace a thumbs-up. "I'd love to try something like that!"

The blogger gave an overly polite bow, before depositing Mark back into her bosom. "Doesn't that feel great? You've inspired a nice girl, and your pictures will go all over the Internet!"

Was that supposed to make him happy?

Suddenly, the girl's eyes flashed at something in the distance. "Oh, that's cool!" Her hands clapped together. Barely leaving Mark enough time to gulp, she set off in motion again, this time in full sprint. Her passenger felt the velocity pushing him back against her torso while the world turned into a messy blur around. The fairy cosplayer was fluttering over to...

The Great Fairy cosplayer practically leaped up, sending Mark flying. Like a leash, the chain tugged him down, headfirst into his captor's chest. The flesh, wobbling back and forth, engulfed his face as she danced between stray convention-goers, target blaring in her eyes. He hoped the portal gun was still safely tucked behind her ear.

When the miniaturized boy finally tugged himself free (well, for given value of "free" - she still had him captured by the gold links and blackmail), he rested back, regaining his breath. His eyelids suddenly shot open. Before him, another pair of tits greeted him. They were in a white bra, with tan skin peeking through a cleavage window. They weren't as plump as the ones he was in, but they still looked shapely, soft, and - oh shit, they were coming closer.

The pink-wigged cosplayer shouted, no matter how close she was to her friend: "Thea, heeey! Requesting permission to glomp, captain!"

A voice came from the chest before Mark, lower-pitched and smoother: "Glomps from Fountain Fairies are always permitted, Kat!"

So, that was her name. Kat.

In that moment, as the girls wrapped their arms around each others shoulders, and squeezed one another with a force that could tear bones in half, Mark learned the true meaning of a "glomp". The jiggling walls slid around on either end of him; four breasts kneading him like dough. Instantly, the Great Fairy's tight cleavage squeezed his right leg. When he pulled it out, it just sent his whole minuscule frame flying into the new girl's bosom. He swore mildly, pushing back with all his might - the only result was chuckles all around.

The tiny teen gripped to his chain for some form of stability. Fingers between the gold-coloured links, he tugged upwards, hoping to remind Kat of his presence. It made the latex from the new girl's top brush across his back; and soon, her skin, too.

Suddenly, the walls pulled back. He gasped in relief. The glomp ended. However, due to Mark's actions, his holder's necklace had gotten caught in the cleavage, which dripped slightly with con funk. This latter - Thea, her name was? - reached a white-clad hand down to undo it - only to draw it back when she noticed the boy in her boobs.

He looked up. Her eyes were tiny with shock, and her round lips trembled. She had a more extreme reaction to his presence than any other con attendee. Then again, he hadn't been this close to anyone else. This girl had clear glasses; real ones, unlike her friend. Also, she looked a spot younger than Kat - and darker-skinned, though he couldn't tell if it was a tan or natural. Her hair was brown with a pale streak, done in a ponytail.

Finally, her mouth opened: "A... A tiny guy?"

The Great Fairy cosplayer, who Mark was still chained to, lifted a hand to her mouth in concern. "Oh, sorry! I forgot, you're afraid of shrunken people, aren't you?"

"N-no! I'm /Co/lette, a superhero who knows no fear!" This new cosplayer squealed, as she felt the little body tugged out from her chest. Her face went in a mildly pained expression, biting into her plush lip. Finally, with Mark loose, her bare shoulders slumped over in relief. From her partly exposed chest to her shorts below, the toned tower of a torso seemed to deflate. Mark noticed she was wearing bulky gauntlets with green decorations, and leggings with bare feet. Her whole uniform was a silvery white, with black highlights.

Kat groaned a bit, placing a hand to her hip. She bounced Mark's body up and down in her hand, fingers fiddling harshly with his tunic. "I don't get your obsession with those cape comics at all. They either go too dark, or too silly."

Even with the tiny Link snatched out of her chest, Thea still eyed him cautiously, as if he were a rabid dog. Despite that hesitation, the costume - apparently of a character named "/co/lette" - gave a look of valiance to her. She flipped her bespectacled eyes to the side as if this were an answer she'd given many timed before. "They have a great sense of scale. And the devotion some guys have to justice is a real inspiration, especially in those grittier comics. Gives us stuff to think about."

"Meh." The girl from tumblr re-ajusted her necklace, roughly poking Mark in place. He felt her skin stretch against his body to accommodate the force, before bouncing back; once again engulfing him in this inescapable trap. "If I'm going to have grand-scale battles and philosophical musings, give me Gundam any day. I'd prefer at least some subtlety in it."

Thea grinned brightly. "Yeah, of course you'd prefer the series with more hot anime guys in military uniforms."

She chuckled back, patting the side of her arm. "Don't act like I haven't seen the filthy subreddits you browse."

For a second, amid their shared laughter in the center of a bustling crowd, Mark let himself join in their cheer. The familiarity in their voices, and the nonchalance they emitted, brought them just a smidgen closer to Earth. Finally knowing his captor's name, seeing someone tease her - it made this young woman look less like a distant target of his perversions, or a fearful incarnation of vengeance, and more like, well, a young woman.

Another contemptuous glare from Thea, though, reminded him: he was still completely at these girls' mercy. Even if he could escape from this squishy prison, the woman chained to him to still held his portal device. And this other, ponytailed cosplayer - what was she intending to do with him? He could see the ridges of her index as she shook it before him. "Where'd you get this little thing, anyway?" Her tongue slithered on "thing", as if she knew it was the wrong word, but couldn't think of anything better. "I didn't think you had a portal device. Or a boyfriend."

"Oh-ho? 'Boyfriend' - careful with those assumptions!" He felt the center of gravity shift slightly, as Kat's great body leaned forward. If she went any closer, he might be dangling loosely. Before him, the other pair of tits stood perfectly still. "It's a secret to everyone, but..." The excited giggle rumbled his body. "This guy actually came into my room with a hacked portal device!"

"Eeehh!?" The girl opposite drew back, eyes widening, examining the human accessory closer than before. She quickly came in closer, almost squeezing him again. "Are you serious?"

Mark shuddered a little, feeling her prying gaze shatter what was left of his dignity. "Y-Yeah... I was experimenting with a size device, and it zapped me there." Her mouth opened slightly, as if this little thing communicating was a miracle of science. He TECHNICALLY wasn't lying, but saying he went in willingly might be a bit much for him. "I-I just wanted to get in and out quickly, but... K-Kat's got the device now."

"And I still have it with me!" She laughed out. The motion sent Mark flying off the breasts, and hurtling to the floor... Before the chains still clutching his body brought him back up. He hung millimeters before Thea's enormous features, drinking them all in as his torso ached. He swung slightly, like a clock's pendulum. "Not only is he the PERFECT prop for my costume, but I get to keep a dangerous weapon out of the wrong hands!"

"His hands look kinda bony..." Thea mumbled hesitantly.

The Great Fairy suddenly snatched him back up. "If he's making you uncomfortable, I can tuck him away. I've already got another one in my bag." Her fingers fiddled with his chains. The links snapped apart easily - almost disgustingly, considering how much the boy had struggled to get loose.

"There's - more of them?" Her voice bore the delight of someone who'd found a wasp nest in her cupboard.

With a proud swing of her handbag, the lighter-haired cosplayer nodded. "Saw him bullying someone. Prrrrobably going to set him free sometime. He doesn't really have that narrow, girlish look that Mark's got."

"Thank you. I'm flattered." He murmured, sinking into her palm. The relief of being able to stand on both legs was partly offset by the huge drop below. And to his side, the huge nose of his captor's friend twitched

The green-and-yellow-clad cosplayer shot a smug glare down to him. "And you'll be flattened, too, if you keep those sassy-pants pulled up." She turned back to her friend, softening her visage. "Your call, Thea!"

"Uhm, do you mind if I..." The /co/lette cosplayer shuffled a bare foot on the ground. The crowd around seemed to only grow larger, louder. A few times, it looked as if it'd trample the two towering teens themselves. "...Could we talk it over? The accessory and I? Just to the side?"

Now it was the Great Fairy cosplayer's turn to look shocked. "Uh, sure? I mean, with how you are when it comes to tiny people."

She grabbed Mark from her friend's hand, roughly squeezing him in the folds of her palm. He felt himself tightly compressed from every angle. "Don't worry, I'll be careful with him."

The skin muffled their voices now. "Alright. But... If you ever feel uncomfortable..."

"Yeah, thanks! You're a real friend, Kat."

With a laugh, Thea stepped to the side, pumping her arms carelessly. If her grip wasn't so intense, her passenger would be bumping back and forth in her hand like a pinball. What was this girl trying to pull off? He focused on one small part of his hand, trying to keep from getting too disoriented. If she disliked shrunken people, being ready to escape could mean the difference between life and death...

He took deep breaths, absorbing the distinctive odor from her hands. Not cream. Not sweat. Just as he began feeling for places he could slip out, her hand opened. They stood off to the corner. The ceiling light above spread a strange shadow across her looming, expressionless face.

He waited for her to speak for a second, remembering how much trouble his mouth had got him into. But she just kept staring. Her palm shook gently. Slowly, he coughed, and started: "Hi... Thea? I'm Mark."

She murmured back...

"I don't like having small people around. What can I do to get you out of here?"

Mark blinked. The massive glasses before him showed a dim reflection of his confused expression. Behind that, Thea's mocha eyes remained glued on him, lashes twitching every time he fidgeted.

He answered: "I'm not here by my own will, you know. I've been trying to get away."

He stayed quiet for a moment. Obviously, she was enormous compared to him. Her /co/lette costume revealed towering curves, frightening abs, and powerful legs... Not to mention, it made her arms look HUGE, especially from this angle above the floor. If she wanted him gone, it would take no effort for her to clasp her hand, and grind him to a pulp. Or toss him to the ground, and squeeze him under the weight of her bare foot. Or even swallow him with those comfy, dark lips, smothering him between them. So why wasn't she hurting him if she wanted him gone so badly?

"Then we have a common goal. You don't want her to keep you. I don't want her arrested. And she's nice, but she's too deep into her own ideas to let you go just like that. Now, how do we get you out of her life?" The shivers and trembles going through his shrunken spine weren't his own. His holder's arm was struggling to keep still. The fingers around him each shimmied up and down erratically. Her other gauntlet was tapping against her exposed midriff in a nervous twitch, and her unsteady toes tapped impatiently.

Mark whispered on instinct, before realizing how quiet his voice was; and repeated: "Are there any portal devices around? I can get full-sized, and take the portal gun behind her ear."

She frowned, shaking her head. "Even if there were, I wouldn't let you. Knowing how you got here... I'm not giving you another chance to sneak back into Kat's receiver, or be around her at full-size." Thea shivered again, tapping her foot impatiently. "I'll wait until she's distracted, and grab the device myself. We can use that to zap you back home, before I destroy it."

The latex coating her palm felt cold and slippery under his feet - he nearly fell off. "What?" Despite his earlier horror, he screamed this, moving her hands into fists. "I worked on that thing for MONTHS! Don't treat me like I'm some sort of criminal!"

One of her eyebrows lifted - and for the first time, her cheeks raised, too. He couldn't tell if that was a genuine smile, or if she put it on because the Great Fairy was approaching. Her well-developed legs moved at a steady pace, weaving between costumed attendees. "I'm not asking you to agree. I'm taking this into my own hands. Just consider yourself lucky that /co/lette likes to stay on the good side of the law."

A quiet grumble came from his mouth - his only argument. The cosplayer kept her movements steady, careful, and poised.

Kat was quick to clutch him back up. As she wrestled the chain back on her accessory, she grinned. "Soooo, Mark! Did your soft, symmetric puppy face work on her?"

Between his torso and arms squashing against her, like they'd done so many times before, he grunted out: "Yup. We're bestest friends now! Like Batman and Robin."

Even shaking, and rubbing invisible dirt from her gauntlets, Thea couldn't avoid a coy glance. "Yes, I'm okay with having him around. But I was thinking less Bat-Family, more Task Force X."

The green-clad boy's little giggles lasted right until he remembered where that team name came from.

Kat bobbed Mark's chain up and down a few times to make sure he was soundly attached again. She brushed her hair, the ceiling light reflecting slightly off the shrunken portal device. Then she brushed his own locks, running her fingertips roughly over his scalp before returning his little green hat.

"Great! But don't get too attached to the little guy, okay? His cute, fun attitude expertly hide the cunning mind of a mad genius!" She giggled, bopping his side with her knuckle.

He let out a tiny URGH before managing a proper reply: "I... I haven't mind-controlled her or anything!" It came out half-joking, half as a plea to stop pushing him.

The /co/splayer nodded, crossing her arms. "Same goes for you, Kat. Don't hold him too tight."

"Ooh!" Her hands clasped together. "That Batman and Robin thing and the tight holding reminded me - the panel on gay supers is soon!" Kat hastily tugged a schedule from her purse, spreading the same map over Mark's eyes once again. She tapped a room three times, and made a beeline for the door - before stopping. When the shrunken teen glanced up, she was looking over her shoulder. Thea followed.

The Great Fairy impersonator held her jaw open. "Wait, you're coming? I thought you hated these kinds of panels. Thought they were cringy or something?"

The /co/lette lookalike took slower steps. "Just in a mood for giving new things a try, I guess."

Mark looked above, spotting a slyly-grinning face. "Permission to shoulder-pat, Captain?"

"Request received and acknowledged, shoulder ready for landing."

With one of Kat's hand on Thea's shoulder, and the other on the chain, the three of them trekked out of the bustling dealers' room. The same hallway from before spread out. The lighting and seats would make the hall cozy, if it weren't so unbearably huge. Somehow, after being in the wobbling gauntlet, this set of breasts he was between felt safer, their movement steadier. It was uncomfortable realizing how comfortable he'd got in this spot, peeking from a yellow bra.

Upon entering the panel, the brighter lighting disoriented Mark. Immense folding chairs spread out in even files. There were a slew of attendees - in various costumes and appearances, but mostly young, and all towering to Mark - looking to a PowerPoint at the front of the room. An X-Men uniform coated a sturdy-chested presenter at the front.

"Iceman." Thea whispered quickly, before seating herself and looking away. She seemed impressed at the costume's details.

"You're planning something." Kat mumbled back.

Her face shot back, eyes wide with shock and confusion. "What?" The projector's changing image flashed off her green gauntlets. The crowd chattered excitedly at the images onscreen, distracting them from the trio.

Kat giggled, shaking Mark a little as she squirmed into her seat. "Every time I try to drag you to these panels, you refuse. Even with their gays and capes. Why come now? There's some ulterior motive churning in your skull. Maybe..." The bright-haired girl gasped melodramatically - a few heads in surrounding seats turned. "You need to borrow some cash from me?"

Her tremendous bare shoulders to tensed up. She did a good job of making it look unintentional, Mark thought - unless there was some truth in that accusation. "I-I wouldn't... Wouldn't want to..."

She twisted the little Link cosplayer's leg up and down with casual menace. "I can see it in your face. A set of twenty action figures with a kajillion points of articulation, right?"

Watching his tiny limb stretch out like that made the /co/lette cosplayer shake a bit - not helped by the visible look of discomfort crossing his face. She began to reach forward to pull him away - but her arm froze midway, shivering in front of the boy. When Kat looked towards her, she lowered it helplessly. She could only meekly manage to word out: "E-either way. I'm happy to-to be with you here. Permission to hug?" She raised her voice a pitch, imitating her friend.

"Drats! My one weakness!" The pink-haired girl chuckled out, and opened her arms. The miniature boy prepared his body for another bust-crushing, holding himself still as possible. Thea had her gauntlets stretched towards her friend, about to reach behind the ear for the device - before taking notice of Mark, and lowering her hands. Trying to push him away from danger, the dark-haired girl moved her hand and fiddled slightly with the necklace. The desperate finnicking more as the two got closer, darkness surrounding Mark once again. Her fingers clumsily brushed against the chain links attached to the little Link cosplayer.

A snap sounded out. Thea accidentally undid the necklace.

The tiny teen felt gravity pulling harshly on him, sending him crashing towards the ground. When he looked up, all he could see was the two massive surfaces of flesh from either of his towering companions. Surfaces that got further and further away. He was crashing towards the ground, screaming.

Knowing his physics pretty well, he realized that any deceleration trauma would kill him. Even if he landed on a bit of soft skin, or one of the young women grabbed him, the sudden stop would be enough to turn him into a red dot - like Spider-Man's web on Gwen Stacy. But what could slow down his descent? All he had was these chains ties around his torso...

...Right!

Thinking quickly, he targeted Thea's silvery leggings. Like Link firing a hookshot, he swung the necklace towards it, watching the false gold wrap around it. Tugging himself in, his boots made contact with her leg. He continued sliding - but with the chains' support, he slowed down more and more. Finally, he landed safely on her feet.

"Oh... No! Not my feet, not there" The girl's deep voice became a booming whimper when she felt him brush against her large toe. It wiggled uncontrollably, sending Mark bouncing up and down. Despite his pleas, she kept moving it up and down, her whole titanic sole eventually shaking and twisting from the ankle. "Get off, get off, getoffoffoff..."

He jumped off the fidgeting structure - and landed on solid ground. For the first time in what felt like forever, there was nothing squishy underneath his soles. No sounds of breathing or beating hearts around. At the same time, the shadows of the two titans spread over his surroundings. Thea took deep breaths, horrified by the ordeal. Meanwhile, Kat stroked her arm slowly, whispering "it's okay". Their gaze was off him. Nobody else was looking

Mark decided to...

Mark's eyes, parallel to rows of seated nerds' feet, shot up when he heard Thea whimpering gently. It took him off-guard. The quivering through her body was so strong that, even an inch or two away, he could feel it through the floor tiles. Kat moved from shoulders to hair, trying to return colour to her face without making a scene.

The bespectacled young woman was fine holding him in her gauntlet. So why was she so scared now, hyperventilating and shaking her head? Was it the surprise of the situation? Something sensitive about contact with her tan skin... or her bared foot, in particular? She suddenly turned her thin neck down to his floor-bound body. When their eyes met, she grimaced and turned her head into Kat's shoulder.

"I gotcha." The pink-haired hipster purred, managing a sympathetic smile. "I gotcha."

No matter what they planned to do with him, the tiny teen felt like he'd be a jerk to flee then. For sure, he still had the portal device to retrieve - but even at full-size, he couldn't just bail there.

A little bit more chatter filled the room's warmly-coloured walls, as the panel continued. Some eyes pointed to the the Great Fairy and /co/lette cosplayers, but none of them made a move. The shrunken Link caught some words from the presenter up front: "...Obviously, this character is a fetishization of the homosexual lifestyle. Not the kind of person we want representing us."

At that, one girl seated near them stood up in a huff. He recognized the costume as one of the military guys in that manga Thea gave him. A red jumpsuit, flowing cape, silver mask, and grey boots. Boots that stomped forward to him. The crossplayer stormed to the door in outrage, and the shock waves knocked Mark off his feet.

She didn't even bother looking down! Mark yelled out, trying to roll aside, out of the thick sole's shadow. Dirt sediments from the carpet floor rained down. He shut his eyes...

...But that pressure that surrounded him wasn't a hard army boot. No, this was soft. It dragged him back across the floor. Mark could feel the smooth sole rubbing against him. Bare skin. The sound of a resounding stomp landed only an inch away.

"Thea..."

The foot's soft grip left the little Link's body. He gulped, eyes snapping open again. Just as he said - the gigantic /co/lette pulled him out of danger with her foot, and was now pulling her leg back, shaking more than ever. She leaned over, hands clutched together.
"Are you - Mark - is stuff okay? Did I - my foot - did it hurt you?" The titan of a girl whispered.

He panted, dusting himself off. "Thea... I should be asking you that! You look like you saw a ghost." He got back up, coughing from the dust that clung to his body.

Meanwhile, the Great Fairy's painted face pointed towards the slamming door. Her eyebrows furrowed, and her tongue clicked. "Rude! That jerkass interrupts the whole panel, and just walks away without looking! Those steps could've killed you! And worst of all, they got angry at a valid argument! Like, wow." Giving her quivering comrade one last headpat, she brushed her hair back, pulled up imaginary sleeves, and headed for the door. "Hold my necklace, captain, I must ready the cannons."

Her exit caused more of a scene than the last one. It left the room silent for a terrifying few seconds, with Mark and Thea feeling like they had a giant searchlight on them. Neither dared to speak until the presentation resumed: "On the other end of the spectrum, if we look into Deadpool's long history with Cable..."

"Seriously, though." The little green man rubbed his arm, trying to keep a safe distance. "Thanks. I could've been cosplaying Flatman there. You're a lifesaver."

She shook her head, running a hand right beneath her hair streak. Her other hand descended to the floor. "Y-yeah, right. You forgot I dropped you down there to begin with."

Mark crossed his arms, tilting his head coyly. "...While trying to grab the portal gun! And keep me from getting glomped again!" He climbed into her fingers, steadying himself by grabbing the pinky. Her face remained distant, unmoving. He added: "You meant well."

She looked up, moving her glasses slowly until the ceiling lights hid her pupils. "It's not who I am underneath, but what I do that defines me." Her arm ascended gently, white uniform accenting its muscle definition.

Mark chuckled, looking to the front of the room. "Just keep telling yourself that, Batman."

"Hah, Kat never got that one!"

Thea's sudden volume made him jump. He was closer to her plump mouth than he thought - and those lips were turned up a hint more than they'd been a second ago.

"Really, she... She's cool. She's always helped me out." When she blinked, her eyelashes looked thick as ropes. "Sure, she cheers me up, like what you just saw. But she also helps me polish my art and give me ideas."

"You draw?" Mark asked.

She twisted a cheek to him. "Webcomic. Not really good at all. She... she cheers me on with it, though. But really, that's your first question?" Her bare shoulders rested back in the seat. Her voice was still a whisper, and still clearer than the panel. "Aren't you angry that my rescue attempt was so half-assed?"

He had to think for a moment before answering. "From what I've seen of Kat, you're right to be careful. I don't think I'd like to get her angry, even if she wasn't carrying that device."

"Th-the portal device..." Just as suddenly as Thea drew close, she stretched away, back bowing into the plastic chair. She kept her nose turned to the door.

When Mark looked, he saw the Great Fairy trotting in, having made her return. The cosplayer that nearly stomped him came with her - held tightly in-hand, pale, arms hanging limp over the side of her shrinker's thumb. As others turned their heads, she barely hid the shrunken woman behind her back, walking with the same pep and vigour of a cheerleader.

The blogger tucked the modified gizmo back in its place, and, coming to her friend, dropped the unwilling tagalong into her bag with the other. Her bare arms stretched up as she plopped back into her seat. "Theeeere we go, everything's better!"

Thea kept eyeing the bag. "No. Seriously, did you just-" She sputtered silently, halfway drowned out by the noise of people standing up and grabbing their bags. "Shrink her?"

"Sight unseen." She hummed. "Now this one, this one's got a pretty cute body. Really has that healthy look to her face that our current little accessory lacks." He couldn't do much but stare as - like many times before - she put the necklace back on, giving him a nuzzle with her chest. "Better work hard, Marky, or she could end up replacing you!"

He snickered. "Maybe we should work shifts." It was really all he could say; seeing someone who'd been that close to murdering him turned his size just hammered in the lingering danger. As long as she had that portal device, he couldn't really be safe, no matter how upbeat she was about the situation.

Thea lifted a finger, before squeezing in against her friend's shoulder - the force jostling Mark slightly. "You know that... That's illegal, right? Like, seriously, I'm saying this as a friend: you could get into jail for this." She peered down cautiously to the boy held in the Great Fairy's bosom, taking a step back. "Someone who invaded your room, that's one thing. But this woman didn't MEAN any harm. You don't know anything about her."

Kat put a hand on her hip, eyelids lowering until they formed a flat, unimpressed horizontal line across the pupil. "It's not who they are underneath, but what they do that defines them. Didn't a smart girl say that once? I've gotta teach her a lesson somehow." She stepped forward, into the crowd. For the dark-skinned girl to communicate, she'd have to raise her voice; and reveal her friend's actions to the whole convention. That couldn't happen. So, she just followed.

The moving attendees exited the room, pulling Link, The Great Fairy, and /Co/lette with them. With a glimpse at the schedule, they found themselves moving towards...

The crowd was starting to change; a distinct con funk sliding over the air. Mark felt his hair and skin getting damp. It wasn't like they'd been roaming for that long, or like his "Companions" were wearing anything that warm, so he HOPED the smell was from his own green tunic.

Kat's arm pointed forward with a force that made her right tit nudge the necklace. "Hey, look! One of those dating games! Where you find a match for the convention!" The other hand pulled on Thea's bare shoulder, moving the mountain forward. Her head leaned in, letting the chain dangle. "I see a few guys I know there - or, guys dressed up like guys I know..."

As Mark hung, feeling like a bungee jumper, he spotted a glimpse of the /co/splayer. She was unfolding a pamphlet the size of a billboard, with a map on the other end. "Huh, the schedule says they were going to show Evangelion: ReDeath here. Are you sure that's right?"

Kat brushed her hand in her bag for her phone - the Link cosplayer dangled from her arm movement. He winced at the sight of her elegant hand slapping aside the two shrunken attendees. They looked as if they'd been trapped for a week, though it wasn't even a day. The Great Fairy fluttered her thumb to an app. "Looks like they cancelled that panel. The presenter couldn't make it." She pocketed it again, not paying attention to the two shrinkees running in fear from its heaving frame. "If you're not into it, we could split up. Wasn't there a Marvel vs. Capcom tourney you wanted to see?"

The chains around Mark's waist rotated to Thea, bumping a little against the leaf-clad tits. She was looking to him while the Great Fairy was distracted, pointing to the door and nodding. One of her eyebrows slid up in question. He understood, and gave a thumbs-up.

Thea patted Kat, trying for a natural grin. "No, let's get in there. I'd hate to miss out on that, uh, action."

That felt like a step forward. Even without full trust between them, Thea was still willing to check with the shrunken teen for approval.

When he looked up, Kat's eyes were wide as saucers and glowing rainbows - but then narrowed. "You know, you're not cosplaying Tails. Don't feel like you're chained to me."

Mark groaned. "Unlike some of us." A little shake from the hipster shut him up.

Thea shrugged, brushing the streak in her hair. She eyed the bag below, running a finger over her lip. "I wanna stick around with you. Make sure he doesn't try to, you know..." She trailed off, trying to consider what the captive cosplayer was capable of doing while miniaturized and immobile.

Her pink haired companion nodded slowly. A hint of skepticism crossed her shadowed eyes - but she quickly giggled it off. "Well, let's make it a blast for you!" She prodded at the necklace, forcing Mark against her chest again. "Both of you!"

Amid a stream of colorful costumes, with expert twists around each suit and dress, the three of them entered the doorway. It already looked well underway, with the three having trouble finding seats. Onstage, a girl dressed as a butler clenched her legs together, looking at a folding screen that blocked her view of three boys. "Uh, uhm... Number 3!"

The host slinked around the screen, and pulled it back. A fursuited man holding a "3" padded over, and hugged her. Ceremonially, they took a chocolate stick from the presenter's hand, and ate it together, each taking a side. She gleefully pranced offstage with him, as the other contestants grumbled after.

The host cheered into a mic: "You've met your perfect match!" She was wearing a purple wig with a spiral to the side, and matching sweater, both bearing stylized skull decorations. Only a tights and boots covered her legs.

Kat whispered to Thea: "Cosplaying THAT dead meme? How shameless."

"What's this panel rated...?" /co/lette gently reached near her ear.

Mark peeked from her perky chest, squinting. "Who is she?"

That presenter's indigo eyes flashed with a knowing venom, leering dangerously close. It was as if she teleported into the seats. She hung in at an angle that exposed her cleavage to him, and her backside to the other rows. "Just consider me... a servant of love. Or Gail." Her pillar-like fingers lifted beneath his own leggings, as if she were lifting a green grape on a vine. "Since Minish Link's so curious, how about I make him our next lucky contestant?"

The attendees' eyes all turned to him, ranging from shocked, to laughing, to cheering. Mark fumbled in his chains. "Uh, y'see, I..."

"Hahah, go for it!" Kat cheered behind the boy. "The Great Fairy approves this, he's been a real handful!" She undid the chain, lowering him to the smooth platform of Host hand beneath. Behind her, Thea sputtered, shrinking into her seat.

"Wait a-ARGH!" With only a few steps, Mark found himself swirling between seats, on a path for the stage. Distant lights and chuckles circling him. Only adding to his nausea was the deliberate, snakelike sway of Gail's wide hips, as her boots THUMPed upstage. She deposited him on the seat, which still bore some warmth and smell from the last booty that blessed it.

The host patted him in place, before standing tall above. "The rules are simple. 3 lucky people hide behind this screen. They'll answer questions using our dollar-store voice-altering mike." She pressed buttons as she spoke, making her sound like a mouse's - then like Darth Vader's. "At the end, you will pick your soulmate - and eat Pocky with them! Now, how many fingers am I holding up?" Host hid her hand behind the barrier.

Mark squinted. Her rapid pace took him aback. What was Kat thinking? Was this a joke? Some kind of punishment? He peered through the thin holes in the screen's mesh, lifting his hand to his cap. They were far easier to see through at his scale. "Hmm, you're... You're doing a three-finger salute?"

She slapped the back of her hand to her forehead, and reeled back dramatically. "Oh, no, he can SEE through the SCREEN! Whaddya say, people, do we break out the thicker barrier?"

The crowd cheered. At his height, it was like a sea of raving titans. He only barely saw his pink-haired and brown-haired companions to the side.

Kat shouted in excitement, and turned to her friend. "Didn't I say you'd love this?"

Thea tore off her glasses, and tilted her neck. "Can't watch..."

And soon, the room darkened. Were the lights malfunctioning? No; it felt warmer...

"...Oh, come on!" Mark shouted.

Above him, Gail hovered her plump backside teasingly. Then, all at once, she struck the chair, smooshing him firmly under her. The moist, black-clad surface masticated his entire form, firmly pancaking it into the chair. His "hot seat" only grew in warmth as she slid back and forth, folding her thighs over one another. "Comfy, Link? I am!"

Well, she wasn't lying: this barricade of nylon and flesh was, by all means, thick. So thick that he could barely breathe the room's stale air.

"Now, who wants to take home a cute little Link as their date?" Her voice rattled from her purple torso down to her cheeks, jiggling Mark brusquely. The pantyhose stretched, and left little to the imagination. From beneath constricting fibers, he could still hear a few select voices from the crowd calling out; and, vaguely, Kat and Thea chattering.

"You'll be Contestant 1!" The shrunken boy saw nothing, but heard footsteps strutting up onstage, accompanied by several giggles from the crowd.

"You next, take the stage!" Quick, uneven taps sounded across the floor as the next one climbed up, accompanied by murmurs and whispers.

He tried turning his head to see - only for the host to twist in her seat, mashing him into a cheek. "No peeking, Link! And finally... Don't be shy, you join us next!" Between heavy breaths, the tiny teen made out a few slow, soft steps to the top.

"Now, with everyone in place, it's time to..."

The crowd finished: "...fall in love!" Their roar made both the seat's occupants bounce in the air; the host slamming down firmly on Mark. It knocked the wind out of him; leaving him defenseless to the all-encompassing ass. Sat on, AND forced to play this humiliating game... This was NOT what he had in mind when he entered that URL.

The fabrics stretched above, pulling the green boy with it. She was probably reaching the mic out to the crowd. "So, first question comes from the audience... You!"

It was only thanks to the solid sound system that Mark, under layers of gluteus, heard the question: "What's your favorite hobby?"

The woman leaned back in, crushing his legs. "Contestants?"

Contestant 1 spoke, voice distorted: "THIS is my hobby!" The crowd laughed a little. "Dressing up, getting out in public. Takes work, but you collect so many friends. It can change the world! Especially fun if you have some portable multiplayer games."

#2 stumbled a bit, before saying: "Internet."

Mark felt Gail take a deep breath - the backside tensing up, near him. "That's everyone! What do you do online?"

The contestant spoke again: "Uhm, I... I draw things. I draw comics. And read them." A long breath. "I want to see stories. And share what I see. Those little details you can't put in words."

With a little bounce, the host announced: "Better! Now, #3!"

The last contestant squeaked into the mic: "I can't choose. Either squishing tiny people, or torturing tiny people."

The crowd exploded in laughter.

Mark gulped.

With a chuckle, Gail put a hand to her hip. "Now, as per tradition, our lucky bachelor asks the next question. What do you wanna know, Link?"

She lowered the mic to her butt, near Mark's face. He pondered, thinking about the three previous answers. Cosplay. Comics. Crush.

He asked:

Mark wanted to be anywhere else but at the convention. In fact, he'd like to be anywhere else at that convention, rather than under this purple presenter's pantyhosed posterior. But had more keeping him down than just undergarments. Kat was blackmailing him; and the were three tiny attendees she'd kept trapped. So if he didn't want to get her angry, he'd have to play along.

But something about that first contestant's tone made him think. Mentioning cosplay, changing the world, and collecting friends... It gave him an idea. Something that could help get him out, while still not revealing him.

Gail's backside kept weighing down on him, pushing deeper into the chair. His head was getting red. No time to waste. He asked: "Where would you keep a tiny person? Like me, I mean."

With a giggle, the host tapped her backside, increasing the pressure on him slightly. "Lucky people, Link already wants to stay with you! So, your answers?"

Contestant 1 thought for an agonizing second, while Mark felt the rear rolling on him. "Mmnh, short-term or long-term? Depends on what suits their style best, but - probably a purse or closet. A nice, comfy spot with plenty of room." They giggled.

Mark held his breath. He had trouble telling how anyone was reacting. All his senses but sight were thoroughly muffled.

#2 answered next: "At a safe distance."

He took a second to let that soak over him. Was #2 even really trying? Though faced with the all-encompassing booty, a little space would be nice.

The third one spoke: "Tinies belong in shoes and bellies. Nowhere else."

Laughter emerged from the peanut gallery. One man shouted: "What about handplay?"

#3's masked voice was humorless. "You're vanilla." For some reason, the chortling grew louder, rattling his seat.

Mark made a mental note: when this activity was over, leave this room quickly with whoever. Do not make eye contact with anyone.

"Remember to keep it respectful! Don't want anyone getting hurt." The host turned, causing intense, crushing pain for the boy beneath. "The time has come, and so have we, for the last question! Back to you, faithful viewers!" She arched forward, the fabric grinding over his face.

From the rowdy attendees, a voice answered the call: "What's your favorite music genre?"

Very quickly, the first entrant chirped: "Pop! Bubblegum pop! J-pop! K-pop! City pop! Pop Rock! It's so sweet."

Contestant #2 waited for a second - maybe for the excitement to calm? - before speaking: "Orchestral scores. I blame Hans Zimmer."

The third one took even longer contemplating. They hummed a little, while Mark wailed against the wall of fabric above. They finished: "Throat chanting."

Gail waited still longer for the audience to silence. It made the bit underneath feel ready to burst. He tried to take his mind away from the dark surroundings, and focus on his choices. He still wasn't sure: was this just a long gag, or would it determine who he'd stay with for the day?

Contestant 1 liked cosplay, pop, and would keep him in a bag. Incredibly cheerful.

Contestant 2 was quieter. Liked comics, movie scores, and wanted to keep away from tiny people.

Contestant 3 was a joke. They just had to be. Couldn't be any other explanation.

The host clapped her hands briefly, and spoke up: "Three lovely contestants, but only one will eat a chocolate stick with little Link! So, Hero of Time, who do you choose?"

Mark lifted his head as high as he could, and said:

"Contestant #2!"

The reverb of his own voice from the sound system made the seat's legs tremble.

Mark had made his decision. No matter what Gail's monolithic ass or the voice distortion hid, he had a sense that the second one was the most grounded. Someone he could trust.

With fingers drumming on the side, the host slid the mic back to her face. "You heard the Hero, he's going with Number Two! Let's pull back the curtain and reveal your match!" She slowly peeled her backside from the seat. His tiny frame lifted partly with it, squished against the right cheek, and glued with sweat. He soon slipped off the tights, breathing with relief as her hefty posterior ascended. The geddup noise squeaked when her hips pushed the chair back. His senses of smell, sight, and touch gently drifted back. The ceiling lights burned. He still felt breathless. The monolith in purple pulled back the screen, which was mostly a courtesy at this point. Before his eyes, on the stage's other side, Gail unveiled the three contestants:

On the nearest stool, holding a "1" on paper, was Kat. He suspected it was her, from her mentions of costumes and pop; but this confirmed it. Her pink wig flew around her shoulders as she shrugged back. She didn't seem too fazed about that rejection - in fact, she was paying more attention to the attendees than her "prop", fluttering between seated poses.

At the second spot was a girl holding a "3". Her hair was green, with four ponytails, and she wore a simple shirt. Despite her short height, she still greatly outsized Mark. Her facial features bore barely-chained smugness and weariness, both betraying her less-than-generous proportions. The smiling imp silently mouthed out: "Rigged. It's fucking rigged." This whole panel looked less and less legal by the second.

And in the furthest seat, holding a "2", awaited a surprise for Mark. Thea sat there. Her lips were in a perfect "o" shape, while her backside shifted awkwardly, cornered. "But I was... Uh..." She folded her gauntlets inwards to her cleavage window, goosebumps lifting across her brown skin. "I was just holding this spot, so that... uh..."

Mark, catching the last of his breath, rubbed his eyes. Yes, that was the /co/splayer, shuddering. Was she trying to grab Kat's device? Trying to make sure nobody worse got their hands on him? Or... something else.

"And theeeere we have it! We've brought together another perfect match! Looks like they know each other already, that" Gail spread her hand out towards the winner, cutting her off. She reached her other hand in the red box of Pocky, sliding one out and into her awaiting lips. With that done, she lifted Mark with her fingertips, the fleshy surfaces squeezing his sides - and placed him on the chocolate stick. He sat on it, balancing over the multiple-foot drop to the floor. The sweet biscuit surface supported him; but the only path anywhere was towards Thea's cavernous mouth. Her jaw was frozen in place, overwhelming brown pupils crossed onto him.

With all eyes on him, both onstage and off, Mark realized he should play along to get off quickly. Any longer was torture. And not only for him; it'd mean more time that Thea was in close contact with the tiny people she was so scared of. With other contestants, this game would lead to a kiss; but he could just nibble away at the opposite side of his platform.

Suddenly, the ground lunged up and down beneath him. His gloved hands grasped the end, stuck slightly in the melted coating. On the other end, Thea slowly sucked in, trying to keep it parallel to the ground. Her nose twitched, as if trying to escape her face. She got the message and played along, carefully swallowing the chocolate rod. Mark chewed away, trying to get his own helping.

Despite everything, it DID taste nice.

While the two were playing, the third contestant walked offstage. Mark let out a happy sigh. Kat started to get up, a concerned expression on her face. "Are you really okay with this, Thea?"

Thea's eyes, before you, flashed in her direction. Unable to speak, nod, or shake her head - lest the shrunken genius drop down to her feet once more - she gave a limp, shaky thumbs-up. But soon, her pupils shrunk, and she nearly leaped back. It jostled Mark, forcing him to stay on. He soon saw, too.

Gail was reaching into Kat's purse. "So, this is where you'd keep a tiny person, you say?"

"Hey! Thief!" The Great Fairy cosplayer grabbed her, clutching on the purple sweater's sleeve. The host smacked it aside with a brutal swipe from her other hand. And with the same venomous, knowing expression, Gail tugged out two people. Both the suited man from the convention's start, and the shrunken woman from the last panel.

The crowd stared up, chattering. Some started to climb onstage. But soon, the host held her hand up, stopping them. "Don't worry. I'm with security." She peered in closer to the girl, a hand on her hip. "This morning, ReDeath's presenter disappeared mysteriously, along with another woman. And we started seeing posts on social media of a tiny Link cosplayer... the latter of which didn't have an official pass."

Thea's nibbles became quicker. Mark eyed her incoming mouth cautiously. Kat sat still, scratching the back of her ear. "So? Are you gonna ban him?"

The shrunken teen rolled his eyes. Way to throw him under the bus there.

The tiny man flailed his arms within the host's hold. "It's her! She shrunk us, Gail!"

Beside him, the woman grabbed onto Gail's hand. "Careful! She still has a shrinking portal!"

Gail nodded. "As we thought. There were signs of someone sneaking in a size portal. This room has with portal-blocking signals. Since the two people in that picture seemed very much in love," she snickered to herself, "I arranged this dating panel with the staff to lure the suspects in. They even gave me this strange costume to bring the guard down." Rubbing the sleeve, she deposited Kat's two victims next to her black boots. "Honestly, purple isn't my color."

Glaring at the tiny boy, the girl in the pink wig got up. "You shouldn't have come in my room!"

"It was your idea!" Mark tossed back. "You stole that device from me!"

Thea finally bit down on the chocolate stick, overcome with tension. She gulped, and caught Mark in her gauntlet, breaking his fall. "J-just tell them how it happened. Don't dig yourself deeper, either of you..."

"Butt out!" Kat shouted. "I don't need your self-righteousness now!"

Mark screamed back: "You're the one who said you'd only shrink people who deserved it!"

Gail started typing something on her phone. "Sneaking weapons in is a serious violation. Kidnapping, even more. This could be bigger than the Yaoi Paddle incident of '07. We'll get the authorities in to question you all soon."

"I just..." Her right hand around the tiny portal device, Kat clenched a fist. "...I just wanted to have a fun convention! I can't even - I'm done! I'm just done!" She fired a portal underneath the purple woman's feet.

The host stepped back, staring at the floor. "But... That jammer! It should block portal signals! Unless... Someone modded the device? But that's - impossible!?" For the first time that day, Gail looked truly shocked.

Mark slapped his face. Sparks were flying from the miniaturized machine. It looked like it was holding up against the portal-jamming signal, if only barely. Why did he have to be such a genius?

Kat shot again, opening the other side of the portal above her handbag.

With a scream, Gail fell in, tumbling into the leathery opening.

The crowd, who'd been staring dumbly the whole time, started screaming. Some climbed onstage to retrieve the other shrinkees; but Kat fired again, her bare arm lifting with the recoil. They diminished, joining their companions in the bag.

Thea jumped forward. "Stop! They haven't done anything!"

"Shut up - they were going to hurt you!" Kat screamed back.

Others raced for the door. The Great Fairy fired once more, making a portal that replaced the door out. They, too, fell into her bag. "Trying to tattle on me? I'm fixing this convention for you!"

Then, from the sparking device, she made one massive portal out of the floor. Before Mark and Thea's eyes, the whole crowd of attendees - colourful cosplayers, boys, girls, even the third contestant - sunk in. They flailed and grabbed each other as the aperture shut.

Thea panted. She stamped in place. "You can't... You can't... No..." Her neck turned, as they plopped one after another into the purse.

Mark bounced up and down in her hand. He never imagined it'd end up like this! A whole crowd downsized, because of his device. "Do something!" He shouted up to her.

"Wh-what do you want?" She looked back to her friend, then to this tiny guy. He could hear her pulse racing behind the midriff-revealing outfit. With a long, harsh gasp, Thea lunged for the bag, snatching it back from near Kat's seat.

The Great Fairy cosplayer's arm went limp. "You, too? You're on my side here, Thea! We're friends!"

"I can't - I'm trying stop you from getting arrested..." Thea's voice was loud to begin, but started to shrink by the end. Her fingers shook. "Oh gosh, tiny people in my hands..."

Her friend reached the portal device up, and took a long gulp. "He's gotten to you. Put Link down. Put the bag down. This isn't you. I can help." She forced a smile.

Thea's heel brushed around the floor. "I-I don't... I don't need your help! And neither do they!" She turned, dashing out, with Mark in one gauntlet, and the bag in another.

Kat lifted the sparking device up, taking aim...

And kept it there.

"Thea... Thea, you didn't... But I was trying to... make it fun..."

She kept sputtering as her friend exited, with the shrunken attendees in-hand.

She couldn't do it.

Panting, Thea turned around a corner of the small hotel. Mark balanced in her hand, his pulse racing in sync with hers. The lights and costumes blurred by. Several times, the tiny teen thought he'd collide with a massive chest or wall. But each turn, his holder slipped through the crowds, her stomps blazing the carpet.

Finally, the /co/lette lookalike slid into the dealers' room. Her bare shoulders slumped. She did her best to blend in, glasses scanning over the art, custom costumes, and bookshelves. Her hands tripped and fumbled through the pages. She took occasional peeks at the attendee-filled bag, clutching it nearby. She unzipped it slowly, giving them air. A whole room stood inside. "People in bag. No... no portal devices for miles, except that one..." She murmured under her breath. "...Years since I've even seen a hole open like that... Is it supposed to spark that much?"

Mark struggled to keep his own breaths steady amid her blustering inhales and exhales. The purse rumbled slowly, as its occupants chattered, making sense of their new world. "...No. It's not supposed to be fired that quickly. If she pulls the trigger a few more times..." He gulped. "We might just all become..."

When he trailed off, Thea picked up: "...gone. Reduced to atoms. And if we call anyone to help, when she's this set on it, Kat'll try to shrink them." She shoved a book back in the shelf, her teeth gritting. "People are suffering for nothing but petty drama! I always knew these devices were dangerous, after..."

When *she* trailed off, Mark lay back, staring across the rows of merchandise - trying to piece together a plan. One of the books covers was that one she'd given him in the boot - "Gundam" something-or-other. He glanced down to the floor. Her bared feet shuffled. "... Thanks. Carrying us around while you're so terrified of tiny people... that's something."

The girl shook her head. "It's not noble at all. When I last used a portal device, I was playing with a friend. I moved my feet around too roughly, and..." Her eyes shut. "...He survived. But he still can't walk. I just... don't want people to get hurt, like him."

She put a fist to her face, looking into space - away from everyone. "I keep seeing him. I keep seeing bones I could break. I keep seeing lives I could ruin. I have to walk on tiptoes and hope the tiny people leave quickly. And because I was so weak, because I didn't take charge, because I didn't want to lose another friend..." The bag's occupants quieted down, as she looked to them. "...You guys got shrunk."

Mark let that float over him. So that's what this fear was about. Full-size people nudged by, looking over the goods - Thea discretely shifted the bag away from them. "It's like living in a world of cardboard," the boy finally said. He patted her hand. "At least you actually care about shrunken people. I was so set on getting the gun, and keeping it secret, that I didn't even stop and think about the danger other people were in."

Thea stroked him back carefully. Her fingertips felt soft. "It's not your fault. We can still get it back. We can still fix this."

"All of us." Mark finished. He looked at a clock on the wall. "Kat said she'd be at a dance at the end, right?"

The/co/splayer thought. "Yeah, the masquerade. She shrunk everyone to keep a low profile and get on with the con. I don't think she'd give up any chance to dance romantically with a masked man." She grinned.

The Link lookalike looked down to the bag. He spotted the woman from the first panel - the one who wore that red uniform from the yaoi manga Kat gave him while trapped. "Hey, how did you make your costume? With the mask and all?"

She felt around her miniaturized mask. "This Char Aznable cosplay? They actually sell some parts here in the dealers' room. But is this really the time to discuss dressing up?"

With a rub of his shirt, Mark smiled. "Yes. That's exactly what we need to discuss now. I have an idea, but I'll need everyone's help."

Thea returned the smile nervously. "I see some materials for sale here... You still sure you aren't some evil mastermind?"

---

The Masquerade Dance began on time. It was emptier than they'd expected, amid the sudden disappearances. Still, a few glorious gowns and sharp dresses graced the floor, their individual twirls and steps locking into a chaotic unity. Vibrant smiles shone in the low lighting. The echoes of "Butterfly" fluttered through the same room it had for years, as if nothing had changed. As if half their lives were just strange dreams, and they'd just woken up as teenagers again. A haze of glee wafted over the dancers.

Amid the graceful flow, Thea's steps entering in were deliberate and measured. She puffed her bound chest up, a black-and-gold Zeon crest displayed to the world over scarlet. Within, the tiny attendees held tightly to her skin, letting the fabric brush over them. Mark sat in the navel - where stress sweat accumulated. The girl's newly-made mask was hard to see through, and led to some accidents; especially since she wasn't wearing glasses. Whenever she bumped into someone, the whole microcosm of flesh trembled. It looked like those hanging to her bra above would be squashed, and those dangling on her legs below would fall. But thanks to her careful poise, the party pressed onward, concealed by her costume.

The girl was once /co/lette had become Char. She blinked on each step, taking heavy breaths. "I'm in control. Tiny people on me... In control."

The first man to shrink snarked: "Better fucking hope so. We don't have a Plan B." A jostle of her hips nearly knocked him aside.

Thea almost didn't want to see it. But she was there, in the center of the room - her vines and leaves swaying to the rhythm, her pink wig still covering blue hair, her boots swinging across the floor. Animated by the tempo, Kat peeked up, wearing a mask with a leaf motif. Her shadowed eyes drooped - until they fell across the other cosplayer's form. Then, they burned with supernatural energy.

Already, the dark-haired girl doubted herself. But she coughed, and offered a gloved hand. "May I have this dance?"

Gail made sure the voice changing tech still worked while shrunken - deepening Thea's whisper to a masculine croon.

Their masks locked together. Kat's gaze had a strength to it that made her friend shiver, jostling the people tucked into her costume. A smile crept across her lips. Had she figured out? With a bow, the Great Fairy took her hand, and pulled in close - inadvertently compressing the miniature people in her friend's chest. "Don't be so shy. I'd be honored."

The techno died down. In its place rose a slow, quiet piano. They danced to "Komm, Susser Todd", the disguised woman matching steps and sways with her counterpart. The world shook in a slow rhythm.

Time for the plan to go in motion.

Through Thea's crimson sleeves, and up her gloves, the shrunken attendees climbed onto Kat's bare hand. They used the green foliage decorating her as holds, fucking themselves close to her limbs. Some stopped at the wrists; others slid all the way near her armpits. When their pillar-esque legs came close together, in a booming step, more still swung from one boot to another. They climbed up her legs, bearing the passionate swings of her hips and rhythmic twirls. Like soldiers emerging from the Trojan Horse, more and more tiny people emerged covertly from Thea's costume, occupying portions of their shrinker's soft skin.

"Do you feel something?" Kat murmured, leaning her neck in.

Thea gently hugged her waist, body heat rising. "Y-yes. It's crawling all over me..."

Kat smiled, grabbing her friend's arms. Her own body was crawling with small people now. "It's tingling."

"Please," Thea shivered, "keep looking in my eyes."

They were close enough on this move. Flinging his chain like a rope, Mark grabbed onto the edge of Kat's panties; and pulled himself in, close to her navel. He tugged himself up by the vines, admiring the view above. Her chest hung out, bouncing with every slow, deliberate step. He scaled the long fields of her midriff, hiding in the shadows; and around Thea's hand, which pressed close to her friend's skin. The spongy ground below him rumbled as Kat spoke...

"...You're so cheesy. I like that about you, Thea." She smiled happily, intertwining her fingers with her.

Thea's jaw went slack. Her dancing stopped. "You - you recognize me?"

Mark traveled over her chest, the fabric sinking into his fingers.

"Duh. You're my best friend." The pink-haired girl pulled her back into the pattern of steps, brushing her helmet. "Thanks for trying to make me happy, but you really didn't have to go out and disguise like this."

The boy climbed a stay clump of hair, holding tight as it synched with her movement.

The Char cosplayer started murmuring. "I didn't... That's not what I..."

Mark scaled higher, and higher still, passing her slender neck.

Kat went closer. "Forget about it. You're forgiven. Let's just go home and watch something dumb after this."

People were still scattering over her body as the Link cosplayer made his treacherous accent. With enough of them together, they'd be able to hold her still - and give him the time to retrieve his device. And, presently, the portal gun rested behind her ear as always. It was nearly within his grasp...

But the arm below rose up suddenly. Kat spun with the limb raised, everyone on it holding tight. The first guy she shrunk flew off, falling down - everyone stared with their mouths shut.

Mark gulped. He was so close, but any false moves could cost them. She could notice all of them.

He decided to...

Unfortunately, he had to make sacrifices. This was for everyone's good; he needed that portal device as soon as possible. So he left the brown-haired boy to fall. If he got the invention quick enough, maybe that could save him...

Down further and further, the shrunken man fell. His figure shrunk below. Mark tried to swing up, closer to Kat's ear; but the repeated twirls made the hair slip between his fingers. He gripped on, flung by the dance, and tucked his cheek close. Only a bit higher, now...

But underneath him, there emerged a low rumble. Their target spoke: "What? What was that?"

The dizzying movement stopped.

The Great Fairy removed her mask.

She looked below, and reached into her garments.

Mark didn't have to worry about saving the brunet anymore. He'd landed into her smooth bottom, and alerted her to their presence - while there were still people climbing.

"Holy - what's your damage?" Kat pushed away from Thea, her soles stomping on the ground. The Char cosplayer stumbled back into another dancer. Everyone occupying her vines and leaves started clawing, punching, kicking - anything to stop the hipster. But there simply weren't enough of them. She wiped her arms, and their tiny bodies collapsed onto the dance floor. Her gigantic hand swept over the landscapes of her legs, as she kicked them out - sending more miniature attendees flying. One by one, she plucked the helpless creatures clinging to her bosom and back - and effortlessly flicked then away, with a cringe of disgust. "Can you even - what were you thinking? Trying to take advantage of me when I'm just relaxing? Who would do that?"

Thea just sputtered, scared, her shivering arms trying to lift up. Now, the rest of the crowd was watching - seeing the tiny people scurry at her boots.

The girl tossed more and more of the shrunken victims off her body. Soon, only Mark remained. He regained his lost altitude. The portal gun was right beside him. He reached out...

And Kat plucked it away.

"Of course it's Mark." She addressed him, but didn't even look his way. Before he could do anything, she grabbed her wig - and tore it off, tossing it to the floor. It was like someone had pulled his surroundings from underneath and sent him crashing down. He landed among the other shrunken people, head spinning, a thousand feet rotating around him. The young woman shouted, her voice's force rattling the glowing floor: "Of course, it's fucking Mark! You're the worst prop ever! Why did I ever bring you here? My done level has exceeded 170%! All I wanted was to make this a great day for everyone!"

Mark's body was numb and shaking. Her shadow stretched far above him. No plan B. He'd lost. Even though his reduced body weight made the fall non-lethal, and the wig have cushioning, he was immobilized by impact's shock. The cosplayer's overwhelming size chilled him. Those soft curves were like meteors ready to crash on him. He coughed: "All I wanted... was to go home..."

"Home?" Kat bit her lip, aiming his device - which crackled with energy. "I'll send you home!"

She fired upon the shrunken crowd. A portal opened, large enough to even suck on the frozen Thea. The lights and electric fizzles became a kaleidoscope. He saw sights of faraway places between screaming attendees. Still playing in the back, the speakers repeated the refrain, until Mark faded out of consciousness:

"It all returns to nothing
It all comes tumbling down, tumbling down, tumbling down..."

---

Mark's head weighed a thousand pounds. The light was harsh and searing. A fruity, artificial smell drifted through his nostrils as he pulled himself up, breathing in.

When he got his bearings again, he found himself in his bed. He sighed. "Just a dream..." But when he removed his covers, he found something terrifying:

He was wearing the green Link costume.

The ground shook. A bass murmur crawled through the ground. He rushed out of his door, trying to make sense of what was happening. In the living room, his mother and Jessica consoled a crying Emmy - while Nikki shook her head, staring out the window. Megan ran to him, hugging him tightly. "You're finally awake... Oh, I was so scared..."

"What's going on?" The number of people who'd gathered there took him aback. "Was I knocked out for long?"

"A few days. Only a few days." Nikki didn't look to him, simply pointing out the window. "You messed up."

The boy peaked outside... and instantly felt like dying.

His hometown was there, with every house exactly the same - save for a few large details.

Long stretches of flesh-coloured land rolled in the distance, like mountains. Further still, the skyline of a city that hadn't been there before - floating in the air. Other cities lay beyond it.

And instead of a sky behind them, impossible miles away, unhidden by any cloud or fog, was Kat's visage. Each fold of her smiling lips rivalled a canyon in scope; she could effortless swallow at least three of those settlements. Tree branches curved in and out, blown by the gusts of wind from her unreachable nose. And both of her eyes, blue as her hair, seemed to focus right on him, the blinks of her long eyelashes shaking the earth with a harsh THUD.

Behind her was a pastel wall of boys, cute animals, Union Jacks, and a motivational slogan.

Her eyes pointed to something below her. The earth rapidly rattled beneath them - Mark's friends and family members instinctually grabbed to furniture for support. He fell flat on his ass.

After a few seconds, his phone buzzed. He picked it up into his shaking palm. It was a text from an unknown number.

"This Mark? Got your number from a friend."

He answered: "Yes. What's happening?" Quickly, he typed in: "Who is this?"

Outside, the planet-sized Kat chuckled loud enough to knock everything off the tables. She stuck her tongue out - and the world rumbled once more. Soon after, he got another text from the same number.

This was a selfie of Kat, making the same expression, get tongue outstretched. She was relaxing on her bed, dressed in a sailor uniform. She showed off her left hand. Instead of polish, cities were on each of her nails. Their tall buildings barely even compared to the dizzying length of her fingers.

She texted him again: "That's you on the middle finger."

He stared. It hit him all at once, the weight falling on his shoulder. Yes, he recognized that view from the last time he was in a plane. This madwoman had returned him to his hometown... And taken it captive, along with thousands of other people.

More tremors preceded her next text: "Check out my tumblr."

With his family trying to calm Emmy's screams, the boy rushed back to his room. His computer was on the same page, the tumblr site giving her receiver link. He looked closer at the profile.

It was full of pictures with her posing with tiny cities over her. They resembled glimmering jewels, simple decorations that complemented her figure. He couldn't believe it. Reloading the page again and again, he hoped it was some kind of joke. No. It was real.

This post, dated from "today",had her holding a large set of buildings in her hand. She'd added a caption: "Guess which city this is! First to get it right decides where I put it~ (◕દ◕)"

The next image had her in rest, with a larger set of structures in her cleavage. "Doesn't London look cute here? (◕j7;◕d47;)"

In disbelief, he kept scrolling. Now, she showed off her bare feet, with a metropolis covering her largest toe. A smug grin rested on her face. "Until you pass that human rights bill, New York will be my nail polish. ¯_( v5;° v0;b2; v5;°)_/¯"

Further below, a new photo. Thea sitting in a birdcage, filled with tiny comic merchandise. She smiled widely, showing her teeth. That betrayed her thousand-mile stare into the camera - blank, pleading, close to her breaking point. "I forgive you! BFFs with the captain! (a381;ωa381;)つ⊂(a381;ωa381;)"

Another one had her hovering her monolithic backside over a city - cheeks outsizing them seven times over. "Lol, these Moscow guys thought they could teleport out. Like my modded device wouldn't block that. Punishment time~ (_|_)"

Mark almost couldn't bear continuing. The last image simply had her posing with the portal gun. "Guess that pervert's gun had some use after all. Stopping bullying, shifting paradigms, and looking pretty cute while doing it~"

Each image had thousands of comments. Over time, they followed a pattern:
"Cute models!"
"How did you make those?"
"Do Paris next!"
"wait is this real"
"it can't be"
"Guys, look at the news. That city is missing. Like it was actually torn from the ground."
"Holy fuck what"
"HAS SCIENCE GONE TOO FAR?"
"Please help me. I'm on her lip."
"This isn't a fucking joke."
"my brother's there oh my god"
"God's not here, only her"
"I'M LITERALLY SHAKING RIGHT NOW"
"still cute tho"

It was because of him. Mark sobbed, pounding his face in the wall. No punishment could be enough for him. Because of his experiments, humanity lived at the whims of a hipster. A new era of history began. The decades to come would be forever remembered as "The Era of Kat."

He texted her. "You're insane."

Another earthquake; and then, a new reply. "Language. Now hold that thought, I gotta pick a booger."

A few last rattles, as the cruel face in the distance flashed a smug look. "Think I'll use my middle finger, lol."

The sky went dark. Gravity shifted in multiple directions, rising Mark to the ceiling. From his window outside, building up with humidity, the world fell into darkness...

"Thea!" Mark called to her, pointing to the falling shrinkee.

She gulped, legs shaking. In a lunging dance move, the /co/lette cosplayer reached out, snatching him from the air.

Kat noticed him - and suddenly looked down, checking the small people across her body. Her eyes widened in surprise. "What?"

It was now or never. Instantly, every miniaturized person pulled on her vines, contacting around her pale skin. Unable to keep her balance, she fell to her backside with a resounding THUD.

With a few trembles, the boy hanging on her hair swung off, landing on her immense shoulder. His trap worked! Climbing up her chin and nose, he arrived at her mask, and grabbed it by the side. "Now, let's see who this monster REALLY is!"

With a little help from other miniaturized attendees, they pulled off Kat's mask, revealing... That hairy, broad-shouldered man in the pink dress, from 4chan.org/por/.

Everyone called in unison: "Old Man Anonymous?"

"Just as I suspected." Thea put a hand to her thick-rimmed glasses. "A lot of what Kat was saying didn't make sense. Shrinking rude people? Lines like 'I can't breathe' and 'I can't even'? Constantly assaulting someone with her breasts? Using an ancient character as a husbando? Only someone with strange prejudices and stranger fetishes could impersonate a teenage blogger so poorly."

The tiny woman in the red uniform looked up to her, confused. "But why go to all that trouble?"

Gail snapped her fingers. "Legends say there's an abandoned gold mine under the convention center!"

Mark nodded in realization. "He was using the old horror stories of tumblr SJW boogeymen to scare the attendees away... So that he could dig up the treasure for himself!" He tapped the side of his head.

As police officers took him away, removing his disguise, Old Man Anonymous shook a fist and shouted. "And I would've gotten away with it, too - if it weren't for you meddling kids!"

The speakers in the back finished their slow melody, transitioning into the song Good, Or Don't Be. As Mark stood in the center of the dance floor, lights glowing blue, everyone looked to him and began applauding.

"Congratulations!" The brunet and blond clapped together.

"Congratulations!" The Char cosplayer nodded.

"Congratulations!" Gail and the green-haired girl shouted.

"Congratulations!" His mother and sisters suddenly appeared, beaming with pride.

"Congratulations!" Megan was there, too - just as ecstatic as the others.

Nikki quacked gleefully in a manner that vaguely resembled "Congratulations!"

"Congratulations!" The real Kat laughed.

"Congratulations!" Thea cheered.

Mark, overcome with emotions, shut his eyes and smiled. "Thank you all."

To /d/, thank you.

To writing.com, farewell.

And to all the meddling kids...

Congratulations!

Fly me to the moon, and let me play among the stars

Let me see what spring is like on Jupiter and Mars

In other words, hold my hand

In other words, darling, kiss me

Fill my heart with song, and let me sing forever more

You are all I long for, all I worship and adore

In other words, please be true

In other words, Scooby-Dooby-Doo

Everyone had put their all into his plan; he'd stick it out with them, down to their last miniature man. He wouldn't leave anyone behind.

Mark focused on the falling brunet. He was out of reach, and falling to the floor fast, tie floating off his neck. Though his mouth remained shut, his eyes shrieked: "Gwaaaah!"

Kat's muscles tilted slightly. Mark soon detected: she was still twirling. Using the momentum from her dancing revolution, the Link cosplayer flung himself off her hair, diving towards the descending man. Thanks to the chain's weight, he fell faster - and quickly grabbed him.

...Now there were two guys falling! Just great. He really thought this one through. The brunet's glare really didn't help.

Wind soared through their hair. The thin whir of their descent buzzed in his ears. Glowing lights and pounding shoes came closer and closer.

Thea swung her partner's leg up, as her back fell. As the monolith of flesh ascended, a bit of green stuck out from the side. The first Char cosplayer was holding out a vine from the Great Fairy costume, somewhat sticky from body sweat.

Instantly, Mark latched the chain around a thorn, with a soft *clink*. The skin beneath wobbled beneath it, continuously bouncing to the slow background melody. The dark-haired man descended, swearing as he grabbed the artificial vine next to the shrunken woman. The surrounding colours whirred by them as the titan took her next step...

A rhythmic POUND below sent Mark flying higher, while the others latched on. Using the chain as a lasso, he gripped it to the closest hold - another part of the vines that stuck out, near her abdomen. The snaking decoration under his weight, pulling on her cloth bra...

And tearing a hole in it. He'd revealed her left nipple to the world, perky and peach-coloured. Kat stopped dancing at the sudden rip noise.

She glimpsed to her chest, and saw Mark's body dangling there.

Her cheeks turned red, before the rest of her face followed. "What-what the hell?" The bright-eyed fairy reached out to pull him off her bust...

Before the vines tugged her arms backwards. A set of tiny cosplayers were pulling on her, constraining her motion. More tugged at her legs, keeping her motionless from every part of her body. With a large swing of her arm, she threw her hands out, tearing the others off...

...And gave Mark the perfect opportunity to swing up to her ear.

This time, aware of the falling people, Thea swiftly swept them in her grip. They lay in her open palm, starting up.

Kat, jumping with her legs bound, fell on her butt. A few shrunken stowaways abandoned ship before the jiggling backside flattened them. "Et tu, Thea? How could you - thinking you know what's best for everyone, you --!" She reached for her ear, preparing to flick Mark off...

Until her friend tugged her by the wrist, stopping her. She shouted: "Quick! A portal!"

Mark blinked towards her, his face slightly above hers - it made her look far more worried. "I thought you were scared at the idea of me having the gun."

She tossed her ponytail over, smiling. "I'm /co/lette, the woman without fear!"

With the sparking device in hand, Mark fired off a portal on the wall. It felt warm in his hands. He then activated it again on another wall; only for it to spark, heating up. Was this a malfunction? He screamed. With a fierce recoil, it shot off into the sky, creating an orange aperture that grew.

And grew.

And grew more, consuming everything...

Both girls' eyes went wide; along with those of each shrunken attendee, and soon the whole dance floor.

As he felt his body pulled in, the rules of gravity twisting, a flow of faces large and small rushing by him, Mark heard the refrain from the nearby speakers fade out:

"It all returns to nothing
It all comes tumbling down, tumbling down, tumbling down..."

---

Mark's hand gripped on hard cement. His pulse rapid, his head twisted along several axes, like a Rubik's Cube. The sunny light provided a welcome change from the hotel's dimness.

Getting up on his feet - still clad in boots - a familiar neighborhood welcomed his eyes. The portal device malfunctioned, but seemed to have deposited him in his hometown... At normal size. Maybe even an inch taller than usual. The other cosplayers were around him, getting up at the same time; none of them looming giants or diminutive ants. He breathed in the air, stretching out happily.

Something was burning. He looked beside him; his prize creation was sparking, smoke coming from its circuits.

"No! No, nonono..." Kat, now a full head shorter than most of her old "companions", ran to the gun. She pulled the trigger furiously, trying to activate it. The components shorted out, puffing smoke into her face. "Piece of junk! You'll pay for..." Her voice shrank to a whisper. "...this?"

Slowly, the other attendees had surrounded her, seething; some cracking their knuckles. Everyone the hipster had shrunken now stood over her, glaring. She removed her wig, and ran a hand through her blue hair in stress, glaring at Mark.

From buildings nearby, the locals peered at the commotion on the streets. Among them, he saw his family exit their home; his mother holding her mouth, Emma grinning excitedly, and even Jessica offering him a glance before slipping into her bedroom again. Megan ran to him out of the blue, giving the boy a hug. "Mark! We were so worried! What happened?"

"It's a long story..." He bowed his head in respect, mourning the loss of his invention. Hours of work, lost. But at least, he'd made it home safely. And his companions were there with him.

Except... Thea? He hadn't seen her...

Next to him, Nikki prodded his shoulder. "Uhm, Mark? Up."

He separated himself from Megan. Everyone was staring upwards. When he looked to the sky, he instantly hugged her again, shaking in terror.

Thea, her face high in the air, trembled as well. "A-a-ah... S-so many... Tiny people..." She was titanic. Her cheeks were larger than moons, and every pore looked like a vast canyon. Rain began to build up simply from the sweat falling off her brow. Atmospheric distortion tinted it a light blue. Beyond the distant reaches of her face, nearly lightyears away, was a repeating pattern, almost resembling... a ceiling.

Taking an earthquake-causing footstep in the opposite direction, the monolith grabbed her cellphone, and took a picture.

Kat's phone buzzed. With a startled fidget, she picked it up - and turned white, dropping it on the ground. A crowd gathered to see what was on there.

Thea had texted her an image.

An aerial view of all the continents and islands.

Every landmass on Earth, neatly organized on a coffee table, slightly blocked by a dark hand.

A low murmur passed over the crowds as they realized: that was them. Every one of them. Through the portal's malfunction, it had sucked every soul, every structure, every piece of the blue planet... And left it in Thea's house, beneath her omnipotent shadow.

The giantess sent one more text: "help."

Mark held his forehead. "Guess I won't be getting another scholarship after this..."

---

Restoration efforts began immediately. Governments established communication links with this overwhelming planet of a woman, ready to make peace offers. To their surprise, she smiled and nodded at everything, just as eager as them to solve the mishap. Her home still had access to running water, thankfully; she provided for them with a water bottle. When she left her door later, with careful steps she discovered the world continued to exist outside, just without people. That must've been the device's cloning technology at work. What a strange thing Mark had concocted!

Though it wasn't under ideal circumstances, his invention became known on a global stage - even though that globe wasn't all that big. It turns out Gail also worked as security for the portal company, and put in a good word for him. Immediately, the company hired him as a full-time employee to find a reverse for the changes. Things weren't exactly the same with his friends and family; his mom, especially, felt vindicated about banning those infernal hole-making contraptions from the household. But with time, they rediscovered some normalcy.

Kat spent time on jail for kidnapping and theft. But thanks to good behavior, she had time to get out on parole, and reconnect with her friend... provided she remained attached to Thea's necklace. In some way or another, she made the populace think about fashion and objectification.

On talk shows, the brunet talked at length of how he helped save the day, and how to recognize dangers at conventions - sometimes accompanied by his blond friend.

The woman dressed as Char ended up as an actress, famous for designing her own costumes. As for the green-haired girl, police arrested her in a case involving Chris Hansen and a shitpost on 4chan.org/por/.

And Thea, through extensive therapy sessions, became far less jittery. Mark often stepped in - for her immense hands to gently pat or hug. She kept her distance near the continents, and never really got used to the spotlight; but bit by bit, her shoulders loosened around them, and she let her brown hair down more. Humanity saw her as an invincible protector... But slowly, they also saw a girl who liked comics and listening to orchestras.

With lots of toiling and teasing, scientists finally came up with a way to reverse the effects. After a great celebratory dinner, the landmasses went back in place. But one boy stayed behind. With an okay from Megan, he visited Thea's home now and again, getting a chance to speak with her as a friend.

Besides that, he had to model for her. She was starting a new webcomic - one about a size-changing superhero...