Lucas took a moment to tighten the scarf around his neck, before setting out once more into the snowstorm that currently was blowing through Route 217 of Sinnoh. This was admittedly not an unusual weather occurrence, to the point that it was generally considered pointless to wait for a “clear” day, especially considering how quickly a new one could whip up. At least this was not full on white-out blizzard conditions, but it was a close thing.
The male trainer was currently on his way towards Snowpoint City, a solid rest spot before making the final trek towards Lake Acuity. After the defeat of Cyrus at the top of Mount Coronet, things were getting mostly back to normal, with just a few minor oddities around the region. There had been scattered reports of leaves “falling” back up onto tress, picked berries going bad and mushy over the course of hours when just left on a counter, and so on. However many times these time and space distortions ended quickly enough, so it was not considered a pressing issue.
The current plan was for Lucas and his friend Dawn to do a quick circuit of the three lakes of Sinnoh to ensure that they were recovering properly after Team Galactic had attacked them, and already the other two lakes had been confirmed to be doing well, even Lake Valor. Dawn was currently a short ways behind him, having been delayed leaving the interior of Mount Coronet due to a particularly ornery Bronzong. It was nothing that Dawn could not handle, to the point that she had told him to go on ahead, but that type of pokemon was naturally hardy and so would take a little to chase off.
As Lucas continued onwards through the snow, he could not help but marvel a little at just how effective PokeWear clothes were. It was currently blowing snow and freezing cold wind, but despite not even wearing a full jacket and his usual small hat, he was relatively warm. Something about the fabric effectively sheltered the wearer from the elements, to the point where Dawn was wearing a skirt and bare legs and yet would not be complaining too hard. If nothing else, it made for a nice sight when traveling.
Lucas was so focused on this thought that he missed the slight ripple in the air in front of him, but then again it was also effectively invisible save for the odd movement of some of the snow flying through it. Regardless when the trainer took his next step he briefly felt strange all over, like his skin was briefly too tight on his body before the sensation passed. However he then found himself sinking up to his knees and thighs in the snow, when before it was ankle high at worst.
At first the young man thought that he had simply stepped into a snowdrift, or perhaps he had accidentally wandered off course. This was admittedly a possibility considering the constant weather and being north of Mount Coronet had a tendency to set PokeGear on the fritz, but then the snow died down a little improving visibility, and he saw the reality was much worse. All around him was snow, and in the distance rocky canyon walls and trees were visible, but that was normal. What WASN’T normal was just how far away they looked, and when the trainer looked back down at the snow he was in he saw that the flakes and crystals were much, much larger than they were supposed to be.
Recalling the odd sensation he had just felt Lucas turned back and looked closer, and was able to watch as the explanation he was dreading confirmed itself. He observed flakes of snow fall through the air and pass through the air where he had been walking, only to visibly distort and then continue on their path, now visibly smaller and closer in size to the ones he had been seeing for the past half hour. Against all odds he had walked right through that same area, and was now reduced to a mere inch tall! Obviously this was another of the areas of distortion, so in theory all he had to do to return to normal was step ba-
Before his eyes Lucas watched as the air much more visibly rippled for a second, and then nothing. Snow that followed behind the previous flakes that had shrunken remained as large as before, and it was clear that just like all of the other distorted areas, that one had only been temporary, and was now GONE. Then just as he was realizing all of that, Lucas looked a bit further afield and saw something that filled him with equal parts hope and dismay.
Dawn was now visible through the snow heading in his direction, obviously none the worse for wear from the Bronzong encounter. One part of Lucas was hopeful that she would be able to help him, as she would understand what the distortions could do and was his friend besides. The other part, the one that was filled with dismay was due to how the snow had only cleared up after the distortion had ended, and based on her pace and expression she had not seen what had happened to him. Now she was getting closer and closer, and the wind in the air was intercut by the crunching of snow under her pink boots.
Lucas tried to get her attention all the same, waving his arms, jumping and shouting, but it was no use. His clothing was lightly speckled with its own accumulated snow, making him partially just as white as the rest of the snow, and the still whistling wind drowned out anything his weak voice could shout. With Dawn bearing down on him seemingly faster and faster as she got closer, Lucas had no choice but to run.
Unfortunately for the reduced trainer that was easier said than done, as not only was Dawns long strides faster than his running, but while she just had to deep with a reasonable but present layer of snow he was forced to run through massive uneven drifts. Some sections were packed together hard where snow had remained for a while making sections where he could almost run on top of or instead nearly trip him up as they appeared in front of his legs under the snow. Other areas were much softer, new accumulations or worse simply filled in footprints of other travellers, deep pits that Lucas could fall into and end up nearly to his chest.
Finally as the crunching sounds reached their crescendo and the darkness of Dawns shadow fell over him, Lucas received his final bit of bad luck. A hailstone, perhaps left from a long completed battle or just an artifact of the cold weather was reached by Lucas, and in particular his foot reached it. The smooth rock of ice provided no traction when it was desperately needed, and the male slipped forwards, landing flat on his face in the snow. Before he could do much more than lift his head up off the ground a darker shadow covered him, and he looked back only to see a ceiling of white descend upon him.
CRUNCH
For a few seconds Lucas was stunned, as while he felt great pressure on top of him he could still feel cold all around him, and there was darkness. Somehow he was still alive? But what happened? The answer to that came a few seconds later when he heard Dawns voice, but what was said was not encouraging. “I can’t see a thing in this storm, and where did Lucas run off to?” Taking into account how faintly muffled the sound was, and how hard the feeling on his back was, he realized that he had been stepped on, and was currently under Dawn’s boot in the snow, sore but alive due to the snow absorbing most of the pressure.
Lucas felt a faint glimmer of hope now, perhaps she might feel him under here, or at the very least once she stepped off of him he might be able to grab onto her and hitch a ride to a location where he would have a better chance of being spotted. That hope soon died a cold and lonely death however, as Dawn then said “Maybe he is still up ahead. Better keep going.” before she continued on. As her boot began to flex and lift Lucas was shocked to feel himself start to follow, and as he was exposed to the air again he realized exactly why.
CRUNCH
When Dawn had stepped down he had been laying flat, and the impact had not only pressed him into her boot sole it had also packed a fair bit of snow around him as well. The white frozen water acted like glue holding him to the sole, and as the foot came down into the snow again he could feel more snow get packed on, his bonds getting just that little bit tighter. The step itself was also a heavy blow, as the pressure on him returned like a full body punch to the gut. Then it happened again, and again, the process repeating.
CRUNCH
Two hours later Dawn arrived at Snowpoint City, the blue haired girl slightly tired but happy. She thought that it was a shame that she had never caught up to Lucas, but figured he had just lucked out and been faster than she was. She headed towards the Pokemon Center to see about meeting Lucas again and getting a room, as well as warming up a little. As she walked the ground continued to crunch under her feet, as even here snow was ever present. Once she got near the Center doors she courteously kicked most of the accumulated snow off her boot soles into a nearby drift, so as to not bring too much snow into the building. So focused was she on her upcoming mug of hot chocolate that she failed to spot the tiny frozen and beaten corpse fall from under her boot into the drift, followed by it being covered by yet more snow.
Elesa walked into her dressing room with purpose but not haste, glancing up at the clock to see that he had plenty of time to change into her runway outfit before she was due on stage. It was at times a little hectic keeping her modelling and gym leader positions straight timewise, but she honestly would not have it any other way. However before she changed there was one more thing she needed to do. Arriving at her dressing table she took a seat and looked at the adorable little ball of yellow fuzz resting next to a sheet of paper with letters on it. “Joltik dear, anything of note?”
The tiny Electric/Bug type nodded her little head, but instead of moving onto the sheet of paper like she expected the spider scurried over towards one of the back corners of the vanity. Elesa had made sure that this particular Pokemon always stayed behind in her dressing room, and she had also taught it how to spell so that she could directly report to her anything she saw, in particular people coming in who were not supposed to or who left hidden cameras. The spider had even figured out how to short out or at least cover up the lenses with her Electroweb.
Elesa’s confusion was soon dispelled as the Joltik returned, carrying with her a small bundle of web wrapped around a little inch long shape. The (currently) blonde just had to look a bit closer to see the human figure wrapped up like a mummy or fly, visibly struggling trying to escape. If this was because they were in the grasp of a spider four times their own size or because they were being brought before Elesa was up for debate, but the model planned to get to the bottom of this.
The tiny human was deposited in front of Elesa, and the woman looked down at the figure deeply suspicious but not hostile just yet. The little man seemed to calm down slightly when the spider began to scurry away, but flinched when Elesa asked “So then, would you mind explaining how you ended up like this?” The person began to speak, but their voice was so quiet that Elesa needed to stop them and lean in a little closer. Realizing why that was the man started again.
“A-Ah, you see Miss Elesa, I was just walking around minding my own business when I suddenly found myself greatly reduced in size. I have no idea how this happened and so in a panic I ran into the nearest building I could see to try and get help, and that happened to be your gym. However when I was walking around looking for anyone that Joltik came out of nowhere and wrapped me up. Now, uh, here we are. Now could you perhaps please see about unwrapping me from these threads?”
All in all it was a little outlandish of a story, but not so much so that Elesa was unwilling to give him the benefit of the doubt. However a few things were not quite adding up, and Elesa expressed this by placing one hand on the vanity table top and started to drum her fingers. It seemed like an innocent, idle enough action, but the way her nails tapped loudly for him in succession clearly was making him more nervous. “I see. Well that does sound unusual indeed, and I would certainly be glad to help. However before I do, would you mind telling me what you do for a living?”
This question seemed to catch the man off guard, and he stumbled for words for a few seconds before replying that he was an office worker. At the same time Joltik returned from where she had gone, back to the corner of the vanity out of the way, carrying something between her mandibles for Elesa to see. Once she got closer Elesa saw what she had secretly been expecting, and when the man turned his head as much as he could to see what Joltik had brought his face paled.
Reaching down and taking it from her Pokemon Elesa brought the dark shape up closer to her eye and examined it, before looking back down at the man. “Now correct me if I am wrong, but this looks like a Toucannon XR-5080 HD camera sized just about right to match your current stature. The same kind of camera often used by Paparazzi to take photos of celebrities in less than ideal situations.” The man was visibly sweating now, and not just from the comparatively massive Joltik next to him or the dressing room lights above. He meekly tried to stutter out denials, but it was clear that he was guilty.
Elesa held the camera between her thumb and forefinger as she looked down at the bound figure on her dressing room table, and said “I must say that I find myself impressed at how far you went to try and get some candid pictures of me.” A twitch of her hand and the camera was flattened into so much scrap. “As well as disgusted. You Paparazzi really are lowlife scum, but I think I might be able to accommodate you.” The sudden seeming sharp turn in Elesa’s mood caught the man off guard, especially as she simply got up from her seat and began to walk over to her dress rack where her modelling outfit was hanging.
To the man’s utter confusion and shock Elesa then began to undress, her Gym Leaders outfit being removed from her body piece by piece and set aside in the requisite laundry bin before she began to put on her modelling outfit. To some the two outfits might appear one and the same, but there were a few key differences in pattern and material that sharp eyed people would notice. The paparazzi’s confusion only grew as when she was half-dressed Elesa began to return to the table carrying the rest of her outfit.
As she began to pull on the black tights that matched her yellow and black top Elesa finally spoke to the man once more, saying “Well, I do hope you enjoyed the show so far, as well as what comes next.” The woman pulled her tights mostly all the way up, but there was still a little give in them left. Then to the nameless man’s growing bafflement she reached over and picked him up. A quick flash of a nail tore and broke the spider silk wrappings around him, and he was at last free. However he had not reached his former position being naive, and so he asked “And…what comes next?”
To that Elesa just smiled, before moving the man around her body towards her back. “Why, you getting exactly what you wanted, no? you get an up close and personal look at my body.” With that said Elesa swiftly used her free hand to pull her tights away from her body a little, before dropping the man down them. Letting go they snapped back into place, and the model could faintly feel him end up spread eagled across one of her ass cheeks. The blonde laughed again before adjusting her leg coverings fully up and on, tightly sealing them to her body and pinning the man in place. A simple tug at the side made the material snap right back, proving that it was not going anywhere.
Having done all of that Elesa put the finishing touches on her appearance, sitting again to put her hair in order and reapplying her makeup. She could feel the paparazzi try and fail to do much more than squirm, and when she got up a final inspection of her rear showed that he was nearly invisible on her butt unless you knew where to look. After that it was as simple as slipping on her heels, giving a thanks and finger kiss to the top of the head of Joltik for a good job, and she was out the door.
Perhaps if Elesa had been scheduled for a mere normal catwalk show he could have lasted, but this was not the case. Instead today was for several official glamor shots, striking a variety of poses. The photos were of course sexy but respectful, and more importantly were done by a fully reputable photographer for an accredited source. There were several shots of Elesa standing in various poses, but critically there were others that had her sitting on the floor. It was during one of the latter that the shrunken man met his end, bulldozed and flattened under the rolling butt of the model. It was later noted during the photo run that Elesa had a particularly radiant smile in them, as if she knew something that others did not.
It was just a few scant years after the Incident, and the world was still reeling and trying to recover. No one was quite sure what the cause had been, but as always there were many theories. Some say a villainous Team had orchestrated the event, either unopposed or unable to be stopped before it was done. Not many believed it as there was no indication of how it could have been done, and none had stepped forward to take credit. Others believed that it might have been some sort of unprecedented mass human evolution event, but this was rarely considered as most agreed that the results were more of a devolution than anything else. Most just accepted that it was probably the work of some legendary Pokemon or another, the exact culprit unknown.
Regardless of the reason for it, the Incident remained the same. Across the entire globe all at once a percentage of the human population suddenly and irrevocably shrank in size to on average a mere inch tall. The distribution was utterly random, some regions experiencing a rate of less than 1% of the population, while there were rumors that at least one region had been 100% effected. Most however had around 5-10% of the population reduced.
By far the most chaotic time was the first few hours and days after the Incident occurred, as confusion reigned as people seemingly vanished into thin air only to sometimes be discovered later. Pokemon both aided and hindered the cause of restoring order and helping the people suddenly reduced, as while many were perfectly friendly and helpful to the shrunken human’s others were not. It would likely never be known exactly how many people perished over those first few days, eaten by wild or even caught Pokemon looking for a snack or trampled and swatted by unaffected humans not seeing them. Complicating matters was how even months after the Incident people formerly declared dead would emerge alive and well, having been shrunken in the middle of the wilderness or simply kidnapped by a possessive Pokemon.
Still things were gradually settling back down to a more stable “normal,” enough so that more solid and universal conclusions could be drawn on how to deal with the now Shrunken population. In the early days the laws and legislation were firmly divided along region lines, some considering the Reduced still full citizens, others relegating them to a second class, and a few hardliners calling them pests to be exterminated. Over time most of the hardline regions capitulated to international pressure, but they were still considered mostly “not worth it” for most of the Reduced.
Nowadays the general consensus of the planet in regards to the Reduced was mostly a bit of a mixed bag, with them still considered people and afforded most of the same opportunities and benefits that the “regular” people held. Homes, products and services had been created and altered to help them out in daily life, and with only a few rare exceptions all jobs and positions were open to them including Pokemon Training. The few barred jobs were those actually physically impossible for a Reduced person to perform.
However due to the impossibility of policing all wild Pokemon on the planet and the relative fragility of their small forms, for a Reduced person getting “Lost” was a distinct possibility and so missing persons cases were not followed up or even sometimes reported, and while direct murder was obviously illegal accidental deaths caused by normal humans were generally unpunished.
Today a Reduced Unovan boy named Gregory woke up in excitement, looking forward to finally starting his very own Pokemon journey. He had lived alone not long after the Incident had occurred, his mother disappearing that very day from her job at the Pokemon Daycare and his father passing away just 6 months later due to a hungry wild Liepard. Thankfully he had his normal sized aunt there to periodically check in on him, so he tried to not let himself be down.
While a risky choice of profession to be sure, it was not out of the question for him to be able to pull it off. Since the Incident it had been discovered that even Pokeballs scaled down to the size of a Reduced could still catch most Pokémon no problem, only the physically largest specimens being too much for the balls to handle. Once a Reduced trainer had even one Pokemon who would listen to them, their survival chances increased exponentially. Marshall of the Elite Four was even a Reduced, and had defended his position from all comers.
Still that most dangerous period of time was always before a Reduced received their first Pokemon, but Unova had that covered. A system had been put into practice where regular sized trainers could volunteer to look after just starting out Reduced trainers, and so far it had shown great success. Not perfect by any means, but still far better than in regions where Reduced trainers were left to fend entirely on their own. Unfortunately for Gregory, as he marched towards the designated meeting point, he was about to encounter one of the reasons the success statistics were not 100%.
Hilda walked through the park with a slight spring in her step, her hips and chest wobbling slightly as she strolled. She had already been a trainer for a while, and was lucky enough that when the Incident occurred her family had been almost completely unaffected. Only her brother Hilbert had gone missing, despite him travelling with her at the time, and it was her silent regret that it took her an hour to realize he had gone missing that morning.
Unbeknownst to Hilda, when he had shrunk Hilbert had been awake at the camp they shared while she was sleeping in. He had entered her tent to try and get her attention and help, only to be caught when she rolled over in her sleep. Her chest had landed on him and crushed him flat, and she never noticed before she did laundry.
Having already done excellently for herself as a trainer, Hilda had decided to apply to the aide program to help out her fellow prospective trainers. However in Hilda’s experience, it seemed like not many of them were really up for the challenge, because up until now nearly twenty Reduced prospective trainers had bailed on her without warning. Still she held out hope that one day she would get to mentor someone successful, and so kept at it.
The problem that Hilda faced, not that she knew it, was that it wasn’t that all of the Reduced people she looked after did not have what it took to cut it as Pokemon trainers, she was just unbelievably oblivious. Several prospective trainers never even got her attention, trampled under her red soled boots on her way to or upon arriving at the meeting points, or were mistaken for insects and so stomped by her on purpose to “make the area safe for the little people.”
Even the ones who were found by her were not that much safer, as her obliviousness did not extend just to noticing them but also in how to safely treat and handle them. One Reduced girl had been set aside by Hilda so that she could demonstrate proper catching techniques, only to have been put on top of an Amoonguss cap where she was paralysed and eaten. Two more Reduced had fallen into her bowl of food and been devoured whole, and another had ended up tangled in her hair just to drown in her next shower.
A very unfortunate Reduced boy was run over by her Serperior when she called it out for training, and a full three had ended up falling into her boots one way or another and crushed within. A few had been carried in the back pocket of her shorts before she forgot about them and sat down, and one had been made to share a tent with her when in the middle of the night she reached out in her sleep, grabbed her and suffocated her in her chest as she squeezed the Reduced woman like a plush toy. That same obliviousness kept her from ever noticing the bodies, and so every single person was considered Lost.
As it turned out Gregory was the first person to arrive at the meeting spot in the park, partially due to being so excited to start his journey. It had involved carefully avoiding the path of an early morning female jogger but that was fine, even if he had been slightly perturbed by both how she never even glanced down at his as she ran and how he swore he saw a red splotch on the underside of her running shoes. Taking in the sight he decided to perhaps get a little higher off the ground, perhaps spurred by the earlier encounter with the jogger. Thankfully there was a handy bench nearby, and so he climbed up onto that to continue to wait. Not long after he saw the approaching Hilda, and waved his hand in greetings.
Hilda walked on until she arrived near the meeting point, making sure to keep a close eye on the ground just in case and to look for her soon to be partner/charge. She did not see them anywhere yet, so she pulled out her watch and checked the time to see that she was still on schedule. Perhaps they had underestimated the amount of time they would need to get here, and so were running late. Not wanting to just stand around when there was another option, she kept her eyes glued to the ground as she approached the bench and turned around to sit.
As she landed with a meaty thump the girl briefly thought she might have heard something like a sharp squeak, and she perked up as she looked around. Usually that sound was a sign of a Reduced trying to speak, but sometimes it was just a bug instead. However as she looked around trying to locate the source, shifting her body side to side on the bench to try and expand her field of view, there was no sign of anyone and no further sounds beyond her own.
Sighing slightly and sitting back more the girl pulled out her phone and brought up her contacts, including the number of the Reduced she was supposed to meet. It rang twice with no answer, but then oddly as she shifted in place slightly it cut off entirely without a third ring, as if there was no phone to connect to. It was strange to be sure, but Hilda figured maybe the Reduced guy could explain once he arrived.
However that time never came, and Hilda was left waiting for over an hour in that same spot. At last she let out a disappointed sigh, and got up. She had given the little guy as long as she reasonably could, but it seemed that he was yet another no-show. She felt it was a real shame as he had looked cute in his profile picture, and she had looked forward to meeting him. Reshouldering her bag she did not even bother looking back as she walked away, phoning the service to report the failure to appear.
Behind on the bench there was just a red circle of blood, soon to be wiped away by the next person to sit on that spot, or perhaps washed away in the rain. With Hilda on the back of her booty shorts there was the flattened and mangled figure of Gregory, no longer identifiable as such due to the damage inflicted upon him. His entire body was crushed and nearly grinded away by the girl, the poor boy having only lasted 5 minutes beneath her before his body gave out. Then as if in final insult, a Reduced man exited the grass near the edge of the park when he saw Hilda approach. He began to raise his voice to ask for a lift, only to be trampled and stuck to the sole of the distracted brunet as she left the park.