The ceiling lights far above changed from bright-white fluorescent kitchen fixtures, to warm, dim dining room lighting emanating off of the rows of sconces lining the walls.
Ready or not, it was too late to turn back. Anthony was included in his fiance's meal, and if he wasn't careful, it would be easy for her to grab a few fries at once and end his challenge before it even really started. He did his best to steady his breathing, surveying the different foods for possible key locations. Eventually, he settled on where he would check first when the challenge starts: a small mountain of crab rangoon, the very base of which hosting a wonton wrapper that was slightly open. This was common for cooked crab rangoon of course, but it was certainly a great spot for a key, and close enough to his current location.
"Hi, how are you?" The waitress spoke as she approached Ann's table. Her voice sounded much more professional, as though she had been using a childish inflection when speaking to Anthony earlier, for which he was a bit insulted. "I'm Wendy, I'll be your server today."
Ann brought her hand up, giving a slight wave. "Hey." She smiled. "Is this ALL for me?" Oddly enough, it hadn't even occurred to Anthony just how much food was on the tray. For a single course, it was an absolute buffet in every sense of the word.
The waitress nodded. "You'd be surprised how easy it is to eat it all. Our head chef is certainly not one to disappoint." As she spoke, she brought a tall glass of lemonade down onto the table. "Alright, your fiance is somewhere in this spread! Remember, you get points based on how much food you eat before you hit the buzzer over here." She motioned to a small clock, at the bottom of which was a small terminal containing the keyhole too. "Your time starts when I put the tray down, but I should let you know: we don't drop guests into drinks, we don't stop you if you begin eating him, only after he hits your stomach, and lastly, that he's very small. We've never had an Eater find their Shrinkie while the clock is running. Any questions?"
Ann seemed almost overly-excited. Whether it was the food, or the competition, she was smiling ear to ear. "Just one. What happens if I eat the key?"
The waitress quickly gave her answer, more than likely a question she hears a lot. "In most cases, that stops the Shrinkie from being capable of winning the round, but the key is coated in a similar substance to the Shrinkies themselves, so you won't actually swallow it, at least not fully, and it's so small you won't feel it. A very competitive couple we have who come in here quite often actually had this happen, and amazingly, the husband climbed onto her next bite, got into her mouth, and then escaped with the key before she swallowed. It's incredibly unlikely, but now we know it's possible!"
"Woah!" Ann responded gleefully, "That sounds like so much fun! I'm ready to eat now for sure." Her mouth was practically watering at the scent of the food alone, and the idea of her fiance having to get the key from inside her mouth sounded so exciting and dangerous.
Without further discussion, the tray was placed gently on the table before Ann, the waitress smiling and giving a quick "Good luck!" before she returned to the kitchen.
Anthony's point of view was breathtaking. His fry basket was on the closest side to the giantess, and she was truly something to behold. He could see her eyes survey her food as she decided what to eat first, her mind not the least bit occupied with her grain-of-salt-sized man. Eventually she settled on the wings across the tray, taking a massive fork and stabbing one.
Taking one more deep breath, Anthony decided to make his move. He slid through the fry basket, immediately noticing the genius in the design of the restaurant. Not only was the room so dim that he'd be invisible, but the paper tray liner had a busy pattern on it with tons of colors and patterns, ensuring that he was unseeable, even while moving. He dashed at top speed to the rangoon, approaching a single piece that was no less than a few hundred times his size. He began to climb into the open slit, eventually tumbling into the hot pool of cream cheese and onion. He managed to catch himself before getting completely covered, but after digging through the mixture a bit, he was pretty much coated. There was no key to be found.
In the distance, a loud crunch boomed through the air. Immediately Anthony realized she must have moved past the wings and onto some fried food. He pulled himself from the wonton wrapper and shot a glance up to his fiance, who was currently holding half a rangoon. It certainly wasn't lost on him that he could've been inside that one, and he shivered with anxiety. Time was of the essence though, and he wasn't going to wait around and get consumed.
The next destination was the sushi platter. Any one piece could easily hold the key in place, and once he arrived, he began climbing the rice of the furthest one from the giantess. Once atop the decorated roll, he slowly walked along the top of each piece, closely inspecting the identical fillings looking for the sparkle of the key. Eventually he reached the last piece and began to turn around to check the next row.
Before he could, his world was shaken. Having been so focused on looking for the key, he hasn't even noticed the chopsticks grabbing the platform on which he stood. Having no choice as the chopsticks zoomed toward the hungry mouth of the giantess, he dove off the sushi piece, smacking into the tray below hard enough to knock the wind out of him. Far above, Ann happily chewed her food and swallowed, entirely oblivious to what she almost just did.
Anthony scrambled to his feet, running to the nearest plate. His new position was a large stack of mozzarella sticks, all piled neatly atop each other like firewood. Trying to focus on the task at hand, (or, at the very least, on anything other than the nonchalance of his fiance's consumption,) he spotted another potential hiding spot for the key. High atop the pile, a single mozzarella stick had a broken end, the filling pouring out to a cooled and solidified blob. The woman in the kitchen said it would be difficult, and this certainly fit the bill.
Gathering his courage, the tiny man began his mission up the fried mountain. He used the ridged edges of each piece to climb, finally stopping on the third stick up, running out of breath. He stretched and looked upward. Still two huge pieces to go... He sighed and threw himself onto his back to rest for a moment before continuing. As his back hit the crispy surface of the mozzarella stick though, the breaded coating cracked, a fracture heading down toward his legs where the stick broke, his legs each plunging down into the molten cheese. "Oh fuck!" He exclaimed, trying to pull away. His small size was nothing compared to the thickness of the filling, and with every attempt to pull away, he was dragged deeper, very quickly resulting in entrapment up to his chest. Before long, he was unable to free his arms, until finally, he was entirely engulfed.
Several minutes passed with muffled crunching and dragging noises emanating from outside the shrunken man's prison. He knew where he would be headed. He was inside one of Ann's favorite foods, and only third from the top. She was going to eat him.
Not long after, movement finally found Anthony's new abode, and though his heart was beating out of control, he had readied himself inside the now-cooled cheese stick. He winced as he felt the food item move, and again when it changed direction. Quickly, the world around him was shattered, a ear-bursting crunch echoing from only a few feet away. Suddenly, light poured in over the captured tiny, and what was before a mystery showed itself. Ann's colossal white teeth pulled at one end of the mozzarella stick while the cheese stretched from the other side! Anthony was much closer to her mouth than the opposing side, and the point of least resistance in the middle was thinning. By some sheer luck, Ann bit the bridge with her teeth, letting free the stretched cheese and quickly dropping Anthony downward. As much of a relief as it was, he was still just her next bite.
Scenery didn't stay the same long. The incredible wall of smiling, chewing lips that seemed infinite like the horizon, suddenly flew away as the snack was plunged downward. The dim lights of the dining room tinted red before drowning to black as the distinct scent of marinara replaced every other stimuli.
After just a few dizzying spins in the dipping sauce, light found Anthony once again, her hand rapidly pulling the next bite out and upward, the jostling movement, (mixed with the water from the sauce,) causing the tiny man to finally fall free of the cheese, leaving him behind. Anthony surfaced in the small black cup, wiping his eyes before watching the place he most recently inhabited get nonchalantly eaten.
Anthony swam in the marinara sauce for several more minutes before the next stick descended from the heavens. The obelisk of fried deliciousness smashed into the ocean of sauce, getting generously coated. Though it narrowly missed Anthony, he was quickly scooped up by the backstroke, and within less than a second, found himself in a free-fall back into the cup as he was carried by an accidental drip.
Ann continued eating happily, having almost forgotten there was a human being somewhere in her food, and totally unaware of the terror she caused the little speck. The thought eventually did cross her mind, and she scanned the tray, curious if her husband-to-be had already met her stomach. She saw nothing of course, but shrugged it off and kept eating. How couldn't she after all? Everything was perfect.
Having fallen so far, Anthony was much deeper in the dipping sauce than he had been even upon his original plunge. He knew he needed to swim up and swiftly kicked his feet off what seemed like the bottom of the cup, but he didn't move. He took an extra second to feel beneath him before eventually surfacing. The hard object he had kicked was now in his hand... The key!
His mission was now clear. The tiny man had everything he needed except a way out of the dipping sauce. He cautiously waited for the hungry goddess in the sky to dip her next piece, and upon its descent, grabbed hold. He grinned at his own strategy and prepared himself to jump the moment he could see over the edge. Plans, however, don't always reach fruition, and that very same goddess scooped more sauce than intended, and brought her head down, stuffing the end into her mouth as fast as possible to avoid dripping.
Anthony yelped as the horrific crunch bellowed through the air, followed by many more blood-curdling chewing sounds. He could barely stand to look, but when he finally opened his eyes, he wasn't in her mouth. He was stuck, in a glob of marinara, to the mile-wide bottom lip of his fiance.
Ann, giggling at her own eating, rolled her eyes as the tasty sauce clung to her face. She subconsciously knew what came next, and was already grabbing the last mozzarella stick by the time her tongue escaped her lips to capture the extra sauce. She stopped however, when her tongue made the mistake of pushing the sauce down to her chin.
Anthony's breathing got heavy. One moment he was nearly eaten whole, the next a muscle the size of a building hits him like a truck, forcing his whole atmosphere to fall, and finally, a white wall, like a car's dust cover, smashed into him, grinding his back against the face of his own fiance before retracting and dropping far below.
It wasn't long until he oriented himself once more and realized the best truth he could: The napkin that carried him was mere yards from the keyhole, and he hadn't dropped the key. He didn't hesitate. Without so much as a moment to catch his breath, he exhausted himself fully, reaching the keyhole and activating his win. He had escaped and somehow won the first round!