Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Journeyman
Chapter One: Overpopulation Really Bites
A thunderous stomp slammed the ground behind me causing the entire wooden plain to shake beneath me and my bones to rattle. I continued to run as fast as I could to escape the deafening noise but a city block for me was less than a step for her. A loud giggling could be heard from high above the crashing of the building size feet that were easily closing the distance of my head start I managed to achieve earlier. Tears poured from my eyes allowing sweat to sting them mercilessly, my lungs felt as though they were bleeding with every gasp of air I took. My head pounded because of the torrent of adrenaline that had been infused with my blood. All I could think of was that I had to run away from this girl…I didn’t know where or how but I knew I had to run.
As I ran across the wooden floor, vaulting over every crack where the wood pieces separated, a huge, tan foot landed just ahead of me and the impact made me fall prone to the ground. Dust particles the size of gravel hit me in the face and some got in my eyes. I frantically attempted to rub them out and get up simultaneously, but each time I tried another ear-shattering impact threw me off my feet. The young giantess was tapping her foot in front of me, sending an oddly mixed smell of both must and bubble bath into the air with each tap. When I finally cleared my eyes I saw that her other foot was upon me now…hovering inches about four stories (to me) above me. I stood in horror…too shocked with fear to know what to do next. Her pink toenails glinted almost deviously in the lamp light…the biggest one was about as big as me.
“Stupid men;” she said through her giggles above. “Who needs them! They can’t please us, they can’t work, ha they can’t even survive without us!”
Her toe cam down on me…a gigantic big toe that could swallow my miniscule frame easily; before I knew it I was pinned between the wooden floor and an amazing amount of toe-flesh. My face was pressed into the soft pat of her toe and my back into the unyielding wood. I tried to take a breath but her flesh stifled my attempt and I slowly began to suffocate as she put more pressure on me little by little.
After everything I have gone through can this really be the end?! I thought to myself in a frenzy.
No Great Athena don’t let me die like this!!” I began to squirm helplessly underneath her toe causing the fourteen-year old titan to giggle loudly. I didn’t care anymore…I was through for sure…
I’m not giving condolence to all the myths that state that when one is about to die their life flashes before their eyes; all I’m saying is at that point mine did. I had come close to death before but for some reason the feeling of my once prominent hope being crushed as my ribs threatened to give too her amazing weight made this time worse than all the others. It’s hard to understand how much I had been through…to her I was a speck, not more than ¾ of an inch tall; but in reality I had been through so much just to be this close to my goal. My story began to flash in front of me…forcing me to relive it before my time came…
Do to the overpopulation of the world it was dictated that in 2201 that all men must be shrunk in order to give mankind ample sustenance to survive. Why men you may ask? Well women were essential to the birthing process…a process that would not work while shrunk. There was enough sperm in banks to last the next two thousand years without any threat of inbreeding so the need for the male sex was nil. When the law was going through the all female congress of the WOL (World Organization of Leaders) it originally was written that all men were shrunk at birth. This would work but the odds of a person developing correctly while shrunk was next to nothing; and despite how worthless men had proven to be in the past they still deserved at least a chance at life. So it was ruled that when a man hit ample development (age 15) that he would then be shrunk.
Another law was written that gave men the “privilege” to request a female owner before they are shrunk…if the girl said yes than he was her property, if she said no than he would be auctioned off or sold at one of the “stables” that women casually bought men at. Sadly this became a rude thing to ask of a girl and it was only considered polite if she asked you to be her pet, not the other way around. Most boys had no problem finding a “protector” or owner. But I’m not most boys.
Right from the get-go I was not considered a normal child. My mother, after learning she was going to give birth to a male, immediately wanted an abortion. But the fines were too hefty and her parents, being religious people in the name of Athena, would not help. So she went through with the birth regardless of how disgusted she was with the fact she was having a man as a baby. I was taught by the television set everything I knew…since my mother paid no attention to me whatsoever I usually found time to read and watch things that men were usually not expected to watch (educational/philosophical programming). This made me much smarter than the average male and made it so that I could even compete with the females in my high school classes. Girls were insulted at this turn out.
“Sexist!” that’s what they’d usually call me for answering a question first or helping out the men in class over the girls who really didn’t need any help.
“Why do you even care about that shit if you’re going to end up the size of an ant anyway?” I would often be asked by my mother and peers.
The truth is I didn’t know why and didn’t care why. I just loved to learn…and didn’t see why that was so bad. I knew that I was going to be shrunk when I hit 15 years of age but that didn’t stop me from enjoying my life while I had it to myself.
The realization that I’d be sold at a Stable Booth didn’t really hit me till it was less than a week before my fifteenth birthday; when I finally decided to open my eyes to the inevitable truth of my future.
“Class is over;” said Miss Isabella, our 10th grade English teacher, in the middle of my presentation of how the male brain and the female brain were remarkably similar.
“Miss Isabella; I’m not done yet;” I said calmly. Everyone began to collect their belongings and walk out of class.
She hit me in the head with the edge of a ruler…it hurt a lot to be honest.
“Don’t talk back to me ingrate!” she yelled, offended by my simple statement. Every boy shook as they saw me stand up to her like that…every girl just continued to leave.
“I still have ten minutes left to present;” I stated coldly, with a hint of anger in my voice.
“GET OUT OF MY CLASS!” she bellowed while tearing my research paper in half. I just stared at her coldly right in the eye. Anger shot through her knowing that a man would be willing to stand up to a lady like her.
I smirked and walked to lunch, knowing that even if I got there early the girls in my grade would cut in front of me anyways.
On my walk there I saw three freshmen girls standing by my locker in a circle all chattering. One of them was a skinny blonde with blue eyes, she was wearing denim jeans that were far too tight and hung far too low and a tie-die tank top that exposed her mid-drift. The one to her left was a tall Pilipino girl with matching features where all green; and the third was a larger girl with black hair and far too much make-up. The blonde was holding a little man in the palm of her hand and showing him off.
“Oh my gosh I’m so jealous of you!” squealed the larger girl.
“Me too!” chimed in the Philippino to her left. “He’s so cute! May I hold him?”
I rolled my eyes and walked around them to open my locker.
“Maybe later on girls; I just got him today so I want to play with him;” the blonde giggled. “Don’t worry I share!” she said with a wink.
There was a slight pause and the girls turned slightly to look at me. I ignored them as I always did and flung my locker open.
“So…what are you going to do with him?” asked the Phillipeno girl.
“Anything I want!” the blonde said loudly. “And everything I want.”
“I wish I had one;” said the dark haired girl with a sigh.
“Have you tasted him yet;” giggled the Phillipeno girl.
“What do you mean?” asked the blonde. “Taste him?”
“Well you can suck on him…like candy you know!” she said through a laugh. “It’s supposed to taste really good! Some people even eat them up!”
I was shaking with anger at that point and gave a glare back. The little man’s expression was impossible for me to see from here but I knew it was one of absolute fear. He stood quivering in the blonde’s palm as she eyed him curiously.
“Only when you can buy them yourself though;” added the dark haired girl. “You do still need to be sixteen to buy them…for some dumb reason.”
“I know!!” complained the Phillipeno girl with a whine. “I want one so bad but I don’t know a guy close enough to “the age” to ask.”
“Well aren’t you going to try him?” asked the dark haired girl ignoring the other’s complaints.
The blonde didn’t need any coaxing. I watched in horror as she tilted her hand forward and began to lick it. Her tongue was monstrous compared to him and he stuck to it easily as it rolled across him. She showed the other’s the tiny man on her tongue with a giggle. The other two laughed as the man screamed and begged for mercy from his tormenting goddess. She stuck her tongue in her mouth and swished it about while giggling at the man’s hell. I couldn’t take it anymore and I slammed the locker and went to lunch.
“He is tasty!” squealed the blonde girl; I could hear her clear down the hall.
I stomped away, enraged that in less than seven days that could be me stuck to that girl’s tongue.
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Journeyman
Chapter 2: Soon to be Miniscule
At lunch it was the standard day. I walked in to see Liz sitting all by herself in the far corner of the room. Liz was a shorter girl and had strawberry blonde hair. She was pale skinned and freckled; her deep green eyes were hidden behind the glare of her glasses. She was overall average in build, a little chubby but it gave her the curves I had come to admire. She wore conservative clothing (today a sweatshirt with caches) that seldom ever showed off her modest looks.
“Hello Allan; she said with a forced smile…she knew that my time was coming up. “How was your day?”
“Fine;” I said, her concerned face told me that she knew I was lying.
We both just kind of sat there in silence. She longed to have me for her own and I knew it too. This would seem like a no brainer plan, to have her be my protector that is, but complications were ever-present. Her mother hated the thought of having a man in the house…even though it would please her daughter greatly. No pets were allowed…at least that’s what she always told her daughter.
Although silence was between us conversations stormed on all around us. I saw a senior girl drop a tiny man into her cleavage and playfully began to squish him as if it were some sort of joke to her and her girlfriend. I saw another girl (also a senior) drop a small man into her bowl of chowder; and still another with a man tied around her finger like a ring. This stuff was always happening…but it bugged me now more than ever.
“So…what are you up to?” Liz asked, desperate to break the tension and cheer me up.
“Not much…failed another test today;”I responded half-heartedly.
“You know damn well that you are the smartest person in this whole school;” she said with a disgusted look on her face. “People are just afraid and insulted because you are male.”
“I know…” I said, my eyes locked on the ground.
Despite my attempts to hide my tears Liz knew that I was crying. She went over and sat by me, running her fingers through my hair.
“Listen; I don’t know how but I’m going to find a way to be your protector;” she said comfortingly, trying to convince herself more than me.
“If only I was a year younger;” I managed to choke out.
If I were a year younger Liz would be eighteen when I turned fifteen. That way she could have been my caretaker and her mother could say nothing about it. I won her over with my intelligence when I was only a freshmen; she was then my one and only friend.
She sat there and held me, paying no heed to the people’s teases.
“Man Lover!!!” Many of them called her.
“Stupid Bitch!!” said some of the less original ones.
“Liz?” I asked as my scared sadness morphed into rage at the yells around us.
“Yes hun?” she said with a voice full of sympathy.
“If I can find you…in a year; will you take me in still?” I asked.
I could feel her smile and tears form.
“Of coarse hun… of course;” she said.
The thought of someone surviving that long while shrunk was laughable to most. Scientific case studies show that the average lifespan for a shrunken man is the same as any non-shrunk person (250 years). Yet careful studies show that almost 89% die to do “accidents”.
I looked up from Elizabeth’s shoulder to see the people glaring at her. Even teachers joined in the non-verbal chastise of the inter-gender display of affection. This was not the first time but this time more than all others made my blood boil. My fear melted away completely; by the time the bell rang it was all replaced with boiling red hatred.
“I will get to you Liz;” I said with scorn in my voice. “And that’s a promise. I am going to prove all these idiots wrong. Men are not weak…men are not bugs.”
There was a pause and she just held me for a few seconds.
“I will not meet my end in the tracks of a shoe or in some girl’s disgusting stomach;” me saying the second one made Liz shiver.
“It is illegal to eat men;” she said, gripping me much tighter.
“Yes but you know as well as I do that the law isn’t enforced. Hell girls bring in men to “spice” up their meal everyday here at school;” I said with a half-hearted chuckle.
She sat there now staring into my eyes. We both were going over how slim my chances were in our heads, we both were seeing how many ways I could die.
“I’ve got to go to class;” I said, desperate to not stare into her tearing eyes.
I walked away and she just sat there for a while. I walked down the hall with a strange new courage in my heart. By the time I reached the classroom I didn’t even hear the teacher’s yells about how late I was. All I could hear was what my mind was telling me: “You’ll get to her…you are not weak like the others;”
The week flew past me in a blurry haze of reading and negative anticipation. I read a lot of books about how to survive whilst shrunk and some of the biggest hazards. Few of them ever alluded to a female as a threat (which was laughable to me) even if she was more than 500ft tall compared to you after you are shrunk. They did however mention quite a bit of interesting threats that involve bugs. Wasp and spiders are the two biggest killers of men according to the informative novel, even though everyone knows that it is “playful” girls and women.
Before I knew it the time had come. My mother dragged me to the GCSPC (Government Center of Shrinking and Population Control) where my fate would be surely swiftly dealt. I remember that the wait in the cold white waiting room was amazingly short compared to most. I couldn’t had been there more than ten minutes before a girl with short blonde hair and pink highlights flung the door open and called my name.
“Allen Scoff;” she called out chipperly as if this was just another doctor appointment; I reluctantly stood up from my chair…my mother did not follow suit. “Come right this way sir.”
I followed her through a normal looking, bland hallway. Do to the featurelessness of the building I had one thing to look at; her. She was wearing tight fitting pink scrubs showing off her remarkably curvy figure. She was a perfect hourglass shape with legs and a rear to die for. Most men would have been so transfixed on her large bust that they probably would have lost themselves in their own foolish fantasies to even remember why they were in the clinic. I did though; because all I could think of when I saw this girl is how large she would be to me just minutes from that point.
She took me into a room, gave me a shot in the arm, and let me sit in a chair a little while. Nothing very drastic happened…that was until I fallen asleep do to the affects of the drug.
When I woke up my entire world had changed. The chair I was in was gone and I was lying down on a soft, warm, peach colored plain. Small grooves marked the landscape, each one a about my height. I didn’t need to look up…I knew where I was. I was in a palm.
I could feel gentle breathing from up above and thus I was provoked into turning rolling on my back to see. Sure enough I saw the girl with pink highlights from before…only now she was a landscape to be awestruck by. No amount of reading could prepare me for it. Her skin was like a milky plain of endless glory, her eyes were deep brown oceans far above me, her lips were full and lavishly done up with gloss. He mouth could fit almost a hundred of me (considering I was about ¾ of an inch tall by measurements) and her body was infinitely large.
“How do you feel?” she asked, her voice an odd mixture of booming and incredibly feminine.
I began to stand up but the ground yielded to my feet and I fell back down. I was naked (to be expected when you are shrunk), and still trying to get my bearings.
“Regardless…you’re coming with me;” she said with a small giggle.
Her gigantic hand closed; I got my first visual of her fingers, each one as large as a redwood, as they soared above my head. The folds in the skin became more and more prominent as the light became dimmer and dimmer. Before I could ever react one of the skin rolled over on me, it in turn being suppressed by a gigantic finger. Flesh was all around my now miniscule body, slowly beginning to crush me into it; I tried to breath but got only a small amount of oxygen through the skin. I began to get the sensation of being moved through air at an incredible speed as she swung her arms with her walking strides.
This isn’t right!!! I thought to myself frantically.
What the hell is going on!! I’m suppose to awake in a holding chamber! A loud crashing of a door slamming pierced even though the now goddess-like hand. Then, all at once, light and oxygen came flying into me. I looked around frantically to see that we were in a titanic version of a bathroom. With much determination I found my footing and thus had a better view at my surroundings. These surrounding were filled with the young nurse (probably an intern’s) D size breast.
A shadow once again loomed over me; this time it was the other hand. Two gigantic fingers closed in on me, I tried to escape but the attempts were feeble at best. It was child’s play for her to isolate me and pinch me between the two gigantic pads that were her fingers. My body shrieked in pain for she put way too much pressure on my frail frame. Only one arm and my neck stuck out from the gigantic finger pads while the rest of my body was being crushed by her rough ignorance of its tolerance.
“Now you listen here;” she whispered as she brought me up to meet her gigantic lips; when I had reached my destination I was only a foot or two away from them (my perspective). “You have no idea what I can do to you.”
He cinnamon scented breath overpowered me as her voice, even a whisper, boomed all around me.
“You will listen to everything I say or else these lips, will be the last thing you see;” she said, the gigantic lip shaped landscape before me forming a small grin.
Fear flowed through me. Somehow this was even worse than I imagined. My senses were being overloaded completely by the sheer scale of the size of my surroundings. Tears began to stream down my face, for at that moment I realized that I was a mere bug and nothing more…