After a long and perilous journey, the Divine Dragon Alear and his companions stood at the gates to Elusia Castle. The cold wind whipped around them, carrying flakes of that snow which blanketed this land, biting at the face of everyone in the party. Even so, they weren't yet willing to go in. A heavy weight seemed to rest on everyone's shoulders—the weight of the whole world, perhaps. If they failed to stop the Fell Dragon Sombron and his Four Hounds, who knew what chaos and destruction would befall Elyos and the lands beyond. Their friends, their families—all of humanity, whether they knew it or not, was counting on them.

And yet, strange as it was to say, that wasn't what most concerned Alear at this time. His greatest concern was for one person in particular: his sister Veyle, who by means of some dark spell was brought under the control of their father, Sombron. He knew she would be in this castle waiting for them, but whether the Veyle they found inside would be the sweet and caring girl or the cruel and callous servant to the Fell Dragon, he had no way of knowing. It was for her sake as much as for anyone else that he was here, and he would do all he could to make sure that she was freed from that dark spell.

Alear turned to his companions. Their faces showed that there was no need for some rousing speech—they all shared the same resolve to put an end to Sombron's plans. Without further ado, they pushed open the gates and stepped inside, ready to face down whatever foes came to meet them.

But the grand entrance hall was completely empty. Not a guard nor a servant could be seen, and not a sound could be heard save the echoes of his party's footsteps and the clanking of their weapons and armor. They hadn't seen anyone on their approach to the castle either, but to find no one inside was unsettling. Everyone felt it smelled of a trap, and they moved cautiously, eyeing every shadow as though Sombron himself might jump out of them at any moment.

They hadn't even made it out of the great hall, and stood at the base of the stairs, when a voice made them jump and raise their weapons. But at the second call from that voice, they lowered them again and stared at the figure that had appeared atop the stairs.

“Alear!” she shouted, bounding down the steps two at a time to jump in the arms of her brother.

“Veyle!” he said, pulling her head firmly against his cheek as he hugged her, stroking her silvery hair. “It's alright, sister. I'm here for you. We're all here for you—we'll take care of Sombron so he can never trouble you again.”

“Oh, brother. My dear, sweet brother. You really shouldn't have come.” There was a familiar tone to Veyle's voice that hit him like a punch to the gut; the tone of her evil self, and as she looked into his eyes, Alear saw that hers were blood-red, not the blue of her kinder self. He had seen them as she was coming down the stairs, too, but she had seemed so kind and friendly, so pleased to meet them... He never thought...

Alear pulled back, yelling at everyone to ready their weapons, but it was too late. The floor began to glow, and in a second it shone so strongly it blinded Alear and his companions. “Everyone, keep calm! Stand at the ready! Don't let them catch you off-guard!” He brandished his sword, ready to face down anyone coming at him, even if it was Sombron himself. But for all that he held himself at the ready, a moment later he was blown away by the blast of some explosion, or so he assumed it to be from the powerful boom that he heard right in front of him.

He gripped his sword with all his might even as he bounced along the ground, hearing the cries and clatter of his companions as they too fell along with him, and quickly rose to his feet once he came to a stop, forcing his shaky legs to hold him up. Determination filled him from head to toe—the will to fight and survive, no matter what odds he faced. With his eyesight finally returning, he blinked his eyes and looked around to take stock of the situation. How many enemies did they face? Where were they and what was the state of his companions? Were they likely to succeed in this battle? His tactician's mind was fast at work, trying to find a path to victory. After taking part in so many battles, the weighing of the odds came to him as second nature, and there were few things left in this world that could throw him off. And yet, what he saw now was one of them.

One by one the others rose alongside Alear and, like him, the stared at the figure that met their eyes—that impossibly gigantic monster which stood more imposing than even Sombron, whose mere existence seemed a threat to all of Elyos, or so it would have been had that figure been a real giant. In reality, it was all of them who had shrunk, and now stood on the floor of the entrance hall at the size of mere fleas, staring at the towering Veyle before her toes the size of castles.

“Brother?” Veyle called out, her voice exploding onto the shrunken people at her feet. “Dear brother, where ever did you go? Didn't you say you were going to rescue me? Now I'm all alone here with these miserable little ants. I guess I'll just have to play with them while I wait for you to come back.”

Petite little thing that she was, the slim and elegant Veyle nevertheless sat on the floor with a mighty THOOM, sending out an earthquake that rattled the miniaturized group. The potent shaking, strong as any earthquake, knocked most of them down. Those still standing then saw her gargantuan feet rushing forward to surround them all. When they stopped it was as if a hill of flesh and blood had sprouted up to either side of them, their mere presence commanding the eyes of every last person caught between them. There couldn't have been more than an inch between them and either foot, little enough distance that they could all feel the heat coming from Veyle's skin and smell the scent of her soles. She hadn't even touched them yet and already they were living in a world shaped by her body—the difference between her and all of them was so immense that it boggled the mind and defied all belief.

The sight of her body stretching unto the sky, the scent of her filling the air, the deafening sound of her playful humming, the tremors sent out by even her slightest motion—it all sent Alear into despair. From the moment he first saw her at their new size, his tactician's mind had been analyzing the situation to try and find even the slimmest chance of survival for him and the others. Instead it had led him to the inescapable conclusion that theirs was a lost cause. Victory by their own hand was impossible, and so was escape. The only person with any say in whether they lived or died was Veyle herself, and the merciless look in her eyes told him her decision had already been made.

“You sad, pathetic little insects. How unfortunate you are to have wandered into my path today. Or should I say, how foolish of you to leave your little hiding spot and come into our castle as though you owned the place. But I guess I can't expect any better from such inferior creatures with puny little minds. I almost pity you. Almost. But that is a feeling for my weaker side, and no matter how you try, you won't bring her out of me.

“Now, how to deal with you? Pesky little bugs like you can't be allowed to infest the household. You'll have to be killed, I suppose. It would be so easy, too; I could do it with but a single toe, like so.” A sudden movement on their left caught the attention of every tiny speck at her mercy, and all of them turned to see Veyle's foot sliding back until her big toe rested just beside them. Then that toe rose into the air, hoisted up by the vast strength of her muscles, and with another little slide of her foot it came to hang over them.

Standing in its shadow, the little specks trembled in fear as their sky—if what they saw could be called a sky—was replaced by the light-skinned surface of her toe. The grooves and ridges of her toe print, the wrinkles and sweat pores decorating her skin, all took over their field of view. Only half an inch still separated it from them, so little that even an accidental twitch of her toe would suffice to snuff them all out in an instant. Suddenly they screamed as the peachy surface jerked downwards, holding up their hands by reflex as if they had any hope of stopping its descent. But her toe stopped just out of reach, a tiny fraction of an inch away.

“See how simple it would be? How helpless you are to resist? I could have crushed you all right there. Luckily for you, I find your plight too amusing to kill you just yet.” Veyle splayed her toes to find the tiny group fleeing her foot. It was clear even to her that they were desperate to escape, and yet they moved so slow that it took them half a minute to clear the shadow of her toes. They kept running afterwards, too, out into the vast plain that the entrance hall must be for them now. Just where did they think they were going? Did they have any destination in mind? No of course not. The little things were so overwhelmed by the fear of her toes that they could think of nothing but to keep on running. It was another amusing display from these the most pathetic of creatures. And to think that these fleas had seriously believed they could challenge Veyle and her father; she couldn't help but laugh at such foolishness.

For a minute she was content to watch them flee, but once they had run the length of one of her feet, she dropped her heels in front of them with a pair of explosive THUDs, breaking them out of their hysteria. “That's enough running. I've seen what speed you pathetic insects can muster; now show me what strength you have. Come at me with all your might. If you can make your attacks felt, I'll grant you the honor of listening to you. I'm sure at least one of you is dying to say something to me, no?”

As she finished speaking, the party turned from Veyle to their leader, their faces begging Alear for direction. He didn't know how far they could trust her when she was like this, but even if there was the slightest chance that she'd make good on her word, they had to take it. Bringing out her good self was the only way they could make it out alive. Even if he couldn't say anything to awaken the real Veyle, playing along with her evil self still bought time for her good self to come out.

Alear laid out a simple plan of attack and led the others towards Veyle's left foot to put it in action. All together they wielded swords and axes and lances, cast lightning bolts and fire balls at her heel, concentrated all their firepower onto as tight an area of her skin as they could manage, but to no avail. Swords and axes, no matter how sharp their blades, bounced off the girl's soft skin, and spears could at most piece only the first layer of her skin before getting stuck in it, refusing to be moved either in or out. Fire balls were snuffed out as soon as they met her skin without leaving so much as a spot of char, and lightning bolts proved no more effective.

“Are you bugs really trying to attack me? Honestly, I can't feel a thing, not even a little tickle. How disappointing. But maybe it's my fault for only giving you my heels to attack.” Veyle's foot drew back, her heel rushing past the mites attacking it, and then began falling towards them, threatening to crush them under her toes. But Veyle splayed her toes at the last moment, and when her foot hit the floor, her victims were all left standing between her two smallest toes. “I'll give you one more chance to make me feel something. Just attack me here, on the most sensitive part of my foot,” she said, pointing to a spot of skin on the lower side of the gap between these two toes.

Again the group tried attacking her, and again their attacks all proved useless against her impregnable skin. It seemed a huge stroke of luck when one of Alear's attacks finally cut through her skin. “Ah!” Veyle gasped as the full length of her brother's blade cut into her skin, provoking a twitch of her toe that swept half his troops off their feet and left them groaning on the ground.

“So you managed to make me feel something after all. It didn't even hurt as much as a splinter, and you only succeeded after I helped you out, but I guess that's the best you can do at that pathetic size. Very well; as promised, I will let you speak to me.” A magical glow appeared around her as she began casting a spell, and disappeared once she finished chanting the words. “There; I've just enhanced my hearing, and now I should be able to hear you puny bugs. Speak up if you have anything to say.”

“Veyle, please, stop this madness! We know this isn't the real you! You don't have to obey your father; grow us back and we can defeat him together!”

“Alear, my foolish brother, is that you? Even with that spell I can just barely make out your words. Step forward so I can see you.” Alear did as she asked, walking forward to set himself apart from the others. As he did so, Veyle moved her foot away and put down a fingernail before him. “Climb. Let me bring you closer so I can make out what you have to say.”

Gathering courage, the Divine Dragon climbed onto the tip of his sister's fingernail, and held on tight as she moved her finger back to turn that huge wall of keratin into a platform to carry him higher. The sheer intensity of that upwards motion forced Alear to his hands and knees. It was a constant struggle not to be flattened against her nail, even with how slowly she raised her hand, and it didn't stop until he found himself held before her massive red eye, being stared at by a pupil that seemed more a portal to the empty void.

“Kneeling to me already, Alear? Could it be you're finally starting to learn your place beneath me?” Veyle laughed, her chuckles like rolling thunder to her little speck of a brother. “It's not too late for you to change your mind. Our father can still forgive your transgresses and spare your life, if only you'll swear your undying loyalty to him. Anyone can see it's be better to serve the world's rightful ruler than to wallow in the dirt with those insects you call your friends.”

Alear trembled uncontrollably, and when he opened his mouth, the words caught in his throat; it took much of his willpower to set them loose. “I know you're in there, Veyle. The real you. I know you can hear me. Can't you see what father is making you do? Not just to me, but to all those people down there... he's making you hurt everyone. I know that's not what you want, Veyle. You have to fight it, for yourself and for all of us. Be strong, Veyle; I know you can do it.” Alear stared into his sister's eyes, waiting for any sign that he had gotten through to her.

“I guess some fools will never learn,” Veyle said, shattering his hopes. “Do you really believe that weak little girl could ever stand up to me? Ha! It's all so laughable. And here I thought you might be smart enough to come over to the winning side. You really are a lost cause, brother. Well, so be it. I'll put an end to your useless rebellion once and for all—just watch me deal with your little followers.” Licking her fingertip, Veyle wiped the spit off on the tip of her big toe and then dropped her brother there. Her saliva caught him and held him tight, leaving him plastered to her skin even after it had dried up. Then she turned her attention back to the group standing between her feet.

Alear's companions tried to put on a brave face as Veyle's eyes fell on them, to stand their ground with weapons in hand as though ready to fight to the death, but their uneasiness shone through in the trembling of their puny bodies, visible even to the Fell Dragon's daughter. Taking it in with amusement, Veyle moved her feet to either side of them, presenting them with her flawless soles. She wiggled her toes and scrunched her feet playfully, watching their frightened reactions to each little movement of her soles, relishing the absolute power she held over these worthless insects. “First things first. Before I kill you all, I'll give you the chance to give up your failed resistance and aid me instead. Step forward if you accept.”

The group was slow in reacting to her offer, but once the first of their members dared to come forward, several more followed suit. They dropped their weapons and fell to their knees, begging Veyle to spare them. Though she couldn't make out everything they said, still the sorry display amused her to no end. “Do you swear to serve me in any way I please?” she asked, pointing at them with a finger that threatened to crush them on the spot. All of them assured her that they would, swearing again and again to serve her forever.

“Then climb on so you may join me.” Veyle set her finger down beside them, leaving them all scrambling to climb up the ridges of her fingerprint. Once they were all close to the center, she brought her hand up to look at them cowering fearfully on her fingertip. “So you wished to serve me, yes? Then serve me you shall. Serve as my snacks, that is. That's right; you'll all become a part of my body. Isn't that wonderful? I can't imagine a greater honor for worthless specks like you. And look, you're already shedding tears of joy! Let's not keep you waiting for this blessing any longer.”

As Veyle opened her mouth and her tongue stretched out towards her fingertip, her would-be servants tried to flee, running up and down the peaks and troughs of her fingerprint, stumbling over the ridges as as slight movement knocked them off balance and falling into the grooves, where they lay crying and screaming as the monstrous tongue came closer. Then it touched down, covering them all in her saliva.

With but a quick swipe Veyle picked them all up on the tip of her tongue and carried them back into her mouth. She couldn't even feel their desperate struggles to escape, nor did their efforts find any success as the thick layer of spit was more than enough to keep them in place. Then, once inside, Veyle's tongue splashed into a lake of spit and left the little mites floating inside it.

Veyle sloshed her victims all around in her mouth, trying to see if she could extract any hint of taste. To them it was as if they were caught in a powerful maelstrom, tossed about in a roiling sea that threatened to drown them at any moment. Then they were lifted by her tongue, clinging to her taste buds out of desperation. In the total darkness, they didn't notice the roof of her mouth approaching them, not until they were being squeezed between it and her tongue. The pressure increased without regards to their pitiful squirming, until one by one they were crushed, releasing a brief hint of flavor into her mouth. She pushed their remains around until she could taste them no longer, then gulped them down with a satisfied sigh.

“Ahh! What a tasty bunch of servants. And now for the rest of you.” Veyle stood again, leaving her big toe in front of the remaining mites so that her brother could see them all cowering in her shadow. Causally she drummed her toes on the floor, sending earthquakes rippling out over the lot of them, knocking down those who had been running away and preventing anyone else from joining them.

With every new tap of her toes she moved her foot the slightest bit forward, a millimeter at a time, and took joy in watching those pathetic mites growing more desperate by the second as their death drew nearer. They could do nothing but cry and shout as their world was shaken by the booming of Veyle's toes, until finally the monstrous digits fell on the nearest of their group, instantly obliterating them.

Still stuck on the tip of his sister's toe, Alear couldn't bear to keep watching his companions meet their end, and yet he couldn't look away either. He fought against the dried-up spit holding him in place, ready to jump down and do whatever he could to protect the others, even if it meant his own death under Veyle's foot, but he couldn't free so much as a single finger. All he could do was urge them to flee, even if it had to be crawling on their hands and knees.

But it was all futile. Even if they'd been running there was no way they could escape the monstrous Veyle, and in less than a minute the last of them was crushed under her toe. When Veyle moved her foot back to look at their remains, the only sign left of them were the scores of faint little dots left on the floor, barely visible even to Alear.

“Do you see what all your dogged resistance has led up to, brother? All of your friends are gone, mere stains under my toe. Don't worry, I'll make sure you join them in due time—but not yet. You haven't suffered anywhere near enough. For now, just behave and stay down there for me, will you? I'll play with you some more after I see to my other duties.” She finished speaking and took a step, sending her speck of a brother swinging forward along with her foot. The movement was so intense that it nearly made him lose consciousness, and when her foot hit the floor with an explosive impact that couldn't fail to reach him, it left him in a state of shock. It was a struggle for him to stay conscious, during her casual strides, and he didn't think he'd be able to keep it up for long. Gritting his teeth, tensing every muscle in his body just to stay awake, he silently begged his sister to snap out of that evil spell, or else not only Alear but the whole world would be doomed.

Rio Morales was furious. She had come all the way to this other world looking for her son Miles, only for these people, this “Spider Society”, to refuse to tell her anything about where he was or how he was doing. Even that Gwen girl who had brought Rio here said she didn't know anything more than that Miles had disappeared. Coming from Gwen, Rio could at least believe that she didn't really know, but that awful Miguel heading the organization clearly knew more than he was letting on, and everyone else took their cues from him. For all Rio knew, her boy was captured, or dead, or seriously hurt, and yet these “heroes” wouldn't help her find out what had happened to him.

She had never been more upset than she was after that meeting with Miguel, when they were dragging her away to put her in a containment unit until they decided what to do with her. Her anger grew, and grew, and grew, until it seemed that her body was no longer enough to contain it. Then, inexplicably, her body itself started growing too, as if to fit all of her anger.

Was this an ability she always had but had never unlocked before? Was it an effect of her coming to this dimension? Had she come into contact with something here that gave her this power? Rio didn't know, and she didn't care to know. All that mattered was that it was just the thing she needed to break out of this cell.

Rio let her rage free, slowly growing bigger until she had begun pressing up against the walls of her tube-shaped prison. At first they could contain her with little issue, but as she kept growing, they started to crack and finally shattered entirely, leaving her free.

Dozens of spider-people and imprisoned villains stared in awe at the massive mother, hardly believing what they saw, just as she could hardly believe what was happening to her. But as she raised herself to her full height, standing now at over twenty feet tall, she looked around angrily and bellowed, “Where is my son? Bring him to me right now! I won't let you keep him from me any more! Do you hear me, Miguel O'Hara? Bring me my son!” As she shouted, her anger swelled up, along with her size. She grew another ten feet and her clothes began to rip, unable to keep up with her growth.

Some of the surrounding spider-people came closer, speaking slowly to try and calm her down, but before they could even get her attention an alarm started blaring inside the building and the order went out to capture Rio alive. All at once, almost everyone who had been staring at her came forward, shooting webs at her and trying to wrap her up in them or coming in swinging for a kick or a punch.

Rio tried to swat them away, throwing blows so powerful they would have killed an any ordinary person, but even when she struck the agile little heroes, it did nothing to stem the tide. There were simply too many of them, and soon she was covered in webs from her head to her toes. Losing her balance after a kick from a trio of Spider-men, she fell over and hit the floor with a powerful THUMP. There she struggled in vain to break free of the webs that bound her while the spider-people crowded around her to discuss what to do.

When they suggested that they should send her back to her world right away, Rio thought about Miles and grew furious. Before this her anger had been aimed at making Miguel give her back her son, or at least tell her what had happened to him, but now she realized she would have to teach all of these “heroes” a lesson. As her anger built, her body grew, and the webs encasing her began to stretch to their limits. One by one they snapped, sparking a panic among the gathered spider-people, who hurried to try to contain her again. At fifty feet tall, she was finally freed from the sticky cocoon, and she stood and easily brushed off their webs, glaring at those pests who still tried to subdue her.

“That's enough! I'm through playing games with you! I want my son back right this instant, and I won't go easy on anyone who tries to stop me!” she shouted, striding forward even as she kept growing bigger, tearing her clothes further. She even outgrew her shoes completely, letting them fall off as she walked barefoot towards the mob of spider-people.

By then even more of them had appeared from all over the building, coming together to try and stop her. They threw themselves at her in waves, managing slowly to drive her back despite her continued resistance, until she tripped on one of the containment cells and fell back, crashing through the glass window.

Many of the spider-people shot webs at her, trying to keep her from falling to her death, but she was much too heavy for them, and after a moment of struggle they were pulled down with her.

Rio watched the ground draw closer and closer as she fell, and wondered if this was going to be how she died. But she was determined not to let it end this way, not to leave her Miles without a mother, and she quickly grew at a rate that far surpassed any of her previous growth spurts. In mere moments she surged past a hundred and even two hundred feet, to more than three hundred feet tall.

At her massive size, she landed on the ground, a bit winded but unharmed. Then the spider-people who had been falling with her landed on her ass, which was now big enough to flatten almost any house in a single sitting. Embarrassed by their situation and alarmed by her colossal size, they started trying to get off of Rio, but before they could, she stirred and rolled over, flattening them under her shapely butt. Even their spider sense wasn't enough to save them from the sheer speed Rio commanded at her new size, and they found themselves smothered beneath her while she groaned and sat up. Thankfully for them, her butt was cushy enough that it didn't crush them on the spot, but they began running out of air and no matter how much they struggled they couldn't get out. Soon they had all passed out beneath her.

Once she recovered from the fall, Rio looked around to take in her situation. Aside from her black bra and panties, which had kept up better with her growth since they were the closest to her body, she saw that all her clothes were in tatters, leaving her nearly naked for the whole city of Nueva York to see. But surprisingly, she found she didn't care. Those people might as well have been a bunch of insects for all she cared about them. The only person who mattered to her in this entire world was Miles, and if she had to stomp down everyone else to rescue him, well she would gladly do it.

A part of her was shocked and appalled at this thought of hers, but even so she couldn't say that she disagreed with it. These people had hurt her too much for her to be able to care about them any longer. But enough about that; she still had a Spider Society to deal with.

Standing back up, Rio looked up to the place where she had fallen out of the building. The hole she had made looked quaintly small to her now, to the point where she had to laugh at her previous self for thinking she had been so huge back then. Even her current size, she now knew, wasn't anywhere near her limit. While falling she had learned something of the trick to controlling this new power, and so now she willed herself to grow much bigger, to twice her already-gigantic size, until she was tall enough to peer into the “little” hole in the wall and see all those hundreds of spider-people looking back at her from inside.

The sight of this gigantic angry mom glaring at them was more than the heroes could handle, and all together they fled from her just as she started reaching inside for them. Her fingers easily tore through all the steel and concrete to curl around those spider-people lagging behind, trapping them all in her hand. Then she pulled them out and held them as they tried to wriggle out between her fingers.

How pathetic they were. Even with their super strength they were simply no match for her; they might as well have been a bunch of tiny little spiders for how weak they were compared to her. No, they were even lower than spiders—at least a real spider could bite her to defend itself. These puny things couldn't make her feel the slightest bit of pain.

They were so helpless, so utterly in at her mercy, that she could do just about anything she pleased with them. Maybe she could offer to spare their lives as long as they did whatever she asked? She would need the help of at least some of these people if she was ever going to figure out where Miles was. Then again, she didn't need these ones specifically. If she made an example out of these insects, she might get the whole Spider Society to start doing her bidding instead of only these few.

“It's time you all learned what happens when you make a mother upset,” Rio declared, squeezing her hand tighter until she felt her captives stop moving. When she opened her hand again, they were lying still, alive and breathing but too stunned to move. She turned her hand over and they all rolled off her palm and fell to the green fields far below. When they landed after several seconds, she raised her foot over them, threatening to crush them all. The other spider-people tried to get her to stop, launching feeble attacks and shooting webs that failed to halt her sole's descent. Even when her victims started moving again, they were still too slow to ever be able to escape her.

Rio's foot fell on the puny spider-people below her. Though she wasn't resting her full weight on them, her victims were entirely immobilized under her foot. Even if they'd been at their full strength they could never have hoped to escape this. They tried desperately to wriggle out, to pull themselves along and escape; one of them even tried biting her foot in the hopes that it would make her step off.

Rio didn't even feel any of that. She could barely even make out their puny bodies buried under her sole as she slowly applied more and more pressure on them, until finally she felt them go crunch, one after the other. She pulled her foot back, scraping their bodies off on the ground, to let the rest of the Spider Society see what had become of them.

“Do you see now? This all happened because none of you would tell me what happened to Miles. It's not too late for you to learn your lesson. Give me back my son and this can be the end of it.”

The whole of the Spider Society looked on aghast. What were they to do now? Was it even possible to challenge this monster of a woman? Even with all of them working together, they didn't know if it was possible to defeat her at all.

“That's enough!” Rio looked to the base of the Spider Society's tower, where a voice blared out from a set of speakers atop a vehicle. “It's me you're looking for! Leave the rest of the Society alone!”

“You!” It was impossible for Rio not to recognize the voice of the man who had her imprisoned, who had denied her all information about her son, who had ordered her captured after she had broken out of her cell; Miguel O'Hara. The moment she caught a glimpse of his face through the window, confirming that he was really inside the car, her anger and her body bubbled up to new heights. The ground now trembled as she grew to a thousand feet tall, and then again as she took a step forward, going after that awful man. Even if the whole of the Spider Society surrendered to her on the spot, she still wouldn't have stopped until he was dead.

Miguel sped away from the tower and towards the rest of Nueva York. Stepping on the gas, he just barely managed to stay ahead of Rio, whose massive steps shook the earth like a series of explosions. Her colossal feet tore up the ground, flattening trees and leaving huge tracks of barren earth behind her as she chased after him, her huge toes slamming down right behind him time and again. Her fury was like an unstoppable avalanche, aimed solely at destroying him, but that's just what he had been counting on.

Miguel had had to allow so many awful, unsavory things to happen in order to ensure the survival of the multiverse, and in order to defeat this monster of a mother, he knew he would have to do the same again. He led her towards the rest of the city, where he would be able to lose her between all the skyscrapers at least for a little while. Though the evacuation order had already been given, he didn't doubt for a second that thousands of innocents would die as she chased him through the city, but it was the only way that he could buy enough time for the Society to defeat her before she could do even more damage.

There were energy cannons embedded in the Society's headquarters, powerful cannons that were their only shot at dealing with this woman, but they needed to charge up first before they'd have a chance to damage her. He was to be the bait that led her away while they charged. At the same time, many other spider-people were following behind her, ready to help delay her even further if she got to him before the cannons were ready. They would give their lives if that's what it took to bring her down.

Please let it be enough to bring her down.

As Miguel's car entered the city proper, weaving through one vehicle after another, all packed with people trying to escape from the titanic Mrs. Morales, he heard the angry mother crashing through a pair of buildings behind him, sending tons of debris raining down on the streets below.

The buildings were no match for her gigantic body, breaking down without leaving so much as a blemish on her bare skin. But while she didn't care what happened to whatever mere insects might be living inside, these buildings proved annoying enough that Rio preferred to shrink back down to five hundred feet, just small enough that she could fit in the streets without the buildings slowing her down. This spared the rest of the buildings from meeting the same fate as the first two, but not the vehicles in her path, which she trampled as carelessly as if they were nothing but ants on the sidewalk.

Crunch crunch crunch! Car after car, and even the asphalt itself, were all flattened under her mighty soles as soon as these fell on them, barely even giving their passengers time to feel pain. How many was she killing? A dozen with each step? Five dozen? More? It hardly mattered. Angry as she was now, she would have gladly destroyed the whole world if only it meant getting her sone back.

Those civilians watching on the sidelines stared in disbelief at this colossal woman tearing through their city with all the fury of a hurricane, as unconcerned with all the destruction she left in her wake as any natural disaster. Her gigantic size and the burning fury in her eyes as she passed them by, rattling the whole city with her every step, impressed everyone who saw her, making her look like some wrathful Goddess come to punish mortals like them for their sins.

The chase went on for a while, with Miguel only staying ahead of Rio by using the city to his advantage. Always when she was about to catch up to him he swerved down an intersection, leaving her scrambling to change her own direction. Miguel was making time, but he still needed more before the cannons were ready. Unfortunately for him, he wouldn't get any more time.

Rounding a corner again, Rio decided she'd had enough of this stupid chase and lunged after Miguel. She stretched out her arms to catch his annoying little car, and as her body crashed into the street, flattening countless vehicles, her hands fell in front of him and he rammed right into them.

Barely conscious after the crash, Miguel groaned and undid his seat belt, stumbling out of the car. “Keep going,” he told himself. “You have to buy them more time.” But it was already too late for him.

Rio's fingers fell towards him and picked him up. At her size, even a big guy like him fit easily between her fingertips, where he struggled in vain to escape her grip. She picked herself up, brushing off all the dust that had gotten on her when she crash-landed on the street. Even some flattened cars which had gotten adhered to her skin now fell off of her and hit the ground, settling into the crater left by her body.

Squeezed harder by the giant fingers with each passing second, Miguel felt that she would surely crush him any moment now. But right when he felt as if every bone in his body were about to snap, the pressure released him and he was falling down. He grunted as he hit the ground, and made an effort to get up, but it was impossible for him. A few of his ribs were broken, and so was his hip. It was a wonder he wasn't crying out in pain, but at the moment he could barely feel anything. All he could manage was to roll over so that he could see Mrs. Morales towering overhead, glaring daggers at him. Then she gave him a condescending smile and turned around.

Was she going to leave him here like this, to die from the wounds she had inflicted? That's what Miguel thought at first, but then he saw her lowering herself, saw the black fabric of her panties coming lower and lower until it was just about all he could see. With one last glance at him, she let her butt fall on him, nearly crushing him on the spot. The only reason he survived was because he was between her butt cheeks, where the pressure was lowest, but as she twisted her hips from side to side, subtly grinding her ass on the ground, he was caught under the huge ass of her butt cheeks and painfully ground down until he was nothing but a smear on the floor and her panties.

Rio stood up to inspect her handiwork and, satisfied that the little bastard was dead, she turned to head back for the Spider Society... only to be met with a group of spider-people led by Jessica Drew, Spider-Woman.

As soon as Miguel was dead they swung into action, trying to hold her down until the cannons finished charging. They knew they couldn't hope to defeat her, so they only tried to slow her down by tying her up with their webbing and being an annoyance to her. They shot webs at her and swung around as though she were one of the buildings, or attacked her face while she tried to swat them away—anything at all that could keep her away from the base for a little while longer.

Rio didn't know what they were trying to do, but she could tell that they were acting out of desperation, and didn't let them bother her too much. Wiping the webbing from her face, she grinned at her “attackers” and reached out, swatting one of them right out of the air to land on the ground. She stepped on him mercilessly, enjoying the crunching of his body as her sole settled on top of him, and did the same to another, and another, killing them one by one.

As one of the Spider-men was swinging around Rio's side, the giant mom swung her hips to the side, catching Jessica on them and smashing her sight into the side of a building, before doing the same with a Spider-man on the other side of her.

Rio laughed as the rubble from her little gesture rained onto the street, and ran her hands over her hips, gathering up the two pitiful bugs caught on them. Grabbing them both, she tugged on the back of her panties and dropped them inside, leaving them both wedged deep in her ass crack. At first they tried to escape, but Rio put an end to it by clenching her cheeks together and rocking her hips, grinding them down until they stopped moving entirely.

She kept killing her attackers off one by one, crushing them beneath her soles, sitting on them, even eating a couple, until only that Spider-Woman remained. Her Rio caught while she was swinging in front of her face, and held her close between her fingers to look at her. “Is this what you wanted to happen? For all your little friends to die challenging me? You could have stayed back and surrendered to me and I would have let you live. Did you get anything at all out of this?” she asked Jessica, squeezing her until she let out a cry.

“We did what we had to do. The others... they'll put a stop to you soon. You'll never destroy the Spider Society.”

“I will if that's what it takes! You all deserve it for disobeying me! That's all you lot are; a bunch of disobedient little brats who need their mother to spank them until they learn to behave. And now I'll teach you a lesson you'll never forget.”

Grinning viciously at her catch, Rio dropped the woman on the ground. As soon as she landed, she stepped on the puny woman, but instead of crushing her like all the others, she slid her toes over the tiny woman and held her between them. Then she started wiggling her toes together, rolling Jessica up and down as though she were nothing but a pebble or a piece of lint she was amusing herself with.

Try as she might, Jessica could do nothing to challenge the might of Rio's toes. She was the giant mother's plaything, a toy that existed only for her amusement.

Rio took out all her anger on this helpless woman, tormenting her with her toes by rolling her between them or dropping her on the ground and smothering her under them, or battering her with forceful taps of her toes. Had she only done it once or twice it wouldn't have hurt her too much, but after keeping it up for several minutes, Jessica was a broken woman and there was really nothing left for her but to be crushed under Rio's godly sole, finally putting her out of her misery.

Satisfied with her work here, Rio headed back towards the Society's headquarters, soon exiting the mass of skyscrapers to stride across the green fields surrounding it. She walked towards the tower, ready to deliver her ultimatum to the Spider Society, but as she approached it half the remaining spider-people were coming out to stop her, some riding cars and others simply running at her. They shot webs at her feet and legs to try and slow her down as much as possible, showing no concern for their own lives.

“Are you still trying to stop me? It's like you bugs actually want me to crush you. Well, I'll give you what you want. Since you're so obsessed with my feet, just stand still and let me stomp you!” She raised her foot high up, bringing it down with a powerful stomp that could be felt all the way in the Society's headquarters. The first one missed, with the spiders she tried to crush getting out of the way just in time, but her second stomp crushed three of them at a time.

Again and again she stomped on those little pests, leaving countless foot-shaped craters on that field, until suddenly she noticed a light shining atop the Society's headquarters. No, not just one light, she saw when she actually looked at it, but a whole cluster of them, shining from inside the barrels of several cannons.

Finally Rio understood why all these pests were coming out to “attack” her, even knowing they couldn't hope to defeat her on their own. She felt so foolish for having fallen for their little trick.

Ignoring the surviving spider-people, Rio sprinted for the tower, rushing to destroy those cannons before they could fire on her. But she was too late. All together they shot their energy beams, one after another, sending a potent barrage at her. She held up her arms to defend herself, and as the beams made contact with her body, they exploded, creating a huge cloud of smoke that surrounded her.

The spider-people held their breaths, waiting for the smoke to clear so they could see what had happened to Mrs. Morales. Had their attack worked? Was she finally defeated? Their plan had already cost the lives of so many of their own. Please, they thought, let this be the end.

Suddenly the smoke began to clear, as if something was blowing it away from inside it. Then Rio's face emerged from the top of the cloud, glaring at the cannons that had been shooting at her. She grew until she stood head and shoulders above the tower itself, almost two thousand feet tall. The sight of her alone struck fear into every remaining Spider-person as it seemed their efforts had been for naught; there was nothing they could do to stop her.

The earth shook as she strode towards the Society's headquarters, reaching it in just a couple steps. The cannons kept shooting her as she approached, but their energy was almost wholly exhausted and they could only manage a barrage of weaker shots. Rio didn't seem to mind—their energy blasts hit her skin without leaving the slightest marking on her. She barely even felt anything as they hit her, hardly a tickle at all—they might as well have been shooting her with water guns for all the good it did them. Finally, she reached for the tip of the tower, letting the cannons shoot directly at the palm of her hand. Then she wrapped her fingers around the cannons and squeezed, crushing them all with hardly any effort and raining the debris rain down.

Looking at the remnants of the Spider Society, Rio motioned to the ground. “I want every last remaining Spider-person out here right now. make it quick, or I might get bored and start smashing up the city.” The survivors all hurried to gather at her feet, staring up at the massive mother who had so easily defeated them all. “Let's make one thing clear; all I care about is getting my son back. I gave you so many chances to help me, and you always refused, so you brought this all on yourselves. Now, do any of you know where my son is? No? Then this is how it's going to go.

“From now until Miles is found, you're all working for me. You'll tell me everything you know, and you'll do everything I say. Once Miles is back with me you can do whatever you want as long as you stay the hell away from me and my family, but until then you're mine. Do you understand? I don't think you do.”

Rio raised her foot and held it over the pests beneath her, leaving them all blanketed in its shadow. The spider-people watched in terror as her sole scrunched powerfully above. They knew that she could crush them all with a single step now, but they were paralyzed in fear, not daring to move a muscle lest it provoke her into killing them. “Hold still,” Rio said, and she lowered her foot slowly while they watched her toes rush down towards them. It seemed they were about to be crushed, but at the last moment her foot moved back and her toes crashed down right in front of the group, towering over them.

“First thing you have to do is prove that you're willing to do anything for me.” Rio wiggled her toes, the impact of each mighty digit sending a minor tremor over the earth. “You'll do that by kissing and licking and rubbing my toes. Anyone who doesn't will be crushed like a bug. Do you understand? Then get to work!”

Despite the strangeness of her demands, the survivors wasted no time in obeying her order. They knew they had no choice. Running up to her toes, they all laid hands on them, rubbing them with all their might, taking off their masks to lick and kiss them, and all but worshipping them.

It made Rio chuckle to see all those little “heroes” demeaning themselves at her feet, crawling on them as if they were no more than a bunch of tiny bugs. Grinning in amusement, she wiggled her toes, and laughed as that simple gesture knocked down almost everyone in the group, leaving them scrambling to get back to worshipping her.

Though she had never meant to be come a giant, Rio had to admit that she was starting to take a liking to it. Who knew? Maybe she could even make use of this to have a little fun, once she was back in New York with her Miles safely in her hands of course.

Clownpiece lay happily on her back, looking at her ceiling—the floor of Hakurei Shrine—without a care in the world. Her upbeat humming echoed softly off the walls of the underground den, and her feet bounced up and down to the beat of the song. From time to time her jaws or her cheeks moved a little, as though she were savoring a piece of candy, letting it melt down inside her mouth to get the most out of it. Then, after a while, she rolled on her side and spat out on her open palm a tiny little thing, barely the size of an ant—not a piece of candy after all, but the shrunken Marisa, groaning pitifully after her time in Clownpiece's mouth.

For nearly half an hour, the tiny witch had been teased and bullied by Clownpiece's tongue, made to feel more helpless than she ever had before. Now, lying on the fairy's palm all covered in spit, she was so sore she could hardly move, only just managing to roll onto her back before giving up her effort. She looked up at her tormentor and moaned, not even having the energy to keep yelling at her as she had been before.

“Had enough, bug? Just say the word and I'll let you join your friend at my foot!” Clownpiece curled her toes softly, holding the tiny Reimu beneath them. She wasn't sure if the miko was still affected by the flame of madness or if it was only her natural passion at work, but Reimu hadn't stopped worshipping the fairy's dainty toes in the entire time she had been down there, kissing and hugging and showering them with attention, happily surrendering to every playful curl and wiggle as if she wanted nothing more than to be with them forever.

Marisa only kept panting on Clownpiece's palm. There were so many things she wanted to say, so many threats and obscenities she wanted to shout at the fairy, but she kept her mouth shut and focused on regaining her energy; she would need it if she was ever going to escape.

“Nothing to say?” Clownpiece shrugged. “Guess you're going back in, then!” She stuck out her tongue and pulled Marisa closer, feeling the witch squirm in vain underneath the layer of spit fastening her to the fairy's palm, but before she could lick her little morsel up, she heard a muffled shout from above.

“Reimu? Marisa?” Clownpiece closed her hand, pinning Marisa under her fingers, and listened to Shinmyoumaru's continued calls coming from the shrine. So the inchling was up and looking for her little pets? Clownpiece waited until Sukuna's voice and footsteps had disappeared from her hearing before opening her hand again.

“Hear that, girls? Sounds like they finally noticed you wen missing! Think they'll ever find you? Not in a million years! Fufu! Bugs like you are beneath the notice of any normal person! You're going to be my pets for the rest of your lives!” Even so, Clownpiece didn't want to be confronted by Shinmyoumaru or Aunn if and when they thought to look down here, so she decided to avoid the issue entirely. She pulled Marisa back into her mouth and jumped out of bed. “Time to go, bugs! We're gonna go visit some friends for a while.”

-----

Things were quiet in the home of the Three Fairies of Light. Only Star Sapphire was up so early, calmly drinking her tea while gazing out the window and taking in the lovely morning, thinking about what she and the other two could get up to today. But something took her out of her contemplation. Her ability to sense moving things was triggered by something flying here from the Hakurei Shrine. It took her a moment to recognize Clownpiece as their visitor.

She went over to the front door, opening it just as Clownpiece was about to knock. “Good morning!” she said, welcoming the other fairy into the big tree that she and the others lived in. “Come in, have a seat! What are you doing here so early? Do you want tea? I just boiled some water.”

“No, thank you!” Clownpiece cheerily replied, following the other fairy to the wooden table in the middle of the kitchen. “Sorry to bother, but do you mind if I hang out here for a while? I don't wanna run into anyone at the shrine right now.”

“How come? Did you pull a prank on them today?”

“Not quite!” Smiling, Clownpiece held up her hand and spat something out on it. “Look here!”

Star Sapphire leaned in curiously as Clownpiece held out her hand, showing her the little thing lying on it. “Marisa?” she gasped and reached for the tiny girl, easily holding her between a pair of fingertips without even minding the spit that covered her.

It wasn't Marisa's size that surprised her—her special sense had let her know about the witch's shrinking when it first happened, and in fact it was she who had told Clownpiece about both her and Reimu being tiny now—she just hadn't thought that Clownpiece would kidnap Marisa, much less bring her here.

“Be careful with her! She'll try to run away for sure if you give her the chance,” Clownpiece warned.

Star Sapphire held the tiny thing up to her face wiping the spit off her face with a fingertip. The girl coughed and finally opened her eyes; sure enough, it was Marisa, just as she'd thought. “Ah! She's so cute!” Star squealed, holding the girl up to her cheek and nuzzling her. Faintly she could feel the witch squirming in her grip. Was she trying to escape? How adorable! She really was just like a helpless bug!

When Star pulled her away, she saw the little witch's fearful expression be quickly replaced by anger. “Hey! Just who do you think you're dealing with here? You think this is a laughing matter?”

Star laughed. “Aww, her voice sounds so squeaky now!” she squeezed Marisa with her fingers twice, almost making her cough out her lungs, then brought her close for a quick kiss that easily embraced all of Marisa's body.

“You like it?” Clownpiece said.

Star nodded. “Thanks for bringing her over, Piece! We're going to have so much fun with her!”

“Well, that's not the only thing I brought! Hey! You! Come out and say hi!” Clownpiece tugged on the side of her leggings and looked down at the opening with a grin. Star watched the opening in suspense. Had she really brought Reimu along too? Yes, that must be it! Now that she was paying close attention, she could feel something tiny moving on Clownpiece's foot, around her ankle. “... This might take a little while.” Both fairies were silent following Reimu's ascent, each in her own way. When Marisa started shouting again, Star pressed her fingers more tightly against her until the tiny witch was completely encased in her fingertips, struggling helplessly against them.

Once Reimu was a good part of the way up, Clownpiece reached into her legging and pulled her out the rest of the way. “Good girl. Good girl!” she cooed, dropping the tiny miko on her palm and gently stroking her head while Reimu sat at attention and happily received her master's praise and affection.

“Oh, she's so tame!”

“Yep! Turns out she loves being tiny, and she really loves worshipping people bigger than her! Isn't that right, girl? You can leave her massaging your feet and she won't ever try to run away.”

“Really? May I try it?”

“Sure, go ahead! Just take off your shoes and she'll be all over your feet!” Clownpiece set Reimu down on the floor, between her and Star Sapphire. There the tiny girl looked up at the towering fairy in her lovely dress. At the first bit of movement from Star Sapphire's feet, her eyes flicked down and locked onto the fairy's huge brown shoes. She watched with bated breath as the fairy first kicked off her shoes, then pulled down her socks with just her toes, leaving her bare feet resting on the floor in front of Reimu, her toes wiggling softly to take in the fresh air.

All at once the smell of Star Sapphire's feet wafted over Reimu. The miko took a deep breath and shivered in delight at the musty aroma. With one last glance up at the fairy's face to make sure it was okay, she ran forward and threw herself at those giant toes. At the first touch of that wonderfully soft skin, she was filled with a sense of utter bliss. Hungry to feel that heavenly sensation all over her body, she wasted no time in forcing her way between Star Sapphire's toes, where she basked in their warmth and in her gratitude began worshipping each in turn, showering the fairy with her affection.

“That tickles!” the fairy laughed, gently wiggling her toes around Reimu. The gesture made Reimu love her feet even more and worship them still more passionately, delighting her to no end. “And what about Marisa? Will she rub my feet too if I ask her?” she asked, releasing the witch's head to look at her again.

“No, she's still set on escaping as soon as I let my guard down. As if I'd ever give her the chance! I've been trying to make her into a good little pet like Reimu but she's too stubborn.”

“Really? Well, maybe I could help!” Star Sapphire let go of Marisa and dropped her on her open palm. “Let's see... I think that when you get a new pet, the first thing to do is to shower them with lots of love so they'll love you and want to do what you say. So... mwah!” Before Marisa could fly away, the fairy's plush lips fell on her, pinning her softly to the giant palm. She strained against the immense force, trying to escape, but her strength was no match for the fairy's tender kiss. After a couple seconds the lips left her body, yet she hardly moved a fraction of an inch before they fell on her again. Over and over she was kissed, helpless to resist the fairy's shows of affection. As if that weren't enough humiliation, she was also pet and caressed under Star Sapphire's fingertip, with no choice but to lie there complaining. Maybe she should have just kept quiet, tough, because her complaining seemed to Star the cutest thing in the world, and only made her treat Marisa even more like a beloved pet. Even Clownpiece thought it was so pitifully adorable that she joined in on the teasing.

“Why are you so upset? Doesn't it feel good?” she cooed as she stroked Marisa's back. “You should be more like Reimu! She's the happiest little thing in the world just being at our feet!”

Indeed, the whole time Reimu had just been happily worshipping Star's toes, blissfully unaware of her friend's plight. No matter how much Marisa tries to yell at her, her words failed to get through to Reimu. It wasn't because of the torch of madness either, or at least, not entirely; it was just so easy to lose herself in the feeling of being a pitiful little but at the feet of a big and powerful girl, especially one who was more than happy to put her in her place. To be nothing but dirt at this fairy's feet... it sounded so ridiculous, and yet the thought of it made her all fuzzy inside. She counted herself the luckiest girl on Earth to be caught beneath a set of toes as big and soft as these, receiving their love and returning the favor.

To her they were like a pair of domineering lovers, eager to have their way with her. They smothered her with affection from every side, holding her down while she kissed them passionately or grabbing her and wiggling against her, making of the miko their favorite toy. And all so effortlessly, too. Aside from dominating Reimu with her toes, Star Sapphire gave no sign that she remembered the miko's existence at all, as though Reimu was as far beneath her as the Earth is beneath the heavens. And Reimu was happy with that! She was thrilled that the fairy could so casually, without even trying to, showcase her superiority, a superiority which bordered on the divine. In fact, a part of her even wished she could be smaller, as pitifully insignificant as she had been on the night before Yukari returned her to the shrine, to really experience her as a true Goddess and a force of nature.

With both fairies busy teasing the tiny Marisa, neither of them noticed the set of footsteps coming down the stairs. “Good morning, Star. Clownpiece,” Luna Child said to them as she entered the kitchen. “What are you doing here so early? And what are you two looking at?” She walked closer until she could peer down at Star Sapphire's hand with them, and gasped as she saw the tiny Marisa lying on it. “Is that really her?” She grabbed the tiny witch as Star offered her up, turning her over between her fingers until she could see her little face. “Incredible! I thought you must have made a mistake when you said she'd been shrunken down.”

“Nope! She was totally right!” Clownpiece said. “About Reimu, too! Just look down and see!”

“You brought her too?” Luna followed Clownpiece's pointing finger down to Star's bare feet. As Star splayed her toes, Luna saw a tiny little thing fall down between them, only to get back up and press up against the side of one toe. It was so hard for her to believe that this little thing was the very same Reimu who had so sternly been keeping the trio in check for years, but once she'd crouched for a closer look there could be no doubt about it. It was Reimu, alright—a Reimu eager to kiss and to worship the fairy's foot. “Ah! Let me have her, please! I'll leave you Marisa, but let me play with Reimu, at least for a little while!” She didn't fully understand it, but she felt a potent urge to have Reimu at her feet like Star did.

“I'm sure she'd be more than happy to go with you if you just take off your socks and slippers!” Star said. Luna hastened to follow Star's suggestion, took a seat next to her, handing Marisa over to Clownpiece. Grabbing Reimu with her toes, Star carried her over to Luna's feet, dropping the miko right on top of them. Instantly the miko fell to her knees and started worshipping the “land” on which she found herself, passionately kissing the top of Luna's foot while taking in the musty atmosphere.

From the very first kiss, a peck from a pair of lips to tiny she could hardly feel them, Luna was overcome with delight. Silently she pulled her feet up onto the edge of her chair and sat watching the minuscule girl showing them such appreciation. There was just something so thrilling at being treated almost like a Goddess by Reimu. At every kiss she felt tingly all over, and she had to keep herself from moving her feet too much so she wouldn't throw Reimu off.

After a while, she couldn't resist anymore and began playing with Reimu, putting her other foot on top of her to know how she felt under her sole. Even sandwiched between her feet, Reimu still kept passionately showing her love to them—more passionately then ever, in fact. To feel that tiny young woman struggling to move under her foot, and only so she could better worship that very same foot, made Luna shiver in delight.

Sliding her foot back until Reimu was at her toes, she curled these around the tiny miko, trapping her with her mighty digits, then moved her legs so that the soles of her feet were pressed together, with Reimu caught between them. Softly she slid them against each other, rolling Reimu back and forth over their lengths from heel to toe to make her intimate with every last inch of her soles. “Do you like my feet, Reimu?” she asked. “Then show me how much you love them! Crawl all over my soles and kiss every inch of them!” With that she released Reimu, dropping her on the chair's surface between her vast and powerful soles, curling her toes in anticipation.

After being played with so roughly, it took Reimu a while to recover and to sit up on her own. As soon as she saw those lovely soles flanking her and Luna's godly face looking down on her, her heart skipped a beat and she trembled in excitement. She could hardly imagine getting up to a lovelier picture than this! She didn't hesitate even for a moment to jump onto Luna's sole and to start worshipping as requested, being sure to kiss every inch of that lovely sole from top to bottom.

Luna's teasing didn't stop when she got to work, either! The fairy delighted in seeing how much power even the simplest of gestures could hold over her tiny worshipper, from scrunching her foot and leaving Reimu trapped in the folds of her skin, unable to escape no matter how hard she tried, to almost sending her flying with but a quick bounce of her foot, to curling her toes around the tiny miko whenever she was working on them. And Reimu? She loved every moment of it! She even loved all of Luna's mocking comments and her bemused laughter, making clear exactly how little the fairy thought of Reimu now.

“Fufu! Are you really stuck between my toes? How sad and pathetic you are! I guess you'll need my help to escape, huh? Well, I guess you could convince me to help... if you give me twenty more kisses first. No, fifty! Fifty kisses and a prayer to your Goddess!” Such was the sort of thing Luna demanded of her, and Reimu was more than happy to oblige, showering her feet with kisses.

Meanwhile, the other two fairies kept bullying Marisa with their affection, giggling over the witch's impotent rage. Marisa shouted and shook her fists at them, threatening them both with all sorts of nasty things once she got back to her normal size, but her threats sounded so ridiculous coming such a puny thing with her squeaky little voice that they only made her captors laugh even more. She clearly wasn't any closer to giving in than before, but it hardly mattered with how much fun they were having with her.

All three fairies were totally absorbed in having fun with the shrunken girls that Sunny Milk's voice took them by surprise. “Morning, Luna! Morning, Star! Morning, Piece!” Sunny cheerfully declared as she stepped into the kitchen still in her nightgown, walking brashly up to the others. “What's everyone up to? I hope you weren't planning any pranks without me! I was just thinking that... Oh! Is that who I think it is? Let me see, let me see!” She all but shouted as soon as she saw the tiny little thing in Star Sapphire's hand.

Star held out her hand, dropping the tiny thing into Sunny's open palm. Then Sunny moved her hand up to peer closely at the little thing moving weakly in her hand. It was Marisa alright, no doubt about it. She was a bit of a mess, nearly naked and all roughed up, with her hair in total disarray, but Sunny would have recognized that face of hers anywhere. “So tiny,” she uttered in delight, resting a fingertip on the shrunken witch. She could feel a hint of resistance underneath, but it was so weak that she probably wouldn't have noticed it if she wasn't paying attention. Then she moved her finger in little circles over her palm, thrilled at how easily she dominated Marisa.

If the tiny girl was still putting up any sort of resistance, Sunny couldn't even feel it anymore. She body was a helpless victim underneath Sunny's fingertip, easily flattened, folded up, and rolled around at Sunny's whims, like putty in her hands. “This is great! Did you bring her, Piece?”

“Sure did!” With the trio now gathered, Clownpiece shared with them the story of how she had come to capture the two young women and all the fun she'd had with them before coming here. “Star was just helping me tame that little bug when you came in. She thought showering her with kindness would work, but our pet's still as stubborn as ever. Think you can do better than we did?”

“Pfft! Of course! Watch and learn!” Taking a step away from the table, Sunny tossed Marisa down at the floor, where the witch landed right at her bare feet. Marisa was still trying to get up when Sunny raised her foot over her, giving the witch only the briefest glimpse of her sole before it flattened her. “You can't show any mercy to these girls! They've lived their whole lives thinking they're stronger and better than us fairies, so you hafta show them firsthand how weak and pathetic humans like them really are!” She rested her foot softly at first, but slowly put more and more pressure on Marisa until the witch's faint struggles were stilled under the overwhelming might of her sole.

Normally she would have taken more care not to hurt Marisa, but having learned from Clownpiece that the shrunken girls were resistant enough to handle just about anything, Sunny was free to bully her however she pleased. She smothered the girl mercilessly, grinding Marisa underfoot and occasionally stomping on her a few times, almost laughing in delight the whole time.

“How do you like that, you worthless bug? We told you we fairies were the strongest, but you didn't believe us! Well, do you believe us now?” STOMP! “How about now?” STOMP! STOMP! “Fufu! You can't even handle being stepped on anymore, can you? Why don't you just give up and agree to be our toy for the rest of your life? It's your proper place as a human to serve us like your friend over there!” Sunny was merciless, never once letting up her torment even after minutes and minutes. She was having so much fun that she almost didn't want it to end. But after a while she decided to check in on the little bug. She raised her foot, saw that there was nothing on the floor, and then checked her sole at Clownpiece's suggestion to find Marisa plastered to it and barely holding on to consciousness.

Sunny gave a mocking laugh at the sight of the little witch, scrunching her sole to witness how its wrinkles swallowed Marisa up. Then she went to sit at the table with the others, enjoying the barely-perceptible sensation of Marisa under her foot when she took a step, and put her foot up on her lap to see the shrunken girl struggling on it.

“Well, look at you now! Such a pathetic little bug that you can't even get off of my foot! Or maybe you don't want to get off. Did you finally learn to worship us like Reimu did?” Sunny's cruel laughter rang in Marisa's ears. The tiny witch struggled against the forced fastening her to Sunny's sole, straining her arms and legs for all they were worth in an attempt to pry herself off, only to be fastened even more firmly by another casual scrunch of Sunny's foot leaving her buried in the wrinkles of the fairy's sole. It happened again every time she felt tat she was making a bit of progress, and even after she had given up to conserve her energy instead.

How, she wondered—how in the world could she possibly hope to escape these fairies? She had been trying to assure herself she'd find some way to do it sooner or later, some opening she could exploit, but she couldn't convince herself anymore. The fear and helplessness and despair that she had been fighting to keep at bay now overwhelmed her mind as she contemplated what she had told herself was impossible: that she might really end up as these fairies' pet, if not for the rest of her life, then at least until the Miracle Mallet's magic wore off, however long it took. Could she really keep up this resistance for so long? Or would she break sooner or later and give in to them to put an end to this pain and humiliation? It scared her that she might end up losing her identity if this magic didn't wear off soon enough.

Giant fingernails, thick as wooden boards, interrupted her thoughts to peel her off of Sunny's sole, pinching her ankle and pulling her up until she was dangling by the leg, almost completely limp. slowly opening her eyes, she found herself surrounded by the faces of all four fairies, and felt a pang of fear shoot through her belly in response.

“So, do you give up now? Will you be a good little girl for us? Or do we have to keep repeating this lesson until you learn for good?”

Marisa trembled at the playful cruelty in Sunny's voice. Her body still ached from all the fairy and done to her, and she didn't want to suffer through anything like that again. But she clenched her fists to stop the shaking and looked the fairy in the eyes when she replied. “You're all nuts if you still think I'll ever do what you want. Go ahead, keep trying to break me! You'll just be wasting your time. But once I'm back to normal? Heh! Then I'll show you all who's really the strongest one! I'll beat you up so bad you'll be hurting for the rest of time!”

Sunny chuckled. “So you still haven't learned anything? I'm glad, honestly! That means we can keep playing with you some more!” She squeezed Marisa between her fingers until the witch had just about passed out, then dropped her back on the floor and started stomping on her again.

“Mind if I help?” Clownpiece said after a while.

“Go right ahead! She's your pet, after all!”

The two of them took turns stomping on Marisa, or grinding her down until the shrunken girl thought that her bones were about to break. After a while Star joined in too, sitting on the floor across from Sunny where the two fairies pressed their feet together, smothering Marisa between their soft soles. They rubbed their feet against the other's, slowly pushing Marisa further up until she was caught between both fairies' toes, which wiggled against her, passing her from one foot to the other to be tormented by each fairy in turn.

Then, after Sunny brushed Marisa off her foot and left the witch lying on the floor, Marisa felt the characteristic tremors of somebody walking closer and looked up to see Luna Child's towering figure,and the fairy's grinning face beaming down from the heavens. Luna's sole then appeared above her, huge and smooth and covered in specks of dust, and with Reimu seemingly plastered to it, still engrossed in her worship of Luna's foot. “Why don't you join your little friend now? The two of you will look so cute stuck to my sole together!” Luna said, teasing Marisa with a wiggle of her toes. Too weak to run, Marisa shut her eyes and steeled herself for the coming impact.

STOMP! Luna's foot fell on her like a meteor, almost making her black out on the spot. Firmly it ground her underfoot for a while, and after a minute the weight relented as Luna arched her foot up on her toes, letting the other fairies peer at it to see Reimu and Marisa plastered right next to each other on the musty surface.

Groaning, Marisa cracked open her eye and saw Reimu lying right next to her, sighing softly as she kissed and licked Luna's sole. “Reimu,” she croaked, “if I'm getting through to you at all, please help me. I don't know how much more of this I can survive.” Exhausted, Marisa closed her eyes again, and so she didn't notice Reimu pause her worship of the fairy's foot.

Guilt racked the tiny miko. She had been so busy enjoying herself that she had all but forgotten about Marisa's plight. No, not forgotten—she had been outright ignoring it so she could indulge in her guilty pleasures for a while longer. It had been easy enough back when they were far apart, but hearing Marisa's voice made her realize just how much the fairies had hurt her friend.

After a moment's struggle, Reimu freed herself from Luna's sole and flew up to confront the fairies. “Alright, that's enough! You've had your fun with Marisa, now leave her alone! Play with me all you want, but stop torturing her.”

“Tch! Or what? You'll keep nagging us until we do?” Clownpiece laughed. “I thought you knew better, but it looks like you need to be taught a lesson too. Come here, you little bug!” Clownpiece swiped at the miko. Reimu easily dodged between her fingers and counterattacked with a danmaku barrage. Her attacks did more damage than Maris's had earlier that morning, but only enough to sting where they hit—she would never be able to defeat any of the fairies with them.

Immediately the others joined Clownpiece in trying to deal with Reimu, trying to snatch or smack her out of the air, but Reimu expertly dodged their hands and flew above their heads, right up to the ceiling, where she remained just out of reach as she headed for the door, meaning to go back to the shrine and get help. But before she could reach the door, a shoe came flying at her, and while she dodged it, the next one hit her dead-on and she fell together with it. The next thing she knew, she was in Clownpiece's hand, kicking and flailing impotently as she was lifted up by her arm.

“Too bad you didn't keep quiet. You could've kept having fun on Luna's feet if you just minded your own business,” the fairy said, squeezing Reimu painfully between her fingertips.

As Reimu tried to think of what she could do to get out of this situation, she felt a peculiar energy arising deep within her, a magic that felt oddly like that of the Miracle Mallet. She reached out and seized it, but, not knowing what exactly it was, she hesitated to make use of it. Only when she was dropped on the floor and she found herself surrounded by all the fairies did she venture to use it on them, hoping that it would help her out somehow.

At once a seal appeared around them all, and in the blink of an eye it and their towering figures had disappeared from Reimu's field of view, leaving her wondering what had happened until she heard cries of surprise on the floor around her and looked to find the fairies all shrunk down to her own size.

“Wah!” “We're so tiny...” “What did you do to us?” “Grow us back right now, pet!” Reimu listened to them without saying anything at first, being every bit as shocked as they were. But then she smiled and held out her hands, sending an unstoppable barrage at all of them at once. “Kyah!” “What are you doing!?” “Run away!” “We can take her! There's four of us and only one of her!” No matter what they tried to do, though, within a minute all the fairies were lying unconscious on the floor, leaving Reimu to fly over to the fifth person lying among them, Marisa.

The shrunken witch looked a little better than the others, like she was just coming to after what had been done to her. Reimu remained kneeling next to her and put a hand on her head, calmly stroking her. And as she did, she began to wonder if she could use that magic she had discovered to grow as well as to shrink.

She tried playing around with that energy for a bit, and before long figured out a way to reverse its polarity, so to speak. She tried directing this new magic to herself first to test it out, but nothing happened. But when she tried it on Marisa, the witch grew back to her normal size so quickly that Reimu and the fairies were all left smothered under her back. Reimu could only get out once Marisa was sitting back up, and she flew around to her face to greet her.

“Reimu?” Marisa groaned as she looked around and saw that she was back to normal. “Did the mallet's magic finally wear off? And... where are those darn fairies? I really gotta pay them back big time for what they did.” Reimu explained how she had been the one to grow Marisa back, then pointed out the fairies lying on the floor behind her.

As soon as she saw them, Marisa broke into a huge grin, and she moved her feet next to them just as they were coming to. “Get up, you bugs! Don't just lie around when I'm talking to you!” she said with a commanding tap of her foot that startled them into attention. The fairies sat up and looked up in terror at Marisa, and at the tiny Reimu perched atop her knee, both looking mockingly at them. “Feeling sorry for how you treated me yet? I told you I'd turn the tables on you once I was back to normal; I just never expected it would turn out this perfectly!”

As she laughed, the fairies knelt all together, begging for mercy in those squeaky little voices of theirs, but when they saw her sole rise above them, they turned and started to run away, only to be knocked out of the air one by one by a few precise shots from Marisa. They were still lying on the floor when she got up and visited them one by one, stepping on each of them until they were firmly stuck to her sole.

“So what's that you were saying about fairies being superiors to humans? Maybe it's time I taught you who's really stronger than whom!” Marisa said, sitting down to toy with the little fairies struggling so pathetically on her sole, smothering them between her feet and ordering them to worship her.

“So, are you coming back to the shrine yet?” Reimu asked her.

“What, like this? In just my underwear? Nah. You go ahead. Get Shinmy to grow you back, and bring me back my clothes if you can find them, or just anything to cover me up. Oh, and my mini-Hakkero too while you're at it.”

“Alright, I'll see you then,” Reimu said, giving one last look at the fairies before leaving out the window. She was in a very good mood as she made her way to the shrine, humming happily to herself. And why shouldn't she be, when she had just figured out the perfect way to deal with her troubles for as long as she had to remain at this size? Now if and when she ended up shrinking again, all she had to do was shrink anyone who tried to take advantage of her to put an end to her troubles. Besides, she could smell a huge opportunity in this! If she could figure out how to make talismans to replicate this power, she could start selling them to make more money for the shrine. Yes, the future was looking bright indeed!

When Pat Kramer discovered that she was still growing even after getting back to her normal size, she believed that it would be a slow and lengthy process, like her shrinking had been. Boy was she wrong.

The very next day, while her family was out and she was all alone in the house, Pat grew until her head bumped up against the ceiling and even then she still kept growing. Her clothes started to rip against her expanding body, and, by the time she was all curled up just to fit in the living room, they had been torn to shreds and she was totally naked. Even then she was still getting bigger, her body pushing all the furniture away until it was pinned against the walls and there was no more space for her to grow. The walls and ceiling began to buckle against her skin, until finally they could hold no longer and fell over.

Pat stood up, brushing the dust and debris off of herself and taking a tottering step out of her house and onto the suburban street, looking down in regret at the destruction she had caused. She was so caught up in mourning for her home that she didn't realize she was still growing until she heard the asphalt cracking under her weight. Only when her home barely came up to her ankles did she stop growing, at some three hundred feet tall, easily towering over the idyllic suburbs.

Pat looked around in awe, noting how much smaller everything was now. Why, she was so big that her feet were nearly as wide as the whole street! She was so big that her breasts were bigger than cars! So big that all those people standing outside their homes and gaping at her looked even smaller than mice, more like a bunch of tiny toys. It was amazing!

Pat had suffered so much when she was shrunk down, back when she was at the mercy of everyone else, but now that she was a giantess she would never have to suffer the same way again! Now it was everyone else who would be at her mercy, and she was loving it! She was giddy with her newfound power, and there was nothing she wanted more than to try it out, to see for herself how strong she really was now and to let everyone else see it too; that way everyone would know not to mess with her! How would she do that? By smashing up the city, of course!

With a big grin, Pat turned to the city and started walking that way, shaking the earth with her massive steps, eagerly crushing anything and anyone in her path. People, cars, even houses—none of them were a match for her godly feet! She stomped them all flat on her way to the city, where she was met with a line of cops with their weapons drawn, ordering her to stop. Pat simply laughed at them and stepped forward, and even though they opened fire on her, their bullets couldn't even pierce her skin. All they did was cause an annoying itch, but she put an end to that when she stomped the officers flat and ground them into the concrete.

Now there was no one left to challenge her! She lumbered into the city, smashing up any and all buildings in her way and chasing after the masses of fleeing people who all screamed in terror at the sight of the giant milf. At first she just stepped on them, but then she started trying new ways to have fun with them. She sat on the little bugs, crushing them all under her mature, motherly ass. She grabbed a handful of people and dropped them between her thighs, which she squeezed them until they all suffocated. She lay on top of whole streets worth of people and crushed them all under her body, from her legs to her belly and of course under her gigantic breasts too.

Soon the people realized they would never escape her and started begging for mercy. After thinking about it, Pat decided to spare them only if they would do everything she asked. She commanded them to clean her feet from all the blood and dust that covered them, and even though they were disgusted they all obeyed her so she wouldn't crush them.

Pat chuckled at the feeling of all their tiny hands tickling her feet as they cleaned her up, and she scrunched her powerful soles to tease all those puny people. And while she sat back and relaxed, she thought about taking over the whole world with her power, making everyone into slaves who would serve her forever.

Ever since she first discovered it, Rangiku had kept her spell a secret from the rest of Soul Society. Not that there was anything wrong with it, or at least she didn't so, but she knew that other people might not think the same way.

It wasn't a dangerous spell or anything, nothing that could be used to hurt someone, but neither was it a very helpful spell. In all her time using it, Rangiku had never found a use for it other than to have a bit of fun. All it did was let her summon miniature cities that could range anywhere from big enough to carpet the floor of her bedroom to small enough that they could fit on a speck of dust. Cities of every shape and size, from medieval cities to modern ones full of skyscrapers, and even some that looked futuristic, all appearing at her will, wherever and at whatever size she pleased.

But they weren't just model cities—if they had been, Rangiku wouldn't have had any reason to keep her spell a secret. The cities were populated, full of tiny little people all of whom had just been going about their days as normal before they had suddenly appeared here. Rangiku could make them all out if she made their cities big enough, and even when they were too small for her to see she could still sense all those microscopic people down in their little cities, since apparently summoning them established some sort of link between her and them. She could sense everything they felt, from the confusion when they first appeared in this world, to the fear when they began to realize how utterly screwed they were.

At first Rangiku was simply curious about it, making several cities of different sizes, trying to communicate with them, trying to figure out what their nature was—were they real cities from another world, copies of real cities, or constructs created by her magic alone? In the end, though, all she learned was just how much she loved playing with them.

There was nothing the busty shinigami liked more than crushing those pitifully tiny cities, feeling all those buildings crumbing at the lightest touch of her skin, and dwelling on the stark, raving terror that flowed to her from the million pathetic souls inhabiting each and every city when they realized that their destruction was at hand. Any time she wanted to have some fun, she simply conjured up a few of those tiny cities and had her way with them, reveling in the awesome power she held over those puny germs.

And even after several years of ending each day with a little play session, Rangiku still wasn't bored of it. Not only did she have plenty of fun coming up with new ways of toying with her little cities, she even still enjoyed all the simple and classic methods she must have used over ten thousand times by now to wipe countless little lives from existence.

There was quite simply no better way to unwind, and so, when Rangiku was heading home with Orihime one evening, after several hours of helping the young woman train her abilities, she was already looking forward to all the cities she would be crushing that night.

She started having her fun as soon as she stepped in the bathroom. Before undressing for her shower, she quietly summoned a pair of cities on the rim of her bathtub, no more than an inch in diameter. After a moment of confusion, the millions of microscopic people inhabiting them noticed the titanic Rangiku standing what were to them hundreds of miles away, and a wave of fear rolled over every last living soul down there.

Rangiku gave no sign that she was aware of the cities' existence, but all the same she made sure to give them a good show. Once she was sure she had every last pair of eyes on her, she started slowly undressing, revealing inch after inch of her flawless bare skin to the little microbes looking on. As time went by, a sense of awe was added to their fear, and, once she was down to her underwear, she could sense little sparks of arousal sprinkled here and there throughout both cities. When, bare naked, she took a step towards the tub and stretched her body straight up, letting them all gaze up at her colossal beauty, she sensed that those little microbes were finally starting to regard her as what she really was—a mighty goddess, beautiful yet uncaring, who could end their pitiful lives in an instant if she pleased.

Then, Rangiku leaned over the rim of the tub, gripping it with one hand for support, and opened the faucet. As she held her hand in the shower, waiting for it to heat up, her voluptuous breasts dangled from her chest, her nipples hanging mere inches above each of the little cities.

Rangiku took in the new surge of terror, awe, and arousal she sensed coming from beneath her. Slowly she leaned further forward, bringing her breasts lower and lower, threatening to crush both cities under the titanic nipples that now filled the puny humans' skies, until finally, BOOM! She let her heaving tits fall on the micro metropolises, crushing both on the spot, and moved side to side, grinding them under her nipples which grew harder and harder with each little twist, until all that remained of the city was a dust so fine she couldn't even feel it anymore, and which would soon be washed down the drain.

After her shower, when she was drying herself off, Rangiku made a few more cities, these ones sitting down on the floor, right before her lovely feet, at the same scale as the last two. “Hello down there, you little germs,” she said, greeting them with a wiggle of her toes that sent a potent tremor rippling through all six cities. The people gaped in awe at those titanic digits, even the smallest of which were like mountains compared to their puny selves. “Staring at my toes, are you? You have good taste. They're really cute, aren't they? I take really good care of them, you know. Just got them pedicured yesterday. And look here.” She curled her toes until the cities could all see her dark pink toenails towering before them. “Have you ever seen a sexier set of toenails than this? I bet you haven't. In fact, I can tell you're very impressed. Why don't you all go ahead and show your appreciation for my toes by kneeling to them? Better yet, why don't you go on and worship them? They're your gods, after all, and you wouldn't want to upset your gods, would you?”

Again Rangiku wiggled her toes, and the earthquake the little microbes at her feet experienced was enough to bring them to their knees and have them stammering out whatever words of praise they could come up with, going on and on about how cute or sexy her toes were, how smooth and flawless her skin was, what a lovely shade of pink her nails were painted, or now nice they smelled.

“Good, good,” Rangiku cooed, rubbing her nipples while her worshippers trembled at her thundering voice. “What good little specks you all are, and so smart to recognize your place beneath me. But you know, you'll have to speak up if you want your new gods to hear. Here, let me bring them closer to you.” Arching her toes up, she slid her feet forward, until all the cities were blanketed by the shadow of her toes hanging overhead. They gently splayed and wiggled in the air, provoking cries of terror all over both cities and urging the worthless little specks down there to shout themselves hoarse in worship of them.

“Hmm. Nope; still can't hear anything! But that's okay. I'll just keep bringing them closer until they can hear all your loving worship.” Rangiku relaxed her toes little by little, letting them descend on the pitiful cities, whose microscopic inhabitants now gave up on worshipping her and started trying to hide or flee. Closer and closer her toes came until their terror hit a frenzied peak. Not a second later, her toes finally hit the floor, silencing all their screams in the blink of an eye.

Well, not quite all of them. She had allowed one city to live, and now it stood in the gap between her first and second toes, with everyone staring up at the terrifying monstrosities that had come so near to ending their lives. Without a word, Rangiku smugly tapped her toes, lifting them all the way up before bringing them down with a powerful BOOM that rocked their puny world

It wasn't that she meant to let them live—she just wanted to given them more creative end. At first she was undecided as to what that should be, but then she got an idea and she once again summoned another city.

This one was still smaller than any of the previous ones, small enough to fit inside her ear where it sat between all those fine hairs that sprouted inside the massive tunnel of skin and earwax. She sensed their terror and confusion within her, and took a few seconds to bask in it before sharply turning her head to the side and sending their entire city flying into a big pile of her earwax. The terror of the surviving microbes soon mixed with disgust and then despair as they realized they were all too weak to escape from the nasty gunk they were trapped in, and that their struggles only made them sink in deeper. Then, with a pinkie finger, she reached into her ear, dug out the pile of wax, and, crouching down, she wiped it on the city between her toes. Dozens and dozens of city blocks were flattened under the awful gunk, and all who survived started crying in despair knowing that their lives wouldn't last long either. Sure enough, Rangiku finally decided to put those microbes out of their misery by stepping on them with her heel and grinding them into the floor.

And still she wasn't done. Normally she would have continued playing with the cities in her bedroom, but, knowing that Orihime was probably in there, she figured it was better to get it all out of her system in here before heading to bed.

Rangiku stepped in front of the mirror and looked at herself, lifting her hands to her breasts. Then she summoned dozens and dozens of new cities on top of her boobs, all of them so small that most people would have taken them for freckles. She gave the cities a minute to understand the situation they found themselves in, then she pushed her breasts up. Stretching in places and furrowing in others, the displacement of her skin brought chaos to their cities, creating vast fissures that spread all over their surfaces or else pressing block after block together into so many massive piles of rubble, killing hundreds of thousands of people on the spot.

But even that was nothing compared to the apocalypse that came when she let go of her boobs. First her breasts were fell from their lofty heights, snapping back to their natural hanging position where they bounced and jiggled before settling down. When their descent began, the minuscule cities perched atop them were briefly left hanging in the air, and at their pathetically puny size they could remain hanging in the air for a moment like so many specks of dust before they were pulled back down by the air currents following Rangiku's boobs. A second later they had all crashed on the massive tits, and were all obliterated on impact.

Even then, Rangiku could sense that a few thousand puny humans still survived on her breasts, buried under the massive piles of debris that their cities had turned into. She decided to be merciful and free them from their concrete prisons, so she hoisted up her breasts once more and started bouncing them in her hands, causing the debris to disperse as it was slowly bounced down her tits.

The survivors were free now, at least those that hadn't been crushed under all that debris since she started bouncing er boobs, but now they, together with the remains of their cities, were steadily sliding down those vast slopes of flawless skin towards the incomprehensibly massive canyon of her cleavage. One after the other they fell inside and were crushed between those gorgeously hefty orbs, those motherly mountains of milk-bearing flesh, never to be seen again.

Rangiku shivered in delight as the last diminutive soul was extinguished in her cleavage. Still, her hunger for destruction wasn't anywhere near sated yet, and her thoughts immediately turned to how she would dispose of her next hapless victims.

After dealing with so many cities small enough to fit in the palm of her hand, Rangiku was craving a more tactile experience, so she made sure that the next city she summoned was about the size of a small rug, sitting right at her feet.

Even at that size, over a dozen times bigger than any of the previous cities she had conjured up, her victims were still so diminutive that even their tallest buildings, real monsters nearing a hundred stories tall, didn't even reach halfway up her toes. Still, they were big enough that, when she slowly lowered her foot on the edge of the city, she could feel each little building crumbling against her sole, sending a thrill coursing up her foot and over the rest of her body.

Rangiku moaned softly as more and more of the city was reduced to dust under her feet, until there was only a small oval shape remaining on her floor. Then, standing before the city, she turned her back to it and, giving it one last glance over her shoulder, she fell on it, crushing it all with the meteoric impact of her ass.

After grinding it down to fine dust, Rangiku summoned another city on the floor, this one about six inches wide right in front of her. She moved her feet so that they were lying on the floor to either side of the little city, whose inhabitants all stared in horror at the giant scrunching soles and wiggling toes as these started closing in on them. Rangiku enjoyed their terror for a bit, then slid her feet together, crushing block after block until the city was nothing but dust between her soles.

By now Rangiku was pretty satisfied, and she figured that Orihime might start asking questions if she stayed in here any longer, so she shrank the remains of the cities until they disappeared from view—a power she held over everything she summoned with that spell—to leave her body and the bathroom looking totally pristine.

When Rangiku arrived in her bedroom, now sporting a fresh set of underwear, she found Orihime sleeping on her bed, likely exhausted after all their training. Rangiku carefully walked over to her slumbering guest and softly stroked her hair, wanting to test how soundly she was sleeping. When Orihime didn't react at all to it, she figured it meant she could keep playing with more tiny cities here in her bedroom without waking Orihime.

Barely containing her excitement, Rangiku opened one of her drawers and reached deep into the back, sifting through a big pile of tabi socks to pull out the new toy she had bought in the human world for these play sessions: a giant rubber dildo. Glancing at Orihime one more time to make sure she still slept, the shinigami then crept over to her desk. There she sat and pulled over the empty plate she had left there that morning, summoning a tiny city to fill it up. As she looked down, smiling, at the little city, already savoring what fun she would have with it, Rangiku pulled the dildo up to her face and started licking it, covering every last inch of its shaft with her own saliva while the humans, totally bewildered, wondered what this colossal beauty meant to do with them and that sex toy.

Once she finished licking the dildo, Rangiku carefully brought its shaft down on the little city. Many, many blocks were picked up by its sticky spit-covered surface. Most people were killed in the process, but some survived and remained stuck to it while she collected more and more of the city, until the shaft was almost entirely covered with bodies and debris. Then she lifted the shaft back up and, with her mouth wide open, she stuck out her tongue and started licking it from base to tip, making long, slow laps of it. After every lick she pulled her tongue back inside together with all the tiny buildings and people she had licked up, moaning sensually as she swished them around in her mouth, crushing more and more of her victims against her tongue, her teeth, her lips and cheeks, drowning them in the great lake of spit at the bottom of her mouth, until everyone inside was dead. Then she swallowed them all together and moved on to the next lick.

When she had finally cleaned up the whole dildo, Rangiku scooped up bits of the city still remaining on the plate and sprinkled them on the very tip, where they fell around or even inside the slit located right in the middle of the rubber cockhead. Then, when it was completely covered in her victims, she opened her mouth wide, and stuck the thing inside. She started licking the tip from the bottom at first, picking up the hundreds of people stuck to it, and, gripping the rest of the shaft with both hands, she squeezed until a sweet, sticky substance burst out of the slit, a delightful cream to top off her meal. After squeezing out the last bit of cream, Rangiku licked the plate clean of all remaining traces of the city and swallowed it all together, feeling it go down her throat and into her stomach.

As she was patting her belly in satisfaction, the soft sound of Orihime's breathing caught her attention and she turned back to look at her slumbering guest. It looked like she was still sound asleep, which Rangiku was glad to see, and as she watched the young woman sleeping, she got a devilish idea about how to have a bit more fun with the puny cities in a completely new way.

Quietly Rangiku put her sex toy away, then knelt at the foot of the bed, right in front of Orihime's feet which lay near the edge with their soles facing up. One foot was still clad in its pink and purple patterned sock, while the other foot was bare, with its sock lying right next to it—apparently she had been too tired to bother taking off both of them.

Once she was kneeling there, Rangiku caught a whiff of Orihime's feet and smiled as i gave her an idea. She summoned a new batch of cities, almost a hundred of them, all over both of the young woman's feet. The cities were small enough to fit in the tiniest wrinkles of Orihime's sole, and to sit securely atop the threads of her sock, where they were totally enveloped by the scent of her feet. At their size the smell was overwhelming, and shortly after they appeared they all bent over hacking and coughing, some even throwing up as the smell of Orihime's sweaty, tired feet took over their atmosphere.

Rangiku thought it was hilarious. She hadn't even done anything to these people yet and already they were suffering just from being at Orihime's feet, which for them were so immense as to be their whole world.

Feeling playful again, Rangiku carefully leaned over Orihime's socked foot and, putting her face real close to it, she took a big sniff, taking in the rich smell of dirt, sweat and toe jam that was emanating from it. That wasn't the only thing she inhaled, either—several microscopic cities were sucked up with the powerful air currents and blown right into Rangiku's nose, where they ended up stuck to the thick, gooey layer of snot that covered her inner nose and were slowly buried alive in it, left to drown in the disgusting substance.

After that sniff, Rangiku couldn't contain herself anymore. She grabbed Orihime's bare foot and pressed it to her face, basking in its warmth, its humidity, its wonderfully pungent smell, and carelessly crushing dozens and dozens of cities as rubbed her face against it. Immediately she replaced them all with even more speck-sized cities spread all over her sole, leaving a whole continent's worth of people stranded in the wrinkles and ridges of Orihime's foot, either suffocating from the smell or drowning in the tiniest droplets of her foot sweat. Orihime was like a goddess to them though she didn't know it, and when her toes curled softly at Rangiku's caress, dozens of cities were instantly obliterated, their destruction arriving so quickly that none of the people even realized what was happening before they were annihilated.

Rangiku pressed her lips to Orihime's big toe, first kissing it, then sucking on it, and licking up all those cities now residing on her skin—worthless germs who didn't deserve to be in the presence of such perfection and had to be punished for their transgressions. Then she moved on to licking the rest of her foot, sweeping up countless cities and leaving the rest to drown in the layer of spit she left behind, and moaning in ecstasy as she sensed all those lives being extinguished between her tongue and Orihime's sole.

About halfway through, Rangiku heard Orihime stirring and noticed her guest was now looking at her, looking a bit confused but not displeased. In fact, as she kept licking Orihime's sole, the young woman splayed her toes to let her tongue lick between them. Orihime didn't say anything until she had finished, at which point she asked why Rangiku had been licking her foot.

“Oh, it's just a little tradition that some shinigami have—a sort of bonding ritual. When we see that our friends are dirty and tired, sometimes we help them by licking their bodies clean. I probably should have asked you first if you were okay with it, but... You don't mind, do you?”

“I guess it's fine,” Orihime said, blushing at the shinigami's smile. “Do you think I could try it with you? I mean, it would be rude of me to let you lick my foot clean without doing the same for you, wouldn't it?”

Rangiku was surprised, but she accepted her guest's offer, stretching out in bed and presenting Orihime with her bare feet. “I just showered so they're pretty clean now; should be perfect for you to see how you feel about it.”

As Orihime got in position, kneeling at Rangiku's feet the same as the shinigami had done at hers, Rangiku summoned another batch of microscopic cities on the soles of her feet, cities which were now staring in awe at Orihime. The young woman of course had no clue that there were hundreds of millions of people now looking at her as though she were a Goddess, cowering in fear from her beautiful face, a face so massive they couldn't even begin to comprehend its size.

Orihime would never realize what a massacre she committed by licking Rangiku's feet, but Rangiku knew that was for the best. The young woman might not realize it, but she deserved to be a Goddess to those worthless specks, just like her. And, before they both fell asleep together, Rangiku gave Orihime a little “gift” of a thousand tiny cities spread all over her, with more than a billion little souls who until morning would live in total awe of her body.

For a week now, Tifa Lockhart had been working with a new employee at Seventh Heaven. Grace, a slender young woman about her age, had proven herself a big help around the bar, keeping the place clean and the customers happy. She was a bit clumsy and easily distracted, forgetting what she was supposed to do or failing to hear instructions until the second or third time, but other than that Tifa had no issues with her.

Little did she suspect that the reason for her airheadedness was Tifa herself.

As it turned out, Grace had a bit of a crush on Tifa. Even when she was supposed to be doing something else, she couldn't help but steal a glance of Tifa's gorgeous face, her big breasts, or her lovely tummy, to say nothing of her legs and the wonderful pair of feet she was sure must be hiding inside those big red boots of hers. When Tifa wasn't around, she fantasized about getting into bed with her, undressing her completely, and licking every inch of her divine body, and got so immersed in her daydreams that she could almost taste Tifa's skin.

Even now, as she finished mopping the floor to clean up the spills and stains of a day's worth of customers, her boss was the only thing on her mind. Once finished, she grabbed a drink from the fridge without looking, a small bottle filled with some pink-tinged liquid, and sat down at the counter to watching Tifa as she counted the day's gil. It was closing time, and the bar was empty aside from them.

Idly Grace thought about going up to Tifa, confessing her feelings, kissing her passionately, and seeing where things led them. It would have been a night of intrigue and romance, ending with bare bodies entwined around each other, lively lips coming together and hot breaths intermingling, leaving memories that would mark them for life.

Of course, it was nothing but a girlish daydream, but dreaming did no one any harm. The people of Midgar could use some more dreams, she figured, and opened the bottle, taking a sip first and then drinking until it was halfway empty.

It wasn't alcohol, but it made her feel good all the same, and the taste wasn't too bad. “Hey, Tifa, what's in this thing?” she asked, her voice already showing hints of intoxication. She took another swig, then held up the bottle and swirled the liquid around inside. “It's not bad. Do we sell it? I think the customers'd like it.”

Tifa looked up from the piles of gil right as Grace was lifting the bottle to her lips once again. “Grace, put that down!” she shouted, rushing to snatch the bottle out of her hands. Too late, though—Grace emptied the bottle before she could get there, and dropped it on the table, where it clattered and rolled around before coming to a stop against a tall empty mug.

Grace's vision was swimming. She looked to Tifa, meaning to ask what was going on, but the words slipped her mind as soon as she opened her mouth. She tried to move her arms but felt as though there were something heavy holding them down. Then when she hopped off the bar stool she fell flat on her face as the ground ended up being way further down than she thought. She crawled forward, slipping out of clothes now twice as big as normal, then stood and saw that everything else was bigger too. And biggest of all, or so it felt, was the towering Tifa now standing over her, whose leg alone was as big as Grace,and still getting bigger.

“Goodness, you're shrinking so fast,” Tifa muttered. “Sorry for not telling you about that shrinking potion I was keeping in the fridge, but to be fair, I really wasn't expecting you to drink it without knowing what it was. I just hope you don't get too small.” Grace felt the need to say something but her mind was still too fuzzy. A few seconds later, her shrinking stopped and her thought began to clear. “You done? Well, that's not too bad. From what they told me I thought you were going to end up small as a bug. How do you feel, Grace? You doing okay?”

“I think so?” Grace said. Now that she could think straight, she saw that she was about the size of a little doll, lost in a world ten times too big for her. Good thing she had Tifa around to protect her. Though, to be honest, Tifa herself was kinda scary too.

“I'm glad. Wouldn't want to lose my new employee. Listen, I was thinking about what to do now. You're too small to be left alone, so I'll take care of you for now. I'm going to bring you home with me and we'll see if you grow back by tomorrow. If not, I'll try to figure something out. Sound good? Then hop inside and let's get going.” Tifa set her bag down on the floor and stored Grace's clothes inside, then the shrunken woman climbed in. As Grace nestled among her clothes, Tifa zipped the bag shut, slung it over her shoulder, and left the bar.

A short walk later, the pair arrived at Tifa's apartment. Sitting on her bed, Tifa set the bag down next to her and unzipped it. “Well, here we are. It's small, but that shouldn't be a problem,” she said, taking off her shoes and stockings before kicking out her legs with a sigh, splaying her toes and letting the air flow between them.

After climbing, Grace's eyes were drawn to Tifa's feet by the bright red hue of her toenails. Her feet were just as beautiful as Grace had imagined, and her breath caught just looking at them.

“So how was the ride? I didn't jostle you too much, did I?”

“N-no, it was fine.” Grace tore her eyes away from Tifa's lovely feet and turned to her face, hoping that she wasn't blushing too much. “How about you? Are your feet tired?”

“They're killing me! I don't know why but they ended up really sore today,” Tifa said, bringing them up on the bed to rub them. She'd only just started on them when she paused and looked at Grace. “Say, think you could help me out with the girls here? Give them a little massage? You don't have to wear yourself out on it or anything, but it'd be nice if you did a little something for me. I am helping you out with this shrinking business, so you kind owe me one.”

“Oh, sure, I can do that!”

“Great!” Tifa scooted to the far side of the bed and kicked up her legs, presenting Grace with both of her hot, steamy soles. “Hope they don't smell too bad. Let me know if you change your mind.”

As soon as her feet were up their smell his Grace like a bag of bricks. It was so strong! But even though normally she would have been turned off by it, for some reason it drove her nuts now. She took a deep breath, filling her lungs with the sharp aroma, then stepped forward and, with trembling hands, reached out to Tifa's foot.

She was hooked from the first touch. It was amazing to feel that warm and sweaty skin, soft and smooth to the touch, dimpling lightly under her little hand. A shiver ran up her spine and a sigh escaped her lips, and her other hand went up to share in the warmth of Tifa's foot. She ran her hands all over its surface, eagerly exploring every soft and luscious curve of Tifa's sole, every little groove and wrinkle, every last drop of sweat, in such detail as she had never dreamt of, all thanks to her new size.

Tifa's toes twitched in surprise at Grace's enthusiasm, and she almost jerked back her foot, but after a few seconds she found that those little hands felt wonderful against her sole, far better than she had expected. With religious fervor they went up and down her sole, feeling out the tension in her muscles and kneading it away. Soon her feet were more relaxed than they had been in ages, and she sat back and sighed, letting Grace tend to them, contenting herself with muttering “a little higher”or “a little lower” every so often.

After a while, though, she noticed that Grace's hands weren't reaching quite as deep as they had at first. “Getting tired down there?” she asked, moving her foot aside to look at her little employee. But when she saw Grace, she blinked in surprise. She wasn't sure she was seeing right at first, but soon there was no doubt: Grace had shrunk again. Where at first her head had reached as far as the base of Tifa's big toes, now she was half that size and getting smaller.

Tifa remembered what she'd been told about the shrinking potion, specifically how certain smells could trigger its effect again. Was the smell of her foot causing Grace to keep shrinking? It was the only possibility she could think of. She felt bad for having done this to Grace, but... so far as she knew it would still wear off at the same time, so there was no harm done, right? Whether Grace was big as a doll or small as a grain of sand before growing back didn't matter either way. Besides, Tifa loved the feeling of power she held over Grace, and the smaller her employee became, the stronger that feeling was.

By then Grace had also noticed what was going on, and she looked at Tifa uncertainly. Seeing that she had stopped working, Tifa moved her foot forward until her sole bumped up against the tiny woman, knocking her flat on her back, then her sole fell to rest on Grace. “Who said you could stop working, pet? Worry about your size later, once you've given my feet all the love and attention they deserve,” she said, smothering the tiny woman underfoot.

Grace was shocked. This was a side of Tifa that she had never thought might exist. So cold and callous, so commanding, so domineering, so... hot! She forgot all about her shrinking, wanting nothing more than to submit to the might of Tifa's feet. And the feeling of Tifa's sole covering her naked body? It was amazing! Grace gasped and moan as Tifa's foot twisted this way and that, dominating her increasingly-puny self. Then as soon as the pressure relented a bit she spread out her arms and started running them all over Tifa's sole as far as she could reach, offering up all her efforts to her new mistress's mighty foot.

“Is that all you can do? That's nowhere near enough. Show your mistress some real love, now! Kiss my feet, and do it like you mean it!”

“Yes, mistress,” Grace muttered before doing as Tifa commanded, pressing her lips to the warm and sweaty surface to deliver a kiss so passionate that Tifa curled her toes in delight and pressed down on Grace again, wanting to feel that tiny body buried in her sole.

Breaking the kiss only to lick her mistress's salty taste off her lips, Grace then went in for another one, and another and another, never tiring of expressing her feelings to that godly sole. Never before had she been so full of love, so absolutely infatuated with anyone. Her childish crush for Tifa couldn't compare to what she felt right now; she would have gladly given up everything for the chance to spend the rest of her life at Tifa's feet like this, obeying her every command like a loyal slave. She didn't even mind that she was still shrinking. In fact, she loved feeling Tifa's sole expanding over her, the grooves and ridges of her footprint becoming deeper and wider, her foot becoming heavier, it smell growing ever more intoxicating, as the thought of Tifa and her feet came to dominate the whole of her mind.

Later, when Tifa pulled her foot back out of curiosity to see how small her little pet had gotten, both mistress and pet were thrilled to see that she was barely a head taller than Tifa's big toe now. And looking past it, across Tifa's gargantuan legs, the sight of her body stole her breath away and sent her heart aflutter.

“Heheh! Looks like you're nothing but a bug now, little Grace,” Tifa said, rocking Grace's world with but a wiggle of her toes. “You're more helpless than ever before. But don't worry, I know just the place for you.” She moved her foot forward, catching Grace between her toes, and lightly squeezed her before straightening her leg, letting her foot stand straight up. “You'll be nice and safe between my big, sweaty toes until the shrinking potion wears off. No need to thank me; all you have to do is worship your new Goddess.”

This was too good to be true. Grace looked at Tifa, awaiting some sign that she had heard correctly, until she was painfully squeezed between those mighty toes. “What are you waiting for? Aren't you going to worship your Goddess? Maybe you'd rather I crush your weak little body between my toes; it'd be a good end for a bug like you. So, Grace? Will you be a bug, or a worshipper?”

“A... a worshipper, my Goddess,” Grace barely managed to say. Tifa didn't hear it, but she let go of Grace all the same, and the tiny woman immediately jumped to worshipping the mighty toes that had come so close to breaking her, wrapping her arms around the second and pressing herself tight against it, kissing and licking its imposing girth. Every so often Tifa would wiggle her toes together playfully, rolling Grace between them like a piece of lint, while the tiny woman became smaller and smaller, until she could stand comfortably in the gap between her titanic toes.

“Very good, my little toy,” Tifa said, curling her toes around Grace in a dominant hug that left the tiny woman totally encased in her soft, sweaty skin. “Just one more thing for tonight: climb your Goddess's toe and worship at its peak.”

As soon as she was released, Grace, covered in Tifa's sweat and toe jam from top to bottom, reeking of her foot and loving it, her mind consumed with the desire to please her ever-growing Goddess, hurried to obey, climbing up the wrinkles of Tifa's towering toe. She was only two millimeters tall when she started the climb, and when she finished she was small enough to lie snugly in the grooves of Tifa's toe print, barely visible to the human eye. But she didn't care; she would be glad to keep shrinking smaller and smaller, until Tifa was her whole world. She fell to her knees and worshipped Tifa's toe with all her heart, earnestly wishing to make this her new home.

While lying back, Tifa watched the little speck of a woman at work until she shrank out of sight. Then, closing her eyes, she surrendered to the day's fatigue and fell asleep. It wouldn't be long before Grace fell victim to the same exhaustion, lulled by the amazing warmth of Tifa's skin and the subtle rhythmic throbbing she felt all around—the whole world beating with the pulse of Tifa's blood. And though she was still kissing her Goddess's toe until the last moment, at last she fell asleep, curled up at the bottom of the vast and growing valley of Tifa's toe print.

Penny woke up, as usual, to the sound of her mother's alarm. She could hear it beeping across the thin walls that separated Linda's room from hers. Seconds later it was silenced and she heard her mom yawning and stirring, climbing out of bed to get ready for another day of work. The disturbance ended, Penny snuggled into her bed sheets again, hoping to get at least a few more minutes of sleep before she had to wake up for good. She wasn't sure if she'd gotten any when, with a click, light flooded her room.

“Good morning, dear.”

Opening her eyes, Penny saw her mother's smiling face where the ceiling had once been, locks of wavy hair streaming down the sides of her head like big black curtains, swaying just beyond the walls of her room.

“Morning, mom!” Penny declared, kicking away the bed sheets and standing on her bed just as Linda's hand descended on her. Soft fingertips, almost as big as her body, pressed against her front and back, applying pressure expertly to hold her firmly yet painlessly. Then, lifted out, she was set down on an open palm and flattened to it by velvety lips while tenderly hugging them back. Once they released her, she was lifted up to a big brown eye and sat up to greet it. She smiled at reflection in her mother's inky pupil, quietly giggling at her own messy hair.

“Did you sleep well, Penny? Have a good night's sleep?” Linda's finger came down to stroke Penny's hair.

“I did! And you?”

“I slept fine, thanks for asking.” Linda moved her hand away, holding her inchling child before her chest. Her tender smile gave Penny life as always, but there was a hint of worry in her eyes. “Penny, I'm afraid you won't be coming to work with me today.”

“Is something wrong?” Penny crawled to her mom's thumb, stroking it to comfort herself as much as Linda.

“It's your sister, dear. Nadia woke up with a cough and a fever. She's too sick to go to school. I'm sorry to ask you this, but I'm going to need you to stay here and watch over her.”

“Me watch over her? Mom, you know what she's like. There's no way she'll even let me in the same room as her.”

“Don't worry about that; I've already had a word with her. She swore she won't chase you away this time. Besides, I don't think she could kick you out even if she wanted to. She's even more sick than you were last week. You don't have to try and be her friend if you don't want to. Just watch over her, okay? You're still sisters, even if she doesn't like it.”

Penny was silent for a moment, but finally she sighed. “Alright, I'll stay with her.”

“Thank you, Penny”! Linda brought her inchling daughter up for another peck, then lowered her back into her little room on Linda's dresser. “I'll take you to her one I'm about to leave. Try and be ready by then, okay? Love you.”

“You too,” Penny said a second before her roof was closed again.

-----

Penny could still remember the day she was adopted. She had been so nervous about meeting her new owner, with all manner of horror stories from the other inchlings in the shop running through her little head. It only took a minute of being in Linda's presence to ease her fears. There was such love and tenderness in the older woman's face that even the most jaded inchling would have softened in her hands. She was moved to tears by Linda's kindness, and especially when, on the drive home, she had told Penny to call her “mom”—that she would be a part of the family, not just a pet. She told Penny so much about her daughter Nadia, who was to be her new sister.

“A sister...” Penny vaguely remembered having a sister, but she had been taken from her family at such a young age that she wasn't sure how much of what she recalled was true and how much her own fabrications. To have a family again, even a human family, was a dream come true. She had been so excited to meet her new sister. But, once they got to Linda's home...

“That thing is not my sister!”

If Linda was nothing but kindness, Nadia was pure disdain. From the moment they met she had vehemently rejected the new addition to their family. “If you want her as a pet, fine—be another 'inchling mama'—but you can't make me act like that thing's the same as us.”

Penny had been heartbroken. Only an hour of being comforted and cuddled in Linda's hands could finally restore her mood, and she saw that, despite Nadia's rejection, she had still come to find herself in a wonderful new home with a loving mother. Really, it was more than she could ever have hoped for back in the orphanage.

Penny made many attempts over the next few months to get along with her new sister, but they were consistently rebuffed, sometimes quite harshly. At first she hoped that over time she might wear down Nadia's defenses, as Linda had almost suggested to her, but, finding nothing but failures, she eventually gave up on Nadia, ignoring and avoiding her to spend all day long with her mother instead. And while Linda was tried her best to encourage her daughters to get along, she slowly dropped the subject when she saw that neither of them showed any interest in it.

A year later and things were still much the same as always, with both sisters all but pretending the other didn't exist, with the only words exchanged between them being Penny's “Good morning”s and “Good night”s and Nadia's grunt of acknowledgment whenever they met in Linda's presence—not that they ever met outside of it.

They gave the same greeting today when Linda entered Nadia's room carrying Penny's miniature house one in hand.

“Now girls, I want you both on your best behavior while I'm gone. Penny, you don't have to spend all day with your sister, but be sure to check on her every now and then. And Nadia, please be nice to Penny. At the very least don't be rude. I really want you both to get along, at least for today. Think you can do that much for me?”

“Yes, mom!” said Penny.

“Yes, mom,” groaned Nadia.

“Great!” Linda set Penny's room down by the far wall and kissed her inchling daughter, then kissed Nadia on the forehead. “I'm counting on you, girls. Love you both; good-bye!”

Penny scurried out of her “dollhouse” and towards the door just as Linda was leaving, stopping at the hallway to watch her mother heading for the front door. Her heart ached with the longing to go with Linda; for as long as Penny had been her daughter, she had always followed her mother to the office in her shirt pocket, keeping her company while she worked. She had gotten so used to spending the day playing on her mother's desk, napping on her lap, or enjoying the fawning attentions of the other office workers, that she had almost come to regard that place as a second home. Now, finding herself without her mother or any of those nice ladies at the office, she felt so terribly alone.

Sighing as she heard the front door slam shut, Penny turned went back in her sister's room, figuring she might as well get some more sleep while she was here. She was halfway to her own room, which now sat next to Nadia's dresser, when she heard a raspy cough coming from the bed. It was more than ten seconds before the coughing stopped and Nadia rolled over in bed, groaning and readjusting the covers.

Penny looked from her room to Nadia's bed and back again. Then, sighing, she turned to the bed and scurried up the bed sheets with her kind's usual nimbleness, finally surfacing at the side of the bed where she found Nadia lying on her side facing Penny, with only her legs covered up.

Nadia was black-haired like Linda, though hers was styled in a bob cut that didn't quite reach her shoulders. Her skin was tan, her lips full, her nose small and cute. She looked so much like a younger Linda, and it made Penny jealous that she would never look like one of the family, even leaving aside her size.

Nadia had her eyes closed and was breathing slowly. It didn't seem like she had noticed Penny yet, nor did she notice the inchling approaching her face, climbing up her pillow and coming to stand by her forehead. Holding a hand a fraction of an inch from her sister's skin, was enough to tell her that Nadia had a fever, but, still wanting to make sure, she put her hand flat against it. Not a second later, Nadia furrowed her brow and opened her eyes, turning her head up to find Penny standing there.

“What do you think you're doing?” she demanded.

Backing up slowly, Penny tripped on a fold in pillowcase's surface and fell over, landing on her back right by the pillow. “Just taking your temperature,” she explained, quickly standing back up.

“Why?”

“Because mom asked me to keep an eye on you. I figured I could start with that.”

“Not your mom. And there's a thermometer right there,” Nadia said, nodding at her bedside table. “You're not helping anyone by feeling my forehead.”

“Well, I'm not hurting anyone either, am I?”

“Look, just let me sleep, okay?” Nadia rolled over again, turning her back to Penny and knocking the inchling over again with the movement of the covers. Penny stuck her tongue out at Nadia before hopping off the bed and heading into her own room. There she crawled back in bed, looking to get some shut-eye. She was about to fall asleep, too, when Nadia started coughing again. The next time it happened, just a few minutes later, she groaned and lay face down, putting the pillow on her head and holding it down to cover her ears. Nadia's coughing still bothered her from time to time, but for the most part she could ignore it and slowly fall asleep.

When she awoke again some time later, a glance out the window at Nadia's digital clock told her it was barely past nine in the morning.

Too well rested to go back to sleep but having nothing else to do, Penny lay staring up at the ceiling, just daydreaming about hanging out with her mom. It took her a while to realize that Nadia's coughs had been replaced by a soft snoring. She listened to it for a while, until, remembering her promise to Linda, she finally ventured to go check up on Nadia again.

Penny found her sister lying on her back now, with just one leg still under the covers. Though she slept, her face looked troubled, and every so often it moved a bit to one side or the other. She was still when Penny arrived there, though, and when the inchling put her hand on Nadia's neck, stepping over a carpet of her black hairs to reach it. Nadia's skin felt as hot as before, or at least she thought it was about the same. No better but at least no worse, either. She was just wondering what she should do about it, if anything, when she heard something stirring and looked back to find a giant hand coming for her. Too slow in reacting, she was caught by those giant fingers wrapping artlessly around her body. Then she was lifted up and readjusted until she was dangling by the legs from Nadia's thumb and forefinger.

“What are you doing back here? Didn't I tell you to let me sleep?” Nadia said, dropping the inchling on her palm.

“Like I said, I was checking your fever.”

“And like I said, I already have a thermometer for that.”

“So use it, then, or I'll have to keep checking you myself.”

Grunting, Nadia snatched the thermometer off the nightstand, turned it on, and stuck it under her arm. A minute later she pulled it back out. “Gee, whaddaya know, it says 101. Looks like I have a fever. Not that I needed the thermometer to tell me that,” she said, lobbing it back on the stand. “You happy now?”

“I guess.”

“Then leave me alone.” Nadia dropped the inchling on the bed and again turned her back to her, kicking her covers all the way off as she settled down.

-----

Why Penny kept coming back to her sister she couldn't have said. Maybe she had gotten so used to the company of humans that she was instinctively drawn to the only human around, feeling the need to hang around Nadia no matter how many times her sister sent her away. Whatever the case, after another hour or so, time she spent mostly walking around the house, she found herself once more at Nadia's side, staring at her sleeping sister's face. She avoided touching Nadia's skin this time when she took her temperature, holding her tiny hand just a fraction of an inch away; she thought it was hotter this time around, but without the thermometer she couldn't be sure. Not that she knew what good the information would do, but she felt she had to do something to watch over Nadia as she had promised and this was all she could think of.

Growing restless after a while, Penny went and started climbing on Nadia's body to entertain herself.

It wasn't long before Nadia sensed that something was crawling on her. She almost got up to swat it away, but then she realized that it must be the inchling walking all over her. She frowned, but didn't do anything to stop her this time. After this latest nap she didn't need to sleep anymore, and besides, she found she didn't entirely dislike the feeling. Actually, she might even have said it was kinda cute.

Nadia didn't have anything against inchlings. Like most people, she thought they were pretty cute—the domesticated ones, at least. What she did object to was being expected to treat Penny like she was anything more than a pet, and especially as a sister. If only her mom would just give up that silly charade. Well, Nadia thought, maybe she would be able to do something about it today. If she was going to spend the day home alone with Penny, this might be just the chance to teach the inchling her proper place.

Biding her time by pretending to be asleep while Penny walked all over her, taking in the feeling of those delicate little feet plodding along on her skin, Nadia waited until Penny was near her hands, then snatched the tiny girl before she could react.

While bringing her closer, Nadia felt Penny's tiny limbs scrabbling and twisting against her skin, trying to squeeze between her fingers or to push them apart. “Stop squirming, I'm not gonna hurt you,” she said, tightening her grip until Penny could hardly move. “If you didn't want me catching you, you shouldn't have been playing on me. Honestly, I don't know why you keep coming back.”

Penny kept trying to escape for a minute, but at last she gave up and was still. Then Nadia uncurled her fingers, save for one which she kept on the inchling to pin her down. Then held Penny between her thumb and finger, keeping her firmly in place despite her feeble escape attempts.

“Let me go!” Penny shouted.

“Maybe I will. After you apologize for waking me up again.”

“Fine, fine! I'm sorry! Now will you please let me go?”

“Hmmm...” Nadia made a big show of pondering the question while she teasingly rolled Penny between her fingers. “Actually, I think I'll keep you around a bit. Maybe do some of that 'bonding' mom keeps nagging me about. In fact, why don't you bond with the girls here while I get a bite to eat.” Sitting up, Nadia dropped Penny down her black tank top, right into her cleavage, where a little push from her finger was enough to leave the inchling trapped between her boobs.

Hopping out of bed, Nadia headed for the kitchen with Penny trying the whole time to escape her breasts. Only when she sat down with a bowl of cereal did Penny manage to escape, climbing up on her right breast and then vaulting off. When she then saw that she headed right for the bowl of cereal, Penny gave a yell that was silenced with a little plop as she fell into the bowl. Nadia was still laughing when she finally managed to climb out after splashing around and slipping back down twice. She landed on the table, crawled slowly away while leaving a streak of milk behind her, and finally collapsed after coughing out a few white droplets.

“You silly girl! Why would you go and jump off like that without even checking what you were jumping into?” Nadia grabbed a napkin and gently dragged Penny onto it, then folded it in half over her rolled Penny around inside to dry her, until Penny forced her way out and scurried across the table. “Hey, don't you want anything before you go? Some food or water?”

Penny stopped right on the edge and looked back over her shoulder, giving Nadia a thoughtful look. “Some water would be nice,” she said at last. “And a piece of cereal to eat.”

Nadia went and served some water on a small dish, setting it down on the table near her to entice Penny over, then placed down a mostly dry piece of cereal next to it. Penny hesitated for a little while before slowly walking back, eyeing Nadia warily the entire way. First she drank some water, scooping it up with her little hands and carrying it to her face, then she sat down to munch on the piece of cereal and washed it down with another drink. Finally, she lay down in the dish and splashed water onto herself, trying to wash and scrub away the sticky residues from her little swim in the bowl of milk. Meanwhile, Nadia watched it all without so much as a comment. It was really adorable how Penny tended to herself, and even the way she looked over from time to time like she was scared of Nadia doing something to her. In fact, it was so adorable, it made Nadia want to do something to see how she would react.

While Penny was washing herself, Nadia slowly moved her hand closer. With her back turned, Penny didn't notice until the hand was almost right on her, and while she tried to run away, Nadia's hand cupped over her as soon as she stepped off of the plate. Then, while a finger pinned her down, another one came over and gently stroked her head and her sides.

“What's the matter? Did you think I was going to do something awful to you?” she said once Penny had settled down a bit. “Don't worry, I'd never actually hurt you. I know how to treat my pets.”

“I'm not your pet, I'm your sister!” Penny shouted, once more trying to escape Nadia's finger.

“Tsk tsk. See, that silly idea my mother gave you is exactly why we don't get along. You should just learn to behave like a proper pet; you'll be a million times happier when you stop pretending to be something you're not.”

With Herculean effort Penny finally freed herself and scrambled to her feet, running away from Nadia and hopping right off the table. Nadia watched her leave, doing nothing to stop her, then sighed and finished her cereal. She thought about doing the dishes, but she wasn't in the mood for it at all—the energy she had woken up with after her nap was starting to disappear and all she wanted was to go lie in bed again. She left the bowl in the sink, made a quick trip to the bathroom, then served herself a small bowl of blueberries and took them to her room, snacking on them while she browsed on her phone.

She only ate a few of the berries before giving up on them, though, her hunger gone more from her illness than from having eaten too much. Bit by bit her eyelids grew heavier, as did the phone in her hands, until she couldn't keep them up any longer. Her eyes fell shut and her hands fell on her stomach, the phone caught beneath them with the muffled sounds of the last video she was watching still coming from it.

As for Penny? She was in Linda's room, curled up on her mother's pillow, where at least she was kept company by the dim remnants of Linda's scent and the memories of her warmth. Her eyes were still red but she had stopped crying now, and just lamented that she wouldn't be with Linda today—wouldn't be with her mother.

Why did Nadia have to be so awful? It wasn't like Penny had ever done anything to her—she was just hateful, hateful, hateful, for no good reason. She and Linda would be so much happier without her around, and if only she had the courage for it, she would have loved to tell Nadia as much right to her face. Still, idle fantasizing proved comfort enough for now; then Penny could turn her attention to smaller issues, like how uncomfortable her clothes were. Even after having washed them they were still a bit sticky with milk, and she couldn't bear it anymore. A change of clothes was called for, so she headed quietly into Nadia's bedroom and went unseen into her own little “dollhouse”, where she took off her clothes, dried herself up, and then slipped on her nightgown.

Finally feeling fresh, Penny was on her way out of Nadia's room, meaning to go for a little walk to pass the time, when she heard her sister start to snore. The sound gave her pause and she looked towards the bed. Eventually she decided to climb back up there, not to check on Nadia or anything but to see if she could get some payback for what happened at breakfast.

As soon as she was up there she noticed the bowl of blueberries sitting next to Nadia, tipped far enough over that Penny could see its contents from where she stood. That, coupled with Nadia's snoring, gave her a devious idea.

Penny went and grabbed a blueberry, one of the larger ones among the pile. It was hefty and bulky and awkward to hold, but she could hold it all the same, and carry it around too, though she stumbled a few times while getting the hang of it. With it in her arms she climbed the back of Nadia's pillow, and from there went around to her face. With Nadia's arm under the pillow, the cloth surface sloped upwards on that side, high enough to give Penny easy access to her sister's mouth. Then, once she stood before that gaping maw, feeling the air rumbling with Nadia's snores, Penny hoisted up the blueberry and chucked it into the gaping cavern.

Almost at once Nadia's snored were replaced by a desperate coughing. She sat up, bending her head forward hacking and gasping as she tried to deal with that thing stuck in her throat, until, with a grunt, she finally sent it down to her stomach, which it fell into with a gurgle.

A soft, squeaky giggling then caught her ear, and she looked back around at her pillow to find the inchling laughing hysterically on her back. “You little bitch!” Nadia shouted, seizing Penny in her fist before she could get away. “You think it's funny I almost choked on that thing?”

“What's the big deal? You swallowed it whole no problem.” Penny said once Nadia released her upper body.

“Yeah? Well how about I swallow you whole, then?” Nadia tossed Penny into her mouth, shutting her lips firmly behind her as soon as the inchling was securely on her tongue. Then, pinning her down, she started pushing Penny all around her mouth, bullying her with her tongue and savoring the tiny woman. Not that there was much flavor to her, but that was fine—the sensation of her feeble arms and legs scratching at every surface of her mouth, struggling in vain against her tongue, was more delicious than any meal could have been. She couldn't help but laugh at the inchling's palpable desperation.

“Ready for the drop?” she said, keeping Penny trapped under her tongue. “Hope you find that blueberry I almost choked on down there. And hey, if you bring it with you, I'll even let you out. That's fair, right? Anyway, down you go!” Penny's desperation reached a new pitch as Nadia threw back her head and made as if she was gonna swallow her. She pressed the inchling to the roof of her mouth, pushed her back, and gave a big GULP, but despite her teasing she kept Penny in her mouth and spat her back out afterwards. She was all ready to make fun of her until she saw Penny all curled up on her palm with her hands over her face.

“Hey. Hey, come on, you're fine. Don't make such a big deal about it.” Nadia nudged Penny with a fingertip, trying to get a reaction out of her, until Penny pushed it away and glared at her.

“You... you could have swallowed me!” she cried out, trembling with impotent fury.

“And you could have choked me!”

“You... you left me trapped earlier!”

“Because you were being a nuisance! Acting like you're really my sister, waking me up, hanging around me all the time. What's up with all that? Why couldn't you just have left me alone, huh?”

“Mom told me to–”

“Stop. Calling. Her. That. She's not your mom, you idiot. Can't that thought fit in that tiny little head of yours? She's my mom. I'm her daughter, and you're just a pet she's too fond of. You already have your own mom, so stop trying to take mine away, got it?”

“I'm not trying to take anything away! And I haven't seen my mom since I was three! I know she's not my real mom, but so what? She's the first human to ever be nice to me. She makes me feel safe, and I try to make her happy. Isn't that good enough? Can't you just let me be happy with her?”

Penny curled up again. This time Nadia could even hear her sobbing; it made her feel ashamed.

Ashamed? That was stupid. What did she have to be ashamed for? All she did was tell the truth. If that had upset Penny, well, that wasn't her fault. And besides, she was just an inchling; what did it matter if she was sad?

But Nadia was upset despite it all. Looking at that poor creature curled up on her palm, feeling her trembling, hearing her little sobs—it made her feel awful. She tried to stroke Penny's back with her thumb to calm her down, but that just made the poor thing cry even harder. “Hey, it's... it's fine. You can call her 'mom' if you want; it's not like it affects me or anything. I was just mad at you over that... little prank.” She was still a bit upset over it even now, but she made herself let it go; it wasn't like she hadn't done plenty of mean stuff to Penny in the past.

Nadia was stuck comforting Penny for an annoyingly long time, but she kept at it and eventually her efforts yielded fruits. Penny, still sniffling a bit, sat up and made a signal to Nadia to stop stroking her. She wiped her eyes, smoothed down her clothes, gave a shaky sigh, and stopped crying at last.

“I'm... sorry for the... prank,” she said, looking up into Nadia's eyes. “Sorry for annoying you, too. Put me back in my room. I promise I won't bother you again.”

“No, no. I'm sorry for being mean to you before,” Nadia mumbled. “You can stay here if you want. That's why you kept coming back, isn't it? Because you wanted company? Here; I hope this place is comfortable for you.” Lying down again, she lowered Penny to her stomach, where the inchling girl climbed off and looked at her. She looked nervous still, so Nadia tried patting her head, but she just ducked away from her fingers. Finally, though, she walked forward and curled up at the base of Nadia's breasts, just out of sight.

Nadia lay still, watching out for any sign of movement from the little inchling, but Penny didn't really move except to roll over. After a while she started to feel really silly for inviting the inchling to stay despite having nothing for them to do. Now she was stuck here, unable to move lest she disturb the tiny woman, and unable to ask her to leave without it being super awkward. And all for what? So she wouldn't feel so bad about having told her the truth? “Keep it up and you'll end up just like mom,” she told herself, though there was no real bite to her warning.

With nothing more to do, and not wanting to try petting the inchling again, Nadia cupped her hands around Penny, fingers intertwined to act as the roof over her head, then just... lay there, staring at the ceiling, reflecting on her actions and her feelings today. That is, until she fell into another coughing fit, trying to keep it under control so she wouldn't rattle Penny too much. It proved too much for her to handle, though, and she sat up, catching Penny in one cupped hand while fumbling around the bed with the other one until she found the packet of cough drops her mom had left her. She popped one into her mouth and slowly her cough subsided, until she felt something on her thumb and realized that Penny was gently stroking it.

“I'm fine,” she said, waving away Penny's concern, a bit annoyed at receiving sympathy from an inchling. Still, she did nothing to actually stop her, and started absentmindedly stroking her back after lying down again. She looked curiously at Penny, wondering what in the world she had done to warrant being treated so tenderly.

“Because we're sisters,” Penny said when she asked her about it. “Sisters should care for each other.”

Sisters? Nadia couldn't say she agreed, but she didn't say anything against it. Instead she held the tiny woman close and nudged her tiny figure with her thumbs, innocently examining this little thing that called itself her sister. Penny didn't try to stop her or to run away; she just lay there in her hands and allowed it to happen, caressing Nadia's thumbs and looking into her eyes. How she could do a thing like that, Nadia didn't understand. Wasn't she scared? Nadia knew she would be terrified if she was the one being held down and examined like that, even if it was her own mother doing it. Was this inchling really that much braver than her?

Her nudging slowly turned into tender strokes, thumb sliding up and down Penny's body. Then she stopped it on the tiny chest, and when Penny hugged it and nuzzled up to it, Nadia could feel her heart melting with warmth—all the more so when Penny gave it a kiss. She thought she might even shed tears, but she stilled her face until the worst of it was over, not wanting to let on that anything was happening. “Ahem. Right. Well, that's enough of that. You should go back to your room or something. I've, uh... got to get my rest, you know. Hard to fall asleep when you're here distracting me.”

“Oh, okay. Don't worry, I promise I won't disturb you this time. You go and get some sleep; I can get to my room by myself,” Penny said, giving Nadia's thumb one last kiss before hopping off her hand and scurrying off the bed. A few seconds later, Nadia thought she heard the tiny door to the “dollhouse” closing shut.

Despite what she'd said, Nadia wasn't sleepy at all, she just felt she needed time alone. She didn't understand how it had happened, but she was starting to grow fond of her so-called sister, and not just as a pet either. It surprised her to find that when she thought of Penny now there was none of that annoyance she had felt even just this morning, but instead sympathy and even a hint of respect. It hurt her to think of how she had abused this poor innocent woman who had never done anything wrong to her—well, except for that blueberry thing, but she supposed that was her just desserts for what she had done to her.

“You really are becoming just like mom,” she thought, and noticed with some annoyance that all this time she had been caressing that spot on her thumb where Penny had kissed her.

Coughing twice, Nadia rolled over and turned her back to Penny. What the hell was she doing, still thinking about that little shrimp? Yeah, okay, so she wasn't as dumb as Nadia had thought at first. That didn't mean she had to get all sappy about it. They had both apologized so that meant everything was fine now—no need to start acting like they were friends or anything.

Still, even when she closed her eyes she couldn't stop thinking of Penny. How delicate her limbs had felt under Nadia's thumb, how frail and helpless she looked, how heartbreaking her sobbing had been; and yet, how bravely she had borne it all, how lovingly she had looked at Nadia. She must have suffered so much to have turned out that way. Hadn't seen her mother since she was three? Nadia had lost her father at fifteen years old; she couldn't imagine how much it would have hurt if she had been that much younger.

And to think that she had been all but yelling at Penny for the crime of being happy about her new mom. How could she have done something like that? Just because she thought she'd been chastising a pet, not a poor orphaned girl.

The more she thought about everything, the worse she felt. She wanted to apologize again for everything she had done. “Penny,” she called after a while, her voice little more than a croak. She coughed twice, then called again. “Penny, can you come over please?” She heard scampering down below, and after a few seconds Penny climbed up on the bed with her, scampering along her body to stop by Nadia's face.

“What is it, sis? Something wrong?”

“No, I'm fine. Couldn't fall asleep so I figured you might as well come back.”

“You want me to keep you company?”

“I'm not asking you to do anything, I'm just saying you can stay if you want. I figured since you only left when I told you to leave you might want to come back now.”

“Well, if you don't mind it, I'd be glad to stay with you!” Penny said with a voice that all but melted Nadia's heart again.

“Right. By the way, I'm probably not gonna be talking much since my throat's starting to hurt.”

“That's okay, you don't have to say a thing. I'm happy just being here with you, sis.” She walked up to Nadia and placed her hands on her cheek, planting a little kiss on it. Nadia then scooped her up on her fingertips and, facing the ceiling, she eased the inchling onto her nose, where she straddled the bridge. Even crossing her eyes Nadia couldn't get a focus on her—the most she could do was close one eye and look at her with the other, though even then she was still too close to see any of her fine details. Still, she could see enough to know that Penny was smiling at her, and to see those little hands sliding up and down her nose.

Tiny feet then came to rest on the ridge, testing the ground to find a steady grip. Then, slowly, Penny stood, using her arms for balance and walking, step by step, towards the brow, delighting Nadia with the soft pitter-patter of her little feet. She had nearly made it when a sniff made her lose her balance, and she fell onto the open eye. Nadia closed it in time, and reached up to help the inchling, but she stopped when she felt Penny getting up by herself. Then she opened her eye a crack, just enough to see Penny crouched by her lower eyelid and peering down at her.

Nadia's eye was so much like Linda's—the same shade of brown, the same beautiful lashes, and the same expressiveness that revealed everything they felt. Once, Penny had found nothing but contempt in them, but now there was only tenderness and a touch of regret. It was that most of all which had convinced her that Nadia had truly changed now, and made Penny so fond of her new sister—and it didn't hurt that she wanted a family more than anything in the world, either.

She understood that Nadia was sorry for anything, but as far as she was concerned there was nothing more to be sorry about—she had already forgiven Nadia everything, and all that was left was to show her as much.

Penny stared into that eye, seeing her own image smiling back from that glimmering surface, her hair once more a total mess. She fixed it up, and then, patting Nadia's skin, she climbed back on her nose. She walked again to Nadia's brow, that loving eye following her every step of the way. Then, she lay down and combed her fingers through the bristly hairs of Nadia's eyebrows, slowly causing the tension there to disappear. She crawled all over Nadia's face doing the same thing everywhere, massaging it all over as she had learned to do for their mom.

Those little hands were miracle workers, soothing Nadia like nothing else could. By the time Penny finished, Nadia was feeling much better, and she closed her eyes to rest them. She wasn't asleep, but she was content to let Penny think she was, and after a while she felt the inchling hop off of her head to go exploring the rest of her body, trekking over her breasts, down along her belly, and all the way across her legs to her feet, even climbing up to Nadia's toes before hopping to the other foot and beginning the journey back.

Penny was in no rush, and she happily took her time crossing Nadia, getting to know her sister better just as she had come to know their mother by exploring her so many times, making of Nadia's body her playground, her shelter, her home. She thought herself lucky to have a sister as pretty as this.

As for Nadia, the sensation of Penny's footsteps crossing her body gave her a feeling of happiness she didn't think she could have explained. Really, she was just glad to be so close to Penny, and glad that Penny so enjoyed being around her that she stuck around even while Nadia “slept”. Penny's happiness was her happiness, and she would have done anything to make her happy if need be.

When Penny was exploring Nadia's hands, ducking under her fingers and squeezing through the gaps between them, then reaching up to tickle her palm, Nadia finally took the chance to surprise the inchling, lowering her hand to flatten her on the bed. Only for a moment, of course, then she turned her hand over and gestured for Penny to climb on her palm. When she did, Nadia brought her over and let her down right in front of her face, in the edge of the pillow. There Penny stood, until Nadia's finger pushed her down and returned the favor she had given Nadia by massaging her whole body at once with a fingertip, gently kneading her onto the pillow until Penny again hugged and kissed it.

That was the last push Nadia needed. “I'm sorry about before,” she whispered. “About what I said. I was wrong about you. I thought you were just a pet, but... I guess you're more than that. You can call Linda your mom if you want to, and you can call me your sister, too, if you want, or just your friend.”

“Thank you, sis,” Penny said, again kissing her sister's finger. Nadia was so moved that she snatched her sister right up and brought her to her face, first nuzzling her into her cheek, feeling the outline of that tiny body slide up and down her skin, then moving her to her lips, which pinned her with a tender kiss for a few seconds before she thought she must surely be embarrassing herself. But when she started moving her hand away, Penny pounced on her lips and hugged herself to them, nuzzling her face between them. Nadia had no choice but to grant her new sister's wishes and smother her with with a kiss for a good minute and a half. Neither of them had ever been happier.

It had been a peaceful few days for Reimu. After freeing herself and Marisa from those troublesome fairies, Shinmy had grown her back to normal and she had finally been able to carry on with her life as before, dealing with meddlesome youkai while tending to the Hakurei Shrine. If anything, things were even easier than before; with her newfound strength she made short work of many youkai who had once posed a threat to her, never letting them get a good blow in so she wouldn't shrink again. What's more, she had finally learned how to make seals that would replicate her new shrinking magic, and soon she'd be able to start selling them.

Yes, things were looking up for her at last. Her long night of suffering had come to an end, and now the morning sun promised her a bright future ahead. Nothing could sour her good mood!

... Or so she thought until a certain tengu landed at the shrine entrance, a pen and notepad in hand and a camera at her side. “Reimu Hakurei, of Hakurei Shrine. Aya Shameimaru here from Bunbunmaru Newspaper. Do you have a moment to give this humble reporter a brief interview concerning matters related to you?”

Reimu stopped her sweeping and sighed. “Aya, isn't there anyone else you can go bother about your newspaper? I'm not interested in giving any interviews, least of all to you.”

“Oh, there's plenty of people I could talk to, but none of them are at the center of such a juicy story! There are reports that you went missing some ten days ago—vanished without a trace for almost a week, only to reappear out of nowhere, stronger than ever. Where were you during that week? What did you do, and what was done to you? Tell me every juicy little detail! All of Gensokyo wants to know the truth!”

Reimu stared murder at Aya, gripping the broom handle so hard that her knuckles went white. Then she smiled and went back to sweeping. “Sorry to break it to you, but there's no juicy scoop here; I went to the mountains alone for some training and came back stronger.”

“Really? Well, that's funny, because it's not what Chen told me at all.” Reimu nearly broke the broom in half. “From what she said there was definitely training involved, but it wasn't in any mountain, and it wasn't about making you stronger. More like making you the perfect little servant.”

“Heh. Chen? Really? I thought a professional reporter like you would know better than to take anything she said seriously.”

“Oh, trust me, I wouldn't. Not if I didn't have these, I mean.” From her pouch, Aya took out a set of photographs and flashed them at Reimu. They were dark, but Rin, Chen, and Aunn could be clearly seen in a number of them, toying with something tiny. Reimu reached for them, but Aya pulled them away. “Ah-ah-ah! Look all you want, but don't even think I'll let you touch them before I've published them! What a story it'll be! 'Reimu Hakurei, famous shrine maiden, made victim of a shrinking magic; submits to worshipping the feet of lowly youkai.' Everyone in Gensokyo will be reading this story!”

So Aya had been there that day. There was no point in denying it anymore, then. “Why did you come to see me now instead of publishing your story first? You know I'm going to have to destroy those photos before you can show them to anyone. Did you really think I was going to give you an interview?”

“Oh, I just wanted to get some clearer pictures. Well, that and I didn't want to miss my chance to play with you myself! Once this story's out everyone in Gensokyo will be wanting a turn with you; might as well get in on it now and avoid the rush!” A hauchiwa had now replaced the pen and notepad in Aya's hand, glowing with a dangerous energy. “Anything you want to say while you can still think of something other than my feet?”

Despite the threat, Reimu seemed untroubled, and even amused. “You have no idea what a world of hurt you just walked into.”

A magic circle appeared at Aya's feet, and in the blink of an eye it activated, leaving her disoriented in what at first glance seemed like a wholly different world. But it took only a second for her to realize she was still standing in the exact same place as before—it wasn't the world that had changed at all, but Aya herself. The tengu now stood a fraction of an inch tall, stranded in the middle of the dusty plain that was the shrine's floor. Even a mere beetle would have been a giant monster to her. Yet it was no beetle she now faced, but the shrine maiden herself, standing at a bone-chilling thousand feet tall.

Aya was in awe—frozen in place save for her reporter's instinct which moved her to pull out her camera, silently holding it up with her finger on the button and her eye behind the viewfinder. So it was that through the lens she beheld Reimu's tabi-clad foot rising off the floor, showing off ever more of its dusty sole as it swung forward, until that descending sole was all the viewfinder could capture.

It was only then that Aya came to her senses and flew away at top speed, making a beeline for the entrance. Yet it was only a couple seconds before a well-aimed kick launched her into the sky, too stunned to escape the parabolic flight that ended with her back on the floor, bouncing and rolling a few times before coming to lie flat on her back, her vision swimming and her body aching but her camera still firmly in hand. Not even the booming impacts of Reimu's steps could rouse her, nor the potent tremors that accompanied them. Soon Reimu grabbed the stunned bird and had her dangling by the legs.

“I'll take that, thank you very much; and this here too,” Reimu said, taking first Aya's camera and then her pouch, setting each down on the floor before restoring them to normal. The pouch she set aside—she would deal with the photos it held later—but the camera she held up to eye. “Smile, Aya!” she said, and snapped a picture of the tiny tengu. It was the camera flash that finally made Aya react. She squirmed in Reimu's grip, kicking to free herself but accomplishing nothing.

Reimu was transfixed by Aya's struggles. How many times had she been in that exact position before, struggling to escape from one of the “giant” women who held her, fighting even though she knew that it was futile? How many times had she felt that same fear and desperation she could see so clearly in Aya now, hidden under a willful resistance? There was maybe no one in the world who could sympathize as much with Aya as her. Still, she couldn't afford to let the tengu go just yet, not until she was sure that Aya wouldn't reveal her secret.

“Stop squirming so much; I promise I won't hurt you as long as you behave,” she said, turning Aya right side up. “You want me to let you go? All you have to do is promise me that you won't tell anyone about what happened while I was gone. Can you do that for me, Aya?”

“Yeah, sure, whatever. I promise I won't tell anyone about what happened. There, are you happy now?” Aya grunted, still struggling against Reimu's grip. But Reimu wasn't convinced.

“It really doesn't sound like you mean it. Can't you at least look me in the eye when you say it?”

“Oh, come on, I already said I promise! Not my fault you don't trust me.”

“It kind of is, though.” Aya was unscrupulous when it came to writing and publishing her stories, not only exaggerating things but often making them up wholesale. With how nonchalant her reply was, Reimu couldn't believe that Aya had any intention of holding to her promise. There was only one way to be sure that Aya would do what Reimu said, and that was by training her to obey.

“Alright, I'll grow you back. But first, you said that you wanted to interview me about what happened while I was gone, isn't that right?”

“Yes?” Aya spoke slowly, eyeing Reimu warily.

“Well, I've decided I'll do you one even better. Instead of telling you what happened, I'll show you! You'll experience everything I went through while I was being trained; that way when you're back to normal you can tell everyone else what to expect if they ever try to come after me.”

As she spoke, Reimu cast another spell on Aya, one to prevent the tengu from flying once she was released. Normally Aya would be too strong for it to work on her, but at her puny size it worked perfectly. When Reimu let go of her, Aya plummeted to the floor, trying and failing to fly up, even flapping her arms desperately moments before she landed. Before she could recover Reimu's foot was already on top of her, mashing her into the floor. Faintly the miko could feel Aya struggling down there, the feeling muffled under her thick tabi.

“Don't worry, I won't crush you. In fact, I don't think I could do it even if I wanted to. The same magic that shrinks you also protects you from harm. I'm sure you already noticed, though, that it doesn't protect you from pain.” Reimu twisted her foot from side to side, dragging her puny victim along with it over the floor. “Does it hurt? I'm sure it does. I bet you can hardly think of anything other than getting out of there. Well, I'll let you in on a little secret: I'm actually going easy on you right now. I'm hardly resting any of my weight on that foot at all. You want to know what it feels like when I really try to crush you like a bug?”

Without her noticing, a smile had spread over Reimu's face, and it only widened when she raised her other foot and let all her weight bear down on Aya, all but flattening the unfortunate tengu underfoot. After being on the receiving end of this treatment so many times in the past, it was cathartic to be on this end for once. Finally she could experience for herself why everyone had been so eager to step on her when she was small. To dominate Aya so easily, simply by stepping on her, made her feel like the most powerful person alive—like she really was a giantess, able to stride across the land and strike fear in the hearts of everyone who witnessed her mighty form, seeing the people scatter like frightened ants at her approach and commanding their perfect obedience.

“Are you feeling helpless yet, bug? Do you understand how weak and pathetic you are now? What a huge gap there exists between you and me? Whatever the case, this lesson is just beginning. Starting now, things are going to get very heated.”

Sitting down, Reimu stripped off her sock and held her bare foot over the tiny Aya, waiting for her to open her eyes. Once she did, Reimu “waved” at her little toy with a wiggle of her toes, letting her witness the fate that awaited her.

As the giant sole began its descent, Aya let out a hoarse scream and rolled onto her hands and knees, crawling away from Reimu for all she was worth. But her pitiful display only amused Reimu, whose booming laughter followed Aya wherever she went. “Just where do you think you're going, little bug? Do you really think you can escape from me like that? Tsk tsk. I thought you knew better by now, but obviously you still need another lesson. A few hours under my foot ought to do you good.”

Even when Reimu's sole began its descent, Aya kept crawling away until the last second, when her pitiful form was engulfed under Reimu's steamy sole. The soft skin wrapped tighter around her as the pressure increased, leaving her unable to move. The pain became unbearable and, when Aya's lungs started to burn from lack of air, she thought she would rather pass out from suffocation than remain awake to suffer Reimu's wrath. Still, when the weight was lifted at the last moment, she gasped for air, hungrily taking in all of that sweet, sweet oxygen. Even suffused with the musty scent of Reimu's foot as it was, Aya thought it the sweetest thing she had ever smelled in her life.

Relief flooded her, yet it wasn't long before she came to realize that something was wrong, and she opened her eyes to find herself lying on Reimu's sole, the miko's face hanging above her and casting its shadow on her world. Aya tried to sit up. She tried to wrest herself free. It was no use; the sweat and oils of Reimu's skin had her stuck to the miko's foot. When Reimu's sole stretched, Aya stretched with it, and when it scrunched up, she was nearly folded in half between two giant wrinkles, terrified to see that they were deeper than she was tall.

“Well? What are you waiting for? Go ahead, try to escape. I'm not doing anything to stop you. But, maybe you don't want to leave? Hehe! I bet you're starting to like being at my feet, isn't that right, Aya? Even you aren't, I promise you it won't be long. Soon you'll learn to love and worship my feet like I did the feet of my mistress.”

Though she tried to ignore them, Reimu's words chilled Aya to the core. She wanted to dismiss them as a lie, but however much she tried, she couldn't get herself to dismiss them altogether, as if a part of her knew that Reimu was right.

“Here, why don't I give you two a little privacy so you can get to know each other better?” Grabbing her tabi, Reimu pulled it taut over her foot. When she stood, she took a moment to take in the sensation of her little toy trapped under her sole, wiggling her toes to feel her better, then she picked up her broom again. “I'll let you out when I've finished my chores around the shrine, okay? Then we'll see if you learned anything in all that time,” she said, scrunching her sole to catch Aya's attention, and went back to sweeping with a spring in her step, delighting in the feeling of Aya's puny form being pressed into her sole with each new step.

Hours later, when she finished all her chores, Reimu sat in the shade behind the shrine, cooling down in the breeze while she waited for Aya to wake up. When she finally felt a stirring against her sole, she peeled off her socks and dangled the one Aya was in, shaking it back and forth until the tiny tengu fell off and hit the stone walkway, landing right in front of Reimu's bare feet. While waiting for Aya to get up, Reimu scrunched her soles and wiggled her toes in anticipation, hardly able to contain her excitement at getting to play with her new toy again.

As soon as Aya opened her eyes and saw those towering soles hanging over her, the shrunken woman cried out in terror and threw herself forward to kneel with her face on the ground. Surprised, Reimu leaned forward to hear what her little toy had to say.

“Please, no more!” Aya shouted. “I'm sorry I tried to shrink you before! I promise I won't publish your story! I'll destroy everything, all my notes, all my photos, the interview tapes, everything! I'll never speak of this to anyone or even think of it again! Just please, don't step on me, I beg you!”

Reimu laughed in delight and set her feet down so that her big toes were resting to either side of Aya, less than an inch separating her from them, to watch her frightened reaction. Was she really broken already? How sad! And to think that she hadn't even lasted as long as her and Marisa. It was a bit disappointing since now Reimu might not get the chance she had been hoping for to use all the punishments she had been waiting to use on Aya, but above all else it was really amusing. Still, Reimu wasn't about to let Aya go just yet, especially not until she had confirmed that she really did mean to keep that promise. With any luck, she might still get to have some fun with the tengu.

“Why should I believe you? How can I be sure that you won't publish all that stuff anyways after I let you go?” she asked, tapping her toes on the ground, sending tiny tremors that rattled the tiny Aya until she was shaking in fear.

“I-I swear I won't! You have to believe me. I'll do anything to prove it to you, anything!”

“Anything? Then you'll do whatever I ask for the rest of the day, no questions asked and no trying to wriggle out of it. Prove to me that you really will do anything and I'll let you go back to normal. If you don't, I'll just have to keep you around and keep educating you until you learn to obey. Think you can do that?”

“Yes, yes, I promise.”

Reimu smiled. “Good! Then you can start by kissing my toes.”

“Y-your toes? A-are you sure this is necessary to...” An arch of Reimu's eyebrow stopped Aya short of finishing and made her heart skip a beat. “I mean, right away!” Constantly glancing at Reimu's face, looking for any hint of displeasure, Aya turned to the toe on her left. It took nearly all her willpower just to make herself crawl over to that monstrous thing, which stood as big as a house to her puny self. She understood all too well how easily a little nudge from it could knock her flat on her back, and how small a matter it would be for Reimu to then slide her foot forward and start smothering her under her sole again. If there was one thing she wanted to avoid at all costs, it was that.

Now kneeling before the mighty toe, Aya tried to make herself kiss it but was met with staunch resistance. No matter what she said, she didn't want to touch that disgusting thing ever again, and much less to humiliate herself so much in front of Reimu. What did the miko think she was, ordering her to do a thing like this? Aya wouldn't have lowered herself to kiss the foot of a deity, and much less that of a human. But she had given her word, and she had a good idea of what punishment awaited her if she reneged on it.

Even so, it took a twitch of Reimu's toe that brought it less than a millimeter away from Aya's face for her to break out of her stupor. Closing her eyes shut, she made herself pucker her lips and lean forward until her lips touched the toe's disgustingly warm and sweaty surface. She groaned and shuddered at the awful feeling, but she made herself stay there for a full second before pulling back to wipe the sweat off her lips.

Looking back at Reimu, she saw the miko's lips curled in a horribly self-satisfied smile. Aya wanted to yell at her, to give that horrible woman a piece of her mind, but in the end she was too much of a coward to go through with it.

“What are you waiting for, you little bug? You still have to kiss the rest of my toes. Are you going back on your promise already? Or maybe you're still sore from your last punishment? I guess I can help you out just this once. Be a good girl and wait quietly while I bring my toes over to you.” Lifting her foot so that her toes hung over Aya, Reimu allowed them to curl a bit and then carefully moved so that her second toe was hovering right above the tengu.

Though she was terrified that Reimu was going to step on her again, Aya sat still as Reimu had asked, trembling in fear at the sight of that giant sole. Then, when Reimu wiggled her toes and ordered her to kiss, she stood and pressed her lips to the tip of that second toe, then quickly sat back down again, doing the same with all the other toes until she had kissed them all.

That was only the beginning of the workout that Aya would have to endure to satisfy Reimu. The shrunken woman was ordered to climb Reimu's soles, to rub her feet, and even to worship the miko as though she were a goddess. She played along with everything that Reimu asked her to do, eager to get back to normal as soon as possible, but deep inside she grew ever more bitter and resentful, promising to herself that she would find some way to get back at her for this. And though she went along with everything, she was quickly reaching her limit, and, when Reimu ordered her to lick up the filth between her toes, Aya finally snapped.

“No,” she said firmly. “I'm not going to lick your disgusting toe jam. I already did more than enough for you.”

“Are you forgetting our deal, Aya? You know what's going to happen if you disobey. For your sake, you should really reconsider.”

“I don't care about the stupid deal! Whatever punishment you come up with can't be any worse than having to obey you.”

Reimu smiled, happy to finally have an excuse to punish Aya. “I'm sure you'll change your mind once I have my way with you. And if you don't, I'll have a lovely new toy to play with anyways. But I'll tell you what; if you're still resisting a year from now, I promise I'll let you grow back. If I still remember you exist by then.”

Standing up, Reimu lifted her foot over Aya, showing off her mighty sole. Despite having found her backbone again, Aya was still terrified of the monstrous thing, and she turned to flee from it before it could flatten her to the ground. But the moment she started running she realized she was far too slow to ever make it out. If only she could have flown away; she was the fastest flier in Gensokyo and even shrunk down she figured she'd have a good chance of dodging Reimu long enough to escape. But Reimu's magic still remained in effect, and no matter how hard Aya tried, she couldn't leave the ground behind.

Nor could she leave Reimu's foot behind. That massive thing followed her loyally, its sole always hovering overhead, following her trajectory. Even without trying to look at it she still saw those massive toes wiggling at the top of her field of view, smelled the awful scent, and practically felt the crushing pressure bearing down on her.

But though it followed her as she ran, Reimu's foot never descended even an inch from where it hung. And why should it? Reimu didn't have to be in any rush to catch Aya, not when a single step easily match a hundred of the tengu's strides. The chase was nothing more than a game to her, one in which she could afford to take her time. Aya knew this perfectly well, knew that she had no chance of escape, but the terror she experienced whenever she thought of being stepped on again pushed her to keep on running mindlessly, without even the slightest idea of where she was going. Anywhere at all was fine, as long as it took her away from Reimu's foot.

She was still caught up in her panic when Reimu's sole finally started its slow descent, pushing her to run even faster lest she end up plastered to that sole again. But no matter how hard she ran she couldn't leave that oppressive shadow, and soon it was clear that Reimu didn't mean to let her go any further. Then she cried out and threw herself flat on the ground, hoping she could avoid the worst of it.

Reimu's foot came down with a horrible booming noise, shaking Aya's whole world like a powerful explosion. Surprisingly, though, Aya found that she hadn't been flattened under that vast sole. It took her a moment to finally dare open her eyes and see what had happened, and even then she was still trembling when she looked around and saw that she had ended up under the arch of Reimu's toes, those monstrous things hanging over her like a guillotine threatening to fall on her neck any moment now. Then, all of a sudden, they curled up, trapping her beneath the hot flesh of her toes and sole.

Aya screamed in terror as Reimu sat down again and turned her foot around to look at her little toy. The tengu struggled with all her might to escape her fleshy prison, but all her efforts were as nothing next to the might of Reimu's toe. She was once a proud tengu, but now she might as well be a puny ant to Reimu.

“Quit squirming so much; it tickles,” Reimu said, putting an end to all of Aya's struggles with but a curl of her toe. The gesture squeezed Aya's lungs empty, and left the tengu with her mouth agape, struggling to breathe until Reimu finally deigned to let go. Gasping for air, she tried again to wriggle free of Reimu's grip and was again defeated by the strength of her toe.

Then, Reimu's fingers fell on her and plucked her puny form from under her toes, effortlessly rolling and sliding her around until Aya's head and shoulders were sticking out from between them. “If you're not going to clean my toe jam willingly, I'll just have to make you do it by force,” Reimu said, and, splaying her toes, she moved Aya towards them, burying the tengu's tiny face into the filth between her toes.

Even now Aya was still resisting, but there was nothing she could do to stop Reimu from rubbing her up and down over the disgusting toe jam until all her face was covered with the stuff and her hair was dirty and matted down. She couldn't even keep her mouth shut as Reimu did it, the friction forcing her lips open more than once and allowing that horrible bitter gunk to get inside. When she tried to spit it out it just let even more of that stuff in, and by reflex she swallowed it.

It was the worst thing she'd ever tasted, bad enough to bring tears to her eyes and make her want to throw up, but it wasn't even close to the end of her torment. The torture came and came with no end in sight. Even when she begged Reimu to stop, promising to obey everything she said this time around, Reimu didn't let up at all.

“You'll get your second chance tomorrow; today I'm going to keep punishing you to make sure the lesson sticks. You can beg all you want, but I'm not going to stop no matter what, so you'd better just learn to put up with it, don't you think?” Reimu said while smothering Aya between her toes. Really, though, she just wanted to have her fun with the tengu while she still had an excuse.

And what a lot of fun she had. By the end of the day she had bullied Aya with just about every part of her body. Her little toy was smothered under her armpit, suffocated between her thighs, sat on, stepped on, literally chewed up and spat out, then when she lay helplessly in that puddle of spit Reimu's toes had their way with her, dominating her as easily as if she'd been nothing but a lifeless piece of lint. By then she had lost all her energy and could offer no resistance to Reimu's whims, nor even object to her treatment.

When Reimu was busy with something else she simply stuck Aya inside her tabis while she took care of it, and that's where the tengu was stuck when Reimu finally headed to bed. “Good night, bug,” she said as she settled into her futon, giving a scrunch of her sole that left Aya briefly smothered between its wrinkles. “Tomorrow we'll see if you're finally ready to follow orders.”

As Reimu fell asleep, she could feel her little toy struggling against the sweat and clinging fabric that held her hopelessly in place. She lay awake a while, enjoying Aya's struggles, before succumbing to sleep. As for Aya, though she knew that this was her best and perhaps her only chance to escape, she was too exhausted to manage at all. Her feeble attempts made no difference to that vast steamy sole to which she was so firmly plastered, and after a while she too succumbed to slumber, welcoming it as the only respite she was likely to get from this waking nightmare.

When Reimu awoke the following morning, she scrunched her foot and smiled at the feeling of little Aya squirming against her sole. “Good morning, my toy,” she said innocently, rubbing her sole against the back of her other foot. “Are you finally ready to serve your mistress today? Let's have a look at you and find out.”

Reimu threw off the covers and stripped off her socks, sending Aya tumbling down to the floor between her legs. At first the tengu looked like she could barely move, but after a minute she finally managed to stand looking up meekly at Reimu and shaking. She looked so adorably pathetic, Reimu was sorely tempted to spend all day bullying her again. But she said she'd give Aya a second chance today, so that's what she would do.

“So, did you learn your lesson yesterday? I hope I don't need to give you another reminder.” Reimu said, chuckling as she wiggled her toes next to Aya.

“N-no, please! I swear I'll be good this time. I'll do anything you ask, just like I said!”

“Really? Then you can prove it by doing what you refused to do yesterday.” Reimu placed her feet right in front of Aya and splayed her toes, welcoming the tengu closer. “Go on. Lick.”

Aya shuddered. She still vividly remembered the godawful taste of Reimu's toe jam, and would have eagerly begged for another task if she'd thought there was any chance of getting one. But she knew Reimu would just take that as another excuse to punish her, so she tottered towards the first toe gap, placed her hands against that disgustingly muggy skin, and leaned forward with her tongue out, dragging it over that skin.

It took all her strength of will to keep at it without being sick all over the floor, but the longer it went on the easier it became as her tongue became numb to the foul taste. She kept on licking until Reimu ordered her to move on to the next gap, and the next and the next. By the time she finished with her task, she couldn't remember ever having tasted something other than that horrible filth.

“Very good! You're already doing much better than before. Keep it up and I could let you go as soon as tomorrow morning. For your next task, I want you to climb my soles and kiss them all over... Oh, but let me get something first!” Reimu quickly stood and went over to the corner, where she had left Aya's stuff in a neat little pile. When she came back a second later she had the tengu's camera in hand and a grin on her face. She sat down again with Aya standing between her soles, then aimed the camera at the tiny woman and took a picture. “Perfect! Now you can start!”

Aya didn't know what Reimu meant to do with the pictures she took, and she didn't dare to ask either. She didn't like the thought of having such humiliating photos of herself around, but there was nothing she could do about it now, so she tried to ignore it while she carried out Reimu's orders.

Like a puny little bug she crawled all over Reimu's soles, from top to bottom and back again, slowly making her way from heel to toes, making sure to kiss every last inch of their surface lest Reimu get upset with her, trying not to think about how pathetic she must look. Not that either of those things was easy.

All covered in sweat that made the climb more slippery than it had to be, prone to sudden movements that could knock her down if she wasn't careful, Reimu's soles proved a very treacherous surface, and Aya had to cling hard to them so she wouldn't fall and have to climb back up. “Oops, sorry! Your little kisses tickle so much that I just can't help myself!” Reimu said whenever one such movement caught Aya by surprise. Aya knew it was a lie, and that Reimu was doing it on purpose to mess with her, but what could she do about it? Just swallow her pride and her anger and keep on going. She just had to put up with this humiliation for one day and then it would be over.

Or at least it would be if not for all the pictures Reimu kept taking of her climbing the miko's foot, kissing her sole, falling off of it, or being caught between her toes. Aya could only hope that Reimu meant to keep all this photos for herself, because if any of them got out she might just die of embarrassment.

Finally, though, she finished her task and lay on top of Reimu's big toe to rest and wait for her next orders. She cried out and nearly fell when Reimu moved her foot upright, stretching out her legs and leaving Aya clinging fearfully to her skin. Wiggling her toes playfully, she watched as Aya climbed up to the tip of her toe, from where she looked pleadingly at her, all but begging her to stop.

“Ready for your next task? This one's easy. All you have to do is walk over here, all the way along my body. Simple, right?” Reimu said, crossing her legs and rocking her foot back and forth. “Well? What are you waiting for? You know I'll have to punish you if you don't start moving quick.” She aimed the camera and snapped another picture, then looked at Aya expectantly.

Aya had thought, or at least hoped, that Reimu would hold still to let her carry out her trek in peace, but apparently that was too much to ask for. Sighing, she slowly turned herself around and began climbing down the length of Reimu's foot, the movement making it hard but not impossible. At least over on this side her skin wasn't nearly as sweaty, so she could keep a steady grip, but it was still scary having to do so while Reimu was moving her foot.

Even when she was down on Reimu's ankle, beginning the journey across her shin, she still had to crawl across her skin on hands and knees to keep her balance as the miko's leg bounced up and down without pause, all while Reimu laughed at her. Looking out past the giant knee at Reimu's smug face, Aya smoldered with impotent rage, wishing she could do something to wipe off that horrid grin. Instead she could only cling fearfully to her tormentor's body, crawling along it like a pathetic ant.

“Hurry up, little bug! It's been minutes and you still haven't made it past my legs. Are you really so pathetic you can't go any faster? Or maybe you're taking your time to enjoy the sights of my body? I must look so impressive to you, little bug. You're so small that my whole body is like a new landscape for you to explore. You should be grateful I'm giving you this opportunity. And who knows, maybe you'll even learn something as you're crawling on my body. Are you starting to see it yet? How weak and pathetic you are? How powerful I am? I'm almost like a Goddess next to you, aren't I?”

Reimu's laughter sent a shiver down Aya's spine. As much as she tried not to hear it it, all her words struck their target, touching on thoughts that she had been ignoring almost since she shrank and forcing through an awareness of the vast discrepancy between them. It was almost as if Aya could feel herself getting smaller, and Reimu larger, with every new comment denigrating her size. She really did feel like a bug now, and Reimu did feel like a deity, and it was all she could do to try and focus on going forward so she wouldn't have to think too much about it.

But it was hard to ignore when she could so plainly see that the very land she walked on was the Reimu's skin, feel the warmth of her body blanketing her, and smell her scent hanging in the air—when she could feel the ground subtly pulsing in time to Reimu's heartbeat and hear the miko's rumbling laughter following wherever she went, even shaking the earth.

Reimu was merciless with her teasing, constantly rubbing in how much stronger she was than her little toy, either with her words or with the simple gestures she had been doing all along to make Aya's journey more difficult, from clapping or rubbing her thighs together when Aya was climbing down them, to rocking from side to side or tracing tiny circles around Aya when she was walking over her belly. Most of all, though, she loved taking picture after picture of the tengu's travels, trying to capture how adorably scared Aya was while crawling all over her body.

Now, as she was approaching Reimu's chest, Aya felt the weight of her captor's gaze on her more keenly than ever before. Her legs felt so weak as she walked between the twin hills of Reimu's breasts, hills which threatened to crush and smother her as Reimu groped them playfully. When she finally passed them and stood at the far end of Reimu's cleavage, looking up at that godly face which now loomed so close, Aya stopped and waited nervously for what would be her next order.

“So, you finally made it. Took you long enough.” Behind Aya, Reimu's breasts pressed and rubbed together, making the ground beneath her stretch and shift. “What's wrong? Got nothing to say? Looks like that little journey really had an effect on you. If you're starting to understand that your proper role is to serve your new goddess I might let you go sooner than I thought. But first you're going to have to prove that you're ready with a little worship.”

Aya didn't wait for any elaboration before getting on her knees and pressing her face to the ground, kissing Reimu's skin in fearful worship that was only interrupted by Reimu's laughter. “I like your enthusiasm, but that's not where you need to worship. Crawl over here.” Rolling onto her left side, Reimu raised her right arm and gestured to her armpit. Then Aya, holding on tight to Reimu's skin, started climbing up until she reached her place of worship.

The air at Reimu's armpit was nearly as stuffy as at her feet. The ground was softer here, and warmer too. The smell was very strong but not as bad as her foot's. “Now you can worship me,” Reimu said, and Aya obeyed, kneeling and pressing her lips to that steamy surface to deliver kiss after kiss to Reimu's armpit.

“You call that worshipping? Where's the passion? Where's the intensity? Come on, little bug, don't be so shy; show your Goddess how much you love her~.” Reimu suddenly lowered her arm, trapping Aya underneath it. The little bug squirmed and struggled against the massive mound of flesh. “You won't get out by fighting it, Aya~. Show me your love and I'll release you.”

Show her love? How was Aya supposed to do that when she couldn't even move? She tried to think of something but her mind was too overwhelmed by fear. All she could do was keep struggling as fruitlessly as ever, making no progress at all, until the lack of air made her limbs go slack and her thoughts grow fuzzy. That's when she got the idea to try licking Reimu's armpit. It wasn't something she would normally have come up with, and in fact she didn't even think it would work. Her tongue must have been the size of a grain of sand to Reimu—how would the miko even feel it? But she had nothing to lose, so with some effort she opened her mouth and stuck out her tongue, dragging that tiny appendage over Reimu's salty armpit. The taste wasn't the best, but she was too numb to care, and despite getting no reaction at first, she kept on licking out of desperation, until, finally, she was released.

“That's more like it! Keep going, little bug, and put more energy into it. I want to really feel your passion!”

Aya hurried to obey, crawling all over Reimu's sweaty pit to caress every inch of it with her tongue while Reimu cooed encouragement. At first she was only doing it to save herself, but as time passed she was surprised to discover that her feigned passion had become genuine.

There was something so addicting about all of this, from the salt taste of Reimu's skin to the incredible warmth that enveloped her and even the musky aroma that filled her every breath. But there was also something else. As much as Aya didn't understand it, there was a certain comfort that had come to her from fully surrendering to Reimu's wishes and accepting that she had no control over her fate. She didn't have to think nor to worry about anything anymore, because everything that happened to her now was entirely up to Reimu. Even if she did everything Reimu wanted, the shrine maiden could still choose to ignore her promise to Aya and keep her forever as a pet, and there was nothing that Aya could do to change that. Why not accept that and learn to be happy with that life for however long it lasted? To find her purpose in pleasing her new Goddess?

And Reimu very much was a Goddess to her. Even being allowed to experience her body in such detail and intensity like a divine blessing from her, or so Aya had come to feel. Moved by her new passion, she began dragging herself all over Reimu's pit as though she was caressing a lover. She eagerly drank its sweat and inhaled its rich perfume, all while basking in its warmth and enjoying the feeling of that soft skin against her face. Soon she was moaning, finding as much pleasure in worshipping Reimu as Reimu did in being worshipped.

After snapping another picture of her little toy, Reimu pinned Aya underneath a fingertip. Her moans then were like adorable squeaks to Reimu's ears. Not even trying to escape this time, the tengu just kept on licking and kissing while Reimu took charge and pushed her up and down the length of her pit, rubbing the puny girl in tiny circles over her skin, her minute figure gathering up all the sweat and other secretions of her skin until her hair and clothes were all matted with the stuff. Even then she didn't seem to care, and kept on worshipping Reimu without the need for any reminders. She was truly broken now; even after growing back, she would do anything that Reimu told her to do. Not that Reimu meant to grow her back now when the fun was just beginning. After worshipping so many others during her time spent shrunken down, she deserved a turn as the one being worshipped, and no one was going to tell her otherwise.

Confident that no youkai would cause trouble today, not when they had all been so quiet recently, Reimu decided to take the day off and spend it playing with her new toy. After making breakfast for herself and Aya, feeding her pet so she would have the energy to go all day, Reimu had Aya worship nearly every inch of her body, from her feet all the way up to her shapely breasts, while at the same time dominating that little bug with them, from smothering her between her feet to sitting on her and grinding her down or squeezing Aya between her breasts. The tengu never once complained or refused—in fact, she thanked Reimu for the privilege of being so close to her body, and if Reimu hadn't ordered her to eat during meals she would probably have been more than happy to just eat the dirt off her body. In everything she was the perfect worshipper, even more so than Reimu had been.

Come nighttime, Aya was begging her to sleep in her socks again, and Reimu was happy to oblige. She dropped her pet to the bottom of a fresh tabi and slipped it on, wiggling her toes happily when she felt Aya clinging to them.

Aya was in heaven while those toes had their way with her, rolling her back and forth, squeezing her dominantly, curling tight around her to declare that she was their pet. And that she was. When they let go of her she eagerly wrapped herself around them, crawling all over to kiss and caress them, wanting nothing more than to serve them forever. Even after Reimu had fallen asleep she still kept worshipping her foot, crawling all over to become intimate with every last groove and wrinkle, every pore and every speck of dirt that clung to its surface, savoring its bitter and salty taste every step of the way.

As the hours passed she started growing tired, but her passion was too fired up to let her sleep; she knew she had to take care of it first, so she crawled back between Reimu's toes and there pulled down her skirt and panties, leaving her womanhood exposed. She was already sopping wet when she eased her crotch down on Reimu's skin, gasping in ecstasy as soon as it met her lips. Gripping Reimu's pinkie toe by its wrinkles, she started grinding on its side, quickly coming to the verge of climax. She wasn't sure whether to come now and get some sleep or to keep going for as long as she could, spending all night making sweet, sweet love to Reimu's toes, but at last the decision was made for her by her Goddess.

Long since sleeping, completely unaware of what her little pet was doing, Reimu simply gave a little curl of her toes and instantly had Aya screaming in animalistic bliss, her mind ravaged by the intense pleasure brought to her by the unconscious squeeze of the miko's toes. She gripped them and humped them blindly until her energy finally gave out. Then, still panting for air, she fell soundly asleep between Reimu's toes, thanking her Goddess for everything.

Ever since she started using the Wanderer as an insole, Uzume Tennouboshi had been feeling better than ever! There was something so amazing about feeling his tiny little body squished under her foot, feeling his delicate features pressed deep into her sole, feeling him showering her sole with love and affection even as she stomped him flat, that it filled her with boundless energy!

Even after spending most of the night playing with him, hardly getting any sleep because of how much fun she was having toying with the shrunken man and letting him worship her feet, she hardly felt tired at all when she woke up, and what little she did feel went away as soon as she sat up and saw him snuggled against her sole, hugging her toes with his face practically buried in them. It was the sweetest and cutest thing she ever saw, and she could have sat there watching him, but with all the energy she had right then what she wanted most of all was to feel him flattened under her sole again.

Uzume woke him up with a little wiggle of her toes, prompting him to go right back to making out with them, and after laughing about it and making sure he was still up to serving as her insole, she tied him to her sole with a length of yarn and hopped out of bed, wiggling her toes in delight the moment she stepped on him again.

She went about getting ready to go out, walking with a spring in her step that made the Wanderer happy to know how much she enjoyed having him there. Finally she put on her shoes, leaving the Wanderer well and truly trapped with her foot, tucked so tightly under her sole that even without the yarn he wouldn't have been able to escape. Not that he wanted to escape—if anything, he loved being so close to Uzume's foot! Being in her shoe was amazing! Basking in the heat of her foot, filling his lungs with its intensifying aroma, getting completely and utterly soaked in her sweat... it was all so wonderful! Once again he felt like the luckiest man alive to have been given the opportunity to shrink down and enjoy the company of all these lovely girls and their feet!

And Uzume was enjoying it just as much as he was! In fact, she was so pumped up by having him in her shoe, she decided to go beat up some monsters so she could work off all this energy she had built up inside her. She went out into the caves and forests of Planeptune, smacking around all the monsters she could find in a very intense workout. It was quite the wild ride she gave the Wanderer, and at times she worried if it might not be too much for him, but every time she paid attention to him she was encouraged to find him still licking and kissing her sole like always; clearly he didn't mind all the action one bit!

She was grinding for a long, long time, but eventually she did start feeling tired, and before long the monsters had gotten a few good hits in. Nothing too bad, but she could have used some healing. Too bad she hadn't thought to bring along any healing items, but then again, that just meant this was the perfect chance to go visit Compa.

After making sure the Wanderer was doing fine, Uzume headed straight for the hospital, where she was welcomed by Compa. “Uzume! Good to see you!” the young nurse said, going up to hug her. “How are you doing? Do you need any healing? You look a bit beat up.”

“Well, if you don't mind!” Uzume said, taking a seat in her office. “Sorry to bother you about this; I would've normally just used a healing item, but I uh, kinda forgot to bring any today.” She laughed sheepishly.

“It's okay! I don't have any other patients right now, so it's no bother at all! You really should remember your healing items next time you go out, though. We don't want you getting hurt!”

“Yeah, I know. Sorry, I'll try to remember them next time. In fact, I'll go out and buy some once you're done with me.”

“No need! I've got some in store that you can take with you!”

“Compa, you really don't have to do that for me. I just got a ton of drops from those monsters I beat up, so it's not like I can't afford a few potions.”

“Hush! You just let me do something nice for you, okay?”

“Well, if you really want to...”

Compa stood up. “You just sit tight; I'll be back with those items in a minute!”

Uzume waited until Compa had left the room before allowing herself a smile. As much as she didn't like showing it, she really did appreciate Compa worrying so much about her.

While she waited for her friend to get back, Uzume noticed the Wanderer licking her foot again and she frowned. She had completely forgotten about him while she was talking to Compa. Now she wondered, did he need some healing too? It must have been pretty rough being in her shoe all that time. Maybe she should get Compa to have a look at him too.

Uzume took off her shoe and untied the yarn that bound the Wanderer to her foot, letting him fall to the floor. “How're you holding up? You good?” she asked, holding her sole some inches over him as he lay on the floor.

“I'm fine. Just a bit numb,” he said as he stretched on the floor, slowly sitting up.

Seeing him covered in sweat, his hair matted down and his clothes all soaked, Uzume couldn't help but laugh. “You look like you just lost a battle against a slime,” she said, scrunching her sole above him.

“Not a slime, but some kind of monster for sure. Took a beating from it, but I think I can win the next time around.”

“Oh?” Uzume lowered her foot until she was softly pinning him to the ground, and playfully wiggled her toes over his head. “You sound really confident for being so small. Let's see what you can do against this monster.”

Uzume's foot attacked with overwhelming force, softly smothering the Wanderer, warm flesh entombing every inch of his body. The shrunken man counterattacked fiercely by digging his fingers into that soft flesh and tickling away until Uzume, giggling, pulled her foot away.

“What's with the laughing? Did something funny happen?” Compa said, coming back into the room with a bag full of healing items. She looked at Uzume, then down at her bare foot, and then at the tiny man lying on the floor. “Wanderer?” she gasped and walked over to the little man, kneeling beside him and picking him up. At first she had thought it might be just a doll, but when she felt him moving in her hands and heard him say “hi” there could be no doubt that it was the real deal. “Gosh, you're so tiny! How did you get so small? And... what are you doing here? Uzume, did he come with you? And why are you barefoot? Did you have him in your...”

“Um, w-well, I, uh...”

“Compa, why don't you go ahead and heal her while I tell you my story,” the Wanderer said. Uzume gave him a thankful look, relieved that she wouldn't have to answer Compa's questions herself.

As she tended to Uzume's wounds, Compa listened in wonder to the Wanderer's tale, beginning with Neptune and her shrink ray and ending with him in Uzume's shoes, keeping her company while she went out fighting monsters. She could hardly believe half the things he said. It sounded so strange to her. How could anyone enjoy being so small and at the mercy of someone's feet? Getting stepped on over and over again, getting all covered in sweat, having to smell them all the time... it all sounded like abuse to her. She didn't get how those girls could go along with something like that either. She would never even think about hurting someone so adorably tiny! But the Wanderer said he liked it, and that it didn't even hurt when they stepped on him, so maybe it was okay? She still couldn't believe that the other girls actually like it, though, so she started asking Uzume about it to see if that would help her understand.

At first Uzume was very shy about it, but Compa kept pressing her, and once she started talking the floodgates opened and she just couldn't stop gushing about how much she loved having the Wanderer at her feet. She went on and on about how cute he was, how good he was at giving foot rubs, how it made her feel all tingly inside when she felt him kissing her soles, how strong it made her feel to be able to bully him with her feet, how much fun to know she could just show her feet to him at any time and he would go wild over them. By the time she managed to get ahold of herself again she had already said too much, and blushed in embarrassment, but luckily for her Compa didn't seem to think anything of it.

“Is it really that good?” she asked, looking curiously at the Wanderer. “Gosh, I wish I could have the chance to feel even half of those things you talked about!”

Uzume looked at the Wanderer and found him looking at her too. She knew what he was thinking, and even though she didn't want to give him up yet—it was so much fun having him around!—she didn't want to seem selfish. Compa had been so nice to her, it would be rude not to give her the chance to play with the little guy herself. Finally she nodded at him and he turned to Compa with a smile.

“Would you really like to experience all those things?” he asked her.

“Hm? Oh! I'm sorry, that kinda just slipped out! Silly me; I just can't seem to keep my thoughts in my head! Forget I said anything. I really don't want to sound like I'm asking you to do anything for me.”

“You don't have to worry about that; I'd love to do those things with you. You've been so nice to me and Uzume—and you're always to nice to everyone in Planeptune! You work so hard looking after everyone. You deserve to have a little fun yourself, don't you think? To have your feet taken care of just like you take care of everyone else.”

The Wanderer said such nice things about Compa that she just had to cover her cheeks to hide the blush that had come over her. “Goodness, do you really feel that way about me? I... I guess I could try it out, as long as you're okay with it, Uzume.”

“Eh, it's fine. Besides, it's not like I own him or anything; he's free to do whatever he wants, and so are you. And if you ask me, you should listen to him. You deserve a little pampering every once in a while!”

“Then, if you're both fine with it... Okay! My shift is almost over here anyways. I could take you home with me and then we can have have fun and relax!”

“Sounds good to me!” said the Wanderer.

“Hope you two have fun! I should get going now, but I'll come back and visit again for sure! Thanks so much for the healing, and for all the items; promise I won't forget them this time. Bye, guys!”

“Bye, Uzume!” Compa and the Wanderer waved good-bye to her as she left.

Since there were still a few minutes before her shift was over, Compa took the time to wash the Wanderer up, holding him under the sink and scrubbing his body all over with her thumbs to help get the smell of Uzume's foot off him. By the time he was all dried up it was time for her to leave, so she put him in her bag and went home. There she left him on her bed, telling him that she'd be back in a little bit. “Just gonna freshen up a bit,” she said.

A few minutes later she returned, barefoot and carrying her shoes and socks in hand. She sat on the bed, making the Wanderer bounce up and down along with the mattress, and reached over for him. She wrapped her fingers around his body, amazed at how small and frail she felt in her hand. It was a wonder to think that something so small and delicate could have survived hours inside Uzume's shoes without even getting hurt while she was out fighting monsters.

“You ready?” he asked while she ran her thumb over his little chest.

Compa nodded. “Just tell me what to do, Mister Expert.”

“Well, how about a foot rub to start with? Something gentle so you can figure out whether or not you like this before we start getting into other fun stuff. All you have to do is put your feet up and leave me on the bed; I'll handle the rest while you relax and enjoy it.”

“Sounds good to me!” Compa did as he said, sitting with her back against the headboard before setting him down on the bed next to her.

At once the Wanderer walked around to her feet, growing excited to finally get the chance to see them in person. Ever since Compa had mentioned wanting to try out all the things that Uzume had told her about, he couldn't get her feet out of his mind. He had been thinking of them all this time, wondering what they might look like, how they would smell, how they would feel against his hands. Now, as he stood before her soles, he looked them over and smiled; they were as beautiful as he could have asked for, small and delicate, with shapely curves and plump little toes that he couldn't wait to worship! There was nothing he wanted more than to pounce on Compa's feet. But there would be more than enough time for that after his massage.

As he walked up to her left foot, the Wanderer breathed in and noticed a wonderfully sweet scent in the air. Another inhalation and he recognized it as the smell of peaches. Had Compa put on some sort of foot lotion? In fact, her feet were both very clean, and didn't look sweaty at all. She must have cleaned them both while she was freshening up.

“Do you like the smell?” she asked, softly curling her toes. “I wanted to leave them nice and fresh for you. Hope it doesn't smell too strong.”

“It smells great!” the Wanderer said, and he went up to kiss her foot. “Thank you, Compa. Now just move your soles down a bit and enjoy the massage.”

“O-okay,” she replied, and gently lowered her feet until everything up to her toes was within the Wanderer's reach. His kiss had left her feeling all tingly inside, just like Uzume had said, and she waited with bated breath to see if his massage would feel that good too.

The Wanderer pressed his hands against Compa's sole. They were every bit as soft as they looked, and his fingers easily sank into her flesh, eliciting a hushed gasp from the nurse and a slight curl of her toes tat told him how much she liked it. He started rubbing her sole in little circles, digging deep into the muscles hidden under the surface to knead out all the tension they held, tension that Compa likely hadn't even noticed until now. Little by little her feet relaxed, and so did she, lying ever more comfortably in bed as she let her thoughts dwell on the delightful feeling of the Wanderer's tiny hands against her foot.

“That feels amazing~,” she cooed, stretching and scrunching her feet, briefly trapping the Wanderer's hands between the wrinkles of her sole, enjoying every once of attention she got from him. It really was just as good as Uzume had said, if not better.

At first she was content to enjoy it, but then she started playing along with the Wanderer, moving her feet forward to knock him over while he was rubbing them, or gripping his hands with her toes while he was rubbing between them, or even pushing at his back with her toes while he rubbed her foot so he was softly pressed against her sole. And the Wanderer, seeing how frisky she was getting, felt he could start being a bit more forward too. He hugged himself to her soles, kissing them over and over, and when she grabbed his hands with her toes and lifted him up along with her foot, he happily pulled himself up to nuzzle against her toes.

It warmed Compa's heart to see how much the Wanderer was enjoying himself. But even though it was obvious how much he liked her feet, it still surprised her when he started licking them. She hadn't expected him to take things this far, especially not so soon. Still, after she got over her surprise, she found that she was really enjoying it.

It was strange. His tiny little tongue was such a small thing that she could just barely feel it, but still it stood out sharply in her senses, maybe because of how passionately it slid over her sole, how insistent it was on enjoying every inch of her feet. She could feel it working over every little wrinkle, every ridge and groove of her footprint, as far as the Wanderer's head could reach. Maybe it was weird to say, but it really made her feel special to see the little guy enjoying her feet so earnestly. Though, she had to wonder, did her feet really taste that good that he couldn't get enough of them?

“They're your feet,” he said when she asked him about it. “Of course I can't get enough of them, because I can't get enough of you. I love the way they taste because I know it's your taste.”

It was a bit of a cheesy line, but Compa didn't care; she thought it was the sweetest thing anyone had ever said to her. And, seeing how much he loved her feet, she decided to give him exactly what he wanted. Gripping him by the waist with her toes, Compa brought the Wanderer closer and moved her legs so that her soles were facing each other just inches apart. Then, dropping him between her feet, she pressed her soles together around him, completely encasing him in her soft, warm flesh. “Hope you like this, little guy. My thanks to you for doing such a good job on that foot massage.”

The Wanderer could hardly have been any happier! feeling Compa's wonderful soles covering him from head to toe, sliding up and down along his body as she rubbed her feet together, he stopped holding back and worshipped her feet to the best of his ability, hugging and licking and kissing them all over, wriggling around between her soles as he tried to show his love to both of her feet at once.

It made Compa laugh to find him so eager. “Uzume was right; you really are the cutest little thing in the whole world!” she cooed. “You feel so nice between my feet, too, and you look so happy to be there. You're almost like a little pet. My cute little foot pet~.” She wiggled her toes over the Wanderer's head while he struggled to kiss them all. “Wouldn't it be nice if you really could be my pet? I'd be the best owner ever and give you lots of hugs and kisses! And obviously I'd let you play with my feet too~! Fufufu!” She pressed her feet together firmly, enjoying the feeling of his tiny body pressed deep into her soles and his futile attempts to move under the pressure, all the force of his muscles easily beaten by the overwhelming softness of her soles. “But that's just a silly fantasy. I'm sure you don't want to be anyone's pet.”

Compa couldn't have been more wrong. The life she described was the Wanderer's lifelong fantasy. To be doted on by a beautiful girl, worshipping at her feet, trying his hardest every day to make her feel better as thanks for everything she did for him... what in the world could be better than that? The only thing stopping him from committing to it was that he couldn't decide whether he wanted to be Compa's pet or Uzume's... or Neptune's, or Nepgear's, or... There were just too many options, and he couldn't keep from loving them all! Right now, though, he was all Compa's. He couldn't even think of anything else, not while he was here between her feet, entranced by their all-embracing warmth and softness, their smell and taste.

The two stayed like that for a long time, enjoying each other and trying to make each other feel good, until Compa thought to let go of the little man, moving her feet apart and letting him lie on the bed in front of her. After spending so long between her feet he was a bit numb and tired, but it didn't take long for him to recover and sit up again.

“How was that? I didn't squeeze you too hard, did I?”

“No, it's fine! You can even squeeze harder if you want next time! I can take anything you throw at me. In fact, I like it when you girls show off how much stronger you are than me.”

Compa laughed. “If you say so! But, speaking of the other girls, don't you need to go back to Uzume or Neptune or someone else right now? It's getting pretty late. If you don't go now I think you'll have to spend the night with me. Would that be alright? I wouldn't mind keeping you over, actually. It's so much fun having you at my feet, and I bet with your massages I could get to sleep in no time!”

“I'd be happy to stay over tonight!”

“Ah, I'm sorry! I said that out loud without thinking! You don't have to stay over if you don't want to or anything; you're free to leave at any time!”

“But I do want to stay with you! It's been so much fun, and I'm sure the others wouldn't mind. Besides, who knows when we'll get another chance to hang out together? We might as well make the most of it while we can!”

“Okay, then! I'll keep you as my little foot pet for a little while longer,” Compa said, and rolled held her feet right in front of the Wanderer. At once he pounced on them both, kneeling to worship their huge and marvelous soles, from her heels all the way up to her lovely toes.

They were playing together well into the night, loving and getting to know each other, until Compa was all tired out. “Good night, Wanderer,” she said as she turned off the lights, climbing into bed to lie with her soles facing up. “See you tomorrow, you little sweetie~!”

With a yawn she closed her eyes. Before she fell asleep, though, she felt the Wanderer climbing onto her soles, where he crawled around for a little while before settling down in the arch of her toes, cuddling up against them. She softly curled her toes around him by way of a hug, and then she felt him give her big toe a kiss before they both finally fell asleep.

Alear tried his best to stay awake, but there was only so much he could do at his pitiful size. It wasn't long before the vast forces he experienced, stuck on the tip of Veyle's toe, proved too much for him to handle and made him lose consciousness. So he remained while the mind-controlled girl tended to her duties around the castle, following her father's wishes to prepare everything for his conquest. But she could only work for a few hours before the need for sleep overtook her, a product of the spell that was put on her and her better self's resistance to it.

A pair of guards accompanied her to her room and stood sentry at the door as she entered, to ensure her better self couldn't escape before the spell was cast on her once again. Then, once she was inside, the wicked Veyle lay on her bed with a yawn, settling down on the soft quilt. Before falling asleep, she looked down to her toe, where her pathetic speck of a brother still clung to his miserable life, and smiled, wiggling her toes to rouse him.

“Wake up, brother dear~. Don't you want to meet your sister? She'll be waking up soon, and I know she'll want to see you as much as you wish to see her. I wonder though, even if she does see you, will she even recognize you as her brother, or will she see only the puny little flea you are now and crush you like a bug?” Veyle chuckled, rocking Alear's world with another wiggle of her toes. Of course, even getting her attention wouldn't do him any good, but she wasn't about to ruin that little surprise; better to let him keep his hopes alive for now; that would make his future despair all the sweeter.

“Night night, my poor, pathetic brother. See you later... or not!” With a yawn, Veyle shut her eyes and fell asleep, leaving Alear to his fate.

While the divine dragon sensed some sort of trap in this, he knew he didn't have a choice but to try getting his sister's attention. He started struggling against the dried spit that bound him to her skin, trying with all his might to break free of it, but even after so long its hold on his body was more than he could truly challenge in his pathetic state. It was only when Veyle's toes started twitching in her sleep that he could make a bit of progress, as the shifting of her skin with each little movement slowly loosened the hold it had on him. Then, freeing his limbs one by one, he managed finally to extract himself from her skin.

Carefully he stood and climbed towards her toenail, until he reached the very tip of her toe, from where he could look out at her peacefully sleeping figure stretched out before him, taking in the mile-long trek that awaited him if he was to reach her head.

All told it wasn't that long a journey. He could finish it in twenty minutes at most if all went well. But that was the catch: if all went well. At his size he was so fragile and helpless, any little thing might spell the end of him. Why, Veyle had only to roll over right now and she could kill him even as she slept, crushing him between her toe and the bed. Her evil self was right; he really was nothing but a flea. Even if he survived the journey, was there really any chance of her recognizing him when she woke up? There was only one way to find out.

Striding forward, Alear hopped over Veyle's toenail and climbed down her foot to begin his journey over her body. Though he was ready the entire time to run or hop off if it ever looked like she was about to crush him, in the end she slept so peacefully that he was never given cause for alarm; she stirred a bit when he was crossing her belly, but nothing more.

In less than fifteen minutes Alear had crossed the greater part of her body and now climbed up the gentle slope of her chest. Reaching the peak, he saw her resting face lying before him, turned down ever so slightly by the pillow it rested on. He was nearly at his destination now; just a little further and he would be at her head; from there he meant to climb into her ears and call to her in the hopes that she might hear him. If that didn't work then... he'd just have to come up with something else. He couldn't afford to give up now, not when so much was at stake.

He continued on his way, beginning the journey down the other side of Veyle's chest. But he hadn't gotten far when he heard her sigh and saw her turn her head. Then, at last, she blinked her eyes open, and slowly looked around the room.

Alear's heart nearly jumped out of his chest. This might be the chance he was waiting for! He put his hands around his mouth and shouted at his sister, hoping that by some miracle the sounds might make it to her, even if she couldn't make out his words. Then he started desperately waving his arms, thinking it might catch her eye as she was looking around. But he had no such luck. Her eyes passed right over him and then turned elsewhere, missing him completely. Still, he didn't let that discourage him and he kept shouting and waving until her sigh put an end to that.

The rise of her chest as she breathed in deep came so suddenly that it forced Alear to his knees. Then she let it all out. Her breath rippled around him, threatening to tear him from his sister, but Alear held on tight to her dress. He was still clinging to it when she sat up in bed, bringing to him a massive upheaval as it seemed like the whole world had been turned on its side.

Blissfully unaware of her brother's plight, Veyle hopped out of bed. Her breasts bounced gently, swinging him violently up and down, as she made her way to the window There she peered out into the surrounding snowy landscape, looking for... what? Alear and his party? Slim chance she'd find them in this direction. Still, she looked just in case, keeping alive the hope that they might come to rescue her soon. “Oh, Alear, where are you?” she muttered, never suspecting just how close he was. If she had only looked closely at her own chest she could have found him struggling to hold on through her walking and her breathing.

Alear could feel his grip growing weaker with each passing second, loosened by each violent bounce of his sister's chest. Out of sheer desperation he tried shouting to her again, even knowing there was almost no chance of her hearing him. And indeed she still hadn't heard him when she took another step and the movement of her breasts flung him right off. Once in the air, the subtle air currents inside her room caught him and blew him off course, sending him away from Veyle until he came to land near the center of her room. The fall left him winded, but thanks to his minuscule weight he was unharmed by the landing. Still, that was far from the only danger.

As soon as Alear could move again he hurried to pick himself up, but it was already too late. The potent tremors accompanying Veyle's footsteps shook his world so violently that he would have struggled to keep his balance even if he weren't still recovering from the fall. Looking back over his shoulder, he saw her enormous feet swinging as she slowly paced around the room, each new impact bringing her closer and closer until her foot appeared above him, her vast sole spanning the entire sky.

His end had come, or so it seemed. But when her foot fell with a thunderous boom, easily overpowering the sound of his pathetic scream, he was shocked to find that he survived. His body was pinned under Veyle's foot, but in a spot where almost no pressure was being applied. He was lucky; had she stepped even a fraction of an inch closer he would have been reduced to a tiny red spot on her sole, and even that would have been wiped away by her next few steps, leaving no trace of his existence behind. In fact, such a fate might still befall him if her foot moved just a bit. But after a few seconds she stepped away, leaving him shaking uncontrollably on the floor.

“You're not out of danger yet; get up and get moving!” he said to himself, forcing himself to his feet once Veyle had walked to the other end of the room. Wasting no time, he ran towards her bed, aiming to hide under it for as long as necessary. But soon Veyle was coming back. He ran until the tremors arising from her footsteps let him run no more, then, when he saw her foot heading right towards him, he threw himself on the ground again, hoping that lightning might strike twice.

But this time Veyle's foot stopped short of him, her toes coming down just an inch away. The shockwave of her step sent him rolling back another inch, and when he stopped he looked up and saw her other foot swinging right past him to come down on the other side. Then she turned around and sat on the edge of her bed, sighing and resting her head on her hand.

Veyle then pulled her feet back, leaving both of them resting together on the floor right in front of Alear, her toes all towering over him and rattling him as they drummed on the ground. Terrified, the tiny insect at her feet turned to flee, but he had only run a few steps before he turned back around, looking thoughtfully up at his sister, then down at her toes. He recalled how the evil Veyle had toyed with him and his group earlier, and how she had pointed out to them the most sensitive part of her foot. She said she could feel it when he attacked her there, too. Would her good self feel it now?

Alear cautiously approached that sensitive spot, between the two smallest toes of her left foot. He stood before those toes, waiting for them to quit moving so he could safely go in, but it seemed like they would never stop drumming. In the end he went in anyways, knowing he had to make his move while her foot was still within reach—he might never again get another chance as good as this.

Watching her toes closely to know where it was safe to cross, he planned out his path and ran through. Then, reaching her skin, he pulled out his sword and ran directly at her, piercing her skin with one great thrust.

Instantly Veyle jerked back her foot, yanking the hilt from Alear's hands and sending him rolling after it. She looked down, frowning, and reached down to her foot, scratching her minute wound and easily prying out the sword with her fingernail without even noticing that's what it was. Then her eyes were drawn to a tiny figure she saw moving at her feet, a figure she assumed must have been the bug responsible for stinging her. And so, while Alear waved at his sister, Veyle lifted her foot with the full intent to crush him like a bug, never suspecting the puny insect she saw beneath her was in reality her own brother.

Seeing the killing intent in her eyes, Alear started running away in terror of her foot. But, after the initial bit of pain had faded, her feelings softened as she took pity on this miserable insect which had somehow ended up in her room.

“Poor little thing,” she said, gently setting her foot back down. “All alone in this big old castle, just like me. Far from friends and family, without anyone to take care of you. You must be so scared right now isn't that so?”

The sweet tones of his sister's voice soothed Alear's fear, and he stopped running to look back up at her. Even thinking him a bug, she looked at him with such kindness in her eyes that at once he felt safer just being in her presence. Any moment now, she would come in for a closer look and realize who he was. Then this horrible nightmare would finally end.

Veyle slid off her bed, going down on her knees above the little bug. She reached down, fencing the little thing in with her fingers so that no matter where it turned it was forced to climb on them. Sure enough, after a little while, it climbed on her finger and she carefully lifted it up and dropped it on her open palm.

It was a strange-looking bug, unlike anything she had seen before, and Veyle thought to get a closer look at it. But when she leaned in, something bizarre happened. The little bug just... disappeared. One moment it was there, then no trace of it could be seen. Veyle blinked in surprise. Had it jumped away so fast that she hadn't even seen it move? Had something blown it away? “Did I just imagine it?”

As it turned out, none of those things was the case. Alear was still on her palm, but now he stood even smaller than before. It had happened with a flash of magic. One second he had been looking up at his sister, anticipating his rescue, and the next he was left standing atop one of countless mountain chains that stretched all around him off to the horizon, as far as his eye could see—a vast landscape made up of the grooves and wrinkles of Veyle's palm, now so immense next to him that it alone was like a whole world.

And above him was her face, her eyes searching the land for him, but failing to see anything; he was so small that he was totally invisible to his sister, and no amount of searching could have ever revealed him to her eyes.

Alear felt his heart sink in despair. He had been so close to being rescued, maybe even to rescuing his sister, but just like that his golden opportunity had been ripped away, and everything seemed more hopeless than ever before. If he had struggled so much to get her attention as a bug, how would she ever notice him now that he was a mere germ on her endless landscape of a body? She was as far above him as the stars were from the Earth, her body big enough to be his whole world; he might as well not even exist as far as she was concerned.

The divine dragon was doing his best not to lose his hope, racking his brain for any idea on how this might still be salvageable, but all his thoughts ceased as Veyle turned over her hand and filled him with fear. While looking for the little “bug” on the back of her hand, Veyle sent her brother falling off her palm, falling until he was picked up by a gentle air current and then sent flying along with so many other specks of dust floating in the air with him.

The air spun him around and around, sent him flying this way and that, soon leaving him so dizzy that he was about to be sick. Yet he held it in, and after a while he landed on the floor right between a pair of Veyle's toes.

The atmosphere down there was oppressive, dominated by the smell, the warmth, and the humidity of Veyle's feet, while the land constantly trembled with even the slightest shift of her toes. Alear stared in terror at those titanic digits towering above him, each one a miniature world all on its own next to his pathetic self. It boggled his mind to think of how utterly insignificant he was now next to his sister that even the tiny droplets of sweat gathered in the pores of her skin were to him like great lakes he could all too easily drown in. Standing in the presence of such power, such overwhelming immensity, his mind went blank as it tried its bet to come to terms with what he was seeing. And so he didn't notice that someone had entered the room until Veyle gasped and pulled her feet away, bringing them up on the bed with her. “Zephia,” she said, looking across at the tall, horned woman standing in the doorway.

“Is something wrong, Lady Veyle? You look so pale. Don't tell me you've become frightened of your loyal hound,” the mage dragon said, striding towards the young woman's bed. Alear turned around to look at her imposing coming closer and closer, each step she took producing a deafening CLACK as her heels struck the floor and shaking his diminutive world with cataclysmic intensity. Soon things were shaking so badly that Alear was bouncing helplessly on the floor, as she walked, and eventually he ended up inside of a tiny pit on the floor, something so small it would have been invisible to the naked eye.

It was just then that his world was immersed in shadow and, looking to the sky, he saw the endless sole of Zephia's black heels filling the sky. In less than a second, that dark and dusty sky had fallen on him with what seemed like enough power to split the world in half. Everything shook so much he that it seemed the end of the world. He survived, tucked away in that tiny little nook, but he nearly passed out, and the sound and the shaking were both so intense that they left him numb and deaf for a long time.

The first thing Alear heard once his ears had started to recover was the sound of his sister's voice. Only, by the way she spoke, it wasn't the real her at all; Zephia had put her back under her spell.

“Thank you for this wonderful gift, Zephia. I must make sure to reward you for it later.”

“Thank you, Lady Veyle, but serving you is reward enough. And, as for your father's request...”

“My foolish brother and his followers have all been dealt with. They will never trouble us again. There's just one more tiny little detail I have to see to, to ensure his punishment is complete.”

“As you say, Lady Veyle. I'll go share the news with him right away.” Zephia turned and exited the room, finally letting Alear see again. And once the door closed behind her, Alear found himself surrounded by magical energies and in the blink of an eye was whisked away from the floor, back onto that pinkish landscape of valleys and mountain ranges he had been in just a few minutes ago.

“There you are, my pathetic little brother.” Veyle's voice was so loud, Alear had to cover his ears to keep them from bursting. Wincing from the pain, he looked up and saw her face hanging in the sky. The color of her eyes had changed back to the red of her evil self again, but there was another change that caught his attention now: atop her head sat a strange helmet, shaped in the style of four wickedly curved horns.

“Have you noticed Zephia's gift yet?” Veyle said, reaching up to stroke one of the horns. “It suits me, don't you think? Such lovely shades of black and red. But you know, it's not only for decoration. Thanks to this helmet I can keep my weaker self at bay forever. That's right; you'll never see that girl again! Did you manage to say hello to her one last time, I wonder, or were you too pathetic to manage even that? Oh, and about your new size; the curse that shrank you and your companions isn't merely a one-time affair. It will keep shrinking you smaller and smaller, again and again, for as long as you still survive. Do you think you're small now, brother? Just you wait until you shrink again in a few hours; then you'll be wishing you could have stayed at this size forever.

“A harsh punishment, but it's no less than you deserve for betraying our father. Still, you are my brother, fool and traitor that you may be, so I will show you a bit of mercy.” Veyle pointed a finger at Alear, and her magic enveloped him. He could feel it taking effect, changing his body somehow, but he couldn't tell what exactly was different about him. “Do you want to know what that spell did? I bet you're curious, aren't you? Why don't I show you?”

With her magic, Veyle first immobilized Alear, then moved him back to the floor, where he lay helplessly looking up at the ceiling. He could feel his heart beating frantically against his chest as Veyle appeared in his field of view, standing tall and looking smugly at him from the infinite height that separated her from him. Then her foot came to hang over him, her toes wiggling playfully in the sky. Then, with a smile, she brought her foot down with a powerful stomp, instantly flattening him under her sole.

But though his body was crushed, Alear remained alive. Alive and in mind-breaking pain, as though he could feel every atom in his body howling while he was ground to a microscopic stain on Veyle's endless sole, spread out across miles of her skin as she slid her foot forward. Then, the moment she raised her foot, the pain ceased and remains of his body came together again, leaving him gasping as he lay stuck to the sole of his sister's foot, deep inside a tiny wrinkle in her skin.

“Now do you understand my blessing?” As Veyle spoke, she scrunched her foot, and the two vast walls of her skin to either side of Alear came together to crush shim as her wrinkle closed up. Again he was ground to nothingness, and again he came back as soon as Veyle relaxed her foot. “For as long as I live, you can never die. You will spend the rest of your life with your dear, beloved sister, as an ever-shrinking nothing on the sole of my foot. Isn't that wonderful, brother? You and I, together forever, as siblings should be. Even when you get too small for me to find you with my magic, I'll find comfort in knowing that you're with me—lost in the infinitesimal wrinkles of my foot. You're resent me for it at first, but in time, your puny mind will break and you'll silently thank me for this gift, maybe even worship me as the Goddess I am while you explore the endless world of my foot.”

Alear couldn't believe what he was hearing. He didn't want to believe it. It was a nightmare, the worst he ever had. Any moment now he would surely awaken back at camp with all his companions still alive. Right?

Then Veyle scrunched her foot again and all his illusions were crushed as painfully as his body. Unlike his body, though, they would never recover from the blow.

Veyle spent a long time torturing her brother, grinding him painfully between the folds of her skin, time and time again. She could have spent all day toying with him, but she still had other matters to attend to. And so, to close things up, she turned her foot around and touched her lips to her sole, crushing Alear under the oppressive weight of her kiss.

Since her adoption, Penny had accompanied her mother Linda to work dozens and dozens of times. She had met all of Linda's coworkers and got along well with them, so she was no stranger to meeting new humans. Most of them thought she was cute and were very friendly towards her, and the others just ignored her and left her alone. Not one of them was as mean as she had feared humans would be when she was cooped up in the pet store, and she thought that most humans must be the same way.

Still, that didn't mean she wasn't nervous about meeting new humans. Just because most of them were nice it didn't mean that there couldn't also be mean ones among them, and with how small she was it was all too easy for them to hurt her. Even the nice ones might hurt her by accident, though all the ones she'd met had been very careful with her. But despite her wariness, one day she worked up the courage to ask Nadia if she could go with her to college.

It was something Penny had been wanting to do ever since their rapprochement a month ago. She already knew everything there was to know about how Linda spent her days at work, so now she thought it would be nice to spend a day with Nadia instead. Besides, she was really curious about what exactly happened in her college. She had never been in a school before, and she had long been curious about what they were like.

Nadia was surprised by the request, but she agreed to it once Linda had given her permission. And so, one Monday morning, after Linda had left Penny with her sister and talked to them at length about being careful around the other students, Nadia tucked the inchling into her shirt pocket and they both set off for college.

Penny's nerves mingled with her excitement as she lay restlessly at the bottom of the tight pocket, until, after several minutes, Nadia tapped on her to let her know that they had arrived. At once Penny sat up and climbed to the pocket's opening, carefully poking her little head out just far enough to look outside. There she saw that they were in a big hallway, surrounded by more people than she could count, humans in every shape and size and color, flying by so fast that Penny hardly knew which way to turn. They were mostly the same age as Penny and Nadia, though there were some about the same age as Linda or even older who she figured must be the teachers. It was all so overwhelming that she had to duck back down before long, pressing against Nadia for comfort. But once her sister stopped moving and the sounds of voices quieted down, she ventured to poke her head out again.

Now they were in a big room, surrounded by a bunch of desks and chairs, some occupied, some empty. Nadia was sitting at one of them too, setting down her backpack before looking down at Penny. “You want to meet everyone?” she asked quietly, raising a hand up to her pocket. Penny hesitated only a moment before climbing on, and let Nadia set her down on the table, where she looked around in awe at everything there was to see.

Even though Nadia didn't say anything, after a minute the other students in the room noticed Penny standing on her desk, and one after the other one they came over to look at her. “Oh my gosh, is that an inchling? She's so cute!” “Is she yours, Nadia? When did you get her?” “Why didn't you tell us you had an inchling?” “Can I hold her?” “Hey, little cutie! What's your name? Can you talk?” “Hey, don't get so close like that! You'll scare her!”

They all talked together, battering Nadia and Penny with questions, asking if they could touch her, arguing with each other over who would get to hold her first, and so on. It was all a bit scary for Penny. It wasn't the first time she had been the center of attention—something like this had happened the first time she visited Linda's office, but the office ladies there hadn't been quite as intense as these young students were, nor had there been quite as many of them. Penny slowly backed up towards her sister for safety, fearing that someone might get a bit too eager and snatch her up without warning, but thankfully Nadia took care to protect her from the others just as their mother had said. “You can touch her if she lets you, but no one's picking her up today. Just put your hand down on the desk and let her come to you if she's up to it. One at a time, okay?”

After Nadia's instructions the other students settled down considerably, coming to Penny one at a time as she said while Nadia kept an eye on them and answered any questions people had. Growing more comfortable now, Penny went up to greet everyone by stroking their fingers and letting them stroke her back. She was happy to see that everyone was very gentle with her.

Not everyone was interested in petting her, but most people who weren't just stayed in their seats, giving her maybe a glance or two before turning their attention to something else. But after a while, Penny noticed that there was one person in particular who didn't; a young blonde woman standing across the room. Tall, slim, long-faced, sharp-nosed, and lightly freckled, she stared at Penny with her icy blue eyes, saying nothing and barely moving. Even afterwards, when class had started and Penny was back in her sister's pocket, that woman still glanced at them more than any of the others did. It made Penny uncomfortable to be stared at like that without knowing what that girl wanted. After a while she ducked back in Nadia's pocket, but even then she still had a sense of being watched, and it didn't go away entirely until they were headed back home.

Not that the feeling ruined the trip or anything. In fact, Penny had loved her time at Nadia's school. College was so interesting, and even though she hadn't understood anything the teachers had said, she still hung on to every word they spoke. If only she had been adopted sooner, she could have been going with Nadia to school from the start and now she would be just as smart as all those young people in her class. But even without understanding anything she had still enjoyed it there, if not as much as Linda's office. She would go with Nadia to college again on Friday, and even though that woman was still staring at her, she didn't let it bother her and by the end of the day she had pushed it out of her mind. There was nothing wrong with looking, after all, and that woman hadn't done anything to warrant being scared.

Still, she was quite disconcerted when, on Saturday, that woman showed up at their house.

Nadia had mentioned since Thursday that one of her classmates would be coming over to work on a project, so it wasn't that Penny had been caught completely off guard. She just hadn't expected that woman, Emily, to be the classmate in question. Before seeing the young blonde in the entrance hall, Penny had been eager to greet their new guest, but once she saw those blue eyes fixed on her, she quickly scurried away to her mother's room, hiding in the little inchling house atop Linda's dresser.

She knew it was silly of her to be so scared of Emily just because she was uncomfortable being stared at, especially when Emily still hadn't done anything wrong. But the intensity of those eyes unnerved her, and even with Nadia around to take care of her she didn't want to be in the same room as them. Not that she would admit to that silly reason. When Nadia came around to ask if she wanted to meet Emily, Penny lied and said she was feeling sick. She was pretty sure Nadia didn't quite buy it, but she left Penny alone, petting her good-bye while she went to work with Emily.

Penny wouldn't leave her room until Linda got back a couple hours later, after which she went to greet her with a hug and a kiss. Like Nadia, Linda also asked why she was all cooped up in there when usually she was so fond of hanging out with her sister. Penny said she just didn't feel comfortable around Emily yet, though she didn't say why, and Linda agreed to keep her company all day while Nadia and Emily worked on their project.

Mother and daughter spent all afternoon together in their room, with Penny lying on Linda's lap, or clambering up and down her body for fun, or receiving her overwhelming kisses and cuddles. Penny was enjoying their time together so much she practically forgot about Emily, at least until Nadia knocked and came in to ask if Emily could stay over for tonight.

Penny didn't say anything about it, but it made her super uncomfortable to think that she'd be spending the night in the same house as this near stranger. She couldn't shake the feeling that Emily coming over today and wanting to stay the night was all because she wanted to see Penny in person. What for, the inchling couldn't guess. Maybe it was something totally innocuous and she was worrying about nothing, or maybe she was completely wrong and Emily wasn't interested in her at all, but that's the way she felt. Still, as long as she was in Linda's care she knew she was safe enough, and she spent a pleasant evening with her mother, until it was time for bed.

Since Linda didn't have work tomorrow Penny asked if she could sleep with her tonight—she just figured she'd sleep more soundly under the circumstances if she was in her mother's protective presence. Linda was happy to oblige, and they soon fell asleep together with Penny snuggled up in her mother's bosom.

Yet Penny slept restlessly all the same, and she woke up very early in the twilight hours of morning, hours before Linda usually got up on Sundays. She tried keeping still so as to not disturb her mom, but she still kept tossing and turning. Eventually she got up and tried making her bed in some other part of Linda, but she didn't sleep any better on her belly nor her lap. She just couldn't stop thinking about that woman. For all that she had tried to avoid her, Penny had to admit that she was curious about Emily. Why did she show such interest in Penny and yet always keep her distance? What, if anything, did she want with her? She thought about just going up and confronting her about all those things, but she still wasn't comfortable enough for that.

But, thinking about it, Emily must surely be sleeping now, right? Maybe Penny could take this opportunity to hang out around her, to get more comfortable and finally be able to talk to her about it. And, if that woman tried anything, she would have Nadia right there to protect her.

Penny could think of any number of reasons why that was a silly idea, but her curiosity got the better of her, and soon she was making her way down Linda's bed. She squeezed under Linda's bedroom door, then after a brief walk down the hall she did the same with Nadia's to emerge on the other side, looking over at her sister's bed. She saw Nadia there on the left side of the bed, facing the door as she lay on her side. And Emily? She must have been on the other side of the bed, out of Penny's view.

The inchling scurried to the foot of the bed, then jumped on the low-hanging bed sheets and climbed up. When she reached the top, she saw the other woman there next to her sister, lying on her side facing the window. She was sound asleep, at least as far as Penny could tell, though she couldn't see much of Emily from where she stood—just her bare feet, the too-short pajama pants she must have borrowed from Nadia, and in the distance some locks of her golden hair. Slumbering peacefully like that, she didn't seem nearly as unnerving as before. In fact, she wasn't much different from Linda or Nadia when they slept.

Penny wanted to see more of her, so she rounded Emily's body to the front of her, walking past her long legs and her torso until she stood in front of her face. Her eyes were closed, and her mouth just the slightest bit open. Her breathing was soft and deep. Maybe Penny was reading too much into it, but all she saw and heard gave her the sense of an aura of gentleness surrounding Emily.

The inchling stayed looking at Emily's face for a while. Feeling much more at ease around the young woman, at least for now, she ventured to come still closer, until she could very nearly reach out and touch Emily's face. Here she could feel a bit of her warmth radiating outwards to embrace her own body. Not only that, she was starting to detect Emily's smell in the air, a scent tinged with a hint of lavender. It was so soothing that she almost wanted to curl up against Emily's cheek and doze off peacefully. But something else called her attention: some locks of hair hair sticking out out from under that cheek.

Despite how nervous Emily had made her almost from the first time Penny saw her, the inchling had always admired the human's golden blonde hair. It reminded her of an inchling she had met back in the pet store, one who had been her close friend before she had been bought and taken away. Careful not to wake her up, Penny went and pulled out the locks of hair, setting them out neatly upon the bed to form a lush carpet. Then she climbed on them, feeling all the long, straight strands under her hands and knees. They were so wonderfully smooth—she could tell that Emily put a lot of care into them. And what a pretty golden shade they were!

Enchanted by their beauty, Penny raked her fingers through the strands of Emily's hair. She lay on them, resting her little head on the blonde blanket, breathing in and smiling at the faint smell of lavender, then rolled to and fro, enjoying the feeling of that lovely hair against her body and falling ever more in love with this young woman whose voice she had never even heard. Maybe it was just a stupid fancy, but she felt as though she really had learned something about Emily just from hanging out by her face. A person this beautiful and who could sleep so peacefully couldn't possibly be bad, or so she thought, not caring how absurd it sounded.

Suddenly standing up again, Penny hoisted up a thick lock of that golden hair and arranged it around her shoulders, letting it drape over her body like a cape. Hugging it to herself to keep it from slipping off, she twirled and twirled around, laughing as it wrapped around her body until she was all tied up, then spun around the other way to untangle herself from it. But, as she was nearly finished, she got a feeling as though she were being watched. Then she looked to Emily's face and nearly jumped when she saw her eye now open and looking right at her. By instinct she froze up, ready to run at the first false move she saw. Then the moment she heard something to her right and saw Emily's hand drawing closer, she jumped off the bed and sprinted for the exit.

It was only as she was nearing it that she stopped and looked back, wondering if maybe she had overreacted. It's not like there was anything wrong with Emily trying to touch her. The young woman hadn't given chase or anything either; as far as Penny could tell she was still lying right where she had been. There was some movement, but it sounded more like she was rolling over, not getting out of bed. Then she heard a deep sigh.

Penny was honestly starting to feel guilty. She had been making all sorts of assumptions about Emily from the moment she saw her, but Emily still hadn't done her any wrong. For all Penny knew, she just wanted to meet her but was too shy to ask. Maybe she should give the girl another chance.

Penny quietly made her way back and climbed up onto the foot of the bed. There she looked across at Emily, who now lay on her back staring up at the ceiling. She still hadn't noticed the little inchling woman, nor did she notice her as she moved closer to Emily's foot. There Penny stood, ready to bolt again, and reached out to the side of Emily's foot. The foot twitched lightly as soon as her fingers stroked its surface, but aside from that it kept still. Off in the distance, Emily's head turned down until she was once more staring at Penny with those deep blue eyes of hers which had so unnerved the inchling before. They unnerved her now too as she felt the young woman's attention completely focused on her. But, looking at Emily, Penny didn't sense any harmful intent, and soon she was walking back to Emily's head.

From the moment she saw that tiny figure trekking across the bed towards her, Emily felt her heart melting. Ever since she was a little girl, she had longed to meet an inchling in person. She thought they were the cutest thing in the world. When she was stressed out, there was nothing that helped her relax more than watching cute videos of inchlings playing or resting with each other or with their owners. Even to see them simply lying in the palm of a human hand filled her heart with a healing tenderness in a way nothing else could. She would have gotten one as a pet long ago, if only her parents didn't hate the little things. Whenever they so much as suspected that there might be an inchling in their home, they filled the place with these horrible traps. Fortunately no one had ever fallen for them, at least so far as Emily knew.

She thought she would have to wait until she moved out before she could actually meet an inchling in person, without the glass of the pet store shelves standing between them. But that was until Nadia had brought Penny to school. The moment she laid eyes on that little cutie, Penny became all she could think of. Just being in the same room as the inchling sent her heart aflutter. She had so badly wanted to go over and touch the little thing like all her classmates were doing. But she had been too shy, like she always was. Too scared of making a fool of herself, and of accidentally hurting the poor thing while she was at it. All she could do was stare at them from the back, wishing she were confident enough to join them, until the school day ended without her having done anything about it.

She had been so disappointed in herself for letting what might have been her only shot at meeting Penny slip through her fingers. But then the perfect opportunity presented itself. A school assignment to be done in pairs. It had taken some courage on her part, but she managed to ask Nadia to partner with her before anyone else could, and Nadia agreed to it!

It made her so sad when even after getting to Nadia's home she didn't get the chance to meet Penny. The inchling had disappeared after that first sighting in the entrance, and she wasn't confident enough to ask Nadia if she could meet her. Out of desperation, she had asked for permission to stay for an impromptu sleepover, hoping to see the inchling again tomorrow.

Imagine her surprise when the first thing she saw upon waking up was Penny standing right in front of her, with a lock of Emily's hair wrapped around her shoulders. It was such a miracle that Emily thought she must be dreaming at first. Then, when she tried reaching out to Penny, the tiny woman had run off without even giving her a chance to say anything, and she was left berating herself for having made her move too soon. But now the inchling was coming back! Would this finally be her chance?

Penny stopped by the lock of hair she had been playing with. Kneeling beside it, she scooped it up in her arms and started gently stroking it as she looked up at Emily's eye. Then she stood and draped that lock of hair over her shoulders again, and she took a step forward, dragging it with her as she approached that deep blue eye.

For whatever reason, Emily's stare didn't feel nearly so unnerving as before. In fact, now that Penny wasn't scared of her anymore, she thought that Emily's eye was incredibly beautiful. Like her hair, it reminded her of her inchling friend from back at the pet store.

Emily's eye followed her as she moved, flowing up and down her little body, even when she was too close for it to focus on her. Looking into its deep, dark pupil, she saw her own image reflected dimly back. There she turned, a little to one side and then the other, admiring how beautiful, if a bit silly, she looked with those borrowed locks of hair wrapped around her shoulders, like long gold chains draped over a queen. She stood up straight, putting on regal airs as she used that dark mirror to fix herself up, and was filled with joy to find herself looking so pretty.

Again Penny heard movement at her right, but this time she didn't flee when she saw a hand approaching. It settled down a short distance away with fingers raised and stretching towards her, but they fell back and settled on the bed as though scared to touch her. Seeing that, Penny slipped out of the lock of hair and walked slowly over to the resting hand, where she sidled up to the index finger and hugged it, tenderly stroking its sides.

“You're Emily, right?” the little thing said after a few minutes. Emily had never heard her talk before. Her voice... it was so cute! She nodded, then the inchling continued. “You probably already heard, but my name's Penny. Pleased to meet you! I'm sorry for waking you up just now. Hope you can forgive me.” Penny was so adorable it made Emily was to squeal out loud, but she held herself in check so she wouldn't wake Nadia. Instead she nodded again and smiled.

“Do you mind if I climb on you for a while?” There was nothing Emily would have liked better than that. She motioned for Penny to go right ahead, and held her breath as the inchling approached her arm.

An indescribable feeling of tenderness swept over Emily as the tiny woman climbed her shoulder. The feeling of those delicate little hands and feet climbing to her shirt sleeve and clambering up her body was more magical than she had ever imagined it could be. A big smile spread over her face as Penny stood atop her shoulder and walked over to her chest, climbing up her right breast to stand at its peak and look out at the rest of her body as though surveying the terrain. At once Emily felt as though her whole body were an exotic landscape for the inchling woman to explore, everything from her feet all the way up to her head having become a feature of the land.

The young woman lay calm and quiet as Penny strode across her, and dwelt on the feeling of those dainty little feet walking down the slope of her breast, across the plain of her belly, and balancing on the ridge of her right leg, until the inchling reached her ankle. Then she waited as Penny hopped across to her other foot and made the journey back, stopping for a while on Emily's other breast. At first she thought that would be the end of it, but then Penny came still closer, walking on her neck and climbing up the side of her cheek to end up on Emily's face.

The young woman didn't dare to move. Not to talk, not to smile, and hardly even to breathe, from fear that she might hurt the inchling. You'd almost think she was the one in danger from how nervous she was. Penny, on the other hand, didn't seem scared in the least. She walked all over Penny's face, from her chin to her lips to her forehead, to finally end up straddling her nose. Emily strained her eyes to see her clearly, but she couldn't quite get those twin images to fit together as one. In the end she stopped trying, content to know Penny was here with her and not scared in the least. She could even feel her tiny hands stroking the sides of her nose.

“Hey. Can you hear me? Blink twice for yes,” Penny said. Emily did so. “Do you want to hold me?” Emily hesitated, then blinked again. “You can do it if you want, then. Go on. What are you waiting for? Are you scared you'll hurt me? Don't be. We inchlings are sturdier than we look. I promise you won't hurt me unless you try, and I know you won't.” Emily still didn't entirely trust herself, but with Penny's encouragement she finally ventured to raise a hand up to her face and softly pinch the tiny woman between her fingers.

She was so small, just one fingertip alone covered like half of her body. Emily lifted her up as gently as she could and deposited the inchling in her open palm. Seeing that tiny little woman sitting there, thinner and shorter than all her fingers, Emily remained as still as possible, feeling as though any sudden movement at all might break Penny. It was incredible what size disparity separated the two of them. It would be so easy for her to hurt the inchling, whether on purpose or by accident, and yet, Penny didn't seem the least bit afraid. Her eyes showed perfect trust in Emily. And while she didn't know what she had done to earn that trust, Emily was glad for it all the same.

Slowly she brought her other hand closer, setting her finger down next to Penny to let her reach over and touch it. She started petting the inchling with her fingertip, first the sides of her body, then the top, stroking up and down her delicate limbs, marveling at how strong they felt despite their size. Then, growing more confident thanks to the trust Penny was showing her, she started massaging her little body. Her fingertips kneaded Penny into the palm of her hand, soothing the inchling little by little until she lay limp as a rag doll, letting Emily push her around the open palm, rolling her over, moving her little limbs, all to better tend to her body.

Penny had so surrendered herself to Emily's hands that the young woman could have done anything to her. It was a powerful temptation, and she was sorry to say that she wasn't strong enough to resist it. Without asking for permission, she raised the inchling to her mouth and smothered Penny under her lips in a big, soft kiss. At first she felt the inchling squirming, and feared she had gone too far, but then she felt Penny's little arms hugging her back and stroking her lips. When she pulled her hand away some tie later, Penny looked as happy as she felt inside, and when she stretched a finger towards her, Penny hugged it tight and started kissing it in return, gently running her little hands up and down her fingertip.

She held on to that finger even when Emily raised it back up, and while she rocked it to and fro. She was still holding on when, a minute later, Emily held her finger still before her face.

She stared at Penny, admiring her delicate beauty, while Penny fearlessly returned her gaze, looking at her own reflection in the human's eyes. It was strange to think that not too long ago she had been afraid of those eyes. Their gaze had seemed so intense to her, but now she saw that their intensity had come from Emily's adoration.

This went on until the two heard Nadia stir beside them. Startled, Emily lowered the tiny woman and hid her beneath her fingers. When she saw that Nadia hadn't woken up she brought Penny back out again. “You want to go to the kitchen so we you don't have to be so careful?” Penny asked. “Come on, follow me.” She hopped down from Emily's finger and jumped right off the bed, making her way to the door. Emily hesitated a moment before getting up, careful not to wake Nadia up with any sudden movements.

At the bedroom door Emily found Penny standing on the floor, looking up at her expectantly. She crouched and offered up her hand for the inchling to hop on, then when Penny was sitting comfortably in it, she went out and quietly closed the door behind her.

In the kitchen, Emily set Penny down on the table. “Can you get me some water?” the inchling asked.

“Sure,” Emily said. She served them a glass of water and drank most of it herself before sitting back down with the glass. “Here you go,” she said, pouring its slim contents into cupped hand, which she offered up to Penny.

“Thank you.” The tiny woman approached and climbed on her hand, resting her knees on the edge and lowering herself until her face met the tiny pool. She drank her fill and washed her face with the rest, then looked to Emily. “Could you help me get washed now? Just open the faucet a bit and hold me up to it.”

“Of course.” Emily carried Penny to the sink, where she did as Penny said and held the inchling next to the stream of water flowing from the faucet. She was surprised when Penny started taking off her clothes, and especially when she had stripped down bare naked, having left her clothes neatly folded up on her wrist. She looked away, blushing, as Penny stepped into the thin stream of water, letting it wash over her whole body. She simply hadn't expected Penny to be so innocent! The inchling hummed to herself as though it were nothing out of the ordinary, totally unconcerned with revealing herself like this.

But Emily soon got over her embarrassment and started taking glances at Penny. After all, she was only a pet, and it was perfectly natural to see pets naked. Though, she had to admit, if Emily was a human she would have been a very pretty one. Better-looking than herself, for sure.

Penny was in no rush to finish, and she spent a few minutes enjoying the cool water before stepping out of the stream. “Thanks! Now would dry me off, please, so I can get dressed?”

“Sure. Um, where do you keep the napkins?”

“Oh, you don't need those! Just dry me off on your clothes!”

“My clothes? Okay...” Emily thought for a moment, then pulled the bottom of her shirt up a bit and dropped Penny into the fold. Softly she pinched the tiny woman between her fingertips and started rubbing the fabric back and forth, feeling it grow damp between her fingers until she thought it must be ready. When she saw that Penny was still a bit damp, she put two fingers at the inchling's back and pressed Penny to her belly, sliding her up and down to dry her front, then turning her over and doing the same for her back. When it was over she put her back on the table and handed her her clothes.

Penny quickly got dressed again, combed back her hair with her fingers, and turned back to Emily. “Hold still for a minute. I want to climb you,” she said, then took a running jump off the table to land on Emily's upper belly. The human sat still as a rock while Penny made her way up her shirt, climbing over her belly and her chest to end up on her shoulder, and from there grabbing some strands of her hair and climbing them like ropes until she sat on the top of Emily's head. There lay down and start stroking her head.

“You have very pretty hair, Emily.” Penny ran her fingers through the strands of blonde hair and massaged the skin beneath them, giving Emily a nice tingly sensation. She took a big whiff, enjoying the smell of lavender in her hair. “Smells nice, too.”

“Um, thank you.” Emily sat stiffly so she wouldn't move her head. “I think your hair is very pretty too.”

Penny giggled. “And you're so nice! I can't believe I used to be scared of you!”

“Were you really scared at first?”

“Yes! The way you stood apart from everyone else on Monday, staring at me from across the room, I thought you wanted to kidnap me or something.”

“Oh, I'm so sorry! I swear that's not what I was thinking at all! I really wanted to go say hi with everyone else, but... I was too shy about it, so I just stayed back and watched you instead. When I came here today, I was hoping I would get to meet you alone, but I guess if I made you that scared of me if wasn't gonna work out, huh?”

“Probably not. I only went to visit you today because I was curious about you and I figured I should give you a chance. You almost ruined it, too, when you woke up and tried to grab me!”

“Sorry. That was my bad. I was so excited when I saw you right in front of me that I moved without thinking.”

“It's fine! No need to apologize. And I'm glad I gave you another chance! You're a very nice person and I really liked hanging out with you today. You should come to visit more often. Or maybe I could visit you instead!”

“I... don't think that's a good idea. My parents don't like inchlings in the house. Maybe I could come over again, though. And if not, we can at least see each other at school, right?”

“Oh, sure! I'd be happy to hang out with you anytime!” Penny hopped down from Emily's head and onto her shoulder, where she snuggled up against her neck.

Emily wasn't sure how she would manage, but she was resolved to meet with Penny more often. This cuddling they were doing now, the feeling of Penny climbing all over her body, drinking from her hands, taking a bath, even just getting to talk with Penny—everything they'd done together this morning was something she needed more of in her life. She would think of some way for them to hang out again for sure. Right now, though, she was happy just to be enjoying Penny's company.

When Grace was summoned to the fencing room by her instructor Sara Valestein, she thought she was in for more of the usual—physical training and sparring exercises of the sort she did almost every day. But Sara had something else in mind for her young student.

Of late, Sara had noticed that Grace was falling behind all of her classmates in terms of fighting ability. Since Grace had joined Class VII, the gap between them had only kept widening. She knew that drastic measures had to be taken if Grace was to catch up to everyone else. And so, when Grace came in for their special one-on-one training session, Sara handed her a glass of what she claimed was a special energy drink that would help make Grace's training today more effective.

That wasn't exactly a lie, but it wasn't true in any way that Grace would have ever expected. Shortly after downing it all, the young woman started to feel woozy. She swayed and lost her balance and fell on her ass, looking around in a deep confusion as everything seemed to stretch further and further away. Just a hallucination, she thought, but even when her dizziness wore off and she was feeling normal again, she still saw the world as though everything had grown a hundred times in size. Then when Sara took a step towards her and she felt the ground shaking at her teacher's footstep, she realized this was no hallucination; she had gotten smaller, and now stood less than an inch tall.

Looking up at her colossus of a teacher, Grace feared for her life. Yet, despite this, she didn't react as Sara's feet slowly approached her. She was much too busy admiring her teacher's body.

Grace had always been enchanted by Sara's beauty—in fact, the reason she was doing so poorly in class was mainly that she was too distracted by her teacher to follow along properly—and now she felt as though Sara's beauty had grown a hundredfold together with her size. She was infatuated with Sara's pink hair, by her long, shapely legs, her luscious curves wrapped up in the yellow of her dress and the blue of her overcoat, and especially by the sight of her heavy breasts softly bouncing with each step she took. Most of all, she was entranced by the very thought of exploring that titanic monument of a body, getting to know every last inch of Sara in such detail as she had never thought possible. Even when Sara stopped before her and crouched, Grace merely tingled with anticipation, wondering what this goddess of a woman meant to do with her.

“Are you okay, Grace?” Sara asked as she peered down at her little student.

“Oh. Y-yeah,” Grace replied. Slowly she stood and dusted herself off, trying not to let her shakiness show too much. “M-Miss Valestein? Was this supposed to happen?”

“That's right, Grace. Sorry for misleading you, but I didn't think you would have taken that shrinking potion if you knew what it was. I wasn't lying when I said that it would help with your training, though. At your new size I can put you through more intense training than I normally could. It's a bit extreme, but I really can't see any other way for you to catch up to your classmates. Now, are you ready to get started? Why don't you jog around a little bit and see how you feel?”

“Okay.” Grace turned around and did as her teacher asked. To her surprise, she found that she was running faster than she ever had before! At least, relative to her tiny size. In real terms it still took several seconds to run the distance Sara would have covered in a single step, but that's not what mattered to her. “I feel amazing!” she said. “Feels like I could run a marathon without getting tired!”

“That's good, because you're going to be doing a lot of running today.”

Grace slowed to a stop a couple feet away from Sara and turned to look at her teacher. She was surprised to see Sara taking her boots off. She set them aside on the floor, then sighed as she stretched out her feet, splaying and wiggling her toes to let the breeze flow through them and also letting Grace see her sexy toenails, painted the same shade of pink as her hair. The tiny girl couldn't help but stare at those soft, dainty toes, mesmerized by their movement, until Sara stood up straight, peering down at her little student. “Alright, for your first exercise, I want you to run. Run like your life depended on it. Because if you don't run for all you're worth...” Sara held out her foot, showing off her long and sweaty sole to her young student. “... You're going to end up squished under my foot!”

Had Grace heard correctly? Did Ms. Valestein really mean to step on her? She wasn't sure she believed it until she saw Sara take one long step towards her, shaking the ground with its powerful impact. The tremors knocked Grace off balance, and she fell on her hands and knees before the colossal foot, staring at its immense toes, even the smallest of which stood as tall as herself. She was transfixed by their beauty, captivated by their playful wiggling, entranced by their rich aroma, and yet, terrified by their might and power. Even a simple tap of those toes produced powerful tremors that shook her to her core.

If Sara really did mean to crush her, it would be the easiest thing in the world for her to simply stomp down on Grace right now. All it would take was a fraction of a second for her to be turned into paste. And while it would be the most glorious end Grace could imagine, she really didn't feel like dying yet, not even at the hands of the beautiful Miss Valestein.

“Well? What are you waiting for? Aren't you going to start running?” Sara's voice brought Grace's eyes up from her feet to her face. “Maybe you need a little encouragement.” Slowly she brought her foot up and held it over the tiny woman, wiggling her toes and scrunching her sole in the air. Even then Grace still didn't react, not until she saw Sara's foot descending towards her. She turned and ran away as fast as she could, and even so she barely managed to get ahead of the massive sole when it hit the ground. Her heart still pounding, she ran faster and faster as Sara's other foot appeared overhead, wiggling and scrunching teasingly.

Again and again she barely managed to come out ahead of Sara's steps, though she knew that it was just because her teacher was going easy on her. If Sara wanted to she could crush Grace at any time. Thankfully it sounded like she was content with chasing Grace around for fun. Grace didn't think she actually intended to hurt her—at least, she really hoped not—but even so she was scared out of her mind. How could it be otherwise when she might be crushed at any moment?

The chase went on for half an hour, with Sara becoming more and more playful as time went on. She started stepping on front of Grace instead of behind her, cutting off her path and making her turn to flee in some other direction, and giggled in delight as the tiny woman scurried this way and that.

Even after running for so long Grace still didn't feel the least bit tired, and their little game might have gone on for a half hour more, if not for Sara losing her balance and slamming her foot right on top of Grace.

The moment she felt that sole on the top of her head, Grace assumed she was dead. But once she was flattened under Sara's sweaty sole, she realized she was still alive. In fact, she wasn't even hurt. She was having trouble breathing under all the pressure, but as soon as Sara stepped off of her again she was fine.

“Whoops, sorry. I should have been more careful. Are you okay, Grace?”

“Yeah, I'm... fine,” the tiny woman said, feeling herself all over and finding herself totally unharmed.

“Thought so. Too bad the surprise is ruined now. I didn't tell you because I thought you'd be more motivated this way, but when you shrink down you stay as resistant as you are at your normal size.”

“Oh, thank goodness. For a second there I thought I was dead.”

“Did you really think I'd ever do anything to put you in danger?”

“I wasn't sure, but it felt scary all the same.”

“Well, sorry for the scare.” Sara went back for her boots and started putting them on. “Now that you know, we might as well end this exercise and move on to the next. But first let's go somewhere a bit more private. Wouldn't want someone barging in on us and seeing you all tiny, now, would we? We'll continue you training in my room. Now come here, you tiny thing.”

Grace sat still as Sara reached for her. Even knowing that she was perfectly safe she was still a bit scared, but she sat still and allowed Sara's fingers to wrap around her, leaving her trapped in a tight fleshy prison. Her fear mingled with excitement once Sara started walking, carrying her away to her bedroom, where she would be able to do whatever she pleased to Grace without fear of anyone finding out. She would be completely at her teacher's mercy!

Before long Sara arrived at her destination and she opened her hand, letting Grace down onto her bed. Sara grabbed a bottle of wine she had stashed away in the corner of her room, which she uncorked and took a swig from before sitting down right beside Grace, groaning as she once again took off her boots and stretched out her legs to enjoy the fresh air on her hot and tired feet. After a minute she turned to Grace with a smile, and she kicked her feet up onto the bed, setting them down to either side of the shrunken woman. Then she turned both feet over, presenting both sweaty soles to her shrunken student. From this distance, Grace could feel the heat and humidity radiating from them both, coming to envelop her entire body.

“Alright, Grace. This next exercise will be a test of your strength. For this one, you're going to have to rub both my feet. And it has to be a good one, you hear! I can't squish you if you fail, but I can still trap you in my boots for a day and have you suffer my hot and sweaty feet!”

Sara's laughter suggested that was more a joke than a threat, but to be honest, Grace wouldn't have minded if Sara did choose to punish her that way. Now that she knew she could survive being stepped on, there was nothing keeping her from enjoying the beauty of Sara's body at her new size, and that included the beauty of her feet. She gladly rushed to Sara's sole, pressing her hands into the plush surface and almost trembling in delight as she felt the wonderful warmth seeping into her body through Sara's skin.

“Is that the best you've got? Put a bit more elbow into it, Gracey!” Sara said, putting the bottle to her lips and chugging down a couple mouthfuls. Then she laughed as she put it down and scrunched her soles at Grace. “Come on, be a good girl and work hard for me, won't you?”

The tone of Sara's voice sent shivers up Grace's spine, and she resolved to put her all into servicing this titan of a woman, pushing her hands as deep into the warm flesh of her foot as they could go. “Ohh, that's it! That's it! Good girl, Gracey. Very good girl! Keep going now. Keep rubbing my feet so you can be strong like your classmates.” Sarah took another lengthy sip and sighed deeply, then giggled like a girl. “You know, I never realized how cute you look at this size. You're like the cutest little bug in the whole world! I mean, just lookie here.” She pressed her toes at Grace's back, pinning the tiny woman to her sole. “You're even smaller than my little toesies. I just want to grab you and give you a big ol' kiss! Haha! Maybe when you're done that can be your reward. What do you think of that, Gracey?”

Grace blushed deeply as Sara's toe curled at her back, holding back the urge to shout out just how much she loved the idea. Ms. Valestein could say this stuff because she was tipsy, but Grace would have no excuse. If she admitted how much she loved being here and Sara still remembered it when she was sober, she would die of embarrassment for sure! No, she'd just content herself with enjoying being all wrapped up in Sara's gorgeous soles.

Sara curled her toes back and forth, passing little Grace from one foot to the other while slowly emptying out her wine bottle. At just a little less than half full, she lowered the bottle, smacking her lips loudly, and let out a long breath that washed over Grace, thick with fumes that made her head swim. Then she spoke, her words slurred but still cogent. “You know what? I think that's enough strength training for you. Let's move on to training your resistance, little Gracey. I'm going to 'attack' you and you do your best to withstand it, alright? If you can avoid passing out, I'll give you a little reward. Get ready 'cause here it comes!”

Suddenly the soft grip that her soles had over Grace intensified until her lungs were all but emptied under the pressure. Then Sara's feet started sliding against each other, never letting up on Grace. The tiny woman could hardly breathe more than a gasp. Her body grew weak and her thoughts grew fuzzy. Only the desire to claim her reward from Sara and the joy at being held between her feet kept her going while she was rolled all over her teacher's godly feet, from heel to toes and back again, visiting every last inch of her soles at least once, until Sara had enough fun and moved her feet apart, letting Grace slump over on the bed where she rolled over and waited to recover her strength before getting up.

“Wow, you really made it, Gracey! I didn't think a little bug like you could withstand something like that. I'm amazed! You definitely earned that reward I mentioned. And your reward is... the honor of worshipping my feet!” Sara picked Grace up and flicked her across the bed, then stretched out her legs and let her feet fall on the bed right in front of her. Her soles scrunched and her toes wiggled as she basked in the feeling of absolute power she held over the tiny student now cowering in the shadow of her feet, a feeling more intoxicating still than the wine she had just finished.

“Climb my feet. Kiss them. Lick them. I want to feel your little lips all over my feet. And I know you want the same thing too. Oh, don't look so surprised Gracey. I'm drunk but I'm not blind. Anyone at all could tell how much you love being my cute little foot toy, so you can stop pretending you don't. Go on, Gracey. You know you want to.”

One last seductive scrunch of her feet was all the encouragement Grace needed to finally give in. She pounced on Sara's sole and hugged herself to it, never minding the sweat, the grime, nor the smell—in fact, loving it even more because of those things. She spread out her arms and happily rubbed them all over the steamy sole, and she stuck out her tongue and lapped away at the towering foot, reveling in the salty taste of Sara.

“Is that all, Gracey? Come on, I know you can do better than that. Make me feel like a Goddess Give yourself up to me and my feet. Then I can make you the happiest woman in the world.”

Grace dropped all her shame and all her reservations, surrendering herself to the absolute Goddess that was Sara. “Please, Ms. Valestein!” she shouted as she rendered all her worship onto that divine sole. “Let me be yours! I want to stay like this forever! I want to never grow back!”

“Whatever you want, my little ladybug. You were never all that good at fighting anyway. But worshipping my feet? This is what you were born to do.” Sara lowered her foot onto Grace, softly holding the tiny woman down. From time to time she moved her foot, letting Grace reach a different part of it, all the while her little worshipper showered her sole with love and affection, kissing and licking everything she was faced with no matter how dirty or sweaty, until Sara finished up by pinching little Gracey between her toes and rolling her up and down between them as though she were nothing but a piece of lint.

Finally, Sara plucked her little worshipper from her foot and brought her up to her mouth, where she planted on Gracey the biggest kiss anyone had ever experienced, completely smothering that tiny woman in the velvety softness of her lips. Grace was still dizzy from the kiss when she was dropped into a soft and warm crevice she soon discovered was Sara's cleavage. “You were a very good girl today Gracey,” Sara cooed. “Enjoy your reward and get some rest, because you'll be spending all day tomorrow tending to your Goddess's feet. Good night, my little ladybug.”

Sara's eyes, long since heavy with alcohol and exhaustion, fell shut and she soon fell asleep. Grace tried to settle down too, but she was so thrilled at her new life, and at being here in Sara's beautiful breasts, that she couldn't quite fall asleep. Still, in time the sound of Grace's heartbeat soothed her and the heady fumes in Sara's breath quieted her mind, and before too long she fell soundly asleep, held snugly in the bosom of her Goddess.

The Commander looked around in awe and horror as the whole world grew bigger and bigger around him, expanding in size until it almost seemed he was lost in an alien land, surrounded by items and furniture fit to be used by a titan. Even the tiny grains of sand on the floor were to him like rocks the size of his fist. He was lost here, stranded, completely at the mercy of the elements. And all because of a little curiosity.

After hearing that Carcano M91/38 had returned form her latest mission, the Commander had gone to her room to welcome her back. But, finding that she wasn't there at the moment, and having nothing else to do just then, he decided to wait for her there. That's when he had found that curious little remote sitting on her chest of drawers. There had been three buttons on it, labeled “G”, “S”, and “Reset”. He had picked it up and looked it over to see if he could figure out what its purpose was or what those letters meant, but he still hadn't come up with anything when he set it back down. That's when he had accidentally pressed one of the buttons. A beam had shot out from the device and hit him, and then, well, this had happened.

The Commander was at a loss. He had never thought the controller might be a size ray of all things. How in the world had Carcano gotten ahold of one of those? And, more importantly, what was he supposed to do now? He might be able to grow himself back if he could only get to that size ray again, but it was thousands of feet above him. Even if he somehow got to it, who knew if he would be able to press any of the buttons at this size. Someone else would have to grow him back, then; Carcano, or whoever he might find first. And, with his communicator not working, that meant he would have to get their attention directly.

For now, the Commander decided to hide under the bed and bide his time until someone arrived. Thankfully that wouldn't take too long. It was less than twenty minutes before Carcano finally arrived in her room. The Commander saw her enter from under the corner of her bed, and stared in awe at her size. Taller than any skyscraper ever built, she must have been a mile tall or so. And even if she wasn't the biggest thing in this room, to see her moving made her so much more impressive than all the inanimate objects here. Even seeing her step into the room was enough to overwhelm the Commander's mind, leaving him struggling to comprehend the sheer difference in size and power that separated him from her. When her foot came down and he felt the earth quake at the impact, he started trembling from head to toe as he started to understand just how pitifully insignificant he was next to her.

And to think that this wasn't even her at her biggest. Currently Carcano was occupying a secondary body, a smaller one built specifically for missions which called for a bit more stealth than usual. She was head and shoulders smaller than her usual self, yet even so her steps and even the slightest shuffling of her feet put to shame the power and impact of any artillery cannon the Commander had ever experienced on the field. All things considered, he was glad that it was this version of Carcano who had appeared to him—if she had been in her usual body, or worse, if he had to deal with one of the larger T-Dolls at this size, his task would have been all the more daunting. But he couldn't let himself be overwhelmed like this. He had to keep his wits about.

The commander watched and waited as Carcano approached, seeing her form grow ever bigger in his view, feeling the earth shaking ever harder at her steps, hearing the thundering booms that accompanied them growing louder and louder. Slowly he stepped back. It would be all too easy for her to crush him at this size. All it would take was one errant step and he would be nothing more than a tiny stain on the bottom of her shoes. Carcano would never even know what she did, nor would anyone ever find out what happened to him.

By the time he saw her feet stop a few inches away from him, just beyond the shadow cast by her bed, his heart was thumping frightfully in his chest. It felt as though he might have a heart attack any moment now. Just looking at those monsters had him nervous, and he didn't start feeling better until she had climbed on her bed and her feet had disappeared from view. Then he slumped over, supporting himself on the leg of the bed frame as he panted and trembled uncontrollably.

“S-Stop it! Get ahold of yourself!” he said, slapping his own face. “You have a mission to do. Don't let your feelings get in the way.” Little by little he calmed down, steeling himself with resolve. He still wasn't sure how exactly he would enlist Carcano's aid, but he would find a way no matter what it took. He had to do it, not just for himself but for all of his subordinates.

Right now, it seemed like Carcano was lying on her bed. She would probably want a nap having just returned from her mission. If so, this was the perfect opportunity for the Commander to get close so he could make himself seen or heard whenever she woke up.

Moving out from under the bed, he made his way to the low-hanging bed sheet that luckily happened to be scraping the floor. From there it was easy enough for him to climb up the fabric, using the threads like the rungs of a ladder, until he had reached the top.

There she lay now, stretched out on the bed, her body a miniature mountain range. Sure enough, she was sleeping, or at least resting with her eyes closed. Even like this, the sight of her left him feeling tense, but he pushed through it to begin the trek towards her face, marching across the uneven ground and climbing up and down the folds of her bed sheets, all the while he kept eyeing her warily.

He stopped when he heard her take a deep breath, ready to bolt at a moment's notice. Then when he saw her rolling over he did try to run away, but he had no chance of escape. Her leg fell on him, and in a split second he was flattened to the bed under her thigh, incapable of moving, hardly capable of breathing. The pressure was so intense he thought he might pop at any moment. It was only thanks to the softness of the bed, and of her synthetic flesh, that he survived.

For a while he tried to escape his prison, clawing at the threads of her black stockings in a futile attempt to pull himself along. But in time he was forced to accept that there was nothing he could do except bide his time. At the very least it seemed he was safe enough for now, tucked here under Carcano's warm thigh, even if he was going numb from the pressure.

It was such a relief when Carcano finally rolled over again, and once more he could breathe easily as the crushing pressure of her thigh was lifted off of him. Slowly the feeling came back to his limbs, until he could try to sit up. That was when he noticed that his leg was snagged on something; snagged on the black threads that he lay on. And he realized that he wasn't down on the bed at all, but up on Carcano's thigh, having been pulled along by his leg when she rolled over. Once he got his leg free, he stood and decided to keep walking over Carcano's body.

He trekked along her thigh and over her skirt until he reached her bodice, the whole time feeling nervous about what might happen if she woke up and mistook him for a bug crawling over her body. A swift slap from her hand would be more than enough to deal with him, and when he saw her hand rise up over him, he thought that's exactly what was coming. He was practically in its shadow when it began its descent, falling far too quickly for him to flee. He threw himself flat on Carcano's belly, hoping he might survive it that way, but when the hand finally landed, it fell just short of him, less than one inch ahead. Idly it scratched her belly a couple times, then her hand lay still, cupped over her stomach.

Fingers the length of twenty-story buildings stretched up from the surface of her belly, propping up a hand that could flatten a neighborhood. The commander trembled just looking at the sight. He wanted nothing more than to get away from it. But he held fast to his purpose and walked straight ahead, under the vast looming ceiling of Carcano's palm. Thankfully it would stay still while he was moving through its shadow, and he walked out the other side without any more incidents.

Now her face loomed oh so close. All he had to do was make it over her chest and he would be at his destination. With any luck she would be able to hear him from there, and if not, hopefully he'd be close enough for her to see him and not think him a bug.

But he had only made it halfway across her chest when Carcano began to stir again. He stumbled and fell at the first bit of movement, and gripped the black threads of her dress as though his life depended on it. Then the land itself tilted upwards as the T-Doll pushed herself up, yawning lazily when she sat up in bed. Now the commander was left clinging to her chest as she stood and climbed out of bed to stand and yawn and stretch. There he remained, utterly frozen, while she headed out for a bit to eat. Every step that she took threatened to send him flying off her dress. It was all he could do just to hold on, all but burying his face in the fabric so he wouldn't have to how fast they were moving or how huge all the other Dolls they passed in the hallway were. By the tine Carcano sat down with her food tray in hand, he was sore all over from the strain of hanging on. He badly needed a break before he could keep climbing up.

While he waited for his strength to return, Carcano took the first bite of her meal—a hamburger and fries. Her smaller hands gripped the burger awkwardly as she brought it up to her mouth, and her little mouth couldn't quite encompass the full girth of it. She bit into it, but dozens of crumbs fell from her mouth and sprinkled down on her dress, like a rain of boulders falling around the Commander. Frowning at the mess she made, Carcano brushed them all off.

Those powerful fingers scraped over the surface of her dress, wiping away all those crumbs that had gathered on it, and in doing so fell on that meager insect who went unnoticed among them. The Commander stood no chance against her mighty digits. He was ripped from her dress and sent flying down, until he landed on something big and blessedly soft. Still, the landing left him winded, and it was only when he felt a sudden movement that he sat up with a start. Then he saw that he was on top of Carcano's hamburger, and being lifted up to her face.

The Commander tried to run away, but stumbled and started crawling instead, frantically looking back over his shoulder to see Carcano's big, gaping mouth drawing closer and closer. Any moment now those teeth would close around him and he would be brought into that horrid cavern to be chewed up and eaten alive.

So it seemed to him, yet at the last moment those big, glistening teeth of hers stopped just short of where he was. Only, he wasn't safe yet. Instead of her teeth it was her lip which fell on him. He was pinned under it, stuck to its moistened surface, and when it slid off the burger he was dragged along to be smothered between it and the other while behind him he could hear the awful sounds of her chewing.

Carcano swallowed, and then a small burp sent the tiny Commander flying off her lips, to fall all the way back down onto her lap. Despite the loss of his progress, it was a relief just to be away from Carcano's mouth for now, or so he thought until she brushed him off together with some other crumbs that had landed on her lap. Then he hurdled through the air, and this time landed on her foot, just above the toe box of her white Mary Janes. A note of despondency played on his mind as he looked up at the vast pillar of her leg stretching high above him, knowing that he would have to traverse the landscape of her body once again for his next chance at getting help from her. Should he wait down here until she was lying down again, or start the climb right away?

The Commander's choice would be made for him when Carcano started tapping her foot. Though he tried to hold on, the earth-shaking impacts proved too much for his meager little muscles to handle, and as soon as he let go he fell down to the tip of her shoe. There he was bounced all around with every tap of her foot, until she stopped with him under her sole.

The pressure wasn't as much as when he had been trapped under her leg, but then, she wasn't even standing up yet. When she did, the Commander knew he would be crushed like a bug. He had to get out of here before that happened, so, clawing at the threads of her stocking, he pulled himself steadily forwards. To where? He didn't know, but anywhere at all would take him out of this place.

In time he felt the weight of her foot easing up, until he no longer felt her flesh pressing down on him. Here he could see some light, too, and despite how faint it was, after a few seconds he was able to make out his surroundings and see that he was under the arch of Carcano's toes, a tunnel so spacious you could drive a truck through it.

Those looming digits were an unsettling sight in this darkness, yet the Commander knew that he would be relatively safe under them. And since moving on was too risky as he didn't know when Carcano would start moving again, he decided to wait here, grabbing ahold of the fine fabric that hung over his head, and inserted all of his limbs between its threads to prepare for when she started moving.

When, a minute later, she finished eating and stood up, the Commander's preparations proved more than enough. Though the sheer speed at which her foot moved when she took a step left him feeling dizzy and slackened his grip on her stocking, still he remained in place while she walked. That didn't make the experience any less terrifying, but at least he knew he was safe. Though that might all end if Carcano as much as readjusted her stockings. But best not to think about that, especially since there was nothing he could do about it.

Again and again her foot thundered against the ground with the might of so many artillery shells. Sometimes there was a pause while Carcano stopped to talk with another Doll, usually one who was fawning over her adorable smaller model, but it was never long enough that the Commander could start to feel at ease again.

It felt like he spent all day in her shoe, though it was probably no more than an hour before Carcano got back to her room and took off her shoes. The Commander couldn't help but sigh in relief as he was finally released from that stuffy prison. But, before he could free his limbs from her stocking, Carcano pulled it off and turned it inside-out as she did so. Then she neatly folded it and tucked it into her shoe.

When the Commander made it out of there after almost half an hour of trawling through the labyrinth of stuffy fabric, he found Carcano seated on the floor, calmly cleaning her rifle with her legs stretched out. Another chance to get close to her, he thought, and climbed down from her shoe to head towards her.

This time, he decided, he would drop the slow and careful approach. Better to get her attention now and hope that she recognized him than to spend another hour climbing up her body only to have all his progress erased or to be crushed anyways. As for how he would do that, the answer was lying right ahead. Carcano's feet were the part of her closest to him, and if he could somehow make himself felt down there she might look over and see him.

The Commander walked onwards until he was standing between Carcano's heels. For a minute he tried shouting and waving at her, jut in case she might notice it. When that failed, he started approaching the towering foot on his left. It was so huge, just being close to it put a sinking feeling in his stomach.

Once he reached the massive pale tower, the Commander gingerly moved to touch it. His hand was trembling as it approached the surface of her skin. At this distance, any false move, any reflexive twitch of her foot when he touched it, would be more than enough to crush him instantly. He was so nervous that the moment his fingers grazed her skin he jerked back as though he'd burned his hand.

When he saw that her foot hadn't moved at all, he started moving back, and he tried touching her again, this time more firmly. Her pressed his hand into her warm flesh, rubbing it up and down, and when that didn't work, he tried punching out of desperation. Nothing happened, though.

Well of course nothing was going to happen, not when he was doing this at her heel. He needed to reach a more sensitive part of her skin. He looked up, took a deep breath, and started climbing towards her ankle.

The climb was easy enough. Turns out that when you're small enough you can use even the tiniest imperfections in the skin as convenient footholds. But by the same token, he was small enough that even climbing up her foot she still didn't feel him. He wondered, would this idea of his find any success?

After a moment he arrived at Carcano's ankle. Standing on it, he tried once more to get her attention, this time pressing both his hands into her skin and rubbing it for all he was worth. When that still didn't work, he tried banging on it with both his fists as hard as he could, until he was panting and sweating and his hands were sore. Still nothing.

It was discouraging, to say the least, but the Commander still had one more idea in mind. He would climb up to Carcano's toes and try to get her attention there, at what he believed was the most sensitive part of her foot.

He set out, and a few minutes later he was standing int he gap between her two smallest toes, where she figured she would be safest if anything went wrong. There he tried again to make himself felt, rubbing, scratching, and hitting her skin for all he was worth, until a little twitch of her toe made him lose his balance. He fell and nearly rolled back down the way he'd come, only barely managing to stop himself right on the edge of the sheer cliff that was Carcano's foot.

Despite the scare, the Commander was feeling more hopeful than he had been since he first shrunk. If that twitch had been a reaction to him, it meant that his plan still had a chance to succeed. He got up and went back to Carcano's toe, where he started wailing on it without mercy. He held nothing back, and whenever another twitch of her toes knocked him over again, he simply picked himself up and kept on hitting her toe.

Eventually, Carcano had enough of that pesky itching feeling going down on her foot, and she squeezed her toes firmly together, trapping that little bug of a Commander in prison of her flesh. Small as he was, she didn't even notice him down there as she wiggled her toes against each other, rolling him between them as though he were nothing but a minuscule piece of lint. The Commander tried to resist it, but there was nothing he could do against the might of those meager toes. He was utterly at their mercy, a hapless victim to this cute little T-Doll who looked young enough to be his daughter. And she wasn't even trying to manhandle him. He was so pathetically tiny that even a casual curl of her toes was more than he could ever hope to handle.

Finally having dealt with that annoying itch, Carcano uncurled her toes and nodded in satisfaction, while down on her foot the Commander groaned and grunted as he tried to away from her skin. But he couldn't. So small was he, so weak, so pathetic, that try as he might he couldn't overcome the forces holding him in place. He wasn't even imprisoned by her toes anymore; it was that tiny layer of toe jam that held him like glue. And when it finally seemed that he was starting to make progress, having managed to peel one of his hands away from her skin, a simple curl of her toes put it back in place.

He was still stuck to that toe when Carcano finished cleaning her rifle and went to put it away. Even the mighty impacts of her footfalls weren't enough to free the Commander, who could only keep fighting her skin, even as he grew ever more exhausted from all his efforts.

Then Carcano sat down and, looking out from between her toes, the Commander saw her shoes some inches away. He saw her pull out her stocking, saw her hold it open, and as her foot went up, he found himself being carried along into it, rushing past a thousand feet of fabric while her toes wiggled around him to make way for themselves, until finally her foot settled into the end of the stocking.

With one last wiggle of her toes, little Carcano put down her foot, then put on her other stocking and both her shoes before heading out to see if she could see the Commander today, never suspecting that the very man she was looking for now hung fearfully between her toes.

Frightened, exhausted, and with no hope of escape right now, the Commander gave up his struggles and let himself hang on her skin, hoping that the forces keeping him in place would hold until Carcano took her shoes off again, else he might end up crushed under her foot after all.

When Isaac woke up, he was completely alone. The house was empty, his family gone. Not a car in town was moving. Not a soul walked the streets. No birds were chirping, no dogs barking, no insects buzzing. Only the occasional rustling of leaves in the wind cut the silence blanketing all.

The sky was pitch black, not a star nor cloud in sight, yet for all that he could still see as clearly as though it were the middle of the day. Was this a dream? It felt so unnatural, and yet, so vividly real. And there was another feeling, too—a sense that he was being watched. He walked the streets alone, looking for his unseen stalker, until something pulled his gaze to the sky. Still nothing but black stretching out to the horizon.

But then, it blinked.

For the briefest instant, the blackness of the sky was replaced with a pale wall from which stretched out monstrous black filaments. These swept by the planet, down and up on either side, with such power that the Earth itself shuddered as though it knew how close it had come to annihilation. Then came that laughter. A high, girlish giggling which reverberated over the whole world like a ceaseless peal of thunder, rattling every object in the city. A dreadful sound. A familiar sound.

“Marcy?” he uttered. It was the barest whisper, yet as soon as he spoke it, the black sky retreated, shrinking to become the pupil of a human face which now filled the sky. Fair skinned and dark haired, with deep blue eyes fixed right on him, and thin, rosy lips spread in a grin.

“Hello, Isaac.” The voice came not to his ears but to his mind, her playful words filling his skull from within.

“Marcy, what is the meaning of this? What happened to you? What happened to everyone?”

“Nothing happened to me, my sweet. This has always been the real me. I took on that lowly form you knew so that I could be with you in your world. As for everyone else, I simply made them... disappear for now. I'm trying to help you see that you don't need anyone else in this whole entire world but me. I didn't think I would need to take such drastic measures—I thought I was doing a good enough job showering you with my love each and every day like a mortal woman would—but you, my lovely little Isaac, are so adorably bullheaded. Seems the only way you'll really learn to appreciate me is to spend eternity alone with me.”

Isaac's mouth ran dry. Eternity? With her? He licked his lips. I don't get it. What do you mean the real you? Are you a... Goddess? And what do you mean disappear?”

“Goddess? Heheh! Oh, you humans and your silly ideas. I'm no more a goddess than you are the god of those computer games you play. Just a girl having fun. And what does 'disappear' mean? Vanished. Gone. Deleted from the game files. No more. It's a shame—I really liked some of them—but I had to do it. They were distracting you from me, you see. This way you can think only of me, for ever. And if I have to erase the rest of the universe for a century or two before you learn to do that, well, that's a price I'm willing to pay. Don't worry, I made sure they wouldn't suffer. They're not suffering now either. They're not anything now. So forget about all those little people and think only of me. It may take you some time, but you'll see that this was for the best. You'll be happier with me than you ever could have been with them.”

As she finished speaking to him, Isaac's mind was flooded with emotion so intense it made him keel over. It was love—pure, obsessive love, focused on him and him alone. It felt like a pressure all over his body, an energy that tried to resonate within his heart, to awaken in him the same feeling of love that she had for him. Then, as suddenly as it had arrived, it ended, and he was left trembling as he stood, looking up at those cosmic eyes which looked at him so expectantly.

Had this happened to anyone else, there was no way he could have believed them. It seemed so ridiculous, such obvious fabrication. A dream, a hallucination, an absurdly tall tale. But here and now, there was nothing ridiculous about all this; nothing but sheer terror. He was shaken to his very core. And while he would have liked to believe that this was nothing but a horrible nightmare, some intuition he could not deny told him this was all real. If anything, it was his old life which seemed like a dream to him now. A dream he wished he could go back to.

“If... you made them disappear... can you bring them all back?”

“I could. What of it?”

Isaac's mind raced. He knew there was nothing he could do to make Marcy stop obsessing over him. The feeling that had come over him had been like the bright light of a hundred suns, something he could never hope to challenge. But maybe he could convince her that she didn't need to take things this far. “Please, bring them back. I beg you. They didn't do anything wrong. If you do, I promise that I'll be with you forever. I won't ignore you and I won't let them distract me like you said. We'll be together, just how you want it.”

“Do you swear it?”

“I... I do.”

“Oh, Isaac. Even with your promise I can't believe you. Your will is weak and fickle. You can say you'll choose to be with me, but next thing you know, you'll be looking for some way out, begging me to send you home with your friends and family.”

“Please. Isn't there some way I can prove to you that I mean it?”

“You really want to prove it? Well... Ah! I know! For one day, we'll be together. I'll do whatever I please with you, and you'll do whatever I ask of you. If you can bear it all without asking me to stop, then I know you can be trusted to keep your promise to me. But if you ever go back on it, I'll have to erase the rest of the universe until you learn to love me and only me, however long it takes. Only when you forget all about them will I bring everyone back.”

Isaac grimaced. “I... accept.”

“Good! Then we can start right away. First, I want to show you something.” Isaac tried to steel himself for whatever it was Marcy meant him to see, but there was no way he could have prepared for what was coming. His own sight disappeared, and in its place another was beamed into his mind. “You're seeing what I'm seeing, or what I would be seeing if my eyes worked just like a human's. Now, see this blue dot?” He didn't at first, not until Marcy held up her finger and he saw, floating before it, a diminutive little speck, so small it could hardly be said to have color. He already guessed what it was, but all the same her next words hit like a pack of grapeshot to his stomach.

“This is the planet Earth.”

Isaac felt like fainting. He fell to his knees, heaving like he was about to vomit. Then, when he saw her finger start rocking back and forth, he tensed up from head to toe. On Marcy's scale, the planet was no more than a fraction of an inch from her fingertip. It would take but one little curl for the world to be obliterated—just one, careless twitch.

“Are you scared, dear? Don't be. I'm not going to smash your planet. And besides, even if I did, I would never let that kill you. It's my will that you live with me forever. Nothing will ever take you from me. Now hang on, because we're not done yet. Like I said, that's what I would see if my eyes were like yours. But I can see better than that. Let's take a closer look, shall we?”

It wasn't that the Earth came any closer, or that the view zoomed in any. He could still see everything he had seen before, but now the detail on everything had been enhanced. He could make each and every individual skin cell on Marcy's finger all at once, along with countless new stars in the sky that had been too small and distant to be seen previously, and of course, the Earth itself. He could see its surface as though it were a satellite image, with his own home continent lying dead center on it. With such clarity he could now see, the planet wasn't even half as big as one of her skin cells. He grew dizzy, and his limbs shaky. He felt as though his whole body were curdling up from the inside.

“And this isn't anywhere near the limit of my sight, you know.” No, please. “Let's look...” Stop. Stop. “... a little closer.” Marcy... “ This...” Oh God. “... is you.”

The whole of the Earth's surface was now laid bare before Isaac in such detail and clarity as he could never have grasped without Marcy's help. Every tree, every blade of grass, every stone on every beach in the world. And there, dead center, was he, small beyond small—a germ to a germ lost on fingertip fit to house a solar system.

Isaac fainted, and later awoke, still in the middle of the street. He opened his eyes, and was glad to find that he saw only through them.

“Are you okay, Isaac?” Marcy's voice pulled his attention upwards, to her face in the sky above. She looked concerned. “I'm sorry if that was too much for you. But I need you to know where things really stand so you're not just banking on your human ignorance to get you through this. And, I also wanted you to understand just how much I love you. You saw it, right? If I were a human, you'd be even less than a microbe to me. An atom, even. Just think: of all the countless atoms that have existed in this infinite universe since the beginning of time, the only one I've ever loved, the one I love more than anything else in the world, is you. You're special to me, Isaac. And I won't let anything keep you from me.”

There was no threat in what she said. No forcefulness at all. It was a perfectly innocent statement of fact. And yet, it chilled him to the core. It shocked him that he could have believed she was a human for so many years; there wasn't a shred of human feeling in her whole being. An elder god in human clothing, using human words to speak of feelings utterly alien to humanity.

This frantic reflection was cut short as he saw Marcy's fingertip appear in the sky. “Here, climb on,” she said as her finger began its descent, filling up more and more of the sky as it approached until that peachy surface reached as far as the eye could see. As it entered the atmosphere, the air above was displaced downwards, bearing down on him and the rest of the Earth's surface with such incredible pressure that it flattened him to the ground. He shut his eyes, yet even so he could ear around him cracking and crashing noises as one by one every building in town was flattened under the pressure. Steel and concrete were no match for it, but he himself was fine—Marcy's love protected him.

Finally the pressure eased up and all fell silent. When he ventured to open his eyes, Isaac saw that peachy ceiling no more than five feet above him, still as a stone. Everywhere else there was only pile after pile of rubble and fallen trees.

He was numb, physically and mentally, when he finally stood again, reaching up to Marcy's fingertip to climb on it. As soon as his hands touched it, he felt the pull of gravity shift, and he fell upwards onto that new world. A second later, he saw the Earth retreating from sight, vanishing into that minuscule blue dot so quickly that he lost track of it among all the stars of the sky. Torn from his home, perhaps forever. Then, he was turned around to face Marcy.

“Isaac. My dear Isaac. I finally have you in my hands.” Her other hand cupped around her fingertip, vast worlds of flesh appearing at his left and right, in front and behind him. With her face above and her finger below, there wasn't a single spot he could turn to and see anything other than her.

So overwhelmed was he that the lack of any air here away from Earth seemed a totally secondary concern, at least until he noticed his lungs aching for it and clutched at his throat. By all accounts he should have been dead already, and only thanks to Marcy's will was he alive, though very weak.

“Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot about you needing air. Don't panic, I'll give you some right away.” By then he had collapsed on his back, and as he lay there he saw her mouth coming closer—a gaping maw big enough to eat entire star systems, a devourer of worlds, a supermassive black hole. He saw her tongue moving like some ungodly beast, glistening with oceans of spit and a helping of stardust, and feared that this would be his end. Nancy wanted to be with him forever; now she would eat him and he would become a part of her.

Instead, warm and humid wind came rushing out and over Isaac. It rushed into his lungs even before he made the effort to breathe it in, and suffused the fingertip with a new atmosphere. “Do you like my breath? I made it the perfect mix of gasses for a human like you. The perfect density. The perfect atmospheric pressure. The perfect temperature and humidity. Breathe it in. Don't you feel better than ever? This is just one of the many gifts I have in store for you, my love.

“Ah, my love! Finally I can call you that every moment of every day! My love! My love! My love! Do you feel it, Isaac? The same lovely tingling as me?” In fact he could. It was that same wave of intense emotion as before, and it grew and grew with every new “My love” she uttered, until it had him back on the ground. “Now its your turn! Call me your love!”

“Y-yes, my love.” The moment he spoke those words, a cosmic squeal rang out over everything, spacetime itself shaking to transmit the sound to every corner of creation, and her emotions washed over him with such potency that for a moment he was overwhelmed and felt as though they were his own. He felt for Marcy the same unbridled love that she felt for him, and wished only to be with her forever. Had not some small part of him remained steadfast against it, he might have succumbed to it forever, his whole being washed away and replaced with the longing for Marcy. And to think he might be dealing with this for the rest of his life. How much more of it could he weather before he was broken by the tides of her love and remade in her image?

“Now, my love... This may be a bit sudden, but I want us to have our first kiss. Please, pucker up for me, will you?” Her cheeks turned rosy pink as she spoke the words, blush utterly incongruous with the power she had shown. She closed her eyes and puckered her lips and started pulling Isaac closer. Seeing that vast wall of pink approaching, Isaac too shut his eyes, but only at the last moment remembered to pucker up for it.

The finger pushing at his back sank him thousands upon thousands of miles into that surprisingly soft lip. He felt no pain, but the pressure was unbelievable, and the softness too. How something so immense and powerful could still feel so soft was beyond his ken.

The kiss went on and on, far longer than he had expected. A minute passed. Two minutes. He started running out of air again, all while he felt as much as heard Marcy's “soft” moans rippling in the fabric of space all around him. Then her finger retreated from his back and he was left lying on her lip. Only now did he unpucker his lips and lift his head up for a gasp of air, panting for that sweet atmosphere. But he was wrong if he thought that was the end of it.

Now Marcy's lips pressed together, with Isaac between them. Floor and ceiling alike both soft and smooth as velvet, yet stronger than a hydraulic press, slid back and forth against each other and slid him between them as well, hundreds of thousands of miles per second. In vain did he struggle against them, a germ caught between two planet crushers, until a minute later he settled down and submitted to his fate. Better to save his energy for when he could use it. He still had a whole day with Marcy ahead of him, after all, and who knew what else the love-struck being had in store for him. If he failed this challenge of hers, his friends, his family, everyone on Earth—who knew when they'd see the light of day again. He had to hold it together, for them if not himself. After all, his was already a lost cause.

This was not how things were supposed to go.

Joe had suspected for a while now that his wife Love would try to poison him. He had seen what she was growing in their own backyard.

Aconite. Wolfsbane.

It was obvious she was planning something, and today she had made her move. Aconite, applied to the handle of their carving knife, had been entering his body through his skin ever since he grabbed it a few minutes ago. Soon it started having its effect. He fell off his chair, and lay on the floor. But even then things weren't entirely out of control. He had suspected that something like this might happen, and prepared accordingly. Even as he lay there, the adrenaline pill he had taken earlier was helping counteract the effects of the wolfsbane. He was weaker than he would have been, but he believed he could still move if he really tried to. Soon he'd be able to move freely again. Then he could inject her with his own aconite. He felt the syringe hidden at the end of his sleeve, and waited. She wouldn't kill him yet, he knew. At least for now, he was safe.

So he had thought at the moment. But he never suspected that the wolfsbane wouldn't be the end of it.

Love kept talking to him. About how much she loved him. How she forgave him for trying to leave her. How she would never let anything get between them ever again. “We'll be together forever,” she said. It sounded like she was going insane. She had always been a little screwed up, like Joe himself. Still, he didn't see how she could figure that things would ever turn out fine between them after what had happened tonight. Did she really think he would ever want to stay with her now? Or did she mean to keep him trapped somehow? But that wasn't possible. Someone would notice he was missing. She couldn't keep him hidden for long. Why, then, was she acting like they would be together still?

Then he noticed it. Noticed his skin sliding against the fabric of his clothes. Noticed them growing bigger with each passing second. He was shrinking, he realized.

How? There were only a handful of shrinking drugs in the world, and they were all incredibly expensive and strictly regulated. How in the world had she gotten ahold of something like this?

With some effort he turned his eyes upwards. He saw her, smiling at him. “Soon, Joe. You'll be all mine. My precious doll. You'll never leave my side again. Maybe then you'll finally learn to love me.”

This was bad. He was getting smaller with each passing second. Soon he might be too small to do anything against her. He knew he had to make a move now, before it was too late, but the smaller he got, the greater the hold that the aconite had on him. Now he was well and truly paralyzed, not merely pretending. However much he tried, he could hardly move a muscle

Smaller and smaller he got, bit by bit. Soon he was so small that he had completely disappeared into his own clothes. As his hands retreated into his sleeve, he made a great effort to hold the syringe full of aconite between a pair of fingers. He wanted to keep it with him, in case the right opportunity presented itself, but soon he was too small for his fingers to keep ahold of it.

How much shrinking drug had she applied to the knife handle? Even when the syringe was as thick as his arm he still kept shrinking. By the time he finished it was as thick around as his own body. His own clothes weighed down on him. And above he could hear Love standing up and walking towards him. Hell, he could feel it. The floor shook with her foot steps. Now she was standing over him. Next thing he knew, his shirt was lifted way up, and he was sent rolling out the bottom opening, along with the syringe he had prepared. He landed limply on the floor, right on his own pants, while the syringe clattered on the floor, rolled a few inches, and finally stopped right up against Love's foot.

Joe's heart beat like mad as she bent over and grabbed it. He strained his eyes as far as possible, trying to get a glimpse of her face, but it was too high up for him to see. Then she dropped the syringe back down without comment and picked him up instead.

Her fingers fell around his body like a pack of anacondas. Slowly the thumb nudged him onto the others, which wrapped around him leaving only his head and his feet free of her grasp. Then he was carried up to her face. Her lips were expressionless, but her eyes told a different story. She looked at him so... possessively, almost triumphantly.

“That's aconite in the syringe, isn't it?” she asked, gripping and squeezing his head between her thumb and forefinger. “You thought you could turn the tables on me. Maybe you would have, if I hadn't put some of the shrinking drug on the handle.” She sounded totally unconcerned with the fact that he'd been meaning to poison her. But then, that's how she had reacted when he grabbed the knife to defend himself from her in the first place. She probably thought there was no need to get too upset at him now that she'd won.

Love uncurled her fingers from around him, letting him lie in the palm of her hand, and ran a single fingertip up and down his tiny body. “Your plan might have worked, but you forgot one thing. I love you , Joe. Like no one else ever could. And that means I know you better than anyone. How else could I be so sure that you'd grab that knife? That's the proof of my love for you, Joe. A love you never understood. But that's okay. Because even now, I still love you. And now that you're all mine—my precious little doll—you and I are going to be together, forever.”

She pulled him closer. Opened her mouth. Joe could see its insides, all slick with spit, glistening softly with the dining room's lighting. Her teeth were the size of his head. Bigger, even. Her molars could crush his hole torso in a single bite. Her tongue lapped hungrily at her lips. Was she really going to eat him? “Together forever”... he never thought she might mean it like this.

Slowly her mouth approached. With none of her fingers holding him in place, he struggled with all his might to get away before he was eaten, but the wolfsbane still had too much of a hold on his body. He could barely turn to the side; if he could have gone a little further he might have been able to roll off her hand and land on the floor, for whatever good that might have done him. Buy him a little more time, at least.

Now he was close enough that he could feel her breath all over his body. That warm, humid air blowing out of her mouth washed over him, smelling of their dinner. Her mouth opened wider, and her tongue reached out. But, before it could touch him, she closed her mouth and instead planted a kiss on his face, her lips squeezing him tight until she pulled away.

Without another word, Love carried him to her room, where she lobbed him unceremoniously onto her bed. There he landed and rolled over until he stopped facing the foot of the bed. Love stopped there, eyeing him curiously, and smiled in satisfaction. “You're so adorable at that size, Joe. I should have shrunk you ages ago. But I guess we all make mistakes. You made one too when you thought about leaving me for that woman. Marienne. But with this shrinking drug I've fixed both of our mistakes. We'll start another life, somewhere far away. Just you and me and Henry. No one will ever get between us again. Now, you sit tight. I need to pack some things. Then we can start looking for our new home, and our new life together.” She blew him a kiss, then went to the closet and pulled out a pair of large suitcases, which she opened on the floor and started calmly filling up with clothes and other personal items.

Meanwhile, Joe's paralysis had started to wear off. The scare from thinking she was about to eat him had really helped in that respect. He could just manage to make a fist now, and he practiced doing that over and over again until he felt like the wolfsbane was almost gone from his system. He might be able to make a move now, but first he needed a plan. All the doors were closed so far as he knew, and likely the windows too, and at this size there was no way he could open any of them. He couldn't hope to escape by himself. He needed help.

That's when his thoughts went to his phone. It must still be lying in the dining room, in his pants pocket. At four inches tall, he believed he was just barely big enough that he could still operate it. He could call someone, get them to come over. A risky move, but then, there were nothing but risky moves for him right now. Love was currently distracted with packing, and probably would be for a while longer. From what he could see from where he lay, he was sure that she was still working on the first suitcase, fussily making sure that everything was put away in perfect order. She could still look over and see him at any moment, but even so it was the best opportunity he was likely to get.

Once he had decided on his plan, Joe got up on his hands and knees and finally managed to stand after struggling for a few seconds. The more he moved his body, the more his stiffness seemed to wear off, and after he stood he could start making his way towards the side of the bed. He moved quietly, tiptoeing over the bed sheets, careful not to make a sound nor to make any sudden movements that might catch her eye. Then, finally standing at the edge, he climbed down the bed sheets, landed softly on the floor, and walked right out of the room.

As soon as he was outside he started walking faster, and shortly after that he broke into a sprint, running right for the dining room. His whole body coursed with adrenaline, and his heart throbbed with fear. If Love caught him after this, it might really be the end of him this time. Either that or she might give into a little casual torture to teach him not to leave her ever again. Doubtless she'd never give him such an opportunity again.

Even running at full speed, it was still most of a minute before he reached the pile of his clothes lying in the dining room. He ran to his pocket, half crawling inside and grabbing ahold of his phone. He pulled it out with all his strength, grunting as he did so. Halfway there his fingers slipped and it clattered to the floor. He didn't stop but quickly kept pulling it out again, every so often looking to the hall to make sure Love wasn't coming yet. He turned it over, then crouched next to it and pushed the power button. The screen turned on, and he leaned over carefully to input his password. On his first couple tries his touch stopped registering halfway through, so he put his weight into it and managed to input it all the way. Then it was simply a matter of opening his contacts list.

Only, who was he supposed to call? Whoever it was, there was a risk of them finding out a lot of stuff about him, things he would rather keep hidden.

Joe would have liked to consider his options carefully. But the sound of Love's voice calling to him told him he didn't have the time. With just a moment's thought he tapped on Marienne's name, and as soon as the phone started beeping he ran away and squeezed through the cabinet doors under the sink, quietly closing them after him just as he heard Love coming.

Even from in there he could hear the phone beeping; there was no way Love didn't hear it too. It went on for a couple more rings before he heard Marienne's voice coming through. “Hello? Joe? Hello? Are you th–?” Her voice was cut off, probably from Love hanging up.

Joe looked around frantically, trying to think of his next move. It was nearly pitch black in there, and he could make out little more than the dark outlines of various cleaning supplies. Nor was there anywhere else for him to go. He was trapped in here so long as Love remained outside looking for him. With nothing else to do, he quietly slunk over to the very back of the cabinet and crouched behind one of the many bottles that occupied it, hoping that Love wouldn't find him in there. If only he'd picked some better hiding place than this! He could have hidden behind the fridge instead, and then at least he wouldn't be this cornered.

Meanwhile, outside he could hear Love's slow and measured steps on the floorboards as she was likely looking around for him. “Joe,” she said, calling to him in a sing-song voice. “Where are you, Joe? Come out. Stop hiding and I swear I'll forgive you this little mistake you made. You hear me, Joe? I know you're in here somewhere. You know you can't hide from me forever, right? I'll find you sooner or later. So quit wasting both our time and come out now, will you?” He heard her coming closer. She was somewhere ahead and to the left, around where the kitchen counter began. Then he heard a swift creak as she, presumably, pulled another cabinet open. Then there came loud clattering noises as she emptied it out looking for him inside.

She grunted. “It was dumb of you to call that woman. If she comes here, you know I'll have to take care of her, right? I can forgive you for trying to leave me. But I can't forgive her for making you want to leave. I still have enough of the shrinking drug to shrink her down until she's no bigger than a cockroach. Then it's just as easy as stepping on her, crushing her under my foot like the pest she is.” Another cabinet opened, and another loud racket as everything inside was pulled out. Love was getting closer now, but she was still near the other end. If he made a run for it now, could he escape without her seeing him, or get away while she was encumbered with all that other stuff she took out? No; not yet. Better to wait for now, maybe buy Marienne some time to help him. But he did move quietly to position himself for when Love finally reached him. At the same time, he heard his phone beeping and buzzing to inform him that some a message had arrived. Messages from Marienne, maybe?

“Come the fuck out, Joe! You're not doing yourself any favors by hiding from me. I wasn't going to hurt you, but if you don't come out soon, I'm going to have to punish you once I find you. And you know what? I'm not only going to punish you. If you don't cooperate I'll find a way to get rid of that woman before we leave even if she doesn't come over. Is that what you want me to do? Is it? Then quit playing this little game and come out!” Another couple cabinets and another couple clattering sounds as she pulled out whatever was inside them. Next she pulled out the drawers, and took them off their slides, setting them down on the floor and sifting around inside. Now there were just two cabinets left for her to look in, and this one was up next.

He heard Love march up to the door. Saw the cabinet darken even more as her shadow fell over it. Then, while he hid in the midst of all its contents, the door swung open and her hands reached inside, gathering up everything and pulling it all out together. Joe clung to the back of the bottle of cleaning spray, and as it all came clattering out, he quickly scrambled to his feet and dashed away.

“There you are!” she shouted, and looking back he saw her hand reaching out for him. Running as fast as he could, he narrowly avoided her fingers and ran into the total mess that she had mad on the floor with the contents of all the other cabinets. At his new size, he was far faster and nimbler proportionally than he normally was, and he moved almost as quick as a mouse through it all, making his way to the fridge. But something hit his back while he was running, and knocked him way off course, sending him sliding over the floor and away from the fridge. At the moment he didn't understand what it was, and only when he had scrambled to his feet ad started running again did he notice it was a roll of paper towels that had hit him. Now Love wielded also a roll of plastic bags and a bottle of dish soap as she came after him, throwing each in turn but narrowly missing both times.

With Love now between him and the fridge, Joe changed his plans and ran for the living room instead, where he dove under the couch to hide from Love. He quickly crawled on to the middle, then turned around so he could keep an eye on her.

Love approached the couch and lowered herself to the floor so she could peek in at him. Joe noticed now that she held a lengthy cleaning brush in hand, about two feet long. With it she reached inside and made a swipe at him, but it didn't quite reach. She circled around to the front of the couch, but before she could try again he had already scurried out the back. Love vaulted over the couch and chased him until he slipped under a second couch, a bit smaller than the first. This time, though, Love grabbed ahold of the couch's leg and overturned it so that it fell on its back, completely removing his cover. Joe quickly got up and ran away again, keeping close to the overturned couch as he circled around it so it would help keep his distance from Love. She chased him around it, but at her size she couldn't make turns as sharply as him.

Joe kept the whole of the couch between them, or as much of it as he could, always staying a few steps ahead of his angry wife, until, suddenly, she gave the couch a hard shove and sent it sliding right on top of him. Its cushioned surface was soft enough that he wasn't crushed, but his lower body was trapped under it. He could start to crawl his way out, just barely, but it was much too slow. Not two seconds later Love was already crouched over him.

He felt his heart sink to his stomach as he looked up and saw her self-satisfied smile. “Need a hand, honey?” she asked, looming over her tiny husband. “You look like you're having trouble there. Maybe there's something I could do to help?” She reached down and gently stroked Joe's head. Then all of a sudden she was gripping his head again. “Or maybe I should just snap your neck and get it over with.”

Joe froze up as he felt her fingers turning his head from side to side, playing with the idea of killing him on the spot. He didn't dare move a muscle, didn't dare make a sound. Anything he did right now could set her off.

It was several seconds before Love spoke again. “You know, sometimes I think that my life would have been so much better if I hadn't met you. I give you all my love. I work my ass off trying to make this work. I even killed people to protect us. But you keep trying to run away from me. Why is that, Joe? ... What's wrong? For once you have nothing to say? But maybe that's for the best. There's nothing you can say to defend yourself. But like I said, I'm willing to forgive you. Just convince me that you won't try to run from me anymore. Can you do that for me, honey?” She hooked her fingernail under his chin, forcing it all the way up so she could look him in the eyes.

“I promise,” he said, speaking through clenched teeth as his jaw couldn't move with Love's nail holding it up. “I won't ever leave you again, Love. I'm sorry I ever tried to leave. I was scared. I didn't know what you meant to do with me. But now I see. Please, you don't have to kill me anymore.”

“Hm. Sorry. I'm not convinced yet.” She pushed his chin up another notch, and Joe hissed in pain, feeling like his neck might snap any moment now. He straightened his arms against the floor, pushing himself up to try and minimize the pressure. “Please! I'll do anything for you! Anything you say! Ask and I'll obey! Just don't kill me!”

“Anything?” Love slowly pulled back her finger, finally releasing his chin and letting him fall back down. “Say you love me.”

“I love you,” he said without hesitation.

“Again. Make it sound like you really mean it.”

“I love you. More than anything in the world.”

“Again.”

“I love you. I love you, I love you, I love you. I love you. I love you.” He kept on saying it until Love finally smiled and motioned for him to stop. “That's good enough for now. But I'm not convinced yet. You still have a lot more to do before I'm sure I can trust you. For now, let's get you out of there first.” Her fingers gripped his upper body while she grabbed the end of the couch that lay over him. As soon as she had lifted it up a fraction of an inch, she pulled him right out and wrapped him up in her fingers again.

Joe didn't resist. He knew he couldn't, and anyways he still harbored some hope that Marienne would be coming over to help him eventually. He couldn't say anything to her, but she had to suspect there was something wrong when he hadn't answered her messages. For now he had to go along with whatever Love asked of him, and hope tat help showed up sooner or later.

She carried him back to their room, where she found a ball of yarn and tied the end around his waist, pulling it so tight he nearly felt like he would throw up. When she tried moving it up and down, it wouldn't budge at all. Then she cut a length of it, about three feet long, and held on to the end. What more she would have done with it, he wasn't able to find out, as just then the doorbell rang.

The both of them froze up, looking towards the door. A moment later it rang again. “Hello? Is anyone home?” It was Marienne's voice that called out. So she had come herself, Joe thought, but what good would that do him? Nothing now, unless she had brought the police along, though that came with its own set of issues.

After hearing Marienne's voice, Love jumped into action. She took the end of Joe's “leash” and tied it to the handle of one of the drawers. “Wait here,” she told him. Then she headed out and closed the door behind her.

As soon as she was gone, Joe started trying to break free of his bindings. He looked down at the length of yarn and tried to figure out how to handle the knot. But even when he knew which way he had to pull the cord, he realized it was no use. The string had been pulled too tight for him to take apart with his reduced strength. When he tried to slip out of it instead, exhaling as much as he could and pushing and pulling at his leash, he couldn't make it leave his waist. But he still wasn't about to give up. There had to be another way to get out, but how?

Joe followed the cord to its other end, up there on the drawer handle. Whether because she'd been in too much of a rush to be more thorough or because she knew she'd have to undo the knot once she came back, Love had used only a simple knot to tie the other end. Joe wasted no time in climbing up the length of yarn, finally reaching the drawer's handle and perching on top of it. Carefully he turned the string around until he had the knot in hand, then with one good yank he pulled it loose and fell over, landing with a soft thump on the floor.

He wasn't tied down anymore, but was still dragging the rest of the length of yarn. He gathered it all up, looping the whole of it around his arm over and over again until there was hardly any of it left dangling. Not a very elegant solution, but it was the best he could do on such short notice. Now he was free to make another break for it.

He sidled up to the side of the door, listening closely to whatever was going on outside. He could hear voices out there, Love's and Marienne's both, though he couldn't hear well enough to know what they were saying. At least he knew that Love still hadn't killed Marienne. Maybe she wouldn't kill her after all. Indeed, after a minute he heard a door close and heard a single set of footsteps coming back to this room, without anything to suggest that Marienne had been killed.

Then, as soon as the door swung open, Joe ran out past Love's feet and down across the hall, looking around frantically for anywhere he could escape through. But he still hadn't found anything when he heard Love running after him, so he quickly ran to the first good hiding place he could find, the overturned couch still lying on the floor. He dove into it, crawling as deep inside as he could before Love reached the living room. There he remained, squeezed tight between the cushions, listening to Love walking by outside and angrily calling to him.

For a couple minutes he could only keep hiding in there, nervously waiting for his wife to leave while she looked all over for him. It would still be another minute before went to go look for him in other parts of the house, leaving him alone again. Carefully he turned himself around and poked his head outside, looking all over to see if Love had by any chance left his phone outside. What he saw instead was an unbelievable opportunity. On the far end of the living room, the heavy curtain, drawn tight over the window, was moving in the breeze.The window was open and all he needed to do was climb the curtain and jump outside. Then he could go to one of the neighbors for help.

At once he started wriggling out of his hiding spot, but as he was finishing up he heard Love coming back. It was too late for him to get back inside; his only chance left was to make a run for it. He freed himself the exact second when Love finally returned to the living room, and he made a dash for the curtain. She was after him in the blink of an eye, bare feet thumping against the floor as she sped towards him. He scurried up the wall and grabbed onto the curtain, quickly pulling himself up towards the window, but just as he was about to jump outside, he was yanked back down by his arm. The yarn that he had wrapped around it had been unraveling as he ran, and Love had managed to snatch it up at the last moment to pull him towards her. She held the end of his leash up high, leaving him dangling at her head, spinning and wobbling around as gravity finished unwinding the cord by which he was held, until he was hanging by his waist right before her face.

Love's scowl was terrifying. “Murderous” didn't do it justice. When she wrapped her fingers around him, Joe felt she was certainly going to kill him this time. He started begging for his life, promising her anything and everything he could think of just so she might spare him for a little bit longer, until she silenced him with a squeeze so strong he felt as though his bones would surely snap. “Quiet,” she said. “Do you still think you can talk your way out of this? Do you think I'll ever rust you again after trying to run from me again? I new you were lying when you said you'd do anything I asked, but I thought you'd at least be scared enough not to try pulling another stunt like that again. I should fucking kill you for this. I should have killed that woman, too. I don't know why I didn't. She deserved it for trying to take you from me.”

Love sighed. “But no, I won't kill you. Even after all this I can't stop loving you. But I won't make the mistake of thinking you might love me too. I'll make sure you never again get the chance to even try to leave me.” As she said this, Love eased her grip on Joe and grabbed the length of yarn hanging from his waist. Then she pinched his legs together and started wrapping him up, beginning at his ankles and working her way up. “From now on you won't be able to do anything by yourself anymore. You won't even get to eat without my help. I'll make sure you depend on me for everything, and I'll make you beg for all of it.”

His wife's words scared Joe. He struggled against her grip and tried to kick his bindings away even as she kept wrapping him up in yarn, but her fingers easily held him down and she kept tying him up without a care in the world, even smiling at his sorry display.

“I know you're scared, honey, but don't worry. Sooner or later I know you'll get used to it. Maybe you'll even start loving me after all. But even if you don't, I'll make sure you never even think of leaving me again. We'll be together forever, you and I, no matter what it takes. You can forget all about that woman too. I told her all about you. Told her to run far away from here. You'll never see her again, and even if you did she wouldn't want anything to do with you.” The yarn had reached his waist now, and she held his arms down at his sides to wrap them up too. By the time it went all the way up to his elbows, Joe could hardly move them anymore. He could hardly move at all, save by wriggling in Love's grip. He was little more than a worm now as he fought against her, refusing to give up no matter how impossible his situation seemed. Finally, though, he was wrapped up all the way to his shoulders and he had to admit it was all hopeless. It was just as Love had said: he would spend the rest of his life with her as her little captive, never again to leave her side or return to his normal size.

Now, with Joe all wrapped up from his feet to his shoulders, Love tied it all up with a neat little knot that he would never break free from. Smiling she turned him over, making sure there were no flaws in his bindings, feeling him over from top to bottom, until she was completely satisfied with her handiwork. Then she tucked him into her back pocket and went back to their room to keep packing their clothes, happily humming to herself as she did so. Even now Joe insisted on trying to free himself, trying to find some way out of this yarn. If he could only free his hands then, given enough time, he might be able to undo the knots and get out of this wrap.

At least, that's what he told himself, but deep down he already knew that he was trapped. Even if he did manage to get untied, what then? He'd still be in Love's pocket, which was tight enough to be a prison in itself. And she would surely feel him if he crawl out of there, then catch him and put him in some still more secure prison.

Some time later, Love had gathered up everything she meant to take with her and stuffed it in the trunk. She had brought their son Henry along and put him in his seat. Then she pulled out her husband and looked back at their house. She had put so much of herself into that place. She had worked so hard trying to make her new life with Joe work out. Things may not have worked out how she would have liked, but in the end they didn't turn out that bad. She still had her family and that's all that mattered. And this time around, she would take charge of everything. There would be no one getting in the way of their happiness anymore. From now until the end, it would be just her and Joe and her darling son.

Love looked at the little worm in her hand. Joe wasn't moving anymore, and hadn't been for a while now. He had finally understood that it was useless, that there was nothing left for him to do but to accept his new place in life? She doubted it. But she would fix him, no matter how long it took. One day he would accept his role as her husband, and maybe then she could grow him back and they would live their lives together as a loving couple.

Then again, she didn't mind him being this size at all. If he stayed like this forever, would it really be that bad?

Love took one last look at their house, then slipped Joe into her front jeans pocket and took the wheel, starting the car and driving away into what would be their new life together.

Meanwhile, Joe, tried to plan ahead, to concoct some plan that would get him out of this mess. There had to be something, he thought. No way would this be the end of him. He would find a way to escape even if it took him years. In the meantime, he just had to play along with what she wanted without making it too obvious that's what he was doing. She couldn't keep him locked up forever. She wouldn't, not if she still loved him. And once she took him out, maybe then he would finally be able to leave her.

Never had the Commander been so scared and tired as he was now. He was a sorry sight, or he would have been had there been anyone around to see him stuck between the little Carcano M91/38's toes, experiencing firsthand the awesome power of her every step, soaked in her sweat and practically suffocating in the stuffy air inside her shoe.

Carcano looked all over for him, never suspecting that he was as close as could be, stuck between her toes like the tiniest piece of lint, more helpless than even a little ant. She was getting worried for him, too. She had asked all over and yet it seemed no one had seen the Commander since shortly after her return, nor could anyone tell her where he'd disappeared to. Eventually she thought to ask Miss Kalina about it; surely she of all people would know where the Commander was. But she would say nothing about it until Carcano had pressed her over and over again. Then she admitted that he had all but disappeared a few hours ago and that she hadn't been able to contact him since.

Kalina asked her to keep quiet about it for now—best not to alarm the whole base over what might yet be a little misunderstanding that could be resolved at any moment—and enlisted Carcano's aid in looking for him. Carcano searched everywhere she could think of, spending hours checking every part of the base that she had access to, softly calling out his name whenever it seemed she was alone. More than once he shouted at her, trying to let her know he was down there, but he doubted his voice even made it past the stuffy confines of her shoe. He tried wriggling against her skin so she might feel him, but if she ever did her only reaction was scrunching her toes together and leaving him smothered in her sweaty skin until he nearly passed out.

Eventually, her feet sore from looking for the Commander all afternoon, Carcano went back to her room and slipped off her shoes with a sigh, taking off her stockings too and propping her feet up on the bed with her to let them air out. She splayed her toes, bringing blessedly fresh air to her soles, and to the Commander too. The cool wind blowing over him was revivifying, and he slowly opened his eyes, blinking away the salty liquid that covered him from head to toe so he could look out and see Carcano's face looming in the distance.

Again he struggled to free himself from her synthetic flesh, straining with all his might against the physical forces binding his puny self to her skin, but he was nearly powerless against them. It was only when she started wiggling her toes, causing their skin to stretch and fold up by turns, slowly loosening the hold it had on the Commander, that he could free first an arm and then with its help the rest of his body. Then he rolled over and started crawling out of that death trap, down along Carcano's foot towards her ankle, waving at her as she went.

All caught up in her thoughts as she was, it took Carcano some time to notice that little thing moving over her foot. Her eyes fell on the Commander, and inwardly he rejoiced, thinking this would be the end of his torment. But instead of rescuing him, the T-Doll frowned and moved her other foot to hold her big toe over him, ready to crush him at a moment's notice.

In a panic, the Commander flung himself down her foot before her toe could fall on him, bouncing down along her flesh until he rolled right off and onto her bed. His whole world shook as she readjusted her legs, once more holding her foot right above. The Commander stared at her vast sole and froze up, his mind racing to find some way out of this but coming up with nothing. His eyes followed it closely as it started its descent, bringing him deeper and deeper under its shadow, until her sole was just about all he could see. Unable to take the sight any longer, he shut his eyes in surrender to his coming doom.

Carcano would have crushed him for sure, but at the last moment she felt a pang of pity for that tiny bug cowering under her foot, and she set it down so that the little thing ended up between her toes. At a time like this, when the Commander was missing and possibly dead, the last thing she wanted was to see any more death, not even if it was only a meaningless little bug which died.

Noting that everything had gone still though he hadn't been crushed, the Commander opened his eyes, wondering if she meant to kill him some other way. It was only when he saw the look in her eyes, that oddly empathetic expression, that he understood she was going to spare him, at least for now.

Relief flooded into him. He was right on the verge of crying tears of joy. Instead he came forward and tentatively touched Carcano's skin, waiting a moment for her reaction before climbing back up on her foot.

She clearly didn't recognize him yet, but at least she was seeing him and wasn't about to kill him. So long as she kept an eye on him, he only had to get closer so she might realize he wasn't the bug he seemed.

The Commander walked up to her ankle and from there started climbing up her leg, all the while Carcano watched his ascent closely. Yet it wasn't until he reached her knee and stood barely a foot from her face, waving and calling to her, that she realized there was something familiar about that little insect. She leaned forward, putting a finger down next to that tiny thing and letting it climb on her nail. Then when she set it down on her hand, she held it up really close to her face.

Pupils like deep black holes gazed on his tiny figure, taking the whole of him in. The Commander stood up straight so they might recognize him, feeling as much relieved as he was in awe of the terrifying power held in those grey-ringed eyes.

“Commander?” His heart leaped when Carcano uttered that word. Eagerly he nodded and waved at her, letting her know that, yes, it was him. “How did you... Wait a minute.” The Doll climbed out of bed and grabbed the little remote sitting atop her drawers. It was a gift that her sister, M1891, had given her when she returned. She had never even gotten the chance to use it, but she knew what it did,and knew that it could return the Commander to his proper size.

Carcano picked up the size remote, meaning to grow him back to normal. But, as she held it in her hand, something occurred to her. After all, what need was there to grow him back right away? Now she knew what had happened to him. She knew he was safe. And she had been thinking about shrinking him down anyways. Why not take advantage of his new size and have a little harmless fun with him? Tomorrow she could put him back to normal and no one would have to know he was ever gone.

“Silly me,” she said, putting the device back down. “How could a little bug like you possibly be the Commander? The Commander is a grown man; you're nothing but a teeny-tiny speck. I must be so worried about him I'm starting to imagine his face on everything.” Carcano sat back down, holding the Commander before her face. The tiny man shouted at her with all his might, begging her to grow him back, promising her any number of rewards if she did so. Carcano only smiled and shook her hand, bringing the Commander to his knees. “But maybe you can help me with that, little bug. I think playing with you is just the distraction I need.”

Suddenly the Commander found himself pulled still closer until he was sitting beneath her slender lips. Those lips twisted this way and that for a few seconds, then opened just a sliver, letting out a big drop of spit. The sticky fluid landed right on him, making a little pool right in the middle of her palm. “Can you crawl out of there, little bug?” she asked. Even as she spoke the Commander had already started crawling out of that pool, but at his pitiful size he could only go so far before the surface tension of her spit flattened him to the ground. He could still pull himself forward so long as there was more saliva to spare, but when he ran out he was all but glued to her palm by its drying remnants.

“Is that the best you can do?” Carcano turned her hand upside-down and watched as the Commander, still stuck to her skin, quit trying to escape and instead clung to her fearfully. “What a sad little bug. It was just a little drop of spit. If you can't even deal with that then maybe you deserve to be crushed after all.”

The surface of her hand folded up as her fingers curled in on the Commander, falling like great pillars until her hand was balled up in a fist and the Commander trapped in a prison of her flesh. She could feel him there now, pinned under her ring finger. He was all hers now, her dear little Commander, for as long as she chose to keep him. Not that she meant to keep him all that long, but it was fun to play around with the idea, to know she could make of the brave and hardworking commander her toy for life if she ever wanted to.

She held her fist up to her mouth and cupped her other hand around it. “Beg for mercy, little bug,” she whispered into it, her breath filling it and warming it over—warming the little Commander too. Even holding her fist up to her ear she couldn't hear him begging, but she did just barely feel him struggling in there. It was almost unnoticeable, even less than what an ant could manage, but she knew he must be giving it his all, and in time she took pity on him and opened her hand.

The Commander was still gasping for air when Carcano turned her hand over and sent him falling. He tumbled head over heels through the air, then hit the inner curve of her thigh and bounced off of it, rolling further down to end up wedged between it and its sister. Still, he could have climbed out of there had Carcano not pressed her thighs together then, trapping him in the depths of that fleshy valley. “If you don't want to die in my hand, then maybe you'll like it better here. I'll smother you with my thighs until you suffocate. Does that sound good, little bug?”

Carcano didn't wait for a response before before starting to rub her thighs against each other, sliding and rolling the Commander back and forth between them while he strained with all his might for even a single breath of air. Whether or not she meant to kill him, she really was suffocating him. His body ached for oxygen, and he felt himself growing weak and his thoughts hazy. Soon he couldn't move anymore, and his mind teetered on the brink of oblivion, until Carcano released him just a suddenly as she had first trapped him, letting him crawl out of that canyon.

“No, killing you like this is too much of a waste. I have a better idea.” Carcano's fingers descended on the Commander. Her fingertips fell to either side of him, and the walls of whorling skin pressed together gently, holding him tight. Then they carried him right up to her face to hold him before her nose. “If I'm going to kill you anyways, I might as well find out if you taste any good.” She stuck out her tongue, warm breath wafting out of her mouth to surround the Commander. She let go, and he landed with a small splat on the tip of her tongue. He made an effort to crawl out of there before she could eat him or do whatever she was planning to do with him, but he couldn't even get on his hands and knees—her saliva had too much of a hold on him. He tried to pull himself forward by her taste buds, but they were all too slippery for him to get a hold on them. When she curled back her tongue, he couldn't help but slide back along its surface, past her lips and her glistening white teeth, to enter the vast cavern of her mouth.

Carcano retracted her tongue and closed her mouth, letting her tongue rest quietly inside so she could dwell on the feeling of the little Commander struggling in her spit. At first she only meant to keep him like that, maybe give him a bit of a scare by moving her tongue, but when she felt him in there, she couldn't resist the urge to bully that delectable little morsel. She cupped her tongue and moved it back and forth, sending the Commander sliding around in the little pool of her saliva. Then she pushed him to the roof of her mouth and started sucking on him as though he were a piece of candy. The taste was salty and a tad bitter, a lot like sweat. Hers or his, she wondered? Or maybe it was both of theirs.

“Hmmm,” she muttered, the sound reverberating in the tiny Commander's chest and vibrating his whole body. Shamelessly she toyed with him, pushing him all over her mouth until his taste had started wearing off. Then she stuck out her tongue and plucked him off its surface. “You're lucky you taste so bad, little bug, or I might have eaten you. But I have another use for you in mind now.” She carried him down to her foot, placing him down right in the middle of her big toenail, where she carefully arranged his limbs to leave them all splayed out almost in a star shape.

“There we go! You look just like a little sticker!” Carcano giggled and wiggled her toes in delight, swinging the Commander back and forth for several yards in the air. By then the air had dried up her spit so to leave him plastered to her toenail, and try as he might he couldn't move at all. “Goodness, you look so cute down there, Commander! I mean, little bug. I think I'll leave you there for now. Hope you enjoy being on my toes!”

With one more toe wiggle, Carcano stretched out her legs and lay back in bed, taking out a comic book to entertain herself in the meantime. But even as she read, her mind kept coming back to the little Commander on her foot and she kept glancing down at him, happy to see he was still stuck to her toenail.

She curled and uncurled her toe while she read, rocking him back and forth to remind him who was in charge now. Such a simple gesture, and yet so effective. Every new curl helped to drive home how powerless the shrunken Commander was, helpless as a pitiful little flea at her feet. The little T-Doll single-handedly controlled his fate. If she wanted to keep him as a toy forever she could probably do it without anyone else finding out. It would be so easy to hide him anywhere, and even if someone else noticed him, they would have no reason to suspect what they saw was anything other than a bug. And while he didn't think she would do something like that, he had seen the look in her eyes when she played with him and knew how much she liked having him this size. Who knew how much longer she'd choose to keep him shrunk like this.

With nothing else to do the Commander resolved to simply wait until she decided to grow him back, but it wasn't easy. Even if she didn't bully him like she had before, she never stopped teasing him with her size. Aside from wiggling the toe he was on, she also liked to put her other foot in front of him, leaving him staring ahead at her sole and at her toes rising like towers before him, radiating heat and humidity and passively reminding him again of how pitifully small he was now. At times they rubbed against the sides of her toenail, never quite touching him but still making his heart rate go wild as he knew that one errant twitch might be enough to crush him where he lay. And all he could do to deal with it was to shut his eyes and pretend that nothing at all was happening, even as all his other senses told him otherwise.

He would spend a few more hours yet on Carcano's toenail, a hapless victim to every motion of her foot, whether she rocked it back and forth or stood and took a step with it. Carcano simply went about her day with him in tow, forgetting all about him for many minutes at a time, until it was getting to be time for bed. Then she pulled her foot closer and looked at him. “Are you doing okay, little bug?” She awakened the Commander with a wiggle of her toe and saw him trying in vain to get up. “That's good. It's been fun playing with you, but I think it's time to stop. Now let's see about fixing your size.”

The Commander was so relieved to hear those words coming from her. Even when she hopped out of bed and her feet crashed onto the floor with a pair of heavy thumps, feeling to him like a huge explosion, he still remained upbeat knowing that he wouldn't have to suffer for much longer. He saw her stand up and go to her drawers to grab that little remote, then with the device in hand she crouched and reached for him.

“Let's get you off my foot for this.” Carcano peeled him off with a fingernail, then placed him down on the floor right before her toes. She aimed the device at him. The Commander spread out his arms and legs to maximize his surface area and ensure his body was hit.

At the click of a button, the size remote shot out a thin beam which hit him dead center. The Commander tingled with energy. He was overjoyed to know he would be going back to normal now. But instead of growing bigger, it was the world around him which grew to ever more terrifying sizes, as he shrank until he was no bigger than a speck of dust. Confused, he looked up at Carcano, still harboring the hope that this was just an accident and she meant to grow him back right away. But her grin disbursed him of that idea. “There we go!” Her voice exploded in the Commander's ears and shook everything like world's most intense earthquake. She placed a pair of fingertips down next to him—they rose into the sky like a pair of mountains, many times bigger next to him than Carcano herself had been the first time he shrank. Even their gentle landing was like the impact of a world-ending meteor, and the slightest of micro-movements taking place in those sky-piercing pillars caused the earth to quiver. Everything about them left him speechless. And to think these were only her fingertips! The rest of her was many times more massive, but the Commander tried not to look at anything else; he was having a hard enough time coming to terms with the size of her fingers alone.

Meanwhile, Carcano peered into the space between her fingertips, the spot where she had last seen the Commander shrinking, but failed to find any sign of him. “I think I made you too small. I can't even see you anymore. But wait, don't move.” She set the size remote down aimed at him and stood up, stepping over him on her way out of the room. A minute later she returned with a magnifying glass and crouched back here she'd left the remote. Peering through the powerful lens, she eventually found something that she thought might be the Commander. It was little more than a dot so it was hard to tell, but at least it was the right shape and color. “Is that you?” she asked, carefully putting her nail down right next to the thing.

The Commander stumbled as he backed away from the titanic wall of keratin now stretching over him. Turning to the magnified eye which spanned most of the sky, he waved frantically at Carcano and even shouted at her to stop, as though that would do him any good.

Carcano giggled. “Aww, you look so scared! Poor little Commander, hardly any bigger than a germ. I bet my finger must look so big to you now, huh? A big, scary monster that could crush you any time.” She put another fingertip down and pretended they were a pair of legs chasing after him, rattling the Commander with each “step” they took. “Watch out, Commander! The monster's coming to get you!”

He knew she didn't really mean to crush him, but it was all so overwhelming that the Commander's fight-or-flight instinct took over and he ran away at top speed. Though it hardly mad a difference as her fingers could still catch up to him in a single step. Her index finger hovered over him as he ran, casting its shadow over his little world, and followed him around for a minute. Then it crashed right in front of him and brought him to his knees.

“Just where did you think you were running to, you little speck? Did you really think you could escape me? Silly Commander; You're all mine now and you'll never leave my side again! Here. Climb.” She placed her nail as close to him as she dared and waited for him to climb on. “Now hold on tight.” As she turned her finger so her nail stretched horizontally, the Commander clung fiercely to the tiny imperfections of its surface. When she lifted her finger, the air blowing past him was almost enough to blow him off. He was only barely able to hang on until she had her finger in front of her face, looking closely through the magnifying glass.

“Welcome to your new life, Commander. You'll be the size of a germ until the day you die. But don't worry too much. I'll take care of you so nothing bad happens. You'll be my pet, and I'll make sure you're safe.” Carcano didn't mean it—she would grow him back tomorrow morning—but she couldn't resist saying that to her little speck of a Commander, knowing how it must be making him squirm. “And I have the safest place for you right here.” She carried him over to her foot and dumped him between her first two toes, where he landed deep in a little wrinkle of her skin and was lost from sight. “Sleep tight, Commander! I'll see you again tomorrow,” she said, and bid him good night with one last wiggle of her toes, making the canyon walls of her skin wrinkle close in to smother the pathetically puny man. The Commander was left all alone to ponder his new lot in life—to live forever as a germ on the vast world of Carcano's body.

It was week two of Grace's tour around the world, meeting with some of the world's greatest fighters and training with them to hone her own fighting skills. Now she had stopped in the UK to meet up with Cammy White, the world-famous MI6 operative. She had first reached out to Cammy a few days ago after a recommendation from fellow-fighter Chun-Li, and since then they had come to be on friendly terms.

When Cammy suggested that she come around for some training, it had been like a dream come true for Grace. She had idolized Cammy since first reading about her exploits, and even had a bit of a crush on her. She tried not to let it show, but she just couldn't help fangirling whenever they talked. Luckily, Cammy didn't seem to mind. If anything, Grace thought she liked the praise and attention. But maybe she was reading too much into their conversations.

Grace was so eager to finally meet up with Cammy when she boarded her plane. Even though it was midnight and the flight was set to take several hours, she couldn't get any sleep. But when there was just one hour left to go, it was like all of her exhaustion finally broke through to her. All at once she felt her eyelids growing heavier and heavier until they fell shut by themselves.

Grace woke up somewhere soft and comfortable. She stretched and yawned lazily, rolling over and hugging the covers tight, before realizing that she wasn't on her plane seat anymore.

She sat up with a start, looking around in confusion as she could make out almost nothing. It was dark, but after a few seconds her eyes adjusted and she could start to make out some of her surroundings.

From what she could tell, she was in a giant bedroom, sitting on a giant bed, with everything being some twenty times its proper size. To whatever giants lived in this place, she would have been about three inches tall. It was such a fantastical sight, she figured she must have been dreaming, but it didn't feel at all like a dream.

She was still thinking about what to do when from the distance came the sound of a door opening and closing, followed by a series of footsteps. She froze up as those steps came closer. When she saw the gaps around this bedroom door light up, she flattened herself, trembling, on the bed, hoping to avoid the sight of whatever giant came in.

But instead of some fearsome giant out of Jack and the Beanstalk it was Cammy who entered the bedroom, flicking on the light and shuffling inside with a tired sigh. Balancing herself on the doorframe, she took off her boots and socks, leaving them all sitting neatly by the door, then flung her jacket onto the bed and shut the door.

The jacket fell on Grace, who carefully crawled forward until she could look out from under it and see Cammy taking off her pants, exposing the slim blue panties pulled tight around her wide hips. Grace could hardly keep from blushing at the sight of her biggest crush standing in just her underwear, letting her gawk at all of Cammy's gorgeously fit body, from her muscular thighs and ass to her trim belly and strong arms, all of it faintly shimmering with sweat.

Grace held her breath, watching as Cammy put on a pair of shorts and then turned back towards the bed. As her idol strode towards her, the young woman could only gawk at her beautiful body.

When Cammy was standing right by her bed, she turned around, presenting her big butt to Grace and making the tiny woman blush. Looking at that colossal rear, easily big enough to crush a house, she had no doubt that she would end up crushed under those gorgeous glutes. Even so, she didn't once think of trying to escape nor of stopping Cammy. All she could think of was how blissful it would be to meet her end that way, under the perfect ass of the most beautiful woman in the world.

But at the last moment, noticing that she would be sitting on her jacket, Cammy shuffled aside before sitting down, and so avoided crushing Grace. She threw herself back and lay down, taking a deep breath before closing her eyes.

Grace's heart was still beating frightfully in her chest as she crawled out from under the jacket to stand at Cammy's waist. Even lying down, Cammy still towered over Grace, her belly standing tall as a two story building. Grace still wasn't sure what was going on or how she had ended up this size, but she felt sure sure that this wasn't a dream, and she knew she was going to need help if she was going to survive. She was so lucky to have ended up in Cammy's home; if nothing else he could be sure that Cammy would take care of her for as long as she needed it.

“Cammy?” she whispered, unsure if the other woman was awake or not. She called again, a little louder, but still no response. Cammy must be sleeping, she decided. She didn't want to wake her, not when she looked so spent. But if she was sleeping, then surely she wouldn't mind if Grace took this chance to become more familiar with her idol's towering body, right?

The tiny woman looked up at Cammy's belly as it slowly rose and fell in time to her breathing. It was amazing how such a simple action could look so immense at her tiny size. She had always admired Cammy's strength, and now that Cammy could crush her like a bug with a single step, it only made Grace all the more excited. She wanted nothing more than to be dominated by the godly Cammy, and she was ready to get on her knees and beg for it if that's what it took to make her dream a reality.

Oh, who was she kidding? She would die of embarrassment if Cammy ever found out what she thought of her. Well, at least she could still enjoy Cammy's body while she slept, Grace thought as she climbed up her waist to sit on her stomach.

Cammy's skin still had a slim layer of sweat on it, and it had soaked into Grace's clothes while she climbed. She didn't mind, though. She loved anything and everything to do with Cammy, and she even lay down on those lovely abs and rolled around on them trying to get herself covered with Cammy's sweat and smell. It felt so incredible lying there, surrounded by her idol on all sides, that Grace couldn't help but stick out her tongue and lick the midline of her abs, even going down a bit into her navel.

But just when Grace was starting to get really into it, she felt Cammy's muscles contract beneath her and she hurried to sit up, looking out past Cammy's breasts to see the young woman's face rise up and look at her.

Cammy frowned and, reaching to her stomach, grabbed that tiny thing that lay on it. It took a very close look for her to recognize that little thing as Grace.

Cammy had a lot of questions for Grace once she determined that she wasn't dreaming, like how she'd gotten so small or what she was doing in her room. Grace answered them as best she could, usually explaining that she didn't have any more of a clue than Cammy did. Then Cammy stared thoughtfully at the floor, unconsciously rubbing her thumb over the tiny Grace while she pondered everything.

Her thumb dominantly massaged Grace's breasts, making her moan quietly in her grip. It took a minute, but eventually Cammy realized what was going on and she looked at the tiny woman with a grin, pressing her thumb down and twisting it even more sharply so that Grace gasped and writhed blissfully. “Are you enjoying this, Grace?” she said with a teasing note to her voice.

“N-no, no, you just... surprised me.” Grace turned away to hide her blush, but Cammy's thumb nudged her head back around until she was left staring at her idol in the eyes, feeling so helplessly small and weak, so utterly at Cammy's mercy.

In that look, Cammy understood all the little woman's feelings, but she decided to play along for now. “Whatever you say, Grace. Anyway, since I don't know how you shrank, there's no way of telling how long you're going to be stuck at this size. You might spend the rest of your life like that. But don't worry, you can trust me to take very good care of you. You'll just have to do some stuff for me as thanks, like, for instance...” Cammy lobbed Grace away to the foot of the bed, then kicked her feet up and left her soles looming right before the tiny woman. “Rubbing my feet when I'm feeling tired! Just got back from a tough sparring session, so I could really use some pampering right now. Hope you don't mind they're a bit sweaty, girl.”

“N-no, I don't mind at all! I'll get to work right away, Cammy!” Grace stood in the shadow of her idol's feet, staring up at the towering soles scrunching powerfully overhead. Just the sight of them made her heart flutter. She raised a trembling hand, reaching for the sole on her right, and as she dig her fingers into its smooth and warm surface, she all but melted at the feeling of Cammy's godly sole against her skin. She soaked in the warmth, the smell, the sweat, all of it. Eagerly she launched herself at the giant sole, working assiduously on the foot of her glorious idol, putting all her gratitude and adoration into it so that Cammy might praise her for her work.

Meanwhile, Cammy lay back and enjoyed the fervent attentions that Grace lavished onto her feet, playfully scrunching her soles as she worked. After a while, though, she sensed that something had changed. Grace wasn't covering as much of her feet as she had at first, and her hands weren't reaching as deep into Cammy's muscles as before. Cammy moved her foot aside to see what was going on, and she was surprised to find that Grace had gotten even smaller.

The tiny woman was now no more than one inch tall. She gaped even as Grace kept fervently rubbing her soles, but soon enough she relaxed again and flexed her toes as she enjoyed the sight of her mighty feet utterly dwarfing little Grace in size. Those tiny hands worshipping her soles made her feel more powerful than ever before; she just couldn't get enough of it.

“Gracey,” she cooed to her tiny friend. Grace shivered at the sound of her voice, and looked in adoration at the colossal Cammy. “Why don't you climb my feet now? I think you should try rubbing my toes.”

Grace was quick to obey, grabbing ahold of the little wrinkles of Cammy's sweaty sole to climb up to her toes. But about halfway up, she fell as Cammy scrunched her sole and dislodged the tiny woman from her skin. As she stared up from the bed at Cammy's towering sole and the wiggling toes at the top, she heard Cammy's laughter and trembled in excitement at her idol's power.

“Careful, Grace. Make sure you don't fall again. If you do, I might just have to stuff you in my boots all day tomorrow,” Cammy said. Grace wouldn't have minded that at all, but Cammy didn't scrunch her foot this time and Grace easily made it up to her toes, where she stood in the gap between the first and second, surrounded by the musty atmosphere of her foot, and by the warm, sweaty skin that left her soaked from top to bottom. Cammy squeezed her toes together to welcome the tiny woman, trapping Grace in her flesh and treating her young friend like a piece of lint as she rolled her around between her sweaty toes.

“Unf! You're such a tiny little bug, Grace. Have you noticed how pathetic you are? You're not even as big as my toes. There's no way I can even call you a person anymore. I bet I could crush you like an ant just by squeezing you harder with my sweaty toes. No you're not a person anymore; you're my property. My pet, my toy, my slave. And me? I'm your Goddess.”

“Yes, Cammy! Yes, my Goddess!” Grace eagerly declared, submitting herself to the young blonde's will. Cammy smiled as those squeaky little words reached her ear, and stopped rolling her around. She looked at the pitiful woman lying beaten and battered right between the deep purple of her toenails.

“I know why this happened now. It was fate. You were meant to be my little foot toy, so you were shrunk and put in my room at the perfect size to serve my feet. From now on, I'm your Goddess. You'll service my feet for your whole life, worship my toes and the rest of me with all your heart. You'll work out on my abs to stay fit, and serve as my insole when I go out on missions, and you'll be all mine. Understand?”

“Yes, Goddess! I was meant to be yours! Have your way with me! I'll be your slave and worshipper forever!”

“Very good, Gracey. You definitely earned yourself a very special reward.” Bending over, she plucked Gracey from between her toes and brought her up for a big, smothering kiss that left her squirming in delight under Cammy's lips. “Mwah! Now rest, my pet. Save up your strength for tomorrow so you can spend all day giving me the love and worship I deserve.” With that she tucked little Grace under the waistband of her shorts, pinning the tiny woman to her abs. Grace squirmed for a bit, and Cammy cupped a hand over her to enjoy it better, but soon their exhaustion caught up to both of them and they fell into blissful sleep, dreaming of what fun they would have together starting tomorrow.

It was a slow day in the office. Linda quietly tapped away at her keyboard, filling in her monthly reports. Sighing as she finished with this latest document, Linda sat back in her chair, stretching her arms overhead, and averted her eyes from the strain of her computer screen, looking instead to the surface of her desk, where her adopted inchling daughter Penny lay napping on the folded piece of cloth that was her bed in this place. The cloth itself rested at the base of the computer tower, where Penny could be soothed by its soft whirring sounds and the slight warmth radiating out from it

The tiny young woman had lay there resting peacefully since lunchtime an hour ago, like she always did when she came to the office. Linda smiled. She looked so cute, so innocent. She was tempted to pick her little daughter up and cuddle her against her cheek, but it would have been cruel to wake her up when she was sleeping so soundly. Besides, Linda was content to watch her resting. Just the sight of her darling girl made the stress of the office melt away, and fill her up with enough energy to keep working.

After gently petting the inchling's shoulder, Linda turned back to her screen and prepared to start work on the next document. But just as she had opened up the format, her phone rang and she hurried to answer it.

“Hello?” she asked softly, hoping she could still avoid waking Penny up. Too late, though; the inchling was already stretching and rubbing her eyes by the time she got a reply.

“Linda, hi.” Her boss's voice came through loud and clear. “Listen, we're gonna need you to come over for a meeting today. Like, right now. Come quick, and leave your inchling; don't want her distracting everyone like the last time. Got it?”

“Ah, sure, I'll be there in a minute. Sorry but, any idea how long this is gonna take?”

“As long as it's gotta take. Sooner you get here, sooner you can go back.” The a clack came through as her boss hung up the phone. Linda put the receiver down with a sigh.

“Something wrong, mom?” Penny yawned, sitting up on her makeshift bed and smoothing down her lovely white dress. Linda smiled at her and reached to stroke her head, Penny eagerly receiving her mother's finger and hugging it while nuzzling her face against it.

“Nothing's wrong, sweetie, I've just been called to a meeting. Gonna be gone a long while, probably. And, Penny, they said I can't bring you along this time.”

“Oh.” Penny looked at her mother with disappointment and uncertainty, her eyes silently asking Linda what would become of her while she was gone. Linda carefully scooped her daughter up into her hand and brought her up for a quick yet loving kiss, then stood up with her little daughter.

“Don't worry, I'll make sure you're in good hands until I get back. Come on, I know the perfect person to take care of you.” Closing her fingers around Penny to hold the inchling safely in hand, Linda left her cubicle and walked past several others, finally stopping at one where a younger woman was sitting at her computer, not so much working as simply trying to look like work might be going on. “Kim,” she said, stepping into the little office. “Got a second?”

The woman turned around, and her pretty round face lit up as she saw Linda standing at the entrance.

“For you? Always! What do you need, Lin?”

Linda opened her hand, showing her daughter to Kimberly. “Sorry to ask but I got called for a meeting and I need someone to watch over Penny while I'm gone. Think you could do that for me?”

“Oh, sure, Lin! You know you don't even have to ask, I love spending time with your little girl!” Kim held out her hand, gladly receiving Penny from her mother. Her fingers closed around the inchling's body. They were tougher than they looked, not so soft as Linda's, but there was something comforting in that too, and they held her gently all the same, their dark skin contrasting sharply with Penny's lighter tone. “Hey, sweetie! You're gonna keep me company 'til your mama gets back; that okay with you?” Penny simply smiled and welcomed the other woman's pats.

“Thanks, Kim; you're a life saver. I'll be back as soon as I can, okay? Just please don't lend her out. Keep her with you at all times, okay?”

“Will do, Lin. Luck with your meeting.”

“Bye, mom,” Penny said, waving.

“Bye, honey.” Linda departed with one last wave for her daughter, leaving Penny alone with Kimberly.

Once she left, Kim swiveled her chair around and lowered Penny to the desk. Once the inchling was standing on it, Kim started petting her little body while she talked. “So, sweet pea, been a while since we talked. How's life treatin' ya? Got anything you wanna share with your auntie Kim?”

“I'm going to school now!” Penny proudly announced to the older woman, taking a seat at the edge of her desk where her legs dangled freely above Kimberly's lap. “With Nadia! And I already made a new friend there!”

Kim listened closely as the inchling told her all about her recent exploits. She smiled with Penny, laughed with Penny, expressed her support of the young inchling woman. She thought it cute how excited she was about something so simple as going to school and making new friends. You'd think she was a little girl, hearing what simplicity and sincerity she spoke with. Well, she was little enough, just in another way. But Kim supposed it was just that Penny hadn't had much life experience, spending most of her life all cooped up with the other inchlings in that pet store. It was heartwarming to hear how happy she was just having a family again, being treated with real love and care.

The two of them passed the time together, making idle conversation. Penny was happy to have ended up with one of her favorite people in the office, and Kim was happy to have something distract her from her work. But they hadn't been talking too long when someone came along to interrupt them.

“Ahem!” The noise brought Kimberly's attention to the entrance of her cubicle, where a short, dark-haired woman stood and looked disdainfully at her. “Having a chat with someone, Kim? Aren't you supposed to be working?”

“I was just resting my wrists for a bit. They get sore from typing for too long, you know?” Kim said, turning her seat around.

“Can't you rest your wrists without making so much noise? You know I've been getting complains about how loud you are. It's distracting people.” Kim didn't reply. Everyone knew that when Jill came around talking about noise complains it was just an excuse for her to give you a hard time. No one even filed that kind of complaints with her in the first place.

Jill's heels clacked sharply against the floor as she stepped into the cubicle. “And who were you talking to, anyways? You haven't been using the office phones for personal calls again, have you?” She looked over Kim's shoulder, where her eyes at once fell on little Penny.

“Um, you remember Linda's inchling, right, Jill? She had to go to a meeting, so I got stuck taking care of Penny,” Kimberly explained, and reached back around to cup her hand protectively around the little woman. Penny welcomed it, and sidled up to her hand, shrinking back from Jill's cold gaze.

Penny had never spent much time around Jill. She didn't know the head of HR very well at all. But almost from the moment she had first seen the woman, she had felt terribly uneasy around her. Jill reminded her of certain humans she had known back in the pet store. Very unpleasant humans. Maybe she was wrong about that, but the more she had seen of her, the more convinced she had become of her first appraisal. Linda seemed to feel the same way, too. She didn't like Jill at all, and always became very protective of Penny when she was around. But now she wasn't there for her.

“So it's the inchling again. I should have known. That thing's been bringing nothing but disruptions ever since Linda started bringing her in.” Jill moved towards Penny, but as she drew nearer, Kimberly pulled her back. Jill turned to her in annoyance. “You know, I'm pretty sure office rules forbid bringing animals to the office. Linda could get in trouble for bringing her in, and you could get in trouble for helping her. I could report the both of you, for that and for distracting your coworkers.”

“Penny isn't an animal. She's a young woman. And you know the boss doesn't mind Penny being in the office, or Linda would've gotten in trouble already.”

“Sure, he hasn't cracked down on her yet, but I hear the company didn't do too hot this quarter. He'll have to make some changes around the office, maybe even fire some people. You're not losing your job just for talking with that thing, but who knows; if layoffs are happening, maybe that could tip the scales against you. But, I suppose I could overlook all this, if you'll lend her to me for a while.” Jill held out her hand, motioning for Kim to hand the inchling over. Kim pulled Penny back again. “Is this really the choice you're making? You'll put her over yourself? And for what? What do you think you're protecting her from? You think I'm going to eat her up or something? Honestly, Kim, you're being ridiculous. The girl will be fine. Linda can pick her up once the meeting's over.”

Kimberly hesitated, but when she felt Penny tapping her on the thumb, she looked at the tiny woman. Penny nodded. “It's okay. You can let me go,” she said. She didn't look happy about it, but there wasn't a hint of doubt in her voice. Finally, Kim held her out to Jill.

“Fine. She can go with you. But if anything happens to her, we're calling Inchling Rights on you.”

Jill rolled her eyes and took Penny from the other woman, immediately closing her fingers around her. “Good luck with your wrists,” she said as she turned and strode away.

A brief walk later, she arrived in her office, letting the door close behind her while she went to her desk. There she held up her hand, fingers still closed around the inchling. She could feel the little woman growing impatient inside, fidgeting within her hand and pushing softly against her fingers. She smiled and gave a light squeeze. Penny started moving more insistently, until another squeeze made her settle down for good. Then, Jill opened her hand over the desk, dropping the tiny girl on its surface.

Penny landed with a soft thump and hurried to sit up, looking warily at her new keeper. She had agreed to come along because she didn't think Jill would do anything to really hurt her, but she still didn't trust that woman at all. The way she looked at Penny made her so nervous. It wasn't like the situation with Emily, either. The young woman's gaze had made her uncomfortable because of how unreadable it was, but Penny felt she could tell exactly what Jill thought about her. Looking into those brown eyes, she felt like the other woman's prey.

“Um... h-hi,” she said. Whatever Jill intended, she felt it was best to at least try to be on friendly terms with her. But after her greeting, Jill raised her fingertip and sharply tapped Penny on the face. The inchling fell over with a cry, and rubbed her nose as she looked meekly up at Jill.

“Quiet.” Jill prodded Penny's chest with a finger and pressed her to the table, driving home her word with a sharp twist of her fingertip. “Didn't anybody ever teach you? Inchlings shouldn't speak unless spoken to.”

Penny's thoughts flashed back to the pet shop; to those cold, long fingers pushing her to the ground as she was ordered to obey, punished for the slightest misbehavior, or simply for being around while the inchling “caretaker” was upset. She and the others had been nothing but stress toys to that woman, who took all her anger, all her frustrations, out on them all. It lasted three awful months before she was fired for unrelated reasons, and Penny had done her best to forget about those awful days ever since, but now it all came back to her. It felt like a punch to the gut, but at least it reminded her how to deal with someone like Jill.

Penny kept quiet while Jill punished her, until at last her finger moved away and Penny could sit up with her hands on her knees and look meekly towards Jill. “Hmph,” Jill grunted with a satisfied nod. “Better. Maybe someone did teach you after all. If not, I'll be sure to do it myself.” Casually she leaned back in her chair and kicked her legs up on the table. Penny yelped as her nylon-clad calves passed overhead to come down beside her, and scooted carefully away while Jill chuckled at her.

“You know, girl—Penny, was it?—I have a good deal of experience with inchlings like yourself. Maybe you didn't know it, but I love inchlings. I have a dozen of them back home, and they've all learned to love me too. But unlike certain overly emotional people, I don't fool around pretending they're my children. Inchlings are animals. Pests, usually, but a well-trained inchling is a wonderful thing. Affectionate with its master unlike any other animal. Even a dog doesn't grovel half as much as an inchling might, or debase itself as much for its masters wishes.

“But an untrained inchling is a travesty. Not only for the owner, but for themselves too. In all my years training your kind, I've learned that inchlings are always happiest once they've learned to accept their place beneath us humans. Unfortunately, I don't think Linda has ever even tried to teach you that. She's one of those sentimentalists who really think you tiny little things can be considered people. Ha! Isn't that hilarious? Who ever heard of a person the size of a human thumb?

“Only an idiot would ever think humans and inchlings are the same. And you know it too, don't you? Even if you like to pretend that woman is your mother, deep down I'm sure you know that she's nothing of the sort. You can't really believe that you and her are on anything like the same level. You're just a pet that she's grown too fond of. It'd be better for both of you if you were more honest about it, don't you think?”

Penny gripper her knees harder. Her eyes were watering. She wanted to shout at Jill, to tell her it wasn't true, but she didn't dare speak. She just sat still and listened to Jill's words in silence.

“Nothing to say, girl? You're supposed to answer when people are talking to you.” Jill slowly walked her hand closer to Penny, until her fingers were reaching out to touch her. The inchling winced as she sat it approach; she shut her eyes tight and leaned as far from it as she could until it brushed against her face, then meekly tried to push it away. “Are you really so scared of me that you can't say a word? I guess that's fair enough. Don't say anything, then, but don't complain about what happens to you either.”

With her thumb at Penny's front and two fingers at her back, Jill lifted the inchling woman to her face. Penny looked into her eyes, but couldn't stand how they looked back at her and she turned away before long. Jill's thumb slid up and down her body, pushing up her dress a little with each pass. “The others have played with you often enough. Not it's my turn to have some fun.” Her cruel gaze made Penny shudder, and the inchling steeled herself for what was to come.

Suddenly she pressed down on Penny's stomach, expelling the air from her lungs. Penny gripped her thumb and tried to push it away, but she was too weak and growing weaker. She started getting dizzy before Jill relaxed her grip just enough to let Penny take the shallowest of breaths.

“You're going to be doing whatever I ask of you, do you understand? You'll jump when I say 'jump', kneel when I tell you to, even run off the desk if that's what I want. Do all these things and I won't have to punish you or put a report on your owner. Got it?” When Penny nodded, Nadia relaxed her grip again.

Penny would spent the next hour serving as Jill's toy and servant, being tormented physically and verbally by the head of HR as she played out her cruel, sadistic obsession with lording what meager power she held over anyone too helpless to stand up to her. Penny thought about running away, but even if she could manage, she feared that Linda or Kim might get in trouble with Jill if she did that. She thought also about fighting back against Jill, and arguing against all those horrible things she said about Penny and Linda and everyone else, but she knew that if she did that Jill would just punish her for it. She could only let Jill do and say as she pleased, and obey her commands, no matter how demeaning they were. She wanted to cry for how helpless she felt, but she held back her feelings, refusing to give Jill the satisfaction of seeing her like that. She just had to hang on until her mother came around for her, however long that took.

She didn't know how long she'd been waiting in there, but at long last, while she was busy rubbing that woman's hands, she heard the door open behind her and turned swiftly around to see her mother stepping inside, looking furiously at Jill.

“Linda. How nice of you to join us. We were just...”

“Shut it, Jill. I'm not in the mood.” Linda marched up to the desk, where she reached for the overjoyed Penny and scooped her into her palms. “Are you okay, sweetie? I'm sorry I took so long, if I knew you were here I would have come out of the meeting for you.”

“You know, if you didn't want your pet running into trouble here, you really shouldn't be...”

“I shouldn't be leaving her anywhere near a heartless jackal like you. Yes, I know that now. Don't worry, I won't be making the same mistake again. Good bye, Jill.”

Linda didn't so much as look the other woman in the face before she stormed out of the office with Penny firmly in hand. A bit too firmly, perhaps, but then, after everything that had happened, Penny was glad to know that her mother didn't mean to leave her side anytime soon.

Back at her cubicle, Linda unfurled her fingers from Penny and held the little inchling up, cradling her in both hands. “Sweetie, are you alright? Did that woman hurt you? Tell me everything, Penny, and don't hold anything back.”

Timidly at first, Penny started telling her mother about what went down in Jill's office. She tried to downplay most of it, not wanting to alarm her mother, but Linda could tell that she was hiding things and gradually teased out everything that Jill had done. By the time Penny finished with Linda arriving to rescue her, her mother was furious. “Why, that woman! I should throw her out on the street for doing all that to you! Throw her out the window, even. I'd do it in a heartbeat if I could get away with it.”

“Mom, please. It's okay.”

“Okay? Of course it's not okay! I never would have left you behind if I knew something like this would happen. And all because Kimberly handed you over! I thought I could trust her to take care of you. Apparently not.”

“Mom, don't say that. I told her to let me go with Jill. I knew I could handle anything she tried to do to me, and I didn't want you or Kimberly getting in trouble with her.”

“You shouldn't have gone with her, Penny. You should have run away, or... or... anything else!”

“Did I... do something wrong?”

Linda looked at her daughter's face and tried to calm down. “No, you didn't do anything wrong, Penny. Sorry. I'm just upset.”

“Don't be, mom. I don't want you being angry over me. Just be happy I'm back, okay?”

Linda took a deep breath and sighed. “You're right. I shouldn't be thinking about that woman at all. Let's forget she even exists. Are you tired? Hungry? Thirsty? Do you want anything?”

“I just want to sit on your shoulder right now.”

“Whatever you want, Penny.” Linda raised her hand to her shoulder and let the inchling hop off. “Comfortable up there?”

“Very.” Holding on to some locks of hair for balance, Penny cuddled against her mother's neck, taking in a deep breath so the smell could reassure her that she really was back.

After petting her daughter one more time, Linda quietly got back to work, while Penny let her mother's presence soothe her after that horrible experience.

Still, she couldn't say she had forgotten all about what happened back there. Jill's words were still in her mind, even after all this time. Most of what she'd said was nonsense, and Penny wasn't going to let it get to her, but there were some things that had stuck a nerve. It was true, for instance, that Penny was still treated as much like a pet as like a daughter. She spent every day in the care of her mom or sister, and never did anything by herself. She wasn't independent like Nadia, and Linda didn't push her to be that way either. If she was really Linda's daughter, she would be going to college like Nadia and thinking about what career she might follow the rest of her life, or maybe getting married and starting a family.

Of course, she couldn't exactly do that as an inchling. There were no colleges for her kind, not so far as she knew, nor were there any jobs for them, and even leaving that aside, there wasn't much room for inchlings at all in society except as humans' pets. How could she even try to become more independent?

Penny thought about that a lot while she and Linda were at the office, and afterwards on the drive home. Even after getting back she couldn't get the notion out of her head. Much as she liked just hanging out with her mom and sister, she felt she did need to start doing more things by herself if she was really going to be a daughter and not just a pet. She didn't want to talk about it with her mom yet, but when she was alone with Nadia, she tried to broach the topic. Having been lying next to Nadia on her bed, she climbed onto her sister's back and walked over to her shoulders to sit close to her ears.

“Hey,” she said.

“Hm? What's up, Penny?” Nadia turned her head aside to look at her inchling sister.

“Do you really think I'm your sister? Or am I more like a pet?”

“Huh? Where's this coming from all of a sudden? Of course I'm your sister.”

“But am I really? I mean... you have to take care of me like a pet. I can't be independent like I could if I was your human sister. Even if you say I'm your sister, aren't I kinda like a pet too?”

“Well, no, you're more like... uh... my handicapped sister, or something.”

“Handicapped?”

“Yeah. Like, you can't do everything by yourself so you need someone around to help you, but you're still a person.”

“But I'm not handicapped. I'm perfectly healthy. I'm just not a human like you.”

“Look, I don't care about that stuff. What are you actually getting at? Why are you asking me this?”

When Nadia offered her hand up to Penny, Penny hopped on and lay down with a sigh in her open palm. “I just... want to do something so I'm more like a part of the family and not just a pet. I think maybe I should help out with chores and stuff.”

“You don't need to do that, you know. Mom and I... you'll be part of the family even if you just sit on our shoulders all day.”

“I know, I know. I don't want to do it for you, I want to do it for me. I want to be able to do something, not just hang out with you two. I want to have a life outside of you two. Like a real person.”

“Yeah, well... that's... not gonna be easy. You talked about it with mom yet?”

“No, I wanted to talk with you first.”

“Really? Guess I should be glad you trust me that much. Maybe...” Nadia looked up from her hand, fixing her eyes on nothing in particular and bringing a nail up to her mouth to nibble on it. Penny sat up, waiting for her sister to say something. Nadia was so much smarter than her; surely if anyone could come up with a solution to Penny's problem it was her.

“I can't think of any job you might do yet,” Nadia began, “but if you want to be more independent or whatever, I figure we could get you a phone. You could browse the net on it. Talk to people there. Make friends and stuff. I don't know, whatever you want to do.”

“Oh! Could I call people on it? Like Emily?”

“Emily? Sure, I guess. I have her number. I can give it to you once you get your phone, and give her your number too.”

“My own phone...” Penny smiled. “I love it! Thanks for the idea, sis. I'll tell mom about it right away.” She held up her arms, and Nadia brought her up to her face so the inchling could hug her cheek. Then, after quick peck, Penny hopped off her hand, jumped off the bed, and scurried away to find Linda, eager to tell her all about this new idea.

Ever since she arrived in Marley on a diplomatic mission, Pieck had been the subject of nothing but abuse at the hands of the Marleyans. She had been walked into, pushed over, spat on, and been threatened with beatings. Though she was supposed to be a respected foreign diplomat under the government's protection, even the city guards did nothing to protect her nor to punish those who harassed her every time she went out on the streets.

Nor had her negotiations with the government been going well at all. Her attempts to schedule meetings were constantly rebuffed, and when she did get a meeting they talked nothing of substance. More and more she was losing hope that peace between the nations would ever be achieved, and entertaining the thought of turning into her titan form to getting payback on these violent wretches, consequences be damned. Each new incident brought her closer to the breaking point, and it was only a matter of time before the last straw fell.

It was nearing noon when she came back from her latest fruitless meeting with the Marleyan diplomats, where she had once again been made victim to their passive-aggressive insults and insinuations. She was inwardly fuming as she walked down the busy streets of the capital towards the dingy hotel where she was staying—the government hadn't even shown the decency to give her a place more befitting a foreign diplomat. The people leered at her and gave her sidelong glances as she passed them by, but there were less prone to jeering and harassing her today. Maybe they sensed her foul mood.

Not everyone had so much sense, though. One man—a big, musclebound drunkard she briefly noticed tottering out of an old wayside tavern—walked towards her with his buddies, appearing to pay her no mind. She moved aside as they approached, but no sooner had she passed them than she felt a thick, heavy arm slap her on the back, sending her stumbling to fall right in a pile of mud.

“Hey! Watch where you're going, scum!” the drunkard said, laughing cruelly at her. All around her the other Marleyans joined in his mirth as she picked herself up, her face red with fury. Suddenly someone grabbed her by the back of the neck, thick callous fingers painfully gripping her hair to shove her face back into the mud puddle. “There! Roll in the mud like the little piggie you are! What's the matter? You don't like it? You want out? Squeal like a pig and maybe I'll let you up!”

Their roaring laughter reached Pieck through her mud-covered ears. She struggled against the man with all her might, but though she was far from a weakling, he was too much of a hulking brute. She couldn't beast him—at least, not as a human.

A cold calm came over Pieck as she made her decision. With an inward smile, already anticipating the screams and frightened faces of these miserable people, she triggered her titan transformation, preparing to pay them back for all they had done to her and her people.

But something was wrong. Even though she drew her own blood, she didn't turn into her Cart Titan form. Why wasn't she changing? She was confused and frightened. She was running out of air, and she wondered if she might die here, drowned in this puddle of mud at this drunkard's hand. But the man let go of her with a cry, and she lifted her head, gasping and wiping away the mud so she could see what had saved her.

That was when she first realized that her body had been changing after all. Slowly she was expanding in size, her height surging higher until, even sitting, it matched all the nearby buildings. Meanwhile, all around her, the very people who had been cheering on as she was shoved into the mud now stumbled backwards in fright, away from her growing figure. They were like babies to her, and soon even less than that, all looking on with stunned expressions. They had surely never seen anything like this before, but then, neither had Pieck. Never had she known of any titan transformation like this. Why, even her clothes were growing with her. Was this a completely new phenomenon?

Whatever the case, one thing was for sure: Pieck was loving it. She loved the feeling of this incredible power as she grew and grew with no sign of stopping, loved watching the pitiful Marleyans cower from her expanding figure as she came to tower over them all. She took them all in at a glance before resting her eyes on the man who had been roughing her up. He stood beside his buddies, no longer laughing. His face was pale with terror, and he was babbling nonsense while he backed away from her legs. Suddenly cries of terror rang out from the gathered people, and everyone who stood nearby started running away in throngs. Her assailant, still gawking at her, was caught in the throng himself and knocked to the ground, where he was trampled by everyone else.

Shivers ran up Pieck's spine as her growing legs pressed against the buildings around her and forced them to give way, razing one after another to the ground with an almost orgasmic sensation, until at last she finished growing at over five hundred feet. By then the street was almost clear. No one remained save for herself and the pathetic drunkard now lying on the ground, covered with the steps of his fellow countrymen. Pieck prodded him to see if he still lived, and when she saw him flinch, she slammed her feet down next to him, causing him to awaken with a cry.

The man gaped at her stupidly, saying and doing nothing in his drunken haze. Pieck smiled at him. “So, you thought I was a pig, did you?” The man frantically shook his head. “No, of course I'm not a pig. I'm an Eldian. And you? I thought you were a big dumb ox at first, but now I see I was wrong. You and all those other people who just stood by while you assaulted me are nothing but bugs at my feet.” Pulling her legs closer, she took off her boots to expose the bare, sweaty feet underneath, black-lacquered toenails glistening in the sunlight. Once her boots were off, she lobbed them back over her shoulder, not caring how many buildings or people ended up crushed beneath them, and held her feet over the tiny man. “You know what happens to bugs, right? They get crushed under our feet.” He cried out at the sight of them and curled up in sheer terror. Pieck laughed at his reaction and set down her heels right in front of him, her sweaty soles looming overhead while the smell, heat, and mustiness that radiated from them both assaulted the little bug.

Feeling the earth tremble from the shifting of her feet, the man looked up at the titanic woman and the two towering soles overhead, trembling all the while. “Then again, maybe I can find another use for you,” Pieck said, her voice rumbling in his ears as she casually scrunched her soles overhead, raining dozens of sweat droplets on the man. “Take care of my feet and maybe I'll choose to spare you. Rub them, clean them, lick up their sweat, from heel to toes. Can you do that, or should I crush you right away?”

The man quickly rushed to her heel to start doing as she asked, rubbing and licking its surface for all he was worth, not stopping even when he gagged at the horrible salty taste of her sweat. Pieck chuckled and scrunched her sole, reveling in the terror that her newfound power inspired in this pathetic insect at her feet. As he kept working, she tilted her foot aside to leave it all stretched out on the street before him, her sole making up a giant fleshy wall for him to worship.

Pieck enjoyed his attention and kept bullying him while he worked, scrunching her sole while he climbed it or squeezing him between her toes while he worked on them. She could have spent all day bullying him and never gotten tired of it, but while he was finishing up on the first foot she saw that the city was finally sending some guards to stop her. Without even a word to her pathetic slave, she turned her foot over and left him struggling under her sole, where the immense pressure had his bones cracking and him howling in pain even while she was still sitting. When she stood up, he was instantly crushed by the weight, and the feeling of his tiny body being reduced to nothing under her foot sent a shot of ecstasy all over her body.

The titanic woman reveled in her power—felt it rise up within her as she started growing again. More buildings, all of them empty now, were crushed under her feet as she doubled in size to stand at over a thousand fee tall, big enough that even her pinkie toes dwarfed most houses in height.

The marching guards, already nervous about dealing with someone of her size, were given further pause as they now saw her stretching into the sky. She looked down on them with contempt and amusement, her hands on her hips and a wry smile on her mouth while they gawked helplessly at her. Then, she raised her foot and swung her leg forward, a gust of wind following its trajectory until it came to hang over the gathered guards, leaving them trembling in the shadow of her foot, under a sole with a dark, reddish spot that was the remains of her last victim.

They started running even before the order to retreat was given, scattering every which way so long as it took them out from under her. But before a single one of them could escape her shadow, Pieck stomped her foot and ground them all into the muddy earth together with the rubble of whatever buildings had been caught in her step. When she turned her foot aside to inspect her handiwork, she couldn't help but grin as she saw their messy remains decorating her sole and the earth, not one of them still recognizable as a human being.

Now, Pieck turned her attention to the rest of the capital, where crowds of people ran away screaming while guards and soldiers from all over the city slowly made their way, not towards her, but to the palace that served as Marley's seat of government—the perfect target for her rampage!

Pieck strode towards the palace, enjoying the feeling of all those buildings crunching underfoot, until she reached a group of Marleyans, stragglers who had fallen behind the others in their attempts to flee. She raised her foot overhead, letting them stew in their own terror as it slowly descended on them, then ground them into the earth and did the same with the next group of people she met.

Noticing a train starting up a few steps away, she quickly walked over and gripped the last car on the train, stopping the whole thing in its tracks. Then, picking up the two frontmost cars, she held them up to peer inside and saw all those Marleyans panicking as her colossal eyes filled the view from their windows. By then she was feeling peckish, and she decided they would make for a perfect snack.

Her fingernails dug into the car's metal roof and stripped it off, sharp screeches accompanying her action. Then, with all her victims exposed, she opened her mouth wide and send them all spilling onto her tongue. Pulling them inside, she closed her lips behind them, and started savoring her meal. Her colossal tongue tossed them about, slathering them all over everything, while the pitiful little things screamed and fought for their lives.

Feeling them squirming inside her was incredible! Their taste, on the other hand? Not so much. Still, Pieck wondered if they might not taste better on the inside, so she swept a bunch of them onto her molars and chowed down.

The taste was even worse. She swallowed them with a grimace, and swallowed the survivors whole, not caring to chew them up first. The taste was horrible—she didn't understand how all those rabid titans could stand to eat so many people like this—but their squirming as they slid down her throat left her more excited than ever before, and she only got more turned on as she kept making her way to the palace, crushing everyone and everything in her path, gladly lording her new power over these specks who had so mistreated her.

Finally she was at the palace, where all those cursed diplomats and other officials had dared to talk down to her like she was some dog. Reaching down, she tore off the roof of the palace. As soon as she did, the people inside all started shouting and running around like a bunch of ants whose nest was just disturbed. Pieck watched them all, listening to their pitiful screams. Then, she licked a couple fingers and swept them through the uncovered rooms, effortlessly gathering up dozens of government officials and crushing several more, until her fingers were covered with them. She grinned as they struggled in vain to escape her spit, then she carried them down, down to her waist where her other hand was pulling on the waistband of her pants and panties, down to her crotch where the musty smell of her womanhood wafted over and overwhelmed the pathetic vultures, practically brainwashing them so they were slobbering over pussy and begging to be thrust inside. Their wishes were granted as she slipped her fingers into herself, masturbating with all these specks as her toys.

The sensation was divine, unlike anything she'd felt before. Her legs buckled and she fell to her knees, shaking the earth under her colossal mass and crushing most of the palace remains. The pleasure intensified as all those little insects squirmed in her vaginal juices and rubbed against the walls of her pussy in their pheromone-driven craze, and she fell back on the city, pushing them all deeper inside herself while she masturbated furiously. Then she started growing again, and her legs, her ass, her arms, all of her, casually overtook ever more of the city. As she grew she picked up still more of the Marleyans, snatching whole buildings and blocks at a time and dropping them all inside her to struggle for her pleasure.

Pieck writhed in ecstasy as her vaginal contractions crushed those bugs to paste and their buildings to mud and rubble. Her moans shook the land and threatened to burst the ears of all those pathetic Marleyans. When she came, her shout reached for miles around, and her size exploded to heights unimagined, until the entire capital was snuffed out under her miles-long body,and every last person in it wiped out. When she recovered and sat up, she was thrilled to see the world spread out around her, with forests, cities, lakes and even mountains seeming to her no more than little playthings. She stood, and saw that the clouds reached no higher than her waist and the earth under at her feet. She was the most powerful being to ever live, a real Goddess fit to rule the world. And as Goddess, she would impose peace on all its people. She knew now that was the only way the petty squabbles of mankind would ever end.

But before that, there was one thing to take care of. She would exterminate the entire kingdom of Marley, and bring all their misdeeds to justice. It was a shame that she'd have to kill so many innocents for it, but then, she wouldn't have had to do that if they had only rebelled against their rulers.

Spotting another town close by, Pieck took a step and knelt beside it, her knees landing to either side, her figure filling up the sky. The thing was tiny, barely the size of a fingertip, and at her size she couldn't even see any of the little speck-sized people that must be running terrified down there. She considered for a moment how to wipe it out, then grinned and leaned the tiniest bit forward. Seconds later, she opened her lips and produced a giant glob of spit. Some of her saliva evaporated as it fell, leaving behind a cloudy trail, but there was still enough of it to fill a small lake when it splashed down onto the little town, instantly flattening all the people and buildings who had lived in it and sending their remains flowing down a river of spit to join the neighboring stream.

Amused at ending their pathetic lives in such a way, Pieck turned her attention on the next town over. She crawled to it and lay down beyond its borders, her lips hanging right above them all to blot out their sky. She opened her mouth wide, slowly leaned down, and took a bite of the earth to swallow their town whole.

Her rampage continued as she explored new and more humiliating ways to wipe out her victims, from sniffing them up her nose and leaving them stuck to huge globs of mucus, to holding her feet over the tiny towns and cities until they were drowned in the deluge of foot sweat raining down on them. She crushed armies and cities alike under her godly soles, or sprinkled them between her toes and squeezed to turn them all into toe jam.

When she finished cleansing all of Marley, she grew even bigger, until she could travel across the continent in just a few strides. She went all over the world, telling everyone that she was their new Goddess, and that anyone who dared disobey her would meet the same end as Marley. All submitted to her without question and gave up their armies.

So began the age of Pieck. The nations of the world would never again go to war with each other, not when they were all too busy laboring at the feet of their colossal Goddess, pampering every inch of her body, lest they meet with her divine wrath.

I awake with a yawn and reach up to rub my eyes. My hand slides down my face and comes to rest on my chin, scratching my beard. Beard? That's strange. Since when did I have a beard? I'm puzzled, but I take it in stride and keep calmly stroking my strange yet familiar facial hair. I yawn again and stretch my arms until they hit against the headboard. Then I open my eyes and look around.

I'm in a decently-sized room, on a big bed with a dark green quilt covering me. There's a dresser and a closet, but no windows, and only the soft light of a bedside lamp illuminates the room. Still, it is cozy and feels familiar enough that it takes until I flip on the light switch for the realization to hit me: This isn't my room.

Concern strikes me as I try to think back to what had happened yesterday when I fell asleep. I'm almost horrified when I fail to dredge up any memories at all. Not my name, not my home, not the faces of my friends or parents. I don't even remember what my room is supposed to look like—I only know that this isn't it.

I walk to the dresser and open the drawers one by one. There's clothes there—pants and shorts and socks and underwear. I try on a pair of pants. They fit me perfectly, as do the socks. I grab a shirt from the closet and find that it fits me well too. I look for shoes but there aren't any in this room. On the other hand, I do find a note by the door. “Come outside when you're ready. Don't be scared of what you see. You're safe. You're loved. Be glad. Everything will turn out fine.”

I hold the note. Is this my handwriting? I feel both reassured and confused, curious yet frightened, tender yet melancholy. I leave it aside for now and look around the room for anything that might help me figure out what's happening here. There's nothing, though. If there are any answers, they must lie outside this room.

I grab the doorknob. It turns easily in my grasp, and the latch comes loose, but I don't pull it open yet. I'm scared. My heart is beating hard and my palms are sweating. I glance at the note again. The words still confuse me, but they comfort me all the same. I steel myself and open the door.

When I see the outside, I feel like I'm in a dream. I've left the bedroom just to enter another. It's close to identical to the one I just left, with the same furniture, the same color walls and carpet, the same everything. But there are windows here, and, more importantly, everything is thirty times bigger than in the room I just left.

I stand on the edge of the dresser, overlooking everything. Amazed as I am, somehow this feels expected. It's that feeling as much as the strangeness of what I see that reassures me this is only a dream. There's no way I would be so calm about this if it were real.

Separating me from this giant room on all sides is a wall of glass, or maybe clear plastic, that extends up a dozen feet, above the walls of the miniature room I woke up in. Near the wall, there's a button the size of a large dish, and a sign behind it that reads “Press for help” and reiterates the same comforting words from before. Everything feels so surreal, and I hardly notice I'm moving to press the button until it clicks under my hand.

A sound like a doorbell comes from outside this room. I wait in suspense. Not five seconds later, I hear the sound of a door closing and a series of thumps that are definitely coming closer. When they stop right outside this room, there's a knock on the door. “I'm coming in now, okay? Please don't be scared,” someone calls to me. But how can I not be scared when the door opens and a giant peeks inside? She smiles at me and steps in slowly, like she's taking care not to scare me. Still, I can't handle the sight of something so big coming towards me, its eyes locked on my vulnerable self. The thought that this is a dream provides little comfort.

She stands across the room, making no move towards me. I look for any sort of escape route, but the glass wall surrounds me and a plastic lid above, like the cover of a fish tank, traps me here. There's no escaping her. I can only hope that she'll be friendly.

“Good morning, Nathan!” she says, leaning down so her head is closer to level with me. “Nathan”; is that my name? It feels like it could be, at least. “How are you doing? You're probably confused, or thinking it's all a dream, huh?” She's still smiling at me, but there's a pained, compassionate look to it now. “Maybe it's better for you to think that. But if you want to know the truth, I can tell you everything. Why you're so small. Why you can't remember anything. Why you're probably feeling all sorts of deja vu today. I could tell you all that from here, but, do you mind if I come closer? I'd really like to look at you. Just press the button again if you're okay with it.”

I look at the button again, hesitating, but in the end I do press it. She nods her head. “Press it again if you want me to stop,” she says, and slowly approaches. I can't say I'm not scared, seeing something so huge coming for me, but, putting aside her size, there's something calming about her. She feels familiar. Everything about this does. It feels like I've been through this a hundred times before, but I can't remember anything. Just a dream, I tell myself, and it helps calm me down so that when she's standing right in front of me I'm not so scared.

Still, I can't help but be impressed when I look at her. She seems a bit younger than me, maybe twenty years old at most, though in size she's my superior by far. Even seeing her from just the waist up she still towers more than fifty feet over me. Her hands come to pull the lid off my little box, carrying it away so effortlessly and leaving it on the dresser just outside the glass walls. Her face hangs high above, peering in at me. She's really happy now, I can tell. “Good morning,” she says again.

“Good morning,” I answer her.

“Everything okay?”

“Y-yeah, I guess I'm fine.”

“I'm glad. Oh, I'm Molly, by the way.”

“And I'm... Nathan?” The name feels familiar on my lips.

“You are, that's right. And you're my...” Whatever she was going to say, she stops herself and licks her lips. Her cheerfulness falters . “I said I could tell you everything you want to know. Do you want to hear it, or should I let you keep dreaming?”

“Tell me everything,” I said. I'm curious how everything could possibly be explained. And besides, whatever she says, I'm dreaming all the same, aren't I?

“Okay.” She takes a deep breath. “Your name is Nathaniel Hayes. I'm your daughter, Molly Hayes.”

I frown and look closely at her face. She does look a bit like me, I think. The long nose, the brown eyes, the high cheekbones, the big forehead, the chin and the freckles—it's all like my own. But I laugh all the same. “How can you be my daughter if you're only a few years younger than me?” I ask. She chuckles with me for a second, then shakes her head.

“Do you want help looking in the mirror?” She points above the miniature room, and I notice that there has been a mirror there this whole time—there wasn't on the smaller dresser. I look back and frown. What could she possibly want to show me? But I'm curious. If I have a beard now, how else could I have changed? Alright, I tell her. She lowers her hand into the cage, and as I step back she sets it down next to me. “Hop on.”

I look it over uncertainly, but I'm already walking towards it, and I sit in her palm like it's the most natural thing in the world. It's... comfortable. The grooves and creases of her skin feel a bit rugged at this size, but still soft and silky smooth in their own way. It feels right, somehow.

A moment later that meaty platform lifts me up, with her other hand cupped under it, until I'm about level with her face. It looks strange from so close—faces weren't meant to be seen from this perspective. I see her teeth glistening as her lips draw open in a slight grin. I feel the warm breath from her nose blowing over her skin and around my legs. Behind me her fingers bend closer but stop short of touching me, like she remembered she's not supposed to. Then she clears her throat.

“Look. Here you are.” She holds me towards the mirror. I'm several feet away—or, is it a few inches? Is she giant or am I small?—and I see myself in the mirror. I look... old. Older, at least. Middle-aged, with a more wrinkled face and lightly graying hair. I raise a hand. I feel my face all over. It's all real. Had I looked like this before waking up here? If I really was awake and not dreaming. I still couldn't believe all this.

“Why am I old now?” I ask, with more vanity than concern. Maybe I've grown numb from waking up to a world many times too big for me; finding out I'm older too hardly has an effect. I guess I don't look too bad, though, with those clothes I'm wearing.

Molly takes another deep breath. “Okay, so a little over eighteen years ago, there was this virus going around. You got infected. The virus made you shrink, and it gave you a type of amnesia. You basically lose all your memories at the end of the day. Except, like, maybe a few unconscious ones. Every time you wake up it's like a fresh start for you.”

“A fresh start,” I repeat. Guess that would explain why I can't remember anything, and why it all feels so familiar. She probably spent years taking care of me. If it's even real. “This all sounds so ridiculous. Honestly, you just convinced me it's all a dream.”

She gives a wry smile. “That's fine. You can believe whatever you want. While you're dreaming, though, how about we get you some dream breakfast? Aren't you dream hungry?”

“Hungry?” I pat my stomach. “Guess I am. Well, sure, why not? Might as well see where the dream takes me.”

“Then sit tight and let's get going!” She carries me away with a moderate pace, moving with such expert care that it feels like I'm gliding through the air. There's hardly a bump or a shake I can feel, but still I'm so high up and moving so fast that when her fingertip appears at my side I hug it for support while trying to look around at where we are and where we're going.

The hallway we pass is as huge as the bedroom we just left, but also just as ordinary. There's nothing else really strange nor dream-like about it. Before long I hear sizzling and I catch the smell of breakfast in the air. “I'm back, mom,” Molly announces when we enter the kitchen. There's a woman at the stove, her white blouse sleeves rolled up and an apron over her chest as she scrambled some eggs. As she hears Molly's voice, she turns to us, and I see her face.

She's beautiful. At least, to me she is. Maybe others would disagree. She's no supermodel, no prom queen, no trophy wife. She's an older woman, middle-aged like I am now, with as many wrinkles as me, though her hair retains more color. Not thin. Maybe a tad overweight. If you'd asked me to draw you the picture of a beautiful woman... well, I can't draw, but if I could, it wouldn't have been her. Not until I saw her, at least.

“Molly,” she says to her daughter. They do look alike, I notice after a closer look, but it seems like Molly took more after me. She's cheerful when greeting Molly, but when she looks at me she seems so nervous. “Good morning, Nathan.”

“Morning,” I mutter back. I'm not sure she hears me, but maybe she sees my lips moving since she give a little smile.

“It's another 'dream' for him today,” Molly tells her.

“Again? Well... whatever makes you happy, dear.” She looks at me with such love and compassion, I can feel it in my heart. She acts like she knows me, but...

“I'm sorry, who are you?” I ask, ashamed that I don't even know her name.

“No, no, don't apologize. I should have introduced myself right away. My name is Sophia. I'm your wife... if you'll have me.” My wife. The word sounds so painful in my ears. I don't know what to say, and before I can think of anything she shakes her head. “I'm sorry, I shouldn't have dumped that on you yet. You don't have to answer now, or ever if you don't want to. Molly, why don't you take him to the table? I'll join you when the food is ready. I hope you'll like it; it's eggs with baked potatoes.”

“Sounds perfect,” I tell her honestly. She smiles. Then I'm turned around.

“Come on, let's get you seated,” Molly says as she carries me around the half wall to the dining room, where she takes a seat and lowers me to the table. There's a smaller chair and table where I hop off, the perfect size for me, and I take a seat myself. After getting comfortable I look back at Sophia. My wife.

After a while, a chuckle from Molly pulls my attention away. “Can't wait for breakfast?” she asks. I can tell she knows that's not what's on my mind, but I answer “yes” anyways. “Maybe you wanna talk about something to pass the time.”

I look at Sophia. “So she's my wife, huh? ... How did we meet?”

“You spilled a beer on her shirt.” Molly grins.

“Oh, man. Was she pissed?”

“Nah. I think she was too drunk to care.”

I laugh and shake my head. “Sounds like my kind of woman. Or, I guess she was... eighteen years ago, you said?” I sigh. Even if this is a dream, it still feels bad not being able to remember anything. Even if all my memories were of the dream world it would still be better than nothing. “So we've been together since before I... shrank?”

Sophia nods. “You got married a year before that, and had me one month later.” She's grinning again, but she wipes it off before speaking at a whisper. “When you shrank... Mom wanted to keep you around, but she couldn't do it. She couldn't balance her job with raising a kid and taking care of you all at once. She had to send you to an asylum for shrinkees. We visited you every weekend, but we couldn't do anything more for you. She couldn't even tell you who she was.

“We only brought you back a year ago. Mom still feels guilty for leaving you there for so long. If she tells you she's sorry... Well, I don't need to tell you to forgive her. You do it every single time.”

Hearing her story, I forget about this being a dream. Real or not, I'm moved at the thought of how much hardship Sophia must have suffered after my shrinking, how much she must have cared for me to still take me back in after so long. And I couldn't remember any of it.

A little later, Sophia comes around with a couple plates in hand and sets them down, one for herself and one for Molly. For me, she cuts off a small bit of egg and potatoes and gently sets them down on my little table. My stomach rumbles. The smell is divine. I thank her for it and dig in.

“You're welcome. I hope you like it.”

Molly scoffs. “Of course he likes it. He wouldn't have asked for it if he didn't.”

I swallow and frown at her. “I asked for this?”

“You did, yesterday.”

“Ah. Well, um. Thanks for making this for me, Sophia.”

She blushes. “You're welcome, Nathan.”

“And, about what you asked earlier. I still don't now if this is real or not. It feels so much like a dream. But whatever it is, I think I'd be happy being your husband, for as long as it lasts. If you really want someone so small and troublesome as your husband.”

“Don't talk about yourself like that! You're no trouble at all!” She reaches for me but stops short. “Ah, sorry. We'll, uh, leave that for later.”

“Oh my God, you guys, do you really have to be so sappy about it every time?” Molly says, laughing about at us. But despite her chiding, it's clear she's happy.

As I look on both their looming faces, I feel something well up inside. A deep love for these two perfect strangers, my wife and daughter. If this is a dream, it's a beautiful one, and one I hope will last the night. I only wish I may let them know how I feel before this all ends.

Come the next morning, when Reimu stirred from her slumber, she smiled as she scrunched her feet and felt the tiny Aya squirming in the prison of her toes. Was she trying to escape, having come back to her senses under the light of a new day, or simply writhing in ecstasy from the embrace of her goddess's flesh? Or was it both at once, as her feeble efforts to escape were overwhelmed and redirected by the guilty pleasures of the flesh? Whatever the case, the thoughts of that pitiful little insect were far beneath Reimu's concern. The shrine maiden stretched her arms with a yawn, then went to get dressed for the day.

Reimu took her time going about her morning routine. She had plenty of time, since Hatate's office wasn't likely to open this early in the day, and she calmly spent it on enjoying this fine morning, toying with the tiny tengu trapped in her tabi whose eager worship she felt licking and caressing her toes.

It was a couple hours past sunrise when Reimu went to get her package ready, grabbing a small wooden box into which she deposited Aya's camera and most of the pictures she had taken with it, keeping only a few for... sentimental reasons. In addition she deposited a couple samples of her new shrinking and regrowth seals, and a note on their usage and on where to buy more. When that was in order, she took off her sock and reached between her toes to pull out the shrunken Aya.

The tengu looked beaten, yet still squirmed when Reimu's thumb rubbed over her chest, and whimpered as she looked submissively at her Goddess. Reimu smirked at her pathetic display but, knowing that she herself had been in that same position more than once, she couldn't help but feel a hint of tenderness for her little pet. She raised Aya to her lips, smothering her in a kiss, before dropping her in a small red bag and pulling the drawstrings tight. The bag she also dropped inside the box, and with her package complete, she set out to deliver it.

The flight to Hatate's was a peaceful one, and Reimu shortly arrived at the Kakashi Spirit News office, where she found Hatate seemingly goofing off on her flip phone with her legs up on the desk. It took the miko placing the box on her desk for Hatate to finally look up and, seeing who her visitor was, pull her legs down so quickly that she almost fell over backwards.

“R-Reimu! Welcome.” she said, sitting bolt upright in her chair. The miko, she knew, was not someone to be trifled with, especially not since her return. She'd been on something of a hairpin trigger ever since, beating down any youkai or other troublemakers who dared to show one hair out of line. Hatate didn't think she'd done anything to earn Reimu's ire, but she certainly wasn't going to risk upsetting her.

“Hello, Hatate,” Reimu said, pleased with her reaction. “Don't worry, I'm not here about any trouble. In fact, I'm interested in working with you. I have a new product, see, and I was hoping you could help me advertise it in your paper.”

“Oh, sure! What kind of product are you talking about?”

“You should see it for yourself. It's right in this box, with a few samples and proof that it works. You'll find everything you need to write your article here in this box. And, about the payment. I'm sure you know I... don't have much money... but if the free samples aren't enough for you, there's another gift in this box I hope you'll accept as payment.”

“Well, I suppose I can have a look at it...” Hatate timidly grabbed the box and pulled it closer.

“Good. Then I'll leave you to look it over. I'll be back tomorrow for a sample of your paper, or for my gift if you don't accept it. See you, and be sure not to make any trouble for me, okay?”

“Wouldn't dream of it.” Watching the miko depart, Hatate breathed a sigh of relief when she was finally out of the office, then turned her attention to the box, idly tapping on its lid while wondering what might be inside. She shook it lightly to get a sense of its contents, and finally, having no clue of what it might be, she opened the box and peered inside.

At first glance there was nothing particularly interesting about the bunch of papers and photographs she found inside, but as she pulled everything out and started going over all of it in detail, Hatate was left incredulous. If not for all those photos in the box, she never would have believed the note Reimu had left her, though in a way the pictures were the most unbelievable thing about it. It was only on very close inspection that Hatate concluded the scenes depicted in them were very much real. Aya, reduced to the size of a bug and either bullied by or made to worship a body whose red-and-white dress could not have been anyone's but Reimu's. It was terrifying to think that the miko was now capable of something like that, and yet, Hatate was thoroughly engrossed seeing everything that had been done to Aya, imagining that the faceless body which dominated the fellow-tengu was her own.

Those talismans... did they really work as Reimu claimed? Would they reduce a person to a mere insect as Reimu had apparently done to Aya? And speaking of Aya, where was she anyways? Was she still in Reimu's possession? Or could she be...

Hatate looked at the small red bag that lay on her desk. When she'd pulled it out, it had weighed almost nothing, and she'd assumed that it was empty. But looking at it now, she noticed there was a little lump at the corner. Reimu had spoken of a gift in the box, but aside from the sample seals, Hatate hadn't seen anything else that would fit the description. Was her gift in the bag, then?

Hatate took it in her hands, feeling out the little lump to make sure it wasn't just a fold in the fabric. Sure enough, there was something inside, and it slid along the bag's innards when she pushed at it. For a moment, Hatate even thought it had made a noise. Then, with bated breath, she opened the bag, turned it over in her hand, and sent a tiny little Aya spilling out on her open palm.

She couldn't believe it. She thought it must be a figurine or something. But the tiny Aya sat up in her palm, staring back at her and cowering in her gaze. When Hatate stretched a finger towards her, Aya yelped and backed away from it. “Aya? Is that really you?”

“Ah... Ah...” Suddenly the poor thing ceased her trembling and with a show of will stood up on Hatate's palm, looking at her with an even gaze. “Of course it's me, you dummy. Who else would it be?”

“Oh, I was just making sure that it wasn't some weird bug I was holding. If it was I might have had to squish you.” Hatate grinned at her little colleague and pulled her in for a closer look, making Aya stumble and fall into one of the wrinkles of her palm. “Reimu really did a number on you, didn't she? Wonder what you did to deserve this.”

“I didn't do anything! She told me she had a scoop for me and said to meet her in the shrine, but when I got there she ambushed me out of nowhere and left me like this. I'm telling you, you can't trust her anymore. She's gone mad with power.”

“Hm. I don't know. That doesn't really sound like something she'd do. Maybe I should check on it with my camera.”

“N-no, don't worry about that. It doesn't matter if you believe me. But, hey, she gave you some samples of her seals, right? The ones for shrinking people and for growing them back?”

“Yeah? What about it?” Hatate pulled Aya right up to her eye, staring closely at her.

“If you have them that means you can use one to bring me back to normal.”

“Huh. You're right, I probably could. But, if I'm being honest, I really don't want to right now.”

“W-what? How can you not want to grow me back!? Aren't we friends, Hatate? And aren't we fellow tengu? Hell, don't you owe me one for all the help I've given you before?”

“Oh, chill out, will you? Don't act like you hate being small that much.”

“Of course I hate it!”

“Really? Then why do you look like you're enjoying it so much in all these pictures.” Hatate held up a photograph of Aya earnestly worshipping Reimu's toes. Though her tiny face wasn't fully in focus, still there a look of burning desire could be seen on it.

As soon as she saw it, Aya's face went red. “I... I... I was under a spell, okay? I never would have done it otherwise.”

“Is that so? And you're not still under that spell?”

“Of course not! I wouldn't be telling you to grow me back if I was.”

“Well, that's very convincing logic. But like any good reporter, I need to make sure I confirm all my stories. You're a reporter too, so I'm sure you understand~”

Aya didn't like the sound of Hatate's voice, much less the way her colleague was looking at her. Before she could answer her, though, Aya fell to her knees as the chair swiveled to the side. She heard something clatter on the floor twice, and heard the sound of sliding fabric when Hatate bent over. Then Hatate turned her hand over and sent Aya falling down to land sharply on the floor.

Aya's head was swimming after she landed, but the powerful scent that accosted her nose was more than enough to let her know what Hatate was doing. A primal panic welled up inside her, and with it a deep arousal. The two emotions mixed within her, and when her vision recovered and the sight of Hatate's looming soles met her eyes, the balance between them left her gaping blankly at the giant feet, not knowing whether to flee or to throw herself at them.

Every scrunch of her sole, every curl of her toes, every sensual rubbing of one foot against the other, only focused her attention all the more on them. In pained arousal, enveloped in the harsh smell and oppressive mustiness of her feet, she awaited the godly tengu's next action, until at last one divine food descended towards her. Aya shut her eyes, trembling as she readied for Hatate's judgement, yet instead of being flattened under her colossal foot, she merely felt the air fill up with a greater warmth, a more intense smell, a weightier humidity. When she opened her eyes, she was met an eyeful of skin on all sides save behind her.

She sat between two of Hatate's toes, big as houses and mighty as dragons, feeling now the urge to fall on her knees and worship them winning out over the urge to flee. But before she could obey it, the soft chuckles of the deity above brought her eyes upwards. “Having fun there, Aya?”

Aya shivered as her titanic toes wiggled beside her. “No, I'm not!” she shouted, regaining enough self control to stand defiantly under Hatate's gaze. “You know this thing wears off on its own eventually, right? If you don't grow me back right now, I swear I'm going to make you pay for it when I'm finally back to normal.”

“Oh, really? And what if I keep buying more of those shrinking seals to make sure you never grow back for the rest of your life?” Hatate was grinning fiendishly as she bent over, forcing Aya to stare straight up at her looming face.

“Y-you wouldn't,” Aya said. “You can't! Th-there's no way you could afford it. You don't sell nearly enough papers.”

“Are you sure about that? If you're shrunk then you won't be writing your paper, and that means Kakashi Spirit News will be the only one around. I'll probably start selling, like, twice as many copies as before. That's more than enough to buy a new shrinking seal with every other issue. Now, are you going to start licking my toes yet, or do you need more encouragement?” Her toes drummed insistently on the floor as she waited for Aya's response. Deeply conflicted, the tiny tengu could only sit still, taking in the might of her lazy colleague while the muggy air filled her senses. “Nothing to say, huh? Maybe a little taste of my foot will help you make up your mind.”

Hatate's toes squeezed together, trapping Aya between them. The tiny tengu struggled at first, but she quickly understood that she was powerless against the might of those giant toes. Instead she froze up, whimpering as she tried to resist the powerful urge to start rubbing and hugging and kissing and licking those toes in submission. But Hatate wasn't about to leave that decision up to her. As she wiggled her toes, the friction of that warm, sweat-moistened skin all over Aya's body, the embrace of her divine flesh, soon had her tiny colleague moaning in pleasure even as she begged her to stop. Hatate only smiled at the puny thing as she brought her foot up onto her lap so she could hear that squeaky voice all the better.

“What's the matter? I thought you said you weren't under Reimu's spell anymore. Why does it sound like you're enjoying this so much, then?” Hatate asked, holding her toes still for now.

“I-I must have made a mistake. I swear I don't like this at all. I... Mmph!” Aya's words were suddenly cut off by a little squeeze of Hatate's toes. Soft flesh enveloped her from top to bottom, and though she struggled against it, her puny limbs couldn't compare to the sheer power of Hatate's digits.

“It sounds like you're making excuses, Aya. You know I can tell when you're not being honest, right? Come on, tell the truth for once in your life and I promise I'll quit bothering you.”

“I am telling the truth! I don't like this at all!” Aya writhed in Hatate's grip as she fought with all her will her body's desire to surrender to the pleasures of the smelly, sweaty flesh.

“So this still isn't enough, huh? Guess I'll have to turn things up a notch.” Bringing both her feet up onto her chair, Hatate held her soles right against each other. She plucked Aya from her toes, and carried her kicking and screaming to hang right over the little valley of her feet. As she dropped the tiny tengu, she pressed her feet together, catching Aya mid-fall and leaving her entombed between her giant soles.

Hatate was grinning ear to ear as she rubbed her feet against each other and rolled little Aya around like she was no more than a little piece of lint, enjoying the imprint of that tiny body on her skin. “How do you like this, Aya? Do you love my feet as much as you were loving Reimu's in those pictures? I don't go out nearly as much as she does, so I bet mine are way softer than hers. Then again, I haven't washed them in days so maybe that makes them worse. Or, do you actually like the smell?” She cooed at her little toy, relishing in her dominance. “You can live like this forever if you just admit how much you like it. Think of it. You'll spend every day with me, worshipping me from head to my toes, and be my favorite little pet. No one will have to know about it, either. I can keep you in my socks, and you'll never see the light of day again except when I'm changing them once a month. My feet will be your whole world.”

Aya breathed heavily between Hatate's feet, huffing their addictive aroma. For all that she tried to resist, the tengu's words struck a chord in her, and her whole body was wracked by the pleasures of Hatate's feet and the heavenly images her colleague's words put in her head. If she could have, she would have started worshipping then and there; instead she gave herself up to the tengu's whims, letting her godly feet do with her as they pleased.

The experience was exhausting, and when Hatate finally moved her feet apart and released Aya, the tiny woman could hardly move a muscle. Still, with her body all but plastered to the vast wall of skin, she opened her little mouth and stuck out her tongue to lap at the dirty, sweaty skin. The scrunch of Hatate's sole, engulfing her in deep folds of foot flesh, only encouraged her all the more to render her worship unto her colleague, and to hungrily swallow all the days-old grime she could get into her mouth. When she was peeled off Hatate's sole, she simply switched over to licking and worshipping her thumb instead as though nothing had changed. As if that weren't enough, she spread her legs and tried to press her crotch to the warmth of Hatate's body, grinding against it like an animal. “Fu-fu! And you said you weren't enjoying it!”

Hatate's voice roused Aya from her trance. The tiny tengu opened her eyes, and found herself once more face to face with her colleague, now painfully aware of how she had disgraced herself with her fingers and sole. She stopped licking Hatate, and buried her face in the pulp of her thumb to hide her blush until she was back on the other woman's palm. “Still quiet, huh? Well, whatever. You already answered me better than I could have asked. I'll let you have fun while I work on the ad for Reimu's seals, then when I'm finished we can talk about what's gonna happen to you.” Dropping Aya under her desk, Hatate set her feet down in front of the tiny tengu and peered down at her with a grin that sent shivers up Aya's spine. Aside from the soft drumming of her toes on the floor, though, she left Aya alone.

Aya watched those toes uneasily, wondering if there was some trick in all this. Though she heard Hatate's typewriter clacking overhead, she couldn't believe that lazy girl would ever opt for working when she could keep playing with her “new toy” instead. But Hatate never looked back down, nor did she try to catch Aya with her feet. It was like Hatate had forgotten all about her.

“This is my chance,” she thought, standing and wiping the sweat and dust from her outfit. With Hatate distracted, she could take this time to get out of here before she noticed Aya was gone. She didn't trust Hatate to ever grow her back anymore, and even spending a couple days outside by herself would be better than having her pride and dignity eroded away by those irresistible feet.

But even with her determination, she couldn't quite make herself leave. The sight of Hatate's toes was hypnotic, and held her gaze closely. The smell, the mustiness, and the tremors from the impact of each toe on the floor all held her enthralled. No, she couldn't leave. She was as much a captive to Hatate's feet as if she were chained to them, and she fell in defeat to her knees, helpless to do anything but watch the sensuous sliding of toe against toe, flesh bulging as it pressed against flesh, while the floor vibrated to every little movement of those massive feet. Slowly her feet carried her, not from but towards Hatate. Step by halting step she crept closer to those house-sized digits, following every little rise and fall. Then, Hatate placed her right foot over the left, leaving all ten toes huddled together and wiggling against each other.

It was more than Aya could resist. Without waiting a second more, she ran forward and hopped on Hatate's second toe, climbing it and crawling under the ones that rested over it. As soon as she felt the tiny tengu down there, Hatate grinned and started wiggling her toes against each other. Aya had held on for longer than she thought, but Hatate never doubted she would come to her feet sooner or later, like a moth to a flame. She left her work aside—she hadn't really done much in the first place, and now with Aya to play with, she was less interested in it than ever—and grabbed her phone.

After typing a few key words, a bunch of photographs appeared on the screen, pictures of Aya as she was now between Hatate's toes. A look of pure ecstasy was on the tiny woman's face as she licked and worshipped Hatate's feet, rubbing up against her welcoming flesh whenever a halt in the wiggling of her toes allowed it. Hatate pored over every single pic, marveling at how big every little detail of her skin looked next to the pathetically puny Aya. And with new pictures coming even every few seconds, there was plenty for her to marvel at.

Soon she switched up how she toyed with Aya, dropping her pet on the floor while her soles hovered overhead. She saw the tengu staring up at her feet as though pleading for Heaven's favor, then standing on her tip-toes to kiss Hatate's sole when she lowered her feet an inch. When she stretched out her legs, catching and dragging Aya along under her heel, she saw her pet trying to wriggle out from under her only to then start climbing up her towering sole. She followed Aya's journey every step of the way, wondering at the fact that the sheer cliff she saw in those pictures was nothing more than her own foot.

Aya looked so tired and worn, her hair and clothes all matted down with Hatate's sweat. From time to time Hatate saw a picture of her holding fast to her sole—maybe trying to hold on through a slight movement of her foot? It was incredible for her to think that Aya was doing all this simply to reach her toes, but she took it as a bit of a compliment that her foot could drive Aya to these heights.

When Aya reached her destination, she sat down in Hatate's second toe gap, straddling the flap of skin connecting them. Then... well, it was hard to make out when she only had still images to work with, but judging by the photos and what she felt down there, Hatate thought she was grinding against her flesh. She leaned against the middle toe, burying her face in its skin, and with her legs gripping her skin, she bucked her hips against it, a look of sheer pleasure on her face.

Hatate held her breath as she watched it. She felt guilty to have caught Aya in such an intimate moment, and yet so turned on herself to know that it was her own foot that had driven her to this. Almost unconsciously, her hand slid down to her crotch and she carefully started touching herself alongside Aya. Though she didn't want to disturb the smaller tengu, in her mounting pleasure she couldn't keep her toes from twitching now and then. Not that Aya seemed to mind; if anything, the movement seemed to push her passion to new heights and reduce her to a slobbering mess as she ravenously licked the giant toe.

A mischievous curl of Hatate's toes brought the tiny woman to climax. Her squeaky cry was so intense it reached Hatate even from all the way down there, and her face and posture—what little of it she could have with those giant toes squeezing her—perfectly conveyed the intensity of her pleasure.

Aya was finished. After Hatate's toes let go of her, she lay down between them, hugging herself to the flap of skin.

But Hatate wasn't done with her yet. She picked up the tengu and carried her up to her desk. Aya hung limply from her fingertips, only vaguely aware of what Hatate was doing. Set down on the desk, though with her legs still pinned under a fingertip, she looked at the heavenly visage above in fear and trembling. She could have fled if she'd wanted to. Could have tried to resist. But the only resistance she offered was a half-hearted attempt to raise her arms and hold the tengu's fingers away when they came for her. Hatate's might folded them like napkins, but then, that what she'd expected. She never wanted to stop her, only to feel again how Hatate's might overcame her own, as a human overcomes an ant.

Pinning Aya's arms down, Hatate carefully gripped her white blouse, and with one slight motion tore it off. Even Aya was surprised, and she raised her arms to cover her chest. Then, holding down her upper body, Hatate gripped her skirt and tore that off as well. Aya gave a cry and curled up her legs to protect herself. But Hatate only giggled over the cute sound of her voice, and started teasing away her arms and legs to uncover her body.

Hatate had always thought Aya was sexy, or at least her body was. As a person she had been too abrasive and annoying for Hatate, but now the tengu was meek as a kitten, and that cute body was all hers.

Once Hatate had teased Aya's limbs away, a simple flick of her fingernail up and down was all it took to strip away her underwear and leave the tiny tengu naked as a jaybird. All curled up in modesty, looking up at Hatate with big, innocent eyes, she seemed the cutest thing in the world to Hatate, who tenderly reached over to stroke her little pet until she started to reveal herself. Those perky breasts, that flat tummy, those deliciously milky thighs and that clean-shaven pussy, all had the tengu fawning over the tiny woman. She stared at Aya intently, her intent unreadable. Who knew what she might have done with her toy, had not a shadow come over her office door all of a sudden.

“Hatate!” a white-haired woman cried as the door was pushed open, wolf ears standing alert atop her head. The white wolf Momiji stepped inside as though rushing to help the tengu, but when her gaze fell on Hatate sitting casually at her desk, she stopped mid-stride.

“What is it?” Hatate asked, resting her hand on the desk to let Aya hide under her palm.

“I, uh... A-are you okay, Hatate?”

“Sure I am! Why wouldn't I be?”

“No, no reason, I guess. It's just I saw Reimu flying away from this direction, and with how she's been acting...”

“You thought she might have done something to me, huh?”

“Yeah. Sounds silly now that I think about it.”

“Don't worry about it; I appreciate you worrying about me! Although, Reimu did stop by on some business.”

“Really? Is it anything you can talk about?”

“Why don't you sit and have a look?” The seals, the note, the photographs, were all still lying on her desk, and as Momiji sat down opposite Hatate, she sifted through them, wondering at all she saw. Meanwhile, Aya had wandered to the edge of Hatate's palm, and there looked up at her colleague, silently begging her to keep her hidden. Hatate only smirked and let her hand fall on the tiny tengu.

“But this...” Momiji looked from picture to picture to picture, picking one up for a closer look, then putting it down and grabbing another. “This is Aya and Reimu isn't it? Does that mean she still has Aya?”

“She never said anything about it. In fact, she left before I even got the chance to look at the pictures. And so what if she does? What would you do about it?”

“I don't know, but we can't just let Reimu do this to her!”

“Oh? I didn't know you cared so much about Aya. You're always scolding or complaining about her.”

“Shameimaru... she can be annoying for sure, but that doesn't mean I can stand by and let her be abused like this. We're all still tengu at the end of the day. Don't tell me you don't feel the same way. Himekaidou, will you go with me to rescue her? If it's the two of us together, the miko will have to listen to us.”

“Fu-fu! You're really worked up about this, aren't you?”

“Well of course I am! I don't get how you can sit around like this when Reimu could be doing all these things to her right this moment.”

“I guess you didn't look at the pictures closely enough, because if you had you'd know Aya was clearly enjoying herself.”

“Huh? What do you mean? That can't be right. How could anyone like any of that stuff?”

“If you don't believe your eyes, why don't you ask her yourself?” Hatate raised her hand, exposing now the tiny woman lying on her desk. Frantically Aya lifted her head and looked over her shoulder at the incredulous Momiji. With staring eyes, the wolf tengu reached for the tiny thing on the desk, hardly any bigger than an ant, and carefully picked her up. After a short drop to her open palm, Aya covered herself up from Momiji and gave a scornful glance at Hatate, cursing her for this. It had been hard enough for her to accept that now Hatate would know all about her shameful actions; to have Momiji in on it too was more than she could bear.

“Aya? It really is you, isn't it.” Momiji stretched a finger towards her, but on seeing Aya curl up even tighter, she pulled it back again. “What happened to you? Hatate, did Reimu give her to you? And... why are her clothes on your desk? Did you...”

“Yeah, Reimu gave her to me. The two of us were just having some fun together before you got here. You wouldn't believe how much she loved it!”

“Th-that's not true! Hatate is just making things up! She was messing with me all this time. You need to get me away from her, Momiji.”

“Fu-fu! You can say what you like, Aya, but I have proof! Take a look at this~” Aya grabbed her phone and huddled next to Momiji to share with her the dozens of pictures she'd taken documenting Aya's time at her feet. Aya, too, crawled to the edge of Momiji's hand to see what they were looking at, and nearly fainted when she saw all those pictures on the screen. Never in all this time had she suspected that Hatate would be taking records of all her shameful actions.

There was no hiding it anymore. When Momiji finished poring over all the evidence, she looked at Aya with new eyes, as though seeing the tiny woman for the first time. Aya hid her face in shame. “She looks really upset,” Momiji said.

“She's just shy about letting people know she's into that stuff. Took me a while before she stopped resisting and gave in. Say, why don't you give it a try? You kinda look like you want to play with her. Am I right?”

“Momiji, listen to me. There's a pair of seals on the desk you can use to grow me back. Please, use them on me, I'm begging you. I don't want to be tiny anymore. That stuff you saw me doing? I knew it was wrong but I couldn't help it. There's some sort of magic twisting my mind into liking it. You have to believe me. And if you really want to play with someone? Use a shrinking seal on Hatate and grow me back. We can have fun with her together!”

“Are you talking about these seals?” Hatate held up a pair of small, rectangular slips of paper, showing them to her fellow tengu. She put them down on the desk and slid them over to Momiji. “Sure you could shrink me with them, but if it's up to you, who would you rather play with? Me, or Aya? Don't you want to get back at her for being so annoying? Don't you want to put her in her place until she's begging you to let her lick your feet?”

The look on Momiji's face made it clear that Hatate's words were hitting their mark. Hell, they were even affecting Aya and getting her thinking about being down on the floor under the white wolf's feet. A part of her wanted to speak up and try bringing Momiji over to her side, but she kept quiet and listened to Hatate's speech, her body resonating with the timbre of that voice.

“You already know she likes it, so it's not like you'd be hurting her. And besides, you read Reimu's note, right? People who shrink are protected from death and damage, so you don't have to worry about hurting her by accident. You can do whatever you want with her. Make her your personal slave. Make her your toy. Make her writhe under your toes all day long. And hey, maybe you think all that's boring; I'm sure you can think of something else to do with her.” Hatate held the white wolf's eyes. Maybe she wasn't totally sold on it yet, but Hatate could tell she was curious.

Momiji looked at Aya. The little crow trembled as those red eyes came to rest on her. Sitting all naked and helpless on the palm of her hand, she was an adorable sight. Momiji felt a protective instinct spring up inside her. But together with it came a crueler urge as she recalled Hatate's words about having her way with Aya. In her hands was the power to do both—to take care of Aya and protect her, or to smother her under the sole of her foot and make her cower in fear. Either was fine with her so long as she could exercise this power.

Turning her chair around, Momiji held Aya up to her face. She opened her mouth and blew a puff of wind that launched the tiny tengu away. When she landed, Momiji took off her red shoes and her white tabi socks, and she went to stand over the tiny tengu. Her stance was casual, but her stare was intense, and her size alone gave her a commanding presence that left Aya in awe of her. Momiji raised her foot and held it over Aya, then slowly brought it down until she was smothering the shrunken woman underfoot. Vaguely she could make out Aya's tiny body being pressed into her sole, feel her trying in vain to move.

As she got more comfortable with exerting pressure on Aya, Momiji started grinding her underfoot like she was really trying to crush her, reveling in the sensation of that pitifully insignificant woman trapped beneath her. When she raised her foot again, she found that Aya wasn't even on the floor anymore, but instead plastered to her sole. She laughed and sat on the floor, holding her foot and admiring how just scrunching her sole had Aya moving up and down with the wrinkles of her foot. “Are you enjoying this yet, Aya?” she asked, pinning the tiny thing under a fingertip to press her even deeper into her flesh.

Hatate, meanwhile, had locked the front door, turning the sign to “Closed” and closing the blinds to make sure no one could look inside. Then she sat on the floor in front of Momiji, stretching out her legs towards her. “Having fun? Why don't you bring her over so we can share?” she asked, and held up her foot. When she saw Hatate's toes wiggling playfully, Momiji understood what the other girl was getting at, and she stretched out her own leg until her sole met Hatate's and Aya was smothered between them both. “Let's see who she ends up with her after this.”

Each girl pressed her foot against the other's, their soles compressing and enveloping the tiny tengu from head to toe. With little twists and turns of their feet they warred against each other, each trying to secure their toy to her own skin. When, after a final countdown, they both pulled back their feet, Aya was left stuck to Hatate's sole, right near the base of her toes. “Looks like I win!” she announced, claiming Aya for her own with a scrunch of her sole that trapped her in the folds of her skin.

“So you did. Then, let me give you a reward.” Crawling forward to kneel in front of Hatate, she gently held in her hands the foot on which Aya struggled to be free. Lifting the sole to her face, she looked at the tengu closely, while Aya also looked back at her with such a pitiful face. The white wolf gave er a grin that spoke of mischief to come, and she opened her mouth to let her tongue come out to play. Resting first on Hatate's heel, it slid up along the length of her sole, and passing right by Aya. Again it started at the heel, and again it swept up, missing Aya by a hair's breadth, giving her ample time to struggle against the ick that bound her to the wall of skin. But Momiji's tongue still found her there when it licked Hatate's sole a third time, and the tengu was swept up by the pink appendage.

She remained on its wet surface when Momiji finished sweeping the sweaty sole. She made an effort to get up, but all she could manage was to drag herself along by the taste buds over that bumpy, slimy surface.

“How adorable,” Hatate cooed, leaning in for a close look. “Careful not to swallow her. Who knows what would happen when her shrinking wears off.”

Momiji nodded, though she was busy trying to get a look at Aya. She stuck out her tongue as far as she could, until she could make out a little pale shape stretched out near the tip. If she focused, she could also feel Aya's little efforts to escape. Eventually she made it to the very tip tongue, but though she was sliding down the side, Momiji's saliva still kept her from falling. Then, Momiji pulled her into her mouth and swished her around. She sucked on Aya until the flavor was all gone, then she pinned the tengu to the wall of her teeth and flicked her tongue up and down her little body, giving special attention to her breasts and crotch.

Ravaged by the giant tongue, Aya whimpered and moaned in ecstasy as it lavished its attentions upon her miserable body. Though her fingers slipped, she tried to grip the slimy surface, to fasten herself to it and never let go, spreading her legs wide to aid her assailant in its exploration of her body. Richly textured with taste buds, lubricated with spit, the massive tongue was everything her lustful body could had ever wished for, and soon it had made her come, only to lap up the slim juices that seeped out of her.

Aya was still panting and writhing in ecstasy when Momiji opened her mouth wide for Hatate to peer inside, and hardly seemed to notice when she was swiped onto a fingertip and brought out for both women to fawn over.

But something else Hatate's eyes away: a small bump forming in Momiji's skirt. Slyly she reached down and caressed the growing tent. The white wolf jumped at her touch, but soon relaxed thanks to Hatate's expert teasing. As her shaft grew bigger and bigger, Hatate helped ease her down until she was sitting on the floor. Pulling down her skirt revealed a throbbing cock growing out of Momiji's red-and-white panties to rest on her lower belly. Then, with a smile, Hatate swiped the tiny Aya off right on the middle of the pulsing shaft.

Still worn out after her time in Momiji's mouth, Aya didn't realize what was happening until she caught a whiff of the white wolf's cock. Understanding came to her like a lightning strike. Raising her head, blinking away the layer of spit that still covered her eyes, she looked ahead and saw the edges of a bright pink cockhead growing in the distance, and the two godly tengu gazing down at her.

Aya was scared. Being bullied under the tengu's feet was one thing, but this was too much even for her. Fighting against the pull of Momiji's saliva, she started slowly crawling down the side. But without noticing it, little by little she was turned around and started heading towards the distant cockhead instead. She couldn't help it. The air was thick with the smell of Momiji's precum and, tiny as she was, the white wolf's pheromones had an outsized effect on her. She was little more than a puppet to Momiji's lust, led as if on strings towards her glans, and the closer she got, the stronger her obsession became. At just one inch away, she thought of nothing save the need to service Momiji. She threw herself at the tengu's cockhead and splatted on the thin coating of precum, where she splayed out her limbs and started rubbing them all over the pink surface.

As Momiji's cock started twitching, Hatate sat beside her and moved her feet closer, holding her shaft between a pair of toes. Then, holding the dick between her soles, keeping Aya pinned between her foot and Momiji's member, she started jerking her off in rough, awkward motions. Soon Momiji was whimpering in pleasure, not only from the divinely textured surface of Hatate's soles, but also from the feeling of Aya's diminutive form sliding up and down her length, over and over again. Finally she came, squirting out seed onto Hatate's feet and her own cock, which twitched in pleasure for a minute afterwards as she still tingled in utter bliss. Meanwhile, Aya floated in the puddle of cum that pooled on her belly, at least until it was licked up by Hatate.

When Hatate spat her back out, she found the tengu totally spent, hardly moving save for the heavy rise and fall of her chest. “Aww. Look at her; she's all worn out.” She showed the tiny woman to Momiji, and both of them fawned over the woman as they cuddled together, their breath washing over her tiny body. “Sleep tight, Aya. You deserve a break. And I know just the perfect bed for you.” She reached down to Momiji's ballsack, where she dropped the tiny woman right at the base of her shrinking cock, then pulled up her panties to hold Aya tight, leaving her to dream her lustful dreams snuggled against her new master's cock.

The forbidden library seemed empty when Subaru entered. Save for his footsteps and their echoes, not a sound could be heard anywhere within its grand extent. “Beatrice! Hello? Are you in here?” he shouted, loud as he could, thinking if nothing else the noise would get her rushing in to berate him for yelling.

It had been a couple weeks since he'd last seen the library's caretaker, and he was starting to worry for her. She was probably fine, he told himself, maybe busy with some solitary pursuit, but he still wanted to check up on her to make sure everything was okay.

When he didn't get a reply, though, he started to worry again. Was she sleeping somewhere? If she'd heard him she would have come over to yell at him for sure. Maybe she wasn't in here at all, he thought. Still, he decided to make a lap of the library and see if he could find her.

There were so many bookshelves and corridors in the ancient place that it would take him a long time to search it thoroughly. Not that he was trying to do that. Subaru had only a vague idea of the library's full layout, and he walked its halls with only a faint notion of where he might search for Beatrice, every so often calling out to her.

In time he had made it to the furthest reaches of the library, corners previously unexplored by him. He glanced at the spines of the ancient tomes filling up the bookshelves here, but among the hundreds of books not a one of them was in any language he understood. And still there was no sign of Beatrice.

He was starting to think this was all a waste of time when he found something promising: a small door he'd never seen before, looking oddly out of place among all the bookshelves. Being familiar with Beatrice's ability to create new corridors out of nowhere and do other amazing things, he immediately thought the door must be her doing. He ran up to it, sliding a bit as he came to a stop, and grabbed the handle meaning to pull the door open immediately.

But as soon as his hand came in contact with it, it felt as if a bolt of electricity shot through his body. Powerful magic launched him backwards, and when he landed he was too stunned to notice anything except how much his head was spinning. It was a long couple minutes before he came back to his senses and could take stock of himself. His hand still hurt and he still felt a weird tingly sensation all over, but when he opened his eyes it was something else entirely that captured his attention.

Between his grabbing the doorknob and coming to again, it seemed like the whole world had changed. Not that he was in a different place or anything—so far as he could tell it was still the same library as before, in the same hall and with the same bookshelves—but everything was bigger now. Way bigger, like a thousand times at least. The ground was here and there littered with what seemed like boulders but were really just grains of sand, and in the air floated countless specks of dust that were only a little smaller than him.

The change was shocking, but Subaru barely had time to come to terms with it when the handle on that strange door turned and it swung open. Then he found her at last: Beatrice, the library's 400-year-old caretaker. She was as cute and dainty as ever, with that “serious” look on her face that made for such an adorable contrast with her appearance. And yet, in his eyes, she was the biggest, most powerful being to ever exist, a living mountain whose lovely pink shoes thundered against the ground with each step. A being so immense, and moving so quickly, that Subaru sat frozen in place as his mind tried to parse what he was seeing.

He was still petrified when she started walking towards him, and when the sole of her dainty shoe appeared in the sky, he only had time to scream and raise his hands before he was crushed.

His death came so quickly that Subaru had no time to feel pain, and he instantly awoke on the ground as though nothing had happened. Frantically he opened his eyes, and was horrified when he saw that he was still shrunk down to that pitiful size. For a moment he had hoped that Return by Death might have sent him back to before this terrible mistake occurred, but no. No, of course not; that would have been much too easy. It was his lot in life to suffer, and all he could do was accept that suffering and face it head-on.

With grim resolve he rose to his feet and looked to the door. Beatrice wasn't here yet, but he could already hear her footsteps approaching, albeit faintly. Thinking to before his death, he called up in his mind the image of her shoe coming down to crush him and tried to ascertain the shortest path to safety, then ran in that direction.

Before long, he heard the door open behind him. He looked over his shoulder and saw Beatrice coming closer. His heart skipped a beat. Just the sight of her sparked terror inside him, and he forced himself to look away so that he wouldn't be thrown into a blind panic. Even so, he could still hear her coming closer, still feel the earth trembling with the might of her footsteps. BOOM, BOOM, BOOM they came, growing ever more powerful, until the earth shook so intensely that he could no longer stay afoot. He threw himself flat on the ground, hoping that way to avoid being crushed. But it was too late again. Her foot came down, and he was once again crushed.

His heart was still racing when he returned again, as was his breathing. He forced himself to calm down, and to start thinking more carefully about his situation. There was no point in throwing himself into whatever plan came to mind first if he didn't have any idea what to do afterwards. His death under Beatrice's foot was painless, so there was no downside to staying here until he worked something out.

Obviously the first thing to do was to avoid being crushed, but what came next was the big question. While it was possible that this curse was temporary and he'd grow back in a few minutes, it was also possible that he'd be stuck like this until someone grew him back.

Beatrice's magic had done this to him, so she could probably reverse it too. That meant enlisting her help had to be his first priority after escaping death. Even if she couldn't fix him, at least she could take care of him until someone did. But how was he supposed to do that? Beatrice was unspeakably huge, or rather, he was unspeakably tiny, and every time he saw her step into the library, every time he saw the sole of her shoe fill up the sky, it only drove home how great the distance between them both was. He was nothing but a dust mite at the feet of a goddess; how could he possibly get her to notice him when he was so insignificant?

For many, many loops, Subaru only lay on the floor, sinking deeper into despair with each repetition as Beatrice's sheer immensity was hammered into his mind by her world-shaking steps. The problem seemed utterly intractable to his mind; he thought he might make himself heard if he could only climb up to her ears, but how to start the climb was beyond him. Her dress didn't quite reach the floor so he could only start from her shoes, but if he was anywhere near them when they landed he'd be blown away by the impact.

In the end, he had to give up all his planning and trust that he would find some other answer once he made it out of this alive. As soon as he revived again, he jumped to his feet and started running in the direction of safety, sprinting as fast as he could. Again Beatrice opened the door soon afterwards, and again she walked towards him. Subaru felt a chill take hold of him when he felt her feet coming down behind him, wondering if perhaps there was no escape at all from this death loop and he would spend all eternity as a dust mite crushed under her shoe. He pushed himself to run harder than he ever had before, almost flying along the ground, anything at all to escape that awful fate. Then Beatrice's foot came down, and this time, he lived.

The impact was immense. A shockwave spread out over the earth as her foot thundered against it, and the little puff of wind from her step sent Subaru sky high. In the air he turned and tumbled, surrounded by the countless specks of dust whose idyllic flight Beatrice's appearance had disturbed. The whole world whizzed by so fast that he had no sense of where he was or where he was flying to.

It was a only few panicked seconds before he landed on something big and pink. He scrambled to get a grip on it, and quickly did so as the whole surface seemed to be made of rope-like cables. Then, with everything shaking, he looked to his right and saw a vast pillar of pink and purple swinging by hundreds of feet away. That's when he realized that he had landed on the threads of Beatrice's striped tights, somewhere on her shin, and that the cables he was clinging so fiercely to were the individual fibers that made up a single thread, with the thread itself being wider than he was tall.

Beatrice's other leg stopped swinging a fraction of a second later, and then this one swung forward as she took another step. Carried along with it, Subaru traversed thousands of feet in less than half a second, and felt the force of the giant foot's impact on the floor even from all the way up here. He held on securely despite the tremendous shock, but still the whole thing scared him. He felt like the wind might blow him away at any moment, and decided to go somewhere he'd be protected from it. Whenever Beatrice's leg wasn't moving, he carefully climbed towards a nearby gap between the pink threads, meaning to crawl through to the other side. But his grip on the fibers was weaker while he climbed, and just as he reached the opening, the impact of another step broke his hold on them. He fell down along her leg, his trajectory steered by the whims of the air currents, and eventually landed right above her shoe's topline, falling between the threads of her stocking to hit her skin beneath.

Subaru had no choice but to cling to her for safety, even as her own steps threatened to dislodge him again and send him still further down, where he might meet his end under her foot. He spent many minutes down there—hours, it felt like—while Beatrice kept walking. Subaru wondered if she was taking a full tour of the library, but in time she stopped and took a seat, finally putting an end to this trip.

Once she kicked off her shoes and left her feet resting on the floor, Subaru felt he could finally take a deep breath and let go of her skin. Exhausted after holding on so fiercely and for so long, he was content to lie on her foot and let the soreness drain from his muscles. He snuggled against her skin, letting the softness and warmth of her foot soothe his tired muscles. Thankfully she didn't move her feet much at the time, and he could so relax that he nearly fell asleep on her foot, but then there came a sudden jolt as her foot was lifted up.

Pinching the fabric of her tights down at her foot, she stretched it up and pulled it back, readjusting it all to deal with a bothersome bit of bunched-up fabric down on her sole, never suspecting as she dealt with it that the speck-sized Subaru was being sent rolling down the slope of her foot until he slipped down her toes and was wedged between the two massive walls of skin. Then, when she set her foot back down, her toes splayed a bit under the weight and Let Subaru fall from them, to land down on the fabric stretched under the arch of her toes.

In the dim light making it in through the threads, Subaru looked up and saw Beatrice's gigantic toes hanging overhead. Dainty little things they were in reality, but to him even the smallest of them was as big and impressive as any castle he'd ever seen. A single twitch, a single curl of her toes, might be enough to end his life. Indeed, just a moment later they all stretched and splayed, pulling at the criss-crossing threads on which he stood and nearly sending him falling between them, then came back down with a resounding THUD. All that was only a taste of the power they held.

Subaru knew he needed to get somewhere safe again, and quickly he ran to the sole of her foot, where he jumped onto her skin and started climbing up between her toes, helping himself to the tiniest imperfections of her skin as the perfect footholds. Climbing up the wrinkled wall, he silently begged her not to move her foot yet. But Beatrice couldn't listen. He hadn't even made it halfway up her toes when she curled them tight around him. Then the wrinkles of her skin folded up, and tiny Subaru was swallowed whole by one of the smallest. The pressure wasn't enough to crush him, but even when her toes relaxed her skin still didn't release him. He was sealed in there, entombed in an airtight crevice of her flesh, and surrounded on all sides by her divine presence. He pushed against her skin with all his might, trying to get some air, but couldn't create even a sliver of space for himself.

With his lungs aching, little by little he lost feeling and awareness until he blanked out completely. Then, just like that, he was back under Beatrice's toes again, trying to find another way out.

Going between her toes was out of the question now, and since he knew that she would curl her toes sooner or later, he also couldn't stay down here. Instead he walked along the threads to the toe of her stocking, running right past the tips of her toes, and from there climbed up the fibers until her toes curled behind him. He survived it, and when the mighty digits uncurled her second toe brushed over him and swept him along on its tip.

Though he knew that he'd have to reach her ears eventually, Subaru thought it was too dangerous to try scaling her at a time like this, especially from all the way down here. Better to wait until she was resting so he could simply walk across her body. Until then, he decided to crawl under her toenail and wait.

But her nails were finely trimmed, and there was hardly any space for him underneath. Still he squeezed himself in as best he could, but it was so tight in there that all it took was a little bit more pressure on her toes and instantly he found himself being crushed. Not the immediate crushing he'd found under her shoe this time—her toe was too soft for that. Instead his body was slowly and painfully ground down, his bones crushed and his limbs broken, until his skull gave in and his life left him.

He reappeared on the tip of her toe again, and immediately moved to climb over the giant nail and crawl further along her foot. Forget waiting in one place until it was “safe”—if there's anything he'd learned down here it was that he was never really safe at this size.

Each time he'd died, his save points had been incredibly generous, and while he didn't know what rules they operated on, he believed he could probably count on that generosity being the case so long as he was tiny. Better to make progress little by little and go back only a minute or two if he died, than to wait for the right time and end up dying before it came.

He crawled up her foot and out of her tights, then climbed up the fibers towards her knee, until he reached her lap nearly an hour later. Though he'd died a few times, his save points proved as generous as he'd expected, and he could keep making progress with only small adjustments to his journey.

Up on her thigh, he looked up and found that everything above her belly was blocked from view by a table. Together with the occasional sound of turning pages, he figured she must have been reading a book up there.

After taking a minute to recover, Subaru started running across to her waist, hoping to get there before any other setback happened. But he was still a minute away from her dress when Beatrice suddenly adjusted her position. The movement of her legs send him tumbling down the inner face of her thigh, and though he tried to grab ahold of the fibers, the persistent wobbling of her flesh while she tried to get more comfortable kept throwing him off. He tumbled head over heels and finally he ended up in the canyon between her thighs, wedged in her softness and warmth. He grabbed her tights again and started to pull himself out, making slow yet steady progress, until Beatrice crossed her legs and he was engulfed by her thighs.

The subtle friction of one leg against the other as she bobbed her foot up and down had Subaru sliding along between them too. Without realizing it she rolled him around like the tiniest piece of lint, effortlessly overpowering all his struggles to escape her.

The pressure was immense, but thanks to her softness, it was nowhere near enough to crush him, nor even to suffocate him usually, though reduced circulation did numb his body and dull is mind. Still, it wouldn't last too long. Only a few minutes later, Beatrice recrossed her legs the other way around, and this time Subaru wasn't caught between them. He breathed easily now, and prepared to start climbing up. Only, he couldn't. When he tried to move his limbs, he found them all bound by something. He looked aside and saw that they had all gotten tangled up in a mass of fibers. They must have ended up like that while he was being rolled all over her tights.

He tried for minutes to untangle himself, but the knots were so firm and complex that it proved impossible. Maybe if he died he could jump back to before this happened, but seeing how well he'd fared between her thighs, he didn't feel his life at risk. Ironically, being safely trapped in here was a bigger setback than even his death might be.

The only option open to him was to wait, to study the fibers, and maybe in time find a way to free himself from them. But that proved harder than he thought, and he hadn't made any progress on his bindings when Beatrice hopped out of her chair. When she started walking, he gave up on his efforts—it would do him no good to break free now if it meant falling off and losing all the progress he'd made, without even the assurance that Return by Death would bring him back up here. Besides, there wasn't much he could do while Beatrice was up and walking, her thighs brushing against him and each other with her every step.

At least it wasn't the worst place to be trapped, he told himself as he whiled the time away on her leg. He still tried to break free whenever she stopped for a while, and he made some small progress with his left arm, but nothing to write home about, and he was still all tied up by the time Beatrice entered her bedroom.

It was there that the youthful spirit began undressing, first slipping off shoe, then pulling down her tights and letting them slump onto the floor. Subaru fell along with them and, luckily for both, he ended up inside the pile of fabric. He saw nothing of her carefully removing her dress, hair ribbons, and tiny crown to change into a fresh outfit identical in appearance.

Beatrice sat at the foot of her bed, swinging her legs up and down with a thoughtful look on her face. For hours now, she had the nagging feeling that she had forgotten something, yet she still couldn't figure out what. Was it the books? No, she had put them all back in their proper place before leaving the library. It wasn't the cleaning either, since she had taken care of that this morning. And she'd locked the library door after leaving, so it couldn't be that either.

Door? Wait, that was it! The other door, the one she had created herself in the back of the library. She forgot to check if anyone had triggered the safety measures on it. Since it had never happened before, she simply forgot all about it.

Well, she probably wouldn't find anything, but it was worth making sure all the same. Beatrice closed her eyes, breathed in, and slowly exhaled. Focusing on the flow of mana, she tried to read the traces of her spell. When she found them, she gasped and opened her eyes. Someone had fallen for it after all. What's more, she could detect traces of the spell now, albeit faint ones—that must have been what was nagging at her all this time.

She focused on that trace, resolved to follow it wherever it lead, most likely back to the library. She was surprised when the trace turned out to be coming from inside this very room, from a spot on the floor.

Beatrice stood. She walked over to her discarded tights. Whoever had fallen for the trap was right down there.

Mana flowed into her eyes, enhancing her sight beyond any human limit. She looked down at the tights, scanning their surface for any signs of humanity. When she found none from this angle, she gripped the waistline by her toes and stretched it out on the floor. Still nothing. But when she flipped the thing over, her eyes instantly seized on the shrunken victim and widened in surprise.

Meanwhile, down below, Subaru had been listening keenly to her actions ever since she hopped off the bed gain, and waited to see what would happen. When she stopped right by the tights, he thought he would be killed somehow, and wondered if that might be better than being stuck here all night.

She didn't crush him, but he took another scare when she stretched out the tights, and again when she flipped them over. When he was left facing up, he looked straight ahead and found her eyes staring right back at him.

His breath caught in his throat. Was she really looking at him? No, it couldn't be. He was much too small for anyone to notice from that distance. It was impossible, he knew. But was it really?

He held on to hope even as he told himself how dumb he was being, and when he saw and heard her delicate lips whisper, “Subaru? Is that really you I suppose?”, he rejoiced with tears in his eyes. Finally, she had found him. Finally, he was saved. Beatrice would grow him back and this nightmare would be over. And with a sigh, he gave a silent prayer of thanks for this weight lifted off his soul.

“You little worm. I should have known it was you. And now I'll have to punish you for snooping around, I suppose.”

And just like that Subaru's hopes came crashing back down. The young man couldn't help but tremble as he met the hard gaze of her colorful eyes; whatever was coming next, he knew it wouldn't be good for him.

If only he hadn't touched that damn door.

Tinker Bell had been to many parts of the world and seen many strange and fantastical things, but never had she found herself so lost as she did now. She had fallen asleep last night in her little fairy home, but when she awoke this morning she was somewhere unknown to her; not in Neverland, but sleeping in the dewy grass in the park of some great city.

The sun was just rising and the people were beginning to leave their homes as she turned all around. Already there were so many of them, as many as Tinker Bell had ever seen in one place. She was horribly uncomfortable around them all, and once she made sure no one was looking, she flew over one of the buildings nearby to get out of sight.

From up above she got her first view of the great cityscape. Building after building stretched out in every direction for a mile at least. So many buildings, so many people, but where in the world was Neverland? Where was Peter? Where was she? She turned around and around trying to find anything she might use to orient herself, but she was stranded in a sea of strange houses and everywhere looked the same to her. In the end she simply picked a random direction and started flying that way; wherever she flew she'd make it out of this city sooner or later.

Yet hunger made her stop just a couple minutes later. Her stomach growled ferociously, begging her for some food. Normally she might have gone out to try and find nuts or berries, but there weren't likely to be any here in the city. Still, there would still be plenty of food here; she just had to be careful when taking it from the humans.

She flew carefully above the masses, looking through the second-story windows for any food that she might find. It would be just a few minutes before she caught found something good inside a particularly grand house—a mansion, even. There on a small round table in a large bedroom sat a bowl of big, juicy grapes, all ripe for the taking. And, best of all, the window was wide open for her.

Fluttering up to the windowsill, she peered inside to make sure no humans were inside. When she found the place empty, she floated right inside and landed on the edge of the bowl. The grapes she found nice and firm when she grabbed one, and they came easily off the stem. A lovely purple color and sweet as could be; she eagerly bit into its flesh and feasted on it, forgetting at least for a while her worries.

Yet that very sweetness was to be her downfall. It ensnared her mind, and made her neglect to keep an ear out for any coming humans while she ate. So it was that she failed to notice a human's approach until the bedroom door was already swinging open.

Too far from the window to leave in such little time, Tinker Bell climbed out of the bowl and crouched behind it to keep out of sight, hoping that whoever had arrived would soon be out again. Her ears followed the sounds of boots trodding on the wooden floor and, keeping track of the human's position, she shuffled slowly to the side to keep the bowl between them and her. But the human was coming closer, and she grew tense. She quietly gasped when she saw fingertips flash right above her, but they only came to pluck a few grapes and carry them away.

With the grapes now in hand, the human walked away from the bowl and started pacing around the room, all the while the little fairy kept shuffling around the bowl, fear and anxiety gnawing at her belly. Finally, though, the human stopped moving and, by the sound of it, sat down on the bed. Tinker Bell waited a few seconds, then carefully peeked out around the corner to make sure the human wasn't looking this way.

It was supposed to be a quick glance, yet something about the human captured Tinker Bell's attention. She was a young woman by the look of her, not much older than twenty, slim but with a certain strength to her. Long, light-blue hair unlike anything she'd seen on a human before flowed down her head and pooled on the bed around her hips. There was a stern yet distant look on her face, whose sharpness seemed very befitting of her clothing—some sort of white-and-black military uniform, whole low cut neck exposed not only the a curious tattoo on her chest above her bosom, but also a good half of her sizable cleavage.

All in all, she was completely unlike any woman Bell had ever known, be they human or mermaid or fairy; so unique that she captured the fairy's imagination on the spot. Tinker Bell simply couldn't tear her eyes off her. She forgot all about leaving the room for the moment.

The woman had been sitting only a minute, long enough to finish her grapes, when she stood again. While Tinker Bell hid behind the bowl, the woman trod to the window, where she closed it shut, sealing the fairy's only way out of this place before taking a seat at her desk, pulling open a big rolled up sheet of paper and staring at it thoughtfully.

Still huddled down on the table, Tinker Bell silently berated herself for having missed her chance to leave. Now she would have to bide her time and wait until the door or the window was opened again. She hopped off the table, floating down gently to the floor, and then, making sure one more time that the woman was still focused on that paper, she scurried under the bed to wait.

Even now, though, Tinker Bell still couldn't resist looking out at the young woman. The little fairy didn't know why, but something about her called up all manner of unknown feelings, and she felt as though she were being drawn towards her. A part of her even wanted to go say hello. Of course, she had more sense than to go greeting a strange human out of nowhere. But surely there would be no harm in just getting a bit closer, as long as she kept out of sight.

Staying on the floor, she slowly approached the woman from behind. As she did, the woman reached down and took off her boots one after the other, and then her stockings, leaving bare her long, shapely legs. The sight of them enticed Tinker Bell all the more, and she came closer until she stood right beneath the woman's chair, close enough to catch a whiff of her feet. The smell was strong, but she found that she didn't mind it at all. If anything, she enjoyed taking in a deep breath and filling herself up with the sharp aroma. And, for some strange reason, she even wished to go up and touch those lovely pale feet. She wasn't so foolish to do something like that, but still, she thought it would be fine if she crept just a little closer.

Soon she was sitting close enough to the woman's feet that she could feel the musty air surrounding them, feel the warmth they radiated onto her skin. Closing her eyes, she tried to imagine what it might feel like to be stuck under those soles, and just the thought of it made her shiver in excitement. She stayed seated there, taking in the smell and mustiness of those feet while thinking about all the things she wanted to do with them.

Tinker Bell couldn't understand why she was so obsessed with this woman's feet. She had never felt this way towards anyone else's. The most she could say was that there was an air around this woman that practically demanded for her to kneel and worship her soles.

For a long time she was absorbed in her fantasies, and she was caught by surprise when the woman slid her feet back along the floor. Her giant heel barreled over Tinker Bell and pushed her to the ground, where she was soon smothered under the woman's big, sweaty sole. She struggled to break free, squirming with all her might to try and wriggle out of there, but even as fear sent her heart racing, a part of her was thrilled to find herself down there, and she thought that the woman's foot felt even better against her body than she ever imagined.

After the massive foot first rushed over her, it quickly came to a halt with her pinned under its sole. While she tried to get out of there, she sensed movement going on outside, and then the foot slid back far enough to expose her upper body and let her see the woman's face hanging right overhead, bright blue eyes peering sternly down at her.

The woman's eyes widened, and while Tinker Bell pushed against her toes trying to free herself, she reached down and curled her fingers tight around the little fairy, pulling her out from under her foot. “Incredible,” she muttered. “Can it really be? A fairy?” Tinker Bell calmed her struggles as a giant thumb stroked her body. She looked into the woman's eyes, thinking maybe this human would be gentle with her. But all of a sudden her gripped tightened and forced much of the air from the fairy's lungs in a frightened squeak. “Answer me, being! Who are you? What are you? What are you doing in my quarters?”

Tinker Bell began to explain herself, but as usual, her speech was nothing but tinkling noises to the human. Still, there must have been something about her that made the woman soften her grip and her scowl. “Shake your head yes or no. Are you a spy?” No. “I thought not. And if you are, you're surely the worst spy I've ever seen. Why did you come in here, then?” With her one free hand, Tinker Bell pointed to the bowl of grapes. “You were hungry? And that was the only reason why you came in here?” Yes. “Tell me, are you really a fairy?” Yes.

The woman eyed her thoughtfully for a minute, then spoke again. “You look like you're telling the truth, but I still can't trust you. I'll keep you as my prisoner for now, and interrogate you more thoroughly when I get the chance. Do you understand, fairy?” Yes. “Good.” Again she relaxed her grip, holding Bell almost gently now. “I'd ask your name, but I doubt it would be anything I can understand. As for my own name, it's General Esdeath. Learn it well, since it's the name of your new master.”

The hold of her fingers around the fairy's body now took on a possessive bent, the gentle yet unbending grip claiming Tinker Bell as her property. Again the little fairy felt as scared and thrilled as she had been under Esdeath's foot, with a part of her telling her to escape this dangerous woman, while another urged her to accept her new master and pledge herself in service to her.

Finding her new toy suitably meek, Esdeath decided to put her to use, and to test her willingness to obey. She grabbed her moist stocking and, reaching her hand all the way inside, she dropped the fairy at the very tip, where she was trapped in a mass of smelly black fabric. “I'll let you out later to talk to you, but for now I have other matters to see to. In the meantime, I expect you to be of service to your master. You will worship my feet like a good little slave, or face a more serious punishment. Do you understand?”

Satisfied that the short tinkling noise she heard meant “yes”, Esdeath pulled the black stocking tight over her leg, until the fairy was being smothered against her sole, then lowered it to the floor again, stretching out her leg so that her foot was propped up by its heel. “Then get started, slave.”

Tinker Bell didn't hesitate. As soon as the giant foot went still, she turned herself around to face its sole and started rubbing her arms up and down its surface, wanting to please Esdeath and avoid punishment.

She was well and truly frightened now. This wasn't at all how she had expected this woman to react. Did Esdeath really mean to make Tinker Bell her slave? And what sort of punishment would she receive if she disobeyed her orders? Oh, what a snare she had gotten herself into. Why hadn't she just left when she still had the chance? Who knew when, or if, she'd get another chance to leave now that she was in Esdeath's clutches.

With nothing more to do, Tinker Bell resolved to go along with whatever this woman asked of her for as long as was necessary. Crawling up and down the insides of the sock, she dug her hands deep into the flesh of Esdeath's foot and rubbed it as firmly as she could, hoping it would be enough.

Esdeath was delighted by the little fairy's obedience, and by the feeling of those tiny hands working all over her sole. Though her focus was still on studying those maps and letters arrayed over her desk, her thoughts kept going back to the little fairy—a real fairy!—quietly worshipping her sole. By turns she stretched and curled her toes in delight, making her sole deform and bunch up against her little servant. Then, when the fairy was busy massaging her toes, she wiggled them happily whenever her hands were rubbing between them, and curled them against her dainty little figure.

Soon she couldn't resist the desire to mercilessly dominate this tiny woman, and she allowed her sole to fall on the ground again, pinning the fairy underneath. She felt the fairy trying to wriggle out of there, and chuckled in amusement. “Yes, good. Keep squirming, you little insect. Squirm for your master! Let's see how you strengths stack up against the might of my sole!” She pressed down firmly, applying more and more pressure until her little pet was all but immobilized under her. Esdeath still felt her struggles down there, but they were utterly smothered under her foot; the fairy couldn't move even a fraction of an inch now.

Tinker Bell strained with all her power to escape, gritting her teeth under the incredible pressure that Esdeath was putting on her. Her body hurt all over, and she feared that something would break if the pressure increased any further. What in the world had she done to deserve this? Hadn't she done exactly what Esdeath asked? Why, then, was she being punished? She wanted to cry, to ask her master for answers, but with that massive sole covering her whole body she couldn't even hear her own voice.

“I'm sorry, is this too much for you, slave? Do you want me to stop? Then be a good girl and lick my foot. You can do that much for me, can't you?” As soon as Esdeath said this, Tinker Bell forced her mouth open and pushed out her tongue to meet the warm, sweaty sole, frantically licking as much of it as she could manage. She could cover no more than a tiny spot of the giant sole, but Esdeath felt it all the same—a tiny little wet thing dabbing against her skin—and it so excited her that for a couple seconds she pressed down even harder, almost grinding the fairy down under her foot before she thought to ease up the pressure.

“Very good, slave. Now keep licking. I want you to clean up every last inch of my foot with that tongue of yours. If I find the tiniest bit of toe jam when I take you back out, I'm putting you back in and making sure you spend all day in there.”

Tinker Bell worked harder than she ever had before to please the cruel an callous woman in whose hands she now found herself, dragging herself all over Esdeath's sole to lick everything her tongue could reach. Every wrinkle, every groove of her footprint, every single sweat pore—she didn't dare skip any of it lest she be punished, and didn't let up even when Esdeath praised her work.

Eventually, Esdeath finished reviewing all her documents and put them away. Now she had business elsewhere, but before that she had to get her little slave out of her sock. She still didn't know how durable the fairy was, and it would be a shame to end up crushing her while she walked.

Gripping the fairy between her toes, she pulled her out of her stocking. Tinker Bell looked utterly spent and defeated, clearly exhausted from all her work. She breathed heavily, probably glad to be getting some fresh air again, and she looked nervously back at her, but at the same time she seemed almost limp. When Esdeath plucked her out and, dangling her by the legs from her fingertips, lifted the fairy up to her face, Tinker Bell didn't offer the slightest bit of resistance, but just hung meekly in her grip.

Still holding the fairy, Esdeath stood and went to her drawers, from which she grabbed a small cloth pouch. She dropped the fairy inside and pulled the drawstrings tight, even tying them off to make sure there was no escape, then hung the bag from her belt, right by her hip. “Keep still and be quiet until I let you out. I'm sure I don't need to tell you what to expect if you disobey, do I?” she asked and patted the bag playfully before heading out.

There Tinker Bell would stay while her captor saw to her other duties, her pouch being swung with every step that Esdeath took, hitting her hip and bouncing away from it before coming back in. Fighting through all the motion, she climbed up the cloth to reach the opening, and there she made an effort to open it. She tried to slip her arm out in the hopes that she could reach the drawstrings and untie them, but it was shut too tightly for even her arm to fit. The most that she could do was to keep pushing at it in the hopes that it would loosen eventually.

Esdeath couldn't fail to notice the little fairy tugging at her cloth prison when she glanced down at the bag. She scoffed, disappointed to see her slave disobeying her so brazenly, but shook her head, knowing that there was no way out for her. Still, the fairy had to be punished, so Esdeath nudged the bag further back along her belt until it was hanging directly behind her butt.

That was only the preparation, though. The real punishment would come some minutes later, when Esdeath sat down for a meeting. The pouch was perfectly positioned to end up under her ass, where the fairy was helplessly smothered under the colossal weight. If not for the softness of both her rear and the cushion, Tinker Bell would have been crushed under the weight. As it was she was already in an awful lot of pain, and she couldn't move so much as a finger. It was even worse than when she'd been under Esdeath's foot. The immense pressure almost stopped her from breathing, and it cut off much of her circulation. Little by little her body went numb. Soon she was feeling tingly all over; her thoughts were growing fuzzy and her consciousness started fading until at last she passed out completely.

She would still spend a long time under Esdeath after that, and even when they were back in the bedroom and Esdeath pulled her out, it took her a couple minutes to really wake up as feeling slowly returned to her body. When she finally came to, she found herself in Esdeath's hands, being turned this way and that by fingers thicker than her own body. And, gradually, she noticed something else. A pressure around her neck. She raised her hands to it, and discovered there a loop of string tied around her neck.

A shot of adrenaline ran through her blood stream and brought her to full wakefulness. Tinker Bell raised both hands to her neck, trying to pull the cord off over her head or untie the knot that bound it to her, but she could do neither. “It appears I did a good job with your leash,” Esdeath said as she watched the fairy try and fail to pull it off. Looking into her eyes, Tinker Bell begged her to be let go, but Esdeath only rolled her eyes at Tinker Bell's voice and tugged on her leash. “Alright, that's enough. If I see you trying to take that thing off again I'll make sure you regret it. How did you like your punishment, by the way? When I saw you trying to escape your sack, I thought spending some time beneath me would teach you a lesson. Did you learn anything from it, or do I need to punish you again?” Tinker Bell hurried to nod and shake her head, and when she was dropped on Esdeath's lap she meekly knelt to her master.

Esdeath's legs were bare again, as she had taken off her uniform to relax, only leaving her shirt on. With the fairy kneeling on her thigh, she crossed her legs and trapped the tiny thing with them, pressing them tight so she could feel in detail as her tiny figure was smothered between her thighs. Then she began the interrogation.

It wasn't nearly as informative as she would have liked, in part because she was limited to asking yes-or-no questions, and in part because the fairy seemed not to understand most of them. She was confused by any mention of the Empire, for instance, or of any other places or people. One would think she was from the other side of the world judging by her reaction to even such well known figures as the Emperor and Prime Minister. She tried showing the fairy a map, but she didn't seem to understand it. She also tried getting the fairy to write something, but it seemed she didn't know how. By the end of it she determined that the fairy was almost certainly harmless, and decided to go ahead with keeping her as a pet or servant. She reiterated as much to the fairy, then lay down back her bed and, holding the end of her leash, commanded her new servant to fetch her a grape.

Tinker Bell took flight and fluttered over to the bowl which still sat on the table. The string that served as her leash was just long enough for her to make the journey, and since the day was cool the grapes were still fresh after all this time. Her mouth watered as she plucked one of them—it had been hours since she'd last eaten, and she could really use some food now, but she carried the grape off to her master, holding it out so that Esdeath might grab it.

But Esdeath kept her arms crossed under her chest as she looked on her servant. “Feed it to me.” She opened wide her mouth, angling her head towards the fairy. Tinker Bell then fluttered down to her chin, where she pushed the grape over her lip and let it fall in her master's mouth. She hadn't even pulled back her hands when the teeth snapped shut. The movement of Esdeath's jaw made her fall forward on her lips while the General chewed, and she heard the sickening munch of the grape inside. Given the circumstances, she couldn't help but think that it could easily have been her getting chewed up in there, and that it still could be if she didn't please her master.

She fluttered off of Esdeath's lips just as the human finished chewing and swallowed; then her mouth opened again and she burped right on Tinker Bell. The sound spooked her badly, and even before she caught a whiff of the nasty smell she already hurried to fly away, putting a good yard between them.

Esdeath chuckled and modestly covered her mouth. “Oh, pardon me. Did that scare you, you poor little thing? I'll try not to do it again, then. Now, quit wasting time! I haven't told you to stop bringing me grapes yet, have I?”

Tinker Bell flew back to the bowl and brought her another grape, then immediately left to fetch another one when her master started chewing. Esdeath watched it all in approval, very much pleased at how hard the fairy was working for her. Every time she came fluttering over and floated patiently by Esdeath's face until she had swallowed, then dropped the next grape inside when she opened her mouth. And while the fairy was waiting for her, Esdeath noticed the looks she gave the grapes, and the starved expression on her face. Such a sorry look couldn't help but elicit some sympathy in the General.

“That's enough,” she said once she was satisfied. “You've done a good job, fairy. You may have that grape as a reward.”

Tinker Bell scanned the General's face, wondering if there was some trick in this tiny show of kindness. Only once she was reassured by Esdeath's smile did she lift the grape to her mouth and start voraciously chewing past the skin to reach the juicy flesh inside.

“Why are you eating in the air? Doesn't floating tire you? Come, sit with me so you may eat in comfort.” Esdeath pointed right to her chest, at the inner face of her breasts. The gesture made Tinker Bell blush, but she floated over all the same and took a seat right where Esdeath had motioned her to. She sat down meekly, not wanting to offend her master by doing anything improper. She was deathly embarrassed just to be where she was, and she tried to avoid Esdeath's gaze as much as possible, though she still noticed that Esdeath spent the whole while watching her most keenly.

Finally finishing her meal, Tinker Bell lay happily back on Esdeath's chest to digest her meal, forgetting all about her master's cruelty. When a pair of fingers gripped he r waist, though, she snapped back to attention. “How can you possibly lie down like this? Look at you: you're all covered in juice! No, that won't do; a slave of mine must be clean as a whistle. But worry not; I'll clean you up right away.”

There was something in Esdeath's tone and demeanor that made Tinker Bell tremble even before the General opened her mouth. The little fairy now found herself being carried right towards the gaping maw, and she struggled frantically against Esdeath's grip, finding no success against those fingers. Soon her legs were slipped right past the human's teeth, and Esdeath's lips closed around her hips to hold her in place.

Tinker Bell screamed and struggled to push herself back out even as she felt the colossal tongue sliding over her legs, caressing her bare skin with its disgustingly slimy touch, but she couldn't get out any further. Slowly she was pulled inside as Esdeath sucked on her, with first her waist, then her chest, and finally her head and arms being taken into the cavernous maw, where she was at the mercy of Esdeath's tongue. The domineering appendage pushed her to and fro as though dealing with a sweet candy; it slathered her with spit from top to bottom and it savored her little body. And though she fought against it, it easily overpowered her. Esdeath's teeth toyed with her too, and though they never really bit her, she still feared that any moment now she might be chewed to bits and eaten like all those grapes had been.

But a couple minutes later the mouth opened again and she was pulled back out, pressed to something soft and warm and rubbed against it until she was mostly dry. “There, that should do it,” Esdeath said, still holding her down. Tinker Bell rubbed her face clean and then blinked her eyes open to find her master's face staring back at her. A quick look around then showed her where she lay—right on the inner face of Esdeath's breast, the pair of fingers at her back pushing her tiny body into the soft mass to dimple the surface of her skin. Again she couldn't keep a soft blush from entering her cheeks, and she lay stiffly on the woman's bosom, waiting for whatever came next.

“Why so tense? Relax, little one. Are you really so afraid of me? I take that as a compliment, though I suppose I did go too hard on you at first. Let me tell you, so you'll understand what sort of master you serve now: I may be hard and demanding, but I'll always do good for my servants if they only prove their loyalty to me and perform their duties well. Sure, sometimes I can't resist messing with them a little, but so long as you do what I ask, I'll make sure no harm befalls you. Besides, it would be a shame to hurt such a pretty little thing as you.”

Esdeath picked the fairy up again, with her thumbs at her chest and her fingers at her back. Tinker Bell stared at her wide-eyed, meeting her master's gaze as she was raised to the woman's eyes. Idly the General toyed with her new servant, first by danging her from side to side, then by bringing up her other hand and moving her limbs around like she was playing with a doll. How delicate the little thing was—a little taller than Esdeath's fingers, though she believed even her pinkie by itself could easily overpower the fairy. It would be so easy to break her, even by accident; she doubted the fairy could survive half the things she wanted to do to her. She would have to temper herself when playing with her little toy.

Tinker Bell couldn't even begin to guess what thoughts passed through Esdeath's mind as the General toyed with her, and she remained tense the whole time a she wondered how far she could trust her. It took her completely by surprise when Esdeath brought her to her lips and gently planted a kiss on her whole face at once. Her fear melted away then and she went along with the kiss, spreading out her arms to hug Esdeath's chin in turn.

When Esdeath dropped her on her chest again, she found on the fairy's face a look of utter infatuation, and she laughed. “Change your mind already? Don't tell me you've fallen in love with me after just one kiss.” The fairy looked embarrassed, and her face quickly changed to feign ignorance, which only amused Esdeath all the more. “It's dangerous to fall in love with General Esdeath, don't you know? My love is a harsh thing for most people. I wonder how you'll deal with it.” Esdeath suddenly sat up, and in doing so flung the little fairy off her chest.

Tinker Bell landed on the bed just as Esdeath's hands and knees also fell on it, and when she picked herself up, she saw the General's face looming above as she held herself on hands and knees. Esdeath's heavy chest hung low, bulging against her shirt like it was trying to pop right out. The sight of its swaying was hypnotic, but there was a certain gleam that pulled her gaze to the General's eyes, which shone with a predatory light. With all the look of a prowling panther she stalked towards Tinker Bell, her tongue sliding over her lips. The fairy shivered at her approach, but she didn't try to get away. Sure she was scared, but now that she knew her master better, she didn't really fear for her life—more than anything, she found it thrilling.

Esdeath's hand crept towards her. Powerful fingers fell around her, but didn't seize her. A lone fingertip stroked her cheek and ran down along her body, caressing everything down to her legs. Then, with her gargantuan breasts hanging above the fairy, the General let herself fall directly onto Tinker Bell.

The fairy couldn't move at all as she was ground into the bed by that heavy chest. The pressure hurt but, strange to say, she welcomed it this time, and never once thought that Esdeath might try to kill her. She squirmed in excitement, wriggling against the mounds of soft flesh in which she was buried, and reveled in the overwhelming warmth that seeped from them into her. She nuzzled her face directly into the General's shirt, and gripped the fabric fiercely so she wouldn't slip out as they slid back and forth over the bed sheets.

Esdeath cooed at the fairy. The feeling of that tiny body being dragged along under her chest was incredible! Never had she felt so powerful as she did now. How could it be otherwise when even the slightest gesture on her part sufficed to dominate the fairy in a way that could never happen with a human? The power was intoxicating, and she ground and smothered the little thing under her boobs until she started wondering how her toy was holding up. She was surprised when she lifted herself back up and found the little thing clinging to her breast even now, eagerly nuzzling her little head into it.

“Hm! Seems you can handle my love just fine. In that case, I'm sure you won't mind if I stop holding back!” Rolling on her back, she nudged the fairy off her breast and slipped her into her cleavage. She nestled at the bottom, and had started getting comfortable inside when Esdeath grabbed one breast in each hand and brutally pressed them against each other, assaulting the fairy with their heavy mass. She passionately groped herself, mashing and twisting her own tits against her toy at the same time, growing ever more excited with each passing second. From time to time she released the fairy only to hear her gasp for air, then brought her breasts together with even more force than before. She squirmed on her bed, twisting in pleasure, and moaned as her passion kept swelling to reach a heavenly peak. Then, when her excitement settled down again and she lay still and panting on her bed, she released her breasts and let the fairy free.

At first Tinker Bell was too numb to move, and Esdeath thought she might be unconscious, but then she opened her mouth and, with her face pressed to the General's breast, she started licking its surface in worship of her new master to return all the love she'd been shown.

Esdeath chuckled and calmly caressed her own chest, gripping the fairy's leash to play with it a while. But when she twirled it between her fingers, the string fell from the fairy's neck, its knot having come undone during all that had happened. The General froze. She held her hand ready to catch the fairy the moment she tried to fly away. But her pet seemed not to notice it at all. There wasn't so much as a moment's pause in her licking of Esdeath's breast.

When Tinker Bell sensed that something was wrong and realized that the leash had fallen off, she calmly wrapped it around her neck again and offered the end to her master for her to tie it off. Esdeath took the string, but instead of tying it again she pulled it off Tinker Bell's neck. She simply didn't need it anymore. And when the fairy went back to licking her chest, even more lovingly than before, she stroked her little back and smiled, knowing that she had found herself a loyal servant for life.

Grace could not have wished for a better “Happy birthday” than she one she got that morning when she woke up all wrapped up in the arms of her girlfriend, the strong and beautiful Chun-Li. Whispering those sweet words into her ear, Chun-Li dominantly hooked a thick, muscular leg over Grace's own, and with her arms and leg she pulled her smaller, weaker partner closer, holding the young woman firmly against her body. She nuzzled her face passionately into Grace's neck, while at the same time her hands played with the birthday girl's crotch and breasts. Grace moaned and twisted in pleasure in Chun-Li's hold, letting her lover ravage her body as twilight streamed through their bedroom curtains.

Chun-Li's fingers brought Grace to ecstasy, and once she'd found it, Grace turned around and lay happily panting in Chun-Li's arms, snuggling her face into those firm and shapely breasts to fill herself with her lover's scent.

If only they could have stayed in bed all day, enjoying each other's company, it would have been the most perfect birthday ever, Grace thought, but alas it wasn't to be. Chun-Li had a duty to teach her students, and she couldn't break it even for such a special day. Grace begged her to stay all the same, half playfully and half seriously, hugging Chun-Li's back as if she could make her stay that way, but she finally relented when Chun-Li promised to bring back a gift that would make up for her absence.

Chun-Li left, and Grace stayed home, passing the time by reading a book or answering calls from her friends and family, wondering the whole time what Chun-Li's gift would be, until finally, early that afternoon, her girlfriend returned with a small box of something that smelled delicious. “Happy birthday, Grace,” she said again as Grace opened it to find it full of chocolate brownies whose mouth-watering aroma was unmatched by any treat Grace had ever smelled before. The lovers embraced, Grace wrapping her arms around Chun-Li's waist and standing on tip-toes to kiss her lover's cheek, then they sat on the couch together so Grace could dig in.

Grace offered a brownie to Chun-Li, but she declined, saying she had already eaten enough today and that it was all for the birthday girl. Grace on the other hand was starving, having had only a light lunch in expectation of a tasty birthday cake, and she devoured her gift, stuffing her mouth with more and more of that heavenly taste, though towards the end she took her time to savor it.

She was halfway through the sixth and final brownie when she sensed that something was off. She looked at her girlfriend and saw that her sight was now level with Chun-Li's shoulders rather than her nose, and it was still going down. She looked at the brownie and noticed that it was slowly growing in her hand, as was the box. “I'm shrinking,” Grace realized.

To anyone else the realization might have been followed by a sense of horror, but that was the furthest thing from her mind. No, Grace was excited beyond words. For years she had dreamed of something like this, of shrinking in the presence of some gorgeous woman she loved and worshipped, and now it was finally coming true.

“So how do you like your surprise? Was it worth the wait?” Chun-Li asked. Grace set the box with its last half-brownie aside and turned to her girlfriend, eyes beaming with adoration. She had been so embarrassed when she first confessed her kink to Chun-Li a few months ago, but now she couldn't have been happier.

“It's the best surprise ever! Thank you so much!” she said, getting on her knees so she could shower her girlfriend's cheek with kisses. As she kept shrinking, she had to crouch, then stand, then step out of her clothes and onto Chun-Li's thighs so she could keep kissing her girlfriend, and when she couldn't reach her face anymore, she sat down on her lap and watched in amazement as her girlfriend's body grew to ever more impressive heights.

Grace wondered how small she would shrink, hoping deep down that she'd end up a worthless speck in the shadow of her girlfriend. She didn't get her wish, but when she ended up around one inch tall she was happy enough with it, and she stared in utter awe at her towering lover.

Chun-Li smirked at her. “My, you sure did shrink a lot. What a tiny little thing you've become, Grace; just a puny little bug in the presence of a goddess.” Grace shivered. Those words, that tone of voice, the condescending look on Chun-Li's face—it was all perfect! “You're so pathetic. An insect like you doesn't have the right to be called my girlfriend. From now on you're my slave, and you'll worship me like I deserve, got it?”

“Yes, my goddess!” Grace exclaimed, kneeling to kiss her goddess's thighs. Chun-Li smiled, happy to see how much Grace was enjoying her gift, and surprised to find herself enjoying it too. This was still just the start of her gift, though. After Grace's answer, Chun-Li slipped off her shoe and her foot and let it fall on her lap right next to her worshipper, instantly commanding Grace's attention.

“Then worship my foot, slave, unless you want to be crushed under my mighty toes.”

Grace stared at the sight of that scrunching sole and those imperiously curling toes, watching as the great wall of flesh that was her goddess's foot shifted from that simple gesture. As soon as Chun-Li finished speaking, she ran forward and pounced on that warm and sweaty flesh, pressing her naked body firmly against Chun-Li's sole sole, reveling in the omnipresent atmosphere of the colossal foot. Not even her most vivid dreams could compare to the unparalleled ecstasy she felt submitting herself to her lover's sole, groping the smooth skin and burying her face deep inside the great mattress of flesh, licking up her sweat, huffing the powerful scent, kissing her divine sole. But she didn't stop there; she climbed all over Chun-Li's foot, crawling over every last inch of skin from her heel to her delicious toes, massaging and worshipping her all the way, not only as thanks for the greatest birthday gift ever, but because she was Grace's goddess and deserved all the adoration in the world.

Chun-Li meanwhile reveled in her girlfriend's love, every so often scrunching her foot over the delightful sensation of those little hands and that tiny tongue rendering their worship unto her sole, sometimes even catching little Grace in the folds of her hot and sweaty flesh. Little by little she started to feel more like a goddess, and she really was getting into the role by the time Grace had started work on her other foot.

“What a pathetic effort. Are you even trying? Your Goddess can barely feel you working, speck! Put your back into it, unless you truly do want to be crushed under my divine toes. Lick me harder, and don't you dare skimp out on me! I want your pathetic tongue scrubbing every last wrinkle of my foot until it's spotless. Drink my sweat if you need to, and eat the dirt off my feet. Well? Don't tell me you thought serving a goddess would be easy!”

Grace moaned every time her lover's voice thundered down with a new reproach or command. She couldn't have asked for a more perfect goddess than this! If she hadn't known it was all for her sake, she would have thought Chun-Li completely serious. Even knowing it was all pure teasing she still treated it seriously, and threw herself without reserve to the task of worshipping her feet, painstakingly dragging her puny self all over the towering sole, until she reached her goddess's toes and climbed between.

Chun-Li's big toe was easily as long as Grace was tall, and together with the second toe it was more than enough to dominate her being. They squeezed her, wiggling against her, rubbing her naked body all over, and she in turn hugged one titan digit and rubbed her crotch against it, giving in to ever greater arousal while Chun-Li simply watched in amusement. Even when she was frantically humping her goddess's toe, it was a simple curl of those toes that finally pushed her over the end and sent her screaming to the heights of bliss. She melted in the warmth of her love and Chun-Li's toes, going limp while straddling the titan digit, and lay panting on the surface for minutes afterwards, thanking her lover with nonstop kisses.

“What's this? Are you all tuckered out already?” Chun-Li chuckled and lowered her sole to the couch's surface, letting Grace stand up between her toes. “What a sad display. Still, I suppose you did a good enough job for being such a worthless bug. Shall your goddess reward you with a sip of the regrowth potion?”

Grace looked into her lover's eyes. “My goddess, may I ask for another gift?”

“You're awfully proud to think a bug like you has any right to ask something of me. But let's hear what you have to say. If it amuses me, I might just grant it.”

“I want more of those brownies. I want to shrink smaller, until I'm nothing but a germ lost on your toes. I beg you; nothing in the world would make me happier.” Grace leaned over her lover's toe, tenderly kissing her blue-painted toenail.

Chun-Li frowned. “Are you sure you want that? If you shrink much more again, the antidote won't work on you. You'll have to wait for your shrinking to wear off on its own a week from now.”

“That's perfect! Please, goddess, let me shrink again! Don't bother with the antidote! I want to spend all week living on your divine body! I want your toes to become my whole world! I want to spend all day getting lost in your wrinkles and drowning in your sweat!”

“Well... since it is your birthday, I suppose your goddess can grant you this one request. Hold still a moment.” Chun-Li curled her toes around Grace, holding the tiny woman in place while she stretched out her leg on the couch. When she relaxed her toes again, Grace sat down between them and looked across at her girlfriend taking from the box's remains a small chunk of brownie, about the size of Grace's head, and reaching over to hand it to her. Grace grabbed the heavy chunk of chocolate, inhaled its sweet fumes, and started digging into it, ravenously devouring as much as she could. She couldn't finish it all, certainly not having just eaten five whole brownies beforehand, but she ate until she could eat no more, and dropped the remaining crumbs just as she started shrinking.

This time Grace lost her size far faster than she had before. In a mere second she had already lost half her size, and she kept on shrinking at the same rate, watching as the world became inconceivably bigger around her. Soon she was the size of an ant, then a flea, a grain of sand, and finally a germ lost in a diminutive wrinkle of Chun-Li's skin, so insignificantly small that it seemed she was standing at the bottom of a gargantuan valley, looking up at colossal mountains beyond which Chun-Li's toes towered high in the sky, like a pair of immense celestial objects.

Grace stood looking in awe at the vast new world that her lover's foot had become for her, until a sudden movement made her stomach lurch. Then she watched those giant toes spread wide apart, feeling the world shake as it happened, and saw a gigantic eye appear in the sky to take in her tiny little world.

“Are you there, Gracey?” Chun-Li said, totally unaware of what an earth-shaking phenomenon her mere voice was to her lover now, even speaking at a whisper as she did. Though she looked keenly at the spot where she had last seen Grace before she disappeared from sight, she could spot no sign of her tiny girlfriend no matter how hard she looked. “Ah, what a pathetic little thing you've become. You know I can't even see you anymore? You really are just a germ lost between my divine toes. And to think this is what you wanted—what you begged me for! Are you really happy down there? ... Well, I suppose it doesn't matter. It's beneath a goddess like me to worry over what a little germ thinks. Good-bye, Grace; I'll see you in a week.”

Chun-Li accompanied her good-bye with a wiggle of her toes that shook Grace's whole world. Her skin shifted like so many tectonic plates, and for a brief moment the wrinkle Grace was lost in closed up and vast walls of skin squeezed the tiny woman the tiny woman, completely immobilizing her in their overwhelming mass.

Even when released, Grace was still fastened to the great wall by a thin coating of sweat, and it took her great effort to peel herself off. By then Chun-Li had stretched her legs out again, and lay still to give her tiny lover time to explore at her leisure, an opportunity Grace was all too happy to seize as she set out to climb Grace's wrinkle and explore as much of her foot as she could.

She climbed over mountains and walked along valleys, rounded great lakes of sweat and swamps of toe jam, all the while basking in her lover's body heat that radiated from the world around her and taking in the powerfully musty atmosphere, utterly in love with the overwhelming smell of Chun-Li.

Finally, after an hour of walking, she reached a peak from where she could look out and see for the first time the whole of her lover's body. From head to toes it stretched countless miles, each limb a continent full of untold wonders waiting to be explored, each breast a mountain half as big as the moon, and her face the face of divinity itself. A week was nowhere near enough to get to know all of it. Hell, it might not be enough to explore all of Chun-Li's feet. But that was okay; she could always buy some more brownies for another little expedition on her goddess and girlfriend.

Grace knelt and kissed the ground, showing a small fraction of her infinite gratitude. Maybe by coincidence, or maybe sensing it on some unconscious level, Chun-Li's toes twitched as soon as her lips met her skin, and knocked Grace back into a wrinkle on her skin, where a curl of those giant toes made the earth itself embrace her, as if Chun-Li's body itself were saying, “You're all mine.” And in her happiness, Grace smiled and hugged it back, as if to say, “Yes, I'm all yours.”

With a flick of her finger, Beatrice's magic freed the speck-sized Subaru from the fibers of her striped tights and lifted him into the air, to float before her colorful eyes. “Alright, explain yourself. What were you doing trying to open that door? Were you spying on me I suppose?” Even at a whisper the spirit's voice thundered in Subaru's ears, and her breath as she spoke rushed over him like the winds of a hurricane. If not for her magic holding him in place, he would have been flying away with the countless other specks of dust now swirling in the air around him.

“Y-you want an explanation? Can you even hear me?” he wondered aloud.

“Of course I can hear you, I suppose! Did you really think I hadn't accounted for that already, or that my magic wouldn't allow me to hear even a tiny germ like you? Hmph! Go on, answer me I suppose!”

“Well, the truth is, I only went into the library looking for you. Since I hadn't seen you in days, I was getting worried. When I saw that door that I'd never seen before, I knew it had to be something you made, since you're so incredible at doing stuff like making new rooms out of thin air and stuff like that. I just wanted to go inside to check up on you, is all.”

Beatrice pouted. “A-as if I could believe a story like that! You're obviously lying and trying to flatter me so I won't punish you, I suppose! No way would you be so worried to go around looking for me. You were spying on me for some sick, twisted reason, just admit it!”

“No, I swear it's true! I really was worried about you, Beako! I thought something might be wrong and I wanted to help you if I could!”

“More lies! As if there's anything a bug like you could do to help me! You keep trying to get on my good side, I suppose. Well, it won't work on me! I've had enough of your lies. If you won't tell the truth, it's time you were punished.”

Subaru shut his eyes as Beatrice's hand stretched towards him. A moment later, he was flattened between a pair of warm, heavy objects that embraced his whole body with a crushing pressure. Beatrice didn't go easy on him, squeezing him between her fingers like she was trying to crush a bug, but she used her magic to protect him from the risk of death and injury and ensure she could safely handle him. Enhancing now her sense of touch with her magic, the centuries-old spirit rubbed her fingers together to feel the tiny Subaru rolled around between them.

Subaru was suffocating, unable to breathe from the pressure, and even with her protective magic he would have passed out if she hadn't released him just then. He coughed and gasped for air, and while he recovered he noticed everything shaking with Beatrice's condescending chuckles. Then he looked up and saw her rows of giant, glistening teeth exposed to him in a smug grin while further up her multicolored eyes peered down at him. He tried to stand but he was stuck to her skin, and his failure only made her more amused.

“What's wrong, speck? Can't even free yourself from my skin, I suppose? How weak. I'm not even using my magic to keep you there so you really don't have any excuse. You're so pathetic you can't even handle a little squeeze from my fingers I suppose. Without me you couldn't even hope to survive. Your life is in my hands, or on my fingertip I suppose. Normally I would crush a bug like you for being so annoying, but lucky for you I don't want to dirty myself with such a vile thing right now. If you apologize for lying and confess why you were really going in that door, I could spare your life, I suppose.”

“I wasn't lying; it's all true! I was going in to look for you in case you needed help! I mean, maybe I was also a bit curious to see what was inside, but I wouldn't even have gone in the library if I wasn't so worried about you!”

“Hmph. Subaru, you are not a good liar!”

“Eeehh?! That's because I'm not lying!”

“Enough!” Beatrice slammed her fingers together with enough force to leave him stunned. “If you won't tell the truth then your punishment continues I suppose. In fact, you earned a harder punishment for making me stay awake interrogating you when I was just about to sleep.” Sighing, she climbed on her bed, where she lay on her belly with her arm propping up her head. “It's amazing how you can manage to be such a pest even when you're this small I suppose. Now, how to punish you?”

With Subaru stuck fast to her finger she tapped it pensively on the side of her head, brainstorming possible punishments for him. She finally thought of one, and held him in front of her mouth again. There Subaru watched as her mouth opened into a vast, yawning cavern. “B-Beako? You're not really going to eat me, are you? Beako? Hey! Q-quit playing around and answer me already!” But Beatrice only moved him steadily towards her waiting mouth. Subaru fought to free himself from her skin, but he was as powerless as always against it, and could only watch as he was carried between her lips and her terrifying teeth, and finally pushed right into her soft pink tongue, whose taste buds scraped him off Beatrice's fingertip and left him floating in a pool of her saliva. “Beatrice!” he shouted from inside. “Enough, please! I'm sorry for trying to get in that door but I swear I didn't mean any harm. What do I need to do to make you believe me? Just give the word and I'll do it, I promise! ... Beatrice?”

Everything was still. He waited for an answer, thinking she must be mulling over his words, but in the end her mouth started to close, cutting off more and more light until her lips came together and left him in total darkness. Then Beatrice's tongue awakened and everything turned to chaos.

Beatrice tossed the tiny Subaru all around her mouth, treating him as she might treat a tiny morsel of food she meant to savor. With her tongue she could handle him as she pleased, mashing him against her soft cheeks or pressing him against her teeth, even submerging him in the pool of spit in the bottom of her mouth. She could feel him fighting against it, trying to cling to her taste buds so he would at least stay in one place, but always he was swept away with a motion, or else pinned to the roof of her mouth until he lost his strength and let go. Beatrice couldn't have wished for a better toy than he, and she amused herself to no end with his struggles until, out of curiosity, she decided to enhance her sense of taste. She immediately regretted it when she tasted nothing but dirt and sweat from him, and spat him out onto her hand. “Disgusting! Couldn't you have taken a bath before thinking to soil my mouth with that horrible taste, I suppose?”

Subaru groaned tried to sit up, but he lost the fight against the spit plastering him to her palm and released all his frustrations on Beatrice. “Why are you blaming me? I can't exactly take a bath when I'm this size, you know. Besides, I spent a bunch of time on your foot after shrinking down, so that's probably what you're tasting; if anything it's your fault I taste so bad!”

“You insect! Do you really think you're in any position to talk back to me? You must really want to be punished even more, I suppose!” Beatrice snapped her fingers and instantly a familiar sensation came over Subaru. His stomach sank and he watched in dread as the world around him expanded. The tiny pool of spit in which he lay grew to become a huge lake, and the wrinkles and ridges of Beatrice's skin, previously just big enough for him to lie between them, now grew to become mountains and valleys of incredible size, big enough to hold small villages. Beatrice's palm, already big enough before, was now a vast rolling landscape he could get lost in trying to traverse. And above, the spirit's face hovered in the sky, making him tremble as he tried to take in her immensity. Subaru thought himself small before? His previous size now seemed absolutely gigantic compared to the germ he now was.

With a little gesture, Beatrice dried the spit off her hand and left Subaru lying at the bottom of a deep valley, trembling in its shadow. She brought her finger over and put it down next to him, an apocalyptic earthquake taking the world upon its impact. When Subaru recovered from it and looked at her fingertip, he balked at its size. “Mountain” was too small a word to describe it.

“My, would you look at how small you are? Even with my magic my eyes can barely see you. But maybe it's not small enough, I suppose. Should I shrink you again, or have you learned your place already?”

Subaru almost had a heart attack. After losing his life so many times already, dying was nothing to him. But to be reduced to insignificance and spend the rest of his life like that, protected as he now was by Beatrice's magic, was a fate worse than death. “No! Please! This is small enough!”

“Smart decision. If you shrink again, I'll completely lose track of you and you'll end up lost on my body forever I suppose. Can you imagine how pathetic that would be? Of course, I could still do it if you make me upset again.”

“I won't! I promise!”

Beatrice snickered. “You say you promise, but you don't sound serious enough I suppose. Say it again, and this time make me believe that you accept my full authority over you.”

“I...” Subaru felt a frog in his throat. He knelt and lowered his head to the ground—to Beatrice's palm. “I fully submit to the Great Spirit of the library. I pledge to do whatever you say, without question or hesitation.”

“Hmph; that's good enough, I suppose. Alright, I won't shrink you, but you'll have to serve me for a few days before I grow you back.”

“Y-yes, of course!”

“You can start by calling me 'master' from now on. And kneel to me when I'm addressing you! A germ like you should cower in the presence of his master, I suppose!”

“Yes, master.” Subaru held back a groan as he knelt to her again.

“Good. And now, tell your master the truth about why you were snooping around in the library.”

Subaru panicked, and wondered if he should tell her the truth again or make up a like for her. She hadn't believed the truth any other times; if she didn't accept it this time either then she might shrink him again as punishment. But he didn't have enough time to come up with a convincing lie, certainly not in this state of mind. “Master, I already told you the truth, I swear it. I can't tell you anything I haven't said already.”

“You really expect me to believe you were only trying to go in the door because you care about me? If you really cared that much you wouldn't be so annoying! But if you insist it's the truth I can give you a chance to prove how much you care, I suppose.” Beatrice's magic lifted Subaru from her hand and sent him flying over her back and towards her feet. With her knees bent, they both were swinging in the air, and he rushed right towards her left foot, where he floated down between the threads at the very end to land right at the tip of her big toe. “You'll rub my foot until I tell you to stop, understand?” she said, wiggling her toes to command his attention.

Subaru held on tight to her as his world swung about. “Yes, master! But please, keep your foot still so I can work!”

“Trying to tell me what to do again I suppose? I'll do what I want so you just focus on doing your job.”

Sighing, and with Beatrice's toes still wiggling, Subaru let go of her skin with one hand and started rubbing her with it instead, putting as much care into it as he could given the circumstances. Beatrice, meanwhile, cast a spell of awareness over him, getting a good view of his labors though she wasn't even looking at him. How sad and pathetic he looked, struggling to even stay put on her toe. She wiggled it around even more and watched him cower in the depths of her toeprint.

She expected him to give up after just a few minutes, after which she would threaten to punish him. He would beg for mercy, and after giving him a big enough scare, she would grow him back and send him away so she could finally get some sleep. She never meant to keep him shrunk for too long, after all, nor did she ever really consider shrinking him again. But the minutes passed and Subaru still didn't stop working. Sure, he slowed down now and then when the motion became too much for him, and he couldn't exactly keep working when she curled her toes and he was engulfed in the wrinkles of her skin, but he worked whenever he could and never cried or complained. Honestly, Beatrice was starting to get upset at him. Why was he holding on for so long? Didn't he realize she wanted him gone? She started bouncing her foot even harder, and rubbing her toe against the sole of her other foot, but he refused to take the hint and kept working. Either he really wanted to avoid another punishment, or he was determined to prove that he was telling the truth after all.

Beatrice considered just telling him to stop and letting him go, but she felt it would make her look weak after everything she'd done. If there was one thing she wanted to accomplish by all this it was making Subaru show her more respect, and she would do it too, even if it meant letting him stay up all night working. She slowly stopped wiggling her toes so much and let her foot fall on the bed. Seeing that her foot had stopped moving, Subaru felt free to put more effort into rubbing it, and Beatrice realized it actually felt good. She curled her toes in delight, then let them lie still for good while she enjoyed Subaru's attention. Her toes still twitched a little, prodded into it by the diminutive hands pressing on her soft skin, but she didn't move them on purpose at least. Even that twitching decreased the more relaxed she got, and it practically stopped altogether when she fell asleep.

Even then, even in the darkness inside Beatrice's tights, Subaru still kept working as he had no clue that Beatrice had fallen asleep. He didn't know where he was going or how much of her toe he had covered, and wouldn't have known even if it weren't so dark. All he did was keep crawling along this valley, rubbing as much of her skin as he could reach, and hoping it would be enough for her.

But though he pushed himself to keep working, it wasn't long before he had started yawning. Not only was it very late, it was also surprisingly comfortable down there on Beatrice's toe. Her body warmth hanging in the air was a welcome blanket on what would otherwise have been a cool night, and even at this size her skin was very soft. Plus there was the subtle sound of her pulse coming from the ground and helping to soothe him. It was only a matter of time before he fell asleep all curled up on Beatrice's skin, letting her toeprint be his cradle tonight.

When, hours later, morning came and Beatrice yawned and stretched to greet the day, the thought of Subaru suddenly sprung to her mind right as she was curling her toes. She drowsily directed her awareness towards him, using the faint traces of her magic to pinpoint his exact location on her toe, and found him smothered in the folds of her skin. At once she splayed her toes and pulled him out of there, rolling over in bed so she could see him while he floated over her face. “So, all this time later and you still didn't even finish one of my toes. What a pathetic showing. But I can't expect any better from a germ, I suppose. Well? What do you have to say for yourself?”

“I...” Subaru held back a yawn. “Master, I can finish the job, I only need more time. Leave me on your foot today, I'll rub as much of it as I can. I'll finish it, however long it takes.”

Beatrice was taken aback, but she agreed to give him more time and sent him back to her foot so he could keep working. She had expected him to give up this morning, but he hadn't uttered one single excuse. Nor did he complain or stop working when she stood, put her shoes on, and went to see to her duties around the library. With her magic keeping him on her foot as though by gravitational pull, he kept diligently working on her toes and her sole with hardly a moment of pause.

Beatrice didn't get it. How could he stand to keep rubbing her foot after all this time, especially now that it was getting all hot and stuffy inside her shoe? Even if she was only sweating a little, he must still be soaked with her sweat by now, she thought. Avoiding punishment, proving that he told the truth—none of that explained why he seemed so unbothered by it all.

Unless... Could it be that... He actually liked being on her feet? The thought alone made Beatrice blush. And thinking back on it, hadn't he said that he spent a lot of time on her foot yesterday? What exactly had he been doing there all that time?

She was upset and disgusted at first, but the reaction soon subsided. How could she stay mad when she herself enjoyed having him down there too? And besides, it just meant that he already knew his rightful place was cowering in the shadow of her feet and debasing himself to serve her every whim. It was the perfect outcome, all things considered, and Beatrice was more than happy to take advantage of it.

The matter now settled, at least in her mind, she started toying with Subaru again, squeezing her toes together to catch him while he walked on the side of her second toe,and tended assiduously to its surface. Though almost imperceptible, it brought her great pleasure to feel his pathetically tiny body dragged and rolled all over the surface of her toe, becoming intimate with every ridge and sweat pore that covered its surface. Sure he was probably enjoying it, but that didn't matter; all that mattered was that she was enjoying it too—or so she told herself, though she couldn't help blushing when she thought about how much he must be loving all this. Well, he had worked hard enough, so it was fine if she gave him a little reward.

She smothered him mercilessly in her flesh, reveled in the sensation of his pathetically puny body squirming between her toes. “How are you holding up down there, speck? I didn't hurt you too much I suppose,” she asked when she finally released him. “Since you're taking too long to finish, I've decided to change your task. Instead of rubbing my foot, you will lick it all over, down to every single wrinkle. I'll keep track of everything you've covered, so don't think you can skip out on anything. I'll grow you back only when you've finished.”

“But... but that will take me weeks! Months, maybe! You promised you'd grow me back after a few days! Beatrice? Master? Master!” Subaru shouted, but she didn't hear him at all. Beatrice had long since stopped keeping up her enhanced hearing spell, and now as she waited for him to start licking, she only wondered what was taking him so long. Growing exasperated with him, she forced him to stick out his tongue and lie down on her toe. It was trivially easy to manipulate his body as she pleased at that size, and she took advantage of that to make him drag his little tongue right over her skin.

The feeling was toe-curlingly delightful, and she smothered him between her toes once more, forcing him to lick her even then. “Keep going or I'll shrink you again I suppose,” she said once she released him, completely forgetting her promise to him in her lust for power. Subaru knew better than to disobey; he threw himself at her skin and started dragging himself all over it, exhaustively licking every spot of her toe he reached before moving on to the next.

For a long time Beatrice was content to enjoy the feeling of that tiny little tongue against her skin, and dominating Subaru with her toes at every chance she got. But eventually she got bored of keeping him like that. She wanted to achieve levels of superiority over that little speck that he couldn't even imagine yet. And for that purpose she took to working on a new spell of her own devising, practicing it on some random useless objects in the library, until just a couple hours later she had mastered it. By then Subaru was still working on the same exact toe, having covered no more than a single square millimeter. Beatrice smiled thinking that meager surface would soon become his whole world.

“So you've only finished this much so far I suppose? Pathetic. You need to be more motivated, I suppose, and I have just the thing to do it.” Beatrice cast her new spell on him, and instantly Subaru noticed himself start to slowly shrink. “The longer you take to finish, the smaller you'll shrink. You'd better hurry up, Subaru; remember, I'll only grow you back when you're done.”

Subaru knew from the first there was no way he would ever finish. Though the shrinking was slower than before, it was still fast enough that there was already more of Beatrice's foot to cover than there had been when he'd started licking, and it only kept growing around him with each passing second. He shouted at the top of his lungs, begging her to stop this madness, but the spirit was content to watch him dwindle away on her toe, shrinking smaller and smaller, though always remaining in her sight thanks to her magic.

Subaru had only one hope to get out of this mess: that in dying he would be sent back far enough to prevent this horrible nightmare from coming to pass. From the bottom of her toeprint he ran up along the titanic ridge at his side, managing despite his shrinking to reach the top after only half an hour. There he positioned himself somewhere he might be crushed when she took a step. And, sure enough, when her foot swung forward he was crushed between her toe and the massive fibers of her tights.

Yet the world he perceived when he returned was the same as the one he had left; the valley of Beatrice's toeprint, where he felt himself dwindling away.

It was over. This was his fate. He would live here forever, with Beatrice as his whole world. With his last hopes shattered, his life reduced to nothingness, he turned his whole being to the one thing that might give him some small bit of purpose: his new Goddess, Beatrice. He fell to his knees in worship and kissed and caressed her almighty toe, as he would do until the day he died.

Milim knew Rimuru was lazy. He had been that way from the moment she met him. Even so, she knew that he could put his laziness aside and dedicate himself to a task if something truly important was at stake. So it seemed very strange to her when the meeting between Rimuru, Ramiris, and herself to discuss the impending invasion by a coalition of human kingdoms started with them sitting around the table to calmly share breakfast. More than once she tried to broach the topic with him, but no matter how many times she stressed the urgency of the situation, Rimuru calmly waved away her concerns and insisted that breakfast had to come before any of that other stuff. “You can't discuss strategy on an empty stomach.” Nor did Ramiris come to her aid in all this; if anything, the fairy queen defended Rimuru and insisted on the importance of good eating. Still, she kept pushing the issue, and finally she did get a response that addressed her concerns once Rimuru was finishing his meal.

“Don't worry so much about the humans, Milim. From what you told me they're still gathering their forces, right? After what happened to the last army that tried attacking Tempest, they won't be in any hurry to come after us before they're fully armed and ready. We can deal with them anytime before then.”

“Maybe, but that doesn't mean we should be taking it so lightly! We should spend this time preparing for their attack, not stuffing our mouths while they grow their armies!”

“Like I said, you worry too much. There's no need to prepare because there won't be an attack in the first place.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because I won't let them attack.”

“You're going to stop them? All by yourself?”

“Sure, why not? I'll do it right now if you want.”

“Right now?” Milim was skeptical, but curious. “Alright, let's see you do it,” she said as a servant came to clear the table.

“One minute please.” Rimuru raised his arms overhead and stretched, groaning, before letting them fall on his armrests. He pushed back his chair, then kicked back and propped his feet up on the table, rattling the fairy queen Ramiris who had been sitting on the table next to him.

“Hey! Give a little warning before doing something like that!” she exclaimed, fluttering up from the table to hover beside him. Rimuru grinned at her and teasingly wiggled his toes, to which she crossed her arms and stuck her tongue out at him.

“Ahem!” Milim cleared her throat. “Didn't you say you were going to deal with the humans already?”

“Jeez, have a little patience, will you? You know I just finished eating, right?” Still, a look of focus appeared on Rimuru's face as he closed his eyes, and Milim could feel some sort of energy about him, unlike any she'd ever sensed before. Skeptical as she had been, there was no doubt that something special was going on, and she kept her eyes fixed on him so she wouldn't miss a thing. Suddenly a magic circle appeared on the table, and after a bright flash of magic, something appeared on it.

Its surface was covered all over by a miniature land, with little mountains and rivers, lakes and valleys, even forests and cities. Rimuru sat back smugly, rocking his feet back and forth over one of the little cities while his guests examined the whole thing. It took Milim a few minutes to recognize those lands as the same that she had seen on a map of the continent; the land of the seven kingdoms bent on attacking them.

“So? What do you think?” Rimuru finally asked them.

“What do I think? What do you mean? Is that all? You said you were going to take care of all our enemies, but instead you just make a little model of their kingdoms. I guess it's good for discussing our tactics, but is that it?”

“Is that what you think this is? A model?” Rimuru shook his head and chuckled. “Why don't you try taking a closer look?” Milim gave him a vexed look, but she and Ramiris leaned in closer for a better look all the same.

Ramiris was the first to notice it, gasping and going wide-eyed in shock. It took Ramiris a little longer, but when she leaned in to examine what looked like a little smudge at the edge of a city, she too froze up in amazement at what she was seeing. As she watched, the little “smudge” broke up and scattered like it was made of a thousand tiny mites that had been gathered all together, and once they were all more spread out she found that she could recognize those diminutive figures as nearly-microscopic humans and horses, all running helter-skelter over the field. For a moment she even thought she could hear their panicked screams and frenzied neighing.

“This is all real?” she asked.

“Sure is!”

“How... Since when can you...” Milim was at a loss for words. To be able to shrink down this much land, this many people... this power Rimuru held was unimaginable. Was there any limit to it, she wondered? Could he, for instance, use it on her? Her eyes involuntarily turned to that tiny city lying in the shadow of his feet, and an image came to her head, of herself standing down in that city, the same size as all those puny little humans gazing in awe at the majestic sight of Rimuru's towering soles. She shivered just thinking about it, and when she met Rimuru's eyes and caught his knowing look she blushed a little and looked away.

Rimuru smiled and pulled his feet down, scraping off a small, mostly uninhabited part of the landscape as he did so. “How can I shrink a whole chunk of the continent?” he said, finishing Milim's question as he looked down on the tiny kingdoms sitting on the table. His bright golden eyes took in the millions of humans cowering beneath them, and his words struck fear into their hearts as they all understood that they were looking on the author of their reduction, a being of unimaginable power.

“To be honest, I don't fully understand it. It's a new skill I discovered I had a couple weeks ago. I've been practicing it on a bunch of stuff since then, trying to find out what limits it has. So far I haven't found any. In other words—” he leaned in close and smiled at the seven kingdoms, a cold, mocking grin of one who knew he had achieved absolute victory over his opponents. “—I could make all your kingdoms small enough to fit on a grain of sand!” Rimuru laughed. “Oh, but where are my manners? I haven't even told you all my name yet! Well, I'm Rimuru, the ruler of the land all your kings were planning to attack. I brought you all here so we can settle things peacefully, without the need to fight. If you like, though, you can try attacking me. Not like you bunch of germs stand any chance of winning. But first, how about a treat? I see there's dessert coming, and it should be more than enough for all of you.”

While Rimuru addressed his enemies, a servant came in with a tray of various sweets. “Right on time! Thank you! Just leave it on the table for now, I'll send for you if I need anything else.”

The humans watched in horror as the dryad servant approached their lands. She was such a slight thing, yet they could still feel the world tremble at her approach. Without even glancing at them, she bowed to Rimuru and lowered the tray down to the table, never suspecting that in doing so she was crushing millions and millions of terrified specks to whom the mere servant seemed nothing less than a goddess. Everyone else watched this catastrophe aghast, knowing that they could all be crushed just as easily.

“Now then, Milim, why don't you two help me share these desserts with our dear guests? Just pick whatever you think looks tastiest and let them have it, like so.” Grabbing a thick, heavy chocolate muffin whose rich aroma instantly grabbed his attention, Rimuru set it down on the crater where his feet had been resting a minute ago, then turned his attention to the tiny city beside it.

The hundreds of thousands of people in it screamed in terror as they saw his fingers approaching. Even a single fingertip would have been enough to snuff out half the city if it were to fall on them. But such an end was much too boring for Rimuru's tastes. Even if he could exterminate them all by simply swiping them off the table, he wanted to really torment them all so that before they died they would know perfectly well the consequences of messing with Rimuru Tempest.

Instead of crushing them all, Rimuru carefully dug his long fingernail into the earth just outside the city. His colossal nail easily tore through the crust, while cracks and tremors spread through the land immediately adjacent to it. The edge of the city started to lift up, and soon it was torn from the earth altogether as Rimuru scooped it up with his fingernail. Chunks of the city, including dozens of buildings, fell from the little bunch of dirt under his nail as Rimuru lifted it up for a closer inspection, letting the mere germs at his fingertip dwell on their utter insignificance as they beheld an eyeball bigger than their entire city. Finally, he carried them over to his muffin and turned his finger over, sprinkling all those pitiful souls onto its chocolaty surface. Though many died on the way down, many others survived and found themselves stranded on an alien world, overlooked by the demon lord and his companions.

While Rimuru picked up still more humans to sprinkle on his muffin, Ramiris floated down to the table, right next to the desserts tray. As the fairy queen landed on the human kingdoms, she felt the soft earth sink and crumble under her feet, and saw those pitifully tiny humans turn to look at her. Even at her comparatively diminutive size, being around the size of a doll, she was still a colossus to these pathetic humans, big enough to crush a city with a few good steps. She stood over one such city, peering smugly down at it with her hands on her hips, feeling the power that came with being bigger than someone else for a change. First she pulled off her shoes one by one, letting her bare feet fall right on the outskirts of the city, where more than a few buildings were crushed under her bare soles. She held her cheeks and wiggled her toes in delight at the feeling of all those crumbling buildings, sending tremors through the rest of the city.

The powerful earthquakes forced most humans to their knees, and they could do nothing but sit and watch as the fairy queen raised her dainty foot over their city. Chunks of dirt fell from her sole and rained down on the survivors, crushing still more houses in the process and ending hundreds of lives. Ramiris was thrilled to hear the faint sounds of their screaming, and she laughed and wiggled her toes over them all. Finally she started to slowly lower her foot, taking her sweet time with it. Those who could run did so, trying with all their power to flee their impending doom. Some saved themselves, but their numbers were dwarfed by those who couldn't make it. As her sole approached the ground, darkening all under it, many thousands were crushed in a fraction of a second; many more were soon crushed when those who had survived between their toes, gaping in awe at those massive digits which dwarfed any and all buildings in their city, were caught by her curling toes and mashed into the earth.

Meanwhile, Rimuru had finished sprinkling humans onto his muffin, giving it a look as though it were powdered with something. The humans struggled to get away, but their efforts were curt short when Rimuru picked up his muffin. The sudden acceleration and the air pressure coming to meet them as they were lifted into the air both flattened them to the muffin's surface, and the screamed as they looked to the sky and saw Rimuru's mouth open to welcome them inside. Pearly white teeth as tall as snow-capped mountains sunk into the soft, dark earth, tearing off a huge chunk of it and bringing it into his mouth, where it landed on his pink tongue. Rimuru moved his tongue around to lick up all the puny humans. Their flavor was subtle, yet delicious, and he savored them thoroughly before beginning to chew.

As the muffin was ground and mashed into a thick paste, countless humans were buried in its mass, some alive, most dead, and when he swallowed, all of them were sent down his throat to be digested and made a part of the demon lord—the highest honor to which such pathetic creatures as them could ever hope to attain. Even then, many more of those worthless specks were left inside his mouth, clinging to every surface and covered in spit and muffin remnants, though soon they either drowned in Rimuru's saliva or else were crushed by his tongue passing over them.

“Ah, that was so good! Milim, you have to try these guys, they're delicious!” Rimuru said before taking another bite of his muffin.

Milim looked uncertainly at the human kingdoms, and at the cup of pudding she had grabbed from the desserts tray. She didn't see how they could taste any good when they were so tiny, but she decided to give it a shot, licking clean her spoon and using it to dig up a small town. Then, bringing the spoon over her pudding, she shook it from side to side to carefully sprinkle the town all over.

Thousands upon thousands of humans splatted onto the thick yellow pudding, landing safely on its mushy surface, but when they tried to get away they found that they were practically stuck. Any of them who tried to walk or swim quickly sank into the huge mountain of pudding, from which they would never escape again, while everyone else could only lie on the surface and watch helplessly as the giant spoon came down again to scoop them up. Milim took them all into her mouth, where she instantly started swishing the pudding around. “Mmm!” she muttered, surprised to discover how much better the dessert tasted with them. It was like some delicious spice had been added to it.

After swallowing, she scooped up another city onto her spoon, but instead of adding it to her dessert, she carried it into her mouth and sprinkled it directly onto her tongue. Even just letting it lie on her tongue and slowly dissolve into her spit, she practically melted at the taste, and started greedily scooping up still more tiny cities, eating some by themselves and others with her pudding.

Ramiris saw all this and grew curious herself about the flavor of those little cities. Leaving behind the ruins of the city she had crushed under her feet, she took a couple steps and stopped just short of another one. There she crouched and scooped up a small chunk into her hand. She fell in love with the flavor as soon as she tried it, and fell to her hands and knees, her face overlooking the city. She opened her mouth wide, leaned in close, and ran her mouth over the city, licking up building after building together with all the people inside or among them, giving them no time to even try fleeing.

Rimuru, having finished his muffin, grabbed a stick of bubble gum from his pocket and started chewing. Half a minute later, he pulled it out and flattened the gum over his fingertip, then brought it over to another city. For a while he teased the city by holding his finger over it and moving it up and down. Finally he lowered it carefully onto the city, making the land stick to his was of gum. He did it softly enough that most people managed to survive on it, and they all got to watch as they were brought into his mouth to be chewed up or buried deep inside his gum, some of them even surviving long enough to experience being part of a bubble he blew.

Now growing thirsty, Milim grabbed a glass of boba tea that lay on the tray. She pulled it close, and sprinkled some humans inside. These sank to the bottom, dragged along by the currents of the falling dirt and debris from their cities, and floated among the giant tapioca balls. When Milim sucked in through the thick straw, the humans were sucked into her mouth, spicing up her drink with their delightful taste, and after chewing up the boba she swallowed them all, sending them spilling down into her belly to be digested.

Together, Rimuru, Milim and Ramiris ate more and more of the human kingdoms until every town and city had been devoured. Only a few villages and homesteads, much too small for them to bother with, still survived, their survivors all shaking in fear and despair as they beheld the ruins of their kingdoms.

“That was amazing!” Ramiris said.

“Too bad we're all out of humans. Would have been nice to keep some for later,” Ramiris lamented. “Hey, Rimuru! Can't you make us another batch? I'm pretty sure there's still a few more human kingdoms around we could use.”

“I won't shrink them unless they give me a reason to do it, but if you want more humans, I have another way of getting them for you. I'll just rewind time for their kingdoms. Everyone who died will come back, and they'll even keep their memories of everything we did to them.”

“Can you really rewind time?” Milim asked.

Rimuru grinned. “Just watch!” Again he focused as he activated another skill on the table, and soon the human kingdoms were back just as he said they would be. “Welcome back, everyone,” he said to them. “Are you surprised? Thought you were dead for good? Maybe now you understand why it was such a bad idea to want to challenge me. Yes, I was the one who brought you all back to life. How could I do that? Because I'm your new god. You all belong to me, and I can do whatever I want with you. I can kill you as many times as I want and keep bringing you back to make you suffer. But if you know your place and obey me, I can be a kind god and reward you for it. Oh, and one more thing. See my friends here? They're your gods, too. Now, let's see if you understood or if I'm going to keep punishing you until you learn your place; climb my feet and worship them.”

As Rimuru scrunched his sole commandingly, many thousands of people in the cities below started making their way towards his feet. They were terrified of those towering feet, but they were still more frightened of what he might do to them if they disobeyed.

At the same time, Ramiris lay down in the middle of the kingdoms and ordered all the humans around to come worship her body, which was like a great mountain chain to them. They gathered all around her body, kneeling to her legs, arms, her hips, her chest, her head, until she ordered them to climb her. Then they set hands to her skin and to her dress and started pulling themselves up, like tiny dust mites crawling on the fairy's body. Ramiris could just barely sense their tiny hands and feet climbing her, and she chuckled at how pathetically small they were, shaking her body and sending many of the humans falling off. Some minutes later, they started reaching the top of her body and knelt on her skin and on her clothes, meekly worshipping her. Ramiris as so elated that she couldn't keep from stretching her arms and legs, bulldozing many miles of land and crushing many of the humans who had still been making their way towards her. Then, she reached out and grabbed a handful of them dropping them directly into her mouth to be eaten.

Meanwhile, the humans at Rimuru's feet had been climbing his sole this whole time, but still hadn't made it all the way past his heels. Even so, they were already getting tired from so much climbing, and many of them settled into the wrinkles of his sole to worship him from in there, finding ample space for everyone in those tiny crevices.

Milim watched all this thoughtfully, considering what she wanted from these tiny humans. She didn't think it would be very satisfying for her to be worshipped by these pathetic things, especially since they were so small she probably wouldn't feel them, but that thought gave her an idea on how to test that out. As before she scooped up a city with her spoon, but instead of bringing it into her mouth, she lowered it to her belly.

Hundreds of thousands of terrified souls looked on in awe at the great tummy wall before them, stretching out in every direction with her navel dead center—a pit so huge it could swallow up their whole city. They turned to look at Milim's face, wondering what she meant to do with them. When they saw her hand coming closer, they were scared that it would crush them, but instead it reached down past their spoon. They still had no clue what Milim was planning as she giggled, not until she tipped her spoon over and sent them all falling down They saw her other hand pulling on the waistband of her panties, and saw her crotch waiting for them right below, with a powerfully musty air wafting out to meet them all.

Some of the humans landed on her skin, others on her panties, but when she let her panties snap back into place, they were all pinned firmly to her sin, or to other, more intimate things. Soon they started trying to escape, and Milim to her surprise found that she could feel them squirming down there, bringing her great pleasure. She cupped a hand over them all and started rubbing them gently, really mashing them into her skin where whole batches of humans were crushed under the pressure, their bodies popping and being reduced to no more than tiny red stains on her crotch. She could barely feel them dying, but still the knowledge of what she was doing gave her the biggest rush of excitement.

Once everyone had finished playing with their tiny humans, Rimuru rewound time again to put them back into place, then he ordered his servant to come in and cut two square sliced of the kingdoms. These were put into small boxes and given to Milim and Ramiris as gifts. “Do what you want with them, they're all yours. And if you ever run out, come back any time and I'll fix them up for you again,” he said as a third portion was cut out for his own enjoyment. “As for the rest of these lands, take them to the kitchen and tell the cooks to use them as seasoning for our next meal.

Everything was done as the demon lord said, and the lunch they ate with the tiny human kingdoms sprinkled on top was the best any of them ad ever had. They spent the rest of the visit playing with or snacking on their tiny humans, crushing them under hands and feet, licking them up, making them worship their new gods, and when the day was over and Milim and Ramiris left, they took with them Rimuru's gifts, which they would enjoy for many years to come.

Ever since the appearance of the titanic horse girls long ago, it had become a normal thing for humans to be hunted down and eaten by these colossal beings. Most humans now spent their lives hiding and running from the much larger species. Across the world, there were very few places where humans could truly live peacefully in towns and cities as they had long ago, without fear of being eaten by the horse girls.

Edyll was one such place. Ever since its founding, the city state had managed to go completely unnoticed by horse girls. Not one of its million inhabitants had ever seen so much as one of those giant, long-eared devils. They had enjoyed a century of peace, yet still retained an impressive arsenal from the days gone by when the city had understood the importance of defending itself from humanity's natural predators. Edyll boasted tanks, helicopters, warplanes, artillery cannons, and many other powerful weapons which could hold back an incursion from any horse girl that might appear. Or, so it was said. In truth, there had never been an opportunity to test these weapons against a horse girl, but everyone was confident that if one ever did appear she would be driven back without fail.

Confidence in this arsenal was matched only by confidence that no horse girl ever would find their city, and so they were so shocked when a pair of them finally did appear. They came from the north, climbing over the rocky mountains off in the horizon. Very few people noticed them at first, and those who did couldn't believe what they were seeing. Slowly, though, word of them spread and hundreds of thousands of people all over the city came out to see them.

The two horse girls made an impressive sight. At a glance, each of them looked at least five hundred feet tall, far bigger than most people had imagined. Apart from their size they were almost completely human in appearance, the only real differences so far as anyone could see being the pair of long, hairy ears growing out from the top of their heads and the even longer, hairier tails hanging from their rears and swaying behind them. The taller of them was black haired, with a lock of white hair near the top of her head. Her hair was short, reaching only her shoulders, and her eyes were a reddish shade of brown. The other girl, shorter by a couple “inches”, had beautifully smooth, light-brown hair that ran all the way down to her hips, with a curious white diamond shape on the wide bangs going down her forehead, and looked at the city with a pair of bright, amber eyes.

The Edyllians were surprised to find the horse girls so beautiful. Going by the horror stories left by their ancestors, they had expected their natural predators to be horrible, beastly things, but if not for their size these two would have been welcome competitors in any beauty pageant. Some weren't even bothered by their size, and were embarrassingly smitten by the girls' lovely looks and cheerful demeanor that could be seen in everything from their expressions to the way they walked to the tone of their voices when they talked to each other.

Had almost any other humans been in their place, they would have started fleeing or searching for refuge at once, but years of peace and faith in their huge arsenal left these humans more curious than anything as they felt that nothing bad could ever happen to them. Instead of fleeing they gathered at the edge of the city closest to the horse girls, watching those titanic bodies grow ever bigger in their view as the girls approached. They cheered on their troops as the tank formation deployed from the northern base to confront the incoming giants. This, they thought, would be an amazing spectacle, one that they would be proud to share with their children for generations to come—a triumph of human ingenuity over those who would prey on them.

The tanks rolling into position gave the horse girls pause, but they seemed more curious than worried. Probably they had never seen anything like them before. The citizens waited for the moment when the tanks would fire and chase the titans away, and were not disappointed when one of them fired with a resounding boom, sending an explosive shell whizzing away. It missed and struck the earth behind them, but the other tanks followed suit and a barrage of shellfire rained on the horse girls, who cried out and stumbled back in alarm. Some tanks failed to fire, their guns too old and corroded from years of neglect, but it seemed to the citizens that their aid wouldn't be needed to drive the titans away.

Yet, after a few seconds, the black-haired titan strode forward, taking the shellfire for her companion. Despite the dozens of shells bursting against her body, she seemed no more than annoyed with the attack, her strides unhindered by the ongoing barrage. As she approached the formation, the tanks started driving away, but by then she was only a couple steps away. In two more seconds she had reached them, and brought her foot to bear on one of those tanks, which fit neatly under the heel of her dark brown shoe. The groaning of its thick metal armor was followed by a sharp screech as the horse girl let all her weight press on it, instantly flattening the thing and leaving it half buried in the ground. At the same time her companion came forward to block off the retreating tanks with her colossal feet, and started stepping on them even as they kept firing.

The Edyllians were aghast. Not only were the titans stomping out their tanks as easily as one might stomp out a bunch of roaches, but looking at them now without the fire of the tank shells in the way, it seemed that all their attacks had been ineffective; except for slight scorch marks on their clothes, their bodies stood undamaged.

As more and more tanks were crushed under their shoes, unease grew in everyone, until they were all sick to their stomachs just hearing what happened to those tanks and the people inside. Worried mutters spread over the gathered crowds, but the people assured each other that the army wasn't finished with them yet, and they were soothed for a while by the thought of all those mighty cannons and missiles that had yet to be unleashed against the titans.

But in the silence that followed once the last of the tanks had been crushed under the horse girls' heels, the people slowly realized that there were no tanks nor planes nor helicopters coming to drive the giants away. It was only them and the two horse girls now.

Even then they didn't think to flee, not until the horse girls' attention turned to them and they started walking closer, tremors rippling out from their every step to reach the gathered crowds. Only when they felt the earth quaking under their feet did it start sinking in that they were no longer mere spectators who could count on the horse girls staying comfortably away, and all at once everyone erupted in panic, pushing and pulling and even trampling over each other in their bid to flee the incoming giants.

“Where do you little guys think you're going?” asked the black-haired girl—Kitasan, the other had called her. With two quick steps, she caught up to the ones trailing furthest behind, her colossal feet coming down right behind them. With her shadow falling over them, they ran with all their might, not daring even to look back. Still, they sensed that something was approaching even before Kitasan's hand descended on the group, fingers falling around them all and curling to trap a handful of them in her fist.

They struggled and fought as they were lifted up, but Kitasan held on firmly to them and brought them way, way up. When she opened her hand, they found themselves right under her gaze. Some tried to get away, but stopped when they peered over the edge of her palm and saw what a fall awaited them if they jumped. Still, with how many people there were on her hand, pushing and moving against each other, one of them did fall. Her piercing shriek as she tumbled some four hundred feet to the ground below was cut short just a few seconds later when she landed right between Kitasan's feet. Her body twitched for only a few seconds before going still for good.

Sobered by the terrifying shriek, the humans stopped their shuffling and turned to Kitasan, awaiting her next action and hoping that she would be as gentle as she looked. At the very least there was no hint of malice in her eyes; then again, there hadn't been when she was crushing those tanks either. But that had been self defense, right? These people hadn't done anything to her, so maybe she would spare them?

As they turned these thoughts over and over in their heads, they heard movement and saw the other horse girl—Satono—approaching. She stopped next to Kitasan, and leaned in to look at the humans, her eyes stopping on every terrified face. “Hello, humans,” she said. Her voice carried a soft and gentle quality to it despite its resounding power. Some of the group felt a bit more at ease after hearing it. “He-he! It's been so long since I saw any of your kind that I forgot how cute you can be.”

Kitasan grinned at her friend, offering up her palm invitingly. “Want some, Satono? Go on, take whichever ones you like!”

“Thank you very much! Let's see here... Oh! How about you, little one?” Her hand came up, her fingers ready to grab a young woman standing very close to Satono. The girl tried to back away, but several hands at her back stopped her and pushed her forward against her will. The young woman, Marilyn, closed her eyes and squeaked in fright as Satono's fingers fell at her sides and seized her by the waist. Her brief struggles to escape turned into desperate clawing at those colossal fingers so she wouldn't fall once she was lifted up.

Not that she had any reason to worry. Satono's grip was firm, and those fingers held her securely even as they slowly rolled her between them, letting the horse girl survey her entire body. “What a pretty dress you have! You're definitely the cutest human here.” Despite everything, the gentle smile that Satono gave her comforted Marilyn. Someone with such a sweet and honest smile couldn't possibly be such a monster as horse girls were supposed to be. Or so she thought until Satono spoke again. “I wonder if you'll taste as good as you look.”

Marilyn didn't even have time to react. Satono simply opened her mouth and tossed the little human inside. She landed on the giant's tongue, which instantly caught her and pinned her to the roof, where she was thoroughly savored at the horse girl's leisure. Desperately she struggled against it, trying to push the tongue away, to crawl out of its grip, but its slimy, muscular mass easily overpowered and flattened her pathetic limbs. Even her screams were smothered away by the gigantic tongue; she herself could barely hear them with that slimy mass of muscle sliding all over her, drowning out her voice with its powerful squelching noises.

Back and forth that tongue slid her, before finally pushing her onto something hard. Then, with one swift crunch, Satono's molars ended Marilyn's life while all the other humans listened to the horrid sound. Even now there was no malice on the horse girl's face, nothing but the pleasure of tasting a human for the first time in years, and when she swallowed, she eagerly reached for another one.

Finally understanding what monsters they were dealing with, the people on Kitasan's palm panicked and many of them started jumping off her hand. Better to die from the fall than to be eaten alive by a horse girl. Some of them got the end they wished for, but others were caught by the horse girls as they fell, and the rest were trapped in Kitasan's fist as her fingers curled once again.

Bit by bit the group was tossed into the horse girls' mouths, chewed to a pulp, then swallowed while the girls giggled in delight. Soon they had all been eaten, and then Kitasan and Satono turned their attention towards the city, where there were still so many new things to see, so many little humans to be eaten.

This was the first time that either of them had visited a human city. Before this, their only experience with humans had been in their childhood, when their mothers brought some home as a rare treat for them—a snack the two good friends were always eager to share with each other. When they first spotted Edyll off in the distance after climbing those mountains, they didn't even know what they were looking at. From that distance, the city had looked like a glimmering thing as all those myriad windows reflected the light of the sun. It wasn't until they were way closer that they realized what they were looking at.

Neither of them had ever thought that human cities would look like this. They had expected something more like the hamlets that horse girls lived in, but scaled down to a size more appropriate for the little humans. Certainly they had never thought to find anything like these buildings. The tallest of them even reached up to the girls' heads, and were proportionally dozens of times bigger than anything ever built by horse girls. It was impressive that such tiny things could build something like this, and they were glad to have such a perfect playground for them to spend the afternoon in.

Satono took the lead as the streets weren't wide enough for them to walk side by side. The humans had apparently left this part of the city while she and Kitasan had been dealing with the handful from earlier. But that didn't mean the streets were empty. Down there she could see all manner of little shiny things of many different colors which crunched quite differently than the little humans. Curious, she bent down to grab a silvery one, and brought it up for a closer look.

“What've you got there, Satono?”

“I'm not sure. Look,” Satono showed the little wheeled thing to Kitasan, who grabbed it and started turning it over. She saw that it had windows and tried to peer inside, but they were so small that it was hard to see much of anything, so when she saw that it had little doors she tore them off and looked again.

“Looks like there are little seats inside. Maybe the humans climb inside and move around in there, like those things from before that shot at us?” She dug her nails into the metal and kept taking it apart piece by piece until there was nothing left.

Meanwhile, Satono had noticed that there was something off about one of those little wheeled things. It wasn't just reflecting light, but was actually shining a pair of lights on the ground, faint as they were in the daytime. She bent over to grab it, but as her fingers approached, the little thing roared and started moving on its own, rolling right between her legs. “Ah! Kitasan, catch that thing!”

As the car was about to pass between her feet, the horse girl quickly moved one right in front of it, and though it swerved, it still crashed into her shoe with a tiny little thump. She crouched and picked it up at once, not wanting it to get away, and showed it to Satono. They both peered inside and found that there were a number of little humans inside, two bleeding and unmoving in front and a couple in the back who were still conscious.

“Ah-ha! Sneaky sneaky, little humans! Were you little things trying to hide so you could speed away as soon as we passed you by? He-he! If you were a little faster maybe it would have worked. But now you're going to be our next snack!” Satono licked her lips. “Can I try them, Kitasan? I was to see if that thing they're in is as tasty as it looks.”

“You really think this looks tasty?” Kitasan frowned, eyeing the vehicle. “It doesn't look any good to me, but if you want to try it, here, go ahead.”

Satono took the car and, pinching it by the top and bottom, gave the humans inside one more look. By then the ones in the back were trying to open the doors and escape the fate they knew was coming, but the car doors were too deformed both from the crash and from being handled by the giants, and they wouldn't open anymore. They could only hold each other and cry into their arms as they were thrust into the dark cavern of Satono's mouth.

There they were tossed all around as Satono played with the car. Then, finding it flavorless, the horse girl tucked the car between her molars and started applying pressure. The car was crushed little by little while the people inside cried and screamed at the sound of cracking glass and bending metal, until finally they too were caught under the pressure. They shrieked as their flesh was cut up by sheets of metal and pieces of cracked glass, and all the more as their bodies were slowly crushed alive, until finally they all went crunch and life mercifully departed them.

“Mmmm!” Satono muttered, savoring her meal.

“Is it really that good?” Kitasan asked once Satono had swallowed.

“It doesn't have much of a taste by itself,” Satono admitted, “but I love the texture it adds! You should really try it sometime!”

“Huh! Guess I really have to now that you mentioned it! Lets see if we find another one with humans in it.” But as they went deeper into the city, the humans remained as scarce as ever.

There simply weren't any more to be found, at least not outside—all of them were hiding inside, waiting for their almighty military to come drive the monsters away, wondering when the hell that would happen.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the people heard the sound of helicopter blades drawing nearer, and they rejoiced since they knew that now the time had come. Many rushed to the windows in anticipation of the spectacle to come, and saw a swarm of trail of several helicopters flying towards the horse girls.

“Only several?” they asked themselves. Everyone knew there were 48 helicopters in the air force, and they had to wonder why they weren't all showing up, but they had faith in their military and assumed that there must be some good reason Maybe these ones were only meant to bait the monsters into giving chase and follow them into a big trap, or maybe it wasn't safe to have so many helicopters flying around in the same area at once.

The reality was far less thought-out than that; not only were most of the helicopters grounded from want of upkeep, but even if they had been in working order there simply weren't enough pilots in the air force for all of them. Like everything else in the military, it had all atrophied from years of disuse. Worse, what pilots they did have were woefully inexperienced, having never flown a real combat mission before, much less one against any horse girl.

Nor were they very good at maneuvering in an urban environment. What training they did had assumed they would be engaging the enemy in the fields surrounding the city, so as they flew over the buildings which surrounded the horse girls, they struggled to account for the taller ones that almost reached the monsters' waists.

Turning to the helicopters as soon as they heard the noise, Satono and Kitasan were amazed to find yet another thing they had never seen before. They watched as the pilots awkwardly flew around them, then as one drew closer, Kitasan reached out and tried to grab it.

“Ow!” she said when her fingers met the whirling blades, and she quickly pulled her hand back to nurse the slight stinging she felt, while at the same time the helicopter spun out of control and crashed into the ground some distance away.

Meanwhile, the other helicopters started strafing around the monsters and firing round after round on them. Their attack caused some mild stinging to the horse girls, like they were being pelted by a bunch of sand grains, and they turned around in annoyance to try and smack the helicopters out of the air. But it was harder to move here with the buildings so tall and packed so tight, so when the helicopters flew behind them, they swung their tails fiercely and whipped a pair of those pesky things right out of the air.

Another second and each of them had taken out one more helicopter, and with a final whip the final pair went down, all of them crashing into the street or else into the surrounding buildings.

How could this be? Edyll's military might had been crushed like cockroaches and swatted away like a bunch of flies. The people still wanted to believe that some other weapon could turn things around, but it was getting harder to keep faith when things were obviously getting so dire. At least the monsters hadn't caused any destruction yet, save for the craters left in the roads, but they were nearing the center of the city.

Soon Satono and Kitasan had reached the blocks housing the tallest of Edyll's buildings. There Satono stood beside one of them, comparing the square, boxy thing to herself. Though she couldn't quite see them because of the glare of the sun on the windows, there were over a thousand people inside, many of them looking at her from within, holding their breaths as they waited for her to leave.

But Satono was very interested in that not-so-little building and, curious to see how much pressure it could bear, she stepped right up and wrapped her arms around it, hugging herself to the tall structure. The concrete of the upper floors cracked a bit as her arms fell around it, particularly on the corners of the building, but it was the side facing her that suffered the most damage as her breasts came to press against it. The windows one by one cracked under the pressure, the building groaning as her breasts imposed themselves on it.

Those who had been watching from the highest floors screamed and started to flee, even as the stairs also started cracking under the pressure and sent some tumbling to their deaths. Satono found the crumbling of the building against her breasts delightful, and she started rubbing her chest over its face, thrilled at every crack she felt. Then, slowly increasing the pressure, she made entire floors buckle against her chest. Metal, glass and concrete crumbled away and fell to the ground far below while everybody screamed. She moaned as more and more of the upper floors were destroyed by her chest, until finally they could hold no more and collapsed on her arms and chest.

Kitasan, meanwhile, crouched between a couple other buildings, peering into their little windows to see all those humans inside cowering from her and Satono. She placed a hand against the side of one building, and watched the humans inside recoil at its touch, backing away from her hand especially when she applied a bit of pressure and the windows started cracking. She could have easily broken through the wall, but she stopped short of it and looked thoughtfully at the building.

Reaching further up, Kitasan again put her hand to the face of the building and put pressure on it until he felt the glass start to give. Then she slowly released it, hearing the whole building groan as it settled back into place. A playful grin appeared on her lips then, and she stood back to her full height. As she placed her hands flat on two strategically chosen parts of the building's face, she also started leaning into it, pushing at it with her knee, her thigh, her chest.

The building groaned louder than ever now as everyone inside, particularly those on the higher floors, felt it start to tilt. There was a frenzy now to leave the building before it collapsed, with dozens of people streaming out of the entrance in the first few seconds and hundreds more running after them. Only a fraction of all the humans inside managed to leave the building before it came crashing down. As Kitasan pushed it past a certain point, the skyscraper started falling under its own weight.

First the lowest floors collapsed on one side; the floors above them started falling over all as one, then at some point the top half broke off from the bottom and fell over still more quickly. As these halves fell onto a couple of smaller neighboring buildings, they brought those down as well, taking everyone inside with them.

Kitasan laughed joyously as it fell, thinking it all a game, and didn't even notice the humans who had managed to escape and now scattered through the city to flee the destruction she wrought. Instead she turned to the building behind her and pressed her hands and body to it just like the first. At once everyone inside hurried to leave the building, though like before only a portion of them left before it came crashing down on the next one over.

With Satono hugging the buildings to rubble and Kitasan knocking them over, it was clear to everyone that the buildings were no longer safe for them. Thousands upon thousands of people streamed out the exits, preferring to take their chances out on the streets than to cower inside waiting for their certain death. Fortunately for them, they were largely ignored by the horse girls, who found their buildings more fun than the humans themselves.

Not even half an hour after they started playing here, there was only one building left in the city standing higher than their chests, and the young women approached to finish it off. Only a few people still remained inside, hoping to be spared their fun, but even these started to flee once the horse girls stood to either side of it. Admiring it for a moment, Satono and Kitasan both stepped forward, pressing themselves to opposite sides of it.

The top floors were slowly crushed between their chests, and once they were gone, the rest of the building followed, floor after floor being crushed between the horse girl's waists, their hips, their thighs and knees, until they were hugging each other tight and laughing, rubbing their bodies against each other to feel the debris being ground to dust between them. Never had they had such fun as they did now! But when their eyes met, they suddenly let each other go and turned away, blushing.

“Ah... Th-that was fun wasn't it?” Kitasan said to end the awkward silence that followed. “I think I've worked up an appetite again. How about we go find some more humans to eat?” Without waiting for an answer she walked to where she had last seen the human crowds fleeing, looking around the streets for anyone.

After taking a couple dozen good strides, Kitasan looked back over her shoulder at Satono and was relieved to see her heading into a different part of the city. She was still a bit shaken from how close she had been to doing something dangerous back there, with Satono's lovely lips inches from her own. It wasn't the first time she had thought about kissing her lifelong friend, but she had never come closer to actually doing it than she had just now. It wasn't that she didn't want to—nothing in the world would make her happier than sharing such a moment with Satono —but she was scared that Satono wouldn't share her feelings, and she worried about what could happen to their friendship if she ever learned how Kitasan loved her.

But those were thoughts for another time. Here and now, she was just happy to be having fun with these humans and their things. Speaking of which…

Kitasan turned her attention back to the streets, looking for more humans yet failing to find any. They must be hiding in their buildings again, she thought, and so stopped next to one that reached her knees and knocked on its roof. “Come out, humans! Kitasan wants to see all of you! Won't you come say hello? No? Tsk tsk. Guess I'll have to make you come out, then. She placed her foot on top of it and slowly pressed down until the roof collapsed under the weight. At once a number of humans ran out of the building, and more followed as her foot tore through floor after floor and finally reduced the whole thing to rubble. Then the horse girl turned her attention to the survivors, and with a single step caught up to them.

“Going somewhere?” she said. Getting down on her knees, she blocked off the road and fenced them in with her hands and arms, grinning over them as they frantically looked for some other path away from her. “It's awfully rude to run away when someone's trying to talk to you. You be good little humans now and stand still for me!” Kitasan looked them over curiously, taking in their terrified faces and their cute little clothes.

“So adorable,” she cooed as they trembled and fidgeted under her gaze, holding back tears and hoping she would leave them be. She considered grabbing a little human to take back as a pet, but dismissed the idea since she knew she'd probably just end up eating it after a day or two. No use in getting overly attached to your food.

Still, as she was inspecting the humans, she noticed for the first time something curious about them. While there were many who looked almost exactly like her own kind—only without tails and with ugly stubby ears on the sides of their heads instead of the long, elegant ones that adorned the heads of horse girls—there were also many of them who were somewhat different—on average bigger than the others, without breasts and with hair growing on their chins, plus some other subtler differences she couldn't quite put her finger on. Were these two different kinds of humans? And if so, then... did they taste any different?

Finding a place in the crowd where most of the humans were of the second kind, she leaned down towards them, her lips falling around them and snatching up a few that she sucked up into her mouth. The other humans at once started screaming and running, but she caught a handful in each fist and the rest were stopped by the just-arrived Satono setting her feet down in front of them.

“Gotcha!” she said, and crouched to sweep them together and grab them all in one hand. “He-he! Too slow, humans! Did you want these, Kitasan?” Satono held them out to her friend, who was still busy eating the first batch of humans.

Kitasan made some noises to let her understand she should wait a bit, then thoughtfully savored the humans' remains for a bit before speaking. “Satono, have you noticed how there's two different kinds of humans?”

“Oh?” Satono glanced at the humans trapped between her fists for a moment before her eyes widened in realization. “Oh! You mean how there's sweet ones that look more like us and salty ones that don't?”

“Yeah!” Kitasan’s eyes lit up in glee. “So they do taste different! Did you always know about it?”

“I did when I was little, but I forgot about it until you mentioned it just now. So this one here should be saltier...” Satono carefully picked out a man from the humans squirming in her grip, then popped him into her mouth, chewed, and swallowed. “Yep! And this one should be sweeter!” She picked out a woman and chewed her up, smiling and nodding her head. “It's very slight, but you can definitely notice it if you pay attention. Here, you try some sweet ones.”

One by one, the women were picked out of her hand and carried over to Kitasan's lips, which gripped and pulled in each of them. “And now the salty ones.” The same happened with the males, Kitasan calmly receiving each until there was just one more left, struggling and crying in Satono's grip.

For that one she closed her mouth around her friend's lovely fingers, sliding her tongue between them to nudge the last little human into her mouth, sucking on him and on that pair of fingers until Satono slowly pulled them out.

Again Kitasan felt that same urge to plant a kiss on Satono's lips, and again she turned away in embarrassment when she realized how close she was to it, focusing on the humans in her grip as something else to talk about. “Er, you want some? I was going to let you have the ones you caught, but... Of course, I can't feed these to you since my hands are full or else I'd return the favor.”

“It's fine, don't worry! I can handle myself just fine.” Wiping her fingers off on her skirt, she cupped her hands to receive the humans in Kitasan's right hand, and swiftly closed her fingers around them before any could try to escape. Then she sat next to Kitasan, so close that they could feel each other's warmth. Each enjoyed her meal in silence, looking around casually but thinking only of the one beside her until they were almost finished.

With just two humans left in her hands, Kitasan noticed that they were one of each kind of human, the sweet and the salty. She looked them over thoughtfully and, when Satono finished eating, she handed the sweet one to her. “Hold on to it for me. I want to check something about this human first.” With the woman in Satono's hands, Kitasan took to stripping down the young man she held, pulling off by force his shirt, his shoes, his pants, and finally his underwear to leave him entirely uncovered in her grip, her fingers holding down his limbs as he attempted to shield his manhood from her.

“Ew, what is that thing?” Satono asked as both horse girls peered at his crotch.

“Oh, oh, I remember this!” Kitasan chuckled. “A bunch of animals have these things called males and females. The males have one of these things between their legs. I think they're called penis and testicles.”

Satono’s lip curled. “Well it's disgusting.”

“You think so? I don't know. I think it's kinda funny.” Holding down his arms and legs with one hand, almost wrapping him around her finger, Kitasan moved a fingertip towards the man's crotch and started playfully flicking his genitals up and down and from side to side. The man at once started screaming worse than she'd ever heard a human scream, writhing and twisting in the horse girl's grip as she practically ripped off his cock and balls. “Huh. I guess he really doesn't like it when I play with it.”

Satono tilted her head, humming thoughtfully. “Can you pull it off? I want to see what happens.”

“Sure thing!” The man could not have been any more panicked than when he heard them say that and felt the horse girl's nails pinch his member from top and bottom. Kitasan carefully positioned over them, then squeezed and yanked it right off. To anyone but a horse girl, the scream that burst from him then would have been blood-curdling. The man tensed up and twisted every which way while pint after pint of blood poured from his crotch. Slowly, though, his struggles died out until, cold and pale all over, he mercifully passed away.

“Huh. Guess they can't live without it.” Kitasan popped the man into her mouth and held out her to receive the woman Satono kept for her. While chewing the man to bits, curiously savoring the drier texture he'd taken on after losing all his blood, she undressed the tiny woman until she was trembling all naked between her fingers.

“Look here! These sweet ones really are just like us,” she said, pointing to the woman's crotch where the titans found just the same sort of genitals that all horse girls had. “He-he! This one's kinda cute, actually. If she were the same size as us, I wouldn't mind asking her out on a date. But I wonder if...”

Nudging the human's legs apart and pinning them down so she couldn't close them again, Kitasan licked a fingertip and brought it towards the woman's crotch, where she gently set it down between her legs and started rubbing her. Almost at once the woman started moaning and squirming in her grip, writhing in pleasure under the overwhelming insistence of the horse girl's warm, wet finger. For all that she feared and hated the monster, her body had never felt such pleasure as it did now, and she honestly couldn't tell whether her struggles were meant to escape the horse girl's grip or to press her crotch to the giant finger.

Kitasan giggled and kept teasing the little woman's crotch, never noticing that Satono watched all with a less than happy expression. A strange mood took hold of the other horse girl, and it reached its peak when Kitasan raised the woman to her mouth and started licking between her legs. Before she knew it, Satono had snatched the human away and crushed her in her grip before dropping the smashed, broken body on the ground with a huff.

“Satono? What in the world are— Mmph!” Kitasan's question was cut short as Satono jumped on her, pressing her lips to Kitasan's and throwing her arms around her. Together they fell on the ground, their landing cushioned by a couple of buildings that slowly crumbled under their combined weight until they were turned to rubble, all the humans inside them crushed in a matter of seconds.

Shocked at first, wondering if she was dreaming all this, Kitasan soon forgot her worry and joined in the kiss, pushing back on Satono's lips with her own. Their first kiss was as awkward and tentative as could be expected. A while later, Satono pulled away from Kitasan's mouth, a string of spit stretching from one pair of lips to the other.

“K-Kitasan,” she said, trembling as she pulled away, almost scurrying back. “I... I love you, Kitasan! I've loved you for a long time, but I hid my feelings all this time. If you don't feel the same way, I understand, and I'm sorry for kissing you, but please don't be mad at me! I just couldn't stand watching you touch that human the way... the way I wish you would touch me.”

“Satono?” Kitasan's reply was half-dazed, “I... never knew that's how you felt about me. Don't apologize for kissing me. I'm not mad at you. In fact, I always wanted to tell you... I love you too, Satono!”

Satono’s eyes lifted to meet Kitasan’s, hope suddenly sparkling past the tears on the edge. “R-really?”

“Yes, really!” Kitasan wound her hand into her friend’s… or was it girlfriend now? “You're the first person I've ever loved! I've had such a crush on you for years, but I was always too scared to tell you.”

“Kitasan...” Satono was brimming with emotion, yet there was nothing to say. She lowered herself again, lying atop her beloved Kitasan, and kissed her again. Though their love was as awkward as before, they soon fell into a rhythm—a gentle push and pull. Their hands slowly explored each other, running over shoulders and breasts, gripping backs, caressing breasts, squeezing thighs and butt cheeks. Then, remembering Satono's words, Kitasan reached between her beloved's legs, further and further up, sensing the musty air that hid under her skirt. Finally her fingers touched on the soft fabric of her panties, and slipped her fingers inside , but...

“Eep!” Satono bolted upright and Kitasan yanked her hand away.

“I'm sorry!” Kitasan pushed herself up almost in a panic. “Was I going too fast? I won't touch you there anymore, then.”

“No, no, it's fine!” Satono reassured her, brushing hastily at her skirt. “I do want you touching me there! I was just surprised, is all.”

Kitasan frowned, not quite getting it. “If you're sure, then...”

“I am... but... l-let me get some humans first. I think we could do something fun with them. Stay here, I'll be right back!” Satono stood and hurried away, going off to find some humans. At least, that was her excuse. Really, she just wanted to get away for a bit.

Much as she wanted to make love with Kitasan, much as she had dreamt about it for years, now that they were so close to making it happen she felt like a nervous wreck. And why shouldn't she be? It would be her first time doing it with anyone, and she didn't have the slightest clue of how it was supposed to go. She didn't even know what to use the humans for, though she thought they would figure something out.

Satono took off her shoes and socks after a while, leaving them on the ground except for one sock which she carried with her to stuff the humans inside. She tore down a few walls as she went, exposing the humans inside the buildings so she could snatch them up one by one even as they tried to run. By the time she had a few dozen humans in her sock, she was starting to feel much more calm and thought about heading back to Kitasan now, but she paused when she noticed a stray human run into one of the many little metal things on the sides of the street.

This one was different from the other, much taller, longer, and boxier. Something about it drew Satono, and she walked over to it and picked it up just as it was starting to move. Then she peered into the windows and saw a whole bunch of humans huddled up inside, as much as fifty of them all together.

“What've you got there?” Kitasan's voice made Satono jump, and her fingers curled around the little bus in her hand, almost crushing it. She whirled around and saw the other horse girl standing right behind her. Satono timidly held out the bus and let Kitasan have a look at it. “Oh! Nice find! This will make for a great toy!” She took the bus from Satono, and the sock full of humans too, and eased her down. “I know you're nervous about this, but don't worry too much. I won't do anything you don't want me to do. Okay? Now lie down so we can have some fun with these toys you got for us.”

Once Satono was stretched out along the street, Kitasan knelt over her and sprinkled the humans from her sock all over her body, from her thighs all the way up to her chest, and even leaving one right between her lips. Despite the softness of Satono's clothes and skin, the humans were badly hurt by the fall, some killed and most others too broken to move. They could only wail and scream and watch as Kitasan carefully positioned herself over Satono and began lowering her body onto her beloved. Many humans were instantly killed between them, but most survived between the softer parts of their bodies.

As Kitasan lay down, she put her lips to Satono's, the human caught between them serving as their little toy. The horse girls snuggled with each other, feeling the humans between them pop one by one, their frail little bones crushed under their weight. Each little pop sent a thrill over their bodies and let them sink ever more carelessly into their love. The human caught between their lips was the last to go, as they took care to keep it alive so they could enjoy its pathetic struggles being smothered by their passionate kiss. Then, when all the others were dead, Kitasan's tongue slipped out between her lips and caught their little toy, pushing him past Satono's lips and into her mouth. Satono caught him at once and returned the favor, leaving the human caught between their tongues.

As the girls sighed and moaned amidst their passionate kiss, Kitasan groped Satono's breasts, and Satono in her pleasure swallowed the human without thinking, sending him all the way down to her stomach. At the same time, Kitasan's other hand reached down and found its way under Satono's skirt once more, where it found a warmer, mustier reception than it had the last time around. Satono spread her legs a bit, letting Kitasan's fingers grip the bottom of those moistened panties and pull them down along her thighs.

Crawling back, Kitasan flipped Satono's skirt up along her body and looked at the pair of puffy lips she found under it. She pulled her face closer and breathed in, shivering as she caught the scent of Satono hanging thick in the air. Then she stuck out her tongue and dragged it up along those lips, making Satono shiver and moan every inch of the way. Then she pulled her tongue inside and savored the taste of Satono. She was sopping wet already, as much as Kitasan herself.

Now taking the bus again, whose body was so warped by their handling to keep anyone from leaving it, she carried it towards Satono's pussy and, holding those lips open with her other and, she slowly slipped it inside, but only halfway.

Satono's pussy gladly received its modest length, hugging it tight, already coming close to crushing it. Kitasan's finger joined it inside too, and she lovingly rubbed Satono all over inside while doing the same for herself.

Now almost writing in pleasure, Satono stretched her arms and accidentally tore through a neighboring building, where without thinking she curled her fingers and caught a handful of humans and debris. She separated the one from the other by touch, then reached over and dropped a bunch of humans on herself, some landing on her lips and others falling into her. Another handful joined them a minute later, all their squirming adding more and more to her pleasure. “Join me, Kitasan. I want you to feel this good too,” she said, inviting her beloved between her legs.

Kitasan sat up for a moment and slipped off her panties all the way, stepping right out of them. Then, lifting one of Satono's legs, she sat down between them, held open her pussy, and lowered her crotch on Satono's, letting the other half of the bus inside her.

Both young women lovingly rubbed against each other, delighting as that bus and those humans were all crushed between them or drowned in their juices. Then, with just the bus remaining, they both came together with a deafening cry, announcing their pleasure to all the city as their vaginal contractions finished crushing the bus. With the mangled metal mess slipping out of Kitasan's pussy and falling to the ground, Kitasan lay next to her lover, resting her head on Satono's arm and letting her hug her tight.

And while the survivors all over Edyll cowered in basements and cellars, hiding from them under beds and tables, Satono and Kitasan cuddled tenderly together, happy as could be in each other's arms.

Ino Akiho was a big woman in many ways. Even in her 40s, the head practitioner of the Smiley Boar seitai clinic boasted a pair of breasts that seemed almost too big for her body. Comparable in size to her head, they were emphasized quite sharply by her practitioner's uniform. Not only that, her ass and thighs were as thick as anyone could wish for. More than once, Naoe had found himself staring at her shapely curves, which she almost seemed to flaunt for him at times. Better still, he had many times felt those lovely things pressed up against his own body.

His boss had always been very affectionate, with him and with everyone else—no doubt one of the reasons why their clinic proved so popular to this day—but at work she usually kept it within the bounds of professionalism. When they went out drinking, though, she could turn into a very different woman. Naoe could never refuse an invitation from her knowing that he'd get to enjoy her soft breasts pushing at his arms and back for half an hour at least, not to mention all the flirting and the teasing. “Ah, Naoe-kun, what a nice young man you are~,” she might say, her face so close to his own that he could feel her breath against his cheek. “To think you'd go out drinking with an old woman like me~. Could it be that you're into cougars or something like that? He-he-he-he-he! Better be careful this one doesn't eat you up!”

Of course, nothing serious ever came of it. Even while drunk, his boss knew very well where the lines was. Sure she skirted with it all the time, but never really crossed it. The most she ever did was give him a kiss on the cheek when she was really drunk, especially when doing so as thanks for escorting her home, as he happened to do on this evening.

Even with her arm wrapped around his shoulders, she was stumbling the whole way home, giggling softly and rambling about all sorts of things, especially about him being so nice and cute and responsible and...

“Easy there, chief. You're almost home so don't fall asleep on me yet,” Naoe said, lifting her up a bit when she started getting too low to the ground

“I'm not sleeping, you're sleeping~. Eh, are we here already? What time is it? One in the morning? Ah, it really is getting late. Are you sure you're okay going home all alone? You can stay here if you want. I'll let you sleep on the couch, or maybe I'll let you in my bed if you ask really nice~ he-he-he!” Ino laughed as she fumbled with her keys, taking a moment to find the right one for her door. “Come in, come in! Do you want anything? Water? A shower? More beer, maybe?”

“Thanks, but I think I'll just use the bathroom and be going, if you don't mind.” Ino weighted heavier on his shoulders than ever as Naoe helped her to the couch, where she plopped down with a heavy sigh.

“You're going to leave me here all alone? I really wanted some company tonight. But maybe there's a reason why you're in such a hurry to be home? Is there some pretty young lady waiting for you at your place, Naoe-kun?”

“No, no, nothing like that!”

“E-he-he-he! Don't blush like that, Naoe-kun, it's just a little teasing~! A man your age really should have a girlfriend, though. Have you been looking for one? I'm sure I could find someone to introduce you to if you wanted.”

“Th-thanks, but I'm not really looking for anyone right now. Er, sorry, I really need to use the restroom. I'll be back in a minute.”

“Eh? Why are you running away, Naoe-kun? Ah, what a bashful young man! And such a nice one, too. He really should... get himself a... pretty girl...” With Naoe gone, Ino's energy slowly tapered off and her drowsiness imposed itself. By the time Naoe returned, she was slumped over on the couch, her legs hanging down and feet resting softly on the floor, her eyes shut and her breathing slow and deep.

Naoe took one look at her and sighed, glad that she had finally settled down. He worried about her sleeping in such an uncomfortable posture, though, and considered waking her and helping her to her bed, but decided against it. Instead he simply took off her shoes and pulled her legs up on the couch, giving her one last look to make sure everything was in order before turning for the door.

He really did have to get home. It had been a long night, and even though he hadn't drunk nearly as much as Ino, he was still feeling a bit woozy. More than a bit, in fact. All of a sudden he was so sick that he could hardly stand.

He sat down, holding his head as everything seemed to be spinning, wondering what in the world was going on. In all the times he'd gone drinking with the chief, he'd never felt anything quite like this. Should he call for help? He tried calling the chief's name, but he wasn't sure if the sound left his mouth or not. All he could focus on was the sickening spinning, and only when it had settled down could he finally look around and realize what a radical change had come over everything.

To put it simply, Naoe had shrunk to perhaps a thousandth of his normal size, so tiny that the land around him was hardly recognizable as the wooden floor of Ino's apartment. Further away, distance rendered the monstrous objects of her living room more comprehensible, though no less terrifyingly huge. Everything towered overhead, even something so small and inconsequential as a pair of slippers lying nearby. Everything, including...

“Naoe-kun~. Are you still here?”

Ino's voice resounded all over her cavernous living room and vibrated in his chest like the beating of a giant drum. As he turned back, Naoe saw his giant boss sitting upright on the couch, rubbing her eyes and yawning. Then she stood and drunkenly tottered away from the couch, her lumbering steps shaking the tiny Naoe's world. Feet far bigger than football stadiums smacked the floor in great, lumbering steps, carrying her titanic frame closer at such speeds that by the time he saw her colossal foot swinging his way, it was already too late to do anything about it except shut his eyes and brace for impact.

As her foot his the ground, Naoe was thrown a relative yard into the air. Quickly he picked himself up after landing, and as he looked ahead, he saw a huge wall of skin stretching above him and around to his sides. He was right between Ino's toes, he realized—toes big enough to crush houses underneath. The smell of Ino's foot quickly pervaded the air around him, which turned warm and musty in a matter of seconds, enveloping Naoe in the head practitioner's presence. It was shocking how huge she was now, and now close she had come to crushing him under her foo. How close she still was to it, in fact. Even a little twitch of her toe might spell the end for him here and now.

He should have been sprinting away as fast as he could. Instead, and to his own surprise, Naoe ran for that giant wall of skin between her toes and jumped on it, grabbing on to her skin and beginning to climb. It was as if something else were taking over his body and pushing him to get closer to his giant boss, to attach himself to her gorgeous body and spend the rest of his life worshipping everything from her head to her giant toes.

“Hm. Guess he's already gone,” Ino muttered after looking around bleary-eyed for Naoe. With a yawn she turned headed away to her room, completely unaware of the tiny Naoe clinging desperately to her down between her toes. At times he felt that the earth-shaking impact of her steps would fling him away, but her toes came together softly and held him in place until she tottered into her room. There she plopped down on the bed and nearly fell asleep again before sitting lazily up and pulling off her shirt and pants until she was down to her underwear.

Ino stretched out her legs and curled her toes. To Naoe, it felt like she was trying to crush him between those mighty digits, and he struggled desperately to escape their grip. At first Ino didn't notice it, but after she relaxed her toes, she felt a curious sensation down there, caught in the folds of her flesh. It tickled her, so she chuckled and wiggled her toes, causing Naoe to be rolled up and down between them. When she still felt that tiny thing moving afterwards, she turned her bedside lamp on, grabbed the little bug, and dropped it on her open palm.

As he sat up, Naoe found himself right under his boss's gaze, her giant eyes peering drowsily down at him. Even foggy as they were, there was a twinkle of recognition as they looked at him. “Naoe-kun, is that you?” she asked. Naoe think she would hear him, but he answered her all the same, shouting up at her godly looming face until he noticed her finger coming over. Her fingertip fell right beside him, and with a little nudge it knocked him down on her palm, then turned him over so Ino could look at him from every angle. “It is! It's a tiny little Naoe-kun! He-he! How did you get so small? And what were you doing down on my foot? Don't tell me you're one of those men who like feet~. Hm? Are you shaking your head? Oh, Naoe-kun! Always so bashful, even in my dreams. Well, don't think I'm going to let you go so easily here, not after you left me in real life. You can't resist me, not when I'm the one having this dream, so you and I are going to have a lot of fun together until I wake up.”

Ino grabbed Naoe between her fingertips, and then, lying back in bed, she pulled off her bra cup and dropped him right on her boob, where he bounced down and started rolling down the side until he was halfway into the valley of her cleavage. Clinging to her mountainous breast, overlooked by her godly visage, his head swimming as the traces of alcohol still in her breath reached him, Naoe was almost overcome with the urge to start worshipping the titanic woman. He was awed by the sheer scale of Ino's breasts, and when she giggled and made those big, fleshy mountains start to shake, he clung tight to her tit and was amazed at how soft it was, even at this size.

“Oh, Naoe-kun~! Look at you, grabbing my boobs like that! He-he! I always knew you had it in you. Do you really like them that much~?” Ino grabbed her tits, sending another potent ripple through the walls of fat and flesh. “I know men like big boobs, but don't you think this is too much? A bug like you could get crushed between these mountains~.”

Naoe could only watch as her tits started closing in on each other, the huge valley between them becoming narrower and narrower until they both closed around him, entombing him in Ino's bosom. Even with how soft they both were, there was so much pressure on Naoe that it seemed a miracle he wasn't crushed on the spot. He wasn't even hurt, in fact, just a bit dazed by all the merciless smothering from his titanic boss.

Even as she pressed and rubbed her tits together, sending his tiny body hundreds of feet up and down the motherly mountains, he could still feel the world shake with her soft laughter as she had her fun. And for that matter, Naoe was having fun too. Even without that part of him that wanted to worship her, it was hard not to like being smothered by such a perfect and gigantic pair of breasts.

After a minute, Ino let go of her breasts and pinned the tiny Naoe under her fingertip, pushing him further up her breast until he was lying right on her nipple. She gave it a little twist to make it perk up, then as it started engorging she let go of Naoe and watched as he was immediately dwarfed by her growing nipple. Why, he was almost small enough to live inside it. He looked so impressed sitting there and watching as the ground grew right under him. As it finished growing, he stood and she felt his tiny little feet walking over her sensitive skin. She shivered at that lovely little sensation, shaking her tits enough to make the tiny Naoe fall on his hands and knees, like he was worshipping her as a goddess.

Naoe didn't get back up, and Ino wondered if he'd gotten hurt, but then she felt his tongue lapping away at her nipple, and she moaned and shivered even more. Such a tiny thing, but it felt amazing on her nipple. “What a naughty boy~! First you grab my boob, then you start licking my nipple without any warning? Who gave you permission for that, eh?” She chuckled and gently patted him, flattening him to her nipple where he kept licking the warm, uneven skin without a moment's pause. After that heavenly feeling of being caught between Ino's boobs, he had given in to the urge to worship her, knowing that nothing in the world could make him happier. Now he could only think of showing his love and devotion to his absolute goddess.

Ino was more than happy to let him work on her boob for a bit, just lying back and basking in his adoration, almost dozing off again as she let the caress of his tiny tongue bring her deeper into blissful relaxation, but before she could fall asleep, she noticed that something had changed. “Naoe-kun, are you getting even smaller?” she asked. Naoe just kept worshipping her nipple like before, giving no sign that he'd even heard her, so Ino had to pick him up herself to check. Bringing him back under the light of her lamp, she put her finger next to him for comparison. “You are! You're only half as big as you were before!”

The exclamation, together with being yanked away from her breast, was like a splash of cold water on Naoe, who for once really started to worry about what would become of him. Before this he had assumed that whatever magic was responsible for this—probably one of the black elf Kuroeda's potions—would wear off eventually as it usually did and let him grow back to normal. If he was still shrinking, though, then he couldn't be sure that it would ever wear off. Could it be that he would keep shrinking forever?

Overcome with fear, he stood and looked to his boss, shouting at her in hopes she might hear him begging for help, but he must have been far too small for that already since she just smiled at him. “Poor little Naoe-kun, before long you'll be just a tiny germ. But don't worry, I know just the perfect place for a germ to live a long and happy life~.Why don't I show you?”

Ino licked her fingertip and tapped no him to get him stuck on its surface. Naoe struggled against it, but still hadn't made any progress when she swiped him off on something that smelled very familiar. When he could finally wipe the saliva off his face, he opened his eyes and saw that he was stuck to the sole of Ino's massive foot, with her other sole looming right in front of him and her godly face hanging in the sky. “Bug or germ, the right place for you is here on my feet!” She laughed and scrunched her soles, trapping Naoe in the folds of her skin. When she let go of him, she immediately pressed her feet together and started sliding them against each other, reveling in the sheer power she felt as the tiny Naoe was rolled between them as helplessly as a pebble or a bit of lint.

“Do you like it down there? It's pretty nice, right? You know I take care of all my body, and that includes my feet. See how soft they are?” she asked, catching Naoe between her toes where she gave him a little squeeze, swallowing him up completely in the soft flesh of her giant digits.

As much as Naoe was anxious to get out and get help, he couldn't deny that being caught between Ino's feet felt good. Amazing, even. For all that he tried, he couldn't resist them, and in time he gave into his urges again, sticking out his tongue to lick her godly feet even as they so casually dominated him. Smothered in that divine flesh, he wished fervently to shrink until her feet became his whole world, and at once his body started to make his wish come true. He slowly kept shrinking smaller and smaller, his body becoming ever less perceptible to Ino. Naoe didn't know exactly how small eh was, but in time he was so puny that he started getting stuck in the wrinkles of Ino's feet while she was playing with him. Once it got to that point, Ino's exhaustion caught up to her and she lay back on her bed, falling asleep the moment her head hit the pillow.

With her feet moving apart again, the soft light of her lamp reached Naoe and let him take in his puny new size. Now a mere micrometer tall, the wrinkles of Ino's foot were like massive valleys to him, with her sweat pores being like small lakes. He really was a mere germ on her foot now, and the thought of her great and majestic foot stretching all around him like a whole new world filled him with excitement. He would keep worshipping Ino's foot for many minutes more, shrinking ever smaller the whole time, before eventually falling asleep, lost deep in the wrinkles of her boss and goddess's foot.

Akane Kurokawa sighed. Why did people have to be so mean? The young actress couldn't understand it. She had already apologized to Yuki for scratching her face, and Yuki had accepted her apology. A lot of people had stopped harassing her after that, but why were some people still at it? It wasn't like any of them were Yuki's friends. In fact, most of them had probably never met the girl. They probably weren't even her fans.

Akane knew she shouldn't be so bothered about them, but she really couldn't help it! She had been all cooped up in her room ever since catching the flu a few days ago, so she didn't have school or theater or anything else to keep her occupied. She just had her phone, her PC, and the gnawing temptation to keep looking up what all those people online were saying about her. What an awful bunch of trolls they all were! Sometimes Akane wished she could take them and teach them all a lesson. Too bad that was an impossible dream... or was it?

Sitting upright in bed to reach over and grab her phone off the bedside table, Akane scrolled to a previous conversation with Yuki, where the two of them had talked about their problems with trolls. Even though Yuki was way more popular than her, she still had plenty of haters, and Akane had wanted to know how she dealt with them.

Yuki's answer had left her stunned. She talked about a mysterious app which let her shrink her haters remotely and bring them to her room so she could do punish them any way she liked. When she first heard about it, Akane thought that Yuki was talking about doing all those things in her imagination, but then Yuki had sent her a video of a tiny person. It was no more than half an inch tall, and was flanked by a pair of feet that were totally gigantic by comparison. Akane had watched entranced as Yuki bullied the tiny person with her toes until it fell on its knees to beg for mercy, only for her to end up crushing it as casually as she would a little bug.

She watched the video again now, feeling the same fascination from the first time, especially when the crushing scene showed up. She must have watched those last few seconds twenty times at least, always thinking about what Yuki must have felt in those moments.

When she finished watching it, Akane scrolled a bit further down to find a link that Yuki had sent her to download that strange app. She held her thumb over it for half a minute before tapping on it. Her heart was beating so fast as the download started. Could it really work like Yuki said? While she waited she went back to their messages, where Yuki had written some tips on how to use the app.

A few minutes later, the download finished and a splash screen appeared, which then transitioned to a menu with a button labeled “Shrink them”.

Akane took a deep breath to calm her nerves and tried to think about someone she wanted to shrink. At once her mind went to a certain trio of girls from school—bullies who made school miserable for Akane. She had thought many times before that anyone who made them disappear would be doing the world a favor.

Kicking off her bed sheets, she sat up to concentrate on those three. Supposedly she only had to be thinking of them when she pressed the button and they would all appear shrunken down to whatever size she wanted. At first she thought she'd make them as small as mice, but her imagination kept making them smaller and smaller, even smaller than the tiny thing Yuki had crushed, until she decided on the perfect size for them.

Finally she tapped the button. There was a small notification claiming that the shrinking had succeeded, and another option appeared offering her a view of the targets. When Akane tapped it, the menu was replaced with a video feed. Her heart skipped a beat when she recognized her bullies on the screen, and especially when she saw the strange ground they stood on and the shape of the wall before them. She scrunched her foot and watched as that wall deformed before the three, scaring them so bad that they all fell over trying to get away from it. There was no mistaking it: the wall on the screen was her very own foot.

Akane moved her legs away to uncover what at first glance looked like three tiny ants crawling on her bed, right where her foot had been. They were so pathetically small at less than half a centimeter tall that she had to lean real close before she could see that those “ants” were shaped like humans—like three girls all wearing the same school uniform. A little while longer and she could recognize each of them and even make out their tiny little faces staring back in fear.

Akane was in awe. Even though she had seen Yuki's video, she still hadn't fully believed it. She thought it must be have been an augmented reality thing where the app just added a digital tiny person to the video. Seeing that it was all real had her shook. As much fun as it had been to think of these girls shrunk to the size of bugs, now that it had come true she didn't know how to feel. She just wanted to put the girls back now, but was that even possible? She looked at her phone but there was no option to do that. Maybe she could ask Yuki about it?

While trying to think of a plan, Akane noticed that one of the girls—Saki, the trio's leader—was saying something. Akane couldn't hear anything, but then she remembered what Yuki had told her and enable audio on the video feed. Now she could hear her bully's voice loud and clear.

“What were you saying again? Sorry, I couldn't hear you before,” she said, her voice booming over the shrunken girls. Before Saki could speak again, one of the others tugged on her sleeve and begged her not to say anything, but Saki told her to shut up and pushed her away.

“Listen up, you little...” Looking at Akane's gigantic eyes peering right at her, Saki faltered for a moment, but soon regained her courage. “I don't know how you did this to us, but you're going to put us back to normal right away!”

“S-sorry, Saki. I really didn't think it'd work. I'll find a way to put you back to normal, I promise, but you're going to have to wait until I can call my friend. I don't think I can–”

“No!” Saki stamped her foot. “You're going to call her right now, do you hear?”

“But I can't! She's in class right now, and–”

“So what? We were going to class too before you did this to us! You think you can just keep us like this? And why? Because your stupid friend's in class and you're too embarrassed to call her? You whiny bitch! I'm sick and tired of your dumb fucking excuses! I swear, if we're late to class because of you, we're going to make you pay! You can kiss your friends good-bye because I'm going to ruin you so bad that no one will be caught dead talking to you ever again!”

Saki kept yelling and threatening Akane, completely ignoring the ever more desperate pleas from her friends to keep quiet. Unlike her, the others had noticed the change in Akane's expression. Where at first she had been taken aback, looking as scared as when they cornered her at school, now she looked at Saki the way one might look at an insect.

Saki went quiet when Akane's finger appeared over her, shuffling back as she stared at the huge pinkish surface casting its shadow on her. It hung in the air for only a moment before slamming down right on Saki, pressing down forcefully and giving two grinding twists before rising back up.

Akane was almost as shocked as the other bullies at the sight of the bloody stain that was all that remained of Saki. She had never meant to crush the girl, honest! She had acted in anger, without really thinking about it. But, now that she'd done it? She didn't feel guilty at all. It felt so nice to finally be rid of that girl who had plagued her school life these past years!

A whimpering sound brought her attention back to her phone and the other girls. They looked so scared! “W-w-we're sorry, Kurokawa,” one of them said, trembling as she spoke. “P-please forgive us for bothering you all this time! I-it was all Saki's idea, honest!”

“Kurokawa, please, let us go! We promise we won't tell anyone about what happened here, and we won't bother you anymore! We'll do anything, anything! Do you want money? We can give you money! Please just grow us back!”

Akane smiled. How the tables had turned! The first year at school it had been her begging them to stop bullying her; now here they were, begging her to change them back. She let them keep pleading, looking impassively at them while they grew more and more desperate until they were almost crying.

What to do with them? Akane considered keeping them as pets so they could spend the rest of their lives reflecting on how poorly they had treated her, but then she thought back to something Yuki had said about how much she loved eating the people she shrank. Without a word, Akane reached for her bullies. They both screamed and started running at her finger's approach, but she easily caught one between her fingertips. Then, opening her mouth wide, she dropped the girl on her tongue and pulled her inside.

The feeling of that tiny little insect clawing at her taste buds, trying desperately to escape the mass of spit that covered everything, delighted Akane to no end. She giggled, her laughter shaking the whole of the bully's world, and threw the little thing further back with her tongue. For a minute she simply toyed with the girl, tossing her back and forth all over the inside of her mouth. She didn't taste very good, but she was so much fun to play with, especially when she could see and hear all her suffering on her phone. It was so cathartic to finally pay her back for all the times she and her friends had tormented Akane in the past!

When she got bored, Akane simply swallowed the girl. “Ah!” she sighed, and giggled as she felt the girl flushed all the way down to her stomach. She could still hear her voice through her phone, though it was much weaker despite how pained it was. But she didn't care to keep listening to that, so she changed the view to the last of the three bullies, who showed up on her screen hiding under a fold in her bed sheet. “Aww, it's so cute that you think you can hide from me~!” She pulled on the fabric, straightening it out to expose the final bully. The girl started pleading for mercy again, but Akane was already bored of that. She picked her up, holding her under the very finger that had crushed Saki a short while ago, and lobbed her down on the floor.

The girl's near weightlessness made it so the fall didn't hurt her, but Akane had broken both her legs while handling her and now she could only try to crawl away, crying so pathetically that Akane might have been moved to pity if she wasn't having so much fun.

Jumping out of bed, Akane walked towards her bully, heels and soles thumping on the floor with enough force to rattle the poor girl. Finally she stood over the puny insect, her big toes resting to either side of her while the bully rolled onto her back and looked up, weeping, at Akane. From all the way down there, she looked like a tiny piece of trash on the floor. Only thanks to the view on her phone could she see that it was a person cowering in her shadow.

Akane wiggled her toes and laughed as her bully curled up in fear. Her toes looked gigantic next to that tiny thing! She couldn't even imagine how big she herself must look—probably like a huge mountain. No wonder the girl was so scared of her; it wasn't every day you found yourself at the mercy of a vengeful goddess.

Grinning at her bully, Akane raised her big toe. She slid her foot closer until her toe hung over the girl, then watched her try to crawl out of its shadow. She still hadn't made any progress when Akane lowered her toe onto her, letting its unrelenting weight slowly crush her alive. For a minute she enjoyed feeling the girl's dying struggles under her and listening to her fading cries, but what she loved most of all was feeling that tiny body pop and crunch under her toe when she applied just the tiniest bit of force. It was really incredible! She almost moaned in pleasure as a sense of bliss spread over her body. It made her so sad when the feeling wore off and she realized there weren't any more bullies for her to toy with.

But wait! Hadn't she just been thinking about all those disgusting online haters harassing and slandering her, and about how much she wanted to teach them a lesson? Now it was the easiest thing in the world for Akane to grab her phone and use the mysterious app to make a bunch of her haters appear in her room, even smaller than the bullies she had just dealt with, and all of them trapped inside her used sock. She saw them though her phone, though she couldn't hear them yet, all scared and confused as they tried to find a way out of their cotton prison.

Akane smiled mischievously as she walked over to that sock and sat beside it, picking it up and pulling it tight over her foot until all those worthless bugs inside it were pinned tight between the fabric and her skin. She could feel them all squirming in there, just a bunch of bugs held fast against her sole or wriggling between her toes, a few of them even being pushed under her dark blue toenails. Their pathetic squirming tickled her, and by reflex she scrunched her foot.

Her toes curled tight, catching a number of unfortunate trolls. Their pathetic bodies were instantly crushed by her soft digits, making her sigh in delight. At the same time, many more haters were swallowed up in her foot wrinkles when she scrunched her foot, some being crushed and others crippled between the walls of flesh. Even when she relaxed her foot there were still dozens of those pests squirming against her sole, though.

“Ew! Are those bugs in my sock?” she said then, taking it off and turning it inside-out so she could see her tiny victims herself. Basically all of them were stuck to the fabric, their bodies snagged on threads as thick as ropes while she held the sock up to her face. “Oh? Guess I was wrong. You're not bugs at all! You're something even worse: a bunch of nasty trolls who think they can say hurtful things on the internet without suffering any consequences.”

It took the shrunken haters a while, but once they realized who they were looking at, they started apologizing and begging for mercy, just like her bullies had before them. They fought to free themselves from the fibers of her sock, but most were too weak and pathetic to manage. Smiling, Akane pulled her sock even closer, holding it right below her nose. She took a deep breath, taking in the pungent smell of her sock, which hadn't been washed all week—a smell that was so strong for the shrunken people that it made their eyes water.

As she breathed in, some of the pathetic trolls that had managed to free themselves were sucked into her nose, where their pathetically tiny bodies tickled her as if she had breathed in a bit of dust. “Achoo!” Akane sneezed them out onto her hand, and when she looked at it, she found them all stuck to her palm by tiny snotty remnants, struggling and failing to escape them. “Oops! Did I scare you guys?” she laughed. Her phone showed them all crying out desperately for her mercy. “Huh? You want me to spare you? Too bad! You should have thought about that before you spent months harassing me! I wanted to kill myself because of you all! You're all terrible people, and I want you to know that you deserve everything that happens to you today.” Akane smeared the tiny trolls and her snot onto the sole of her foot, wiping her hand free of them. While they still struggled to escape, she carefully stood up and enjoyed the feeling of them going crunch one after the other underneath her foot.

Now turning her attention back to the ones still on her sock, Akane went and stepped on them all. The soft fabric prevented them from being instantly crushed, but that just meant their deaths were slower and more painful as she applied all her weight to them while twisting her foot to make sure she got them all. Several seconds later, the app confirmed that there weren't any left.

But just because this batch was gone it didn't mean there weren't any more trolls left for her to deal with. No, there were still thousands and thousands of people out there who had harassed her at one point or another and thought they could get away with it. Well, Akane would prove them all wrong.

Climbing back on her bed, she sat with her feet together and her soles turned upwards, then made another batch of trolls appear on her soles. “Hi, little bugs!” she greeted them. “Do you recognize me? I hear you've all been saying mean stuff about me online. Is there anything you want to tell me to my face?” She turned on the audio on her phone so she could hear them all apologizing. “Hmm! Sounds like you all really regret harassing me all this time. Just for that, I won't kill you like I was planning to. You can live, as long as you worship me like your goddess. But if you do anything I don't like...” Akane wiggled her toes, giving them a small taste of her power. The trolls' world shifted, and many of them were knocked off balance and sent falling down her soles, some even falling to the bottom where her soles came together, getting wedged between them.

Akane didn't have to say anything else; at once her haters all got on their knees and started worshipping her, some kissing her sole, others rubbing it, some weeping and all of them trembling in her presence. While she sat watching them worship, a sense of power grew inside Akane. With each passing second she felt more like a goddess next to these worthless little specks who had dared to insult her.

“You call that worshipping? Lick my foot clean, or you know what will happen to you~.” They did just as she said, pressing their tongues to her dirty soles and licking for their lives, but still Akane was unimpressed. “Is that all? I can't even feel you germs working down there. I should have known you'd be lousy servants. I think I'll start killing whoever's doing the worst job. Maybe that will motivate the rest of you to work harder.”

Picking out a random person who she felt was doing poorly, a tiny woman about her mom's age working on the arch of her left foot, Akane moved her finger over her. The woman didn't even get the chance to speak before she was crushed under that fingertip, the sound of her death pushing all the other haters to work as hard as they possibly could. But that wasn't enough for Akane. She knew that no amount of effort from them would ever satisfy her, and with the excuse of encouraging them, she killed them off one by one, crushing some under her fingertip, scooping up others on her nail and dumping them in her mouth to eat them, or curling her toes to deal with someone who happened to be on them.

It took almost half an hour for the trolls to realize she didn't really mean to spare them. As soon as one of them tried to run everyone else followed suit, thinking to escape her sole and find a safe hiding place before she did them all in. But all it took for Akane to catch them all was to press her soles together again. Most of them were instantly crushed, and she felt the rest of them popping in batches as she rubbed her soles together. When she finally pulled them apart, there was nothing left of them save for some red smears on her soles, which she wiped away so that no trace of their existence remained.

Akane was just about to call up another batch of trolls when she heard her mother calling from the living room. “Akane, honey, I brought some some ice cream! Come eat it before it melts!”

“Coming, mom!” Akane replied. When she looked back at her phone, she was confused when she saw that it was giving her the option to switch to the video feed again. She tapped on it out of curiosity, and saw a bunch of people all on white surface that she soon realized was a bowl of vanilla ice cream with sprinkles. She must have tapped the “shrink them” button by accident when replying to her mom, and the distraction had made her haters appear on the ice cream.

She hurried to the kitchen, eager to get to her ice cream so she could have fun eating the trolls, but when she got there and sat with her mom to eat her ice cream, she realized that the trolls were all in her mother's bowl. Her phone showed a bunch of people half-buried in a spoonful of ice cream, screaming in fear as they were pulled closer and closer towards her mother's gaping mouth, begging her to please just look at them and spare their lives. But it was no use. They were all far beneath the middle-aged woman's notice, and she ate them all without ever realizing what terror she inflicted on them.

“That's an awful lot of screaming. Are you watching a horror film, Akane?” she asked, never suspecting that what she heard were the screams of her near-microscopic victims.

“Uh, yeah! It's a kaiju movie, actually. Let me just turn it off.” Akane put her phone away, silencing all the tiny trolls and denying them any chance to be heard by their unwitting executioner, and started eating her own ice cream, always paying close attention to her mother's bowl. Even though she had been looking forward to eating the trolls herself, there was something so thrilling about having her mom eat them instead, totally oblivious to how many lives were being ended in her mouth.

The trolls trudged through the cold, creamy surface, trying to escape her mom's plastic spoon, and usually failing. Even those few who did escape from the ice cream onto the bowl were all eaten all the same when Akane's mom licked the bowl clean.

Once she finished, Akane's mom went to the living room and lay face-down on the couch, kicking off her shoes to relax. Looking at her from the kitchen, Akane got another idea for how to punish her haters, and she spawned another batch of them all over her mom's bare feet. Over a thousand people, no bigger than dust mites, now lay scattered on each of her mom's soles, the twin wrinkly surfaces an alien landscape to the lot of them. Akane listened to them scream with every little twitch of her mother's foot, all of them growing more and more frightened as it slowly dawned on them what had happened and just how puny they all were. She watched as more and more of them were killed off by the curl of her mom's gorgeous toes, with a hundred or more being crushed when her mom rubbed one foot over the other's sole, and grew more and more excited as she watched the massacre playing out on the unsuspecting woman's feet.

Eager to take part in it, Akane went to her mom and offered her a foot massage. “Aw, thanks, honey! That's so sweet!” she replied, curling her toes and giving Akane a glimpse of her black-painted toenails.

Kneeling at the end of the couch, Akane grabbed her mom's right foot and gave it a close look, spotting all the tiny trolls cowering on its surface. Then she started massaging the weary sole, crushing countless people as she rubbed it with her fingers. Her mother's toes curled in delight when she started rubbing, killing yet more of those puny mites, and as Akane kept at it, her mom grew more and more relaxed until she was snoring softly by the time Akane finished with the first foot. When she moved on to the left one, she started picking off the trolls more playfully, walking her fingers over the wrinkled sole to crush them one by one. Seeing that some of those insects were hiding under her mom's toenails, she dug them out and tossed them into her mouth to eat them.

By then the last remaining tinies were trying to flee, but Akane wasn't about to let them get away. She pressed her face to her mother's sole, reveling in the warmth and the rich scent of that wrinkly foot as she smothered all those puny mites. Then, glancing at her mom to make sure she still slept, Akane stuck out her tongue and gently licked that sole, moaning softly as her tongue tasted her mother's foot sweat. She cleaned that foot with her tongue from heel to toes, licking up every last speck that crawled on it. Then, finally satisfied with her fun, she hurried back to her room to thank Yuki for the app and for all the fun she'd had today.

Another perfect day dawned on Architect City, the single best city on Earth. As a million people rose to greet the sun, leaving their little homes for work, school, or even just a leisurely stroll around the city's many parks, Architect watched the idyllic scene with pride. It was all thanks to her, after all, that these people could enjoy such peaceful and happy lives. She had built all this for them—she, Architect, the Sangvis Ferri agent, until recently feared by humans and Dolls alike, now the beloved protector of all her citizens.

“Make way, make way, for the hero of Architect City!” she declared, sauntering through the busy streets. The tide of people broke for her, making for her a corridor so she could proceed in her morning tour of the city. Everyone greeted and cheered for her as she passed them by, the smiles on their faces showing they weren't the least bit bothered by the intense pink light in her eyes, nor even the multi-weapon she carried over her shoulder, a massive thing of her own invention practically as big as herself.

Slim though she was, still she wielded it without issue, her mechanical skeleton giving her strength far surpassing that of the average human. Yeah, with her strength and her weapon she could pretty much take on anyone at all. Hell, if she wanted to, she could easily wreck this entire city, and none of these humans would be able to stop her. Oh, they might cry and beg her to spare them and their homes, but if she really wanted to do it, there was no way they could convince her to stop. Explosion after explosion would rock their whole city, with a “BANG! BOOM! KABOOM!”, rockets and hellfire raining down on every structure with surgical precision to ensure they toppled over in the most brutally spectacular way! It would be a spectacle for the ages, that much was for sure!

Ahem; that was if she wanted to destroy this place, of course. Good thing that her destructive days were all in the past, and she had no interest in doing anything like that for the hell of it like she might have done before. No, now she used her considerable destructive prowess in defense of the people, using it to take out such threats as criminal gangs or alien invasions. And if there was ever some collateral damage, why, everyone perfectly understood the need for it and didn't blame her in the slightest.

Of late there hadn't been a need for such things, though. It had been years since Architect City was attacked by a horde of zombies, a catastrophe that resulted in the worst destruction the city had experienced since the great cataclysm decades ago, back when earthquakes, tornadoes, and tidal waves had all ravaged the land on the exact same day—an incredible stroke of bad luck that some might have considered an act of God.

In the years of peace since the latest disaster, the city had been repaired and built up to be bigger and better than ever before. Architect and her city alike were now renown the world over, and each year tens of thousands of people came flocking in to become new citizens. Science and the arts flourished, as did her peoples' wealth and health. Such peace and success could lull anyone into a sense of security, and with it the conviction that the times of danger were all long past. But while her citizens might all live without a care in the world, Architect knew she couldn't give into such complacency, not when some unknown enemy might strike at any moment. A million people depended on her to protect them, and she wouldn't let them down. That was precisely why she'd spend all this time building many battalions' worth of Jupiter Cannons, her most powerful and destructive creation: to secure by force her people's peace. She hadn't had reason to use them yet, but any day now she was certain that a threat worthy of their power would appear.

Who could have guessed that day would be today?

Peace and good cheer still reigned over the citizenry when Architect first received warning of something approaching from the west. Motioning for everyone to stand back, she deployed her jetpack and flew right up to the tallest building in the city, perching on its roof so she could view the incoming threat.

Architect's eyes fixed themselves on the vast wall of fog that began a mere kilometer away from the city's edge. That fog had surrounded the city from its inception, obscuring their connections to the rest of the world, and it only seemed to draw closer the more the city grew. It was harmless, by itself, yet it was the perfect cover for any threats to her city and people.

Half a minute later, something started to take shape in that shifting mass of vapor—an ominous shadow slowly coalescing into a distinctly human figure the closer it came to the edge. Only one, yet it still made for a chilling sight thanks to its sheer size. While it still wasn't clearly visible, no mere human could cast a shadow that big.

Any hopes that this titanic being might prove friendly were dashed as soon as it stepped out of the fog and revealed its fearsome figure to all. Some three hundred feet tall, it had the look of a young woman. Clad in a white and black outfit, with her light-blonde hair gathered up in a pair of buns, she was unmistakably a T-Doll of the P90 model, a creation of the evil Griffin & Kryuger meant to bring chaos and destruction to the lives of all peace-loving people on Earth. The titan wore an evil smile as she strode towards the city, making sure to crush every barn and shed and house in her path, raising up high her black shoes to threaten any farmers and tractors out tilling the fields.

“Groaaaar!” she yelled, her inhuman growl soon reaching the city and sending all its people into panic. Only Architect remained calm, focused on what needed to be done. From the moment she saw that monster crush the first building in its path, she loaded a rocket into her weapon, took aim, and fired at its head. But even as the thing roared it saw her shot coming closer and raised its monstrous hand to swat it from the air. The rocket exploded as it was struck by her palm, but the monster seemed unaffected by it, her thick black gloves absorbing all the damage intact.

Architect swore. While she still had more powerful rockets to lob at the titan, it didn't bode well that this one had dealt so little damage. There was no way she could defeat the giant Doll with her multi-weapon alone. She sent a signal to her Jupiter Cannons to get them ready for use, but it would still be some minutes before they were able to fire. In the meantime, she would have to take matters into her own hands.

As serious as the situation was, Architect couldn't help but feel a rush of excitement as she flew out to meet the titan, eager to test herself and her weapons against such a powerful foe. By then P90 was reaching the outskirts of the city, her long legs having quickly carried her all the way to its entrance, where she easily towered over every building in her proximity. Panicked masses fled at her approach, scurrying about under her feet while she trampled everything in her path as nonchalantly as if she were only stepping on grass,

The titan seemed drawn towards the skyscrapers in the city's center, her eyes locked on those towering structures which dared to challenge her height. There was no doubt that this giant would be easily able to send them falling with a few good hits, killing as much as tens of thousands of people in the process.

Left to their own devices, the citizens had no hope of stopping her even with all of them working together, and only whatever police officers happened to be in the vicinity even tried to do so, emptying their clips at the titan only for all their bullets to bounce harmlessly off her black boots or nylon-clad legs. Their only effect was P90's visible amusement. Sneering, she turned towards them and came closer, shaking the earth with one lumbering step after another.

The cops stood their ground until she was only a couple strides away. Their ammo depleted, they turned to flee, yet it was already too late for them. Only a few seconds later, P90 raised her monstrous foot over their heads and readied to crush them all.

That would have been the end of them, had an explosion many times more powerful than the last one not then struck her in the back. “Eek! Whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa!” the titan shouted, flailing her arms as she strove to keep her balance yet teetering ever lower despite it. Her foot thumped down right past the police officers in an attempt to stop her fall, but her great, lumbering legs were too sluggish to catch up to her center of gravity. She hit the ground with a thunderous CRASH as several of buildings were demolished under her heavy mass, giving all those caught under her only the quickest glimpse at the giant and the encroaching darkness before they were snuffed out beneath her.

“Oops!” Architect said from her perch atop a supermarket some blocks away, behind a small cloud of smoke that quickly dissipated in the wind. More smoke floated from the end of her weapon. “Did I hurt you? Oh, I'm sorry! I thought you were big enough to handle a tiny little rocket like that. Guess not!”

P90 growled as she rose to her feet, staring daggers at the city's cocky protector. “You're Architect, aren't you?” she said, eyeing that shrimp who dared challenge her. “Humph! They told me you might be trouble, but I can't see why. Doesn't matter how strong your guns are—a tiny thing like you goes crunch under my boot the same as any other.”

“Maybe, but if you're looking to step on me you'll have to catch up to me first!” Architect took flight again, hovering a yard above the roof.

“Heh! Piece of cake!” Both Dolls took off at once, Architect flying deeper into the city while P90 gave chase, stomping running through and over all the houses and other buildings as she ran, the powerful swinging of her legs tearing a pair of unseemly gashes right down the middle of the supermarket and sending its debris raining down over hundreds of feet.

CRASH! BOOM! CRUNCH! The air shook with the intensity of P90's destructiveness as the giant refused to slow down even as the buildings started reaching knee-height to her further into the city, her smooth legs kicking through the multi-story buildings without even the smallest tear in her stockings. Meanwhile, every so often Architect turned herself around and fired off another missile at the monstrous Doll; only, without any solid ground to steady herself, her aim proved less than reliable as one missile after another missed P90 entirely and blew up on this or that building instead, without fail blasting a good-sized hole on its face. Still, she shrugged off her failures and kept on shooting for as long as she could.

As the surrounding buildings grew and grew, soon Architect and P90 alike stopped flying or running over them and instead kept to the empty city streets. Nearly everyone had taken shelter by now, with only a few wayward souls still out and about, trying to get to God-knows-where despite the intense battle being waged. One such person, cruising down the street in his car, heard the incessant drumming of giant feet against the earth growing steadily louder until Architect rounded the corner a few streets ahead and made a sharp turn to fly right his way.

The citizen cheered on the protector of Architect City, only for the sound to turn into a scream when P90 skid to a halt at the very intersection where Architect had rounded the corner, giant feet tearing up yard after yard of asphalt until they came to a stop, then stampeding right towards him. By reflex he stepped on the brakes and his car screeched to a halt, right in the worst possible spot. As a foot the size of a city bus swung his way, he could only open the door and jump out of the car to avoid being trampled flat when it came down.

As both Dolls neared Architect Tower, the tallest building in the city, a sharp beep notified Architect that her jetpack was down to half its fuel; not good, but still enough for her plan. Nearing the tower's base, she made a sharp upwards turn and rocketed up towards he peak, where she nimbly perched on the roof with only the barest sliver of fuel left—perhaps not even enough for a safe landing down below. Still, with solid ground under her feet again, Architect shouldered her weapon and fired a missile at the scowling P90. Her aim was perfect, and only a timely sidestep saved the giant from a rocket to the face.

Architect had taken a step back to load another missile when the building shuddered. A look down the edge revealed P90 digging her hands and feet into the glass and concrete surface. The structure groaned and the floors threatened to collapse as she started climbing, closing in on Architect a hundred feet at a time.

Another missile rained down on P90, and this time there was no dodging. The titan ducked her, taking the hit. Nearby windows shattered and glass and dust rained down, decorating the back of her head together with a visible scorch mark and some scattered metal flakes of the missile's remains. Still, she just scowled at Architect and kept on climbing.

Three more missiles were all that Architect had left, and none proved any more effective than the first. For the last few hundred feet of P90's climb, she could only pepper the giant with a shower of bullets that didn't even slow her down. Finally a massive gloved hand appeared before Architect. Four fingers, thick as great tree trunks, fell on the roof, nearly catching Architect if not for her rolling out of the way. at the last second. Another hand followed after it and both gripped the concrete structure hard enough to spread cracks throughout the roof, sending whole chunks of it falling inside. The whole thing groaned and threatened to give as she pulled herself up, until a terrifying visage surfaced over the edge. Eyes the size of Architect herself locked onto her, and a fiendish grin spread over a mouth that could have easily swallowed her. And though she retreated to the other end of the roof, P90's arm easily stretched to where she stood. Her hand fell on Architect, fingers fencing her in and then closing in until she was neatly pinched between them, weapon and all.

Architect knew at once it was pointless to struggle; P90's fingers were many times stronger than her. She could only watch as she was brought around to face the monstrous Doll. “Any last words?” P90 asked, slowly licking her lips while she looked at her.

“Just one!” At the east end of the city, a series of powerful blasts rang out as the Jupiter Cannons unloaded a salvo towards the city, drawing P90's eyes to them. “Timberrrr!”

Architect Tower was rocked as shell after shell struck its base, tearing apart its lowest floors until they collapsed under the building's weight. The next few floors fell with them, crumpling up as they struck the earth. Higher up, the tower's top half broke off and toppled over, thrown off-balance by P90's weight.

The whole city shook as the titan struck the earth, with the top half of the building crashing onto her right after. A great cloud of dust materialized on impact, and joined the growing masses of dust from the still-collapsing building. For a while yet, the dust obscured everything around, including the Dolls' fate. Finally, everything went silent again. The dust started to settle down, and thousands of people stared at the pile of rubble that covered the giant to see what had become of it, and of their beloved protector.

Of P90 only a hand could be seen sticking out of the rubble. Of Architect there was no sign yet. Suddenly, one of the giant's fingers stirred. Did it yet live? It twitched and twitched, gradually uncurling, until finally, out from under it crawled out a slender figure carrying a hefty weapon: Architect lived.

Cheers rang from ten thousand throats as the city's protector hopped to the peak of that mountain of rubble, standing triumphantly on that monster's tomb.

The attack was over. The city would live to see another day.

“Heh! Not so tough, were you?” Architect gloated. “And here I thought Griffin's giants would be more of a challenge. Guess all that size doesn't mean anything when you're up against my big boys! Too bad you couldn't hold on a bit longer; would've been good to see what a direct hit from my cannons can do to something like you!”

Her eyes scanned the pile of rubble up and down, as if waiting for something to happen. Eventually, it did.

The rubble started to move as something stirred underneath. Architect jetted back with the last bit of fuel, expecting the monster to get back up, but it soon became clear that something entirely different was going on. P90 wasn't moving; she was just growing bigger. The rubble that covered her was all lifted higher up together, and Architect along with it, while that around her was pushed out by her rapidly expanding figure, or else caught under her mass and subsequently flattened. Her boots started pushing up against a nearby building, and soon were pushing it over. More and more buildings followed, being razed to the ground under by the titan's head, arms, hips and legs, while her mass and rate of growth dug a deep and growing P90-shaped crater right into the heart of the city. And all that without the giant moving a muscle.

By the time the Doll finished growing, Architect, standing on P90's belly, was higher up than she had been even atop Architect Tower. The giant was a newly-formed mountain range cutting Architect City in half. And now that mountain was waking up.

Earthquakes of a magnitude not heard of since that day of disaster decades ago now rippled out from P90's body as the colossus pushed herself up. The field of her belly, where Architect stood, turned into a slope that the city's protector rolled down together with so much. Eventually settling on P90's skirt, Architect clung to its rope-like fibers and sent a desperate signal to her Jupiter Cannons. The cannons adjusted their aim and pelted P90 with shellfire that reached no higher than her knees.

P90 giggled. At her new size, even the mighty Jupiter Cannons could do her no harm. She stepped forward, her colossal foot grazing the tops off dozens of buildings as it swung forward and flattening a couple blocks where it landed. The shockwave that followed collapsed many more buildings around it.

She seemed almost to be moving in slow motion, taking several seconds to finish even a single step, but even at a walk she moved at more than 200 miles per hour, something Architect felt all too well as the sudden acceleration flattened her to P90's skirt. She hurried to readjust her cannons to account for the monstrous Doll's movement, but in these circumstances she could only guess at where to aim, and countless shells rushed right past P90's legs to pockmark her city instead.

Just two more steps and P90's foot hung right over the cannons, which kept blasting away at the sole of her boot until the end. The awful noise as they were flattened and the silence that followed were gut-wrenching, but worse was when the giant's eyes fell on Architect. “I told you it all goes crunch just the same, didn't I?”

Her hand appeared under Architect. Thumb and forefinger plucked the smaller Doll from her skirt and carried her down, dropping her right on the ground. Once she rose to her full height, her sole appeared overhead, the very image of death, raining down so much dirt all around Architect. It came down slowly, darkening the land as it approached.

Nothing under her boot could have survived, much less when she ground it all down with a few good twists of her foot. When she stepped away, there was only a deep crater left where Architect had been. With the city's protector gone, there was nothing left to protect the survivors from her wrath. P90 stomped back to the city and resolved to finish her campaign of terror, crushing the fleeing masses underfoot, kicking down whatever buildings remained, razing everything to the ground! She was unstoppable! A monster! She was–

“Ooookay, I never thought I'd say this, but that's enough destruction I think.”

Gently lowering her foot at the sound of that voice, the towering P90 turned around and walked right back to the crater where a dazed Architect was trying to dig her lower half out of the ground. “Sorry! Guess I got a little carried away with my role. How was my performance? Was I good? I know you said I could improvise everything and so whatever came naturally, but I'm not sure if talking really fit the role you had in mind. I mean, kaiju don't really talk, right?” She crouched over Architect, casually swiping her up onto a fingertip and bringing her up to her face, where her eyes overlooked the tiny dot that was Architect's avatar in this simulation.

“Eh, don't sweat the small stuff like that. Talking or no talking doesn't matter. What matters is you got the destruction part down pat!” Architect climbed to the peak of her fingertip, wiping down the dirt and dust that covered her. “What I really didn't expect was you growing bigger.”

“He-he! I wasn't expecting it either. I came up with it right on the spot, and it took me a minute to get it working.”

“So that's why you were being so quiet! I thought you were doing a pause for dramatic effect or something.”

“Never thought of that, but it's good that it worked out that way! Er, you're not upset about it, right? I mean, you never said I could grow, but you never said I couldn't either...”

“Like I said, don't sweat the small stuff! It was in good fun, and besides, it all helps me test this destruction mod. You did have fun with it, right?”

“Oh, plenty! I'm so glad we found a way to connect me to your console! Oh, but, don't tell anyone about this, please? I'm sure they'd get real worried if they heard me saying I had fun smashing up buildings, especially since I got in trouble for that once already...”

Architect raised an eyebrow. “You got in trouble for wrecking buildings? When was this? They weren't inhabited, right?”

“No, no, no! They were all abandoned! See, there was this one little guy and I was playing a game with him—well, he didn't know that it was a game, but still—and I was getting really into it before the end! See, it all started when I went to–”

“Hold it! Much as I'd love to sit here listening to the story, how about you show me how it all went down instead? Supposing you have the time, of course.”

P90 was more than happy to agree, and as she shrank back down to her “normal” size, Architect searched all her other cities for the best match, both so eager to start their game anew.