It was nearing the midnight hour at the bustling "Casino del Caos" on the edge of town in eastern Minitropolis.

The glitzy red and orange building certainly stood out like a sore thumb in what was otherwise a pretty meager city in an underwhelming borough of Minnesota. Regardless, the gambling wasteland drew in hundreds of thousands of people each year, tempted by its flashy backdrops, promises of fortunes won and possible debauchery that awaited around every corner.

As the evening waned, the slot machines remained fairly occupied, and it was the usual crowd, save for one.

Much like the casino sticking out in the middle of an otherwise mundane town, there was a figure sitting at one of the slot machines who definitely didn't belong among the others.

There was a semi-regular there by the name of Pete, wearing a plaid shirt and having a withdrawn look on his face as he pulled the arm of the bandit just one more time, possibly trying to win back his childs college money or at least not return to the same old disgruntled wife. Next to him was the 92 year old Ethel who just needed a hobby to pass the time, plus she liked the pretty cherries on the slot wheels.

But sitting not too distant from the two stereotypes was somebody else entirely.

Her black heels clacked against the black and white checkerboard floor as her face slouched against her resting hand, almost bored with the bright, flashing machine. Her eyes raised a bit as she hit another jackpot, totalling another few thousand for her own personal use. She simply shrugged and smirked as if this was just an average occurrence.

While it couldn't be proven, it DID seem as though this particular slot machine was bringing the young woman copious amounts of good luck, which was suspicious to say the least. It was almost as though she were using dishonest means to rig the random number generator... but how?

The young woman, who could best be described as attractive but aloof was about 5'6 in height, enhanced a bit with her impressive sleek black stiletto heels. She was revealing much of her lower and upper thigh before a black leither getup concealed the rest ... somewhat. She was fairly busty but her most distinct feature had to be her hair which was flowing down past her shoulders, a stark shade of purple. Usually such a color would look unnatural or dyed but somehow this color seemed to grow naturally from her roots.

As the woman continued playing on the slot machines, racking up a small fortune, a hefty gentleman in a suit and tie approached her from the side. Her eyes never left the slot machine as he spoke.

"Excuse me, miss..." the man said, his nametag reading Jonathan in bronze. "Ummm... excuse me miss?"

She finally rolled her eyes before spinning her gaze in his direction, her mouth awkwardly shifting up and down as she chewed on gum, her gaze practically screaming disrespect as she just glared at the casino employee.

"Miss you've been at this machine for quite a while and ... well..." Jonathan said

"And?" the woman asked, still continuing to play

"Do I even need to say it, Miss?" the man groaned, his eyes motioning down by her feet where there lay a huge bag with a comically large and cartoonish dollar sign painted on it, the bag overflowing with gold coins. "I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to leave at once ... otherwise my next move will be to call the police"

"Nah, I don't think so" the woman grinned, flashing her eyes purple for a moment, "I think you'll let me play as long as I like"

The man took a bit of contempt to this comment but the contempt didn't last long. His jaw dropped and he backed away in a stupor.

"You can play as long as you'd like ..." the man said, before walking away absentmindedly.

Right on cue another employee came over to hand her a martini

"Keep em coming, Klaus!" she smirked, downing the drink and setting the empty glass on the machine in front of her along with 4 other empties. Another man then came over and she nodded, "Hmm?"

"Would you like me to pull the car around yet, Miss Delia?" the man asked

"Hmmm, yeah I suppose so..." she shrugged, "can only play around for so long ..."

With that she'd get up, eyeing a dark red corvette in the parking lot which seemed to flash its lights upon her looking at it. As she got up with her huge bag to cash in, the old woman next to her let out a slight giggle and a whimper.

"Oh dear, I wish I had some of YOUR luck ... you think I could get one of those coins from you?" she asked

"Eh what do I care, you'll be dead in 2 weeks" the indifferent young Delia responded

"Hmm?"

"Knock yourself out, granny" Delia said, flipping her a single coin before walking off with the bag, a pair of handsome gentlemen escorting her towards the cashout while an unusual amount of unconscious bodies lay at her feet.

As for Pete the local gambling addict? She'd let him suffer of his own addiction.

----

The next afternoon, 3 friends would meet in a garage to check out the results of a week long trial. Hopefully these results would yield more success than past experiments which in some cases would never be spoken of again.

At the moment, an already clumsy young woman by the name of Alexis Cole would walk gingerly into the garage of her friend Joshua James, all while her best friend Leah Henderson guided her whilst holding her own hand clumsily in front of Lexi's face as if to block her view.

"Alright ... are you ready?" Leah asked excitedly

"Leah, sheesh, I can already see through the spaces in your fingers..." Lexi giggled a bit, able to make out the outlines of her bright purple car.

"May I present to you ..." a triumphant voice emanating from none other than Joshua James, the master mechanic "...the all new and improved ..."

"and no longer flammable..." Leah chimed in, eliciting an extra grin from Lexi

"...Q-Z-RTek287 -- Stratacruze Pontathalon!!" Josh cried out as Leah slowly removed her hand from Lexi's face.

"It looks great!!" Lexi exclaimed, running up to Josh and giving him a strong but soft hug, "thank you so much ..."

"But ... Q-Z-... who what?" Leah scoffed, "nobody's going to remember that ... why don't we just call it the Shrinkmobile or something?"

"Leah..." Lexi scoffed, "I think I'm a bit too mature to call my official heroic purple car the ... ooh are those cup holders?"

Lexi leaned in to notice a couple more modifications had been made to the inside. Leah simply rolled her eyes at Lexi's continued "maturity"

"So ...." Lexi said, excitedly eyeing the car that would soon be hers. It had taken a couple weeks for the modifications to be finished and ... well, things hadn't exactly gone the smoothest in that time. "This car is ready, right? Like ... no more issues?"

"Issues?" Josh asked, shrugging as he reorganized some of the tools on his tool bench, "what issues? I think I got this thing whipped up into shape pretty quick..."

"Well there was the time it caught fire..." Leah sighed

"Which time?" Lexi smirked

"Heh, then there was the time you accidentally overclocked the shrink thruster and shrank it to subatomic size..." Leah reminded the fledgling mechanic again

"Oh geez, don't remind me of that ..." Lexi sighed, "Spent about half a day the size of an atom trying to find that ..."

"But you DID find my missing earring!" Leah chimed in happily

"Well yeah, it was like the size of a planetoid to me, I couldn't NOT find it" Lexi shrugged, as if this were normal to her

"Okay so there were a FEW mishaps..." Josh sighed

"Then there was the time the car would only go in reverse..." Leah recalled

"Look, I think it turned out okay for a car from another dimension..." Josh shrugged, "speaking of which, did you ever check the glove box?"

"The glove box?" Lexi shrugged, "not really, no ... sometimes I almost forget that the car has normal features like ... well, a normal car would..."

"Heh, well you may want to have a look ..." Josh said, directing his friend over to an oily counter containing what appeared to be a handful of shiny jewels, so bright in fact that they illuminated through the piece of paper they were wrapped in. They were also a bit warm to the touch.

Lexi peeked under the piece of paper curiously as if unwrapping a present and saw the smattering of power crystals, similar to the ones she had seen the warriors in Quartzaria use. She raised an eyebrow and then carefully pulled the paper up from underneath the gems to read a very cringeworthy note.

"Dearest Lexi ...

To say that I've been looking forward to this moment would be an understatement ... much like I hope this car propels you forward into great joy ... I also hope that we spent our lives on the road to unending bliss with very few speed bumps... please find, in addition to this cruiser, growth and shrink gems that you can use as you see fit. Consider it the first of many gifts from me ... you've already given me the greatest gift of all..."

At this point Lexi simply crumpled up the note, refusing to read the rest as a curious Leah and Josh leaned in with anticipation.

"Uhhhhh... you meet the nicest people when you're ... in another dimension..." Lexi sighed

"Speaking of which..." Leah said, "You still never finished telling me that story about how you grew to like mega size..."

"Mega size..." Lexi scoffed, "it was like ... 25 ... 30 feet tops... but who's counting?"

"That does sound pretty cool" Josh smirked, flipping his friend the keys to her new "Shrinkmobile"

"It was ... alright..." Lexi blushed a bit. In reality, she actually liked it more than she let on but it was a strange sensation nonetheless and something she wouldn't be experiencing again in this reality, unless she were to employ the use of those growth gems. And to think, most cars just came with air fresheners...

"Oh c'mon girl... give me deets!" Leah teased, "I've already seen you tiny, but I've never seen you like ... mega"

"I wasn't mega!" Lexi repeated again, a light chuckle in her voice

"What IS mega anyway?" Josh asked, as if bringing up a real debate, "like what would qualify as mega size?"

"I'd say like ... 500 feet" Lexi said, as if a sudden expert in this subject

"500 feet? You're crazy!" Leah chuckled, "that's getting into giga territory... Mega's like 100 feet"

"100 feet?" Lexi scoffed, "that's like monster movie territory at best ... no way..."

"Heh, didn't realize how nuanced this all was" Josh commented, scratching his chin.

"Well it doesn't matter..." Lexi sighed, tried to smoothly open the door to her ride but it took her a couple of clicks on the fob remote button to get it to happen and even then, she slipped an arm atop its smooth titanium surface and gave an awkward grin as she tried to confidently pose with the car door. Danica Patrick, she was not. "...because I'm sticking to what I know ... which is becoming tiny... thank you very much ... that sounded so much more badass in my head"

The three friends simply soaked in the moment for a little bit. With everything that had happened in the eventful month and a half since they left college for the summer, it would be easy to forget that they were in fact on vacation.

While Josh wasn't officially employed, he had found a freelance opportunity helping out with cyber security for the upstart company known as CyberTek who had found quite a bit of a name for themselves in the past few months. Rumors had it that some of their tech could be used for interdimensional travel if employed correctly, but like many other rumors it turned out to be just that. Still, Josh had his connections and every now and then would lend his talents to checking out the cyber security protocols and ensuring no hackers or overeager competition could gain access to, or steal any of the IP CyberTek was working on. When the main "player" in town for technology had always been the devious folks at Enormo Enterprises, it was nice to have somebody who ... at least appeared to be on the side of the "average" person. In fact a lot of their technology appeared to be intended to help people and wasn't as vague as whatever it was Enormo Enterprises had been marketing.

Leah meanwhile had secured her "dream job" in many ways, at least for someone of her relatively young age, working as one of just a couple of employees at Sally's Fashion Boutique in downtown Minitropolis. While not located in the best part of town (then again, what was?), it was a store that mostly worked on their own fashions, with only a few known brands being imported to supplement the inventory. Leah, usually shy, found herself speaking up more and more in just her first couple weeks. Her ideas weren't always a huge hit (the large hat she insisted on modifying with a bright color scheme came out more like a sombrero than anything), she had crafted some surprisingly creative ideas that Sally herself found impressive. It helped that Sally was a flexible boss and seemed to take a liking to Leah early on, almost treating her like a daughter of sorts.

Lexi on the other hand was in a weird spot. She had spent the past couple of weeks since returning from her trip foiling the usual caper here and there, still borrowing Leah and her parents cars while her "ShrinkMobile" was being worked on. Her parents weren't exactly thrilled with the aspect of their daughter being a freelance superhero though, no matter how much Josh tried to reassure them with the extra layers of tracking and how "legitimate" her website had been. They were just happy to have their girl back from her missing stint in Quartzaria, but they insisted she try and find a more traditional summer job as she prepared for her second semester at Miniborough University, where she would be staying on campus this time around.

"So what's on the agenda today?" Josh asked, after the silence had run its course. His question was directed to both of the ladies.

"Well I've actually gotta get to work soon" Leah nodded, "I guess today's suppose to be a busy day?"

"Hmm, July 1st" Lexi shrugged, as if this was of significance, "I guess people are gearing up for those 4th of July parties? You want a ride?"

"I HAVE a ride..." Leah smirked

"Yeah but can your ride switch into the size of a hot wheels car?" Lexi asked, slipping inside the car.

"It cannot..." Leah sighed, "but ... you know I'll be down for a ride ... just maybe not today"

Lexi gave her a bit of a dejected pout.

"C'mon Lex" Leah frowned, "I've got my car outside, and I'd have to drive it back just for you to drive me to work ... plus, don't you have to be to Trevor's soon?"

"Oh right..." Lexi sighed, momentarily forgetting that today was the last day of tests that she'd undergo for now as her friend Trevor Hilfmann, working out of the legitimate facade of "Aztek Parts and More" was continuing to examine the effects her interdimensional travel had had on her. "And then I have that interview..."

"Oh you DID get an interview with them?" Leah asked hopefully

"Yeah ... I'm going for a job as a waitress at the Snack Shack" Lexi shrugged, a half smile on her face. After a long break since her days at the Krazy Kookie and all the other adventures she had been on, it would be a nice change of pace to just do something normal for a change. Yeah, waitressing wasn't glamorous but it was something the young Alexis Cole had some experience with and she had always loved being friendly to people, it just came naturally to her.

The Snack Shack was a burger and fries type restaurant that Lexi and Leah were able to walk to at one point when their families lived in close proximity. They'd go there fairly often, when they weren't hitting Minima's Pizza to just gab about their day, get a milkshake or occasionally enjoy a Shack Burger, their favorite when it came to visiting there. Still, neither had been there in about 10 years so there was something nostalgic about Lexi re-entering the venue, even as a chance to be an employee there.

"Well, sounds like we all have things to do!" Josh shrugged

"Did YOU want a ride in the ... Shrinkmobile...?" Lexi sighed, tapping the outside of the car door as she instantly regretted calling it that. That name would likely stick now.

"If you don't mind" Josh shrugged, "but won't I hold you up on your job interview?"

"Could always speed you back here real quick" Lexi replied, eager to have a passenger for the 'maiden' voyage. "Up to you though"

"Eh, what the heck?" Josh smirked, jumping in the passenger side after hitting the button to trigger his electric garage door opener.

Leah just smiled at the overly zealous Lexi as her hands aggressively gripped the steering wheel as if she were about to run a dramatic race. She gave a little wave to Josh as well while she made her way towards the sidewalk to get in her own car.

"Alright lovelies, we'll see you later" Leah said, strolling out into the pleasant July weather. Lexi gave her a pleasant smile as Josh waved her off, glancing over at Lexi and blushing red a bit to see how happy she was and how the sun seemed to glimmer off her soft skin.

"You okay, Josh?" Lexi asked, with a slight giggle in her voice. It was rare for her to see the young man with a loss of words as he had been.

"Huh? Yeah ... yeah ... this should be fun ..." Josh chuckled, "just ... do me a favor and if you plan to use the shrinking feature, give me a bit of a warning"

"C'mon ... I'm a hero..." Lexi said confidently, her hand perched on the shift stick as she slowly pulled the car forward. She'd give Leah one more departing wave as her white Toyota sped off down the road, inching out into traffic. "I've got this..."

Lexi looked both ways and began to creep out of the driveway to get a better view of the road. She pulled out straight and took the turn a bit awkwardly, then started to drive, although it wasn't exactly a blazing start. She would awkwardly press the accelerator, then let it go, then slam the brake as she'd veer too close to the car in front, behaving much like a student driver. She shrugged. She hadn't had a TON of experience driving and being back in the so called real world had left her feeling a little less confident than the glitzy intergalactic highways of Quartzaria where it seemed like anything went.

"So..." Josh asked, a bit timid as he watched his friend driving the car, "how's it drive?"

"It's great" Lexi smiled, "I can't thank you enoughh for the modifications ..."

"No prob" Josh nodded

"And I guess..." Lexi said, continuing on her thoughts as she just let everything sink in, "It's just nice to have the gang back together you know? You, me, Leah ... a ... mostly full summer full of things to do ... the sky's the limit, yknow?"

As Lexi continued her chat, she perceived just the smallest vibration of her phone to signify a text message. It was likely just Trevor reminded her or their appointment. She continued on the drive, knowing that she'd be there soon.

----

As one group of friends were celebrating their reunion, it would appear something similar were happening in a dark lab at the heart of Minitropolis. Of course this was no ordinary lab, but rather the workplace of one sinister Doctor by the name of Dr. Maximillian E. Mumford, the master engineer of Enormo Enterprises ... or at least he had deemed himself so.

Ever since his lone experimental success ended up going awol and becoming a self proclaimed superhero by the name of ... ShrinkGirl (a name that the cruel doctor found unoriginal to say the least), the dastardly doctor found himself in finding out her weakness, in tearing her down piece by piece ... and if he had to bend a few rules to do so, well, that was no skin off his back.

However, as much of a genius as the arrogant scientist found himself to be, even he had to admit that maybe a fresh perspective was needed if he hoped to get the upper hand on this ne'erdowell Alexis Cole. He had some other contingency plans in place naturally, but there was only so far that even his superior intellect could take him.

Thankfully, he would have to muddle through alone no longer.

A confused Dr. Giovanni Guillardo sat in a dark control room waiting for his old college friend to return with two cups of tea. To say that Giovanni had a bizarre few years would be an understatement. Well, technically, he had had a bizarre life.

Dr. Giovanni had devoted his scientific research to exploring a multiverse of sorts and for that he was largely mocked by the scientific community at large. Still, with the help of Dr. Max (a student at the time) and some others, he was able to attain the financial backing for a trial run of his particle collider back in his days at SoCal University. The experiment was deemed a tragic disaster that took young Giovanni's life. But that wasn't the whole story.

Dr. Max would sit down across from his newly found colleague and let out a sigh

"Tell me, Doctor..." Max said, a rare curiosity in his voice, "You've been fairly silent on your experiences over the past ... well, 20 years"

"It's not exactly something I care to recall, Max..." the mild mannered but sharp witted Giovanni remarked, "I spent a good decade or so in a parallel dimension ... another earth, if you will ..."

"So it was all true!" Dr. Max exlaimed with a bit of triumph in his voice upon hearing of the findings, "I always knew it, Giovanni! I was one of the few who believed in you and I never stopped believing!"

"Yes... and that is a fact that I greatly appreciate ... I do" Giovanni said, "but ... recently I found out even more..."

"Even more? How so?" Dr. Max asked

"Well ... in addition to our own world ... and any parallels of it, there are at least other dimensions ... at least one that I know of..." Giovanni nodded

"Ah-ha, you are making even more sense than I anticipated" Max nodded, taking a sip of his tea and letting out a great sigh. This was probably the calmest the bombastic doctor had been in months, chatting up his old colleague. "You see, I've been doing some research of my own on other dimensions and have made a few discoveries of my own..."

"Oh? That would explain your presence in the Fenster Forest... plus I saw that you had another facility built there..." Giovanni nodded, recalling his night in the woods where Max's drones had found him. "...for whatever reason, that one area of the city seemed to be drawing an immense amount of interdimensional energy ... it's hard to explain..."

"Well see, I could explain, but then you'd likely not believe ME" the coy Doctor Max shrugged, knowing a bit more than he let on as for as why Fenster Forest would contain a key to interdimensional gateways.

"Seems we have a lot of catching up to do then..." Dr. Giovanni nodded, relieved to see a familiar face for once as he clinked tea glasses with the eccentric Doctor Max.

An energetic and over-enthusiastic Josh James found himself fascinated by several small cylindrical tubes which were contained on a shelfing unit on the wall of Trevor's back room lab at "Aztek Parts and More" and while he technically wasn't disrupting anything, it was hard for Lexi or the Dr himself, Dr. Trevor Hilfmann to focus on what they were talking about as they both found Josh's inspection a tad distracting.

Still, the elder doctor couldn't help but crack a slight smile at the youngster's antics, glad to see some scientific curiosity was still alive in the current generation.

Josh would tap one of the vials cautiously.

"So these are all Lexi's blood samples over the last few months?" Josh asked, looking them over.

"No... THESE are Lexi's blood samples over here" Trevor said with a shake of his head, gesturing to a similar containment unit closer to where Lexi sat, her arm currently sporting a small thin white strip of medical gauze. "Those are just novelty tubes ... you flip them around and they kind of resemble lava lamps"

"Oh, for real?" Josh asked, a bit surprised... not that such a thing existed but how much it resembled the blood vials. He'd turn one upside down and watch as a glob of darker red liquid filtered its way to the other side creating a similar effect to a lava lamp as the doctor mentioned, "you uh ... ever get these mixed up with actual blood samples?"

"...sometimes" Trevor said, having another look at the latest sample taken before putting it into a small machine that sputtered and sparked as it provided an analysis. "To be fair, this isn't exactly what I thought I'd be doing after ... well, retirement"

"What are you talking about, retirement?" Lexi teased, "you're like, what 35?"

"Well thank you..." Trevor said with a jovial smirk of sorts, "but all I mean is ... I thought I was done with all of these kind of tests after my time with Enormo Enterprises..."

"Yeah no.... I get that..." a guilty Lexi responded, holding her sore arm a bit as she looked away, "I didn't mean to pull you into this again or get you in any trouble..."

"Well... I was in trouble the second I pulled the plug on my career at Enormo..." Trevor said, his eyes intent on the computer monitor as it began compiling for him the latest batch of results on Lexi's condition.

"Wh-What do you mean?" Lexi asked

Trevor let out a heavy sigh, as he hoped the results would load before he would have to address the issue. Unfortunately for him, there was no such luck as Josh also got closer to listen to him.

"Let's just say Max doesn't exactly take well to people ... um... deserting the cause..." Trevor sighed

Lexi leaned her head down, a bit worried as she pondered it all.

"The mad doctor has been pretty quiet lately..." Lexi murmured

"Well ... I can't say with any certainty..." Trevor sighed, "but I can almost gaurantee you that won't last... while you were gone, I was combing through what you'd call the deep net ... and while it's mostly just rumors, I know from working at the Big E that Maximillian is very rarely quiet this long ... unless he's planning something big"

"Oh!" Josh chimed in, hearing something he could relate to when he heard the term 'deep net' "So you think it's true he's developing that robot chinchilla?"

"Not ... all the theories are credible..." Trevor sighed, a bit relieved to see the data he was seeking loading onto his computer program. It had been a software he would use for analyzing samples at Enormo, but he had modified it significantly, especially when Lexi's results were unlike anything any of the science division had witnessed before. Had he not been so invested, he could definitely understand why the likes of Dr. Max or others were interested in finding her to study. "Anyways ... I have good news and bad news"

Lexi nodded, kind of used to that kind of 50/50 outlook from the doctor.

Josh eyed the monitor with great curiosity at the wireframe of Lexi's body and various vital signs that ranged in quality, signified by several variating health bar looking meters.

"Well ... you said when you were in that other dimension..." Trevor said, some of the readings showing "???" as they represented values that couldn't be tracked through medical or scientific means, "you were exposed to some kind of electrical energy?"

"Well I was in this kind of ... medical chamber? It was weird" Lexi nodded, the whole experience being kind of a blur as she had healed from her paradox poisoning at one point. She had noticed since returning back to her home dimension she was feeling a bit different, although in a good way. She almost felt a bit stronger, faster and able to shrink herself and others with a bit more ease. "It healed me from some kind of spell I was under but it also seemed to well ... change me, I guess"

"So you have noticed..." Trevor nodded, pointing to a couple of the stats that had no clear values, "the polarity of your body was already off from the experimental exposure at the Enormo lab ... but whatever happened to you in that dimension seems to have stablized it ... for now"

"For now?" Lexi asked

"Well, that's the bad news" Trevor said, "I have no way of ascertaining if the effects are going to be sustainable ... have you been experiencing the weird aftershocks lately?"

"Honestly? No" Lexi replied, glad to be done with that phase of her life, at least for the time being. It was a scary feeling when her body would occasionally seize up or she'd feel an electric jolt for no reason. Often times it had led her to making mistakes or just feeling faint.

"I'll keep an eye on it but for now anyway, your body seems to be in better shape than it was before your trip into the vortex..." Trevor sighed

"Gee, don't sound so excited" Lexi joked

"I just ... I don't know what we're dealing with here" Trevor confessed, "the technology you were exposed to at the Enormo Enterprises lab was already highly experimental ... it likely came with its own side effects but at least I was somewhat familiar with what those could have been ... the nanites I had been injecting you with were stablizing you ... but now that you've been exposed to a completely unknown substance, I'm not sure if that'll be the case anymore"

"W-Well ... maybe I don't need the nanites..." a dumbfounded but also grinning Lexi mentioned, "maybe with this new energy surging through me, I'll be like ... some kind of human battery... or something"

"Oh, like the Human Torch!" Josh chimed in, "but ... without catching fire"

"...Hopefully" Lexi mumbled

"This isn't a joke..." Trevor sighed, seeming a bit excaserbated, drawing a frown from Lexi and Josh, "I'm sorry ... it's just ... this is serious stuff ... you're okay ... for now ... but I worry ... your body has taken on a lot of different kinds of energy ... you even mentioned being able to grow while you were in the other dimension"

Lexi simply nodded to confirm this fact, not wanting to speak out of turn.

"That could also cause some kind of rubber banding effect..." Trevor sighed, again beridden with feelings of enigmatic confusion. "I just ... we just don't know enough about some of these things ..."

"So what are you suggesting?" Lexi asked

"M-Maybe just ... go easy on the shrinking for a while" Trevor said, "there's nobody MAKING you be a superhero and maybe over time these readings will level out"

Lexi simply nodded. She wasn't going to promise anything but she understood the risks. The selfish part of her was just happy to be feeling a lot more chipper since her return from Quartzaria. Not only that but she had felt more energetic, her powers seemed to be supercharged and things just felt right for the first time in a while. On the other hand, she did keep it in the back of her mind that the positive effects could be short lived. Still, she wanted to ride it out as long as she could.

"Anyway..." Trevor sighed, looking around and noticing his phone had seemingly moved from where it was. He attributed it to simply fatigue on his part. He almost always kept his phone on the lab bench where he had been working on the computer but it seemed to have relocated to the desk across from Josh with the vials on it. "I don't mean to worry you or anything like that ... and I know I've taken up a good amount of your time"

"Time..." Lexi murmured, letting the word sink in for a bit before Josh reminded her of what was to come.

"Oh, Lex ... your interview!" Josh nodded

"Oh shoot, that's right..." Lexi nodded, patting Trevor on the shoulder, "I appreciate the time, I do ... but I've gotta go"

"Of course" Trevor said, shaking his head in confusion at how he could've forgotten the location of his cell phone. He shoved it absentmindedly back in his pocket as it blinked a bright red for a moment, "Good luck on the interview"

"Thank you Doctor!" Lexi said, going out the back exit to Aztek Parts and more with Josh as the duo would jump back in the shiny purple "ShrinkMobile" and Lexi would proceed to take her friend back home.

The drive back was a bit silent as the two sat there, simply taking in what they had just heard. Lexi gingerly reached for the volume nod on the dashboard to turn up the radio until finally Josh looked over, sounding a bit concerned.

"Wh-Why didn't you tell us?" Josh asked

"Hmm?" Lexi asked, turning down the radio a bit to hear her friend better.

"About the ... electrical shocks or whatever..." Josh said, "Leah and I had no idea ... we found out from the doctor while you were gone but ..."

"I didn't wanna worry you guys..." Lexi sighed, giving Josh a bit of a downward frown, "I understand why you'd wanna know but ... there was nothing anyone could do about it and ... I don't know ..."

"Well still" Josh said, sounding a bit more insistent, "you can tell us anything you know, we're your buds"

"Y-Yeah..." Lexi sighed, "I know ... I'm sorry ... I just ..."

"H-Hey, no worries" Josh said, with a bit of a forced smile, "the important thing is you're feeling better now"

"Y-yeah" Lexi nodded, coasting by Leah's job at the Fashion Boutique where she'd see her best friend's car parked there. She couldn't help but wonder how Leah was doing at the new job as she entered her third week there.

Sally's Fashion Boutique found on a rare standout strip of Minitropolis was home to Sally Davidson herself ... who was Sally Davidson? Well, not much in the overall fashion world but in the tightly knit community of Minitropolis, she was someone to be proud of. A fashionista who opened a small shop in what is usually a revolving door of individually owned businesses. Not too many establishments stand the test of time in Minitropolis outside of a few food eateries. The high taxes and crime rates usually ensure business owners move out more often than not but Sally was different.

For one thing, she grew up there in Miniborough and had a huge passion for fashion from an early age. Supported by her dad to follow her passion, she'd show her designs to some of the biggest clients she could, even traveling to New York City at one point to try and hit the "big time". She found meager success but generally wanted to be closer to home so she opened up a small shop with some help from her dad and the rest was history.

It was also happenstance that Sally, in her youth went to college with Leah's late mother, Debra. The two were never super close friends or anything but it was nice to see Leah Henderson taking such an interest in her mom's work, as Sally's few memories of Debra were of her in fashion classes they took in college. In general Debra was usually dressed pretty spunky (for the time) and that clearly carried over to Leah, as did her warm and pleasant manner.

Leah, usually not very confident in herself when it came to certain things, especially jobs, already felt at home at the small boutique. Staged in what basically felt like an old loft that had been renovated, the store had a solid selection of brands from smaller to larger and featured a number of articles of clothing of Sally's own design, embrazened with an SD emblem, although not in a very showy way, it was understated but refined.

It was around midday when Leah was folding a few crimson tops before piling them up neatly on a display counter that was meant to showcase their significance as well as their special price. Passing thoughts had Leah thinking about Lexi and hoping her interview was going well, since that was coming up soon.

The thoughts would soon be interuppted, quite literally by a small chiming bell that rang as a customer entered the store. The flow of traffic into the store wasn't terribly much. There might be a rush on the weekends or the occasional hour of hectic activity but it was generally as it had been that day, with just one or two people milling in and out at a time.

This particular woman was quite striking though as she looked into the store, peeked in and then began to lean out, the bell making a sort of half ring as her silhoutte hadn't quite made up its mind on which way to go. Normally Leah would see this and let the person go. After all, she didn't want to be pushy. But there was something about this woman that made her want to at least stop her and say hello.

Perhaps it was ...

"Omigosh I love your hair!" Leah yelped out, blushing a bit as she held the red top to her side, before going back to folding. The woman in question got a chuckle out of this and decided to commit to a visit into the homely boutique, a few clacks of her heels also signaling her presence.

"I'm sorry?" the woman giggled. While it wasn't an uncommon thing to hear ... after all, not many people had purple hair like hers, Leah's reaction felt the most genuine and not out of a place of lust or just compliments for compliments sake. It felt sincere as the shop itself had been.

"Your hair ... yeah ... I'm sorry, I'm a dork..." Leah sighed, "I just ... wow ... yeah..."

"The hair?" the woman smirked

"No... I mean yes, but your whole... your whole outfit..." Leah blushed. The woman gave her a bit of a defensive stare at first. She wasn't sure what the next words out of the young brunette's mouth would be but Leah wouldn't take long to get to her point, "your outfit is ... well, it's awesome"

The woman raised an eyebrow. Rebellious ... excessive ... needlessly dark. Drab. Those were words she heard from people about her outfits most days, if anybody even dared to make a comment. This was a curveball and while Leah's style didn't exactly match hers, she was willing to at least indulge in the praise.

"Awesome, huh?" the woman said, a bit of flatness in her voice. Leah couldn't tell in that moment if she had offended the new woman or not, "and you're ... what, some kind of expert?"

Leah stammered a bit, looking hasty to take back her compliment, "What? No ... I mean I .. I just work here... see? Nametag?" Leah giggled nervously gesturing to a white plastic nametag on her red shirt, "I ... I mean yes your clothes are awesome but I wasn't trying to like ... say anything like..."

"Chill, I was kidding" the lady chuckled, then leaning up a bit to read the nametag, "...Leah"

Sally peeked in from around the corner just to make sure everything was okay. There was something about the look of the woman in black she didn't trust. She hated to profile but it was so hard not to in a neighborhood that could be wholesome but also had a dark history and a tumultuous present.

"Oh!! Oh yeah..." Leah sighed, "s-sorry... I guess I got a bit ... uptight there... if you were busy or whatever, I get it"

"Well ... I don't know..." Delia shrugged, walking further into the store. "This usually isn't my kind of thing but ... you got something ... different about you"

"The store?" Leah asked, confused

"You" Delia giggled, "name's Delia by the way"

"Oh..." Leah giggled nervously watching the charming woman saunter around her. This she wasn't used to at all. On occasion, guys had checked her out but very rarely girls. Maybe she wasn't even being checked out, although Leah could swear she saw a raised eyebrow from Delia and even a slight lick of the lips as she checked out her posterior.

"I like how you look in those pants too..." Delia winked, causing even more blushing from Leah.

"Oh ... oh gosh ... Miss... Delia?" Leah said

"Call me Dee" Delia chuckled

Damn, why couldn't the guys be this gracious with her? Leah thought to herself.

"Well ... um... Dee... I ... uh ... I get it... if this isn't your style... I mean, we do have some nice shoes and belts and stuff that could compliment your look" Leah nodded, always trying her best to match any client up with a style that would work. She didn't really expect the darkly dressed Delia to take her seriously though.

To her surprise though ..

"Oh yeah? Think you could show me?" Delia smiled warmly.

"Oh? Oh yeah ... s-sure" Leah blushed, walking her over to the belts as they hung on silver racks resembling trees with no branches. Delia herself would poke at the belts before looking right at Leah

"What would you recommend?" Delia asked

Leah took a quick look over the prospective client and handed her a silver belt with a deep purple charm in it.

"Wh-What do you think about this?" Leah asked, "it matches your necklace... which is very pretty by the way"

"Oh thank you ..." Delia smirked, booping Leah on the nose. In that moment, she couldn't tell but she even felt a bit of a chill. Not a sexual thing but just ... something. Something almost magical. "Y'know what? I've been meaning to mix up my wardrobe ... I'll take it ... and that pair of black heels down there as well"

"Oh, yeah of course" Leah giggled, reaching down and going for the shoes. She could perceive again that Delia's eyes were lingering on her. She didn't hate it but she had to be honest with the woman in case there were any misunderstandings.

Leah would walk with Delia to the counter as Sally retreated into the back for now. It seemed Leah had this sale closed at the very least. Maybe it wasn't proper to assume the worst just because of the woman's dark clothing.

"S-So ... this is going to sound kind of weird..." Leah scoffed, suddenly feeling more shy than maybe she had in a long time, "but uh.... am I picking up a vibe?"

"What do you mean?" Delia asked, half not understanding and half just playing coy as she leaned on the counter. If Leah didn't know any better, she could swear the mystical woman's eyes glowed purple for a brief second but attributed it to a trick of the light,. perhaps the purple bauble on her chest just reflecting that way.

"W-Well like ... I don't know..." Leah scoffed, scanning the belt and the shoes, "I'm being silly..."

"No no, tell me!" Delia shrugged, "you got me in here... may as well close the sale"

With that Delia's lick of the lips more or less confirmed the flirt.

"Oh... oh okay so you are ... and I'm ... okay..." Leah blushed looking away

"Hey, if it's not your thing..." Delia shrugged, leaning back a bit as she put her hands on the counter to stretch, showing off her curvy body a bit with a slight dip. Leah gulped, but not because she was attracted. She felt really bad if she had to be the one to ... well, reject someone? Although it was't REALLY rejecting?

"I uh... omigosh..." Leah blushed, further confirming Delia's fear. "I'm sorry ... I just ... I don't ... not that you're not... you're very pretty"

"Chill sweetheart" Delia chuckled, "it's fine ... I figured you were taken or something"

"Oh! Oh no... it's not even that ... it's just that I don't ... yeah..." Leah gulped, realizing she should've just quit while she wasn't ahead. To make matters worse she continued blathering on about her life, "I mean ... I don't ... I have a friend..."

"A friend?" Delia said, raising an eyebrow

"Well... I just ... meant like..." Leah gulped, "Her name's Lexi ... she likes girls..."

...why was she saying all this... it was almost like Delia's mere presence was causing Leah to blurt things out.

"Oh yeah?" Delia shrugged, "what else can you tell me about your friend?"

"Oh nothing much..." Leah said slowly, going to get some tissue to wrap up the shoes as she placed them in a box but upon making eye contact with Delia again, her mind grew fuzzy and she wasn't quite sure if she said what came out of her mouth, "...she's ShrinkGirl... I designed her costume, it's super cool ... it's all purple and gold and stuff ... and she's super nice ... and ... I ..."

Leah's words slowly trailed off as if she were coming out of a drunken stupor.

"Go on..." Delia said

"Go on.... about what?" Leah said, suddenly feeling like she just woke up in the middle of the day ringing out a strange newcomer.

"Your friend, Lexi..." Delia said, playing a bit dumb, "wait ... you mean Lexi ... the ShrinkGirl?"

"Huh?! no no ... not uh ... not Lexi..." Leah chuckled nervously, "Did I say Lexi? I meant Alicia... yeah Alicia .. she's ... she's nothing ... she's not even Catwoman... she's super nice though ... yeah"

"Uh-huh..." Delia sighed, drooping her eyes a bit as she stood on the other side of the counter, losing interest in the interaction for now. She had gotten what she needed anyhow. Well, except for one thing.

"That'll be $99.98" Leah said with a smile, "Will you be paying cash or credit?"

Delia leaned in again and whispered to Leah

"You're going to let me have the shoes and the belt ... and say have a nice day...." Delia said in a calming whispering tone. For those brief moments, it felt as though they were the only two in the store. Leah handed Delia the clothes like a zombie and nodded as she left the store.

"Have a nice day ..." Leah said, watching Delia leave before her senses slowly began to return to her.

Sally peeked out from the back room.

"You ... did remember to charge her, right?" Sally asked

"Huh? Oh ... oh yeah, of course I did" Leah said before gulping nervously.

I THINK I did...

------

Back at the Cole residents, a very flummoxed and confused Lexi's father perused his own house, keeping his search brief as he combed a section of the kitchen and dining room rather arduously.

"What are you looking for?" Lexi's mom asked

"My phone ... I had set it down... right here" he said, gesturing to an empty counter. He then looked over to see the circular dining room table in the corner now housed the phone, "that's really weird ... did you move it for something?"

"I didn't touch your phone, dear..." Lexi's mom responded with a less than enthused look on her face.

"I wasn't saying anything, I was just wondering..." Lexi's dad shrugged, noticing the phone was fine, save for maybe being lower on battery than he remembered it being. "I geuss I'm a bit anxious for Lexi ... I hope she lets us know soon how the interview went"

"I'm sure it'll be fine" Lexi's mom said, "I just hope she left herself enough time to get there punctually"

Meanwhile Lexi had to wonder to herself as she hastily made her way towards the Snack Shack if she had left herself enough time to get there punctually. She thought she had... but the traffic was proving to be an unneeded obstacle in what had already been a day jam packed with things to do.

Lexi frowned as she peeked out the car window, noticing just how far the traffic stretched. Sure, the interviewer would probably be understanding, even if she were only a few minutes late but Lexi didn't want to start a new interview off on a bad foot. She leaned out the window again and noticed something.

The Shack was maybe a couple of streets over, yet she'd have to wait in the grueling traffic to get there the "normal" way ... OR she could walk by cutting across a couple of alleys. She smirked to herself as she saw the alleyway, not too far from her. Sure she'd raise a few eyebrows but not like she hadn't done that before.

"Alrighty then..." Lexi muttered, getting ready to activate the one feature that made the Shrinkmobile the most unique car in the universe, "time to take a little ... shortcut"

Lexi would then pause, looking around at the empty car surrounding her.

"...Why do I only make these great puns when there's nobody here to hear them?? Ugh!"

Lexi fidgeted in her seat as she waited for the hiring manager to see her, Her eyes would dart around the room and she'd slowly find some calmness in the fact that the office wasn't too formal looking. There was a desk and it was a fairly small room (it was a restaurant after all, not an administration building) but it was well decorated with a silly chibi bobblehead with pink hair. The desk was a bit disorganized with order forms strewn about and a computer monitor with a small desktop underneath as one would expect.

What one might not expect however was a poster just behind the black executive office chair. The poster above it was simply a rally poster for Minitropolis' softball team, the Minitropolis Minions that said "Go Minions!"

Below that though was what appeared to be a ... custom poster. Lexi could only assume because it was a rudimentary S and G drawn together that didn't take her long to figure out. It was a ShrinkGirl logo ... or an attempt at one. It was fairly close to the design on her purple and gold belt buckle. The same one she had tucked inside her purse. The same purse that currently sat at her feet as they tapped, waiting for her interviewer to arrive.

As Lexi continued to prepare some responses for the imminent interview, she couldn't help but be phased by another very real thought and possibility that dawned on her upon seeing the poster.

"...I have a fan?"

Sure enough, in just a few more moments a woman in about her 40s opened the door, the noises of a bustling crowd behind her which would slowly be silenced as she closed the door. The woman had shoulder length red curly hair and hazel eyes, she seemed a bit peppy if not a little anxious herself as she greeted Lexi and sat down at her desk, shuffling some papers around to make the surface appear more clean.

"Hi Lexi, thank you so much for coming in today ..." the woman said, her nametag reading STACY in big letters. "...I ...I can call you Lexi, right? Or did you prefer Alexis?"

"L-Lexi is fine..." Lexi responded with a bit of a hushed murmur. It was almost as if she would have to calm the interviewer down and not the other way around.

"So ... Lexi... ummm..." Stacy said, searching for her words before she suddenly burst with excitement, "Oh my gosh I'm sorry, I just can't help it ..."

"Huh?" Lexi asked

"It's you! It's really you!" Stacy exclaimed.

Lexi already feared where this was going

"I AM me, yeah..." Lexi chuckled nervously

"It's you, you're the ShrinkGirl!" Stacy said, her eyes briefly glancing at the SG poster behind her, "or is just ShrinkGirl... do you say THE ShrinkGirl? No, that sounds kind of menacing... anyway I ... I LOVE what you do..."

"Heh ... thanks..." Lexi sighed, sinking into her seat a bit. She figured there was no point in lying about it. Most of the city, especially casual news watchers knew who she was now following the incident at Miniborough University. There were still ongoing debates about how much of the attack was indirectly Lexi's fault, as well as talks of charges being drawn up against her for the fate of Rachel Rutschmann.

"Anyway I'm sorry ... I'm sorry..." Stacy said, trying to regain a professional tone as she handled a stack of papers very carefully, tapping them on her desk and clearing her throat as if conducting a serious interview now, "so ... tell me a little something about yourself ... any service experience or anything that you think makes you a special candidate for our waitressing position?"

"Oh! Well ... yes" Lexi nodded, finding herself a bit relieved to talk about normal things now, "I have worked in food service before ... um... before this I was a clerk at the Krazy Kookie at Miniborough University and well, I've just always loved helping people and well ... seeing them have a good day ... if somebody leaves with a smile on their face, then I feel like I've done a good job"

Lexi meant every word but couldn't help but feel a bit cheesy for having said it out loud. Still, the best thing to do now was own her words so she sat with her hands folded patiently on her lap, awaiting the next question.

"Mhm... and what made you choose the Snack Shack?" Stacy asked

"Oh... well funny story..." Lexi said, her voice taking on a bit of a rambling tone now, "well, not really FUNNY but ... I uh ... I used to come here a lot with my best friend and well, we would just ... come here and I've always loved your milkshakes, they're probably my favorite thing here... oh and the Shack Burgers... I'm sorry, I'm getting off topic here"

"No, no, this is all good stuff" Stacy said, glancing up and down from the paperwork back to Lexi, occasionally making a pen stroke here or there to indicate note taking. Lexi seemed both confident and nervous at the same time. It was somehow the strangest interview she had had yet and that was saying something.

"Y-Yeah ... I mean ... this restaurant has meant a lot to me and ... I'd be grateful... for an opportunity" Lexi added

Stacy nodded and scribbled some more notes down. She leaned forward a bit and smiled

"And ... another question..." Stacy asked, "will you need any like ... special time off?"

"Special time off?" Lexi asked

"Y'know for like ... hero stuff..." Stacy said, and although the question felt farfetched, she had a serious tone in her inquiry, "I mean I know you can't exactly schedule a heist but just know that we're comfortable working around you however we can..."

"Oh?" Lexi chuckled nervously, "W-Well I mean I AM starting school again in the fall but ..."

"Oh yes yes and that is also important" Stacy said, "We... my partner and I, will try to do our best to accomodate your schedule at all times, Lexi ... that is a super important thing to us and we hope that's something that makes your choice a bit easier..."

"My choice?" Lexi asked curiously, before leaning forward, almost breaking character in her role as an interviewee, "I'm sorry Stacy, but it almost sounds like you're talking to me as if I already have the job"

"Oh you do have the job" Stacy said, very poignantly, "I mean, it's yours if you want it... like seriously ... we'd start you today if we could but you probably need a bit of time... maybe let your arch enemies know you won't be free on certain weekdays..."

"Heh... okay.. you're ... you're yanking my chain now" Lexi blushed, not really sure what to expect at this point from the already unusual interview. Was Stacy being serious or not right now?

"Okay maybe the arch enemy comment was a bit rude..." Stacy sighed, hiding her face for a moment as she spun in her chair, putting Lexi's application into the file cabinet just below her desk, "but ... we would love to be in the ShrinkGirl business"

"I'm sorry... the what?" Lexi giggled a bit

Stacy let out a sigh, seeming remiss.

"Okay look... I'm going to level with you..." Stacy sighed, "I do like you a lot, Lexi... I was glad you applied, but my husband Mark ... who's my partner here ... he was adamant that I get you to work here and again, I thought it was a great idea ..."

"...but?" Lexi asked

"He uh ... wants you to be our ... uh ... spokeswoman" Stacy said, again sounding embarassed to be pitching the idea

"Huh?"

"I mean, you would work here... yknow... like we do need help, we could use a fresh set of hands..." Stacy said, trying to remain professional, "but ... if you wouldn't mind ... Mark ... and I ... because I am a fan as well but he's just ... super crazy, he was too nervous to even say hello..."

Lexi grinned a bit but was hiding her own nerves. Having a fan was one thing. Having a super fan? That was something else.

"S-So what would I ... have to do?" Lexi asked, a bit curious.

"Nothing too crazy ... maybe just a few photos of you in your ShrinkGirl costume for marketing and ... um..." Stacy sighed

"Oh I'm sure my parents would be thrilled about that ..." Lexi sighed. It wasn't stripping or anything degrading but it still felt weird to market herself, even in a more innocuous way. Then again, her mind kept circling back to the fact that most people knew who she was anyway. It wasn't going to ruin anonimity and it might even be fun ... in a weird kind of way.

"I understand this is a lot to take in..." Stacy said, "why don't you think about it?"

Before Lexi could respond there came a knock on the door and a hefty gentleman wearing a white button up shirt with blue stripes came in shyly. Lexi could only guess this man was Mark, although the nametag certainly helped get that message across.

"I'm sorry Lexi ..." Mark sighed, "We didn't mean to make you feel awkward or anything..."

"N-No ... it's fine... I just ..." Lexi sighed, brushing her hair aside with a hand, "It's ... a lot"

"Well, why don't you think it over?" Mark said, before looking to Stacy, "you showed her the contract, right?"

"The contract?" Lexi asked

"W-Well, we hadn't really gotten that far..." Stacy said nervously

"Show her the contract!" Mark said, a bit jovial as he motioned to his wife who in turn grabbed another piece of paperwork from the file cabinet sliding it over to Lexi.

Lexi leaned over and read it as best she could. The text was very small and there seemed to be several provisions, exceptions and article A1's and 2's. She glanced up at Mark while in her seat, more confused than ever.

"So this is a standard spokeswoman agreement..." Mark explained, "but it doesn't bind you here, you're actually free to go ... promote the car dealership down the road, the electronics store, the only stipulation is, you can only promote Snack Shack products while you're contracted here..."

"I'm sorry, there's a ... standard spokeswoman agreement?" Lexi asked, "...who was the last spokeswoman?"

"we don't talk about them..." Stacy said, a bit somberly as she made the sign of the cross real quickly.

"I ... I don't know about this..." Lexi sighed

"There is one other thing..." Mark said, "in addition to your hourly salary, you'll get an instant signing bonus and while you are required to make 6 public appearances a year for the Shack throughout the duration of the contract, they can be whenever you want and whereever you want, so no pressure there..."

"Again... that all sounds very nice but..." Lexi stammered, feeling as if being pressured to buy a used car.

"And you'll of course get your appearance bonus for each one you make" Mark added, pointing to a figure next to the "appearance clause"

Lexi looked up at him, a bit dumbfounded.

"I make ... THAT much ... everytime I appear as ShrinkGirl for the Snack Shack?" Lexi asked, her words fading into obscurity as she eyed the number, her eyes than going down to a number below that which was even bigger.

"Yes, and that kicks in after your first appearance but THIS number here..." Mark nodded, his pen circling the number Lexi was looking at, "this is your signing bonus, we could get that to you in as soon as 14 days after you agree... what do you say?"

Lexi blinked a few times and after a slight wheeze escaped her mouth she said "...when do I start?"

Moments later Lexi sat in her car, just kind of taking in the peaceful summer day outside the Snack Shack. Traffic had begun to clear up and that was a good sign as the day was still young and she wanted to maybe hang out with her friends for a bit before letting her parents know of the big news.

"Good news... I have the job ..." Lexi thought to herself, "bad news ... I may have sold my soul..."

Just then, Lexi felt another vibration on her backside. She'd yank her cell phone free from her back pocket and notice she had not 1 but 2 missed messages. She must've missed one earlier in all of the excitement. Her eyes saw 2 different names that had sent her messages but she was immediately drawn to one. It was from Chrissy.

"Heya Lex, I was hoping to talk sometime..."

Lexi paused, her heartrate affected a bit by this sudden surprise. She had of course wanted to talk to Chrissy. She had a lot of unresolved things to say to her after the chaotic and horrific night at the gymnasium with Roxie and Rachel. But she had been as shy to reach out as Chrissy had been. Still, the fact that Chrissy was making an effort was an encouraging sign.

Below Chrissy's message was one from Leah that said "So gurl, how'd it go?"

No sooner had Lexi typed the words, "I got the job" she would feel her phone begin to vibrate more fervently as it was now ringing, Leah on the line.

"Heh hiya Leah..." Lexi sighed, leaning on the side of her drivers door as she looked outside. She could still see Stacy and Mark from the inside of the restaurant checking out her car and exzhcnaging words, both with impressed looks on their faces before Mark waved to her with a friendly smile. Lexi sheepishly waved back while keeping the phone perched on her shoulder. "Aren't you at work?"

"I just got out" Leah said, "gonna meet Mara in a few down at Minima's Pizza"

"Minima's? What for?" Lexi asked, not insulted but surprised. She hadn't thought those two really talked indepedently of her.

"Well, we were going to celebrate anyhow ..." Leah said, "Mara and I had a feeling you'd get the job and you know how we always liked to go there for celebrations and stuff"

"You were really that confident in me that you already planned that?" Lexi said, "that's sweet, hon..."

"Well, duh... you're like amazing ..." Leah said, "and speaking of which, you'll never believe the day I had at work..."

"Bad day?" Lexi asked

"No... just wicked strange... I'll tell you about it when I see ya" Leah said

"Hey Leah..." Lexi paused, "th-thanks... means a lot that you had that much faith in me"

"Psh, I mean it IS just a waitress job" Leah smirked, "and besides, how could anybody NOT love Alexis Cole?"

"I am HATING this Alexis Cole!" a bombastic Dr. Maximillian proclaimed, slamming his now mostly empty cup of tea down on a silver control panel as a frustrated Dr. Wright watched on.

"I've ... I've noticed doctor..." Dr. Joseph Wright replied, one of the few members of the engineering department who still actively worked for Dr. Max -- most others had asked for a transfer out to another department or another of Enormo's satelite facilities.

Still, like or hate the mad doctor, it was clear Enormo was working on something big over the past few months. The robotics technology had improved a great deal in a short time. His machines seemed more enhanced and even capable of sentient thought. Mostly just known for drones, he had begun perfecting his "Maximites" -- little robots that could change form and be set to go after a target with dangerously sharp precision. For that reason alone, Enormo retained many of its top employees despite some of the rumblings of more sinister goings on. Profits seemed to turn heads the other way it seemed, even as another smaller tech company known as Cybertek threatened to take a bite out of Enormo's market share.

"I'm sorry..." Dr. Giovanni said, passing by as he had heard the doctor and saw him sitting at a computer feverishly typing away. "Did you say... Alexis Cole"

"Yes... this is the name I have been saying..." Max said, hard at work on some kind of computer software as Dr. Wright rolled his eyes and took his leave, letting Giovanni take his place for the moment as if it were his shift to listen to the evil scientist prattle on. "Don't let it concern you Dr. Giovanni... it is a name that will only cause you stress and headaches ... something you don't need given everything you've been through"

"Well..." Giovanni said, sitting down and noticing the doctor was programming something entirely tailored to Alexis. In fact he could see on one of the adjacent monitors a wireframe schematic of her, with EKG like sound waves surrounding it and a dialogue box that read "EXPERIMENT 287 : FAILURE" "...I ... think I know who she is"

"What do you mean?" Max asked, taking a pause from his work

"Well ... maybe not THIS Alexis Cole" Giovanni said, taking care to phrase his words carefully, "and in fact the one I knew went by Lexi..."

"This one also goes by Lexi!!" Max snapped, slamming his desktop so hard the monitor actually glitched for a moment, "Wait ... you are saying there is more than one Alexis Cole?"

"W-Well.. it's not unthinkable..." Giovanni said, "It's kind of hard to forget a shrinking superhero"

"...what did you say?" Max said, his interest suddenly peaked as he spun his chair around entirely, neglecting the monitor now, his hands back to clutching the tea cup but they were almost twitching with anxiety.


"W-Well I wouldn't have believed it myself but ... given everything else I've seen, nothing really fazes me ..." Giovanni said, "and I knew you had a ... ShrinkGirl in this dimension as well but I just thought maybe she was a different girl... you know, the whole web of possibilities and all"

"You mean to tell me ..." Maximillian said as his computer program continued loading itself, hard at work on an original algorithm of the crazy doctor's design, "...there is more than one ShrinkGirl and they are BOTH ALEXIS COLE?!"

"It's ... not improbable... although a bit strange, yeah" Giovanni nodded, "...I actually kind of admire what she does... even if I sort of worked to subjugate it since I've been back in this world..."

"I'm sorry, what?! You ADMIRE this?!" Max snapped, "she has stolen technology ... from this very company! She is literally a walking talking thief and she makes a MOCKERY of everything this company stands for by wearing purple tights and a comic book outfit and you are admiring this?!"

"Well... no... not everything is admirable..." Giovanni said, pondering the thoughts, "I only knew her in one capacity... I didn't know you knew her as well..."

Max let out a deep exhale and tried his best to calm down

"I am sorry... I am just wrapping my head around this..." Max said, "maybe the ShrinkGirl YOU knew is this good doing amazing person ... but here in THIS dimension... in OUR dimension, the one we grew up in ... ShrinkGirl is a menace..."

Almost as if on cue, the doctor would slide over a newspaper from the Minitropolis Times reading "SHRINKGIRL IS A MENACE"

"Well... you can't believe everything you read in tabloids..." Giovanni chuckled nervously, attempting to lighten the tense mood.

"Maybe not... but can you believe ... THIS?!" Max asked, cutting to footage of Lexi as she smashed and destroyed several of his Maximites that one fateful night in the lab.

Of course, conveniently omitted was the context that Lexi was fighting her way out of a trap that the Doctor set for her himself. Instead it just appeared to be a wreckless person destroying expensive robotics technology with a gleeful grin on her face as she engaged in combat in what appeared to be cosplay.

"Oh ... I'm sorry doctor... I didn't know..." Giovanni sighed, lowering his head.

His own mind had been undecided when it came to ShrinkGirl, whether it was that world's variant or the one he had briefly known during his time in the parallel Minitropolis. He knew from college that Max could ... overblow things but rather than dwell on that, he decided to bring up another observation from the video clip.

"Those are ... your robots?" Giovanni asked, "I have to say they are quite impressive"

"Thank you!" Dr. Max gloated, hitting a button on what appeared to be a garage door opener and sending a couple dozen of them methodically marching into the room, each one about the size of a puppy with a pair of mechanical legs each. They all reached a point in the room and halted in unison, "and might I say, a lot more well behaved now... I've been working on getting the kinks out, you see"

"Most impressive... I even may hazard to ask ... how did you build something so advanced and ... what's powering them?" Giovanni asked

"Oh y'know... a little ingenuity and ... maybe a touch of fairy dust..." the devious doctor grinned

"Heh, I assume you're being figurative about the ... fairy dust" Giovanni responded with a smirk.

"...Yes...." Max said, before mumbling under his breath "...let's go with that"

Elsewhere, at Minima's Pizza amidst the sounds of jukebox playing and retro arcade games, a pair of ladies were continuing on in a most bizarre conversation.

"I don't know..." Leah shrugged, sliding a slice of pizza onto her paper plate as Mara sat across from her, "I think I'd make a kickass lesbian"

"Please..." Mara sighed, "No offense Leah, you're good at a lot of things, you're good with fashion, you're witty, you seem bright ... and from what Lexi tells me, you make a mean chocolate chip cookie ... but when it comes to ogling ladies ... leave it to the pros..."

"I'm not saying I'm going to like major in it or anything..." Leah chuckled, getting a bit giddy as she clumsily went for the slice of pizza, its slick slippery cheesy contents slipping away from her anticipating lips. "I'm just saying ... like... I don't know..."

"Okay... I'll play the game" Mara shrugged, seeming to be a bit more serious on the silly topic than Leah was, "What would your type be?"

"My type?" Leah asked

"Yeah. You're a lesbian." Mara said, in a very straightforward manner, "What's your type? What kinda girl you into?"

"I... I don't know ... like ... thin ... and... busty?" Leah said with a shrug

"Thin and busty..." Mara repeated, seeming unimpressed.

"I don't know! That's good, isn't it?" Leah said, seeming as if searching for answers on a test.

"It just ... it lacked conviction... I don't know..." Mara shrugged, eating a slice of pizza herself.

"Yeah ... I guess I'm a lousy lesbian..." Leah sighed, looking dejected as Lexi sat down to join them.

"Hey all..." Lexi said cheerfully before noticing Leah's glum face. "Wh-What's wrong?"

"I'm not a good lesbian..." Leah sighed

"Don't shoot the messenger" Mara shrugged, wanting to accept no blame in this.

At this comment, Lexi would raise an eyebrow

"Leah, you know we don't have to have EVERYTHING in common, right?" Lexi teased

"Heh ... nah, it's just ..." Leah started, but was quickly cut off by an overly eager Mara as she continued munching on pizza mid-sentence.

"Leah got hit on at work" Mara mumbled with a mouth full of pizza, "by a smoking hot chick"

"Really??" Lexi giggled, "how'd that go?"

"I might've added the smoking hot part..." Mara shrugged, her voice a bit clearer following her swallow of pizza.

"No, she was ... she was pretty hot..." Leah shrugged, "not gonna deny it ... crazy fashion sense though but in a good way..."

"Oh yeah? You hook her up with a Leah special?" Lexi asked, always admiring how Leah was able to work some magic with wardrobe choices regardless of personal taste

"You could say that ..." Leah nodded, "you'd really like her ... she had this weird goth look thing going on but damn it, I swear her hair was like ... bright purple"

"No fuckin' way" Lexi chuckled, seeming quite excited about this as Mara slid her a slice of pizza. Lexi smiled and nodded in appreciation "You know I've always wanted purple hair ... or at least to SEE someone in purple hair"

"Yeah, it was pretty crazy" Leah nodded, "but yeah ... she was uh ... going for me pretty hard..."

"You had to let her down easy, huh?" Lexi teased

"Yeah ... I mean ... still, it was kinda weird ... in a nice way..." Leah said, "She had a cool name too ... Delia"

"Delia..." Lexi smirked, "that IS a cool name ... you should've thrown her MY number"

"I might've ... mentioned you..." Leah said, sinking in her chair a bit

"What do you mean?" Lexi asked

"I ... I don't know how we got on the subject but I was talking fashion with her and ... I might've mentioned that I uh ... helped design your ... outfit?" Leah chuckled nervously as Lexi's silly demeanor slowly shifted

"Awwww c'mon, why don't you just point her in the direction of my hideout while you're at it?" Lexi sighed, rolling her eyes.

"You don't have a hideout..." Mara commented, before looking at Lexi with an investigative glance "...do you?"

Lexi simply shook her head

"Hey, if you HAD a hideout, what would it be called?" Leah asked

"Probably ... the toy box" Lexi giggled, having put a tad bit of thought into the subject.

"Heh, I like that ..." Mara said, "And speaking of toys, guess who got the job at Spencer's Gifts selling sex toys?"

"...you realize they sell more than sex toys, right?" Leah asked

"I said what I said" an indifferent Mara responded

"Oh, that's excellent" Lexi chuckled, ignoring the whole sex toys comment for now, "So guess we're both back on the employment lines"

"Yeah, tell me more about the interview, Lex!" Leah said

"Honestly?" Lexi said, a bit confused after the whole experience, "There's not much to tell ... they practically threw themselves at me ... the owner and his wife... they uh ... might've made me their ... spokeswoman..."

"Spokeswoman?" Leah asked, "I thought you were going to be a waitress"

"Yeah ... so did I ..." Lexi replied with a sheepish smile, "And I guess I WILL be, but when I'm not doing that I'll be doing photo ops and uh ... public appearances..."

"Public appearances?" Leah frowned, "I don't know if I like the sound of that hon ... you're nobody's organ grinder monkey"

"Omigosh those monkeys are so much fun!" Mara giggled, almost snorting up her pizza "...sorry, continue"

"ANYWAY ... I kinda see what you're saying, Leah..." Lexi sighed dejectedly, "but they kind of made me an offer I couldn't refuse"

Leah sighed, "I know you've been out of work for a while ... and you need the money, I guess... although hey, you did get a free car ... sorta"

"Oh yeah, when AM I going in a ride in the Shrinkmobile?" Mara asked

"So we're really sticking with 'Shrinkmobile'?" Leah asked, sounding unimpressed, "I thought you were too mature for that"

"Eh, it caught on" Lexi shrugged, "and I ... I don't know, sometime soon I'm sure"

"Oh! Oh!" Mara yelped, as if suddenly remembering something of great importance, "is it true that when you were in the other dimension, you got all giant?"

"Y-Yeah ... for like ... a little bit" Lexi blushed, seemingly reluctant to talk about it

"That must've been SO cool..." Mara chuckled, "hey ... do you guys ever like ... stuff little hot wheels cars in your bra when you get bored to pretend you're giant?"

Leah and Lexi both gave Mara a confused look

"...yeah, me neither..." Mara giggled nervously

"ANYWAYS...." Leah sighed, seemingly more upset about the whole situation with the Snack Shack than Lexi herself, "I wish you hadn't like ... signed yourself away like that ..."

"Again... I get what you're saying but..." Lexi started

"Well hold up" Mara nodded, "before we cast judgement... how much money we talking here?"

Lexi sighed and had the two girls lean in, she whispered the number and Leah scooted back a bit, her face noticeably flustered.

Mara simply blinked a few times and then flagged a waiter over

"Yeah we're gonna need like everything you have on the menu, extra large ... and it's all on her" Mara said in a business like tone while gesturing to Lexi

Back at the Cole residence, Lexi's parents awaited their daughter's return to hear what would hopefully be good news of her interview at the Snack Shack.

"I thought you told her to text you as soon as the interview was over..." Lexi's mom said to Lexi's dad while pacing around a bit

"I did ... she probably got caught up with something or ... I don't know..." Lexi's dad sighed, putting his phone back on the charger in the kitchen, noticing the battery was draining especially fast lately.

"Oh I think I see her now..." Lexi's mom said, noticing the bright purple car making its way towards the front of the home

"Kinda hard to miss with that ride..." Lexi's dad shrugged, "...can only imagine the insurance costs on that thing..."

"We ARE sure that's safe to drive, aren't we?" Lexi's mom asked, pondering the whole prospect herself.

Within moments, Lexi walked into the house and after a bit of silence as her parents stared expectantly she gave a dopey shrug and a nod.

"I uh ... got the job" Lexi said, not sure how else to say it.

"Oh that's wonderful sweetie!" Lexi's mom said, clutching her daughter in an overzealous hug.

"Good job, kiddo" Lexi's dad smirked, "knew you had it"

"Finally, you can get back to normal stuff..." Lexi's mom said, "no more of this ... hero business..."

"Ummmm... about that ..." Lexi sighed

Lexi was up in her room, tuckered out from a loaded day, shimmying into bed for the night while her parents discussed the new job opportunity downstairs ; Lexi's mom pacing around with some anxiety as was usually the case.

"W-Well we did want her to find a new job..." Lexi's dad said sheepishly, trying to put a positive spin on the news that his daughter was to be the spokeswoman for the Snack Shack in downtown Minitropolis

"Yeah, as a waitress or ... heck ANYTHING but now she's going to be some kind of sponsor?" Lexi's mom scoffed, "is she going to be doing like live demonstrations or something?"

"Look... I'm not thrilled about it either..." Lexi's dad said, although his concerned tone was somewhat contradicted by a half smirk that he was trying to hide.

"...but?" Lexi's mom sighed, already sensing that word was coming

"Well ... you have to admit... it IS kinda cool..." Lexi's dad said with a bit of a non-chalant shrug, perhaps indicating where Lexi got her youthful optimism from, "...I mean our daughter is a superhero, she helps people ..."

"Psh, she's a menace..." a distant voice muttered, overhearing the whole exchange.

"I... I don't know hon..." Lexi's mom sighed, still talking to her husband while his cell phone remained plugged in on the kitchen counter.

"Look at this way..." Lexi's dad sighed, "we both know she's going to keep doing what she's going to do ... she's growing up ..."

"Interesting choice of words..." Lexi's mom sighed

"Huh. I didn't even mean to make that one..." Lexi's dad smirked, perhaps passing down his sense of humor to young Alexis Cole as well.

Somebody else was not so amused though.

Their name was Scott Travis, a prickly man with perfectly trim blonde hair and a grim look in his grayish eyes as he listened in on the conversation via surveillance. He was joined by a police officer from the Mini Troop, officer Carl Scolex as the pair monitored the Cole residence from within a silver van parked across the street that simply screamed suspicious.

Back inside the Cole residence, Lexi's father would place a hand of comfort on Lexi's mother's shoulder.

"Hey ... it's going to be fine, yknow?" he shrugged, "besides ... she's going to be pulling in mad bank ... isn't that what the kids say? Mad bank?"

"Oh lord..." Lexi's mom sighed, rolling her eyes but putting a hand lovingly on his, "Even if you WERE a kid hon, I don't think that's what they say..."

"Y'know..." the remiss officer Scolex sighed from inside the surveillance van, "I could get in big trouble for this ..."

"I'm one of the top engineers at CyberTek" Scott said with a bit of an indifferent tone as the two continued to monitor the conversation as it tailed off, "I have just as much to lose if not more ... but I want to see this ... ShrinkGirl brought to justice..."

"As much as I want to help you ..." Carl said, "The tech that was stolen from your facility was traced back to Roxie..."

"It's possible she got away with some kind of heist too but I know ShrinkGirl is in on this somehow... heck, maybe they're working together" Scott said "I don't know, but there's something about her I don't trust ... everywhere she goes, some kind of trouble follows ..."

"Still, how do you think she does it?" Officer Scolex asked, "...the shrinking, I mean?"

"Hell if I know..." Scott shrugged, "My company isn't too far off in figuring out matter transmutations ... but seeing as how Enormo has been working on that gig for years, figure it's better to let my competition burn themselves out on those concepts while we at Cybertek invent truly revolutionary technology"

"I will admit..." Officer Scolex said, able to see the inside of the Cole residence kitchen through a grainy but still visible black and white feed, "that nano-drone you gave me to implant on their phone is pretty ingenius..."

"....ah, admittedly ... that's not one of ours..." Scott said, muttering to himself a bit

"Oh? Then where did you get it from?" the inquisitive Officer asked

"Dr. Max" Giovanni said, knocking on the nocturnal doctor's door as he stood in the threshold of the lab which was dimly lit by an array of computer monitors of various brightnesses.

Standing idly around Max were the Maximite robots, currently dormant but leaving an unsettling feeling of dread that they could snap to life at any moment. The gray haired, quirky and overworked scientist was truly beginning to take on the form of a generic 80s villain more and more as time passed it seemed.

"Please..." Dr. Max said, his voice a bit quieter than usual as he continued wrapping up work on his current project "No need to be so formal ... you're practically family, Dr. Giovanni..."

"Well, I do appreciate that ..." Dr. Giovanni said, "and in fact that's what I was going to mention to you ... I really appreciate you giving me a place to stay and all but I feel like I should ... well, pay my way in some fashion"

"Not to worry..." Dr. Max said, turning his attention to another project of his, as a screen to his immediate right showed grainy footage resembling a forest from overhead. "I was actually thinking you and I could collaborate on something big"

"Oh yeah?" Giovanni asked curiously, "and what would that be?"

"I say ... we finish what you started" Dr. Max replied cryptically, encouraging his former colleague to have a better look at the screen he was looking at, revealing that he was close to tracking down the location to Giovanni's former lab, what was left of it.

Giovanni simply looked on in interest, not sure exactly what to say.

----

The clouds were a bright and sparkling shade of white that clear beautiful day in Minitropolis, and Lexi should know. She was about tall enough to see them without craning her head up. Wait ... what??

Lexi looked around, bewildered before hearing a cocophony of noise fill her ears. She would look down in shock to see a car ... about the size of a toy. But it wasn't alone. It moved along at a snail's pace on the road below her along with a gridlock of traffic that all hummed and honked their horns.

"W-What's happening??" Lexi asked herself, feeling remarkably aware of her surroundings all of a sudden.

Like a mother anxiously trying to tip toe in a kitchen littered by her child's LEGOs, Lexi too would try to step carefully around the city and not crush any of the tiny toy cars. Except ... they weren't tiny, and they weren't toys.

"The hell is happening...?" Lexi thought again, looking down at her hands and body. She was MEGA ... actually MEGA. Or maybe even giga? "Awwwww... this is what I get for arguing semantics with Leah..."

Lexi looked down uncomfortably, noticing that although she was easily 100 feet tall, if not bigger, there seemed to be no reaction. The cars weren't beeping at her, they were beeping at each other. She was simply observing the day to day traffic of the city from a viewpoint that would make most news traffic cams envious.

"H-Hello?" Lexi said shyly, suddenly cutting out all the noise. Not it seemed to be only her voice occupying the space and it echoed wildly. "C-Can anybody ... s-see me?"

While Lexi was afraid to get the logical answer, the people and cars below suddenly stopped as if frozen in time.

Then came a thundering applause and chants of her name.

"LEXI!! HELLO LEXI!! LEXI!! NICE TO SEE YOU LEXI!! WE LOVE YOU LEXI!!"

Lexi looked down shyly as the noises resumed as normal, but now the cars and people WERE aware of her presence. But the fact that they were so ecstatic to see her seemed more surprising than the shift in size itself. Wouldn't most logical people be terrified of a kaiju sized woman?

"Oh. Kaiju..." Lexi thought to herself, "THAT was the word I was thinking of when trying to describe bigger sizes to Leah... wait Leah ... where is she? Maybe she'll know what to do"

But before Lexi could even begin to wonder where her best friends place was, she heard more admirers shouting up to her, a couple of the guys down on the street even wolf whistling.

"Heya baby!!" one of them cried out, their voice seemingly more distinct than the others. It was ... Will?

The guy from the Crazy Jester card shop who made the little Dungeons and Dragons figures ... but ... how? Lexi had rarely spoken to him. She was surprised he even remembered her, let alone would be flirting.

"Um... hi..." Lexi said shyly, her voice surprisingly not deafening to the public, it even seemed to match the little ones in volume.

"You're so sexy, giant Lexi!" Will chuckled, giving her a wink.

"Um... th-thank you?" Lexi sighed, "I'd uh ... pet you or something but ... I'd be afraid of uh ... smushing you..."

To make matters weirder, an element of laughter began to resonate around her, as if she were on a cheesy sitcom.

"It wasn't ... that funny..." Lexi stammered, a bit visibly bothered, which only seemed to prompt more of the meta-existentialist laughter.

"Actually this wouldn't be meta existentialism..." Chris said, her philosophy majoring know it all friend suddenly floating by her on a bubble as if in a Mario game. "Meta existentialism is concerned with questions about the nature of existence, the meaning of life, and the nature of consciousness... this is more like ...an anomoly of sorts... or maybe irony since your name is ShrinkGirl...well not your REAL name ... but hey now we're getting into identity philosophy..."

"Oh good lord, not now, Chris" Lexi sputtered, before realizing how absurd the entire thing was. Chris was suddenly able to fly? She was a giant woman being hit on by bystanders as people cheered for her? There was only one logical solution.

"This has to be a dream!" Lexi thought confidently.

"Or maybe it isn't a dream" Chris interjected, again reading her thoughts somehow, "and your mind is just trying to rationalize what is otherwise a ..."

Lexi sighed and walked carefully around the prattling know it all. Right or wrong, she was still careful to avoid the little people and cars on the road, noticing a potential issue ahead.

A popular bridge in the city thats used to get across from one side of town to the other was out completely, seemingly as if ripped apart by a missile or something. This left traffic from both ends stymied and created quite the flummox.

"Lexi!! Help us!!" the small people in the cars seemed to yell out.

"M-Me? Help you?" Lexi said, sounding unsure of herself still before finally giving into the collective cries for help. Dream or not, she had to admit to herself that being giant was kind of cool, even if not scary in a sense. She carefully plucked up a car and floated it with her hands over to the other side, getting an appreciative wave and nod from the driver.

She blushed and did the same for another car and another, as the cheering grew louder. She had never imagined she had a future as a traffic regulator, let alone one that stood at such a colossal height.

Upon picking up anothe car, she'd pause, staring down at the driver and car with a bit more intent in her eyes.

"Wh-what the hell am I doing?" Lexi asked herself uneasily, drawing even a slightly frightened stare back from the family in the car.

She found her hand moving slowly towards her chest before suddenly blinking again, back in bed as her familiar bedroom lay in twilight in front of her. She let her arms relax at her sides and sputtered a few times.

"Fuckin' Mara..." Lexi would mumble very softly as she smushed her head back into the pillow almost stifling a giggle.

What a strange dream ... although Lexi had to admit ... she didn't exactly hate the idea...

A new day would soon be dawning for Alexis Cole and she was going to make the most of it, with a trip to the Mini Mall. While she could use the retail therapy she was also going to meet Chrissy there and get to chat with her for the first time since the incident at the gymnasium involving Roxie and Sugar Rush? Was she nervous? Just a tad but she was also just happy the lines of communication were open.

After bidding adieu to her parents, Lexi would happily make her way out the door and hop into the ShrinkMobile. Of course just like any car that had been sitting out in the sun, the interior was scorching hot. Lexi sighed and turned on the AC before groaning.

"A million interdimensional features and the AC is somehow lousy..." Lexi shrugged, taking off for the Mini Mall.

Unfortunately finding parking would be a chore but it was then Lexi got the bright idea to simply pull off to the side, shrinking the car and then stepping out before growing herself back and putting the miniaturized Shrinkmobile into her purse along with her one of a kind gold and purple "SG" medallion. Sure it made the purse a bit more bulky than most, but one can never be too safe.

Speaking of safety ... or something related ... Mara was having a little TOO much fun at her new job at Spencer's Gifts, eliciting many silly giggles from her coworkers while she preached the importance of safe sex.

"So you put it on your head..." Mara chuckled, wearing a ridiculous looking beanie that looked like a rubber chicken with the straggly legs dangling to either side of her face. As her coworkers laughed, they also pointed out a customer coming up from behind. But this wasn't just any customer, it was Mara's well known silly friend Lexi.

"Oh heya Lexi luv" Mara chuckled, spinning around really quick so that Lexi nearly became a victim of the dangerous chicken props' unforgiving rubber legs.

"Soooo this is what you do all day?" Lexi chuckled a bit

"Hey it's a lot harder than it looks ..." Mara pouted, showing Lexi her finger which had a small bandage on it, "I burned myself on a lava lamp the other day..."

"Awww poor baby..." Lexi teased, which caused Mara in turn to cross her arm in frustration.

"Anyways..." Mara sighed, taking off the chicken hat for now and setting it among other bizarre props that the store sold, "what brings you in today? Oh, are we finally doing the chains and whips thing?"

"Mara...." Lexi smirked, in a high pitched whisper, "we promised we wouldn't talk about that in public..."

The two ladies chuckled again for a moment before Lexi's face appeared a bit more serious

"Everything okay?" Mara asked

"W-Well, I had my meeting with Chrissy..." Lexi sighed

----

The meeting had taken place not even a few minutes prior to Lexi stopping in on Mara, down at the Mini Mall food court. Of course before her blonde friend arrived, Lexi sought counsel from a familiar source, her elbow slumped over on a colorful bar counter decorated with dark red and chrome.

"I realize this shouldn't be so hard..." Lexi sighed, venting her frustrations to the bartender as a frosty chocolate milk shake slid her way, she nodded with appreciation and took a sip, "but ... mmmmm... damn, this is good... Henry, this may just be your best yet ... how do you do it?"

"...Whatever..." the disgruntled middle aged Shake Stand worked grumbled

"Ohhhh I get it..." Lexi said, with a bit of a sly grin, "Don't give out the formula ... probably a smart idea ... don't worry though your secret's safe with me"

"Okay..." Henry sighed, turning away to clean up some spilled chocolate milk liquid as Lexi prattled on

"I just don't know though ... you know ... I haven't seen my friend since ... well .. you know the whole incident..." Lexi said, pausing for some kind of reply from Henry. Alas, that reply never came so Lexi decided to keep talking instead "but ... the fact that she wants to talk to me again ... that's gotta be a good sign, right?"

Henry shrugged as he continued cleaning his counter, just hoping that his shift would end soon.

"You're right Henry ..." Lexi smiled, "I can't worry about this stuff too much ... I've gotta just be myself and ... go from there... you're alright, yknow that?"

"Whatever..." Henry grumbled as Lexi left the man a tip, a crisp $1 bill before walking away sipping her milkshake in glee.

Lexi had her half finished smoothie in hand and was feeling pretty good about meeting ...

"Chrissy!" an ecstatic but slightly surprised Lexi exclaimed, almost bumping into her

"Heh, you gotta watch where you're going ..." Chrissy quipped, helping her wayward friend to a nearby seat while she sat in the chair across from her, "it is nice to see you again though ... seriously..."

Lexi turned a sort of light red as she continued to sip her smoothie, almost in an obnoxious fashion until it became a slurping. It was as if she thought she could hide from the conversation if she just kept sipping on chocolate milk.

"Well?" Chrissy asked, in an almost incredulous tone as she paused for Lexi's response, "don't you have anything you want to say?"

Lexi chuckled a bit, trying not to snort and addressed her cute blue eyed friend with an obvious observation

"Ummm... I like your hair ..." Lexi stuttered, "is that uh ... is that blonde?"

"Omigod, you know it is..." Chrissy giggled, "but ... I've missed you ... you always find ways to make me laugh"

"Huh. I try..." Lexi said, sounding a bit more somber about it. The last time they saw each other in person it wasn't really a laughing matter, and they hadn't seen each other since. Lexi's legs rattled under the tabletop as she felt nervous, not quite sure what to say, "...Chrissy, I am SO sorry about..."

"No." Chrissy sighed, putting her hand on Lexi's briefly before removing it. Lexi turned a brighter red but just nodded an dlistened. "I'm sorry ... I ... I didn't know what to say and I was scared... it's not like you told that crazy blonde chick to drop a bomb on me..."

"You never should've been involved in that..." Lexi lamented, "I'm so sorry Chrissy ... I'm just glad the police were able to ..."

"Yeah ... I know..." Chrissy nodded a bit, seemingly trying to glaze over the topic altogether, "But ... look ... I ... I wanted to thank you and also ... well, I have some news... it's not ... really great news..."

"Oh?" Lexi asked, already expecting the worst.

"I'm moving ..." Chrissy sighed, "I won't be returning to Miniborough University next semester..."

"Oh Chrissy no..." Lexi pouted

"It's my dad ... he's super protective..." Chrissy sighed, rolling her eyes

"So this IS my fault..." Lexi sighed in despair

"No ... No ... look... I'm only okay BECAUSE of you ... and my dad ... well, he may have a point ... I love the people here but it's also ... not safe in this city ... I mean, we can't expect one ShrinkGirl to clean up EVERYTHING" Chrissy said with a cheeky smirk

"Heh ... yeah ... still sounds weird to hear you call me that by the way..." Lexi chuckled a bit

"Sounds weird to say ..." Chrissy admitted, "So you can really shrink, huh?"

Lexi just gave a sheepish shrug and another playful sip of her chocolate smoothie rather than answering.

"Heh, maybe you can show me sometime?" Chrissy asked, blushing herself. If Lexi didn't know any better she would think she's being flirted with, but nobody had ever asked her to ... shrink for them, besides maybe Leah a few times.

"Um... s-sure maybe ... yeah..." Lexi chuckled nervously

"But anyway ... I'm having a kind of ... get together at my dorm tomorrow evening ... sort of one last hurrah with the gang ... Mara's coming and you can bring Leah if you'd like ..." Chrissy said, giving Lexi a look of genuine care and understanding, "I know you feel bad about what happened but I've always thought of you as ... well, the peppy cheerleader girl ... in fact I could ask the coach about letting you take over as cheer captain next semester"

"Oh Chrissy ... I ... heh, I appreciate it but I don't even know if I'd have time" Lexi sighed

"Oh right, gotta save the world and all..." Chrissy said, "also ... I heard you were missing for a few weeks? Everything okay?"

"Uh yeah ... that's uh ... a whole thing..." Lexi sighed rolling her eyes as she tried to forget the nightmare of her "almost wedding" "but I'm back now, and that's what's important"

"Heh I'm sure whatever bad guy messed with you is sorry they did" Chrissy said, trying to sound encouraging even as it came off a bit campy, "Heh ... sorry... wasn't trying to joke"

"It's cool" Lexi grinned, "I really missed your smile..."

"Heh I bet you missed more than that ..." Chrissy grinned, again putting her hands on Lexi's

"Okay for real here!" Lexi giggled a bit, "Am I picking up a vibe or am I just ... not getting the hint?"

"Oh I think you know ..." Chrissy smirked, before leaning in and kissing Lexi on the cheek, "Thanks for saving me, ShrinkGirl"

Lexi sputtered almost instantly

"So you knew??" Lexi gasped, "that I ..."

"Had a crush on me?" Chrissy shrugged, "Sorry but ... yeah..."

"And you...?" Lexi asked, a bit confused

"I just kissed ya, didn't I?" Chrissy shrugged, beginning to get up now, "and my offer still stands by the way, if you wanna ... show me what you can do..."

Lexi could practically feel the icy cold sensation of her smoothie melting against her tempid palms.

"Uh ... uh ..." Lexi muttered, like a computer that had caught a virus,

"Anyway, I wish I could stay and chat..." Chrissy sighed, "but my dad wants me home soon and then I gotta start packing but I hope to see you tomorrow"

"I wouldn't miss it!" Lexi said enthusiastically, trying not to stare too much at Chrissy as the flirtatious blonde made her way off and she buried herself in her smoothie for a few moments.

----

"Soooo that's KIND of a happy ending, right?" Mara asked, having heard Lexi recount the whole story of their meeting, "and hey, we're gonna get so trashed at Chrissy's party tomorrow..."

"Heh, she left that part out ..." Lexi blushed, not being huge into drinking but on occasion she'd indulge.

"Well, yeah ... it kinda sucks that she's leaving..." Mara pouted, "but we're going to give her the best possible send-off, yknow? I was thinking of maybe inviting some of my fairy friends..."

"Spark and Lark?" Lexi asked, a bit confused

"Nooooo, not them ... they're cool too though, let's just say I know some fairies who are into some really crazy shit" Mara giggled with a guilty grin

"Oh boy..." Lexi sighed

"They probably won't come anyway" Mara shrugged, "no offense but they find humans kind of lamesville..."

"Did THEY say "lames ville" or did you?" Lexi asked skeptically

"Is that really important?" Mara asked, as she was called away by a coworker, "Anyways ... I gots to go I suppose ... I'll see you tomorrow, we're gonna get trashed! Gonna be great!"

Lexi sighed and offered her bubbly red haired friend a grin and a wave as she departed, her smoothie all but empty now as she had been nursing it for the past few minutes while just killing some time after her talk with Chrissy.

As Lexi made her way out of the Spencer's Gift Store she couldn't help but thinking she wasn't quite ready to head home yet but she also didn't have much else to do. She would've loved to have spent more time with Chrissy but unfortunately Chrissy had to go.

Lexi shrugged it off and decided to do what she'd usually do in these kind of situations and engage in some retail therapy, simply walking through the mall with no clear destination. As she walked though, she couldn't help but glance up towards the upper level, seeing a girl briefly make eye contact with her.

The girl was positively stunning, a bit on the tall side but none of that is what grabbed Lexi's attention.

No, the most attention grabbing features on this particular woman would be those glowing purple eyes with the wavy hair to match....

It had been a decently long day and even young mischevious witches needed time to rest, so the cool but wicked Delia found herself at the Minitropolis Mall that fateful afternoon, her eyes scanning over her environment to find ways to cool off with some further magic induced trouble. 
She'd scoff to herself seeing the usual cast of suspects, the snarky guy who checked her out as she walked by. 
"You wish..." she muttered under her breath 
She'd see the usual crowds of giddy teenage girls spazzing out over some new bathing suit or boy band. Quite frankly she didn't see the point in using her mind reading powers to figure out what they were blathering on about. 
Then there was the Shake Stand guy, Henry. Well, let's just say his backstory wasn't even worth delving into. 
But there was one person who was catching Delia's attention more than the rest. It wasn't the bubbly redhaired elf Mara, although she was an intriguing case as well. Delia could sense her own magical energy and that she wasn't fully human. She wasn't entirely aware of what she was but she could tell the young woman had spent some time among the fairies. 
Ugh, fairies ... how Delia hated them. 
Speaking of which she could sense an aura that almost felt like that of a "human fairy" ... if there were such a thing. 
In addition to giving off a syrupy sweet vibe of kindness, the brunette woman she spied from up on the mall's second floor almost seemed to exude fairy energy itself. Quite frankly, it was giving her a headache. 
Whereas she could tap into anybody's thoughts with but a flick of her wrist, if she tried to do the same with the mysterious Alexis Cole, she'd get nothing but static, as if she was being shut out. Nobody shuts out Delia Greystone. 
As for Lexi herself, feeling a bit elevated from her brief time with Chrissy (although sad to hear that her newfound friend was leaving town soon) she was perusing the mall with a bit of newfound confidence, even as she had been caught briefly admiring the deviant appearing witchy lady from afar. 
"If that's the girl that hit on Leah..." Lexi thought to herself, a brief playful look crossing her face, "consider me jealous" 
Lexi's strides would be short lived however as she soon found herself face to face with the suddenly obstructive Delia, quite literally. Lexi found herself on her butt after smacking into the woman who seemed to almost appear out of nowhere. 
"Oh gosh!" Lexi sputtered, getting a gratuitious look at the woman's impressive black heeled boots that seemed to span a good portion of those tree trunk like thighs, the rest being appealing on the eyes as well leading up to a confused face with brown eyes and purple hair. "I am SO sorry Miss!" 
"Heh..." Delia simply muttered, seeming neither offended nor happy, just maintaining a sort of indifferent glance as she didn't even bother to help Lexi up but rather reveled in watching the flustered girl help herself off the mall's tiled floor. "Clumsy much, chica?" 
"Oh, me? Yes! Yes ... extremely clumsy..." Lexi stammered, as if rattling off an accomplishment before realizing the error she had made, "I mean ... not always ... but in this case, yes ... I'm sorry Miss... I must've just been in a hurry and didn't see you ..." 
"Relax..." Delia sighed, already sounding exhausted by Lexi's hastened speech, "are you hurt? am I hurt? No? Then good, let's move on" 
"Yes yes ... moving on is good ..." Lexi pouted, "still... I'm sorry I ... r-ran into you ... maybe I can uh ... buy you a milkshake?" 
"Buy me a milkshake?" Delia asked, raising an eyebrow. What kind of girl was she dealing with here? 
"Y-Yeah... yknow... make up for it?" Lexi asked nervously. Of course in her own strange way she was also just desiring more time with this purple haired seductress who she only knew as "the girl who hit on Leah" and yeah, Mara wasn't exageratting, she was indeed 'smoking hot'  
"I think I'll live..." Delia said, in a sarcastic tone before thinking on it a bit more. For whatever reason this spunky little brown haired girl had been able to jam her magic mind reading AND she had been guilty herself of purposefully teleporting into her path for just this reason. It would be foolish not to analyze it further. Plus ... who didn't love a milkshake? "Okay ... y'know what? Fine ... reimburse me with chocolate milk... yank my leg" 
"Okay cool!" Lexi giggled, seemingly ignoring the girl's dismissive tone and dwelling instead on the fact that she got her "yes" in a roundabout sort of way. She'd yank on her hand playfully to lead her towards the food court before quickly learning that Delia didn't roll that way. 
"Uh ... what are you doing?" Delia asked, seemingly weighing about 1000 pounds at that moment as Lexi could not budge her at all. It was if she were a statue affixed to the floor. "I ... don't do the hand holding thing ... plus I know where the food court is ... I've been here before, yknow" 
"Oh... of course you have!" Lexi blushed, "I wasn't trying to like .. yeah ... let's ... let's go... I'll show you a really cool place for milkshakes... and a really cool guy who makes em!" 
"You mean the middle aged guy with the Eeyore look?" Delia shrugged, "I figured he offed himself by now..." 
"Hah, you're funny! Nah, he's still alive!" Lexi giggled, "let's go say hello!" 
"Lead the way, SpunkGirl..." Delia sighed, before realizing her own interpretation of Lexi, quite literally. She was already pretty sure she recognized her from somewhere but now she was sure of it. 
The girl in front of her who was prattling on about chocolate milkshakes and who knows what other cheerleader-y stuff was the girl from the news. ShrinkGirl. The do-gooder. The source of all things lollipops and rainbows... but why was SHE of all people able to evade Delia's strong mystical powers? 
Could she have been another witch herself? That's nearly impossible... Delia thought to herself, for it was Delia herself who made sure most if not all traces of witchcraft were extinguished long ago aside from herself. So what was it then? She appeared to be human and even if she could size shift, she might've simply been borrowing magic or just was really dumb lucky. 
"Best not to underestimate this potential mastermind..." Delia thought to herself before Lexi would turn with a dopey grin 
"Oh! They also have strawberry milkshakes! Ugh but look at me, just rambling on..." Lexi sighed, briefly slowing down her speech to deliver a more appropriate greeting, "I didn't even get your name, Miss... mine's Lexi!" 
"Delia." Delia said in as blunt a tone as possible, not even offering a hand to shake as Lexi did herself. Finally, she reluctantly shook the hand but didn't look too keen on it, "Uh ... so yeah ... milkshakes, huh?" 
"Yeah aren't they great?" Lexi giggled, now perched just in front of the Shake Shack with her reluctant mall-goer friend Delia as she waited for the mopey Henry to make a return to the counter. 
"W-Weren't you just here?" Henry asked, a bit of excasperation in his voice
"Yeah! But look I brought someone!" Lexi said cheerfully. Delia gave him a bored wave and shrugged similar to how Henry did. 
"Oh I see..." Henry nodded
"Isn't her hair cool?" Lexi giggled, before turning to Delia, "Sorry I should've said something earlier but I think your hair is awesome! How do you get it like that?" 
"Gallons of hair dye..." Delia quipped, "so what's the special today, Hector?" 
"It's Henry..." Henry groaned before deciding he didn't really care, "Uh ... we have milkshakes..." 
"He's just messing around!" Lexi smirked, "fix us up something special, Henry! I believe in you" 
"Hooray..." Henry sighed, turning around to make 2 of the most basic chocolate milkshakes he could, "Someone believes in me ... call my mom..." 
"Isn't Henry great?" Lexi giggled, standing enthusiastically next to Delia who kept glancing down at Lexi's purse. 
It was somewhere therein that seemed to house Delia's kryptonite. 
That was the source of the strange girl's power, Delia thought to herself but she had to delve more into why. That would unfortunately mean socializing with the girl. 
"Ohhhh yeah ... he's uh ... awesome" Delia smirked, deciding to play the game for now. "and these milkshakes, you say they're really good?" 
"They're the best! The best in the city!" Lexi nodded, eager to impress the attractive young woman as two milkshakes found their way to the counter. "Oh! Would you look at that? Henry hooked us up with the good stuff! What do you call these?" 
"Nesquik..." Henry mumbled before walking away. 
"Hah! Good one Henry!" Lexi giggled, taking a big sip before realizing they DID taste familiar. "H-Hey ... he forgot to take my money..." 
"Save it..." Delia smirked, "Money ain't going to cure what's wrong with him" 
"I can't not pay ..." Lexi frowned, before folding a few bills up and sticking it under a napkin holder. She then wrote on the napkin 
"Hope you have a lovely day, Henry, thanks for the shakes ~ Lexi ~ <3" 
"So you've like never ... taken anything?" Delia asked, raising an eyebrow as the two made their way back to the table. Delia took a sip of her milkshake and had to admit it was decent, if not familiar to something she had tried at a supermarket once. 
"Well no, I guess not" Lexi shrugged as the two sat down on opposite sides of the table to talk. Now that she had some time to process how lovely and exotic the new girl looked she wanted to get to know the girl behind the awesome name and face. "Have you?" 
"Eh, no comment" Delia said, "I mean, if something's there for the taking ... why not take it?" 
"Well ... I guess..." Lexi pouted, "but ...sometimes taking is wrong, yknow? It's ... stealing" 
"Yeah...." Delia responded, with a confused look "and?" 
"Umm... w-well I don't know..." Lexi sputtered nervously. Maybe this Delia wasn't the girl to be hitting on her platonically straight best friend. Still, she couldn't be too quick to jump to judgement. 
"Look, I come from a big city..." Delia shrugged, "I'm kinda new here so I'm not used to how ..." 
"Oh!" Lexi nodded, "You're new here..." 
For whatever reason, hearing that somebody was "new" always gave Lexi a bit of excitement. She often found herself being the type to "help" the new person, whether they needed it or not. She knew being new could be a bit of an overwhelming experience for some and she wanted everyone to feel welcome, especially in the community she deemed to be so wonderful. She was always taught to do her best to offer friendship and it was something she held near and dear even as she entered her second year of college. For that reason, she put any misgivings she had about Delia to the side as she tried to learn more. 
"yeah ... I mean, I bounce around a lot, no big deal" Delia said 
"No! Of course not" Lexi replied, her purse down at her feet as she spoke, "so how long you been in the Miniborough area?" 
"A few months or so" Delia replied, sipping on the milkshake, "kinda boring honestly ... although there are some nice spots" 
"Oh yeah ... for sure, for sure" Lexi nodded, eager to foster her role as "Miniborough Ambassador" "I could ... show you some of them, maybe?"
"Uh ... maybe..." Delia shrugged, "I mean, I can show myself around..." 
"Oh yeah for sure" Lexi replied in utter agreement, "It's just ... maybe you're not familiar with some of the more secluded spots... like there's this really nice forest on the edge of the city called ..." 
"...Fenster Forest..." Delia said bleakly, not seeming as excited about it as her zestful new charge. 
"Oh so you HAVE been there" Lexi said, not realizing the significance of it. Of course LEXI knew that Fenster Forest housed a magical fairy colony at its core but that's a factoid she assumed 99% of the population knew nothing of. Unbeknownst to Lexi, she was currently speaking with part of the 1% 
"I've ... dabbled..." Delia said, "look, in case you can't tell I'm not exactly your average chica... I don't like long walks on the beach or carnival rides or ..." 
"Oh yeah, there's a carnival too.. down by the pier!" Lexi added, "they're ... kinda closed for a while though... but you said you don't LIKE carnivals so ... never mind ... sorry, I really need to start listening better" 
Delia rolled her eyes before continuing her remarks, "I think I heard about that actually ... carnival had some kind of incident? This happened before I came to town" 
"Oh uh yeah..." Lexi blushed nervously, perhaps inadvertently steering the conversation in a direction she didn't want it to go down. 
"Strangest thing too..." Delia continued, "because the news reports were SUPER weird, even for me ... talks of a giant robot and some kind of criminal girl..." 
"Ummm... yeah" Lexi said nervously, "and that's all" 
"No... I think they said someone else was there ..." Delia said, putting the pieces together, although really she had known the whole time, "Someone was like ... there but they said it was a ... tiny girl?" 
"Tiny ...? Hah!" Lexi smirked, milk almost squirting out of her nose, "that's uh ... I mean I htink I read about that ... on the uh ... internet" 
"Yeah ... that's where I read it" Delia smirked, leveraging Lexi's talkativeness against her, "And after that I was so curious I did a web search and I found this website..." 
Oh God. Lexi thought. Not the website. 
"ShrinkGirl.com" Delia giggled, proudly showing her phone with the new mobile version of the website Josh had been working on. There was even an SG app in development despite Lexi's protests. "That's where I read all about the adventures of ShrinkGirl!" 
"Y-You know that's all just like fan fiction, right?" Lexi pouted, "it's not even that well written, I doubt she exists..." 
"That's what I thought too" Delia replied, "but then more stories started coming out ..." 
"You mean on the website..." Lexi nodded
"No... in reality" Delia smiled with confidence, "Stories about this 'ShrinkGirl' well ... shrinking things, saving people, the hero business... I don't know, she sounds kinda dangerous to me..." 
"W-Well, I dont know ... about that ..." Lexi sputtered, becoming baited into protecting her good name, "I'm sure she does her best ... y'know .. if she exists..." 
"Yeah well, if she doesn't exist how do you explain what happened to Rachel Rutschmann?" Delia asked 
Fuck. Lexi hated anytime that name came up. 
"I mean, she's in a jail cell about the size of a hamster cage" Delia said cruelly, "that doesn't just happen, y'know? and she's not the only one ... several criminals have testified that a girl in purple tights and a ridiculous costume stopped them mid-heist and either shrank them or threatened to" 
"W-Well you can't believe criminals..." Lexi gulped nervously before muttering under her breath "...especially Pyro Pete" 
"Hmmm ... maybe you're right" Delia said, resuming sipping her milkshake. Lexi was almost surprised how quickly Delia appeared to surrender her inquiry. "I mean ... still... if she WAS real, I'd almost say she was kinda cool" 
To this, Lexi would be surprised. Delia didn't seem like the type to find ANYTHING cool. 
"R-Really?" Lexi asked shyly 
"Well I mean yeah ... she's a bit unconventional but ... I like that" Delia nodded, "Breaking the rules, going undercover ... shrinking people ... shrinking herself even ... haven't you ever wondered what it's like to shrink?" 
One of the fastest ways to get Alexis Cole to blush bright red in any conversation was to ask that question. 
"Well I mean ... I ... I don't know ..." Lexi sputtered, "it's not like I ..." 
"Except you DO know" Delia smiled, cutting right to the chase, "you've been shrunk before ... because you are her" 
"What?" Lexi eeped, almost ejecting her milkshake in the process. 
"C'mon ... Lexi, you said it was?" Delia said, "I've seen your picture ... I'm seeing you up close... I mean you don't even wear a mask!" 
"I am so tired of hearing about the mask thing..." Lexi muttered
"I mean, maybe I'm wrong..." Delia said indifferently, "Actually think ShrinkGirl is kinda hot" 
"...What?" Lexi asked, now surely blushing red. 
"You heard me" Delia winked coyly, sipping her milkshake very slowly. 
Was Lexi really going to allow herself to fall victim to a sexy lady again? 
"W-Well suppose I WAS ShrinkGirl..." Lexi said nervously 
"I'm not supposing ... I already know you are" Delia said, simply stating the obvious. Lexi had an awful poker face after all. 
"Well I mean ..." Lexi said confused, "It's not like ... if you were having lunch with Peter Parker right now, he'd just say "yeah sure I'm Spider-Man" 
"So is that a confession?" Delia grinned triumphantly. This Lexi girl was simply too easy. Her next step would be trying to figure out what about her seemed to hinder her dark magic. 
"Look..." Lexi whispered, pulling her purse onto the table. 
It was then Delia felt the headaches tremoring again. What the hell was in that purse besides Mentos and some old photo strips of her and Leah? The young witch was about to find out. 
Lexi beckoned Delia closer so that she could gaze into the purse revealing what looked like a mini wrestling medallion but it was the SG medallion itself. It gave off such a strong energy that Delia actually recoiled in pain a bit, slinking back into her seat. 
"Oh shit, are you alright?" Lexi stammered, a little startled. 
"Y-Yeah ... just an ... uh .. allergy" Delia gasped, putting it together now, "that uh ... that belt or whatever .. it's uh ... not a regular belt is it? Is that how you .. shrink?" 
"Uhhh there's actually some long-winded sciency explanation for why I shrink..." Lexi replied sheepishly, "No, the belt is pretty awesome though, my best friend Leah made it..." 
"Leah ... from the clothes store" Delia nodded as Lexi realized she accidentally named her best friend. 
"Um... yeah ... she's really good with fashion stuff but ... that's not all ... the belt has ... if you can believe it ... fairy magic around it" Lexi blushed as she continued divulging information. She figured since Delia knew anyway (and as a bonus thought ShrinkGirl was 'hot') she would maybe brag a little bit. "Supposedly protects me from like black magic and stuff..." 
Delia raised an eyebrow as she wondered if superheroes were ALWAYS so careless with their information. 
"Huh. I see..." Delia said
"S-Sorry, now you probably think I'm nuts" Lexi sighed 
"Oh I do, but that's not why" Delia said in a callous way before starting to laugh to signal it was a joke. Lexi awkweardly joined in the laughing. 
Internally however, Delia was not so pleased. Fairy magic may as well have been sulfuric acid to the powerful witch. It was a direct opposition to everything her magic could do. She could pierce it on occasion but it was definitely the yin to her yang and this young 20 something with the purple tights was somehow able to do something that practically entire civilizations couldn't and that's silence the magic of a Greystone witch. That didn't sit well. Not in the least. 
"Well hey ..." Delia said, deciding to play her cards on the table, "you shared a secret with me ... I'll share one with you..." 
"Oh?" Lexi asked curiously, wondering what this could be about 
"What if I told you ...?" Delia leaned in a bit, although not as much, feeling the strongly repugnant tremors emanating from the fairy magic endowed belt. "...I'm a witch?" 
Lexi blinked a few times before putting her head down. 
"I'm sorry, I deserved that" Lexi sighed 
"Huh?" 
"I ... kinda came off as judgy before" Lexi confessed, "and I can see why people would like ... call you that cuz of the purple hair and all... which is TOTALLY awesome by the way ... but you shouldn't talk about yourself that way ... I mean, nothing wrong with witchcraft of course but ..." 
"You are not this dense..." Delia sighed, rolling her eyes. "I'm a witch" 
"Look, just cause you swiped a few things doesn't make you ..." 
"Lexi." Delia said bluntly, her eyes glowing purple for a moment, "I'm a witch." 
"Do you have ... like contact lenses or something?" Lexi asked
"Oh my god... fine... yes, I have contact lenses" Delia sighed. She never felt so much like she had both met her match but also like she could crush that same person like a bug. Maybe literally. 
"Look, I ... I mean even if you ARE a witch..." Lexi said, keeping her voice hushed to respect the sanctity of the secrets given out, "I mean, that's not a bad thing ... I mean, my friend Mara? She's an elf ... has a pet phoenix..." 
Delia thought she had sniffed phoenix essense on the red heads person earlier ...
Still, Delia made it known to herself that Lexi was not the type to entrust a secret to. Either that or perhaps Delia's persuasive magic WAS having some effect despite the protection. She couldn't fully hypnotize Lexi but it did seem like Lexi was volunteering a lot with no pressure. 
"Alright well..." Delia shrugged, standing up to exit, throwing her milk shake cup a fairly far distance and somehow making it. It was almost as if by magic, "As thrilling as this all has been, I should take off now ... thanks for the uh ... milkshake, I guess" 
"W-Well hey, maybe we could see each other again sometime?" Lexi asked 
"I ... I don't know" Delia responded coldly. 
Again Lexi's better judgement told her not to but there did seem to be something attractive about the purple haired woman named Delia other than her actual looks. A certain grip on her mentality that made her more loose lipped. It was for that reason most likely that Lexi would proceed to form her next sentence. 
"My friend Chrissy's having a party up at Miniborough University tomorrow night" Lexi spouted out. Delia turned. 
"Oh?" she asked 
"Y-Yeah, you should come! Gonna be some silly times and you'll meet some cool new people!" Lexi said, suddenly trying to sell the enchantress on attending, "Oh, there'll be alchohol there" 
Delia paused again. 
"Oh yeah? Alchohol at a college party..." Delia said facetiously, "what a novel concept" 
"Heh I suppose..." Lexi shrugged, "I'm not much of a drinker though ... maybe a jello shot or two but nothing crazy, yknow?" 
Like a lightbulb clicking in the young witch's head, the words led her to a conclusion that wasn't exactly too groundbreaking. 
Lexi was likely a lightweight when it came to drinking. Drunk Lexi meant lower judgement. Even in her current state Lexi seemed like an unworthy opponent. Alcohol would undoubtedly tip the scales and more importantly grant the witch an opportunity to cease the infernal medallion that protected her. It was almost unfair how easy Lexi was making this. 
Delia turned with a happy grin 
"What the heck, you convinced me" Delia grinned, her eyes glowing purple briefly 
"Really? Awesome! We'll ... we'll see you there!" Lexi almost jumped out of her seat she was so excited.
"Wonderful ... shall I bring anything?" Delia asked, although she was also being tongue in cheek. She wasn't exactly the life of parties. 
"I mean, if you want ..." Lexi shrugged, "I don't think Chrissy would mind... but you can just bring yourself too... that ... that works" 
"Alright then ..." Delia said, also raising an eyebrow as if completing a business transaction. In other words, she wanted to get the hell out of there now. "I guess I'll see you then..."  
"Well w-wait..." Lexi said, trying to catch up with Delia as her pace seemed to hasten. "I didn't even get your number ... or tell you when it is ... or where it is..." 
"Don't worry about that..." Delia shrugged with a dismissive smirk, fading further into the crowd. "I'll find you" 
If Lexi didn't know any better she would swear Delia seemed to vanish as the crowds folded over her. She was there one second and then gone entirely, leaving the young brunette flummoxed even further. 
Have I just made a big mistake? Lexi wondered 

"So the party is tomorrow night around 9 ..." Lexi said, talking to her best friend, Leah Henderson via cell phone while laying the side of her face against her hand , "...still sucks that Chrissy's leaving though..."

"Well yeah but hey ..." Leah said, trying to sound reassuring, "you said she flirted with you or something?"

"Omigod it was so weird..." Lexi chuckled, leaning her phone on her shoulder while she sat in the newly re-enlarged Shrinkmobile, "she wanted the Lexi badly..."

"Did ... she say that or are you saying that?" Lexi giggled with a raised eyebrow

"Okay maybe I'm inferring too much..." Lexi shrugged, turning down the radio to hear Leah better as she simply relaxed in the idling car for a bit, "...but yeah ... I mean ... damn, it sucks she's leaving"

"Heh I can see why..." Leah shrugged, "but hey, guess we both got hit on by chicks recently ... that's something else we can both claim"

"Oh!" Lexi said, chuckling a bit, "Speaking of which, I ... may have invited your bewitching admirer to the party..."

"Who, Delia?" Leah asked, now more than a bit confused, "How did you run into her?"

"She was at the mall and yeah, she's totally hot ..." Lexi said, "well, physically ... honestly emotionally she seemed kinda cold..."

"You just don't have that Henderson charm..." Leah said with a sly smile

"That must be it" Lexi teased

"So wait, you invited someone we barely know to the party for Chrissy?" Leah asked

"Yeah ...." Lexi said, exhaling a bit as she questioned herself a bit as well, "...I don't think she'll come though to be honest, she doesn't seem like the party type ...not that this'll even be much of a party but ... yeah..."

"Well, no harm no foul I guess" Leah shrugged, "anyways I gotta get back to work, my break is ending soon"

"Oh right, knock em dead, Leah darling" Lexi said with a playful smooch

"Later, Lexi lovely" Leah said before ending the call.

Lexi would contemplate just a little further everything that had happened in the past couple hours or so.

Why HAD she invited Delia? It was almost like she couldn't resist. Still ... perhaps she was too quick to rush to judgement. Just because someone dresses and acts a certain way doesn't imply anything bad.

"I'm sure in her heart, Delia is a really nice person" Lexi said to herself, "witch or not..."

----

Many miles away on the other side of town was a house with a couple of cars parking in the driveway. A black Honda, a blue Dodge and now a third car was coming to join them, its driver looking a bit perturbed as she turned down the radio, hooding her eyes down in displeasure.

"Oh lord ... having company, Thomas?" Delia muttered to herself.

See, Delia wasn't the type to "own" houses or any residence as it turned out. Why bother when one can be as ... persuasive as she was? The unfortunate family who took her in this time? A married couple known as Thomas and ... well, the wife's name isn't important. A few days ago, Delia had crashed on the couch, as usual. There comes a point when the owner of a dwelling finds her aloof on their sofa or bed and understandably causes a scene. That's nothing that a little magic can't dispatch.

Delia would very often flip the script on people whenever she "squatted" at their place, convincing them via magic that SHE was the owner and they were a guest.

In this particular case however, the car in the driveway alongside Thomas' black Honda was not his wife's red Buick.

Thomas let out a chuckle and a moan as his lacy clad lover smooched his chest before they were both interuppted by the sound of a slamming door.

The woman, a 20 something blonde in a black negligee with green eyes looked up in stunned silence before finally whispering, "Your wife's home?"

"No..." Thomas stuttered, shaking his head. "It's too early, she was going to be out until 9 she said..."

"Well, it's 8 now ..." the nervous woman exclaimed, swinging herself around to sit on the bed now as Thomas got up, only clothed by the bedsheets as he peered curiously towards his window, noticing the motion light had gone on recently but he didn't see his wife's car in the driveway. The car he DID see was a fancy deep red Corvette which made even less sense. "Maybe I should get out of --"

Before the woman could conclude her predictable sentiment, the door flew open as if thrust by a gale force wind. The lady let out a scream and attempted futilely to go for her shirt that was draped over an ottoman across from her.

"No. Stay. Please" Delia said, a snide look on her face as she stood in the doorway, eyeing the couple of canoodlers with contempt.

"Wh-Who are you???" the woman gasped, "Thomas, is she...?"

"No..." Thomas said, worried. He vaguely recognized the woman with the purple hair but couldn't place her. She looked like the thief that broke in a few days ago and he had gone to reach for the phone to call the police when ... for some reason, he didn't. In fact, a lot of the past couple of days since then felt hazy for him with some of his memories only returning now.

"Ahhhh... you could've made this all so simple ..." Delia sighed, holding her hand out and watching in delight as a green flame formed there, getting wider and wider as it levitated ever so slightly off of her palm.

"Wh-What are you doing?!" The woman screamed, scrambling for her shirt.

"You're free to go, dear" Delia said with an indifferent tone of voice, stepping aside to give the woman ample room to scamper aside through the exposed and waiting threshold, "Don't ask why, I'm feeling generous ... ask any more questions and I may just change my mind..."

With that, Delia's shadow continued to advance on a scared and fightened Thomas who shook his head as he looked towards his blonde floozie, as if begging her to stay, for whatever help it would provide. The woman was frightened out of her mind as she watched the purple haired vixen closing in on her love affair but she was also careful to heed the witch's advice, taking her leave as she slowly backed away and out of the door, only running once she was clear of Delia.

"You got a smart one there" Delia said with a smirk. Thomas would have joined the woman who was making record time for her car if not for the dread and even moreso the very real feeling that he was losing the ability to operate his limbs, his body going stiff as he just lay there. "Hold onto her whatever you do..."

"Wh-Who are you? Who let you in?!" Thomas said, still able to yell even as he twitched and writhed in agony, Delia looming over him with an aggressive gaze.

"Why, don't you remember?" Delia smirked, holding the flame up to her face and puffing it out effortlessly as if it were a mere birthday candle. "You did"

"I ... I ..." Thomas shook his head, trying to deny that. He had done some foolish things before ... like cheat on his wife, but he would've remembered letting this young woman into his home and he certainly would have remembered her icy gaze and the enchanting aroma and pyromancy she was able to command at the same time.

"I'm not a good person, Thomas" Delia said, very matter of fact and casual as she seemed to stretch up over him. "I'll be the first to tell you that ... but you know what I REALLY hate....?? Cheaters"

To his shock and horror as she continued her sentence, Thomas' body seemed to be ablaze with an involuntary sensation, an aura of green surrounding him as he started becoming smaller and smaller. Perhaps inspired by her meeting with the perky little wannabe superhero, Delia was digging into her own bag of tricks and systematically reducing his size, being sure to enjoy it herself as she licked her lips, letting the gravity of the situation hit him like a tsunami. Thomas was still unable to speak, his arms and legs begginning to regain some control but it wasn't going to do him much good now.

For even if Thomas DID run to the edge of his bed, he would find the waiting descent comparable to the grand canyon. Delia had been sure to make him tiny as a little bug and there was no escape.

"So?" Delia asked, her voice now even more gargantuan and conquering as she rose up above him, "Not so chatty now, huh?"

Perhaps lost in her own entoxicating air of intimidation, Delia herself wasn't paying complete attention to her surroundings as her hand softly but coldly plucked up the tiny man and deposited him into her palm.

Had she been more attentive, Delia might've seen the approach of headlights from the other direction as another car slid into the driveway taking the place of that other woman. This car was a red Buick and the woman inside was more than a little confused to see a wine red Corvette had made its way there.

"Oh god! Oh my god!!" the terrified Thomas squeaked, now sounding more like a member of Alvin and the chipmunks than he had just a few short moments ago. This alone would solicit a giggle out of the amused Delia, "What have you done to me?!"

Ignoring his obvious question, Delia would simply relish in her victim's suffering a few moments longer before hearing approaching footsteps and only then making the connection that Thomas' wife had arrived home. She sighed.

"I hate when I don't get to play with my food first..." Delia muttered, and it was a bit of a soft mutter but the words weren't lost on poor tiny Thomas.

"Play with your...?" Thomas gulped nervously, looking over an impossible distance that it would take to escape Delia's hand, he simply looked up in pure terror

"Oh well" Delia said, shaking her head as she continued raising her hand to her mouth. Thomas let out a scream but it was short lived. Delia spun around, her silhoutte now opposite the doorframe where Thomas' anxious wife stood, her mouth agape in shock and her eyes looking glassy.

"Who are you?!" Thomas' wife said, her voice trembling, "What have you done with my husband?!"

Delia would give her a "wait a minute" gesture with her finger before spinning around, letting out a long and exageratted gulp before smirking. "Trust me hon, he wasn't worth it"

"WHAT? What are you talking about?!" the woman shrieked, as Delia simply hopped off the bed as if nothing had transpired. "Who the fuck are you?? I'm calling the police!!"

Delia held her position and reached her hand out, a small aura of green striking the woman's cheek and she seemed to freeze as if her cognitive functions momentarily shut down.

"You're not calling anyone..." Delia said calmly. "You came home from work and found your husband Thomas cheating with that slut Natalie from work. You sent him to his mother's for the night and told him the next step is divorce. He tragically died in a car accident on the way to his mom's but you're not so broken up about it because he was a cheating piece of shit anyway... and now ... sleep"

With that Delia let out another half chuckle and tapped the wife's head so that she fell momentarily unconscious. By the time she awoke, Delia would be gone along with any proof of her being there. Her husband? Well he was in a better place... in a manner of speaking.

"It's a shame really..." a cold and calculating Delia muttered as she checked herself out briefly in her rearview mirror, removing any leftovers of "Thomas" from her teeth before driving off, "I rather didn't hate those two"

She'd shrug and be off into the night sky with no particular destination in mind.

---

On a similar trajectory themselves but for different reasons were a couple of youngsters lounging in Fenster Forest, the tranquil stomping ground for human and fairy alike.

One was an elemental wizard by the name of Chris and he lay peacefully against a tree trunk, his body in half laying position as his knees were propped up to accomodate his little friend, a small fairy lady with brunette hair that bordered on auburn with the streaks of red in it. Those crimson streaks matched the ones in her pretty Fenstarian garb as it draped over her body, her head tilting to the side as she peered up at her pleasant company for the evening but still seemed to have a hint of worry on her otherwise relaxed face. Her name was Spark and she was just one of many fairy denizens who resided in the secret fairy colony of Fensteria, located somewhere not too far from the forests breathtaking lake.

"Have I ever told you just how amazing you look sometimes?" Chris said, in a sort of stunned sounding trance as he watched the fairy woman sit in a fashion similar to him, with her head now leaned against her knees as she rested on his as if they were lillypads. She looked over and smirked, although the smirk seemed a bit "phoned in", as if they had had this conversation before. Sensing her boredom with the topic, he quickly tried to steer clear of the topic but instead dug himself in deeper, "I mean ... yes, I've mentioned it before but ... especially tonight with just the moon and everything hitting you just right, it's ..."

"Chris?" Spark asked, sounding serious at first before letting her arms flop to the side as she slowly stood up to her full height, a ravishing 5.1 inches ... quite tall for a fairy, "What is this?"

"Hmm?"

"Like ... what ARE we exactly?" Spark asked with a giggle, clarifying her question

"Oh no, not this talk again ..." Chris sighed with a half jovial hint in his voice

"Yeah, well I've asked you before and you never seem to answer..." Spark shrugged, the curvature of one of her wings poking up for a moment as she drew her gaze towards the pretty crescent moon in the sky, "you usually start to stutter or change the subject"

"Wh-What? No I don't, I don't d-do d-do that..." Chris stuttered, "hey, is that a new hairstyle? It's nice"

"Chris, it's the same hairstyle..." Spark chuckled, going back to sitting down on Chris' knee. Despite her exhausted sounding tone, she was quite fond of the human male. Something about his goofy antics and even the way he never quite knew what he was doing made him seem genuinely kind and understanding, unlike many of the male fairies in her colony who seemed to possess an almost arrogant air about them. Well, outside of her brother Mark who was a bit of a social outcast by fairy standards.

"Huh. Well..." Chris said hesitantly, a bit of uneasiness in his heart even as he gazed upon Spark in all of her adorable splendor, "if you think we need to talk then I guess we should uh ... talk..."

As Chris' voice trailed off, both he and Spark found themselves distracted by something as it briefly obscured their view of the lustrous moon. It was the shadows of a few robotic looking creatures as they pierced through the night sky.

Chris raised an eyebrow, recognizing them despite the brief look he got at them.

"Aren't those..." Chris said nervously

"Y-Yeah .. they look like the robot things that attacked the colony..." Spark said, her voice wavering a bit as she remembered that tumultuous evening

"Yeah, from that guy Mad Mack" Chris said

"...I thought it was Mad Max..." Spark said, fluttering off of Chris' knee so that he could get up, which he did slowly.

"Heh, 5 bucks says it's Mack" Chris said with a smug confidence

"You know I don't have money, Chris" Spark shrugged, "why don't we just bet uh ... 5 wing massages?"

"No fair ..." Chris whined, "what do I get if I win?"

"You get to give me 5 wing massages" Spark said with a wink, beginning to take flight as they both would walk in the general direction of the drones as they seemed to be triangulating on a spot in the forest that was surrounded by a thicket of trees.

Although the homogenous environments in the woods made it very hard to tell which area was which, Chris found himself having a bit of deja vu, as if he had traveled the current path not so long ago.

Elsewhere in the forest, another being made their way through, having ditched the dark red Corvette, she now just walked through the forest at a brisk pace, looking to unwind and forget about the incident she just experienced before inevitably finding a new place to crash and another set of lives to ruin.

That being of course would be the very well endowed (magically speaking of course) Delia Greystone who took a path running adjacent to that of the fairy and the boy wizard. That's when she began to feel it again. The unusual static in her mind that was produced when she had spent time around Lexi and her magically empowered belt.

"Wait a second..." Delia thought to herself, remembering another time she felt this way.

It had been a night closer to when she first stopped in Miniborough ... a night when she inadvertently found the fairy colony she had heard rumored to be in those very woods. Taking the form of an owl to investigate, she was able to strike a blow against the fairy colony known as Fensteria with a bright flash of fire before some dopey wizard interuppted her. Had it not been for him, she might have been successful in burning the whole thing to the ground. Unfortunately for the powerful young witch though, even she knew fairykind would always been around in some form or fashion, try as she might to extinguish them.

Nonetheless, Delia pressed on, following the source of whatever was causing her magical disturbance but when she traced it closer she was surprised to find not a colony but the same wizard, now accompanied by a floating fairy girl in red.

"Everything happens for a reason, I suppose..." Delia thought to herself with a mischevious smirk.

Not too far ahead on the path were Chris and Spark, both moving at a brisk pace although nowhere near as fast as the drones that had more or less faded out of sight.

"Chris, what exactly is the game plan here?" a weary Spark asked, her wings needing a moment to cool off from the high speed flying. "Assuming we even catch up to those things..."

"I ... I guess I hadn't gotten that far..." Chris sighed, a bit winded himself as he leaned down and rested his hands on his knees while Spark caught her breath, "...I guess it was going to be more of a recon mission than anything..."

"At the very least we could let Lexi know about it..." Spark suggested, "That seems to be more of her thing anyhow..."

Chris simply nodded, and while he was listening to Spark, he felt a certain unease arise from inside himself and it wasn't from the same awkwardness of their "we need to talk" moment. While Spark began to resume flying towards the assumed destination of Max's drones, Chris remained standing in stunned silence, his awareness suddenly peaking.

"Chris?" Spark asked, taking note and looking back at her giant friend, "you okay?"

"Something doesn't feel right..." Chris said, his voice a bit soft as he peered around.

Spark was about to offer some reassurance but she found herself spooked as well as a quick dashing silhoutte faded behind some bushes in their proximity. Probably just a squirell or something, she thought but then the sound struck again, and again.

Both Chris and Spark found themselves on the defensive, expecting something to pop up any moment and they'd get their wish when Chris came face to face with a woman who seemingly materialized right in front of them with purple hair and eyes to match. Chris gave her a challenging glare, remembering her from their brief confrontation during the winter.

"You..." Chris growled

"You always so good with words?" Delia quipped, again forming a green flame in her hand.

Spark fluttered to a position just behind Chris' shoulder, her body shaking a bit with dread

"Y-You ..." Spark said

"Guess you're both chatterboxes..." Delia shrugged, casually tossing the fireball up and down as if it were a bouncy ball

"You're the witch..." Spark said, "The witch that attacked the colony! I thought Mark was a bit paranoid but ..."

"I have a name y'know..." the snarky Delia interuppted, fading the flame from her hand as she stared down Chris now who gave her a very aggressive look, "...um.. what's wrong with your face?"

"Spark, get back..." Chris said with a huff, forming a fireball of his own in his hands although his was a more traditional sparkling orange. Delia let off a condescending chuckle at the sight

"Awwww how cute.... protecting your fairy girlfriend..." Delia winked

"She's not my ..." Chris stuttered, before looking back at Spark with a sheepish grin, "...actually we haven't really made that official yet..."

Spark briefly turned a bright red that rivaled only her dress

"No matter..." Delia smirked "I already know I can't do much to the little girl in red ... but YOU ..."

Spark's eyes widened as Delia conjured up a green fireball in her hand pointing in Chris' direction.

"Chris, look out!" Spark shouted, swiftly dashing in front of his face.

Chris found himself shielding with a hand in front of his face in anticipation of an impact, but it wasn't necessary as Spark took the brunt of the hit, seemingly stunned as she was surrounded with black electricity but she shook it off fairly quick despite floating a bit lopsided for a moment.

"Spark!" Chris shouted, "...y-you okay?"

"Heh, I wouldn't worry about her if I were you..." Delia smirked, seperating her hands to allow a convergence of magical energy to reside in the space created.

With Spark a bit woozy as she floated down towards the ground to rest, she wasn't able to defend Chris from the oncoming attack.

Chris panicked, trying to create some quick lightning but he wasn't quite fast enough and found himself under Delia's devious spell as it took hold.

"Chris!!" Spark shrieked as Delia laughed maniacally, taking off in a poof of purple lightning.

----

The next afternoon, a sheepish Alexis Cole would make her way into the backroom of the Snack Shack in downtown Minitropolis, her regular clothes inside a duffle bag that lay on a chair. The clothes she was currently wearing would be none other than her ShrinkGirl outfit complete with shiny SG belt medallion, Wonder Woman style metallic gauntlets on her wrist and the usual purple spandex with gold skirt.

She'd form an awkward smile while holding a hamburger near her face

"L-Like this?" Lexi asked

Her new boss Mark, despite being supportive, also gave her a bit of a cautionary look and made a gesture with his hands to his mouth as if to say "smile"

"Just relax hon" Mark said, "be natural"

"Natural ... okay..." Lexi said, relaxing just a bit as a photographer snapped a few images of her pretending to eat the burger.


Mark would lean over his photographer's shoulder while the photographer, a particularly picky man standing at about 5'10 with thick black framed glasses would shake his head making small tsking noises. Lexi was suddenly finding herself with "school day picture" anxiety as she tried to nail the perfect pose for the first of what would likely be many photoshoots as ShrinkGirl.

"Okay ... and one more..." Mark said, "this time looking right at the camera!"

Lexi would nod, tempted to almost take an actual bite of the warm burger as she lifted it up to face the cheese, patty, bun and toppings out. Mark leaned in again with an anticipatory look on his face and the photographer simply shrugged after taking the last shot, as if to say "this'll do"

After wrapping up with the photos, Lexi would carefully set the burger back down and come over to talk to her new boss looking a bit unhappy with her own performance.

"I hope that wasn't too bad..." Lexi said with an awkward smile and a shrug

"Huh? No, no not at all" Mark said with an encouraging tone of voice, all while the photographer, who was not huge on words would pack up his things and let out a disgruntled "hmph" as he turned for the exit of the office.

"Heh ... not a talkative guy, huh??" Lexi asked, to break the current silence. Mark simply chuckled a bit

"Jacques is only family friend and ... he's an acquired taste admittedly..." Mark said, which caused a suddenly stir in Lexi's mind as she thought of an appropriate response given her current setting.

"But you know what ISN'T ... is the instantly delicious taste of the one and only Snack Shack burger!" Lexi said with a note of overconfidence before again frowning with her shoulders now slumping, "Mark, I am SO sorry, that was so lame..."

"No ... no, that was great!" Mark said, practically bursting into applause, "I'm just sorry we didn't film it!"

"Heh, really?" Lexi said

"Lemme tell you something, Lexi ..." Mark said, asking her to sit briefly after bidding Jacques adieu, "Do you know why I wanted you to be the Snack Shack's official spokeswoman?"

"B-Because you like the Vikings?" Lexi asked with a hint of levity, referring to her purple and gold color scheme

"No!" Mark chuckled, "You're a real person ... you get it, you get real people and you are a kind, helpful individual ... I can't think of anyone I would rather have representing our family business!"

"Oh? Well ... th-that's ... that's great, sir, I will do my best" Lexi said with a chuckle

"Please... you can call me Mark..." Mark said before pausing, "well, unless you're officially working, like as a waitress... then yeah I suppose that would be kind of ... different..."

"Heh... speaking of..." Lexi said, "do I have to wear the ShrinkGirl uniform when I waitress?"

"No no, of course not" Mark said, "We'll get you an official striped shirt soon ... and hey I appreciate you coming in last minute for the shoot... Jacques had a late cancellation and I thought I'd reach out and see if you were down..."

"No problem, sir ... Mark" Lexi replied, quickly correcting herself, "I am always happy to help people"

Lexi would end the conversation on that high note, walking back out into the restaurant and for a moment forgetting she was in her full ShrinkGirl outfit as she strolled past a young girl with curly blonde hair who was there with her parents. She looked down in her direction when she heard a soft murmur.

"Shwinkgirl?" the girl asked

Lexi stopped, almost stunned. She was surprised enough that the owner and his wife had merchandise of her but ... this little girl knew who she was too? Lexi couldn't ignore her of course so she knelt down to say hello.

"Oh, hiya hon" Lexi said warmly, also waving to the girls' parents who gave her a sort of welcoming wave with only a hint of confusion. It seemed as though their 5 year old daughter recognized Lexi better than they themselves did.

"Are you a ... s-superhero?" the little girl asked with a hint of shyness.

Lexi shrugged and replied very candidly. "I ... I guess I am"

"Come on now, honey ... let the nice young lady get back to her day..." the little girl's mom would say before Lexi shook her head.

"No no I don't mind, really ... it's very nice to meet you all... what's your name, hon?" Lexi asked the little girl.

"Lucy!" she said, a toothy grin as she looked up at Lexi.

"Well Lucy, you listen to your mommy and daddy, alright? and uh ... stay in school!" she said, trying to think of all the corny cliches she could to tell to the young tyke.

"I will..." Lucy giggled, laying her head on the table as she continued to color on her menu with red crayon. Lexi smirked and waved at the happy family.

"I... I've gotta go but if you stop back here, you'll likely see me again" Lexi said, "H-Have a nice day and ... great meeting you Lucy"

"Bye ShwinkGirl!" the little Lucy replied and Lexi tried her best not to let it show how much her heart melted at that.

Perhaps this job wasn't just posing for photos and "selling out"

Lexi would feel her phone ringing a bit as she made her way out of the restaurant. Lexi's phone ringing would be an occurance that would repeat several times a day so she wasn't too too concerned about it, until she got to her car and wrapped her fingers around the cell phone which also had a couple of text messages.

The call and the messages were all from the same person -- Spark.

"LEXI PLEASE COME SEE ME! SOMETHING'S HAPPENED TO CHRIS"

A frantic Alexis Cole would make her way into a bedroom but this room would be no ordinary bedroom as it was surrounded by what most people would call lumber but to the fairies of Fensteria it was simply "home" to them. Spark's residence (where she lived with her 2 siblings, Lark & Mark) was technically founded inside a tree stump like so many other Fensterian homes but it was still laid out similar to human residences, with its seperate chambers carved out of the wood and many similar acouturements that a normal human home would have like furniture, bed and the like.

What wasn't so common was Lexi's reason for being there, although Lexi's life could hardly be considered normal or common anymore. She was even standing in the bedroom wearing her full ShrinkGirl outfit which she had on from her photo shoot at the Snack Shack. None of that mattered so much though as she stood nervously in Spark's room after Lark had let her in, only having to answer the question once about why she had come in full "superhero" attire.

She was following up on Spark's message that their friend Chris had been attacked and she wanted to make sure he was okay but upon entering the room, she didn't see him ... only Spark who was standing over a dresser in her appropriately arbor themed room.

"Spark!" Lexi said, her voice a bit out of breath as she had parked her car just outside the colony after having shrunk it to a fitting fairy size, before running all the way towards Spark's house.

She didn't even have time to stop and try some of Ms. Astaria's fresh hot fairy cookies which she always loved.

"Lexi..." Spark said, her voice a bit soft and stunned despite being a bit startled by Lexi's sudden appearance, even as her boots and at times "clangy" medallion would give her presence away. "I'm glad you came but ... why the hero outfit?"

"I already asked her that..." Lark shrugged, hanging back in a main atria of a room that divided the 3 siblings seperate dwellings.

"I was at a job..." Lexi shrugged

"Oh, thwarting a new supervillain?" Spark asked curiously

"Uh ... trying a new burger" Lexi said with a dopey smirk on her face

"I... thought you were a superhero..." Lark said in her usual "flat" type of way upon hearing this information

"Can we focus?" Lexi said with a nervous scoff and chuckle, "Where's Chris? Is he okay?"

"He's uh.... he's okay..." Spark chuckled kind of nervously, still not budging from her spot in front of the dresser, simply swaying left and right a bit.

"Yeah? Well where is he?" Lexi asked, sincerely concerned as Spark seemed to be glued to the floor and refusing to move from the dresser area.

"He's uh ... he's here..." Spark said nervously, a bright grin poorly disguising a sense of anxiety, "he's uh ... in the room"

"Oh for fucks sake, just show her, Spark" Lark shrugged, "I'll admit it was kinda ... something at first'

Spark let out a great exhale.

"I wanna show you..." Spark said softly, as Lexi walked closer, "but he warned me that you may ... laugh"

"I may laugh?" Lexi asked, raising an eyebrow, "I mean I like to have a good laugh but I'd think he considers me a friend, I mean why else call me? I'm not going to laugh!"

"Okay ..." Spark sighed, before turning around again, and still not letting Lexi proceed all the way to the dresser. Lexi could only make out little whispers as Spark appeared to be talking to her dresser, a tiny figure scampering behind a handcrafted wooden clock of sorts. "Ugh ... I'm sorry Lex, one second"

Spark pouted as she stared at the face of the clock, Lexi eventually joining her by sidling next to the red-haired fairy.

"C'mon Chris..." Spark sighed in an understanding tone, her face looking forlorn as she just waited, finally holding a hand near one of the sides of the clock, "...come out please... she can't fix you if she doesn't see you...'

"Fix him?" Lexi asked, confused

"Please come out" Spark huffed, seeming less patient now, "...don't make me grab you..."

"No... no..." a tiny voice arose from behind the clock, "N-Not again Miss Spark... I'll be good, I promise"

"Miss Spark?" Lexi asked, raising an eyebrow

"Yeah ..." Spark said nervously, "He uh ... insists on calling me that since he ... well... you can see for yourself... come out hon... please.. we won't hurt ya"

Sure enough, like a frightened little kitten appeared Chris, no more than half the height of the clock he had ducked behind, making him approximately small enough to fit in the hand of the now towering fairy Spark as her and Lexi looked at him in awe. Well, Spark was in awe, Lexi stifled a giggle before turning away and proceeding to laugh a bit more uproariously, her efforts to shield the noise proving futile as she hung in the corner of Spark's room with girlish giggles lightly echoing off the walls at Chris' shrunken expense.

"Awwww shit! I told you she'd laugh!" Chris squeaked pitifully, "I'm going back to hide..."

"No..." Spark said, with almost an authoritative tone in her voice. It was about as foreign to her as it had been to the others but she carefully stopped him with her hand acting as a wall to make sure he stayed in sight for the time being, "You will stay here ... and you will let us help you, please..."

Spark frowned walking over to Lexi.

"You said you wouldn't laugh..." Spark said, looking utterly dissapointed as she stomped her foot in a bit of anger.

Lexi looked back, catching her breath and trying to adopt a more serious tone.

"I know... I know... I'm sorry..." Lexi said, her face still in a smiling expression, "I'm truly sorry ... what ... what the hell happened?"

There came a tiny squeaking from the dresser to address that question but it was hard to hear, even for the usually tiny Spark.

"S-Sorry hon..." Spark frowned, walking up closer with Lexi, "c-could you ... repeat that please?"

"I said ... I fucking shrank!" Chris squeaked, looking legitimately angry and upset as he glared up at the two "giant" women, "It's not that hard to figure out! Now please... are you going to help me or just laugh at me?!"

Lexi now frowned, leaning down so that her face was level with the super tiny Chris, "I'm sorry Chris..." she said dimly, "that wasn't cool of me ... I'm your friend and I'm here to help ... no matter what..."

For just a moment though, Lexi stood up, moving herself closer to Spark as if to share a piece of gossip, out of earshot of the tiny Chris.

"But c'mon..." Lexi whispered to Spark, who leaned in to hear her, "You haven't for a moment appreciated the irony and slight hilarity of you being ... well, the giantess?"

"Okay yeah I have..." Spark admitted, a brief smirk crossing her face to Chris' dismay, "it's kinda cute when you put it that way"

"It's TOTALLY cute!" Lexi said, her whisper rising a bit above that of a soft one now as Chris just peered at them both, helpless to stop their chatter but still not loving it.

"Okay okay ... we're good, we're good..." Lexi said, again catching her breath as Spark wiped the smile off her face to address her shrunken friend more seriously.

"So... you can fix him right?" Spark asked nervously, "I know you usually ... SHRINK people, but you can like ... undo it too, right?"

"I... I think so" Lexi replied, although she didn't have as much experience with regrowing people, they usually either regrew on their own, or she could accelerate the process by touching them lightly and transferring some kind of static energy into them to regain their size. She had only needed to do it on a few occasions and never on somebody that she herself hadn't shrunk.

"Okay ... okay that's good..." Spark said, taking Lexi's words as a sign of hope. Cute as it might have been, the young fairy was terrified that her friend Chris could be stuck that way and even the spells that she could find in their Fensterian book of magic didn't seem to have a clear answer for what had happened to him.

"So ... do I just ... like sign a waiver form or something?" Chris asked nervously, almost trying to break the tension as this had been uncharted territory for all of the people in the room.

"Sign a waiver?" Lexi asked, confused.

"Well ... I don't know..." Chris sighed, putting his arms down in defeat. "I'm just being a goofball... please help me, okay? I'll buy you lunch or something"

"You'll buy me lunch..." Lexi said, as if pondering it, "I don't know ... seems like getting your size back might be worth a little more than that ..."

"Oh Lexi stop teasing him and help him out..." Spark said, a bit short and impatiently before frowning, "...please?"

"I will, I promise" Lexi said with a smirk, "you can't not have ANY fun with this..."

"Maybe after you grow me back, we can all hang out and have a good chuckle..." Chris said, sounding unamused as Lexi's hand approached, "but for now ... please..."

Lexi nodded in understanding.

"I've gotcha Chris... don't worry" Lexi said, holding her hand still as she thought briefly about her fans from the restaurant, Mark and Stacy as well as the little girl Lucy who looked up to her. She felt a sudden weight of responsibility that she had already felt since donning the "ShrinkGirl" costume but this felt like an even more serious task since it was someone she knew pretty well from college.

"Okay just hold still..." Lexi said softly, holding the tiny Chris on the center of her palm as she focused for a while and then gently pressed a fingertip from her other hand against him. All 3 of the beings in the room, 4 including the interested sister Lark would lean in and watch but there was no change to Chris' unfortunate condition.

"It isn't working..." Chris said, at first sounding impatient but then transitioning to fear, "Why isn't it working?? Miss Spark why isn't it working?!"

"I DON'T KNOW WHY IT ISN'T WORKING!" Spark yelped a bit, unintentionally stunning the tiny Chris, "and why do you keep calling me MISS Spark?!"

"...I ... I actually don't know..." Chris squeaked with a shy gulp.

Lexi again focused as much of her energy on her tiny shrunken friend as she could but there was nothing. No feeling on her end of size transferring and no feeling for Chris of any change in his stature. It seemed utterly hopeless in that moment.

"I'm ... I'm sorry Spark..." Lexi gulped nervously, before reaching her hand out for Spark to seize the shrunken man, "I... I don't know what it is ... but I ... I can't seem to do ANYTHING ... I can't even shrink him MORE..."

"Why would you shrink me MORE?!" Chris yelped in shock before Spark gently lifted him from Lexi's hand.

"I was just trying to test!" Lexi said defensively, "my point is, I can't change your size up or down... and I don't know why"

Spark frowned as she looked down at Chris' fightened little form in her hands.

"Wh-What happened anyway?" Lexi asked, "h-how did he..."

"We were out ... in the forest..." Spark said shyly, recounting the details, "We saw some of those ... drone things"

"...Mad Max" Lexi sighed in dismay shaking her head.

"...we tried to follow them but somebody stopped us ... a witch with purple hair..." Spark explained

Lexi's heart sank almost instantly.

"You said ... a witch?" Lexi gulped

"Yeah..." Spark nodded sadly, "I wish I had listened to my brother when he said a witch attacked the colony ..."

"I heard that!" Mark piped in from another room

"Pipe down Mark!! Not the time!" Lark spouted off from the hallway.

"Sorry..." Mark grumbled, but after another long pause would ask, "hey,.is Lexi here?"

"Yeah she's here..." Lark said, sounding disinterested as the main focus had been on helping Chris, "why?"

"C-Could you tell her I said hi?" Mark said

"...Mark says hi" Lark said after a moment.

"I can ... I can hear him..." Lexi said indifferently, "y'know, these walls are remarkably thin for tree trunk walls..."

"Right?!" Lark said, as if some obvious truth was being spoken about, "I told Spark we should try to reinforce them with ..."

"CAN WE FOCUS HERE?!" a painfully squeaky Chris exclaimed, even getting the attention of the "giants" in the room who all hung their heads.

"Sorry..." Lexi sighed

"The good news ..." Spark said softly, trying not to startle Chris as she absentmindedly toyed with him in her hand by petting his hair as if a means to calm him down. She found it strangely soothing herself, "...I seemed completely unaffected by the witch's magic ... it wasn't like PLEASANT but she wasn't able to cast any powerful spell on me... if any of her fire hit me, I would just kind of feel a tinge of pain but no change"

"You said... fire?" Lexi asked, even more startled

"She attacks with fire yes... and Chris even tried to counteract it with some of his ice but ..." Spark said, before just shaking her head, "...nothing... and unfortunately ... as you can see, her magic DOES effect him"

"But why would she just ... fucking shrink me?!" Chris squeaked sounding extra whiny but it was more a product of his size than anything, "...and then leave?"

"So she just ... shrank Chris and ... left?" Lexi asked, trying to add up the details as if a cop coming to investigate a crime scene.

Spark nodded sadly.

"Well... I've got some good news, bad news of my own..." Lexi sighed, "the good news ... in a way ... is that I know who she is..."

"You do?" Spark asked

"Y-Yeah ... I actually met her yesterday ... at the mall ..." Lexi said, sounding disappointed in herself, "had I known, I obviously would've ... tried to stop her..."

"Well, you couldn't know..." Spark frowned, continuing to pet Chris even as he seemed a bit tired of it but also had no say on the matter, "...it's not like she's going to say ... I'm a witch"

Lexi gulped nervously but chose not to divulge the fact that the purple haired woman literally said exactly that at one point.

"Heh ... yeah..." Lexi frowned, "...but the point is, I know her ... and I can track her..."

"The bad news?" Spark asked

"I... have never fought a witch before... and I don't know if I'M unaffected by the magic..." Lexi said, before Spark interjected.


"Actually you are!" Spark said, almost sounding a bit hyped up again. Her emotions had been going through a teetering seesaw act in the past couple months. Her times with Chris had been amazing until this point and she was now just terrified that because of her, his life could be ruined. "Remember the SG belt? The one you're wearing?"

"Oh yeah ... it's like fairy magic... right?" Lexi nodded, and although the sentence sounded a bit absurd, she said it with very high reverance as she recalled that moment in the mall that Delia recoiled from the mere existence of the metal. "Y-Yeah actually... it's like her kryptonite or something"

"Isn't kryptonite like only for Superman?" Chris squeaked, peering up from below Spark's affectionate finger as it doted on him.

"Now now, the grown ups are talking..." Lexi teased with a slight wink before frowning again, "...sorry. It's just too easy sometimes"

"Look, please..." Spark said, sounding sincere as she set Chris back on the dresser, "find her ... and help me fix Chris... please... I'll be as much help as I need to be"

"I understand" Lexi said with a nod, "and I will... I'm actually ... seeing her tonight..."

"You're seeing the witch tonight?" Lark asked, again employing a facetious tone of voice, "...like a date?"

"No! Not a date ..." Lexi said, "Like a ... party..."

This thought also caused Lexi to gulp nervously. Lexi herself may be immune to Delia's magic (although even in her case she felt like there were times Delia was able to coax extra information out of her but it was hard to tell what was magic and what was Lexi herself just being kind of ditz when it came to pretty women) but her friends weren't. Had she really just unknowingly endangered Chrissy again??

"Ugh, I gotta go, I'm so sorry..." Lexi sighed

"I understand" Spark said, "please do your best out there, stay safe and keep the belt on you whatever you do"

Lexi gave a bit of a serious salute to the fairy ladies as she left the house, looking back at Lark on her way out.

"Please keep my friend safe" Lexi said sincerely.

Lark nodded but then added, "I'll do my best but that's Miss Spark's job now"

The 2 ladies shared one omre sly smile before Lexi departed out the door and back towards her shrunken car, with time quickly running against her.

Meanwhile back in Spark's room, a sad Spark simply sat at the bed, looking over at Chris who she had moved to the nightstand.

"That didn't go ... SO bad..." Spark said softly, trying to reassure the tiny one.

"It went about how I expected..." Chris shrugged, his hands in his pockets as he paced around Spark's nightstand like a sad little hobo, "...this is so humiliating..."

"W-Well hey!" Spark said with a sly grin, trying to change the mood, "You heard Lexi say 'Mad Max', right?"

Chris nodded, a bit unsure what his now giant female fairy friend was getting at

"Yeah...?"

"That means I won our bet" Spark said proudly before the details came rushing back to the bewildered tiny guy on the nightstand.

"Yeah...?" Chris continued, "But what do you want me to do? I can't give you a wing massage at THIS size!"

"Maybe you can..." Spark winked, "we just gotta be more creative..."


----

Lexi found herself hobbling back into her car in a state that she found all too familiar of late, total panic.

She plugged her phone into her car's audio system (one of the few things that Josh had managed not to short circuit while fooling around with the car's modifications) and phoned in a call to Leah, hoping to catch her friend before she had hit campus for the party. Unfortunately the call went to voicemail. She'd then try to call Mara. Same thing, no answer.

"Oh fuck fuck fuck..." Lexi sighed, not wanting to call Chrissy unless as a last resort.

She had finally started to make peace with the lovely blonde girl known as Chrissy -- somebody who had helped her from her very awkward first week at miniborough University, and now she may have to undo all that to save her from a witch that she stupidly invited to the party that was only going on as a last send off that the girls could have with their friend.

Lexi sped off towards the campus before a bothersome yellow iight pulsated on her dashboard.

"...you have got to be kidding me..." Lexi sighed, pulling off the main road.

At a gas station about a mile down called Mini Express a few cars were fueling up for the night. It was a fairly bustling night for the gas station/convenience store but one customer definitely stood out from the rest. A shiny purlpe and gold car pulled in in a bit of a hurry to make a quick pitstop and out climbed Alexis Cole clad out like she was on her way to a comic convention. She'd sigh and swipe her debit card in a hurry to try to put gas in the vehicle, before getting a beeping rejection noise from the pump.

"DEBIT SYSTEM DOWN -- PLEASE PAY INSIDE"

"oh for crying out loud..." Lexi groaned, beginning to walk into the gas station. As she did, she heard a wolf whistle from a crude man in a black Chevy pick up truck. Rather than ignore it OR answer it verbally she simply gave a dejected wave as she walked into the convenience store, with the expecting bell chime accompanying her, as if she needed any further announcement.

She waited in line politely but impatiently behind a few other customers, tapping her foot while looking down at her watch as the party seemed to be getting closer and closer by leaps and bounds.

"C'mon c'mon c'mon..." Lexi sighed in a panicked whisper before a shorter girl peeked over her back shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Miss, but do you mind if I cut ahead? I have a baby in the car" she said in a friendly voice

"Oh sure, of course!" Lexi replied cheerfully, as she would usually relinquish her spot in line fairly easily and without thought.

It wasn't until after she realized what she had done that she realized she was costing herself more precious minutes.

"Fuck."

Finally the anxious superheroine in the full purple and gold getup, SG medallion and all approached the front of the line and tried to conduct the transaction as regularly as possible.

"Um... 20 dollars on ... pump 7?" Lexi said, eyeing the pump numbers carefully. Of course it would've been easier to just say "the pump with the giant purple car at it"

"Oh, you're driving the .." the attendant said, a male in a black cap, "...is that a Chevy?"

"I have no idea what the car is if I'm being completely honest" Lexi said, at first sounding bothered but hiding it with a smile before paying for her gas.

She sighed and tiptoed outside, the embarassment seemingly perpetual as everyone was staring at her fueling up the outlandish looking car in her even more outlandish looking costume.

"So uh ... you ShrinkGirl?" a guy at a pump across from her asked.

Lexi was ready to come back with some snarky answer but decided against it, only needing to kill a few more seconds as her car gulped down the gas she was pumping into it. She simply shrugged and gave the guy an agreeing but begrudging nod.

Back at the Cole Residence, a frustrated father of the brunette protagnist seemed notably upset as he picked up his cell phone from the couch, although how it had gotten there was anyone's guess.

"Hon, wasn't Lexi coming home after her day at work?" Lexi's dad asked

"Actually, I think it was just a photo shoot ... or something..." Lexi's mom said, at this point deciding knowing less about the job may be better as she casually folded a couple of towels, doing her best to occupy her thoughts with more routine things than her daughter's superpowered life. "and then she was going to that party on campus'

"Ah okay..." Lexi's dad said, sounding a bit relieved but also still miffed.

"Why? What's up?" Lexi's mom asked after a time.

"Oh I was just wondering..." Lexi's dad sighed, taking a break from his worrisome ways to pet the family cat, Tiny as he strolled by, "I left her mail by her room but if she hasn't been home all day I guess that's why she never got it..."

"She got mail?" Lexi's mom asked, "from who?"

"Minibourough University..." Lexi's dad said, "and the therapist she's seeing ... Dr. Hillenbrandt... say ... do you think she ... TELLS the therapist about all this?"

"I'd imagine so..." Lexi's mom said, "that's what therapists are there for"

"But... do you think she told the therapist before ... us?" Lexi's dad said, seemingly a bit hurt that she hadn't told either of them until the facts came out and she had to.

"Y'know... I hadn't thought of that ..." Lexi's mom frowned, "I just hope everything's okay with her..."

"Well, she does seem to have calmed down a lot since she went missing..." Lexi's dad said, trying to calm himself down as well as he took solace in the fact that his daughter was finding emotional peace in her life after a stretch of truly terrifying circumstances.

Even if it meant he had to worry about her a bit more, he didn't mind one bit putting on the "strong facade" if it meant Lexi was calmer and more peaceful.

To that end, a very much not calm and peaceful Lexi was driving her way onto campus, the one good thing about visiting during the summer meant no need for a parking pass and there was more parking available. That might have been one of the only times that were the case as it seemed the parking lot was always packed when she absolutely needed to find parking. Then again, this had been her first time there with her own vehicle.

Normally this would have been a happy time, despite the fact that it signaled Chrissy's moving away. It would be a rare chance to hang out with her gal pals in a relaxed setting and have a good laugh, play some games ... instead she found herself nervously scrambling up the stairs towards Chrissy's dorm, sparing no time to change or call for the elevator. Instead she hurried up the seemingly endless staircase, each step sounding like a steel drum under her mighty purple metallic alloy booted feet as her purse bobbed up and down on her shoulder, unaware of any phone calls or texts she may have gotten in the meantime.

It was maybe 20 minutes until the party but it wasn't exactly a hard and fast deadline and Lexi could only hope she was in time to at least warn Leah and Mara of what was potentially to come as she approached Chrissy's door, putting on a quick smile to hide her nerves before knocking on the door.

"Heyyyyy Lexi!" Chrissy said, opening the door happily although her smile was also mixed with a touch of confusion upon seeing her 5'4 brunette friend decked out in full ShrinkGirl clothes, "uh ... huh. Nice look, I suppose"

Lexi could hear a couple other giggles from behind Chrissy and peered in to see Mara and Leah sitting at a small dining room table that was littered with junk food. She sighed with relief, figuring she had dodged a bullet. She kind of figured Delia wasn't the party type anyway. Beginning to relax a bit, the relief was short lived when she heard a familiar and haunting voice from across the hallway making its way down towards her.

"Heh if I knew this was a costume party, I would've worn something else" the confident Delia grinned, wearing a bit more of a saucy number now, a sleek black dress that cut off just below her thighs, leaving very little to the imagination otherwise as she strolled down to Lexi, stopping a decent distance from her as the SG medallion belt still proved a bit troublesome. She hoped what she had in her hands may assuage that though.

"I brought the booze ... hope you don't mind" Delia smirked, holding an outrageous number of Nips vodka, whiskey and other assorted shots along with a couple big bottles of wine and a couple of six packs. That she could fit all the items in her arms and between her fingertips was surpremely impressive and maybe only attainable through magic.

"No, no, not at all..." Chrissy said, letting the eager purple haired woman in despite Lexi about to open her mouth and warn her otherwise. "Who's your friend Lex?"

"You mind if I set these here?" Delia asked awkwardly, leaning over an unoccupied counter in the kitchen, "...they're kinda heavy"

"Oh! Oh yes, of course!" Chrissy said, her usual southern charm taking over as she walked in to help Delia, simply beckoning Lexi to come in as she did so. "I honestly have no idea how you even carried all that up the stairs..."

"Oh it's no big..." Delia shrugged, giving Lexi a playful wink as she got settled in, "... I work out... a lot"

Lexi simply wore an aggravated expression on her face as she watched Delia share a giggle with Chrissy as if she was suddenly this bubbly person.

"Son of a bitch..."

In the Enormo Engineering Room, buried somewhat deep in the already convoluted hallways of the science facility, two doctors were hard at work. One of them was searching through wreckage via a drone, whose camera showed the remains of a former lab. This lab would be at the center of Minitropolis, in a location that was fairly well known. After all, when his lab essentially "imploded" it made news at the time, even amidst the horrific bombing attempt on Miniborough University.

Giovanni simply watched in awe as his engineering counterpart, Dr. Maximillian E. Mumford searched through the wreckage, every now and then his wavering cameras pausing to show the other doctor what might be important items of interest. Giovanni would lean in and either agree or shake his head no.

"This is remarkable technology, Doctor" Giovanni said, watching on with awe as Max's drones picked through the wreckage with an amazing amount of precision, allowing neither doctor to actually be physically there.

"Indeed" Max reponsded with barely a flinch. After all, he knew how amazing his technology was but he wouldn't turn down a chance to tout his achievements, "and here the board thinks I do nothing but toil away on a few nanite projects..."

"That IS part of what your company does though, right?" Giovanni asked, with some interest.

"Technically... although that was more ... Dr. Hoffnung's forte..." Max said with a pause as he noticed a few dark red shining crystals in the wreckage. He'd peer over to his scientific colleague who would nod, acknowledging their importance.

"Doctor... you mean Trevor?" Giovanni asked, a slight hint of excitement in his voice, "he's still around?"

"He's not around here..." Dr. Max said with a returning hint of derision in his voice, "But that's not important... what is important is salvaging what we can of YOUR life's work, so that we can begin anew!"

"W-Well that is a flattering proposition, Doctor..." Giovanni said, "...but I'm not sure at this point ... I've already had a few ... well, meltdowns as you can see and ..."

"Don't tell me you are thinking of giving up!" Max said, in a surprised and almost offended voice, "You don't think Albert Einstein was having the trouble when studying the theory of relativity??"

"Well ... n-no... I get that science has it's hiccups..." Giovanni stuttered

"Those hiccups are what make science ... SCIENCE!!" Maximillian proudly declared, "Trying variations until one reaches the proper solution ... sometimes the greatest answers are hidden under the unknown... and your work is all about uncovering that ..."

"Y-You're right..." Giovanni conceded, "I guess, ... working in the shadows so long, using inferior tech ... heck, paying CRIMINALS to fund my work..."

"Oh nein nein..." Max said, shaking his head in disgust at such a notion, "those days are over, Doctor Giovanni... consider yourself a full staff member of Enormo Enterprises ... you have access to all of our highest tech and will be allowed to work with pride and not in rundown warehouses ... it's a miracle you got as far as you did in all these years! Imagine the breakthroughs we could make TOGETHER!!"

Giovanni simply had to revel in the doctor's confidence and eventually come around on his own at the prospects.

"I... I suppose you're right..." Giovanni muttered

"What I don't understand is ..." Max asked, with a slight hint of concern, "why didn't you come and find me earlier??"

"Heh ... that's a uh ... story..." Giovanni sighed, recalling his times in "parallel Miniborough"

"Well, we are having the time..." Dr. Max said with a shrug

-----

In Chrissy's apartment, the action was a bit more up tempo as the group of young girls cleared off tables and made space for a party, even while said festivities would only involve the five ladies... well, four as one of them was currently in the bathroom changing.

"Was this supposed to be a costume party?" Mara asked, sounding genuinely curious, "because had I known..."

"It wasn't..." Chrissy said with a half giggle, while an active Delia was over at the kitchen counter pouring a row of shots into glasses. "Lexi was probably just busy ... with ... well ... you know...?"

"The hero business?" Delia chimed in, appearing as a confident bartender while she observed the contents of one of the shotglasses, before sliding it over towards Mara.

Mara, in her sometimes clumsy stupor missed grabbing the glass as it slid past the edge of the countertop but in a lapse of physics the glass floated off the ground just long enough for Mara to save it.

"Nice catch..." Delia winked as she poured some more.

"Huh, guess you really ARE lucky..." Leah smirked at the cheeky red haired elf while she took a drink.

"Yowza!" Mara remarked, smacking her lips as they burned and tingled after sampling the drink, "this is some strong stuff, huh?"

"Nothing too crazy..." Delia shrugged, hiding her devious intentions as she seemed to have infinite alcohol to pour.

She, like the others anxiously awaited their final member of the party who was still in a mad shuffle to get changed out of her superhero outfit.

"Okay ... think, Lexi..." the young superheroine thought to herself as she was holed up in Chrissy's relatively small bathroom. "I can't just leave the party and leave my friends alone with her ... I can't just stay though unless I wear the belt ..."

Lexi turned around, half in her underwear as she saw only one option. She let out a frustrated sigh that hopefully couldn't be heard outside the bathroom doors before making her choice and eventually stepping out while the others were moving about.

"Okay guys, what's the plan?" Lexi asked as Chrissy and Leah looked back and smirked.

"Um... Lexi dear?" Leah chuckled, observing Lexi's current ensemble, "I know you like the belt but ..."

Leah was of course referring to Lexi's current choice of clothes which consisted of a blank tank top and a jean skirt. It was nothing too out of the ordinary save for the giant honking 'SG' logo she wore across her waist, opting to ditch the ShrinkGirl costume with the exception of the prominent namesake belt. She looked like Batgirl working her second job.

"Yeah Lex, I mean the belt is cool and all..." Chrissy said, almost sounding a bit worried, "but ... I mean, we're just gonna be chilling around, not... fighting bad guys..."

Lexi frowned a bit, her hands tracing the belt. She gave Leah a bit of a concerned look, hoping that would be enough to convey that the group could be in some kind of danger even as she was trying not to outwardly show it. Leah noticed her best friends look but was quickly distracted as Delia breezed past, handing her a small glass.

"Drinks are served!" Delia said proudly, slipping a drink into everyone's hand, including Lexi's as she slipped away. Lexi sighed and looked down into the shot glass, just hoping it wasn't spiked with some kind of potion or something.

Lexi frowned, taking but a sniff of her cocktail and nearly passing out, "Heh ... wh-what uh ... did you put in these? Lava?"

"Hah, nothing too much ..." Delia shrugged, "try it, you might even like it..."

Leah took a sip of hers and while her initial reaction was similar to the other girls with a face of disgust, she eventually came around on it, even growing to like it as the drink swirled in her mouth a bit longer.

"It ... it IS good!" Leah said, changing her tune awfully quick as the girls tried to find the best place to stage their makeshift party.

"I'm sorry..." Delia said, clinking glasses with Chrissy who stood beside her with her glass extended out, "You were ... Chrissy, right? You're the one who's going away?"

"Yeah..." Chrissy said, a bit dejected, "just ... circumstances and ..."

"Wait wait ..." Delia said, as if suddenly having an epiphany. Of course the confident woman had done plenty of research beforehand and knew all about Chrissy, and even moreso what her father did, "...you were ... oh my gosh, you were on the news... in the bombing... I am SO sorry that happened to you..."

Delia frowned and wrapped her arms around Chrissy in a long embrace. Chrissy took the hug with a hint of awkwardness in her body language while Lexi looked on with a bit of disdain. Delia wasn't the touchy feely type and even Lexi's at times shoddy "people reading" skills had learned that in a short time.

Still, Lexi found herself joining her friends in a small circle around a coffee table and a couch as Leah, Mara and Chrissy flopped down, leaving nowhere for Delia or Lexi to sit.

"Oh, I'll get us some chairs" Lexi volunteered but to her shock, Delia had beaten her to the task, already dragging over a couple of dining room chairs to align with the coffee table acting as the central meeting spot. Lexi shot her another suspicious look. Delia paid it no mind and continued to mingle with the small group.

"So, it just us tonight?" Delia asked, leaning back and downing the clear contents of a single martini glass as if it were nothing.

"Heh... seems that way..." Chrissy said, seeming a bit shy

"Oh I didn't mean anything bad by it..." Delia shrugged, grabbing a handful of cheese curls from the table and munching on them in between drinks.

"It's not too late to order strippers..." Mara smirked, taking another swig of her shot, clearly being hit by it rather quick, and Mara was no lightweight.

"How many of those have you had?" Leah teased, watching Mara's posture match her slurring voice as she struggled to sit upright in the couch.

Lexi meanwhile would have occasional "sips" of her cocktail, doing her best to not really drink too much of it, already knowing she wasn't great with alcohol and she had too much on her mind to allow it to be a further hindrance as she sat down in the chair provided to her by the lady in black.

Almost as if right on cue, while the ladies discussed what they would do as their first party game, Delia slid a small black box of playing cards onto the table.

"Hey, how about strip poker?" Delia teased, licking her lips as the pack of cards seemed to just show up on the coffee table.

"Strip poker!! Yeah!!" Mara chimed in with no hesitation whatsoever.

Chrissy seemed a bit indifferent to the idea while Leah actually seemed a bit weary about it, shrugging as she held herself defensively and said "...but we're all ... well, ladies"

"I said what I said..." an overly confident Mara chuckled, noticing her glass was empty, "Garcon, may I have another?"

As a couple ladies giggled, Delia simply plucked the shot glass from Mara's hand, but instead of refilling it, she set it off on a counter behind her.

"Maybe you SHOULD take a break" Delia teased, causing the others to chuckle, "We'd like to see you make it to midnight"

"Oh! Midnight..." Lexi said with a bit of a scoff, "we're not uh ... we're not gonna stay out that late, right ladies? I mean ... heh ... class and all..."

"Lexi it's the middle of the summer..." a confused Leah replied, taking another swig of the infectuous cocktail

"W-Well, you know... always best to get on it early ... yknow?" Lexi said, again with a nervous chuckle as she hoisted her belt up a notch as if to secure it to herself extra tightly.

"Lex, this is one of my last weekends here..." Chrissy said, sounding a bit sad, "I'd like to spend it here with all of you ... and ... again thank you Delia for hooking us up with the booze ... I ... can pay you back if you'd like"

"Non-sense" Delia said with a hospitable wave of the hand, "the only thing you owe me is some enjoyment ... now who's in for strip poker?"

Even Leah with the few inhibitions she had shrugged over time, worn down by the others. "I mean... I guess it's a way to show off my fashionable underwear..."

"Yeah! Let's see those undies!" Mara giggled, elbowing Leah who almost spilled her drink on the couch as a result, "am I being too much? ... I feel like I'm being too much"

Chrissy playfully gave Mara a physical gesture with her hands to imply "maybe just a little bit"

Mara pouted and turned away for a moment, her face slowly gaining a crimson color similar to her lovely locks of hair. Lexi sighed, realizing she couldn't stop the activities but she could at least make sure they didn't go into any needlessly dangerous territory. Normally she would be loving this but the constant threat of Delia seemed to capture her heart and mind even as she tried to get lost in the good times she hoped to have with her friends.

Delia grinned over at Lexi, noticing she was a bit further scooched back from the group as Delia herself leaned in.

"What are you, afraid of us?" Delia teased, waving Lexi closer, "c'mon, join the game! Have some fun ... you want something else to drink? You've barely touched your screwdriver"

"Uh ... no, it's good ... I'm just uh ... more of a phillip heads girl myself, I guess" Lexi said, with a shy chuckle.

Usually her lame jokes would land with at least some degree of efficiency but this one left the entire table a little stunned and not in a good way as they simply carried on, beginning to accept playing cards from Delia as she dealt them out.

"So like ... how does this work?" Leah asked, a bit dumbfounded as she started taking inventory of the cards in her hand, her small shot glass perched on the table in front of her, "do we just ... play until we're all naked or something?"

"Oh that's when the real playing begins..." Mara chuckled naughtily before zipping her lips, "Sorry sorry ... I don't know what's WRONG with me"

"I worked with your crazy ass for a few months, Mara" Chrissy smirked, her own demeanor seeming to have loosened up too after just the one drink, "There's nothing wrong with you ... you be you girl"

Lexi blushed a little and shot a smile towards Mara anyhow. There was no need to discourage her friends lustiness, especially as her focus was tied up on other things, constantly shooting glances over towards Delia to see what she was doing.

Lexi lifted up a card from her two hands, about to gesture for another card when she noticed a most bizarre sight.

It was as if all of time had frozen as she looked over at the couch to see Mara turned slightly towards Leah, Leah having a stressed out look on her face in the split second she had been frozen in, perhaps after seeing that her hand just wouldn't stack up to the others. Chrissy was frozen as well, her body leaned in towards the coffee table as if pondering something.

In fact everybody was frozen except for Delia and Lexi herself.

Delia smirked, scooping her cards off the table and holding them close to her face, only her purple eyes showing briefly.

"May as well just lay our cards on the table, huh Shrink?" Delia said in a fairly seductive tone, addressing Lexi and only Lexi since the others were stuck in some sort of time warp. Lexi looked back in utter confusion and shock.

"Um... you mean ... like ... this?" Lexi asked, not getting it and instead literally heeding the instructions and putting her cards flat on the table. Delia grumbled a bit, realizing that her own sly line was in the process of backfiring. She'd grab Lexi's hand gently and force it to retract the cards.

"You know what I mean, superhero" Delia said, slowly calming her demeanor down as she spoke, simply looking at each of her own cards and tapping each one once with a glower purple fingertip. "This isn't really a game of poker, is it?"

"Well no, it's strip poker..." Lexi shrugged, "...for some reason ... guess your master plan is to see us all naked or something"

"Master plan? Grow up, Shrinky" Delia smirked

"You ... can stop calling me Shrinky" Lexi said, her usual friendliness no longer in high supply as she grew annoyed with the invasive witch and her condescending tone. "What did you do to my friends?"

"They'll be back after these short messages..." Delia chuckled, further making a mockery of the situation as she just peered over at them "lovely little bunch though, I'd hate to see anything ... happen to any of them"

"Delia if you touch one hair on their heads..." Lexi growled, going beyond miffed now and full on ready to fight. Delia rolled her eyes and waved her hand.

"So you won't steal a free sample from a Chinese buffet but you'll beat me silly in front of your friends?" Delia smirked, "Who ARE you, Alexis Cole?"

"You know who I am ... I already told you ..." Lexi said, before finally sighing and deciding to reveal her own information, "and I know who you are"

"Oh yeah?" Delia said, setting her cards on the top of the couch behind Chrissy's frozen self before taking another sip of a martini. "And who would I be?"

"You're a witch" Lexi said, although this time not in so much of a playful way as she remained seated, staring down the purple haired enchantress.

"Circle gets the square" Delia chuckled, floating her cards a short distance back into her hand as she crossed her legs, "You figure that out on your own or... did it have something to do with the fact that I literally told you?"

"Joke if you want, Delia..." Lexi said, "but you hurt my friend ... you hurt a few of my friends..."

"Oh I'm so sorry I didn't know..." Delia pouted, as if sincerely sorry but Lexi knew that not to be the case. "Lemme guess, the fairy and the wizard?"

Lexi remained tightlipped but she may as well have confessed simply by witholding the information.

"Look, it was nothing personal, really..." Delia shrugged, "and if it makes you feel any better, you're the real prize I'm after"

"Me?" Lexi asked, confused.

"It'll all make sense later" Delia said, swaying to and fro in her seat, "now shall we resume the game? We don't want to keep the others waiting ... oh and one last thing,. Lexi ... you WILL be coming home with me tonight ... mark my words"

"I wouldn't count on it..." Lexi mumbled as time suddenly resumed.

"W-Wouldn't count on what?" Leah asked, hearing Lexi's perturbed mumbling. She couldn't tell for sure but something seemed to be deeply bothering Lex. She knew her best friend was on her way to the fairy colony before this and that's why she was running late but she hadn't had time to ask Lexi what happened there. She hoped it was nothing super urgent but as she looked down at her cards and her half finished shot glass, she decided to let it go in favor of enjoying the party.

"Uh ... wouldn't count on Mara ... keeping her clothes on ..." Lexi mumbled, trying to get into the spirit of the game as Delia had now completely shifted her focus from Lexi and was continuing on with her rouse as game master.

Mara shrugged and offered a dopey grin to Lexi's quippy remark, as the girls all played their hands, with Mara coming out the loser.

"So... I guess you're the first victim..." Delia smirked, "gonna take off a sock or ...?"

There was a near silent snap that filled the air as Mara finagled around the back of her white blouse before skillfully shimmying her brasierre out from the sleeve and casting it aside.

"Mara came to play" Mara said triumphantly, eager to get the next hand underway.

Even Lexi in her current heightened state of awareness had to giggle at that as the next set of cards were dealt. Lexi glanced down at her hand, seeing that she had 3 Kings, so she felt pretty confident. As the ladies turned their cards in to exchange, Lexi would switch for 2 more, only to look down and see something extremely strange.

Her cards had seemingly transformed and instead of 3 Kings she now had nothing but face cards.

"Well?" Delia asked in anticipation as all the ladies revealed their cards. Lexi just shook her head and revealed her losing hand, completely baffled as to what had happened, although she had at least one guess.

"Tough luck, chica" Delia chuckled, taking another sip of her martini, "what's it going to be?"

"Heh, here's a thought..." Leah winked, "why don't you take off the big honking medallion belt? It clashes with your outfit anyway..."

"Um... n-no that's okay ..." Lexi said nervously, not wanting to be seperated from the belt if she could help it

"C'mon Lex ..." Chrissy shrugged, "I mean it's better than taking off anything super important and plus, it must be kinda heavy... looks like it weighs like 20 pounds"

"It's fine ... it's fine ..." Lexi chuckled nervously

"Just lose the belt" Delia smirked coyly.

Lexi sighed and looked around the table at the girls as they giggled.

"Can't I just like ... take off everything BUT the belt...?" Lexi groaned, almost serious with her offer.

"As sexy as that sounds..." Mara chuckled, "lose the belt"

"Lose the belt! Lose the belt!" the chant would begin, almost as if in a hypnotic timer as everybody including Delia chanted it in almost the same rhythm and cadence. Lexi would groan and unsnap the belt, but she would dangle it just above her purse before dropping it in, making sure to keep the purse close to her person.

The game of strip poker continued as Lexi watched on, Delia delivering drinks every so often, even to Mara who seemed to be in way over her head as she started pulling up her shirt.

"Whoa whoa, Mara..." Leah giggled, "We havem't even played the hand yet"

"Oh... right" Mara chuckled sheepishly, slipping the shirt back on. "Just ... kinda hot in here, yknow... like my head's all fuzzy and burning..."

"Probably the 90 proof alcohol talking..." Chrissy teased, throwing back a small bit of her shot herself.

Lexi sighed, feeling as though there was very little she could do at this point. She could only hope that Delia wouldn't try anything too rash with so many witnesses around, even if they were all a little tipsy. Absentmindedly, Lexi would throw back her shot, finishing it in one gulp.

Almost instantly after finishing the drink, Delia was but a few feet from Lexi, refilling her glass.

"Heh, thought you'd never finish that first shot" Delia winked, going back to sit down after pouring the drink.

Lexi looked down at the drink cautiously, wondering why she had suddenly abandoned her strategy to stay conservative on the alcohol intake. It was almost like she was being persuaded to keep drinking. In fact as she pondered the situation, she was nursing the second drink that Delia had given her and Mara wasn't kidding earlier ... this was strong stuff.

A few more rounds of strip poker passed, and surprisingly Lexi never lost another hand so she stayed completely clothed, minus the belt. Meanwhile Chrissy had lost her belt but nothing else and Mara ... well, regardless of the results she was without pants. Leah meanwhile sighed a bit dejected to be in her black bra as she had lost her shirt after a few unfortunate hands.

Finally Delia leaned forward, seizing most of the cards off the table.

"Alright alright .. this is fun but ..." Delia smirked, "why don't we change things up a bit?"

"Sounds good to me ..." Leah whimpered shyly, putting her shirt back on

"Oh don't be so shy..." Mara giggled, "I'd do you"

"Thanks..." Leah said awkwardly, before adding "...I think"

"So what did you have in mind, Delia?" Chrissy asked

"Please call me Dee" Delia smirked, her eyes flashing purple.

Chrissy suddenly found herself a bit preoccupied as she gave Lexi a bit of a flirty look. Lexi couldn't help but take notice and although her usual judgement would figure something was up, between the strong liquor and whatever magical hold Delia had on the group, Lexi's lustful side was beginning to take over.

"Hey Lex..." Chrissy said, getting up and going right over to the brunette woman, taking the shot glass from her and setting it down on the counter before offering her hand to help Lexi out of her seat, "would you mind helping me pack a few things ... in my room?"

Lexi looked at the curvy blonde with blue eyes with a strange curiosity. Normally so many questions would be going through her head right now, not to mention there had been times during slow periods at school that she found herself fantasizing about exactly this. But rather than question it, Lexi took Chrissy's hand, leaving her purse behind in the process as they two went into Chrissy's room and closed the door behind them.

"I don't get it..." Leah shrugged, "why did she need LEXI to help her pack her stuff? We all could've helped..."

"Lexi's gonna get laid..." Mara said in a goofy voice, laying her frizzy red-haired head on the table and letting out childish little giggles. Delia herself also smirked and let out a deeper chortle.

"This is way too easy..." the conniving purple haired spellcaster thought to herself, watching the drunken Mara and stupified Leah right across from her.

Lexi giggled like a goofy schoolgirl as Chrissy led her into her bedroom. She looked around to notice that the room was a bit of a mess and only a couple of boxes had been fully packed, leaving a slew of clothes and other trinkets around the room.

"So Lex..." Chrissy giggled, a bit wobbly as she walked from taking too many drinks from Delia, "I have to say ... I don't REALLY need your help packing..."

"You don't say ..." Lexi smirked, finding herself more daring than she normally would be as she pressed her body to Chrissy's, one of her hands grazing the blonde woman's cheek. Chrissy turned bright red and didn't seem to hate the sensation but also had a look of pensiveness on her face.

"Lex I ..." Chrissy stuttered

Back in the common room, Delia kicked back seemingly just waiting for the inevitable to take place while Leah and Mara sat across from her, both more than a little buzzed.

"S-So ... where are you from?" Mara asked Delia. Delia, barely paying attention had already begun to make a beeline towards Lexi's purse.

"Hmm? Oh ... y'know, here and there" Delia answered, not really giving the question much due diligence as she leaned over the prized purse with a smirk.

"Hey ... what are you doing, Dee?" Leah asked, still sober enough to tell something was up.

"Huh? Oh ... I just wanted to see if Lexi had any mints in here or anything..." Delia lied, basically preparing for her final move. "...my breath kinda stinks like alcohol ... can't imagine why"

"I may have something" Leah said, pulling her own purse onto the table and fishing through it, "I just don't think Lexi would like you fishing through her purse"

"True, true" Delia said, again, paying no heed to Leah's cautionary words as she simply hoisted the purse onto her shoulder as if she owned it. Leah looked up to see the sight and raised an eyebrow.

"Delia, what are you doing?" Leah asked

Rather than answering, Delia sauntered up to the two ladies and waved her hand over Mara's forehead before making her way over to Leah to do the same.

"...Sleep" Delia whispered and watched in glee as the two ladies obeyed, their mind already mush from the strong liquor. They were soon literally in a comatose like sleep while Delia thefted the purse, but she wasn't done yet.

Chrissy gave Lexi a bit of a concerned look and Lexi, sensing her friends hesitation almost immediately pulled her hand back and ceased her advances.

"Chrissy, if I'm making you uncomfortable I ... I'm really sorry" Lexi said with a sincere frown and a nod.

"N-No ... I just ..." Chrissy said, rubbing her head, "something doesn't feel right..."

With that, Chrissy sat on the bed, a throbbing headache the culprit of her sudden loss of awareness. Lexi took a seat next to her friend to see how she was holding up.

"Hey... take it easy, okay?" Lexi said, still buzzed but trying her best to comfort Chrissy, letting her fall into her arms and giving her a soft hug.

"Truth is ..." Chrissy said, her words still slurring, "I did wanna fool around with you a little..."

Lexi blinked a few times, again conflicted by the situation. At this point she would feel as though she was taking advantage so she was pretty adamant to not let it go any further, even if she had wanted it to.

"You ... you serious?" Lexi asked, "I honestly wasn't sure if you ... you know..."

"I'm ... not sure myself, Lex..." Chrissy said, her words still mumbly but comprehendible, "I've had a few phases ... a few experimentations and ... honestly I always found myself to be straight at the end of the day but ... something about you ... maybe it's just your whole ... I don't know..."

Lexi smiled a bit but tried to keep any sexual desires to herself as she simply looked into Chrissy's reflective blue eyes.

"Hey ... I ... I get it" Lexi said, "and I'm not gonna pressure you or anything ... once we're both sobered up we can talk about it, y'know?"

"Mmmm for sure ..." Chrissy said, a sly smile crossing her face while her cherry daquiri scented lips suddenly made their way for Lexi's, "but for now ..."

Lexi pouted at first but then found herself about to give in, the two women's lips just inches from interlocking when a loud bang startled them both and ruined the moment.

"Hello ladies" Delia smirked, her eyes now glowing bright purple as she had Lexi's purse secured on her shoulder, "Hope I'm not interuppting anything..."

Lexi tried to get up from the bed to get to Delia but found herself momentarily paralyzed as a strong sharp sensation hit her spine.

"LEXI!!" Chrissy shrieked, trying to help her friend, but Delia gave her a tsk and a flick of the hand to send poor Chrissy tumbling into a wall as if she were a ragdoll.

Lexi could only watch in helpless horror, hoping her friend was okay. She couldn't even talk but could only remain under Delia's cold and restrictive magical hold as the cocky and attractive seductress made her way closer to Lexi.

"Now now ... isn't this delicous..." Delia smirked, her tongue briefly swiping across her onyx painted lips as her hand glowed green briefly and Lexi felt a familiar but somehow different sensation, watching the room around her expand as she was being forcibly shrunk by the powerful witch.

"Ugh... you..." Lexi groaned, barely able to move or react as she watched the already tall Delia grow and grow before her. Delia gave her a smug smirk and mimed looking at a watch as if the activity were boring her.

Lexi gasped and whimpered, falling onto her side with purple sparks surrounding her as her new size was currently locked in at no more than a couple inches. She looked up in shock and shook her head, suddenly able to move again, for what little good it would do her.

"You're making a big mistake!" Lexi squeaked, "you realize I can change my size, right?!"

"Yeah yeah whatever..." Delia smirked, rolling her eyes. She had considered the possibility but worst case scenario she could just keep Lexi trapped in a perpetual loop of shrinking, especially now that the "fairy belt" was no longer in play.

Lexi gulped, her body still faint from the electrical magic she was subjected to and try as she could, she just couldn't seem to restore her own size. Realizing she had more pressing things to worry about, the tiny Lexi began to scamper away before a pair of black fingernails easily seized her up like a bug.

"Nuh uh uh..." Delia giggled, her giant purple eyes now staring down her prey. "Be a good girl and I may let you have some fun with me later..."

Lexi struggled and whimpered, squeaking helplessly. Between the magic, the drunkenness and the sudden change in size, Lexi found herself becoming fainter and fainter as she was slowly lowered into Delia's black purse, nowhere near the SG medallion that might have been able to protect her.

As Lexi's consciousness continued to wane in and out, she could only hear one more triumphant gloat from the giantess witch.

"I TOLD you I'd be taking you home tonight..."

The dusk was fading from the nightsky as the sun began to peeter through, albeit faintly. In her room lay a blonde named Chrissy with a throbbing headache that she incurred upon getting thrust into a wall. She'd come out to see who was left from her failed party but the room was empty, save for scattered playing cards and the myriad of shots that the mysterious bewitching woman had brought.

Chrissy's memory of the night's events were fuzzy, but she knew something went terribly wrong and she found herself worried for Lexi.

She wasn't the only one as a panicked Leah Henderson stood outside, leaning on Lexi's shiny purple Shrinkmobile as she held her cell phone in her trembling hand. The time was about 4 am and Leah had regained consciousness around 1 in the morning frantically searching for Lexi or any sign of her only to find nothing.

Mara had also been knocked out, as had been Chrissy so it didn't take Leah long to figure out that Delia was likely the culprit. It had been a long arduous night but Leah found herself helpless as she waited to hear back from Mara.

She received a phone call and hastily answered it.

"Anything?" Leah asked

"She found her" Josh said, tracking Lexi via a cell signal

Leah let out a great sigh of relief, glad that she wouldn't have to call Lexi's parents again with more bad news for the second time in but a handful of weeks. But they weren't out of the woods yet.

It had been a harrowing night for everyone ... but worst of all for Alexis Cole ...

Lexi could only lay on her side and stare up in bewilderment at her surroundings... a nearly dark car that hummed to life under her feet. She looked around and saw that she was trapped inside a garish purse, loaded up with makeup, some gold jewelry, a cell phone and incalculable odds and ends, including a wad of 100 dollar bills that were still bound together.

Lexi shook it off, trying her best to get upright but the sudden lurch of the car sent her into a tailspin and back onto her side as the reckless driver took off into the night sky. It had been a little after midnight and Delia made off with her ultimate prize -- the so called "cutie crusader" of Minitropolis. It didn't take too much either ... just some cheap vodka, some tricks and her girlish charm.

In celebration, the victorious witch flipped on the radio as she cruised dangerously fast down the highway.

Lexi was soon treated to ear shattering levels of heavy metal that rocked her entire tiny body, sending her onto her side, seeking anything that she could somehow plug her ears with. The lyrics (what she could make out of them admidst the excessive noise) would be something to the effect :

"F#@K ALL OF HUMANITY .... TRASH THE PLANET AND #$!@!!! ALL OF YOU CAN KISS MY @$$!!! .... ROWDY ROWDY ROWDY ... NOW YOU'RE F*#%ING DED!!!!!!!*

Just when the audio punishment seemed too great to bear the car came to a sudden stop and the music would slowly but surely cease as a cackling giantess of about 5'6 removed the keys from the ignition and snatched up her purse with little regard for its human cargo.

"Hey!!" Lexi squeaked, still shaken and more than a little scared as her heart raced, trying her best to get any idea of where she was being taken. In Delia's other arm (not that Lexi could see) hung Lexi's purse housing her ShrinkGirl costume, the SG medallion and maybe even some breath mints.

Lexi stirred and prepared for the worst as she was taken up a flight of stairs.

Back at Chrissy's dorm room, the scene was even more bleak.

The hour was nearly 1 AM and Leah lifted her head from the coffee table, wondering how her lower half and body ended up on the floor, uncomfortably cracking her back and trying to trace back her steps. She looked over at Mara who was completely hunched over on the floor, her head nearly completely face down on the carpet.

Concerned for her, Leah slipped Mara onto her back so at least her breathing could continue unimpeded, seeing brief flashes of consciousness in the deeply slumbering red haired elf.

"Mara!" Leah whispered at first before realizing she would need to be more demonstrative if she hoped to wake the redhead.
"MARA!!"

"Huh? Huh... I'm up ... I'm up... don't kill me..." Mara mumbled, her eyes fluttering only briefly as her body seemed to want to remain pinned to the floor

"Don't ... kill you?" Leah repeated the statement confused, "Mara please... I need you ... something's happened"

"Ugh..." Mara responded, hearing the words but not quite processing them. Her hangover was sharp despite the fact that she only had a couple of drinks. Whatever Delia bombed their bodies with was hyper effective and their naps might have continued longer had it not been for Leah's posture waking her and Leah then in turn waking Mara.

Leah sat back a bit to give Mara some room to get herself up off the floor, the elf's normally cheerful emerald eyes looking very bloodshot as her face matched that degree of worry and wear.

"That was some serious shit" Mara mumbled, actually pausing to look down at her own hands, almost to make sure they were still there, "Takes a lot to knock ME out"

Leah took a deep breath, realizing they weren't out of the woods yet. Both Chrissy and Lexi were unaccounted for, in addition to Delia. Leah gave Mara a supportive nod while also making her way towards Chrissy's bedroom which had the door closed. It was Chrissy's last whereabouts and in her shady memory she could swear she saw Chrissy taking her best friend in there with her.

"Mara, you good?" Leah asked one last time as she walked towards Chrissy's room to inspect whatever had happened. Mara simply nodded even as her body shook.

Leah knocked on the door cautiously. After all, she hadn't known for sure if Lexi and Chrissy had ... well ...

Finally Leah let out an exhale, figuring whatever was going on in there couldn't be worse than anything she hadn't seen before. Just in case she kept a hand over her eyes although only loosely.

"Please tell me if anyone's naked..." Leah said foolishly as she wasn't even sure if the pair were awake.

She unshielded her eyes to see Chrissy slumped on the floor but not in a way anybody would expect to be even if they had intentionally rolled out of bed. It looked as though she had been in a bar fight and thrusted into the wall. Worse yet -- Lexi was completely gone, as was Delia.

"Chrissy!!" Leah exclaimed, going over worriedly to the fallen blonde, trying to tap her face or even see if she had a heartbeat. She seemed to be physically okay despite the apparent tumble but she wasn't responsive. Her heart was beating and she had a pulse but otherwise Chrissy was "gone"

Leah had a bad feeling it had something to do with whatever reason had led Lexi to go missing...

That "reason" was currently walking into a shared apartment that belonged to a guy and girl named Justin and Casey, the two 20 somethings too preoccupied with playing online video games at 1 am to notice their purple haired roommate (who until earlier in that day didn't even live there but for some reason they just assumed she did) as she strolled right by them and into a room in the loft that had formerly belonged to the female.

Delia would flop onto the bed, setting Lexi's purse way at the end of the room, closer to a heap of clothes by the closet and bringing the black leather purse that contained her tiny prey down by her feet as she settled on the disheveled bed.

"My apologies darling..." Delia said in a soft, almost nurturing sounding voice as she stretched and peered down into the purse at Lexi's shrunken body, "I realize it's nothing too fancy but ... it IS home ... for now anyway"

"Delia! What the fuck is going on?!" Lexi squeaked, her voice no doubt sounding devoid of any intimidation but in her small frame resided a lot of frustration and anger. It was just a pity it was going to be of no use to her.

"Oh my... always so chatty..." Delia sighed, a look of mock distress on her face as she slim onyx painted fingernails reached into the purse containing her tiny catch. Lexi, already sensing where this was going made a futile run towards the edges of the bag's floor but she would come up empty.

Delia meanwhile chuckled with glee like a child seizing their desired prize out of a crane game, as she plucked up Lexi's little ankle in her soft but cold fingers and held her upside down, observing her new tiny size with great satisfaction before dropping the heroine carelessly onto her unforgiving palm.

"Hello Lexi" Delia smirked, "enjoy the ride?"

Lexi squeaked and groaned, shaking her head and actually endulging her foe for a moment as she stirred, "What the fuck was that music?"

"Oh you don't like Death Serenade?" Delia asked, shrugging, "They're an acquired taste I must admit..."

"I've heard worse metal to be fair..." Lexi sighed before shaking her head, "Wait! No! What the fuck?! You can't just go shrinking and kidnapping people!"

"Um... looks like I just did" Delia smirked, eyes again turning purple which seemed to be a habit regardless of if she used magic or not. "The real question now is ... what do I do with you? Hmmmm?"

"A-Are you asking me ...?" Lexi asked skeptically, raising an eyebrow at the massive witch, "...or is that like just a ... question for the sake of a question"

"Ehhhhh ... more the second one" Delia said, nodding vehemently after pondering Lexi's pathetic little question

Lexi shook her head and crossed her arms

"Well you've had your fun, Delia..." Lexi huffed, almost glad that her getting shrunk seemed to be the only casualty of this. Well ... Chris too but one thing at a time. She was grateful Delia hadn't hurt her friends, or at least it appeared not.

"Ooh whatcha gonna do?" the purple haired mistress giggled, holding Lexi on her more or less flat palm as she fished through her purse and pulled out a piece of gum, beginning to chew it, "...you gonna kick my ass? Gonna squeak me to death? Please... I'm trembling...."

"First thing's first..." Lexi said, taking a defiant step forward on Delia's hand, "I'd put me down if I were because I'm sabout to get a lot heavier..."

Again, the line didn't quite resonate as a badass comeback line but Lexi stuck to it, trying like hell to regain her size like she had done countless times before since acquiring her shrinking powers. Except this time ... nothing seemed to be happening. It wasn't until she had almost physically exhausted herself in her attempts that she realized ... she may be stuck small same as Chris was. After all, she couldn't reverse Delia's size curse on him ... it appeared to be the same case for herself. This thought left her feeling very fragile and afraid but she couldn't let the already cruel enchantress know that.

"What's the matter there, Shrink?" Delia smirked, the sound of her bubblegum snapping in her mouth nearly mirroring the snap of a whip which felt almost fitting for the nature that their relationship was now beginning to form, with Delia in the dominant position. "Having some issues?"

"No! No..." Lexi sighed, keeping her eyes bared with determination even as her heart sank. If she couldn't unshrink herself ... what chance did she realistically have?

Back at Chrissy's dorm room Leah was distraught with worry as she paced around nearly every nook and cranny searching for any clues as to where Lexi and Delia got off to. She could see Lexi's Shrinkmobile from the high up window (then again, who couldn't? the thing was basically a purple rocketship on wheels) so maybe Lexi was still on campus? But then why leave the party?

"I can't find her purse anywhere!" Leah sighed, referring to Lexi's weighty purple purse that contained, among other important belongings the ShrinkGirl costume

"Damn ..." Mara sighed, still a bit out of it as she sat on the couch slumped forward a bit "...I really liked that purse"

"Mara ... this is serious ... I can't find Lexi's purse and I can't find Lexi... is her PHONE around at least? We could try calling it?" Leah asked

Mara nodded, somehow still conscious enough to pick up her phone and make a quick call. Leah sighed with some semblance of relief to know that she was at least no longer alone in searching for Lexi.

There was a bit of a pause while Mara waited for the phone to ring, finally nodding as if someone picked up. Leah leaned forward in anticipation.

"Oh ... oh ... hon ... I'm sorry, wrong number" Mara giggled, blushing a bit, "Okay okay ... no, I love you too hon, I'll see you when I get home"

"Who was that?" Leah asked

"Oh that was Penelope" Mara said with a nod

"...Penelope ... your phoenix?" Leah asked, to which Mara again nodded, "You gave the PHOENIX a phone?"

"Well, sometimes I like to check on her..." Mara frowned, feeling judged as she made a second attempt to call Lexi, "sorry, she's #2 on my speed dial, Lexi's #3..."

"Who's #1?" Leah asked, out of curiosity

"Y'know..." Mara said, staring at her phone with a blank expression "...I'm not sure"

As Leah tried her best to calm her unsteady nerves, Mara listened for anything as Lexi's phone just kept ringing, eventually going to voicemail. She tried again and got the same thing, the phone vibrating at the bottom of her purse and buried under the belt and costume, it was likely unheard by Delia or anyone else in the loft.

Mara simply shook her head in despair.

"It's not in here..." Leah frowned, having searched the apartment for any sounds while Mara called, "where the hell is she?"

"Hey..." Mara said, in thought for a moment, "m-maybe your friend Josh can track her ... doesn't he have like ... tracker thingies on her phone?"

"Mara, I appreciate the thought but why would Josh have ..." Leah started before realizing the redhead was onto something "...I'll call him, hold on"

In Delia's "borrowed room", the young witch seemed almost bored as she just sat up on the bed, in a position to further emphasize her gargantuan height compared to the reduced young brunette who stood stymied on the nightstand, no more than a couple of inches high.

"So like ... is this going to be the whole night ... or what?" Delia asked, "because I gotta tell you, there are millions of men ... AND women who would LOVE to be in your position right now"

"Then call one of them" a suddenly sassy Lexi snapped as she turned away.

Delia simply rolled her eyes, then deciding to take things up a notch as she seized the bratty brunette in her cold unforgiving fist, Lexi twitching and writhing for relief.

As Lexi struggled, making strained little squeaks in Delia's crushing vice grip, the non-chalant witch only let out a sigh that resonated with pity and condescension.

"You know..." Delia stated, "I don't think you really appreciate the position you're in right now, Little Lexi ... I could crush you into dust if I wanted ... or..."

"Or...?" Lexi squeaked, her voice practically wheezing as it felt like the wind was being knocked out of her

"Or...." Delia smirked, her eyes turning a mesmerizing shade of purple as Lexi's tiny form reflected in them, the brunette woman suddenly feeling lightheaded, "...we could have some fun..."

Back in Chrissy's torn apart dorm room, a worried Mara and Leah paced the premises, the midnight light gleaming through a slightly open window as Leah kept her cell phone pressed close to her ear to hear what Josh was saying.

Josh had thankfully been up at the late hour anyhow (playing some Dungeons and Dragons Online) and was already quickly on the case, even as he had his campaign up in a smaller tab in the corner of his 1990's style computer monitor that was running Windows 10 on his fairly sophisticated PC, which made the setup all the quirkier.

"I think ... I have a lock on her..." Josh said, "it looked like she HAD been moving for a while but the place she ended up actually isn't too far from the university..."

"Can you get us an address?" Leah asked, noticing out of the corner of her eye that Mara was already making her way for the door and the stairs, despite not being 100% all there, her steps shaky as her body wobbled towards the door. Leah put the phone to her side while she waited on Josh looking at Mara and giving her a cautious head shake no.

"Leah..." Mara said, again, sounding slurred but doing her best to press through, "no offense to you but ... we don't know what we're dealing with here ... it's safe to say Delia kidnapped Lexi or maybe someone attacked us all and they have both Lexi and Delia but either way I..."

Leah listened to the phone again as she pressed it to her ear but she was still nodding towards Mara as if to encourage her finishing her point but the normally talkative elf seemed to reach an abrupt ending to her statement, forcing her to shake her own head.

"Sorry ... I am NOT all there..." Mara confessed, hanging her head a bit, "But ... point is... let me know what location Josh finds ... and I'll check it out and I'll call you if I need the backup, so stay close by"

Leah nodded and continued to listen to Josh, moving over to the counter as she hastily unfolded a piece of paper from her purse and started writing on it.

"Okay ... thank you Josh ... wait ..." Leah said, looking at the address again. It had been in the commercial district of Minitropolis, where many apartments were. That would likely make finding Lexi a little tougher, even with the unit number listed. There was no gaurantee Lexi (or Delia) would stay put. "This is an apartment complex?"

"Seems to be... yeah" Josh said, suddenly tapping into a drone feed of his own, although he didn't let Leah know that. His freelancing job helping CyberTek test their dronebirds (which were fairly basic compared to Enormo Enterprises own creation but still pretty effective for surveillance) allowed him to occasionally peek in on what the drones were seeing or even at times, guide them in directions he wanted to check it out. "Are you and Mara going to check it out? Do you need help?"

"Mara's going" Leah nodded, rubbing her temple a bit as she still had a lingering headache from the binge of alcohol the group had endeavored on not too long ago, "but I'm here ... and we'll probably call you in too if we're in a jam but for now we need you to be ... well ..."

"The guy in the chair?" Josh smirked, finishing Leah's sentence

"The what?" Leah asked

"I keep forgetting ... you still haven't seen Spider-Man : Home Coming..." Josh sighed, "...you really should see it, it's a good movie!"

"Can we focus?" an exhausted Leah sighed as she leaned on Chrissy's kitchen counter in angst.

"Right right ... sorry" Josh frowned, hanging up shortly after and continuing to interact with the guy he knew from the card shop who was also involved in the DnD campaign. His name was Will ... which was a familiar name to Lexi of course.

Outside the dorm building, Leah handed Mara the piece of paper. Mara studied it and tucked it into her top with a nod.

"You sure you're okay with this?" Leah asked, giving Mara a worried look

"Honestly? Nothing about this is okay" Mara said with a serious expression, "but I gotta save Lexi ... WE'VE gotta save Lexi ... plus with my shrinking powers I can slip in and out of tight spots if I need to"

"Heh I keep forgetting you can shrink too" Leah smirked, "but you only shrink yourself, right?"

"Yeah I'm not capable of full on size shifting like our girl, Lex..." Mara said, puling herself up onto her ride of choice, a noisy as hell red and pink moped. It wouldn't be ideal for long drives but to get to the apartment complex that was approximately 2 blocks away, it would serve fine and hopefully not make the elf obvious as she cruised on over.

"Just ... bring her back home safe..." Leah said, about to give Mara a hug before backing off, realizing the redhead was already a bit off balance trying to stay on the seat in her drunken state. She watched with further concern as Mara slowly took off out of the parking lot, her driving not exactly precise as she'd swerve to the left and right now and then.

Mara was naturally worried about the well being of her friend as she drove, but also fairly confident in Lexi's resolve. After all, she had survived a tour of another dimension not too long ago. She had size changing abilities at her disposal and could likely talk her way out of anything if needed. Lexi wasn't going to go down easy.

"Yes Mistress Delia..." the suddenly soft as a marshmallow Lexi droned on, her tiny face showing very little signs of defiance or even personality as she looked up at Delia's gleaming purple eyes with a hint of lust and desire. The eyes were akin to a bug zapper for her and just as deadly.

"Now THAT'S more like it" Delia smirked, laying back in the bed and bending one knee which she would set the tiny Lexi on, no longer concerned about her prey scampering off or trying to leave. She had, for the moment, sucked that desire or thought out of her.

Lexi gasped in delight as she looked over Delia's sprawling body ... the perfect curves, the fibers of her black dress as they serpentined perfectly around her shapely figure. She was basically putty in the witch's hand ... well, knee at the moment. In fact she found herself taking a cautious step forward before pausing, as if to gauge Delia's feelings towards the gesture.

Delia gave an almost loverly like coo in response, patting Lexi's head with a fingertip

"It's okay, little one ... tell me your desires..." Delia chuckled, scritching the miniature Lexi under her chin

"Miss Delia..." Lexi squeaked, suddenly observing a similar behavior as Chris, "...please play with me"

Delia gave her tiny toy a grin, sliding her thigh down gently, although to Lexi it still felt a bit turbulent as she was shaken from the movement.

"Oh? Whatever shall I do with you?" Delia smirked, enjoying the little game of cat and mouse now that her "mouse" was as submissive as one.

Lexi grunted a bit, feeling her free will return if only momentarily as she stared up Delia's impossibly huge and imposing body

"N-Now look here ... Goddess..." Lexi squeaked and eeped, quickly covering her mouth. Why had she just said that?

"Ooh Goddess... I like the sound of that..." Delia said, again giving the tiny Lexi a pet on the head, "Even the mighty ShrinkGirl can't resist me, hmmm?"

"H-hey... even I have needs..." Lexi gulped, her thoughts seemingly rushing out of her mouth with no ability to stop them.

"This is moving a bit fast, hmm?" Delia chuckled, needing only a couple fingertips to effortlessly seize the tiny Lexi up like a prize, "first we're having milkshakes, now we're ... well, ... who knows what we're doing but I'm sure you'd like to find out"

Lexi gulped, her body flinching and twitching but not from anxiety. From lust.

"It's okay, little Lexi" Delia chuckled, almost pitying her shrunken adversary, "we've got some time..."

"Time?" Lexi squeaked shyly, "time for what?"

"Ohhhh boy..." Delia teased, setting Lexi on the bed as she slowly leaned down, unstrapping a boot as she peered over at Lexi with a wink, "you really don't get out often, do you?"

Lexi simply shook her head no, still stunned at everything going on around her, her mind in a fog as she couldn't seem to help herself -- the young witch's magic was simply too overpowering and it didn't help that it had been a long time since Lexi had engaged in any kind of sexual activity or hell, even had a date. Granted, this wasn't exactly how she saw it going.

"Heh, you don't have to do a thing ..." Delia smirked, extending her palm like a welcoming platform for the enchanted brunette who mindlessly stepped aboard, body trembling as Delia would grin, pressing her pert little assets together as they threatened to escape from her tight dress. Lexi couldn't help but stare as Delia laid back and set her tiny captive atop the soft bosom. "Awwww, isn't that better?"

"Better...?" Lexi asked, her consciousness fading in and out even as her feelings of lust intensified. Part of her wanted to run and yet another part still wanted to stay and just explore the glorious landscape that lay out before her, the scent of the witch's body surrounding her in a pleasant perfume of lavender and mint. "Better than what?"

"Better than all that hero non-sense" Delia responded dismissively, chuckling with glee watching her tiny prey struggling to even stay on both feet while her breasts lightly jiggled. "Maybe this could be a whole new career for you ... as my bug..."

"Bug?" Lexi squeaked, part confused hearing the word reverbate in her head but her hands were too occupied as she found herself down on them unable to keep up her balance for long. The soft and unstable ground beneath her feet was proving quite challenging but even if she fell, she'd find herself simply hugging the giantess' flesh, even licking it a bit and feeling its unimaginable softness against her tongue as she slid it down.

"Heh ... somebody's eager" Delia smirked, glancing outside only briefly and noticing a single headlight piercing the dark night sky outside.

The mischevious spellcaster would let out a sigh and look a bit disgusted even though she couldn't perfectly make out the driver of the vehicle that pulled into the parking lot, she could swear she spotted a glimmer of red hair. Not that she worried about the elf but she had a mission in mind.

Lexi meanwhile was too mystified and dumbfounded as she awkwardly climbed the giant Delia's body, glancing up at a purple crystal that hung from her neck.

"Ooh pretty necklace..." Lexi squeaked and giggled, trying to climb up towards it as if a child eager to reach the top of a slide but she'd keep sliding down, a condition only worsened as Delia began to get up, "G-Goddess?! Where are we going?"

"WE'RE not going anywhere..." Delia said, the brief setback not phasing her too much as she simply plucked up Lexi like the little bug she had become, "well ... maybe you're going ONE place..."

With that, the nonchalant witch slipped off the bed, Lexi in hand as she slipped her feet into her boots. Lexi looked around confused, currently staring at Delia's clavicle while she remained suspended in the cold unforgiving grip. She should've been more scared than she was but the intoxicating magic continued to cloud her mind even as she sensed some imminent danger.

What little sense of anxiety she had left proved to be correct as Delia coldly slipped the brunette between her tight purple painted lips with a careless slurp as if inhaling a hard candy.

"H-Hey ... wait!!" Lexi squeaked, vanishing between the lips.

The fact of the matter had been Delia simply needed both hands free to strap up her boots and it was just more convenient to go "hands free" with her toy as she bent down and searched her own purse before glancing at Lexi's purse and shrugging, carefully scooping the ShrinkGirl clothing, purple tights, golden gauntlets and all from her purse and using the cloth fabric of the costume to seize up SG medallion in such a way that it wouldn't contact her bare skin which seemed to burn just a little if it did make contact. After that she would slide the medallion into her purse and pursue Lexi's purse briefly to see if there was anything else of value. She shrugged and also plucked up a mint, deciding to make good on her earlier quest from back at Chrissy's dorm.

While all of this took place Lexi found herself in a twisted, moist and perilous dwelling, her body involuntarily slithering on Delia's tongue as the saliva build up soaked her clothes. It was in this moment Lexi began to regain some form of sobriety. Being near death will do that to someone.

Lexi, suddenly more startled than ever before let out a scream which was easily muffled by Delia's overbearing tongue as it pushed her harshly to the roof of her mouth. Delia continued to casually treat the shrunken Lexi like nothing more than a crumb and it was also during this time Lexi felt another shockwave of some kind kind overtaking her, watching in horror as her clothes, which were already soaked seemed to be loosening around her now shrinking body.

"Oh fuck fuck fuck..." Lexi thought to herself, heart beating out of her chest as she watched her clothing losing its grip on her body. "she's shrinking me again?!"

Lexi wouldn't have much time to react as she bid farewell to her jean skirt and black tank top as they slid effortlessly off her even tinier figure, now more delicate than ever as Delia smiled and opened wide to reveal the new reality Lexi now lived in. It would be one unlike anything she had seen to this point. Sure, Lexi had occasionally shrunk to super tiny size as a means to evade attacks but this felt more dire. It almost felt ... permanent.

"Well hello there..." Delia giggled, her voice sounding as though she had a lisp as a result of having her tongue extended like a long red carpet. Naturally Delia couldn't see her own tongue, much less the speck sized Lexi that dwelled there and therefore the offered greeting was meant more as a sarcastic retort than anything. "Have a nice bath?"

"Delia! What the fuck have you done to me?!" Lexi squeaked but it may as well have been inaudible. She shivered, completely naked as Delia's tongue slid down and made contact with the flesh on her palm, Lexi shrieking once more in horror as she felt her entire being smushed into Delia's soft palm. Delia's glowing purple eyes loomed ominously over the twice reduced brunette superheroine.

"Heh, can barely hear ya, chica... gonna have to speak up" Delia said, shrugging as she continued to stroll across the room, "not for me so much but for your friends or ... well, whoever"

"Huh?!" Lexi asked, her heart sinking. Delia heard nothing but a futile squeak in her hand as she bent down, and Lexi stared down into the waiting dark void of her purse.

"Well ... that's if they ever find you" Delia giggled "that's right ... I'm not going to kill you ... not even going to hurt you ... what would be the fun in that? No, I think this'll be a great new size for you ..."

"You can't be serious!!" Lexi squeaked. Of course, Lexi could hear her own voice but she might've been the only one at this point. She was likely about a millimeter or so tall as Delia pressed her palm with Lexi pinned to it into Lexi's now bottomless pit of a purse smirking down through the opened zipper.

"So long, chica" Delia winked, getting up and vanishing from view

"DELIA!!" Lexi squeaked, crawling desperately to try to somehow gain any ground in her current predicament, the size of her hairbrush alone proving to be insurmountable. The defeated young brunette fell on her knees and began to sob, "DELIA!! COME BACK!! PLEASE!!"

----

Elsewhere in a high tech facility not too unlike that found at Enormo Enterprises, a weary and fatigued Scott Travis got a call. Normally he would ignore the matter and let it go to voicemail for the evening but he figured it had something to do with one of the Cybertek drones he had heard about earlier in the evening that had momentarily blanked out and seemed to be fixated on an apartment complex, if only briefly. That represented a potential security breach.

Scott would answer the phone and put it to his ear, "Any information? Was it just a blip in the system or...?"

"Not exactly..." the woman on the other end said. She was a crafty woman with flowing blue hair and azure eyes to match, her voice sounding soft and stoic as she monitored the situation very carefully from a satelite location for the company known only as CyberTek. "But you'll be interested in knowing what I found"

"I WILL be interested..." Scott said, "...so?"

"Well the time that the drone feed got fuzzy coincides nearly exactly with when one of our cell phone trackers was employed to triangulate the location on someone ... I can't find where the signal came from but I did some digging and found out who the SIM card on the phone is registered to ..." the woman said "...Alexis Cole"

Lexi's breath was hurried and her vision was hazy. She stumbled about and even though her mind KNEW where she was, buried in her purse like a forgotten cookie crumb, she felt like she may as well have been on another planet. Her cell phone laying on its side was nearly the size of the pentagon to her and even if she could somehow mount that difficult climb with no footholds or handholds to speak of, would anybody on the other line of a phone call hear her pathetically squeaky voice? Was she even heavy enough to hit the buttons?

"Fuck I feel so tiny..." Lexi whimpered, before she heard a near deafening thud that knocked her on her butt again. "Oh shit. I REALLY shouldn't have made fun of Chris earlier..."

Lexi's heart raced and she scooted back as far as she could, her back met with the cold unforgiving feel of a stick of her own lipstick which loomed over her like a menacing spire reaching into the sky. Except there was no "sky" where Lexi was. It only appeared to be darkness that begat more darkness.

But she definitely heard the sound of footsteps getting closer.... and not from a distance but almost as if they were INSIDE the purse with her. How would that be possible?? Then again, how was any of this possible?

Lexi trembled in fear and the last thing she remembered before momentarily blacking out was a hand reaching for her and a comforting familiar voice muttering, "Don't worry, luv... I've gotcha"

----

It was late everywhere and that included in the treehouse style dwelling of Spark and her siblings. She lay on her bed as peacefully as could be expected while directing her gaze towards the scared looking figure on her nightstand.

His name was Chris and not so long ago he had been "human sized" and towered over her like pretty much everybody had. The notion of being small never really bothered Spark, nor did she ever even think about it. After all, her interactions with her fellow brethren in Fensteria was basically normalplace to her. On the occasion she did see a "giant" creature, she always found THEM to be the abnormal ones and never thought of herself as "small"

But seeing her beloved friend, looking so frightened even in her "small" presence made her reconsider that and it shook her a bit to see him so scared. HE looked small, and not because of his literal size. He looked frightened, somehow disappointed and even ashamed. Spark had spent most of their time together trying to reassure him and somehow comfort him and he'd perk up here and there but he hadn't gotten a lick of sleep and Spark wasn't going to be able to either as long as she looked over and saw those forlorn little eyes of his.

"Chris...?" Spark asked softly, careful not to overbear him with her voice, "Please try to sleep, okay?"

"I'm trying, Miss Spark..." Chris answered, his voice a bit dim and hollow. One could hear the despair in it. He had only been shrunk maybe a day or so but it felt like an eternity to him. While Spark's now "giant" form took some getting used to, it was one of the few things that brought him some comfort in his current state.

"You don't need to call me Miss Spark..." Spark sighed, "Or Goddess Spark ... I'm ... honestly not sure where your head was at was there..."

"I'm sorry ... S-Spark..." Chris said, getting control of his own words, "I just ... can I rest in your hand again?"

Spark nodded, not hesitating for a moment and offering her palm and the warmest smile she could muster. Even in the dimly lit room, it helped raise Chris' spirits as he himself was raised up.

"Also uh ... sorry about earlier..." Spark sighed, "I guess you kinda DO need to be bigger to administer proper wing massages.."

"I didn't hate it" a suddenly goofy sounding Chris squeaked while standing in the fairy's soft hand. Spark returned a giggle that momentarily flustered him.

"I'm so sorry this happened to you..." Spark frowned, her eyes flashing their sincerity as she looked him over and moved him closer towards her face, "...but ... since we're both up... maybe we could ... finish that talk we were having in the woods"

"Oh?" Chris eeped, having very little say in the matter as he looked up at Spark's gorgeous and gargantuan face from a close but safe distance, "You want to do that now?"

Spark sat up in bed, while keeping her hand perfectly flat for the little wizard "well .. may as well ... unless ... you don't want to"

"No.. I do, I do!" Chris said, his voice showing a hint of excitement, "...and I didn't mean to make it sound like I didn't earlier"

Spark nodded, giving him a bit of a loving smile

"M-Maybe ... we don't even need to have ... the talk?" Spark suggested, her eyes hooded down on her tiny friend, "it sounds like we both are kind of on the same page..."

"I ... I think so Miss... I mean ... Spark" Chris said and nodded, "that I can be so small and still trust you ..."

"...says a lot" Spark smiled, finishing his sentence and beginning to bring him to her lips as if under some kind of spell herself. She paused as she realized just how close she was getting to kissing the young man in her palm. "...is this...?"

"Go for it" Chris squeaked, sounding strangely confident.

Spark gave Chris a long sweet kiss that reverberated about his super tiny body and a smirk after the fact. Chris just laid in her palm with no words but a facial expression that may as well have said "wow."

Unfortunately the sweet moment would be briefly interuppted by Mark who happened to be walking by with a glass of water, rolling his eyes.

"If you guys are gonna DO that stuff, at least close the door, sis!" Mark sighed, a notable annoyance in his voice as he faded down the hallway.

"I was just kissing him! Grow up!!" Spark yelled, realizing she had startled Chris, "oop, sorry hon..."

-----

A bit earlier that night, as Mara had just been arriving and Delia departing from the apartment building in downtown Minitropolis, times were a bit simpler, although hectic in their own way for 20 somethings Justin and Casey. Justin was a typical "gamer guy" of about 5'3, a hefty man although not "fat". The most excercise he got routinely would be playing one of him and his roommates favorite games Overwatch which the duo engaged in even into the wee hours of the night.

His roommate Casey was a pretty laidback girl, also in her early 20s but a bit taller and lankier, standing at 5'7, that is, if she stood up from the couch that she currently found herself sprawled upon while Justin sat on the floor, to allow his roommates legs to stretch the length of the sofa as well as give himself a slightly closer view of the screen -- the 45" big screen as his bloodshot eyes honed in on the content of their game.

This was to say, both of the players were distracted and already in a tired haze, focusing only on their game as a dumbfounded Mara found herself slipping in through the unreasonably locked door. Mara peeked in and then ducked out upon seeing the two gamers and hearing that they were awake (if only barely) from their occasional in game exclamations.

"Josh..." Mara said, whispering softly, "you're sure Lexi is in here?"

"Looks like it..." Josh said "I've tried calling her a few times but no answer... the phone seems to be at a stand still so ... maybe it's still in her purse? But it would stand to reason Lexi is somewhere in that apartment..."

Mara nodded, a combination of worried and confused. Why would Lexi be crashing with these random gamer people that neither of them knew? Was Delia around? Delia wasn't exactly subtle so it's not as though Mara wouldn't have seen her exiting the building if she had. Then again, Mara was still pretty wasted. It was a minor miracle she made it there at all on her trusty mini moped while inebriated.

Mara truly did have the luck of the Elvish on her side it seemed.

Lexi meanwhile was not so lucky as each attempted call from Josh sent a shocking earthquake through her surroundings, the vibration of the phone deafening even as Lexi desperately scrambled to try to reach it.... the location obvious from its bright glow that lit up the otherwise dreary "cavern" with its ringing.

"Oh gosh..." Lexi whimpered, feeling utterly useless as she'd leap at the phone, only to smack her bare foot against it and eventually slide back down like a bug hitting a windshield. She'd stare up at the phone with each missed attempt feeling more and more pitiful and exhausted. Athletics were something that Lexi could usually perform with some proficiency, despite her well documented clumsiness. But in her current state, it may as well have been Mount Everest.

Lexi eventually just sat back down and began to weep after the phone calls seemed to cease.

Mara felt a tinge in her heart, and it didn't seem to be from the overdose of alcohol this time. It was almost as if she could feel Lexi's sadness or at least sense that something wasn't right. Mara took a deep breath and set her apprehensions aside to slide into the ajar door of Justin and Casey's humble abode, greeted by the sight of a sizable living room lined with some gaming posters on its brick walls and plenty of snack foods. Honestly, it looked like a place Mara would have a good time crashing at for a weekend had the circumstances of her arrival not been so dire.

Mara was about to open her mouth to maybe try to ask one of the two residents for help but she was frozen with indecision and her eyes also fluttered and forth between her surroundings and the phone in her hand showing she was a short distance from Lexi's approximate whereabouts, located in a room to her left had she decided to keep going.

"Do I talk to them...? Do I say hi...? I kinda feel like I'm breaking and entering... oh I'm definitely breaking and entering..."

These were all thoughts that pulsed through Mara's mind but she had to act quick as she heard one of the gaming duo belt out with victory, a sudden and loud break in their lull.

"Ha!! Bitch!!" Casey proudly exclaimed, dropping her Xbox Series S controller on the floor as if performing a mic drop, "We fucked that shit up!"

"Hell yeah!" Justin agreed, slapping high five with his roommate to commemorate their conquest over the opposing team in Overwatch.

They briefly glanced at the area behind them to notice the door ajar but nothing else.

"Shit, did you leave the door open, Justin?" Casey asked, having the best view of it from her vantage point atop the sofa.

"No... I bet it was that new roommate of ours..." Justin sighed, as his hand momentarily massaged his temple as if to soothe a headache he had, "...what was her name? Delilah? Delmiah?"

Mara heard the exchange from her current spot, down on the floor, shrunken to hide from sight as she perched behind a bag of Funions. Hearing this confirmed that they DID know Delia ... and were bad with names. But until she knew more, she decided against approaching them. Maybe she had slipped into some kind of convent and these were villainous allies of the devious Delia. The two would surely be a formidable match for Mara if she had even thought about engaging them so she decided against it and scampered towards the bedroom to hopefully find Lexi.

"Oh shit... we're out of pizza" the "mighty warlock" known as Justin bemoaned

"We have more ... in the sink..." Casey sighed, a bit out of it herself

"In the sink or ON the sink?" Justin asked

"...Yes"

Mara meanwhile carefully slipped herself into the bedroom, not sure what to expect. All she saw was the bed, disheveled but as if someone had been in there recently but the most telling sign was Lexi's iconic purple purse. Mara, now her full height again walked over to it slowly.

Lexi from within could hear thunderous footsteps getting closer. Was Delia back? Was it somebody else?

Lexi's teeny tiny body snapped back to life and she jumped to her feet despite also being afraid of who may be awaiting her.

"Delia?!" Lexi squeaked, her voice just seeming to echo off the air itself, "Delia?! Anybody?!"

Mara frowned again, feeling the same strange "Lexi sense" as she looked at the purse, kneeling down to reveal to Lexi a huge green orb. That alone wasn't confirmation that it was Mara though, only that it wasn't Delia.

"Please!! Miss!! Help me!" Lexi shrieked, but her feeble little voice wouldn't reach the elf even at her closer distance. It would elicit a further emotional reaction from Mara though.

"She's in here..." Mara thought to herself, "she has to be..."

Mara sighed, and took a deep breath again, focusing herself to become as small as she could be which would be about 2 inches tall. She walked around the sides of Lexi's purse and stopped at various points. She could hear something. It was faint but it was undeniable.

She heard crying.

"L-Lexi?" Mara said out loud, talking to the side of the purse as if she could see through it.

Lexi heard the voice and squeaked out as loud as she could, "Mara?! Is that you?!"

Shortly after speaking, Lexi simply huddled around herself, clinging to her body as if seeking warmth, pondering how hopeless her odds were and that she likely didn't hear Mara even if the voice was unmistakable. She began to feel faint again, a seeming side effect of her current micro condition.

Mara, fearing the worst as she could barely make out Lexi's tiny squeaks from inside the purse decided it was time to further investigate.

"Lexi hon, I'm coming!" Mara said but at this point, Lexi was too lost in her own dread to hear, stumbling about in her massive purse looking for any hint of escape or hope. Maybe the phone would ring or maybe ...

And that's when the thud hit, leading to Lexi's eventual blackout and Mara's shocking discovery upon finding her now teeny tiny friend in her horrific condition.

----
Also pulling an all nighter was the diligent scientist known as Dr. Maximillian E Mumford as he sipped on a warm tea, entrenched in an interesting conversation with his long time missing colleague Dr. Giovanni Guillardo.

The interdimensional doctor had gone missing many years ago, fittingly enough in an interdimensional experiment gone awry. Long thought to be dead, the strange doctor had been explaining to Max how he found his way into a parallel version of their world and how it took him quite some time to deduce that.

"So what I am not understandng...." Max said, engaged in the conversation while his machinery hummed in the background. "is that ...if there's another version of basically EVERYONE ... how did you not run into another Dr. Giovanni on your side of the portal?"

"Well uh ...I actually did..." Giovanni said, "and that's a long story ... that began my association with the Chaos Crew ... or at least that dimension's version of it ..."

"Oh yes... I am remembering this Chaos Crew..." Dr. Max replied, his periphery focused on a couple of crow looking drone robots that were returning from a long recon mission throughout the city. "Do you need more tea, Doctor?"

As Max went to tend to that he also watched as his crow like Maximite landed on top of a chrome metallic helipad of sorts, transferring its data into a larger computer as its eyes glowed a cybernetic shade of green. Sure enough on the screen would soon populate a series of schematics, much to Dr. Giovanni's surprise.

"Th-THht! That's it! Well, most of it!" Dr. Giovanni said, marveling at the efficiency and how the robot's interpretation even seemed to fill in some gaps that had been lost or deleted in some of the various altercations and unfortunate mishaps that had damaged his lab and its databases, "how were you able to ...?"

"Do not worry about that ..." Dr. Max smirked with smug confidence, refilling Giovanni's mug of tea, "Is it what you expected?"

"It's more than I expected.." Dr. Giovanni exclaimed, "with these designs, I mean ... I could rebuild the entire machine ... WE could ..."

"Precisely...!" Dr. Maxmillian grinned with glee, "And with Enormo's financial backing behind you and the advanced technology I possess, there's no limit to think of what we could do with these things..."

"Well..." Dr. Giovanni cautioned, as he tried to let his own ambitions not jump ahead of him, "it is important to perhaps limit the scope of this to start ... I learned the hard way that interdimensional science is not something to toy around with ..."

"Oh not to be worrying..." Max said, trying to hide his own devious plans as he was already fast at work transferring Giovanni's schematics onto more and more computers as backup. "I never toy around when it comes to science..."

Almost right on cue, there was a small sparking noise and the tiny spider robot that was pushing Dr. Giovanni's mug closer to him shorted and began to walk around aimlessly, losing its homing beacon. Giovanni gave the doctor a concerned look at the faultiness of the creation but the mad scientist simply shrugged.

"Well... there are always going to be a few bugs to work out..."

----

Mara looked upon her twice shrunken friend with glum concern, her usually spirited green eyes lacking their twinkle as she could only observe the tiny and naked Lexi in her hand, passed out and shivering a bit.

"Poor girl..." Mara thought to herself, perusing the purse for anything she could cover her small friend with. She held Lexi perfectly still as she knelt down and noticed a pack of gum that was about the size of herself.

Mara frowned down at Lexi and realized there was no other way to get her hands free so she slipped her tiny speck sized friend between her breasts and awkwardly pulled at the stick of gum, not to chew it but rather to seize some of the shiny foil like wrapping to serve as a dress for the little Lexi.

As Mara carefully tore off a small piece of the wrapper, noticing it was probably still too big, she began to feel a slight tickle arising from inside her bra. Oh no.

"Hey!! Hey!!" Lexi screamed, her vision obscured by the sight of flesh that stretched out a rather vast distance. Lexi looked up and could see what appeared to be Mara's chin, "Mara?! Lemme out of here! Please! I ... I .. holy shit you're big!"

Mara shook her head, not sure what to say as Lexi could feel the goosebumps on Mara's flesh under her tiny naked body.

"Ummmm... I'm not big, luv... not really anyway..." Mara sighed.

It was all still a blur to Lexi. She remembered being shrunk by Delia ... then shrunk again and finally ending up in her purse. It wasn't until she fully remembered that last part that it became clearer than ever just how small she was if Mara was able to populate her purse and still hold Lexi like a bug, albeit in a very embarassing place in her body.

"Mara..." Lexi squeaked, a bit too ashamed to really complain about her current situation, "I ... I ... thank you ..."

"Of course luv..." Mara sighed, "...I wish I could do more to help ... h-here... you can put this on if you'd like..."

Mara again crumpled up the little napkin sized piece of tin foil covering to hopefully tailor it to teeny tiny Lexi's needs. She carefully lowered it down to her and Lexi gratefully grabbed on and pulled it over herself.

It was a bit loose but Lexi hoisted it around herself like a robe, and not a super comfortable one as the crinkly silver material folded and creased along her tiny body in unflattering ways.

"D-Do you think I could come out of here?" Lexi squeaked shyly, "I mean ... I don't hate it but ..."

"Of course Lexi luv..." Mara sighed, having to admit internally that she didn't hate the idea either. She always did secretly dream of being "giant" after all. She carefully plucked up her little friend like a stick of gum since she was wearing the wrapping and set her down on her palm, "I'd ask the obvious but ... I may still have to ask ... what happened to you??"

"Delia! Delia did this to me!" Lexi squeaked pitifully, shouting up at Mara's large face and occasionally yanking on her dress to ensure it didn't slide down, even if at this point it barely mattered. "I... I can't grow myself back either! Please Mara, there has to be something you can do ... I can't be stuck this size! I can't!"

Mara's heart again shook and hurt for her tiny friend.

"I... wish I could ... but I can only shrink and grow myself Lexi..." Mara sighed, "I'm really sorry ... but you're safe now, okay? We're going to take you back to the others and ..."

"What?!" Lexi squeaked, her face turning bright red, "th-they can't see me like this! Please!"

"We've seen you tiny before, luv..." Mara sighed

"But not like this! and without clothes? and ... fuck... I did some really bad stuff, Mara..." Lexi squeaked and trembled, not even remembering all of it but she felt like it was probably overblown in her head.

All she knew is for a period of time she cared to forget she genuinely lusted after Delia's body even as the incendiary witch demeaned her and stole her dignity and size from her.

"Lexi ... we all care about you and ... we're going to help you get back to normal, okay?" Mara said reassuringly, "do you believe me?"

"Of course..." Lexi squeaked and she did truly believe her giant red haired friend even as her heart race and her mind ached. "Leah ... can see me ... she's my best friend after all ... but please ... don't let Chrissy see me this way..."

"I can't promise that won't happen..." Mara sighed, "but I won't show her if I don't have to, okay? Please ... try your best to rest ... I'll have you back in a jiffy, okay?"

"Wh-Where even are we? And how did you find me?" Lexi asked

"Far as I can tell, your witch friend crashed here ... whether she actually lives here or not ... it's an apartment not too far from campus ... and Josh was able to find you with the tracker on your phone..." Mara explained

Lexi nodded as she listened before she also realized that her purse was much more empty than how it had started.

"My costume!" Lexi squeaked, "and the belt! She stole the belt!"

"The ... belt?" Mara asked, a bit confused as to why Lexi would even be thinking about clothes at a time like this.

"My SG medallion thingy ..." Lexi squeaked and sputtered, "...it's more than an accessory... it protects me from dark magic ... Delia ... besides shrinking me, she shrank Chris and who knows what other awful things she's done or will do!"

Mara frowned as she put it all together

"So THAT'S why you were so insistent on wearing that belt..." Mara sighed, "I am so sorry Lex..."

"You didn't know..." Lexi squeaked hanging her head, "who could? Only I could get myself into something this shitty..."

"Hey..." Mara said, somewhat firmly before changing her facial expression to a smile, perhaps the first one Lexi had seen for some time, save for Delia's devious grin at her expense. "This isn't the Lexi I know ... big or small, she always finds a way and so will you, okay? Now you stand up tall, and you ... you retain your dignity, okay?"

"You got it, Mara..." Lexi squeaked, forcing an awkward smile before noticing Mara was plucking her up again between a couple of fingers, "Uhhhh, Mara darling? Whatcha doing with me?"

Mara blushed as she set her tiny friend back on her bosom.

"I'm going to have to sneak you out of here somehow ... I'm really sorry..." Mara blushed, looking genuinely bummed before she heard a high pitched Lexi squeak from her chest

"Are you ... really sorry?" Lexi grinned sheepishly.

Mara blushed and gave Lexi an indecisive stare before contorting her mouth into the kind of goofy grin that only Mara the lovable red-haired elf could muster.

"Alright Lexi luv..." Mara sighed, "Please don't be scared but ... I'm going to have to grow bigger to get you out of here...like full size..."

"Okay ..." Lexi squeaked, kind of expecting as much since she couldn't very well get rescued from inside of her own purse, "thanks for the warning but uh ... I'm not gonna get uh ... smushed in here, am I?"

"You shouldn't..." Mara said, a bit confounded herself, "...I'm not like an expert on boob physics but ... just stay where you are... cling on if you need to and uh ... don't look into the light ..."

"The light in this case is your cleavage, huh?" Lexi squeaked, a bit matter of fact.

Mara shrugged, "I'm not an expert, luv ... just please hold on ... and I'll be extra attentive, okay?"

Lexi lay still and nodded, giving Mara a thumbs up. It wasn't a preferable arrangement but at least she knew was in good hands ... er ... something like that ... when it came to Mara.

With that, came the rumbling. A slow sort of tremor at first that would grow, quite literally, in intensity as Mara slowly regained her full height, climbing out of Lexi's purse in the process and occasionally glancing down at her tiny friend to ensure her well being as best she could. Mara would frown upon reaching full height, only able to make out the tiniest little speck on her breast.

"Lex?" Mara whispered, causing the landscape to tremble under Lexi's body as she yelped, no bigger than a bug against her friend's tit. "You okay?"

"Mara!" Lexi squeaked in her high pitched micro sized voice, "I'm ... I'm okay ... but ... can you even hear me? If not ...don't worry about it ... just ... get me out of here, please..."

As Mara began to slowly traipse out of the apartment, able to simply saunter out the front door as roommates Justin and Casey were passed out with their TV still on, she began to sense that awful trembling feeling in her heart again. Lexi was sad... really sad it seemed. She wanted nothing more than to console her but she literally couldn't even touch her without likely putting her in grave danger.

As Mara carefully made her way towards her moped, Lexi simply lay with her body clinging to Mara's gargantuan right breast as the tears flowed from her eyes. She was happy to be free but she couldn't help but feel the despair of being so little that even her good friend couldn't hear or help her from her current spot. Mara's soft flesh gave her some physical comfort but her heart still ached as she desperately hoped to be returned to normal as soon as possible. In the meantime, she owed her life to Mara and couldn't stop sniffling and choking up at the thought of a life at this current size.

Before boarding her moped, Mara flipped out her cell phone and placed a call to Josh who was very much wide awake and waiting for any updates on his friend while he tried to think of ideas for himself to help her out.

"Josh..." Mara said, sounding a bit forlorn, "I found her... I've got Lexi..."

"You don't sound very happy about it..." Josh said, sounding concerned

"Well ... she's alive and not in physical pain ... but ... it's not good..." Mara frowned "...it's actually very bad..."

"How bad?" Josh asked

"Like ... centimeter or less bad..." Mara frowned, and while she couldn't see Lexi she could feel no more struggle or turmoil in the area of her chest where Lexi had again tired herself out to the point of exhaustion.

"And she can't grow herself back?" Josh asked

"It appears not ..." Mara said, shaking her head, "whatever spell Delia put her under seems unbreakable ... or at least unbreakable with Lexi's abilities... do you have any ideas?"

Josh sighed, about to say 'no' before he glanced over at the folded up Quartzarian gems from Lexi's glove compartment. He had been keeping them by his computer since Lexi seemed to want to have nothing to do with them. Among them was the brightly glowing saffron colored growth gem.

"...you know what?" Josh replied, "I just may have something"

Leah's breath was terse as she held her cell phone nervously awaiting a call from anyone and hopefully some good news. She paced around the area just outside Chrissy's dorm after having spent some time up in the room and marching back down the stairs. It seemed to be an endless march of agony that involved Leah checking on Chrissy ... seeing that she still wasn't responsive, and then returning downstairs, hoping to see the single twinkling light of Mara's moped as it made its way back, although at this point it was closer to dawn than dusk.

Just as it seemed Leah was about to make another return trip into the room in order to check on Chrissy, she got a call, her hands shaking to answer it.

"Anything?" Leah asked frantically. The voice on the other end was their friend Josh

"She found her..." Josh said, happy to able to say that even as he feared the other part of Mara's ominous update on Lexi's status which he would now try to relay to Lexi's best friend.

Leah let out a long sigh of relief, her heart still racing but beginning to self regulate as she focused more than ever on the entrance into campus and the possibility of seeing Mara (or heck, Josh) with their friend in tow.

"...the thing is ..." Josh said nervously.

"What? Is she okay?" Leah asked, noticing Mara's mini moped speeding its way into view. Almost instinctively, Leah shook her head at the cell phone and hung up hastily, perhaps not even saying goodbye.

Josh sighed on the other end, figuring something must've come up for Leah as she looked over at something he had been working on, although a master scientist he was not. He frowned as he examined what appeared to be a strange yellow-ish liquid in a small vial. That he had even gotten as far as he had astounded him, but he didn't trust himself quite yet to make that next step. He did have Dr. Hilfmann's number on speed dial however ...

Leah came jogging over to meet Mara in the parking lot as the still hungover red-head came to an slow but wobbly stop on the bike. Mara sighed, giving Leah a nervous smile. She expected some kind of warm reception but she wasn't even ready for the degree to which Leah greeted her, seemingly perched right by her as if a kid on Christmas morning waiting for Santa.

"I've um... I've got her..." Mara said softly

"Yeah, Josh told me!" Leah said, her voice ecstatic as she momentarily forgot the grief that the girls had underwent in the past handful of hours that felt like an eternity. "Wh-Where is she?"

"Ummmm... uh... hoo boy..." Mara sighed, hoisting Lexi's purse onto her shoulder.

"Is she ... in the purse? Is she shrunk?" Leah asked

"She is ... shrunk... yes..." Mara said nervously, "but she's not in the purse..."

"Then where is she?" Leah asked, a bit worried as she watched Mara bite her lip, her eyes motioning to just below the busty elf's neckline. "...oh no, you didn't..."

Mara gulped nervously.

"Mara ... you put her in your bra?" Leah said, almost whispering as if the two were sharing confidential secrets, "...we agreed you wouldn't do that unless we all got really wasted one night and she agreed to it ... and even then!"

"Leah ... I was kind of limited on options..." Mara sighed, looking genuinely sorry about it even as it partially pleased the lusty elfen girl.

"Okay okay ... you did what you had to do..." Leah frowned, "not like I could've done any better ... now can I please see my best friend?"

"Ummm... well...? That's going to depend on your vision, luv..." Mara frowned, licking her finger slightly and pressing it against her boob where she suspected Lexi to be, only able to make out a tiny silver speck that gleamed in the sunlight. Leah looked on, slightly appalled.

"Mara what are you doing? You're going to hurt her..." Leah whimpered

"Honestly? Gonna be really hard for us not to hurt her ... look..." Mara whimpered, only able to hold up her finger, the saliva acting as a way to keep Lexi on board as her gum wrapped dress soaked it in and in the process clung itself tighter to her body.

Lexi herself stirred, awake enough when Mara had plucked her from the breast to feel it but it was only now sinking in again how small she was as Leah's planet sized eye looked down at her. Lexi gulped and waved her teeny tiny hand up at her gargantuan universe sized best friend.

"Lexi?" Leah said, choking up as if about to cry, "No no no no no... this... this can't be her..."

"Geez... nice to see you too..." Lexi squeaked, before realizing neither girl could hear her.

"Is she ... wearing a gum wrapper?" Leah asked Mara in a soft whisper although it still sounded pretty loud to Lexi where she stood, flopping her arms to the side in utter defeat.

"Yes Leah!!" Lexi squeaked, this time a bit louder but it still was hard to make out as the giant brunette leaned in to make out Lexi's tiny features and petrified little face. "It's me!! Please!! Help me!!"

"I'm sorry?" Leah said with concern, "I ... I can't hear you hon ... can you speak up a little?"

Lexi just slumped down on Mara's fingertip, exhausted.

"I think she IS speaking up" Mara said with a frown.

"Okay okay ... this is bad ... this is bad..." Leah sighed, resuming an anxious ritual of hers in which she'd pace around, the very sight of it making Lexi a bit dizzy as she watched the city sized human moving about in circles, "we gotta ... we gotta find a cure ... or something ... wait, Chrissy! I gotta check on Chrissy... cmon Mara, bring Lexi up!"

"NO!!" Lexi squeaked, so loud that Leah actually DID hear it, as did Mara, "Chrissy can't see me like this..."

"Y-Yeah, I kinda promised Lexi..." Mara said with a nod, "that nobody see her this way besides ... well us..."

Leah sighed but strangely understood the logic.

Grave danger or not, nobody wanted their "crush" to see them that way.

"Okay ... well ... what is the plan then?" Leah asked

"Well, I told Lexi on the way as I was talking to Josh ... he may have something ..." Mara explained, "those gems that made Lexi grow to giant size from the other dimension ... they may be effective in growing her back to normal size..."

"Yeah? Yeah! That makes sense!" Leah said, sputtering a bit. At this point she only wanted to restore her best friend and wasn't thinking completely logically, "so ... are we bringing her to Josh now?"

"That's the plan anyway ..." Mara sighed before pausing, looking down at Lexi, "actually ... we should probably keep her somewhere else ... for safe keeping..."

Leah gave Mara a bit of a disgusted glare.

"No, not the bra again ... okay maybe the bra again but somewhere else ... somewhere more equipped to ... handle somebody of her ... well... size..." Mara stuttered awkwardly, realizing immediately that she had offended the tiny brunette speck on her fingertip but she could only shrug at that point, "the time for mincing words is over, Lexi ... you ... you ARE pretty small..."

"...and what happened to her original clothes?" Leah asked

"CAN WE NOT TALK ABOUT ALL THIS RIGHT NOW?!" Lexi squeaked, the words hard to make out but the tone understandable enough.

"S-Sorry Lex..." Leah sighed

"So... I'll bring Lex to the fairy colony ... you get in touch with Josh and see how quickly he can make a cure with that growth gem thingy..." Mara said, pouting as she held Lexi in her finger and turned away.

"Sounds like a plan ..." Leah said with a determined nod, "Just gonna check on Chrissy real quick..."

---

Back in Fensteria, Spark was hard at work on a mission and it was taking all of her stealth and cunning to pull it off as she leaned down, her vision a bit obscured by the darkness that dwelled in front of her. She sputtered and coughed as a thick cobweb gave way to her hand swiping by.

"Ugh... this was not our best idea..." Spark groaned and sighed, only her back half sticking out from under the bed.

"Well you're the one who wanted to play hide and seek..." a distant voice resonated from under the fairy's sleeping area, which caused her eyes to dart about, suddenly filled with newfound enthusiasm about catching her tiny "prey" "...oh shoot"

As the game was afoot, Spark was unaware that she was being watched, by a red-haired elf named Mara who almost had to giggle watching Spark from behind as her back lurched up and down a bit and she tried to shimmy deeper under her bed.

"This is totally cheating!!" Chris squeaked, being seized up in the fae's fingertips after she had him cornered. She'd slowly slide herself out, unaware that Mara was backing up to give her room, lest they bumped into one another.

"Well it doesn't matter, huh?" Spark smirked smugly, dangling her little "prize" in front of her eyes before turning real quick, "because I've got ... Mara?"

"Oh no. Carry ... carry on..." Mara giggled shyly, holding Lexi in her tightly gripped hand as she watched the adorable scene play out.

"H-Hey!! Careful with me, Mara!" Lexi whined, struggling a bit to move

"Oop, sorry..." Mara whimpered

Spark leaned in with great surprise to see somebody so small in Mara's hand, she leaned in to have a look, also dangling Chris in hers.

"H-Hey!! Miss Spark... I'm falling..." Chris whimpered, trying to hoist himself up before Spark offered him her palm to sit in instead.

"Psh, right?" Lexi squeaked, a bit of levity present in her voice, "it's like these biggos have never handled a small person before"

"Ummm... Lexi?" Spark said, her voice wavering, "I thought you were going to help FIX Chris ... not ... get shrunk yourself..."

"It wasn't my fault!!" Lexi squeaked defensively, waving her arms up at the now giant fairy woman which caused her makeshift dress to sag a little and her other arm to retreat to grab it up. "...I ... yeah..."

"Hah!" Chris squeaked from his place on Spark's palm, "Now LEXI is smaller than a fairy ... let's all tease her and stuff!"

Spark gave Chris a very disapproving look and playfully flicked him in the back of the head

"Ouch ... hey ...." Chris grumbled, shaking a bit, "okay okay ... fine ... geez... how come we got to make fun of me and not her?"

Spark shook her head in disdain and addressed Mara now

"Sorry about that ... anyway ...what happened?" Spark asked

"Well..." Mara sighed, "This witch lady ... wait ... were you playing hide and seek with tiny Chris just now?"

"...can we move on?" Spark sighed, turning red for a brief moment.

As Mara began to explain, Lexi shyly waved to the similarly sized Chris from opposite hands.

"Hey ... what happened to your clothes anyway?" Chris squeaked in curiosity

"Can we move on?!" Lexi squeaked frantically, turning bright red.


----

Elsewhere, Leah was meeting with Josh in his garage/laboratory where Josh showed her a vial containing a yellow liquid and in it were floating shards of some kind.

"That is incredible, Josh..." Leah said, her voice sounding stunned and amazed, "...what is it?"

"You remember those gems Lexi had from the other dimension?" Josh asked. This was strangely a common kind of question to be asking these days, "If these are the same gems that helped her grow, I'm hoping this can act as an antidote..."

"That ... makes sense..." Leah nodded, "I mean as much as anything else ... all I know is Lexi is stuck teeny tiny and can't seem to grow herself back ... so ... we'll try anything ... are you sure this can work?"

"Well I don't know, that's the thing..." Josh sputtered, sounding pretty exhausted himself, he had pretty much stayed up all night either tracking Lexi or working on this project of his. It wasn't exactly easy to distill gemstones into a liquid form, let alone a makeshift size vaccine. "I've tried calling Dr. Hilfmann to maybe go see him and test this out somehow but ... he isn't getting his phone ... probably because it's wicked early in the morning..."

"We may not have time for that" Leah frowned, "and it's not like we can test it on anyone ... neither of us have been shrunk by a witch before ..."

Leah paused a bit before entirely finishing her sentence, raising an eyebrow as she looked at Josh

"You ... HAVEN'T been shrunk by a witch before, right?" Leah asked, "...probably not but I never know with you"

Josh shrugged and gave a goofy grin, "...only once in a D&D campaign"

"Heh ... alright, well hop in my car... and bring the gems and all the stuff you've got ..."

"Sure thing but where are we going?" Josh asked

---

Fenster Forest is where a tense but somehow still semi-relaxed Chris, Mara, Spark and Lexi dwelled. Specifically they could be found atop Spark's bed, sitting there on the soft mattress as eons of awkward silence seemed to go by in between words by either one of them. At this point, Mara was just waiting to hear back from Leah. Spark was waiting to hear back from her siblings, Dani or anyone else who may have an idea on how to restore Chris.

"So ... how come when I shrank my clothes shrank with me?" Chris sputtered a bit, the question coming out of the blue as both Mara and Spark hooded their eyes down at him, "I mean even the time Lexi shrank me my clothes shrank ... and again with Delia ... I'm getting kind of offended honestly ... like you guys don't wanna see me naked or something..."

Lexi, Mara and Spark all gave looks of discomfort as their pupils redirected towards anywhere in the room that wasn't the shrunken elemental wizard. Chris sighed and pouted.

"Okay okay ... enough... I'm embarassed enough as it is..." Chris sighed

"It's not exactly a field day for me either" Lexi squeaked, shrugging and trying to hide the fact that she had spent a good portion of the prior hours crying uncontrollably if she hadn't been in a deep shrink induced sleep. "I'm wearing a fucking gum wrapped for a dress!"

"You know..." Spark said, "I could find you one of my old dresses... maybe shrink it down to your size"

"So wait, you guys can shrink stuff but you can't grow stuff?" Chris asked, "I only mention it because I've noticed you also use a phone your size but it looks like a phone from ... well, our world"

Spark nodded

"Fairy magic is ... kind of finicky..." Spark sighed, "To be honest I was never sure how Mara and her type were able to shrink from their original size down to ours and vice versa... us fairies can't get any bigger... we can't really get smaller either ... we just ... are ... although we have some minimizing spells for shrinking other stuff"

"My type?" Mara giggled, sounding offended to a degree but moreso mockingly, "You can call me an elf, hon... I think we've known each other long enough"

"S-Sorry..." Spark sighed, setting Chris down in Mara's hand as she went to go get something for Lexi to wear. "I'll be right back, you guys"

Lexi just sat dejected, offering a half wave to Chris as he joined her on the platform of Mara's palm.

"So uh ... you ... see any good movies lately?" Chris asked shyly, trying to break the tension.

Lexi offered a half giggle but kind of shrugged

"I'm sorry..." Chris sighed, giving his friend a sincere look of dejection, "sorry you got shrunk like me ..."

"It's fine..." Lexi sighed, "I'm sorry I laughed at you earlier... and I'm sorry I couldn't find a way to fix you ..."

"Hey, it's going to be okay..." Chris sighed, patting Lexi on the shoulder shyly, "I'm sure between these awesome ladies, they'll find some kind of cure"

"You think so?" Lexi asked

"Of course!" Chris said, with a hint of triumph in his voice before momentarily shifting his mood, "...and if they don't, well... I can crash with Spark I suppose and hey, maybe you can stay with the brother...?"

"Mark?" Lexi scoffed ,"I mean ... he's okay but ..."

"Well I guess you could stay with Spark and I ..." Chris shrugged as if this were a real possibility, "I just feel weird volunteering that on her behalf, you know... it's still her room..."

"C'mon you two ... Lexi's not going to spend the rest of her life in a fairy colony place..." Mara scoffed and then paused "...Lexi would stay with me if she stayed small..."

"Thanks Mara..." Lexi squeaked with a slight smile, "knew I could count on you..."

Mara was about to offer her teeny tiny friend a consolatory head pat when her phone rang, she scooped it up and answered the call as Lexi gave Chris a bit of a dazed look

"The heck was that?" Lexi squeaked

"Think it was her phone vibrating but yeah ... sounded kind of like an earthquake..." Chris sighed, sharing in his friends tiny plight.

"Mara, you got Lexi?" Leah asked on the other end of the phone call

"Lexi? Uh ... no I lost her..." Mara smirked, a dopey grin on her face as she bit her lip and the already disgruntled and teeny Lexi facepalmed for a moment, practically able to hear Leah's frustration over the phone, "chill chill... I got her, I got her..."

Spark re-entered the room and offered Lexi a small red dress. Lexi blushed a little and non-verbally accepted it with a nod, to which Spark would lower her hand and Lexi would climb on, giving the giant fairy a bit of a bow as though she were a royal dignitary boarding a limousine.

"Why thank you, Queen Spark..." Lexi tsked, smiling in front of her now giant fairy friend

"Oh please, not you too..." Spark sighed with a half giggle, walking Lexi into the bathroom with the small dress to change, "...it's bad enough I'm MISS Spark..."

"S-Sorry... Miss Spark..." Chris sighed, calling out to the already vanishing Spark as she faded into the background with his like-sized friend.

"Hey, you cool if I set you here on the bed for a bit?" Mara asked, addressing Chris in her palm.

"Y-Yes, Miss Mara ..." Chris whimpered obediently, "I mean ... it's not like I'll be able to GO anywhere"

"You just ... call every lady that's big to you MISS?" Mara asked curiously, whilst raising an eyebrow.

"Seems that way ..." Chris sighed

"Eh, it's kinda cute I guess" Mara said after pondering the notion for just a moment. She then set Chris down on the bed and proceeded out of the fairy's dwelling to go meet Leah and Josh.

After a few moments, Spark brought out the tiny Lexi dressed in her shiny "new" Fensterian dress and set her on the bed by Chris.

"Well?" Lexi blushed, "how do I look?"

"Y-You look great, Lexi" Chris squeaked and blushed

"Awww shucks, thanks Spark for the wardrobe hookup ... although what are these weird holes on the back?" Lexi commented, turning to the side to show that the dress was open around the shoulderblade area.

"They're for wings" Spark shrugged

"Oh right... duh..." Lexi giggled, "...that makes sense"


----

Just on the outskirts of the forest, a now normal sized Mara met her friends Leah and Josh, her emerald eyes gazing curiously upon a shiny vial of yellow substance with crystals floating in it.

"So ... your solution is to inject Lexi with pee?" Mara asked, sounding more than just a bit disgusted

"It's not pee..." Leah sighed, before pausing, "...okay so it kinda looks like pee"

"It's ... growth crystals" Josh said, as if this was the most normal thing in the world to say, "they're from Lexi's time in the other dimension..."

"Ohhhhh... Lexi's time in the other dimension..." Mara said with a long sigh of realization, as if THIS were something normal to be saying, "...and ... this'll work?"

"We... don't know..." Leah sighed in admittance, her hand wavering a bit to signify her current state of confidence

"W-Well wait ... how do we even ... get this IN her? Or Chris?" Mara asked. The syringe was about half the size of a normal vaccine syringe but even so, Lexi and Chris were practically micro at this point, "...I mean ... this would kill them before it even hit them..."

"Shit, she's right..." Leah sighed, her eyes beginning to lose hope

"W-Well ... true..." Josh said, sounding a bit discouraged himself, "m-maybe Trevor has more of those shrinking nanites? We could shrink the vials..."

"Shrink the vials...?" Leah sighed, as if finding the idea unthinkable, "Josh you think we can just ..."

"Shrink the vials?" Spark asked with a grin, as if finishing the sentence from a prior moment that she was not privy too. "That is absolutely possible with a minimization spell ..."

At that particular moment, a now fairy sized Mara stood next to Spark having just explained the proposed solution while holding it carefully in her hand. Spark, who currently held Lexi in Chris in her palm nodded in agreement.

"Okay, so we shrink the vials ... make the vaccine small enough to give Lexi and Chris and BOOM ... you two are in big town again!" Mara said with a goofy grin, before pausing, "...sorry, that sounded much more ... normal in my head"

Lexi shrugged, enjoying the spunky elf's optimism as always.

"It's certainly worth a try" Lexi squeaked, and in a way more touched than anything that all of her friends were going to such an effort to help her and Chris. Even if the solution didn't work, it was all very touching. Of course, she hoped like hell it DID work.

To delve into that question further, Spark and Mara took Lexi and Chris to Dani, the benevolent, if not a tad stoic fairy knight who oversaw Fensteria security along with a similarly stark and well revered guild of fairy warriors. They weren't needed often but on the occasion they were, the colony, particularly mysterious ruler and self proclaimed Queen Esmerelda were always more than grateful for their valiant services.

"So .... I don't understand..." Dani asked, almost seemingly too calm about the current predicament as she completed the minimizing spell with Spark's help and now held an appropriately tiny vaccine needle. "...the male human had been shrunk before ... but now ... the female hero is shrunk too? and why is she wearing one of your fairy dresses?"

"Can we move on?!" Lexi squeaked and hmphed. This was all embarrassing enough for her without diving into the needlessly sexual backstory.

"...and male human?" Chris squeaked, "You've met me like 4 times"

"My apologies..." Dani sighed, "...I'm not ... great with people..."

"Eh, it happens" Chris shrugged, although Lexi gave him a playful jab and a disapproving look as if he had just been rude to their giant fairy knight helper.

"So ... do you think it will work?" Spark asked hopefully

"Well... it's hard to say for sure ..." Dani said, "at this point we're mixing magic with magic ... in this case dark magic versus Quartzarian magic..."

"...you getting all this?" Chris asked Lexi out of curiosity, processing the words he had heard but not quite making sense of them.

"...I get bits and pieces..." Lexi said, admitting that she wasn't 100% familiar with any of this.

"But if this is the essence of Quartzarian Growth magic, it SHOULD work ... however..." Dani said

"However?" Spark asked

"It'll restore their sizes ... or ... rather... enlarge them but I'm not sure how long the effects will last..." Dani explained.

Lexi then remembered that even in her brief battles in the Quartzaria Dimension, the green clad knight Emerald was able to use a growth gem to grow to a giant size but only for a brief time. Strangely enough, Lexi herself was able to grow to a giant size while in the realm but without the aide of a gem.

"...but ... since Alexis is a size shifter..." Dani continued on her explanation, "once their sizes are restored using the gem, she should be able to fully restore them using her own magic..."

"W-Well..." Lexi squeaked shyly, "what I do isn't really ... magic ... I'm not even sure what it is..."

"Your name is Alexis?" Chris asked, finding that to be the relevant tidbit of information in that sentence

"...You didn't know that?" Lexi asked

"Either way ..." Dani said, sounding deathly serious "...assuming this does work, you're all going to want to clear this area ... don't need another giantess incident around here tearing apart the castle walls"

"Ha!" Lexi chuckled a bit, before looking up at Spark and seeing her shake her head. Dani's statement wasn't meant to be taken comically, but it was ironically one of the funnier things Lexi had ever heard Dani say.

"The other thing is ... one of us will have to minimize ourselves temporarily..." Dani said, "in order to properly ... inject them"

"Or we could inject ourselves?" Chris asked shyly

"You trust yourself to innoculate with a magical needle?" Lexi chimed in

"...just do whatever your plan was Ms. Fairy Knight..." Chris sighed

"Miss Fairy Knight...?" Dani asked, confused as all hell as she looked down at the strange little human.

"...You get used to it" Spark smirked, "but that's fine ... I kinda figured as such and well ... I got them into this ... I can be the one to minimize and do it"

"Hey wait ... how'd you get LEXI into this?" Chris asked "she's only shrunk because she ..."

"Can we ...move on?!" Lexi squeaked, again showing noticeable frustration

Spark took a deep breath and Lexi, Chris and Mara all watched as she went down in size, eventually joining Chris and Lexi at their current teeny tiny height and receiving the needle from the "giant" Dani. She took a deep breath and offered the two what she hoped would be a comforting smile.

"Sh-Shall we do this?" Spark asked shyly

"Sure..." Chris sighed but then looked over at Lexi, "Do her first though ... I'm not ... great with needles"

"Oh what a gentleman..." Lexi smirked, offering her arm to Spark, "...for what it's worth, I'm not either but I've sadly had to get used to it since ... well certain things involving my condition have faciliated the need for some injections before..."

"Oh..." Chris replied glumly, "well now I just feel like an asshole"

"Hold still please Lex..." Spark said nervously, holding the human's arm still as best she could "I really don't wanna mess this up"

"You got this Spark" Lexi said with a comforting smile. She was definitely nervous herself for sure but the last thing she wanted to do was further rattle any of the others around her. She was determined to keep the calm and hopefully spread some positivity even as she was less than 50% sure of this solutions probability.

Spark took a deep breath and gently injected Lexi who winced a bit but otherwise felt okay. She'd then do the same to Chris.

"So ... if this does work..." Spark asked, floating up to Dani's face level, "how long do we have until they ... well ... grow?"

"Could be anywhere from 5 minutes to a day..." Dani said

"A day?" Lexi squeaked in surprise, still feeling nothing from the transaction although it had just been moments since she received the magical dose

"I'm not a doctor..." Dani shrugged

"Do you guys HAVE doctors?" Chris asked Spark, "...you must, that was a stupid question ... maybe we should've gone to a fairy doctor... no offense, guys"

"This isn't exactly the kind of thing fairy doctors treat ..." Spark shrugged

"Hey do you guys have a super fancy name for your doctors?" Lexi asked

"Oh yeah ... we call them Fensterian Medicitricians" Spark said proudly

"Really?" Mara asked

"No, that was all made up" Spark giggled.

Lexi sighed and bowed gratefully to the trio who had been so kind to help

"I owe my life to each of you ..." Lexi squeaked shyly, "and Chris too ... thank you so much"

"...I could've said my own thank you ..." Chris whined

"I know you could've ..." Lexi shrugged, "I just figured ... since we were all here..."

"Well you didn't have to show me up ... that's all I'm saying ..." Chris grumbled

"You took care of him for ... 2 days?" Mara asked Spark curiously, "how did you get any sleep?"

Spark held back a giggle, still in her shrunken size as she hoevered around Mara like a little firefly.

"He was actually a delight..." Spark grinned, blowing the tiny man a small kiss from up above.

"So ... now what do we do?" Chris asked nervously

"Now...?" Lexi replied, a sort of silent determination in her voice "...we wait"

The next morning in Minitropolis, an angry man in about his 40s known only as Byron Biggs was having another video conference in his office with none other than the Chaos Crew ... or at least, what was left of it. In the wake of Dr. Giovanni's disappearance (and some assumed death) the Crew was a bit more segmented than ever before. After all, it had been the mysterious and eccentric genius who had helped to fund their activities, albeit under the table, with Byron Biggs himself serving as the "leading man"

With Giovanni seemingly out of the picture, it left great questions for the small but diverse group of Minitropolis' most wanted criminals. On the conference call with Byron Biggs was city renowned arsonist, Pyro Pete, a thugly young man loaded up with bright tattoos named "Spunkhead" and of course one of the Crew's few female members but perhaps its most vicious, Roxanne Wright.

"We have called this emergency meeting of the Crew..." Pete said, looking surprisingly serious for such a ragtag team conversation, "...to address the developing situation as it pertains to one Mr. Biggs, comma, Byron. Roxie, do you have the minutes from the last meeting?"

A quick glance over at Roxie would easily show otherwise, with the easily distracted blonde checking her phone and furiously scrolling through social media.

"Can you believe the Snack Shack is going to feature that goodie two shoes ShrinkGirl as their next spokeswoman?" Roxie scoffed, hitting "dislike" on her feed, "...also can you believe that bitch found her way back from Neverland or whatever?"

"Roxie..." Pete repeated, a bit of frustration in his voice now, "...the minutes please"

"The minutes for what?" Roxie asked with an indifferent shrug

"The minutes for the meeting!!" Pete sighed, slamming his fist down on what looked like a desk

"Holy hell man, chill out ..." Roxie sighed, sounding more annoyed at him than her own antics, "...did you buy a desk?"

"Yes I bought a desk!!" Pete snapped

"Why did you ... buy a desk?" Roxie asked, also drawing raised eyebrows from the other video thumbnails on screen with him.

"Because I THOUGHT for once ... we could try taking this more seriously..." Pete sighed

"Alright, alright ... relax..." Roxie chuckled, "no need to get ... hot under the collar! Hah!!"

As Roxie was pictured in the top right corner of the 4 way video conference almost laughing so much that she fell off her chair, the others resumed their discussion, while Spunkhead held back a chuckle of his own.

"Anyway ...." Byron said, sounding more than a bit annoyed at the moment, "what is this meeting about? You all know that I have a lot to do as I prepare for the big move..."

"Well that's just it, boss..." Spunkhead chimed in, an unusual urgency in his usually reckless voice, "If you leave the Crew, it leaves a gaping hole at leadership ... especially with Giovanni off the map ..."

"I said I was sorry ... geez..." Roxie shrugged

"You shot the man in the head!!" Pyro Pete shouted

"No... I shot a man who LOOKED like him in the head... do you mooks even listen?" Roxie sighed, twirling her gun around her finger along its trigger "...hey what time is lunch?"

Pyro Pete rolled his eyes and attention was focused back on the large man in the suit known as Byron Biggs who returned an annoyed look of his own, or so he would, had the internet not been laggy for just a moment causing everybody's picture to glitch out just briefly.

"So what would you like me to do?" Byron said, "this is the CHAOS Crew ... we never did organization ... that dumb doctor was the only person who even tried to keep us in line but he was our financial backing so we kind of can't get too far without him..."

"Well about that..." Spunkhead said, "...without the doctor in the picture, we're actually intaking a lot more money of late ..."

"Really?" Byron asked

"Awww yeah... it's nothing but pizza parties and bus trips to the largest ball of twine in Minnesota now!" Roxie chuckled

"We are not doing the field trip..." Pyro Pete sighed, clicking a few buttons as the crew heard what sounded like a typewriter whirring in the background

"Are you ... are you using an adding machine to tally up expenses?" Spunkhead asked

"He totally is! What a nerd!" Roxie chuckled

"Is this going anywhere?" Byron repeated, "because again, I have a family to relocate..."

"Perhaps ... before you do that ..." Pyro Pete said, a bit of menace in his voice, "you consider staying on as our leader ... because there's quite a bit of money still to be made ... plus you have your real estate business here to fall back on should shit hit the fan..."

"Huh, I guess crime DOES pay" Roxie chimed in

"For once I have to agree with Roxie..." Pyro said, who seemed unfazed either way by the compliment, content to just pick up her phone again, browsing through various ads and things

"So what are you saying? I stay here just to make a quick buck? What about my family?" Byron asked

"It's up to you Mr. Biggs..." Spunkhead said, "it's just that ... things have been going quite well since the Shrinkbitch took her little unplanned vacation ... crime has been up over 200% ..."

"Yeah ... Pyro over there was suppose to have a chart ready to show you but I guess Kinko's kept him waiting..." Roxie chuckled

"Shut up!! Shut up!!" Pyro Pete snapped, "geez, you guys have no business sense... present company excluded of course, Mr. Biggs..."

For despite his many trangressions and moral mistakes over the years Byron did have a good business sense was a pretty adept smooth talker being the real estate/salesman type. Could he really turn down a chance at an increased profit? Even with his family on the line. That decision was perhaps being made for him as Pyro showed him an estimate of how much money he was potentially leaving on the table.

The hefty mogul scratched his chin in wonder but another statement by Spunkhead would seal the deal for the mafiaso in disguise.

"Plus ... if you leave, Roxie likely takes over"

"Yeah ... we had a vote..." Roxie chuckled, "...well it was more like an arm wrestling contest and I won!"

"You pulled a gun on our heads!" Pyro bemoaned

"Way I see it is ... I still won" Roxie grinned

"So ... I either step back in or ... Roxie takes control?" Byron Biggs asked. To which the others would nod, except for Roxie who did a little dab over the video call.

Bryon let out a great sigh as he reluctantly asked his next question

"Okay ... but how do we begin?"

---

"I'm not even sure where to begin ..."

A shaken Lexi sat on a firm, stingy couch cushion as she continued trembling, the haunting memories of her encounter with the purple haired one still rattling her to her core as she could barely make eye contact with the figure sitting across from her.

That figure would be a therapist by the name of Dr. Sheila Hillenbrandt, and her brow was furrowed with concern. She had only been seeing Lexi for a few months but she had never seen the young woman so shaken, not even after the horrific events at Miniborough University involving a bombing by Roxie and the villainess who called herself "Sugar Rush"

No, this was a new low for Lexi, quite literally.

The good news is the plucky young brunette had regained her size. The bad news is, the overly confident witch had won not only a battle of wits but a more pressing struggle, stealing her dignity and her size. Lexi had spent that entire night, what felt like weeks, the size of a speck inside her purse and had it not been for Mara and some quick thinking by Josh, Leah and some very helpful fairies, she'd likely still be a speck, maybe forever.

As it was though, she was her normal 5'4 self and sitting on the therapist couch where she had already confessed so much in the past. This was something however that she deeply struggled with, even as the kindly doctor offered her a glass of water, which Lexi hesitantly took a sip of.

"Start from the beginning..." the shrewd Dr. Hillenbrandt advised, setting down her usual notepad and showing more genuine concern with her eyes instead, "You've been through a lot, it seems ... which would explain you calling this emergency appointment with me ... in fact ... you technically don't have to continue seeing me at all..."

Lexi simply nodded pensively as she sucked down another sip of water.

"I know ... our mandated appointments ended a month or so ago and ... I'm not ... really good at this..." Lexi gulped

"And what do you mean by ... this?" Sheila asked her petrified patient

"This ... this whole ... thing ..." Lexi stammered, "I ... I always try to put on a brave face ... for my friends, my family ... anyone who needs help ... I never wanna seem like ... well ... like this ... a nervous wreck"

"Lexi ... you're in a safe space..." Dr. Hillenbrandt said, "this is a judgement free zone ... whatever happened ... seems to have really shaken you..."

"You don't know the half of it ..." Lexi said, gulping down her water uncomfortably as if polishing off a pint. "I ... I ..."

Sheila didn't rush Lexi but rather let her compose herself as she waited on the worried woman's next words

"I was uh ... reduced ... last night..." Lexi stammered

"Reduced?" Sheila asked, "or ... seduced? Like ... on a date?"

"Kind of ... both?" Lexi said, trying to add some levity to the situation even as the weight of it all was crashing way too hard on her shoulders, "this lady ... this ... lady with purple hair ... ugh, it's all so crazy..."

"Lexi..." Sheila said, a hint of facetiousness in her otherwise professional voice, "you first came to me after confessing to shrinking a young woman and have often said ... and heck even demonstrated that you shrink yourself ... I've seen a lot of crazy things in this city the past year or so especially but somehow you always demonstrate a certain emotional strength that I've never seen ... despite going through these literally uncharted territories..."

Lexi nodded

"Th-Thank you Doctor, truly..." Lexi said, hanging her head in shame, "That means a lot to hear ... it really does ... it's just ... I'm not even sad so much for me ... just ... my friends ... I put them in danger ... again ... they didn't get hurt, but they could have ...one of them technically did but he was okay ... he has a fairy girlfriend, you see..."

"I'm sorry, did you say ... fairy girl...?" Sheila started before stopping her own speech and nodding, "...carry on"

"This woman ... her name's ... Delilah..." Lexi stammered, purposely obscuring the name "I met her at the mall and something about her ..."

"You felt ... attracted to this woman?" Sheila asked, almost mechanical in nature. Sexual desire was something she heard about from patients fairly regularly after all, even as she found it a tad cute in a naive way, the way Lexi usually strayed from the topic of anything sexual. Instead, Lexi would simply nod at the question about "Delilah's" attractiveness.

"More than that ..." Lexi sighed, bemoaning her uncontrollable urges, "she was ... positively ... bewitching"

"Bewitching..." Sheila nodded, as if studying terms for a test, "That's an oddly specific word to describe an attractive woman"

"Well ... it's kind of ... fitting..." Lexi said, with a gulp, "she's ... uh ... well, she said she was a witch ..."

"I see... and did you believe her?" Sheila asked

"At first ... not really? But ... well ... I spent ... ugh ... this is going to sound so stupid..." Lexi sighed, another wave of anxiety pervading her fragile body, "I was like ... maybe THIS big last night..."

Lexi sighed in shame, pinching her fingers about as close together as she could

"And this is ... related to the purple woman? Delilah?" Sheila asked, to which Lexi just nodded

"I've never felt so vulnerable ... in my entire life..." Lexi said, tears beginning to stream down her face. Right on cue, the sympathetic doctor reached for a tissue and offered it to Lexi as she started to break down. Sheila frowned but realized this was part of the healing process.

"I ... I can't even imagine what that would've been like ..." Sheila sighed, having truly no precedent to compare Lexi's predicament to. "I understand ... why you would be upset..."

"B-But the worst part isn't that she shrank me ... it's that ... I let her..." Lexi said, choking up between words "...it's almost like ... part of me ... wanted it..."

"Like ... sexually?" Dr. Hillenbrandt asked

"Y-Yeah ..." Lexi said, nodding as her eyes were glossy with tears, "is that ... normal??"

"Well Lexi hon ..." Sheila frowned, "people are honestly ... um... turned on ... by a lot of things ... you'd be surprised some of the fetishes I've heard of ..."

"Fetishes?" Lexi chuckled a bit, trying to hide her shame further, "w-well I wouldn't say this was ... a ... fetish..."

"Lexi, not to change subjects..." Dr. Hillenbrandt said, referring back to her notepad for a moment, "but didn't you tell me about a week ago, you had a dream that you were ... a giant?"

Lexi simply nodded, recalling the dream and how silly it was. Those felt like simpler days already

"You told me ... that you liked the dream" Dr. Sheila said, "That it made you feel good ..."

Lexi blushed and nodded

"Y-Yeah ... I mean I wouldn't want it to REALLY happen but it was a silly dream and I woke up kind of giggling from it" Lexi admitted, "but then, that wouldn't explain why I would even remotely enjoy being well ... the literal opposite in size..."

"Well I can't answer that one ..." Sheila sighed, "but ... you really shouldn't be so hard on yourself, yknow? You're only human and the important thing is that you're safe ..."

Lexi sniffled a bit and nodded as she deposited her used tissues in the nearby trash can and gave the Doctor a warm smile as she rubbed her palms together, still trying to shake off the nerves.

"Th-Thank you Doctor... I'm really lucky to have you..." Lexi sniffled and shook her head again.

At this even the usually stoic doctor had to smile. Something about Lexi just made her impossible not to root for ...

----

In the now sunny provinces of the Fenster Forest, an ecstatic Chris celebrated his newfound "bighood" as he was calling it, running down a dirt trail in the woods at speeds only possible by a normal sized human male, although perhaps a bit faster due to his uncontainable excitement.

Lagging a bit behind unfortunately was Spark, the fairy lady all clad in red as she tried to home in on her giant boyfriend as he seemed to be darting deeper and deeper into the woods despite his questionable navigation skills.

"Chris!" Spark squeaked, a bit of a chuckle in her voice even as she found herself short of breath following the amount of speed she had to employ to keep up, "I know you're excited but ... remember this is how this all started ..."

"Well ... yeah ... I mean ... "Chris said, a bit of a strange cocky chuckle in his voice as he looked around in an almost mocking fashion, "...if I see that witch again, I'll hah!! and then I'll bam!!"

Chris demonstrated his intended plan with flailing about and karate like moves, even igniting a small ember in his hand to show how serious he was. Deciding to have a little fun with the human boy, Spark floated herself just out of view and deepened her voice a bit, not expecting Chris to actually fall for such a ploy.

"Hey!! I'm the witch!! You come out and face me like a man!" Spark said in her made up voice but it was enough for Chris to turn bright red and look cautiously around, only to see nobody but Spark as she slid out from behind a tree trunk laughing her tiny butt off

"Not cool!!" Chris sputtered, but nothing seemed to be able to wipe that smile off his face as he just swayed a bit with each step, "for real though ... like ... how great is it to be ... well ... normal size, I guess"

Spark shrugged, floating beside Chris, happy for him but not quite as familiar with his point.

"Well ... I suppose it IS great when you're shrunk for a while..." Spark said "...for me, this IS my normal size"

"W-Well heh ... yeah no, I didn't mean ... like ..." Chris said, stumbling over his words for the first time since the Quartzarian gem cure miraculously worked on both he and Lexi. "Cuz like, you're small... but not really ... because you're like ..."

"Oh such a way with words you have..." Spark teased, floating alongside Chris in a fashion that almost made her appear to be swimming in midair as she performed an overly zealous backstroke. "But yeah ... I'm seriously glad the magic worked... and it seems to be stable"

Chris nodded before adding, "Seems to be?"

"We'll probably have Dani or one of our enchanters check you out when you have a chance ..." Spark nodded, "Lexi too ... you SHOULD be fine ... but ... you never know ..."

"So I would have to be ... small for that?" Chris asked, a bit confused

"Well ... no... I mean ... yeah fairies can get a bit skittish around giants but ..." Spark started but was quickly and unexpectedly cut off by Chris who seemed to be struck by an idea

"Hey!" Chris said, thinking about everything that had led to that point, "...do you think those growth gems could like ... make a fairy grow?"

"I ... I suppose...? I never really ... th-thought about it..." Spark said, her voice strangely pensive. She wasn't used to feeling shy like this and she felt a bit miffed that Chris had just suddenly interuppted her.

"I mean like ... grow ... as in ... become my height" Chris said, as if to needlessly elaborate, "although if you DID become like giant, that would be pretty crazy too"

"I ... I don't think it works like that ..." Spark said, seeming a bit disinterested in the topic as she continued her floating but now seemed to be lacking a certain spring in her step, "...such magic would be extremely dangerous mixed with fairy DNA and even if one COULD grow, you're talking about an exponential gain of height that ... well, I don't know what it would DO exactly but ..."

"...maybe we could ask Mark about it?" Chris asked, "N-No offense but ... he seemed to know a lot about all the Quartzarian stuff and ... well..."

"Yeah I know..." Spark sighed, rolling her eyes with a hand on her hip, "I fell asleep during Interdimensional history class ... like ... 3 times! It was boring stuff, okay? Psh, 4 realms and all that non-sense..."

"I don't know..." Chris shrugged, still unfamiliar with it all himself but the little bit of lore he had picked up during time with Mark or Dani did leave him curious about just what else dwelled within the realm of Fensteria, as well as what other realms could be out there. "It's kind of a curious thing ..."

"Anyway ..." Spark frowned, starting to float a bit faster than Chris. At first he thought he was just slowing down but her dodginess now seemed intentional, "...why do you want me BIG so much all of a sudden?"

"Huh? No... not like big ... just ... well ... I don't know..." Chris sighed

Spark stopped and turned around, looking a bit glum, "do you ... do you not like me small??"

"Huh? No! No!! I love you small! I mean like .. not LOVE but like ..." Chris sputtered

"You can tell me Chris..." Spark shrugged, landing at his feet and looking straight into his eyes from about 60+ inches below his eyes, "...I'm a big girl"

Chris decided wisely not to make the obvious joke and just shook his head as he desperately attempted to backpedal.

"I just thought like ... if you wanted to hang out sometime ... yknow... meet my friends ... or see my school or ... stuff..." Chris said, feeling as though his defense were sufficient at first but the longer he talked, the more he saw the gloom in Spark's eyes grow.

"I've met your friends hon" Spark said, not quite frowning but also lacking that usual smile, "they're super nice ... and I'd love to see your school of course"

"Yeah, so why not..."

"...but why can't I see it ... like this?" Spark asked, gesturing to her diminuitive form

"Huh? Oh yeah! Yeah, of course you could!" Chris said with a nod

"You hesitated" Spark said with a frown

"What do you ... mean?" Chris said, feeling his own gloom setting in as Spark simply turned from him and continued on a course opposite the one they had originally been walking.

"You ... You don't MIND me small ..." Spark said with a pensive look, "but you prefer me big ... or at least .. as big as you are..."

"What? No! Spark, I already said I LIKE you that size..." Chris said

"Well 'that size' is my size..." Spark squeaked and pouted, "I don't think of myself as small or "that size" ... I can do anything your other friends can do and ... yeah ... I don't think anything of it"

"Spark, neither do I!" Chris said, watching his fairy girlfriend fade towards some shrubbery

"Please don't follow me..." Spark sighed with a grim look on her face as she shook her head

"Spark... please... I ... " Chris sighed, watching her disappear and heeding her wishes despite the fact that he could still see her as she flew towards the colony "...I think you're awesome..."

It was too late for the time being. Spark had gone back to Fensteria clearly upset leaving Chris to reflect on his words and if he had maybe been too inconsiderate of the fairy woman's size.

As he made what felt like an unreasonably long walk back out of the woods, he just grumbled and repeated bits of their argument out loud as he kicked a stone.

"...come meet my friends at school, Spark ... yeah, really smooth!!" Chris grunted as he prattled along.

-------

Meanwhile, another day was dawning for the carefree witch known as Delia Greystone and she was already diligently hard at work, typing away as her heeled boots hung over the edges of a sleek green and blue gaming chair. In fact, her whole setup seemed very advanced.

Okay, so maybe it wasn't "hers" but Ryan whatshisface was more than happy to lend it to her, stupefied as he was from a love spell the devious woman had put on him. While the desperate dweeb lay in the corner blabbering and literally drooling as he lay on his bed turned towards the wall, Delia was quick at work utilizing his advanced PC, although not for anything too advanced.

After finishing what she started on she stood up from the chair and blew the delirious young man a kiss.

"MWAH! You're beautiful, love... see you tonight!" Delia chuckled, rising with her purse in tow and sauntering out the apartment door, "save me some of that stellar casserole you make, okay? Kisses!"

"Yes, Lady Delia..." Ryan stammered on the bed, only able to see the image of her body in the bed with him and the many salacious activities they'd be conducting if any of what he was seeing were actually real.

Delia lingered for a moment or two as she slid the door shot, watching the hypnotized youth "have his way with her" and scoffed.

"Fucking Pig." she said before happily making her way outside.

With ShrinkGirl all but out of the picture, Delia felt more confident than ever that she could turn Minitropolis into her own personal playground. Heck, she already had, even before the cheerful goody two shoes made her appearance known. Throughout her short time in the city, Delia had been directly or indirectly responsible for over 27 car thefts, 7 homicides, 8 hit and runs and countless other petty crimes while "renting" over 3 dozen residences from people she had no intention of ever seeing again.

Not a bad little "vacation" some would say.

She had begun seeing the news stories of "ShrinkGirl" pop up shortly after the Miniborough University bombing incident and found the stories cute at first but soon tired of them as she really dove in and considered the notion of some spunky lass in purple tights going out and "fighting crime" as if she were some kind of Saturday Morning cartoon.

The whole thing was too schmaltzy for words ...

Delia was glad to have washed her hands of the matter when a sudden happenstance would bring her by none other than the restaurant known as the Shake Shack. She'd probably passed the restaurant 100 times during her times in the city but she watched in dazed confusion as a pair of men affixed a new clear decal onto the glossy glass.

Delia raised an eyebrow and followed that up with an eyeroll upon seeing the completed decal.

It was an approximately close to life size photo of Lexi herself dressed as ShrinkGirl holding a burger with a speech bubble that read "TRY OUR SHACK BURGER!! BIG ON TASTE! SMALL ON PRICE! ONLY AT THE SNACK SHACK!!"

Below read a small line of text beside an SG logo : ShrinkGirl is the official spokeswoman of the Shack Shack! Come in today and try a Snack Shack Shake, the official milkshake of ShrinkGirl herself!"

"...this city is fucking insane..." Delia growled, stepping up slowly to the poster as some bystanders began to turn their heads, wondering why this woman stared at the poster with such disdain.

Mark, from inside the Snack Shack was in the process of making a phone call when he suddenly noticed the menacing looking woman, eyes glowing purple as she stared at the newly installed graphic of Lexi.

"I'm sorry ... I'm gonna have to let you go..." Mark said, ending his phone call abruptly to come address the situation.

Delia seemed to be walled off in her own chamber of rage for the moment, eyes still glowing as she conjured up a green fireball in a single palm and threw it swiftly through the window, sending shattered glass into the restaurant and startling the customers. Mark himself was thrown back from the impact as an alarm was triggered from the broken window, people fleeing to either side of Delia as she stood stoically still, a smile of pride crossing her face upon seeing the ShrinkGirl decal in tatters and flame.

"You all ... saw nothing..." Delia said in a sultry whisper, waving her hand over the scene as if she were painting on canvas.

Mark remained on the ground and in shock but he no longer knew why.

Delia chuckled to herself as she walked away from her handiwork.

"Oh dear... I seem to have lost my temper... oops" she said with a goofy grin as she strolled gingerly away from the area.

A very concerned Alexis Cole rushed her way carefully through a blocked off entrance that was barricaded with police tape and the sounds of forensic cameras going off at the incredulous sight of glass that had been strewn all over the stairs leading into the small town restaurant known only as the Shake Shack.

Some of the Minitropolis Police tried to caution the excitable young woman from stepping so close to the scene of the vandalism but others simply recognized her as ShrinkGirl (it was hard not to with the poster of her in tatters but still recognizable)

Lexi ran into the establishment where she worked and found only Stacy and her husband Mark. Mark was sitting at one of his own red rubber booths rubbing his head as his wife reapplied a thick white ice pack.

"And you don't remember anything, honey?" Stacy asked as Mark gingerly shook his head.

"I remember seeing some ... young lady ... in front of the shop ... she gave me this confusing look and I was ... out cold..." Mark sighed

Lexi was of course at the Snack Shack upon hearing the news of an attack on the small restaurant. Nothing was stolen and nothing was broken save for the restaurants entry window and the cheesy merchandising for the Crusader herself, ShrinkGirl but that was more than enough reason to check in on her new employers even amidst everything else going on.

At that very moment she had Josh on a hunt for the missing ShrinkGirl clothes and belt and while she had tried to check in on Chris to see how he was doing, he hadn't returned her calls since they were both restored to full height, an occurrence she found strange but hopefully not too serious.

Lexi could only tap her chin in concern as she thought about who could've caused such needless destruction but it didn't take long until one name resonated in her already traumatized mind. "...Delia"

"Sir, I ... I feel awful about this" Lexi sighed, sitting down in the unoccupied booth across from her injured boss.

"Don't" Mark said, shaking his head, "I had a feeling when I made it public that we support you that we'd get well ... less than savory characters..."

"Which is why I URGED you to get a better security system..." Stacy said, sounding a little annoyed even as she tried to help her wounded husband by pressing the ice pack against his head. He hadn't sustained any serious injuries and to make matters more confusing, very few seemed to even fully remember what had happened, save for the "mysterious woman" and a blast of broken glass.

"Like it would've done anything..." Mark sighed, "the woman fired purple smoke at us"

Lexi paused again, her suspicions all but confirmed.

"Purple ... smoke?" Lexi repeated

"Yes... or something like that ..." Mark said, "I honestly thought I was seeing things in the heat of the moment but it would fit since she was wearing mostly black and had these strange ... purple eyes..."

"Purple eyes?" Stacy asked, raising an eyebrow. "Mark hon, I think you might've taken too many pain killers..."

"I didn't take ANY painkillers" Mark said, almost starting to chuckle but the laughing seemed to aggravate his rib which he rubbed a bit as it was tender from the fall. "I'm just telling Lexi what I saw..."

Lexi nodded

"I ... I appreciate you giving me any information you can" Lexi said

"Well of course" Mark said, and though his voice still sounded strained, Lexi could perceive the undying optimism in it, "I figured if anyone could help us, it would be the world famous ShrinkGirl"

"Heh ... w-well I wouldn't say I'm exactly ... world famous..." Lexi sighed nervously, unwilling to divulge any of the details from the past night. She also felt additionally guilty that had she been able to stop Delia the night before, none of this wouldn've happened, and that was to say nothing of other incidents she could've prevented. "....but I'll do my best"

"Also ... while I have you ..." Mark said, his voice still sounding a bit weak, "I got another offer for you ... a sponsorship offer"

"Oh heavens Mark..." Stacy sighed, actually slamming the ice pack down on the table as she started to turn away, "You think this is REALLY the right time?"

"I ... kind of have to agree with your wife..." Lexi said with a nervous smile, "I feel like if it weren't for my silly picture up on your window, none of this would've happened"

"Hey hey, this would be totally different" Mark said

"Different how?" Lexi asked

"I'm friends with Jerry down at Jerry's JoyWorld... I assume you've heard of it..." Mark said

Jerry's Joyworld was one of, if not Minitropolis' biggest toy stores, located squarely downtown they always seemed to have the latest and greatest action figures as well as their own custom "Joyworld" brand designs. Lexi MAY have known of it from her younger days.

"Oh uh ... well yeah ... that's that uh ... toy store place.." Lexi scoffed, "not that I ... go there anymore ... I'm a bit too old for that, yknow?"

"Well..." Mark said, reaching a bit painfully into his pocket to reveal what appeared to be a purple painted die-cast hot wheels car but with some extra trim on it to make it especially unique.

"Wh-What am I looking at?" Lexi asked, almost afraid to hear the answer

"The first in a series ..." Mark responded with a nod, "assuming you sign off on it ... Jerry and his son are interested in making a ShrinkGirl line of toys ..."

"Oh gosh, I couldn't..." Lexi sighed

"You may even know his son, he goes to Miniborough University ... his name is Will" Mark continued

Will....

It made a little more sense now. Will had been one of Josh's DnD buddies and was responsible for making all manners of super articulate, if not miniature DnD figures. It would make sense his dad would be THE Jerry of Jerry's Joyworld but their acquaintanceship didn't exactly make Lexi more eager to have her likeness plastered on even more merchandise.

"Huh." Lexi sighed. She certainly didn't want to squash the ambition of another small business owner, especially one she went to school with. But she already saw what dangers the restaurant got into just by knowing her. It might not have been the best idea to involve another place that could become a target of the wayward witch.... even if the Shrinkmobile model WAS fairly decent for a first attempt. "...can I ... think about this?"

"Of course, of course" Mark nodded, "Take all the time you need ... and once you're ready let me know, Jerry's just a phone call away ... and of course the ambitious twerp is already hard at work on the first set of action figures anyhow ... but if you say no, they just ... well ... scrap them I guess"

"Seems kinda wasteful" Lexi frowned, "can't they like ... donate them at least?"

"Well, it's up to you" Mark shrugged, "but yeah... I suppose..."

Lexi sighed, more concerned with Mark's condition and the condition of her current employer. It was bad enough she got her former job literally blown to ash by Roxie in a terrorist attack. She didn't want to see any harm befall Mark and his family restaurant or another family business in town all because she had to choose to don the purple and gold tights.

Speaking of which, Lexi would get a text message at that moment which would briefly but effectively divert her attention from the ongoings. She glanced down and saw the message was from Josh and it seemed important.

"I'm ... I'm sorry, sir but I've gotta take this" Lexi said, standing up and nodding, "I hope you're okay ... and please call me if you need anything"

Mark nodded gratefully, not seeming at all upset.

"It's like I always say, Lex" Mark said, "You get knocked down, you gotta get back up"

Lexi gave him a smile as she carefully exited the restaurant, being sure to step around the broken glass that littered her escape.

Mark's phrasing was common, and simple, but yet effective. One did need to get back up after falling down. Lexi had been cut down about as low as she could go ... by a merciless witch named Delia. But she couldn't let that have her operate in fear. She had been in tough spots before for sure but she had to keep going. Not just for Mark, not just for her friends but for herself and everyone in Minitropolis who counted on her.

----

In a white surveillance fan that had seemingly been parked in the same spot for a suspiciously long time, the two cohorts from within, Mini Troop Officer Carl Scolex and one of the many lead engineers of Cybertek, Scott Travis were busy monitoring their new finding. At first thought to be a blip, a one time thing from last nights chaotic evening involving one shrunken Alexis Cole, the two were finding more and more that they could trace Lexi's whereabouts at almost all times using the GPS in her cell phone.

They had happened upon this little nugget of information with Josh momentarily abused his powers of technomancy to hijack one of their drones and search in her direction. While the duo hadn't quite figured out how that trick was possible, they currently were able to follow Lexi's phone, having subverted Josh's little trick against him and were now using the chip he had installed into the phone to basically track his tracker.

"Where's she heading to now?" Officer Scolex growled, perhaps a bit weary from spending way too much time alone in a white van with a sketchy and eccentric genius.

"The mall, how the fuck should I know?" Travis scoffed, pointing to a green flickering radar map with a cursor that spun around and around, showing occasional red blips akin to those seen on old fashioned submarines.

Impatience aside, the wily police officer was impressed with this new turn of events. The plan had originally involved a Cybertek branded (Enormo Enterprises made) tracker implanted on Mr. Cole's cell phone. The officer had expertly planted it upon being called by Lexi's worried parents during the young woman's time missing in the far off realm of Quartzaria.

That excursion was of no interest to Scolex and he used the tracker instead to keep his enemies close, figuring if Alexis did return, that was her place of residence, for the time being. He never in his wildest dreams thought they could get a good lock on Lexi's actual cell phone as it moved about town, but that's indeed what they were doing.

"So? Where is she now?" Carl asked again, his mind racing

"Nowhere that important since the last time you asked ... 30 seconds ago..." an agitated Scott Travis responded. "Just seems to be an address uptown a few blocks over, probably some boy friend or something"

"Psh, best of luck to anyone who gets caught up with her..." Officer Scolex sneered

----

Luck indeed is what had made it possible for young Joshua James, the aforementioned young man, to lock onto the whereabouts of Lexi's missing ShrinkGirl costume -- and he had found it in perhaps the most unlikely of places.

"You have got to be kidding me..." an aggravated Lexi chimed in, leaning over Leah as the trio were intently staring at Josh's computer screen and yet there it was, in surprisingly high quality JPEG form.

The listing read:

ONE (1) OFFICIAL SHRINKGIRL COSTUME
LIGHTLY USED
INCLUDES PURPLE TIGHTS, GOLD SKIRT, GALVANIZED METALLIC GAUNTLETS

$429.99

BID NOW

"...she listed it on ebay?" Leah asked, also finding the whole thing incredulous "how tacky is that??"

"W-Well wait ..." Lexi said, "How do we know that's even the real one? There are probably like 17 fake ShrinkGirl costumes online"

"No no..." Leah said, pointing to a very small discoloration on the lower part of the tights, "see that there? that's where you dripped some from our victory ice cream..."

Lexi just groaned but realized her best friend was right

"So what do we do?" Lexi asked

"What do you think we do?" Josh asked, typing a higher number into the box, "We bid"

"We bid?!" Lexi sighed, "I'm not buying back my costume from the bitch that copped it!"

"I don't think I've ever seen you this fiery, Lex" Leah said with a nod, "It's kinda hot"

"Awwww, you think so?" Lexi smirked, an almost sultry looked in her eye as she winked at Leah who then turned away sadly, "What?"

"...Mara was right" Leah said, "I'm not a good lesbian ... that would've driven me wild if I was..."

As Lexi consoled her clearly very much so heterosexual friend, Josh let out a gasp.

"What? What is it?" Lexi asked

"Someone else just like... doubled my bid" Josh said, watching the price go up

"So... double it again!" Leah said, interjecting, "You can afford it, right Lex? You're making mad bank at your new superhero job"

"Okay first of all it is not a superhero JOB" Lexi said, a bit annoyed as it was, "and no ... I'm not giving that witch a single penny... and yes I realize usually witch would be vague slang against someone you don't like but in this case she's a literal witch..."

Josh scrolled down to read some of the questions on the costume.

"Huh." Josh commented, pointing to one in particular,

The question hailed from a user known only as "Madscientist89"

The question was "Is the SG belt included?"

After a time, there came a response from the seller, known only as WitchyDelia.

"I'm sorry but the belt is not for sale"

"She's not selling the belt too?" Leah asked,"Wonder why"

"Cuz it has something to do with her weakness or something..." Lexi said, "I don't really get it myself but she seemed to get like a headache just by being near it ... it's like her kryptonite or something"

"So why wouldn't she sell it off then?" Leah shrugged, "why keep something you have no use for?"

"Not my concern..." Lexi said, "We need the belt back too ..."

"Don't tell me, tell ... WitchyDelia" Josh said, frustrated as the bid kept racking up way too fast for any of them to keep up with, even with Lexi's "extra superhero money"

"Whoever wants this thing wants it bad ... but why?" Lexi asked, before realizing something, "oh fuck... the username ... the username ... Madscientist89?"

"You think it's ... Mad Max?" Leah asked

"Who else could it be?" Lexi gulped, "We can't let him get it!"

Time was fast expiring on the bid and they were over $1500 as the counter ticked down

"Well?" Josh asked, anxiety building as the time kept ticking down.

"Make a bid!" Lexi said

"What?"

"MAKE A BID!!" Lexi repeated again, knowing full well none of them could afford the thing at the rate the price was skyrocketing. Even so, Josh got a bid in just under the wire, at over $1750.00

The trio exhaled until a final bid of $1799.99 came through and just beat them out.

"Sorry you didn't win this item" -- Ebay read, instead declaring the winner "Madscientist89"

"Fuck." Lexi sighed as Leah tried her best to console her angry best friend

"W-Well I mean ... even if it IS Mad Max ..." Leah said, "What's he going to do with it? Wear it as pajamas?"

"That is kind of a funny thought" Josh shrugged, holding back a chuckle

"You guys ..." Lexi whimpered, looking downtrodden, "this isn't funny .. she humiliated me ... she literally belittled me and ... she stole my shit ... she sold it online... she attacked the Snack Shack"

Josh and Leah both frowned, trying their best to comfort their friend

"I know..." Josh sighed, "and we're going to get her ... we still have those growth stones and who knows, maybe some of the other gems can do something to help as well?"

Leah looked down at her watch and panicked a bit

"I'm ... I'm really sorry Lex" Leah sighed, "but I've gotta get to work"

"Of course hon ..." Lexi nodded, giving Leah a hug, "we'll let you know if anything comes up"

Lexi turned away sadly as Leah went to her car and drove off to work at the Fashion Boutique. Meanwhile, Josh was facing away from her, instead engrossed with something on his computer. He looked back at Lexi with a sly grin, leaving the brunette woman dumbfounded.

"I'm sorry Josh but ... how can you be so happy at a time like this?" Lexi asked

"Maybe ..." Josh responded, turning to the side so that Lexi could see an instant message he had just received, "because I know who our 'mad scientist' is"

----

Leah sped into work and took one of the lone parking spaces to the right of the cramped parking lot into Sally's Fashion Boutique. She rolled her eyes but figured it was her own fault for running late that she missed out on closer parking. She took a hurried hike up the steps to her workplace and while it was decently crowded, she was surprised that the first person she ran into was Sally herself, looking a bit disgusted.

"Sally!" Leah exclaimed, hanging her head a bit, "Hey ... I'm really sorry if I'm late but ..."

"Leah..." Sally said, her tone seeming less angry and more regretful, "we need to ... talk ... in my office please..."

Leah raised an eyebrow and didn't say a word as she followed her boss into the back room, only chiming in to ask, "...is everything okay?"

"No"

-----

At Aztek Parts & More, one of Miniborough's finest (and kind of only) computer part stores, Josh and Lexi were eager to meet the winning bidder of the Ebay sweepstakes, an elder gentleman by the name of Dr. Trevor Hilfmann, otherwise known as "MadScientist89"

"But I don't get it!" Lexi said, viewing the email on the scientists' computer that stated he won the bid, "why bid so much?"

"And why not let us know first?" Josh asked

"That suit in the wrong hands ... could be very dangerous..." Trevor sighed, "I wasn't 100% sure if you two knew it was on the open market but I figured you might've ... and regardless I was going to find it and return it to you ... after I of course ask why it was stolen in the first place... that suit is infused with very expensive experimental and in the wrong hands dangerous size changing nanites.... the price I paid for it on Ebay is actually only a fraction of what it would be worth if anybody knew what it was really capable of"

Lexi hung her head a bit

"I'm sorry sir..." Lexi sighed, trying not to cry any further as her eyes had been puffy enough already from the night before. "...I know I should've been more responsible and ..."

"Hey hey ..." Trevor sighed, "I figured you didn't LET it happen..."

Lexi gulped as she could only recall the events of the prior night in some anxious horror. While she didn't TECHNICALLY let Delia take the clothes and belt, she hardly put up much resistance, if she had even been capable of such while she was shruken down into such a fragile size. The whole night played back to her like a horrific yet strangely erotic nightmare as she gulped.

"M-Maybe we shouldn't talk about it..." Josh stepped in, sensing Lexi's obvious distress

"No... no .. it's my fault..." Lexi said, her voice growing more and more choppy and weak, "...the suit was stolen because I went to a party with some friends ... and it was stupid and rash ... and even worse ... the person who has it..."

"...Delia" Trevor nodded

"H-How did you know?" Lexi sniffled

"...her name's on her ebay account" Trevor said

"Speaking of which, what's with the MadScientist handle?" Josh asked, "you had us a bit worried"

"That wasn't my intention but I also couldn't reveal who I really was ..." Trevor said, "while most people don't fully know who Dr. Maximillian is, I figured it's just as likely a mad scientist would want to buy a super valuable size changing suit than anything so I took that alias and ran with it..."

"Admittedly your life is pretty comic book life..." Josh shrugged, to which Lexi simply looked over to listen, "I mean you drive this badass car, you have a costume and your arch enemy is a mad scientist..."

"Sometimes I think you both forget that this isn't a game..." Trevor sighed, "...had to dip into my kids college fund to buy the damn thing back and that's assuming this miscreant makes good and sends it to me"

"I can pay you back..." Lexi said,nodding her head, "Every penny"

"I can't ask you to do that..." Trevor said, "just promise me... like you already did ... but REALLY promise me... be responsible with this stuff and also ... for your own health ..."

Lexi nodded, looking upset again.

"Hey... hey, I get it you're upset..." Josh said, going over to hug Lexi. Trevor couldn't help but smile at the show of friendship even as he felt uneasy as ever with everything that had been going on lately. "but we got the suit back ... or at least we will...and we can always make another belt"

"Yeah... she was quite stingy with the belt..." Trevor sighed, reading over the email he had gotten from eBay.

Lexi sighed, feeling a bit defeated.

"Well... I appreciate you all for stepping in and coming to my aide..." Lexi said, as if presenting a grand speech, "but I need to fight my own battles... and the fact is ... this isn't going to stop with the costume ... she's made a mockery of me... she's hurt my friend Chris by shrinking him ... she's ... she's just a terror... I can't let it stand"

"You know it, Lex" Josh said with confidence, "and we're going to find her and put an end to this"

"But how?" Lexi sighed, again feeling the emotional rollercoaster as it took her back down a dark path, "I'm sure she'll be easy enough to find, she's not exactly subtle but even if I do find her ... I have no defenses and even less offense ..."

"Well... on one hand..." Josh suggested, "she thinks you're probably dead or at the least stuck shrunk... we could probably use that to our advantage..."

"I'm not sure what she knows..." Lexi sighed, "at the very least she knows I'm working for the Snack Shack ... she nearly tore the place apart over a fucking poster..."

She then paused, beginning to formulate a plan.

"Look, we will catch her, we'll get your stuff back..." Josh said, "I just don't wanna see you rush into anything again"

"I know ..." Lexi nodded, "and don't worry ... from now on, no more thinking with my emotions..."

At precisely that moment, Lexi's phone rang. It was from Leah. She excused herself and slid back deeper in the lab to hear better. It was kind of hard to make out Leah's speech but it sounded like she was sobbing and quite deeply.

"Leah...?" Lexi whimpered, "Leah darling?"

"Lex...." Leah sputtered as she cried over the phone

"Leah .. what's wrong?" Lexi asked

"I ... I got fired..." Leah sobbed

"What?! But ... why? How?" Lexi whimpered

"I think it had something to do with Delia..." Leah whimpered, still hard to make out as her wavering voice cried, "Sally said she saw me just hand her a bunch of clothes for free... but I ... I wouldn't do that ... I know I wouldn't do that... Lexi ... I ... I feel awful ... I love this job, yknow?"

Lexi's heart broke as she heard her best friend tell the story. The silence even endured so long that Leah herself had to ask where Lexi had went.

"Lex? You still there?"

"I'm still here, hon" Lexi said reassuringly.

Lexi's heart turned from sadness to anger as she pictured her best friend crying. There was now only one thing on her mind.

Fucking witch bitch is going to pay

The tone and tenor in Trevor Hilfmann's lab was solemn silence as the two young scientific minds seemed to simply wait on Lexi's next words as she had vanished momentarily to take the phone call. She finally came back, a look of anger on her face as she simply stared at the two gentlemen.

"Lex?" Josh asked, "everything okay?"

"New plan" Lexi said, "we fuck this bitch up"

"Uhhh?" Trevor responded, not expecting anything like those words to come out of Alexis' normally positive and friendly self. It was as if she were overcome with rage.

"Nobody and I mean NOBODY messes with my Leah Lovely" Lexi said, a statement that had a certain cuteness to it despite her enraged tone.

"Leah Lovely is her best friend..." Josh said to Trevor as if he somehow didn't know

"Yes I know... I've met her numerous times!" Trevor responded, almost frustrated a bit. He would have addressed the issue further except another surprise email caught him off guard. It was from the seller herself, Witchy Delia. The subject read "local pickup?"

"I notice you're here in the Miniborough area ... I've got the stuff if you'd like to pick it up somewhere..."

"It's a trap" Josh said

"It's totally a trap..." Lexi said, agreeing before nodding, "and it's our chance to catch her ..."

Trevor raised an eyebrow

"I have a plan but I'm going to need to pull some strings and make some stuff happen pretty quick ..." Lexi said, turning away but summoning Josh. "Dr. H, don't respond to that until we get the next part of the plan..."

"I'm ... not even sure what the plan is ..." the usually very analytical and quick thinking man stated, before rolling his eyes, "...also not sure how much I love the Dr. H thing..."

"Wait, Lex where are we going?" Josh asked

"I need some things and I need them now..." Lexi said, "Silly question but do you know anyone who ... could get us a mannequin?"

"A mannequin?" Josh said, before pondering for a moment, "Ummm... yeah my friend Matt works at a mannequin warehouse"

"...why was that so easy for you to think of?" Lexi asked, continually dumbfounded by Josh's resourcefulness

"I know people" Josh smirked "but wait... that still doesn't answer where we're going"

"YOU'RE going to the mannequin ... man ..." Lexi said, unable to believe what she was saying at this point, "I'm going to the fairy colony ... damn , I say some weird sentences, don't I?"

Josh just shrugged, but nodded "A little bit ... but sounds good to me"

"Oh ... I'll need to make one more stop though" Lexi sighed, her scatterbrained mind taking her a million miles a minute as she could only think of justice for Delia and vindication for Leah Henderson.

In her office, a forlorn Sally Davidson rewatched the security footage and frowned, shaking her head. She didn't want to believe it herself but she had watched it on repeat time and time again. Even though the camera was a black and white older security camera from about 20 years ago, it was clear as day that the slim, tall and busty Delia lays some clothes down on the counter, then leans in to speak with Leah who nods and hands her the clothes. The video lacked audio but it was clear the two girls exchanged some kind of whisper, as if a deal was struck.

Still, Sally couldn't believe Leah would do something like that ... especially with how dedicated she was to hard work and fashion. She let out a sigh and simply went about more of her day, feeling regretful about the firing but having no other choice. It wasn't exactly as though stuff like this happened by magic...

----

"You sure have changed your mind on this quick, Lex..." Mark said, speaking to Lexi who had hurried into his office on her way to the forest, "heck, it's almost like magic what a 180 you're doing on this"

"Something like that ..." Lexi replied with a wry grin, "but ... is it doable?"

"I ... suppose so, yes" Mark said, with a nod, "I'll get Jerry on the phone and we can try to make it happen but ... why was it you needed the extra security?"

"Well... you saw what happened to your window" Lexi explained, "just from placing up a poster of me ... there are some crazies out there ... that was my main hesitance on doing this but if you can assure me that Jerry has connections to a small security firm who can oversee this, I would just feel a lot better if I were there to aid with it... I already feel awful about what happened here..."

"Lex, you are an upstanding young lady" Mark said, already jotting down some phone numbers, "I'll call Jerry as soon as I have the chance and we'll get rolling on this soon .. his warehouse isn't too far from the store so it could even happen tonight ... unless that's too soon"

"Tonight will be perfect" Lexi smirked

----

Just outside the Snack Shack sat that same suspicious white van that seemed to appear almost everywhere Lexi frequented. It had only recently started changing locations more often, with it now parallel parked on the busy roadway as the man in the driver seat, a recourceful Scott Travis with a pair of Cybertek ultra enhancing binoculars watched Lexi as she seemed to dash out the front door of the establishment and make a bee-line for her car.

"She's up to something..." Scott said, tsking as he began to lose visibility of her car as soon as she pulled into moving traffic. He panicked though as soon as she saw her zipping away and seemingly vanishing under a car, only to reappear at the next street corner, "she... she shrank her car!! You saw it too, right?"

The already fatigued Officer Scolex, sipping on a coffee would simply nod and agree, "yeah I saw it, what of it?"

"Well?" Scott asked impatiently, "isn't that a crime?"

"Technically there's no legal precedent to say you can't shrink your vehicle in moving traffic as long as you use your turn signal..." Officer Scolex shrugged, seeming a bit downtrodden himself.

"What?! Are you serious?" Scott asked, annoyed as all hell.

"Yeah..." Carl sighed, "...we checked."

----

In the speeding ShrinkMobile, Lexi finally got a hold of Chris, sounding a bit upset

"Chris ... for Chrissakes are you alright?" Lexi exclaimed, "I've been trying to call you the past couple days ... I mean, I know you're big again at least but is there something wrong? I just don't..."

Lexi then paused her verbal tirade upon hearing Chris' demure voice, a sort of energy lost as he started to tell Lexi what happened. She let out a sigh as she pulled up closer to the forest.

"Okay ...okay..." Lexi said softly, "Well I'm going there now ... I'm going to the forest and ... I could use your ...no... no I understand it could be awkward but ..."

Lexi paused, letting Chris continue on the other end of the line as he seemed hysterical over the recent events with Spark. She then got an oddly specific smile as another idea bounced around in her head.

"Yknow what, Chris?" Lexi said, "We're going to make this right ... come meet me at the forest ... I don't know ... as soon as you can ... I've got a bit of a full dance card and ..."

Before Lexi could finish her sentence she could see Chris himself not too far out in the woods just taking a sullen walk around the outskirts.

"...wait... is that you right there?" Lexi asked confused.

Chris took an awkward turn over to see Lexi in her running car and waved before sighing and dropping his arms.

"So much for being alone..." he thought to himself, his not so sneaky cover now blown.

----

Moments later, the duo of Lexi and Chris, both fairy sized now as Chris carried something in his right arm made their way towards the fairy colony as Chris bemoaned his inclusion, and even worse, Lexi's idea on this current adventure.

"I still get don't get why you needed me ..." Chris sighed, "I mean, no offense but this has been a rough time for me and I ..."

"Hey" Lexi said, cutting the bemoaned wizard off in his speech, "it hasn't exactly been wonderful for me either and plus I needed you to find the fairy colony ... I know it's in this area but you seem to have this sixth sense for knowing where the cloaking mechanism is ... chances are they aren't exactly welcoming visitors ... especially now that they know a young witch is out and about but if you can get us through that, I really need to talk to Spark and Dani..."

"Yeah, I mean ... I guess I get that" Chris admitted, before pulling up what was in his other arm, a fairly hefty 80s style boombox, "I just don't get why I needed THIS"

Lexi just gave Chris a sly smile, some levity returning to the moment as she peeked over at him, noticeably befuddled but her intention was more to cheer him up than anything.

"You never seen classic 80's movies, I'm guessing?" Lexi asked

Chris simply shook his head

"Then this is going to be even more fun than I thought..." Lexi smirked

Chris himself would find out firsthand as he awkwardly traipsed through the thickets to behind where Spark's large cylindrical log shaped home was, letting out a defeated sigh within seconds and turning back to Lexi who offered her support from not too far away.

"Welp, looks like she's not home, let's go" Chris said, trying with great persistence to get out of the humiliation endeavor. Lexi simply gave her socially awkward friend an annoyed look and a gesture that highly suggested going back which he did with further reluctance.

"I don't even know how to turn this thing on..." Chris sighed, clumsily laying the heavy battery powered boombox at his feet, "Why did you even have this in your car??"

"Stop asking questions and just ... go!!" Lexi shouted, a slight urgency in her raised voice whisper as she thought she heard stirring from the house within, "she's coming!!"

Chris gulped down his pride and raised the boombox up, as Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes" began to play, the music resonating throughout the forest. He looked back at Lexi with a nervous smile. Lexi returned his look with a thumbs up, even taking out her smart phone as if to snap a picture but sliding the phone right back into obscurity once she saw Chris' disapproving look.

"Uh... Spark?" Chris uttered, not sure if he could be heard over the music as he slowly mustered up the confidence to slide up to her window, "I am ... uh ... I'm just a boy ... trying to tell a girl ... that ..."

Lexi watched him proudly, even mouthing the words with him. The entire moment would have been perfect, except for one thing.

"Yeah no..." a voice resonated from up on the window. She was wearing light green pajamas and had blonde hair. It was indeed Spark's sister Lark who stifled a giggle. "She's the next window over..."

Chris quickly pressed the music off and glared up at her from the grassy clearing

"Then why did you let me go on for so long?" Chris muttered, a bit miffed

"I don't know..." Lark shrugged, having a bit of that sassiness in her for a fairy who refused to be compared to Tinkerbell herself, "...just seemed kind of funny and I wanted to see where it was going..."

Lexi stepped out, feeling a bit bad for causing her friend Chris any added trauma to his situation, she simply patted him on the back.

"Hey, no worries, buddy" Lexi said reassuringly, "I'm sure if Spark HAD seen it ..."

"Oh I saw it..." Spark said, chiming in front an adjacent window before gently squeezing herself out and landing near the duo, "and it was cute ... but a bit ... hard to understand? Why were you playing music outside my window?"

"I don't know..." Chris groaned, feeling a bit awkward enough as it was to be seeing Spark. Shoot. She looked so pretty as always ... "Lexi said it was from some movie or something..."

"It was from "Say Anything!" Lexi groaned, "am I the only one who enjoys a cheesy romcom? ...anyway ... we needed your help but ... first I thought I could ... y'know ... maybe help ... you and Chris ... although I suppose it's really none of my business ... my apologies..."

"No, no ... it's okay ..." Spark sighed, offering Lexi a friendly wave, "and just by the way, I did get your message ... our resident blacksmith, Saberhagen is working on a new belt for you now ... should be even more sturdy than the last ... just please don't let a sexy witch seduce it off of you ..."

"Oh man you make ONE mistake and they never let you hear the end of it ..." Lexi grumbled

"And as for YOU..." Spark said, booping the shy Christophicles on the nose

"...guess it's my turn to get a tongue lashing..." Chris sighed, with some shame

"I ... may have overreacted ..." Spark sighed, "But that still doesn't change the fact that ... I'm still just not sure about us..."

Lexi, hearing some of the topic of the conversation backed away a bit, a sweat drop visible from her forehead that may as well have resembled an awkward anime character when they get into a strange position.

"M-Maybe I'll leave you two to ... have this talk..." Lexi offered, taking small and nervous steps backwards, "I need to find Dani anyway... she's uh ... in the fairy tower place, right?"

"Fairy Tower Place..." Spark smirked, knowing exactly where Lexi meant despite her fumbling of the terminology, "Yes hon, she practically LIVES there"

"Okay ... um... cool.. I'll be back in a flash" Lexi said, hastily retreating from the area so that Chris and Spark could have their talk undisturbed.

"She's cute ..." Spark shrugged, "your friend, that is"

Chris simply nodded, finding himself in a position where he was afraid to speak too much. After all, he felt the last time he spoke with Spark too candidly, it got him in a bit of trouble and he didn't want a repeat of that while the two sorted out the admittedly confusing situation. Still, when Chris noticed that Spark was being surprisingly quiet, he found himself slowly interjecting.

"Spark ... I'm really sorry if I ..." Chris started, but this time it was Spark who would find her voice again

"Chris..." Spark sighed, taking Chris' hand almost as if by instinct, grasping it for just a moment before letting go a bit slower, her fingers lingering there just a few extra seconds, "...I was thinking about ... all of this and yeah ... I was hurt by what you said but maybe I shouldn't have been..."

"No no, you were valid..." Chris said, again his hands fumbling for hers before deciding against it for now, "I mean ... I really like you ..."

Spark chuckled upon hearing this and nodded, even as she failed to keep eye contact

"I really like you too..." the usually much more surehanded red haired fairy responded to her human companion. "I just ... when you started talking about .. me being bigger or you being smaller, it just ... got me to thinking..."

"How feasible this all is?" Chris asked shyly as if to complete the thought for both of them. To this, Spark would nod shyly

"Well yeah ... I mean ... I do want to meet your friends ... like your other ones" Spark said

"To be fair, I don't exactly HAVE that many friends..." Chris said, trying to reinject levity into the situation while also being somewhat truthful, "I mean you've met most of them already and they all know about this weird size changing thing we all do..."

"See, that's just it" Spark sighed, "I don't find it weird... but maybe it's because you're always becoming my size ... maybe I should be more accepting to the fact of ... becoming ... bigger?"

Chris gave her a look, and it was one of intrigue but also not one of excitment.

"Well no hon ..." Chris said, taking her hand and keeping it there this time. It seemed for a moment or so that Spark was about to retract her hand but she kept it there instead, a certain invisible bond seeming to keep the two interlinked for the time being, "if you're not comfortable with that, I shouldn't have forced it on you ... I love your size but ... I also just ... love..."

Spark leaned in a bit, not sure what to make of Chris' next word. While it wasn't completed, it may as well have been, causing the duo to both turn bright red.

Spark sighed and gently relinquished Chris' same size hand.

"M-Maybe we should ... take a break on this for now ..." Spark sighed, biting her lip a bit

"Is that ... what you want?" Chris asked shyly

"I'm not sure..." Spark sighed "I'm just kinda ... thinking out loud ... truth be told, relationships have never really been my thing..."

"Heh, well ... same here, look at me .. I'm a total dork" Chris shrugged, chuckling until a slight snort escaped his mouth

"Hey, I didn't say that either" Spark grinned, booping him on the nose again, "I think you're pretty darned awesome wizard guy, whether you're small enough to fit in my hands or big enough to hold me in yours ..."

"So ... what are we doing then?" Chris asked, still a bit confused as his heart seemed to flutter and hang on the fairy's each ensuing word.

"I guess ... I'm not sure ..." Spark sighed, giving him a nervous chuckle, "I know that's probably not what you wanted to hear ..."

"I guess I'm just glad you're not at mad at me anymore..." Chris replied, in a matter of fact sort of tone

"I think ..." Spark sighed, "we can try this again ... just maybe ... not right now..."

Chris nodded and sighed. Spark could tell he looked a bit sad but wasn't sure what to say, and thus the two remained in a state of awkward standing in that grass clearing before Spark finally decided to shift the topics.

"I should uh ... see if Saberhagen's done with the new SG medallion..." Spark said, floating a couple of inches off the ground and heading that way

"And I should go .... find Lexi in the Fensterian Citadel" Chris said, also trying to stay on topic

"Huh." Spark giggled, "you remembered the name better than her"

Chris gave a nervous smile as the two went their seperate ways for now.

----

Lexi herself nervously approached the Fairy Palace Place ... er ... Fensterian Citadel blocked off by a pair of heavily armored Fairy Guards whos faces she couldn't see under thick heavy blue and gold armor. She gave one of them a peculiar look up since they were elevated on top of some golden paved stairs.

"This is ... new..." a confused Lexi said, used to some security detail but nothing quite so stringent, "are Amelia and Thomas on a break or ...?"

"Who goes there?" the gruff fairy guard stated, leaning a pointed lance in Lexi's direction as if to resemble a sturdy defense, even in the clearly calm and peaceful girls approach. Lexi chuckled nervously, side stepped things.

"M-Maybe I came at a bad time ..." Lexi asked, as Chris slowly entered the scene from behind, also surprised to see how she was being treated.

Thankfully any potential confrontation would escalate no further as Dani made her way onto the steps just above the two try-hard fairy guards, lowering her hand as if to signal a cease-fire of sorts.

"At ease soldiers..." Dani said, an almost hint of humor in her voice. If it had been, it would be one of the few Lexi or anyone had ever hear from the usually stoic warrior of the Fensterian Kingdom.

"Heh thanks..." Lexi said, still feeling a bit uneasy as she stepped to the side of one of the guards, Chris following after as one of them gave him a gruff noise but nothing more. Lexi cautiously yet eagerly followed Dani up the castle steps.

The next thing the trio knew they were in the inner sanctum of the Fensterian War Room where Chris looked around even more confused while Lexi tried to state her case as simply as possible.

"...and so ... that's really it" Lexi sighed, looking at Dani hopefully while she was also not quite sure what to expect. After all, in the past Dani had been pretty reluctant to even let them in on the simplest of secrets. Revealing anything about Fensterian traditions in defending against witches, let alone anything more potent seemed unlikely, "do you think you can help me... fend off this witch?"

"Well ... young hero.." Dani said, her hands neatly folded as she sat across from the two humans who had presented their plan (well mostly it had been Lexi while Chris asked the occasional quirky question about Fensterian tradition which ranged from tactical to 'how does the armor work so that your wings still stick out') "The Fensterians are not new to the ways of the wiccan"

"...that's another word for witches" Chris whispered to Lexi who angrily elbowed him back

"I know what Wiccan means" Lexi sighed

"There are ... certain things ... that can help ..." Dani sighed, "but most of them go back to the ancient eras..."

"How ancient we talking? Like 1970's?" Chris asked

Dani gave him a stern but sincere look in response.

"Try eons ago..."

"So ... 1950's..." Chris uttered, trying again to pose a serious query. Serious or not, Dani was not amused

"Ignore him" Lexi sighed, Chris himself groaning in defeat. "What are ... some of the defenses ... and if I may ask ... are they ... usable by ... say .. a human..."

"Well..." Dani said, folding her arms in thought, "normally I'd say there's no way but ... I was skeptical about allowing you to have a belt enchanted with Fensterian magic ...however from what Spark tells me, you've been very responsible about it and ..."

"Actually, didn't you lose it?" Chris muttered, which caused Lexi to shoot him a very defensive look

"I didn't lose it ... it was stolen..." Lexi whispered, again looking very angry at Chris as Dani peered at them both with trepidation.

Dani raised an eyebrow, "you mean to tell me...?" she said, "the belt is in the hands of a witch?"

"Technically??" Lexi said

"She might've sold it on eBay!" Chris chimed in, not exactly helping

"I ... thought you knew that ..." Lexi frowned, "from when I was shrunk"

"Well I figured you didn't have the belt on you for that ..." Dani said, "but I didn't realize the witch had it"

"Is that ... bad?" Lexi asked, already knowing the dreadful answer

Dani simply got up and sighed, turning away. For a moment, Lexi feared their interaction was closed for the moment. Thankfully she turned back.

"Yes." Dani said very simply, "While unlikely, the witch could use the belt and its energy signature to track us ... she could even gain immunity to our magic if she's able to figure out a way to reverse engineer something of her own ..."

"So it's bad, got it" Chris said, almost not wanting to hear the other possibilities. Sensing Lexi's negative gaze he sighed, "what, sorry? Just ... trying to be realistic..."

"Come." Dani said, beckoning Lexi into another chamber thta opened upon her hitting a switch, a stone wall shifting out of the way to allow her in. Lexi slipped through but Dani held up her hand as if to stop Chris from entering behind her.

"Awww cmon, I wanna see the weapons room." Chris sighed, but a Fensterian guard soon stood in his way, simply to stop him from continuing on. He'd sit down a bit frustrated, the guard sitting across from him before resting his elbow on the stone table, "...so uh ... you been a guard long?"

Inside the strange glowing area that Dani took Lexi into were slick lines of light, streams of purple and gold, not too unlike Lexi's costume itself, but these appeared both futuristic and ancient, almost resembling lasers in the shape of heiroglyphics.

"The text is in Fensterian..." Dani explained, "but it details a great war between witches and fairies..."

"S-Sorry, Dani..." Lexi said, piping in for a second, "I just don't see ... fairies getting into too many wars ... no offense..."

Dani let out a dejected sigh, not because she agreed or disagreed with Lexi's assessment but because she could only shudder to think if the legends were true. She had always just accepted Fensterian heritage for what it was, despite knowing some of the darker sides of things, including their link to the Quartzarian Kingdom and in this case, their eons long feud with wiccans.

"It's fine..." Dani said, laying her hand on the heiroglyphic laden wall for a moment, the wall seemingly reacting as if sparkling to life with her touch, "it's just that ... if you do hope to have a chance against this enchantress ... besides simply blocking her magic, you're going to need ... more"

Lexi nodded in dire seriousness

"That's why I came to you ..." Lexi sighed, "but I understand if you're not so willing to ..."

"It's not even that..." Dani sighed, her voice low and solemn, "I have a solution, or rather something that ... in history has worked to contain a witch's power and even subdue them ..."

"I sense a but coming..." Lexi nodded as she listened to the stoic fairy warrior's words

Dani walked over towards a panel on the wall and pressed very carefully on a central point where all of the laser scribed words seemed to coincide. The result would be a panel opening up and a strange purple box emerging. The box in some ways almost resembled the Quartzarian cube that imprisoned Lexi ... otherwise known as ... well, Pandora's Box.

This one looked different though and seemed much older and musty, as if not having been used for generations.

"This witch's containment trap hasn't been used for generations..." Dani said, carefully holding onto the rusty metallic box that was covered in sigils and warped metals. "But ... it's possible ... if we can re-enchant it ... that this could ... at the very least hold your witch inside ..."

"So it like ... sucks them in ... like a vaccuum?" Lexi asked

"That's the idea..." Dani nodded, "but something this old, and without the proper energy ... likely won't last long ... if it works at all ... you'll also have to weaken the witch first ... witches are very crafty ..."

"Heh, I get it..." Lexi stammered a bit

"Get ... what?" Dani asked, a raised eyebrow on her face

"Oh ... well witch ... craft ...?" Lexi sighed, realizing the pun was unsurprisingly unintentional, "never mind... go on"

"This witch's trap hasn't been used in probably over 100 years..." Dani said, "but yes ... basically, if you can lure the witch close enough after weakening her magic, she could be contained inside and it would even give you temporary control over her magic..."

Lexi nodded as she tried to conceptualize the whole thing, but she could draw only one parallel from pop culture.

"So... it's kind of like the thing from Ghostbusters?" Lexi asked, "the little box that sucked Slimer in?"

"...maybe this isn't a task for you, young heroine..." Dani sighed, finding the jokes to be most unhelpful.

"No no... I ... I'm sorry ..." Lexi sighed, "The truth is ... I'm scared ..."

"We all get scared sometimes..." Dani said, and while the words were intended to be comforting they came off a bit cold and basic.

"I just mean ... she ... she humiliated me ..." Lexi sighed, hanging her head, "She could've killed me but she didn't ... it was like she didn't even see me as a threat ..."

Lexi paused as she said those words, realizing a slight contradiction in that. Yes, Delia had been cocky with her and basically "played with her food" rather than just gulping it down, but at the same time, the mere sight of a ShrinkGirl poster made her flip out and trash a storefront window. Why would Delia go to so much trouble and arouse suspicion over somebody she presumed to be dead?

"You still ... okay, Alexis?" Dani asked, noticing that Lexi had spaced out for a moment there.

Lexi nodded, a regained confidence on her face.

"Yeah... moreso than ever ... my plan is to lure Delia to an abandoned location so that nobody gets hurt ... I'm working on setting a bait of sorts..." Lexi nodded, "but... what else do you think I would need...?"

Dani sighed

"We... can try something ... but it's fairly risky..."

Lexi simply nodded, taking the witch's box from Dani and putting on her serious face.

It was now or never ...

-----

The time was approaching midnight in downtown Minitropolis and while a nervous Lexi had a battle plan, it was another duo who was scoping things out on their own... the shady Mini Troop Officer gone rogue known as Officer Carl Scolex and Cybertek mastermind (at least he liked to think so) Scott Travis.

After seemingly hours of sitting in their surveillance van, the attentive officer was alerted by a blip.

"There!" Scolex said, leaning in.

"Hmm?"

"She's at a toy store ... Jerry's Joyworld down on 21st street!" Carl said, eager to reach for his phone.

"Oh?" Scott asked, not seeming super interested in the development at first

"Don't you get it? It's after hours ... she's probably robbing the place ... we got her! We caught her in the act!" Scolex said.

"So what's your plan? You're going to call in your backup and arrest her?" Scott asked, raising an eyebrow

"That was it, yeah..." Scolex responded

"Isn't that a tad ... basic?" Scott asked, "The whole point of this surveillance was to get long term knowledge on Alexis Cole ... we already knew she has some shady dealings going on ... you go in and arrest her and what do we really learn?"

"We put that freak behind bars..." Carl said

"Do it your way, i suppose..." Scott shrugged

"Why are you suddenly defending her?" Carl scoffed, "you want to catch her as bad as I do ... so I thought..."

"I have my reasons..." Scott said myseriously as Carl made the call.

----

The scene was set at Jerry's Joyworld, a typical type of toy emporium one might see from the 1990's, with shiny linoleum floors, purple girders and red shelving and an array of colorful signage dangling from the ceiling. A nervous Lexi looked over at her friend Josh and could ask only one question.

"Wh-What's with the lab coat?" she asked, referring to her friends scientific appearance as he wore a long white lab coat that extended almost to his knees.

"Hey, I gotta look the part" Josh said, whipping out a pair of thick black glasses from his lab coat pocket and putting them on. Lexi simply rolled her eyes.

"You realize you're not Dr. Hilfmann, right?" Lexi sighed, "he responded to the email AS you ... you're here to be the "buyer" ... so when Delia gets here, just tell her what we practiced okay? And then get the hell out of here..."

"Are you sure that's the best idea?" Josh asked, in a mock scientist voice, going to his glasses as if to adjust them, "have you run all the proper calculations?"

"This isn't a joke..." Lexi sighed, "I couldn't bear to see you or anyone else get hurt ... I even feel bad putting the security at risk..."

Lexi was of course referring to the small security firm that oversaw the toy store afterhours. She had them on call just in case but hopefully she could handle things herself, especially with the new power Dani had granted her.

"Well, what about you?" Josh asked, "Sure, I may look weird in a lab coat but ... what exactly are YOU wearing?"

"That's ... not important..." Lexi said, narrowing her eyes as she watched a red corvette with bright white LED lights slowly pull into the empty toy store parking lot. "...she's here."

In the car, a non-chalant and confident Delia adjusted her mirror, checking her lipstick and puckering up a bit before reaching for the ShrinkGirl costume which was in a finely pressed laundry bag. Her plan was simple. She'd act as though she planned to make the deal for the costume, hand it over and then simply mesmerize the poor bastard who spent so much money on it. She figured she could repeat the process a number of times until she grew bored of it and just donated the suit to Goodwill or burned it altogether.

As for the fairy enchanted belt, that still dwelled elsewhere ... that was to be saved for another use.

Delia slowly got out of the car, a chirping sound emitting from the key fob and she slowly walked up to the door of the closed toy store. This was admittedly a very strange location to make such a drop, and while Delia wasn't adverse to it, something caught her twinkling eye as it glowed purple briefly ... a poster on the store's window advertising a new ShrinkGirl action figure.

"...keep your cool, chica..." Delia thought to herself as she approached the quirky looking young man in a lab coat who stood atop the set of stairs leading up to the entrance of the store.

Next to him was a mannequin posed by a stack of purple boxes that said "SHRINKGIRL : THE OFFICIAL ACTION FIGURE"

"Oh awesome, you brought the costume!" Josh said, masquerading as the buyer while trying to keep his cool. Lexi meanwhile was nowhere to be seen, at the moment.

"Yeah ... you got the money...?" Delia asked, trying not to throw up in her mouth as she observed the overly pedantic promotion of the glorified cheerleader known as ShrinkGirl. If only any of them knew what she did ... that ShrinkGirl was no more ... reduced to a piece of dust and likely a smear under somebody's shoe by now.

"Oh yes, right here..." Josh said, reaching into a bag. "I'm really glad you were able to hook me up on such short notice ... see, this is going to be our "Standee" for Lexi ... well, ShrinkGirl ... and so... an authentic ShrinkGirl costume will really make this display pop"

"Yeah..." Delia said, rolling her eyes as she tried not to let the whole thing get to her.

What did these asshats see in her anyway? She was a goody two shoes in purple tights who's sole ability was to get smaller... Delia was an all powerful witch with style to spare. They should be making statues to her, let alone action figures of the preppy little punk.

As Josh had his back turned, an observant Lexi watched as Delia's hand glowed green with fire. It seemed her plan had shifted from erasing Josh's memory to full on attacking him, consumed with rage over his ShrinkGirl fandom.

Lexi wasted no time, aborting her own plan as she leapt out and seemed to zoom over to grab onto Delia's strong right wrist to stop her from slashing Josh with the enflamed hand.

"No you don't!" Lexi screamed, before Delia took a step back and delivered a swift kick to Lexi, sending her tumbling, fittingly enough into the pile of ShrinkGirl action figure boxes. Josh took this moment to flee out of the front door as Lexi had asked and Delia was no longer focused on him, instead shaking her head in disgust.

"So you found the reverse switch on my spell, huh?" Delia said, clapping her hands a few times in mock applause, despite the fact that her foe seemed to have disappeared, the pile of boxes suddenly tumbling to the ground as if nobody was under them, but Delia knew better, "oh, really? Shrinking to hide from me? Good luck..."

"I'm not hiding from you anymore..." Lexi said, although despite the determined words, her voice lacked a certain oomph. It was even ... a bit squeaky.

Still, Delia was a bit surprised as she watched the boxes part ways and out emerged Lexi, clad in purple and gold, not too unlike her costume but this time she appeared almost as a knight of sorts, the suit metallic but malleable as it seemed to warp to her body and whatever size she was. Curiouser still though were what appeared to be two sharp purple wings protruding from the back of the suit.

All this would be pretty badass except the superheroine stood at about the height of a fairy.

"Really?" Delia smirked, "Little miss Shrinkerbell?"

"Let's do this!" Lexi squeaked with a glare, briefly flashing purple as she took a dive at the assailant witch.

The fight was on

Dani would stand beside Alexis Cole in the mysterious chamber of Fensterian defenses as they crossed into a realm that was tinted dark purple with streaks of orange. Lexi would glance back at times just to make sure Dani was still by her as the place was a bit overwhelming. Dani, naturally, maintained her same stoic gaze as she walked, seeming neither scared, nor happy, nor anything really. Lexi tried to compose herself similarly, her face slipping from the same mild look, back to one of concern and even one of anger as she thought about what Delia had done, not just to her but to her best friend Leah and for no other reason than to get her kicks.

"Okay..." Dani said, stopping Lexi short in her tracks by gently reaching forward with an arm. "It is time"

"You ... still haven't told me what you're going to try ..." Lexi said, sounding a bit worried, "We've just kind of been walking through this hall of ... mysteries or whatever and I just wasn't really sure what to say but I feel like now I should start asking some questions..."

Dani simply nodded in response.

"Okay ... let's do this..." Dani said, pressing a button on the wall. There was a slight tremor and some dirt was displaced as a door opened, revealing a set of battlesuits in the next room. They resembled Dani's knight armor but they were in different colors and each had a different quirk.

Lexi was naturally drawn immediately to the vibrant purple armor which almost resembled her battle armor from her time in the Quartzarian Kingdom. While she was still quite new to all of these interdimensional cultures, she was beginning to see some similarities.

"These are ancient Fensterian warrior battlesuits..." Dani said, running her hand over the armor that Lexi was admiring, exposing a bit of rust. Lexi looked over at Dani curiously.

"So ... they're ... fairy made? W-Would they ... work for me?" Lexi asked, an honest query on her part.

Dani nodded, "they're engineered for somebody of ... well, a fairies stature and body type, they know not what type of species possses them ... however ..."

"Hmm?" Lexi asked

"They do require a touch of magic to work or at least to gain their full powers ..." Dani explained, "I can transfer that power into your new medal belt but its only going to be temporary..."

"H-How temporary?" Lexi asked, afraid to know the answer.

"10 ... 15 minutes tops?" Dani sighed, "Humans weren't meant to accept Fensterian magic into their bodies, as I'm sure you know ... and I can't gaurantee there won't be any aftereffects from you taking on the challenge ..."

"B-But this will essentially give me ... fairy powers?" Lexi asked, still not quite understanding.

"To a degree, yes ..." Dani nodded, "Although you have the unique ability to resize yourself ... which should still be applicable here with the suit ... just be warned, the bigger you are, the more magic you'll burn off ..."

"So ..." Lexi stuttered

"In order to pack the strongest punch ... you'll have to stay fairy sized as much as possible ... growing back will drain the suits power faster ... and once its gone ... well... it's gone..." Dani sighed

"Okay ... okay..." Lexi nodded, "and hey, I mean, you're a fairy warrior and like ... obviously fairies are pretty tough if they were able to make these things work ... I can be plenty tough and kick some ass as a fairy size!"

---

Unfortunately not everybody saw that the same way ...

The towering witch Delia Greystone (towering was a relative term at 5'6) would sling her first dagger Lexi's way before the fight even began as she let out a dismissive chuckle.

"Really? Little Miss Shrinkerbell?"

"Let's do this!" Lexi squeaked with a glare, briefly flashing purple as she took a dive at the assailant witch.

With that, the souped up brunette would take her first shot at the fierce Delia only to be met with ... a fingertip.

Delia callously laughed as she flicked the purple bolt out of the sky like a firefly, sending her back into the crumbling pile of ShrinkGirl toys in the purple boxes.

This time, Delia went on the offensive, seemingly levitating over to where the wreckage was, only to pick up one of the boxes and peer at it curiously, noting its extremely lightweight. She'd flip it around to realize there was no figure inside, only a picture and the boxes were completely empty.

"Really?" Delia sneered, "didn't even have the budget to get your own toy line made, chica? Amateur hour over here"

"No, you!" Lexi shouted, not quite sure herself what the comeback meant as she had returned to her full height in time to throw a punch the purple haired witch's way but Delia was ready for that as well, simply throwing her wrist up to guard while she shrugged, reading the side of the action figure box.

"With liberty and justice ... for small?" Delia scoffed, "Seriously, who's in your marketing department?"

Lexi let out a miffed little growl before using this time to her advantage while Delia was distracted.

Lexi shrank herself back into her cute little fairy state, glancing briefly at her own wrist which emitted a strong blu-ish glow as if it was a pulsating battery. The bar of light was nearly full, signifying that her power had a ways to go but she remembered Dani's warning even as she flew towards Delia's extended hand (and flying was not exactly second nature to the flat footed Alexis Cole)

Lexi awkwardly flew a loop around Delia's free hand and then dragged that hand via a trail of tangible sparkles over to the other hand, causing the confident purple haired woman to drop the ShrinkGirl box and momentarily lose control of her hands as she found herself essentially in an invisible set of handcuffs for a moment, grunting on the floor as she tried to wriggle loose, shaking her head as she did so.

While it was true, the sensation slightly burned her flesh, just as the medallion had, the magic wasn't strong enough to keep the Wiccan contained and Lexi realized this quickly as she watched Delia simply seperate her restrained palms after a time.

After doing so, Delia got up and Lexi floated about in trepidation, a safe distance from the recovering witch as she was greeted condescendingly with a slow round of applause

"Bravo, little hero ..." Delia chortled, "you have a few new tricks ... but let's face it, I think I have you beat on ... well, just about everything from fashion sense to brains to .. obviously hair but ESPECIALLY magic!"

"I don't need to out magic you ..." Lexi said, shaking her head in disapproval as she stared down her magic foe, "I just need to ..."

"I'm gonna stop you there..." Delia said with a wave of the hand, "...is out magic even a term?"

"Y'know, I'm not sure..." Lexi said, a brief cease fire in the tense situation.

Delia shrugged before sparking her hands bright green as if holding 2 fireballs in them. To her surprise the little fairy warrior was no longer there but Delia would chuckle a bit, even putting her hands to her side while keeping them lit in case the spunky fairy cheerleader tried anything hasty.

"Smart move ..." Delia said, her heels clacking against the floor of the now abandoned toy store ... or at least it appeared abandoned.

Delia peered around the dimly lit and abandoned store and as her eyes darted back and forth, she found herself ... bored ... even moreso as her slow walking transformed into more of a saunter. She shook her head as she walked away from the ShrinkGirl costume she had draped over the front counter upon walking in.

"Y'know ... not very polite to waste my time, Lexi..." Delia snapped, her voice echoing a bit as she peeked down the aisles, her walk almost going into a tip toe as she'd stop at each one, hoping to catch her spunky rival off guard, "I mean ... I shouldn't be too surprised... that party of yours? Total snooze fest ... a couple of your friends seemed okay though .. that red haired one ... Amara? I don't know ... seems like someone one could ... have a nice time with ..."

Out in the parking lot a single police cruiser slowly pulled up, not seeing Lexi's "clear as day" purple Shrinkmobile but rather seeing one of Delia's stolen rides, the sleek and shiny red Corvette as the few parking lot lights illuminated the sleek and shiny chassis.

"So what made you change your mind?" Scott asked his associate who just grumbled a bit.

"If this goes sideways, I'm calling in backup..." Carl Scolex scoffed, although his attention was currently diverted by the Corvette, looking more than just a little out of place. He quickly ran a scan of the plates and exclaimed, "Ha! Just as I thought ... this car is stolen! She's not only a lousy thief but she doesn't even make it subtle ..."

"To be fair, we don't KNOW that's her car..." Scott shrugged, to which the disgruntled officer simply sighed as he narrowed his eyes on what appeared to be a dark purple glow making its way through the otherwise dim toy store.


Inside Jerry's Joyworld, Lexi remained ducked down in a single area towards the back of the store where she could take shelter from Delia as she simply stalked her like prey as she tip toed through the deathly quiet store. Lexi would release a deep breath, sliding a dark purple box into a slot and finally deciding to take things to Delia, although fate had different plans as a loud noise startled both the women.

"The fuck?" Delia asked, her head on a swivel in time to see a single police officer decked out in the Mini Troop badge and wearing all black.

"You're under arrest!" Officer Scolex said, flashing his badge briefly as if that would be a deterrent for the overly zealous Delia as she simply floated over towards the pair, Scott serving as some kind of "backup" despite not having officer experience. Carl clearly didn't anticipate the power of what he would be facing off with, instead expecting Lexi in some kind of neon glowing costume. A full on witch though? Well, that certainly wasn't in the police officers training manual.

Lexi wasn't too far behind the action, watching it unfold in pensive anticipation. Shit. That's not who was supposed to show up. In fact she was pretty clear with the small security firm who oversaw the store to stay out of sight unless she signaled, but this wasn't private security. This was the Mini Troop themselves ... but how did they know of this, and why did they only send one officer and what appeared to be a 20 something one would only see in Starbucks sitting in the corner on his overpriced mac Book computer?

"You called the fuzz?" Delia sighed, turning back at Lexi and shaking her head with a tsk and a bit of a weary giggle, "So tacky ... even for you ... oh well ... sorry, boys... but this is a private party"

Delia waved her arm swiftly over her head and in the blink of an eye a heavy and effective shackle with 2 large buoys affixed itself to the officer and his associate, constricting them and rendering the officer's weapon useless as it clattered onto the ground, falling from his hand as a result of being ensnared by Delia who grinned brightly.

"Hey!! Don't hurt them!" Lexi snapped, surprising even herself as she zapped into Delia's path as if on roller skates, a trail of purple following her. To her dismay, she glanced down to see a sizeable amount of that blue plama energy draining from her wrist indicator. Performing that stunt at her full size used a lot more magic than she could afford to use.

"Oh! Oh no...." Delia said with a mocking whimper, "Oh heavens me, what was I thinking? I couldn't POSSIBLY hurt them..."

Lexi raised an eyebrow, sensing a "but" coming

"But what about THEM?" Delia smirked, her finger playfully gesturing behind the brunette fairy themed hero who turned back to see 3 officers in dark green representing Jerry's private security detail.

Lexi slid out of the way to afford them a clean shot, if it came to that. All 3 of the officers had weapons affixed on Delia, one of them even pointing a pulsating red sniper laser at her chest.

"Hands up!" the security officer barked.

Delia simply rolled her eyes, pointing at Lexi who watched in shock as the red sniper laser was now on HER chest.

"H-Huh?!" Lexi gasped, shaking her head.

"I ... I can't ... I can't help it!!" the officer exclaimed, his arm seeming to be under the control of the maniacal marionette that was Delia Greystone. He took the shot but Lexi was swift and poofed herself back to fairy size.

Delia laughed scornfully as she floated over towards the sniper who almost assassinated Lexi and pushed him over with ease despite his hefty build compared to hers.

"You need a break, Officer Deadshot..." Delia smirked, snapping her fingers and immediately seizing control of the other two security officers, their eyes glowing a light shade of purple. "You two ... Bonnie & Clyde ... you're with me"

A nervous Alexis Cole found herself slinking down the aisles of the abandoned toy store, while the apprehended Officer Scolex and Scott Travis remained tied up thanks to Delia's spell. She'd close her eyes and shrink herself back to fairy size to conserve energy, glancing back as a beam of light would briefly illuminate her form.

"Miss Delia ... I've got her in my sights..." one of the officers would quip, thinking nothing of the fact that the young woman was fairy sized as he took aim, "permission to fire?"

"Not just yet..." Delia replied, her voice reaching the hypnotized man without use of a radio, "But do keep her in your sights ... I'll ... take care of the rest..."

Lexi spun around quickly, sensing some impending danger and sure enough she flew out of the way just as Delia's hands were to clap on her like a bug. The disgruntled witch let out a bit of a wince, and shook her head, watching as the private security officer simply stared at her in a bewildered fashion

"What are you waiting for, a written invitation?! Get her!! Both of you!" Delia shrieked, sending the two men in green uniforms after the dodgy Lexi.

The two men would branch off in seperate directions, an overhead view of the scene resembling a Pac-Man maze as Lexi remained in fairy size to possibly evade them better, her senses seemingly heightened as a result of the Fensterian magic. Still, she had to find a way to subdue the men without hurting them and get to Delia. Time was of the essence.

Lexi landed on the speckled tiled floor of aisle 7, next to a shelf housing several toy robots. She yelped as one of the officers almost stepped on her, fluttering out of the way in the nick of time but neglecting to notice one of the toy robots eyes light up purple as it began to unpeel the plastic keeping it contained in a sturdy carboard box.

Delia meanwhile found herself relatively unengaged in the chase, content to let Lexi wear herself out with the enchanted toys and mind controlled security officers while she checked her Instagram.

"Ugh really? She's going to wear THOSE heels with that dress?" Delia scoffed, scrolling through her feed in disdain while Lexi carefully paced the aisles of the giant toy store, hearing creaking sounds increasing behind her.

Lexi turned her head and let out a gulp. Oh for fucks sake ... the frustrated fairy sized woman thought as she observed the rather ghastly, if not absurd sight of a small army of toy robots lumbering towards her like zombies. Luckily the robots were moving pretty slowly but they were just one more roadblock preventing her from reaching Delia.

Speaking of which, the two security officers were slowly closing in on her location and heightened senses or not, Lexi would have to act fast to avoid dissipating any more precious Fensterian energy. Luckily, the resourceful young superheroine knew one trick that wouldn't require use of her fairy magic as it was her only actual superpower that didn't involve the battlesuit.

"Sorry guys, but you're not leaving me much choice..." Lexi would mutter to herself, slinking underneath some shelving and carefully sneaking up on one of the officers, growing back to normal size long enough to gently wrap her arms around the man from behind, shrinking him down to a more manageable size and carefully putting an overturned box over him.

Lexi turned to see the other officer already in an offensive stance, reaching for his gun. Panicking, Lexi backed away but instead of shrinking herself or the assailant, she found herself, to her own surprise, shooting off a spark of fairy energy that turned the officer's gun into a drooping bouquet of white orchids. She almost had to chuckle and would've found it funnier had it not drained more of her limited supply of magic.

"Oh for fuck's sake..." Delia sighed, witnessing the whole thing as she slung an arm over the endcap of the aisle, "Y'know what they say ... don't send a mortal in to do a witch's job ..."

Lexi let out a slight hmph as she shrank to fairy size and sped towards the sassy witch with great speed but upon striking a blow, she phased right through, looking around in confusion. She then saw a Delia standing in aisle 8, 9, 10 and 11, all of them giving her a similar jeering look.

"Hey Lexi? What's up Lex? Omigosh, do you wear any color besides purple?" the army of Delias chimed in, each one mocking her in a different way.

Lexi let out a huff as she struck a blow to each of the clones, watching in confusion as they burst into purple sparkles.

"Seriously?!" Lexi squeaked in frustration, having struck another hologram Delia "How are you doing this?"

"As if I'd ever reveal my secrets ..." Delia cackled, prompting an already provoked Lexi into fight mode, but much to her shagrin it was another fake and it burst into purple particles.

Lexi remained still, having vanquished the last of the clones, for now. Her eyes darted all over the toy store which was also filled with the slight noises of clanky toy robots wobbling forward from their cardboard caskets. Right when she thought the coast was clear, she turned swiftly to be met with a burst of green fire, throwing her metallic wrists up just in time to block the full brunt of it but it was still enough to throw Lexi back into a hard plastic surface from which she would slide down as if she were a bug smacking the windshield.

Lexi shook her head and found herself standing on a bumpy green surface that felt very uneven on her feet. She looked around and felt as though she were in a city before realizing where Delia had sent her. Straight into Lego land.

Lexi's battle carmor creaked and groaned as she fought her way up, the surface fairly unforgiving on her back and sides as she ran her hand along the green buckling surface. She looked up at towering buildings that were striped with color and shook her head in awe.

"So that's what Legos look like up close..." the bewildered heroine thought before a loud thud would send her onto her backside yet again.

There would be a light crunch followed by a louder one as a pair of black heels made their way through the makeshift lego city and the menacing young witch encroached her way upon Lexi, albeit at a smaller size, leaning on a Lego building non-chalantly as she peered down at the half-pint superheroine.

"Okay, I'll admit, I've always wanted to terrorize a city..." Delia said with a smirk, "I guess this'll do ..."

Lexi leapt to her feet and took a defensive stance as if ready to continue the fight

"I'm tired of TOYING with you, Delia" Lexi quipped, before pausing and emitting a light giggle, "heh, get it? Toying with you? Because we're in ..."

Lexi would let her arms down and sigh, noticing the slippery witch had again vanished

"I SAID..." Lexi said, a tone of exhaustion in her voice as she repeated the quip, "I'm tired of TOYING with you..."

Delia poofed behind the quippy superheroine with a grin, now closer to her rival in size

"Oh I heard ya, chica" Delia smirked, her body glowing briefly as a set of lego blocks seemed to magically detach themselves from the surrounding buildings to surround her in a sort of plastic shield, "I just thought it was awful"

Lexi said no more but instead proceeded to try and make her way towards her malicious magical foe, all the while deflecting Lego blocks that flew at her with bullet like speed.

"Hey!! Whoa!!" Lexi yelped, throwing her arms up just in time to deflect the assailant blocks, "really?! You're attacking me with Legos?"

"Hey, when in Rome" Delia smirked, poofing out of the way as the remaining couple of Legos clattered harmlessly to the ground

Lexi would let out another dejected sigh. She couldn't quite keep pace with the more magically experienced Delia. But perhaps she didn't need to ... she only needed to wear her out.

The fairy armor clad warrior woman would suddenly yelp as a strong gripped picked her up, Delia now triple her size and more than big enough to drag her up a Lego skyscraper King Kong style as Lexi struggled in her grip.

"Face it, chica" Delia chuckled, "even in your own domain, you're getting bested ... I don't need my full size or full magic to defeat the likes of you!"

Lexi's body began to emit a bright blue glow as she siphoned off more of her own fairy energy to break the witch's grip, the resultant blast causing the purple haired witch's hand to burn for just a moment as she slipped on the building, which was already a tough surface to climb. She simply shook it off and her eyes darted about to try and find the fairy sized Lexi as she flew about.

"Running out of time..." Lexi thought to herself, observing the magic meter on her wrist draining below the halfway point. Had it gotten to empty, she'd be utterly defenseless against Delia. She had to think of something to goad Delia into using more of her own energy to wear HER out.

Delia eventually tired of the chase and decided to make things easier on herself, growing back to full size and looming over the city like some kind of giga sized figure, looked down at the Lego city and firing green lasers from her eyes as she cackled at the melted plastic and miniature terror she was now creating.

Lexi dodged one of the eye lasers but another resident was not so lucky, namely a now melted peach colored lego figure who looked like a generic construction worker.

"No!!" Lexi screamed, "You killed Billy Block Thorton! He was trying to work his way through college..."

Delia rolled her eyes, "Oh for fucks sake, you are such a child!"

"Well hey" Lexi pouted, hands on her hips as she faced the giant witch, "I'd rather have some of that child like spark in me than ... wh-whatever YOU have in you..."

"You mean, pure power?" Delia replied smugly

"I mean, being a bully" Lexi frowned, "and showing off for no reason ... like why? If you think you're so great why do you need all these powers? Why do you need other people to do your dirty work like the cops or the stupid toy robots? Like who or what are you trying to impress?"

Lexi would then float up to eye level to continue her verbal attacks

"I mean ... some great witch ... it took you tricking my friends and sneaking your way into MY party to even get me alone ..." Lexi frowned, observing Delia's changing facial reactions as she slung her insults, "and then you steal my costume? I mean ... what do YOU need it for? You're supposedly this great dresser ... what do you want with a pair of purple tights and a skirt?"

Finally Delia lashed out, delivering a powerful thwack to the small girl, sending her tumbling into the next aisle whilst she grew back to normal size, her body sliding across the slick tile floor while she braced herself, knowing she had pissed off the enchantress even further.

Lexi's eyes widened upon seeing the lights dimming and flashing, a silhoutte floating into the aisle with piercing purple eyes and green flames in either hand. Even as Lexi feared the worst, she felt a sense of confidence if for no other reason that her plan was working.

"I'll give you a 5 second head start, chica..." the agitated witch said in a demeaning tone as she surveyed the area, noticing Lexi was nowhere to be seen, presumably shrunk back to fairy size. To add to Delia's disgust she looked around to see that she was surrounded with the accursed cardboard boxes bearing the likeness of the peppy wannabe ShrinkGirl herself, in anticipation of a ShrinkGirl action figure rollout campaign.

Delia let her feet gracefully touch the tiled floor as she slowly looked about, raising an eyebrow.

"Coward..." Delia muttered under her breath, only to be surprised with a sudden spark to the stomach.

Lexi would zip towards her giant foe with a smirk, a streak of sparkles following her trail as she awkwardly flew in towards Delia's menacing form. All the while, the fairy-battlesuit clad ShrinkGirl was looking down at her wrist watching her energy levels slowly depleting the more fairy energy she used.

Delia growled and swirled her fingertips as if mixing cookie batter, rapidly sparking up flames until she contained a large fireball of pure energy sparkling a menacing green.

"Don't say I didn't warn you..." Delia sneered, firing the powerful projectile.

It would take another large percentile of Lexi's remaining fairy energy to serpentine around the blast, although even having dodged it left her a bit dizzy. Delia's eyes narrowed as if lining up her shot at a dart board, casting another fireball at the dazed Lexi.

Lexi's eyes widened as the sparkling mini comet of energy came sailing her way. She grunted as she saw no other option but to take the hit, throwing her metallic wrists into the blast. She knew she could grow back to normal size to make this confrontation a bit more fair but doing so would likely drain what was left of her Fensterian magic. She only had to last a little longer...

Lexi disappeared in a whisk of purple light that seemed to slither out of sight for the impatient spellcaster as her eyes scanned the area, each of her steps taking more and more purpose as she tried to suss out the young woman's location. Something about the wretched fairy energy that emitted from her acted as a sort of pseudo-radar for Delia's own dark magic infused body, as if they were opposite poles of a magnet.

What made Delia almost as sick as being in the presence of such polarizing magic though, was the sight of Lexi's goofy face on so many faux boxes of action figures.

"Alright..." Delia said, a smug tone in her voice as she scanned each box carefully, knowing all too well Lexi was hiding behind or even IN one of the boxes. Her cute clever tricks could only take her so far, "I'll admit, you did well to break out of my spell ... I don't know how you did it and I honestly don't care ..."

Lexi continued to bide her time, heart racing as she knelt inside a cardboard box, trying to keep her breathing calm and casual even as the thunderous footsteps drew nearer.

"...I'm kinda glad you did to be honest" Delia quipped, "gives me the opportunity to finish you off myself ... you like shrinking so much? FINE! I'll shrink you ... again and again and again and again!"

As Delia's voice raised higher, Lexi slunk lower, knowing she was safe even as she footsteps drew closer.

"...yeah, we'll have ALL kinds of fun" Delia snickered, raising her voice even louder, "I'll shrink you to doll size, and keep you in a little doll house and well, let's just say we won't be braiding your hair..."

Lexi heard one more thunderous step go past her but then an unusually long time passed before the next high heel shoe struck the ground. The witch was getting warmer. She was pratically red hot.

"...and THEN ..." Delia smirked, her eyes fixated on but a single box. This one, unlike the others seemed to have a bit of weight to it, as many of the others were merely empty dummy boxes. In addition it practically oozed fairy energy. She knew she had the wretched hero caught, and even better yet, she came gift wrapped. "...well, we'll shrink you again and again and again!! and just when you think I've had enough, I'll grow you back and do it OVER AND OVER AGAIN!! WON'T THAT BE FUN?!"

On the final shrieking words, Lexi's steady heartbeat was spiked by the presence of 2 strong giant hands on either side of the box as it was lifted up. As her altitude rose, her heart dropped but just as it seemed the witch had caught the cute little fairy, something miraculous happened.

Delia held the box up, savoring her victory over ShrinkGirl, but perhaps she was celebrating too early for when she peeked inside the top of the box, she only saw the back half of Lexi as she began to scurry out of what appeared to be a small trap door in the box.

"Oh no you don't, little mouse!" Delia smirked, reaching her hand in to try and snatch her prey, but when that failed due to the quarters being too tight, Delia decided to play along, now shrinking herself to fit into the box, only to watch the trap door slap shut with a metallic clang. "...the fuck?"

Now with nothing holding the box, it began to fall to the ground, saved only by a doubly smug Lexi who held her shrunken foe in the box, which turned out to be not quite a box at all, at least when observed more closely.

"You were saying...?" Lexi smirked, her eyes bright with joy as she looked in at Delia's little doll sized body, "I believe you called me a mouse?"

"Psh, laugh it up, chica!" Delia growled, her voice carrying a bit less power in its diminished form. Her hands tried to spark up green but kept flickering out akin to a lighter left out in the rain, "I'll be out of her in ..."

Lexi interuppted Delia rudely, instead giving the box a light tilt to the left and right and laughing in glee to watch Delia tumble side to side.

"Oh I don't think you will" Lexi giggled victoriously as the box began to glow around Delia in the form of ancient but powerful anti-wiccan sigils that appeared to burn themselves into the sides of the boxes and bring the young witch to her knees as she held her head, a sort of ghastly howling resonating that only she could hear, trapped in her own personal hell and the literal one that Lexi had crafted by placing the witch's trap inside an action figure box which she now slid out from around Delia.

"The fuck?!" Delia screamed, her voice still impressively powerful for her diminuitive size but her bark was now literally worse than her bite as she remained trapped, only able to taunt Lexi from inside the glass and metal prison, "you fucking bitch! I'll rip you to pieces, you hear me?! This won't hold me forever!"

"Oh I'm quite aware of that..." Lexi nodded, "I know I like to joke around and gloat and all and trust me, I wish I had more time to do that, I really do ... but I'm familiar enough to know I have you under my control for ... at most ... an hour? Maybe less?"

"Under my control?!" Delia shrieked, pounding uselessly on the glass, "the fuck you talking about, ShrinkBitch? You trapped me in a box, big fucking whoop!"

"Oh it's a bit more than that" Lexi said, a slight smile still remaining on her face as she gave Delia a tour through the disheveled toy store and the two both watched as time seemingly rewound, repairing any damage the two had done in their tussle as well as restoring the free will of the men Delia had mesmerized.

"What the fuck?" Delia sneered, watching her spells get undone slowly one by one, "I'm not doing that! The fuck are you doing?!"

"So ... this is a witch's trap, as you surmised..." Lexi giggled, setting the vessel down on a cash register to gloat at her shrunken foe, "Not only are you physically trapped inside ... but any magic you CAN use is only by my allowance ... I have temporary control over your magic ... and to put the icing on top, the only reason I was even able to spring this trap on you in the first place is because you were reckless enough to burn so much of your own magic on me in the first place ..."

With her final words, Lexi tapped on the glass and grinned.

Delia, trapped from within crossed her arms and rolled her eyes.

"You want a prize or something?" Delia shrugged, "All you did was delay the inevitable ... when I escape from here, I will kill you .. forget about the foreplay, forget about any of that ... there will be only death ... they won't even be able to ID the remains... and THEN..."

But before Delia could finished, Lexi had her shaken up like one of Henry's smoothies from the mall when he set it to full blast in the blender, sending Delia's voice into a scream.

"Ouch!! Fuck!! Alright Alright!! What do you WANT?!" Delia shrieked, "I can poof you up some money or a nice car or something? For fucks sake ... what's your deal?"

"I want ..." Lexi said, "...you ... to get Leah her job back"

Delia heard the words loud and clear but almost couldn't believe them. Here, Lexi had an all powerful young witch under her control and could wish for any number of things and she was asking for her friends dopey job back at a fashion boutique that likely wouldn't last more than 5 years? Maybe she had somehow both underestimated and overestimated Lexi's intelligence.

"I'm sorry, you what?" Delia snapped, "maybe all the rattling has scrambled my brains ... you said you want...?"

"You heard me" Lexi said, her tone more stern, "You're going to erase Sally's memory of whatever bullshit you framed Leah for and therefore she will get her job back ..."

"And if I refuse...?" Delia asked, before being quickly met with another rough shaking about. "Ouch!! Fuck!! Fuck!! Okay okay!! Honestly I could give two shits if your stupid friend gets her job back..."

Lexi frowned instantly as she glared at Delia

"I love that 'stupid friend' ..." Lexi said sincerely, "She's had my back since way back ... and ... well ... yeah ..."

"Oh well in THAT case..." Delia sneered, rolling her eyes, and snapping her fingers, "there, it's done."

"Just like that?" Lexi asked

"Just like that .. now can you let me the fuck out of here?" Delia shrugged, "I'll cut you a break and not rip you to shreds tonight, okay? I left my shredding gloves in my other purse ..."

"Hmm, well firstly I don't really buy it..." Lexi said with a disappointed stare

"If it doesn't work, you know where to find me ..." Delia shrugged, rolling her eyes, "not like I really WANNA see you again anyway and not like any of my life's ambitions involve your stupid friend working at a fashion store or not..."

"Stop calling her that" Lexi pouted, "haven't you ever had a friend? ... someone you really care about? that you'd do anything for...?"

As Lexi's words fell silent, a new sound would begn to fill the air. That of laughter.

"Oh for fucks sake!" Delia giggled uproariously, briefly confusing ones perception of just who had the upper hand as she laughed snidely at her unbelievably positive foe, "That's fucking priceless! I don't have friends! I don't NEED friends! People are just THINGS to me ... but I thought you had figured that out by now ... they serve my purposes and then I either waste them or I wipe their memory..."

Lexi looked at Delia kind of sadly

"R-Really?" Lexi asked, almost sympathetically, "so ... you ... you don't have ... ANY friends?"

Delia returned her nemesis' thoughtful gaze with a scornful look of her own, "ya gonna cry or something?"

Lexi just shook her head, her whole body trembling a bit, although not from the realization that Delia had shined light on, but rather the fairy energy leaving her body and sending her more humanized form into a state of shock for a moment as she carefully strode back to her car, Delia's holding chamber in hand.

She set the captured spellcaster down in her passenger seat and began to drive, the Shrinkmobile remaining deadly still and quiet as the twilight skies were the only backdrop around the two while Lexi pulled up on a Pier on the side of town, finally coming to a stop. Delia raised an eyebrow, helpless but to be a passenger as Lexi scooped up the chamber again.

"You don't have much time, yknow..." Delia smirked, "I'd say a few more minutes and I bust this thing wide open"

Lexi looked at the shrunken Delia who appeared more smug than ever and shrugged before suddenly returning a smug look of her own.

"Well then, in that case..." Lexi grinned, winding up as if about to throw a fastball down the heart of the plate. Her arm cocked back, aimed sharply ahead as Delia winced a bit, already sensing the incoming trajectory, "you won't need my help if I do ... this!!"

With that a bit of an exasperated and tired Lexi hurled the witch's chamber as far as she could, almost watching with a strange sense of glee as the vessel smacked the water with the a reverberating splash, water displacing around it as it slowly rose to the surface, sparking green and purple to signal Delia's incoming re-emergence of power.

Lexi shrugged and got back in her car, content to just drive away, while feeling strangely bummed out by Delia's statement. Even bad guys needed friends, she thought. But then another thought crossed her mind.

"Shit." Lexi thought "...I hope Dani has another one of those witch's chamber thingies..."


-----

The next morning, a glum and tired Leah Henderson dragged her tired arm in the direction of an incessantly beeping alarm clock, her eyes blurry as she tried to come up with any reason to get up that morning, still in the depths of her despair as she thought about the job opportunity that was so cruelly taken from her.

Her best friend Lexi hadn't finished up her business until late in the evening so it wasn't until then, that Leah picked up her phone to see a text from the very one and the same Alexis Cole. The resulting message read :

"Hey girl, you're going to be late for work :) "

Leah looked confusedly at her alarm clock and she would have been late for work, if she still had a job ... but ... Lexi's message made it seem as though that was still the case.

Sure enough, right on cue, Leah received a phone call from her not so former boss Sally. She quickly twitched and hit the "pick up call" button on the phone, sliding the receiver closer to her face.

"Y=Yes?" Leah asked

"Leah Henderson!" Sally said, "I hope you realize it's a quarter to 9 and you were supposed to be here 45 minutes ago ... is everything okay?"

Leah smiled a bit, realizing that she not only had a great job but an amazing best friend. After a long pause she nodded and answered, "S-Sorry Sally... I'll be there immediately ..."

Leah was frantic to get into work now but also extremely grateful, although it shouldn't have come as a surprise to her even at this point. Lexi had been "ShrinkGirl" for less than a year or so now but she had been Leah's best friend nigh their entire lives ... and no matter what some people say ... everybody needs a friend like that.

----

Earlier that same evening, sometime around 4 am, a bored but restless Roxie Wright strolled onto the Minitropolis Pier to have a smoke. She fiddled with her lighter, a custom model that was pink with a cute skull and crossbones logo but just couldn't quite get the fire to start.

"Piece of shit ..." Roxie muttered to herself, somehow missing the sound of a giant splash as a figure made its way onto the pier alongside her, now sitting down. Roxie leaned in slowly to and cupped her hand around the cigarette in an attempt to light it without the wind interfering, only to have her face nearly blown off by the suddenly inferno that burst from the cigarette, leaving a brief trail of green smoke.

That's when Roxie finally noticed the witch, dressed in black, soaking wet and wringing out her long purple hair.

"Delia?" Roxie asked confused, "what in the fuck happened to you?"

"Don't ... ask..." Delia growled, almost splooshing the cackling blonde vixen with her sopping wet hair.

Without another word, Roxie already knew what was up and couldn't help but chuckle as she took a drag of her cigarette

"You finally dealt with the ShrinkBitch, huh?" Roxie said, puffing a blast of smoke into the night air

"Something like that ..." Delia sighed

"Tougher than she looks, right?" Roxie shrugged, "I don't get it either but ... eh, some people are just lucky that way, I guess..."

"You almost seem happy I lost..." Delia sneered

"Nah not really... more just upset you left me out of the fun" Roxie smirked, "how about next time you go for the ShrinkBug you give ME a call?"

Delia shrugged, gesturing her hand out for a cigarette which Roxie relinquished, Delia lighting it with a fingertip.

"That's fair." Delia muttered after a few seconds and the two shared a smoke as they looked out over the city together.

---

There were more loose ends to be tied up from that night. While Josh had gotten away safely and even notified Dr. Hilfmann of the success of their plan, Scott Travis and Officer Carl Scolex, who had been on their own guerilla style mission to "nail" Lexi on some kind of charge found themselves trapped in the dimly lit toy store as the battling had stopped and it was just them.

"I don't suppose you have some kind of gadget or doo-dad t get us out of this??" the disgruntled officer retorted, trying futilely to untie the bonds but without some kind of industrial knife or a laser of some kind, it would be near impossible.

"Doo-dad...?" Scott asked, a bit annoyed, "who still says the word 'doo-dad'"?

"Ugh, just get us out of here ... preferably soon!" Carl sighed, "can't believe you got me roped into this ... I'm toast if the force catches me in this situation after not calling this in"

"That's all you're worried about?" Scott scoffed, "and nobody MADE you come along for this ... hold on, I may be able to remotely call my assistant, Aeris ..."

While this bickering went on, outside a single drone with a spotlight zoomed in on a familiar energy signature that pulsed from the back of a red corvette parked outside Jerry's Joyworld.

Through a video monitor, a mad scientist could only cackle gleefully while he carefully aimed bullets to shatter the glass and gain his machine access to what produced the energy. He recognized the energy signature from his previous scans of the Fairy Colony in Fenster Forest. It was undoubtedly very similar but not completely the same. He was more intrigued by its familiarity to him ... the purple and gold trim and the accursed letters "SG"

"Ah-ha!!" the reinvigorated Dr. Max smirked as his drone seized up the medallion from inside Delia's stolen vehicle, "Gotcha, Fraulein Alexis!"

---

"Still sucks you never got the original belt back..." Leah sighed with a frown while she walked alongside her best friend Lexi, their good friend Joshua James and lovely red headed pal Mara after what had been a crazy couple of nights.

"Yeah but this replacement belt is pretty gnarly too and still fairy enchanted..." Lexi nodded, "Funny thing, I searched Delia's corvette the day after the fight and ... it was like the car had been broken into..."

"Well, I guess we just look for the first person wearing a giant purple and gold SG medallion..." Josh shrugged, "I'll check the next comic con..."

"Weren't you going to go to that anyway?" Leah teased

This had been their first chance of all being together since the heist went off and Lexi was responding to a call from her boss and owner Mark who seemed overly excited to show her something, which was surprising he wanted to see her on a day where the restaurant was still undergoing minor repairs from Delia's temper tantrum.

Still as they rounded the bend to see the familiar building, it didn't take long for the entire group, particularly Lexi to see what the fanfare was about.

The Shack's sign now had changed to a purple and gold color scheme and proudly displayed the text.

"THE SHRINK SHACK : COMING SOON -- THE OFFICIAL RESTAURANT OF RESIDENT HERO SHRINKGIRL!"

Below that read the text "TRY A NEW SHRINKBURGER!"

Lexi's heart sank even as she couldn't help but crack a smile.

"...I'm guessing we're way past my changing my name and moving out of the state..." Lexi sighed

"Oh yeah!" Leah grinned, but another girl had her own ideas as Mara seemed to be in a race against herself, running for the restaurant doors

"Fuck yeah! Sign me up for a ShrinkBurger and fries!" Mara chuckled, making hearty strides for the entrance as Lexi and the others playfully gave chase

"It's not even open yet, you hungry bitch!" Lexi chuckled, shaking her head as she futilely tried to catch up to Mara.

Eventually, Lexi just stopped and let Mara figure it out on her own as she reached the front door, yanking on it futiely upon seeing that they wouldn't be open again until the following week. As the other 3 chuckled, Lexi just shot Leah and Josh a brief look and nodded

"Thank you guys so much ... for everything" Lexi said

"Us? We should be thanking you!" Leah giggled, "You got me my job back!"

"Heh well you got me my size back" Lexi shrugged, putting her arms around Leah and Josh, "...you both did and ... well, I couldn't be happier to have you all on my team"

"Hey don't forget to thank Mara" Josh shrugged, "she wouldn't tell me how, but she was able to sneak you out of Delia's place somehow... said she didn't even have to use her hands ... odd"

Lexi gulped and just shook her head

"H-heh yeah ... fancy that..." Lexi chuckled nervously while Leah shot her a playful smirk

"Y'know ..." Leah chuckled, playfully ribbing her best friend, "If I knew you weren't so into her ... I'd be gay for Mara"

"Psh, I am NOT into Mara" Lexi chuckled, her face turning bright red a bit

"Well you're into Chrissy..." Leah shrugged, as Mara slowly gave up on her quest to get into the restaurant and casually strolled back, "but with her moving away soon, you'll probably wanna think about ..."

"Think about what?" Mara asked, just joining the conversation late

"Think about pudding!" Lexi said quickly, covering her best friends loose lips.

"Oh! Oh! I do enjoy pudding!" Mara giggled, "you know I know this great puddling place, it's right downtown!"

"Oh yeah?" Josh asked, "what's it called?"

"The Pudding Place! Now c'mon! Let's go!" Mara said, raising her arms and beginning to run again

"Mara!! Mara!!" Lexi sighed, again trying to chase the surprisingly speedy elf "...we have cars, yknow..."