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Fenster Forest ... located on the outskirts of Minitropolis was one of the citys and regions prized and untouched areas. A sprawling landscape of lush trees and foliage, it was surprisingly never looking dreary or strained, like most vegetation trying to survive the unpredictable climates of the mid-west. No, the trees, flowers and even plush-like grass would retain their luster and quality the whole year around. In fact, if one didn't know any better, it was almost as if the field and forest were protected by some kind of magic ... but that's silly of course.

What wasn't silly was the ominous sound and movement that had been developing over the past few months and it was that very coming incursion that threatened the docile way of life in the forest forever. Large menacing bulldozers and machines would signal the dawn of a new era ... an industrialized era. Although a prospective construction project was only just beginning, a telling sign on a guardrail would tell everybody all they needed to know about the future tenant who planned to claim a piece of this cherished land as their own.

"FUTURE SITE OF ENORMO ENTERPRISES EASTERN DIVISION RESEARCH FACILITY"

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Meanwhile, while one project was just getting started, another was reaching its conclusion, or at least part of it.

Joshua James would proudly show his friend Alexis Cole what he had been working on and Lexi would lean in with confused anticipation and a reaction that would be satisfactory to most and indicative of the pride she shared with her friend for this minor accomplishment of his.

"....what am I looking at?" Lexi asked, furrowing her brow with confusion.

What Lexi was looking at was indeed a website of Josh's own creation. While it was a competent design, it appeared akin to something one would see in the early 2000s when everybody was designing websites of their own. It had a flash banner going across the top that said "SHRINKGIRL : LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR SMALL"

"...liberty and justice for small?" Lexi asked inquisitively.

At that moment, Leah Henderson sprung into Josh's dorm room, the door having been left open a crack. She seemed very excited as she approached the two.

"Oh! Oh, did you show her yet?" Leah asked excitedly

"I'm showing her right now" Josh replied with a nod.

"This was your idea?" Lexi asked Leah with a skeptical stare

"We both kind of worked together on it" Josh answered

"And my next question is ... why?" Lexi groaned

"Oh cmon, every superhero needs their own website" Josh retorted

"Literally no superheroes need their own website ... what about my ... secret identity or whatever? Isn't that a thing?" the defensive Lexi asked

"Hon, no offense ... I love your costume, I do" Leah replied confidently, "heck I helped design it ... but ... you don't wear a mask"

"Yeah, if you really want to stay secret, you need to wear a mask" Josh nodded with agreement, just happening to have a tacky blue and red Lucha Libre mask laying around, "like this"

"There is no way in hell I'm wearing that" Lexi said as she crossed her arms and pouted.

"Alright, alright whatever, you party pooper, now look at the website, isn't it cool?" Leah remarked as Lexi skimmed it over.

"I mean, it's ... thorough, that's for sure ... what's that logo?" the curious Lexi asked, pointing to a sharp looking purple and gold "SG" logo. It had a nice noir style mixed with Gotham City vibes.

"Josh here used his photoshop skills and kind of translated some of the things you and I drew into some more modern graphics" Leah nodded

"So ... why are you both so enthusiastic about this all of a sudden?" Lexi asked

"Um... because you're a superhero and that's probably the coolest fucking thing ever" Josh scoffed

"Psh, please, you don't KNOW cool, I fought some evil scientist dude with her" Leah bragged

"It was more like an escape attempt..." Lexi sighed

"Oh cmon, I totally punched him in the face!" Leah smirked proudly

"I... don't think that actually happened" Lexi looked over, confused. It HAD been a chaotic night, so maybe.

"But yeah, this is just a website where people can check out stuff about you and ..." Josh began to explain before getting interrupted by the anxious Lexi

"Wait, you didn't put my real name on there, did you?" Lexi snapped

"Of course not ..." Josh shook his head, "Gotta preserve your secret identity"

"Wonderful..."

"Oh calm down Lexi, it's not like anyone's going to use this" Leah added

"What do you mean ... use it?" Lexi asked

"I added a spot here where people can email you for help" Josh replied

"Please tell me you didn't give them my actual email address" Lexi sighed

"Of course not, it goes straight to ShrinkGirlShrinks@ShrinkGirl.com" Josh explained, as if this was the most normal thing in the world.

"You bought a web domain?" Lexi asked

"I've got like 6 of them..." Josh nodded proudly, "I know people"

Leah looked over at Lexi and shrugged.

"Well, as enthralling as all this is ..." Lexi sighed, "I'm off to work now"

"You finally gonna ask Chrissy to the Valentine's Day dance?" Leah asked. When this was mentioned, Josh looked away a bit shyly.

"Huh? She's not even working today and for the last time, no" Lexi chuckled nervously, "I don't even like her ... that way ... she's cool but ..."

"Yeah yeah yeah, go get em, cookie wench!" Leah teased, watching her best friend head out the door.

"We need to work on your nicknames" Lexi remarked before vanishing from view.

"You okay, Josh?" Leah asked

"Huh? Yeah I'm good..." a distracted Josh James answered.

-----

Lexi strolled through the hilly and winding campus of Miniborough University on her way to work, donning her green and white apron on over her white button up shirt and black pants. She'd flash a quick smile to some classmates she recognized as she'd see the cookie shop come into view. Even during the winter the campus looked very nice with ample lighting leading the way down its many concrete corridors.

It was early February and so Valentine's season was in full swing, with twirling, curling heart decorations adorning many of the campus' rusty tinted metal lamposts which of course only reminded Lexi further of the impending Valentine's Day dance. Lexi felt like dances and things of the like were so much simpler as kids. Her and Leah or whoever would just go and have a goofy time, not caring about dancing with boys or any of that mushy stuff. By high school, it seemed like a bit more than that and while Lexi would still have a good time, usually dancing like a total dork and not caring who watched, she was never as into the "romantic" aspect of it. Besides, even if she asked Chrissy to go and Chrissy said yes, it didn't MEAN anything, she could just look at it as a couple of girlfriends going out for a good time. Yeah ... that's right, she'd tell herself despite nobody arguing against her.

As Lexi's internal discussion about overthinking things wrapped up, she would enter the bustling Krazy Kookie shop, wearing her apron and a smile, prepared to hopefully do a lot less thinking now. For whatever reason she was always good at managing stress in situations that really called for it. She could get lost in the thought of just helping customers, performing her job and being a support to those around her. It's what made her a good cheerleader. She never got lost in the lights of those moments, despite being a bit anxious other times. It was just one of many things the young woman didn't understand about herself but she accepted it and tried to make the best of it, as she did with most things.

"Well look who finally decided to join us..." Lexi joked, addressing the Krazy Kookie's usual barista, a spunky young lady by the name of Mara. The pretty red head stood at 5'9 with gorgeous emerald eyes and hips to die for. She had a bubbly personality that rivaled that of Lexi and was generally just a pleasant person to be around, although not the most reliable since Lexi had been filling in for her quite a bit. Still, the coffee she made was as perky as she was.

"Heya Lex" the delightful Mara responded, hard at work crafting the perfect latte

"You look a bit tired" Lexi noted, "up all night partying again?"

"Something like that..." Mara replied, biting her lip a bit "thanks for filling in for me by the way ... I know the cookies are more your specialty"

"Eh, who needs cookies? You're already sweet enough" Lexi winked

"Oh you..."

Lexi would be about to get to work when she heard the slight chime of the door's small golden bell ring, signaling a new customer had entered, although this "customer" was actually a fellow employee. It was Chrissy and she looked nice as always, dolled up in a white fleece, nice capris and white winter boots with a little fuzz on them. Lexi would just stare for a few moments before trying to focus on work again.

"Heya Lex" Chrissy said cheerfully, addressing her friend and coworker

"Chrissy, hi!" Lexi sputtered, not prepared to see her today. Normally this wouldn't be such a big deal but silly Leah put the idea in her head about the Valentine's Day dance so now she felt some unwarranted pressure even just saying hello to her southern blonde friend "What brings you in?"

"Just checking the schedule for next week" Chrissy nodded, going behind the counter to look while glancing over at Mara, "Oh heya Mara"

Mara would smile and nod, unable to resist seeing Lexi's cute reaction to Chrissy's surprise arrival.

"Oh... well .. .cool" Lexi said, at a loss for words as she was briefly distracted by a customer, diverting her attention back to the front counter, but still glancing over at the always fashionable Chrissy now and then.

"Th-Thank you sir, that'll be $8.73" Lexi smiled from behind the register

"I uh ... didn't even order yet" the bewildered customer responded

"Oh .. uh ... my bad, what'll you have?" Lexi nervously giggled.

Mara tried to resist the urge to roll her eyes but with her back turned, a slight eye roll could be seen.

As soon as Lexi was done helping people at the counter, she noticed Chrissy was on her way out. She felt a nervous gulp forming in her throat and decided to take her shot.

"H-Hey Mara... I just need to step out for a moment?" Lexi said shyly. Mara shrugged and nodded, giving her friend a thumbs up.

Lexi would slowly make her way out the door, after making sure enough time had passed. After all, she didn't want to make it seem like she was stalking ... er ... chasing down her awesome friend Chrissy.

"Ask her to the dance ... ask her to the dance? Ask her to the dance!"

My internal thoughts don't know what they want ... a disgruntled Lexi would say to herself, as she began to close the distance between herself and Chrissy, totally not caught up in her cascading blonde hair which somehow looked even more beautiful from behind, resembling a soft and pleasant waterfall as it hung down to her midsection.

"Okay Lex..." she thought to herself, practicing a possible approach, "lead off with a compliment ... see how she's doing ... oh I like her jeans, I could tell her she has nice jeans ... ugh, who starts a conversation by saying the other person has nice jeans?!"

At this Lexi would feel a bit dizzy, vision momentarily blurry. She watched as Chrissy, all 3 of her as things got even more trippy walked further ahead of her. She was literally about to open her mouth to speak when the gripping sensation of shrinking took its hold.

"W-Wait no, not here..." a panicked Lexi said to herself, rapidly shrinking ... her apron and outfit thankfully going down with her but she'd let out an inaudible whimper as she reduced to 3 inches tall, just behind her friend Chrissy who would briefly turn around, thinking she sensed something.

"Hmm??" the curious Chrissy murmured, turning around to see ... nothing. At least seemingly. She'd eventually just keep walking but couldn't shake the feeling that she had been followed, at least briefly.

Lexi would curse under her breath, stuck tiny for the moment and wondering why.

Could it be that her emotional state was somehow controlling her size. She'd just stomp her cute tiny feet and walk away, hoping for the shrinking to wear off.

"Great ... it wasn't hard enough to work up the courage to ask someone out ... now I've gotta deal with this..." Lexi grumbled, walking away. She hoped she'd grow back soon, otherwise it would take days to get back to work.


--------

Speaking of smaller sized peoples, back at Fenster Forest as things hit dusk and the skyline turned from turquoise to navy, the trees swayed briskly in the cool winter breeze. The flowers and wildlife of the woods seem to hum in harmony and at the depths of it all was a gathering of sparklers or what appeared to be fireflies.

However with a closer look, one could see, it WAS a sparkler.

"Ugh, I told you not to keep lighting those in the house!!" a male's voice would squeak out, as a disgruntled Mark would fly out of said house, except this dwelling wasn't like most others you'd see, outside of a Disney fantasy themed land. You see, the dwelling out of which Mark made his exit was about the height of a tall flower, thick as a strong piece of bamboo and fairly cylindrical in shape.

Who is Mark, you may ask?

Mark was a 21 year old fairy who was a bit shy and reserved, which was quite the stark contrast from many of his peers in the fairy colony... Wait, fairy colony? Fairies were real....??

Perhaps the legends were true, as many teenagers, kids and even adults would make mention of seeing "weird things" at night in Miniborough's Fenster Forest. Most just assumed it was the ramblings of crazy men and women, or maybe even those who were high, visualizing fairies, spritekins and pixies, but it would turn out the rumblings were true as the timid Mark made his way through the colony wondering why he just didn't feel the same as the others. It was fairly late at night but still kids would be running about on the dirt trails, playing with cherry blossoms and working on their flying.

Squirells, much revered in the fairy community would be off sharing acorns and other resources with some of the older locals and the village would glow a very subtle and peaceful yellow orange as nightfall continued to take its hold on the area.

It was all beautiful if you were into that sort of thing.

But for Mark, he had seen it every day of his fairy life, and it was almost similar to living in the heart of New York city, when once you've seen it, you become a bit desensitized to it. Mark was remarkably well connected to the real world for a fairy. He even had a tiny iPhone like device that let him connect to a Wi-Fi connection -- how they got WiFi out there would prove to tbe real magic and so as he went out, traveling further and further from the safe confines of the colony until he noticed he was floating just above the forests natural grass and pine cones, rather than the fairy-constructed town that he usually stayed within.

"This isn't so bad" he shrugged, scoffing off those fairies who had warned him in the past to never trek outside of the borders.

He shrugged as his Wi-Fi was starting to drop out, "This must be what the humans call a ... dead zone..." he scoffed, turning back towards the colony but not out of any longing for the fairy ways so much as ... well, better bandwidth. As he began to make his way back, he'd hear a long drawn out owl hooting with a slight echo to it.

He'd turn around to see the owl, a majestic white one with yellow eyes and sharp black eyes was staring him down from a mere few inches away. Now he had encountered owls before but never ones that seemed so aggressive in their approach.

"Ummmm... hi, can I help you?" the skeptical Mark asked, eyebrows raised in surprise.

The owl just stood there and flicked its ear, then something even more remarkable happened ...

The owl's eyes changed from yellow to green and then the owl itself began to grow and morph entirely, resembling the form of something else entirely, a completely different species, a ... young woman?

"Heh..." the woman would smirk, her green eyes slowly returning to a more natural hazel color although nothing else was natural about this woman who stood about 5'6 with very strong facial features, black leather boots to match her leather vest and black undershirt. "Look at the lil fairy..."

With that she'd fire a single green flame at the petrified young fairy before he'd bolt towards the colony.

"Oh don't run away now" the girl would smirk, "we were just getting started!"

She'd take a few steps, crushing some flowers along the way before being stopped by a man about her height, flickering orange fire appearing in his hand, "I'm afraid I can't let you do that, ma'am"

The woman would just raise an eyebrow and shrug, "not really worth the trouble anyhow..."

She'd soon take her leave but not before striking one more time, a powerful, lengthy green flame emitting from her purple painted fingernail and igniting a small portion of the tranquil fairy colony. She'd let out a horrid evil laugh before disappearing in a burst of green and purple fire. The annoyed guardian would just shake his head in disapproval.

"I'd give chase but ... I've got class in the morning..." the unsettled young man would whisper to himself as he turned away dramatically.
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