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.
Giantess World
