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..."
Giantess World
