"PLAY BALL!!" a loud boisturous voice cried out while a massive crowd of people all cheered, waving their arms up and down in their white and purple jerseys.
A camera panned around the crowd and cut between high energy shots of fans celebrating, players striking a large softball and great diving catches as a deep voiced sports announcer took his cue (and his job) very seriously.
"COME OUT AND SEE YOUR MINITROPOLIS MINIONS THIS FRIDAY THROUGH SUNDAY FOR THEIR LAST SERIES OF THE REGULAR SEASON! THEY'LL BE TAKING ON THE TEXAS TUMBLEWEEDS, WHICH WILL MARK THE RETURN OF MINITROPOLIS NATIVE, MOLLY ANDERSON, NEW STAR SHORTSTOP FOR THE TEXAS SQUAD! IS THAT NOT ENOUGH FOR YOU? OUR VERY OWN SHRINKGIRL WILL BE THROWING OUT THE FIRST PITCH THIS FRIDAY EVENING!! SO DON'T MISS A SECOND OF THE MINIONS ACTION!! LIVE AT THE MINI DOME!!"
Watching the advertisement from a couch were Leah and Lexi, both somewhat interested in the ad but for different reasons.
"Ugh, those jerseys are hideous..." Leah scoffed, "look at them, they don't fit any of the players right..."
Lexi giggled a bit before tilting her head, making an observation of her own.
"You know what I never got about baseball or softball?" Lexi asked
"...No cheerleaders?"
"No cheerleaders!" Lexi reiterated, "like seriously, every sport gets cheerleaders except baseball!"
"Not hockey" Lexi's dad said, entering the room to join in on the conversation as he casually strolled through the living room to get his phone.
"How exciting is it...?" Lexi's mom said, coming into the room with a bright grin, "that our daughter is throwing out the FIRST PITCH at the game.. are you excited Lex?"
"It's ... exciting..." Lexi replied shyly, "I just hope I don't chuck it into the stands or something..."
"Lexi's more excited about the return of MOLLY anyway ..." Leah said in a bit of a teasing tone as she flipped around on the couch to be looking up at the ceiling, her body draped over the sofa awkwardly.
"M-Maybe a little..." Lexi said with an even shier grin, "I mean her and I were friends like 12 ...13 years ago ... I doubt she even REMEMBERS me..."
"I don't know ..." Lexi's mom commented, "you two were pretty inseperable that one summer"
Leah frowned a bit but listened all the same.
"Well, Leah knew her too ... we were all friends back in elementary school" Lexi said, quick to steer the discussion, "in fact we all had third period gym class together..."
"Yeah..." Leah groaned, "then she stole my boyfriend..."
"Kevin Patterson was not your boyfriend, Leah ..." Lexi sighed, "he was some guy you had a crush on..."
"Who took one look at perky pants and her sporty little ... sportsmanship and ... yeah..." Leah mumbled, not really sure where she was going with that.
Lexi frowned
"We could've been friends ... I mean all of us, if she had stuck around longer..." Lexi nodded
"Whatever did happen with you girls?" Lexi's mom asked
"She transferred to another school after 6th grade..." Lexi said, "then her family moved down south ... she got a scholarship to play college ball and ... made her way to the softball circuit ... she's suppose to be really good..."
Leah gave Lexi a bit of an eye roll.
"Not that I've... kept in touch" Lexi chuckled nervously.
"Uh-huh....sure..." Leah sighed, seemingly tired of the conversation already.
Lexi pouted a bit, offering Leah the complimentary and patented Lexi smile after some time had passed.
"C'mon Lee... what's the matter?" Lexi asked
"Sorry Lex ..." Leah sighed, "just... a lot of stress ... school starting up again ... and Sally's got me running things for the fashion show..."
"Fashion show?" Lexi's mom asked, listening in a bit more
"Oh my god mom, it's so awesome!!" Lexi exclaimed, causing her best friend to break out into a flustered blush
"It's ... nothing..." Leah said, trying to downplay it.
"It's not nothing!" Lexi grinned, "Leah's been KILLING it over at Sally's Boutique ... and they're going to be showing off some of their new fashions at the upcoming Mini Fashion Show this week and Leah is one of the consultants!"
"Leah, that's fantastic!" Lexi's mom beamed with pride, "why didn't you mention this sooner?"
"It's ... not a huge deal, Mrs. C...." Leah chuckled nervously, "I mean ... there's only like 3 employees at the boutique anyway and ..."
"Yeah but she picked YOU1" Lexi said, "I get you're nervous but c'mon, nobody knows fashion like you, and it's not like you're the one walking the runway, you're just picking out some of the outfits ..."
"Regardless..." Leah said with a huff, "You're going to be there, right?"
"Of course I'm going to be there!" Lexi scoffed, "I wanna see what my girls working with! I wouldn't miss it for ... that's Wednesday, right?"
"Wednesday around 8, yeah..." Leah said
"Yeah, I'll be there" Lexi said
"...you paused" Leah said with a hint of worry in her voice
"Well ... I just have a shift at the Shack that afternoon but I should be able to make it ... no... I WILL make it, you know I will!" Lexi said with a friendly nod.
"Okay ... and you know it's not at the shop, right?" Leah reminded, "it's at the Minitropolis Auditorium across from..."
"Across from the medical center..." Lexi nodded, "...I know"
"Okay, just wanted to make sure you didn't get confused like the time I invited you to the comedy show to support the Jordanville Fire Department" Leah scoffed
"Well how was I suppose to know it wasn't AT the fire department?" Lexi said rolling her eyes, "...those firemen could've been a bit nicer about redirecting me..."
Leah just shook her head in wonderment, always curious how Lexi could be both so reliable and yet so scatterbrained at the same time. But it was one of the quirks Leah strangely admired about Lexi, her ability to balance everything despite her chronic ADHD and poor sense of directions.
"Speaking of getting places..." Leah continued, "I know you have your car back and all but is it ...?"
"Drivable?" Lexi cut in, "...for the most part ... I've actually got Josh buffing out some of the scratches and running diagnostics as we speak..."
"Geez, how did you get your own master mechanic?" Leah teased, "and on a car that nobody's ever heard of before ... think you could get him to check out the weird noise my Toyota's been making? It's only when I go over 30..."
"Hey, he's not just a mechanic for hire ..." Lexi scoffed, before being swayed by Leah's sad pathetic and needy face at that moment, "...I'll see what he can do"
"Please and thank you!" Leah giggled, as Lexi could be seen responding to a sudden phone call that popped up. Naturally, it was Josh.
"Yeah, Josh?" Lexi asked
"Okay, car seems to be running fine..." Josh commented, running it in an open garage to test out the engine. He also had most of the scratches buffed out, "I've just gotta replace the head light ... you'd be surprised how hard it is to find a perfect match for this thing..."
"Hey, whatever you can get will be fine" Lexi said, "I really can't thank you enough for all of this ... send me the bill when you're done, okay?"
"Eh, just take me for a joyride and we'll call it even" Josh chuckled, peeking into the inside of the car, "I DID notice something curious though, concerning the glove compartment"
"Right?" Lexi said, suddenly changing the topic, "It's like I told you before, those Quartz crystals are gone..."
"Yeah ..." Josh said, a bit perplexed himself as he flipped open the glove compartment for what felt like the 6th time, half expecting them to be there this time. They WERE magical crystals after all. Nothing would surprise him at this point. "You don't think...?"
"That's what I'm afraid of ..." Lexi said with a shudder, drawing Leah's concerned reaction behind her. "Anyway ... thanks again ... I'll talk to you soon, hon"
With that, the phone call was concluded. Lexi looked back and saw Leah looking both concerned and a little smug.
"What? ... What?" Lexi asked
"You realize you just called him 'hon' " Leah smirked
"I call everyone hon" Lexi said, "I call YOU hon"
"You call GIRLS hon" Leah giggled, "you generally don't call GUYS hon unless..."
"Moving on ..." Lexi sighed, "We were talking about the Quartz crystals that had been in my glove compartment"
"Oh right ..." Leah said, only half understanding "Those magic crystals you got from your adventure to the other dimension ... damn your life sounds so much more exciting than mine sometimes"
"Trust me, it's not everything you'd want it to be ..." Lexi groaned, "Anyway ... those crystals are super powerful ... and they're missing ... the only one who's had access to my car lately besides me is ... well ... Mad Max..."
"Huh. And you're worried he ... took them..." Leah stuttered, "well wait, wouldn't they be like super tiny if they were in the car while it was shrunk?"
"You would think so!" Lexi exclaimed, "but who knows with that maniac? He had my car for like 2 weeks... I'm honestly surprised he didn't melt it into scrap ... I'm even more surprised he didn't capture me when he had the chance"
"What do you mean?" Leah asked
"He had me ... like dead to rights..." Lexi sighed, "he caught me in this weird holding chamber but then ... he let me go ... there were some robots that chased us but ..."
"Us?" Leah asked with a raised eyebrow, "who else was with you?"
"Oh yeah ... heh..." Lexi sighed, "Roxie ended up crashing the party..."
"Roxie was there too?" Leah said, enthralled in the story as if listening to a thrilling new novella on tape, "I swear you have some of the most badass adventures"
"I'd rather be just ... not having them" Lexi shrugged, "but yeah ... I got out of the lab FAIRLY easily and other than a few scratches on the ShrinkMobile, I seem to be back in business ... for now anyway..."
"You sure that's the best idea, given what happened recently?" Leah asked, still worried about her best friends well being given her recent power surge and the difficulty ahe had been having with her size powers.
"Well... I've been 'okay' lately..." Lexi sighed, "I'm not going to go all out ShrinkGirl mode but ... I should be alright .. I'm seeing Trevor again shortly, he's finally returning to Aztek after his retreat ... we're going to run some tests and see how I'm doing officially..."
"I suppose until then, you got your 'honey' Josh to check in on you and hey maybe he can track down those crystals too" Leah teased
"Omigosh, just ... stop" Lexi chuckled, "and besides, I was just ... I've been ... under a lot of stress lately, that's all ... I doubt he even noticed that I called him that"
"...did she just call me hon?" Josh wondered, back in his own garage.
_____________
In the deep twilight of Fenster Forest floated two siblings by the names of Spark and Mark.
It was just your usual walk through the woods between brother and sister, save for the fact that these siblings were both fairies with cute fluttery wings who stood at about 3 inches tall -- about the norm for the hidden Fairy Colony of Fensteria. Most fairies preferred to stay in the secure tranquility of the colony which remained cloaked from the view of potential human antagonists, but Spark wasn't like most.
Spark was a bold and brash young woman with crimson hair that matched her usual mode of dress, which she employed that night, wearing a fashionable red top with slight cutouts around the shoulders as she floated alongside her brother Mark who ... for the most part never quite fit in with the traditions and dispositions of Fensterian life.
While most of Fensterian's denizens lived a positive and upbeat life of sorts, Mark was usually the skeptic, the paranoid one and for that he would be mocked and thought of oddly by his fairy colleagues. Even though his sisters Spark and Lark loved him in his own way, they also thought he needed to tone it down a bit when it came to the doom and gloom. Still, he HAD successfully predicted the invasion of a witch a while back and try as they might, there was a new crisis brewing that Mark's paranoia may just have been right about.
"See? You feel it too, don't you?" Mark said, trying to draw some kind of admission out of his spry older sister as she floated just a bit ahead of Mark along the soft but slightly damp grass which glistened with midnight mist. Spark could only exhale, slowing down for a moment to acknowledge her frightened brothers concerns.
"Okay ... so ... yes ..." Spark said, trying not to peer at what was so obvious as she watched another bright flash of light streak across the night sky.
Most would easily mistake it for lightning, but the fairy siblings knew better -- especially in light of recent happenings.
It had started about a month ago when an interdimensional disturbance rocked the fairy colony. Despite some quick spin from their leaders, some were beginning to grow suspicious about the walls between dimensions falling. If that were to happen, it would spell true disaster.
Some Fensterians were uniquely gifted with the ability to sense such a disturbance. In her past, for example, Spark herself was able to detect a rift between dimensions around the time local superheroine ShrinkGirl went missing into a portal that was later determined to lead to Quartzaria -- a warlike kingdom from ancient times that was once thought to be a myth. While she tried not to let it show, the fact that the dimension was real opened the door to the other realms existing as well and this frightened the usually unshakable Spark.
Mark on the other hand, was all too shakable, trembling a bit in his black and gold garb which resembled that of a toga, with an opening for his wings.
"Look ..." Spark said with a long sullen pause, "even IF what we think is happening ... is happening ... what can we do about it?"
Mark let out a long exhale and just peered down at the ground. He knew his sister was right. It would take all the power of Fensteria to even attempt to seal a dimensional rift and it seemed like the threat was growing stronger by the day. Sometimes it would only be for a moment but other times, portals clear as the lake water would open up and reveal themselves for several moments at a time, long enough to gaze into the worlds on the other side. But who would be crazy enough to expose such danger?
"I suppose you're right ... I just ..." Mark stuttered, before pushing his sister out of the way of what appeared to be a sizzling comet heading their way at a dangerously fast velocity.
"Mark?!" Spark exclaimed, "what are you --?!"
Spark gasped, laying beneath her brother and glancing nervously over at the projectile that had just missed pummeling them both into the dirt. Now grateful, Spark nodded as Mark let her up and the two went to investigate carefully.
In the ground now sat a large growing crystal, its light pulsating so brightly neither of the two could get close enough to have a thorough look, but in their hearts they both knew what they were looking at. The large cylindrical gem was about the length of their very bodies and it gave off so much power that both of them could feel a repellant force upon getting too close.
"Is that a ...?" Spark gulped nervously
"Looks like it to me ..." Mark sighed, before shaking his head in dismay.
"Now what's wrong?" Spark asked
"...I hate being right."
________________
The first week of activities on Miniborough University's campus brought with it a large crowd of students to sample the surprisingly tasty cookies of the new Kekse cafe and bakery which had opened on campus over the summer. The trendy eatery, adorned with a "Starbucks-like" dark green and white facade played host to a batch of cookies that tasted suspiciously like those of the former campus cafe known as the Krazy Kookie -- which also served as Lexi's former place of employment.
The new cookie place served as the current place of employment for Justin Wright but he was far from content there. Between the lousy pay, understaffing issues and many strange occurences in the past few weeks, Justin was beginning to regret accepting a job at the place, even if he did need the extra income. Sometimes he considered just up and leaving.
As if reading his mind, a bulky gentleman with a military style buzzcut wearing a dark green shirt that had a ripped off sleeve slunk into the shop.
"Hello..." Justin said, a bit more confused than usual, "may I help you sir?"
"Are you Justin Wright?" the man asked, wasting little time before slipping behind the counter.
"Um yes ... I am ... um... I'm sorry, sir you can't be ..." Justin stuttered. Of course he was on his own again, he very rarely ever saw his boss or even his coworkers as of late.
"I'm here to relieve you of your duties, effective immediately" the man said in a stern tone. Justin raised an eyebrow.
"I'm sorry?" Justin asked, as his bewilderment would only further fuel the anger of the intimidating young man.
"You're being let go. Vamoose..." the man said dismissively, giving Justin a wave of his hand, gesturing for him to step aside as the sudden new hire took his place with assisting customers.
Justin would normally be more adamant about standing his ground but he had already decided the job wasn't worth the hassle. Still, none of this added up.
No sooner was Justin out the door of the restaurant, he glanced back to see the man not focusing so much on customers as he was pulling out a rolled up piece of paper and stretching it across the counter, only half paying attention to the growing crowd at the counter.
"...so this is our busiest week yet and they're letting MORE people go?" Justin thought to himself, also noting the young man who replaced him looked very little like somebody who would want to be working customer service. He almost appeared more like an engineer type, with a strong military background. But what would Justin do? Even if he told anybody about the weird drone pieces he had seen one fateful night or what just happened, nobody would think anything of it ... not even ...
"Leah!" Justin stammered, not meaning to be so loud but it just so happened that he crossed paths with his ex-girlfriend as she was intertwined in the crowd of students making their way to class.
"Oh uh... hi..." Leah sighed, noticably uncomfortable but moreso because she was trying to keep all of her thoughts straight.
"Hey ... Leah ..." Justin sighed, seemingly more nervous than anything, "I know this is going to sound kind of ... strange but ... could you tell your friend Lexi to maybe ... keep an eye on the cookie place?"
Leah gave Justin a confused look as she kept walking, books cradled to her person.
"I know ... totally weird..." Justin sputtered, "it's just that ..."
"Look." Leah sighed, seeming a bit fed up now, "I'm not mad. I'm just stressed ... and I've got a lot on my plate right now ... I've got this big fashion show thing coming up ..."
"Oh the thing for Sally's?" Justin asked, "my friend Britney is one of the models"
"Oh no kidding?" Leah asked with a slight smile, "she's really pretty ... I mean ... ugh, look ... it's not a good time ... why don't you ... talk to Lexi yourself?"
"She's uh ... not my biggest fan..." Justin sighed
"Can you blame her?" Leah said with an eye roll as she kept walking
"Ugh okay ... I deserved that ... I just ..." Justin stuttered again, but eventually realized that he was fighting a losing battle as he watched Leah fade into the crowd without so much as a goodbye.
Maybe it was all just in his head but something didn't feel right ...
Giantess World
