At first, they just could not believe that what was really happening was really happening. All of Masako's claims about Macroforce and being able to shrink students was true. They had been shocked when she'd grown herself all the way up to bulding-sized, but this....this was much, much more. Being small to a building-sized person was out-of-this-world, but now they were in a situation that was much, much worse. Now, Masako's boot was the size of a building to them, a very tall building. Dirt clods were the size of rocks to them, and she was looking right at them. They seemed to have absolutely nowhere to go.

Her boot shifted a little, creating a small cloud of dust the came into the air, hovering over the three of them. They tried to cover their eyes as the them-sized clouds came forth and infiltrating their systems. They had to shut their eyes and cover their faces as the abnormally large dust went into their lungs, causing them a lot of pain. They were coughing when they were immediately reminded of their current situation, and current size. A voice louder than anything they had ever heard boomed down to them. Booming was really the only way to describe it. It was so loud that it felt like someone was booming and banging on their eardrums. Their bodies shook as they heard Masako's voice calling down to them, trying to make sense of what she was saying.

“Well, well, well! Look at what we have down here!” Her voice was echoing through the room, her position to them clear, as well as the fact that she knew exactly where they were. She wore a huge grin on her face, which was almost too much of a blur for them to see as they peered up at her. “I hope you'll pardon that our rug is a little dirty, but you seem to have much BIGGER problems at the moment, don't you?” That told them everything. The desert they were standing on was nothing more than a gigantic rug, and she was standing right before them.

Looking beyond hope in the situation, Hitoshi called up to Masako, looking past his fear, and hoping that she could hear him. He wasn't sure just how she would be capable of hearing someone of his size, but he had to try. There was no telling what she would do if they just stayed silent. “Makaso! You turn us back right now! You can't just go around, stealing people's sizes and expect to get away with it!” He had a certain amount of courage in his words, showing how much bravado he really had in his body. He was able to stand up to Masako, even when he was the size of an ant.

Looking past all odds, the gigantic purple-robed woman changed her expression, signaling that she had, indeed, heard what he had said. The idea that she could actually hear the words of an ant-sized person was baffling, but here it was, happening. After what just happened, they really shouldn't have been surprised at anything. “Oh, please. I intend to use the size I've taken from you to help grow my goddess out of her sub-atomic universe. You three are nothing but insects now. What do I have to worry about?”

What, indeed, but the thinker of the group, Tarou, was trying to make their situation at least a little better, trying to tell Masako what was going to happen if she just left them around, like this. “When we don't return to the academy, others will come to look for us. You cannot hope to stop each and every one of them. End this madness, now!” They were all hoping she would listen to them, though deep down, they knew what was really happening, and knew that she wasn't going to start listening to them at all. A moment later, they were proven correct, as she got that smug look on her face again.

“They will, will they? Thanks to you three, I now have enough crystals to shrink half of your precious academy! They will have too many problems to worry about you. In the meantime, though...” Her expression was changing and her body was shifting. It looked like an immense being, a Colossus, moving around, preparing it's next strike while attacking a city and talking to one of it's inhabitants. She started looking frustrated at them and started to threaten them. “Right now you have a very urgen appointment...with the bottom of my foot! I'm not going to chance you three running off and being pests for me. So, you'd best prepare to get up-close and personal with my boot!”

She was getting ready to move, and they didn't know what to do. They were the size of ants. If she was about to step on them, they had to do this the smart way. They all looked at each other, trying to brainstorm, mentally, before she started to stomp around on the rug. They had plenty of options. They could stand their ground and not move, thinking she was bluffing. They could try to dash between her feet. They could dash and make a straight B-line for the door. Or, they could randomly lunge around, hoping to narrowly miss the movements of her boots.

Hitoshi turned and chose his last option. The only way to confuse her enough to get away was to start lunging around, randomly, so she couldn't predict where they were headed. Grabbing onto his friends hands, he darted off, in a diagonal line. It wasn't long before she started moving and stomping after them. They could see the shadow shifting, and could hear air whistling, being pushed against the sides of her boot as it came down. Their adrenaline was pumping as they heard it coming closer and closer. They could see the edge of the side just in front of them and they all jumped.

A loud crashing was heard from behind them as Masako's boot came down. The world shook from beneath them and the shockwave caused by her boot had created a large torrent of wind and dust, shoving them closer to the doors to the shrine. They hit with a thud, but Hitoshi immediately got them all up and began to run again. They run and jumped from many footfalls before Masako started calling down to them. “You worthless little-...Hey! HOLD STILL!” They did anything but holding still. They were evading her thus far, luckily, and they were planning to continue to do so. They had to. They had to get out of this place.

“We need to get out of here NOW! This bitch is not messing around!” Sei's words went straight into their minds and they started darting off again, trying to avoid as many footfalls as they could, knowing that if they got hit by a single one, their life would be over. They could hear Masako's voice behind them, booming down into them and trying to slow them down. “You little worms! You get back here. You're not flat enough yet!”

After several more footfalls, they managed to get knocked back, once again, straight out the door. As they landed on the wooden entranceway, next to a gigantic mansion-like box, they got up and booked, straight for the slanted edge to get down to the ground. It was a scary ride, but they finally came down and disappeared into the grass. As they got down there, they realized that the grass was cut exceptionally short, the top of it right around where their heads were. Their shoes hit the dirt from below them, which looked like giant clods of brown and black gravel. They all took a chance to take a breath, moving to the east side of the shrine's entrance, in case Masako or the Mikos decided to come after them.

Up there, they found a shining light near a corner of the grass. Pushing the gigantic blades aside, and cutting some with their swords, as if they were in the jungle, they came to the light and felt a familiar warmth flowing into them. Their strength returned, just like when they came to one of the Crystals from before. They looked at each other and tried to assess their situation. “That...was a little bit rough. Is everyone okay?” asked Hitoshi, trying to start their conversation and not act like all hope was lost to them.

Sei and Tarou had sat themselves down, each against giant clods of dirt and grass, using them, like seats. At their size, that's what they were...seats. They could support their weight, and after getting a moment of rest, they began to talk to their warrior leader. “Just a few brushes. They're bad bruises...but just bruises. What we gotta worry about now is getting the hell out of here before all of them come out and find us.” Tarou put a little optimism with their situation and tried to think that they wouldn't be coming after them. “Unless, of course, she has deemed going after the rest of our academy as a higher priority than doing away with us.”

Hitoshi nodded and agreed with Tarou on this one. “You're right. There is no way we could have possibly outrun her. She let us go to focus on the others. I'm not sure whether I should be to be alive or pissed and frustrated that she's going after our friends and there's nothing we can do about it...” He realized that the situation was grim, and they were the size of ants. Sei, however, didn't want to give in. He wanted to fight and find a way out of this. Stammering up from his 'chair', he spoke his mind. “I'm not going to just give in and sit here, waiting to die. Dammit, there has to be something that we can do!”

Tarou saw the logic of the situation, as well as the likelihood of doing anything to do any good. “...and what did you have in mind, Sei? At this size, getting back to the academy will be next to impossible. Even if we did, there's no way we could get anyone's attention.” His words were true, but Hitoshi was thinking differently. The odds were against them, but he wanted to take action as well. “I think I'm with Sei on this. Sure, it's a long shot, but as long as we're still alive, we must do everything we can to help the academy. Tarou, will you come with us?”

Tarou let out a sigh at Hitoshi's optimism. They would have to be ready for a lot, were they to go and try to help out the other students. He couldn't argue with him, though. “Very well...Let us recuperate what strength we can and be off. I'm not sure what your plan is, Hitoshi, but if we're going to STAY alive, it had better be a good one...” The three of them then let the light around them envelop and heal their wounds, about to discover the dangers of being the size of an ant...