Back in the house Marie layed stretched out on the couch, her head propped up on pillows at one end and her feet up at the other. She marveled at the fact that she was the only one left in the competition who could do this—only one other person would take up even half the couch, anyone else just a small fraction.

Marie knew that Betty had told everyone to exersize their muscles, but Marie felt a little tired. She thought about going outside and running, perhaps, or tossing a ball to herself. But then she thought about Carla and what she would do with her—keep her in her side pocket to flop around as she exersized? No, that wouldn’t do, and Marie certianly wasn’t leaving Carla alone. Not just because Carla could get hurt, but also because Carla could not be trusted.

Carla herself was laying on Marie’s covered chest. Marie didn’t mind and in fact she had put the tiny girl there because it was the softest part of her body. Carla was not so angry anymore—there was a certain comfort the breast gave to her and she rested on it peacefully, enjoying the up-and-down motion of Marie’s breathing.

Both women suspected that current size would no longer be relevent after the next competition. After all, how could you have any kind of practical physical competition where each of the players was a drastically different size? The whole situation with Marie as the coddelling mother and Carla as the troublemaking child would be ending soon, and they both knew it.

Vera had been exersizing in her room when she heard a quiet knock on the door. Wondering who it was she moved over to answer it when she saw a piece of paper slip in through the opening under the door. Someone was sending her a message—most odd, but she decided to read it:

Vera-

How are you doing? I’m holding up back here at the compound. Strange things happen here but nothing I can’t handel, I’ll have some interesting stories to tell when this is all over. I know you can win, baby, so stay strong!

Love,

Paul

Vera’s heart lept at reading those words. The paper looked like it had been enlarged because of the texture, and the untidy scrawl made it look like the usually unscrupulous Paul had written it in a bit of a hurry. Still, the message was heartfelt and too the point. Paul was such a great man, and Vera felt good to have him, even if he was in the custody of Betty and likely subjected to odd sexual play if the rumours were true, and everone tended to think that they were.

Vera thought about Paul, where he was now and what he was doing. He was probably knee-high to her, back there with Andy, Dale, and Hailey. What they were doing was anyone’s guess. Hopefully Betty left Paul alone and was spending more time with the willing Andy, but Vera dowbted it.

Paul had been eliminated first—Vera thought it was terribly unfair, but did not fault Marie for it. She had been cold to Marie for a while but the way Marie had treated her when she was four inches tall was very kind, even unneccissarily kind. Marie made the best Queen out of any of them and Vera found herself wondering how she ever found herself in alliance with Hailey before. Vera hoped that Paul was avoiding Hailey wherever he was as well.

This resolve fired up Vera to win—she knew she could do it. When all the sizes were equal she was the strongest, the fastest of all those remaining. She had to win, and not only for her own pride, but for Paul as well. If she won she would split the money with him, she didn’t care. She could buy a bigger house and take a nice vacation.

But the thought of the real world seemed a million miles away. Now she had to contend with the reality of being a foot and a half tall in a room in an isolated Southern California studio. It was strange to think of this as the reality and the real world as the “other”, so to speek. Though it had been just over a week, Vera felt as though she had been at the compound for a lifetime. The shrinking sure played with you psychologically. Vera dowbted that while she would never forget about this place after she left, she would also have a very hard time convincing herself she was ever here in the first place.

Jerry was alone reading in his room. For a while he was half-expecting Sherri to join him, since she had an odd penchant for turning up at odd times all over the house, but it became clear after a few minutes that she had other things to do back up at the compound. Being half-sized wasn’t bad at all, expecially after some of the smaller sizes he had experianced before.

He figured that he would do some stretches or something before the next competition. He had never been the most athletic person but he felt he had a little spark in him today, that he might be able to do whatever task Betty had ahead of him. He thought about everything physical they had done thus far and anything from the previos season. He and the others would probably all end up being four inches tall again, and one of them would be eliminated. Vera was certianly the most athletic of them all, and Carla and Marie were certianly still more athletic than him. His best hope was that he would get lucky, or at least one of the others would have a bad day.

As he turned the page of his book he felt something touch him. He looked over to his left side and there was little four-inch Sherri standing next to him.

“Well you’re quite the sneeky one!” Jerry said, picking up the woman who was an eigth of his height and hugging her to him. “How do you get around so stealthily?”

“I could tell you, but I’d have to eat you!” Sherri said from his shoulder.

“Eat me?” Jerry asked.

“It sounds more sexy than ‘kill you’,” Sherri said. “Little Jerry, going down my throat.” She traced her throat downward with her finger.

“Ah yes,” Jerry said. “Disintegration and suffocation in a pit of acid is definitely much preferred to normal methods of execution.”

“Of course,” Sherri said. “So what have you been doing?”

“Just reading,” Jerry said. “How about you?”

“Remember, me swallow you.” Sherri said, grinning.

“Right, right,” Jerry said, rolling his eyes. “Still no hints or favoritism I see, what good is this fling?” He asked jokingly.

“Well, if that’s how you feel about it, maybe I’ll just leave!” Sherri raised a mock pouting tone and slipped out of Jerry’s arm and strutted off for a couple feet before turning around.

“Or,” Sherri said, “I can get my revenge!” There was a flash of light and suddenly Jerry found himself sixteenth-size again, his matress-sized book laying next to him.

“Ah, hey! I won that size fair and square!” Jerry complained as Sherri ran back over to him.

“It’s hard to do this at different sizes!” Sherri said, and threw her arms around Jerry giving him a long, wet kiss.

“We could have done it at my old size!” Jerry said.

“Yeah, well this size is more fun,” Sherri said. “Come on!” Sherri pulled Jerry along to the center of the room where there was nothing but wide open floor.

“What are we doing here?” Jerry asked.

“You want me to show you favoritism, don’t you?” Sherri said. “Well, I can get you ready for the competition by getting you warmed up. So go long, and let’s play ball!”

Sherri pulled out a small ball she had been keeping in her side pocket and tossed it towards Jerry. He tried to catch it but missed—the ball went tumbelling towards the wall and he went running after it.

They would continue playing ball for a while until Jerry started gettting a little tired. They then noticed that five o’clock was approaching.

“I thought the point was to warm me up, not wear me out!” Jerry said, wiping off the sweat with a towel.

“You’ll be fine.” Sherri said. “Just drink a little water and you’ll last through the competition.”

“You’re making it sound tough,” Jerry said. “You’re getting me worried.”

“I do have one last thing for you,” Sherri said, kissing him. “Are you ready?”

Sherri was taking a few steps back. Jerry looked at her puzzled, “All right,” He said in an unsure voice. There was a flash and suddenly Jerry was looking at Sherri’s toes—she had become full-sized.

Sherri scooped up Jerry and held him up to her face. “Hey, no fair, why do you get the size now?” Jerry said.

“Hey, no contradicting the giantess!” Sherri said, swatting Jerry playfully on the butt with her middle finger and causing him to tumble over in her hand. “This will help you, so take off your clothes.”

“Ah, so the human insertion game is supposed to help me?” Jerry joked, removing his clothes.

“Watch it!” Sherri said, waving a pointing finger. “No, that’s not what it is. Trust me, this will help.”

Now that Jerry was naked Sherri sat down on the bed and put Jerry on her lap. She put him face down and spread out his limbs. She then began rubbing parts of his body gently between two fingers, loostening the muscles.

“Now, can you say this isn’t helping?” Sherri asked.

“Yes, that feels nice,” Jerry said.

“It’s helping your muscles too.” Sherri said. Since Jerry was so small it only took a minute to finish the massage, and when it was done she held him up in front of her.

“Feeling a little looser now?” She asked.

“Yeah,” Said Jerry. “Thanks, Sherri!”

“And maybe we can play that ‘human insertion game’ later,” Sherri said, grinning wickedly at Jerry.

“Maybe,” Jerry said.

“For now, just hug my breast for good luck.” Sherri said. She reached Jerry into her shirt and under her bra. She felt his little body hug her right breast, and she even felt his little lips kiss her nipple. Sherri pulled him out and put him back on the bed.

“Well, get dressed and I’ll re-enlarge you,” Sherri said. “The competition’s starting soon and I have faith in you.”

Back in the living room Marie was sitting up with her feet on the living room table. Also on that table was Carla, who had gotten tired of sitting around and was now jogging. She had crawled across Marie’s leg like a downed tree trunk over a small ravine to the table and was now jogging.

“Come on,” Carla said, smacking the underside of Marie’s foot as she passed on yet another lap. “You know you want to join me, just go ask Sherri to make you sixteenth-sized like me!”

“No thanks, I think I like this size better,” Marie said as she watched Carla make another lap. Marie was now regretting not doing more with her afternoon, but because of watching Carla and the other two keeping to themselves, there were not that many options. She supposed she could have run outside and left Carla to herself—realisticly, there’s not much trouble such a tiny girl could get into on her own.

Marie heard a door open and turned to look. By now it was almost second nature to look lower to the ground because everyone else was bound to be so small. It was Vera, quarter-sized, walking towards the kitchen. She was dressed in an athletic top and shorts.

“How are you doing, Vera?” Marie asked.

“Doing well, thanks,” Came Vera’s suprisingly chearful response. “You ready for the competition?”

“I guess.” Marie shrugged, taking her feet off the table and getting up. “We don’t know what it’s going to be, though.”

“I figured to just be ready for anything,” Vera said.

“Sounds good.” Marie said.

A moment later another door opened and half-size Jerry entered, followed by a half-sized Sherri that Marie swore had not entered the house anytime durring the last few hours. Jerry looked pretty active and was even swinging his arms a little.

“So is everyone ready?” Sherri asked.

“Born ready,” Vera said, boldly looking up to the two new arrivals twice her size.

“Nice spunk!” Sherri said. “Well, only a few more minutes now.”

As the last few minutes before five o’clock ticked away Marie regretted more not being more warmed up seeing how energetic Vera, Jerry, and Carla all were. Marie knew at this moment she had more mass than everyone else in the room put together and more strength as well, and she had led that lure her into a false sense of complaciency. Ah, that is the curse of the Queen.

This had been one of the best afternoons yet for little Andy.

He spent hours upon hours not straying further than an inch from Betty’s warm giantess flesh. After his brush with death at Betty’s hands, she seemed to be using him so casually it was almost as if he was not a person at all. This kind of treatment just drove him up the wall with arousal. For what seemed like ages Betty was gently rubbing him against her vagina as she read a book, or watched TV, or even just layed there and daydreamed.

Andy had traveled other places as well. He had been on both Betty’s breasts for a considerable amount of time. He had been all over her stomach, her legs, even in her hair. He had been on her butt cheecks and her back, and he even cleaned each one of her toes. His few hours of servitude to the great giantess hostess was out of this world.

Finally Betty decided to turn up the heat and get herself off, regardless of the physical toll this would take on Andy. She inserted him into herself forcefully headfirst and pulled him up and down, Andy almost suffocating on the juices that were filling his nostrils, but loving every minute of it.

After this final sexual act Andy was allowed to rest on Betty’s breast. He could not help thinking about how much he loved this afternoon and would love to be Betty’s sex slave for the rest of his life. This was certianly the way to live.

Andy was dissapointed, then, to hear the next words. “You’d better get some clothes on,” Said Betty. “The next competition is in a few minutes, and you’ll watch from the dollhouse like the rest of the eliminated.”

The tiny mad grudgingly put his clothes back on as Betty went into her closet to pick out what Andy thought was a very sexy outfit that she would wear when doing her hosting duties. Once they were both dressed Betty picked up Andy and carried him along down the corridor to the room with the dollhouse.

Betty entered the dollhouse room and looked into it. Dale was sitting in one of the bedrooms alone and Hailey and Paul were sitting at the kitchen table. Betty knew Tom was there too—when she was masturbating herself with Andy she was watching Sherri’s little orgy on the monitor. She was proud of Sherri, she was doing a very good job of things. After the competition, of course, it would be time for Betty to re-assert herself as boss.

“Hey guys,” Betty said. The three of them had heard her come in and were now all looking towards her. They probably feared it was time for another sexing, that is unless they had been watching the time, in which they would know it was nearly time for another competition.

“I have the last guy eliminated here for you,” Betty said, placing Andy on the lip of the table. “The next competition is going to start in a few minutes and you can watch it on the little closed-circuit loop here. All five of you, that is.”

The three men looked confusedly around. The five of them? There were only four eliminated contestants here. Hailey, however, looked a little embarrassed.

“Hailey, there’s something in your pants for us isn’t there?” Betty teased. Guiltily, Hailey reached into the front of her pants and withdrew quarter-inch Tom from inside her vagina. Andy, Paul, and Dale all gasped in shock. Paul and Dale had not seen Tom before durring the little orgy before, and ever since Sherri left Tom had been with Hailey. All three of them had never expected to see someone so small.

“Sorry,” Said Hailey, shrugging apologetically.

“There’s nothing to be sorry for,” Betty said. “You’re doing well. Now if you don’t mind, place Tom on the floor so I can enlarge him to your size.”

Hailey did as she was told, placing the microscopic sticky Tom onto the floor. There was a small flash and Tom was once again standing at four inches tall, naked, and covered from head to toe in Hailey’s secretions.

“Very good.” Betty said. “I’ll be back in a bit with a new person for us, and then I’ll introduce you guys to Room 215.”

With a wink, Betty turned to leave. Hailey stood there awkwardly next to Tom, who was her size and covered in her vaginal fluids. Hailey’s own odor was coming off Tom so thickly it was overpowering her—she simply could not believe she was standing so close to that much of her own juice.

Hailey had spent what seemed like an eternity trying different sexual experements with Tom. Certianly Hailey had been more gental than Betty or Carla, but she was far more curious and it made for the encounter to be even more weird. It was strange enough to be put entirely into a woman’s vagina, it was even stranger to think he was inside the vagina of a woman who was small enough to be put into a full-sized woman’s vagina. Life here certianly was strange.

“Oh my god, you’re that guy from the first season!” Andy said, walking up to Tom with an astonished expression on his face. “Is it true what Betty said that you’ve been here since the first season?”

“No,” Said Tom, a very definite tone to her voice. “Sorry to dissapoint you, bud, but everyone goes home when the game’s done. No shrinky-dink fun for you after.”

“Oh,” Said Andy, not able to hide his dissapointment.

“You think you’re the little-man expert,” Tom said, a sound of triumphant joking in his voice, “How many vaginas have you been inside?”

“Um…two,” Andy answered. It was true, both Betty and Marie.

“Try five,” Tom said, grinning at Andy in a slightly condescending way. “Though there’s three more ladies here, you might tie me before the game is done.” He shot a sideways glance at Hailey, then strode off to get cleaned up before the competition.

Andy and Hailey looked at each other awkwardly for a moment. Then they both looked away.

“Do you know what Room 215 is?” Andy asked.

“I have no idea,” Hailey said. “But I have the feeling we’re all going to end up naked and sticky again.”

The idea excited Andy, and he could not help but grinning. He noticed that Paul and Dale were standing nearby, Dale with a very angry look on his face.

“Hey,” Andy said, looking at Dale. “What’s up?”

“I think he’s wordlessly saying that he’s going to beat the snot out of you if you keep acting like you enjoy this shrinking crap,” Paul said, striding forward and grabbing Andy by the shoulder. “But you’re okay by me, and I don’t think he’s going to do anything.”

“What’s wrong with him?” Andy asked, because Dale was still staring at him, not moving, talking, or blinking.

“Ah, well each of us went through ‘The Betty’ before coming here,” Paul said. “Dale’s the only one to come out of ‘The Betty’ looking like that, so go figure. Turns out he has no balls.”

Chuckelling, Paul walked away. Andy looked from Hailey to Dale, not sure what to say. Finally Dale gave one last look of loathing at them and turned away, trudging back to another room to be alone.

“Well,” Hailey said after another awkward pause, “Betty left some popcorn for us in the kitchen. Let’s pop it and watch the competition.”

When five o’clock came there was a sharp knock at the front door of the contestant's house, right on schedual as usual. Marie, Carla in hand, opened the door and sure enough Betty was standing there in front of them.

“Good to see everyone.” Betty said, looking from full-sized Marie to tiny Carla, to Sherri and Jerry standing waste-high to Marie and knee high Vera, lowest to the ground of all of them. “Are you ready for the competition?”

“Ready as I’m going to get,” Jerry said.

“Well, I appreciate an honest answer,” Betty said. “Follow me up to the building, there must be no delay.”

The small troop of contestants and Sherri followed the hostess up the path to the compound’s back door where they entered the room too familiar to everyone involved. They almost didn’t notice the flash for Sherri as the grew back to full-sized just outside the compound foor after everyone else had entered. This made Vera in particular feel very small looking at three pairs of knees, but she told herself not to let her resolve weaken.

“This game will involve all four of you, so there is no immunity for the Queen this time,” Betty said, grinning at Marie.

“I figured as much,” Marie said.

“Furthermore,” Betty continued, “All four of you must be one-sixteenth size in order to play this game, so Marie, please put Carla down on the floor.”

Marie felt a tingling sense of nervousness as she put down her tiny rival on the ground a foot in front of her. Marie knew as soon as her fingers were no longer in contact with Carla that this was likely the last time she would be picking up the much smaller girl in this fashion—in just a moment they would be of equal size, and it was dowbtful this arrangement would ever come to pass again.

“Okay, shrinking time!” Betty said, smiling widely. There was a great flash and a second later all four contestants were just four inches tall.

To Vera this was a flashback to the maise game—she remembered how alert she was for that and knew that she had to keep up that kind of focus now. Jerry had been this size several times since that game, each time with Sherri.

Marie, however, was the last contestant to have never experianced this size. She had been all the way down to one eighth-size on two occasions before but she had never been this small. She was astounded at how gigantic Betty and Sherri were, how their legs stretched like great ivory pillars and how their bodies appeared like collossuses.

“Okay,” Betty said. “I grab two and you grab two and we’ll make our way into the competition room!”

Betty reached forward and picked up Jerry and Carla. Sherri followed lifting Marie and Vera, Marie amazed and definitely intimidated at how easily she could be carried in the palm of Sherri’s hand. The hostesses with their tiny contestants passed through the narow hallway that bypassed the shrinking booth and emerged in the next room where contestants usually waited while they came to terms with their new size.

But this time the room was not empty. Of all things there was a table tennis table right in the center of the room. On it lay two table tennis rackets and a ball. It was not a usual table tennis ball, but a small rubber ball that looked to be very light. None of the contestants liked what they saw…were they going to be put in the line of fire?

“We are going to be playing a little table tennis,” Said Betty as the two women diposited the contestants on the table. “Or rather, Sherri and I will be playing table tennis and you four will be playing tennis on the table.”

Betty reached into her pocket and withdrew four shrunken tennis rackets. She put them on the table and the nervous contestants each walked over and picked up one. They looked at each other with brief nervous glances.

“The game is quite simple,” Betty said. “Sherri and I will play ping-pong across the table with these little rubber balls. We will be trying for a consistant volley—the job of each of you is to try to intercept the volley and send it over the net. Each time you do this you will earn a point. However, if you hit the ball and it does not make it over the net for some reason you will loose a point. Understood?”

The four of them nodded. It was almost as if two games were being played at the same time.

“We will divide into teams based on the flip of this coin,” Betty said, pulling a dollar coin out of her pocket. “We’ll start with Carla. Call it, Sherri,”

Betty tosssed the coin in the air. “Heads!” Sherri said. Betty caught the coin and flipped it over to see the result.

“Heads.” Said Betty. “Carla, you’re on Sherri’s side. Next, we’ll flip for Jerry. Call it, Sherri,”

“Tails,” Sherri said. Betty flipped and caught the coin again.

“Tails it is.” Betty said. “Jerry, go join Carla on Sherri’s side. Marie and Vera, you’re with me.”

Carla and Jerry climbed over the net to stand on the other side while Marie and Vera spread out on their side of the table. No one was quite sure to stand, and the pressure certianly came on when Sherri and Betty took their sides on either side of the table, their bodies towering and dominating over the tiny contestants. Fire would be coming from both sides. The contestants generally found their way to the center of their respective halves about two-thirds of the way up to the net.

“I’ll serve first,” Betty said, holding up the ball. Marie was turning her head backwards and forwards, trying to catch a glimpse of Betty’s serve which was coming from behind her. It felt like Betty was keeping her in suspense, when suddenly Betty made a fast and abrupt serve.

Marie screamed and ducked even though the ball was several inches to her left. The ball bounced on Betty’s side of the table and went cleanly over the next. It bounced once again on Sherri’s side before Sherri hit it back. The ball bounced several times through the middle between the contestants before anyone dared approach it.

Jerry, who was across from Marie, decided to make his move. He waited until he saw the ball whiz by him towards Betty before he moved to the middle. The ball was coming nearly at him so he took a good wack at it. While light, the ball was slightly heavier than he had expected. Still, it went over and bounced more calmly on the other side.

“A point for Jerry!” Betty said. Betty went to hit the ball but before she could Vera took the opportunity to run over and wack it with such a swing that there was little dowbt that Vera played tennis independently. Vera’s hit put the ball over the net and in perfect position for Jerry to hit it again. This time went over Vera’s head and Betty had to hit it to keep it going.

After a few more volleys Jerry was ready to hit it again, but right before he did he felt a whole body slam into his as Carla took the shot from him. He was a bit stunned for a moment, but then realised after seeing the way Carla handeled the maze competition that he should have known to expect less than clean play from the strong girl.

Carla’s hit sent the ball over and straight for Marie. With a little scream of fright Marie took a wild swing at the ball. Unfortuanitely it was far too level and the ball went into the net, putting Marie a point into the hole. Betty took the ball from the net and served it again.

The volley progressed for a little while as Vera scored two more points and Carla scored one. Carla was certianly becoming more and more aggressive, and not always to her benefit. Vera, on the other hand, was running the board because Marie was too scared to run after any balls beyond that first one.

Finally Jerry thought he was going to get a good swing in but right as he was about to make contact Carla colided with him once again, sending the shot into the net. Jerry swore loudly but Betty said, “That still counts.” Jerry was back to zero.

As the volley continued Jerry began to feel more and more strongly that the situation was unfair. Vera was dominating her side because Marie wasn’t even participating, whereas Carla was so aggressive that she prevented any chance he had of scoring again. A bit of a game evener came when Vera missed a close shot putting her back down to two points.

Marie was also getting angry, but this time at herself. The balls were whizzing by over her head and she knew she ought to take a wack at one, but it was just too scary. All she could think about was the ball hitting her and throwing her across the table. But she knew she had to do it if she wanted to have a prayer of not being eliminated. She swallowed, inhaled deeply, and waited. As luck would have it a ball was coming directly into her corner. Marie swung at it, hit it, and the ball went up and over the net.

Marie cheered, she was now at least tied with Jerry! But the joy only lasted for a second, as Jerry caught Marie’s ball far before Carla could get to it and sent it back over the net. Vera rebounded Jerry’s hit which went over the net and came towards Carla. Carla swung at it and hit it, but the ball didn’t clear the net. Carla threw her racket down and swore loudly.

“Okay,” Betty said, “Time for our first rotation. Jerry, join my side, Vera, go over to Sherri.”

The two competitors eyed each other as they crossed over the net in opposite directions. Jerry was happy about this—he was now on the same side as Marie, which would make things much easier for him. Vera, however, was now stuck with Carla. The memory of the maze hung on each of their minds and they shot each other an unpleasent look before play began.

Betty served the ball and Vera and Carla both ran towards it, but it moved too quickly for either of them to hit. Sherri hit it back, but it went evenly between Jerry and Marie for either to hit. Vera and Carla both came to the center of the net, elbowing each other, because that’s where they figured the ball was heading. It did, and they both reached for it but Carla’s racket touched it first, sending the ball over and towards Marie. Marie swung at it, and for the second time she made a successful hit.

Now the pressure was on. The ball landed far on Carla’s side and she wasn’t able to get to it. Sherri sent the ball flying back over. Jerry knew that it was going to be long, so he ran backwards and swung at it while it was coming at him. He sent the ball flying right over to the place where Vera and Carla were fighting for it. Vera made a swing for it and so did Carla. Carla’s racket clipped Vera’s and this was enough to cause the ball to fly into the net, loosing Vera a point and putting her even with Carla and Jerry and a point ahead of Marie. Vera growled in frustration.

Jerry tried to recover the ball but he too could not get it over the net. Now he was tied for last with Marie, but Marie ran up and hit the rebound of the net up and over, putting her ahead of him! Marie was really starting to find her game.

Vera was able to recover her lead by sending the ball over. It landed between Jerry and Marie and this time both of them ran for it. Jerry managed to put it over, sending him to tie with Marie and Carla just behind Vera.

The ball was clearly on Vera’s side, but in Carla’s attempt to keep it from her she lunged at Vera, trying to swing in front of her racket. The jump was badly aimed and Carla landed heavily on Vera sending both women sprawling. While this happened Carla’s racket tipped the ball but did not send it over, sending her to last place.

“Fuck!” Shouted Carla as she got up and walked away from Vera. Sherri grabbed the ball and prepared to serve it again. Vera stood up and threw her racket to the ground and started marching towards Carla, enraged enough to start a fight.

“Okay, it’s time for our second rotation!” Betty interjected before any fight can be started. “Carla, you’re on my side and Jerry you’re back with Vera.”

Perhaps happy to get away from a fight that she would likely loose if allowed to continue, Carla quickly hopped the net to stand next to Marie. Jerry climbed over to stand next to Vera, the best player and most competitive of them all. Vera, cooling down enough to know a fight would not be wise, went back and picked up her racket.

Sherri served the ball and Carla got a clean shot at it, making up for the point she had just lost and tying for second place. Vera got the rebound and cemented her lead with another point. This time Carla could not reach it and Betty had to continue the volley.

Vera scored two more points as she surged further and further in the lead, making it pretty much certain that she would not be the one eliminated. Also, Carla and Marie each got one in on their side, putting them each ahead of Jerry. This made him nervous because he had no idea when Betty was going to call time. If she did so now, he would be out and that would be that.

The ball was coming at him again. Surely this time he would be able to hit it…but no! Vera outmaneuvered him and hit it over yet again, putting herself four points ahead of everyone else. The ball was coming right for Marie and she seemed to be aiming squarely at it, but Carla lept at a contestant once again, not only knocking Marie’s aim off with her racket but knocking Marie’s racket clear out of her hands, but not before that racket hit the ball into the net. Marie and Jerry were now tied for last place.

Betty served the ball again while Marie scrambled to recover her racket, throwing a shocked and hurt expression at Carla. Carla was not paying any mind, just keeping her eye on the game. Sherri and Betty exchanged a few vollies before Vera scored yet another incredible point. Carla hit the rebound and put her two points ahead of Jerry and Marie, and this time the ball was coming straight at Jerry. Vera was too far away, this was all his! He hit it strongly and it flew over the net and clear over the heads of Carla and Marie. Instead of hitting the ball back Betty caught it and said, “Time!”

“The final score is: Vera with eight, Carla with four, Jerry with three, and Marie with two,” Betty said. “Marie, I’m sorry but you are eliminated.”

Marie hung her head and sighed. She had not felt optomistic about this game, but after a few successful hits thought she really had a chance. Maybe without Carla’s interference she might have survived. Then again, Carla was rough with each of them.

Carla and Jerry were both relieved to have gotten though, both having been last for short periods and fearing the worst. Carla didn’t feel bad about the kind of game she played. She was an aggressive person by nature, and if Betty didn’t like that she would have said something. She used her aggressiveness to her advantage and came in second.

Vera felt vindicated and victorious, knowing all along that she had the best chance of winning. A smile on her face, she walked over to shake Jerry’s hand. “We move on,” Vera said simply.

“Congradulations to the three finalists,” Betty said. “You now will have a shot at the grand prize, because the final competition begins right away. Sherri, take Marie upstairs and wait for me.”

With a pitying look on her face, Sherri gently scooped up the dissapointed Marie, who now even had a couple of tears in her eye, and exited the room. Now it was only Carla, Jerry, and Vera. The three of them were on an even playing field and they were the only ones left with a shot at the gold.

“You might remember last year’s competition was to survive the night outdoors,” Betty said to the three tiny people. “Well, this competition will have a similar theme, but will be much, much harder. I will put the three of you out in a piece of the desert over a mile from the compound, and it is up to you to find your way back.”

Vera’s jaw dropped. Being four and a half inches tall outside the protected walls of the compound? Anything could happen out in the desert! There were snakes, rats, all kinds of spiders…never mind that it wasn’t certain there were no other people out there! She had been held together by the resolve that once the competition was done she would go away unharmed, but that certianly wouldn’t happen if someone found a four-and-a-half inch girl wandering around the desert and picked her up!

A look to the faces of the other contestants showed that they had similar feelings. The color had drained out of Carla’s face and it almost looked as though she would have accepted the loss and enjoyed a nice evening orgy instead. Jerry had been outside the compound shrunk before, but that was only under the protection of Sherri.

“You might think this is dangerous, and you would be right in thinking that,” Betty said. “That is why we will be monitoring your condition at all times and we will come out if you need any help. Also, Vera, since you were the winner you receive this.”

Betty pulled something out of her pocket and handed it to Vera. It looked like a large backpack with several roles of tarp sticking out the back. Vera took it and put it on her back, and found it suprisingly less heavy than it looked.

“In this bag are three tents as well as some small rations.” Betty said. “You are in charge of them and may distribute them in any way you like. If you get tired of carrying it and give it to someone else, however, it will be up to them how to use it.”

Vera nodded. She figured with her strength and stamina there should be no need to pass it off onto Carla or Jerry.

“Lastly, you will each receive these,” Betty said, pulling out small radio devices that could clip on the contestant’s tiny wastes. “This is a communications beacon. If for any reason any of you wants to quit, just press and hold down the center button. It will blink red for five seconds before turning a solid red. When it is solid red one of us will come out to get you.”

“And to make it harder for you to stick it through, there is added inscentive. If you decide to drop out early you will receive a hot bath, and furthermore you will be allowed to remain full-sized until the end of the competition.” Betty said. The contestants looked at each other, Vera and Carla in particular. Each of them was masking their expressions so there was no way the other could tell what they were thinking.

“That’s it,” Betty said. “Now I am going to put you three in this small container,” Betty brought up a small black rectangular box from under the table. It was lower than they were tall—the only way the constants would be able to fit was by sitting.

Betty placed the container down on the table and opened a small door in the top of the box. The inside was like a mirky tomb and none of the three wanted to venture inside. However, Betty, thoroughly enjoying this and sporting a smile, said, “Come on in, you don’t want me to have to make you!”

The three of them walked timidly forward, eyeing the box. None of them wanted to be the first one in the box, but they also didn’t want to hang around too long. Finally, Carla climbed up over the edge and lowered herself into the box, settling herself on the left side. Vera followed, entering the box and sitting all the way to the right. There was nothing for it for Jerry to take the middle seat and separate the enemies.

Even with the lid still open the box was extremely dark. It was as black inside as it was outside and the walls let in no light. They crammed their faces closer together to look out at the main sight that was Betty’s face, shining in the electric light and smiling down at them.

“Once I set you down the box will release you in one minute.” Betty said. “You may start heading towards the house in any way you like. You may stay together or travel seperately, I do not care. But now that you are locked in I must tell you your final goal. You must re-enter the house and enter the victory cup. It is a large cup, relatively speeking, and you will find it quite easily if and when you manage to re-enter.”

The three of them tried to remember all this with their nervous minds. Enter the house and find the victory cup. Sounded easy enough. Getting there was going to be the problem.

“With no further ado, I’d like to get this competition started,” Betty said. “So I’ll see you on the other side!”