Joana had seen the two giants walk, just pacing back and forth for several minutes until the shorter one of the two, aka Daisy walked out of the room leaving this new giant free game on what was done to her. Although she didn’t feel comfortable with either of them at her current size, she knew for a fact that Daisy was the more sadistic one of the two. Leslie was unpredictable at this point in time. She could be the softer, gentler one of the two and actually help her get back to normal or she could actually be the worst person she could’ve possibly ran into at this size. Granted she did save her from getting impaled, but in the grand scheme of things, that might’ve just meant that she wanted to keep her alive for future experiments. Joana was beyond terrified at this point, not knowing what her future would hold.

“Ok little girl, I want to do things a little different from what Daisy was doing things with you.” Leslie said as she reached over to the glass bottle Joana was in. The tiny woman soon started screaming as she thought the worst was going to come true. Joana’s world soon tilted to the side as at the opening of the bottle, there was Leslie’s open palm. She had the worst slide experience in her life as the end of her journey downwards lead to the open palm of the scientist waiting to experiment on her more. She tried her absolute best to grab a solid hold of something that would prevent her inevitable slide downwards but to no avail. After a few seconds of sliding down, Joana ended up in Leslie’s gigantic palm, with the giant woman looking down at her with seemingly compassionate eyes, eyes that were trustworthy. Well as trustworthy as a gigantic pair of eyes were. Joana remained silent, not out of respect for whatever was going to come out of Leslie’s mouth but due to the fact she’d been screaming for almost an hour so her throat was shredded and her voice was almost beyond repair.

“So little one, my lab partner daisy says you can repair yourself from cuts. Is that right?” As innocent as she tried to seem to the tiny Joana, it wasn’t working. The small girl was still shaking out of fear, only nodding her head as confirmation to Leslie’s question. She then felt Leslie’s finger begin to comfort her by giving her a back massage. “You can relax now, little one. I’m not going to hurt you like she did. I just want to ask you a few questions. Questions you probably won’t be able to answer but I want you to try and think about these. Because Daisy will be gone for a bit and I want to get to know you before I crack whatever caused you to be like this.” Leslie’s smooth voice calmed Joana into a sense of security. Weather it was false or genuine, at this point, Joana didn’t care. She just wanted to be away from the monster that had been poking and prodding at her for the past hour or so.

Joana tried to speak as loud as she could in order for the giant Leslie to hear her small and still fractured voice. “Just don’t...hurt me...please.” That was all Joana could muster as when the small and almost insignificant voice reached Leslie’s ears.

“Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you little one. Unlike my lab partner, I actually don’t want to hurt you to get what we need. Which is to save the world from itself.” Leslie got up from her sitting position and using her free hand, pulled off both of her gray socks, kneeling over to eventually drop and squish them in the shoes she’d discarded over by the bed a few moments ago. She dropped and then proceeded to stuff one of the socks into the mouth of the shoe. And she was about to stuff the second sock into the other shoe until she noticed a whitish spot on her otherwise black shoe. The giantess raised an eyebrow and placed Joana gently on the ground by her feet. She picked up her shoe, ignoring the pungent smell that was coming out of the shoe. She extended her hand and used her long fingertips as tweezers to pick up the tiny thing. It struggled very slightly in her fingertips, but not like a bug would. It was very similar to that of her tiny thing. 

Leslie soon put the strange ‘creature’ next to where she dropped Joana, half expecting to the thing being a bug that might try to attack and kill her one ‘test subject’. But when she opened up her fingers, she was thoroughly surprised that it was indeed another tiny person, this time it was a man. Leslie opened her mouth wide open in surprise that she now had two test subjects. Granted she had no idea if this man had the same properties as the girl but she would rather not waste the opportunity to have what was basically a spare in case the girl was killed by the shear stress of the situation. 

Joana looked at John, who was more than likely used to being this small, get up so casually. She smiled and ran to him for comfort as at this point, she had no one to help her. After John was brought down to Daisy’s feet, Joana had been on her own and truth be told, it terrified her to think that her one friend at this moment was out there by himself. “John, are you alright?” She whispered, trying not to strain her voice too much. 

“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m more worried about you. This must be quite the shock isn’t it?” John then turned to see Leslie’s massive feet staring at them as both of them looked back to see their giant overlord. John got closer to Joana as Leslie waved to them, bringing her hand down to bring them up to her face. 

“Hello little one. My name is Leslie. It seems you already know my friend here.” Leslie watched as the two tiny people climb aboard her hand. “Can I get a name for the two of you? Maybe my newest ‘test subject’ can tell me what you two are doing in my room.” Leslie soon stood vertically and began to walk around the pair very slowly as she continued to look down at the only way she could achieve her and Daisy’s wildest dreams. She then picked them up and walked around the dorm with the pair in hand.

John was the only one to speak up as he could piece together the fact Joana had her voice shredded from screaming just by her body language as well the few words she spoke to her. “My name is John and this is my close friend Joana. Before we were brought down to this size, we were student of TMU, and just between us, I just want to get back to my girlfriend Gaby.” As soon as the names ‘TMU’ and “Gaby’ reached Leslie’s ears, her face began to light up with several emotions at once. First was confusion, as to what two of her fellow classmates are doing shrunk to a little less than an inch in her room. The second was anger, as that if she let her morals take over, she as well as Daisy could lose out on years of research and MONARCH could be permanently shut down. But she had to do the right thing, because she knew this Gaby that the tiny spoke of. She lived a few dorms down from where she was and she knew how much they were in love as she would see John almost every single day kissing Gaby goodbye as he left her dorm. Leslie soon developed teardrops in her eyes as she walked back over to her desk to set them down as she began to think about the future she had with these tiny people.

“That’s just great.” Leslie said as she leaned her head back on her chair in frustration. “Of all the people to be shrunk and brought into our room, it has to be two students of TMU. Especially one that’s dating a girl that is a few doors down. Great, that’s just great.” Leslie proceed to emphasize that fact that she was both frustrated and conflicted by slamming her fist down on the table, mere inches from the two terrified individuals. “Oh Daisy’s gonna kill me.” Leslie soon grabbed both John and Joana without much fuss and to begin to walk over to the door. She opened it slightly to kneel and drop the two tiny people on the tiled floor. She waited until they got up from their small but event filled journey in her hand to tell them her goodbyes. “Alright, your destination is going to be on the right side, five doors down. There, you’ll find Gaby. Hopefully. Just don’t think of coming in this room again, if you do at that size, you definitely have a death wish.” That’s all Leslie said before she shut the door, leaving the two tiny people alone in the hallway with the only one way given to them the way to Gaby’s dorm. 

Gaby watched the sorceress and her tiny man closely as they performed a ritual they claimed would be able to find the tiny John. Gaby was surprised as Marissa began to have yellow and then blue eyes as the tiny man walked away from his ‘master’. 

“Don’t worry Gaby, we’ll get your boyfriend back to you in no time. Just have faith in the Goddess and you will have John back with you in no time.” The tiny man said as he walked over to Gaby who was sitting on the floor as she watched Marissa do her magic. “My name’s Jason by the way. I’ve been with Marissa for a few months, helped her with a few things here and there. Actually, I was the first person she ever met at The Academy.” Jason was soon cut off when Marissa turned around, her spell completed. She bent over and smiled at the tiny Jason, completely ignoring Gaby for a few seconds. 

“Best watch whatever comes out of your mouth next my little Jason. Not when a human is around, you know that.” Marissa soon picked up Jason and transferred the energy she had stored in her body to give it over to Jason. “Jason is what you would call my assistant. I’ll find someway to make it up to you somehow. Maybe I’ll go to a few worlds and get you something really rare. Maybe a Filat diamond or two. I don’t know.” Before Gaby could even responded to what Marissa was saying, the pair left her room and walked out into the hallway.

“I swear, it’s like my life is a sitcom that will never end, strange characters come into my life and I’m expected to run with it.” Gaby said to herself as she stood up and laid on her bed, just wanting to take a small power nap until Marissa or her roommate returned to the room. She just had to hope and pray that it was Marissa that came through the door first rather than Illiana because she didn’t want to expose her to someone she already hates normal size. She could only imagine what she would do to John if Illaina got her hands on him. Maybe she’d throw him out a window or maybe she try and actually kill him. Eat him with one of her ramen cups or step on him like a common bug. It would give her plenty of nightmares just thinking of what kind of perails John must be facing at this very moment.

Fortunately, Marissa didn't have to go very far from the door she left to see John as well as his friend on the ground, practically begging to be saved. In fact, had Marissa not even bothered to look for them, they would’ve showed up at Gaby’s door. She just wiggled her toes while they were in her open toed sandals as sign of teasing John but also signifying that she indeed knew they were there. Marissa, no longer needing him outside, stuffed Jason back into her pocket and snatched them up from the ground. 

“Hey John, glad to see both of you are safe and sound. And my magic isn’t completely terrible.” Marissa said as she walked over to a secluded area nearby that would guarantee the fact that what she would be doing wouldn’t be considered ‘normal’ by any measure. “Ok you two, who wants to grow back to normal? I know you may not trust me at all after that’s happened but my master showed me the proper way to grow a human back to normal. I promise this will work.” Marissa soon set both of them on the ground by her feet. She noticed Joana begin flailing her arms side to side. Marissa took note and picked her up once more to her ear.

As loud as she possibly could, Joana spoke to the massive sorreress. “Get me back to normal and keep him at his size. Don’t worry, I’ll give him to Gaby safe and sound.” Joana didn’t have to use any of her vast tricks or lies to deceive the giant Marissa any further. All she needed was to get back to normal size and her plan for John would be smooth sailing for her. 

“Alright, just one regrowing spell. Alright. I can do that. Pretty simple.” Marissa closed her eyes and focused on bringing her tiny female friend back to her normal height. All Haley told her was to imagine the intended target back at their original height before she shrunk or grew them in size. And after almost a century of working with all these spells, Haley almost forgot how to perform the act of growing someone back to normal height as she could just do it in the flick of the of a wrist. But for Marissa, she had to it the old fashioned way of concentrating on the target. Marissa’s stomach started glow once more the longer she focused, surprising the two tiny people on the ground as Marissa let out a sigh and then Joana began to glow as well, this time a much brighter color than what the sorceress's stomach was glowing. And then a bright pulse was let out by Marissa’s body, filling the room they were in and spreading across the hallway. The pulse’s bright light blinded the tiny John for the briefest of seconds, making him fall over to the ground and onto his knees. When he opened them a few seconds later, he was now face to sole with the all too familiar shoe that easily out classed him in size. John looked up and Joana stretching her body left to right, getting her body loose after being cramped for a few hours now. 

“There we go. Thank you Marissa.” Joana said calmly, her voice fully regained as she reached down for the tiny John. Not gentle like the other girls before hand, no. When Joana grabbed the tiny man from the ground, she squeezed him in a fist. Had he not been protected, Joana might’ve actually broken more than a few bones. “Thanks for the help Marissa. You can go back to your little house with your master or whatever. I can deliver the tiny John to Gaby from here.” With that, Joana with John in her hand left the room with little resistance on Marissa’s part. She just sighed and leaned on the wall until she sat down on the ground. With her one mission for the day done, she was just about to teleport her way out of the college campus until she noticed something on the ground. A small red stain that made it obvious, at least for the girl as to what it was. She reached over and dipped her finger in the smaller than an inch wide puddle of blood. Bringing her finger back to her face confirmed her small suspensions. The pulse wasn’t a normal pulse that she would naturally let out when she casted spells like growth spells. 

It was a shrinking pulse that reacted with at the very least, the DNA of at the very least a couple dozen and at most several hundred people spread across the already massive campus. Marissa leaned her head back on the wall. She knew the shrinking pulse would only affect a small percentage of the population at the very least on campus but those unfortunate enough to be shrunk wouldn’t have the kind of protection John has currently and Joana had moments prior. They get stepped on and they’re finished. Marissa regretted her actions once more and she knew she couldn’t be able to save them all, no matter what spell she used. Maybe she could save a few students by teleporting them to a safe place but the rest will have to fend for themselves until Marissa could convince Haley to reverse this nightmare of a situation. 

She then closed her eyes and tried to send out another pulse from her stomach, similar to the one that caused the first shrink wave. Trying to get as many tiny people over to her so she could help them. When she finally stopped concentrating, due to pain and lack of energy, she opened her eyes to see five terrified individuals near her feet. Without saying a word to them, she grabbed them all to then teleport her way out of the situation.

“What do you mean you lost her? How the hell do you lose a girl that was a fraction of your size?” Daisy yelled to Leslie as the girls scrambled to figure out what they logged about Joana’s time with them. “Leslie, when the fate of the world is at stake, you can’t lose track of our prized test subject! For god's sake!” 

“I’m sorry but what were you doing with her before I got here? You were going to kill her!” Leslie yelled back to Daisy as she slammed her foot down on the ground, feeling a wet crunch underneath her bare foot. Lifting her foot up, she saw a red stain on the ball and her jaw dropped as she looked down near her feet to see a few shrunken people begging to be found. Leslie smiled as she signaled Daisy to look down as well. This time, Leslie wasn’t going to let her morals get in the way of saving the world. “Remember what we said when we made MONARCH, Daisy. If you want to save the world-“

“You have to break a few eggs.”

End of Act 1