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Art/OC jm0364

Hide and Shrink

“So… the bank is now a giant trifle.”

Vibes had hoped it was a dream. That was the problem with being a psychic, you could never be a hundred per cent sure what was a vision, a dream or some half remembered TV episode you fell asleep to.

Cautiously, she, Sal and Guillermo motioned toward what used to be the bank. As they came closer they started to hear some strange, ominous giggling.

As they walked into the bank, they saw the customers all lying on the floor, albeit they were all dressed in mascot costumes, next to what were presumably bank robbers dressed in stereotypical black and white striped tops, tied up with what appeared to be thick red rope liquorice.

“Umm… what’s going on here?”

Suddenly the three heroes were surrounded by pink smoke, the giggling now taking a deep, ominous tone.

“FEAR ME FOOLISH MORTALS, GAZE UPON THE AWESOME POWER FROM BEYOND THE FIFTH DIMENSION!”

As the pink smoke cleared, what remained was a small girl. Or at least, what appeared to be a small girl from a 50’s comic, with her ginger hair, freckles and cheeky grin. But this was also coupled with outsized gloves and shoes.

“Who are you?”

The giggling stopped. “Hi, pleased to meet you, I’m Mildred Myx, but my friends call me Millie.”

Sal tried to stay calm. “Okay…Millie…why exactly did you turn the bank into a trifle?”

Millie snorted. “Take a look around you, love! These silly people were pointing guns at people just to get at bits of paper…and they call me crazy!”

Vibes knew that look on Sal’s face. This was her acting like the big sister. “Now Millie, I’m sure you meant well, but we need this place to be returned to normal.”

Millie laughed. “Normal? I’m talking to a blond fox in a…interesting costume choice.”

Sal’s hands twitched, resisting the urge to go for her pole, desperate to remain calm.

“Well…Millie…it’s our job to protect everyone here, so it would nice if you could…”

“BORING!” dismissed Millie. She snapped her fingers, wrecking balls appearing from nowhere and slamming the three heroes into a wall.

“OOF!”

Vibes scowled. “OK, we tried being nice, now we do it my way.”

“PSYCHIC MODE!” yelled Vibes.

Vibes focused, producing a wave of blue energy, directing it toward Millie.

“Halt everything!” Millie put her hand out, stopping the psychic energy in its tracks. She gestured, making the psychic energy twist in its shape, gripping Vibes, Guillermo and Sal.

“You know what, you three are going to make fun toys!” Millie further gestured. Now the blue energy morphed into a flat shape, squishing down the heroes.

“W…What the…?”

Millie laughed as the heroes became smaller and smaller.

“What are you…doing…to…us?”

“Don’t worry Vibes! You’re…almost…done!” Millie couldn’t help it, she loved it when the heroes struggled to speak at their normal rate, shocked by how their bodies were being manipulated to her whim. “Once I’ve finished shrinking you all to the proper size, then I can warp you into the city to start our special game of hide and seek!”

Vibes shut her eyes, desperately trying to focus. But Millie had that angle covered too “Good thing your powers can’t work, psychic powers are cheating! Though I don’t think you’d be able to think at all in that state anyway”

Millie laughed, seeing the heroes look confused as their bodies were moulded into what appeared to be rubber ball versions of their bodies. “Yes… this is Hide and Seek with the patented Millie Myx twist. You see…if you win, I’ll reset your boring bank and the rest of your silly little city back to what it was.”

Vibes, Sal and Guillermo all found themselves giggling. “And…w…what if you…win?” Guillermo strained, trying to get the words out between each uncontrollable giggle.

“If I win?” Millie pondered this. Even though this was her game, she hadn’t even thought about that. “I suppose if I win then everything stays how it is now…well…if I want it too. And you three will be my special toys to play with forever and ever!”

“This…is…insane” Sal was trying to express her horror but it came out in the same peppery yet slightly sinister delivery that Millie was coming out with. “We…we…can’t agree to this…”

“We have…no…choice” strained Vibes. “The city…needs…us!”

“Fine…we’ll do it” Sal confirmed.

“I knew you’d see it my way” grinned Millie. “And now…I’m going to give you a chance to hide. Ready to be scattered across your home? Let’s hope you don’t end up in any ball pits! Or gumball machines…or toy stores…hee hee hee!”

And with another gesture, the bank’s sponge wall came open, sending Vibes, Sal and Guillermo bouncing out the door.

“WHOA!”

The trio were all sent flying in different directions. Each of them became baffled, as everything they knew about the city had become warped and twisted, like someone who had too much caffeine was trying to draw an Alice In Wonderland version of the city with their eyes closed.

Vibes desperately tried to control her body, but all it resulted in was her bouncy manically, trying to veer away from giant drooling babies, disproportionately large puppies and willing with all her might to get her form away from a sewer drain.

Sal also looked in horror, her form bouncing and pinging around in a way that seemed to defy the laws of physics. Nothing seemed to make sense. She would will herself to go left and end up going backwards. She would aim to go for the opposite street and ended up on the roof of Airways Mall.

Guillermo felt painfully embarrassed, his discomfort showing in big, blushing cheeks in his ball form. “This…is…a…nightmare” he strained to say through his rictus grin.

Sure enough, just as Millie had predicted, Vibes plopped into a ball pit. She was now one of the mass of multi coloured balls. It was then Vibes became paranoid. This whole “game” could easily be a setup. If Millie had changed everything, what was to stop her from being able to pick her out from the crowd?

But this thought came out of her head when a group of kids slammed into the pit, sending all the balls flying. Once again, she was being bounced back and forth, once again setting off the non-stop giggling that was preventing her from focusing…

Meanwhile, Sal’s form had bounced toward a sweet shop. By a strange coincidence, she pinged up and landed amongst the jumbo gumballs in the vending machine. One by one customers came in, all talking in that strange trombone tone that the adults did in Peanuts cartoons. As she heard the click of each coin coming in, she struggled to get herself away.

Sal knew that if she was picked up, she would be mistaken for gum. But in this insane world, what would happen if someone chewed her? Would she turn into a bubble? It all seemed so absurd. And as she thought about it, she couldn’t help it. She giggled. And that giggling became laughter. And the laughter then became this disturbing, unstoppable fit.

All of a sudden, one of the customers transformed. It was Millie!

Sal tried to compose herself, but the more she tried to calm herself down, the more the laughter came back. In a moment of desperation, she flung herself against the glass of the gumball machine. She looked down, seeing a small crack. I can do this, she thought, focusing all her physical effort, even if she was finding it harder and harder to stop herself from emitting the weirdest laughs to ever come out of her vocal cords.

With last push, she smashed the gumball machine, knocking the balls into Millie’s face. Like a cartoon, she shook them off, only to find that Sal was now bouncing toward the street…

From his angle on the shelf, Guillermo looked down and around. The toy store which seemed like a pretty small place only a few days ago now seemed to be an endless expanse, a country populated by inanimate playthings.

Like Sal, Guillermo was trying his hardest to keep it together. He knew that if he made any noise, Millie would be able to find him. But the pressure in his head became worse and worse. The more he resisted, the redder his face became, until it was practically purple.

The laughter thundered out, a volcanic eruption of hilarity. Millie grinned, knowing that her trick was too good.

Despite his aching sides, Guillermo forced himself to bounce along the toy shelves, weaving in and out. A well timed bounce saw a karate chop action knock Millie in the face, while another one ended up with the toy that liked to be tickled setting off vibrations that kept her distracted for a moment.

It seemed to be working. It was taking all his energy but Guillermo was heading toward the exit…finally making his way back…

It was then Millie grabbed him.

“Not bad.” Millie smiled. “ 10 out of 10 for effort.”

She skipped along, now more determined to make up for missing Sal…

Vibes was still being knocked about. When she wasn’t sent flying by divebombing kids, she was being chewed on or thrown about. It was getting to the point where she almost wanted to be caught.

It was then, just as Vibes expressed that thought in her head, that Millie turned into one of the kids and put Vibes in her hand next to Guillermo.

“Ha ha! It’s kind of ironic, isn’t it?” beamed Millie smugly. “Betrayed by your own silly head!”

Vibes and Guillermo comforted themselves with the thought of Sal getting away. There was a chance that if Sal held out, maybe, just maybe Millie would let them go.

It didn’t take long for Millie to find Sal. With almost perfect timing, Millie caught Sal, just as she was being released by one of those plastic throwers dog walkers use to throw balls at dogs.

The three heroes looked up at Millie. They were now all in pain, all suffering from massive facial grins that covered their ball forms and split sides from near constant laughter.

“GAME OVER!” Millie announced.

The world around them all twisted and warped before…everything returned to normal.

Vibes, Sal and Guillermo all looked down to see themselves in their superhero forms. In an almost trance-like state, they casually took down the would-be bank robbers, trying to make sense of it all.

“I…I don’t get it.” Vibes seemed baffled. “We lost.”

“Yes indeedy!” laughed Millie. “But then you were always going to lose.”

Sal scratched her head, trying in vain to make sense of Millie’s logic (or indeed lack thereof.)

“You know the saying ‘It’s not the winning or losing, it’s how you play the game?’” Millie offered. “You three were thrown into a super weird situation, you all found ways to adapt and make the most of it. That’s pretty neat!”

“But…you won…why turn everything back to normal?” Guillermo could feel Sal’s glare as he said it, but he had to know.

“Oh that’s easy, I want this boring place back so the next time I’m offer I can mix it up again. Trifle bank was funny but if it stayed that would get boring too and I’m not having that”

Vibes, Sal and Guillermo all laughed uneasily as she said that.

“But don’t worry…next time I promise it will be even more fun!”

And with that, Millie snapped her finger, diving into a portal.

“So… that was a thing that happened.” Vibes tried to wrap her head around it, her mind awash with each bizarre incident.

“I… I guess we…learned something?” Sal tried to sound positive, but like Vibes none of it seemed to gel together.

“Look, let’s be thankful things are back to normal… for now.” Guillermo sighed as the trio made their way back home….

Millie’s portal emerged into the warp, just as Warp King was finished reading his ever-transforming newspaper.

“So…had a good time?” Warp King laughed, tipping his purple top hat Millie’s direction.

“You were totally right” Millie beamed “The switcheroo at the end totally messed with their minds! Now the next time I’m back there, they won’t know what to expect!”

Warp King laughed “I like your style, Millie. So…where are you off to next?”

“Wherever I feel like, gosh!”

And with that Millie dived off into the next portal, ready to give another dimension her own warped version of playtime…

THE END…FOR NOW

Description
Art/OC jm0364

Hide and Shrink

“So… the bank is now a giant trifle.”

Vibes had hoped it was a dream. That was the problem with being a psychic, you could never be a hundred per cent sure what was a vision, a dream or some half remembered TV episode you fell asleep to.

Cautiously, she, Sal and Guillermo motioned toward what used to be the bank. As they came closer they started to hear some strange, ominous giggling.

As they walked into the bank, they saw the customers all lying on the floor, albeit they were all dressed in mascot costumes, next to what were presumably bank robbers dressed in stereotypical black and white striped tops, tied up with what appeared to be thick red rope liquorice.

“Umm… what’s going on here?”

Suddenly the three heroes were surrounded by pink smoke, the giggling now taking a deep, ominous tone.

“FEAR ME FOOLISH MORTALS, GAZE UPON THE AWESOME POWER FROM BEYOND THE FIFTH DIMENSION!”

As the pink smoke cleared, what remained was a small girl. Or at least, what appeared to be a small girl from a 50’s comic, with her ginger hair, freckles and cheeky grin. But this was also coupled with outsized gloves and shoes.

“Who are you?”

The giggling stopped. “Hi, pleased to meet you, I’m Mildred Myx, but my friends call me Millie.”

Sal tried to stay calm. “Okay…Millie…why exactly did you turn the bank into a trifle?”

Millie snorted. “Take a look around you, love! These silly people were pointing guns at people just to get at bits of paper…and they call me crazy!”

Vibes knew that look on Sal’s face. This was her acting like the big sister. “Now Millie, I’m sure you meant well, but we need this place to be returned to normal.”

Millie laughed. “Normal? I’m talking to a blond fox in a…interesting costume choice.”

Sal’s hands twitched, resisting the urge to go for her pole, desperate to remain calm.

“Well…Millie…it’s our job to protect everyone here, so it would nice if you could…”

“BORING!” dismissed Millie. She snapped her fingers, wrecking balls appearing from nowhere and slamming the three heroes into a wall.

“OOF!”

Vibes scowled. “OK, we tried being nice, now we do it my way.”

“PSYCHIC MODE!” yelled Vibes.

Vibes focused, producing a wave of blue energy, directing it toward Millie.

“Halt everything!” Millie put her hand out, stopping the psychic energy in its tracks. She gestured, making the psychic energy twist in its shape, gripping Vibes, Guillermo and Sal.

“You know what, you three are going to make fun toys!” Millie further gestured. Now the blue energy morphed into a flat shape, squishing down the heroes.

“W…What the…?”

Millie laughed as the heroes became smaller and smaller.

“What are you…doing…to…us?”

“Don’t worry Vibes! You’re…almost…done!” Millie couldn’t help it, she loved it when the heroes struggled to speak at their normal rate, shocked by how their bodies were being manipulated to her whim. “Once I’ve finished shrinking you all to the proper size, then I can warp you into the city to start our special game of hide and seek!”

Vibes shut her eyes, desperately trying to focus. But Millie had that angle covered too “Good thing your powers can’t work, psychic powers are cheating! Though I don’t think you’d be able to think at all in that state anyway”

Millie laughed, seeing the heroes look confused as their bodies were moulded into what appeared to be rubber ball versions of their bodies. “Yes… this is Hide and Seek with the patented Millie Myx twist. You see…if you win, I’ll reset your boring bank and the rest of your silly little city back to what it was.”

Vibes, Sal and Guillermo all found themselves giggling. “And…w…what if you…win?” Guillermo strained, trying to get the words out between each uncontrollable giggle.

“If I win?” Millie pondered this. Even though this was her game, she hadn’t even thought about that. “I suppose if I win then everything stays how it is now…well…if I want it too. And you three will be my special toys to play with forever and ever!”

“This…is…insane” Sal was trying to express her horror but it came out in the same peppery yet slightly sinister delivery that Millie was coming out with. “We…we…can’t agree to this…”

“We have…no…choice” strained Vibes. “The city…needs…us!”

“Fine…we’ll do it” Sal confirmed.

“I knew you’d see it my way” grinned Millie. “And now…I’m going to give you a chance to hide. Ready to be scattered across your home? Let’s hope you don’t end up in any ball pits! Or gumball machines…or toy stores…hee hee hee!”

And with another gesture, the bank’s sponge wall came open, sending Vibes, Sal and Guillermo bouncing out the door.

“WHOA!”

The trio were all sent flying in different directions. Each of them became baffled, as everything they knew about the city had become warped and twisted, like someone who had too much caffeine was trying to draw an Alice In Wonderland version of the city with their eyes closed.

Vibes desperately tried to control her body, but all it resulted in was her bouncy manically, trying to veer away from giant drooling babies, disproportionately large puppies and willing with all her might to get her form away from a sewer drain.

Sal also looked in horror, her form bouncing and pinging around in a way that seemed to defy the laws of physics. Nothing seemed to make sense. She would will herself to go left and end up going backwards. She would aim to go for the opposite street and ended up on the roof of Airways Mall.

Guillermo felt painfully embarrassed, his discomfort showing in big, blushing cheeks in his ball form. “This…is…a…nightmare” he strained to say through his rictus grin.

Sure enough, just as Millie had predicted, Vibes plopped into a ball pit. She was now one of the mass of multi coloured balls. It was then Vibes became paranoid. This whole “game” could easily be a setup. If Millie had changed everything, what was to stop her from being able to pick her out from the crowd?

But this thought came out of her head when a group of kids slammed into the pit, sending all the balls flying. Once again, she was being bounced back and forth, once again setting off the non-stop giggling that was preventing her from focusing…

Meanwhile, Sal’s form had bounced toward a sweet shop. By a strange coincidence, she pinged up and landed amongst the jumbo gumballs in the vending machine. One by one customers came in, all talking in that strange trombone tone that the adults did in Peanuts cartoons. As she heard the click of each coin coming in, she struggled to get herself away.

Sal knew that if she was picked up, she would be mistaken for gum. But in this insane world, what would happen if someone chewed her? Would she turn into a bubble? It all seemed so absurd. And as she thought about it, she couldn’t help it. She giggled. And that giggling became laughter. And the laughter then became this disturbing, unstoppable fit.

All of a sudden, one of the customers transformed. It was Millie!

Sal tried to compose herself, but the more she tried to calm herself down, the more the laughter came back. In a moment of desperation, she flung herself against the glass of the gumball machine. She looked down, seeing a small crack. I can do this, she thought, focusing all her physical effort, even if she was finding it harder and harder to stop herself from emitting the weirdest laughs to ever come out of her vocal cords.

With last push, she smashed the gumball machine, knocking the balls into Millie’s face. Like a cartoon, she shook them off, only to find that Sal was now bouncing toward the street…

From his angle on the shelf, Guillermo looked down and around. The toy store which seemed like a pretty small place only a few days ago now seemed to be an endless expanse, a country populated by inanimate playthings.

Like Sal, Guillermo was trying his hardest to keep it together. He knew that if he made any noise, Millie would be able to find him. But the pressure in his head became worse and worse. The more he resisted, the redder his face became, until it was practically purple.

The laughter thundered out, a volcanic eruption of hilarity. Millie grinned, knowing that her trick was too good.

Despite his aching sides, Guillermo forced himself to bounce along the toy shelves, weaving in and out. A well timed bounce saw a karate chop action knock Millie in the face, while another one ended up with the toy that liked to be tickled setting off vibrations that kept her distracted for a moment.

It seemed to be working. It was taking all his energy but Guillermo was heading toward the exit…finally making his way back…

It was then Millie grabbed him.

“Not bad.” Millie smiled. “ 10 out of 10 for effort.”

She skipped along, now more determined to make up for missing Sal…

Vibes was still being knocked about. When she wasn’t sent flying by divebombing kids, she was being chewed on or thrown about. It was getting to the point where she almost wanted to be caught.

It was then, just as Vibes expressed that thought in her head, that Millie turned into one of the kids and put Vibes in her hand next to Guillermo.

“Ha ha! It’s kind of ironic, isn’t it?” beamed Millie smugly. “Betrayed by your own silly head!”

Vibes and Guillermo comforted themselves with the thought of Sal getting away. There was a chance that if Sal held out, maybe, just maybe Millie would let them go.

It didn’t take long for Millie to find Sal. With almost perfect timing, Millie caught Sal, just as she was being released by one of those plastic throwers dog walkers use to throw balls at dogs.

The three heroes looked up at Millie. They were now all in pain, all suffering from massive facial grins that covered their ball forms and split sides from near constant laughter.

“GAME OVER!” Millie announced.

The world around them all twisted and warped before…everything returned to normal.

Vibes, Sal and Guillermo all looked down to see themselves in their superhero forms. In an almost trance-like state, they casually took down the would-be bank robbers, trying to make sense of it all.

“I…I don’t get it.” Vibes seemed baffled. “We lost.”

“Yes indeedy!” laughed Millie. “But then you were always going to lose.”

Sal scratched her head, trying in vain to make sense of Millie’s logic (or indeed lack thereof.)

“You know the saying ‘It’s not the winning or losing, it’s how you play the game?’” Millie offered. “You three were thrown into a super weird situation, you all found ways to adapt and make the most of it. That’s pretty neat!”

“But…you won…why turn everything back to normal?” Guillermo could feel Sal’s glare as he said it, but he had to know.

“Oh that’s easy, I want this boring place back so the next time I’m offer I can mix it up again. Trifle bank was funny but if it stayed that would get boring too and I’m not having that”

Vibes, Sal and Guillermo all laughed uneasily as she said that.

“But don’t worry…next time I promise it will be even more fun!”

And with that, Millie snapped her finger, diving into a portal.

“So… that was a thing that happened.” Vibes tried to wrap her head around it, her mind awash with each bizarre incident.

“I… I guess we…learned something?” Sal tried to sound positive, but like Vibes none of it seemed to gel together.

“Look, let’s be thankful things are back to normal… for now.” Guillermo sighed as the trio made their way back home….

Millie’s portal emerged into the warp, just as Warp King was finished reading his ever-transforming newspaper.

“So…had a good time?” Warp King laughed, tipping his purple top hat Millie’s direction.

“You were totally right” Millie beamed “The switcheroo at the end totally messed with their minds! Now the next time I’m back there, they won’t know what to expect!”

Warp King laughed “I like your style, Millie. So…where are you off to next?”

“Wherever I feel like, gosh!”

And with that Millie dived off into the next portal, ready to give another dimension her own warped version of playtime…

THE END…FOR NOW