Once upon a time…
No, we can’t start like that, can we?
We can? Oh good.
Once upon a time, there was a glorious world filled with magical creatures. Humans might have called them Pokemon. Humans might also have enslaved them. But humans didn’t exist in this magical world. In this world, the Pokemon were in charge.
Octavia was one such Pokemon. Octavia was a young, adventurous Snivy. Most Snivys were known for being smug, stay-at-home bastards who would whine and complain about every little discomfort, but Octavia didn’t have time for any of that. She was always out, exploring the wild, wild wildernesses outside of Unova, one of the major hubs of the Pokemon world.
Of course, many had told Octavia to be careful. She’d never really listened. Some would have called her reckless, silly even. But Octavia couldn’t help it.
One such adventure began with a simple note.
Medi the Chansey rarely left her little house. She was a recluse, but Octavia always made sure she got his groceries from the shopping mall across the way. It was a small job and Octavia enjoyed it. It always gave her an excuse to go adventuring.
That day though, Medi was nowhere to be found. Normally, whenever Octavia knocked on the door, there would be a weird delay, followed by the opening of multiple locks. That day, there were no sounds. Octavia knocked again. A piece of paper fell on the floor.
“Visiting family. Back tomorrow. Please water my plants. Thank you.”
What was more unusual was that the door was unlocked.
Not wanting Medi’s plants to die, Octavia let herself in.
Octavia had never seen the inside of Medi’s home before, and boy did it surprise her! It was basically a massive lab! Not a meth lab but a proper scientific lab, with everything properly sealed away. Octavia quickly saw the plants that Medi wanted her to water, they were sitting in several small boxes underneath a beam of light coming from a window in the roof of Medi’s home. But between them and Octavia was a heavy metal door.
Luckily, the heavy metal door opened up quite easily. Unluckily, there were loads of potions and things in test tubes nearby. Octavia very nearly knocked some of them down! It was fortunate that she managed to catch them.
With the potions put back where they belong, Octavia looked around for some water for the plants. And something to put the water in. The water clearly came from the sink, but there was no watering can. There WAS a single empty beaker though, sitting in the sink. That would have to do. Octavia hurried across the lab, being careful not to knock anything over, filled the beaker then took it back. She may have splashed a little water on herself, but it was okay, it was just water!
The flowers looked happy to be watered. In fact, they’d already grown a little! They definitely needed a bigger box. Probably needed more water too.
The beaker seemed a bit smaller too.
Heck, the room looked smaller as well.
Octavia blinked. Was she getting bigger? A couple of her vines brushed against some test tubes, nearly knocking them over and confirming her suspicions.
The room seemed to get smaller. Octavia rushed to the door and squeezed out so that she wasn’t inside the lab any more. But Octavia continued to get larger, to the point that she couldn’t stand up! She sat herself on the floor, not sure what to do.
“Oh no…”
Octavia quickly found herself smushed up against the walls of Medi’s house.
“Medi will be angry with me!”
Suddenly, just as Octavia’s head started getting too close to the roof, the growing stopped. Octavia peered inside the lab, trying to work out what had set her off. The plants inside the lab had all stopped growing as well, but they had broken the pot that had contained them, spilling dirt on the floor. One plant though was still rather small.
Octavia squinted, before working out why. The small plant had dipped its leaves into a container.
Being big had been fun, but Octavia knew that she needed to shrink back. She scooted over to the lab door and shoved her arm into the lab. At that angle, she couldn’t quite reach. But with a vine, she could slowly but surely grab that test tube.
As soon as Octavia touched the test tube though, she began to shrink. Very quickly!
Before Octavia knew it, she was almost normal size again! She pulled away from the test tube, making sure she didn’t spill any of it, then moved away from the lab.
With Medi’s plants properly watered and everything tidied up, Octavia decided to not do anything else. While being big was curious, she didn’t want to break anything else. Octavia closed the door on the lab then headed outside, closing the door behind her.
“That was interesting!” Octavia smiled as she locked everything up. “I might even be a bit smaller now! Maybe next time Medi’s around, I’ll ask her more about those potions…”