Chapter Text
“What the fuuuuck-?”
Chime rubs his aching forehead, as he lays on the wooden floor of his house. Their vision flickers in a blur of whites and blues. He climbs to his feet, ready to get back to work.
Now, where were they?
Right! Testing the new formula they’d just crafted, right on their research desk. Then there was a big flash of colorful light and…
What?
Chime gazes down, but instead of seeing their desk, their eyes meet nothing but a wide expanse of wooden floor.
They glance around. In front of them are four huge pillars of white wood reaching upwards; the legs of his desk.
Chime stumbles across the floor, wobbling with each step as he holds out their arms for balance. He falls flat on his belly. They crawl to their feet.
Booming footsteps shake the floor, and a bark rips through the air. Chime stumbles around in a fight for balance. They covers their ears, and look up to see a familiar furry face staring down at him.
Mochi.
“Arf!?”
Chime falls on his butt, squeezing his eyes shut as Mochi sniffs him.
They get to their tiny feet again, still trying to process what’s happening.
They’re small.
The prototype definitely worked, just not in the way Chime had hoped. It was supposed to shrink the bassdrop, not shrink him!
~
“Harvey?!”
Teminite and Skybreak step through the door.
No answer, not even the rumble of footsteps.
“Did he leave?” Teminite asks, to no one in particular.
“Where did he go?”
“Don’t ask me,” Skybreak says. “I don’t know anything.”
“Arf-! Arf-arf!”
Tiny footsteps tap towards the two. A golden pomeranian appears, dashing towards them. Something shouts from her back, it seems like a big bug latching onto her fur.
“Harvey?” Teminite gasps, half appalled, half amused.
“Oh, hello Sam. Apologies for my… unexpected condition,” Chime screams from Mochi’s back.
“Was this from your experimenting mate?” Teminite asks, kneeling down to speak to his friend.
“God, you two are so british…” Skybreak mutters.
“Yeah, I think so. I was testing a new prototype when it exploded in my face, and now I’m small,” Chime explains.
“You are, in fact, very small. Is there any way we can fix this, and make you big?”
“We-
“You mentioned a prototype?” Skybreak brings up, striding further into the room.
“Yeah, on my desk, it’s up in my office,” Chime says.
“Don’t mess with it please, you don’t want to be small too, right?”
“No I don’t, actually.”
“Me neither!”
A moment of silence.
“Well… we need to fix this somehow, or else I might step on Chime and squish him,” Teminite says.
“Yeah…but how?” Skybreak asks.
“I could at least show you guys the prototype, and maybe go from there? I don’t think I can do much in my current state,” Chime suggests.
“Well I can see that,” Teminite says, “lead the way then!”
“O-okay…” Chime says. He taps Mochi, gestures forwards and declares “Onwards noble steed!”
The pomeranian leaps forwards across the floor, with Teminite and Skybreak quick to follow.
“Harvey, why don’t you just use your wings and fly around, or use your wind magic to go faster?”
“Because it’s exhausting, and I’m a lazy fuck, not to mention the air friction” Chime answers.
“Why don’t you hit me with lightning and-” They pause, as Teminite winces.
“Sorry I-I didn’t mean to remind you of that….”
“Let’s not talk about it, please.”
(For context, they’re referring to a previous entry in the series.)
“Well this is a mess,” Teminite comments upon seeing the unorganized desk of papers.
Tiny wings flap as Chime flutters to the top of the desk.
“Yup.”
“I don’t know what I can do,” Teminite says as he examines the mess of science equipment, experiments and papers.
“Harvey, is there any way I can help you?”
“Well… there is somebody who might be able to help, but-”
“Who is it!?”
Chime sighs, “Convexity.”
~
“What do you want?”
“Well uh, Chime turned himself small, we were wondering if you could help?”
“Really!? That’s funny.”
“Well, you know more about this whole micrology thing than both of us, combined I feel. We could really use help.”
“Please don’t make this awkward,” Skye mutters.
Convexity turns, and steps back into their house.
“Did they just-”
Vex returns after a few seconds carrying a few papers. They hand the loose papers to the other two.
“These might help.”
“Uh-” Teminite starts, only to be cut off by a slamming door.
~
“Who peed in his coffee?” Teminite asks as they make their way back to Chime’s place.
Skye laughs.
“She did seem saltier than usual.”
“Makes sense, the author hardly listens to them.”
~
“Did you talk to them?” Chime asks, as Teminite and Skybreak return.
“Well, not really… they just gave us these papers.”
“Must be copies of our research.”
“Our?” Teminite blinks, tilting his head.
“Yeah, we were researching this together,” Chime explains.
“Why didn’t you tell me about all this,” Teminite says, skimming through the paper, “this is so cool.”
“Well, I thought you might want to join in on the research, but I… don’t think you would…”
“What do you mean, mate?” Teminite asks.
“I mean… I thought you might do something… irresponsible.”
Did that get the point across? How is Chime supposed to explain this without sounding… insulting? This research is intricate, tedious, dare he say dangerous, there’s no way Teminite would’ve taken it nearly as seriously, no matter what Chime tried to say.
He could mess something up, or break an experiment. Something dangerous could happen, he might’ve hurt himself, or Chime, or Convexity, or brought the entire thing crashing down.
“I am very responsible,” Teminite states.
The problem is that he doesn’t realize or understand any of that.
“Remember that time you nearly started a fire while trying to cook soup?” Chime asks.
Teminite pauses.
“Or that time you promised your fans a release ‘this month’ only to not release anything for three,” Skybreak jabs.
“You don’t need to call me out like that,” Teminite says.
“I’m explaining why Chime didn’t let you let you research,” Skybreak says bluntly.
Chime bites his lip.
“Okay, fine, I understand,” Teminite mutters.
“Let’s just, get you big again…”
Teminite studies the papers, reading and analyzing all the notes.
“Okaaaaaay…” he trails.
“What does any of this mean? Can you help me?” Teminite stares at Chime, shaking the papers.
Chime lets out a sigh, and flutters up to climb on Teminite’s arm and read the papers.
“Oh, you’re like a big bug,” Teminite comments, as Chime observes the papers.
“Okay, here’s the deal,” Chime says.
“I tell you what to do and touch, and you do everything,” Chime commands.
“Okay Dr. Chime,” says Teminite.
…
“No don’t touch that! Or that! Or- ANYTHING!”
“Okay, let’s just… FUCK SHIT FUCK!”
“Now grab that, no not that, or that thing. It’s a little to the left. No no no, not that far, back right. Now up, and- NO DON’T TOUCH THAT!”
“I got this, don’t worry… I have no idea what I’m doing…”
“Okay,” Chime sighs, “it should be ready now, we just have to wait until it charges up.”
Teminite summons a few sparks from his hand.
“SAM NO!” Chime screams, “that’s too risky! Don’t do that!”
“S-sorry! I was just trying to help,” Teminite stammers.
“We just have to wait now,” says Chime, “it might be a few hours…”
“Oh,” Skybreak and Teminite utter simultaneously.
“So, I’m still going to be small for a while, but I’ve been thinking, now that I’m small, I could have some fun with it,” Chime suggests.
“Ooooh- what kind of fun?” Teminite asks.
UNFINISHED