The Minitropolis Mini Dome -- Home of the Minitropolis Minions -- stood as the biggest (and only) ballpark in the Miniborough/Minitropolis region.
Built in 1998, the stadium housed a capacity of roughly 12,000 people, although rarely sold out, even when the team was in contention.
The stadium was fairly modern for its age, featuring a handful of jumbotrons, all the latest amenities and much more. Styled fittingly enough with the Minions bright purple and gold colors, various monitors, posters and promotional materials all bore the likenesses of Minions players current and former as one walked into the park, along with an overarcing wall mural that surrounded the park with logos and dramatic sport plays immortalized in digital media.
Stepping out onto the freshly cut grass would give anyone, even a seasoned veteran, a calm but chilling feeling as if they were up to bat or fielding a ground ball at that very moment. A glance into the seats would give one the sensation of vibration, as if being assaulted with the energizing screams of fans as they rained down cheers ; each pitch eliciting a starkly different result and reaction.
Of course in reality, Lexi and her all female posse were simply standing on a dimly lit field after hours. Even the hard working ground crews had gone home and the ladies only gained access thanks to a key the star shortstop, Starla Mayberry kept on her key ring.
"You sure we aren't going to get in trouble for this?" Molly asked with a slight smile, already knowing the answer.
"Molls, you're practically FROM here ..." Starla replied. "That said, we're going to kick your butts this weekend!"
"Unlikely," the red head from the restaurant chimed in, a tall right handed pitcher named Amelia Janowski "The weeds are going to roll into town and demolish your tuchuses"
"Did you really just say tuchuses?" a brunette woman by the name of Nicole Smith, an up and coming prospect for the Minions quipped, "You really ARE from Texas, huh?"
"Born and raised!" Amelia said proudly
"And do they really call you guys the 'Weeds' back down South?" Starla asked
"Yeah ... we already get the jokes enough ..." Molly groaned, "...why don't you start your games at 4:20 ... cuz hur de hur ... weed?"
The girls would laugh a bit.... even the one non-player among them named Alexis Cole who seemed to be dragging her feet even as she admired the serene scenery. Due to her own fervent focus on just tracking her steps on the admittedly awesome looking field, she'd completely miss as a group of girls pulled a bag of softballs and some bats onto the field, littering them haphazardly by the home plate area.
"You okay back there, Lexi?" Molly asked, dropping back to come talk to her friend.
"Huh? Yeah um...." Lexi said, stammering a bit as she sported her usual purple tank top and white shorts look, "I thought we were going to ... you know, tour the ball park ... the BP? Ball park?"
"Ha, hon ... I love you, I do..." Molly smirked, purposely putting her arm around the shorter brunette and spinning her around so she wouldn't notice the going ons behind her, "But BP doesn't mean we're going to see the ball park"
"Oh? Heh of course not... I knew that ..." Lexi chuckled nervousy despite being a bit clueless. "...so uh ... what DOES it mean?"
"Heads up!" Starla smirked, smacking a fly ball above the two girls.
"Batting practice! Let's go!" Molly giggled.
Lexi glanced down at her watch. 5:45 PM ... she still had time.
Molly smirked as she traipsed around Lexi on the infield grass
"Whattaya say, shorty? Wanna take a few swings?" Molly teased as she skipped on around her childhood friend.
"Heh, bring it on" Lexi smirked, coming up towards home plate and accepting the bat from Starla as she caught it off a slick bat flip manuever.
Next thing Lexi knew she was facing the prospective pitcher for the Texas Tumbleweeds, none other than Amelia Janowski, who appeared even taller than her natural 5'11 height while perched up on the mound. Lexi winced a bit, not sure what to expect here as she'd be going against a professional softball pitcher.
"Infield in!" Molly said out loud, as the girls giggled softly, "this one can't hit"
Lexi swayed her hips a bit and couldn't help but giggle, even as her focus diverted from the pitcher to the outfield, determined more than ever to make contact now. To her surprise, Amelia went easy on her, lobbing a ball that floated up in the air for an ample amount of time, allowing Lexi to give it her best shot.
The 5'4 brunette would whirl her body around and slam the ball as hard as she could, slamming it into the dirt but with enough speed that it trickled through the infield and past Molly, who was only playing at half speed herself.
"Not bad, short stack" Molly giggled, clapping her hands as she watched the ball whiz by. "Ever think of trying out?"
"Heh, with my schedule?" Lexi sighed, a hand on her hip, "It would never work"
Amelia accepted the toss back in from Nicole as she twiddled her fingers around the seams of the orange sized softball.
"What say we turn up the heat a little?" Amelia teased the batting Lexi.
"Oh? Um ... well, sure ... we could uh ... try it" Lexi said
"Please don't kill my friend, hon" Molly said, pointing to Amelia
"Oh c'mon..." Lexi smirked, "I've fought foes that shoot literal bullets ... how fast could ..."
WHOOSH!!
Lexi's answer was delivered about as fast as a professional softball player COULD hurl a softball, the spherical projectile launching off her fingertips and surpassing her at the plate in a matter of milliseconds, leaving her stunned as she just watched the ball clank off the backstop.
"...she already threw the ball, didn't she?" Lexi asked, very coyly, trying to play off the fact that she was just 'caught looking'
"Steeee-rike!" Nicole remarked, pumping her fist for a moment.
"Honestly?" Lexi smirked, dropping the bat at home plate as Starla returned to take a few pitches, "that's ultra impressive that you can throw that fast ... and even more impressive that you all can SEE it ... let alone HIT it"
"...says the girl who single handedly stopped that bank robbery last month!" Starla said with a smile. "Seriously, what you do is the real amazing stuff"
"W-Well thanks ... but I uh ..." Lexi stammered, standing down by the third base line alongside Molly.
"Hey, we gonna get all sappy or are we going to hit some balls?" Amelia smirked, throwing a medium strength pitch down the plate towards Starla who slammed it into the outfield, sending it careening against the purple padded outfield wall.
Lexi smirked as she watched the ladies having fun, occasionally glancing down at her watch before being interuppted by Molly's voice. The taller orange haired friend approached with a concerned smile.
"You okay, Lex?" she asked
"Huh? Oh uh ... yeah" Lexi said with a shy giggle
"Hey, I realize the sports ball isn't exactly your thing" Molly commented
"Huh? No no ... I LOVE sports ball..." Lexi said with a forced chuckle
"Lex, when we were kids, you used to ask how many touchdowns the goalie scored ... and we were watching TENNIS!" Molly chuckled
"I was just uh ... making sure ... you were paying attention..." Lexi said with a barely convincing poker face. Her concentration was soon snapped back to reality with the yelp of one of the ladies as she yelled "HEADS UP!"
A line drive was heading right for Lexi!
Rather than avoid it however, Lexi did what she did best, momentarily shrinking and then growing back leaving Molly and the other ladies flabbergasted.
"Holy --!" Starla remarked
Lexi looked at the stunned girls with a bit of a dorky smirk and a shrug.
"What? I'm not exactly a gold glober over here" Lexi chuckled
"I think you mean gold glover" Molly said, "but all the same ... holy cripe that was cool!"
"Well it was either that or take a fast moving softball to the head" Lexi said. After all, for her, shrinking was "no big deal"
"Hey Lex!" Nicole called out, to which Lexi turned her head, noticing the group of girls posing for a selfie on the pitcher's mound, "get in the picture with us"
"Oh ... should I?" Lexi chuckled nervously, "I'm not ... part of your ... sportsball team..."
"Neither is she..." Starla shrugged, pointing out the tall right handed pitcher Amelia who also gave a goofy pose into the camera. Lexi giggled and slid towards the mound as if making a diving play, sliding across the shot as if an overzealous father in a SEARS family portrait.
After taking a few awkward angles of the selfie, the girls got up before Amelia singled out Lexi and Molly.
"Did you want a picture with your friend, Lexi?" Amelia asked
"Hell yeah!" Molly giggled, wrapping her arm around Lexi in a strong but loving hug. Lexi gave a silly "bunny ears" pose with her fingers before the picture was snapped as Amelia returned the phone to Molly, leaving the two girls to chat while the others hung around the dugout.
"Huh." Lexi said, pausing and looking down at the grass
"Yes, shorty?" Molly teased
"I just ... I didn't know you still cared so much ..." Lexi said with a dopey grin, "after all these years"
"I mean, we were good friends a while ago and yeah we lost touch ..." Molly said, "but then seeing and hearing the news about you ... becoming ShrinkGirl and all that ... it reminded me of what an awesome person you are ... ask anyone on my team ... they're pretty much sick of hearing me talk about you..."
"Awwww... really?" Lexi said, sounding flattered, "they're sick of hearing about me? That's so sweet!"
"You're a goober ..." Molly said with a roll of her eyes, throwing an arm around her goofy but loyal friend Lexi as she began to walk her away from the baseball field and its silky smooth grass, "C'mon, I wanna show you something..."
_____________________
"Alright you guys ..." the gruff stubbled gentleman who went by the name of Pyro Pete announced during another rousing teleconference call with the Chaos Crew, "I wanna show you something..."
"If these are more pictures of your vacation to the Galopagos... so help me God..." Krazy Karl said, already looking away in anticipated indifference.
"No no ... THIS!" Pyro Pete said, showing a contract on the screen.
Byron Biggs, the current leader of the Chaos Crew looked unamused and shot a derogatory glance in the direction of the monitor displaying the contract.
"Yes ... we know..." Byron said, twiddling with his cigar in his hand as he used his other hand to make a couple of adjustments to his red striped tie.
"That's what we're here to discuss, after all..." the surprisingly reasonable and focused Krazy Karl said.
"Really?" the fourth caller involved said, bored as all hell as she swapped which foot to keep on her coffee table, slapping her thick boots about as she awkwardly tossed silver tipped darts at a dartboard and generally missed horribly since she wasn't paying attention, "I thought this meeting was about expanding the cookie budget"
"Roxie..." Byron growled
"You know for a bunch of criminals, you guys are about as entertaining as a class on lanyard making..." Roxie sneered, taking a swig of Jack Daniels before setting the flask down again, her eyes pretty much everywhere but the screen as she also looked down and began fluffing the fur on her playful and mischevious German Shepherd, Woof.
"This is why we get nothing done..." Krazy Karl chimed in, "there's no focus on this team ..."
"Hey, I'm just trying to get everybody fired up" Pyro Pete said
Suddenly everybody was startled by a loud gunshot as Roxie was off in her own world (and screen) firing off a shot into the already weakened ceiling of her low rise apartment.
"Hey hey!!" Roxie chuckled, "that was a good one, Pyro ... finally someone with a sense of humor!"
"ENOUGH!" the irate Byron Biggs declared, snuffing out his cigar in a haste, "I ... understand a lot of you are upset about the change in plans ..."
"Change in plans is putting it mildly..." Pyro Pete said, "And what? You don't notify any of us about this?"
"He told me ..." Roxie said with a shrug
"Yes ..." Byron said, "And speaking of ... were you able to at least plant the seed of doubt in her head?"
"The what?" Roxie asked, stll not completely all there, "oh right right ... yeah, consider it done, boss"
"...what did I just say, Roxie?" Byron asked, in an attempt to check her listening skills.
"Fuck if I know ... something about gardening?" Roxie said, eliciting a chuckle from most, even the straight laced Krazy Karl.
"This is obviously going to be a waste of breath ..." Byron said, "the fact is, whether you're in on the plan or not ... it's already been put into motion ... I understand why some of you may be against it ..."
"Against it?" Krazy Karl said, "its straight up suicide for any of us who are looking to live a clean life of corrupt crime!"
"Psh, I wouldn't go THAT far!" Pete chimed in, "but it is questionable... then again, since when is anything we've done ever followed logic?"
"Bingo" Karl said
"THIS actually does follow logic ..." Byron said, "...after all, what is it they say? Keep your friends close and ...?"
The line remained silent.
"...never mind"
"Roxie, I'm surprised YOU'RE on board with this plan!" Krazy Karl said
"Yeah, seems you'd be the most against it" Pyro commented with a sneer
"Eh, I'm a big girl" Roxie shrugged, "I can handle myself ... you're all just a bunch of fraidy cats ... besides, could be nice having a new neighbor..."
_________________________
As the sun began to set on a carefree evening, Lexi and Molly hopped their way up the concrete stairs behind the stadium's field of play as Molly herself vaulted over the concession stand and began cooking a corndog.
"You sure you know how to use that thing?" Lexi smirked
"Nope" Molly said, bending down and looking for the switch, playing with a few toggles before finally finding one that caused the less than sterile corndog cooker to hum to life with a crackle and a dimmng of the interior lights for a moment. Lexi and Molly shared a chuckle over that before Molly herself leaned over the counter, masquerading as a concession stand worker. "So ... what'll it be, hon?"
"Um.... I'll take one of those two stale looking corndogs please" Lexi said with a giggle, playing her role as "customer" well as Molly smirked.
"You haven't lost it, that's for sure" Molly giggled
"Whattaya mean?" Lexi asked
"I can just remember as kids how many times you made milk or juice squirt out of my nose from your goofy jokes!" Molly giggled, "you really do have a gift for making people smile ... I mean, we were only close for what, 2... 3 years? And I feel like we still click after all this time... it's hard to forget a friend like you..."
As warmed as Lexi's heart was (although maybe not quite as unevenly warmed as the rotating corndogs), she couldn't help but feel some lament as she slumped down against the wall.
"Wish everyone thought so ..." Lexi said with a frown
"Whattaya mean, hon?" Molly asked, even as her attention was turned towards the rotating corn dog wieners and she noticed one of them plumping up a bit too much on one side. That couldn't be right.
"Eh ... it's just ... ever since I became ShrinkGirl ..." Lexi sighed, "it started as ... well at first it was a horrifying experience but then once I started to get more involved in it ... I genuinely liked it ... I guess I can understand some people thinking I'm just fooling around or I'm some crazy vigilante but ... I feel like Roxie may be right ..."
"Who's Roxie? Your girlfriend?" Molly teased
"Psh, no ..." Lexi answered, although they definitely had a confusing history. "She's uh .. one of my arch enemies ... geez, still sounds weird to say arch enemy ... if Josh were here, he'd be geeking out that I just said it ..."
"Oooh who's Josh? Your BOYfriend?" Molly asked
"Geez girl, is that all you have your mind on?" Lexi giggled "But no ... he's ... he's a good friend ... actually ... a really good friend ... he's set up my website ... he's ..."
"Wait you have a website? I'm totally looking you up!" Molly said with a giggle, making Lexi instantly regret her word as she began quickly tapping away at her phone's touchscreen.
Well... the cautious Lexi thought to herself as she watched Molly's eyes light up with enthusiasm, it's unlikely she'll find the website since I didn't give her the ...
"Here it is!" Molly yelped in glee, "Omigosh, it's so cute! ShrinkGirlShrinks.com? Ohhhh is that suppose to be YOU in the little dancing banner?"
Lexi leaned over and muttered to herself, "...Josh said he wasn't going to use that ..."
"Oh this is AWESOME! Can I show this to the other girls?" Molly asked
"If I say no, it's not going to make a lick of difference, is it?" Lexi replied with her eyebrows dropped.
"Nope!" Molly giggled, scrolling through the website, "Ohhhhh!! There's a place to make superhero requests ... hmmm..."
The excitable Molly began tapping away, shielding her phone from Lexi so she couldn't see it before hitting send.
"Ahhh... c'mon..." Lexi sighed, "Don't give Josh more work to do ..."
"Is this guy your secretary or something?" Molly teased
"No ... well maybe ... I don't know ..." Lexi sighed, "the point is ... none of this was suppose to get to THIS point ... I mean they named a restaurant after me ..."
"How crazy is that?" Molly said, not paying attention to the corndogs as they continued to sizzle unsupervised. "I was telling the team about you and like how cool you always were as kids and I'm like ... of course Lexi Cole turned into a fucking superhero ... like zero surprise"
Lexi turned bright red
"You really mean that?" Lexi asked, "like you're not just ... pumping me up?"
"Lex, I'm a pretty straight shooter" Molly said, having developed a slight southern drawl despite being a native of Minnesota. She HAD spent more than 12 years in Texas after all. "You were fun and kind then and now you're fun and kind on a whole other level ... you have your own website, you have your own COSTUME ... and that car? So badass!"
"Heh I'm glad you think so ..." Lexi sighed
"Hey, there's always going to be haters..." Molly said, "When we play our crosstown rivals, the Dallas Rattlesnakes... I get booed like ..."
"...at least you've never killed anyone." Lexi said somberly, "or ruined their life."
Molly frowned.
"I'm ... I'm sorry hon ... I didn't mean to make it seem like ..." Molly stuttered
"No no ... it's fine" Lexi said, forcing a smile, "I didn't mean to bring down the mood ... it's just .. Roxie said ... and she's not the first to say it ... I'm putting people in danger ... I'm reckless, I'm ...."
"Oh shit!" Molly yelped
"S-Sorry, didn't mean to upset you" Lexi sighed
"No I mean 'shit' ... look at the corndogs!!" Molly yelped, panicking as the smell as burnt corndog filled the air. She frantically searched for an off switch as she fell to her knees before finally just pulling the plug, climbing out from behind the counter as the smoke pooled out and eventually cleared. "...you think they're going to make me pay for that?"
Lexi chuckled.
"Heh, burning the corndogs, eh Molls?" Lexi joked, "that's more MY style ..."
Style. Style. STYLE.
Lexi looked down at her watch. Oh fuck.
___________________________________
The bright lights surrounded a starstruck Leah Henderson as she took one step forward, then another, then another, in her fashionable but functional sleek orange heels with cadmium buckles and shimmering sequins running along the wedge. The crowd was similarly in awe watching the 5'8 (boosted 2 inches by the heels) supermodel strut her stuff as the humble brunette simply blew kisses to the crowd while making her way down the runway, stumbling only a little bit.
While walking, Leah had stars in her eyes as a proud announcer ushered her forward with the news that "Leah Henderson is looking spiffy as always, sporting the latest Summer fashion that will be sweepng Minitropolis ... and soon, the World"
Flashbulbs obscured Leah's eyesight briefly as she modeled the beautiful outfit, naturally of her own design, a backless orange dress to match the heels made of the finest silk available. She'd stop and pose with a hand perched confidently on her curved hip before her face panned out to the crowd and their visible applause and enthusiasm.
Her eyes would stop and hang for a moment though, upon seeing an empty chair. The chair bore no person but only a tent card
"RESERVED FOR MY BEST FRIEND : LEXI COLE"
"Leah! Leah! Leah!" the crowd cheered, "Leah... we have some questions for you! Leah!"
"Leah!"
Leah blinked.
The fantasy was over.
Leah was still very much at the Minitropolis Fashion Show AKA La Mode de Mini. The main gala had wrapped up and now some of the small vendors were answering questions for the local papers. Leah was siting beside her boss Sally who answered most of the questions but still, some press was asking for a statement from her.
Leah, caught up in her own thoughts was quite proud of how the show went but the pit in her stomach had stopped her from quite eeking the words out even as the reporters were kind and professional in their questions and treatment of the young fashionista.
"Leah, how did you decide on this particular style for Sally's store? It seems to have been received quite well..." one reporter asked, as Sally glanced over concerned. Leah appeared like a deer in the headlights, after having had a pretty good showing up to that point.
Leah herself was also stunned... not entirely because Lexi was a no-show (she had an unfortunate premonition of that once she heard Lexi ran into Molly) but also because one of the few people who remained to watch the Q&A was none other than her ex, Justin Wright, who had also stopped by to wish her luck before the show, while visiting his friend Britney.
"Ummm ... well ... the style..." Leah eeped out, "was ... inspired by ... uh ... summer ... summer fun actually..."
"Interesting" the writer replied, noting down her response, "is there any certain ... flow or TYPE of emotion you were trying to evoke with some of your choices?"
"Oh uh ... well ... yes" Leah said, slowly getting more confident as she took a deep breath and recomposed her trembling self "I uh ... when I thin of the calm, warm colors, I think about ... outdoors and sort of a freedom ... I think about ..."
Leah paused. The few people remained outside of the journalists seemed perplexed.
"...s-sorry ... I think about ... friendship and ... togetherness"
The reporter smiled as she wrote down Leah's answer.
"Thank you hon, that was beautiful"
Leah paused and nodded, offering a smile of her own while she held a balled up fist under the table at which she sat.
______________
Lexi exhaled as she took to the streets of Minitropolis in a hurry, the Shrinkmobile revving as fast as it could as she just missed getting a red light by performing some fast thinking accelerating just as the light pulsed from yellow to red. She looked at her car's clock and hoped to God it was running late.
It wasn't.
But Lexi was.
Lexi sighed, her heart in a knot. She loved getting to see Molly again and had a great time with the girls on the softball field but at what cost? This fashion show meant the world to Leah and Lexi, in a bit of a sentimental stupor got caught up with Molly Anderson, reminiscing and burnt corn dogs. She still had enough time to MAYBE catch the reception and the Q&A panel. After which she would profusely apologize to Leah, buy her free pizza for life from Minima's and maybe subject herself to being a shrunken down fashion model again .... maybe.
Just then, the overly nervous brunette driver found herself startled by a faint distant pulsating red light that whizzed closer to her ... the Mini Troop? No ... this was in the air....
"Oh no ... not now..." Lexi thought to herself as the muscles in her forearms tensed up, fingers clenched around the steering wheel as a pair of sleek drones hovered onto either side of the Shrinkmobile, flanking her.
To her surprise these were different than the usual, clunkier looking models that Mad Max would send after her, and had they been of Enormo Enterprises, they likely would've already begun scorching the pavement with their ballistics. No ... instead, a small screen folded out from one of them, bearing a face unfamiliar to the Cutie Crusader.
"Lexi ..." the voice said, a bit fuzzy as Lexi rolled down the window.
"Could we not do this right now??" Lexi sighed, slowing her car down reluctantly to avoid putting anyone else in danger. She'd eventually pull over and let traffic pass around her as she found a deserted street to park on. "...I'm already late for my friends fashion presentation..."
"...La Mode de Mini?" the voice asked, "...I think that started like over 2 hours ago..."
"....were you sent from Leah to harrass me?" Lexi sighed
"No... I am Dr. Scott Travis..." the man said
"You're the Cybertek guy..." Lexi said, already getting ready to put her foot on the gas. "I'm not interested..."
As she began to accelerate, she could already see the Doctor's ire in her periphery.
"....if he's that concerned, he can use the website like everybody else..." Lexi thought smugly to herself, although the drones weren't content to just let her get away as they also sped up to continue gliding alongside her car.
"Lexi! Please! I'm trying to warn you!" Scott said, although his voice was hard to make out through the gusting wind
Lexi again rolled down her window
"This can't be legal!" Lexi scoffed
"Actually, these drones are 100% FAA licensed and legal ... unlike my competition who just does whatever they ..."
"Okay where are we going with this?" Lexi sighed, "because I'm not about to cause an accident talking to your sorry ass... no offense"
...sorry ass? Even Lexi herself found that to be a bit harsh, but she wasn't in a great frame of mind at the moment.
"I'm trying to ...." Scott began talking before an oncoming truck almost cut him off for good, honking its horn as the drone recklessly swerved out of the way at the last possible second, before readjusting its rudders and hovering back down beside Lexi "...I'm trying to warn you"
"Warn me of what?" Lexi snickered, no longer in the mood to show this guy any manners, "That you can't fly a drone?"
"This is serious, Ms. Cole" Scott said as Lexi took another turn, both trying to shake the drone and reach the auditorium as fast as she could.
"Ms. Cole?" Lexi sighed, just a bit ahead of the drone now as it whizzed closer, "Are you my mom now?"
"Your family could be in danger!!" Scott shouted, finally getting it out but Lexi could barely hear the stern warning as she rolled up her windows and continued to drive away.
Frustrated, even Scott Travis himself called off the pursuit, pulling his drones out of range as he watched her car fade from view on the video screen in his office.
I've already got one tech giant after me ...." Lexi thought to herself, referring to Enormo "now I got the other one? I'll worry about doc what's his face later ... I've got a best friend to make up with ..."
As Lexi rounded the corner however, her warm heart sank.
The parking lot outside of the Auditorium was nearly empty. Just a smattering of cars to be seen and none of them resembled Leah's Toyota. Lexi parked quickly and scooted out of the car, running as fast as she could towards the entrance. The doors were still unlocked but there wasn't anybody there except for event staff and roadies as they carried gear out of the building.
The closest thing Lexi could spot having any association to the fashion show was a very tall girl who may have been a model for the show (or may have just happened to be a very tall girl retreating to her car). Lexi hung her head grimly and sighed.
"...I'm so sorry Leah lovely..."
Giantess World
