#tiny!bad

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"Puffy get out here!"

Schlatt...

The sheep hybrid tumbled down the stairs as she raced towards her front door, she flung her front door open as she was met with her very serious, and rather furious, older brother. The ram hybrid sighed as he stared her down.

"Hey JJ- what brings you here, shouldn't you be with Dream at the docks?" She chuckled trepidatiously, her brother pursed his lips before he began to speak. "The elders are scolding him...he may have crushed some of the wood we were going to use."

The ram let out an exasperated sigh, "Look Puffy, I love my nephew, but..." His words trailed off as he stared at her sister's wide, soft eyes. "I can't keep defending him...Everyone's getting pretty..." Another sigh escaped his lips, "Well- everyone is getting pretty scared; I've heard that he almost stepped on some old lady!" Schlatt was about to continue but Puffy spoke first.

"What am I supposed to do Schlatt? He can't control what's happening to him- and it wasn't my decision for him to be going around doing chores! He's a kid, he should be out playing in the fields, not working in them..." Puffy was tired, she was tired of seeing her son come home exhausted; not exhausted from playing, but rather tired from working.

It hurt her as she watched her child lay on his bedroom floor, having to get rid of his bed and furniture for the sake that he would still fit in his room. She remembered the nights her son would cry relentlessly, begging to be held; yet all she could do was gently hug his leg as fat tears rolled down his face.

Now her brother—one of the few people who caused this to happen to her son—stood in front of her criticizing his mistakes once more, how dare her brother have the audacity to take away his childhood and still complain!?

Schlatt let out another sigh, it snapped the sheep hybrid out of her daze. Both stood in awkward silence as the ram hybrid stared down at her with gentle eyes, while she was resistant to meet his own. The two were having a silent war; that they barely noticed another presence arrive, until they were startled by a shadow looming over them.

"Uhm- Uncle Schlatt? We're—we're done with the docks and they told me to go on break..." Dream sheepishly announced as he avoided eye contact, Puffy's heart broke, her boy, despite the fact he towered over everyone in the flock; looked so, so small. The ram hybrid's lips pursed as Puffy began to speak. "Hey duckling, you hungry?" The blond gave a shy nod, still unwilling to meet her eyes.

"There's food in the dining room, I made it all for you so don't worry duckling." She reassured, Dream muttered a grateful 'thank you' as he ushered himself inside the house; needing to bend down to walk around the house. The sheep hybrid turned around to face her brother again, "Look Schlatt- if you have nothing else to say I have stuff I need to do..." He sighed and shook his head.

"Goodbye JJ."

•~☆~•

"Dream can you get the tools over there?" A disheveled middle-aged man gently commanded the blond which he complied too, "Yes sir..." The child simply responded as he took a few strides and bent down to pick up a box full of tools.

It was another day for Dream, he was helping rebuild the town fountain at the core of their little village; which got damaged after some rogue hybrid went into their village and started throwing bombs, luckily another group of hunters came and escorted the hybrid away before anyone got hurt—the blond was especially lucky he wasn't there to be spotted by the said hunters—he stood at his full height and stared at his surroundings, taking in how much damage the bombs did.

A few patches of the streets were affected due to the obvious holes in the ground, and he expected to fix them sooner or later, it was sadly turning into his new normal, barely anything about this was normal. Another abrupt command made his head snap back toward the ram hybrid, "Go get the bricks over there, it's like laying on a wooden platform so get it all." Dream nodded and spotted the bricks atop a wooden pallet, he quickly rushed over and picked up the crates with his two hands.

He was slowly walking back to the fountain, being extremely cautious with the bricks; he was halfway there when he heard a loud feminine voice let out a commanding yell, "Jack! Elliott! Come back here!" Suddenly two children came running his way he lost his footing as the two children were seemingly playing tag, he yelped as one of them ran in front of him and he almost stepped on them.

He panicked as he tripped backward dropping the bricks in the process, shrill shrieks were heard coming from all over the place as bricks flew in every direction. Dust encompassed the area, in all of the chaos he prayed no one got hurt; a cough escaped his lips, as the dust settled down, the two other kids; who were probably around his age were huddled up together, covered in dust and debris themselves.

He watched as numerous amounts of rams and sheep hybrids ran to the duo's aid, a familiar stinging sensation made itself known; yet in the midst of all the chaos he couldn't even focus on anything, everything felt hazy as he sat there with his head limp and arms shaking. And the weird feeling spreading all over his body.

He felt something protruding in his gums and as the chaos began to settle down he grew.

He cried alongside the townsfolk as they all scrambled to get away from him, at that moment he silently thanked his mom and Bad that they put a spell on his clothing to adjust to his size, no matter how tall he was. Pain shot throughout his body, he could barely comprehend whatever the people were yelling.

Suddenly he ceased his movements and dropped to the ground.

•~☆~•

"Captain Puffy!"

Puffy was having a light conversation with Bad that day, they were simply talking about events of the week, trying to have a good time; keyword: trying.

"Oh Samuel? Why are you in such a rush." The sheep hybrid asked as Bad stood beside her respectfully waiting for them to finish. The panicked ram hybrid who was apparently named Samuel was catching his breath, Puffy patiently waited for the other to speak.

"Your son-" He heaved and took a big gulp of air, "He grew right before our eyes! And—and he fainted, Mayor Schlatt told me to get you." As he finished his sentence Puffy bolted from her spot not even saying a proper farewell to the demon hybrid. She almost tripped a few times as she took one step after another.

Other members of the herd who were oblivious of the situation happening at the core of the town gave her weird looks; some even attempted to follow her. More and more people began gathering to see what all the commotion was about. Puffy's thoughts were scattered everywhere as she yelled at people to move to the side.

All of a sudden she crashed against another figure which she quickly realized was her brother, "Schlatt let me go! I need to see him!" Tears began to form at the corner of her eyes as Schlatt held her back. "Please JJ..." Her voice began to grow quiet as Schlatt quietly huffed. "Puffy...I don't—I don't think you should see him right now."

The sheep hybrid was now letting on soft sobs whilst weakly grasping her brother's arm, she could only register the fact more people kept rushing behind them; she so desperately wanted to see what they were up to, what were they doing to her baby?

•~☆~•

Puffy sat at the foot of her bed, she sobbed so much she started to choke; she began to cough and gag as fat tears kept rolling down her face, earlier that day she waved her son goodbye as he left with a bright smile on his face. Now the day turned gloomy and dreadful.

"M-Mom?"

Her son's broken worried voice forced her to lift her head, for a moment she was scared startled to see a luminous emerald green eye stare at her through her window, she quickly pushed down her fear sorrow and walked over to the window, Dream backed up so she could see his face more clearly as she pushed the window open. It was obvious the poor boy had been crying; his eye's were puffy and red, and he was seemingly trembling.

"Oh baby- what's wrong?" She tried reaching out her hand to touch his face, however he stayed put; unmoving and silent. Puffy had no idea what to do at this moment, she could barely see his face as the sun took cover behind the horizons. The last remaining streaks of light highlighting the saddened features of the blond's face.

His mouth opened hesitantly as he stumbled over his words, "Are you okay mama? I-I'm sorry..." Puffy quickly gestured for him to come closer, "You did nothing wrong duckling, it's okay." Tears came back at full force as the now giant leaned against their house, the sheep hybrid could only reach the strands of his hair as she softly touched it—the blond probably didn't even feel it.

Puffy watched as stars began to twinkle in the sky, both simply fell into the haze of comfort and calm as they simply basked in the feeling of each other's comfort; the sheep hybrid gently felt the blond's soft breaths. She quietly went back to her bed and let the child sleep in peace.

With that thought she laid down and slowly drifted off to sleep aswell.

•~☆~•

"Woah dude! I'm sorry- but you look so cool right now!" Sapnap was gawking at the blond boy's new height, they finally got another chance to hang out and they were more than grateful. Dream sheepishly grinned at Sapnap's antics, he felt elated that the other treated him no differently than he did before, no matter what happened.

"I'm guessing you'll only wear one pair of clothes for now?" The blond nodded along as he tapped his fingers against the grass below him, "Y-Yea Mom said until she and your dad figure something out this is my clothes for now." The hybrid simply shrugged and an idea quickly popped up in his head.

"How about hide and seek?" He grinned widely, "We can even go in the forest so it's fair!" The taller hastily nodded and mustered up the courage to stand at his full height; vertigo smacked him as he stared at the difference of the size of his house to himself. Sapnap quickly snapped him out of his thought with the prompt of a race. The blond happily obliged and carefully sprinted towards the ravenette; albeit the blond being as careful as possible Sapnap could still feel the ground softly shake yet he shook his head and thought nothing of it.

As the two now stood in the midst of the forest, Dream was more fixated on the few small scrapes around his legs caused by the branches, it just gave him another reminder on how tall he was at the moment. Sapnap was the first to break the oddly awkward tension, "How about you hide and I seek?", He chuckled at his suggestion yet meekly nodded along.

In the blink of an eye Sapnap was now propped against a tree with his arm covering his two eyes and began to count down, for a moment the green eyed giant stood completely and utterly still, why? He couldn't exactly say, maybe it was the fact he couldn't exactly think of a place to hide or was it the strange noises her could hear, it heard like other people chatting?

Oh he was definitely losing it now.

He suddenly remembered what he was supposed to be doing and sprinted deeper into the forest to the direction of the mountains, he knew he should watch on how far he was going but surely the small caves and taverns he would spot on the way would be a better hiding spot.

The blond quickly halted as he spotted an opening to a cave on the forest floor, somehow he could hear Sapnap's counts getting closer to zero and he bolted inside the cage; he crawled his way in and situated himself—the cramped space gave him a familiar feeling, instead of uncomfort and uneasiness he felt...safe and warm(he couldn't exactly pinpoint why, his thoughts were pretty jumbled up right now)

Dream felt tranquil, his eyes slid shut and purely embraced the feeling. A heavy sigh escaped his lips, his body fell slack as he leaned in closer to the cavern walls.

It was like he felt truly at peace.

An ear-splitting cry broke his valuable silence, in his groggy state of mind he could barely comprehend where the scream came from; until another wail erupted once more. His eyes shot open and his body jumped at the sound as everything became slightly clearer.

Sapnap?

A rush of memories and emotions overwhelmed him, he was torn between remembering the moment a similar instance happened or rush to see the ravenette; it was like his body was on auto-pilot, none of the movements were his, like a foggy cloud sheilding away his sight.

As his hulking figure reached the sound of Sapnap's screams, he watched as a group of hunters were trying to chain the nether-born as he emerged from the forest all the hunters heads snapped towards him, seemingly just spotting their new prey.

"Stop it you shits those are my horns!"

As if history was repeating itself, his movements were dazed, downright feral.

That day blood coated the forest floors and a giant left the forest with a slightly traumatized hybrid.

•~☆~•

"Dream, you okay?" Sapnap asked as he stood before the giant in the drizzling rain, the blond slowly lifted his head, tears mixed with the rain, the only reason the nether-born was sure the giant was crying was the constant hiccups and sobs he would stutter out as he tried to suppress them. Even with the thunderous claps and heavy winds accompanied with the earth's very tears; it felt so, so silent. Sapnap began walking closer, he was greatly startled when the other scrambled away.

"No—no I don't wanna 'urt you..." The giant was shaking his head side to side while mumbling incoherent sentences with pain and panic laced with every word, his lips trembled as he spoke, "Uncle Schlatt a-and the elders said I should stay away from the flock for a while till—till they solve stuff." Without any thought Sapnap walked closer and held his hand out to touch the other.

"Good thing I'm not part of the flock then." He grinned with pride, Dream thought for a moment. He's right, Bad and Sapnap were never welcomed to the flock nor did they try and be part of it; or atleast that's what he thinks.

Even if his body wasn't as tense as before Sapnap sighed and sat beside blond. "For what it's worth I'll always be by your side bud."

"Pandas..."

The ravenette took a moment to cringe at his own words but kept his attention on the other, "Maybe it's best if I leave you know?" He muttered, "Ever since- well this happened to me, everything just...sucks." the nether-born was slightly taken a back with the sudden mature aura the giant gave, maybe he was spending to much time with the elders...

Sapnap was expecting this, he knew Dream was never truly at peace with the town, he thought long and hard before speaking again.

"Well if you do, I'll—I'll join you."

Was he serious? A soft grin made it's way on the taller's face.

George was going to do it by using certain electrical currents, which would hopefully interact with the extra-terrestrial energy in Dream’s body, and – if the extra-terrestrial energy was the cause of his immense size and strength, like George suspected it was – it should reverse the energy’s effects on Dream. George may have been more of a chemist and biologist than engineer, but he still knew his way around a computer and electrical parts. So, using a pizza box, a toaster, stolen computer parts from the prison office (but shh, no he doesn’t have those parts), wires he’d pulled from the wall in his bedroom (he definitely didn’t do that, either), some stray batteries that had been in his lunch a couple days ago, some paper clips, and … hmm, he was still missing something.

Behind George, Sapnap and Karl were playing Go-Fish with Area Fifty-Something themed cards; however, playing any intelligent game with Karl was like trying to turn lead into gold (and trust George, he’d tried – he could branch out from chemistry and biology if he wanted, thank you very much!) Karl just … didn’t have a brain. And he wasn’t very good at cards, either. Patches sat behind Karl, peeking at his cards, and occasionally giving Sapnap hints when she felt like it.

The fact that Patches was more intelligent than Karl sometimes amused George, and sometimes filled him with sorrow.

“Go fish,” Sapnap said to Karl. He looked up at Patches, who started to lick her paw three times in succession, then stopped. Sapnap smirked. “Do you … have any … threes?”

Karl’s purple eyes widened. “Yes, I do! How are you doing this? You’re the luckiest guy I know!”

Sapnap grinned and cracked his knuckles. He reached over to the radio on their table and tweaked the antenna, helping the static fall away and making the music clearer. George’s eyes narrowed. Bingo. “Luck ain’t got nothing to do with it,” Sapnap said. “I’m just that – what the … hey!”

George jumped from Dream’s bigger table and used his wings to glide to the other, normal-sized table. He plucked the antenna from the radio, evaded Sapnap’s fiery fist trying to grab him, and scurried back over to Dream’s shoes. Dream, wordlessly, reached down from where he was sitting in his chair, and George climbed onto Dream’s palm. It felt leathery and firm, and Dream’s fingers were almost all as tall as George. Feeling Dream lift him from the ground to the table was like being on a roller coaster with no safety straps or harnesses; the only thing keeping George from tumbling to the floor was how Dream’s fingers curled over him in a mock prison, to keep him safe. George’s stomach was left behind as he went from ground level to fifty feet in the air in seconds.

As he was gently pushed from Dream’s palm onto the metal table, deposited by the Macgyvered computer, George’s stomach became unsettled for a whole other reason. George, still on his hands and knees, looked up at Dream and made eye contact with his gorgeous green – though they looked golden to George – eyes. His white hair curled and framed his soft face. It was like a bunch of baby cockroaches – or butterflies, whatever the saying was – were fluttering around in George’s belly.

“Uh, George?” Dream said. “Do you finally have what you need?”

“Um,” George said eloquently. Then he snapped back to himself, shaking his head. “Yes, yes, I do. In fact, I have everything I need.” He got to his feet and hurried over to the computer, sticking the antenna into the port he had created. The computer screen, which had been staticky before, now gave a clear visual. George laughed in victory. “They called me crazy, but I’ll show them – I’ll show them all!”

“George,” Dream said, looking concerned, “I’d prefer it if you didn’t do your mad scientist laugh while I’m hooked up to this machine.”

Patches meowed loudly, padding over to Dream’s chair and head-butting Dream’s side.

Sapnap leaned back in his own chair, “Patches is right. Dream, you’ve been letting Dr. Cockroach over here experiment on you for a month.”

“I’m not Dr. Cockroach, I’m Dr. Davidson!” George squeaked, embarrassed. He’d been a cockroach-human mutant for years, but that didn’t mean he appreciated when Sapnap poked fun at his situation or accident. He was … sensitive about it.

“Well, what choice do I have?” Dream asked, exasperated. He crossed his arms over his chest defensively. “If George can make me normal, or even eight feet tall, I can get out of here and get back to the life I’m supposed to have. There’s no harm in trying. I’m practically indestructible, anyway. It’s not like George can kill me with his experiments … right?”

Dream turned to face George, large eyes searching for reassurance. And though George’s heart clenched at the sight, and he hated how eager Dream was to leave them, he still nodded. “Right. I wouldn’t do that to you, Dream.”

“Okay, throw the switch, Doctor,” Dream joked. “But – but don’t do the evil laugh. Please.”

“Got it,” George said. “Now, you’re going to feel a slight pinch in the brain.” He reached over to the switch made out of a bottle of hairspray and flipped it without further hesitation, ignoring Dream’s concerned look. The wires and pads connected to Dream lit up with the electrical current, and Dream gasped at the pain, then the wires got red-hot, and George started to worry about just how much electricity was being generated – it shouldn’t have been too much, not with what he’d slapped together – but maybe it was reacting negatively with the energy within Dream.

Dream groaned from the pain persisting, and George made a decision. But just before he was about to turn off the machine and call it a day, the machine short-circuited and shut off, sending one last large bolt of electricity through the wires to Dream. Dream screamed and tumbled from his chair, causing a massive thump to echo through the commons.

George, heart in his throat, shut off the machine and jumped from the table, using his wings to glide down to Dream’s side. As he walked past Dream’s hand, he did a double take when he realised that Dream’s pinky finger was now as long as he was tall, when previously, George had stood taller than it.

George had a bad feeling about what had happened.

“Dream!” George called. Sapnap and Karl joined him at Dream’s side.

“Am I small again?” Dream groaned. He rolled over, leaving George, Karl, and Sapnap to hurry out of the way, lest they be crushed. Dream got to his hands and knees, still groaning, and looked down at the others. His expression changed from pained to crushed.

“I’m afraid not,” George said. “In fact, you may actually have grown a couple of feet …” He laughed nervously.

Dream sighed. “That’s okay. We can try again another day.”

Sapnap growled. “You really don’t get it, do you?” He asked. He threw out his arms in frustration. “No monster has ever gotten out of here! Nobody’s leaving, nobody is ever getting out.”

Across the room, there was a whirring sound, and a large metal panel opened. Bad came flying in on his jetpack. “Good news, monsters!” He said, “You’re getting out!”

“Until today,” Sapnap said, looking miffed.

-

“So, let me get this straight, Bad,” Sapnap said, “You want us to fight an alien robot?”

The entire monster team was on a moving platform, slowly trudging past multiple two-way mirrors and military personnel. Dream had to stay on his knees the entire time because the area had not been built for his hundred-foot-tall frame. He listened intently to what the general was saying, so excited that he barely cared about all the stares he was getting from the tiny humans.

“And in exchange,” Bad explained, “the president authorised me to give you your freedom. Granted, you’ll still need to live on base, because you aren’t human, and can’t get living quarters in a town or city, but you’ll be allowed to leave and travel as you want.”

“I can’t believe it!” Dream said, “Soon, I’ll be back in Quackity’s arms …” Then Dream looked down at himself, then at the size of the others. “… or he’ll be in mine.”

“I can’t wait for summer break back in the Florida Everglades,” Sapnap said, eyes lit up with a fire. “I loved wrestling alligators and freaking everybody out.”

“And I’ll go back to my lab and finally finish my experiments,” Karl giggled.

“No, no, that’s me, Karl,” George said.

“Then … I’ll be a really giant man,” Karl said.

“That’s Dream, Karl.”

“Fine. Then I’ll go back to Florida and be with Quackity.”

“That’s still Dream, Karl,” Sapnap said.

“I think I, at least, deserve a change to be with Derek!”

The group sighed.

-

After a few hours plane ride, which left Dream uncomfortably cramped in the cargo unit, they finally landed. The back door opened and lowered, giving a ramp for them to walk off. Bad jumped out with his jetpack, letting the others follow him. Dream uncurled himself from his position and, on his hands and knees, descended the ramp. When he was finally on the road that their plane had landed on, he got to his feet and stretched, hearing the satisfying pops his back made. Below him, the three little monsters walked down the ramp, and Dream caught George glancing up at his large height, eyes even wider than they usually were. Dream tried not to let it get to him – after all, it’s not like George had a leg to stand on when it came to seeing others as freaks.

“Let’s move out!” Bad called. He used his jetpack to fly to about waist-level with Dream, leading the monsters further down the road.

Dream finally got a chance to look around. The road they were on was empty and the surrounding area looked abandoned; they had been told that the area was in a state of evacuation due to the alien robot. But then Dream saw a large bridge off to the west, and his eyes widened when he recognised where they were. He flapped his hands in excitement.

“This is Anastasia Island,” he told the others. “This isn’t far from my home! Only about an hour out!”

George hesitantly stepped further out on the road and looked around. His eyes took in everything with a reverence that could only come from someone imprisoned for many years. His antenna wiggled eagerly, which Dream found almost … cute? George sighed in relief. “Just feeling the wind on my antenna … isn’t this wonderful? Being outside?”

“I haven’t been outside for a decade,” Karl said, then conveniently added, almost sadly, “I’ve only been alive for a decade.”

Just then, over the horizon, there was a large groaning sound. The fog and smoke cleared to show a figure maybe two hundred yards away. It was bigger than even Patches, probably three hundred to three-hundred-fifty feet tall. It was oval-like in shape – almost like a Kinder Egg with arms and legs – and had a singular green eye, which was surveying the land around its base. The rest of the robot looked to be made of various metals and had seams between metal plating that glowed a neon green. Bad whistled in an impressed manner. “Wow! That’s quite the robot!”

Dream’s jaw dropped. “It’s huge.”

Bad used his jetpack to fly back to the cargo plane, speaking cheerfully as the ramp and doors closed behind him, “Try not to damage it too much, monsters. I might want to bring it back to base to study!”

“No, no, no, wait!” Dream said, panicked, “You didn’t say anything about it being huge! Bad, wait! No! Don’t leave us here!”

But it was no use – the plane had already begun to ascend, flying away from the group.

There was another groaning sound, the sound of large and heavy amounts of metal moving and grinding against itself, and then the giant robot was facing them. From so far away, Dream still felt mildly safe, but then the robot shot a bright green light from its eye. The light fell on the group and, stupidly, Dream was reminded of playing Among Us and how the crewmates needed to scan each other in med-bay, which generated a light that ran up and down a crewmate’s body. It was like the alien robot was scanning them – though, for what, Dream didn’t know. He didn’t get the chance to investigate because, just as quickly, the light disappeared. The robot stopped moving and held still.

Karl smiled up at the robot. “I think it sees us.” He waved his hands in the air. “Hello! Hi! How are you doing? Welcome! We are here to destroy you!” He mimed punching with one fist into another.

“You are not helping,” Dream hissed. Then, “I cannot fight that thing. It’s, like, twenty feet taller than I am.”

“Technically speaking, it’s about two hundred feet taller than you,” George said. “I think you’re getting your measurements mixed up because of your size and how that makes other things relative to –” George stopped abruptly at Dream glare. “… right. Not helping.”

“I cannot fight that thing,” Dream reiterated. “I haven’t even been in a fistfight before, how am I meant to fight a giant metal robot?!”

“Relax!” Sapnap said, grinning, “We’ve got this under control. After all, most of us are indestructible.”

Before Dream could tell Sapnap how little that relaxed him, George walked over and put a comforting hand on Dream’s shoe. Or, well, it looked like it was supposed to be comforting. Dream couldn’t even feel the touch. “It’ll be okay, Dream. Why don’t you hide in the city? You’ll be safe there while we deal with the robot.”

Though he felt like a coward for doing so, Dream did not want to fight a three-hundred-foot-tall robot, so he nodded and was quick to turn and run toward the city.

Maybe he could help with evacuation?

-

“Finally, some action!” Sapnap said, excited. George rolled his eyes at the demon’s posturing. Sapnap stretched, cracking his knuckles. “I can’t wait to turn that oversized tin can into a really dented, oversized tin can.” But then the robot got closer, showing its absolutely massive size, and opened up its side panels to reveal its arms. Sapnap gulped, suddenly looking less confident. “Okay! Does anybody have an eye on when Patches will get here? We could really use Patches right now.”

“Patches wasn’t supposed to be here until later!” George said, panic filling him.

The robot got even closer, its feet crunching into the pavement.

“Wow!” Karl said. “Would you look at the size of that –”

“FOOT!” George screamed.

George and Sapnap got out of dodge quickly, but Karl stayed behind, eyes wide and expression in awe. The robot foot came down on the gelatinous blob, smashing him into the pavement and flattening him into a pancake. George thought for sure Karl was a goner, but then the foot raised – there were four of them, now that George could see clearly – and Karl hung from the bottom of the metal.

“I got him, you guys! I got –” the foot came down again, and Karl disappeared. Then the foot raised, and he was back in his human-like shape, stuck to the metal. This happened a couple more times as Karl continued to talk. “Don’t worry! I won’t let go! … I’m wearing it down! … Please tell me it’s slowing down!”

But it wasn’t slowing down. In fact, it was speeding up and heading straight for the city – where Dream was. And potentially innocent civilians. But most importantly, Dream.

“We have to go after it!” George exclaimed.

-

The entire city was dead. Everyone had been evacuated hours ago, leaving a city that was eerie in its stillness. Dream felt absolutely huge as he traversed through the ghost city. He barely fit through the tight roads, he accidentally stepped on a few cars, knocked over a streetlamp, and almost tripped and caught himself on the side of building, only to pull his hands away and found the concrete and metal crumbling beneath his fingers. Most of the buildings were shorter than him, with only a few reaching over his head – those being the skyscrapers.

Dream turned to one of said skyscrapers and caught his reflection in the many polished windows. He looked … not like himself. His face was the same as it had always been, but everything else was wrong. His hair was still curly, but now it almost reached his shoulders, and was white instead of copper. His eyes were brighter, more neon than they should be. His ears were slightly pointed, like an elf. His skin was paler than usual, thanks to two months locked up underground, and his freckles stood stark against his complexion. He grimaced, then noticed through the grimace that his teeth were all sharper, more jagged, with long canines. Dream reached a hand up to hook a finger around his canines, staring at his reflection with a somber expression.

Then the ground started to shake.

Dream knew that meant the robot was nearby.

Not for the first time, he wished he was smaller. Except, this time, he didn’t wish he was smaller because he wanted to be normal – he wished he was smaller because he wanted to hide. Panic filled his chest, the need to hide overwhelming. He felt a sharp tug in his gut and suddenly, the buildings around him grew taller … or he was shrinking.

Dream gasped as everything got bigger, and suddenly he was just as tall as the apartment he stood next to, easily hiding behind the build. Dream looked down at his hands as though they held the answers, but there was no answer. After being nearly a hundred feet tall for two months, then suddenly shrinking, Dream wished he had more time to freak out about it. As it was, he stumbled through the streets, trying to put himself further away from the robot.

Unfortunately, it was for naught – he was on another street when he was suddenly highlighted with a bright green spotlight. It scanned him. Dream gasped at how strong it was, hurting his eyes, and tried to move out of the light. It followed him, though, through Dream’s attempts to dodge it, and at the last second, it turned a bright red, then disappeared. The big green eye on the robot turned red, leaving it to look Christmas-themed as the green lights between its metal plates still shone through. For a few seconds, nothing happened. The robot didn’t move and neither did Dream.

Then all hell broke loose.

The robot moved one of its giant arms through the building it stood in front of, knocking debris and concrete everywhere. At his now diminished size – probably fifty feet or less, if Dream was guessing correctly – the debris was large enough to cause a grave injury if hit. Dream dodged it all and started running like his life depended on it.

Which it did, most likely.

Probably.

Unfortunately.

-

Dream ran and ran, until he reached the Bridge of Lions. It was one of the larger bridges in Florida and it connected St. Augustine to Anastasia Island. Dream had crossed the bridge many times before, but never had it looked so small to him – and he was only fifty feet tall right now! Regardless, the robot persisted after him. The only good thing about the alien robot was that it moved slowly, though not slowly enough that Dream couldn’t see it entering the waterway from a couple hundred yards away. As the robot splashed into the depths, Dream could see that the water wasn’t nearly deep enough to submerge and short-circuit it, which was a shame, really. Dream would have loved if the robot died before it could get to him.

As he got closer to the bridge, Dream saw multiple cars in what looked to be a traffic jam, but upon closer inspection, was due to an accident. There was a semi-truck turned over, blocking the path to St. Augustine. Dream looked back over at the robot and saw that it was too close for comfort. The humans on the bridge were in trouble, and though Dream doubted he could lift a semi-truck at his current size, he still needed to do something. So, he walked along the bridge, surprised that it held his weight, and went to help the stuck cars. His first instinct was to just lift the semi-truck out of the way, so he got on his knees and went to bend and lift; he surprised himself with his own strength, seeing as how he almost completely flipped the truck without even trying. Then he turned to the other cars, ready to push them through the open path if needed, only to see multiple people getting out of their cars, running away and screaming.

Dream almost thought they were running from him – and didn’t that hurt – before he heard the splashing of water and moving of heavy machinery, and he gasped as he looked over his shoulder and barely dodged one of the arms of the robot reaching for him. The entire bridge slanted under the weight of the arm, dragging Dream closer to what looked like a mouth on the robot – complete with a full set of rotating, jagged, sharp teeth.

Dream screamed.

He slid down the bridge but managed to get his feet on the upper and lower lips of the mouth, stopping his descent into the shredding teeth. Several empty cars fell victim to the robot.

“No, no!” Dream said, breathless as he tried to climb away, “no, it can’t end like this!”

Just then, there was the sound of a helicopter in the air, and Dream chanced a look behind himself to see a helicopter dragging a huge puffball on a string, luring a very playful Patches after it. Patches jumped one last time, missing the ball, but landing in the water by the bridge. That was when the cat-caterpillar seemed to realise that Dream was in trouble – she was such a smart girl! – and meowed loudly. She batted her paw at the robot, leaving large claw marks in its eye, disabling it. The robot stopped. Then Patches placed her paw on the bridge, pushing it back so it laid flat. Dream was finally able to breathe, and he looked up at Patches gratefully.

Further down the bridge, Dream saw the three little monsters making their way through the abandoned cars, toward him. When Sapnap saw Patches, he started to run. He greeted the cat-caterpillar with a smile, earning a loud meow. “Hey furball, where’ve you been?!”

Then he saw Dream.

“Whoa! Why are you all … small? Err, well, smaller?”

“That is so not important right now,” Dream hissed. “The robot is trying to kill me, specifically! It followed me through the city instead of going after literally anything else! Why is it doing that? Why would it –”

And then everything went dark.

-

“NO!” George screamed when he saw the robot crush Dream with its claws. For a few seconds, nothing happened. The robot was still again. George put his hands over his mouth, wanting to cry. Even Patches seemed to catch the mood, meowing shrilly and growling at the robot.

“Is Dream? …” Sapnap didn’t finish his sentence.

George closed his eyes, pained.

“Wait, what’s … whoa …”

George opened his eyes again to glare at Sapnap, only to catch sight of something within the robot’s claws, glowing a bright neon green. And then, miraculously, the claws opened. Dream pried them open from within, with pure strength alone, and he was literally glowing. No, not only glowing, George realised, but also growing. Dream went from fifty feet tall to over one-hundred-fifty-feet tall within seconds. George’s eyes widened in awe.

The bridge began to crumble, cars began to fall, humans began to scream, and Dream stuck his leg out to save the few ones remaining, all while keeping the giant claws open.

“Wow,” Karl said cheerfully, “you’re doing great!”

“I’m doing everything!” Dream yelled. “A little help?!”

Beside him, Sapnap grunted. “Come on guys, let’s take this thing down!”

He started to throw fire charge after fire charge at the robot but was unable to do little more than char the metal. George’s eyes narrowed at he saw the green light around the robot flash every time Sapnap hit it, deflecting the fire. “It’s no use, Sapnap,” George said. “It has a deflector shield. We need to take it out from the inside!”

George released his wings and jumped and glided down toward the mouth of the robot, where the rotating, crushing teeth lay. He grimaced. You couldn’t crush a cockroach, and he really hoped the truth held for him, too. He scurried through the teeth, being pushed every which way, the sharp barbs pushing against his wings and sternum, until, eventually, he landed in an empty area within the robot. He crawled as high as he could go, until he reached a small space with a large orb with several wires sticking out of it. In front of him, he could barely see out of a large window because there were four claw marks decimating the glass – the eye that Patches destroyed. George huffed, winded, and reached out for the wires.

“Right, right,” he muttered to himself, eyes sweeping over the different colours of wires. It all looked blue and yellow to him, curse his colour blindness. “Here we go …”

-

Trying to stop a giant alien robot from crushing you, along with keeping several cars from falling into the water and potentially killing the humans inside, was a lot of work. Dream almost couldn’t keep up, and he needed help. But he couldn’t call for Patches to attack the robot because George was now inside it, and he didn’t want George to get hurt. Patches seemed to somewhat understand this, because she was a pretty smart kitty. However, Dream could alleviate the need to keep the humans safe.

“Karl!” He exclaimed.

“What?” Karl asked, sounding genuinely confused.

“Help me!” Dream snapped.

“Sorry, I was just staring at this bird over there,” Karl giggled.

“We have to get these people off the bridge!” Dream instructed, ignoring Karl’s aloofness. “Help them!”

“Got it!” Karl said, giving Dream a thumbs-up. Then he turned, picked up a car over his head, and started to drag it over the side of the bridge, like he was going to throw it into the water.

Dream would have sighed had he been able to, but between everything he was doing not to die at the moment, he was a little hard-pressed. “No, Karl!” He exclaimed, “Move the dividers to let them through, not throw them over the edge!”

“Oh, yeah, you’re right,” Karl said, giggling again. “My bad!”

Karl put the car down, allowing it to speed off, over to St. Augustine’s. Then he picked up several dividers, eating them as he went along, dissolving the concrete in his Jell-O-like body. Dream used his leg to push the cars away from the edge, yelling at them to start driving. Further down the bridge, Karl started to slow with eating the dividers. He groaned. “Oh, I don’t feel so good.”

Sapnap kept throwing fire charges at the robot, but he was slowing down, obviously exhausted. Behind Dream, Patches was hissing, padding around in a circle in the water, clearly not happy with being wet anymore. George was still inside the robot, doing … whatever it was he was trying to do.

Dream was alone.

He grunted, pushing at the robot’s claws still crushing him. His muscles were starting to strain. If only he were a little bigger, then he could fight the robot one on one … there was a tug in his gut, and Dream saw his hands start to glow. He looked down at the rest of his body, seeing it glowing, as well. The world around him started to get small, and the bridge underneath him started to crumble between the crushing force of the claws and his weight. The robot got smaller and smaller, the claws getting too small to contain him, until Dream was able to slip out of the singular claw. Suddenly, the bridge collapsed under him, and Dream gasped – until he realised that the water barely reached his ankles. He was now at the same height of the robot, if not a little taller. Empowered by his new height, Dream reached out and grabbed hold of the robot’s arm, pulling it with all his strength. With a loud groan and pop, the entire arm came off, and the robot shrieked loudly. It blindly reached out with its other arm, the claw crushing the bridge more, but was nowhere close to hitting Dream.

“George!” Dream called, readying the arm he was holding like a baseball bat, “I don’t know if you can hear me, but it’s time to get out of that robot! I’m going to kick its ass!”

There was a large spark that came from the robot; it glowed a bright green, before the light completely disappeared. And then George was jumping out of the hole where the other arm extended from, gliding with his wings toward Dream. Dream managed not to flinch as George landed on his shoulder, grabbing the edge of the collar on his jumpsuit. George looked so tiny, barely half the size of Dream’s fingers. Dream couldn’t even feel his weight on his shoulder, and that scared Dream.

But even if he couldn’t feel George, he could hear him clear as day: “I’ve disabled the deflector shield! We should be able to finish this thing now!”

Dream took that as permission to start kicking ass.

When Dream was younger, he used to play baseball. It wasn’t his favourite sport – that would be football, which he loved to watch more than play – but he had been a damn good hitter. He’d consistently hit every ball that came his way, and had such control over his hits that he could control where the ball went and how high. This was all important because when he hit the robot with its own arm, he used it like a baseball bat, and he swung with all his strength. The arm hit the robot’s other arm dead-on, and vibrations shook up Dream’s arms from the impact.

The robot’s metal arm crumpled.

Dream swung several more times, aiming strategically, until he took a final swing and took the robot’s swiveling head clean off. The robot stilled and fell, crashing into the water and causing large waves to lap at Dream’s ankles. The robot’s eye stopped glowing and everything came to an end. Finally, Dream stopped, breathing heavily. He dropped the robot’s severed arm. On his shoulder, George cheered. Over on the part of the bridge that didn’t break, Dream could see Karl and Sapnap – looking so tiny – also whooping and cheering for him.

Relaxed, Dream felt the now familiar tug in his gut, and the world around him grew – or rather, he shrunk. He kept shrinking until he was at his regular height, and he had to stop and think about when he started considering a hundred feet tall his new “normal.”

“Oh my god,” George said into his ear, still standing on his shoulder, “you can size-shift.”

Over on the bridge, Sapnap howled. “That was so bad ass!”

“Do it again! Do it again!” Karl clapped.

Dream smiled. Yeah, everything was under control now.

“Okay, so I got this funny deck from a thrift shop. It’s pretty strange, but it should work normally.” Sapnap sighed. “Alright then, let’s just get this over with.”

“Come on, cheer up.” Quackity chuckled as he fanned out the cards. “Okay, now just pull one from the deck-” “You’re acting like you’re going to make this a magic trick.” Sapnap returned as he slowly pulled out a card with two fingers.

He flipped the card in his hand, and gently set it in front of him. It definitely wasn’t a traditional deck, seeing as the main part of the card was a multicolored figure.

He had drawn the moon card, but the figure, seemingly human with a multicolored coat and fuzzy brown hair, was staring unblinking at him, mouth agape. “The moon! How cool! Okay, and if I’m right, This means there's deception in your life, whether it’s caused by you or someone else.”

Sapnap stared between the two. He couldn’t stop his eyes from wandering back down to the figure in the card. Absolutely stunning. “Thanks for the help Sap, this means so much.” Quackity spoke as he pulled the card back into the deck.

“Yeah, ‘course. Do you want me to follow up on it and tell you?” “Yes please, thanks hermano!”

~~~~~~~~~~~

Sapnap came home, utterly exhausted. He opened the door, ready to just crash on the couch or something. He passed the kitchen without another thought, and flopped down on his couch, falling asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Sapnap groaned, slowly opening his eyes, and spotting a small figure just in front of his face. He didn’t dare move or make a sound, as the figure started to clear up. A tiny human stood in front of him, with fuzzy brown hair and a multicolored coat.

“Hello!” Sapnap panicked and jumped up so f***ing quickly, running to grab a broom. “What the f*** are you and what are you doing in my f*** house?!” He shouted once he returned with the broom, extending the brush to hover only inches from the figure.

“I’m called Moon!” They cheered happily. “Okay, and why the f*** are you in my house?!” He shouted again, prodding them with the broom only to watch their form fizzle around the broom. “Well, there’s deception in your life, and I’m here to help!”

The tarot card. That was the figure from the tarot card. Holy s***.

He dropped the broom at this realization.

"Do you need help, drawer?" The card, named Moon, asked. “What-what the h*** did you call me?!”

“Drawer! You drew my card, so you’re the drawer!” He paused. That made sense. "Okay, well, do you want my name or are you only allowed to call me 'drawer'."

Moon gasped. "Names! Names are special. And you have one!" "Don't you have one?"

"No, I’m not special. But you are! What’s your name?” Sapnap paused. He, a fireborn, was ‘special’ enough to have a name, while this literal deity wasn’t. “Sapnap. I’m Sapnap.”

“Oh, yeah I can tell you’re special already. So, where’s the deception in your life?” Sapnap paused. Right to the point, he guessed. He thought for a few moments. “I don’t think there really is anything.”

“You drew the card Sap, can I call you that? Yeah, okay cool.” Moon muttered without pause, before starting again. “That means you have some form of deception in your life-” “Quackity’s just learning how to do these things, it could just be a random draw for all I know.”

“There’s no such thing as coincidences Sap, it was always meant to be. I think that’s what your ‘friend’ said, right?” Sapnap paused. Just how much did this deity know about him?!

Wilbur Soot was one of his closest friends, along with Quackity and George, even if the later hadn’t messaged him in months. Sure, Quackity was a bit of a tyrant over Las Nevadas, and Wilbur was newly revived after blowing up his own country, but his friends were all good people!

“Sap, I know what you’re thinking, and before you say it, I think I know where the deception lies.” Sapnap’s attention went back to Moon, who had placed their hands together, pointing them downward, almost in disappointment.

“I told you there’s no deception crap in my life!” He shouted, watching them flinch away in fear. It was a little satisfying, he would admit, but he felt a little bad. And instead of facing it, he stormed away. He was not dealing with this right now.

~~~~~~~~~~

Sapnap made the mistake of looking down as he sat in the Grand Council meeting of Kinoko. George hadn’t been to one in ages, and made him step in instead. But as he looked down at his feet, Moon was there. Just standing on the ground.

He frowned, kicking them with his foot only to watch his limb go through Moon. Of course. “Is something wrong Sap?” He heard Foolish ask, and he immediately met the gaze of the totem hybrid. “Everything’s fine, something’s just going on at home.”

“Do you want to talk about it later?” Tina. Ever the sweet soul, asked. He shook his head. “Let’s just get back to business.” He looked down and noticed Moon had gone away. Good.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Sapnap was making dinner now, tired out of his mind. He was so ready to finish and eat, until he spotted a figure next to the stove. “Can’t you just leave me alone-” “Sapnap, I’m sorry if I did something to upset you.”

He nearly dropped his utensils. “Moon, you did nothing wrong, I’m sorry for being so rude.” Moon nodded, stepping over towards the pan. “So, what exactly are you?”

“Well, if my translation is correct, I, and the rest of the deck, would be a Spirit Guide, of sorts. It’s challenging to explain, so I’ll try my best. We basically help mortals like you with their problems, and then we ourselves can become mortal!”

He paused. “That’s interesting. So how many of you are out there…?” He was a little terrified at the answer he was going to recieve. “In the deck, I don’t remember. But right now, there are three others out! Although one failed their mission so they are cursed until they can succeed…”

Sapnap stopped to think.. “Do you know their values?” He doubted he would get much of a response, unfortunately. “Well, one was the devil and two were different swords, but I can’t remember their values.”

“Oh, foods done, do you want some, or can you not eat?” He offered. Moon smiled. “Oh, thank you, but I can’t eat.” Moon laughed, which sounded beautiful to the fireborn.

Moon watched as Sapnap walked to his table, following suit by teleporting. The little deity seemed to only watch him, which was slightly enduring. Although the fireborn thought he saw a twinge of sadness as they approached his finger, only to go through his finger.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Sapnap stretched, yawning. He stood up, going through his routine. He spotted Moon atop the counter once he came out, sighing. “Sapnap-” “Just call me Sap, it sounded better.” “Okay Sap. Can I meet your friends today?”

“Why would you want to do that? George hasn’t talked to me in months and the others are busy-” He interrupted himself as his com vibrated. He pulled it out and turned on the call. “Hello?” He asked, curious as to who would call him in the morning. “Sapnap, I-uh…could… could you join me for lunch today?”

What. The. F***. “George?! You-you-i… Okay, I’ll come over then. Do you want me to bring anything?” “No, no it’s fine. Uh… see you then I guess?” Sapnap blinked a few times in confusion. What just happened?

“Was that George?” Sapnap nodded. “Oh! I can’t wait! Can we visit your other friends today too?” “Moon, I can’t even carry you.” “I can teleport!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Hermano! What are you doing here, may I ask?” Sapnap smiled, seeing both Quackity and Wilbur in the avian’s office. “Just wanted to drop by and say hi before I go off to meet George for lunch-” “George?! Please, you could do so much better. Come on and hang out with us, instead.”

~~~~~~~~~~~

Moon watched the conversation from through the door. Wilbur and Quackity were the cause of his deception. He needed to help Sapnap figure that out! The area behind him vibrated, and he turned around, spotting a massive, slimy creature. He gasped as it fell down to his level.

“Moon! What a joy it is to see you again!” He gasped. “Suit of Swords? Wow! You’re here!” Moon smiled. “Yeah! And I have a name! It’s Slimecicle!”

Moon gasped, smiling. “That’s amazing Slimecicle! Did you complete your mission then?” “I have not, sadly. Schlatt wouldn’t listen to me, and Quackity is falling down the same hole. Until one of them listens, I’ll be cursed like this.” Slimecicle raised his slimy arms.

Moon frowned. “You can do it Slimecicle, I believe in you!” He cheered, smiling brightly. “Thank you Moon, I believe in you too!” He smiled, and watched as Slimecicle slipped under the doors. That looked like fun.

~~~~~~~~~~

“George!” He smiled as Sapnap shouted. He felt terrible for not talking with the fireborn, but he was fixing it now with the help of Dream. “Sap! I made sandwiches.” The fireborn laughed. “Still the same old boring food from our childhood.”

George chuckled, the fireborn was still outspoken. “I’m sorry Sapnap, I really wanted to talk with you, but I let my anxieties get in the way. I should’ve kept contact-” “Well, the good news is that you broke through your bubble enough to ask me over. I’m proud. Now let’s go catch up.”

Sapnap was too nice for this world.

The two had been talking for a bit, before George picked up the nerve to show the fireborn the savior of their friendship. “Hey Sap?” George asked once they fell into comfortable silence. “Yeah?” He responded, and oh, the anxiety.

“This may sound f***ing crazy, but I made a new friend. His name is Dream, and he’s been helping me talk to you. But the catch is, he's big enough to fit in my pocket.”

George watched Sapnap’s face morph as he pulled out the tiny man and set him on the table. “Whoah.” The fireborn breathed. “You can touch him.”

What. “What?!” “You can touch him. Did Q give you him too?” What was happening. “Too?!” George watched as a figure materialized atop his table.

“Moon?” Dream asked. “Dream! Wow, so cool!” ‘Moon’ spoke excitedly. But they didn’t seem too excited. “Holy s***...”

~~~~~~~~~~~

“This has been so much fun, I can’t believe Q and Wilbur don’t like you.” George gave Sapnap a concerned look. “You’re still hanging out with them?” “I mean yeah, they're my friends.”

George frowned. “Sap, they aren’t good people. Quackity runs a casino and gave us these cards, and Wilbur blew up his own country for g**s sake.” George stared at Sapnap.

“I… What happens to the cards when you do what they say?” “They’ll basically be like us, just smaller and more fragile.” Sapnap nodded. “And if I don’t…?”

“Then you’ll die permanently and I’ll be cursed until I help someone else.” Moon responded slowly. George could see the gears turning in Sapnap’s mind, which concerned him a bit.

“Thanks George, this has been fun, but I need to go see Papa.” His friend nodded, leading him to the door. “Thanks for coming Sap, glad we could catch up.”

~~~~~~~~~~

“Hey Skeppy, I’m here to-whoah, who’s this?” Sapnap asked as he walked into their kitchen. “That’s Bad, we’re baking muffins because they’re his favorite food.” Sapnap smiled, making eye contact with the diamond golem.

“Is he a card too?” Skeppy nodded. Sapnap watched as Moon appeared, and frowned as Moon looked sadder. “Want some before you go?” Sapnap looked up at Skeppy who seemed to know how badly he wanted to go. “Yeah, that would be great.”

“Thanks for coming Sap, maybe we’ll visit you soon.” He smiled, giving him a basket of muffins and shoving him through the door.

~~~~~~~~~

“Moon! I did it! I talked to Wilbur and Quackity, and you were right!” Sapnap announced, bounding into the kitchen, and looking for his small companion.

“That’s nice Sap, well done.” Sapnap turned, watching Moon’s smiling figure fade away. He wanted to cry.

Moon was gone.

Sapnap frowned, storming back into his room. He slammed the door closed and cried.

~~~~~~~~~~

Sapnap had promptly ignored the pounding on his door today, not willing to go out and talk. Moon was gone, so there was no point in him talking with anyone else, right? They probably couldn’t understand.

He pushed himself off the bed, rolling onto the floor. He opened the door, slowly and sadly walking to the kitchen. He opened his fridge, growling as he lost interest in the food.

“Sap?” A gentle and soft voice rang through the room. He looked towards the table, trying to tell himself that he was just imagining things.

But he wasn’t.

Moon was there, standing on the table.

Moon.

Holy s***! Sapnap ran towards the table, kneeling down to stand at eye level with the tiny. “Moon!” He smiled happily. “Hey Sappy!”

“I missed you so much!” Sapnap cried. Moon stepped forward, placing a hand to his cheek. And he felt it.

He felt it.

He was too excited now, reaching out and scooping the tiny figure into his hands, placing a kiss to their chest. “I can touch you now!” He cheered, snuggling his nose into Moon’s shirt. “I can touch you too! So exciting!”

Sapnap paused for a moment. “So, how does the naming process go? Do you make one, or should I name you?” Moon gasped, a shimmer in their eyes.

“I want you to name me! It’s more special that way.” Sapnap smiled. “But what if I name you something stupid like Taylor.” Moon laughed, the same laugh that he missed. “I know you wouldn’t, and even if it did, it would mean so much more coming from you.”

“Karl.”

“What?”