First image for the Trails Marathon!!! Had to start with the OG’s Estelle and Joshua. With plenty more to come.
After a little incident with a malfunctioning orbment, Joshua was left shrunken down to the size of a toy. Estelle couldn’t help but tease him the whole time, and it only seemed to be getting worse and worse for the tiny Joshua as time went on…
Also a story version by fkao
Joshua stopped by Melder’s orbment factory to make some adjustments to his combat orbment, only to find that Freddy wasn’t there.
“He had to go off to Bose for some sort of family emergency. Won’t be back for a week i suspect.” Melders explained.
“Thanks for letting me know.” Joshua said, heading out with his orbment in hand. His analytical eyes scanned the device, trying to make sense of it. It was complicated to be sure, but his training before coming to live with the Brights had been extensive. Surely he could manage some adjustments?
He returned home and sat down at the desk in his room, pulling out a small knife and a pair of pliers. If he could just move this one space quartz into a different slot, then he could…
BZZZZZTTTT
Black and yellow sparks flew out of the orbment, and Joshua realized his mistake: he’d forced a space quartz into a line connected to a time affinity, which his orbment specialized in. Before he could fix the mistake, the sparks ended with a sudden pulse, and Joshua was struck with a wave of energy. Space and time intermingled and warped around him and the world blurred. When things cleared up, he was laying on the wooden floor, though it was a different color than normal. It looked more like his desk… Joshua sat up with a start and looked around. Next to him was what looked like an enormous metal bowl, which he quickly realized was actually his orbment, now as tall as he would be standing. Somehow, whatever orbment malfunction he had triggered had shrunk him! Based on the height of his orbment, he couldn’t be more than a few rege tall. He looked over himself to make sure had no other injuries, then inspected the desk for any ways to get down to the floor and look for help. With no clear path, he sat down on the handle of the knife he had been using to work, which was now about the height of a bench to him. “Joshua? Are you in there? I heard a weird noise.” A voice came from behind the door.
“Yes Estelle! I’m in here, and I could use some help!” Joshua shouted. Estelle didn’t hear a word due to his newly shrunken vocal cords, but luckily for him, she wasn’t the patient type. The door swung open and Estelle barged in, looking for any signs something was amiss. Eventually, she made her way towards the desk where Joshua was trying to wave her down. Her eyes settled on him, but there was no look of recognition.
“Huh, what a weird bug. I thought I’d catalogued all the bugs in Rolent by now.” Estelle said. “But this one seems…” Her eyes went wide: “Joshua?! Is that you?!”
“Yeah, I could use some help.” Joshua said, rubbing his neck bashfully.
Estelle extended her hand down so Joshua could step up onto her palm, then brought him up to her face. “What happened?!” Estelle asked.
And so Joshua explained about trying to fix his own orbment, and how he’d managed to botch the job and trigger some unusual art that shrunk him.
“Oof, that’s why I never mess with those things.” Estelle said. “Let’s go talk in my room.” Joshua fell to his knees on her hand as she suddenly lurched into motion, carrying her tiny partner out of his room, down the hall, and into hers. She sat down at her desk, then lowered her hand so he could step down onto it.
“So I guess we will have to wait for Freddy to get back to fix your orbment huh?” Estelle said. “Or maybe it’s a condition like seal or mute that wears off after a few minutes?”
“I think it would have worn off by now if it was going to. Maybe we could ask Schera for help?” Joshua suggested.
“We just became junior bracers, I don’t want her to think that we already messed up. She could take our badges back and make us wait another year.” Estelle said.
“Fine, well let’s at least read the orbment manuals and see if anything like this has ever happened. We can probably figure this out on our own.” Joshua said.
“Ugh those manuals are practically written in ancient Zemurian.” Estelle said. “But I guess we can look before handling bracer work.” She took out a dense manual from the back of a desk drawer and dropped it on her desk next to Joshua. The impact caused a small earthquake for the tiny bracer, but he didn’t complain as Estelle opened the manual to the relevant section and let him climb up on top of it to read with her.
Before long, Joshua was immersed in the text, trying to build a working mental model of a modification that would restore his size. He hadn’t looked up at Estelle in a while, and assumed she was reading along with him, but the truth was that the giant brunette had gotten bored pretty quickly.
“Hey Joshua… Since we’re going out today, I was wondering which one of my Stregas you’d prefer to be an insole for?” Estelle said suddenly, breaking Joshua’s concentration. He looked up to see that Estelle was holding up two different Strega sneakers, gesturing to suggest they were the options she was offering him.
“Quit kidding around! We need to find a way to get me back to my original size!” Joshua shouted.
Estelle nodded, but it didn’t mean what Joshua hoped. “I heard you say ‘Original Stregas’. That’s a great pick Joshua!”
Estelle reached down towards Joshua, and even his natural stealth proved no match for her giant fingers. She pinched them around his waist and lifted him up, holding him above the entrance to the shoe. “I always say that the Originals were one of the best shoes they ever made, but I have had them for a long time, so they’re pretty worn in. They’ll definitely benefit from you providing some extra support.”
Joshua could feel the heat radiating from inside the shoe, not to mention the smell of Estelle’s feet. “Estelle this isn’t funny! I’m not going in your shoe!”
“Of course you are Joshua. How else are you supposed to come work with me?” Estelle asked. “What, you didn’t think I was going to let you skip out on bracer requests just because you’re tiny did you? You’re the one who is always lecturing me about being more responsible. Don’t think you can get out of pulling your weight just because you broke your orbment!”
“Estelle that’s disgusting! I can smell it from here!” Joshua objected.
“If you think that’s bad you should count yourself lucky you’re not going in one of Schera’s sandles right now. You’d be diving into my shoe then.” Estelle teased.
“Estelle I-” Joshua began, but Estelle was tired of talking. She released her grip on Joshua and allowed the tiny bracer to plummet down into her waiting shoe.
SPLAT
Joshua smacked down onto the floor of the shoe, which was still slightly damp with lingering foot sweat. The ground was mostly a dingy gray, though a dirty outline of Estelle’s foot had been imprinted onto the insoles by extensive wear. Trying not to gag in disgust, he quickly hopped to his feet as his past training kicked in. He needed to analyze the situation, plan an escape route, and…
The light in the shoe suddenly dimmed as Estelle’s bare foot appeared over the opening, blocking out most of Joshua’s view of the outside world. “Make sure you find a good spot to lay down Joshua.” Estelle said, then her foot entered the shoe.
Joshua was trapped between Estelle’s gigantic foot and a dead end, but he still made a run for it, hoping to find some extra space in the front of the shoe. These weren’t new shoes though, and if anything they were now a little small for her feet. So as soon as Joshua got to the end, he turned to face his pursuer and found five monstrous toes that were nearly on top of him. There was nothing he could do as they effortlessly plowed over him, forcing him down onto his back as the bulk of her foot overtook him.
His back sunk into the squishy surface of her shoe’s insole as the ball of her foot pressed down on his chest. His face ended up in the gap between her big and second toes, both of which seemed interested in inspecting his tiny head as they poked and squeezed at him. His arms were stuck at his sides, uselessly pinned against her sole. His legs were similarly pinned, meaning only his head was mobile, leaving him able to do little more than scream. “Estelle! Let me out!” Joshua screamed into the crevice between her toes. He has thought it would smell, but Estelle’s feet were recently clean, so the only real smell came from her shoe. But he knew all of that could change if she really went out monster hunting while he was in there.
Above, Estelle pulled at the laces on her shoe as she felt her foot settle onto Joshua’s body. She had known he would run, and had gotten him positioned exactly where she wanted him. Once they were right, it was time for the real test: standing up.
“Get ready Joshua…” Estelle said, lowering her foot to the ground.
Joshua couldn’t do anything to prepare other than mentally brace himself. Even so, the truth of being stood on was beyond his initial imagining. If he thought he was being pressed into her foot before, he was being buried in it now. He thought he’d known how heavy Estelle was, but at his size her weight was all consuming. He sunk a little bit further into the insole under the newly increased pressure, and he was sure that by the end of the day, the impression of his head inside the shoe would make it look like Estelle had a 6th toe.
But her insole wasn’t the main thing Joshua was dealing with. The elephant in the room was the giant foot in the room, now balanced on top of his tiny body. His presence forced a slight indent into the warm flesh as it lightly molded around his body, but only a bit. Estelle’s feet were rough and calloused from endless outdoor adventures, and Joshua felt each callous against various parts of his body where her sold wouldn’t yield to his presence. His face at least was in a softer spot, at least until her toes squeezed around his head teasingly.
“Oooo Joshua, who would have thought you’d make such a comfy insole?” Estelle said, shifting her weight from one foot to the other as she got used to his presence. For Joshua, this felt rather like being repeatedly run over by one of those new orbal steamrollers he’d seen used to help repair the road to Grancel. He felt like he should be flattened, but clearly whatever shrinking art he had used on himself had maintained most of his durability.
“Don’t worry, we can read the manual more later. Just as soon as we get all our work done for the day.” Estelle said. “Or if you want to skip all that boring reading you can just stay on insole duty til Freddy gets back. I’ll have to remember to switch you back and forth between sneakers each day so I don’t start to favor one foot.”
Joshua was not impressed by Estelle already planning to turn this into a multi day affair, but what could he do? He was at the mercy of her foot, and therefore helpless when she decided to take her first step.
There was a brief feeling of weightlessness as the foot he was attached to swing through the air, then a sudden rush as it dropped to the ground, striking the wooden floor with him to mediate the impact. The air was forced from his lungs as her foot pounded on his diaphragm, only to quickly let up as she lifted her foot for the next step.
SMACK SMACK SMACK, rhythmic footfalls pounded him over and over as she walked through their house and headed for the door.
Estelle stepped out into the sunny day and smiled. “Thanks for keeping me comfy while I do all these Bracer Requests. I’m sure they’ll fly by.” She started walking towards the Mistwald, and Joshua could already feel a head of sweat beginning to form between her toes. This was going to be a VERY long day…
Timelapse available for 2nd tier subs