Time gears are typically only adept at one particular function. That being the self-titled control over the flow of time. But with enough tinkering and time on the owner’s hands, one could easily be able to modify it to control and manipulate other aspects of reality, from size and gravity to opacity and omnipotence.
And Squishi, tinkerer as he is, was the perfect swampert for the job.
Enchanting the charm to modify his own size in the past, he was quick to add additional functionality to the device. The fact that he could work for hours at a time in the space of an instant, due to the initial powers of the time gear, allowed Squishi to turn the time gear into more of an everything gear, with the ease of use comparable to his own smartphone.
It’s hard to tell what function finally broke it. Perhaps it was the instant coffee brewer or watch functionality, but the effect was no less the same. While enjoying an otherwise normal day downtown, Squishi didn’t even notice the sparks that the device made until it was far too late. Out of all the abilities to be affected, height was the one that made most sense. Squishi had been using it the most, after all. So when the time gear hiccuped, this ability was the first to activate.
Squishi’s growth was by no means gradual, instead having the swampert instantly shoot up two feet in height, just as much a surprise to him as it was to passersby. It was only when he noticed sparks flying from the charm dangling from his neck that Squishi even realized that his growth was the time gear’s doing, immediately confirmed with a second series of sparks forcing him to grow further, to an immense twenty-five feet.
Still trying to keep his powers unnoticed, Squishi’s sudden growth rendered his efforts at concealment as subtle as a brick. Even if he was able to escape being seen by others, people were already recording him with their phones. His mastery of the time gear would spread like wildfire, and he would need to go back into hiding.
Cursing both at himself and the unreliability of the gear, the swampert quickly thought up another solution. Perhaps the malfunction was not a hindrance, but an opportunity in disguise. Mostly having used the time gear to change himself a few inches in either direction, Squishi had always wanted to roleplay on the other end of the spectrum as a rampaging, unstoppable kaiju.
Without much experience on how to properly act as a macro, it took Squishi’s attempt at punching a building to realize that he wasn’t nearly as strong as he thought he was, the mixture of steel and concrete almost shattering the swampert’s hand, even at his immense size.
Falling back on his ass, Squishi couldn’t help but notice a sickening crunch beneath him as he landed, followed by the unmistakable sensation of a sticky liquid spilling out of what was most likely a flattened fur. Before he could begin to come to terms with what he had just done, the time gear activated once again to further balloon Squishi’s height, giving him a new problem to deal with.
Each spurt of growth seemed to be exponentially more intense than the last, this third growth bringing Squishi up to the nauseating height of over 200 feet, far above most buildings surrounding the swampert. Now more than a part of the city’s skyline, there was no chance that he would be able to hide this, the horror of him killing someone far from Squishi’s mind by this point.
There had to be a way out of this situation. Knowing that the time gear was the source of his woes, he immediately ripped it from his neck and instinctively threw it at the ground, forgetting for a second that the device was his one lifeline for potentially returning to normal. Far larger than a car, the time gear was easily able to cause a large crater upon hitting the ground to cause further damage to the city, damage now unseen by Squishi.
From his vantage point, Squishi could still see the time gear laying on the ground as it glowed again, a glow that coincided with the swampert ballooning further upwards at an exponential rate. Even with the device ripped from his body, it was still able to affect Squishi all the same, now with the disadvantage of not growing alongside its host.
Realizing his mistake as he grew, Squishi tried bending down to reacquire the amulet, yet it was already far too late. What was once the size of his fist became microscopic in size, and attempting to reclaim it from the city that now stood far below his webbed toes would be akin to pulling a needle from a haystack. A haystack filled with living beings who would surely be killed through Squishi’s rummaging.
His last hope of returning to normalcy eradicated, Squishi broke. The only chance he had now of ever being normal size again was if by some chance one of the inhabitants of the city managed to fix the time gear, or at least destroy it. But with few people apart from himself unable to even comprehend the device, let alone work it, it seemed as though he would keep growing forever without stop.
The air by now was already beginning to thin at a few kilometers above the ground; Squishi’s height no longer increasing in spurts but now smoothly growing at an accelerated rate. If this keeps up for another minute, he would be dead through asphyxiation, any air being able to breathe being far beneath him, if he didn’t inhale all available oxygen near the surface first.
Attempting to find anything to distract him from his imminent demise, Squishi looked downward to view his surroundings from this impossible vantage point. It was the view of a lifetime, not that he had much of a life remaining. Hills and mountains that at one point seemed insurmountable were nothing more than anthills now, the city where he had begun his growth now nowhere to be found, and likely lost in the grooves of his toes during a microscopic readjustment.
It was an impressive sight, one that allowed the colossal swampert to feel somewhat at peace with his situation. He knew it would only be a small bit before he became entirely unable to breathe, but with this view, it would almost become worth it. And so he closed his eyes and waited for oxygen starvation to take hold. But that never happened, and Squishi was taken out of his trance by a massive bang as he crashed into the impenetrable ceiling above.
Wait… ceiling?
Quickly opening his eyes to see what this barrier could be, Squishi found himself pressed up against a thick wall of what was clearly glass. Still growing, there was nothing the swampert could do by quickly repositioning himself onto his back to prevent himself from being crushed between the ground below and this mysterious cover to the atmosphere, crushing whatever civilization still existed below.
Now above what should have been the atmosphere, it was revealed that whatever Squishi thought was the blue sky above was an illusion, not one caused by Rayleigh scattering, but instead one that was manufactured. Now clearly able to see outside his prison, he finally realized exactly what his world truly was.
Massive, equally spaced tiles hovered above him, each easily taking up much of his view, proving that outside of his world was not space but a much larger interior, lit by a blindingly white lightbulb as opposed to a sun. And as he looked to either side of his prison, Squishi could see normal, everyday items, albeit magnified to an enormous degree. A chair, cabinets attached to a wall, and… A microscope.
Squishi had heard about petri dish civilizations in the past, but only as a fictional concept; any miniaturization attempts ending in complete failure. Even the time gear refused to allow Squishi to go below a few feet, as though the laws of physics prohibited it. But if Squishi and the rest of the citizens in his world were already incomprehensibly small…
The swampert’s musings were quickly interrupted when a massive eye seemingly appeared out of nowhere, overlooking the entire petri dish that he was trapped within. Despite Squishi’s much larger size compared to how he was just a few minutes ago, he couldn’t possibly hope to compare to even this single body part of the titan, a massive red eye surrounded by a sea of green fur.
It was hard to tell whether the observer was even looking at Squishi or just peering over the petri dish in general. The overgrown nano may have overtaken the entire continent to press into the roof of the petri dish, but it was just one continent out of over a half dozen. To an untrained eye, he could easily be mistaken as a blue mold growing across the landscape, even to an eye as large as this.
His fears were seemingly confirmed once the giant let out an enormous sigh, blasts of hot air emanating from an unseen maw, and onto the roof of the dish to bathe it in fogged condensation. Much of his view now obscured, Squishi was caught off guard as two massive green fingers gripped the sides of the petri dish to bring it up into the air. While the enclosed capsule refused to allow the chilling air currents in, the feeling of vertigo was enough to tear Squishi’s senses from him and for him to fall into momentary unconsciousness.
By the time he came to, the petri dish was on its side; the only thing preventing Squishi from tumbling down was his wedged state between the glass cover and the ground below. The swampert had seemingly stopped growing, an island in the sea of unfortunate events. At least Squishi’s form wouldn’t pop under the pressure of being crushed.
The dish itself was swaying greatly, still in the grip of its massive captor, as he strode across the lab. It was still impossible for Squishi to make out his entire form from this vantage, but the unmistakable thighs indicated that the giant was a lucario. Not that that revelation would matter much; the scientist finally reaching the other side of the room before lifting the dish up again and opening the roof.
Finally freed from his entrapment, Squishi barely had time to attempt making himself known as he and the dish were placed sideways into a large steel container, the metallic door quickly sealing shut. Littered with several other dishes, Squishi hadn’t seen the inside of this particular device, but he had been around enough dishwashers to understand its purpose. To sterilize and clean the lab equipment of any contamination. Of him.
And as the lucario turned on the autoclave, Squishi wondered just how he could possibly hope to survive the process…