Celica led her small group down the middle corridor. She had to stay on guard. Genny was not experienced in combat, and Est was smaller than the other girls. Their lives were on Celica's shoulders, though she had chosen this. The passage was dark, save for the light from Celica's fireball. The group was quiet, the atmosphere tense. Enemies could attack at any moment.

Suddenly, Celica felt a strange distortion. The feeling was familiar by now, one she had felt a few times already. But she didn't realize what was happening until she heard Est shout.
"Celica! Wait!" the pegasus knight called out to the princess.
"Y-you're shrinking!" Genny cried.
Celica turned to see her two allies growing taller by the second. Genny was already bigger than her, and she was rapidly approaching Est's height. Panicking, she looked around for any clue as to why she was shrinking. There were no glowing surfaces or magical objects that could be responsible for her loss in size. The only thing different was the color of the floor.
"It's the ground!" Est had figured it out before her, "Celica, run towards us!"
Celica didn't have time to think, every moment lost her height that she might not get back. She listened to Est, dashing towards her two pink-haired allies. She was quickly clasped by Genny's much larger arms and pulled up into the air. The cleric put her down at the back of the group, away from the floor. Staggering, Celica quickly looked over herself. The shrinking seemed to have stopped.

"Thanks, Genny," Celica gasped. Catching her breath, she forced herself to look towards her allies and find out how small she had become. Genny now towered over the shrunken princess. Est was also significantly taller than her. So she was less than half an inch tall?
"Oh, Celica. Oh dear..." Genny whimpered.
"How tall am I now?" Celica asked.
Est stood next to the princess, placing a hand on top of her head. "Let's see, you're just over half my height, so... three tenths of an inch tall?"
"I see..." Celica said, her mind racing. Though she had been smaller, the feeling was very different. When Palla used her magic, she knew she could just ask her to grow back. Being shrunk with no-one in control left her feeling a bit helpless. Even if she did meet with Palla now, this was her new maximum height while she was in these mouse-sized tunnels. Worse, she had gone from being the strongest combatant in the group to the weakest, in mere seconds.

"The ground is a different color here!" Genny pointed out.
"Yeah, I think it's what made Celica shrink," Est answered.
Genny leaned forward, squinting into the dark. "It's pink starting here, then it goes blue!"
Celica recovered, joining in the conversation. "So maybe the blue ground has an opposite effect!" she suggested.
"O-or maybe it's worse..." Genny shuddered.
"Well, not much point worrying about it. We have to walk over it anyway, right?" Est piped up.
"It alternates between pink and blue. So maybe you're right..." Genny said.
"How odd. I don't feel any magic..." Celica wondered, walking to the boundary of the pink area and crouching down. She reached a hand out, feeling for any traces of magic, but withdrew it when she felt herself shrink slightly.
"It seems like we have no choice but to run for it and hope for the best." the tiny princess sighed.
"Yeah, that's the spirit!" Est patted Genny on the back. "You're the biggest, so you'll be the fastest runner! You go first, Genny!"
Est put all of her strength into her gesture. It probably would've hurt Genny, were the pegasus knight not half her size. "O-ok..." Genny stuttered.

Lining up in order of height, the girls got ready to run. Celica was the smallest, but she was still in command.
"Go!" she shouted. They set off, running as fast as they could. For just a few moments, Celica could see Genny, then Est, getting smaller before her eyes. They seemed to stop shrinking, but in reality now all three women were dwindling in size. Not much of the ground was pink, maybe 5 inches long at most, but it seemed much longer as they shrank in size. Genny was the first to reach the blue area. She noticed her surroundings getting smaller, so stopped running. Stepping to the side, she left room for her allies to join her. Catching her breath, she stopped growing once she reached one inch tall. Est was a few seconds after her, significantly smaller but glad to be growing. She beamed when she realized she was more than half Genny's size, eventually matching her in height. Celica had yet to join them. They looked back to see an empty corridor.
"Oh no, Celica!" Genny cried. "Did she shrink too small?"
Est squinted into the dark. Concentrating, she saw the tiniest of movements. "No, look!"
The minuscule entity reached the blue tile and expanded in size, soon recognizably Celica. She continued to run as fast as she could, until she noticed her allies seemed to be getting smaller. She hunched over, completely out of breath as she grew. She knew she was fitter than Genny, but being at such a small size going in meant that she had needed to sprint over a much larger distance than her friends. Fortunately she joined them at the increasingly comfortable one inch height.

"Phew," Celica sighed, "I thought I'd be too tiny to make it for a moment!"
"I'm so glad you're safe, Celica!" Genny hugged her friend.
"Well, we're not out of this yet," Celica said, her arms round the timid cleric.
"Seems like we've just got to run for it!" Est said, "let's have a race to the end!"
"No, wait," Celica said, pulling herself from Genny, "we'll have to wait at the end of each blue area, otherwise we'll just keep getting smaller."
"Yeah, I suppose so. We can still race across each pink bit, though! Lots of mini races!"
"At least you're motivated," Celica smirked. She peered deeper into the gloom ahead. "It looks like the last tile is pink."
"T-that means we'll be smaller at the end, no matter what!" Genny cried.
"Yes, but there may be a way to grow back ahead," Celica reassured her.
"No point in worrying, then! Let's go!" Est cheered.
Celica sighed. Was this girl too optimistic?

The three ladies lines up near the edge of the pink floor, ready to run. They had decided to humor Est. A bit of friendly competition might make them faster, Celica decided. Every centimeter of height they could get mattered. Celica was especially careful not to touch the pink ground as they waited.
"Go!" Est shouted, and they started running. The feeling of shrinking as she ran was unpleasant for Celica, but at least this run was much easier than the last. Est was the fastest, followed by Celica and finally Genny. The blue tile was their finish line, and a much-needed break from their sprint.
"Yay! I won!" Est cheered, back to an inch tall.
"Well done," Celica congratulated her as she grew back. Despite fighting on the back of a pegasus most of the time, Est was easily the best runner.

Mages and clerics don't focus on physical training very much, that must be why. Celica thought.
"Ready for the next round?" Est asked.
"Just... Wait until you get your breath back, at least..." Celica panted.

Three races later, the trio were at the last stretch. Est had won all three, though they were all getting slower.
"This is it," Celica told her team, "this is the one that matters. There's no growing back for the foreseeable future after this final tile."
"Aww, I was having fun!" Est moaned.
"This is tiring me out..." Genny whimpered.
They lined up, ready for the last sprint. The atmosphere was very different now, even Est was dreading this last race. The three women got ready. Est shouted, and they raced for their size. Celica stumbled as she ran but pressed on. She had to reach the end and preserve as much of her height as possible. The last stretch didn't appear to be any longer than any of the others, but it seemed like it was. Their slower speeds meant shorter legs. Est finished first, falling over the end. Celica was next, quickly turning to help her friend over the line. Exhausted, they both collapsed. Celica forced herself to her feet first, eager to know what size she had been stranded at. There were no useful landmarks, but she knew she was much shorter than an inch tall.
"So this is it..." Est murmured, staggering to her feet. The pegasus knight was about a head taller than her commander.
"How big do you think we are?" Celica asked.
"I don't know, but everything seems bigger than when I was half an inch tall." Est answered. "So we're smaller than that."
Genny joined them, shivering. The top of her head was roughly level with Celica's elbows.
"Well, there's no use in dwelling on it," Celica said, calming herself down. She had to stay strong for her comrades. "We must keep going. We might even find a way of growing back ahead."

They continued their journey in a tense silence. Celica and Est walked side-by-side, with Genny behind them. The corridor was oddly lighter here. The sides of the tunnel were much larger to the smaller ladies, but this was hardly reassuring.
A loud scraping noise came from above. Celica and Est stopped, drawing their weapons. Without warning the ceiling ahead caved in. They closed their eyes, holding up their arms to protect themselves from the clouds of dust. Celica quickly looked back up. A spider golem rested on top of the debris, blue eyes seeming to study its prey. It appeared to be much larger now, but they outnumbered it. But what damage could Celica do with her sword? She readied a spell instead.
The spider spat something towards them. Celica and Est dodged to the side, Genny jumping backwards. The ball-shaped emission erupted, letting loose a green gas. Celica covered her mouth, Est doing the same, but too late. She felt very sleepy all of a sudden, not having time to think before falling to the ground. Only Genny remained awake. She quaked as the spider took a step towards her.

Should I run? But I would run into the shrinking floor! Steeling herself, she readied an attack but fainted...