A Miniscule Mistake

"A SHRINK RAY?" Scott screamed at Forge. "WHAT THE HELL POSSESSED YOU TO MAKE A SHRINK RAY? WHY WOULD ANYONE WANT TO MAKE A SHRINK RAY?"

"It seemed like a good idea at the time," Forge shrugged.

"YEAH? WELL I CAN THINK OF A FEW GOOD IDEAS NOW!" Warren snapped as he flew up to Forge's head. "I wonder how many of your nose hairs Storm can zap with her lightning?"

"It's tempting," Ororo flew next to him.

"Well this is new," Mr. Small sighed. "I've always hated my name before but now…"

"Bring them back!" Scott ordered.

"I will…in a minute," Forge fumbled with his machine.

"Minute's up!" Logan flashed his claws.

"The wires are all fried," Forge told them. "Give me ten minutes in my lab and I'll fix the problem."

"TEN MINUTES!" Logan roared. "I'LL GIVE YOU TEN MINUTES!"

"Logan considering our situation there's very little we can do," Xavier told him.

"Yeah I mean your claws don't exactly have the reach they used to have," Tabitha told him as she idly tapped her foot.

"Hey!" John struggled to keep his balance as the vibrations from her foot shook the floor slightly. "Watch it with those feet!"

"Oh sorry," Tabitha apologized.

"Everyone move very carefully," Scott warned. "The last thing we need is someone to step on…"

At that exact moment Kurt teleported in right amongst where the miniaturized adults were standing. "Hey guys have you seen the Professor?" He asked.

"KURT! DON'T MOVE!" Kitty screamed.

"What?" Kurt turned around quickly. "Why?"

"KURT!" Everyone screamed.

"WATCH THE TAIL ELF!" Logan barely dodged it.

Mr. Small wasn't so lucky. He hung onto it for dear life. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

"What's going…" Kurt stopped when he saw a tiny Ororo and Warren fly up to him. "On…here?"

"Kurt don't move a muscle!" Scott warned. He dropped to his knees. "Professor? Is everyone all right?"

"No…." Hank coughed. "Brimstone…got a whiff of it!"

"Help me!" Mr. Small screamed. Kurt noticed that something was on his tail and he picked up Mr. Small. "OH GOD I'M GONNA DIE! THAT NUN WAS RIGHT! I AM GOING TO HELL!"

"You are not!" Warren snapped. "That's just one of the students."

"Just breathe easy Mr. McCoy…" Kitty held the gasping Hank in the palm of her hand and was gently massaging his back with her middle finger. "Take deep breaths…"

"Oh…Thank you Kitty," Hank gasped. "Not so hard…Not so hard…Crushing bone here!"

"Sorry," Kitty stopped.

"I've got Badger," Tabitha held Logan in her hand. "Hey you know I have this doll outfit that would look great on you."

"DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT TIME BOMB!" Logan roared.

"Kurt we have got to have a talk about you teleporting all over the place," John groaned as Sam picked him up.

"Is this for real?" Kurt blinked.

"I'm afraid it is," Xavier sighed as Scott carefully placed him on his desk, tiny wheelchair and all. "Thank you Scott for the hand. No pun intended."

"Professor?" Kurt blinked. "What happened to you?"

"Forge happened to them," Scott explained.

"Einstein here made a shrink ray!" Logan snarled as he pointed at Forge.

"Why would anybody make a shrink ray?" Kurt asked.

"That's what I said!" Scott agreed.

"Please don't eat me…" Mr. Small whined. "Please don't eat me…"

"I won't eat you," Kurt smiled at him. Unfortunately Mr. Small got a very good look at his fangs and screamed.

"Kurt put him down," Tabitha and the others put the adults on the desk.

Except for Kitty. "Wow Mr. McCoy your fur is really soft. Hey Tabitha you gotta feel this."

"Let me see," Tabitha took Hank from Kitty and started petting his fur. "Oooh! That's so silky!"

"Excuse me!" Hank snapped. "I am not a beanie baby! Tabitha put me down!"

"Sorry! Geeze don't get so bent out of shape," Tabitha grumbled as she put him down.

"WE'RE ALLREADY BENT OUT OF OUR SHAPE!" Mr. Small screamed. "THAT'S THE PROBLEM! I'VE HEARD OF BEING DOWNSIZED BUT THIS IS RIDICULOUS!"

"Mr. Small please do not panic," Xavier said. "I'm sure within minutes Forge will correct the problem."

"Or maybe a bit longer…" Forge gulped.

"How much longer?" Warren asked as he flew up to him.

"Don't worry I'll have you guys blown up in no time," Forge told them. That was when Mr. Small fainted.

"Did you have to phrase it like that?" Hank moaned.

"You know what I mean," Forge said. "Kurt take me to my lab and we can fix the problem." Kurt teleported him back to the lab.

The brimstone whiff floated to the mini mutants. "That can't be good for our lungs…" John coughed.

"So much for giving up smoking years ago…" Logan grunted.

"You have a healing factor!" Hank snapped. "Ugh! Great! Now my fur smells!"

"Well I can give you a bath or something," Tabitha suggested.

"YOU WILL NOT!" Hank shouted. "Keep those overgrown paws to yourself!"

"Professor I got those files you asked for," Jean walked in and saw the scene. She did a double take. "Please tell me those are action figures."

"Depends on your point of view," John grunted.

"Well I always said you were a doll," Tabitha grinned.

"That's not funny Tabitha," Sam scolded her.

"Scott what's going on?" Jean asked.

"Forge made a shrink ray," Scott told her.

"Why would he need to make a shrink ray?" Jean asked.

"Because he wanted to make sure we'd be audited that's why!" Logan roared.

"Audited?" Jean asked.

"Oh yes," Xavier sighed as Mr. Small was waking up. "This is Mr. Small from the IRS. Mr. Small this is Jean Grey, one of my student teachers."

"Oh…" Mr. Small blinked as Jean bent down and looked at him with her huge green eyes. "Hello…" He waved meekly.

"Let me guess," Jean sighed. "This isn't going well is it?"

"Well it's…different," Mr. Small sighed. "I'd like to say that I've had worse days. I thought the time I was set on fire by those clowns was pretty hard to beat but I think this tops it."

"Clowns?" Sam asked.

"Yeah I had to audit an entire circus once," Mr. Small sighed. "Don't ask."

"Look I'm sure Forge will be done any minute and things will be back to normal," Scott said.

"Or whatever passes for it in this place," John groaned.

Kurt teleported in alone. Again his brimstone caused a hacking fit among the smaller members of the room. "Kurt you realize you just increased our chances of getting cancer by 100%!" Hank coughed.

"Oh sorry," Kurt said. "Uh I have some good news and some slightly bad news."

"Slightly bad news?" Logan growled. "How can it be slightly bad news?"

"Well Forge can fix the machine and reverse the process," Kurt said. "But it's going to take him an hour and a half to do so."

"Oh great!" Logan threw up his hands. "So what are we supposed to do in the meantime?"

"We can always play a board game and you guys can be the pieces," Tabitha quipped.

"Tabitha remind me to take you on a level 12 Danger Room session along with Forge after this mess is over!" Logan snapped.

"My supervisor is never going to believe this…" Mr. Small moaned.