'Your dog is out of control, Szalinski!' said Nigel Channing. 'And this, straight after that audience shrinking incident!'

'Yeah, I'm real sorry about that,' said Wayne Szalinski. He looked over his shoulder at his wife and oldest son corralling his gigantic terrier with the help of Imagination Institute staff. 'But in fairness, I didn't expect Quark to run in front of my shrinking machine.'

'You'd better shrink that dog down -'

'Believe me, I will. I don't want a blown up pet dog.'

'Well. See to it that you do -'

Out of nowhere, a strange purple… thing appeared from nowhere, hovering at Nigel's side. 'Hello, there!'

Nigel forced a smile as he turned to it. 'Figment, not now!' he hissed. 'I said I would give tours of the Imagination Institute open house after I present this year's Inventor of the Year award.'

'But, Doc, you're late!' said Figment.

'I'm dealing with something right now,' said Nigel.

'Is it the giant dog?'

'Yes it is the giant dog,' said Nigel.

'Dr Channing, what is that?' asked Wayne, finally overcoming his shock.

Figment turned to Wayne. 'I'm the Figment of Imagination!'

Wayne narrowed his eyes slightly. 'Are you real?'

Figment flew into Wayne's face. 'Are you real?' he asked. He turned to Nigel. 'Say, Doc, who is this?'

'Figment, this is Professor Wayne Szalinski, the recipient of this year's Inventor of the Year Award. Wayne Szalinski, this is… Figment,' said Nigel.

'It's nice to meet you, Professor Wayne Szalinski!' Figment said enthusiastically.

'Yeah.' Wayne nodded in disbelief.

'We've got the dog!' A woman cried out.

'That's great, honey! I'll be right there!' Wayne called back. 'Excuse me, one moment,' he said and hurried off to his shrinking machine.

Figment flew over, following him. 'What are you doing?'

Nigel jogged over. 'Figment!' he admonished. 'Can't you see he's busy?'

Wayne mounted his shrinking machine and turned it on. 'I got it, Dr Channing!' He aimed the shrinking machine to Quark. 'I just need to point it at Quark and not my wife or kids or any of the Imagination Institute -'

A jet of light hit the dog, shrinking him back down to size. Before the beam could be stopped, however, a very curious Figment flew in its path.

'Ooh, what does this do?' he asked.

'Figment, no!' Nigel shouted.

It was too late - Figment was gone.

'Oh no!' Wayne turned his machine off and dismounted it.

The woman came running over. 'What is it, Wayne? What's the matter?'

'Diane. It was crazy. There was this purple thing and it was flying and when I was shrinking down Quark, it got in the way and…'

'That was no purple "thing", that was Figment!' said Nigel.

'And Figment is…?'

'My imaginary purple dragon friend,' said Nigel.

Diane, the woman, turned to Wayne. 'So the shrinking machine. You…?'

'Yep, I think I did. Honey, I shrunk the Figment,' said Wayne sheepishly.

'So where is he?' asked Diane. 'It shouldn't be too hard to find a purple dot.'

A now-normal sized Quark came running over, barking at what looked to be thin air.

'Szalinski, control your dog!' said Nigel. 'Especially with tiny Figment on the loose!'

'Quark!' said Diane firmly. 'No! Stop!'

Quark, however, kept barking.

Wayne hurried to retrieve something from the stage, while Nigel called out for Figment.

'This Figment,' said Diane, 'is it -'

'Yes, unfortunately he's real,' Nigel said. 'He was left here at the Imagination Institute by a fellow calling himself "The Dreamfinder". He is a harbinger of chaos, and will likely send me to an early grave.'

'Hello, Doc!' came a tiny voice.

'Figment! Figment, where are you?' asked Nigel.

'I'm right here!' Figment said.

'Yes, but where is here?' asked Nigel. 'Szalinski!'

Wayne came running over, a helmet strapped to his head and a magnifying glass mounted to it. 'Don't worry. We'll find your Figment, Dr Channing.'

'Professor Szalinski! It's me, Figment! I'm tiny now!'

'Aha! Figment!' Wayne chuckled, almost in relief.

Quark began barking yet again.

'No! Stop!' said Diane. 'Bad dog!'

'No, honey, I think he's barking to tell us where Figment is!' said Wayne. 'Come on, boy. Tell us. Where's Figment?'

Quark began barking in the direction of Nigel, barking up at his face.

Nigel leaned back slightly.

'Wayne, is Quark barking at that fly?' asked Diane.

Wayne took a step towards Nigel and stared with his magnifying glass. 'That's no fly, that's Figment!' He looked down at Quark. 'Good job, Quark!'

'How do we get him back to normal size?' asked Diane.

Wayne moved his magnifying glass. 'Uh…'

Nigel squinted at Figment. 'We're going to get you back to normal size.'

'What if I don't want to?' asked Figment.

'You have no choice if you want to host the open house tours with me,' said Nigel.

Silence. Then…

'Okay. You got me, Doc.'

'Szalinski -'

'Already on it, Dr Channing.' Wayne, hurried over to his Shrinking Machine. 'You might want to step away.'

'Yes, I've witnessed this machine's destructive power enough times today,' said Nigel, taking a few steps off to the side. 'Don't move, Figment!'

Diane picked Quark up and hurried to the other side.

Wayne turned his machine on. 'Alright, Figment!' he shouted. 'This won't hurt! I hope.'

'You hope?!' asked Nigel.

Wayne ignored Nigel and a beam of light came from the machine towards Figment, who began growing in size once again. Once Figment was full size, Wayne turned the machine off, and dismounted it.

'There you go, Dr Channing. All fixed.'

'Oh. Wow.' Diane approached Figment.

'Hello. I'm Figment!'

'Hello. I'm Diane. This is Quark,' she said lifting the dog slightly. 'You're… unusual, aren't you?'

'I'm the Figment of Imagination!'

Nigel turned to Wayne. 'Thank you for restoring the audience, your dog, and Figment.'

'It was really no problem, I -'

'It's best you leave,' said Nigel. 'Before you cause any more trouble.'

'Yep,' Wayne nodded in agreement. 'Come on, Diane. Let's get the boys and get out of here.'

'And Szalinski. Don't forget your award.'

I really loved the Honey, I Shrunk the Audience show when I was a kid. And I love that it's connected to the Journey Into Imagination With Figment (even if I don't necessarily like that incarnation). There's so much it actually is connected to. There's the Computer Wore Tennis Shoes trilogy, the Shaggy Dog, Flubber - Dreamfinder is mentioned in the Skipper Canteen connecting him to Jungle Cruise and all that comes with it including the Enchanted Tiki Room, Tokyo's Tower of Terror, Hong Kong's Mystic Manor, and even the Indiana Jones films.
Wild, right?
Disney Parks characters are great fun. So much potential.