Chapter 1: Something Odd
One quiet night, everybody in Wartwood was fast asleep. Even the Plantars and their human honorary family member were in dreamland. However, there was somebody who was not having a good dream. Sprig Plantar rolled back and forth in his hammock, muttering words too quiet to understand if anyone were listening. Whatever his nightmare was, it was so bad that he woke up screaming.
"AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Anne, Hop-Pop, and Polly all woke up from hearing Sprig's scream and rushed to his room. Hop-Pop opened the bedroom door with Polly on his head and Anne right next to him.
"What happened, Sprig!?" Hop-Pop asked.
"Are you okay!?" Anne asked.
"Why did you wake us!?" Polly complained.
At first, Sprig was breathing heavily from his terrifying nightmare. But then he stopped when he saw his family at the door.
"Heh, sorry. Guess I got chased by one too many beasts lately." Sprig said. "Don't worry. I can go back to sleep just fine."
"Are yew sure?" Hop-Pop asked with concern.
"Yup. I'm good."
"Alright. Come on, kids."
Relieved and tired, everyone went back to bed. But instead of trying to go back to sleep immediately, Sprig just sat there in his hammock, thinking
about something.
Two days later, the family had just finished breakfast and for once didn't have that many farm related chores to do. All they had to do was feed
Bessie the snail and water the plants. This was a chance for them to just do anything they wanted all day. Hop-Pop was reading some books in his room, Polly went to the secret rooms to play with the weapons, and Sprig and Anne decided to head into town.
"What do you think we should do first Anne?" Sprig asked. "We could teach each other sports, go to the spa, find a boat and try that parasailing
thing again."
"Or we could go visit Iiivyyy." Anne teased.
"Aannne!" Sprig blushed.
"I'm just kidding, Sprig." Anne said. "Let's go buy a couple snacks first."
"Good idea, but no more teasing."
So the two best buds headed for the Grub-and-Go. Once there, they searched the aisles for the snacks they wanted. First up was a treat for Sprig.
"Alright! Cricket bars!" Sprig said.
"I'll get it ,Sprig." Anne reached up and grabbed a cricket bar from the top shelf.
"Thanks Anne."
The duo kept for something Anne wanted, splitting up in the process. Sure enough, Anne found one of her favorite things to eat in Amphibia on another top shelf.
"Yes! Beetle jerky." Anne reached up for her chosen snack.
However, something was wrong. She couldn't quite reach the beetle jerky like she did the cricket bar. She tried standing on her tippy toes, but only
brushed the treat with her fingers. The top shelves in this world were already high even to a thirteen year-old human, but this was ridiculous.
"Hey, Sprig. I found what I want, but the shelves are taller here. Could you give me a hand?"
*Bleh* Sprig got it with his tongue.
"Or a tongue. Thanks"
"No problem, but the shelves look the same to me." Sprig said.
"If they were, I would've reached the beetle jerky by myself." Anne said. "I suppose next you're gonna say that I've gotten shorter."
Sprig made a rectangle with his fingers and looked at Anne through the shape.
"Hmmm. You do look a little different." he said.
"Pfft. That's ridiculous." Anne said along the way to the counter. "Why would that even happen to me?"
"I don't know." was all Sprig could say.
They placed their treats on the counter and Anne got her allowance money out. She accidentally pulled out her phone as well, causing it to fall onto the floor. Anne bent down and picked it back up, but then she noticed something. Her phone looked a little bigger in her hand somehow. She then placed her other hand over it for a better comparison. It was indeed bigger.
"I couldn't be shrinking. Could I?" Anne thought, fear starting to get to her.
"Anne?" Sprig said, snapping his friend out of it. "Are you alright?"
"Uh, yeah!" Anne stood straight up and quickly paid the cashier. "Herekeepthechangegottagobye!"
Anne grabbed the treats as well as Sprig's hand and ran out of the store. She kept running until they were in the woods by themselves. She let go of Sprig's hand and was catching her breath.
"What the heck, Anne?" Sprig asked.
"Sprig, I'm starting to think I really did get shorter." Anne explained. "My phone is bigger than my hand. But we have to make one hundred percent sure I'm not just imagining things. Any ideas?"
Sprig thought about how to test their theory for a moment.
"Well... how tall am I next to you?" he asked.
"That's easy. You reach the top of my hips. See?"
But when Anne stood right next to Sprig, they could both see that was not the case. Now the top of sprig's head was at the lower part of Anne's waist.
"Oh no." Anne said with frightened eyes. "I am shrinking!"
Her legs collapsed beneath her and she began to hyperventilate like she did when the battery of her phone died. Sprig tried to comfort her, but he
wasn't sure what to say. He just rubbed her back, hoping it would do something.
"What am I going to do, Sprig?" Anne asked. "As if large monsters and a messed up food-chain weren't bad enough. Now I'm getting smaller for more predators to try to eat me. And what will everybody think of this? How can I even go home if everything becomes too big for me? I don't wanna get stepped on!"
"Anne! Calm down!" Sprig said face to face with his hands on her shoulders, which actually helped her calm down. "The first thing we should do is
talk to Hop-Pop about this. Then we'll all go from there. Okay?"
Anne hesitated to say anything. She was very apprehensive about letting anybody else about her predicament. On the other hand, Hop-Pop saw her as family and has done so much for her. Anne was basically an adopted granddaughter to him. She reluctantly made up her mind.
"Okay."
And so Sprig and Anne got up and started walking back to the Plantar residence. Whatever is going on, they were going to handle it as a family.