The mouse looked left and right as he entered the room, it
was hard to see in the dark, but the rodent's eyes were great to view through
even the dimmest of areas. He moved forward cautiously noting that there seemed
to be nobody around to spot him.

The room was rather messy, vials, bottles, flasks, and
countless other containers full, empty, and anywhere in between were spread
around on various shelves and tables. Bruxton glanced over to the central
workbench in the room, that had to be where his target would be.

The mouse was used to oddball requests, his sly and discreet
nature made him a well-known thief for those who had risky or unconventional
jobs, but this one was likely the weirdest. He still pondered if it was worth
the hefty price in gold, but what he was tasked to snatch was certainly picking
his curiosity.

The reminiscing of what it was the mouse had to get
coincided with his gaze coming over the two Erlenmeyer flasks on the edge of
the bench. Taking out a small flashlight, the rodent verified that it matched
the description, with one flask with red liquid, and the other with blue.
Bruxton snorted silently, it was hard to believe, but the size altering serums
he'd been told to steal were indeed real.

That was a boon, surely, as much as the money was alluring,
the rodent had his own plan if it turned out to be real, besides, he thought,
how could they know they kept some for himself, he could both get rich enough
to retire, and grow larger to shove around even the predator species that
tended to try and make him a plaything.

Of course, to make it harder, there was a warning that there
was also a shrinking one being worked on by the lab, and he would need to
ensure he took the right one. There was a set of labels on the glass that
brought the hope up it would be easy, only to shatter when seeing the
nonsensical glyphs on the white strips, [agrandissement], [rétrécissement], the
mouse was groaning in annoyance.

No matter, Bruxton would just try a tiny little bit of one
and if it wasn't the right one, could just drink a bit more of the other to
grow back. The rodent grabbed a chair to climb up and snatch the blue flask,
the color inspired confidence in getting bigger, like plans growing with blue
water, where they would be destroyed by red fire, just seemed logic.

He popped the glass plug off and cautiously sipped a gulp
worth of the liquid, plopping the flask back down before jumping off the chair,
expecting to lose balance if staying up there. The rodent definitely felt
something happening through his body, a sort of warmth that felt promising, so
was the feeling of dizziness, at least so the hope made him think.

That is until Bruxton noticed that the chair was taller than
the table was. In fact, the mouse was stunned as his hopes were shattered. He
tried to climb back onto the chair but by the time he stepped over to it, he
couldn't reach the top anymore. The rodent reached to the horizontal bars
holding the chair legs together, barely getting a grasp of the lower one before
it got out of reach, realizing just how fast he was dwindling as he just
dangled there.

Struggling to hold onto the thick metal rod, Bruxton pulled
himself up with all his might, balancing himself on his feet as finally, he
seemed to have stopped shrinking further. He looked up at the chair's sit and
reached up, barely managing to grab onto the edge when, snap.

Blinded, the mouse squinted at the sudden flood of light,
panic rose into distress as he heard heavy footsteps vibrating the metal he
held and stood on. With a deep breath, he hauled himself onto the sit just in
time for it to be pulled back. The mouse sized mouse looked up at the shadow
brought upon him, having no time to even squeak as he suddenly was smothered
under the rough jean material squishing in, as the seat cushioning compressed
below to keep him pinned in place.

A grunt of frustration rumbled through the muffling of the
two surfaces, the distinct cling of glass against glass, and idle shifting of
the weight above him until… Silence, and stillness. The muffled voice came up,
with a rather insisted on wiggle of the rear pressing down on him, and a rather
notable foreign accent “Well, looks like you wanted to be an early tester for
my new product. Should have just asked if you wanted to bring your stature
down, I would have happily helped… Let's see what subject we got here."

The weight lifted off of the rodent, he took a deep breath
and coughed up as he tried to sit back up. Eyes took a moment to adapt to the
cold light in the room, the shape standing to his left becoming clearer, a
towering feline looking raccoon was looming over, arms crossed. As the blur
vanished off, he could see the sharp gaze piercing into his being, even behind
the green tint of glasses.

The raccoon hybrid squinted as silence reigned, then they
adjusted their glasses and grabbed the rodent in their right hand, bringing him
up to their face before asking, “Well, aren't we a shy one? Fine by me, I like
discreet «assistants», but let's start by breaking the ice, I'm Nomaxice
Khajbear, just call me Noma, I'll be your new boss now… What your name?"

Nervous, the mouse cleared its throat in a tiny,
high-pitched squeak, “I… Well, I'm Bruxton. Please… Don't hurt me, I didn't
mean anything bad I just wanted to try the growth stuff so I wouldn't be made
fun of anymore, I'll even tell you who hired me to steal from you!"

Noma grinned, shaking his head while closing their hand
around the rodent tighter, “Brux, alright, well I already know who, they've
been a great source of new test subject you know, first time he sent a mouse
though. Shame for you, I don't plan to test the growth one just yet, but you'll
still be very useful… After testing, we can call it even, if you're still in
good shape, you might even be able to get a sip of the growth stuff to get back
to… How tall did you say you were?"

Bruxton swallowed hard at the «if», but tempted fate to get
his wish fulfilled trying to declare with confidence, “Well, uh, I was… 7 feet
tall! Yeah!"

Though the lie was obvious and got a smirk out of the
raccynx, they nodded and played along, “Alright, sure, I'll aim for that, more
or less, shorty, might be able to at least get to look at me in the chest then,
but, first, we'll have to test a few things, starting with taste. Well, after
proper sanitary procedures."

The hybrid sat down, considering the rodent over, then
tilted him back and snatched a cloth to wipe over their prey, adding a bit of
purified water to help the rubbing. Bruxton yelped and struggled as the raccoon
washed him head to toes, not that he could really stop it, being left with
moist fur and a dizzying shake in an attempt to dry him off.

While still trying to break out the light nausea, the mouse
suddenly felt a wet warmth press and spread over his body. Bruxton blinked
quickly, left to stare at the gaping jaws filling his view and pushing at the
raspy flesh of the tongue dragging over his body.

The tip of the tongue finally slurped over the rodent's
face, with a deep, satisfied sigh from the hybrid, who hummed along a little
tune before commenting, “Well not too bad, I heard mice tasted great, guess I
can confirm this theory, I'll be sure to take notes, just hold on a minute."

With that, Noma flung the mouse right into their jaws,
sitting down at the bench and pulling a notepad to write away. All the while, Bruxton
was wrestled by the tongue that tastes tested him moments ago. Not only that,
but the mouse was dangerously shoved around, getting close and personal with
those pointed, sharp teeth.

Thankfully, Bruxton was no stranger to evasive moves, being
a veritable escape artist allowed him to only feel the pearly white rub against
him. Alas even while able to diminish risks, despite his best attempts the
rodent was still mostly unable to fight back and get a hold of the wet snake,
getting exhausted by the time the lips part away and light shines in the
cavernous maw.

Without a second to think of jumping out, a pair of white
furred and black padded fingers swiftly snatched the shrunken rodent and
flicked him down onto the bench. Bruxton could only roll onto his back, trying
to catch his breath, staring up at the looming face of his tormentor.

“Now then." The raccynx spoke up, “I need to do a durability
test, but for this, I need you at a more… Convenient size. Open up Brux! Or
don't, won't change much for you…"

Bruxton swallowed nervously watching the raccoon's left hand
move over and grab the serum vial, almost missing the right hand moving to grab
a dropper. The mouse builds up the strength to get up and start slowly walking
back, trying to find a way out where he wouldn't get caught, train of thoughts
lost when he bumped back into… Something.

Turning around, the mouse was facing the tip of a wide,
fluffy tail, blocking his view, and any way to escape away from the hybrid with
any chance of success. Further aggravating was the smile forming on the wall of
tail, teeth just as pointy and sharp, and somehow even bigger than those of the
maw.

Braxton's heart raced as the deep voice snatched his ears'
attention, “Now, now, watch where you're going, wouldn't want to lose you to
Artyom, it gets hungry when I'm working."

The mouse slowly walked back from the grinning tail, back
towards the raccynx, ready to flee when shot with a stream of liquid, quickly
turning around yet again, mind racing with all the surrounding threats. Bruxton
was forced to close his eyes and hold his breath, feeling the taste of the
serum even trying to keep his lips shut together.

Once the shower was over, the mouse sputtered and coughed,
rubbing his eyes to try and dry off the liquid and finally look back to the
oversized scientist. His neck craned up, and up, and up, eyes going wide at the
sight of an even larger raccynx before him.

Noma was squinting, struggling to make out their little
subject, truly a speck now, and raised an eyebrow at the unintelligible
squeaking. “Hold your breath, I can't understand you as good as my ears are…
Plus you'll need it for what's coming next anyway."

The hybrid pulled off one of their boots and set it down on
the table inches away from the mouse, who instantly fell over from the felt
quake. Noma licked over their finger and carefully pressed it over the minute
rodent, rolling the finger pad from side to side to make sure he stuck to it.

Once certain he would stick, they swiftly lifted their
finger up and over the opening of the boot, using a claw to dexterously flick
the rodent down onto the insole. Making sure he was indeed there, Noma chuckled
and put on the boot once more, leaving Bruxton pinned under the fully padded
sole as Noma stood up and walked off, the last words the mouse heard before the
pounding of the next step making it hard to focus, “I'll see you in a while to
get the results!"