A single blade of grass bent backwards; it had something to do with the weight of the miniscule creature that stood atop of it. Upon closer inspection one would find that it was a miniscule human, and that human was Ulrich accompanied by the floating dagger, Alvis.

"Well this is a first for me. I've never been shrunken down like this before!"

"You and me both." Ulrich scanned the immediate area for Wolfe, but he didn't see them anywhere. "Damn it, I lost Wolfe in the grass while we were shrinking."

Alvis disappears then reappears back in the scabbard at Ulrich's hip. "Well it looks like we'll have to go and find Wolfe then!"

Ulrich looks out over the grass to the previously small feathers of the Cuail. Now they looked like birds of monstrous size compared to how small he and Wolfe have shrunken. They needed to find Wolfe and figure out a way to grow back to their original size soon. Unless they wanted to get hunted down by a 'giant' bird while they ran around in the grass.

Ulrich hops down from the blade of grass; landing gracefully to the ground without too much sound. He stands up and cups his hands over his mouth, "WOLFE! Hey, where are you?!" He begins to walk in the general direction he last saw them while shouting out into the forest of grass.

Blue Raspberry walked through the forest of grass, continuing to call out for Ulrich and his floating dagger. Remarkably, this whole situation didn't freak them out that much. It was a strange experience to be sure, but the ooze's whole existence basically was a strange experience. They also just weren't smart enough to really believe they were in any mortal peril thanks to their shrunken size. They just didn't think too hard about it and went about the first thing they felt they needed to do: find the guy that was with them just a moment ago that suddenly disappeared.

"Ulrich? Helloooooo? Where'd you go?" Blue shouted through their cupped hands as they clanked along. Just how far apart from each other had they ended up? Truthfully, they hadn't gotten farther apart at all. They were within just a few feet of each other. The only difference was that those few feet seemed much larger when they were the size of an ant. Actually...

"Huh?" Blue looked over to see an actual ant walking by, It was bigger than the knight was! It even looked big enough to ride like a horse. Some of the powder of the flowers blew past, and appeared to glide right off of the ant's exoskeleton like it was being repelled. As they looked at it, a large shadow suddenly fell over them and the ant and a beak came down and plucked the ant from the ground. Looking up, it was one of the cuail that now towered over the knight. It looked down to see the knight and opened its beak, ready to peck up another snack.

"Uh-oh." Blue turned and started running away as fast as they could. They wanted to eat the cuail, not the other way around! It did look a lot more filling from this angle though.

As he walks about in the forest of grass; Ulrich can't help but notice a rumbling happening beneath his feet. He stops in his tracks to look down at the ground in confusion. He looks around himself at the immediate environment; his gaze quickly shifting from left to right.

"I don't like this one bit."

"I quite agree! Let's hurry up and find Wolfe, yeah?" Alvis suggests from the scabbard.

Before Ulrich could answer Alvis he feels the sudden change in the rumbling. It's gotten stronger, and it feels like... It's getting closer.

The giant blades of grass start to dance to the quaking of the ground as it grows nearer, and as a couple of blades part in front of him, he sees through the opening a familiar face running away from a giant beak!

"WOLFE?!" Ulrich cries out. His legs just move on their own, and he rushes through the opening in the grass!

Ulrich looks on in amazement and terror as one of the Cuail— now a giant compared to the two of them— is pecking down at the ground intending to make Wolfe it's next snack.

"By the gods..."

"Oh, Ulrich!" Blue shouted out as they spotted the man through the grass and started waving, turning to run straight toward him The giant cuail followed behind, trying to pluck the cinnamini knight off the ground with its beak and barely missing each time.

Blue was glad to finally find their missing friend. They didn't even consider that leading the enemy straight toward him might have been a bad idea. The only problem in their mind was just how slow they were running. With their heavy armor on, they just couldn't compare to something like a wolf's speed.

Luckily, they could just turn into one!

As Blue ran, they looked as if they had tripped and fallen to all fours, but their form quickly shifted as their now front legs went toward the ground. Their armor was engulfed in blue fur and a fluffy tail grew from their backside as they transformed into a tiny blue wolf that ran straight toward Ulrich. Now, they were able to much more easily outpace their fowl assailant and reach Ulrich's location, stopping next to him with their tongue flopping out of the side of their mouth.

---

Shapeshifter Plate

There was a lot he didn’t expect to see today. Wolfe scarfing down food earlier, seeing themselves get shrunken down, Wolfe being chased by a monstrous sized Cuail due to being shrunken, and now, Wolfe had just shapeshifted into a literal wolf! Befitting of the name!

But he didn’t have time to wonder in amazement at all the things he’s seen today. There was a monster Cuail fast approaching and they needed to either fight or run!

“We’ve got two options, Wolfe! We either run and hide or we stay and fight! I don’t know how well our magic will work or how effective it will be in this state though!”

Ulrich prepares himself for either a fight or to run. Either way he was ready to move; he just needed to see what Wolfe’s decision would be.

He gets into fighting stance; a sharp breath in and out to center himself. The subtle crack and hiss of static electricity rings through the air, and he closes his fists loosely.

“So, are we hiding or fighting?”

Blue turned around to face the giant bird that was approaching them, Ulrich by their side. They began to transform, the wolf fur seeming to recede back into metal plates as they redonned their armor and morphed back into their humanoid form simultaneously. They even had their helmet on again, which they'd taken off back when they were still at the Bird's Perch. 

"Let's fight it!" Blue replied confidently without a second thought, giving a thumbs up and then charging right back the way they'd just ran, back toward the cuail.

The bird stopped, its head tilting as it clucked in confusion at its fleeing prey suddenly running right toward it. As they ran, Blue's armor started sparking with electricity and their gauntlets and boots were absorbed into them, their hands and feet changing into sharp claws similar to what might have been expected to be seen on a Werewolf.

The cuail pecked down at Blue who jumped to the side and swiped their claws at the bird's beak. It seemed like a useless attempt at a counterattack, swiping at the hard beak of the monstrous bird, but it was surprisingly effective. Surprising to Ulrich at least. A trio of lines were etched into the side of the bird's beak, sizzling as they slowly grew wider. Blue's claws were laced with acid!

The cuail stood still for a moment as an electric shock was conducted straight through the wounds on its beak and into its nervous system, stunning it for a moment. Even at their reduced size, Blue produced enough electricity to effect it, though for less time than usual. The cuail quickly recovered from the shock and buckawed angrily.

---

Lightning Armor
Eldritch Claws
Flesh Rend

Ulrich watches with a slight hint of confusion as Wolfe charges forth towards the towering monster chicken. Were they wearing their helmet again? His eyes grew wide with surprise seeing Wolfe’s armor spark with electricity! They grew even wider when their gauntlets and boots turned into that of claws! Their attack against the gigantic chicken was surprisingly effective!

He heard a faint hiss, and upon further inspection, he noticed that the three slashes upon it’s beak was not only electrically charged, but there seemed to be acid eating away at it as well! One thing was for sure, Ulrich had no doubt that Wolfe was not just a human using some kind of shapeshifting magic. No, they had to be something else entirely.

His thoughts were interrupted by the devastating sound of the Cuail’s buckaw emanating through the air, and he snaps back to the task at hand.

He was thoroughly impressed with his companion’s attack; he should follow suit!

He dashes forth towards the monster chicken now! Wisps of wind and sparks of lightning begin to gather and focus in his hand. A bright blue light springs forth from the same hand taking the form of a sword!¹

The Cuail notices the small human charging toward it! It clucks in anger and rears it’s head back to peck at the human! It anticipates the human’s path and brings down it’s beak with ferocity, but the human hasn’t been crushed beneath it! It feels a searing pain as the acute sensation of electricity fills it’s beak again!

Ulrich watched as the beak bore down on his projected destination! He disappeared in a flash of lightning; the wind howled in it’s trail!² He reappeared next to the Cuail’s beak slashing horizontally; creating a perpendicular slash through Wolfe’s previous three!

The Cuail quickly reared it’s head up again in pain! Ulrich took the opportunity to launch away and distance himself from the beast!³ He skidded to a stop near Wolfe, and gave them a smiling nod! If they kept this up, then maybe they’d be able to defeat the monstrous Cuail!

---

Spells used; 1. Phase Blade, 2. Bullet Dash, 3. Gust Thrust

"Nice!" Blue gave Ulrich a clawed thumbs up, impressed with his attack. With the two standing next to each other, something became much more apparent. Blue was taller than Ulrich. A lot taller. Previously, the knight had had a couple inches on the guy, but now they were more like a whole foot taller! Far too much to just be a result of their shapeshifted feet.

Even as they stood there, giving Ulrich a quick show of praise, he could have sworn Blue's height increased by a couple more inches. The time to compare was short though, as Blue ran at the cuail for another attack. The giant bird glared down and pecked again, apparently not having learned its lesson from the first time it tried that on the charging knight.

This time though, Blue wanted to try something else. Blue leapt to the side, avoiding the beak, and then jumped forward, planting their palms firmly on the top of the cuail's beak. The cuail raised its head, taking the knight with it as Blue's hands were stuck to it like glue, a thin layer of blue sticky blue slime coating their palms.

Blue scrabbled their legs up onto the beak as well, sticking them to it just as firmly. Once they had a good hold with their feet, they unstuck their hands and began to claw at the cuail's face.

The entire time, Ulrich could watch as the knight was growing while stuck to the cuail's face. After just a few moments, Blue was twice as tall as they'd been before and still growing. With their increased size, their electricity and claws became more and more effective, the cuail bucking its head desperately to get the burning, shocking, slashing thing off of it.

“Huh, is Wolfe getting bigger?” Ulrich wondered to himself as they charged straight towards the Cuail again; eager for another piece of it.

Wolfe’s display of agility in avoiding the Cuail’s beak was impressive. Ulrich squinted his eyes as they grabbed onto the the big bird’s beak. It quickly brought it’s head back up, but Wolfe hadn’t been launched from it. They had a quite the grip, it seemed! Quite the ally to have in a battle such as this!

They began clawing again at the giant bird’s beak, and the beast bucked it’s head to and fro to rid itself of the pesky knight giving it a good whooping.

Ulrich notices something else as well. Wolfe is growing; gaining their original size slowly, but surely. Ulrich brings his hands and pats himself, “Nope. Doesn’t seem I’m as lucky.” He huffs a breath out and his shoulders sink for a quick second. He quickly shakes it off and focuses his attention on the task at hand. “Ah well, can’t dwell on the things you have no control over!” He says as he gets into stance again.

He begins to take in deep breaths followed by slow exhales out; centering himself and focusing his energy. The crackle and hiss of static electricity again fills the air around him. Streaks of lightning begin to pulse; dancing through the air making it’s way towards his fist.

Wolfe was doing a damn good job at having the Cuail’s attentions focused on them. With it properly distracted from anything else moving around beneath it, Ulrich seized the opportunity and dashed forward. The beast’s legs frantically stomped about in it’s various attempts to shake the knight off of it’s beak! All Ulrich had to do was wait for the perfect moment to strike at his intended target… Ah— there!

The Cuail’s left leg stomped down onto the ground again. This was what he was waiting for! Ulrich proceeds to jump into the air; his fist rearing back as his momentum carries him closer and closer! His fist makes contact with the Cuail’s thigh; a shock wave of kinetic force accompanied by streaks of lighting burst and crawl throughout the beast’s leg! It screeches as it’s leg is paralyzed from the attack. It buckles on it’s left side and it’s leg finally gives out as the left side of it’s body drops to the ground.

A cloud of dirt is kicked up from the impact of the Cuail hitting the ground, and Ulrich is pushed from the force of the initial wind of it. He’s launched up flipping into the air, but he quickly corrects himself; floating calmly in the air now.

“Alright that should make things a bit easier for a little bit!”

The quail flopped onto its side, taking Blue along for the ride as they stuck firmly to its face. They paused their clawing for a moment to grip on with their hands to avoid being thrown down to the ground. Or they would have, if they didn't find they had outgrown the quail's face. Blue slammed into the ground along with the head, but their armor absorbed most of the impact for them. It was only now that Blue even realized what was happening.

"Hey, I'm getting bigger!" Blue called out with a mix of joy and confusion. They were glad to be returning to their normal size, but they had no idea why they were. Was it because they were touching the bird? Was it the bird that made them smaller? No, that didn't make sense, did it? Agh, if only they were smarter! Thinking of complicated stuff like this was hard for an ooze! Whatever, they could worry about it later. Right now there was a big chicken trying to eat them. Wait, would it even be able to anymore?

In the short time it took Blue to process that they'd grown and try in vain to figure out why, they had already grown to match the quail in height and were still growing. It seemed their growth rate was accelerating as it went. The poor bird flopped and struggled to try and get out from underneath the knight that was now pinning it to the ground, slimy hands and feet gluing them to the ground. Having one leg paralyzed didn't help.

It didn't take much longer for Blue to grow large enough to just pick the quail up and hold it, and pretty soon after that, the knight was back to their usual size. They looked around for their still shrunken friend, careful not to move their feet and accidentally step on him in the grass.

"Ulrich? Look, I'm back to normal! Where are you?" Blue called out as they glanced around at the grass below them.

Ulrich watches as his companion who was just the same size as him moments ago had started to regain their stature. In a couple of moments the quail that had been such a threatening presence was now just a small nuisance to Wolfe. Somehow they had gotten bigger again which just left Ulrich and Alvis the miniatures of the party.

The dagger appears next to Ulrich as he floats in the air, "Well, at least one of us was able to regrow to their correct proportions. If only I could say the same for the both of us." Alvis' handle tilts up and down towards Ulrich mimicking the gesture of checking on oneself.

Ulrich gives a sigh, "The Cuail is no longer a problem we have to worry about at least." He inspects himself; rubbing his fingers across his coat. A mysterious powdery residue rests between his fingers and thumb. "Huh, where did this come from? I don't think I noticed it before."

Before the two could elect to look around, Wolfe— having a bit of difficulty spotting them— calls out to Ulrich. Due to their size differences Ulrich could feel the sound boom quite a bit as Wolfe searched for them. He grimaces from the sudden intrusion of sound in his eardrums, but it's not unbearable. Alvis follows after Ulrich as he flies upward to catch Wolfe's attention.

"Wolfe! I'm right here!" He calls out, "Still small, haha!" As he flies upward he can see some of the excess residue starting to fall off of him. Watching it float into the air like this reminds him of— OF COURSE! They'd seen the powder floating into the air when the pasture came into view!

Did the powder have something to do with their shrinking size from earlier?