All it took was one.  

Perhaps this was karma for his dragon tears scam, but even then it was just pink lemonade.  The predicament he found himself in was far more egregious than delicious snake oil.  Sol City seemed to be a paragon of virtue from the outset, but it seemed its criminals had a way of shattering that illusion with a level of subtly and efficiency that would make even an Ash Lander blush.  The potion in question wasn't a setup to rob him from the fact that he still had his money.  It was clear by the predicament that this must have been for the amusement of someone.

Someone whose face Dante would never forget.  

Dante awoke on cracked earth and broken stone.  At first he thought he had been thrown into the desert to die of thirst.  That would have been a much easier problem for him to overcome given his familiarity with the desert.  But it was the noise that first alerted him that this wasn't the desert.  He never recalled there being such noise out amongst the dunes unless there was a sandstorm or something similar.  The noise sounded like... people.  

Looking around he saw impossibly large edifices and blades of grass growing from the cracked... no, that wasn't simple earth.  That was cobblestone and brick.  And the world wasn't large.  

He was simply very small.  

Alarm gave way to focus as he gathered his bearings.  He slowed his shallow, anxious breaths in an attempt to collect himself, but the bizarre perspective still gave him vertigo.  He fell over a couple of times as the stones under his feet lost their familiarity, their new crevasses and finer grains far more apparent at this height.  And it would seem the hostile environment would not be so forgiving as to provide him an opportunity to pull himself together.  From the alleys came footfalls that compelled him to sprint to one of the far walls of a nearby building in order avoid a most certain demise at the feet of the unwary.  It was a horrid way to go that Dante didn't wish to spare anymore thought to.  

Leaning against the wall, he slid down and put a hand on his forehead.

"Well fuck me Dante, how do we get out of this one?"

The golden capitol of Sol City apparently hid many secrets. At least, thats what they were told. As a contracted sparrow, there had been talk of individuals making false sets of potions that would be of great help for acts of thievery. As someone with humble beginnings, Ube normally wouldn’t have minded. People have to eat somehow. However, their line of work strictly needed them to investigate, at the very least. Plus, were it to affect anyone that they actually cared about, it would be a different story.

The fellblood walked through the familiar city, their best friend floating behind them. Not much information had been given in the few days they’d been there. It wasn’t unexpected. Criminals using the likes of alchemy would only make it harder to track, of course. The only consistent factor was the general location. A large part of the incidents had been taking place around the market district’s more medicinal side. Though, to find out the culprit(s), Ube needed a different approach than the usual “Punch the bad guy” routine.

After a bit of walking into the less grandiose neighborhood of the captiol, Ube stepped into an apothecary.
”Welcome! What’cha looking for pal? Healing potions? Height increasing? You look like you could use one.” Disregarding the comment, they scanned the surroundings and the sun elf behind the counter. He was blonde one, dressed in typical shopkeep garb: a white button up under a brown coat. The actual shop itself wasn’t anything particularly interesting beyond it being a little cluttered. A couple of empty bottles were strewn about along the floor. Concerning, but not really noteworthy. The fellblood approached the counter, bringing out their little book and piece of charcoal. They sat it on the table and began to write their message, not really taking the elf as one who would know sign.
”I’ll take that height potion. Two of those healing potions as well, please.” From what Ube had gathered, this shop seemed to be the most suspect based on all the questions they pelted the locals with. The reviews of this place were all over the place. Some claiming his tinctures to be on par with seasoned alchemists, others stating the bottles were nothing but painted tea. If anyone were to make false potions, it’d be this guy. 

The man gave Ube a quizzical look at the strange method of communication, though shrugged it off. 
“Sure, thirty-five solars then.” A little cheap for 3 bottles… They sat their pouch of solars on the counter and began withdrawing. Cebu, not really interested in what was going on, flew off around the store to snoop.
”Ah wait, you should try the height one first before you pay. I won’t charge ya if it don’t work. That one drink don’t always work on everyone, ‘specially you devil folk.” They tilted their head in curiosity. Low cost and a free test trial? I guess it wouldn’t hurt… The man slid down a glass vial of green liquid. Popping off the cork, Ube held it to their nose. It didn’t have any sort of smell. Cautiously, they poured the drink down their throat. The taste was awfully bitter.

”Get em!” Suddenly, a pair of hands grabbed at the fellblood as they were dragged out the door. The surprise caught them off guard as they noted their solars pouch was still on the counter. Ube thrashed around, attempting to pull away. However, as they thrashed around, something puzzling caught their attention. The room seemed to be getting bigger, the force at which they were being pulled seemed to be faster. As Ube looked to their right, they saw their little manta who was still checking out the other bottles. But… Isn’t she a small manta ray?… As the familiar outside air pulled them from thought, they dropped to the floor with a thud. They got up quickly, attempting to sprint at the door before noticing the change around them. 

The earth shook from rumbling wheels and giant steps, the door of the store was now comparable to that for a god. Something was wrong. Turning to look at their surroundings, it became quite clear. They could not deny it any longer. They were small(er).

Dante had by this point calmed his nerves and steadied his hands. The emotion of the moment now having ebbed, he assessed his situation and location. He was on the corner of some busy street with the only comforts being the wall behind him and the narrow dark alley that saw no foot traffic. Well this is clearly an alchemical or magical effect, he thought. It should wear off at some point.

Suddenly the noise of the city swelled in an explosion of wood, stone, and bodies. Someone seemed to be getting thrown out from the building next door. Dante's head snapped towards two pairs of giant boots appeared from the yawning portal. He hid inside the crack of a wall as he caught sight of a figure falling towards the cobbles.

Someone of his particularly diminutive stature.

He tucked himself in the crack and watched carefully before throwing out a Replicant of himself before the recovering assailants. He sent it running in the opposite direction to lure them into a chase. Dante poked his head out from the hole and saw the person in question was in the middle of the street. He pulled out a pocket mirror and caught a little sliver of light entering the alley to try and shine it in the person's eyes to get their attention.

"Get over here you fool," he muttered to himself.

As the light caught the fellblood's eyes, they turned to see where it was coming from. What is... Another fellblood? They ran over, dodging the bounds of foot traffic as they dipped and dove around. It had been awhile since they met another of their blood, the last being through an unfortunate kidnapping and a handful of cultists.

Once reached, Ube realized that the book they used to talk was also left along with their solars. They bit their lip and hoped that the man knew sign. They raised their hands and began to try to communicate. 
"Did you get tricked as well? Do you need assistance?"  

As they waited for a response from the man, high pitched squeaks that were louder than the norm rolled around the alleyway. Gods, why. Quickly turning on their heel with raised fists, the only thing in sight was a few broken crates and barrels. They squinted, trying to make out where the noise is coming from. Out of the shadow within the confines of a crate, a rat nose pokes out. Ube let out a "Tch" as they looked back to Dante. They pointed upwards to a stack of barrels, hoping he would understand that they both should take high ground.

Dante watched the hand gestures perplexed. At first they thought it was some kind of thieves' cant he was speaking. But the utter silence coming from the gentleman clarified the situation instantaneously. He frowned and said, "Well... shit. I'm afraid my sign is a bit wanting. Met a friend, fun lady if memory serves. She would do sign to translate for politicians, but that's neither here nor there. Um, okay let's see now..."

Dante attempted to sign back:

["I am Dante. I like tacos."]

"Wait.. no that's not right, hold on..."

["I am Dante. Let's go."]

Dante skipped around and had to reclarify some signs, and it was an astonishing thing to watch someone butcher a sign language unlike how most would butcher a second spoken one. My gods, he thought, I'm a master of eloquence! I cannot let this injustice continue!

It was in that moment he caught sight of the rat. He simply turned and ran towards the stack of barrels, climbing up the splintered wood as best as they could. But the sheer diminutive size made reaching the next parts difficult. He sighed and said, "Fuck it all," before simply disappearing in a puff of smoke and reappearing on top of the pile in the Blink of any eye. It didn't exactly do much to help this newcomer, but neither would he be helpful as a hinderance to potentially be left behind.

Turning focus to the approaching rat, Ube raised their hands in a fighting stance. They weren't necessarily worried about the size difference, given they've handled larger. It was mostly a concern on what other effects this potion could have done to them. The rat continued its movement, drawing ever closer to the purple fellblood. Its most likely defending its territory. Should be fine to deal with as long as theres only one- As luck would have it, two more noses poked out from the darkness of the crate. ...Why do I do this to myself? The collection of rodents let out aggressive hisses, clearly not happy about the strangers on their doorstep. The first took initiative, darting towards Ube.

The fellblood steeled themselves, drawing a slow breath as they focused. They matched the rat's eagerness, sprinting towards it in kind. The distance between the two quickly closed, the rat lunging forward with plans to chow down on the intruder. ¹Seizing opportunity, Ube jumped forward with enough strength to barely be over their attacker. Placing a foot down on the head of the rodent, they pushed with all their might and leapt off it. They soared for a moment before narrowly grasping the edge of the crate, pulling themselves up. They were safe, for now.

The rat felt the top of its head, clueless as to where the fellblood had gone. It perked up, sniffing the air for a trace before locking in on a familiar scent. It looked to the mound of barrels before letting out a gross squeal to the other two. They made their over, practically climbing on each other before one of them manages to begin making their ascent. Crap! Ube raised a finger gun and pointed it the ascending rat. A pink glow emits from the dark purple stripes that decorated the skin of the fellblood as an equally pink spark forms at the fingertip. ²Its launched across the alleyway, colliding into the main body of the rodent... to no avail. The rat seemed unfazed with not even a burn on its hair. Damn it! The size change must've made my spells weaker. 

Looking to Dante, they waved him over. The distance between the abode of the rats and his barrel mountain was a treacherous amount, however the height difference should be able to make up for it... maybe. They weren't sure if the other fellblood was versed in combat, they had only hoped they knew how to escape such a situation. There was a way Ube could help but lighting the old wood on fire probably wasn't going to be the safest call. For now, they waited on the action of the gray demon.

Dante looked back to see Ube climbing over rodents to achieve higher ground. This stranger made his teleportation look like it was harder work than simply jumping on the rat's head. It was rather impressive how he got the high ground from his size all things considered. Still, the rats didn't seem pleased with their quarry escaping so quickly. Truth be told, he was as much a threat as he was food to the rats. He had been watching the escapades for a good few seconds and spotted spotted one of the barrels leaking.

Perfect.

He muttered an incantation and fired a lightning flavored Chromatic Blast upon the leaking barrel. Specifically, he targeted the spigot. The metal came to life with crackling energy and exploded from its fixed placed on the barrel. One of the rats took the spray straight to its face and tumbled backwards into a couple of more rats. They tumbled down and tested the integrity of the wooden stack.

He looked down from his perch to the other side. There seemed to be a puddle at the bottom and an opening into a side street for small businesses and homes. He took a deep breath and said, "Well, here goes nothing." He pulled himself around and started climbing down the crates, hopping off to land on the surfaces and the flatter ends. He was moving slowly, choosing care over expedience. He could feel the Space magic slowly returning to him, but he would need more time before he could jump again.

A well placed move had the rats scrambling along the dirt. They were pretty impressed at the play as they watched him move down the stack. Alright, I'll take it from here.

Hopping down from the crate, Ube moved with haste towards the pile of rats. They needed to make some time for the gray demon to complete his descent. Once close enough, they grabbed the tail of one of the rats. It turned back to them, hissing and immediately going for a bite. Ube pulled the tail, practically dragging the rat as they swung it behind them. Panicked now, it began to try running back towards its home in the crate. ¹However, Ube refused to let it go with their tight grasp on the pink tail denying the rodent any distance. The other two turned to the fellblood, backing up slightly as the fellblood stared at them with piercing vibrant violet eyes. 

Those few seconds felt like eternity as the three stood in a classic stand-off before one of the pair decided to make a move. It leaned forward, looking to deliver another bite at the head of the fellblood. ²Ube ducked, placing their other hand on the chin of the creature before a menacing pink glow emitted from their palms. The color morphed into black as the tail of the fearful rat and the face of attacking rat changed in color. Around where the purple demon was touching, an almost mold-like substance excreted from their hands. It spread out across the surface as the rats began to squeal in agony. Ube promptly let go once the rats were in pain, the two retreating back to their den. The hair on the attacker's face had changed from a gray to white, the eyes looking bloodshot. The tail of the fearful had looked to go from a pink skin to a gross and slimey green. 

All that was left was the one who had now began running the opposite way of Ube and towards where Dante was climbing down to. ... Crap.

---

1. Iron Grip
2. Float Like A Butterfly

Dante had gotten about a third of the way down when he could feel something running up the rickety makeshift structure. A rat must have broken away, or Ube might have been consumed already. Dante didn't exactly have the luxury of speculating for too long. He looked back to the puddle and muttered, "Well there goes *these* clothes," and jumped towards the puddle. It was deep enough to blunt the force of the fall, but it wasn't exactly pleasant. Dante scrambled away from the rat that pounced into the water after him.

Gritting his teeth, Dante yelled, "YOU NEED A TIME OUT!" and fired off another Chromatic Blast. He changed the element to lightning and gave it as much oomph as he could onto the murky alley water. The liquid exploded in a cascade of sparking droplets. Tongues of forked light tasted rat flesh and set the creature's fur on end. He couldn't tell if he killed it or gave it a seizure, but it was shaking violently as if under a seizure by the time the spell had expired.

Panting, Dante shook off some of the excess water, his face distorted in disgust over the smell. He came to the corner of the alley and found a crack in the wall that he could crawl under and hide for a bit. He slumped down and looked over at the now dying rat and sighed.

"Gods, don't look at me like that. It's your fault you came to this end. Defending your home is one thing, but chasing me over the boxes was a faux pax that you will sadly never recover. Rest in peace." He took out a small bottle of fine spirits and took a drink to the dying rodent's death rattle.

Ube panicked for just a moment before the grey fellblood pulled out a sudden destructive force combined with strong usage of their environment, the normally small puddle becoming a death trap for the unfortunate rat. They walked past the now fried rodent and followed Dante to his hiding spot. Crouching at the opening, they waved to him and began signing.
"Hey, you ok?" Ube took a quick moment, glancing around to make sure there wasn't any more interruptions. "Might not be a good time to ask but were you scammed as well?" 

They listened well before a green glow emitted around their body. The purple fellblood looked at their hands, a tingly sensation running through their entire body. The hands that they were staring at turned numb, the hands suddenly growing in size disproportionately to the rest of Ube. The arms followed next, then the shoulders, and then the rest of their body began to violently return to original size. Their height rose as the alley way quickly became smaller and smaller, the crates going from building sized to its natural state. Ah, the ordeal is over. Ube backed up from the now miniature crack in the wall, allowing Dante to hopefully return to his normal size with enough room.

Panicked washed over their face as they remembered their companion, solar pouch, and book was still inside that false potion's shop. Immediately, Ube signed erratically.
"Ok I have to leave. My friend is still with those thieves. You're welcome to come with me." Spinning around on heels, they ran back towards the shop with anger in their eyes.  

Dante peered at Ube's hands and racked his brain as to the meaning of his words. But he took a step back and instead used body language and context clues. They seemed benevolent in this context, so what would he ask first in his position? Perhaps asking if I'm okay, he thought.

"I'm feeling..." suddenly shot up to his normal size with such a start that he nearly fell over from the vertigo. He steadied himself on the wall beside him. He blinked and said, "I'm feeling slightly nauseous but not worse for wear I suspect."

The additional signing was unclear, but the anger and the determination with which they walked seemed clear. Considering he had burst from that alchemist's shop with goons on his tail not but a few moments ago, it was clear this was some sort of set up. He decided to follow up with him to observe what would happen next. Upon arriving he saw surprised expressions on the faces of the folks that sold Ube the potion.

Dante grinned wickedly and said, "Oh my, they didn't expect to see us so soon. I don't suppose a little street vengeance is in order, do you my good sir?"