(Cubed Cinder; idea by Phil)
The crowd continued to gather just outside the arcade as the minutes and
seconds ticked away at the nearby digital clock. These people were all standing
in front of something very large, presumably a building, that was covered from
top to bottom in a white sheet. Among the crowd were well known citizens of the
town, such as Tommy Pickles, Charles ‘Chuckie’ Finster, Kimi Finster, and
others. Even Angelica and her dad, Drew, were among the crowd and were probably
the least enthusiastic of the bunch.
“Dad, are you sure being here is a good idea? What if Uncle Stu’s invention
blows up and takes the whole town with it?” Angelica asked as she was pushing
some buttons on her cell phone.
“(sigh) I hear you, Angelica, but I promised Stu we would be there. Plus your
mom insisted since her company is partially funding this thing.” Drew said.
“That’s real comforting.” Angelica muttered.
“So, Tommy, what’s your father got cooking this time? Did he finally tell you?”
Chuckie said. Tommy brushed his purple hair back and looked over at his friend.
“Nope, afraid not. Not even Dil will tell me what’s going on even though he’s
been helping out.” Tommy said.
“Well, whatever it is, I hope it doesn’t smell like Vice Principal Pangborn’s
gym socks.” Chuckie said. Tommy couldn’t help but chuckle.
Finally, the nearby clock hit zero across the board, and right on cue, both
Stu and Dil came out from underneath the large white sheet. Stu held a
microphone and tapped it, causing some sonic waves to go out.
“Oops... sorry, just testing.” Stu said as he cleared his throat. Once the loud
sonic waves had dissipated, Stu started talking again.
"Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. It is my pleasure to finally reveal what the
arcade and I have been developing for the past two months. With the help of one
of my sons, of course." Stu said, adding the last bit after Dil heavily cleared
his throat, implying not to forget about him. Stu then walked up to a nearby
lever and pulled it down. That's when the white sheet came falling down towards
the ground, revealing indeed a new building that stood alongside (and taller
than) the arcade. The neon lights on the front of the building immediately
flashed the words Stu was about to mutter.
"Introducing HoloPlay! The video game you create from your imagination and live
for real!" Stu said. He smiled when he heard oooooohs and aaaaaahs from the
crowd. Dil knew his dad would get into long technical explanations that would
bore the crowd in a heartbeat, so he spoke up next.
"So would you all like to come inside and see this baby in action!?" Dil said.
With that said, everyone walked inside with both Stu and Dil leading the way.
When everyone crammed into the next room, which was headlined by a lone keyboard
and a few 32-inch monitors, they wondered what was going to happen next, namely
how the 'game' was created and where that lonely door on the far left of the
room led to.
"Just insert 30 one dollar bills into the terminal next to this keyboard
here..." Stu said as he pulled $30 worth of 1 dollar bills out of his pants
pockets and dumped them into a bin next to the keyboard. As people already
murmured about the expensive price of admission, suddenly the room let out some
bleeps and bloops (some that sounded like they came from an Atari 2600 even) and
the monitors lit up with a robotic male voice emanating from the speakers.
"Welcome to HoloPlay. Before you enter, please describe as best you can the kind
of game you wish to play." the HoloPlay computer said.
"Pffft... they could've picked a very attractive female voice for the computer.
Like me." Angelica said.
"Shhhhhh... Later, Angelica." Drew said.
"Now watch as I make a game about swords and sorcery in a fierce 2 player battle
against the evil wizards. I would like my dear brother, Thomas Malcolm Pickles,
to be my partner." Dil said.
"Huh? Me? Well, okay." Tommy said as he stepped up to the keyboard, where the
casually dressed Dil began typing on the keyboard:
A FANTASY WORLD WHERE EVIL WIZARDS FIGHT AND YOUR ONLY DEFENSE IS YOUR SWORD AND SHIELD
After a few seconds, more bleeps and bloops occurred and the computer spoke
again.
“Program complete. Enter when ready.” HoloPlay said. Right after it finished
speaking, more of the monitors lit up where everyone saw the fantasy world,
complete with roaming dragons. The oooohing and aaaahing commenced again as they
marveled over the realism of Dil’s request. But now it was time for the game to
commence. Dil and Tommy opened the door and walked inside.
“Wow, Dil. This looks real... maybe too real.” Tommy said.
“No time for small talk, let’s get the swords!” Dil shouted as he and Tommy ran
for the two swords and shields. They each grabbed one of the items, and as soon
as they did that, dark-robed wizards (whose faces couldn’t be seen), suddenly
appeared and started shooting magic towards the two ‘heroes.’
While the game was going on, Angelica kept a close eye on the monitors where
the Pickles brothers were playing. Ordinarily she would be pretending to pay
attention while glancing down on her cell phone for texts from her friends on
what they would do that night, but instead, she was impressed with how
realistically Dil’s fantasy was being replicated. As she was watching, she took
note of one other important feature of the HoloPlay, watching as Tommy’s shield
was shattered by a magic blast.
“Ummm... Dil, I lost my shield!” Tommy shouted.
“HoloPlay, create another shield!” Dil shouted.
“Command acknowledged.” HoloPlay said, and Tommy watched as another shield
formed in front of him. He quickly picked it up and was back to playing defense.
This got Angelica’s mind racing about a deep, secret fantasy she kept ever since
she was 3 years old, but before she could think too long about that, the
monitors went off and the audience cheered lightly. After commanding the
HoloPlay to end the simulation early (hinting there was some kind of time
limit), he and Tommy came out from the door and were back in the computer room.
“Man, that was pretty awesome.” Tommy said.
“You heard it here, folks! It was pretty awesome!” Dil said.
“And again, only $30 worth of one-dollar bills to play. Enjoy everyone!” Stu
said. With the demonstration over, everyone made their way to the nearby exit
except for a few people such as Chuckie, Angelica, and Drew.
“Nice, Stu. Real nice.” Drew said, softly at first.
“Thanks, bro. I was kinda hoping you’d volunteer.” Stu said.
“Gee, maybe I will if I didn’t have to spend 100 times more than a 50-cent
arcade game.” Drew said almost sarcastically.
“Actually, 50 cents times 60 is $30, but close enough, Dad.” Angelica said. Of
course, Stu wasn’t fazed by this, much like the many other inventions Drew has
criticized.
“Nah, you’re just a little bit jealous. I bet I can beat you in a game of
virtual golf with this puppy.” Stu said.
“Ah... be careful what you wish for, brother.” Drew said.
“Come on, Drew, we should grab a bite to eat. See ya later, kids.” Stu said.
“Bye, Uncle Stu.” Angelica said.
With Tommy, Dil, Chuckie, Kimi, and Angelica all to themselves, the group talked
about the HoloPlay.
“So... pretty lame, eh, Chuckie?” Tommy said.
“Well, I wouldn’t say that. Your Dad for years has been like this.” Chuckie
said.
“Modest as always, eh? But don’t worry. I’m not gonna rat on your Dad, Tommy.
You can’t blame his passion, much like my Mom’s passion for Japanese cooking.”
Kimi said.
“Well, I for one think it’s the greatest thing that’s ever been invented.”
Angelica said with a smile on her face.
“Huh? Really?” Tommy asked.
“Okay... who are you and what have you done with the real Angelica?” Dil said.
“Dil, Dil, Dil. I’m part of the family. As a Pickles, I’m supposed to endorse
the hottest tech products this side of the 21st century.” Angelica said as she
playfully hugged both Tommy and Dil around her arms.
“She’s setting you up, Tommy, I just know it.” Chuckie said.
“Oh, Finster! You worry too much! Well, gotta go catch up with Harold. Later,
boogers.” Angelica said as she twirled herself around and left the HoloPlay
building. The other teens/preteens just shrugged and left as well, leaving the
HoloPlay all to itself for the time being. As a matter of fact, the HoloPlay was
not used again that day. Until later that night...
Because it was a family establishment intended for a family audience, the
arcade always closed early, a little after 8 PM to be exact, compared to other
places around town. The closure included the HoloPlay building, although that
didn’t stop a couple people from wanting to get inside. Those two people were
Angelica Pickles and one of her kinda sorta friends, Harold. A few minutes after
closing time, Harold and Angelica approached the HoloPlay building. Harold
pulled out a set of keys (who knows where and how he got them) and tried
different ones before finally the glass door, covered up on the inside by a
curtain, opened up. Angelica was surprised no alarms went off.
“Huh. I guess Uncle Stu skimped on the security.” Angelica said.
“Either that or it’d be really difficult to steal a holographic image
generator.” Harold said with his trademark lisp sounds.
“Well, never mind that. Breaking in was part 1 of the plan. So how do we make
part 2 work?” Angelica said.
“Easy! That’s why I brought this!” Harold said as he reached into his backpack
and pulled out over a hundred one dollar bills... from Monopoly. Angelica
scoffed at that sight.
“Monopoly money!?” Angelica said.
“Well, yeah. I remember reading a story on the internet where kids back in the
70s would mold clay in the shape of a quarter and put those in the machine to
basically get a free game.” Harold said.
“This is the 21st century, genius. You really think we can fool this thing with
Monopoly money?” Angelica said. Harold picked up 30 of the white one-dollar
bills from the board game.
“Well, it’s worth a try. What’s the worst that can happen?” Harold asked.
“We’ll get blasted to atoms with a hidden red laser.” Angelica jokingly said.
Harold then inserted the fake money into the machine. Once the last of the bills
were in, the machine started bleeping and blooping once again, and to the
amazement of the two teenagers...
“Welcome to HoloPlay. Before you enter, please describe as best you can the kind
of game you wish to play." the HoloPlay computer said. Angelica theoretically
dropped her jaw to the floor and then looked over at Harold.
“Harold, I’ll never question the size of your brain or IQ again.” Angelica said.
“Why thank you, miss Angelica.” Harold said, only to then get pushed out of the
way by the girl.
“Alright then! Let’s see what this baby can do.” Angelica said. There was no way
she was going to reveal her fantasy in front of Harold, so she came up with a
different scenario to walk into that she typed with the keyboard:
A FASHION SHOW WHERE I AUTOMATICALLY GET PERFECT SCORES FROM THE JUDGES. ONE OF THEM IS A REAL LIFE CYNTHIA.
“Huh? Is that all? A fashion show?” Harold said.
“I’m just warming this thing up. Don’t want to get too creative early on.”
Angelica said. After watching the fashion show load up inside the HoloPlay’s
main chamber, Angelica ran towards the door and opened it up. When she walked
inside, she was already up on stage and she quickly twirled herself around,
showing off one of her everyday outfits.
Angelica spent the next ten minutes playing around with the fashion show,
watching in delight as the other contestants, despite their beautiful looks,
were getting low scores across the board. Suddenly, she turned around and saw
Harold entering the HoloPlay room.
“Harold? What are you doing in my simulation!?” Angelica shouted.
“Sorry, Angelica, but I got a call from my Mom. She wants me home now... it’s
taco night.” Harold said.
“Alright, alright. Just leave the keys and the Monopoly money in the other room.
I’ll lock up when I’m done.” Angelica said.
“You sure? I’d be careful if I were you. Holo games can be just as addicting as
video games!” Harold said.
“Your concern is appreciated, Harold, but I, Angelica Pickles, do not succumb so
easily to addiction.” Angelica said.
“Right, what was I thinking? Later, Angelica!” Harold said. After waiting a few
minutes, Angelica came out of the HoloPlay room, and the simulation ended
immediately upon her exit. She looked around and saw she was alone. All alone.
The time had come.
“Yes! Now for some real virtual reality.” Angelica said. She put more fake money
into the unit, and once again the HoloPlay welcomed her.
“Welcome to HoloPlay. Before you enter, please describe as best you can the kind
of game you wish to play." the HoloPlay computer said. Angelica cracked her
knuckles and waved her fingers around before typing with an evil smile on her
face:
I AM A GIANT IN THE CITY, SOMEWHERE BETWEEN 150-200 FEET TALL. PEOPLE ARE RUNNING FROM ME UNLESS I EITHER CRUSH THEM DEAD OR TELL THEM TO DO SOMETHING.
“Program complete. Enter when ready.” HoloPlay said. The monitors came on to
reveal a city, similar looking to the one outside of the town she lived in. Of
course, it was hard to tell from the monitors if the city was as small as she
envisioned, especially with the people still walking around like normal.
“Hmmm? Those people aren’t running for their lives. Or maybe...” Angelica said.
Perhaps thinking they would react once she entered the HoloPlay chamber, which
she had to do anyway to begin her rampage, Angelica walked towards the door and
opened it up. She walked inside...
...and the city spread out before her platformed shoes. And then the people
started running like mad, especially one nearby man.
“Everybody run! There’s a giant woman on the loose!” the man shouted. Angelica
stood still for a few seconds, smiling at the mayhem happening at her feet.
“Now we’re talking.” Angelica said. Finally, she started moving, taking her
first steps into the tiny city. Despite being a simulation, she could feel the
road buckling beneath her shoes and the booming sounds of her steps echoing in
the sky. It was with those that Angelica really marveled over the realism of her
creation. But she quickly snapped herself into her giantess on a rampage mode.
“Bwahahahaha! That’s right, you little boogers! Run away before I catch you!”
Angelica said, stomping on a couple men who couldn’t escape in time. Instead of
being crushed into a bloody mess, the two men simply pixelated out of existence.
“Pffft... darn parental controls.” Angelica said, disappointed that the crushing
part wasn’t like the real thing, but she didn’t let that bother her too much.
She next walked up to a building half her size and put a knee into the
structure, leaving a big hole and causing it to eventually topple over. The
rubble remained ever after the building’s destruction.
“Well, at least that sticks.” Angelica said.
Angelica would spend the next few minutes just casually stomping around the
city (and on people of course) taking in the destructive sights and sounds.
Suddenly, Angelica could hear her cell phone ringing. The ringing actually
shattered several windows in a nearby glass building. Of course, Angelica didn’t
care much for this. She simply picked up her cell phone and answered.
“Hello? Hello?” Angelica said. The voice on the other end, however, sounded very
muffled and was breaking up a lot. The virtual giantess finally decided to hang
up, not only that but she shut off her phone.
“Pffft... must be a wrong number. Either that or this HoloPlay has weakened the
signal.” Angelica said. She then noticed the broken glass in the nearby
building, and a few people seemingly paralyzed in fear.
“What are you staring at? Haven’t you ever seen a giant girl who’s about to
destroy your city and stuff like that?” Angelica said. She then took a deep
breath and then exhaled inside, blowing everyone across the room and slamming
against a wall to their pixelated death.
“Yeah, I forgot to tell you a storm’s coming.” Angelica said. She then heard her
stomach grumbling ever so slightly.
“Hmmm... I sure could use a bite to eat. I wonder if the food is real in this
room.” Angelica said. As she looked around wondering if there was a fancy
restaurant she could raid, she saw something even better. A small factory that
she recognized for making chocolate chip cookies.
“Only one way to find out.” Angelica said with that devilish smile on her face.
Angelica approached the factory and watched the many workers running out of
the exits trying to escape the giantess. She first decided to sit down on the
roof of this factory, which buckled underneath her weight. Next she noticed a
couple delivery trucks and picked up one of them with her hands. Using one of
her hands, she pried open the back door of the truck and noticed several crates
inside.
“Oh no. No way you’re gonna keep these tasty treats from my mouth.” Angelica
said. At first, she tried carefully to open the boxes with her fingers and
thumbs, but her daintiness subsided and she resorted to dropping the crates from
a high height and breaking them open upon impact. Angelica took the many
different red and blue bags of cookies and threw them into her mouth. Even in
bags, she still could barely feel the many cookies between her huge teeth.
“Mmmm... not bad, but something’s missing.” Angelica said. As she looked down on
the ground at the people running around her shoes, she smiled again, and with
her other hand reached down and grabbed a handful of people.
“Chocolate chip cookies topped with human sprinkles. Now we’re talking!”
Angelica said. She opened her mouth wide and, ignoring the many screams and
pleas for help, swallowed everyone whole. With one big gulp, she felt the many
people sliding down her throat.
“Mmmm... delicious! Even for a game! But what else can I eat around here?”
Angelica said. She stood back up after sitting on the factory building for so
long.
“Hey HoloPlay, can you make me an ice cream truck? And make sure it’s as small
as the other vehicles!” Angelica said.
“Command acknowledged.” HoloPlay said. Suddenly, an ice cream truck, complete
with ringing bells and happy tune, went speeding by the giantess.
“Come here you little ice cream truck so I can eat you!” Angelica shouted.
Angelica chased the surprisingly fast ice cream truck as she bulldozed her way
through the city, even plowing through a building half her size along the way.
It was one quick shortcut later that Angelica was able to catch the truck and
hold it in her hands. She looked in the front window at the driver screaming his
lungs out.
“Quit your screaming! Unless you want to be a part of my super deluxe sundae.”
Angelica said. She turned the truck to its back and started to tilt it towards
her mouth...
...and then everything disappeared. The room was a solid black with yellow
lines all around, the only other object being the door back to the computer
room.
“Hey! What the...” Angelica said.
“Sorry, your allotted play time has expired. Please exit the chamber now. Have a
great day.” HoloPlay said. Angelica sighed and did just that, walking through
the door and finding herself back in the computer room. She thought about
playing again, after having so much fun, but ultimately knew she had to get home
soon. So that’s when she took the nearby Monopoly money and placed it in her
purse that she had left behind. After locking up the HoloPlay with the keys,
Angelica was about to jump onto her bike to head home when she decided to pull
out her cell phone. After dialing a number, she held the phone against the side
of her head. The person she tried to call did not answer, she got an answering
machine asking her to leave a message after the beep.
“Hey, Susie. It’s me. I got something I want to give you a heads up about. I’ll
tell you more after school tomorrow.” Angelica said before she hung up and
started pedaling her way home.
The next night, it was once again closing time for both the arcade and the
HoloPlay building, which still had barely seen any action even 24 hours after
opening. Some 30 minutes after the closing and the coast was clear, Angelica
once again approached the building. But this time, she wasn’t alone. Three other
girls either pedaled their bikes or roller skated their way towards the building
entrance. They were Kimi Finster, Lillian (or Lil for short) Deville, and even
Angelica’s main rival, Susie Carmichael. Kimi let out a yawn as she approached
Angelica.
“*yawn* This better be good, Angelica. I’ve had a busy day today.” Kimi said.
“So what’s going on? Are we the only ones here?” Lil said.
“All she told me was a HoloPlay simulation that only us girls can appreciate.”
Susie said as she took out a lollipop from her mouth and then put it back in,
leaving the stem sticking out.
“Oh, trust me, girls. You have to see it to believe it. I know we all have had
our differences... Susie and I especially, but I know in my heart what I’m about
to show you we can all agree on is awesome.” Angelica said.
“So what is it? Double Dare brought to life?” Kimi asked.
“Good guess, but no. Come on in.” Angelica said. As she took the keys to unlock
the building out of her pocket, Susie of course wasn’t comfortable with this
‘breaking in’ mentality.
“You sure it’s wise to be sneaking into this sort of thing at night?” Susie
said.
“Relax, Carmichael. Nobody’s ever going to know.” Angelica said.
When all four ladies eventually walked inside, Angelica wasted no time in
throwing the Monopoly money into the machine, typing in nearly the same words
she inputted last night:
WE ARE GIANTESSES IN THE CITY, SOMEWHERE BETWEEN 150-200 FEET TALL. PEOPLE ARE RUNNING FROM US UNLESS WE EITHER CRUSH THEM DEAD OR TELL THEM TO DO SOMETHING.
Obviously a HoloPlay simulation like that raised eyebrows amongst the other
ladies, but they all listened to the bleeps and bloops of the machine and then
heard it speak.
“Program complete. Enter when ready.” HoloPlay said. Once again, the monitors
showed the city outside of town. Not only that, it looked as if last night never
happened. It was as clean as a whistle, like the giant Angelica never visited.
Of course, that was quickly about to change.
“You three first. My treat.” Angelica said with a smile as she opened up the
door. Much like Angelica last night, Kimi, Lil, and Susie were all stunned to
see how small the city was.
“Oh my...” Susie said. Angelica entered last and then closed the door behind
her.
“Ladies, welcome to life in the giant lane.” Angelica said with a smile on her
face.
“Man, I thought you had seriously lost it for a moment, Angelica.” Susie
said.
“And here all this time I thought the HoloPlay was only for sports-crazed boys.”
Kimi said. Angelica stepped further into the ‘city,’ planting one of her shoes
on a parked semi truck and crushing it almost completely.
“Just look around, my friends. This city is our playground, and there isn’t
anything anybody in this room can do to stop us.” Angelica said. The other three
girls looked at each other and then finally shrugged.
“Hey, if it’s virtual, I won’t have to feel guilty about killing anyone.” Susie
said.
“She’s got a good point.” Lil said as she brushed the pink coloring part of her
hair as well as the flower attacked on the other side.
“Wait, I just have one very important question for you, Angelica.” Kimi said
with a stern look on her face.
“And that would be?” Angelica asked, wondering if Kimi was going to pose the
tough questions like she always does.
“There are plenty of cute boys running around, right?” Kimi asked. Angelica let
out that classic smile of hers.
“Plenty, Kimi. More than plenty.” Angelica said. Lil liked that answer too.
“Oh! I got this block over here!” Lil shouted as she ran over to the right side
of the city.
“Hey! Wait up! I wanted to have that block!” Kimi said as she initially ran
after Lil but eventually decided to take another part of the city. The only one
left at the door was Susie, and Angelica wasted no time in issuing a friendly
challenge.
“Two dollars that I cause more property damage than you.” Angelica said.
“Deal.” Susie said as she then walked over to the left side of the city, where
Kimi had already headed. Angelica stayed in the center and got back to her own
crushing spree. Even though they all took different sections of the city, they
were not that far from one another.
We first follow the exploits of Susie. With her tongue still sloshing around
the lollipop inside her mouth, she, much like Angelica the previous night,
started slow by casually walking around her block. She took notice of how
fragile everything was with each step, especially one of the smaller buildings
that she clipped with her shoes. As she leaned in to get a closer look, the stem
from her lollipop knocked over two more buildings.
“Hmmph. Not very strong, that’s a given.” Susie said. As she thought about the
lollipop in her mouth, she suddenly gets an idea and pulls out the lollipop. She
then drags it with her fingers down on the ground, watching as people and some
cars were sticking to the sticky treat. Susie dragged it for several more yards
before finally holding it in front of her face and standing back to her full
height. She couldn’t help but laugh over seeing the people struggle mightily to
break free from their sticky prison.
“Teehee... who knew lollipops could be so deadly for you little people?” Susie
said. She then licked her lips together and stuck the lollipop back into her
mouth. She spread her tongue around the sticky treat, grabbing as many helpless
people and vehicles as she could and sliding them down her tongue.
“You know, this virtual flavor is really bursting.” Susie said.
After she gulped the last of the innocent victims and munched the cars to
nothing (all while still sucking on her lollipop), she remembered the friendly
challenge issued by Angelica and wondered how she could cause a mass amount of
mass destruction. She then looked down at her feet at some of the vehicles
trying to escape her giant shoes.
“Oh no you don’t!” Susie said as she set her sights on a tour bus. She wrapped
her whole hand around the bus, listening to the people screaming their heads off
as she peeked inside the bus.
“Pretty scary, huh? Don’t worry, you won’t live long enough to keep this in your
memories.” Susie taunted. She then looked down on the ground to see what she
could hurl the bus towards and cause all sorts of chaos, if not destruction. She
smiled when she saw the perfect thing. Getting down on her knees, Susie flung
the bus at high speed towards a gas station. The giantess could see sparks
coming from the bus as it tried in vain to either steer away or stop, but the
bus slammed into the filling tanks and immediately the gas station was engulfed
in a ball of flames.
“Ouch! That had to hurt... too bad I didn’t bring a marshmallow.” Susie said.
As Angelica was busy causing mayhem on her own city block, she noticed Susie
causing the big explosion, and she whistled.
“Whew... I didn’t know that girl had it in her.” Angelica said before she got
back to stomping around, trying to beat Susie at the destruction contest.
Elsewhere, Kimi kept a big smile on her face as she stomped around her own
city block. It was especially delighting to her to watch the tiny people running
from her boots. It reminded her of the Japanese half of her blood, knowing that
the Japanese really loved giant city-stomping monsters.
“Rawr! Kimizilla on the loose!” Kimi shouted as she playfully stepped on a few
cars and trucks with her boots. She stopped to think about the monster name she
gave herself.
“Nah, that sounds too childish.” Kimi said. She glanced over at Angelica who was
continuing her rampage.
“On the other hand, Angelicon doesn’t sound too bad. I’m glad Tommy thought of
that years ago.” Kimi said. She got back to her own little rampage, although she
took the time to pick up some panicking people and examine them closer.
“Hehe! Aren’t you cute when you’re screaming like that!? I oughta keep you for
later.” Kimi said as she opened up one of the pockets on her dark green jacket
and dropped them inside. Just then, Kimi could hear her stomach slightly
rumbling.
“Oops... I forgot I skipped dinner.” Kimi said. As she wondered what she could
‘eat,’ she looked down and saw two buildings that were almost the same size,
reaching below her kneecaps.
“Oooooh! Speaking of Japanese culture...” Kimi said. That’s when she carefully
plucked the two buildings from their foundations. Suddenly, she found herself
holding them both between her thumb and finger like they were chopsticks. She
steadily picked up as many people as she could with her ‘chopsticks,’ dropping
them into her mouth.
“Mmmmm... umai! And just as awesome as using regular chopsticks too.” Kimi said
as she uttered a Japanese word for delicious.
Kimi made a few more scoops for people with her makeshift chopsticks. Susie
happened to noticed Kimi doing this and she came over to visit.
“Hey, Kimi. That’s a clever way to eat up.” Susie said.
“Thanks, Susie. You want a bite?” Kimi asked.
“Sure, why not?” Susie said. She opened her mouth wide (taking out her lollipop
first) and allowed Kimi to drop the people stuck between her ‘chopsticks’ into
her mouth. Susie, however, closed her mouth prematurely and some people got
stuck on her lips.
“Oops!” Kimi said.
“No problem! Watch this!” Susie said, and that’s when she licked her lips with
her tongue, removing the helpless pedestrians from her glossy lips and trapping
them in her mouth.
“That’s some lipstick you have on.” Kimi said.
“I know. Angelica gets so jealous of it.” Susie said. She put what little of the
lollipop was left back into her mouth as she and Kimi both stomped around the
same city block.
As for what Lil was doing? She too had started her attack on the little city
with a simple stroll over her block.
“If I know Phil, he’d probably eat everyone like they were worms.” Lil said. She
made a turn to the right towards the next street, only for her hips to make
contact with a nearby building.
“Oops! Guess I need to lose some more weight.” Lil said as she brushed the
debris off her jeans and shirt. Lil then looked out in the distance to see the
other giantesses torturing humanity in some way or another, and she decided she
didn’t want to be left out. In fact, she thought of her own way of having fun
with the little virtual people.
“Okay, you little peeps! If you want to live, I have one simple request.” Lil
said. She reached down and undid the laces on her shoes, eventually stepping out
of them. Lil then sat down, completely crushing a few smaller buildings
underneath her behind. She stretched out her legs and laid her bare feet down.
“Alright! Start massaging, and I may just let you live. Especially if you’re a
cute and handsome young man!” Lil said.
Most people wasted no time and got to rubbing Lil’s feet. Of course, some people
tried to sneak their way out of the area, but Lil smashed these people flat with
either her feet or hands. As for everyone else, if they didn’t faint from the
overpowering smell of foot odor, they were stuck rubbing almost their entire
bodies against Lil’s bare feet. She even giggled at times from being ticklish.
“Teehee! Watch where you’re rubbing. I am ticklish after all.” Lil said. As she
felt her feet getting rubbed, she looked over at a glass building across where
she was sitting and used her reflection to brush her hair with her hands,
especially the pink coloring.
“Whew... I was worried I had wrinkled hair all day long.” Lil said. Finally, she
felt like she had gotten enough of a foot rub.
“Okey dokey, thanks to everyone for rubbing my feet. Time for you to go squishy
now!” Lil said as she pressed her feet down to the ground and crushed everyone
into pixelated dust. She got up on her feet and looked again at the other
giantesses.
“Hmmm... wonder what Kimi and Susie are up to.” Lil said as she stomped her way
over to the city block they were towering over. Along the way, Lil made sure to
show her toughness by plowing her way through a building that was somehow the
same size as her.
With Kimi and Susie both having a mini contest over how much they could
destroy with their footwear, they didn’t see Lil coming until they heard her
voice.
“Hey, girls. Having a good crushing time, I see.” Lil said.
“Oh! You betcha!” Susie said. She then pulled the stem from her lollipop out,
which was nothing but the stem now with the juicy confection fully absorbed into
her mouth.
“Maybe it’ll get even better now that this lollipop has been digested.” Susie
said as she carelessly tossed the stem behind her head, leaving it to crush an
entire row of evacuated buildings.
“Especially with little people!” Kimi said as she reminded Susie of the people
licking from both sides earlier.
“Whoa, hold up, Lil. You without your shoes?” Susie said.
“Yeah, it’s a new look!” Lil said.
“Well, why not? We’re practically new girls being this big, even if it is only a
game.” Kimi said. Eventually, Angelica joined up with the other three girls.
“So, ladies. You gonna thank me now or later?” Angelica said with that
classic devilish smile.
“Actually we have Mr. Pickles to thank for this entire contraption.” Susie said.
“Susie’s right. Without the HoloPlay, we’d NEVER get the chance to see what
being 150 feet tall is like.” Kimi said.
“At least until my brother or someone goofs off with a growth ray, or
something.” Lil said.
“Pffft... a growth ray. Like that’ll be the day.” Angelica said.
“Although...” Susie said.
“Hmmm? Although?” Angelica said.
“This feels kinda too easy, if you ask me. I mean, not a lick of resistance so
far.” Susie said.
“Resistance? Why should these tiny people try to resist us?” Angelica said.
“I think what Susie means is an army to try and stop us. Y’know, like in those
old Japanese monster movies.” Kimi said.
“Y’know, they do have a point. It’d be even more fun if we had an army to
crush.” Lil said. Angelica then suddenly remembered one important bit of
functionality regarding the HoloPlay.
“Hmmm... my fellow giantesses, I think I can arrange that. HoloPlay?” Angelica
asked.
“Awaiting command.” HoloPlay said.
“How about adding in an army to attack us... effortlessly, of course. But bring
the whole works! Tanks, jet planes, bomb squads, police!” Angelica said.
“Command acknowledged.” HoloPlay said. After the usual bleeps and bloops that
emanated from the machine, suddenly the girls looked around and saw a groups of
tanks, bomber planes, fighter jets, and of course, police officers coming from
all directions.
“Oh yeah... now we’re talking!” Angelica said.
“And the best part is that it’s all just a game.” Kimi said.
As the planes circled around the giantesses, the police cars and tanks pulled
up as close as they were willing to pull up. One of the army soldiers stuck his
upper body out from one of the tanks and held a megaphone, shouting up at the
giantesses.
“Stop right there, ladies! Surrender now or we will be forced to shoot!” the
soldier said.
“How original.” Susie said as she rolled her eyes.
“He could’ve at least said something aside from ‘surrender or we’ll fire.’” Kimi
said. Angelica briefly realized she could’ve conjured up a more creative
soldier.
“Hey, come on! It’s hard to think when you’ve seen a shopping mall smaller than
your own shoes!” Angelica said. The girls then focused on the tanks again, with
Lil deciding to take the lead in showing the superiority of the giantesses.
“Oh really? I’d like to see you guys try and stop us.” Lil said.
“Arrrrgh! Very well! All units open fire!” the soldier said as he jumped back
into his tank. The tanks started firing off whatever weapons they carried, but
to nobody’s surprise, they were having no effect on the giantesses.
“Stand aside, ladies. I got this one.” Angelica said as she stepped in front of
the other girls and raised her foot high in the air. She slammed it down hard,
crushing one tank and causing the others to jump up in the air from the
shockwave. As Angelica scraped her shoe back and forth over the remains of the
tank, the other girls were impressed with the damage just that one stomp caused.
“And that’s why I never get on Angelica’s mean side.” Lil said.
“Hey, save one for me!” Kimi said as she stepped in front and crushed the next
tank. Susie suddenly felt an explosion on top of her head, and she looked up to
see it was a plane that had dropped a bomb on her head. It didn’t hurt, but she
still felt the explosion nevertheless.
“Pffft... they’re just like mosquitoes.” Susie said.
“Alright, ladies! ATTACK!!” Angelica shouted. The giantesses again went their
separate ways to take care of a different attack squadron of the police and/or
military.
Angelica stayed behind on the group of tanks, which were now trying in vain
to turn around and escape after witnessing the powerful nature of the giantess.
With their slow speed, it allowed Angelica to try a few different things with
each tank. She reached down and tried picking one up, but was surprised to find
she had to put a bit more muscle into picking it up.
“Ooooph... these things are heavier than I thought they’d be.” Angelica said.
She finally was able to hold that tank over her head, and she looked down at
another tank that was close to her shoes.
“Timber!!” Angelica said as she dropped the tank on top of the other one,
causing a huge explosion that reached up to her skirt.
“They don’t build them like they used to.” Angelica joked. Despite the gruesome
attack, some of the tanks still continued to fire up at the giantess.
“You guys really are stupid sometimes. Shooting at me when you have no chance of
winning!” Angelica shouted. She stepped towards one of the tanks and gave it a
swift kick, causing it to flip on its top. The next tank she encountered, she
kneeled down and bent the missile launcher, eventually causing it to explode.
Angelica looked around at the billowing smoke and area littered with debris.
“Hmmm... not bad, even for me. Harold better give me a perfect ten after I tell
him about this.” Angelica said.
The police cars were being handled for the most part by Lil and Kimi. Lil was
doing a bit of roundup first, gathering together as many of the cars together as
she could and piling them on top of one another.
“Okay, Kimi! All set!” Lil said as she shouted out to Kimi who was standing a
couple dozen yards away from Lil. Kimi smiled and then started running at full
speed for the pile of police cars, all with complete disregard for what she was
stepping on.
“Cannonball!!” Kimi shouted as she then made a leap high in the air and then
landed flat on her behind, crunching all the cars underneath and causing a
massive quake that shook the city block in every direction possible. Lil
applauded Kimi for the jump as she stood back up and brushed the remains off her
skirt.
“Wooo! Awesome jump, Kimi!” Lil said.
“Thanks, Lil. Guess I still got it from Paris.” Kimi said. Of course, there were
a few more police cars that were still around and wouldn’t give up. But Kimi had
a fun way of taking care of at least a couple of them.
“Hey, Lil. I got an idea.” Kimi said. She picked up another smaller building,
similar to her ‘chopsticks’ earlier, and this time gripped the building and
swirled it slowly like a baseball bat. Lil immediately caught onto Kimi’s game.
“Way ahead of you, Kimi!” Lil said as she ran over and picked up one of the
police cars. As she stood back to her full height and looked over at Kimi, she
wondered what kind of pitch she should throw.
“So, what kind of ball are you looking for?” Lil asked.
“Nothing fancy, just bring the heat!” Kimi said.
“Okay, here it comes!” Lil shouted. She wound her arm back and threw the car as
hard as she could. Kimi immediately swung the bat, er... building, towards the
car. As she did this, however, the building began to crumble apart since it
wasn’t built to take the kind of pressure being exuded from Kimi or from the
wind from being swung forward. Nevertheless, chunks of the building did make
contact with the police car, sending it flying over Lil’s head and down on the
ground where it broke apart upon impact.
“Yes! A home run!” Kimi said.
“Yeah! And on a broken bat too.” Lil said, noting how the building collapsed as
Kimi swung it.
“Well, it’s no surprise. They don’t build these things to withstand giantesses
holding them like bats. Not even in virtual reality.” Kimi said. Lil just
giggled and the two got to hunting down some more military and/or law
enforcement.
Susie was more preoccupied with the fighter jets, especially since they
continued to try and shoot her. Susie started out by jumping up and swatting
them from out of the air with her hands.
“Take that, you buzz bombers!” Susie said. As she dodged out of a missile’s way,
Susie wound up standing alongside a skyscraper that was almost her size. She
looked at it and couldn’t resist wrapping her arms around it.
“Teehee, you’re so cute, you building, you! I could hug you and squeeze you and
love you and... ahem.” Susie said, suddenly remembering how old she was.
“But not when I talk like a 3 year old.” Susie said as she cleared her throat
and focused her attention on the jets again. Some of them tried to make a banzai
dive while firing, but Susie remained focused and whipped the back of her head
towards the jet, swinging her braids out and whacking the jet with them. The jet
lost control and crashed in an already badly damaged part of the city.
“The hair is mightier than the jet.” Susie joked as she readjusted the bandana
on the top of her head. When the skies were clear, she couldn’t rest as she had
to deal with another swarm of police cars that were crawling up towards her
shoes. She took care of this patrol easily by getting down on her knees, taking
a deep breath of air, and then exhaling with great force. The normally calm
burst of warm air was like a hurricane to the police down on the street, and
they and their cars got blown off the surface and crashed several yards down the
street, although one car crashed head on against the back of one of Angelica’s
shoes. She looked behind and saw the vehicle, and then saw Susie standing back
to her full height.
“I always said you were full of hot air.” Angelica joked.
“Baby, you’re preaching to the choir.” Susie said with a sly smile.
Several minutes later, the forces were utterly defeated. All that was left
was one lonely (and heavily damaged) tank that tried to crawl away, only to be
surrounded by all four giantesses.
“Well, ladies, guess this tank is all that stands between us and world
domination.” Angelica said.
“Virtually speaking, of course.” Susie said.
“Hey, come on! It’s fun to dream big!” Lil said.
“So, what’s say we all stomp this tank together?” Kimi asked.
“Just what I was thinking. On three, 1, 2...” Angelica said, with all four
ladies raising a foot above the tank on two.
“Three!” Angelica shouted.
And then... the room was a solid black with yellow lines all around, the only
other object being the door back to the computer room.
“Sorry, your allotted play time has expired. Please exit the chamber now. Have a
great day.” HoloPlay said.
“DARN!” all four girls shouted. Yep, the play session was over, and all four
girls exited out of the room and were back into the computer room.
“Shucks, just when it was getting good.” Lil said.
“I feel so... tiny, being in this room again.” Susie said.
“Me too! Hurry, Angelica, let’s play some more!” Kimi said.
“Not bad, ladies. And 30 minutes ago you were doubting this very idea of mine.
No problem, we’ll just...” Angelica said, only to hear her cell phone beeping
all of a sudden. She looked down and noticed it was a text message from her
father.
“Oh. No can do, ladies. I’ve gotta get home so my parents don’t call the police
or something.” Angelica said.
“Alright, Angelica. I should be getting home myself anyways.” Susie said.
“But we’ll play again tomorrow night, right?” Kimi said.
“Of course! Ladies, it’s been a pleasure. I’m glad we can all finally agree on
something.” Angelica said. After taking the fake Monopoly money from the nearby
counter, Angelica exited. The other girls eventually left as well, but until
they all went their separate ways home, they talked about how cool it was being
gigantic and destroying an entire city.
Unfortunately for the ladies, there would not be a next time.
The next morning, as Angelica and Harold were pedaling their way down the
street and making their way past the arcade, they looked over to see Stu
Pickles, along with a few construction workers, putting wooden boards up in
front of the building’s front side, including the entrance.
“Huh? What’s happening here?” Harold asked.
“I don’t know. Let’s see.” Angelica said. She and Harold parked their bikes on
the sidewalk and then the two approached Tommy’s father.
“Uncle Stu, what’s up?” Angelica said.
“Oh, hey Angelica. The arcade’s ordered me to shut down the HoloPlay,
unfortunately.” Stu said.
“WHAT!?” Angelica shouted after gasping.
“Did they tell you why?” Harold asked. Stu suddenly held up some of the Monopoly
money that Angelica had been using for her secret giantess simulation.
“They found Monopoly money inside the cash box. Some kids I’m sure we’re using
it to trick the system into thinking they were paying the play fee.” Stu said.
Of course, he had no idea that it was Angelica and Harold who were the first
(and for that matter only) ones to break the system, so they played coy.
“So when’s HoloPlay gonna open up again? It’s a simple fix, right?” Angelica
asked.
“True, but the arcade’s spooked now. They want no part of this thing anymore.”
Stu said.
“Awww, too bad, Angelica. No more running around as a gian...” Harold said, only
to have his mouth covered up quickly by Angelica.
“What he meant to say was no more running around the fashion show with life-size
Cynthia anymore. Man... that game was the most fun I ever had in my teenage
life.” Angelica said.
“Yeah... sorry about that, Angelica. At least I’m glad you got to enjoy it.
Maybe in five years when the patents revert back to my ownership, I’ll bring it
back to life.” Stu said. After he walked away to help out one of the workers,
Angelica sighed as she slowly made her way back to her bike with Harold
following.
“Wanna go to Java Lava, Harold?” Angelica said.
“Sure, I guess. Darn, I really wanted to play that comedy club game where I can
beat Carrot Top at his own game!” Harold said.
“Harold Wayne Frumpkin... you’re weird.” Angelica said.
“Thanks, Angelicon!” Harold said with a smile. Angelica almost wanted to growl
at that name, but simply laughed it off as she and her friend pedaled away from
the arcade and got on with the rest of their day. Angelica could only wonder how
Kimi, Lil, and Susie would take the bad news of HoloPlay shutting down...
END