MINI CHEERLEADERS
By Minimizer
"The things a girl has to do to get a job!"
Victoria Allen laughed as she held up her own sample of the skimpy costume. "There's no way any self-respecting cheerleader would ever wear something like this."
"I don't know," April Muller replied, already wriggling her way out of her red miniskirt. "I've seen much worse. At least these have full coverage."
Tanya Martinez studied the Spandex in her hands, trying to decide whether to frown or smile. When she'd auditioned for the job for this low-budget flick, she knew they were going to dress her up in something revealing. This turned out to be an understatement. The cheerleader outfit consisted of a skintight white leotard with black accents. The front had an oval-shaped cutaway that looked awfully deep, and while it stopped short of tonga-style, there wasn't much to the back side. They had also thoughtfully included a set of fishnet hosiery bereft of any sort of protection. Rounding off the ensemble were shoulder-length gloves and thigh-high boots, all of shiny black leather. Was she supposed to be a cheerleader or a dominatrix?
Shaking herself out of such thoughts, she saw her fellow would-be actresses had a head start on her, having already put on the fishnets. Victoria was already working on getting into the leotard, while April was still studying it, probably looking for a nonexistent zipper. Obviously, the thing was so small and stretchy one wasn't needed.
Tanya kicked off her shoes, peeled off the painted-on jeans she had worn to impress the judges, and threw off the too-small T-shirt. She hadn't worn a bra to the audition (for obvious reasons), so there would be no question of whether or not to wear one underneath the costume. As she pulled on the stockings and squeezed into the leotard, she realized one wouldn't be needed anyway. There would have been no way to conceal it under something as skintight as this.
Like both the other girls, Tanya was a beauty. She had short, blond hair and piercing blue eyes to go along with her spectacular body. Countless hours in gyms and spas had turned her naturally curvaceous form into a trim, athletic figure. As she forced herself into the sexy costume, she knew she was a shoo-in for the job. Or so she thought.
She pulled on the last of the thigh-high boots, which fit her as snugly as the rest of the outfit, then looked up at her competition and slumped. Victoria was stunning in her cutoff shorts earlier during the interviews, but now the auburn-haired girl's legs looked simply out of this world. And April, though noticeably less lithe than the other two, was struggling to figure out how to keep her tremendous bosom contained within the tiny suit. Tanya, who was considered the best-looking girl in town her whole life, for the first time had real competition!
Still, all was not lost. Victoria had the best legs of the trio, and April obviously was the better endowed, but Tanya thought she had the slimmer, most appealing body overall. And, studying herself in the mirror, she thought she had the best butt, too. She spent a few more moments primping, as the others did, then put her clothes in her carryall bag and moved over to the door.
After a few seconds April and Victoria joined her. "Ready?" Tanya asked.
"I guess so. Best of luck to both of you," April replied, trying not to appear nervous.
"Let's go." Victoria opened the door and strode in confidently, followed quickly by the other two. They both paused, surprised. The room was some kind of office, but very Spartan in furnishings, with a couple of empty bookshelves, a table and chairs, and a dry-ink board. On the table was a strange-looking machine attached to a post, and beside this sat a pen and notepad. Off to one side there was also a ruler standing vertically on a stand.
As they moved over to examine these things, they did not hear the door lock click when it shut behind them.
While the others studied the strange-looking device, Tanya wasted no time in picking up the note. She read it to herself quickly. Then, after containing her surprise, she read it out loud. "Wait till you hear this," she said. "On the table is a miniaturizing machine. You are to use it on yourselves as needed until you are each no more than three inches tall. Use the ruler on the table to check your height. After this, we will make our final selection. Signed, the judges."
"Let me see that," April demanded, taking the paper and reading it herself. "I'll be damned," she said after a moment. "That's what it says, all right."
"So what you're saying," Victoria reasoned, "is they want us to shrink ourselves? That's crazy!"
"Well, that's what it looks like," Tanya said doubtfully.
"But--can that really work?" April was looking closely at the device on the table. "Can this machine really--really shrink us?"
"And why would they want us to?"
"That's obvious," Tanya replied. "The movie's title is 'Mini Cheerleaders,' remember? It's about cheerleaders that get shrunk, right? We all thought we would be acting around giant props. Remember how we were wondering how they could afford that as a low budget film? Well, they found a way. They shrink the actresses!"
"But why do it this way?" Victoria shook her head. "Why not just tell us that's what they're going to do, and let us decide if we want to? I'm not really keen on being three inches tall, you know."
"Neither am I," April replied. "Maybe that's the point. They want to weed out any of us who don't want to be shrunk."
"That's got to be it," Tanya put in. "If the judges are here it will put too much pressure on us. They want us to decide for ourselves."
"I'm not deciding yet," April said. " They might just be playing with our minds. Maybe we'd better see if this thing works before we do anything."
"Good idea." They studied the machine, which looked like a box with some kind of futuristic beam weapon sticking out of the front of it. On the back was a panel with a slightly glowing readout, and to the right of this protruded a power throttle, an on-off switch, and a couple of other smaller controls.
"Looks pretty simple," said Victoria.
"Let's try it on the chair." Tanya turned the machine and pointed the cannon-like protrusion at one of the seats. After a moment of fiddling with the aim, she raised the throttle to the "max" position and threw the switch.
There was no immediate response except that the machine began to hum softly. Then the bubbles around the cannon began to glow. The readout on the back of the device said, "Status: On" and "Power: 10%." As they watched the power level steadily rose, to 20%, 30%, and so on up. When it said MAX the device emitted a bluish glow that enveloped the chair, then just as quickly faded.
As they watched in awe, the chair suddenly started getting smaller. It dwindled in size until it was about one-third as big as it had been, then stopped shrinking.
"Holy shit!" Tanya blurted out. "It worked!"
April picked up the chair, which now looked more like a large toy than a real piece of furniture. "It really worked," she agreed. "It's no illusion or hologram. It really shrunk!"
"Then there's no reason it wouldn't work on us," April said soberly.
They all looked at each other, then at the machine. There was silence in the room as they thought about what this meant. To be shrunk…they each had trouble grasping the concept at first. Three inches tall! Tanya tried to rationalize it by figuring out how many times they'd have to use the machine. If it reduced them to one-third normal size, then three times would get them down to 1/27th of their original height, which would be plenty. How bad did she want this job, anyway?
"Will it work in reverse?" asked April nervously. "I mean, it can restore us, too, right? I'm not even going to think about this if I can't get back to normal!"
"Yeah, there's a switch that reverses the power," Victoria pointed out. "Here, let me try it." She toggled the control, then pointed the device at the chair they'd just miniaturized. As before, there was a buildup of power before the blue glow flared. After a moment, the chair began to grow, expanding rapidly until it was normal once again.
"There's your answer," said Tanya. "We can go back to full size any time we want. That makes me feel better, at least."
There was a pause while they all considered the concept with some trepidation. "Well, I'm going to do it," Victoria announced suddenly. Without waiting for any response from the other two, she turned the machine towards herself, toggled the miniaturization lever, and threw the switch.
April looked horrified. "Are you sure you wan to do that?" she asked hastily.
"Yes." Victoria struck a courageous pose in front of the machine's emitter. Tanya wondered how brave the girl really felt as she stood there waiting for the power to build up. Finally it did, and Victoria was enveloped by the blue glow, causing her to shudder involuntarily.
Then, just like the chair, Victoria started to shrink. The others watched with mouths hanging open as the leggy actress seemed to compress until she was only about two feet tall. She looked up at both of them from her new perspective, and waved. "How's the weather up there?" she asked with a laugh.
"Holy shit," April stammered. "You're--it--oh, my God, it actually worked!"
"Obviously," Victoria replied. Her voice was fainter as it rose up towards them from knee level. "It wasn't so bad. It felt a little cold. Here, let me get up there where I can talk better." So saying, she climbed up on the normal-sized chair and pulled herself onto the tabletop.
Tanya studied her as she climbed. Everything about her was the same, except her size. The machine had done nothing but change her proportions relative to the rest of the world. "It didn't hurt or anything?" she asked curiously.
"Nope. Didn't feel a thing." Victoria picked up the pen and studied it carefully. "Everything's so much bigger! This is incredible. You have got to try this!"
"I don't think so," April muttered.
"Okay," Tanya replied. "I think I'm ready. I'd better do this before I change my mind." She pointed the machine at herself and activated it, then stood there looking into the barrel. I must be crazy, she thought. But she needed the job, and Victoria actually seemed to be enjoying herself. Maybe it would be good for a laugh or two.
The beam hit her and the glow faded. Unable to hide her astonishment, Tanya looked around open-mouthed as the world suddenly started getting larger. April quickly grew into a giant, and one who was looking down at her like she was insane.
When the shrinking stopped, Tanya moved over to the chair and clambered up onto the tabletop. "What did you think?" Victoria asked, leaning on the side of the machine. "Pretty cool, huh?"
"Wow," Tanya said. "That's all I can say. Wow! Look at everything, it's so big!"
"It's going to get bigger yet. We've got to get a lot smaller, you know."
"You two are nuts," April's voice came from above them.
"It's cool!" Victoria yelled at her. "No, really! You won't know until you try! And you won't get the job if you don't!"
"I don't think I want the job any more," April sighed. "I'm outta here." She headed over to the door, but found it locked. "Hey!" she yelled. "Let me out! I want out!"
Tanya laughed. "Looks like you have to get small if you want to get out of here," she yelled. "Come on, Victoria, let's move on to the next level."
"Sure!" With Tanya's help they turned the machine to point towards the inside of the table, making sure they didn't include the ruler or notepad in its area of effect. Then Victoria pulled the activation switch, and the two ran over to stand in front of the emitter.
It worked as before. After the blue glow enveloped them, they started to shrink, not stopping until they were less than eight inches tall. Wide eyed, they ran around the tabletop, amazed at how huge everything was. The pen was longer than they were tall, and they found they could now stand next to the mounted ruler to get a perfect measurement of their heights. Laughing, Victoria ran over and put her hand up to mark her place, then pulled back to see she was only slightly over seven and a half inches high. Tanya took her turn then and found she was just under that, her head almost but not quite reaching the half-inch tick mark.
Meanwhile, April was still struggling with the door. They could hear her complaints easily, her voice like distant thunder. "Let me out!" she called, banging on the wood desperately. "I don't want to do this!"
Victoria and Tanya exchanged glances, grinning, as an idea occurred to them both simultaneously. Without a word they ran over to the now gigantic reducing machine. With some effort they turned it on its pedestal and aimed it at the distant giantess, and then Victoria reached up and threw the switch. Power began to build with a low whine.
Just as it was about to fire, April heard the noise and turned around. "What are you--!" she yelled, just as the blue glow enveloped her. She stared in horror as she quickly shrunk, the doorknob rising up behind her dwindling body until it hung well above her head. "No!" she screamed at them. "I don't want to be like this! Put me back!"
Victoria and Tanya just laughed. "It's not so bad!" Tanya called out as she stared up at the giant room in dismay. "It's pretty cool, actually! You should try being as small as we are!"
"I don't want to be as small as you!" she yelled, running over to the chair and clambering up to the tabletop. She stood there, towering over the other two girls, an angry scowl on her face. "Put me back right now!" she yelled in a menacing tone.
"All right, all right!" sighed Victoria. "You're a real party pooper, you know that?" She went back over to the machine and pulled the switch that changed the mode back to restoration, and with Tanya's help pointed the barrel at the seething April.
They threw the activation switch, but just as the power reached 90%, Tanya suddenly turned and flipped the controls into reverse. "No!" April shouted, turning to run, but she was standing on the corner of the table and had nowhere to go. An instant later she was glowing blue. She charged angrily towards the other two, but they only laughed uproariously as she shrunk down to their scale. "Damn you!" she shouted, flailing at Tanya ineffectually. "I said I didn't want to be shrunk!"
"Look," Tanya replied, "it's all right! Just remember, we can go back to normal at any time! Sheesh! Don't be such a wimp!"
April stopped her fruitless attack and took a few deep breaths. "I don't like this!" she sputtered. "Look at how big everything is! I feel so helpless! Don't you feel anything like that?"
"Not really," chuckled Victoria. "I'm having too much fun! Come on, let's see what it's like to be even smaller!"
"Yeah!" Tanya agreed. "Two and a half inches this time! Can you imagine? I always wondered what it'd be like to be Thumbelina!" Together she and Victoria started moving the machine into place, pointing it at a spot near the middle of the table.
Meanwhile, April was now walking around as if dazed, looking up at the ruler and studying the pen and notepad carefully. She shook her head in wonder at how rough the surfaces were and how much more detail everything had than she was used to. What would it be like if all this stuff was even bigger? She shuddered at the thought, but then controlled her fears. "All right," she muttered absently, figuring she must be crazy to agree to this. "I'll try it, but you two better not get any ideas of making us even smaller! Two and a half inches is as tiny as I want to be!"
"Same here," agreed Tanya immediately. Less than an inch tall? We wouldn't be able to do anything then!"
Eagerly, Victoria threw the activation switch and ran with Tanya to the center of the table, where by now April was already waiting, trembling slightly. The power built up and then the beam struck them as before. They all looked around in wonder as the table under their feet expanded once more, until now it seemed like they stood on the largest wooden stage they'd ever seen. The pen was now a telephone pole at their feet, the notepad the size of a bed. The ruler stood above them like a tower, and Tanya laughed as she measured herself at just over two and a half inches, as predicted.
Just then a loud click sounded and the door opened. The two men who'd interviewed them earlier strode in with huge grins on their faces, stopping and staring down at the tiny women on the table. The three little cheerleaders just stood, stunned, at the awesome size of the giants above them.
The first one laughed. "You were right, John! We didn't even need to do it to them--they did it themselves!"
"Yeah, I told you! Now pay up!"
The other took out a gigantic dollar bill and passed it to his friend. "You won that one," he chuckled. "Hell, I never thought anyone would believe that lame movie story, either, but look at them! They actually bought it! You ready to make some more bets?"
"Sure," agreed John, laughing at the cowering girls on the table. They were staring up in horror as the impact of what they heard washed over them. With a tiny squeak, they all ran to the machine and tried desperately to work the controls, but found they were now far too small to force the restoration switch into place. Even if they could have done that, the activation lever was too high above their heads.
"Come on, girls," John laughed, plucking them each up and depositing them in his palm. "Time for the games to begin!"