To Ling Chin: Thanks For Nothing! Naomi Claussen by ARthur

Chapter 5
Chapter 5

Her arm twisted behind her back by Heidi, Ling was nonetheless defiant and opted to use her best tactics – bluff and bluster. "That’s right, I’m a spy. I work for the CIA and you better not try anything funny, or you’ll feel the agency’s retribution. Just sit down and put your hands where I can see them," she ordered.

"This is a real sassy one," Heidi declared, as she flung Ling backward into a locker. "Time to fix you so you can’t cause us any more annoyance," she added as she went into the motions of her spell. The spell hit Ling in the back, knocking her to the floor. The witches smiled sinisterly as green balls of vapor emerged from Ling’s body, which Ruth carefully captured in an empty "Superior Tea" tin.

Now sporting a 3-year-old body, Ling rose to her feet, and was confronted by Petula, who sternly asked, "And what do you want in here, little girl?" Ling was unnerved staring at the even bigger giantess Petula now appeared to be. "Mommy!" she cried as she quickly toddled away, with the witches closely following.

Ryoko and Naomi sat in amazement as the reduced Ling, in her morphed smaller dress, toddled up to them. Her face awash in momentary shock, she climbed in Ryoko’s lap, and nuzzled against her body for protection. "Bad witches, bad witches," she repeated.

Naomi might have made a smart remark about Ling missing the good old days when she only confronted Communists, terrorists and mad military dictators, but standing above her and Ryoko, with their arms crossed as best they could over their huge chests, were the three sexy D-cupped witches. Ling had blown their cover!

"I don’t recognize any of these girls as related to any of our workers. Looks like we have more than one spy on our hands," Petula observed. "You know what to do, ladies. Just turn them into babies."

Ryoko took the reduced Ling by the hand and motioned to Naomi to follow her. The three girls edged around the cooking equipment, the witches matching them step for step. To her shock, Ryoko saw her side bag containing her protective mirror still sitting on the bench, so she carefully looked for shiny surfaces that might help her deflect the evil magic that would soon erupt.

The tension was broken as commotion erupted in the kitchen. The workers were all staring at the strange animal that had perched itself at the edge of the grill and was picking off and eating sizzling hamburgers. Amanda’s pet schurk had come to find its benefactor, and had stopped for a bite, be it dead cow or live chef.

One brave worker picked up a spatula, hoping to chase the queer animal away. The schurk turned suddenly, stared into the worker’s face with its beady red eyes, and hissed threateningly. "El diablo!" yelled the worker, who hurriedly exited the restaurant’s back door, followed quickly by the other kitchen staffers.

Amid the chaos, Ruth launched into the "age-capture" spell and directed it at Ryoko. Grabbing a nearby carving knife, Ryoko positioned it in the path of the spell. As the spell traveled on unused portions of the spectrum of light, the knife’s polished side deflected the spell to the left, where it caromed off the side of chromed-plated toaster, barely missing Petula, but hitting Heidi in the chest.

Petula and Ruth momentarily glanced at Heidi, who was slowly deflating into her clothing, although her breasts seemed to be remaining the same. Then from the top of her blouse, out popped her bra, one cup of which, damaged by the light-riding spell, was leaking a syrup-like substance.

"You’re wearing a ‘water bra.’ You said you administered the Hedweigian ‘breast-expansion’ spell on yourself," Ruth complained. "I did, but I didn’t like the backaches I suffered lugging those huge things around," the diminishing Heidi bawled.

With the witches distracted, Ryoko and Naomi, now carrying Ling, were moving toward a set of swinging doors that led to the dining area. But Petula noticed, and screamed, "Stop!" Ryoko picked up a carton of pepper and threw it in the direction of the witches, which it missed by a mile, but hit her intended target – the schurk. Enraged and baring its lengthy fangs, the mini-beast sprang at the humans.

The girls moved first through the swinging doors, bowling over a bus boy and his load of dirty tableware. The witches quickly followed them, including the still regressing Heidi, who was becoming increasingly tangled in her clothing, and was leaking tiny green age globules into the air. As her blue waitress shorts slid down her legs, Heidi tripped onto the carpet, from where she saw the schurk bounding toward her. She let out a piercing girlish shriek, only to see the schurk leap over her onto a table, where it became to rip up a customer’s Super Club sandwich.

Initially thinking the beast might be tiny dog, the customer tried to shoo it away. And he did not appreciate that the schurk, not believing in sharing, attempted to protect its captured meal by snapping at his table companions. Spotting Petula running by his table, the customer yelled, "Waitress, there’s a…" But Petula cut him off, retorting, "That’s not a fly." She then flicked her middle finger at the man, causing his nose to suffer a burning sensation.

Deciding he no longed enjoyed the dining atmosphere, the man screamed and fled the restaurant. As other patrons got a look at the monster, they to reacted fearfully, triggering a full stampede to the egresses. And the schurk joined the fun, running after the diners, snapping at their legs.

Amid this tumult, 3-year-old Ling’s eyes opened wide as she observed the chaos around her. She watched Ryoko stalk around tables, wielding the carving knife like a samurai sword, carefully viewing the motion of the two witches pursuing her. Everything was action – and it looked like fun! She began to push herself from Naomi’s protective embrace.

"Stay put! I’ll protect you," Naomi told her now smaller acquaintance. "No! Lemme go," Ling whined, as she began to kick at her protector’s knees. "Didn’t you forget you got scared out of your wits by those witches when they nearly infantized you," Naomi pleaded. "I did not," Ling countered as she broke free.

Ling quickly formulated a plan to capture all the witches. And it was typical of her past strategies.

Climbing onto a table, Ling yelled at the witchy waitresses, "In the name of the CIA, I place you all under arrest. Sit down and place your arms out where I can see them." Petula and Ruth responded but moving their arms up and pitching a spell in Ling’s direction. Like all Hedweigian spells, their paths were marked by a bright stream of light, thus enabling Naomi to reach up and pull Ling out of harm’s way.

"Don’t put yourself at risk! You’re too young as it is," Naomi pleaded. "Aw, I almost had them, but you spoiled it," Ling pouted. Naomi wondered if the CIA manual allowed agents to spank other agents.

Missing Ling, the spells bounced off several mirrors on the sidewalls, and rained onto to several customers. The sight of these customers, screaming and leaking green age vapors, panicked the other patrons even more, prompting an even faster exodus, and much damage to furnishings and décor.

Amanda Hook stood aghast at the wholesale destruction occurring in her Juggz outlet. Tables were upended, with food flying everywhere. Chairs were stomped into kindling. Chunks of fuzzy wallpaper were being ripped away by panicked customers trying to reach the exit. Regressing gents seeking greater mobility in their flight were tossing into the air enough clothing to stock a Men’s Wearhouse. Greenish age vapors were gathering along the ceiling and eerily winding their way toward the exhaust vents. She would get little repeat business from this luncheon crowd.

But she was snapped from her trance as Teresa screamed, "They’re getting away." Indeed, Zephyr and Ruby were each moving in different directions, to avoid being trampled, and to get away from Teresa.

Teresa set her sights on Zephyr, while Amanda took off after Ruby. Teresa started into an "age-capture" spell, only to halt delivery of her spell as several irate diners of assorted sizes ran across the line of fire. Zephyr scrambled under a table, but not fast enough. Her side purse was stepped on by fleeing patrons. Discovering her mirror shattered, Zephyr zig zagged under other tables seeking an equally polished defensive weapon.

Not using any supernatural weapons, Amanda simply sought to use her larger adult size to overpower the 8-year-old Ruby. Grabbing the girl from behind, Amanda soon had Ruby in a bear hug grip and was squeezing the breath out of her. Ruby let out a painful scream.

Hearing Ruby’s scream, Zephyr ran to her aid, only to be cut off by a wickedly smiling Teresa. With no defensive weapon at hand, Zephyr slowly moved backwards, hoping to find something with a mirror-like surface. But she soon found her back against the wall – sort of. Feeling behind her, Zephyr discovered a set of pull knobs, indicating that she actually was pressed against a vending machine.

Grinning that he now had her quarry trapped, Teresa began the motions for the "age-capture" spell. So careful was the setup, she began to fade from view. "Nowhere to go! Eat pabulum, dearie," she chuckled as Zephyr swallowed hard.

Frantically searching for a reflective surface to protect herself from the spell, Zephyr felt a smooth surface just above the knobs, and that the door to the vending machine was loose. "Someone must have been filling the machine when the panic started," Zephyr thought.

Reacting quickly, Zephyr leapt to the side and slightly swung out the door of what was a cigarette machine. The mirrored surface of the machine’s front reflected the spell back at Teresa. But it flew over her shoulder – and hit the rampaging schurk.

Letting out with an unearthly shriek, the mini-monster began to shrink before everyone’s eyes. Its ferocious hisses soon gave way to happy little peeps. And all that was left was a docile baby schurk, which headed in the direction it smelled food – toward the kitchen.

Teresa redirected her view back toward Zephyr, only to find the AAAARG leader no longer by the vending machine. Hearing some rustling noises, she noticed Zephyr again traversing the room beneath the tables. Dropping to her knees, the bodyguard witch took the same subterranean in pursuit of her 8-year-old quarry.