A Rodent of Unusual Size 1-2

Tanya shivered as she rushed down the sidewalk, a hurried hitch in her step.  The meerkat woman never acclimated to Midwestern weather, despite spending a majority of her life up north.

She pulled out her flip phone, grumbling to herself as she stared at a dead notification screen.  Of course she forgot to charge it again.  Not that it mattered.  Once Vicki embroiled herself in one of her personal projects, nothing save the apocalypse would tear her away from it -- and even that was questionable.

It’s not like Tanya had any regrets.  She signed up for this madness of her own accord, as both Vicki’s long-time friend and fellow cohort in crime.  If Vicki said the experiment was ready to proceed, then the meerkat was just as ready to see it through, despite her apprehensions.

Entering the code to Vicki’s apartment building, Tanya slipped inside, sighing once the door closed behind her.  It felt nice to be someplace comparatively warmer for a change.  Even wearing her lab coat over her clothing wasn’t enough to shake off the cold.  Getting to Vicki's home proper wasn’t difficult, although the process was a little more obtuse than she felt necessary -- just a short trip to the elevator up to the fourth floor, take a left.  Knock three times, wait, then knock twice.  Wait again.  Another three knocks, and wait for an answer.

Vicki opened the door quickly once she heard the last part of the sequence.  She was wearing a lab coat of her own, although her slender figure brought her appearance a step above childish.  “Thanks for coming on such short notice.”

“Short’s one way of putting it.  You sure this couldn’t wait?”

Vicki bit her lip, shaking her head.  “No.  It has to be tonight.  Come in.”

She stepped aside, waiting for Tanya to enter.  Tanya always found Vicki’s apartment unique; everything about her home was standard for a young woman living on the outskirts of the big city, except...smaller.  From the tiny loveseat-made-couch in the center of the living room to the school desk that Vicki repurposed as a makeshift computer desk, Vicki's place made Tanya feel unusually statuesque.  The computer was the only thing Vicki owned that felt state-of-the-art -- one of those newer tower models Tanya saw displayed in the electronics section at the superstore, with the price tag to match.

“So...you’re really going through with this?” Tanya asked.

“Yes.  I know you’re nervous --”

“You’re damn right, I’m nervous!” Tanya shouted.  She cleared her throat, lowering her volume.  “You made the last batch way too potent!  The figures were off the damn charts!”

The mouse looked bashful, walking over to her table to sip on a cup of warm tea.  “Yes, but I think I have the particulars figured out now.”

Tanya’s eyebrows raised.  “You think so?  Wanna tell that to the last plant sample you killed?”

“Oh, don’t be like that!  You know as well as I do that chemistry isn’t an exact science!”

“It is if you don’t want to poison yourself.  Or blow yourself up.  Or both.”

Vicki couldn’t help but chuckle, attempting to ease the tension in the room.  “Well, rest assured, I wouldn’t have called you over if either of those possibilities were still a concern.”

Tanya’s arms crossed over her chest, whistling to herself.  “It’s not that I’m doubting you, but a hundred scientists with years of experience and millions of dollars behind them couldn’t crack this nut, and you somehow figured all of this shit out in a couple of months on a ramen budget.  I’m not sure what’s winning out: my skepticism or my admiration for you.”

A chuckle escaped the grey mouse, a wry grin on her face as she finished her tea.  “Never underestimate the power of a mad genius.”

“Noted.”  Tanya walked towards the door adjacent Vicki’s bedroom, placing her hand on the doorknob.  “Well, if you’re dead set on this, so am I.  Let’s go make history.”

“I was born ready.”

Finishing off her tea, Vicki followed behind her taller science partner as they entered her laboratory, flicking a light switch near the door.  Once a walk-in pantry, the room  was small, cramped, and poorly ventilated, but served its intended purpose.  All four walls were covered with numerous shelves and cabinets, topped off with an island counter that spanned the greater portion of the center of the room.  The counter served as a repository for several half-filled beacons and distillers, surrounded by boxes full of reagents and scribbled notes that were haphazardly strewn across the cramped space.  It was enough to make Tanya’s head spin, despite spending countless hours working alongside her mouse partner.

“So, what do you need me to do?” Tanya asked, straightening out her lab coat.

“Monitor and take notes.  You’ll need to notate everything I report, and everything you witness.”  Vicki reached into one of the lab’s many drawers, pulling out a small notepad and a pen to hand to the meerkat.

“That’s it?  Just watch?”

“That, and administer the antidote if something goes wrong.”  Vicki rummaged through another drawer, extracting a small empty glass vial.  Turning her attention to one of the distillers, she slid a long tube protruding from it into the vial, extracting some of the fluid inside.  The liquid came out bright red and extremely bubbly as Vicki placed a small cork over the opening.  “I was only able to make a small batch, but this should be enough to counteract the catalyst if necessary.”

“God.  Now you’re making me nervous.”  Tanya took the vial from Vicki in her free hand after a moment of hesitation.  She gave the vial a small shake, watching the bubbling intensify.

“We’re just taking all necessary precautions, don’t worry.  It’s no different than bringing a lifejacket on a fishing trip.”

“I know, I know.  I just…” Tanya’s voice hitched, then fell off as she looked down at her feet.  “It doesn’t feel real, y’know?  A month ago, we were slamming liquids together and praying we didn’t fumigate the entire building by mistake.  But now...now, we’re about to accomplish something that stumped Tendrex for years.  It’s...insane.”

“Insane, yes, but think of the benefits!”  Vicki pulled out a second vial, moving to an opposite distiller; this one produced a viscous blue liquid from the attached hose.  An acrid smell permeated the room as she filled it to the brim.  “If this works, we’ll have made a scientific breakthrough that not even the largest pharmaceutical company in the world could accomplish.  Think of all the people we’ll be able to help!”

“And you’ll be accomplishing this by helping yourself, first.”

Vicki flinched a bit, but managed a smile.  “Someone has to test the formula.  Who better than its creator?”

A pang of apprehension filled Tanya’s stomach.  This was dangerous.  Foolish.  They were mere moments away from converting a failed supplement into an honest-to-God growth serum.  Vicki was about to shatter the square-cube law into pieces -- assuming it didn’t kill her.

Vicki turned around, unbuttoning her lab coat, which she let fall to her feet.  She wore a yellow bikini underneath it, which hugged her slender form.  Tanya blushed a bit.  Despite the mouse’s own claims to the contrary, Vicki was always quite the looker.

“Okay.  I’m going to take the formula.  Get ready.”

Tanya nodded as Vicki grasped the vial of red liquid tightly.  “See you on the other side.”

“This’ll work, Tanya.  Trust me.”  Vicki looked at the vial in her hand with one last moment of apprehension.  Settling on the most direct approach, she downed the contents in one swallow.  Her eyes shot open the moment she swallowed, the vial slipping from her hands and onto the wooden floor, shattering on contact.  Vicki lurched forward as she lost her balance, making a choking sound as she collapsed onto a nearby shelf.  Her entire body shook violently as she struggled for air before collapsing onto the floor, sending the papers scattered across its surface flying around her.

“Oh, shit.”  Tanya gasped as she rushed to Vicki’s aid, fumbling with the antidote’s cork.  “Shit, shit, shit, I knew it!  I knew this was a bad idea --”

“W-wait…!” Vicki sputtered out in a ragged voice as Tanya rounded the island counter.  She rose up on all fours, coughing heavily.  Her glasses laid by her side, their lenses shattered.  “I...I’m fine...just...hit me all at once, I think…”

“Bullshit, you’re fine!  You can barely speak!  I’m stopping this right now --”

“Don’t!  It’s...it’s passing, I think.  The spasms, I mean.”  Vicki’s breathing was still heavy, but growing more stable as her convulsions stopped, if only momentarily.  “I just feel warm.  Really, really warm.  Is that...that’s normal, right?”

Tanya threw her free hand up in frustration.  “How should I know?”

“Well, it could be worse.  Could be feeling...nngh, w-what I’m feeling r-right now...”  Another shudder caused Vicki to convulse as she began to writhe on the ground.  She bit into her lower lip, just enough to draw a trickle of blood down her lip.  Tanya watched in horror as a new sound joined the cacophony of her friend’s sharp breathing.  A bizarre sound filled Tanya’s ears, not too dissimilar to a batch of dried reeds being bent in half.  And that sound only grew more prominent as Vicki’s limbs stretched out.

Wait.  No.  They weren’t just stretching, to Tanya’s shock.  They were elongating.  Growing.  And the rest of Vicki’s body was following suit.

Inch after inch the mouse expanded, her thrashing body crumpling a pile of documents underneath her.  It wasn’t just her height that was increasing, either -- everything about her was changing before the meerkat’s eyes.  Curves became curvier; once-thin muscles more defined.  Her tail whipped across the floor in time with her shudders, draping over her long legs.  And while Vicki was never truly gifted upstairs, her transformation made that feature of herself more prominent as her bra filled out, the fabric straining to keep her somewhat modest.

Vicki’s breathing remained labored, but not out of distress.  She struggled to form words, but when she did, they were deep.  Pronounced.  Almost voluptuous.

“Nnnngh.  So...weird…f-f-feels like my...entire body is being...stretched out!"

Vicki groaned through clenched teeth as her growth spurt continued, fingers clenching and clawing at the ground.  If Tanya didn’t know any better, she swore she saw the brief hint of a smile on Vicki’s face.  Then again, the room was always on the dim side, so it could have been the meerkat’s imagination.  At least Vicki’s transformation didn’t look painful -- not any more.

The entire process lasted thirty seconds at most, but in that moment, time stood still for both meerkat and mouse as she grew...and grew.  Eventually, the spurts did stop, leaving an exhausted mouse crumbled on the floor, gulping down air as her chest rose and fell.  Tanya took a cautious step forward, looking down at her rodent accomplice.

“Vicki?” the meerkat whispered.  “You okay?”

The mouse's heavy breaths were her only reply for a moment.  When Vicki’s eyes slowly fluttered open, she looked over at Tanya blearily.  Her vision was blurred, both a side effect of coming down from the changes, and the loss of her spectacles.  “I...I think so,” she said at last.  “A bit lightheaded, but I’ve been worse.”

“Thank goodness.  Don’t scare me like that!”

Vicki giggled quietly, shaking her head.  “No risk, no reward.  Help me up, if you could.”

Tanya let out a small, belabored sigh, but offered her hand to Vicki all the same.  The added mass made getting Vicki to her feet more of a difficult task, but with a bit of effort, Vicki rose shakily to her feet.  She looked around at the laboratory, then down at Tanya.  Actually down.

“Oh my God,” Tanya whispered breathlessly.  “You’re...huge.”

Vicki blinked, her vision improving just enough to catch Tanya’s shocked expression, putting on one of her own as she looked over herself.  “It...it worked.  I grew.  I actually grew!”

“Y-yes, you did!  A lot!  Was this stuff supposed to make you this big?  You’re almost seven feet tall!”

“Fascinating!  The increase in height went beyond expectations!  Along with...other improvements.”  Vicki’s hands explored her body experimentally, running over her hips and along the swell of her breasts, gasping again in surprise as the handfuls she was able to cup in either palm.  “Hmm.  Unexpected, but not...unwelcome.”

Tanya remained in sheer disbelief, staring up at the six-foot-nine-tall mouse that now took up more space inside of the lab -- a space that was proving to be too small for Vicki to properly navigate, her hips bumping into the cabinets as she navigated around the room.  Vicki looked at Tanya, then over at the abandoned notepad on the floor, snapping her fingers.

“Hey, start taking notes!”

Tanya blinked.  “Notes?  Now?”

“Yes, now!  We need to document everything we can while the experience is still fresh in our minds!”

“Er...right!”  Tanya scooped up the notepad and pen off the ground, before realizing she was still clutching the antidote.  “What about this?”

“Oh, that.  Just...put it somewhere for now.”  Vicki walked about clumsily on her longer limbs, adjusting to her new perspective.  “Wow, everything looks so small from up here!”

“God, this is...incredible.  Completely insane, but...incredible!”  Tanya whispered, placing the vial of red liquid on the desk before she put pen to paper, scribbling as much down as she could with a hasty hand.  She watched as Vicki approached the door, easily a head taller than the entryway.  She hunched down in order to squeeze through the opening, her large ears still managing to brush over the top of the door frame.  Tanya’s ears reddened, thick tail twitching back and forth.

“Okay, so...current findings: height increase of fifty-five...no, fifty-nine percent, including a noticeable increase in body mass.  Slight blurriness and lightheadedness, but that passed quickly.  Bodily functions appear normal.”  Vicki muttered loud enough for Tanya to keep jotting her findings down as she walked around the room.  The furniture around Vicki looked laughably small, most of it barely coming up her knees.  The teacup she was drinking out of earlier fit entirely in the palm of her hand.  “Consider a change in furnishings.  And attire, now that I think about it.  Nothing I wear is going to fit me at this height.”

“Hold on,” Tanya interjected.  “Why do you need to replace your furniture?  We’re just testing the formula, yeah?”

Vicki smiled down at the meerkat, showing a different side she never knew she had: confidence.  “Yes.  And your point?”

“W-well, shouldn’t we...y’know...shrink you back down?”

Vicki’s smile widened.  “And why would I want to do that?”

Tanya’s voice dropped.  “No.  No way.  You can’t stay like this.”

“Why not?  This is everything I’ve ever hoped for, Tanya!  I didn’t expect such a drastic change, but now that I’m experiencing it first hand?  There’s no way I can go back, not now!”

“B-but...we haven’t done any physiological tests!  What if there’s internal damage?  Long-term side effects?  Bone demineralization, blood vessels narrowing, overactive metabolism -- should I keep going?”

“Oh, don’t be such a worrywart!  I feel fine!  Better than fine, actually.  I feel…great!”

Another giggle followed as Vicki placed her hands behind her head.  Something about that last word left Tanya more than a little unsettled.  She never thought of the mouse as selfish -- if anything, this was the first selfish anything Tanya had witnessed out of her.  But here she was.  Proud.  Boastful.  More than a little over-confident.  And, to Tanya’s embarrassment, all kinds of hot.

“Okay, fine, forget about the health stuff.  How are you going to explain this to your friends?  Or your job?  No one’s going to believe you just had a late growth spurt!”

“I’ll cross that bridge when I get there.”

“Cross that -- oh my God.  Vicki, listen to me.”  Tanya closed her eyes, taking a deep breath to calm her own nerves.  “I’m really happy this worked.  Ecstatic!  But you’re taking this way too lightly.  You just grew nearly twice your size.  That’s not just something you can handwave away.  People are going to ask questions -- like how a mouse is suddenly the tallest person in the room, for starters."

Vicki looked down, a hint of a frown on her face.  “I didn’t forget, Tanya.  I know this is a serious matter.  But I accepted those risks when I started this project, and I intend to see it through, no matter what.  Besides, what’s wrong with having a little fun?”

Tanya groaned, squeezing at the bridge between her eyes.  “Alright, fine, just -- please, promise me that you’ll be careful.  If you feel anything strange: a new pain, difficulty breathing, even a head cold, you tell me right away, okay?”

The mouse placed her hand down on the meerkat’s mop of red hair, tousling it between her long fingers.  “I will.  I promise.”

“Thank you.  That makes me feel...marginally better.”  Tanya could feel her face running hot with admonishment.  “So, what happens next?”

Vicki let out a hum, looking over at her computer.  She walked over, turning it on as she tried to sit in the comically small chair in front of her.  Looking over her shoulder, she stared at the bewildered meerkat.  “Oh, I think I have a few ideas.”  She grinned wide.