Puny Punishment By: Pent Ghelsburg
Disclaimer: The characters in this story are portrayed as underage and are purely fictional. Any resemblance to real life persons is purely coincidental. They are the original and rightful intellectual property of their creators. I use them with permission and respect. Furthermore, there is a minor micro/macro theme presented in this story.
``Let the punishment match the offense.''
-Cicero
Curiosity killed the cat, or so the idiom goes. Each day the cat frolicking on the countryside without a care, only to wonder into the infinite void of tantalizing curiosity. At the end of the path a light grows and so to does the wonder elicited by its illumination. Each passing moment the light growing larger until the cat could see no longer, blinded by the light. Such is the nature of curiosity, an infinite glaring void of possibilities that can only be answered by sheer inquisition.
Childhood is one of those times were curiosity is endless. Where one answer often leads to many more questions. Each day is a journey of exploration, where youth can sate their desire for knowledge either through school or personal experience. Ideally one should be able to experience these things on their own, of course some level of guidance is necessary. But part of the beauty of it lies in the ability of children to adopt on the fly and thus develop character in the process.
James was a young boy who lived with his parents in the outskirts of Springfield. A place he had grown to know and love. It was all he knew since he hadn't yet traveled much in his young life. After all he was just 7 years old and the boy didn't truly understand the value of going outside of his comfort zone. The 2nd grader was your typical boy who loved Legos and building things out of sand in the sandbox. He was especially fond of the beach where he was able to assemble castles and all sorts of structures to complete his makeshift sand village. It was one of his favorite past times.
The cub was your typical short haired rabbit with often messy white fur. James often went to school with a cowlick and despite how many times his mother tried to remind him, it often seemed like he went to school with frizzy fur. Though his teachers and fellow classmates didn't seem to mind much. His father didn't bother nearly as much as his wife did, content to let ``boys be boys.'' The week was almost over and James was fervently looking forward to the weekend. His plans were already set in stone and he was supposed to go to the waterpark with his best friend, Frank.
Frank Cliff was the same age as he was and the two had been friends ever since pre-school. Coincidentally enough the two always had the same class each year. As such their families had grown rather close over the years. Frank?s family was one of pigs who lived not far from where the rabbits did.
The family was of the Ossabaw breed and were predominately brown with some black spots. To many they resembled the design of chocolate chip cookies, which was ironic considering how often the mother made them for her family. Unlike the lapines, the Cliff''s lived in an actual house about two blocks away from where the bunny burrow was situated.
Overall both had a pretty nice life and they were rather fond of their families and situations.
The plan for the weekend had been organized several months ago but all of the sudden the ordeal was cancelled when Teddy Paws learned she was being called in for a meeting. Upon learning what it was about, she knew it couldn't possibly be avoided, especially since she was a single parent. The idea of a raise was tantalizing, but not only was it about a raise but a possible promotion as well. It was high time she moved up in the corporate world and she knew it.
Of course, James was far too young to understand any of it. When his mother informed him of the issue, he threw a fit and cried. She tried to comfort him, but of course it was no use. The boy wanted nothing else other than to have his way. His mother confided and decided to let the issue die. She knew their had to be some sort of compromise. After calling the TJ, who was Franks father, she learned that they too had ended up with a similar problem. Except instead of a work conflict, they were having to go to a baby shower for a relative.
The Cliff's had already arranged a babysitter for Frank and when Teddy called, TJ offered her to drop off James to share the cost of a sitter. Besides both of the boys had thrown a fit about missing the opportunity of going to the water park, even though the guardians of each boy promised them to reschedule the event for another time. Though their tune changed once it was announced that they would be spending the weekend together. However, the detail of having a babysitter was conveniently avoided for both boys.
It didn't matter much though, neither boy was that adverse to the ideas of babysitters. Saturday came before long and with it James was taken by his mother to his friend's house. Teddy was already packed and dressed. She was not one to waste time and had a flight to catch later in the afternoon. The idea was to head to the airport after her son was dropped off. When they arrived, James wasted no time in showing himself outside the car. He was very excited and had already forgotten all about the water park. His mother was glad the initial hissy fit had passed and that he was back to his normal self.
The cub knocked at the door and eventually TJ answered the door. The hulking pig kneeled down to greet the small boy and eased him inside. TJ waved at Teddy and with that she was off. Once inside James made his way towards Frank?s room. He?d been to the other boy's place plenty of times and knew his way around quite well. It was during this time that the babysitter showed up. Of course, neither boy bothered to answer the door, but the sitter was just in time as TJ was ready to leave. His wife had already left for the airport.
TJ parted after conveying the information. The temporary guardian was a canine of 16 years of age. More than halfway through high-school the teen was keen on making money in effort of showing off to his girlfriend, whom he was planning to take out the following week. The older boy was a doberman with a lean build, who went by the name of Scott. Scott made his way into the house and placed his bag by the door. He didn't need to look around since this was probably his 9th time at the place.
Before long the dog grew bored and decides to laze about on the couch, forgetting all about his charges in a room he had never even bothered checking. Eventually the two boys get hungry and decide to make their way out of the room. It was already well past lunch time and by this point Scott had passed out on the couch with his feet propped up on the side of the arm rests. When the two cubs peered out to see where TJ was, he was nowhere to be seen. Eventually, they overheard the sleeping teen who was snoring loudly on the couch.
``Whose that?'' James asked looking at the snoozing boy and poking him.
Scott made a loud snort as his body jostled a little bit in reaction to the sudden poke.
``Oh...this is Scott. He babysat me before.'' It seemed that the piglet had met the teen before.
``Oh...did your dad have to leave too?'' The rabbit said as if deep in thought about his concern.
``Yeah, he was going to see auntie Anne.'' The pudgy pig smiled widely at the thought of being able to see the woman.
``Oh...well I guess it doesn't really matter.'' James wasn't a difficult kid even for sitters.
``Hehe...wanna have some fun and play a joke on him?'' Frank had always been the more mischievous of the two.
``Sure...what do you have in mind?'' The rabbit asked having no idea what to do for a prank.
``Come on...I'll show you.'' The pig pulled his friend away from the sofa and tugged him towards the kitchen.
With James and he hand in hand, Frank opened the door to the fridge and looked around inside as if searching for something to snack on. Eventually he spotted a can of whip cream and pulled it out.
``What are you going to do with that?'' James asked as he was clearly naive of the other boy's plans.
``You'll see...just come.'' The pig continued to pull his friend back towards the living room.
Sure enough the teen was still sound asleep. Soon Frank dropped his friends' hand and took both of his own hands with one hand slowly inching towards the teens hand.
The rabbit still had his eyes on the other boy interested but uncertain as to what the other boy's intention was. He didn't have to wait long as the pig took hold of the teens hand and spread it out beneath the nozzle of the canister. He began to spray it into a puddle on the palm of Scott's paw. Before long there was a small puddle of white goo at the base of his fur. Frank slowly retracted both of his paws, unsure of how to go about the next step. Instead deciding to let the teen wake up with a creamy face of whipped goodness.
``So... what now?'' The rabbit asked feeling as if the situation was rather anticlimactic.
``How about we steal his socks? That way his feet get cold.'' The pig was feeling rather mischievous today.
``Uh...okay.'' James just decided to play along in order to please his friend.
James continued to watch, he'd never seen his friend act this way before and was genuinely curious as to what he had in mind. Frank went ahead and untied the teens shoes, which were much bigger than either the boys. They plopped on the floor soon after and the teens socked feet was there in front of them. The white fabric was a little dingy but all in all there was only a slight smell coming off them.
``Ew...'' The rabbit pinched his nose.
``Shhh...'' The pig tried to shush his friend as he tried to peel off the teen's socks.
The smaller cub did as he was told and gradually the teens left paw sock was removed.
Frank had to power through the smell, occasionally looking back to see if Scott was making any sort of movement. Fortunately for him the older boy was a deep sleeper and showed no signs of waking up. It took a little bit more time before the other sock was removed but now the teen was barefoot and the pig's goal had been achieved. But the question remained; for what end? The boy didn't know entirely, all he understood is he thought it was funny.
``Let's hide them!'' The larger boy suggested as he began to look around for a hiding spot.
``How about over here behind the tv. He won't find them back here.'' James was now getting more into the whole idea of joking around.
``Nah... how about we just throw them away?'' Frank figured that would be a safe place, especially if he put them underneath the mattress.
``I got a better idea...how about we destroy them. Then he won't have socks anymore.'' The look on the pig's face was priceless.
``And how would we do that?'' The smaller cub had no problem with it but didn't see a way of doing it.
``Hmm...we could just tear them apart and then throw them away. Take hold of one side and I'll take the other.'' Frank held out both socks in his palm and waited for James to take hold of one of them.
The rabbit did as he was told and grabbed the toe end of them in his hands, gripping them by closing the tip of his fingers. Frank took the opposite side and began backing away. Initially the socks continued to stretch as the fabric was like elastic. Sam joined in pulling backward and soon the fabric began to stress. Soon a muffled tearing was overheard as the fabric could no longer take the stress of being pulled from both sides. The socks teared near the center and both boys were sent reeling on their behinds, both having dropped the sundered footwear on the floor.
``Ow...'' James wasn't hurt but the initial shock of landing on his butt was a bit hurtful, though it didn't cause him to cry.
``Shh...'' Frank quickly crawled over to hush the other boy since they hadn't yet left the living room.
``Oops...sorry.'' The rabbit whispered as he recovered and got back up.
``Come on...let's go throw it away and play some games for a while.
``Yeah!'' Once again the excitable bunny spoke way to loud.
The pig held his finger again in front on his lips and once again the other boy was silenced. Frank looked over again and fortunately the teen was still undisturbed. The larger cub led back to his room and shortly behind him was the bunny who was embarrassed because of how many times he had almost woken up Scott. However once the two arrived in Frank?s room, the issue was soon behind him. Seemingly erased through the distraction of other things.
Frank turned on his PS4 and put in his favorite game, which was Overwatch. Despite it being a little above his maturity, the pig very much enjoyed playing cooperative and competing with people across the US. His favorite character was Roadhogg because he could relate to the pudgy humanoid and loved how simple he was to play. James however hadn't played it before and decided to go with Wrecking Ball who was one of the cutest characters to look at in his opinion. The two began to play online matches winning a little less than half of them since the rabbit hadn't played before.
It was another hour or so before Scott finally came around. The sound sleeping doberman only got up because nature called. When he did, his gut reaction was to rub his face with his hand. Of course, he hadn't yet come around and didn't bother looking around. Sure enough, when he took his paw to his face it rubbed the cream all over his snout and eyes.
``What the...?'' Scott pulled his hands away from his face, realizing what had just happened as he looked at the remaining cream through obscured vision.
The teen got finally got up slowly from the chair, flicking his wrist as some of the dessert topping fell on the floor.
``The kids...'' The dog figured they could have been the only ones to have done this and started to get mad.
Then he realized his feet were a little cold. He didn't recall taking his shoes off and looked down. Sure enough both his shoes and socks were missing. Looking around, he saw his shoes off to the side of the couch. The socks were not far off, in several pieces, and once again he blamed the cubs. His level of rage steadily increased as he started to walk towards the bathroom. After all the doberman had been there before and so he was familiar with where everything was. After he cleaned his face with some water from the sink, there was the matter of getting revenge on the youngsters.
Scott wasn't exactly vindictive and didn't want to hurt them. Instead his goal was to just get equal. This wasn't the first time this had happened to him over at the Cliff's place. The canine began to think about his options for vengeance. He had brought something with him for just such an occasion. The teen was even more of a jokester than Frank was. As such he always came prepared to play jokes and this time, he'd bought a special item just to use on the cubs. However, he wasn't sure it even worked.
The dog walked back into the living room and ignored the small pudding pile of creme for the time being and headed over to his bag. Inside was all sorts of things from various toys he often shared with his young charges. But what he was looking for was a package of gum. The stuff was one of those gimmicky things produced in MAD magazine, most of which never worked. However on occasion they did and this food item was guaranteed to work or his money back. Regardless Scott didn't exactly believe it since its purpose was to shrink its victim.
Scott wasn't one to believe something so unrealistic. The package looked simple enough and resembled the design of the bazooka brand. Each piece inside was individually wrapped and he took two of them for the two kids to try. The teen decided it was worth a shot.
``Who knows, maybe it might actually work this time.'' The older boy told himself.
The doberman headed back towards Frank's room with gum in paw. It took him all of 2 minutes to travel from the front door to where the piglet's room was.
The door was wide open and Scott could overhear the sound of gunfire. Peeking his head inside the teen could see that the two younger boys were playing a game. The dog recognized it as well and was a bit surprised that they were allowed to play such violent games.
``What's up boys? Having fun?'' Scott asked trying not to let on that he was angry.
``Uh...oh...yeah.'' Frank didn't even bother to look over at the teen to see if he was angry or not.
Scott stepped over and pulled the controllers out of Franks hand. He knew Frank was the mastermind and wanted to make an example of him.
``Now you're going to pay for what you did.'' The doberman pulled the pig by his shoulders and bent him over his knees.
The teen began to swat the larger cub right on his behind. He didn't bother taking off his pants, instead beating him one by one. It didn't take him long before the piglet was crying.
``You're next...pay for your crimes.'' The oldest boy pointed at the rabbit who pined in fear but knew it was best to accept his fate.
Scott allowed the pig off his knee; whose eyes were red with tears flowing down them. The teen pointed at his knee and the smaller cub understood. The rabbit eased himself into a similar position. The canine wasn't nearly as fierce with the bunny, especially since he was so compliant and the teen believed that James had simply played along with the other boy's ploy. Yet still he was struck several times, enough so that the lapine was left with a sore behind. Though he managed to fight back the tears even despite the endearing pain.
``Alright...now to make up for it. I got you guys some candy.'' Scotts demeanor seemingly shifted at the mention of the confection.
``What? What kind?'' Frank sniffled a bit as he recovered from the blows.
``Gum...your favorite flavor because I feel bad for having to do that.'' The teen handed each of them a small piece of pre-packaged gum.
``Thanks!'' Already the rabbit had already forgotten about being beaten as he was rather fond of sweets.
The two didn't wait long to peel open the packaging and pop the small morsel of bubble gum into their mouths.
Before long the stuff dissolved in their mouths which left a puzzled look on both their faces.
``What kind of gum is this? It didn't even last the long.'' The pig complained as he was rather fond of chewing on it.
``You'll find out...'' The teen smirked as he looked at them.
``Oh no... what did you do to us?'' James started to panic even know nothing had happened to them yet.
It didn't take long for them to find out. Within moments both of their clothing began to sag. Frank?s wasn?t as noticeable since he was still sitting, but after only a few seconds his shoes were beginning to feel more and more spacious. The rabbit's pants soon fell off, to which he quickly tried to hold up his Pokemon themed briefs. Of course, it was no use and those too eventually fell to the floor, leaving him in his birthday suit. His reaction was to cover himself in an effort to save his own modesty. Scott watched as the two dwindled down further and further.
Before long James was barely up to his knee, even Frank who was still sitting was obviously in a bundle of his clothing. After only another minute, James could barely be seen. Frank was now nothing more than a small spec in a tent of fabric. Scott kneeled down and pick up the clothing as the pig came barreling out. Picking up both of them in each of his hands, the teen looked at them. The tiny cubs just barely smaller than the expanse of his palm.
``Now you naughty boys are going to warm my feet since you tore my socks.'' The older boy chuckled a bit as he thought about their punishment.
James tried complaining but his voice was indistinguishable at his size and only Frank could hear his now minuscule vocalization. Scott sat down and angled his left paw over his right knee.
``Now...if you do a good job...I'll return you to normal.'' In truth the teen had no idea how to get them back to normal but figured it would wear off in time.
Frank was naive enough to play along and quickly clasped to the foot holding on with all his might. Almost immediately he was assaulted by the odor of the teens musky foot. Trying his best not to be overtaken by the sheer smell of the appendage.
Soon James joined him, once the teens position was rearranged, and now the two cubs were very much essential footwear. Though Scott had no intention of hurting them, he very much had the idea set in his head that he was going to make this last as long as possible. Wiggling his toes, he gently put his paws on the floor and allowed the cubs back to be put against the carpet so that they didn't have to hold on so aggressively.
``Now massage my feet and make me feel good.'' The teen was enjoying this too much for his own good.
Eventually the soothing nature of the attention led to Scott falling asleep, flat on his back with his legs extended out on the bed. This allowed the two boys some freedom and they were able to stop doing what they were ordered to.
``So... what should we do?'' James asked at a loss for how to solve their problem.
``Maybe we should wait and see what happens?'' Frank suggested as a rather poor idea.
``Well whose to say he's telling the truth?'' The rabbit answered a little bit concerned.
``He doesn't really have a choice when my parents come home.'' The pig remarked as he knew his parents would never allow them to be pint sized forever.
It took a few hours but eventually the gum wore off and the two cubs returned to their normal size. Redressing the two looked at the teen and contemplated playing another joke on him. They decided it was best to leave him be, instead of risking his wraith and being shrunk a second time.
The two cubs returned to playing games, the sleeping teen sprawled out between them. When Scott woke up, he even joined them in overwatch. The teen a bit suspicious of how they?d gotten back to normal but remembering where the gum had came from. The three growing closer as a result and the younger boys asking the older one to come along to the fabled water park. It seemed everything was going to be alright. Only time would tell...
