Sometimes little problems are the worst kind

_It must have been that experiment the professor was running. Somehow whatever I was exposed to reduced my size. If I can just get back to him then he can reverse this...I hope. _

Adam looked around the room. Even getting off of his bed was going to be a challenge, much less going halfway across the campus. He gingerly stepped to the edge of his bed then and looked over it. It was a long, long, way down.

"Alright Adam, think. The Square Cube Law says I should have an effective weight of....with a surface area of...and of course carry the one, and account for humidity, altitude and temperature...Yeah, should be fine."

And just like that he jumped off of the bed. As he fell he spread his arms and legs as well as stiffening his tail as much as possible.

He landed in a crouch with hardly any force at all. Luckily for him he weighed almost nothing and air resistance ensured he wasn't likely to fall very fast at such a size.

He stood back up to full height then, which he was keenly aware wasn't much at the time, and looked around. The carpeting was a washed out looking blue color with a very fine thread. Which was a good thing because it would make traversing to the other side of the room much easier than it otherwise might have been.

As he hurried over, Adam spared a moment to be thankful that whatever had reduced his size included his clothing. He had never had a chance to change into his pajamas before falling asleep like he usually did, which made things less awkward for him by far. He considered maybe grabbing a change of clothes anyway before realizing how silly that was considering that except for what he was wearing all of his clothes would be about thirty times too big for him now. He might be the size of one of his buttons though....

Being this size is messing with my perception. Must remain focused. Have to get to Barry. He can take me to the professor...if I can get his attention anyway.

Adam reached his friend's bed and took note of all the tortilla crumbs around it. They looked like soccer balls to him at the moment. He'd have to have a talk with Barry about his eating habits later on. This mess just wouldn't do.

Luckily Barry hardly even used his blankets and they had mostly been pushed aside. One section had fallen almost completely to the floor.

With a grunt Adam jumped. He was briefly surprised how high he went, then considered that his muscles were disproportionately strong relative to his body mass at this scale.

He easily reached the low hanging blanket and latched his claws into it. Next he scrambled to the top of the mattress and slung a paw up over the edge. As he pulled himself up onto the bed he nearly jumped right back off. A short distance in front of him was a black and grey furred mountain laying on it's side.

_I knew it would be like this. I have to get someone's attention though if I ever want to get back to my normal size. But, he's so BIG. Maybe I should just run back to my own bed and hope this wears off on it's own. _

But Adam somehow knew it wouldn't and opted to wake Barry up instead.

He was currently located near his midsection. Briefly Adam considered the best place to try pushing him to get him to wake up. The face was out. Barry was likely to put his paw there the instant he felt something and end up crushing Adam in the process. The legs? Too mobile. Might get kicked off the bed and into the far wall, which would probably break a few bones. So really that left only one decent option. _ I'm never going to be able to forget doing this, am I._

With little choice, Adam walked over to Barry's enormous belly and placed his paw on it. He soon realized he would need far more than that if Barry was to have any chance of feeling it. Try as he might though, his paw meet nearly no resistance at all no matter how much he pushed into it. Next he tried both paws but there was still way too much give to generate any kind of movement beyond the immediate area.

This is going to be harder that I thought. Body fat is a natural shock absorber, and I have little enough force as it is. Hmm....

Adam knew what he had to do. Lifting his paw he gave Barry a good swipe. He figured any damage he did wouldn't be much more than a mosquito bite at worst.

Nothing happened. Adam then swiped him again, harder this time. He actually drew a small amount of blood...relatively speaking.

Barry moved then. It wasn't much, but maybe with just a bit more prodding he'd wake up. Adam gave him a quick double swipe for good measure and instantly regretted it.

Barry felt it alright, but instead of waking up he just rolled over onto his belly instead, pinning Adam to the bed.

"Get offa me ya big...ooomph!"

As Barry settled Adam found himself being smothered. It wasn't very long before he couldn't breath at all. No way do I go out like this. Most humiliating death EVER.

He was getting desperate. His lungs burned for air. He tried pushing away, but there was absolutely no chance of that. He didn't even have enough room to swipe again. He did dig his claws in as deep as he could manage, but Barry clearly felt nothing.

Adam felt weak. He wanted to calculate how much time he had before he fell unconscious, but couldn't even manage that much.

As ridiculous as this situation was, he was in fact dying. He had maybe seconds to figure out a way to save himself. He pushed on Barry yet again for all the good it would do but it didn't help.

Adam closed his eyes and his paws fell to his sides. He was now too weak to lift them. His lungs didn't burn anymore, he simply felt nothing. I guess this is it.

He found out that your life really does flash before your eyes when you're near death, because his did just that. And he finally saw his father for the first time. He had been so young, it's no wonder he hadn't remembered this before now.

The three of them stood at a train station, Adam, along with his mom and dad. He knew that was who he was seeing for certain. Dad was hugging mom, and she was crying. Then his father knelt down in front of him and placed both of his paws on his tiny shoulders.

"I'm sorry son. I would give anything to change this, but the world needs me now. I have to help protect it no matter how much it hurts me. I can't watch people suffer anymore knowing I can do something about it. I hope one day you understand."

His dad embraced him in a firm hug that he held for quite a while, then ruffled his hair before standing up and boarding the train. Where he was going or why Adam had no idea, but he knew for certain now his father had loved him.

I...I can't die now! I have to know what happened to him!

Adam found the strength somewhere and pushed with all he had. He was being driven by pure instinct. Something told him that this would work and he acted without thinking.

He felt something inside of himself, right at the core of his chest. A sort of tingling sensation, then something stronger. A flash, and next thing he knew he could breath again and was gulping down as much air as he possibly could.

He lay there for a long moment trying to recover, and at the same time remembering as much of what he had seen as he could. He knew his dad hadn't simply abandoned him now. He had to find the professor and demand answers, just as soon as he was big enough to not look totally silly demanding anything.

He sat up and noticed immediately something was different. _Where is Barry? _

Adam looked around but couldn't find his friend anywhere. "This makes no sense. He almost crushed me to death and now I can't even see him. He's HUGE. How can he have just disappeared?"

Adam kept looking but it was no good. Barry had simply vanished entirely. _This day keeps getting weirder all the time. _

Just as he was about to jump off of the bed and go find the professor on his own he finally did see Barry. He looked over in amazement as his friend stood up from behind the ruffle in the blankets which had been hiding him.

"Ugh, not this nightmare again..." Barry said

"BARRY! I'm over here," Adam yelled, waving.

"Well this part's new at least. Hey dream buddy. At least you're small too. Usually the other one is really big. I hate it. Maybe this one won't be too bad."

"Barry, you're not dreaming..."

But his friend only laughed, "of course I'm dreaming."

"No, you're really really not. You need to get your head on straight so we can fix this."

"Don't you backtalk me Mr. figment of my imagination."

I don't have time for this...

Adam strode over and got right in Barry's face, "Now you listen here. We're in really big trouble right now you stupid bear." He punctuated this by jabbing his friend lightly in his chest with a claw. Barry was pushed backwards a bit when he did, which was oddly satisfying all things considered.

His friend scampered backwards away from him, tripped over a ruffle in the sheets and landed on his side. He looked up at Adam in terror, "please don't hurt me!"

"Uhm... wasn't planning on it. Like I could even if I...."

It was only then that Adam realized he had been looking DOWN at Barry when he was confronting him. Apparently he was now somehow the bigger of the two.

"Oh...uhm...sorry about that. Just take a second and calm down alright? We'll figure this out...somehow."

"Calm down? At a time like this! Maybe you're used to being small, but I hate it! How do you stand this?" Then he put his paws together like he was praying, "please let me just wake up."

"That's not going to happen. We have to find the professor. I think he can fix this."

Barry threw both of his paws up into the air then, "fix what! What is going on here anyway!"

"Uhm, I think I've shrunk the both of us..."

"You did this to me?! Whhhhyyyyyyy!"

"Hey, it was an accident. And in my defense you nearly smothered me to death right before I did it."

Barry was taken aback, "I did?"

"Yeah, you totally did. I'm going to have nightmares of my own about that for sure. I'm not blaming you though. Just chill out and we'll get through this."

"I'll try, but I'm really scared right now. This is so embarrassing."

"Yeah, been there done that. Yesterday as a matter of fact. But you saved me. Now I guess it's time to return the favor."

"Thanks buddy. I'm sorry I thought you weren't real for a bit."

"It's fine. I'm used to people overlooking me. But now, how to get to the professor? I bet he's in his lab."

"Lab?"

"He's got a secret lab behind his classroom. I'm only telling you cause we're about to go there anyway. It's really important that you don't tell anyone else. I mean it Barry."

"Sure thing."

"Good. Now first we need to jump and..."

"Ja...jump? Are you crazy? We'll die from this height for sure."

"Na, it's fine. The physics work a lot differently with us this small. Watch!"

Adam jumped from the bed just as before, only this time he had even more control. He was getting used to his reduced size, which should probably have bothered him more than it did.

"No way. I'll just climb down, or something."

Barry did try, but he had no sooner slid himself over the edge of the bed and latched onto the covers before he was paralyzed with fear.

"Don't look down Barry! Just let go, I promise you'll be fine!"

"NO! I'm going back up to hide under my blankets! Go get the professor yourself and you'll know where to find me."

"Oh come on. Look, I'll even catch you!"

Adam stood directly under him, arms spread.

"You will?"

"YES! I've got you. Just let go!"

"Ok, just please don't let me die," and then he dropped. He fell through the air with absolutely no control. Just before he reached him though, Adam decided to do something quite mean, he stepped to the side and let his friend hit the ground. Barry bounced several times before expending the rest of his momentum by rolling away in a ball.

Adam couldn't help it. He dropped to the floor and started rolling around in a ball of his own, grabbing his legs and rocking side to side. He was laughing hysterically while slapping his paw on the ground repeatedly in between pointing at Barry. It wasn't long before he had tears in his eyes and his side hurt.

"Hey that's not funny! I could have died!"

Adam had to fight through the laughter and shortness of breath as he tried to explain. "Nah, it happened just like I knew it would. And it was so worth it!"

"Oh, ok I see how it is. Just you wait. Us bears are patient and I am SO going to get you back for that one."

"Is that a threat shorty? HA! Color me unconcerned."

"Grrr..fine, let's just get out of here while I still have even a shred of self respect left."

"Alright little buddy, lead the way."

"Please stop making fun of my size Adam. I'm serious."

"You, serious? That's a switch. Ok then, I was just trying to cheer you up though. I really don't see what the big deal..."

"ADAM!"

"Sorry! Wasn't on purpose that time. You're right. Let's get out of here before things get any crazier. If that is even possible."

The two of them raced over to the door. It wasn't until now that Adam noticed it had a sweep on the bottom of it. Funny the things you only notice when you're just a couple of inches tall. There was however a gap between the sweep and the frame which should allow them to get outside. This was good, because even getting to the knob would have been very difficult, and turning it impossible.

Barry went out first, sliding through the gap pretty easily. Adam tried to follow but was having difficulties. He wiggled his body trying to slide through but had no luck.

"I think I'm too big to fit through here..."

"You just have to breath out all the way. I get that all the time."

Adam did just that, but still couldn't quite slide through. Barry grabbed one of his paws and yanked on it hard. It worked and he pulled free, but then they both lost their balance and went down in a heap.

"Maybe a little warning next time?" Adam said as he got back to his feet.

Barry gritted his teeth, "little, really? Knock it off already!"

"Do you have any idea how utterly impossible it is to go through even a sh... er... a brief conversation without using ANY size descriptors at all? Cut me some slack. I really am trying here."

Barry cringed, "you're right. I'm just really not having this at all. I need to get back to normal before I go nuts."

"Fair enough. At least it's only a few hundred feet to the professor's lab. We should be able to make the trip in...hmm, average running speed...divide by scale... account for increased muscle efficiency...factor for slower traveling companion...yup, about an hour."

"I don't even want to know how you did that. An hour isn't too bad, though I wish it were a bit shorter...GRR! Now I'm doing it too!" and then Barry did the most peculiar thing. He started laughing.

Adam was left there looking at him dumbfounded. Why does he find that so funny?

"Are you ok Barry?"

"No, I'm really not. I think I'm losing my mind. Let's hurry up and get out of here."

"Sure thing. The dorm should be pretty empty, but just in case let's be sure we run next to the walls and not in the middle of the hall. Otherwise we're liable to get stepped on."

"Uh...yeah...that's good thinking."

They followed that plan, though for much of the trip they didn't meet up with a single person to have to worry about. It wasn't until they got outside that things took a turn for the worse.

The two of them managed to slip out of their dormitory building and onto the sidewalk. "Well at least it's not raining today. I hate getting my fur wet," Adam remarked.

"Really? I go swimming all the time. It's probably another bear thing I guess. Now, where is the professor's lab again?"

Adam stopped and looked over towards Carter Hall. His heart sank. "Over there," he said, pointing to the building which might as well have been ten football fields away from them.

"You're kidding, right? That could take thirty minutes over open ground. And there might be snakes or bugs or something. We could be eaten!"

"Relax already Barry. We should be ok if we stay on the sidewalk. Just be sure to keep an eye out for the other pedestrians."

"Uh, Adam?"

"What?"

"One of those is coming right now."

About that time Adam felt the ground shake slightly with every step as his second period teacher walked right passed them. Luckily the two of them had moved out of the way just in time. They watched as she retreated into the distance.

"Oh, I know her. That's my psychology professor. She'd probably have something interesting to say right about now. It's really too bad she can't see us."

"She's a rabbit. A giant rabbit! I don't care if they do only eat plants. Her seeing me like this is the last thing I want!"

"Technically she's not a giantess, you're just..."

"Don't you dare."

Adam sighed, "fine. Let's get moving then. We shouldn't run into many more people anyway being as though it's Saturday morning."

"Doesn't matter. I've still got a bad feeling about this."

"Oh, NOW you have a bad feeling?"

"Ok fine. I've had that ever since you decided to shrink me, but now it's even worse!"

Adam looked right over at him, "I'm kinda wishing I could do it again. If you were even smaller then maybe you'd quit breaking my concentration. Yeah, and I could just pack you around in my pocket or something and make much better time..."

Barry dropped to his knees and grabbed a hold of Adam's leg...NO! Please anything but that!"

"I was kidding. You seriously need to find a happy place or something. You're so wound up you look like you might have a coronary otherwise. Take deep breaths Barry."

Adam was surprised when his friend stood back up and actually did it.

"Is that helping?"

"Yeah. But please never threaten me like that again. I'm having a hard enough time as it is."

"Just having fun. I thought you liked a good time?"

"This is a life or death situation you silly Fox. Has being shrunk fried your brain? This is not the time to be joking around!"

"Well the way I see it, if we get stomped on, or eaten, or stung by a giant wasp or..."

"STOP!"

"Well I just mean I'd better get the having fun part out of the way now, just in case."

"Please can we just go?"

"I was waiting on you actually. This really isn't bothering me much anymore. Kinda used to it anyway."

Barry stepped over to him and looked up right into his eyes. "You...Are...CERTIFIABLE!" he said before storming off towards Carter Hall.

"I'm just going to overlook that insult because..."

"I'm not listening to another word out of you..." Barry said as he placed his paws firmly over his ears.

"Hey, wait for me!" But Barry heard none of it and Adam had to hurry to catch up with his friend.