Charmy Bee was just having a boring summer day. He wasn't even aware of the city worth of people shrunken to near microscopic size near his shoes

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The fan turned slowly in the small office, circulating warm air. Though the windows were open it was still stuffy inside of the tiny room, the air heavy and humid. Charmy was never a fan of these oppressively hot summer days. He always got sweaty from them, his toes growing sticky as the beads rolled between his toes. Plus it just felt uncomfortable overall.

Spring was much more his season. Then the flowers were all out in bloom and he could fly over to them and give them a sniff. It wasn’t too hot, wasn’t too cold, just the right temperature. Now though, he barely wanted to move. It was just too hot to think about anything other than trying to cool off.

He sat at the desk, his butt stuck to the leather seat that vector loved so much, his bare feet up on the desk as a small pool of sweat formed below them. His hands rested behind his head comfortably as his eyes moved around the room. In the corner, Espio was sitting on a stool and reading the latest issue of Spies and Espionage Monthly. He’d probably be like that for a few hours. Vector had left in the morning, saying something about a super secret and private solo mission. So what did that leave the little bee with?

A whole lot of not much.

He flexed his toes slightly, feeling the black skin slide over the beads of sweat. Man, this was getting too much. He threw his head back and stretched, then loudly said to the universe, “I’m booooooooored!”

“Then find something to do,” Espio answered.

“There’s never anything to do.” The bee crossed his arms, slightly moved his feet. “No detective work, no lost money or stolen jewels. Nothing. I want to do something! Espio, come on, let’s play.”

“No,” the chameleon answered. “I’m busy.”

“With what?”

“Uh… Hey, look over there.” Charmy turned in the direction the chameleon nodded to. When he found nothing more than the wall he turned back, his eyes drooping when he saw nothing but a magazine floating in mid air.

“Camouflage doesn’t work if you’re holding something.”

“Yes, it does.”

“No it…” Charmy shook his head. What was the point? If he wanted to do something he’d just have to find it himself. “Whatever, I’m going outside.” The boy pushed himself out of the chair and landed on the floor with a plop, the ground shaking under his weight.

As he strode across the hot wooden ground he was completely unaware of the extraordinary things that were happening all around him. Though it was a normal summer day for the bee, for the residents of South City it was like something out of a nightmare.

They had all woken up only minutes ago, their minds struggling to make sense of what had happened. All around them were gigantic objects obscured by haze and mist. A ceiling that stretched miles overhead with something huge and menacing spinning slowly. For some of them, there were two gigantic objects resting nearby, the bright orange contrasting with dark black rings at the top. For others, they stood all alone in the center of the floor.

Only a few of them realized that they had been shrunken down to only a hundredth of an inch. Those that did stood there in horror, panic making them shake.

And that was before Charmy took his first step onto the ground.

Though the bee didn’t realize it, when he lifted his foot to take a step he eclipsed an entire group of nearly microscopic people in his shadow. Thirty or forty tinies looked up at the sight of his still warm sole, the toes dripping with sweat, dirt and dust stuck to the hardened black skin. They couldn’t run, couldn’t scream for help. All they could do was look up and realize that they were absolutely nothing compared to the god sized bee.

Charmy’s foot came down, the crunch of their lives barely even registering through the thick skin of his sole. He continued walking after that, swinging his other foot in front of him and bringing it down with the same savage power of the first. For the people below him, it was like something out of a nightmare, the most horrible scene they had ever witnessed. Those unfortunate enough to find themselves under his feet were crushed simply by his weight, their bodies smashed and ground into red stains against the dark skin. Some managed to survive by falling under the arch of his toes or were a few inches out of the way by sheer chance. Even for those lucky few the experience was horrendous, air rushing out and billowing around them with the force of a hurricane. The impact shook the ground, the energy of it nearly as bad as the footfall itself.

And that was just with a single step. Charmy walked across the entire floor, crushing hundreds of people every time his foot made contact with the ground, his toes squishing bodies into nothing, his heel so heavy it practically disintegrated people the moment he leaned on them. Some poor creatures found themselves stuck to the underside of it, glued on by his sweat, dragged into the air as he lifted his foot again. Soon there were thousands of tiny red stains scattered upon the thick skin of his sole, yet he wouldn’t have seen them even if he looked.

To the bee, they were just too small.

Charmy came to the door and opened it, meaning to go outside. Espio called out to him at the last moment, stopping him. “Charmy, if you’re going outside, put your shoes on.”

“Aw, but Espio,” he tried to complain.

“No excuses. You need to wear shoes.”

The bee hung his hands low and groaned. “Fiiiiiiiiiiine,” he said as he turned back to the sneakers he had left close by. He began walking towards them.

Though a few members of the shrunken city had been placed randomly through the ground, the majority had been concentrated in one place. The population of millions shrunken down and scattered around the gigantic sneakers of this little bee. Some of them rested next to them, staring up at the immense surfaces of rubber and cloth. Others had been placed on top, near the mouth of his shoe, resting on the black ring that either led to a long fall to the ground, or into the horrible cavern.

Still others found themselves inside of his sneaker. They were the unfortunate ones, their world suddenly changed to one filled with shadows and fogged by a miasma of foot stench that was so thick it was almost visible. They walked around the sweat soaked insole in search of some way to escape, looking hopelessly for a way out of their torment. No matter where they went, the sneaker was inescapable. Some tried to stay near the walls, hoping that they could avoid at least being crushed by anything that was to come. Many more were stranded in the center, kneeling in the dirty footprint that marked where the boy’s sole would normally rest.

The ground shook as Charmy walked over to his sneakers, stood over them for a moment, looking down like the ancient god he was. Microscopic insects looked back up at him, craning their necks in horror, their gaze moving between the toes that were huger than anything they’d ever seen in their normal life to the boy’s playful eyes higher up than the tallest mountains.

There was nothing any of them could do. No hope for them to reach him, no chance that he would give them mercy. After all, they were nothing to him. Less than insects that crawled around in the dirt, less even than the bacteria that he washed off of his hands. He didn’t even know they existed.

Charmy glanced down at his sneakers. He had these for a while now, but they still felt amazing. After a couple million steps he finally got the insole molded just right to his foot. The zipper on the front was still shiny, the sole still had all the cool patterns carved into the rubber. Only issue was the smell. Even he had to admit they were getting a bit funky.

But hey, that’s what shoes were supposed to do.

He laughed at the idea, then bent over to pick them up. But, before he did, his eyes noticed something on the ground. Nothing specific, but there was a dark patch of the floor near one of his sneakers. What was that, mold? Dust?

The bee tilted his head curiously as he looked down at the slight discoloration. If only he realized that it was about ten thousand people all huddled together, breathlessly watching as his eyes moved over them.

Silently they hoped that he would realize what happened, that he would see them and try to help them, get the attention of some of the other giants in the room and work to turn them back to normal. Though it was horrible to realize, this enormous bee was their only chance.

Which was why it was so horrible to see him stick out his pointer finger and move it towards them. People shouted and screamed, ran for their life, did everything they could to try and save themselves, but it didn’t matter.

Charmy poked the slightly discolored spot then swiped his finger downwards, rubbing off a huge section of it. Though he didn’t realize, he had killed almost a thousand people with the simple act, their bodies smudged and mangled across his glove.

“Ha,” he said lightly as he saw the ground change color. It wasn’t so dark anymore. Instead, it looked kind of red.

Wasn’t exactly the toy he was looking for, but it was kind of fun. The boy crouched next to the spot and lifted his hand over it, his five fingers spread as his palm hung directly over the surviving people. Without mercy, without even a thought to what it must have been like to be part of that mass, he slapped his hand into the ground.

The thump reverberated through the floor. When he lifted his glove back up he saw that the dark spot was all but gone, replaced with a pleasant, almost imperceptible red. “Cool,” he said, his attention already shifting back to his sneakers.

The little bee reached for them, his hand eclipsing the sky for those unfortunate enough to be standing on the black mouth of his leftmost sneaker. People jumped up and waved their arms, shouting to get the boy’s attention, but he couldn’t see any of them against the black background of the rubber.

His hand came down and wrapped around the back of his sneaker, his fingers grasping the mouth. Hundreds were crushed by the simple motion, squished in between his hand and the firm rubber, smashed into nothing more than imperceptible stains to mold with those that already dotted his hand.

Charmy stood back up, holding the sneaker in front of him. He looked at it, admired the shape and feel for a moment, then noticed some. A slight bit of movement around his fingers, around the lip of his shoe.

“Huh,” the bee said, lifting an eyebrow. What was this? He brought the sneaker closer to his face, moving it right up to his giant eye. For those stranded on top of the black lip, it was like being brought up to an immense wall taller than any building they had ever seen, all with the knowledge that it was just the eye of a cute little bee. Some of them froze in terror, others tried desperately to get his attention.

To the bee, however, they just looked like bugs. Charmy was no stranger to ants and other pests crawling around. Though he didn’t go out of his way to step on them, he always liked the crunch they made when it happened. These insects were a bit too tiny to feel though. To him, they were barely anything.

“Heh, so you guys like my sneakers, huh?” the bee said. “Sorry, but Espio says I need them to go outside. So… buzz off.” Lightly, he pressed his lips together and blew across the mouth of his shoe.

The hurricane force wind dragged thousands off of their feet. Hundreds were thrown into the air where they fell for what seemed like miles before splattering on the ground below. Others were pushed backward, into the dark abyss that ended in the wet insole of his sneaker.

Their screams were lost by the wind, almost all of them blown off by the simple act of him breathing. “Ha,” Charmy laughed lightly. “Even an ant can hold on better than that.” In any case, they were gone and that’s all he cared about.

Without warning, the bee dropped his sneakers onto the ground again, the huge mountains crashing into untold thousands below. He then lifted his foot and moved it towards the mouth of his sneaker, meaning to put it on. A simple action that meant almost nothing to him, but would be the end of the millions trapped below.

He stopped as he saw something flash in front of his eyes. “Huh?” the bee said, trying to focus on the tiny black object. What was that, another bug? “Didn’t I tell you guys to buzz off?”

It was difficult to keep track of something so small, but it kept flying in front of his pupil whenever he lost track of it. Unfortunately, even when he was only a few centimeters away the tiny hawk was still too small for him to really make out any of its features. Though he tried his best to flap his wings and shout for help, he couldn’t do anything more than fly around annoyingly.

Unfortunately for him, he didn’t see the concentrated look on the boy’s face or his hand moving up behind him until it was too late. “Gotch’ya!” Charmy shouted as he grabbed the bug between his forefinger and thumb, popping it with the simple motion.

With that out of the way, he returned his attention to his sneakers. Nothing was left to stop him. No more last seconds attempts to get his attention, no more plans to stop this atrocity. Charmy slipped his huge feet into his sneakers, his sole rolling over millions of inhabitants, his toes crushing countless lives into nothing more than gunk that was scrammed in the valleys between.

Some survived by staying close to the walls or by hiding under the arc in his toes. They soon came to regret their decision as the boy turned around and began walking, their hell only just beginning.

“Alright, I’m going out,” the bee said as he stepped in front of the door, his heavy sneakers crushing even more people with the movement. Hundreds were forced to look up as his sneaker sole eclipsed the sky, dirt and mud wedged in between the huge treads. It was a cruel fate, most thinking that they had been spared from the giant bee’s huge feet when he went over to the massive shoes. Now, they had no chance. They tried to duck, prayed that they would be saved, but hundreds were crushed under the unforgiving rubber sole. Many were wedged in between the treads, trapped in the mud and gunk that had been stuck there, destined to remain on his sole for however long it took before they finally perished. “Tell me if anything interesting comes up.”

“Sure,” Espio answered.

Without any more delay, Charmy ran out the door and shut it behind him, the temperature inside of his sneakers rising with every jarring footfall.

Espio, meanwhile, sighed as he continued to look over his magazine. The boy did have a point, today was slow even by hot summer day standards. In the morning there had been a little bit of activity, a report that came in about some odd happenings in South City. Rumors that would probably amount to nothing, but Vector had volunteered to scout it out just in case it was another one of Eggman’s plots.

Glancing at the clock on the wall, Espio figured he would be arriving there soon. The chameleon wasn’t sure what he wanted him to find. Sure, it was always good if nothing was wrong and everyone was safe. But they didn’t get paid for being safe. And he didn’t get the chance to hone his ninja skills.

The chameleon’s train of thought stopped as he felt a slight itch inside of his glove. It had been doing that for a couple minutes now and it was starting to get annoying. What was it? Something type of contaminant that managed to get it?

He pressed the thumb of his left hand into the palm of his right and rubbed it hard, hoping to remove the irritant once and for all. What he didn’t realize was that the itch was the singular hope a couple hundred thousand people had of being found. They had awoken on the giant lizard’s palm and desperately rubbed it in hopes of him noticing.

It was a cruel fate that the one thing they could do to get his attention made him press his finger into them. Already tens of thousands lay adhered to his sweaty purple skin, broken and bloodied after his thumb had pressed them. By the end of the day, thousands more would join them.

After all, why would Espio ever think there were a bunch of nearly microscopic people in his glove? The idea was as insane as it was implausible. So, he just kept scratching the itches whenever they popped up, rubbing his palm and fingers, scratching the valleys in between. Eventually, he’d get them all.

A ninja always kills his target, after all.