Slime Sister Saga: Part 5

Summary: Following the events of A Giga-Sized Glow-Up, Celes wakes up with powers she has difficulties controlling,  coinciding with terrible, otherworldly visions. She meets more strange slime girls like Feza, but are they friends or foes?

A trade with MRGIllusion45, who provided the illustrations; story is written by me; characters belong to their respective creators.

[Story Listing]

----

With introductions all sorted out, it was time for Celes to begin her training under the tutelage of Astra and Marin. Celes kneeled down and lowered her head to bring herself more at eye-level with the other two. 

"Okay, I'm ready to learn!" Celes enthusiastically nodded. "C-can we start with something that'll help with my, uh, size issue? I usually wear plus-sized, but not this plus-sized, y'know??"

Celes forced a laugh, but the joke fell flat. Marin tilted her head curiously, and Astra... simply took the opportunity to slide off of Celes' head, down to the ground; one of her yellow hair tendrils swivelled around, coiling around a low tree branch that lifted her up for a seat. 

"..." Astra looked silently at Marin. Marin bounced up in a moment of realization, and raised her hand to remove her cat-like hat; she reached into it, seeming rummaging around in there. Celes leaned forward to get a better look; she rather liked magic tricks...

...She yelped in surprise as a flock of parrots fluttered out from the hat, fluttering up towards the canopies above. One of Astra's hair tendrils flexed, zipping towards the head of one of the birds. The bird's eyes tinged yellow, as its posture changed, straightening up. 

"That could be done... if you're willing to apply yourself." Astra muttered, though it was filtered through the raspiness of a parrot's vocal chords. "All slimes have the capability to shapeshift, and change their size; it is a simple principle. If you wished to be smaller, surely you could manage it."

"Oh, good!" Celes nodded, clasping her hands. "Then I can shrink back to my normal size-"

"Do not think in terms of what is normal and what is not!" Astra corrected Celes. "Do not imagine in modest, human terms. A slime's size is irrelevant; it is whatever is required."

"W-wait, so if all slimes can grow in size, um... wh-why not grow to my size?" Celes suggested to Astra. "At least then we could speak face to face-"

"And alert Feza to our position? Are you stupid or something?" Astra's parrot fluttered from the branch and barked insults to Celes' face, causing the reluctant giantess to recoil. "This is why it's important that you shrink down to a more discrete size!"

"O-oh, I... I'm sorry..." Celes felt a little silly. Though she didn't think it'd be a problem if Feza found them, the fact that even Marin acted a little skittish when her name came up was concerning. 

"Besides, just because it's simple doesn't mean it's easy." Astra explained. "It takes time and effort to grow to a size such as yours. Unless you're Feza, that is. That woman is a menace; not only does her ability to grow to colossal stature far outstrip any other, her power has no limit; she could outgrow the entire planet and crush it in her grip if she so chose..."

"Th-then it's a good thing she hasn't yet, right??" Celes raised her head. 

"...You aren't terrified that Feza could squash you like a bug at any second?" Astra tilted her head.

"Well... it's Feza..." Celes prodded her fingers together. 

There was a long pause between the three of them.

"TRAINING! TRAINING!" Marin squawked through one of her parrots. 

"Right, we've stalled enough. Celes, shuffle forward a bit." Astra instructed Celes."And stand up straight."

"Mm? Well okay." Celes nodded, rising and shuffling forward.

"Good. Now... sheesh, I've never had to train a slime before..." Astra shook her head; the slime parrot she was piloting mimicked her movement. "Your body is free-flowing liquid with no container. You expend too much energy trying to maintain a human form; release your hold, and let your body flow freely. Don't think, feel."

"Eh? Ah..." Celes stirred. "But I... w-well, I... it's usually when I sleep when I'm like that, but..."

Celes hesitated. She did expend a lot of mental effort to keep her shape, which made her rather inflexible for trying new things. But she was scared, like she'd end up drowning within herself...

"She's overthinking it, as usual." Astra folded her arms. "Marin, give her some encouragement." 

"HA! SQUISHY SQUISHY!~" Marin cackled, reaching next to her to undo a vine knot. Celes paused, hearing some loud wooden creaking, flanking both sides of her. 

"Wh-"

SLAM! Two massive logs slammed into her head, splattering ooze in all directions. Relieved of her head, Celes silently stumbled, her arms flailing around in front of her, and then collapsed on the ground into a pile of ooze.

Waves of purple ooze coalesced towards the center of the clearing as Celes rippled and burbled indignantly. Celes' lumped up body shuddered as the disparate pieces of slime trickled back to her. Two arms shot through the surface of her skin, clenching her flesh as she pulled her head and torso up, her lower body a shapeless mess.

"EXCUSE ME!!" Celes shouted. "What the heck was that!? I could've died!!"

"Don't be a drama queen." Astra rolled her eyes. "Slimes are practically impervious to physical trauma. That didn't even hurt, did it?"

"N... no! But I was spooked!" Celes objected. 

Creeeeeeak... 

Celes' train of thought derailed as she glanced upwards, sensing an uneasy presence above her head. Some blue woodpeckers, all seemingly of Marin's creation, were attacking the vines that were holding those massive logs in place...

SNAP!

"ACK!" Celes covered her head just in time to brace herself for impact as two more logs flattened her to the ground. The two logs rolled in opposite directions; Celes raised her flattened head with a beleaguered expression.

"Can you at least give me some warning before you try to kill me...?" Celes sighed. 

"She still doesn't get it..." Astra shook her head. "Marin, could you lend a hand?"

Marin smiled widely, swinging on the branch like a monkey before landing on top, balancing carefully while standing on the thick branch. She puffed her chest, stretched her arms in front of her, and wiggled her fingers in anticipation, raising them in front of her; Celes got the impression that she was about to begin conducting an orchestra...

"SQUAAARK!" The parrots in the canopy above cried out a chorus of cacophony, causing Celes to cringe. It wasn't long until the parrots stopped, and an uneasy silence followed. Celes froze in place.

...Her body, laid out flat across the ground, felt a curious tremor; it caused her semi-liquid body to ripple. She had a bad feeling as the tremors crescendoed in intensity, until it felt like the earth was shaking. Celes looked behind her, trying to parse what was beyond the bushes. It sounded like the tremors were coming from that direction...

When she saw trees shaking and shoved aside to make way for a stampede of bright blue elephants, Celes let out a wail of terror that was almost entirely drowned out by trumpeting, stomping elephants. 

She had no time to move, and barely enough time to cover her head before she was trampled. Celes didn't make a sound as her form was spread out flatter and flatter. It must've been an enormous stampede, as it went on seemingly without end. 

The initial shock wore off in a hurry as Celes realized that she wasn't in pain, and that she was very much still conscious; her form rippled violently with every step, but she felt her form flow around her in different directions with each impactful blow. 

As the last of the bright blue elephants passed through her, her purple form puddled in all directions, her form was still, resembling an expansive tarpit. Celes explored the extremities of her deformed mass, her consciousness permeating through all facets. As still as she remained, there seemed to be a slight-enough incline that her puddled mass lurched on its own, spilling over itself before spreading flat once again. 

It was an odd sort of tranquility, not disrupted by barks or commands. Celes wanted to hold onto this moment, feeling her body rippling gently. She tried to clear her mind, not to think too hard... though ironically, she had thought about it, and stirred her consciousness, causing her body to tense with rigidity.

She relaxed again, rhythmically tensing and relaxing. She felt like she was on the precipice of something. It was then that Astra's words resonated in her mind. Don't think, feel.

She recalled the sensations she had felt when she had grown to a giantess in Feza's company for the first time. The sensation of her body shuddering, multiplying and spreading, her skin stretching to accommodate for new mass. If she could trace the extremities of her body, and bring those closer to her core...

Her liquid body rippled, gentle waves pulsing from the far reaches of her puddled form; she felt waves of purple slime folding over itself, imagining the spiral of a drain enveloping her entire body, pulling her mass and her consciousness deeper within herself. 

"...?"

Astra and Marin leaned forward, watching the puddle of purple ooze shrink and recede in all directions. In a matter of moments, in the space of but a few meditative breaths, the giant swamp-like puddle shrunk to about the size of a kiddie pool. 

Celes paused sharply for a moment, feeling something evaporate away from her. The last of Feza's essence inside of her had dried up... Celes felt a pang of emptiness, exploring her consciousness. 

The ooze pulled upwards and reshaped, in the form of a pillar. It shuffled into the approximate shape of Celes' upper body. She slowly opened her eyes, glancing down to find herself half-submerged in a pool of herself.

"I... I did it." Celes whispered breathily. "I-I shrunk in size...!"

She raised a hand to her chest as if to catch her breast; she paused, her eyebrow perking up in realization, and then glanced around her. The remains of the former seaweed dress she had woven had been completely destroyed, scattered about her. She briefly had a pang of anxiety, reflexively covering her chest as the rest of her rose up, her lower body a pillar of slime. Even if she was slime through and through, her human modesty still lingered...

"Congratulations." Astra slow-clapped. "You finally did a slime girl thing."

Marin, for her part, was significantly more excited, hopping down from the branch and, morphing into a torrent of slime, plop plop plopped over to Celes, taking her hands and hopping excitedly.

"YAAAY CELES!" One of Marin's blue birds cheered excitedly. Celes felt her entire form jiggle violently with each hop.

"Ohwhoawhoa...!" Celes broke off quickly, chuckling earnestly and adjusting her hair. "I-I really did it, huh... thank you for your, um, encouragement." Celes felt the strange tingling sensation of her body hungrily absorbing more of Marin's essence, and reflexively shook them as currents of blue slime sunk into her through her fingers and palms.

Marin nodded enthusiastically as Astra followed suit. "Maybe you're not a lost cause yet, but you have a lot to learn. You're the slowest thing imaginable on foot, you know?"

"I, um... don't have feet right now." Celes bit her lip, glancing down.

"You're going to need to learn to be a lot more creative in your shapeshifting. You don't have muscles, being of slime, so you need to work on utilizing momentum." Astra gestured to Marin.

Marin smirked and quickly shifted before Celes' eyes, rounding into a beachball that rolled and spun into a circle, then a spring that bounced up and down, then a flat shape that slowly parachuted to the ground, before morphing right back into shape... all in a span of seconds. 

"Bouncy bouncy!~" Marin cried out excitedly. 

"Wow..." Celes applauded quietly, in awe. 

"With enough practice, a slime has no limits. They could split their body in half to dodge strikes, bounce through obstacles, ooze through tiny passages... even glide through the air." Astra explained, the lens of her glasses flashing as she adjusted them. 

"S-so how do I learn??" Celes clutched her hands to her chest. "Flying through the air... it's a dream of mine!"

"Marin will be in charge of that." Astra gestured to her. "It's a lot of effort, too much hassle for me. She's got energy to burn."

"Oh. Oh! ...oh." Celes progressed through several stages of realization. "Marin, you... you're not gonna squish me again, are you??"

Marin's smile widened as she flailed her arms. "Tag! Tag!!"

"Tag?" Celes smirked. "I haven't played that in years, heh. Okay, I'm ready, it'll be fu-UUUHN!?"

Celes yelped as Marin immediately wrapped her arms around Celes; her grip was incredibly strong, and she mashed Celes into a fine pulp like it was nothing, spinning her with great dexterity as Celes was massaged like clay. Marin chuckled, stretching and pressing Celes' form until she took on the shape of a beach ball.

"Marin likes to be 'it'. And she likes throwing her weight around... along with everyone else." Astra turned her back to the pair. 

Celes let out a groan, her eyes spinning as she looked up, cradled in Marin's hands. 

"M-Marin, what's that look in your eyes??" Celes tried to roll away. "Marin, don't, DON'T-"

"Have fun!" Astra waved as Marin drew her arm back. 

Marin cackled as she launched Celes into the woods with a mighty overarm throw. Celes' form disappeared into the trees, though the sound of her colliding with tree after tree with so many rubbery bounces could be heard. The sounds of bouncing, along with Celes' wails of terror, faded with distance...

Astra wandered away, stretching her arm to wrap around one of the elevated tree branches, pulling herself up. Sighing, she retracted her yellow hair tendrils from the parrots, silencing herself once again. She watched Marin rush excitedly into the woods. 

With a muted yawn, she stretched and reclined, eager for a nap. All of that spectacle was exhausting...