Namine meets Rattlesnake Jake

Male voice: *A, E, I, O, U*
*A, E, I, O, U*

Namine looked up to see a long line of misty letters in the colors of pink, blue, and green, and she followed it as she was walking through the tall jungle of plants and grass. She then heard someone's singing voice coming from a nearby distance, as she then spotted a rattlesnake sitting on a large yellow mushroom. He was a dangerous western diamondback rattlesnake, with a Gatling gun in place of his rattle on the tip of his tail, wearing a black cowboy hat. He also has small black scales on his upper lip that greatly resembles a mustache. His name was Rattlesnake Jake, and he was the one who was singing the vowels A, E, I, O, and U while pressing the black knit squeezer of a large blue perfume flask that had released the mist of the vowels.

Rattlesnake Jake: *O*
*U, E, I, O, A*

Namine made her way over to Rattlesnake Jake and climbed atop a small mushroom that acted like a step to the larger mushroom. Her hands were placed on the edges of the mushroom, and she was standing on her toes to give herself enough height to see him, before she placed her elbows on the mushroom and her hands on her face. She had a curious smile on her face, as she wanted to talk to him.

Rattlesnake Jake: *A, U, E, I, A*
*A, E, I, O, U...*

Once he stopped singing, Rattlesnake Jake inhaled the thick mist of his perfume, and exhaled slowly in delight of the wonderful aroma that had shrouded the two like a fog. He then turned his head to Namine and jolted, widening his eyes in shock and dropping the squeezer onto the mushroom.

"Who...are...you?" he said to her, leaning in toward her face with one eye looking at her and the other shut tight. With each word Rattlesnake Jake would say, the mist of the perfume would form a letter that must match the ending of the word. The letters "O," "R," and "U" had formed and faded into Namine's face. She could smell an oceanic air from the fragrant blue mist, and then she knew that it was the exact scent Rattlesnake Jake had breathed in a moment ago.

"I- I- I hardly know, sir," Namine replied to him, nervous by Rattlesnake Jake's frown that had just formed on his face due to her presence. "I changed so many times since this morning, you see..."

"I do not see," Rattlesnake Jake said, cutting her off. As then, the blue mist was sprayed once again, this time forming the letter "C." "Explain yourself."

"Why, I’m afraid I can’t explain myself, sir," Namine said to Rattlesnake Jake, as she felt the misty letter spinning around her right wrist before fading away. "Because I’m not myself, you know."

Rattlesnake Jake turned away from her and said to her, "I do not know."

"Well, I can’t put it anymore clearly for it isn’t clear to me."

"You?" Rattlesnake Jake repeated, asking Namine the same question when he first saw her. The letters "O" and "R" had formed from the blue and green sprays from Rattlesnake Jake's perfume, and Namine ducked underneath each of them. However, she could smell the ocean air from the blue mist and eucalyptus from the green mist.

Namine started to say something only to be sprayed in the face by the pink letter "U." "Well, don’t you think that you should tell me..." But she coughed and squinted her eyes, though she could smell the scent of cherry blossoms from the pink mist that faded away. "Who you are first?"

"Why?" Rattlesnake Jake said, pressing the squeezer again and releasing a yellow mist that formed the letter "Y." The yellow mist had the smell of sunflowers, which was also a delightful aroma Rattlesnake Jake loved so much.

"Oh, dear!" Namine said, before kneeling down on the small mushroom, "Everything is so confusing."

"It is not."

"Well, it is to me."

"Why?" Once Rattlesnake Jake asked her why again, the letter "Y" was formed by the blue mist with the sea breeze. With a tedious expression on his face, he laid on a purple leaf that was on a stem next to the mushroom.

"Well, I can’t remember things as I used to," Namine answered, shaking her head a little. "And..."

"Recite." Rattlesnake Jake cut her off.

That snapped Namine out of her worries, and the girl stood up to him, replying to him with a short curtsey, saying, "Hmm? Oh! Oh, oh, yes, sir."

She took a moment to clear her throat, before trying to remember which recitation she had heard of before. Once she did finally come up with one, she then began reciting.

Namine: Um
*How doth the little busy bee*
*Improve each shi...*

"Stop!" the rattlesnake commanded, cutting her words short. He rose up from the leaf he was laying on and landed back on the large mushroom, unimpressed by what she had just started to say.

"That is not spoken correcti-cally,” he said to her. "It goes..."

He then took a short breath before starting to say the correct recitation.

Rattlesnake Jake: *How...*

Just as he pressed the squeezer, he widened his eyes in surprise. He pressed the squeezer rapidly many times, a red vein popping up on his head and growling in frustration. The rattlesnake then noticed that his coils were holding the thin black tube that would lead the perfume from the bottle to a small opening on the cerulean cap. He then patted his coils with his tail harshly, causing them to release the tube.

Namine was giggling at the rattlesnake's small mishap, and a smile had formed on her face. Rattlesnake Jake, on the other hand, cleared his throat and pressed the squeezer again, and this time, a green mist was sprayed out of the bottle. It then formed into a crocodile walking on all four legs.

Rattlesnake Jake: *How doth the crocodile*
*Improve his shining tail*
*And pour the waters of the Nile*
*On every golden scale*

The green mist faded away as the rattlesnake climbed onto another lavender leaf with his many coils, still holding the squeezer.

Rattlesnake Jake: *How cheer...*

Just as he was about to say the next line, however, he suddenly opened his eyes and widened them in surprise.

Rattlesnake Jake: *How cheer...*

He then tried to say it again, but he was cut short once more and looked down to see his tail wiggling off the edge of the leaf. Annoyed by this, he let out a short growl and swiftly placed his tail onto the leaf.

Namine let out another giggle in reaction to the rattlesnake's mishap, but she saw his frown and stopped in order to avoid adding fuel to his anger. Rattlesnake Jake then laid his head on the stem and finally recited the next few lines of the recitation.

Rattlesnake Jake: *How cheerfully he seems to grin*
*How neatly spreads his claws*
*And welcomes little fishes in*
*With gently smiling jaws*

"Well I must say, I’ve never heard it that way before." Namine said to the rattlesnake.

"I know," Rattlesnake Jake replied, deeply inhaling the scent of eucalyptus through his nose and exhaling through his mouth. "I have improved it."

With that said, two "O's" in the smoky mists of pink and green formed and flew into Namine's face just as she was about to say something to the rattlesnake. "Well..." She coughed and squinted her eyes tightly again, even though she smelled the aromas of eucalyptus and cherry blossoms.

"If you ask me..." she finally said, as she opened her eyes and frowned at the rattlesnake.

With a tedious expression on his face, Rattlesnake Jake turned to Namine and replied, "You?"

The rattlesnake pressed the squeezer again, and the green mist formed in the "U" shape once it was sprayed out of the perfume bottle, then morphed into the "O" as he leaned in toward Namine's face. The blue mist formed in the "R" silhouette, and a red mist appeared in the "U" contour as he asked her again: "Who are you?"

As all the letters had been sprayed into Namine's face, she shut her eyes again and coughed once more, though she could smell the ocean from the blue vapor, the eucalyptus from the green, and strawberries from the red. The red mist then changed into the pink cherry blossom fog.

Suddenly, Namine's nose tickled by too much perfume.

"Ahh...Ah-Ah-Ah-Ah-Ah-CHOO!"

She let out a big sneeze, only to fall backwards off the small mushroom. Namine swiftly rose up, still frowning at Rattlesnake Jake for giving her a perplexing conversation and spraying his multi-scented perfume in her face so many times. She had quite enough of him! And with that, she started marching away from the rattlesnake, and the pink mist formed on her right foot. It gradually faded away with every step the Intergalactic girl took, though she noticed it and stomped on the ground at a rapid pace, then lifted her foot and shook the mist off of it. Then Namine opened two small leaves and entered through them, just as Rattlesnake Jake started to have second thoughts about making her leave with his actions.

"You there! Girl!" he called out to Namine. "Wait! Come back!"

Then Namine opened the leaves again once the rattlesnake shouting grabbed her attention, though she was still worked up by her discomfited talk with him.

"I have something important to say!"

"Oh, dear!" Namine said, before slinking back in the tall grass and crawling her way through it. "I wonder what he wants now."

Namine went over a small root and walked through the jungle of plants and grass, before returning to Rattlesnake Jake's large mushroom.

"Well?" she said to him, folding her arms crossly with a stern look on her face.

"Keep your temper." Rattlesnake Jake replied to her, spraying an orange mist at the blue and white circles. The white mist had the fragrance of Egyptian cotton, and the orange one had a citrus scent as all the circles and the dot disappeared into thin air.

"Is that all?" Namine asked, her hands placed on her hips as she moved two steps forward to the mushroom.

Rattlesnake Jake placed his coils in front of him and moved his head over backwards. "No," he answered her, before placing his coils on the very end of himself. "Exacti-cally what is your problem?"

Green, pink, and yellow mists were sprayed out of the perfume once the rattlesnake asked Namine, having a mellow expression on his face.

"Well, it’s exacti—" Namine started to say, struggling to say the peculiarly long word the rattlesnake just said to her. "Exactic—Well, it’s precisely this. I would like to be a little larger, sir.”

"Why?" Rattlesnake Jake asked, pressing the squeezer. The pink spray was released from the bottle and it formed into a question mark.

"Well, after all, three inches is such a wretched height," Namine answered. "And..."

Rattlesnake Jake swiftly rose up, glaring at Namine angrily in reaction to her answer as he pressed the squeezer many times, releasing a silver mist that would represent his rage. "High?! I am exactically three inches high," he boasted, turning red and leaning in toward Namine before swiftly returning to his position. "And it is a very good height indeed!"

The silver fog had the scent of firewood, and Namine could smell it as the mist engulfed the red rattlesnake right before her very eyes.

"But I’m not used to it. And you needn’t *shout*!" she snapped, blowing the silver fog away. Once the fiery vapor cleared up, however, Rattlesnake Jake's shed skin, along with his cowboy hat and black scales, were scattered all over the mushroom. Luckily, his perfume bottle was still there.

"Oh, dear!" Namine said, picking up his cowboy hat with her fingers.

She then dropped it when she heard a new voice saying to her from above, "By the way, I have a few helpful hints."

Namine looked up to see that Rattlesnake Jake had transformed into an Indian python with golden yellow skin, yellow eyeballs, and golden brown spots on his back named Kaa. She observed him fluttering in the air and gasped in shock.

"One side of the mushroom will make you grow taller! And the other will make you grow smaller!"

"But which side will do which?" Namine asked him.

"You’ll see," Kaa replied to her. "It’s only a matter of time before you try two pieces of the mushroom, one on each side! The effects depend on which of the sides you pick!"

Once Kaa slithered away, Namine sat down on the small mushroom and took two pieces of it, one on each side.

"Hmmm...One side of the mushroom will make me grow..." she repeated the essential piece of Kaa's advice. "But which is which?"

She looked at the two pieces of the mushroom left and right, still a little confused by them. They may be identical pieces of the mushroom, but the two have the contrasting effects that may help with her height. After taking a moment to make up her mind, Namine lifted up the piece of the mushroom that was in her right hand.

"Hmmm...After all that's happened. I-I wonder if I..." she thought aloud, before lifting the piece to her mouth, "I don’t care."

With that said, Namine took a bite of the mushroom slice that was in her right hand.

"I'm tired of being three inches high -yi -yi -yi -yi -yi!" she said to herself again.

Just then, Namine felt herself stretching higher and higher at an alarming rate, as she knew that she had grown taller—much taller than her normal height!

Her head popped out from the top of a green tree, and a nest holding a female humanoid rabbit that was on top of her scalp. She looked around and saw that her legs and feet were way down toward the ground and beneath the tree.

The female humanoid rabbit was a slender, beautiful bunny with long, curvy ears pulled back like a ponytail by a purple rubber band, peach skin, a cream muzzle and underbelly, small whiskers, blue eyes, and a soft powder puff tail, wearing a yellow cropped tank top, short purple shorts. Her name was Lola Bunny.

Anyway, Lola shook her head rapidly and looked down as well. She gasped in horror to see Namine's colossal body beneath her and cried out, "A serpent!"

Lola flew out of her nest in a panic and swarmed around Namine, calling out for help and shouting, "Aaaaahhh! Help! Serpent! Serpent!"

"Oh, but please! Please!" Namine exclaimed apprehensively to the female humanoid rabbit.

"Off with you! Shoo! Shoo!" Lola shouted to Namine, still assuming that the girl was a monstrous serpent as she flew around her again. "Go away! Serpent! Serpeeeent!"

"But I’m not a serpent!"

Lola stopped soaring and turned to Namine with a scowl on her face. "Indeed?" she asked her, before propping on Namine's nose. "Then just what are you?"

"I’m just a teenage girl." Namine answered, as she saw the female humanoid rabbit flying away from her gigantic form.

"Teenage?" Lola repeated, placing her gloved hands on her sides. "Ha! Teenage?" The female humanoid rabbit then burst out into laughter, much to Namine's worries.

"Well, I am," the Intergalactic girl said to her. "I mean, I was."

"And I suppose you don’t eat eggs, either?"

“Yes, I do, but...”

That frightened Lola even more, as the female humanoid rabbit had been very protective of her eggs the whole time she encountered Namine and her enormous height. "I knew it!"

"But-but-but..."

"I knew it!" she boasted in front of Namine, before flying around her at least three more times. "Serpent! Serpeeeeeeeeeent!!"

"Oh, for goodness' sake!" Namine exclaimed to the panicked female humanoid rabbit. She then glanced to the other mushroom piece in her left hand and repeated the second piece of Kaa's advice, "And the other side of the mushroom will..."

"The very idea!" Lola complained in a frustrated voice, carefully gathering her five eggs in her nest. "Spend all my time laying eggs for serpents like her!"

Just as Namine took the bite of the second mushroom slice, she felt herself shrinking at an alarming rate, causing Lola to fly out of her nest and lose her eggs in the process. The nest landed between two small branches as Namine continued to shrink down the tree, and Lola caught all five of her eggs with her gloved hands whereas Namine landed in the grassy terrain. The girl had now reverted to the height of three inches she was before.

"Goodness," Namine said, still holding the two mushroom pieces in her tiny hands as she sat up on the ground. "I wonder if I’ll ever get the knack of it."

She then lifted her left arm up as she glanced at the mushroom piece in her right hand, which was the one that caused her to become the giant that scared Lola. Then Namine took a lick of it, and that caused her to grow again—but this time, back to her regular height.

"There, that’s much better." Namine said, satisfied with the problem finally solved in spite of the ups and downs she had went through. As she started walking, she looked at the mushroom pieces in her hands one last time, before placing them in her two dress pockets.

"Hmmm...I better save these." she said to herself.