Lighting stuck down on a Titanomach, a giant metal golem with a big bright glowing core. It was unfazed. Someone ought to strike the core, yea?

Unfortunately it was guarded by a runic formation that shot lasers at any projectile that got close. Arrin was having a hard time taking it down. Twas the guardian of his particular treasure.

Inside the core was a sword! A legendary sword that would be useful to him.

The Titanomach’s left arm was a laser cannon! It aimed it at Arrin, who was covered in lightning and stanced!

The lazer struck the spot he was just in. It phased through all the treasures on the ground. They were fated to somebody, so they couldn’t be damaged yet. The island itself was not a treasure, so the ground did cave in a bit. Some of the treasures falling in.

Whoever came for those would have to dig.

Arrin stood on a small treasure hill, and summoned a white heavenly annihilation bolt. He launched it at the golem. It was staggered, but undamaged.

Gary watched from a distance. He was levitating. He then turned back around, and headed towards his button. This was clearly out of his league.

“Should I help, sir?” The Claw asked.

“What can you do to help him?” Gary inquired.

“I can provide him with a light buff, so long as I am in his presence.” The claw stated

Gary stopped in the air. “Where’s MY buff?”

The Claw wiggled its fingers and tiny runes levitated towards Gary. They collapsed on his skin.

“Ah.” Gary sighed. “Go, I guess.”

Gary flew away alone, and down behind a comfy looking couch. The trap formations did not activate. Breaking apart as he passed through them. Not that noticed.

On the couch was a giant feathered snake. It was sleeping.

There were multiple couches, all around a button that sat on a pedestal. 6 couches. Each with an animal, and two with a vegetable and fruit.

“Who are we waiting for?” Asked the Violet Crocodile.

“Apparently, a ‘rat bastard’” Read out a bespectacled hawk.

“So, a giant rat!” A giant toad excitedly shouted.

“Probly?” A devilish strawberry transmitted.

A golden bean levitated, and a divine eye appeared on its body “Rat-Bastard detected.”

Gary pulled out his sword, and hand cannon. He was about to strike down the snake.

A Giant Gary-sized horned rat-daemon leaped into the air. Its eyes glowed red, and its claws had black flames. It grabbed, and ate the bean. It then landed next to the pedestal

The animals, and fruit, leaped into action.

The crocodile warped, and grabbed the rat’s leg. Its death-roll tore off the limb of the rat’s spectral clone.

A claw pierced through its tough skin.

The strawberry ignited, and a sea of flames engulfed the area.

Black flames engulfed the rat, fought back the sea of flames, and then consumed the berry!

A tongue stuck out, and latched onto the rat. It was then stuffed into the mouth of the toad. It felt itself being crushed by the pressure. It vomited something into the toad’s mouth. It then phased through the toad.

The toad made a weird gurgling sound, and slumped down.

Air-blades swarmed down from the skies. The hawk was making its attempt.

The rat squealed. The air-blades were deflected by a sonic barrier.

A shock wave strikes the hawk, and it falls to the ground dead.

The rat then turns to the button, sniffs it a bit, and grabs it. It begins laughing maniacally, as the toad explodes behind him.

The snake, who had been woken up by the fighting, thinks: fuck that, and slithers off the couch. As it begins to slither away it spots Gary hiding. Its eyes widened. “Ah, I see you’re the ‘rat-bastard’” It turns back to the rat. It then looks at Gary. “Good luck with that.” It whispers as it slithers off.

The rat-daemon opens a gateway, and steps through it. On the other side is The Ethereal Rat den. A place no mortal has ever seen. A dangerous S-rank rat daemon lives there, so why would you want to visit?

Gary carefully steps out , and stares at the empty pedestal.

“FUCK!” He sits down in front of the gate glaring at it.

The tiny amulet wizard had once been a very well respected elder in a now extinct sect. He had escaped the destruction of his sect, and promised to recreate it, but he was unfortunate enough to have been captured by space-daemon cultists, and worst of all turned into a ghost-warding artifact!

The glass vial he was in forced him to continually cultivate, and fend off any ghosts that attacked his wearer. This was truly a fate worse than death.

At Least his cultivation had progressed to near-Archwizard. Today was different from all of the other days of endless cultivating. He felt a connection.

A small mirror appeared in front of him. Well, in front of Gary. It was sitting right there next to one of the couches.

He came up with an idea.

Congratulations!

Gary jumped upon hearing the transmission he looked around, but saw nothing.

As compensation for losing your original artifact to a Rat-Daemon! You get a free tiny mirror. It’s right over there. Next to that couch.

Gary was suspicious, but he did want another artifact. He called for the Claw.

Eventually The Claw came back.

“Is Arrin still good?” Gary asked.

“Yes.” The Claw replied.

“K, grab that mirror” he pointed.

The Claw reached out, and attempted to grab the mirror. It phased through his fingers. “Not mine, and too weak.”

“Then why did a Rat-Daemon take my button?” Gary grabbed his head.

“Rat-Daemon?” The claw queried. It then noticed the gate. “Ah, an Avaratcious Ethereal. Dangerous. Greedy.”

Gary’s eye twitched. He then marched up to the mirror, and attempted to grab it.

It was the legendary fate-reversal mirror!

It flew into Gary’s ghost-warding necklace. The tiny wizard quickly refined the mirror claiming it for himself, and activated it. He needed a target, and unfortunately Gary was the only person around. The tiny wizard grew in size, and exploded out of the glass vile. He was free!

Gary was not okay. He was no longer just a Catboy. He was Tiny Catboy Gary. He was now about the size of a thumb. This was not good.

The Claw had shrunk too, and then returned to the amulet.

Oddly, all of his things shrunk with him, so at least he wasn’t naked, and without his spatial ring. He worried that his treasures may have shrunk too. He wasn’t sure if merchants would accept miniature currency.

Gary decided to search for Arrin once more. He was certain the man hadn’t died, and that if he stuck with him, Gary would be able to find some way to reverse his situation.

Gary wondered if the button was intended for this situation.

Despite his small size Gary managed to locate Arrin. Arrin was flying around on a sword. It was an ancient celestial flying sword that grew stronger as he killed his enemies. Gary managed to fly up to him, because Arrin was slowly hovering around, likely getting used to the sword.

“Hey.” Arrin heard an extremely tiny voice say.

“Gary? What the hell happened to you?” Asked Arrin

“No idea, one second daemon-rat steals my button, the next magic mirror, the next I get miniaturized. I think this was related to my amulet.” replied Gary.

Arrin picked Gary up, and put him on his head. He would later make a pocket for him to hang out in. Arrin had decided to help Gary return to his normal size.

He wondered if Gary could be useful in his tiny size. He was a lot harder to detect. His mana signature was already unusually small, but now it was nearly undetectable. He could use him to spy on others, or cast spells in battle that would normally be impossible.

Now that Arrin had a flying sword he could get off of this island. If it had been him at his peak he would’ve decided to try, and steal a few treasures through brute force, but now he had to make do with what he’d been given.

He then saw the gate, It had yet to close.

“We are not going in there!” Gary yelled. He could feel in his bones that Arrin was about to make a terrible decision for both of them.

“I didn’t even say anything!” Arrin replied.

“Your head turned in the direction of the gate, and you looked at it for more than 5 seconds. Please, neither of us are equipped to deal with an S-rank creature!” Gary argued.

“Well, we don’t have to deal with it. We just have to steal your button back.” Arrin asserted.

“That is a goddamn LIE and you know it!” Gary squeaked.

“Look, great risks lead to great rewards, and it's been a few years. My enemies are definitely a lot stronger than they have ever been. I need to do stuff like this or else I won’t stand a chance. I need to grab hold of every opportunity.” Arrin challenged.

“I’m going to die aren’t I?” Gary looked up at the heavens.

“Don’t you mean we?” Arrin laughed as he flew into the gate.

“No, I do not!”