This great story made by  BottleH2O
Moving onto bigger and better things.
It had been a strange few days for the water Dragon Okeana. First, she and Gustav had been called to meet up with her friend Zizaly, who claimed she had discovered something incredible. Intrigued at the chance to learn something new, Okeana eagerly went to drop by and see what the deal was. When she arrived, it looked like nothing was amiss. Zizaly was sitting next to a nearby mountain, shaking with excitement while Gustav was stretched lazily across the ground, resting his head against his arm and looking at Zizaly with a tired expression, urging her to get on with it now that the two of them were here, to which Zizaly eagerly agreed. And from there, their perspectives on everything changed.

Zizaly demonstrated a brand new ability to the two of them. Size manipulation. They watched with shock as she shrank the mountain Gustav was using as a pillow down to the size of a human, causing Gustav’s head to slam to the ground unceremoniously at the unexpected loss of his impromptu pillow. Both his and Okeana’s eyes widened at this new revelation. Zizaly was looking especially proud of herself as she explained to the two of them how to use this new ability. It was all about pushing past their limits and going further beyond. They had given it a try, and with a little coaching, both of them had managed to acquire this new ability.

Gustav had stomped off to go visit a human city for the first time. He had said that now that he could become smaller, he could see the little guys up close and check out their cities for himself for once. Zizaly meanwhile had decided to go have fun, and simply left to go on a romp, leaving Okeana to her devices.

Now back at the present time, Okeana was shaking with excitement. “So many new possibilities!” she thought giddily “There’s so much more I can do now in the name of science! But first, I should probably conduct study on this phenomenon. Maybe I should test it on myself a bit more. Then I will truly see the limits of this new ability,”

But as Okeana got out her paper and quill and prepared to start her experiment, an idea suddenly came to her. Her boyfriend, Gustav, had said that he was going to visit human cities as part of his experiment (well, he was actually just going to visit them, but her science focused mind thought it was an experiment) so why not experiment on human cities as well? Surely, they’ll be happy to aid her in the advancement of science! Right? Oh well, she was sure they’d agree anyway. Okeana got up and began walking around, trying to find a human settlement. Which, admittedly, did not take very long. The citizens began to panic as they saw the gigantic, blue dragon lumbering over to them. The ground shaking wildly with every step Okeana took. Her paw landed down on the ground with a mighty BOOM! shaking up dirt and sending it cascading down onto the helpless city.

“Attention humans!” Okeana boomed authoritatively, her mere voice alone was enough to shake the ground and cause everyone within the city to cover their ears as Okeana’s voice shook them to the core “I have selected you and your entire city to partake in a research project I will be conducting in the name of science, you can thank me later after the experiment is over!”

The humans all looked at each other in disbelief. Was she being serious? They didn’t agree to anything! And they certainly didn’t want to take part in any experiment she was conducting! But it wasn’t like they could protest against her. After all, who would want to knowingly and willingly anger a dragon? Especially one that was towering over all of them so easily.

A thunderous THOOM! Shook the earth and surroundings once more. The populace screamed, stumbling around in place as they expected to be attacked. But on the contrary, it was something completely different. Okeana had simply sat down and set her giant sized paper and quill down on the ground next to her. “Alright little ones, let get started,” she said. Okeana prepared herself and concentrated, activating her magic and using her size ability on the city. She had seen Zizaly shrinking the mountain, so now she wanted to see if she can shrink multiple things at once. The hundreds of humans and their plentiful homes should work nicely for her
needs.

A glow formed around the city and people. Nothing happened at first and they all looked at themselves in confusion. But that confusion quickly turned to fear as they saw their surroundings start to get bigger. No, they were getting smaller! Panic broke out in the streets as they tried to run away but Okeana was shrinking them too fast. Before they could even reach the city limits, she had shrunk them smaller than the grass.

Okeana chuckled, tapping her finger down on the ground next to the shrunken city, the shaking feeling like a cataclysm to the shrunken humans “How’s the weather down there?” she joked as she wrote down the results of the first experiment. A success! She can effortlessly manipulate the size of multiple targets at once without much work being put into it. With the data in hand, she grew the city back to normal size, but not before she dug her claw into the earth and traced a massive trail around the city, digging a ravine dozens of meters wide and deep to prevent any of her ‘test subject’ from leaving before she was done with her experiments. And gathering data. Sweet, precious, data.

The next task at hand was to conduct her second experiment. This one would entail multitasking. Can she grow while simultaneously shrinking something else? Or in this case, several somethings? Okeana felt herself begin to rise into the air as her sized increased while subsequently, the size of the humans and their town decreased once more. Throwing them back
into a fit of panic and fear. To which the eager scientific dragon paid them no mind. As her form rose past the birds and clouds, Okeana looked down to see the size of the town dwindling rapidly once more. With no change to the speed she was shrinking it while she focused on growing herself.

Nodding with acknowledgement, she wrote down the notes, happy to see that all was going according to plan. Now that she had two experiments done, there was only one more to do. She already practiced shrinking one human city, now, how about multiple?

“But Okeana,” a reader such as yourself may ask “You already know you can shrink multiple things at once. Why keep going?”

“Well,” Okeana would reply to the sudden 4th wall break “Because it’s all in the name of science! We keep pushing forward for the sake of asking questions and solving problems related to those questions! I can change the size of several things yes, but can I do more? That’s why I wish to experiment with multiple cities, reader.”

Coming back to the here and now, Okeana was already at a proper size to see several other cities scattered around the land “Ah, excellent. This will make for some good data,” she thought, growing the first human city she had been experimenting on back to normal. She quickly jotted down the data from her second experiment, listing off it as a success. And now, it was time for her 3rd and final experiment. Starting back at her base height, she began to grow once more, and at the same time, all the human cities that she had spotted had all began to shrink all together, down towards the size of insects.

It was pandemonium for the humans as they saw their statures diminish and were relegated to the size of bugs. All the while the continental sized dragon rose up higher and higher into the air like an ancient god of old. A single one of her toes were bigger than the biggest mountain to them. Something that was practically impossible to conquer or scale. A mere shift of her colossal foot caused a devastating earthquake for the shrunken down test subject.

Conversely, Okeana was enjoying the simple breeze as she loomed high in the air and wrote down the results of her experiment. It had all worked according to her plan. She could manipulate the size of several things all at once while focusing her size manipulation magic on herself. A true success! As she finished jotting down the data that she had collected, she looked down at the tiny cities and even tinier humans with an amused smile. Wondering how they were reacting all the way down there, how it felt to them to have their stature removed so they were no longer at the top of the food chain anymore and had been placed at the bottom, and (most importantly of all) how she looked to them all the way down there. With how big she was now, she probably looked like a living, moving planet to them.

Things had been going extremely well for the large water dragon. She was able to conduct experiments to her heart’s content and keep on gaining knowledge. And now she can experiment with the humans as much as she wanted. But as Okeana looked over her data, a sudden thought popped up in her mind. She had thought that those three experiments were all she would be able to do for now with the humans, but why stop there? Why not continue to experiment with herself for a little bit? It was worth a shot. Zizaly said that the source of their newfound abilities stemmed from being able to surpass their limits and reach for new heights, so why not try this again?

Okeana looked up at the sky, staring up into the deep blue that incompassed the planet. She had remembered once hearing from a human philosopher that the world she knew was not all there was, and it was not all it seemed to be. This philosopher had brought forth the idea that their world, Earth, was just one planet of countless out in a place called ‘space’ a seemingly endless void where objects maintain their own relative direction and position while following their own rules. As Okeana looked up at the sky, she wondered, could another world have a differently colored sky? It seemed almost impossible to think about. And yet, the possibility was still there as well as boundless other possibilities out there.

What else could be out there? Other ideas had been brought to her attention. Terms like stars, galaxies, and asteroids. Stars are extremely large astronomical objects made up of a substance called plasma, galaxies were comprised of said stars as well as other celestial objects, and asteroids are extremely large chunks of rock. The possibilities to see stuff like that was endless.

And that was something Okeana hated. That word. Possibility. She had to know for certain! That was why she was a scientist after all. To learn the truth and know the certainty of things. All things! No matter how trivial or obscene it may seem.

With her mind made up she prepared herself. “This is another good test,” She thought to herself with amusement “Now I can see just how much I can truly grow,”

But before she did, another thought crossed her mind and she turned her attention down to the ground where the human cities were still shrunken. If she was smaller she could have heard the panicked shouts of the humans in their new positions as bugs. “Well, since I’ll be gone for a little while, why not conduct another experiment while I’m gone and check on the results when I come back?” Okeana thought “Humans have gotten so used to relying on their adorable little tools and magic, thinking themselves as the top of the food chain. I wonder how things will go for them if they’ve been stripped from their positions at the top and put down at the bottom of the food chain. Ohhhh, I cannot wait to see the results!”

Finally, with no more distractions in mind, Okeana turned skyward and began to grow even more. The humans on the ground looked up in horror as the gargantuan dragon, already so big and powerful to them, began surging in size even more! And to make matters worse, she was shrinking them even more! Screams erupted all around as they dwindled in stature more and more until they were reduced to dust size. Okeana watched with amusement as her head broke though the cloud like, her foot landing on top of a nearby mountain as she shifted it, squishing it into dust as she continued her ascent.

At long last, the blue sky began to fade, and now, Okeana was met with a new sight. The black void around her. She giggled to herself, casting an air spell in the process to help her breath. A startling discovery once she realized there was no air for her in this everlasting void. “Incredible!” Okeana said, eagerly looking around her as her size continuously rose higher and higher “So this must be space!”

It was far more interesting than she could have ever imagined. All around her was the blackness of night, with stars twinkling in every direction. Constellations spanning for miles and miles, as far as the eye could see. Wisps of cosmic dust soared though the void, flying rocks could be seen pelting though the stars, it was all so much!

As Okeana was marveling at her new surroundings, something flashed by her right eye. She blinked, leaning back and focused in on it. It was Earth. There, directly floating in front of her was the very planet she had lived on not even one minute ago. What had once stood tall and mighty, had now been reduced to the size of a ball. And still getting smaller as Okeana rose like a titan high above the pint-sized planet. Giggle, Okeana flexed her muscles, each one bulging mightily, easily eclipsing the entire Earth. Okeana bounced the planet around on her arm, watching it jump around on her bulk before she caught it in between her fingers. She was trying hard not to laugh.

The planet was no bigger than a marble now.

Feeling mischievous, she held it up close to her face and up to her eye, attempting to peer down at the microscopic organisms down below. Thankfully, she had the hindsight to cast a spell on herself so she wouldn’t accidently squish 75% of the population under her gargantuan fingers and pop the planet like a grape.

On the surface of the planet, people screamed as the entire planet began to shake from Okeana holding it. Even little things like a small twitch in her finger was enough to send powerful earthquakes though the world and rock the infinitesimal people to their cores. But pandemonium and chaos broke loose as they all looked to the sky and saw the usual blue replaced by the biggest eye they had ever seen. Like the eye of a god looking down at them and judging them for its own amusement.

And Okeana was extremely amused as she noted the reactions of the tiny people and wrote it down on her paper, which had now been grown supersized alongside her. Okeana wanted to see if the humans would change their reactions at all at the sight of her and began to tap the tip
of her finger down at the planet. It was bigger than a continent to the humans held helplessly in Okeana’s palm. A continent of blue scales lowering itself down from the sky in slow motion, but indescribable power behind it, before slamming down on top of them with a thunderous BOOOM! Cracking the surface a little but leaving the humans and buildings miraculously unharmed. Just another perk of the spell Okeana had cast.

She noted the lack of fear on the humans faces to be replaced with confusion on their part and wrote that down too when she had tapped them with her finger “I guess that is to be expected. After all, test subjects tinier than bugs would be pretty confused if they expected to be squished like vermin only to emerge from the ordeal completely fine,” she thought offhandedly as she let go of the planet, letting it float back into its usual position in space.

With that minor experiment out of the way, she can now focus more on her surroundings and observe and conduct more tests on all the foreign objects around her. And then she’ll be able to take them back to be experimented on! For science!

Concentrating more, Okeana began growing even more. Everyone on the planet felt everything rumbling as the cosmic water titan grew once again, displacing the air and shaking them around like insects thrown in the wind. The planet shrank down to a pebble, then a dot, then dust, until at last, Okeana couldn’t see it anymore. Chuckling to herself, she made a mental note where it was as she climbed up in size more and more. Effortlessly knocking away debris and floating rocks like they were dandelion seeds in the air as they struck harmlessly against her scaled body.

Soon, all the floating planets and stars all seemed to gather in one place, swirling around majestically as she grew further still. Okeana leaned down eagerly, her nostrils flaring as she sniffed down at the cosmic structure curiously. “Could…could this be a galaxy? The very same I heard that human philosopher speak about?” she wondered, leaning in curiously to the very same illuminated cluster that housed her home. Her eye and pupil alone were bigger than the entire galaxy. She pulled her head back and looked around at her surroundings, spying hundreds of other such galaxies swirling around in space. Okeana felt herself getting excited, butterflies fluttering around in her stomach as she floated over to another cluster of galaxies. “Mmmm, yes. I think I shall take these. They’ll be perfect for me to study later on!” she boomed with a wide grin, her voice shuddering the star clusters around her as it shook the void. Okeana magicked up a lab vial, sized for her. She brought up the vial underneath the few galaxies that were bunched together and put them inside it. Bringing up a cork up to the top and sealing it.

Okeana smirked and brought the vial up to her eyes, looking down at the galaxies within, giving it a little shake. Though she couldn’t see it, as she was far too big, the microscopic alien species that she had trapped within the vial for her experiments were looking up at her galactic eye replacing their night skies, running through the streets in terror at the sight. Okeana chortled,
pleased with the new test specimen before conjuring up her bag and dropping the vial into its depths. But not before she dropped in a few other vials as well, each one filled with its own individual galaxies. Pleased at her findings, Okeana decided now would be a good time to go have some fun as she went to explore the stars.

She floated through space, moving though the void. Even though there was no air, everything around her acted like there still was. Planets and stars shaking with force as she passed by. Okeana giggled, flicking one of the uninhabited planets away. But the fragile thing simply exploded from the sheer power her finger exuded, cutting it cleanly in half, with the interior glowing with molten magma.

A sudden idea came to her. Another potential test she could do. Why not stress test some planets? This way she knows how much force to apply when she handles them. And of course when she takes a few back to study. Looking around, Okeana spotted a few other planets floating about. A quick scan revealed them to not be inhabited as well. Snagging one out of it’s position in space, Okeana held it between her fingers, gazing upon the tiny orb with great interest. From her incomprehensible size now, it was hard to believe that something as small and fragile as this planet was capable of holding and housing the lives millions of creatures upon it.

“Now then, for the test!” Okeana declared, conjuring up her papers once more. She began to squeeze the barren and desolate planet between her mighty fingers. Okeana watches as the crust of the unnamed planet began to crack, spiderwebbing across the surface revealing glowing magma below. The atmosphere began to dissipate, tiny country sized pieces of the planet began to break off, propelling it into the void. Okeana squeezed a little harder, applying the same about of pressure one would to pop a grape. And that was the straw that broke the planet’s back.

SQUISH!

Okeana blinked as tiny flecks of lava spewed out of the planet like juice, splashing onto her cheek. Smirking with amusement, her titanic tounge sneaked out of her mouth, licking the lava off her and swallowing it. “Not bad. Got a bit of a spicy kick to it,” Okeana giggled to herself, adding the data to her notes. She jotted down the information she had gotten with the pressure she applied to the planet, as well as the surprisingly interesting taste of lava.

But another thought came to the ever inquisitive dragoness. That was only the information of a single planet. What if the pressure applied to a different planet was not the same as this one? Only one way to find out.

Coming to another cluster of dead planets, Okeana curiously flicked one of them into another like marbles. Resulting in a small scaled (to her) collision of rocks and magma. The debris quickly found themselves in her gullet, Okeana not wanting some perfectly good magma to go to waste. “Interesting. So, it appears that roughly the same amount of force used to break a planet is about the same for others. That is good to know when I bring back these for further study,” She thought as she nonchalantly put some more worlds into her vials and dropping it into her humongous bag.

Okeana quadrupled her size even more, rising up even more than before, and continued on her way. As she trounced about in the stars, she took time to capture more galaxies, shrinking down whenever necessary to hold onto smaller things such as an asteroid belt, which she put in a jar, a few comets, and more. Eventually, Okeana thought now would be time to go home and go over her findings. She was so excited! But on her way back she came across something strange. It was unlike anything she had ever seen before. A formless, nameless thing. A object or substance that was blacker than the night itself. And even more terrible than she could have ever imagined!

It looked like it was sucking in everything around it. Even light itself! How was that even possible? She had to find out for herself. Okeana cautiously flew towards the hole, now dubbed a ‘black hole’ watching as it pulled in a nearby sun. But to her shock, it even began to pull her in as well! She let out a gasp of surprise and quickly pulled back, just barely able to escape it’s confines. She flew back fast, putting some distance between it and herself as quickly as she could. When Okeana had gotten to a good distance, she stopped to ponder what to do. How could she go about getting this ‘black hole?’

But just as suddenly as the question had came to her, a solution popped into her mind. Grinning mischievously, she grew even bigger than before, until the black hole had become no bigger than a grain of sand. The universe shook with Okeana’s laughter as she brought up a cosmic sized vial and put the black hole inside it, embedding it with strengthening spells so it wouldn’t be damaged by the mysterious thing.

Okeana carefully put the black hole into her bag, and at long last, began to depart back to her home planet. Happy about how well the day had gone with all the research opportunities she had been given as well as the new areas she was able to explore. But…For now she wanted to keep ‘space’ a secret from Zizaly and Gustav. At least for now. The greedy part of her dragon mind wanted to hoard this place all to herself for the time being, at least until she can discover more things about space and learn about it. Or else the others would probably use it as their own personal playground.

As she decreased in size more, entering the planet’s atmosphere, she remembered something startling. She had almost forgotten about the human cities she had shrunk! Now she had to collect the data of what happened before heading home. Oh, and according to Gustav she should give something to the humans as thanks for participating in her research. Apparently it was the right thing to do. Okeana sighed, stopping by her cave once she had reached a sufficient height and retrieved a bag of gold coins. “I could always grow the coins giant sized for them to harvest the gold from,” Okeana mused to herself as she flew back to the test site, eager to collect the data and look at all she had found during her time in space.

What fun it had been! She would definitely try doing something like this again!