Miss Pauling was resting against a tree, taking a nap. She dreamt of fanciful things, such as a rabbit with a pocket watch who was always late, or a Cheshire cat who could disappear with a flick of his tail. Eventually, she woke up to her boss standing over her.

"Miss Pauling, we do not have time for naps. It may be your day off, but we still have things to do." Pauling nodded and got up, stretching her tired and cramped body to loosen up.

"Now, let's keep looking for the briefcases." Pauling picked up her shotgun and trekked in front of the Administrator, keen to find the intel so she could get back to her nap. She wasn't watching her step, however, and-

"PAULING!"

It was a long and strange fall down the rabbit hole. There were many strange objects floating around, like table sets, teapots without saucers or cups, and even a full grandmaster piano. Eventually, she hit the floor, which wasn't as painful as she expected.

She sat up, then fell to the real floor. It appeared that she fell onto the ceiling the first time. She stood up and dusted herself off, looking around. Her shotgun had disappeared, but there was a small bottle on the table.

Pauling picked it up and read the tag;

'Drink me~' It read in fanciful cursive.

She shrugged and took a sip. She began shrinking, becoming so small that her clothes became a sea of lavender fabric to her. She tumbled out of her clothes, relieved that she still had the slip underneath on.

She looked up and saw a key on the table through the glass. Then she looked around the room again and saw a small door where the key would surely fit. Then she noticed a tin next to her. This one also had a note on it.

'Eat me~' In not as neat cursive.

She sighed and opened the tin. Inside, there was a cake covered in white frosting. She took a piece and ate it. She suddenly started growing. While she was panicking, she got out from under the table, so she grew and grew until her head hit the ceiling.

Pauling found it marvellous that her glasses grew with her, but it was a side thought compared to getting back to small size and getting the key to go through the door, which seemed the only way out at this point. She grabbed the key off the table, then drank from the bottle again. She shrunk again, this time having to bunch the fabric of the black satin slip to keep it on. She walked to the door and unlocked it.

When it swung open, it revealed a colourful forest, filled with all sort of fantastical flora and fauna. She saw butterflies with wings made of bread covered in an ample serving of butter, and tiny reptilians with fly wings that could breathe fire. She stepped forward, and when her foot met the soft grass, she flinched, suddenly remembering that he did not have shoes.

"Who are you?" A young man hopped up to her, cocking his head to the side in curiosity. Pauling had to hold back a giggle, for the young man had snow white bunny ears sprouting from his dirty blonde hair, buck teeth like a bunny, and was carrying a comically large pocket watch in the pocket of his vest. He probably had a cotton ball tail as well.

"I'm Miss Pauling. Who are you?" The young man stuck out a hand for Pauling to shake.

"I'm the Scout Rabbit." Pauling shook his hand. He let it drop, then checked his pocket watch. After a few seconds, he cried out in fear and shoved it back in his pocket.

"I'm sorry, I really gotta go! I'm so late!" He raced off, quick as a bunny. Pauling couldn't hold back a small giggle this time, for he did have a cute little cotton ball tail.

She continued walking through the forest, not really taking note of the environment around her until the air was filled with smoke. She coughed and tried to waft it away, walking through it. When she reached the source of the smoke, she found a little gathering of people around an opened scroll.

Scout Rabbit looked up when Pauling got close. He smiled and pulled her to stand beside him. She looked over the scroll, and was surprised to find the exact moment that they were in depicted on the scroll. She was there too, looking over the scroll with curiosity.

Once she looked back up, she found that everybody was staring at her. She flushed in embarrassment and started stuttering.

"Quiet, estúpida." Pauling closed her mouth and looked at the source of the command. It was a man dressed in red, smoking from a hookah. He blew a ring of smoke towards her. She coughed and fanned it away as he leaned closer to get a better look at her.

"Who are you?" Pauling cast him a confused look.

"Well, who are you?" The man blew another ring of smoke towards her, making her cough again.

"I am asking the questions here. Now, who. Are. You?" Pauling grimaced.

"My name is Miss Pauling. Who are you?" The man smiled and leaned back again.

"I'm the Red Dragon. I'm the one people go to when they need advice." Somebody materialized next to him, a man with cat ears and a striped cat tail dressed in blue.

"Well, are we going to tell her why she is here?" His tail swished as he sent me a grin. I looked away from him and back to the Red Dragon.

"You are here to slay-"

"Okay, stop right there. I'm not slaying anything. I don't even have the proper stuff to do so if I wanted to." Red Dragon sighs.

"You don't have a choice, estúpida niña púrpura. You only have twelve days to prepare." Pauling nods and sighs, seeing that she has no choice.

"Any special weapon I need for this?" The one with the cat ears nods.

"Oui, the Vorpal Sword. I will warn you, it has a passion for collecting heads, so be careful." Pauling nods and smiles.

"Thank you, err..."

"I am the Chespy Cat. A pleasure to make your acquaintance." He takes Miss Pauling's hand and kisses it. Pauling pulls her hand out of the cat's and put it behind her, wiping it.

"Okay, where is this sword?"

"The White Queen's-"

"No, you idiot! It's at the Red Queen's castle, don't you remember?!" What appeared to be twins start fighting with each other. Somebody taps Miss Pauling on the shoulder. She turns to find a man in a top hat and sunglasses giving her a curious look.

"I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name." She smiles up at the curious man.

"I'm Miss Pauling. Nice to meet you." He nods and smiles back.

"Now, I have a serious question to ask you. Are you ready?" Pauling nods.

"Why is a raven like a writing desk?" Pauling giggles.

"I have no idea." He chuckles and offers a hand.

"Everybody calls me the Mad Sniper, but you can call me Mick Hightopp." Pauling takes his hand and smiles.

"Well, since you told me your real name, I'll tell you the rest of mine. It's F-"

"BLOODY BARON! EVERYBODY SCATTER!" Pauling whips around, only to whip around again when the Mad Sniper starts dragging her away.

"Come on, Pauling! We gotta run!" Pauling starts running with Mick, struggling to keep her meagre clothing on. Somebody else grabs her hand and drags her along faster. Mick lets go and runs in a different direction.

"Come on, Miss Pauling! We gotta run!" Pauling runs faster to keep up with Scout Rabbit, but ends up falling behind. The Rabbit sighs and sweeps her up bridal style, running with her in his arms.

"Sorry, you were going too slow. Don't worry, you'll be safe." Pauling smiles at him. Suddenly, he trips over something, sending Pauling a few feet in front of him when he falls. Scout looks up at her with scared eyes.

"GO, GO, GO! RUN!" Pauling scrambles up just as the Rabbit is caught in a net. She runs away, not looking back. Something catches her arm on the way, and she cries out in pain. She tumbles down a hill, collecting more cuts and bruises until she falls to the bottom.

"Oh, mon cher, you must be more careful." Chespy helps her up.

"How did you avoid the whatever it was?" The Cat chuckles.

"I have amazing vaporization skills. I can disappear in the blink of an eye. I can also heal wounds, much like the one from the Bandersnatch that you got before you fell down this hill." Pauling looks at her arm, and sure enough, it's much nastier than the other cuts she has.

"I'm sure I'll be fine." Chespy pulls out a purple cloth.

"Well, at least allow me to bandage it for you." He quickly fastened the makeshift bandage around the wound, and it felt a bit better, now that it wasn't exposed to the air.

"So where do I go from here? I gotta get the Vorpal Sword, right?" Chespy nodded.

"Oui, but you are not well equipped for that venture. You know what, I'll help you. I'll take you to the Engineer and the Sniper...But that's the end of it." Pauling grinned, glad that she would be back with the Mad Sniper. Despite his name, he seemed the sanest out of all of them.

A few minutes later, they came upon a tea party in a small clearing in the forest.

"Have fun, mon cher." Then the Chespy disappeared. Pauling shuddered and approached the table.

"Uhm, hello?" A man with brown bunny ears looked around.

"Alright, who said that?!" He seemed angry. Pauling waved to him.

"Down here, it's Pauling." The man looked down at her.

"Pauling? Oh, you don't wanna be over here with me, you wanna be over there with the Sniper. Off you go!" He nudged her down the table and towards Sniper. Sniper seemed much bigger than before. Maybe he had some of that cake that made you larger?

"Hello, love. How are you?" Sniper smiled at Pauling.

"I'm fine. Say, do you, uh, have any clothes my size?" He opens his mouth to reply, but looks behind Pauling and suddenly grabs a teapot, gently putting her inside and closing the lid.

She could hear talking, but she couldn't understand most of it. However, after the talking stopped, she heard some light snipping, and then a purple dress was slipped inside the teapot, exactly her size. She changed, then knocked on the teapot. Sniper took her out and grinned.

"You look lovely, Pauling!" She smiled and fixed her glasses.

"Thank you. So, uh, what was all that talking for?" His smile falters a bit.

"Bloody Baron came round here looking for you." Sniper threw something at who she assumed was the Engineer, because there was nobody else around.

"Don't tell her that!"

"They've put out a manhunt for you with a big reward for the guy that finds you." Suddenly, somebody poked Pauling's side with something sharp. She yelped and swung at the one who did it.

"Aye, sorry lass! I thought you were another vision!" Pauling looked at her attacker.

"Who are you?" The man in front of her bowed. It was only then she noticed his mouse ears and tail. She also noted that he was her size, which meant that it did matter here.

"I'm Demomouse. You can call me Taviumkin, though. Or, Tav for short." Pauling giggles.

"Nice to meet you, Tav." He smiles.

"Nice to meet you, too."

                                                   ~To Be CoNtInUeD~