Kate unlocked the door and walked behind the front desk to start the computer.

It was the second day of the anime and game convention at the convention center where she worked. She was working the front desk to register guests who had not signed up in advance. The first day had been rather chaotic. Her unreliable co-worker had finally been fired after his absence in the past two months. This left her alone to run the front desk the day before. She expected today to be less chaotic as many of the people coming had arrived the previous day, but she would still have a new hire to help train.

She wished that she could skip work herself for a bit to check out some of the attractions at the convention. For the occasion, he had dressed as the female trainer from Pokémon Fire Red and Leaf Green. Consisting of a white hat, light blue tank top, and red skirt, it was a simple outfit that still allowed her to do her work.

She had just about gotten the place ready for the day, when the door opened and a young man stepped in. "Hi, it's my first day and I was supposed to come here to learn how to work registration." He said setting his bag and the large book he was carrying down behind the desk. "OK, come here and I'll show you how to print off the name tags." Kate replied.

They introduced themselves and Kate got to work showing him the various things that needed to get done at the front desk. They had two hours before the doors opened to the public for the day, so there was plenty to go over. She had just got done explain how the card reader worked when he compliments her on her outfit.

"Thanks," Kate said. "I wish I didn't have to work so I could check out the con myself. I figured I'd at least put together a simple outfit."

"That's too bad, I was able to check out the place yesterday and had a great time," he replied.

"Lucky you, I'm jealous," Kate said back.

"It gave me a great opportunity to try out my new camera," the guy continued. "Photography is kind of a hobby of mine."

"Really?"  Kate asked. She enjoyed taking random pictures of things herself but had never spent money on a fancy camera.

"There were all kinds of crazy costumes yesterday. Would you like to see them?" The guy asked.

"Sure, we've got some time to kill now that I've shown you what you need to do today," Kate answered.

The guy took his camera out of his bag and on the small screen on the back showed her the pictures he had taken yesterday. Some she recognized as people she had registered the previous day, others must have bypassed her having already pre-registered.

"Wow these are great!" Kate said admiring how elaborate some of the costumes were.

"Yours is pretty good too, it looks just like it came from the game," the guy complimented her again.

"Well it wasn't something that took a lot of effort, I just figured it would do for the occasion," Kate replied.

"Would you mind if I got a picture?" He asked. "I'm trying to put together an album of all the good costumes I saw this weekend."

They still had some time to kill before opening time so Kate didn't see any need to refuse the request. She picked up her bag and toy poke ball to complete the look and walked over to the other side of the room to pose for the camera.

That's good, hold there." The guy said as he raised the camera. He clicked the shutter and a blinding flash of blue light erupted. Kate did not react at all however. She was caught off guard and reflexively would have recoiled and cried out, but her body remained in her pose and her mouth made no sound. Brushing off the momentary shock she went to drop her bag back in its place......except her body wouldn't move from where she was standing.

"What the hell? She thought. She discovered to her horror that she could neither move any part of her body nor speak to ask for help. More alarmingly, she couldn't feel herself breathing. Her entire being had become as still as a statue.

She was entirely at a loss about what to do. Was she dying? How can she call for help without the ability to speak or move? Does her coworker see what is happening to her right now? Surely he must.

The guy lowered his camera. He did not seem at all alarmed by Kate's complete lack of movement. In fact he was looking at her with a fascination that would've disturbed Kate if she wasn't preoccupied by panicking over what was happening to her.

Suddenly, her sight made it seem as if she were shrinking. She wondered if she was hallucinating as a result of whatever condition she now found herself afflicted with. As suddenly as it started, the shrinking sensation stopped. Nonetheless it left her surroundings appearing giant.

The guy walked over and......picked her up? This made it clear that she hadn't imagined it, she had shrunk! He was holding her in the palm of his hand as if she were a doll. His lack of surprise at his coworker suddenly being small enough to hold in his hand told Kate that he had done this to her somehow. She wanted to demand answers but all she could do was silently stand in his hand, bound in the pose she had assumed for the picture.

The guy set Kate down on the desk next to the computer's keyboard. She was able to catch sight of herself in a small mirror she kept on the desk. This revealed to her the horrible truth of her situation.

Her reflection was that of a plastic figure held up by a small circular base that had appeared beneath her feet. She had the appearance of a figurine one could by at the conventions souvenir stands. "I'm dreaming…I have to be. There's no way this is real," She thought desperately, but this explained what had happened to her.

Soon, the registration window opened. From where she was placed on the desk Kate watched the guy do her job of getting new arrivals registered and printing their passes. No one who stopped by paid the Pokemon trainer figure standing on the desk the slightest bit of attention. Kate desperately cried out in her mind for someone to notice her and save her from her incomprehensible imprisonment. She watched hundreds of people pass by, but no one saw her as anything more than a workstation decoration.

At some point in the afternoon, her boss checked in and inquired about Kate's absence. The guy who had done this to her feigned ignorance. "I'm right here!" Kate screamed internally. She was hoping that he would notice the figure on the desk that was wearing the same outfit Kate had been wearing when she came in this morning. However the pessimistic part of her mind chimed in. "Yeah but why would he suspect or believe that a human was turned into a figurine?" Sure enough her boss walked away muttering about not being able to find anyone reliable and Kate's last hope of being saved from this nightmare seemed gone.

Eventually, the registration desk closed for the day and Kate was once again alone with her captor, watching silently as he closed up the workstation. "Maybe he's had his twisted fun and he'll let me go now that the day is over," She tried to tell herself unconvincingly. These faint hopes were dashed almost immediately. He picked Kate up, opened the zipper to his bag, and tossed her in before closing the zipper once more.

With a terrified Kate alone in the darkness of his bag, the guy left the building.