Very well," the genie sighed, its ethereal form rippling like heat waves over ice. "But remember, little one—or should I say, soon-to-be big one—you asked for this."
The being raised its translucent arms, and the scattered rocks around Pengo began to glow with an eerie blue light. The air crackled with ancient magic, sending sparks of electricity dancing across the ice. Pengo felt a strange tingling sensation in his flippers, spreading through his entire body like warm fish soup on a cold day.
Then came the pain.
It started in his bones—a deep, grinding ache that made him cry out into the Antarctic night. His tiny frame began to stretch, bones elongating and thickening with sickening cracks. His feathers rippled as his skin expanded beneath them, each one growing larger to maintain their protective coverage. The sound of his transformation echoed across the ice field like an iceberg calving—all snaps and groans and thunderous pops.
"Make it stop!" Pengo screamed, but his voice came out deeper, louder than before. The genie merely watched, its ancient eyes reflecting a mixture of fascination and concern.
Five feet tall became ten, then twenty, then fifty. The ice beneath him cracked and shifted under his increasing weight. His neck stretched toward the stars, and his flippers, once too small to protect him from thrown stones, now cast shadows large enough to cover entire groups of penguins. His feet, growing ever larger, crushed the very rocks that had been used to stone him hours before.
The pain began to subside as his growth slowed, but Pengo barely noticed. He was too busy experiencing the world from his new perspective. The colony's territory, which had once seemed so vast, now looked like a small patch of ice before him. The freezing Antarctic wind that had once chilled him to his bones now felt like nothing more than a gentle breeze against his massive form.
In the distance, he could see lights from the colony. They would be settling in for the night, huddling together for warmth, probably still laughing about how they had put Little Pengo in his place. But he wasn't little anymore. He was as tall as the mountain he had pointed to—perhaps even taller.
"Well," the genie's voice drifted up to him, now sounding tiny and far away, "how does it feel?"
Pengo took a step forward, and the ground shook. He could feel power coursing through his enormous body, strength in every movement. Ice cracked beneath his feet, and he watched as tiny waves rippled out across the water from each step he took. A smile spread across his massive beak.
"I feel... big," he rumbled, his voice so deep and loud that it triggered a small avalanche on a nearby slope. Several seals flopped frantically into the water, and clouds of snow petrels took to the sky in panic.
"Indeed you are," the genie replied. "And what will you do with your newfound size?"
Pengo turned his massive head toward the colony. From this height, he could see everything—the nesting grounds, the fishing spots, and most importantly, the area where the Great Gathering had taken place. Where they had humiliated him. Where Aria had rejected him. Where Maximus had led the others in stoning him.
"I think," Pengo said, taking another thunderous step toward the colony, "it's time to show them that size really does matter."
The genie's light flickered uncertainly. "You still have two more wishes, you know. Perhaps you might want to think carefully about—"
But Pengo wasn't listening anymore. His attention was fixed on the colony ahead, where the first panicked cries were beginning to rise into the night air. Some penguins had emerged from their sleeping spots, having felt the tremors of his footsteps. He could see their tiny forms darting about in confusion.
Then someone spotted him.
A scream cut through the night: "MONSTER!"
More penguins emerged, their confusion turning to terror as they beheld his massive form blocking out the stars. He could see them scrambling, slipping on the ice in their panic. Some dove into the water, while others huddled together, shaking. From his new height, they looked so small, so insignificant.
Just like they had made him feel all his life.
A particularly loud commotion caught his attention. Even in the darkness, he could make out Maximus trying to organize an escape, barking orders at the terrified colony members. And there, near him, was Aria, her formerly graceful movements now jerky with fear.
Pengo lowered his giant head closer to the ice, causing another wave of panic among the colony. His massive eye, now the size of an adult penguin, fixed upon his former tormentors.
"Hello, everyone," his voice boomed across the ice, causing cracks to spider-web out from where he stood. "Did you miss Little Pengo?"
The genie hovered nearby, watching as the once-small penguin took his first steps toward revenge. In the distance, the sun began to rise, casting long shadows across the ice—none longer than the shadow of the newly-transformed Pengo, stretching across his former colony like the hand of fate itself.