the INFLATIONATION
Your Home For Toon Balloons
STORIES
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----------------------------- by Blimp Wolf |
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The morning mists were beginning
to burn off as Drew left his home for work. The young kangaroo
took a minute to look out over the ocean, enjoying the view as
the sun rose over the water in a brilliant display. It was going
to be another beautiful day in Ocean's Hollow. Another day that
he would spend inside his dark lab. He gave a sigh, as he knew that he had to get moving or he would be lateà again. As a recent high school graduate looking to major in Chemistry, he was grateful to have his job as in research and development over at Ocean Fruit Juice (the number one carbonated fruit drink in Ocean's Hollow). And as the last thing he wanted was another lecture from Mr. Tusk, he started his walk to work. Moving up Main St at a brisk pace, Drew saw his town starting to come alive for the day ahead. Businesses began to open and people rode past him on bicycles as he walked on. As he came close to Oceanview Park, he spotted his friend Paul at his usual drink stop. The bear always stopped at this stand near the park during his shift to grab some Ocean Fruit Juice. Paul was still a rookie cop, and had yet to catch a criminal. Drew knew that his friend had it in himà however, Paul was a bit different from the other police. He was a total klutz. Sighting Drew, Paul raised his hand to wave. Unfortunately, it was the hand holding his drink, and he spilled it all over the vendor and those around him when he waved. With a sheepish look, he slowly scooted away, breaking into a run as the people began to chase him. With a nervous chuckle, Drew moved on. As he made his way through Oceanview Park, he passed by the high school football team, the Bruisers, deep in practice. His recent alma mater's team, who were 0-5 this season, was prepping for their match with the school's rival, the Stone River Marauders. They hadn't beaten the Marauders in years, and Drew saw little hope as he passed. Engaging in a scrimmage drill, the team's blockers were unable to keep their opponents from breaking through their line and sacking the quarterback. Each time, the other team made its way past, or even between the blockers. It looked like it would be another depressing homecoming game from OHHS. As he came near the exit to the park, and the final walk up to the Ocean Fruit Juice building, he passed the community pool. And, once again, standing near the pool was his friend, Hank, wearing his white tank top and red swim shorts. Though he was running late, Drew stopped when he saw Hank walk towards the water. Perhaps today would be the day that he would overcome his fear and actually get in. Slowly stepping near the pool, filled with swimmers enjoying the water, the lizard was visibly breathing hard with apprehension. He came four feet from the edge, and then in a near spasm of fear, ran back to his "safe distance." Drew felt bad for his friend. He knew that Hank wanted to swim, but he could just never bring himself to get into the water. He decided to give him a call later. Running up the walk to the office, Drew looked down to check his watch to see if he was late. Not paying attention to where he was running, he ran into Mr. Tusk, who was standing at the door waiting for him, knocking Drew to the ground. The overweight boar in a bad suit scowled down at the roo, and Drew tried his best to give an innocent smile. "That's three times this month, Drew!" he said, tapping his watch. Picking himself off the ground, Drew responded, "I know sir, I'm really sorry." Rolling his eyes, Mr. Tusk stepped back in the office, allowing Drew to enter. Closing the door behind them, Mr. Tusk called Drew back over to him after he had put on his white lab coat. "Your tardiness aside, I've got some serious work for you today. And I need it done yesterday." "What do you need, sir?" Drew asked, his brow furrowed. Escorting Drew into the lab, Tusk continued "I'm considering using a new carbonate compound in the juice in place of our usual. And I need for you to see if we can." With a surprised look on his face, Drew asked "Why use a new compound, sir? I thought that the current one was working out fine." "We've recently begun receiving complaints that the juice doesn't keep its fizz after its been open for a short period," he said. "And that's starting to hurt sales," he added, rolling a cigar around in his mouth. "This new compound might just keep its fizz longer, so I need you to check it out." "Well, I'll try my best, but Ià" began Drew. Interrupting him with a slap on the back, Tusk broke in "Good! I knew I could count on you. I'll expect a full report by tonight, so you'd better get started. Bye!" he said, exiting the lab, leaving a bewildered Drew standing with his mouth open, rubbing the pain in his back from the slap. "How am I supposed to conduct that much research in one day?" he thought. Adding verbally, "he can't be serious about the deadline." Suddenly, Tusk poked his head back in the door, adding "Oh, and if you don't get it done today, you're fired. So, GET TO WORK!" Cringing from the slam his boss gave the door; Drew looked over uneasily at his station, and imagined the mountain of work he'd be doing all day. Giving a dry laugh, Drew's face went long. "Looks like I won't be getting out of here early todayà or, ever for that matter," he said with a tone of surrender. He picked up the container holding the new carbonation agent from the table. Fishing out his tape recorder from his pocket to keep notes, Drew set about his work. By the end of the day, all fourteen hours of it, Drew's research had uncovered some interesting things about this new compound. He had also worked himself to the point of exhaustion. Picking his head up off the table to talk into his recorder, Drew continued his notes. "This is an incredibly peculiar carbonate, and it responded oddly to many of my tests." Moving over to another table, with bloodshot eyes, he squinted at a large red balloon. "When I placed some of the compound and some water into a balloon to test the amount of gas it produced, the balloon blew up to five feet in diameter." Pressing his palm into the balloon, he continued "What's odd is that this balloon is supposed to only inflate up to one foot or so in diameter. Despite this over inflation, the balloon is not hard to the touch, it is still light, soft, and stretchy." Yawning, he moved back to his workstation and sat down (nearly falling) into his chair. "I've never seen anything like this before, and I feel that further investigation is warranted into the properties and effects of this compound." Drew propped his head up with his hand, yawning more. "As such, I do not think thatà we can safely use it in our productà -snore-." After this, Drew collapsed dead asleep on the table. A little while later, Mr. Tusk peeked into the lab, looking for his report. He saw Drew asleep on the workstation, and he quietly entered. "And now the kid sleeps at work," he thought to himself as he skulked over to the slumbering kangaroo. Just about to strike the youth awake, Tusk spotted his tape recorder. Remembering that Drew always turned in taped reports, Tusk snatched it out of his hand and walked back outside. "At least he actually did what I told him to. I'll yell at him tomorrow." "Now, the final analysis of the compound should be the last thing on this tape, soà" he thought as he rewound the tape for little more than a few seconds. Pressing play, Drew's voice came across. "We can safely use it in our productà" Quickly pressing stop after this statement, Tusk smiled. That was what he had wanted the kid to find. Walking into the production factory, he set about replacing the old carbonation agent with the new. "This'll help our sales grow as never before. And I'll give myself a fat raise from the increase in profits," Tusk thought, grinning evilly. "And if this stuff doesn't increase salesà I'll blame the kid, and then fire him. Either way, I win." The next morning, as Drew continued to sleep, stores were stocked with the new Ocean Fruit Juice. It was early when Hank arrived at the pool. He guessed that no one would be thereà and perhaps, with no one there to watch him, he could get in the water. Kicking off his sandals, the lizard slowly entered the pool area, finishing his bottle of Ocean Fruit Juice. Feeling a little peculiar, Hank stopped long enough to let out a long burp. "Wellà to-today I'll do it," he thought, scratching the light green scales on his belly, and twitching his long tail. It was weird. His stomach felt uneasyà more so then usual, with a strange sensation present. He dismissed it as nerves and made to walk to the pool. He was determined that today would be the dayà maybe. Suddenly, he heard cries for help coming from the pool. "Someone, please, help me!" cried a woman's voice. Concerned, Hank rushed to the pool deck. He saw a young female lizard (his age from what he could tell), thrashing around in the water. She, apparently, could not swim either. She continued calling out, when her head was above water. Despite feeling fear as never before, as well as a weirder sensation in his stomach, Hank acted without hesitation. He ran towards the pool, he would save her. "Hang on! I'm coming!" However, as he ran, a change came over his form. If he had looked down, he would have noticed his stomach expanding outward, poking out between his shirt and shorts. Not noticing due to the situation, Hank kept running, churning the contents in his stomach even more. His gut stretched out his tank top and bathing suit, and slowly the inflating began to spread to the rest of his body. The elastic waistband in his swim shorts was straining to contain the growing lizard, but it was failing. Slowly, his tank top was slowly tearing from outward force. Yet, Hank did not notice due to the adrenaline racing through his systemà and of course, his fear. The only thing on his mind was helping the girl, though he did wonder what that strange 'ripping' sound was. As he neared the pool's edge, he made a strong leap into the air to dive into the pool. The force of this jump caused his stomach to finish its swelling in a final growth spurt, making an audible 'whump'. Looking down in concern, he saw that his stomach had become a large, green beach ball, and his chest had swelled out as well. His green scales were stretched, but he was not in pain. Quickly looking around, he saw that his arms were like tubular balloons. Amazingly, his expanding body had caused his shorts and tank top to pop right off him (and were lying in tattered shreds along the deck where he had run). Looking over his shoulder, he saw that his tail was much larger then it should have been, and his butt was sticking out, looking like an airbag. Giving a quizzical look over his change, Hank splashed down into the waterà creating a considerably large splash. Submerging for a moment, he bobbed to the surface, next to the drowning girl. Shaking the water from his eyes, he extended his ballooned arm around the young girl and drew her to him. Coughing, she grabbed onto his enormous midsection. Hank tried not to laugh, as her hands squeezed his gut a few times, attempting to gain a hold and inadvertently tickling the enormous lizard. After steadying herself, the girl looked up at Hank's face. "Y-you saved me, "she said. Clearing the water from her eyes, she poked his inflated stomach a few times, she added, "And you're a blimpà why are you a blimp?" Blushing, he rubbed his, now, rubbery skin, hearing a few, small squeaks as he did. Inserting his foot into his mouth, as usual, Hank answered, "I don't know, I just heard you screaming, and I ran, and I was afraid of the water, and I don't know, I just had to help you, even though I was scared, and I blew up, and now here I am, and here you are, andà" As Hank continued to blush and ramble, a smile came across the girl's face. Stopping his rambling by placing her hand over his mouth, slightly pushing into his puffed-out cheeks. "You mean, you were afraid of the water like me? And still you jumped in to save me?" Hank blinked, she removed her hand. "I came to try to jump in, y'know, to overcome my fear." Now, the girl blushed. "Just like me." "Really? You were scared of the water, too?" "Yeah. My name's Sasha, and what's the name of my bloated savior?" Blushing more then ever, Hank answered. "H-H-Hank, I'm Hankà and I'm usually not this big" he said with a laugh, resting his fat arm on his massive gut, giving it a few pats. "Well, who knew that I'd find someone like me." She said, gazing into his eyes, squeezing the ballooned flesh on his stomach a few times. "Yeahà" he responded, matching her gaze. The two stayed in the pool for a while longer, with Sasha hanging onto Hank, her living flotation device. It had been another typical morning patrol for Paul, unfortunately. Before leaving the station, he had tripped over his shoes. Afterwards, he had crashed his patrol bike into a squad car, which subsequently led to the revocation of his bike privileges, meaning that he was now a foot patrolman. And finally, he nearly lost his badge down the sewer. Yes, just another day in the life of 'Bad Luck Paul', as he was known down at the station. He had earned his morning cup of Ocean Fruit Juice. Looking around, he was surprised that he didn't see Drew on his way to work. He guessed that he must have already passed by. That didn't matter now; the juice stand was in sight. Oblivious to the world around him, now more then usual, Paul didn't see what was coming towards him. If he had looked behind him, he would have seen a dark gray cat in dark clothes and carrying a bag, running in his direction. Fishing out his change, Paul dropped a quarter onto the ground. "Oh," he groaned as he bent over to pick it up. The cat, who was looking behind him for some reason, did not see Paul become a living hurdle ahead of him. He did not notice until it was too late, and he tripped over him, soaring through the air towards the juice stand. With a scream, the cat plowed into the stand, directly into the Ocean Fruit Juice dispenser, swallowing the hose, and with it the juice. Both gallons of the juice to be exact. Moaning, Paul picked himself off the ground, afraid that he might have injured whoever hit him. "Oh, great, I just know that I just screwed up again," he moaned. Looking up, he saw the cat on the ground, sucking down the juice. "Oh, dear!" Paul exclaimed, starting to rush towards him. He stopped when he saw the cat's stomach start to balloon out. "Is it just me, or is he getting fatter every second?" Paul wondered. Coming to, the cat saw himself expanding, and started to struggle. Unable to remove the hose from his mouth, he put his hands on his torso, trying to keep himself from inflating. However, his struggles lessened as his torso forced his arms away, as the rest of his body began to blow up. Slowly, his arms were forced outwards and his legs were pushed apart. His growing stomach started to push him off the ground, making him look like a beached whale. His arms fattened out, and his paws followed suit. This made him unable to hold onto the bag that he had been carrying, and it fell to the ground. As his torso expanded further, his ballooning legs were slowly being consumed, and his feet puffed out dramatically. Finally, the flow of juice ended, and the inflation the drink caused stoppedà a few minutes later. Cautiously walking over to the large blimp, Paul squeezed his midsection a few times and heard massive squeaking. Strangely, the cat had been wearing a stretchy cat suit, and it had held to his body throughout the process, though it felt ready to snap off. Walking around to the front of the enormous cat, which took some time, given how big and round he now was, Paul prepared to apologize. "This is gonna cost me my badge, for sure," he thought sadly. Yanking out the hose from the overly swollen face of the victim, Paul leaned down to pick up the bag that he dropped. "Sir, I am so sorry, let me help." Seeing that Paul was reaching for the bag, the fat cat tried to stop him. Unfortunately, his arms short and stubby, and his legs were even bigger, were of no use. At most, he managed to wiggle vigorously, squeaking like a balloon. "No," he managed to squeak out. Picking up the bag upside down, Paul saw a large stone fall out, which he caught miraculously, confusion on his face. Suddenly, a woman from the crowd came forward, looking at the stone in awe. "Hey, that's the Sun Diamond that got stolen last week! This guy must be the elusive Cat Burglar! And you caught him, you wonderful cop!" Cheers went up as Paul continued to look confused. Realizing the situation that he was in, Paul smiled. Patting the basketball-sized cheeks of the felon, Paul smiled. "That's right, this was all a part of my plan. Now, we canà uh, roll this crook off to jail!" More cheers came, as the ballooned cat looked down in shame. Talking into his walkie-talkie, Paul said "That's right, the cat burglar. No, forget the squad car," he said leaning on the shiny blimp, eliciting even more squeaks. "You'd better get the flatbed truck!" Lost in the adoration, Paul felt very thirsty suddenly. Looking around, he saw that there was still a cup of Ocean Fruit Juice left on the counter. Still enjoying the applause, he quickly gulped down the drink. "Yep, Ià amà good!" Suddenly, Paul came back from his ego trip with a burp, and his stomach felt odd. Looking down, he saw it start to widen. And the realization of what he had just done caused him to grimace in frustration as his body grew. "Oh, noà and I was doing so well," he said, as his belt snapped off, and his gut inflated unobstructed. The cat burglar, seeing the bear's expanding brown stomach separate his shirt and slowly pop off his buttons as he rounded out, started to laughà at least he would have a last laugh before jail. Later that afternoon, the Bruisers were not faring well in their game against the Marauders. At the half, the score was 0-21 in the Marauders' favor. Once again, they couldn't stop the other team from breaking through their line. Before the next quarter, Coach Taggart ran some plays by his team as they finished off their Ocean Fruit Juice. "We're still in this game, we can turn it around in the second half. I know you guys can do it!" Crushing their cups, the team shouted 'Yeah' and walked towards the field, with the Marauders smirking with overconfidence. "We need a miracle," thought the walrus, sitting down on the bench with a sigh. As the players took their places on the field, many were burping. Some in the crowd rubbed their eyes. It had to be a trick of the lights, but it looked like most of the Bruisers' players were gaining weight with each step they took. But it was no illusion, the new carbonate was having its effect on the team. While waiting for the third quarter, many of the players, some on the bench and some on the field, slowly expanded. In amazement, they looked at each other as their guts puffed out. As they grew, their game uniforms stretched to accommodate their girth, the numbers on their purple jerseys swelled and distorted. When the inflation had ceased, each victim had become a sumo-balloon, with wide waistlines looking like they had each been blown up by a parade float pump, and most could only waddle around now. The Marauders stared on, and then fell to the ground laughing. "Hey, fatty! Back off blimp-boys!", cried the team, mocking their enlarged foes. Kevin, the coyote quarterback who was still thin, walked around sizing up the situation. Some of the guys were standing too close together, and he couldn't force his way between their ballooned bodies. He also noticed that when Ralph, a now blown up bull, walked into him, he bounced Kevin back three feet. Stroking his chin, a mischievous grin came across his face. Walking up to Kevin, the referee asked, "Son, I don't think that your team should play today, are they sick?" "Wh-why no, sir! Our guys are justà uhm, heavier then most teams." Looking up, Coach Taggart saw the state of his team, and his mouth hit the ground. Seeing his panic, Kevin shot him a wink. Trusting Kevin's judgment, Taggart held off the heart attack and swearing fit. His teammates stared at Kevin, some rubbing their bouncy stomachs with their pumped up arms. Still smiling, he called them over to huddle. "Kev, what're we gonna do?" Ralph asked. "How can we play like this?" he added, thumping his stomach. "Well, here's what were gonna do," Kevin said, whispering his plans. After breaking the huddle, each person took his place. However, each blocker, now considerably larger, stood so that the sides of their large stomachs were impacting each other. The blockers formed a living wall of inflated flesh, which due to the greater space they took up, took up nearly the whole yard line. "This'll be fun, boys! Time to win this thing," called out the Marauders' QB. Sweat dripping down his face, Kevin called out to hike the ball. Once the ball was snapped, the other team leapt to action, and tried to brake through their line. However, they did not know what was in store for them. Several people, who lunged directly at the blockers, pressed themselves into their stomachs, causing the blockers to lean forward. Yet, they then arched backwards, fully extending their guts, and sending their opponents flying for yards. Meanwhile, others attempted to run between the players. Some were lucky, and managed to reach their fingers between the spheres of flesh, before the blockers bucked them away. The other team's QB was livid at this sight, no one was making it through, and Kevin looked like he was going to run all the way behind these 'balloon-butted losers.' Enraged he started to run forward, determined to make it through. He halted as he saw number 56, a blimp-sized elephant, soaring towards him. Due to his inertia, he was unable to move out of the way, and screamed as the elephant landed on him, flattening him under the swollen player. "Let's go!" Kevin called out, as swollen guards surrounded him, bouncing away any who tried to stop him. Making it into the end zone, Kevin spiked the ball, and the guards bounced off each other's stomachs in celebration. At the bench, Coach Taggart was dumbstruck. Dumbstruck, but overjoyed. One of the referee's came over to him. "Coach, this is irregular, and I'm not sure we should continueà" Taggart interrupted, "it's alright, this happens every allergy season. You know teenagers, changing bodies and all that stuff, it comes and goesà" Next to him, Joe the bulldog leaned over and said, "it does, Coach?" Taggart quickly poured a large cup of OFJ down the kid's throat. "Of course, Joe, even you, see?" he said, pointing at his now growing midsection. "Ohà okay," the slow-witted Joe said, walking away staring at and marveling at his growing body. Taggart forced a nervous smile, and the ref walked away. The score was now 6-21, and the Bruisers were back in the game. Kevin, glad that his plan had worked, gave everyone a light slap on their guts. "Okay, balloons, we're back in this, now let's take it home!" Shouts went up, and they set up for the next play. The purple wall of balloon flesh was ready, and Kevin hoped that they wouldn't have a blow out! Mr. Tusk was sitting at his desk, eating take-out and smoking one of his cigars. Watching the six o'clock news, he was anxiously awaiting the sales figures for today. Sipping on a noodle, he turned his attention to the attractive news reporter, who he thought had mentioned his product's name. "Saying again, it appears that there is a problem with Ocean Fruit Juice distributed recently." Spitting out the noodle and dropping his cigar, Tusk turned up the volume. The reporter was standing at the local college, talking in front of the student union. Behind her was an assortment of people, many of whom, Tusk noted, were drastically overweight. "According to witnesses, the juice in markets today has an odd effect on the body, it causes it to inflate like a balloon." Tusk blinked, not knowing whether to burst out laughing or to burst out swearing. Behind the reporter as she spoke, four frat boys from alpha house were pouring three cans worth of OFJ down a funnel into a fifth. In front of his eyes, the fifth man blew up like a balloon. Afterwards, all five cheered and sang their frat song, using their friend's stomach as a drum. "As of now, there is no explanation and no reported injuries. However, a majority of townspeople were reportedly sighted marching towards the Ocean Fruit Juice Company." Tusk's eyes bugged out of his skull, and he slowly walked to the window. Drawing the shade, he saw a line of people, ballooned and normal, all heading for his plant. "DREW!" he screamed, running for the lab. Inside, Drew was still asleep, exhausted from fourteen straight hours of research the previous day. He was dreaming of actually being able to enjoy a day outside, and not having Mr. Tusk yell at him for being late. It was a nice dream, until Tusk slammed the door open, startling Drew so much that he fell to the floor from his chair. Drew looked up, wiping the sleep from his eyes. In the doorway was Tusk, fuming mad for some reason. "What is it?" Drew asked, standing up. "What's wrong? What's wrong?! What's wrong is that carbonation agent you okayed turned our customers into living balloons!" Tusk shouted, crossing the room to Drew. "It WHAT?!" Drew shouted back. Looking over to the balloon that he had used yesterday, it all came back to him. However, the balloon had shrunk, and was now only two feet around. "And I said to not use it! Didn't you at least listen to my report?!" "I did exactly what you said, you said 'We can safely use it in our product', end of story." "I said that we couldn't, you fool!" Drew recoiled, surprised at his gutsy outburst. Tusk grabbed the roo by his arm and started to drag him out of the lab. "Blame isn't important now. What's important is that we calm the massesà and they are massiveà before they scream for our blood." Moving towards the main exit, Tusk straightened his tie. "Don't worry, Drew, just let me handle the talking." Reluctantly, Drew nodded and walked outside. His eyes now bugged out as he surveyed the crowd. Most of them were huge! He couldn't believe that the agent could do this. Most of the town's population, blown up like parade floats. Some were super obese, while others were rounded out with beach ball bellies. He guessed that it depended on how much they consumed. When the two emerged, the crowd started shouting. Tusk raised his hands, and took out a megaphone. The crowd quieted, awaiting his statement. "Ladies and gentlemen, I, Phil Tusk, of Ocean Fruit Juice Inc. am at a loss for words. No one knew that this could happen. But, I would like to present the culprit, responsible for your grotesque condition: Drew McCabe." Speechless with shock and rage, Drew was pulled to the front by Tusk, and had the megaphone shoved into his hands. "Sorry, kid, but I ain't taking the fall for this one." Turning from the swine to the crowd, Drew started to speak. "Ià it was my faultà I take full responsibility. If I had seen to it that this money-hungry man had not decided to use this, thenà" Suddenly, one of the swollen townspeople stepped forward, along with a young woman. Both motioned for Drew to stop. Looking closer, Drew saw that it was Hank, blown up like a green, hot air sumo balloon, but with a girlà and with red lipstick kiss marks all over his fat face. "Drew, you don't have to apologize! You did a good thing. Because of you, I was able to get in the pool and save Sasha," he said, squeezing her into his large side in a loving embrace. "Thanks, man, because of you I met this large stud here," Sasha added, giving Hank a peck on his puffy cheek. Drew smiled in disbelief, "you got in? You met a girl?" Hank smiled, and nodded. Drew was at a loss for words. "I'm happy, Hank, but maybe others didn't have such luck." "Oh, I don't know," came a voice from the crowd. As the crowd made way for the voice to come forward, Drew saw that it was Paul. But, Paul was much bigger then he was yesterday. He, in fact, looked like an overstuffed sumo. Not as big around as Hank, but not by much. As Paul waddled forward, with a massive brown stomach, he tossed a newspaper to Drew. Unfolding it, Drew read the headline: 'Local Cop Catches Cat Burglar.' In the picture was a blimp-sized cat on his stomach, and standing next to him was his enormous friend. "They say that I might get promoted for that catch, Drew. Thanks to you," Paul added. Drew felt tears welling up inside him. "I don't know what to say, congratulations, butà" "And thanks to you, we beat the Marauders for the first time in years!" Called out a voice in a purple jersey. Walking forward was Kevin the quarterback, ahead of a group of rotund football players. Walking just behind them was a couple of non-inflated players, rolling a large ball wearing a coach's hat. Apparently, in the after-game excitement, they had poured a cooler of OFJ onto Coach Taggart, and he had swallowed a lot of it. One-by-one, people came forward to thank Drew, they apparently had had a blast being inflated for the day. The alpha house boys, three of whom were now blimps, said that it was the most fun they'd had in a long time, and asked about ordering some kegs of the stuff for their next party. "Well, I don't know what to sayà if you all had such a good timeà then I" Drew was knocked to the side by Tusk. "Ahahaha, what Drew meant to say is that he was glad that I did this," Tusk said, attempting to grab up credit. "But, you just said that it was all his fault," Hank called out, pointing a swollen finger at him. "Well, ah, what I meant wasà" As Tusk was trying to cover his lies, Kevin was sneaking around behind him. In his paw was a large bottle of Ocean Fruit Juice, which he was shaking. "So, you see that, I -ugh-," Tusk began, but was interrupted when Kevin popped off the bottle top and sprayed the contents directly down Tusk's throat. Leaping away to watch his handiwork, Kevin (and everyone else) burst out laughing as Tusk blew up in less then ten seconds into a round sphere with stubby arms and legs sticking out. Wobbling, Tusk rolled forward on his massive torso. Fortunately, he was caught by the crowd, which proceeded to toss him about like a beach ball at a concert. Drew held his sides as he laughed, tears streaming. "You did something great, Drew! And I think I speak for everyone here, when I say: WE WANT MORE!" Hank called out, which the crowd echoed. "Well, thenà I guess that we'll have to deliver," he said into the megaphone. "Isn't that right, Mr. Tusk?" Tusk was now being held by the fat football team, and called out "Y-yeah." Joe, who had swelled out even more by drinking more of the juice after discovering just how much he enjoyed being a balloon, bucked his vast stomach into Tusk's. "Anything else, Tusk?" Asked the enormously wide bulldog, making himself look threatening. "Y-yeah, of course! Drew willà Drew will be in chargeà with a raiseà a big raise!" Stuttered Tusk, visibly sweating. "That's more like it," Joe said, giving Tusk a few pats on his stomach, before tossing Tusk back to the crowd to pass around some more. Tears were still pouring down Drew's face, he could 'feel the love.' "Well, then I guess I'd better get back to work. Don't worry, you'll all deflate in a few hours or so." Drew said, starting to back towards the building. "Oh, not so fast Drew." Paul called out, waddling towards him along with Hank. "Tonight, you don't work. Tonightà" he said lunging at Drew, holding his arms with Hank. Kevin leapt forward next, holding another bottle of Ocean Fruit Juice. "àIt's your turn!" Hank said, his ballooned body pressing against Drew. Drew had to laugh. "Well, if you insist," Drew said between laughs, opening his mouth wide. Kevin quickly poured the contents into the kangaroo. He then stepped back. Hank and Paul released Drew as he burped a few times, a sign of the ballooning beginning. Looking down, a hand on his stomach, Drew saw it start to expand. His hand was pushed outwards, and his lab coat fought to restrain his inflation. However, the coat soon lost the battle, and all his clothes exploded off his body. As his body grew, now without hindrances, his ballooning torso picked up speed. It grew so fast, and wide, that it bounced both Paul and Hank back when his belly hit theirs. When the inflation had ended, Drew's waist was gigantic. He loved his ballooned form; he loved how his arms and legs had thickened drastically, and how his face had puffed out. His tail had ballooned out, and his midsection was nicely rounded. But most of all, he loved how big and round he was all over. He was a yellow-furred sumo-blimp, and he loved everything about it. Hank and Paul, recovered from the belly buck, gathered around Drew, their stomachs pressing into each other as they gave each other pats on their guts and laughing. Standing back, Kevin had now downed a can and was starting to swell himself. Drew stopped laughing and looked out across the ocean, seeing the sun setting on the water. Standing there, blown up like a balloon, and with inflated friends and a loving community, he knew that the future had just gotten a lot brighterà and bigger, for him, for Ocean Fruit Juice, and for Ocean's Hollow. |