FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

It was early morning. The sun was still rising on the eastern horizon, still an orange-yellow instead of the brilliant glow when it was at its peak, and the city was starting to awaken. Furs were getting ready for their day, some rising for bed and preparing for their education, others dreading another day of white-collar work that lay ahead of them. Cars started up, and the sound of the city's population became more apparent. As the sun rose into the sky, everything began to move, to start on the day ahead.

So too, did the start of another type of day begin. Sixteen figures gathered outside of the city at a prescribed time and location, standing in the middle of a park that would be mostly abandoned until noon at least. They ranged from a number of species; dragons and foxes brushed shoulders with wolves, bats, and a half-dozen other species. Like last year, there was a large variety of folks gathered for a game that was about to unfold... a game they had all volunteered for and looked forward to eagerly. Every one of them imagined what their day ahead would be like, discussing it amongst themselves while they waited for one last person to arrive.

It didn't take long, either; unlike his show of theatrics from the year before, Zee was rather prompt in his arrival. Everyone went silent as the black wolf stepped out from the path leading into the park, golden eyes glittering in the low sunlight as he adjusted his trademark shades. The wolf's gaze took in each of the furs gathered around the park in front of him, his expression going from amusedly curious to devious in a heartbeat. It wasn't hard to tell what was on the inflator wolf's mind; after all, Zee had arranged this little game in his own interest, inviting others to join if they wished. If not, well, there was always his usual methods.

Slowly he strode down the pathway; maybe it wasn't his sneaky inflation of one of the contestants to mark the start of the game, but the wolf loved his drama. Each would-be victim watched him, all tense and ready to move away at the slightest sign of him surprising any of them with a touch. Zee was devious above all else; though his attitude was predictable, his actions were not. The black wolf knew it too, and reveled in everyone's slight nervousness; no one wanted to be caught off-guard before the game even began!

Finally he stopped, surrounded on one side by a semi-circle of assorted furs. Two of them, a large green wolf and a contrastingly black dragon hybrid (part wolf, maybe?) were standing a bit further back due to their general girth, making it hard to fit without accidentally knocking someone aside. There was yet another moment for dramatic pause before someone quite loudly cleared their throat, a sign that they wanted Zee to get on with it. The wolf paused, startled that someone would ask him to hurry his antics, but he didn't manage to catch who it was. Fighting back a grumble, he figured he had dragged it out enough and began speaking.

"Welcome to the second season of Manhunt: Inflator style! Many of you are familiar with the rules after following last season and enjoying the inflations that followed; hopefully, this year isn't any less entertaining for those involved and those that may be watching!"

The wolf paced back and forth slowly within the circle as he spoke, and every time he drew near to one of his "contestants," they drew back nervously. His golden eyes glittered; they knew he could surprise them with the first elimination even during his explanation. Now that they were properly wary, it would be fun. "However, for those of you who are new to the game this time around, let me explain how this will work. Simply put, this is like an enormous game of hide-and-seek, but on a city-wide scale. You will be given a short time to 'escape' before I start searching. There is no hiding place that is off-limits, and I will be searching everywhere! Once I find you, it's game over for you; you'll be tagged in an instant and inflated in the manner of choice you submitted prior to the game. The longer you survive, the bigger you get. The winner becomes the biggest of all, naturally, and gets bragging rights that they managed to elude me as long as they did."

There was a bit of muttering about the rules, with mostly nods from previous contestants. No one, however, chose to debate with the wolf or question his game; that was a sure-fire way to be targeted first! Instead they waited for him to give his little speech and mark the start of the game. Everyone was tensed to run, waddle, or use whatever means of hurried transport they had available to them.

"But of course... only one of you will get that pleasure." Zee took a sudden, quick step forward towards the center of the semi-circle, and everyone spooked. The game had started, and he had given them all of the warning they were going to get to start moving. They broke off into groups of three or so merely by choice of direction; once out of the park everyone scattered, not willing to be caught alongside anyone else. Zee was left by himself, chuckling in amusement at how quickly they had run off. Now that his little game had started, though, he couldn't really afford to put it off any longer.

Victim #1 - Zero

"He'll never catch me!"

Zero grinned to himself as he kept up an easy jog, outpacing all of the other contestants without any difficulty. Large muscles flexed with each motion as he widened the gap between himself and Zee's last location, slowly making his way towards the outskirts of the city. Once there, the dragon couldn't count the number of places he would be able to hide away from him. All it would take was a bit of running to find a good spot before Zee could arrive, and he would have this game in the bag! Rubbing his hands together with a grin, Zero picked up his pace, determined to be the first one in a hiding spot ahead of the others.

As he made his way towards the city, he found himself passing by a concessions area halfway through the park. The dragon's middle growled, reminding him that because he had gotten up so early, he hadn't even bothered to get something to eat. A quick glance over his shoulder showed that there was no one else in sight; clearly he was far ahead of everyone else already. Maybe he had time to pause and grab something simple to eat on the go, like a protein bar or something. Another quick glance to reassure himself convinced Zero that he had a few minutes, so he quickly detoured over to the concessions stand, pulling out his wallet in mid-jog.

The stand itself wasn't anything particularly impressive; it was a simple, small building, but it was well-stocked judging from the shelves of snacks and the fridge full of drinks in the back. Zero made his decision quickly, constantly checking back the way he came. He figured Zee would be fairly easy to spot if he was the first target; after all, black tended to be very visible against the wall of greens and grays that made up the park area. As long as he kept himself wary no matter what, there wouldn't be any trouble from the prank-loving wolf. Zero didn't plan on being caught so early, anyway.

Stretching his legs slightly while he waited for the booth's caretaker to show up, the dragon continued to glance around cautiously. Every movement accented the thick layers of muscle on his body, from his broad shoulders and thick biceps, curved pecs and rows of abs, and the strong leg muscles that supported the mass. Purple fur covered every inch of his body, visible except beneath the form-hugging tank top and a pair of black shorts, and they creaked lightly with his motions. He brushed back his long white hair as he waited, continuing to search. His yellow eyes caught nothing as he turned back and forth, though; not the slightest movement broke the stillness of the trees in the distance.

"Can I help you, sir?"

Zero didn't look over his shoulder at the attendant, more concerned with watching to make sure Zee didn't surprise him. "Um... yeah, just a protein bar and a water bottle please..."

The attendant, whoever he was, quickly went to procure the items. Zero gave one last glance around, his gaze wary; it seemed that the coast was clear, but from observing the whole article regarding the first Manhunt season, the wolf loved surprising people. All he had to do was poke them, and boom, the game was over. That was why Zero was so cautious; if he saw Zee, the dragon could easily outrun him, given his superior physical condition. With luck, even if the wolf stayed in full pursuit, there wouldn't be anything to worry about. Of course, that would assume that he wasn't more stealthy than expected. It only took one poke...

Like the one that jabbed at the back of his shoulder. Zero jumped back in surprise. Had he been caught!? Was the game over!? Looking up, though, a young canine (the dragon couldn't be sure; there was a baseball cap covering his eyes and it was hard to get a profile of his muzzle too) was simply holding up his concessions. Breathing a sigh of relief, the big male simply took them, setting them aside for a moment to fish out his wallet. He was getting too jumpy... after all, he had a sure-fire plan to keep ahead of Zee. There was nothing to worry about, he had this game in the bag.

Of course, he regretted thinking that as he reached for his wallet. His arm stopped partway, unable to go any further. Blinking and thinking he had just caught it on something, Zero tried again, with the same result. A sinking feeling started to come over him as he looked down, expecting the worst. The dragon figured he had a good idea of what was going on, and the sight of his own arm confirmed it.

The muscles on his arm, already large from plenty of working out, were steadily growing larger. Biceps that were too thick for a normal fur to wrap both paws around were swelling rapidly, the inflating muscle soon approaching bowling ball thickness, and continuing to grow from there. Soon his arm was disproportionately large compared to the rest, but that would be remedied quickly. The rest of his body was starting to tingle too as his growth started taking effect all across it, moving down from the shoulder where he had been poked and following along the course of his spine, filling his whole body with the sensation.

Wait, the shoulder where he had been poked?

Zero quickly turned to see Zee leaning across the counter, baseball cap pushed back and his shades perched on his nose as always. The lupine's signature grin crossed his face, the expression a mix between a cocky "got you!" and a sign that he was enjoying his work. The dragon sighed, pressing his yet-unaffected palm to his forehead, carefully avoiding the single horn that jutted out. Of course this would happen; he had gotten way too confident and let his guard down for a minute!

"So am I the first one out then?" The dragon grunted as he had to shift his posture, his widening shoulders making his arms hang oddly at his sides while his torso caught up.

"Afraid so. You probably shouldn't have stopped so soon; you could've done pretty well, I imagine." Zee's tone was casual, but his grin never faded in the least.

"That's just my luck..." Zero rolled his eyes, once again shifting his stance as his chest suddenly filled out, pecs swelling up to nearly triple their size, pushing gently against his widened neck and forcing his thickened arms outwards further. His abs were next, but instead of the firm eight-pack he had possessed before, his middle started to swell outwards, getting a more rounded shape. The outline of his abs were still visible along it as the large ball grew thicker, a firm muscle-gut that stuck out past his pecs as it finished growing, the sphere hard as a rock. It also had the unfortunate effect of finishing off the remains of his already-stressed tank top, leaving his upper torso bared, the impressively bloated muscles standing out quite obviously.

Zero's legs were next, and not too soon; he was starting to have a harder time carrying his inflated upper body and gut, not to mention that he looked particularly disproportionate. The dragon let out a sigh of relief as the muscles in his legs swelled up to tree-trunk thickness, and though the legs of his shorts tore as the muscled limbs pressed against each other, causing him to have to widen his gait a bit. Finally the growth started to settle, leaving a dragon that any bodybuilder would envy... assuming that said bodybuilder wanted difficult mobility and a gut that could rival a beach ball.

The dragon tried to shift again, and found that he was still mobile, though the swollen muscles made it a bit difficult. It was mostly in the bending of his limbs; the angle that they could move in had been reduced sharply, but that was about it. He could still get around at least; that was both a relief and a disappointment. After all, he had signed up for the game in the hopes of getting particularly large! Yet here he was, getting out at the very beginning... talk about bad luck.

"Well, if nothing else you can try out for the Mr. Furlympic competition next month." Zee commented helpfully as he stood again and prepared to leave.

"I think this is a bit beyond reasonable though... and the gut probably wouldn't help." Zero commented wryly, trying to find a comfortable position with his new size. Unfortunately, the words were lost on Zee as the wolf quickly turned to leave, darting out from the concession stand and waving briefly before heading off. He was surprisingly quick, and soon vanished from sight, leaving the dragon by himself to figure out what to do now.

"Well, I guess I never did get to eat that protein bar..."

---

Victim #2 - Light

Tufted ears peeked over the edge of a low wall as a lithe husky snuck a glance over it, keeping his eyes open. Light's eyes moved back and forth quickly, keeping an eye out for the slightest patch of black fur to warn him of Zee's presence. There hadn't been word of anyone getting captured yet, so there was no way to tell where the wolf was by the location of his victims. Instead, all that he could do was keep an eye out, be wary, and hope that he wasn't the next victim caught.

As soon as he was sure the way was clear, Light quickly stood and tried to merge with the crowd of furs that were moving back and forth down the street. He was fortunate that he looked rather average, unlike some of the other furs; where some of the others would stand out, and would make rather easy targets for Zee's search, the husky's appearance was completely ordinary. Black-and-white fur, casual markings, no significant marks or accessories to make him stand out; Light was virtually indistinguishable from any other fur unless his outfit had already been memorized. Even in that unlikely scenario, he wasn't at much risk. Light figured that he had the whole competition in the bag.

The husky smiled to himself as he strode through the crowds, not worried in the least. His curled tail wagged back and forth behind him as he adjusted his red shirt, the sleeves removed because well... it looked cool. Why else would anyone tear off the sleeves? He found himself whistling cheerily as he walked along the main road of the city, no destination in mind. It would probably help to find a place to hide out, but at the same time Light thought that hiding would make him all that much more conspicuous. Blending in with the crowd was the best hiding place of all! Zee would never find him!

Grinning at his own ingenuity, Light continued walking, his eyes constantly roaming the two sides of the road. However, now that he was effectively invisible in the crowd, the husky realized that he had a whole day's worth of time to waste. Pointed ears twitched lightly as he tried to consider what to do with it; as long as he remained in the mix of people, he'd be fine, but he didn't want to walk around all day doing nothing. He could probably visit a few shops, maybe go to the mall if he made his way downtown; as long as there were other furs around, anywhere was fair game.

Deciding that the mall was a good idea, Light started to head in its direction. As he turned though, a bright sign from the building next to him caught his eyes. The sign was in front of a doughnut shop named "Dusty's Doughnuts", and in bright yellow lettering across a red background it read: "Special! Our millionth customer will receive a month's worth of doughnuts, and all after that for a week will be at half-price!"

The husky's eyebrows shot up as he read the announcement, tail starting to wag. Millionth customer? Free doughnuts? While he didn't think he'd manage to be that millionth, Light figured someone would before him and that he could get lucky and snag a bunch of doughnuts for cheap. He loved doughnuts, especially the cream-filled ones; those were the best! Tail wagging even faster now, Light decided that he knew where he would be spending the morning at least; the mall could wait! The husky quickly made his way into the shop, thoughts of chocolate-frosted doughnuts drawing him forward.

The inside of the shop was comfortably furnished, with a row of booth-like tables at either side for those who wanted to enjoy a quick breakfast with company and some single tables in the center. At the far side of the room was the counter for purchases, and just behind it Light could see the cabinets full of the sweet pastries he was longing for. The smell of fresh ones baking in the background only added to the husky's watering muzzle, and he quickly jumped in an already-forming line before it got too long. Fortunately he got in rather quickly, but even as he did, the line started extending a good deal behind him. Talk about lucky!

Soon enough he was picking out his doughnuts, getting a dozen or so to eat throughout the day. Several cream-filled glazed doughnuts with chocolate icing and sprinkles went in a box alongside a few regular glazed and a pair of powdered doughnuts. While he was ordering, Light kept his ears up, listening to the prices ahead of him and comparing them against the board hanging over the counter. So far, everyone was at normal price; that meant the millionth customer hadn't yet been found. Light didn't bother to think it would be him; he honestly didn't expect to see this mystery customer during his visit. It had been a nice thought though.

As he came to the register, preparing to pay, a horn suddenly blew directly in front of him, causing Light to stumble back and nearly trip in surprise. Catching himself by grabbing the counter and wincing at the aftershock of the sound in his sensitive ears, the husky looked around to see what had happened, only to find a storm of confetti and a loud cheering awaiting him. Blinking in surprise, he tried to figure out what had just happened before noticing a large banner that had been unrolled, hanging over the back of the counter. His jaw dropped as he read it, and he couldn't believe his eyes.

"Congratulations to our 1,000,000th Customer!"

Wait, the millionth customer? He was the millionth customer!? No way! Light immediately let out a loud cheer, knowing what that meant. A whole month's worth of doughnuts, all for free! The husky's tail wagged back and forth as he considered how many that would be; was it how many he could eat in a month, or how many the average fur could? What kinds would he get? Would he get to pick, or was there a pre-made selection? There were so many possibilities, but they were all his now!

Light was practically jumping up and down with glee, and hardly noticed as he was escorted towards the back of the shop. Already the line at the front of the shop was doubled, now that prices had been halved. Of course, the husky didn't care; he was more concerned with his prize, and almost hurried ahead past the amused-looking squirrel that had come to escort him to the back of the shop. It took all the fortitude he had to keep at a steady pace, at least until he saw the door that led to the last room in the shop. At that point, he gave up on trying to keep a straight face and rushed up to it in glee, tossing it open.

Inside there was a large stack of boxes, all marked with the "Dusty's Doughnuts" logo on the side: an off-purple "D" inside a red circle. It wasn't exactly a catchy logo, but it was only to mark the company's ownership, nothing more. Light didn't wait and immediately ran over to the first box, opening up the top. Inside were several boxes of doughnuts stacked neatly atop one another, again all marked with the same label as the outermost container. As he took one out and opened it, the husky's tail rapidly wagged back and forth. Inside was a wide assortment of doughnuts ranging from the simple glazed to the more extravagant kinds with all sorts of fillings and frostings.

"These are all mine?" He asked excitedly, squirming as he tried to calculate how many there were. Unfortunately every one of the zeroes he imagined turned into another delicious pastry in his head, so he gave up trying.

"Yup, all yours. Enjoy, and thanks for being our one millionth customer!" The squirrel waved before leaving Light alone to enjoy his prize and take them home how he would.

The husky nodded absently at the remark before grabbing the first doughnut. He started off simple, a glazed doughnut that glistened in the light. Sure, he should probably take them home and start on them there, but at the same time... he couldn't wait! Taking a large bite, the husky murred at the sweet taste filling his muzzle, like a blissful heaven of sugar... and these were the simple ones. He couldn't begin to imagine what the better ones would be like! Chewing and imagining what was to come, Light didn't even notice when the first doughnut was gone until he nearly bit his own paw.

Blinking in surprise as he realized it had been consumed so quickly, the husky gave a guilty grin and grabbed the next one; they were just so good! It didn't help that his stomach was rumbling either! Taking another one, this time a chocolate-coated one with some kind of filling (he wanted to say lemon, but he couldn't tell) he tore through it just as quickly. Jelly-filled came next, and right behind that was another lemon-filled one, though this time it was just glazed, no chocolate. Light didn't question why he was eating so many of them, or so rapidly; he was just hungry out of the blue! Well he had a month's supply, it wasn't like one little splurge was going to hurt much.

Two more doughnuts were quickly gone, both chocolate-iced with a glaze coating, and Light felt a slight pressure in his middle. Looking down, he realized that he had a bit of a belly after consuming all of those pastries. Poking at it, he blinked in surprise before shrugging it off and going back to the doughnuts. A little weight wasn't a big deal; right now, the fact that he was hungry was more pressing. With that in mind, he started digging into the doughnuts, tossing aside the first container and starting on the one immediately below it in the box; there were still at least three batches of doughnuts to go in this box alone!

As he slowly finished off the first box of doughnuts, the effects of all that eating were starting to show on his body. His trim middle began to round out, a belly forming and starting to soften. His chest began to sag slightly, and his neck thickened. The second box was just as bad; rolls of fat were starting to form along his arms and waist, and his limbs were thickening. Box after box vanished, and soon enough, over half of them were gone before Light realized something was up, despite the fact that hunger still gnawed at him. There was no way he could have or should have eaten that much, yet here he was, still wanting to stuff his face. What was going on!?

An answer came as the door creaked open, and a grinning wolf stood in the doorway. "Well what do you know, the hunger stimulants worked better than expected."

Light let out a squeak of surprise as he tried to move back, only to find his footpaws barely scraping at the ground. Ten boxes of emptied doughnut containers laid around him, and his gut was as big around as a weather balloon, dragging him down with its weight and making it hard to stand on his hind paws. His shirt had torn (how had he not noticed that?) and his jeans were tight around a comically large rump and thighs, with his footpaws showing no additional weight to them. His muzzle felt weird, and he realized it was because he had a triple chin pressing up against a thickened neck.

Surprised at his size, Light tried to wobble onto his feet again, but Zee stopped him by placing another box of doughnuts on the husky's belly with a grin, letting the canine's increased hunger take hold again. Light immediately took the box without saying anything, taking out more of the doughnuts and chomping them down. Zee laughed and shook his head, heading out the far doorway with a grin.

"Two down, only fourteen to go."

---

Victim #3 - Marc the Totodile

Marc ran as fast as his short legs could carry him through the unusually crowded streets, ducking underneath the feet of the various passersby. Being a relatively small Totodile, Marc figured that his best bet to survive until the end of the competition would be to try to hide in the middle of a crowd, ducking down out of sight. As it just so happened, there was a marathon set for that day, with lots of runners and spectators crowded in mass by the starting line. It was the perfect for the turquoise reptile to hide in and never be seen unless Zee somehow accidentally tripped over him. Plus, it was practically a party in the street, with bands playing good music on a makeshift stage, the smell of hotdogs and popcorn looming in the air, people laughing all around and talking about which runner they were cheering for... how could he possibly pass this place up anyway?

The Totodile had always disliked how small of a Pokémon he was, being only around two and a half feet tall. But, he didn't want to evolve to another form, he was happy being who he was. He just didn't like that he couldn't ever seem to reach the upper buttons on an elevator, or that he was always at risk of getting stepped on or tripped over if he was too busy listening to his headphones to notice the people behind him, or that he had to use a step-stool just to get up to use a kitchen sink. But maybe, just maybe, he wouldn't have to worry about that after this competition. Just maybe, he'd have a lucky break and make it the end, to have his ultimate wish fulfilled: to be the biggest Totodile in existence.

Marc wagged his blue-tipped tail around as he hummed to himself, careful enough not to be stepped on while keeping an open eye out for any sign of the black inflator wolf, but generally just allowing himself to enjoy the festivities around him. The marathon's track started at Lakeshore Drive and continued around the entire perimeter of the city, with select streets closed off just for this occasion. The starting line itself was situated by the edge of a small park overlooking the lake, giving the spectators plenty of room to gather and organize to cheer on their favorite runner on the several screens situated around the place once the race had started. Several vendors for merchandise and food were set up along the pavement, drawing in a decent business with the immense crowds around.

The race had not yet begun, so people were still arriving and getting ready for everything. In particular, small groups gathered around the food booths to get all of their dietary needs ready in advance before the start off. Marc followed alongside of them as he bounced his way through the crowds, looking to see what places were selling what. Coco's Chicken Shack, great place for chicken sandwiches by the look of it; Ye Colde Marshmallow Shoppe, a strange booth selling chocolate-covered frozen marshmallows and other desserts; Aunt Jenny's Pretzels stand, an unoriginal name if he had ever heard one; The Conniption Emporium, which by its name alone sounded like a place that he really didn't want to know what they sold.

The Totodile came to a sudden stop when he nearly ran into a lynx kit not much taller than he was. The cat was one of many small children gathered around one particular booth, jumping around and eagerly awaiting... something. He couldn't tell what, the booth seemed unusually empty. The name on the sign for the place was so extravagantly fanciful in its design that Marc had a hard time just trying to decipher what it said. It must have been some sort of kids puppet show or something. He was about to pass over it and duck back into the taller crowd to hide in again, when he sudden heard a most frightening sound: the sound of a balloon being blown up. Marc spun back around with wide eyes, heart pounding with a fearful adrenaline, and began to look around for the source of the noise.

"Alright kids, here ya are! T' biggest balloons in da city, these are! Special today on account of these festivities, alllllll kids twelve an' under gits a free balloon! That's right, step right up an' git yerself a freeeee balloon!"

A large elephant he hadn't seen before stood behind the counter, his face painted up like a clown's and a laughably large red orb planted on the end of a long white trunk. The clown leaned over the counter and handed a large red balloon to a small coyote pup, probably no more than seven and wearing possibly the biggest smile that the Totodile had seen in the crowd that day. The happy canid then trotted off with his balloon to a pair of yotes behind the group, while more kids pushed their way forward, excitedly bouncing as they all pleaded to get the next one.

Marc gave out a light meep as he felt himself get jostled and pulled in with the flow of the small crowd, unintentionally drawn into the mass as more children started to file in behind him. Well, at least it wasn't Zee, he thought to himself. He slowly began to relax again and did his best to slip through the energetic children, more than once wincing as the footpaw of a jumping cub or kit accidentally stepped on his tail.

When at last he managed to squeeze his way past the youthful cluster, the Totodile gave out a small sigh of relief and leaned up against the other side of the booth, the shaded emptiness giving him a small, peaceful reprieve. However, that reprieve lasted all of three seconds before he suddenly felt a large arm wrap around him, a gray hand silencing his maw while quickly pulling him inside the booth.

Marc struggled madly against the hands that held him, scared beyond belief at what was happening. Looking up, he saw the elephant clown binding him swiftly and securely with some balloon ribbon, tying up the squirming Totodile's paws and muzzle until it was fastened beyond any possibility of escape. The elephant then grinned and pulled up a strange can of what looked like spray paint, before spritzing it right down the small Pokémon's arm. The spray felt cold on his arm, not uncomfortably freezing but chilled enough to make him get a sudden case of goosebumps in addition to the already frantic pounding of his heart. He thrashed and pulled at his bonds with all the strength he could muster, trying to get someone outside to help him escape from this horror.

"Settle down now, jeez. Sooner we get this over with, the sooner I can get out of this dang elephant suit. It's friggin' hot in here..." the clown suddenly said, slowly pulling off a rubber mask to reveal the ebony fur of a grinning, albeit overheated, black wolf underneath. Marc stopped and stared, uncomprehending of what had just happened. It took him only a few seconds before groaning as it finally sunk in that he had just lost the game.

As the wolf started to put his mask back on, Marc suddenly began to feel his arm tingle. The spot that had been sprayed felt strange to him, cooler and a bit lighter, as if it weren't really his own arm but not hurt or numb at all. The turquoise hide on his arm seemed shinier than usual, looking stretched out thin and smooth with plenty of polish. The tingling feeling then slowly crept its way up his arm inch by inch, spreading almost like someone was slowly painting the sensation further along his limb with very soft, tickling brush bristles. It gently slid its way up to his shoulder little at a time, making him feel as though the feeling was a moderately lukewarm tub of water that he was slowly submerging his arm into, except that it didn't stop at his shoulder. It continued to grow through him, slowly spreading down his arm and across his chest. When the feeling spread down into his hands, he could feel the texture of his skin change under his claws, the roughness of his gator hide feeling softer like a weird rubber or latex. Like a...

The Totodile immediately looked up at the booth around him, wide-eyed and panicked as it slowly dawned on him. The entire back wall of the stand was covered with empty rubber balloons, being quickly filled with helium and handed to the still jubilant crowd outside by the pseudo clown. Each balloon was brightly colored and much larger than the average balloon you'd see in the market, and in the corner of the room was a small box filled with plastic ball-pit balls matching the exact colors of the balloons being handed out. And lying just next to the box of balls was the canister that Zee had used to spray him with: "Insta-Balloon".

Marc squirmed as best as he could against his bonds, but it did nothing to cease the spreading of the transformation. It had already covered most of his lower half, extending out to the very tip of his tail and toes on his feet, and continued to grow upwards toward his neck. He gave out a silent gulp as the spreading came up past his Adam's Apple, reminding him a little too much of the sensation of sinking into a pool while being too tired to continue swimming, and then gently closed his eyes as the transformation engulfed his head completely.

"Come right up, lil' lady, no need to be shy. Why, I think I just mights have a special balloonie fer ya."

Marc suddenly shot his eyes open as he felt himself get lifted up by his tail and planted on the counter. Dizzy for a moment, he carefully tried to regain his balance when his eyes fell on the group of kids in front of him. There was less than there was before, a few still jumping around in front of the booth, but of particular notice was a large adult fox trying to make his way to the front and holding a shy little girl on his shoulder. She was a lovely arctic fox kit, no more than three or four at most and trying in vain to hide herself behind her father's head, nervous and scared of the surroundings and strange people.

When he saw her, Marc's heart just melted, and despite his ordeal he couldn't help but to let out a soft smile. Or at least, that's what he tried to do; it was just then that the clown grabbed him again and shoved a hose into his muzzle, instantly sending loads of helium gushing into him. He felt his body start to loosen and grow, his rubbery tan bloating up little by little as swelled like... well, like all of the other balloons the other kids had received that day. It started mostly in his limbs, puffing out his extremities softly like little extra decors to a main piece, while his middle slowly grew out rather evenly and turned the once normal Pokémon into a more spherical shape. His tail started to resemble a balloon sword behind him, as his torso bloated up more and more into a large beach ball, his face cheeks on top swelling and making him look like a hamster hybrid.

The little girl looked at the growth quizzically, not realizing (just like the rest of the crowd) that it was a living person she was looking at. She merely looked on as the Totodile grew and grew, lifting up into the air with every inch of helium pumped into him. When at last Marc was filled enough that only the ribbon tied to his feet kept him from floating away, the elephant Zee smiled and handed the string off to the kit. "Here ya are, missy, the biggest Totodile in existence!"

The girl slowly held out her paw and held onto the ribbon, pulling her new balloon out into the open sky and growing a gentle smile on her muzzle. But Marc couldn't see this, he was too focused on the view that his new height and size gave him, looking out into the masses of people gathered for the start of the marathon as Zee's words rung in his head.

'Biggest Totodile in existence?' ...this is totodily awesome!

---

Victim #4 - Minh

The movie theater was dark and quiet apart from the magic projected onto the screen, as if one world had been mesmerized into stillness in order to let the other flourish with life. A few furs sat dispersed throughout the stadium seating, having tried to "find the perfect spot" for themselves so that they could enjoy the viewing without being too awkwardly close to someone else and have them break their sense of isolation from anything but the movie. A cool air breezed through from the silent vents in the ceiling while the dancing lights of the movie leapt from one person to another, a colorful menagerie of sight and sound.

Trying to be as discreet as he possibly could, Minh sat towards the back of the theater with his fluffy brown tail nervously situated on his lap. The Eevee was only half watching the film being played before him, because his whole reason for being there lay outside the world on the screen. Zee's competition... Minh had been there that day when the inflator wolf last held such a contest, and he remembered well watching as every last contestant had been found and caught in a matter of hours. But, he was going to make sure that didn't happen to hi m; he was determined to last until the final round not only to get the most out of his inflation, but to have the honor of outwitting the notoriously cunning wolf. Minh smiled to himself as that thought went through his head.

Minh had decided that the best way to keep in the running was to stay low until Zee had caught up with most of the other contestants, and though he knew that the inflator wolf had many tricks up his sleeve, he was pretty sure that night vision was not one of them. He was nestled in comfortably in the darkness, letting himself follow along with the movie to pass the time while he kept alert for any sign of trouble. It didn't seem likely that Zee would be able to spot him even if he did somehow show up in the theater looking for him, but Minh wasn't going to take any chances. He knew better than that, especially with this particular wolf.

The film playing was some sort of cliché romantic comedy whose only notable quality was that it starred some big name actors (the names of which, ironically, the eevee couldn't remember for the life of him). Minh had walked in partway into the movie, so he knew he had probably missed a good bit of the storyline, but he couldn't help but wonder who in God's name thought it would be a good idea to use polka music for a chase scene. However, he at least enjoyed the lightheartedness in the atmosphere, the sound of the laughter in the audience putting him a little more at ease and even making him smile at times despite the serious attitude he was trying to keep for the contest.

He quickly lost the smile though as he noticed a dark figure enter the theater. Minh quickly slipped back in his seat as far as he could go, trying his best to make sure that he stayed hidden in the darkness. He couldn't be sure if it was Zee, and he didn't feel like leaning too far forward to find out and risk being spotted. The emergency exit was right nearby, but Minh wanted to keep that option as a last resort only. If the figure wasn't Zee, then he would be foolish to leave the safety of the theater just because of a simple case of nerves, and if it was Zee, well, leaving his spot would instantly get him noticed, and he didn't feel like finding out whether he was faster than the wolf or not if he could help it.

There was a sudden bang from the movie, distracting him for a split second as his eyes travelled over to the screen. The film's antagonist had just discharged a gun to try to frighten the main character. He must have been successful, because Minh knew it sure had frightened him. Even more frightening was the fact when Minh looked back after the diversion, he found the figure was gone. His heart raced as he scanned the audience over, looking to see whether the figure had left the theater or was working his way up to find a seat... or possibly to find him. But not a single person in the theater was standing up; everyone, as far as he could tell, was sitting down and enjoying the feature presentation.

Perhaps the person had already found a seat somewhere, or maybe it really was Zee but he didn't see him in the dark and had left to check elsewhere. Either way, it seemed to the Eevee that he was safe for now, but he would need to pay much closer attention from now on. He gave out a soft sigh of relief and silently cursed the villain of the film for his near folly. It would have been bad if he had been spotted and the figure really had been...

Achoo!

Minh jumped from the sudden noise behind him and the coldness of the sneeze landing on his ear. 'Aw man, gross... what is wrong with this guy?', he growled angrily under his breath, turning to glare at the perpetrator and somehow silently give him a piece of his mind to make his annoyance known. But as his gaze fell on the person behind him, all of his anger instantly turned to fear; sitting behind him was Zee, holding up a strange spray can in his paw and wearing a pair of night vision goggles instead of his usual shades.

"You know, bud," he quietly whispered as he leaned forward, removing his goggles and slipping the canister into his pocket, "I think you would have been a lot more inconspicuous if you didn't look like you were watching a horror movie in the middle of an audience full of people enjoying a comedy. Just a tip for next time, rubber-butt."

'...rubber-butt?' Minh thought to himself. Zee merely grinned and reached over to ruffle the stunned Eevee's hair before standing up to take his leave. "Anyway, gotta run. Places to go, people to catch, you know the drill. See ya."

Minh felt a cold shiver run down his spine as the wolf slipped back through to the exit, the dampness on his ear tingling coolly as if it were a melting ice-cube against his skin. Somehow, despite all of precaution and ambitions in besting the wolf, he was out of the running, and he had the nagging feeling that the sensation now tingling on his ear wasn't really Zee having sneezed on him. He could feel it slowly spread like water gently trickling down his fur, but when he reached his paw up to touch it, he didn't feel any liquid. His ear felt strange to him though, smooth and almost spongy instead of his usual fuzziness, even squeaking lightly under his claws. The invisible trickling feeling slowly slid down his ear to the back of his neck, dispersing into his collar fluff and giving him goose bumps underneath as it grew. He drew his paw down to his normally fluffy collar fur and immediately knew that something was wrong; instead of the soft strands of fur he always prided himself on, his paw grazed a flat rubbery surface, as if his fur had melted down into a puffy latex ring around his neck. But still the chilled dripping feeling did not stop.

It softly crept down along his back, branching out to his shoulder and across his ribs. Minh followed the strangely growing coolness with his paw wherever it went, feeling the fur momentarily stiffen before seemingly dissolving into a soft, glossy substance. The pale light from the movie reflected brightly off of the now shiny surface growing inch by inch over his arm and into his paw, changing the once soft pelt into some sort of puffy rubber. If it weren't for the weird laugh track and still annoying polka music coming from the screen, he would have thought that the whole thing was something right out of a sci-fi horror movie.

As the transformation swept down over his belly, Minh felt something strange press at his navel. He peeled back his shirt just enough so that no one but him could see, and peered over at the new presence with a mixture of awe, fear, and curiosity. Just poking out from his belly button was a small plastic valve, like one would see on an inflatable balloonie. It was shut tight though, and Minh was afraid to find out what might happen if he were to open it. For all he knew, it might literally spill his guts, or open a hole in his lungs, or all sorts of other unpleasant thoughts.

'Then again, it might be a hidden way to reverse the effects, letting out some sort of liquid transformation serum or being the place where I can insert an antidote or something. I don't know, I just wouldn't put it past Zee for him to find it amusing to offer a simple but likely to be overlooked cure for all of this...'

Minh silently weighed out the possibilities of opening it or leaving it be, always afraid to answer the question "What's the worst that could happen?" and trying to find some more pleasant possibilities for it instead, while the transformation itself slowly continued to spread to the far reaches of his body. In the end, he knew Zee well enough to take a guess that opening the valve wouldn't do him any harm. Zee was a fun but careful prankster, never one to risk physically endangering his victims. So, he took a deep breath and very slowly pulled the tab of the valve open.

It wasn't until after he heard the sudden whooshing sound and felt his belly start to fill up with air that the eevee noticed a tiny tag attached to the valve by a string, carrying three simple words: "Open to inflate."

"Oh come on!", he angrily grumbled under his breath. He should have known the inflator wolf had something up his sleeve; if he hadn't pulled it open, he wouldn't have been inflated, and would still technically be in the running even though he had been, well, pool-toyficated. But it was too late now, for the valve at his belly button was somehow sucking in air at a rapid pace, filling his gut fuller than if he had drunk all of the soda in the entire movie theater. By the time he thought to close the valve again, he found that his rubber paw couldn't reach his own navel anymore; his large girth was a foot too wide and pudgy arms were too filled with air to be nearly dexterous enough to put a stopper in the hole.

Minh sighed softly and leaned back in his seat with a squeak, only to instantly sit back up when he heard another sudden whooshing sound right by his ear a split second later. Another valve had apparently been hidden in his collar fluff and had opened when he sat back, sucking in even more air now right into his already expanding rubber neck. It grew and grew almost even faster than his immense body itself did, almost forming a perfect rubber pool ring around his throat.

His body finally stopped swelling after a minute or two, looking something like a giant beach ball that would roll down the stadium seating at any moment. Though he couldn't see the audience around him, he felt the eyes of everyone in the theater staring at him in shock. Perhaps his little situation was a bit too loud and disturbing for them to focus on the film anymore, or perhaps he was simply so large that he was blocking the projector. He imagined it was more the latter, for the lights came back on over him only a few short moments later and he could hear the whispered murmurs of the people in front of him.

"H-Heh heh... um, so, anyone see any good movies lately?"

---

Victim #5 - Miles

Paws pattered against the sidewalk as a dark orange fox hurried down the block looking for some place to hide, Miles' determined eyes dancing from store to store as he worked his way around the daily pedestrians in the commercial district of the city. Unlike the rest of the contestants, Miles wasn't actually here of his own intent; his mate Kael, who was another one of the competitors in the Manhunt contest, had wanted him to join up and play along in the game with him. Miles had joined rather reluctantly at first, but he couldn't deny that now that he was here, it sounded something like fun. The last time he had played hide-and-seek was when he was a pup, but this time everything was on a much grander scale and with much higher stakes. So the fox had decided to stick with it to see what would happen. Of course, that meant that he would have to try his hardest too, just like Kael would be. The fox didn't want to lose too early after all; what was the point in playing a game if you didn't play to win, right? Though if Kael won, that would work just as well.

Brushing back his long brown hair, Miles looked around to see if he could find a good spot to hide. The fox's eyes went from one side of the street to the other, and he wondered which of the many shops that lined the block would work best for him. None seemed particularly appealing; most of them were smaller shops, like a little used bookstore that only had a few aisles in it, or a deli with no cover whatsoever. His choices weren't very good, and time was running out. Any second now, Zee could come striding down the street, spot him, and then Miles would kiss the game goodbye before he even had a chance to get to the second round!

Getting a bit nervous as he continued to search for a place to hide, the fox knew he had to pick quickly. He just wanted somewhere fairly large that he could conceal himself in, somewhere where he wouldn't easily be spotted. After all, he was hard to tell apart from most foxes, so in a crowded place, like a theater or a cafe, he would have some good camouflage among the general populace. The problem was that there seemed to be no large establishments around! There had to be something, like a clothing store, or something for hardware, or...

Miles paused as he saw just the place. "Or a restaurant..."

The building in question was a large Italian-themed restaurant named Grasso's. The place seemed to be a sit-down type restaurant, a sort of formal dining establishment. Best of all, it was full, even at midday; perfect for hiding in! The only problem was a lack of a companion; with Kael elsewhere, he would be dining by himself, and that would be a bit of a giveaway. But at least it was better than standing out here in the open where Zee could spot him with ease! Quickly deciding on his destination, Miles hurried towards the restaurant, looking over his shoulder to make sure that the inflator wolf hadn't already caught onto him as it was.

Fortunately, the coast was clear, and Miles quickly hurried into the restaurant. Opening the door, a wash of cool air blew over the fox, a contrast to the already-warming weather outside. He felt his fur prickle at the coolness, before quickly making his way to the stand at the front where a greeter was patiently standing, ready to guide any patrons to their table. The well-dressed otter gave him a questioning look, but professionally dismissed the fact that Miles was alone. The fox barely spoke a sentence, requesting a table, and the greeter checked his list before grabbing a menu and turning to lead the restaurant's latest patron to a table.

Seated at a small booth off to the side that was clearly meant for two, Miles felt a bit uncomfortable as he looked around. Everyone else in the restaurant was there with someone else; friends, couples, business partners, families... the place seemed almost full up of everyone but single diners like himself. He gave out a soft, wistful sigh before he heard the clearing of a throat in front of him. The fox looked up with a start as he realized his waiter was standing there waiting for him, a golden bamboo lemur with blue eyes and light blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail.

"Welcome to Grasso's. My name is Carol, and I'll be your server today. Can I get you something to drink, sir?", she asked with a smile.

"Uh...", the fox replied rather stupidly, having forgotten to even glance at the menu after being seated. "If you've got any coke, I'll take that."

Carol nodded and wrote down his request on her little notebook before dashing off again, leaving Miles to once again brood by himself. He was beginning to think that it might not have been the best of ideas to come here. Not only did he stick out rather badly, being the only person eating by himself in a crowded restaurant of couples and friends, but he couldn't help but feel lonely without his mate there. Still, at least it was a decent hiding spot with a good view of his surroundings. He'd be able keep mostly out of sight, while still able to keep a good eye out in case Zee did come in after him. And if that happened... well, he'd at least be able to break in the new pair of running shoes his mate had bought for him. After the competition was over though, the fox knew that he was definitely going to bring Kael back to this place to make up for how out of place and lonely he felt. A nice, romantic dinner, sharing a plate of spaghetti between the two of them, both of them unaware that they were chewing on the same noodle strand until finally...

His thoughts were interrupted though when he felt a paw tap his shoulder.

"Excuse me, could we borrow the salt from your table? Ours seems to be missing...", came a burly voice from the booth just next to his. Without thinking, the fox reached over and grabbed the shaker, not even looking up as he passed it off to the gray paw hanging over his shoulder.

"Thank you, sir."

"No problem," the fox absently replied as his attention was drawn to his approaching waitress. The lemur had a little tray with a large coke in a red-stained cup, and a nice warm platter of rolls with a side of garlic butter and marinara sauce. Miles couldn't help but drool a little when his vulpine nose picked up the heavenly scent of the delicious rolls, his stomach rumbling in eagerness at the mere appetizer to an upcoming entre. But he couldn't dig in just yet; he still had to actually order his lunch first, a fact of which reminded him that he still hadn't even looked at his menu yet.

"Well now, have you decided what you'd like to have today, or would you like a bit more time?" Carol asked with a well-practiced smile. Miles quickly opened up his menu, taking a look around for the first thing that sounded good to him. His eyes immediately shot over to the various pastas on the first page, filled with delicious looking pictures of spaghettis, macaronis, and lasagnas. Three in particular caught his attention most: the delicious chicken alfredo (something about being a fox influenced his love of all things chicken), the superb fettuccini with garlic sauce, and the classic spaghetti and meatballs. He decided to go with the latter of these three and looked back up with a smile, his orange bushy tail wagging gently against the seat.

"I think I'll go with the traditional spaghetti and meatballs for today," the fox finally said as he handed the menu back to the waitress. She nodded with a smile and wrote down his simple order before taking the offered menu. No sooner than the list had left his paw though, he heard his stomach growl rather embarrassingly loudly. "And, uh, also the Chicken Alfredo, if you would please."

Carol cocked her head questioningly. "Are you expecting a guest or something?"

"Nah, I'm not expecting anyone. I'm just..." Miles started as he shook his head, but then he just couldn't find the words to finish. He didn't actually know why he had ordered the extra dish. It wasn't exactly involuntarily done, obviously, but he had just blurted it out without thinking. Was he really that hungry? Well, according to at least his stomach, he was that hungry and possibly ten times more. He needed that extra plateful of food. In fact...

"Actually, could I also have the fettuccini with garlic sauce as well?"

The waitress stood stunned for a moment, before jotting down his order. "Well, um, I guess if that's what you want, sure. As long as you're paying for all of them."

The moment that Carol left, Miles immediately attacked the steaming rolls that had been staring at him, his brown vulpine paws swiping them one at a time and dunking them into either the sauce or the butter before stuffing them into his muzzle. He couldn't help himself, they just looked and smelled and tasted so goooooood. The fox swallowed down each piece in succession, not being bothered by the fact that the number of rolls was meant for at least two people to eat rather than just himself. He was just eager to fill himself of the warm flavors and satisfy the ominous hunger in his stomach, barely even aware of the pudginess growing at his waistline.

By the time he finished the last roll, Carol returned with another tray, this time with his spaghetti on it. "Well, here's the, um, first of your dishes. You're in luck, sir. For some reason, the chef was already halfway done cooking your meals for you by the time I placed your order. It's like someone had already ordered all three of those meals at the same time, but then had to suddenly cancel."

She placed the dish down in front of the starving fox before turning to head back to the kitchen for his other meals. Miles wondered for a moment why the dishes had been preordered already, but quickly cast the thought aside as he pulled out his fork and began to dig in to the giant bowl of spaghetti. He lifted up large forkfuls of the saucy noodles to his muzzle, quickly downing the first few bites in an instant. He paused only to lick the tomato sauce off of his lips before going right back to the pasta, his fork grabbing another forkful immediately. The only pauses in his noodle consumption were only to spear another meatball on his fork before practically inhaling it and continuing back on the main dish. Another forkfull followed, and another, and in moments the entire plateful was gone, with nothing but a few remaining noodles and a bit of sauce remaining.

Miles sat back, patting at his stomach contentedly. That had been some great food; he would definitely have to recommend this place to Kael sometime! However, despite having downed a large plate of spaghetti and meatballs, another growl came from his middle. The fox raised an eyebrow; he must have been really hungry! Where was his next dish anyway? He didn't have any rolls to gnaw on between dishes, having consumed them already, and his belly demanded more food!

Fortunately, Carol was not long in returning, a tray in her arm with not one, but both of his remaining dishes stacked atop it. She started to place them down before pausing, startled, as she noticed that the first plate was already cleaned off. She looked up at the fox, and back down at the plate, before raising an eyebrow. "My, you certainly were hungry! And you can eat a lot for a smaller fellow like yourself. Just try not to overdo it; it already seems to be going to your tummy!"

Miles blinked at the comment before looking down at his belly, surprised at what he saw. Where his stomach was normally flat, the fox's orange-and-white middle pressed out a good six inches further than usual, and was much softer, stretching his shirt around it. The weight wasn't just in his middle either; a quick glance showed that his hips had widened, his limbs were a bit thicker, and even his muzzle felt a little bit heavier. Flushing in embarrassment, his ears pinning back, Miles thanked his waitress for the advice before she wandered off again. He felt much better when she was gone; the comments had been rather pointed, if innocent.

Still, even the development of the extra weight on his body wasn't enough to curb Miles' appetite in the least. He was hungry! As much as he wanted to question how he had gained so much just from one bowl of pasta, the fox's hunger overrode the rational part of his brain, and instead he started worrying about which of the two dishes to sample next. On one paw, he had a beautiful chicken alfredo sitting before him, with strips of well-cooked chicken and shredded parmesan cheese sitting atop sauce-soaked noodles; on the other there was a cooked dish of fettuccini with the most mouth-watering garlic sauce simply drenching every ounce of it. So what was he to choose?

The answer was obvious; he would take both! Taking another fork from a roll of tableware in front of the opposite seat, Miles stuck a fork in each and began taking alternating bites of each. Thick garlicky sauce intermingled with the slightly-smoked taste of the chicken, both delicious in his mouth and making him ravenous for more. He continued to take bits of each, not pausing long enough to enjoy a bite from one before moving onto the next. His ravenous hunger was in full swing now, and there was nothing that would stand between him and finishing the two dishes that had been set before him.

As he continued to eat, Miles didn't notice the changes that were becoming apparent on his body. Normally, the food would have shown in a bulge on his stomach due to just the sheer volume, but instead it was quickly being digested, and fat was forming on the normally lithe fox's body. His belly, already stretching his shirt from the first dish, now spilled into his lap, a soft mass of white fur that wobbled at the fox's movements. Mile's jeans were tight around the waist, too, as his hips widened, his rump swelled out, and his legs thickened. His neck began to widen, and his shirt tightened slightly around it, but he didn't notice, continuing to swallow and gulp down the food before him.

Slowly the weight started to become even more noticeable as the button to his jeans popped off with a ping and shot across the room. His shirt was starting to tear around the neck, but again, he didn't notice it. All that was on the fox's mind was food, and Miles continued to tear into his food with abandon. Unfortunately, said dishes couldn't last forever, and in a few minutes of this frenzied feeding, his plates were empty. Miles was finally released from what was an almost hypnotic hunger, leaving him feeling stuffed to the brim as he leaned back in his booth. He had eaten a lot more than he usually did; now he just wanted to sit back and let his stomach digest it all...

As he settled back, resting his paws on his stomach, the fox gave a start as he realized that it stuck out much further than it used to. Of course, that was quickly overwhelmed by the fact that he was touching his belly and not his shirt. The garment hung in rags around his chest, torn down the center by his expanding girth. His belly alone was thick enough to take up his whole lap without any difficulty. His jeans were still intact, though barely, and the seams at the legs had given out. His muzzle was even a good deal wider, with rounder cheeks and an extra chin or two. He was huge! What had happened to leave him like this?

Another tap on his shoulder caused him to turn in exasperation... only to see the answer sitting right in front of him, grinning over a pair of shades.

"Ugh... I knew it. Eating by myself was a clean giveaway, wasn't it?"

"Actually, I was already in here when you came in," Zee said with a grin. "If it's any consolation though, you did at least provide your boyfriend with a momentary reprieve, since I stopped chasing him to get you instead. Well, have fun! I've got some more work to do..."

Miles tried to stop him, but the wolf was fast and wasn't weighed down by an exceptional amount of food. The fox sighed, trying to figure out how he was going to explain this whole mess before he heard a crash. Looking over his shoulder, the fox saw Carol standing there, staring in shock at his new size. Blushing again in embarrassment, Miles gave a weak grin and rubbed at his head.

"Um... check please?"

---

Victim #6 - Ceralor

Ceralor huffed as he jogged his way down an old rural street filled with warehouses on one side and small locally owned stores on the other, his balloon feet squeaking comically with every step he took. The red rubber dragon figured he must have been at least a mile or two away now from the starting point, though he knew that he couldn't just stop there. He had heard a number of stories about how Zee the inflator wolf had shown up in the least expected of places the last time there was such a competition, and he didn't want to get caught just squeaking around when there could be a lot more fun in store for him if he lasted long enough. After all, the math was pretty simple to Ceralor:longer you avoid getting caught x number of other people who have already been caught = size you get inflated to = pure awesomeness + fun. The giant balloonie didn't need more motivation than that to keep himself going, his large puffy tail swinging from side to side as he bounced along with a smile.

He had just made his way to an older section of downtown towards the edge of the city, filled with both relics of the past and newer construction sites. It was a fairly darker, more rundown part of the town, filled with elderly buildings in the process of either being refurbished and converted into newer apartment condos or torn down completely so that new buildings could be erected altogether. The area seemed a bit bleaker than the more lively section that the starting point had been in. The weather-beaten old mortar brick houses and cracking cement sidewalks made Ceralor feel as though the most colorful, liveliest thing around was him, and that's not exactly the best of things to be when you're trying to keep a low profile. He already stuck out quite a bit as is, with his shiny red balloony bust taking up more space on the sidewalk than he should be and more than a couple of people stopping to stare at him for a moment. It was as if they'd never seen a living balloon before or something.

Still, there was something about this area of town that seemed... homey. Friendly. It was a place of longstanding homes, filled with people who actually knew the other people and would greet them as they passed by on the street. In a bustling city, most "neighborhoods" were usually only as large as your floor of the apartment building you lived in, and most people tended to not notice or talk to many too other people even within your own building. But this part of town seemed slower, smaller, simpler; it was the type of area where a store owner would recognize if you weren't from this part of town. Ceralor liked places like this, the good nature of the communities living there. He was a simple, friendly guy himself, and above all else he loved just hanging around and being with other friends... especially if they had an air pump and liked making him even bigger.

The rubber dragon came to a stop at the corner of the block, using the red blinking light telling him not to cross as an excuse for him to catch his breath, his large red balloon paws resting on his slightly shaky knees. He knew he could keep on going until he found somewhere safe to hide, since it wasn't like he really weighed all that much, but at the same time he wasn't exactly made for long endurance running either. He just needed someplace that even Zee wouldn't think to find him at. Like, say, a Laundromat. 'After all...', Ceralor thought with a smile, 'I don't wear clothes, so why would Zee bother to look for me there, hm?'

He was just about to continue on his way when he saw someone walking his way in the distance. It was a dark figure wearing a gray hoodie, the hood up over his head and a cell phone held up to his ear while his other paw rested casually in his pocket. Ceralor started to panic a little; he couldn't be sure if it was Zee or not, but he could definitely see a jet black lupine tail behind the man, and the balloonie dragon sure as heck didn't want to stick around to find out whether it really was him or not. His eyes darted around for a quick exit, but the only thing he could see was an open garage door to what looked like an indoor car wash service. A sign just outside the doors read "Bert's Car Wash, open Monday through Friday from 10am-5pm."

'Better than nothing!', he thought as he quickly dashed into the garage, hoping that the wolf didn't notice the loud sudden barrage of squeaks. Inside, the room seemed dark compared to the bright daylight outside, the small overhead lights simply holding no water against the beams of light coming in through the doorway and overhead windows. The place was spacious enough for a single car of any size to fit in, reminding him of a regular auto shop with what looked several car parts and toolboxes lying about. If it weren't for a strange giant brush machine hanging high up on the ceiling and all the water on the floor draining into an open grate, he probably would have thought it to be just a regular maintenance shop.

"Hello? Anyone here?" he called out to the void of the garage. But strangely, no one replied. It might be lunch hour or the owner might have been called away, he figured to himself. Just to the side of the entrance, Ceralor saw a big red button marked OPEN/CLOSE and reached out to press it. Instantly, the large garage door kicked to life and began to lower itself, providing him a bit of shelter and slowly easing him of his earlier panic. When the door finally touched the ground and sealed the place shut, he breathed a gentle sigh of relief and walked over to a small window to check the street for any sign of Zee.

The street in front of the building remained mostly clear save the occasional bicyclist or dog walker. Ceralor didn't have to wait long though before he spotted the black wolf he saw before again. But the wolf just idly strolled along, talking in unheard voices to someone on his cell phone and paying little attention to his surroundings at all, not even stopping once to look at the car wash that the big red balloon was hiding in. When he walked clean out of sight, Ceralor scritched gently at his chin, the squeaky rubber protesting softly. 'Huh. He didn't even glance this way. Either that's not Zee, or he's really absorbed in his phone conversation.'

Ceralor gave a soft sigh of relief, and was about to open the garage door back up again when he suddenly heard a loud whirring sound above him. The rubber dragon quickly turned and looked up with wide eyes; it was the automated car washing machinery he saw only moments before, slowly descending from the ceiling into the center of the garage with its brushes spinning and a gentle spray of water showering down upon the ground like some summertime misting machine at the local theme park. It must have been activated automatically when he closed the garage door. There wasn't much room for him to move out of the way to, so Ceralor did his best to shrink back against the wall as the apparatus was lowered down to the floor but a few short feet in front of him, watching as the machine scrubbed and washed the imaginary car that was supposed to be there. The balloon quickly searched blindly with his paw along the wall for the door button again, trying to make his escape from the cleaning machine of doom, or at least find a way to turn it off. But, instead of finding the switch, his paw came to rest on the furred head of someone standing beside him.

"H-Hey, watch it now, Squeaky. Don't be messing up my fur."

Ceralor froze and gave out a small squeak of fright as he recognized the voice, realizing just who was standing there next to him under his paw. Despite every voice in his mind telling him not to look, that maybe if he simply ignored the presence beside him it would somehow magically make the owner of the voice anyone but the one person he hoped it wasn't, he slowly turned his rubbery head to look at the black inflator wolf standing by his side. The balloony paw had found its way right between Zee's ears, causing them to splay out to the sides almost cutely while the wolf looked up at him with a mixture of annoyance and amusement. Ceralor lifted his paw up cautiously, still in a bit of shock at his captor's sudden appearance.

"But... I just saw you outside... or someone that looked like you maybe... how did you... I don't even..."

Zee grinned mischievously as he pulled out a remote control of some sort. "Magic. Isn't it obvious?"

The wolf then pressed a button on the remote, and instantly the door behind them began to rise up again. Unfortunately for Ceralor, the rubber dragon was startled by the sudden loud noise, and jumped out of frightened reflex... right onto a pile of marbles that Zee had laid down, causing him to slip and slide forward straight into the car wash apparatus with a loud squeaky crash. He sat dazed for a moment before he felt the water spraying down over his shiny surface and the brushes reaching in to scrub at his rubbery hide, tickling him lightly as the bristles swept across his squeaky body. Zee grinned and watched while Ceralor squirmed in his makeshift shower stall, the poor balloon dragon unable to resist giggling as the brushes tickled his sensitive spots.

"By the way, in addition to a car wash service, this place offers basic maintenance like oil changes, state inspections, and most importantly... free air filling for your tires. Or in our case, for a balloonie dragon."

But Ceralor barely heard him over the sound of the cleaning and of his own sudden laughter. The brushes and soap water were strong enough to be able to clean off any of the grime that might be on a car, but to his latex skin, they felt soft and not so much different from a set of feather dusters. It was only when he felt his body begin to swell that he connected Zee's words and remembered the competition he was a part of. He felt his body puff up slowly, his limbs thickening and torso expanding as air suddenly filled his insides. His cheeks filled up a little like a hamster's while his chest and belly widened, his thick tail behind him swelling almost as widely as his pudgy front. He watched as his fingers gently turned into plump red sausages in his paws, and his belly into a slightly rounded out bean bag. All the while, the wet brushes continued to tickle at him as they scrubbed his growing sides, seemingly having difficulty in containing the widening dragon in its clutches.

Zee couldn't help but chuckle at the dragon's predicament, torn between being tortured by tickling and enjoying his slow growth as it filled him. "I've heard of rubber duckies in the bathtub, but this is the first I've seen a rubber dragon in the shower. Well, time for me to get going, so enjoy your free car wash and, er, 'tire' air refill."

He winked playfully as he walked out the open garage door, leaving the puffy balloonie to continue his inflation. The dragon giggled and tried to stand up on his bloated paws with no success, his rubber body jiggling from its sheer size while the water rained down on him and bounced off of his swelling chest as if they were little sky divers jumping down onto a trampoline. He was already almost two to three feet wider than the average car, with his bloated limbs trying in vain to protect him from the tickling monster and his a long puffed up tail dangling helplessly behind him, and it was clear that the machine was having a hard time handling his new girth. Fortunately for the machine, it eventually slowed and came to a stop, retracting its brushes from the wet balloon as the apparatus climbed its way back up to the ceiling. Finally freed of his torture, he managed to push his fairly rotund body up onto his bubble paws and looked himself over with a smile.

'Well,' he thought with a chuckle, 'I might not have lasted long, but there's nothing like being squeaky clean.'

---

Victim #7 - Sasuke

"Huff... I think... ugh... I'm at... a disadvantage here..."

Heavy footsteps thudded against the pavement as a large figure hurried between two buildings, moving as fast as his impressive girth would allow him. Black fur and bright orange hair gleamed in brief bursts of sunlight as the wolfdragon continued to put as much distance between himself and Zee as he could. Unfortunately, Sasuke's size was a serious handicap for him; already being a good deal heavier than most furs, seven hundred pounds of bulk did nothing but slow him down and make him an obvious target. That was why he was darting (waddling, really) through alleyways and back roads, hoping to avoid being caught.

Fortunately, the wolfdragon had an idea. It was a bit of a risky one, but if he was right, Zee would never look for him in a place that would be absolutely perfect for inflations. After all, why would someone set themselves up to lose the game, when they wanted to win the prize of being his biggest "victim"? No one had any real idea where the upper limits of Zee's powers lay, and all wanted the title of "biggest" to themselves. The only maximum currently known was the wolf who had been blown up to the size of a parade balloon for winning last year's Manhunt; maybe this year's reward would be bigger! That was why everyone would try their hardest.

Coming out of the alleyway, Sasuke caught sight of his destination: a large ice cream factory. The wolfdragon often visited it to pick up custom-sized orders that were far larger than any supermarket stocked. He was well-known there too; Zee couldn't subvert people to do his bidding! Overall, Sasuke felt it was the safest place to be right now, and as he passed through the front doors of the factory, he felt almost at home, knowing that he had a good chance of staying safely in the game at this point.

The woldragon paused in the doorway, letting the sounds of the running factory fill his ears. Machines whirred as they mixed together the ingredients for the ice cream base, to be split off into a dozen or separate tubes and be mixed into the different varieties that went out all over the state. Various workers strode up and down the machinery, making sure it was working properly and making sure that the ice cream was meeting standards. More than a few were a bit on the heavy side; one of the benefits of working in the factory was that the product was free to workers (within reason). A couple of the especially heavy ones were the taste testers, discerning the quality of the ice cream. Sasuke had actually volunteered to "help test the ice cream" once, and it was no wonder that several of the workers were dealing with larger wardrobe sizes.

A single individual, a somewhat trim coyote, looked up briefly from his work maintaining the machinery and smiled as well before standing up straight and waving. The wolfdragon stopped as he caught sight of his old friend whom he had known since he started visiting the factory some time ago, grinning as well.

"Hey there, Sasuke. You didn't call this time; we could have whipped up another batch of ice cream for ya!"

"Heh, hey to you too, Mark. Not here to get any ice cream though."

The coyote's ears perked up for a moment in confusion. "Well that's unlike you. So then, why'd you visit? Just sayin' hey?"

"Kinda looking for a place to hunker down for a bit, hang around. If I need to get going though..."

Mark laughed and shook his head. "Nonsense! Of course you're welcome here. You're one of our best customers! And if you need something to do... one of our tasters is out sick today. Care to help us out a bit, do some 'volunteer work'?"

Sasuke licked his lips; he remembered the last time he had gotten to help "test" the ice cream! A small portion out of each batch of ice cream, about a large bowl's full, was given to be eaten and judged for quality. The small amount of paperwork required to be filled out afterward was no problem at all; in fact, Sasuke loved giving his opinion on each flavor to improve them and by extension make his large orders all the more worthwhile! And certainly he did need something to do while he was waiting for Zee to catch the other contestants; why not do something both enjoyable and beneficial at the same time?

"Sounds like a plan to me, Mark! Clock me in; I could use something sweet."

Nodding, the coyote did one last check of the machinery before pulling out a walkie-talkie and speaking into it, letting the factory supervisors know that Sasuke was filling in for someone today. Naturally knowing the wolfdragon, the management quickly approved the request. Mark nodded after only a few seconds talking with them, clipping the radio back on his belt before leading the way towards the testing stations. These were merely rooms set aside away from the machinery (for some reason, watching the ice cream being made wasn't good for the appetite) with a large table for setting the small bowls used aside.

Mark chuckled and shook his head as he saw the look in Sasuke's eyes, knowing that getting between the wolfdragon and potential food was a bad idea. Instead he simply gestured to one of the assistants who would be bringing in samples from each batch for his friend to taste and went back to his job checking the machinery. The assistant, a younger wolf, strode up with a smile. Sasuke did a double-take before calming; it didn't seem to be Zee. Instead the wolf was lighter in fur color, the more natural grays and browns visible outside of the lupine's clothing. No way that was Zee; the ink-black fur would have given the inflator away.

"So... you're filling in? I guess I can see that you like our ice cream..."

The wolf's demeanor was even completely different, meek and quiet instead of the normally self-confident boisterous Zee. Sasuke completely relaxed and nodded, patting his big belly as it rippled and shook. "Yup! Of course I like a lot of things, but your ice cream's pretty good! I get my orders from here personally."

"I see... well let me get the first batch." The wolf quickly scampered off, tail swishing back and forth. After a moment he was back, with a try that had four different bowls of ice cream. Sasuke noticed they were a bit bigger than the usual testing ones; they probably wanted to appease their best customer with some extra sweets. The wolfdragon didn't mind in the least! He grabbed a spoon and waited for the first bowl to be placed before him, thick tail wagging back and forth and brushing against the ground behind him.

Digging in, Sasuke relished the semi-sweetness of the chocolate mixing in with the mint, finishing off the bowl rather quickly. He would have been faster if he had a bigger spoon; oh well, no sense in dwelling on what he didn't have! Instead, he licked his lips, lifted the bowl, and licked it clean before starting on the next. After the mint-chocolate chip was the purest vanilla, and the flavor was so sweet Sasuke practically felt his taste buds melting from joy. It, too, was gone quickly, as was the strawberry and then the butter-pecan. Every bit of ice cream was slurped up, swallowed, and lost into the vastness of his large belly. Every bowl was cleaned out down to the last drop.

In a few minutes, the assistant came back to check on his progress, and his jaw dropped as he saw Sasuke sitting expectantly, waiting for more. "H-how... where'd the ice cream go?"

"I ate it, of course. And my analysis: the vanilla was a bit too sweet, it's almost overpowering. The strawberry tasted a bit artificial too. So, what's next?"

"One moment, I'll get the rest..."

The assistant literally ran out, as if making Sasuke wait was asking for a disaster. The wolfdragon simply sat back, rubbing at his belly, though he paused as he did so. Did it feel heavier? A closer look told him nothing; it still looked like a large mass of furred fat. Chuckling to himself, he shrugged it off. Surely one didn't get fatter after four bowls of ice cream! That was just a silly thought. Instead, he went to thinking about what flavors were coming up next. Perhaps he would get some sherbet this time; that stuff was to die for, especially the orange variety.

A squeaking sound drew Sasuke's attention back to the doorway as the assistant came back in wheeling a large metal canister about as tall as the wolf himself, with two large pumps on both sides and a control board on the surface facing the lupine. Sasuke looked on in confusion, wondering what the device was. It almost reminded him of a soft-serve dispenser like the ones used at restaurants. Perhaps it was easier just to bring the ice cream directly rather than putting it in the individual bowls like they were before? Certainly it would help with how quickly he was going through the bowls.

"Gimme just a second to get this working..."

Sasuke quirked an eyebrow; something seemed different about the assistant, though he couldn't tell what. The wolf looked the same, but it was more that his mannerisms were weird. Still, it wasn't that much off; he was still the same busy assistant doing his job and trying to get through another day at work. Sasuke shrugged it off and went back to contemplating the machine that the assistant was fiddling with. It still seemed odd to bring a whole dispenser out; were they going to just have him test one flavor? Or maybe there were multiple compartments within so that he could sample several types in a more rapid manner? The wolfdragon hoped that it was the latter, he was really hungry!

Finally the wolf seemed satisfied as he brought another bowl forward, placing it onto the table. This one was larger than the rest; perhaps they realized that Sasuke needed more at once or else they'd run out of samples to test before the day was halfway done! The wolfdragon's heavy tail brushed back and forth against the ground as he waited to see what he'd be testing next. Once more images of the different flavors roamed through his head, and he wound up trying to figure out which one he wanted the most. Unfortunately, he also couldn't make a decision! It was lucky for him that the assistant decided to get his attention again as he turned on the machine, a whirring sound coming from the hose he held above the bowl.

A long stream of soft-serve, a mix of colors ranging from a vivid pink to the familiar off-green of mint, emerged from the tube and into the bowl. Sasuke's ears twitched as tilted his head, trying to figure out what flavor this was. Clearly it was something new; he hadn't ever seen nor smelled anything like it, and he had sampled just about every type of ice cream there was out there. Wondering what it was, he looked over inquisitively at the assistant, who simply motioned for him to try it. Shrugging, the wolfdragon accepted that it was probably meant to be a surprise, so he grabbed his spoon again and scooped out some of the new mixture.

The moment it hit his tongue, Sasuke was in a state of shock. What was that flavor? It was like sweet and slightly tart with a hint of chocolate and yet screaming of something more fruity. There were so many flavors in it that he couldn't begin to imagine what it was. It was like tasting ice cream flavors from ten different mouths and experiencing all of them at once! The wolfdragon let out a content sigh and took another bite, and then another. He didn't even notice when he had finished the bowl, and was even scraping around for more for a moment before the assistant stopped him.

"Hey now, hey! You got it all, big guy. So what did you think? It's our new flavor, Rainbow Rush. It's a combination of different types of ice cream flavor formulas mixed into one."

Something was bothering Sasuke about the wolf again, but he still couldn't place it. "It's... wow. I don't even know how to describe it! It's wonderful! It's like tasting, um..."

The wolfdragon paused, trying to describe just how it tasted. It was hard to tell what it was more like; there had been components of just about every different type in there! Was it sweeter than anything else? No, the sweetness had been there, but it wasn't really overwhelming the other flavors. It was almost like there was an absolutely perfect balance between every aspect of the ice cream. There was no other way to describe it!

Sasuke went to tell the assistant that he was having difficulty describing the ice cream, but he was interrupted by a sudden lunge from the wolf that sent him tumbling backwards over his chair. The lupine had one of the hoses in his paw, and he thrust it into the wolfdragon's muzzle before he be stopped. Sasuke let out an erf of surprise as he tried to reach up and remove the offending hose, wondering what the heck was up with the crazy wolf atop him. However, before he could reach it, the assistant slapped his paws away and ran a roll of duct tape around his mouth several times before tearing it off and stepping back. The hose was now effectively trapped in the woldragon's mouth with no way of being removed.

Sasuke grunted as he watched the wolf go over to the machine, still unable to get off of his back. It was one of his major weakness; he was like a turtle in the sense that once he was on his back, he had to do some serious rolling and maneuvering to sit up again. The assistant didn't seem inclined to wait for him though, and instead grinned as he flicked on the machine again. A whirring started up again, and just as it did, the wolfdragon realized why the assistant's mannerisms seemed so familiar.

"It's gonna take me forever to wash the dye out of my fur, but it was worth it! Seven down, nine to go!"

Of course it was Zee. Who else would it be? There was no one else who it could be. The wolf gave a knowing wink as he left his "victim" to his fate, grinning from ear to ear. Groaning, Sasuke didn't even bother to struggle now that he was caught. He could already hear the ice cream moving through the hose firmly stuck in his muzzle, and in a moment that first burst of flavor erupted on his tongue. Before, the ice cream had been absolutely heavenly; now even that wonderful flavor was tainted with the knowledge that he had lost the game, ruining its appeal. Sighing, the wolfdragon resigned himself to simply enjoying the ice cream, knowing that he would soon be much larger.

Indeed, as he continued to swallow down the ice cream, Sasuke felt the beginning of its effects. Slowly his belly began to fill up to capacity, and then start to go beyond it. The already large gut resting atop him began to slowly began to swell up as the cool ice cream pressed outwards from the inside. Slowly it began to expand outwards, becoming heavier as the dome filled with more of the delicious confection. Once it had been the size of a beach-ball, albeit a sagging, soft one, but now it was about half again that size, and continuing to grow steadily. The weight was starting to become apparent as it started growing out in all directions, soft fat slowly pressing down on his hips and against his chest as it continued to pad out.

The weight didn't just stay at his stomach though. Whatever was in the ice cream was causing it to digest rapidly, and it was beginning to become apparent on the rest of the wolfdragon's body. Slowly Sasuke's body began to grow even fatter, his muzzle widening slightly as it sunk into his swelling cheeks. His neck thickened like a tire, pressing against his chins and against the soft swell of his chest. The wolfdragon's belly, continuing to expand outwards, started to press up against his arms despite them being spread out wide, fat squishing against the slowly thickening limbs as they were pressed outwards.

The growth quickly accelerated as more and more of the ice cream chugged out of the container, and Sasuke could feel the growth in his legs and rump despite not being able to see past the bloating dome of a gut that rose up before him. Thickened legs began to push up against each other, and the swell of his rear caused him to tilt oddly, the fat on his sides and back not quite enough to lift him evenly. His belly sagged down even more heavily, sinking over his thick thighs and wobbling at the slightest movement. Overall, it wasn't an enormous amount of growth, considering his normal size, but it was still a lot to deal with!

Finally, a sputtering sound indicated that the machine ran out of ice cream, and the flow stopped. Sasuke was left staring at his fattened gut, wondering how he was going to get up. He'd probably be mobile after this, somehow, but at the same time... ugh, was he full. Well, he was out of the game; he'd have plenty of time to digest it all. The wolfdragon signed, the hose still taped to his mouth, and he leaned back to rest. Unfortunately, the sound of pattering paws prevented an impending nap.

"I-I-I'm s-s-s-sorry, s-s-s-someone l-l-locked me i-in the f-freezer... I j-j-just..." There was a pause, and then a brief crackle as a radio was turned on. "M-m-m-management... w-w-w-w-we've g-got a pr-pr-problem..."

---

Victim #8 - Jasu the Squeaky Bat

There's something to be said about having a good sense of irony. Sometimes it's poetic justice, sometimes it's just pure cruel irony, but Jasu felt that the best kind of irony was the simple humorous kind that you just can't help but grin over when you put the situation into words. This was the case for the balloon bat Jasu, and was the reason why he wore a wide smile from ear to ear as he leaned up against the wall and watched little common fruit bats flittering about in the Bat Hall of the Greenfield Zoo.

The squeaky bat gently stretched out his arms with a yawn, his rubber wings softly catching the breeze from the air conditioning in the room, before he returned his attention back to his little feral ancestors. Jasu had decided to visit the local zoo for the day to try to find a good hiding place amongst the crowds. He figured that not only was there an entry fee that might discourage the inflator wolf from entering, but it was a fun activity that he hadn't done in ages. Why not hit two birds with one stone? After all, he could easily stay out of sight in small little areas like this one (a location that would normally be the last place you'd think to look for a bat) while just passing the time enjoying the day. If the plan worked, he'd be safely tucked away from his pursuer, and would be the last contestant still in the running before he even realized just how much time had passed. At any rate, it was better than shutting himself in some closet and being a scaredy bat all day long.

Jasu walked over to the piano string fence separating the bats from himself, his footsteps squeaking lightly with every step, and gently plucked a cord like he were playing a harp. It twanged under his shiny finger, calling one of the little critters over to investigate the noise. A wide smile stretched out over Jasu's rubber muzzle as a tiny fruit bat flittered in front of him, holding a banana slice in its mouth as it curiously investigated the strange new presence to its home. It reminded him of this one time when he was a kid. He had been really hungry but was too young to know how to cook anything, and the only thing that was readily available without needing to be cooked was a bunch of bananas. So, he gorged himself on the whole lot of them without realizing that he was supposed to remove the peel first, when his mother came home and found him sitting there with two bananas sticking out of his mouth like a pair of tusks.

He let out a small blush of embarrassment as the memory resurfaced, and wondered what other things he might have in common with the little guy. Then again, the two of them were rather radically different creatures. For one, he was about six feet tall and stood on two feet, and for another, he was made entirely of a rubbery latex rather than having fur or leathery wings. Also, hanging upside down by his legs tended to give him a headache, so he usually tried to avoid that whenever he could. But, if there was one thing he certainly did have in common with the little feral bat in front of him, it was that he loved being able to fly.

The evolution process for most furs had taken away a lot of the old necessities needed by their ancestors. Wolves no longer needed to eat only meats, salads would appease them just as well without having severe indigestion (unless they were somehow allergic to greens). Kangaroos no longer needed to raise their joeys inside of their pouch, which is probably the reason why surveys found that very few kangaroo ladies wear purses. And bats... well, bats no longer needed to fly. The weight of their bodies was too much for their wings to handle anymore, even for ones made of rubber. But Jasu had found ways of achieving the impossible anyway.

The balloon bat walked outside with several loud squeaks and looked upwards at the sky with a smile. He remembered what it was like, flapping his wings and being able to touch the clouds above. Of course, the fact that he had been filled to the brim with helium probably contributed more to his flight than him flailing his puffy arms, but that's beside the point. He loved being big, and he loved being able to fly. The how and why didn't matter much to him. He only knew that he had the most fun in his life being big enough to be able touch the heavens above. That's why he was in Zee's competition in the first place; he wanted to last long enough to get inflated so big that he could cover the entire city with his shadow, as long as there weren't any planes in the area.

Jasu stretched himself out before walking up to the directory to see what area he should hit up on next. He wanted to stick to inside areas for now, to play it safe in case Zee was around and looking for him, but he had already visited the aquarium, the penguin area, the reptile hall, the bat hall, the monkey house, the aviary, the... wait, no, he didn't visit the aviary yet. That could be a fun place, watching the toucans eating Fruit Loops for the audience, or the turkeys strut around stupidly while the proud eagles wonder exactly why Benjamin Franklin wanted the Thanksgiving dinner to be a national symbol instead of them. The bat smiled to himself and began to bounce his way over, more excited than even some of the kids walking around that day.

Unfortunately, when the bat arrived to the giant bird house, he found the doors locked and lights shut off. Frowning, he looked around to see if there were any signs saying that they were closed or out to lunch or something, but found nothing. Perhaps he was simply at the wrong side, trying to open the exit door instead of the entrance? Then again, there was absolutely no one around, neither inside nor outside. He walked around the other side of the building, but again found the doors locked and no one around.

Jasu was about to turn and check the directory again to make sure he hadn't simply gotten the wrong building, when he suddenly noticed someone moving inside. He took a closer look through the glass door, his rubber muzzle squishing up against the door as he peered in. Inside, an old, tired gray wolf janitor cleaned the floor with a mop, lazily sweeping at the tiles while he listened to an iPod at his hip. The bat knocked gently at the glass, trying to get his attention so that he could ask him if the aviary was closed for the day. Or ask for directions, if he had somehow gotten turned about and was at the completely wrong location.

The janitor jerked his head up at the knocking, not so much because he had heard the sound of tapping glass but because he wondered what on Earth the loud penetrating squeaks were, as if there was some child were banging on the wall with an inflatable toy hammer or something. When he saw the strange bat at the door, he set his mop to the side and strolled over to the doors with jingling keys in paw to open everything up.

"Can I help you?", the wolf asked, seemingly confused by the sight of the balloon bat.

"Um, hi..." Jasu awkwardly started, rubbing his squeaky paw against the back of his head. "Is the aviary closed for the day or something?"

"Ayup. It's the bird keeper's day off, so management decided to just keep the area closed for the day to give the birds a rest. No one in 'cept the feeders and me. Reckon it wouldn't do to have them all riled up without a keeper around to take care of them."

Jasu couldn't help but fold his ears down in disappointment. "Oh... I see. Sorry, I didn't see any signs or anything, so I was a bit confused."

The janitor scritched his chinfur softly as if thinking. "Well, if you want in that badly, I suppose you could come in on my watch. Just don't do anything stupid to bother the birds, and head on out again once I'm done with my cleaning here. Sound good to you?"

Almost instantly, Jasu's eyes lit up with excitement and ears regained their former balance. "I'd love that!"

Chuckling softly to himself, the old wolf opened up the door to let in the eager squeaky bat and flipped a switch on to light up the hallway for the both of them. Jasu smiled widely and followed the wolf inside, looking around at all of the dimly lit exhibits and wondering which he would see first. The janitor gently pushed him forward, both as a motion for him to go have fun and for Jasu to clear the way and allow him to close the door again.

The bat waddled through the hall, looking in each exhibit with a smile and watching as the occupants would curiously investigate the strange rubber creature. Each one of them was unique, some entertaining or amusing, others either shy or too bored to care about him. When it came time that the janitor was done cleaning the floor, he motioned for Jasu to walk with him over to the exit.

"Enjoy yourself?", he asked with a smile.

"Definitely! I always love seeing the birds. Really makes me wish I could fly just like they can." Jasu sighed wistfully, a smile still on his latex muzzle but a strange longing in his heart. He would love to be able to do so, to be a big helium bat and floating up into the air, with feeling of grandness for conquering both size and the sky itself. He wished he could just jump off his springy paws and keep going up until his big balloonie bat belly bumped up against the ceiling...

It was just as he was thinking the last bit of that daydream that Jasu realized he actually WAS floating in the air, his rubber belly swelling little by little before his very eyes and his body rising slowly to the ceiling. His rubbery form was somehow bloating up bit by bit, his limbs puffing up slowly like balloon art and his cheeks growing into two round tennis balls. Underneath him, the janitor stood a little ways away with a wide grin, arms folded on his chest and tail wagging behind him. He then slowly brought a paw up, pushing a pair of shades onto his nose. And though the fur color was off, the face was unmistakable. 'Of course...', Jasu thought, 'Zee. The little push he gave me when we entered...'

"I wouldn't worry if I were you," he said as he grinned at the bat. "The feeders will be by in an hour or two and will probably figure out how to get you out of here. In the meantime, just sit back, relax, and enjoy the rest of your flight."

Zee gave him a wink before turning tail and walking back out the very door Jasu had entered through not too long before. The bat was still stunned by the suddenness of everything, not fully comprehending yet that he was now out of the running, but somehow... he was happy just as is. His rubbery hide slowly stretched and squeaked as he grew bigger, every inch he gained in size raising him an inch more into the air, until he finally bumped up against the roof of the building, already looking a lot more rounded than if he had eaten twenty times the number of bananas he had as a kid.

"An hour or two, huh?" He smiled to himself and pushed himself down from the ceiling as best as he could, floating around the room for a few moments and flapping his rubbery wings before lifting back up to the ceiling. "I can think of a few things to keep me occupied for a while..."

Victim #9 - Tay

"Ah, women's lingerie. If there's one place in all of the city that the notorious prankster wolf might not dare wander into even to try to find me, this would be that place."

Clemens Department Store was a heaven on earth for the shop-happy furs all throughout the city. The building held nine stories worth of merchandise, seven above ground and two below, and was well known in the area for providing more than any other department store in terms of both basic necessities and items to please the fancier palettes. It was a place of extravagance for the professional shoppers looking for the newest and best items they could find, yet at the same time it also had a casual sense about it for the regular comers just getting some general supplies. Whether you were there for kitchen supplies or designer underwear though, everyone knew that Clemens would be the place to go. On a good day there could easily be up to a thousand people shopping there at once, and today was definitely a booming one for business due to a local marathon drawing in a crowd.

The ground floor started with displays of the newest and most popular items, like stands filled with select designer clothes or the latest movies, and then followed with personal make-up counters all specifically placed to try to look as enticingly modern as possible even from outside the glass doors. Hidden behind the customer attracting front, they then had several rows of general supplies that you'd find in your local grocery store, like your basic cleaning supplies and toiletries. There was even a small grocery section towards the back, which was a rare commodity to find in such a department store in the city.

The first sublevel beneath the ground floor held all sorts of kitchen supplies and house décor; dishes, pots, pans, furniture, linen, clocks, paintings, even some large garden statues (though it was certainly a mystery as to who in the heart of a modern steel city would have an outside garden large enough to need a statue for it). The bottom-most floor, sublevel two, was home to several large appliances like washers, driers, refrigerators, vacuum cleaners, and other general machinery that would take up too much room on any other floor. It's counterpart on the topmost floor, the ninth floor, had everything else that wouldn't fit in on the lower floors, which mostly included a large selection of electronics, books, games, TV's, luggage assortments and children's toys. The remaining five floors were exclusively reserved for clothing, shoes, jewelry, and all other sorts of fashion. There were two floors for women, two for men, and one for children and infants, making it the one-stop shop for almost literally anything a person could possibly think of wearing.

You know you're in a woman's dream come true when you're standing in a skyscraper that has more floors dedicated strictly for selling clothing more than anything else in the whole of the building...

The blue wolf sat nervously on a marble bench out on a landing in the third floor, the level filled mostly with women's shoes, socks, and various undergarments. Despite his jitteriness, Tay couldn't help but give a light smirk at the thought of where he was hiding as he looked out over the magnificent lobby from behind a newspaper. In the very center of the department store was a large open foyer like in a multilayered mall, stretching down from the bottom floor of the building up to the skylights on the roof and connecting every floor in-between with grand staircases, glass elevators, and gorgeous views of all the other floors. It was here that Tay had decided to lay low for the day and hide from Zee in his competition. Having purchased a newspaper just outside of the building and grabbing a conspicuous gray trench coat from one of the men's floors, he figured he was well disguised enough and would be able to escape specific detection in such a crowded place if he was careful enough.

The only problem was that the tension was probably going to kill him before the end of the day. His heart raced anytime someone came remotely near him, since he knew that the inflator wolf was a practiced master of disguise, and if he could swear that he was but a breath away from a heart attack anytime he laid eyes on someone with black fur. He had been in the previous contest, but he had been caught fairly early on despite his best attempts. He remembered enough about Zee to know that the ebony wolf might show up out of the blue at any moment to catch him, and Tay wanted to be able to last as long as he could in this competition of his. His tail twitched nervously behind him as he peered over the edge of the newspaper and kept a close eye on the people around him.

As he watched the various people pass around him on the other side of the paper, Tay began to let his thoughts wander a bit. Sitting here was actually the first chance he had had that day to just settle down and think. He had been busy all throughout the morning ducking and hiding from place to place, jumping behind lampposts anytime he saw someone remotely looking like Zee and breaking the world record for the 50-yard dash anytime he bumped into someone on the street. But sitting here in his hiding place, Tay felt that he could relax a little bit and settle down. It was going to be a very long day otherwise, and as long as he kept a wary eye out still, he should be fine turning the red alert mode down to simple caution level.

The blue wolf rested his head back against a marble pillar. Thinking about it, Tay didn't really know what he was doing here. He was into the inflation scene, sure, but he didn't really feel like being inflated today, and while he certainly enjoyed entering contests and playing games, he definitely wasn't cut out for this kind of high stakes game. But when he had been asked if he'd like to participate in Zee's little manhunt competition again, he had enthusiastically agreed before even knowing the details of the event. He hadn't realized what his day would turn into by joining up, but he had been far too curious about everything to simply let it pass him by.

Curiosity killed the cat, Tay..., he silently chastised himself. Still, the entire contest was not without its prizes. He had been promised that things would be different this time around, and that the longer he remained in the running and could avoid being found by Zee, the better his reward for participating would be. It would be a difficult prize to earn considering what had happened to him last time, yet the goal was not beyond his reach, since he remembered that someone had in fact won the prize the last time. Tay had a sneaky feeling that the prize was nothing more than the "honor" of being one of Zee's bigger and better works, but there was still the chance that there would be something more to it, and again, his inquisitive nature simply wouldn't let him miss the chance to find out.

He had just closed his eyes for a moment thinking about the possibilities of what the reward could be when he suddenly heard a voice in front of him.

"Look mommy! A balloon! A balloon!"

Tay snapped his eyes open and nearly dropped his protective newspaper over the balcony as his mind went back into red alert mode and scanned the area. Standing a few yards away from him was a little otter boy of around six, who was pointing at something beyond the landing and loudly calling behind him to his mother, an elderly otter far more interested in a stylish wool jacket than the screaming pup. But when Tay saw what the kid was pointing to and shouting about, the wolf did a double take.

What the...?

Floating in the middle of the open lobby was a medium-sized, bright red and white striped hot-air balloon, anchored to the bottom floor by a thick metal cord. He had seen hot-air balloons used as advertisements before, often floating outside above things like supermarkets or large car dealerships as an effective means to draw attention to the place. He had never seen one in the city before, let alone floating around in the middle of a crowded department store like this. But what caught Tay's attention moreover was the strange and almost frightening inscription on the balloon:

"CONGRATULATIONS, TAY!"

'Congratulations, Tay', followed by a long arrow pointing downwards toward the basement floor. Was this some sort of trap by Zee to lure him out of his hiding spot among the women's underwear? Had he won something for being the 1,000,000th customer to enter the department store that day or something? Perhaps it was a sign for someone or something else entirely, like a big banner announcing the winner of the marathon going on outside? But the message was practically singling him out; how often do you see a hot-air balloon floating less than ten feet away from you, with your name clearly written in big bold print on it and looking right at you? And that arrow on it... was it meant for him to follow or something? It pointed straight down to where it was tethered in sublevel two, but he couldn't see anything out of the ordinary save for a few other people gawking at it just like he was on the other floors. What could this mysterious message mean?

Unfortunately, there was only one way to find out. The wolf knew it probably wasn't a good idea to leave the safety of his hiding place, but he couldn't just sit still with that big orb floating in front of him like that. It would have creeped the hell out of him anyway if he just sat stare with it staring at him, and besides, he was far too interested in what this strange scavenger hunt game was about.

Putting his newspaper to the side, Tay got up and walked over to the nearby staircase, his eyes never leaving the giant balloon as he slowly descended downwards to wherever the arrow was pointing him to. There was little doubt that it was meant for him, but who had set it up? Zee? It didn't seem likely; Zee would have just snuck up on him rather than counting on the sheer chance that Tay would follow the balloon. Was it perhaps the building management for some sort of random drawing or contest then? But how would they have known who he was, let alone where he was? The answers waited at the other end of the long silver cord down on the bottom floor, and as nervous as the blue wolf was about everything that day, he couldn't hide a hint of almost childlike curiosity and excitement in his eyes.

Tay slowly made his way past the bustling streams of people moving along the staircases as he padded downwards toward sublevel two, occasionally spotting some equally curious bystanders admiring the strange marvel of a hot-air balloon inside a Clemens Department Store. The closer he got to his destination though, the more uneasy he began to feel about the whole situation. On the one paw, it could be something like a nice surprise. On the other paw, however... Tay swallowed nervously as he finally made it to the bottom floor.

It was a large open foyer with a beautiful rose compass design elegantly painted into the marble surface and several angelic statues surrounding it. At Christmas time, this was where they would set up a gigantic Christmas tree that towered way up to the second floor. Today though, the only thing on the floor was a strange machine that anchored down the balloon floating five floors above him. It was a large yellow square about three feet wide, with various pipes jutting around all over its sides and a pulley on top with countless yards of a silvery white rope-like hose attached.

For a moment, Tay just stood there staring at the contraption as though trying to see if it was actually real or just some sort of weird science fiction dream he was having. Then, as though an epiphany had just struck his brain like a lightning bolt, it suddenly dawned on him: it was a giant air compressor. Every bit of fear he had had that day suddenly came rushing back to him at once as his brain went from being in a curious but cautious mode to a ludicrous level of panic way beyond a red alert mode. And then, he felt a firm paw come down on his shoulder.

"Hello, Tay. Enjoying your shopping trip today?"

It took everything Tay had not to jump out of his fur. He knew who that voice belonged to even before slowly turning around to greet his captor face to face. The blue wolf's ears laid back flat against his skull and tail softly tucked between his legs as he looked up into the smug muzzle of a smartly dressed sales rep. He was wearing a Clemens's employee uniform and cap as a much more convincing disguise than the trench coat he had on, but there was no mistaking the black-furred wolf for anyone: it was Zee, and it was all over now for Tay.

He should have known that Zee was behind the whole thing, but despite his hesitation and nagging feeling that something was wrong, he had ventured forward just as the inflator wolf had planned. He felt a strange mix of lingering fear over what was to happen next, disappointment in both having lost the inflator wolf's game and in the answer to the mystery behind the balloon, and sheer annoyance in himself for having been so careless as to have left his hiding spot like he did and falling for what now seemed like an obvious trap. Curiosity killed the cat, you idiot...

Zee gave his familiar mischievous grin to the downhearted wolf. "Hey, don't be so blue. I've had people fall for worse things, and there's always next time. You didn't do half bad either; you managed to last longer than half the others."

"Really? So I get like a better prize or something?" Tay perked his ears up a little bit.

The black wolf laughed a little. "Yup, you do indeed...", he said before grinning even wider. Zee then reached into his jacket pocket for something while Tay's ears shot up once again in curiosity, his earlier panic slowly fading away as he began to accept his defeat. But instead of pulling out a gilded plaque saying "I survived Zee's Manhunt!" or an envelope containing a $100 gift card to Paws R' Us, the black wolf pulled out a spray can and spritzed the blue wolf right in the face with some kind of liquid.

"Ack! H-Hey! What was that for?!", Tay fumed as he tried to blink the watery stuff out of his eyes and rub it off his muzzle with a sleeve of his now useless disguise. The spray felt unusually cool to his skin, like holding a slightly chilled can of soda to his forehead or pair of cold paws against his face, and when he tried to brush it out of his fur, it didn't feel the least bit wet to him. It was the strangest sensation though; when he touched his fingers to his black-furred muzzle, it felt soft and smooth instead of his usually bristly muzzle fur, like a layer of latex or rubber. It was a tingling feeling made him feel almost lightheaded, but not really dizzy or disoriented. He could feel it trickling across his snout like condensation on a glass and leaving the same strange rubbery sensation in its wake, but he couldn't feel any wet droplets rolling down him. The sensation reminded him a bit of the feeling of numbness that spreads after getting a Novocain shot at a dentist's office, but it didn't feel deadened or detached from him at all. It just felt like a strange new change slowly overcoming his body. Rubbing his rough black pads along the growing feeling, he could hear his elastic-like body squeak in protest almost as if he was turning into...

...Uh oh, this can't be good..., he thought to himself as panic began to overtake him again. He could feel the tingling of the spray slowly creep down his neck and trickle its way to his chest, widening the bizarre rubbery growth across his body inch by inch as it went. It made him feel like he was emerging from a lukewarm pool to a blistery cold night air, where he'd feel wetter outside of the water than in. Following along with his black paws, he traced the spreading of the transformation under his fingertips, feeling the once soft fur seemingly melt and mold into a lighter latex-like skin. A living balloon... well, I was promised that things would be different...

A sudden loud sound like the billowing of a sheet from behind him made Tay jump in fright, even as his strange transformation continued to turn him into a balloon. He spun around with wide eyes to find Zee folding up the rapidly deflating red and white balloon into a tidy bundle, unclipping the long rope-like hose that had tethered the blimp with a grin. "I hear they've got Final Fantasy XVII on sale on the top floor. Would you mind going up there to check it out for me?"

It took Tay two seconds to grasp what the inflator wolf was alluding to, and one second more to step back and utter a pleading protest once he understood what he was planning to do. But it only took Zee a half second to shove the nozzle end of the hose into the blue wolf's muzzle the second he opened his mouth to try and talk his way out of his predicament. Tay gave out a loud 'mmph!' and tried his best to pull it out of his mouth even as a large load of helium began to rush into him, but Zee kept the hose in place with ease and used more of its length to firmly tie it to his victim's black muzzle.

The blue wolf could feel his now rubber belly start to swell outwards inch by inch as volumes of helium gushed past his bound muzzle, helpless to take the hose off or stop the flow. It started slowly, stiffening his extremities and puffing his fluffy tail into something resembling a pool toy, but as more of the gas flowed into him, he began to quickly round out more and more. His cheeks puffed out like smaller balloons, and his chest widened to the point that the trench coat he had borrowed ripped clean in two, exposing his large, rotund growing gut to any spectators who weren't still busy shopping. He had gone from a somewhat slim figure to having a waist almost three feet wide, and showed no signs of stopping anytime soon, much to the dismay of his already tight-fitting jeans and squeaking protest of his hefty rubber hips. He had swallowed so much helium already that he was beginning to lift up off the ground, his widened rear raised up toward the ceiling as his bloated paws tried frantically to find something to hold onto and keep from floating away. But it was no use.

Zee laughed to himself as the poor blue wolf began to slowly rise upwards towards the next floor, before grabbing his things and heading over to the elevator. "Goodness, we do fill out rather quickly, don't we? Well, I'll leave you to enjoy your 'fun', but don't let yourself get 'carried away' now!"

Tay shot out a look at the ebony wolf that was somewhere between an angry glare and a desperate plea not to leave him there, but he could do nothing to stop his own growing problem, let alone stop Zee from escaping before anyone could suspect him. He could feel his girth growing bigger and bigger with each passing second, and it wasn't long before he heard the loud ping of his pants button flying off and felt the remnants of his torn jeans dangling from his sides, leaving him far more exposed than he would ever want to be in public. He blushed madly as his now freed large rear continued to fill up behind him on its steady ascent to the roof, and could feel his bulging rubber gut bloating up beigger in front of him. Already he was about half the size of the hot-air balloon that started this whole mess, and it didn't look like he would be stopping until he was at least the same size. His frame was growing rounder and rounder with every inch upwards that he climbed, turning him from a normal-sized wolf into a blue globe of a blimp with thick bucket-sized elastic limbs flailing about uselessly as even more helium still filled him and lifted him away.

Ugh..., Tay thought to himself as his round rubber body drifted towards the second floor, willing himself to not notice the hundreds of people who had stopped to stare at his embarrassing situation.Tay, next time you'd like to know what surprises Zee's got planned, ask the darn curious cat how his last adventure went...

Viction #10 - Russano Greenstripe

The library was a strange and wonderful place for those who knew where to look. If you were to come there only to do research for a term paper or to browse the internet while your own computer was down, then likely you would only take from the place what you were after and nothing more. But if a person was to go to a library with an open mind and blank agenda, there would be endless possibilities of what could await them. There were countless worlds to be discovered within the shelves of literature, stories filled with magic and adventure, mystery and intrigue, romance, thrills, excitement, sadness, and far far more. It was possible to go wherever your imagination could take you with the simple turn of a page, and an untold number of books meant that the universe was unlimited to you.

As the age of technology continued to grow, however, many people had lost sight or interest in the written word. Movies and video games had become the new fiction section, while Google and Wikipedia had assimilated the nonfiction and reference section. Many in the country couldn't even read, while a large percentage of those who could read felt that books were becoming an obsolete thing of the past. EBooks and TV adaptations were becoming some of the only ways that the newer generations would ever hear some of the old classic tales like Moby Dick, Frankenstein, or Treasure Island. But even those who could not read or had no patience for the written word may find that the quiet solitude of the library is a mysterious place to be.

Russano Greenstripe was one such person. The black badger was another contestant on the run from the inflator wolf, calm and confident enough to believe that he could win the competition if he kept his wits about him and planned his strategy out carefully. He was a powerful druid who had built a hard-earned reputation across many lands for his great cunning and skill, and today he would be putting his powers to a test for the chance of an interesting prize. Running his long claws through the emerald strip of headfur that gave him his namesake, he mentally pictured the map he had studied earlier in the day and discreetly maneuvered his way through the crowded sidewalk, his maroon trench coat billowing gently in the wake behind him. He did his best to be quick on his feet while blending in with the people around him as he made his way to his destination for the day: the Washington Library.

Originally, he had thought to just return to his burrow and barricade himself in using every sort of spell and trap that one could imagine. But his home was far from the reach of the city, and by Zee's own words the competition was a game of hide-and-seek on a city-wide scale, so it would hardly be fair if he were to retreat back to his distant home outside of the game's boundaries. This had given him the perplexing problem of figuring out where would be a good place to lay low in the middle of an unfamiliar, bustling city. There were certainly a great number of parks filled with greenery and beautiful flower gardens here and there that allured to him, but he knew that if he were Zee and he was looking for a druid like himself, a place of nature would be the first place that he would look.

That's when he had remembered seeing a brochure for a large, castle-like library with old gothic architecture and thousands upon thousands of old books written throughout the ages. It may not have been as in tune with nature as he would have liked, but it would certainly be a nice, quiet reprieve from the noisy city streets, and he could easily hide deep within its walls without ever being found. Not to mention that the badger had always found old castellan libraries such as this one to have a strange sense of mysticism to them, hidden within the dusty tomes and silent halls. He wasn't likely to find a better place to hide than there.

When Russano finally arrived in front of the Washington Library, he had to admit that he was quite impressed. It was a massive stone fortress about five or six stories tall, with every floor above the second floor smaller than the floor below it to give it the illusion of being a sort of modern pyramid, like the layers of a wedding cake. Most likely the building was left over from the olden days of the country. Large granite steps led upwards to an archway with pair of massive oak doors stretching from the ground to the ceiling of the second floor, guarded by marble statues of lordly lions, overshadowed by elderly scholars of ages long past, and bordered by large phallic pillars with ornate carvings of ivy vines spiraling up their lengths. Various flags of all sorts jutted out above the second floor, continuing along the circumference of the library until it reached back to the start again, and gargoyles of ferocious beasts and demons tastefully surrounded the border of each level.

The place reminded him of visiting an old cathedral, complete even with stain glass windows dotting high up along the old stone walls of the fortress of knowledge. It truly was a sight to behold. Pulling his coat tightly to him, the badger dashed up the empty steps and through the library's grand entrance, pausing only once inside to make certain that no one was following behind him. After convincing himself that he had been successful in journeying undetected by his pursuer, he let out a silent sigh of relief and walked out in what looked like a magnificent foyer.

The floor was a large marble mural of a scroll containing the map of the world, while the high vaulted ceiling above him proudly displayed a fantastic display of cherubs amongst the golden clouds of heaven. Had he not already known this to be a library, Russano might have thought that this was in some sort of European castle. Unlike the outside of the building though, it seemed to give off a vibrant modern feel, as though it had been well maintained and renovated over the years. But there was little time to stand idle and admire the architecture; he had to find a good place to hide himself away in the library, somewhere where no one, neither Zee nor the library staff, could stumble upon him or disturb him.

The druid walked over to the nearest directory that he could see and looked it over to get a general idea of the layout of the building. There were six public floors total: the merged ground floor and second floor for events and seminars (with a wing on the second floor for children's books), the third floor for computers, newspapers, magazines, and general reference books, the fourth floor strictly for the enormous amount of fiction books and movies and such, the fifth floor for non-fiction books aside from reference books, and the top sixth floor for all other materials like old microfilms and maps.

On first glance, it seemed almost disappointingly modern compared to the castle-like appearance on the outside. But then he noticed something else he hadn't seen before. Beneath the library were several basement levels for older and rarer books, only one floor of which was open to the general public. The rest were strictly restricted for preservation purposes, though the badger had to stop and wonder why exactly the librarians felt the need to advertise the classified sections of their library on a public map. At any rate, this seemed like the perfect place for him to stow away in. There would be no chance of anyone coming upon him in the restricted section, neither Zee nor anyone else, and he could quite easily find an ancient tome or two that would catch his interest.

The badger quickly made up his mind and took the closest staircase downwards, descending into the earth with the confidence that the prankster wolf would never catch him here. He felt a tingle of excitement run through him as he began to devise a plan for how to sneak into the forbidden levels of the library. When he reached the end of the staircase, he found himself looking out at the only public basement floor, a small pawful of readers studying old texts amongst the ancient wooden shelves. It was very quiet, with no sounds from the city or hushed whispers; there was only the occasional turning of a page and the very faint hum of the lights. Embarrassingly, the loudest thing he could hear was only his own stomach protesting a skipped breakfast. As he padded across the large hallway of learning, he couldn't help but notice that unlike the modern feel of the interior of the upstairs sections, these lower halls had a much older and almost mysterious feel to them, and Russano was determined to make such a place his sanctuary for the day.

It was time to put his plan into motion. He looked around to try to figure out where the entrance to the restricted sections was and how many staff members were on hand. There didn't seem to be any readily apparent staircase or elevator that led downwards to the off-limit floors, but he noticed a security guard bear sitting idly at a desk in a small hallway behind the librarians' counter. He could only surmise then that the entrance was back there in the "employees only" area, and he would need to draw them away from their stations to sneak by.

Softly grinning to himself, Russano walked around the perimeter of the room until he found what he was looking for: a large metal bookshelf sitting against the wall with tons of commonplace books on it. Presumably these books were modern, updated adaptations of some of the older books on this floor, but he didn't care much what they were as long as there were a lot of them and they could survive a bit of excitement without falling to pieces. The druid carefully kneeled down to the floor and pulled out a small green seed from his coat pocket before tucking it underneath the steel structure. He closed his eyes for a moment and chanted softly underneath his breath, willing the seed to draw upon his powers and grow. When he opened his eyes again, the plant had begun to sprout a few vines little by little, lifting up the front of the bookshelf by around a half inch. The badger smiled mischievously before picking himself back up and making his way over to the librarians' counter.

It was about fifteen seconds after he had walked away that he heard the loud crash of falling metal and the raining of books and papers as they flew through the air. Librarians, security, and patrons alike all ran over to see what it was that had violated their quiet solitude. No one ever noticed as Russano leapt over the counter and walked right past the desk that the guard had been in only moments ago. The guard had left in such a hurry to try to calm the chaos that she had even left her keycard behind, which the badger quickly swept up as he walked over to the only suspiciously locked door he could see. He swiped the card through the scanner and grinned as it blinked a green light at him, before swiftly passing through and closing the door behind him. As an extra precaution to make sure neither Zee nor the security guards would find him easily, he took out another seed and firmly sealed the door with another vine across the handle, uttering a silent chant under his breath. Though he still would have preferred to have holed himself up in his burrow instead of hiding in an unfamiliar place, he had to admit that this game was proving to be too easy for him.

Russano found himself in a fairly dark stone staircase, lit only by a scant few dim light bulbs above him and appearing to be much more similar in structure to the medieval outside of the library than the renovated interior upstairs. He figured that it must have been part of the original building's foundation, back when it really was used as a fortress or castle of some sort. Pulling his coat instinctively tight to ward off the imaginary chill of the darkness and granite walls, he slowly descended the steps down to the forbidden levels of the library, occasionally touching the wall and leaving an invisible magical barrier behind him in case someone managed the get through the sealed door.

He could practically feel the aged dust and stale air around him, giving him a strange sensation that made him feel almost like a child bravely exploring an attic for the first time. When he reached the bottom of the stairs, he saw a set of double doors with a dusty plaque reading "Preservation Floor B-2". Luckily, the doors were unlocked, and a simple push made them swing open with only a soft creak of protest. Beyond the doors was a vast but dark room, with only the faint pool of light from the staircase letting him glimpse what lay inside. No doubt the librarians kept it dark when no one was down here, so that the light wouldn't harm any of the books or cause the printing to fade needlessly. Russano had no fear of darkness, and was quite used to wandering within it to get what he needed, but for this one occasion he felt that it would be best to see everything with his own eyes. He reached over and felt along the old stone wall until he finally brushed his fingers against a cool metal box. With the quick flick of a switch, the overhead lights suddenly burst on above him, filling the room with bright light and illuminating a marvelous sight.

There were rows upon rows of towering wooden bookshelves, filled with an endless supply of books from all ages. It was simply extraordinary to him, and the badger felt his spirits lift as he walked through the forest of words. Circling around the room, Russano scanned for any potential dangers while setting up various magical wards and barriers between the aisles to defend himself in case of an attack. Some were traps to prevent a foe from pursuing him; others were alarms to simply to alert him if someone was in the room with him. On his last search through, he found a small reading alcove along the far wall with a simple mahogany desk and lamp, useful as a quiet place for those with special permission to come and study the old texts. Then, content that he was as safe as he could be with limited resources and in such unfamiliar territory, the badger proceeded to scour through the nearby shelves until he found a book that caught his interest: Arcanum de Natura. He smiled to himself and sat the book down on the table, turning on the small desk lamp and pulling up a chair for what seemed to be a peaceful afternoon of reading ahead of him.

All while he read though, the druid had a nagging doubt in the back of his mind like something was wrong about his situation. It had been entirely too easy (even for him) to sneak into a vault of extremely valuable books. Shouldn't there have been some other sort of security? Shouldn't there have been some cameras wired in somewhere, or a guard or staff member to check up on the books down here after the havoc that had gone on upstairs? And as time continued to pass, he had this strange feeling that despite all his efforts, there was someone or something in the room with him. He knew that there were only two doors in or out, that both doors were sealed as securely as he could manage, that there was no other beings in with him when he entered, and that he had placed a magical trap at every junction between bookshelves so that no one but him could pass through them until the day was done. He knew that no mortal being could possibly be in there with him, and yet, he felt a strange chill run up his spine.

Closing his book, Russano gently ran his paw through his green hair to try to collect himself again. Fear of the unknown wasn't going to do him any good, and he remembered having come through victoriously countless times in far worse situations before. He decided that one last search through the room would probably help him to calm his nerves, so he stood up and stretched himself out, placing one paw over his rumbling stomach to quiet it before walking off to check the nearest ward. But it was then that he suddenly noticed a mysterious ticking noise, ringing very faintly from somewhere far off. He had subconsciously tuned the sound out before, until he had to silence the embarrassing gurgle of his hunger and noticed that the room wasn't as quiet as he thought. He had seen no clocks along the walls though; had he somehow missed a section in his scouting?

The badger tilted his ears and followed where it sounded like it came from, playing a game of warm and cold with the noise as he tried to locate its source. He passed bookshelf after bookshelf as the intrusive sound grew more clearly, walking right through the traps he had set up until he came to a sudden stop at the far corner of the room. Blinking in disbelief, Russano found himself staring down a stone passageway, a high ceiling arching above him and the echoes of the soft ticking sound reverberating off the walls. He couldn't fathom how on Earth he had missed this hallway in his initial search of the room, but he passed through the archway anyway and followed the noise down the stone corridor, despite his better judgment reminding him that he had no real protection down there if Zee was waiting for him. When he reached the end of the hallway though, he couldn't believe his eyes.

"What the...?", he uttered softly, staring around at the room. It seemed to be an old converted study, with a high ceiling adorned with a small chandelier and a fancy mural of famous men from ancient history. But instead of a large desk for writing or file cabinets along the wall or such things, it seemed to have been turned into a make-shift break room for the workers down here, with a large table with some old newspapers and thermal mugs of coffee, and even a couple of vending machines along the wall. A small electric clock buzzed and ticked annoyingly loudly above a snack machine filled with all sorts of chips. "What on Earth is all this doing down here?"

The druid grumbled softly to himself about the disrespect people have for preservation of history, and was about to leave when his stomach growled almost painfully at him again. Clutching it softly and trying to rub away his hunger, he began to realize that he had been so focused on finding a place to hide and rest today that he had forgotten how long it would be before he was going to get the chance to find something to eat, and his stomach seemed to be trying to remind him of this. Sighing softly to himself, he looked back at the vending machine and decided that grabbing one or two wouldn't hurt any, as long as he thoroughly cleaned his paws before returning to the books. He walked over to the first machine and carefully slid a claw alongside the frame of the glass, until he heard the click of a latch and saw it slowly swing open toward him.

Russano grabbed the first two bag of potato chips he laid eyes on and popped one open nonchalantly, tossing a few chips in his mouth and munching them down without a second thought. Normally he didn't like chips like this; he preferred the hard-earned goods he had in his own larder back him over the modern, factory-made junk food that people ate. But right now, he was just too hungry to care about what he ate or how desperate it made him look, especially with no one around to see him in this crude state. What he_did_ care about though was the fact that salty chips always made him thirsty, so as soon as both bags were emptied and tossed in the trash, he sidled over and opened up the drink machine next to grab a bottle of water.

For some reason, neither the chips nor water seemed to fill him at all. So between his still rumbling waist and the blandness of the bottled water, he decided to grab another couple bags of chips, emptying them down quicker even than the first two. He figured that the sooner he managed to appease his hunger pains, the sooner he would be able to return to reading again. But, though most certainly delicious in a junky way, even a fourth bag didn't seem to satiate him all. They seemed just too small and empty to do much anything aside from making him hungrier. But maybe if he just ate enough of them, they would ease his stomach some.

Without even thinking, he grabbed an armful of chips and a few bottles of various drinks and sat down at the table, not noticing that the chair creaked under his weight more than usual. He wasn't sure what was suddenly coming over him, but he just really felt hungry and a bit desperate. Since first entering the Washington Library, the badger's hunger had built from a casual discomfort to a demanding crave, and after having decided to give in and appease his starving stomach, his appetite seemed to be taking more control of him than his own sense of reason. He opened up the first bag before him hastily and grabbed all of the chips at once, practically shoving it down his open muzzle and washing it down with a swig of the first bottle his paw reached (which turned out to be a bottle of ginger ale), but it felt as though he had only eaten half a single chip and drank only a drop of the soda. His stomach still growled from his slightly widened waist below him, so he popped open another bag and consumed it too. And then another, and another, and another after that, but still not once feeling his appetite diminish even a bit.

Unbeknownst to him, with every pawful of chips that he ate, his body slowly grew bigger and thicker, his waist filling out and frame slowly expanding a size larger than it had been before, as if every chip he devoured was actually a small steak. The black badger's belly sagged a bit under his shirt, and his hips and sides had already widened out by at least a half foot on each side, with his trench coat slowly being stretched around his thick shoulders. Russano was too focused in on fulfilling his need for nourishment to notice the changes though, and when he had cleared out all of the bags before him, he figured that plain old potato chips simply weren't filling enough for him and that he needed something more.

It didn't even register in his mind that he had gone through more than twenty-five bags of chips and ten bottles of soda despite not even caring much for them. Turning back toward the vending machines, he looked through the first machine and picked out anything and everything that might satiate him: boxes of Pringles, bags of beef jerky, Twinkies and Swiss rolls, even giant sized cookies. Then next came all the drinks, bottles of sodas, mineral waters, teas and lemonades. These were all the crude sort of junk foods he wouldn't have been caught dead eating if his circumstances were any different, but right now, he was just too hungry to care.

He had set his makeshift meal down on the table and was about to dig in again when he noticed a third machine in the corner of the room. Wandering over to it, he peered through the glass and surveyed its contents. Unlike the other two machines, this one was meant for larger items like sandwiches, microwavable instant meals, travel-sized boxes of cereal, even the occasional fruits (drawing Russano's interest immediately). Barely able to stop himself from licking his chaps like a desperately starving beast spying a potential dinner, the badger wasted no time in sliding his slightly bloated finger along the side of the glass and opening up the case, grabbing everything that he could fit in his beefy arms. He then piled everything back at the table, sat down with a louder creak from the chair, and began to dig in before his sense of dignity could stop him from having a moment of gluttony. To him, this was all still just a quick snack to have before returning to his day of reading, satisfied in both body and mind.

Russano never noticed how quickly his frame swelled with each bite he took. The Dagwood sandwiches and hoagies seemed to nicely plump out his abdomen by another half foot or so, while the large number of strawberries, apples, and pears he ate must have been what caused his chest to widen and give him several extra inches in height, tearing his white shirt clean down the center and threatening to do the same to his already stressed coat. The large cookies and crackers swelled his arms and legs thicker and thicker, mixed between massive flab and his still muscular poise. The Twinkies, of course, went straight to the badger's massively growing rear, causing the khaki fabric to slowly rip right down the middle little by little with every second that passed. But Russano paid no attention to any of this, or to how loudly the chair beneath him was creaking from his exponentially increasing weight, or even to just how much he had actually eaten already.

It wasn't even until the macro badger nearly ate a piece of paper that had been tied to a sandwich that he noticed that something was wrong. Russano looked himself over in absolute confusion as to how he could have gotten so big so suddenly, holding the neglected note in a bloated paw while his eyes went over his large body. He still retained a slightly toned form, but it was now added in with a large amount of fat, giving him a strange muscle gut that jutted out from where the remnants of his now tattered coat clung to him. The size of his frame was easily half as big again as it was when he came in, with an extra hundred pounds or so spread across his bloated body, and the chair underneath him was struggling under the pressure of his rather exposed large rear. Oppositely, his plumped thighs were already lifting up the table in front of him, causing a few of the empty bottles to roll off to the opposite side. It took him only a second to realize how this could have happened, and quickly turned his gaze to the letter clearly addressed to him.

"To Russano Greenstripe:

For the record, you should keep in mind that if you surround yourself with an aura of defensive magic, like, say, magic booby traps or protective wards, then touching your aura would have the same effect as touching you. Maybe you would have had better luck if you had just hid in a flower garden where my allergies wouldn't have let me near you, instead of being one floor beneath my feet. Oh well. Sorry bud, but you're out. Ten down, six to go~!

Sincerely, Zee

PS - Neener neener neener~"

Victim #11 - Vortis

"There... there's got to... there's gotta be a better way... to win this..."

Huffing loudly, a pudgy orange fox jogged tiredly down through the alleys and back ways between buildings. Vortis was struggling to keep a steady pace as he made his way through the shadowed passages behind businesses, determined to keep going and hopefully stay a step ahead of Zee. He reached up and brushed his blond hair out of his eyes and he mopped the sweat off his forehead. Earlier in the day, he had run into another chubby contestant in Zee's challenge running through the alleyways, but instead of keeping on the run, the guy had decided to hole himself up in an ice cream factory. The last that the fox had heard, there had been an "incident" at that factory involving an extremely large customer who had somehow gotten himself stuck inside eating too much ice cream.

There was no way that Vortis was going to let that happen to him if he could help it, but he was starting to run out of energy and was getting worried. He was definitely out of shape, and he knew that he couldn't keep running all day like this; he was a fat fox, not an endurance running cheetah. He couldn't afford to quit now though; he knew that if he stopped to catch his breath, it would be near impossible to convince his body to get back to running again. Not to mention he figured that his current position was only a mile away from the original starting point, leaving him in rather dangerous waters if Zee was doing a slow sweep to catch people who couldn't run very far before getting tired. People like Vortis.

Unfortunately, the only reason he hadn't gotten further away than he had was because he had gotten turned about in these back alleys and had gone in a full circle. Even if he hadn't gotten lost, he knew that he wouldn't have made it more than another mile away at best, which was still way too close for comfort. Still, he was determined to make it through the day as long as he possibly could. He took a deep breath and picked himself up to quicken his pace, letting his motivation give him another boost of adrenaline as he ran as fast as he could to put more distance between him and where he had begun.

The fox's sprint lasted all of three seconds before he slowed again and finally came to a stop, leaning against the closest brick wall and panting heavily as he tried to regain his breath. He just couldn't handle the burning pressure that came from working beyond what his physique would let him. He had just never cared to exercise at all since he liked the natural size he was, but it was proving to be a serious disadvantage for him at the moment. Sliding down the wall into a huddled heap on the ground to rest for a moment, Vortis felt disappointed in himself for what he felt was like giving up. He knew he hadn't gotten very far away before stopping, and that he was seriously at risk standing out in the open like he was, but the tightness in his chest was just too much for him to endure. There has got to be a better way than this..., he thought with a soft sigh.

Vortis felt like it was going to be a long day for him, but somehow he knew that everything would be worth the while in the end. He had always been interested in inflation and fattening and other kinds of body enhancements like what the competition had promised to provide, but he was never really open about it before. The pudgy fox had led what he felt was a "normal life", working an average job to pay the rent, talking and laughing with his friends on his nights off, and enjoying the usual pleasures life had to offer. He buried what others might think of as strange quirks or taboo fetishes deep down inside him, trying to hide them from the eyes of the people around him so that they wouldn't look down on him for this "other side" of him.

Whenever he met someone new with similar interests or was randomly asked about that particular aspect of his life, he would usually falter and grow rather shy. He just wasn't used to talking about that part of him or sharing in it; he always had this innate fear that people would think less of him for his seemingly peculiar desires. But he wanted to change all that. He wanted to let himself be open about his interests no matter what people thought of it, to let himself be who he is instead of hiding it behind a mask, and entering this contest was a big step towards this goal.

"Actually winning this contest is going to be another thing altogether though...", he said aloud to himself with a soft grumble, trying to will his heart and body to slow down a little and just recuperate from his running. He idly brushed his orange paw through his headfur as he tried to collect himself and think of how to proceed for the rest of the day. There was absolutely no way that the fox was going to be able to keep going like he had been all day so far, but he didn't want to try doing what the other guy had done of going in somewhere to hide. Sitting still was like an open invitation for Zee to catch up to you and tag you when you least expect it. He had heard enough to the prankster wolf's exploits online to know that there was little that Zee couldn't do to inflate his victims.

His only choice was to keep on the move; the only question was how to do so without having a heart attack. Bike? Well, it would still be rather strenuous work, and he'd only be able to use it out on the roads where anyone could see him. Car? He didn't actually own one, and despite his determination to be more open about his interests, the prospect of having to explain to any of his friends why he wanted to borrow their car was not something he wanted to do. Bus? Train? Subway? Those were all way too public, and he had heard stories of some of Zee's victims being trapped on them before. The only other option Vortis could think of was to take a private taxi as far as he could, but he knew he couldn't ride in one all day since it'd be way too costly. Still, it was better than just sitting around on the ground in the back of a dark alley, looking like some hobo or the victim of a mugging.

Picking himself back up to his feet, the fox gave out a soft sigh and brushed himself off before clutching his aching side and walking toward the nearest alleyway back to the main street. It was just then though that Vortis noticed someone standing by the entrance to the alleyway, leaning up against the brick wall with a cell phone to his ear. Someone with black fur, dark shades, and a long lupine tail behind them, who gave occasional glances toward the defenseless fox in the dark of the alley. Vortis stood wide-eyed for a split second as he realized the trouble he was in, then he quickly dashed off in the opposite direction as fast as he could carry his chubby body, all the earlier exhaustion swept away in a moment of sheer adrenaline. The only thing that mattered to him at that moment was getting the heck away from there!

His eyes darted around like mad as he ran, trying to find a safe place to go or something to hide behind. And then he suddenly saw his safe haven: an open door at the back of a building! Without another thought, he made a life-or-death sprint through the doorway, slammed it shut behind him, and hastily locked the deadbolt. The world seemed to spin around him for a few moments as the fox felt his racing heart throb almost painfully in his ears. He leaned against the door exhaustedly as his adrenaline left him, pushing up against the door half in an unnecessary effort to make sure Zee didn't break the door down and half just to make sure he didn't collapse or fall over in his dizziness. He didn't know where he was or if that was really Zee or not, but panic overrode any thoughts other than to make sure that the door stayed close.

A minute passed before Vortis was able to calm his body down a little and not feel sick from exertion, and another minute before he contented himself with the obvious logic that the wolf wasn't going to be walking through a solid metal door anytime soon. When he finally was able to pry himself away from the door without feeling like he was going to fall down, Vortis looked around at his new surroundings with an almost strangely calm curiosity. It looked like he was in the back hallway of some sort of restaurant, with the clattering of metal utensils and dicing of foods coming from some kitchen just down the passage from him.

Aside from hiding in an employees' unigender bathroom or going back through the door that had just saved him though, there wasn't anything else to do but to follow the sounds down the hallway into the kitchen. He braced his paw against the wall and walked along cautiously, still physically shaken from his close encounter and well aware that he might be heading straight into Zee's clutches if the wolf knew where to find him. But there wasn't anywhere else to go; Vortis' only hope was to make it to the main street and hail a cab to get him far away from here, and to do that he'd have to work his way through the busy kitchen and crowded dining area.

Pushing his tired body along, Vortis turned round the corner of the hallway and found a strange sight before him. Though he was certainly in a restaurant, the sounds he had heard were not from a kitchen at all; in actuality, they were coming from the middle of a busy sushi bar's dining room, where a pair of pint-sized otter chefs prolifically sliced and diced fresh fish into delectable entrées in the middle of a moving conveyor belt that circled their work space. About six or seven people sat around talking and laughing as they plucked pieces of sushi off the conveyor belt, while several more sat at the surrounding tables with a chubby panda and a white wolf running between them to serve drinks. The fox couldn't help but water at the mouth as he gazed upon the piles of delicious looking seafood, and it took all his willpower to look around for the exit. With a wistful sigh, he started towards the front door while idly making a mental memo to find this place again after the competition. Something about the place seemed familiar though...

"Hey there, welcome to Futotta's Sushi Bar!" came a voice from behind him.

Vortis nearly jumped out of his fur as a hefty paw came down on his shoulder. He spun around frantically and fell backwards on his tail with a small yelp that drew the attention of a few customers. The panda that had been standing behind him ran over to him with a cross between an apologetic look and a look of amusement. "A-are you okay, sir?"

"I...I'm fine, thank you..." he stammered embarrassedly. The fox slowly sat up with a soft groan, rubbing his sore rear and trying his best to ignore the people who were watching like his accident was just entertainment for them. Today was not turning out to be one of his better days so far. The panda smiled down at him and offered a large paw to help pull him up, which the fox hesitantly accepted. A second later, he felt himself jolted up from the ground with surprising strength, and nearly stumbled again from the sudden movement.

"Um, sorry about that..." the panda said as he scratched the back of his head, "Didn't mean to scare you or anything."

Vortis shook his head. "N-no, it's fine. I'm just a bit jumpy today, sorry."

"What, someone after you or something?" the waiter said with a chuckle. Vortis barely stopped himself from asking how the panda possibly knew that, realizing that most likely he was just joking. Instead though, he tried to think of something to say to excuse himself so that he could get out of there. With Zee nearby, he didn't have time for small talk or such things. Not to mention he still had this nagging feeling that he knew about this place already.

"N-no, just... one of those days, y'know? Anyways, I need to get g-", he started, before the smiling panda suddenly pulled him along to a seat at the center bar with the conveyor belt, unintentionally cramping the fox's pudgy belly against the counter and pinning him in. The waiter sat him down and cheerfully motioned toward the moving platform of delicious looking sushi.

"To make it up to you about that little fall, how about a free lunch? It's on the house, and the otters here at Futotta's are the best in the business. Come on!"

Normally, the fox was never an argumentative or confrontational person. He didn't like to say no to people, and if he was ever asked to do something, he usually did so without a fuss regardless of whether he really wanted to do so or not. But right now, he just didn't have the time to sit around and eat a lunch; Zee might be around and able to find him at any minute. However, he couldn't help but stare as a plate filled with pure mouthwatering rolls of rice and fish passed in front of him, drawing the instinctive attention of his wide eyes and rumbling stomach. Rationally, he knew he should get going, but as he watched the dish of wonderful seafood roll along the conveyor, he somehow began to think that perhaps it hadn't been Zee back in the alley after all. Maybe it had just been his overactive imagination mistaking another fur for his pursuer, and if Zee didn't know he was in here, there wouldn't be any harm in stopping for a short while to grab a bite to eat, would there?

"Well... oh why not? Just for a little while." Vortis said with a growing smile and hungry belly. The panda smiled even wider in turn and clapped him on the back again, this time a bit more gently so that he wouldn't fall over again, before returning to his duties and taking a drink to another customer. In front of him, the two otter chefs turned toward him and gave bows of respect, before cracking their webbed paws together and set to work for him. One began by pulling out a few pounds of raw fish and slicing it up into thin slivers in a quick but fascinating flash of knife cuts, almost like a little sideshow. The second that he was finished, the otter slid the fish over to his mate, who began rolling the fish into a roll of seaweed and rice that he had made in the meantime and created something like a long white cigar. The roll was then passed back to the first otter again who sliced it up skillfully and put the finished product out on a plate slowly making its way toward the fox.

"Enjoy!" The otters said in unison, watching with confident grins as Vortis picked just one up off the plate and brought it to his muzzle.

The second it touched his tongue, it slowly began to crumble away and practically melt into a delicious sea of flavor that made him unconsciously give a murr of contentment and wag his bushy tail behind him. He wasn't sure what exactly it was that he was eating (and frankly didn't want to know what it was), but he suddenly felt that taking a short break here and getting a free meal was one of the better things that had happened to him that day. His worries and weariness seemed to just fade away as he chewed it down, never noticing the half inch it added to his waist, and gave a wide smile of appreciation to the otter.

"Foxy likes?" the otter handling the fish playfully chided.

Vortis grinned abashedly and replied, "Like? I love it!"

The otter giggled almost childishly as he sliced up a tuna of some sort and passed it over to his partner. "Glad to hear it! My name is Itamae Akuma, and this is my husband Itamae Mitsukai. Anything you want, you just ask us. You see a plate of something you like, we'll make more of it, or if you can think of something that we don't have on the belt yet, we'll remedy it immediately. Got it?"

The fox nodded enthusiastically and reached out to grab another piece of sushi as a different plate passed in front of him. This really was a nice place to be; a friendly staff, skilled chefs, pleasant atmosphere, and most importantly pure delicious food. It didn't get much better than this anywhere else without the total on the food bill being at least three digits long. Still, as he munched away on yet another piece and added another inch more to the pudgy belly under his shirt, something in the back of his mind made him feel like he had seen this place before...

"So, um, this seems like a pretty popular sushi bar. I'm surprised I haven't heard of it." Vortis commented after unconsciously finishing down a sixth piece. He was rather shocked when he realized how quickly he was eating, but then, he had been working rather hard today, and exertion had always made him a little hungrier than usual. His appetite just seemed a little more demanding and automatic than normal though, and he didn't recall feeling this tightly pressed up against the counter when he first sat down.

"Futotta's?" Akuma casually said with a smile as he cut up a large roll of some sort of seaweed wrap, "Yeah, business has really picked up lately. You see, we just started about eight months ago, but things weren't doing too good at the time and were considering closing. Then we had an incident where some prankster apparently borrowed the place for some mischief during our week off. The place was in the newspapers for a while, and after just a brief glimmer in the spotlight, people started to really notice the good food we have here."

Prankster? Mischief?, he thought with a sudden chill down his spine. Suddenly the gently nagging doubt in his mind became a bad feeling that something was seriously wrong about him being here, not to mention something wrong with how very hungry he was feeling and how he seemed to have put on almost twenty pounds of fat around his waist since entering. Deja vu was starting to form somehow, as he racked his brain to see if he could remember what the incident might have been...

"I'd like to think it's all thanks to a certain pair of otters' fine handiwork!" the otter teased as he theatrically twirled a knife in his paw. His mate then bumped his hip and nearly caused him to drop the blade. "Right hon... and the contributions from a wealthy donor after the incident have absolutely nothing to do with our comeback, huh?"

The pair laughed between themselves and returned their attention to their work, quickly and skillfully fixing up another plate and putting it on the belt in front of the fox. But he didn't take a piece this time despite his rumbling stomach, because panic was starting to take control of him again. There was something mischievous to the otters' laugh, as if they knew something he didn't. Wealthy contributor? Incident where a prankster had caused some mischief? Could that be... Ze-

"Hey little chefs..." came a sudden voice from behind him. "I know something you guys don't have on the belt at all. There's no vulpine!"

Suddenly, the fox felt himself falling forward as someone bumped against his back, sending him face first into a plate of sushi rolls as he awkwardly got himself wedged between the counter and the seat. He coughed a bit as he tried to swallow the rolls of rice that he forced their way to the back of his throat, before trying to pry himself away from the mess. But somehow he found himself firmly stuck, with his strangely larger belly firmly lodged between the floor mounted stool and the marble counter in front of him, and his muzzle cramped up against the moving platform even as scattered pieces of sushi from the toppled dish bumped up against him. He hadn't realized just how much he had filled out from the food he had eaten already. There was an awkward amount of quiet murmurs around him, and he could feel the stares of the other customers as they looked on upon his predicament.

Vortis turned his head to try to call for some help, but he realized a second too late that it turned out to be a big mistake. When he craned his neck to the side, he noticed two things immediately; firstly, there was a large empty panda mask like the headpiece of a mascot's costume sitting on the counter nearby, and secondly, the conveyor belt was continuing to push an enormous amount of sushi at him. As soon as he had opened his mouth, he found it being filled against his will by a multitude of seafood trying to force its way into his throat. The little chefs on the other side of the counter tried to turn off the belt, but found that somehow the button controlling the conveyor wasn't working and quickly ran out to try to get someone to help as the poor fox stuck on their counter was force-fed by the machinery. There was little that Vortis could do as the pieces of sushi slid down his gullet, filling his insides slowly by surely inch by inch with every morsel, and there was no doubt in his mind what had happened: Zee.

He couldn't be sure whether it was actually Zee who he had seen in the alley and he had simply followed him inside after the encounter, or whether the wolf had planned out the whole thing, purposefully opening the restaurant door in advance and had enlisted the help of someone else to scare the fox right into his trap. He wasn't sure if it had really been Zee inside a panda costume, or whether the two otters were in on the prank, or how he had been so foolish as to let himself be talked into staying and eating when he had so much at stake. What he _was_sure of was that the gap between the waistband of his immensely tight jeans and the hem of his poor stretched shirt had widened by a foot and a half already, revealing a beach ball sized globe of creamy orange fox fur underneath and leaving him helpless to do anything as pieces of sushi crammed themselves into his muzzle almost faster than he could even hope to chew them down. The fox tried his hardest to close his muzzle, but every time he tried, his teeth sunk into another sliver of fish and rice that kept it wedged open.

His flabby frame grew bigger and fatter every time he was forced to swallow another piece down, as if every bite that entered him was added directly to his body. Vortis had always had a bit of pudginess to him, but what had once been considered "just a little overweight" was beginning to turn into turn into mobility-limiting blob of fat. Within seconds, his arms and legs had plumped up to small bloated tree stumps, and his giant bean bag of a belly sagged out underneath him for everyone to see, growing closer and closer towards the floor and weighted down with every sushi piece he had consumed. His shirt stretched widely as his chest plumped out, growing an embarrassingly large pair of sagging moobs to match his fat gut. He could hear the loud ping of his pants button flying off and hitting the floorboards when the stress of his wide waist proved too much for his jeans, and could feel the metal stool underneath him begin to slowly bend as his fat rump pressed firmly against it.

The fox gave a soft sigh internally, his puffed out cheeks growing a light flush to them from his very awkward situation. Vortis wasn't very open about his love of inflations, but he had always felt that he needed to fix that. So instead of pleading with the people around him to do something to help, he merely sat there and accepted his fate as his shirt started to rip at the collar from his tire sized stump of a neck slowly thickening and his massively plump chest widening out to more than four feet wide. He gave up struggling to escape and just let his huge gut rub up against the floor when it ran out of room to grow, pushing back instead on the seat behind him and causing it to bend a little more. Instead of fighting the growth for the sake of modesty, he did his best to grin and bear it with a mad blush as he felt the back of his jeans rip straight down the middle, essentially mooning his big rear to a surprisingly entertained audience of customers giving loud cat cries and whistles.

It wasn't long after the last of the seafood had been guzzled from the belt that the otters returned with a flustered mechanic, trying to figure out how to remove the fat fox from his seat and stop the moving train of sushi debris. But Vortis didn't care about getting freed right then, he was just happy at getting the chance to finally be himself out in the open. He slowly closed his eyes, feeling the drowsiness of filling up a full belly set upon him, and drifted off to sleep wondering how Zee was going to catch his next victim...

Victim #12 - Cyrus Arctikwolf

Leaning against the side of the glass elevator, Cyrus stood looking out the window at the numerous guests wandering around in the Carnegie Science Center. The green balloonie wolf couldn't help but feel tense knowing that the inflator wolf was out there somewhere and with his sights set on him, and his sense of paranoia had been running high all day. It was a good thing in as much as it helped him to keep on his toes and stay out of sight as best as he possibly could. But it also meant that every minute he spent in hiding was a minute he spent in total fear of Zee jumping out of nowhere to catch him.

It meant that he had eaten nothing that day aside from a PopTart that he had brought with him earlier in the morning, that his sole bathroom run had been extremely brief and born only out of desperation instead of bravery, and that he would have a near heart attack several times any time he saw someone with black fur. Earlier when he was riding on the subway to get to the science center, a small lion cub had escaped from his mother and unexpectedly pulled the wolf's balloon tail out of curiosity, causing Cyrus to yelp and nearly jump out of his rubber skin before the mother came to collect the child.

The wolf sighed softly as he rested his forehead against the glass, grateful that he had snagged an empty elevator going up. He remembered all too well the events of last year's contest; after all, he had been the luckiest of the group and had somehow managed to be the last person to be caught. Cyrus couldn't hide the slight smile that stretched across his green muzzle as he remembered how it felt to have a parade in his honor, with him as the lead parade balloon of course. His victory had been through preservation, paranoia, and a pair of good running shoes, and he had always felt pride at having managed to somehow best the notorious inflator wolf and the fifteen other contestants.

But this year, he knew that things were going to be much harder. Because he had won last time, he knew that Zee was most likely going to double his efforts to catch him specifically, and it was going to take a lot more than sheer luck and constant running for the balloon wolf to get through this time around. Still, Cyrus knew that the prize was certainly worth the stress. Ever since his fun last year, he had been dying for another chance at getting that big again, and Zee had promised that this year would be even better than last.

He had managed to make it undetected so far for the day, mostly by just using the same tactics he had last year of constantly keeping on the move from one hiding spot to another. However, Cyrus knew that it was only a matter of time before the black wolf caught on to his scheme. After all, Zee_had_ managed to find him in the end last time, though the balloon wolf had already won the game at that point. With Zee more determined to find him this year and able to remember his tactics from last time, Cyrus figured that a different strategy would be needed.

The plan he had was reasonably simple. He guessed that at this point in the day, at least some of the other contestants had been caught already. What better place to hide then than where someone else had already been found? Zee would never think to look for him in a place that he had already been to, especially if people were still cleaning up the mess he left behind or trying to figure out how to remove the unlucky contestant. The only problem was that he couldn't figure out where any of the others were for the life of him! Anytime there had been a news report about it in any of the sports bars he had ducked into, the bartender would suddenly change the channel to something else with a scoff of disbelief. Anytime he heard the radio in a small clothing or hardware store start to announce about a strange inflation incident, static would suddenly cut out the man's voice until the following commercial. It was like the whole of the city was trying to prevent him from finding out where Zee had already gotten someone.

There was only one place to go where the balloon wolf knew he would be safe: the planetarium of the Carnegie Science Center. The curator of the planetarium was a close friend of his and he knew that he'd be allowed to keep a low profile in his office for a while, at least until he got an idea of where to go next. Last time he was there, he remembered his friend keeping a small television in his office for those times when he brought one of his children to work with him. At the very least, Cyrus imagined that even Zee would have a hard time trying to break in to someplace secure like the curator's office.

When the elevator he was riding in finally reached the top floor of the science center, Cyrus took a deep breath and peered out to make sure that the inflator wolf was nowhere in sight. It was a decently busy day and a small pawful of visitors were out on the astrology floor enjoying the various space-related exhibits, but thankfully none of them even remotely resembled Zee. He ducked out and tried unsuccessfully to will his squeaky footsteps to be quiet as he made his way to the far corner, where a long line was forming in front of the doors to the omni-theater.

The theater had always reminded him of a regular IMAX theater, except that the screen formed a small dome above you and gave the space presentations a strange three-dimensional feel to it, as though you were really flying up in space when they zoomed in to examine Jupiter. But more importantly, Cyrus knew that the curator himself handled the theater whenever there was a special presentation going on, and it just so happened that such a presentation was set for that afternoon. Unfortunately, it seemed that theater was going to be packed to bursting in a moment, judging by the lines; there was no way that the wolf was going to get in. He'd just have to wait outside for the show to end, so that he could talk to the curator when he was free.

Shrugging, Cyrus headed over to one of the nearby benches that sat around the outside of the large foyer, looking around as he did so. In his hurry to get over to the omni-theater, he hadn't had a chance to properly look around. However, now that there was nothing to do but wait for the show to end, he had more than enough time. Looking around, he saw an enormous model of the solar system looming above him, with all nine planets (well, technically 8, now that Pluto was downgraded to a planetoid) circling around a scaled model of the sun, which was actually internally lit to represent the sun's glow. Each of the large spheres circling around it moved at its own speed, spacing them along at different orbits while they moved around the sun. It was a surprisingly well-done model, and Cyrus found himself watching it for a few minutes as it continued its motions.

However, the amusement ceased after a few minutes as the activity quickly got boring, and Cyrus yawned as he stood again, deciding that it might be better to just wander around the floor for a bit; the show was roughly a half hour long, and it was going to feel like it was taking ten times as long if he just sat around. No, it would be better to explore a bit, see what else was on the floor while he waited for the show to end. After all, he had only been to the building a few times previously despite his friend being a curator here; it was time he took a chance to look around and see why the place was so popular.

The floor was devoted to a series of displays intended to educate visitors on the workings of the solar systems, each with information boards to accompany them. The first display that Cyrus passed was about moons, and how they orbited planets and affected things such as the Earth's tide. It also went into further detail about the different masses, how big each moon was compared to its planet, and how many moons each planet had. There was a lot of information at this display, and Cyrus found himself looking over it with interest. However, despite his brief interest, numbers and facts couldn't hold his attention for very long, and he found himself moving on.

The next exhibit was about gravity itself, further expanding on something briefly covered in the last display. It explained how the different planets and moons had a pull to them relative to their size, drawing things to them more powerfully the bigger they were. The gravitational pull was what kept things on the ground, from this perspective. This was obvious to Cyrus, of course, who had taken science classes before, but the whole building was designed as a family-oriented education center, so it was probably for the sake of the smaller cubs and such that wouldn't know these things.

The displays continued as such, going into different topics such as stars, galaxies, and an exhibit meant for the cubs about possible life on other planets, with cute cutouts of "aliens" in a toony sense for them to enjoy. Cyrus couldn't help but chuckle as he looked over the last one, an attempt at lightheartedness for the visitors of the science center. It seemed that the place really was a good attempt at a learning center without being the equivalent of a boring classroom. This was a lot better than the museums he had visited before, where there were nothing but exhibits accompanied by boring lectures that no one cared about when they could easily read the plaque. Whoever built the place had dedicated a lot of work to making sure the visitors would enjoy themselves.

However, despite his casual attitude, Cyrus felt a tingle of apprehension the entire time he paced through the exhibits. He couldn't afford to really relax as much as he'd like to, knowing that Zee was right on his tail. The wolf was after him in particular, for being the winner of last year's contest. It wouldn't do to have the same person get the title two years in a row! That made Cyrus so much more likely to be tagged early, though, and because of that he was trying his hardest not to panic. He really wanted to do well again, even if he didn't win; he loved being as big as he ha been last time, and was hoping to possibly repeat it!

Finally Cyrus came back full circle and ended up in the foyer he had started in. The model of the solar system was still on its ceaseless cycle above, though certainly further along than it had been. After all, it wouldn't have been very interesting if it took a whole year for a full cycle. Actually, the exhibits had pointed out that each of the different planets moved on different time frames; while the Earth made a full revolution every year, the others moved at different speeds. But that aside, it was cool to see how that worked on a scaled model, with the different "planets" moving at various speeds to complete their orbits of the large sun in the center.

As interesting as the whole exhibit had been, though, Cyrus began to find himself bored yet again. He had been pacing around for a good fifteen minutes or so, but now there was nothing to do but sit around and wait again. Groaning, the balloonie wolf simply flopped back onto his bench again with a muffled squeak, resting his chin on one paw. There was nothing else to do on the floor, though, and if he wandered off to visit the rest of the science center, he might miss the curator when the show ended. His only option was to sit and wait around for the show to end, but that fifteen minutes was going to take forever at this rate!

While he was lost in thought, Cyrus didn't notice the other figure sitting next to him at the bench. However, he noticed soon enough when he was spoken too. "Missed the show too, eh?"

Cyrus looked up with a start, only to find a familiar pair of yellow eyes staring right back at him. If he had normal fur, it would be standing up on end in response to the sight. As it was though, only his tail stiffened in alarm for a brief moment before settling back down as the balloonie wolf gave a resigned sigh. Sitting right next to him, merely two feet away, was a certain black wolf with a mischievous grin and a look in his eyes that simply said "gotcha!" as he drummed his fingers against the hard wood of the bench. Cyrus hadn't even heard Zee approach, let alone sit down, but there he was.

"Blah... am I out already? Please tell me I'm at least a finalist."

Zee simply chuckled. "Nope. Quarterfinalist, though you're the last one in this rank. Almost made semis!"

Cyrus was about to groan again before a shove to his back sent him stumbling forward, falling flat on his muzzle right beneath the solar system exhibit that was suspended near the ceiling. He groaned at the impact, rubbing at his muzzle squeakily as he picked himself off of the floor. Zee had shoved him! That was a mean-spirited move, something he hadn't expected of the inflator wolf. Growling, he started to stand up to give the black lupine a piece of his mind, but then he heard something.

There was a long, low hissing sound coming from nearby. The balloonie's cartoonish ears perked up as he tried to locate the sound, knowing it all too well: it was the hiss of helium being released. Looking around hurriedly, he let his eyes dart back and forth across the room, looking for any sort of tank or pump that would be used to put the air into him. He knew how Zee worked; the wolf preferred to use outside sources over his own powers, and often enough that involved some sort of air compressor when it came to his ballooned victims. But there didn't seem to be any sort of contraption lying around... so where was the sound coming from?

Too late, Cyrus realized the error in his assumption. Yes, Zee liked to use outside sources, but he didn't always fall back on them. All it had taken was that shove to mark him, and now the balloonie was becoming a blimp automatically. Looking down, he could see exactly where the hissing was coming from as his normally slim belly began to round out. And boy was it rounding out; it was almost like watching someone inflating a literal balloon, it was so quick! In seconds he had gone from a flat waistline to one that made him look like he needed a diet ASAP. Of course, no reduction in eating would fix this gain; he was being filled up with air, and at a rapid rate!

No, it wasn't air, he soon realized as he felt a familiar lightening feeling that caused a tingle through his body. In fact, it was the same feeling that he had gotten the last time he had been in this competition, the time he had managed to win. It was the familiar feel of helium as it slowly spread throughout his body, puffing out every part of his latex form as he started to fill him up. Slowly his belly went from a small sphere to a larger ball as his hips and sides started finding the air as well. Meanwhile, his chest started to puff out above his belly as well, and the two started to merge as the air continued to swell him up rounder and rounder.

Slowly the lightening feeling began as Cyrus's body started to become more and more helium-filled. It wasn't an immediately noticeable change, but the balloonie wolf had an awareness of his body that only other inflatables like himself would understand. He could feel his already light frame becoming more so, and his balance was becoming precarious as he tried to push himself to his feet. Between the rounding, bloating shape that was starting to take form in his limbs and torso as well as the general lightness that came with the helium filling him up, it was hard to get to his feet, let alone remain there when he felt like his paw wasn't going to come down with each step!

Fumbling onto his feet, not sure of where he was going with only the panic instinct kicking in, the wolf tried to wobble away on puffed-up feet, but their cartoonish swelling made it impossible to walk with any sort of ease. In a moment he fell again, but he didn't impact the floor; instead, now that he had filled up with enough helium, Cyrus found himself floating a few inches above the floor, and his elevation quickly started rising! Grabbing hold of a railing to try and halt his ascent, the balloonie held on for dear life. He knew that he couldn't hold on forever, but again it was just a natural reaction that kept him clinging anyway.

Slowly he continued to swell larger, his middle looking like he had swallowed one of the smaller planets from the model above and continuing to grow by the second. Each of his limbs had puffed out toonishly, large and thick as they fought for space and pressed against his bloated torso. Even his fingers and toes were puffed out like thick little tubes, rubber claws barely poking out of them and only serving to add to the comical look. His muzzle began to swell as well, his cheeks rounding out like smaller basketballs as they squashed his muzzle, his neck bloating out like a thick tire. Every part of him was becoming rounder and rounder as helium continued to fill out his frame.

Finally his fingers slipped, and Cyrus found himself floating upwards again, bouncing off of the ceiling as he came loose from the railing. His swollen form continued to round out for a few more minutes, and then finally stopped just shy of a completely spherical shape. All he could do was float there helplessly, looking around from the ceiling as he tried to recover some of his dignity. He was lucky that the show wasn't over yet; otherwise people would already be pouring out to look at the inflated balloonie wolf floating against the ceiling. Of course, they'd be out in a moment anyway, but maybe he could convince Zee to get him away from here at least. He loved being inflated, but he didn't want to be gawked at!

Before he could speak though, something bumped into him and sent him careening to the side. Spinning from the impact, Cyrus saw that one of the planets from the solar system model had bumped into his side, causing him to be pushed along its axis as well. He wasn't moving at a fast pace, but he was surely stuck, unable to move out of the way as he was propelled along by the model's tracks. It was an almost amusing comparison; maybe he wasn't as big as the parade balloon that he had been last time, but he was as big as a planet here! He just hoped that he would get pushed out of the way by the planet model; he didn't want to be revolving around the sun too!

At that moment, the doors to the omni-theater swung open as the show ended, with a stream of furs exiting. Most of them were talking excitedly about the show, though there were a few who had that look of relief about being out; they probably had been dragged there by family and hadn't enjoyed the show. However, most of the noise fell briefly as they noticed a large, unfamiliar green shape floating in the model of the solar system above them, and people turned to stare. Cyrus realized that he was the center of everyone's attention and blushed, trying to hide his face in mortification, but his paws were unable to move. Still no one spoke, surprised at the ballooned wolf hovering against the ceiling.

Then someone spoke out, a small cub near the front. "Mommy... why is there ten planets?"

Cyrus didn't have it in his heart to remind him that Pluto wasn't a planet anymore.

---

Victim #13 - Addy

A day before, Addy had been asked if he had ever had the feeling that something was going too smoothly. It had seemed like an odd question at the time, but he had answered honestly: he hadn't had the feeling that anything was amiss when things were going well. However, a day later as time continued to pass in Zee's competition, the dragon suddenly remembered the question. Before he had said that he hadn't had the feeling, but now he was having it in full. Despite all the effort he had put into his hiding place, that he hadn't seen either hide or hair of his pursuer was a bit of a concern; surely the wolf would have at least passed by now, right?

Either way, all this waiting left Addy in a nervous move. The dragon twiddled his thumbs, looking at his surroundings briefly. At the moment he was wandering through the largest mall in the city, going from store to store to look for a good place to hide. Unfortunately, most of the outlets in the mall were fairly small, meaning there weren't many places for even a lithe dragon like himself to hide in. Many of them were just brief walk-in areas, like the small game store on the second floor, or the Sunglasses Hut near the food court. Of course, Addy had avoided the latter anyway; it wouldn't do any good to go somewhere that would give Zee an edge and ammo for his target!

The dragon started heading towards the opposite end of the mall from the food court; after all, the further he was away from objects that the inflator wolf could use to his advantage, the better! Instead of going near any place that sold food or drink, he lingered near clothing shops, or stopped by the bookstore; anything that was far away from temptation and/or some form of growth that Zee could take advantage of was an easy stop. The last one was actually the best, seeing as he could wander between the bookcases for a while, browsing through a long list of fantasy books to keep his attention while he hid.

Unfortunately, though, books could only keep him entertained for so long. After about ten runs back and forth through the fantasy section picking out titles that looked interesting and reviewing them, Addy found himself getting bored. Rubbing at his head, he tried heading to the other sections, but they couldn't even hold his interest for more than a few minutes, if that. He wasn't looking for some self-help book, or anything on politics, or a research tome; he just wanted some way to pass the time while he waited for the day to end. Zee hadn't given a final time that the contest was over, only stating that it would last until everyone was caught, including the winner. Zee's site that some fan had made said that the contest had ended at sundown last time, when Cyrus, who had been a participant in this contest too, had been caught in a warehouse and turned into a parade balloon and lit up for the whole city to see.

Now that the thought of time had come to mind, Addy quickly checked the large clock that hung over the exit to the store. It was already getting later in the afternoon, about four o'clock now. By this point, at least half the contestants had been out, if Zee was on his game as usual. Of course, knowing how the wolf worked, there were probably even less. Zee had never been one to dawdle unless drawing things out only served to further his amusement, and as a result Addy was ballparking that three fourths of the competition, if not more, had already been eliminated. That boded well for him, but at the same time, it increased the odds that he would be next. A blessing and a curse both, it seemed.

Continuing to pace back and forth throughout the store wasn't doing much to help Addy's nerves, so the dragon decided it would be best to keep moving, maybe find a better store where he could at least conceal himself, whether it be in a crowd or some back aisle that wasn't easily accessible. Exiting the bookstore after glancing back and forth to make sure there were no black-furred wolves coming down the mall walkway, Addy quickly merged into the crowd and started on his way opposite the nearest entrance. It wouldn't do to have Zee pop by to check the mall and run into his target at the entrance!

Slowly Addy wandered from store to store, stopping briefly at an EB Games to check out the latest in stock and then moving on. A small accessories store, mostly hats and belts and such was next, and then right after that was a small food stand which the dragon hurried past while casting furtive glances all around. Everywhere he went, places lacked good hiding spots or were so devoid of people that even trying to conceal himself would still be fairly noticeable. In the end, the dragon found himself still moving from one place to another, unsatisfied with any one store for a number of reasons.

After about a half hour of wandering, Addy found himself at the far end of the mall where he had started, right in front of one of the large stores that generally flanked the central mall area at different sides. The large clothing store before him, Casey's, stretched to have entrances on both floors, the building's overall size indicative of its general success in business. Addy happened to be at the lower entrance, but even from his vantage he could see the place was packed. Furs were constantly moving and brushing shoulders, the clothing shop almost as packed as the mall itself between customers actually shopping there and those who were using it as an entrance.

The place itself catered to everyone. Just in the dragon's immediate sight, there was a large area devoted to just jewelry, four locked counters made of hardened glass circling a central area where the employees could stand and access the interior of each. Immediately beyond that was a display stand for some random seasonal good that the store seemed to hold that never fit with the overall theme, this time for a small mini-grill. To either side were clothing selections; on one side, slacks, button-up shirts, and ties marked a section of men's formal wear. Beyond that area, with part of the displays barely in sight, were some more casual outfits. On the other sides were dresses and blouses in a variety of colors and designs, and somewhere else in the building, maybe on the second floor, Addy would have guessed that there was children's clothes too.

Casey's was certainly packed, too. This was one of the best-known clothing stores in the entire city area, and as a result almost everyone went here when they were looking for the widest variety of clothes anywhere. The building was almost famous, and being attached to a mall only improved its popularity as it provided options for people to take breaks and visit other stores before returning to their shopping sprees. As it was, even at the entrance Addy was almost overwhelmed by the noise. Certainly it wouldn't be hard to conceal himself within the crowds!

Quickly making his way into the store, Addy made a right and quickly headed towards the men's section. After all, it would be weird for him to be shopping in one of the others! Within moments he was buried in racks of clothing, his green scales standing out slightly among the khakis and darker dress shirts, but that meant nothing. There were plenty of green-scaled folk in the city; it was hardly a unique look to make him stand out among a crowd. However, being able to conceal any more specific features would certainly come in handy. Addy couldn't help but grin; he had found his hiding spot until the end of the day.

All he had to do was shop around for the day, right? Well that wasn't such a big deal. He had wanted to get some new clothes anyway, so why not make use of his time? With a grin the dragon went to the casual racks, looking for new shirts to try on. He had been meaning to expand on his wardrobe for a bit now, and there was no time like the present. Addy started browsing through the various racks of clothing, focusing on mostly shirts for now. The dragon figured he could move to another section like jeans or shorts or something after he got bored here; one thing at a time, right?

The dragon lost himself in his browsing, and he didn't see the customer that happened to be walking nearby as he backed up to look at a shirt better. The wolf staggered back with an oof of surprise, catching his balance after a moment. Immediately noticing, Addy turned to look, and he froze as he saw a black-furred wolf. Was it Zee? Had he been caught? There was no way to tell as the lupine ran off, his face unseen. Nah, it couldn't have been the wolf; Zee was never one to run away once he caught his victims. The inflator loved to be on site to watch the fun unfold, so there was no reason he'd want to run. Maybe it was just an accident...? Either way, it wasn't really that important.

Addy shrugged as he went back to his clothing, deciding that he had enough for now. Now he just had to check their fit. As he tugged on the first shirt from the pile he had sitting on a table beside him, Addy felt an odd tingle. He couldn't describe exactly what the feeling was, just that it was weird. Maybe the shirt had some sort of static cling left in it from someone else trying it on or something; either way, the feeling passed quickly, and the dragon soon forgot about it. Instead, he was more interested in seeing how the shirt fit him. Though he wasn't quite fit, or even terribly slim, he was in good enough shape that the large-sized shirt should have fit him comfortably, especially around the shoulders. Dragons tended to have larger shoulders, after all, and it made clothing shopping a bit more difficult when you were tearing through sleeves when you stretched your arms.

As the shirt settled around his torso, Addy groaned; it was too small. He could feel it a little snugly around his neck, pinching slightly around the shoulders, and the sleeves were too narrow around his arms. Worst of all, he felt a tiny bit of cool air around the bottom of his torso, meaning that it was too short. That was odd though; the dragon had checked the size and it should have draped over his jeans easily. Frowning, he grabbed the rest of his shirts and went to look for a changing room, hoping to find a mirror so that he could get a better idea of what was going on with this shirt. It had looked perfect a moment ago!

After asking for directions and getting a bit of an odd look from one of the clerks at the fit of the shirt; it wasn't that bad, was it? Addy tugged at the bottom of it subconsciously, noting that it seemed snug around his chest when he tried to pull it down. It was a lot smaller than he had expected; maybe it was mislabeled or something, because there was no way this was a large! Grimacing, the dragon stopped tugging at his shirt long enough to take the pile of clothing he had picked out to the dressing rooms, slipping into one of the stalls and closing the door behind him with his tail.

The stall itself wasn't anything special, just a small ten by ten by however tall it was cube. There was a bench protruding from one wall for customers to seat themselves while they were trying on pants, and a large mirror covering another of the walls up to the top of the cube. The glass surface was so large that it hid most of the wall from sight, allowing someone to look at themselves from any angle to see how different outfits fit them. Three nubs protruded from the door he had just closed, hooks designed to hold jackets or coats that a customer might either want to try on or was taking off while they checked the fit of other clothing.

Setting the piles of clothing on the bench (and Addy had brought quite a bit; after all, he had to keep himself busy until everyone else was caught!), the dragon moved over to the mirror to see what was wrong with the shirt he had tried on now. It was a long-sleeved red button-up that he had fastened over his normal outfit just to see its fit, but now that he could look at himself in a mirror, Addy could see what the problem was. The collar was far too snug around his neck, actually constricting it slightly, and the shoulders weren't wide enough. That wasn't all there was to it though, and as the dragon surveyed the rest of the shirt, his jaw simply dropped.

The shoulders and neck may have seemed to snug, but that was nothing compared to the main body of the shirt! As Addy's eyes traced down his front, he could see gaps in the cloth between each button where the sides weren't quite meeting. The buttons were in their holes, but even that was just barely; they looked like they were ready to pop off at a moment's notice! Even worse was the bottom, exposing about three inches of green scales that should have been completely hidden beneath the garment. To top it off, those three inches weren't the flat, maybe slightly rounded middle he was supposed to have. Instead they bulged forward slightly, as if constrained by the shirt above them.

Is that... fat?

Addy wasn't unfamiliar with the feeling of being larger than the average fur; after all, he had experienced all ends of the spectrum, and fat was certainly one of them. However, normally there was some indication that it was going to happen, as in he had voluntarily allowed himself to be "pranked" (there were those who liked to fatten people up through various methods) or at least there had been something that would be a logical cause for it. But this time, there had been no warning, no possibility for something to cause a sudden growth.

...Or was there? Addy paused as he thought for a moment, getting a sinking feeling. There was one person who came to mind that could have done this: Zee. The wolf was after each of the remaining contestants still, and there was always the possibility that they had bumped shoulders in the mall. But why would he have waited so long to start the process? Normally, Zee loved to get to the point, once he had made contact. After following the prankster's works via his site, Addy knew that he was fairly impatient in starting his work; sure, he drew out some of his inflations because he was setting it up for the greatest entertainment value he could get out of it, but even then there was some hint to what he was doing. Right now, hidden away in the back of the clothing store... what was Zee planning?

Sighing, Addy tried to tug off the shirt that was clinging to his body, feeling it tighten even further. Yep, this was definitely Zee's power at work! As he tried to unfasten the buttons, one of the ones near the bottom of his shirt popped off, skipping along the floor after being freed. The dragon tried to suck in his gut somewhat, but even as he did so he felt his shirt constricting even more; if this was what it was like sucked in, what would it be like when he let it out? Quickly, he kept struggling with each and every individual button, trying to peel off the over-tight shirt before it tore to pieces around his swelling girth!

As his slowly widening fingers fumbled with no success, he felt the seams starting to stress under his growing bulk. That made Addy try even harder to get the buttons undone, but as his shirt became skin-tight, it was hard to pull them from the buttonholes. Grunting, he continued to try and slide his claws behind them, hoping to maybe use an angle to pop the restraints free, but he was having no luck. Every second widened the gap between the buttons, and if it weren't for the white shirt he was wearing underneath, large patches of green scales would be visible by now. The clothing just wasn't made for 3XL and growing dragons!

Finally Addy couldn't take it anymore, and he let out his breath, relaxing his stomach as well. The change was immediate; his middle went from curved and bulging out of the shirt to simply bursting free. Buttons pinged off of the sides of the changing stall as his gut surged forward; rather, it tried to, but the shirt he had been wearing beforehand was still holding. It had slid up to reveal half of a large mass of scaled fat that sagged out over his waistband with ease, the other half hardly concealed under the stretched fabric that threatened to tear at any moment. Of course, just because it wasn't tearing didn't mean nothing else was; the sleeves on not one, but both shirts parted along their seams, leaving thickening upper arms to bulge out on either side of him.

One more surge of growth and the button on Addy's jeans burst clean off, clattering to the floor amongst the others already scattered there. His gut, no longer held back by his jeans, suddenly just flopped out, sagging and spreading to cover a good part of his lap. It had to be sticking out a good three feet further than it normally would have, obscuring most of the view of his feet; Addy could barely see the toes wiggling just at the edge of the curved sphere. And it wasn't just his belly that was bigger either; his chest had to be a good deal heavier, now sporting a pair of soft moobs that visibly sagged out on his overtly-tight shirt, and his limbs had thickened a good deal. Even his rump and tail had swollen somewhat, as he turned in the mirror to assess the damage.

However, the growth seemed to have stop with the destruction of his clothing. Thankfully the jeans were held up by his fattened rump, so that the loss of button and zipper weren't really all that bad, though he didn't look decent now! The shirt he had picked out was in shreds too, the sleeves completely ripped off from his thickened arms and scraps of the remainder hanging around his wide sides and stopping just above his thick love handles. His original shirt was in better condition, the short sleeves simply pressed back and slightly constricting his fattened arms, and while it was two-thirds of the way up his belly, it was at least holding up.

This definitely seemed like one of Zee's tricks! But how had he done it? Addy had run into the prankster before, and had seen his work. Almost every time, the wolf was present to enjoy his work, leading many people to wonder if he had to be nearby in order to use his powers. But here, there was no sign of the wolf, meaning either that the theory had holes in it or that Zee wasn't responsible for this. The latter was unlikely, given the situation he was in; with the inflator on the prowl for contestants in his "game", the odds were that he had simply found Addy at some point and was having his fun now. But when had he had the chance to...?

A knock on the changing room door caused the dragon to jump in surprise, making his large middle wobble and bounce from the sudden movement. While the feeling wasn't unfamiliar, it was still surprising while Addy adjusted to his new weight. Quickly, he moved to the far end of the stall, away from the door, and raised his voice. "O-occupied!"

A gruff voice from outside answered him. "Yeah, I know it's occupied. There's a line forming, you've been in the changing rooms long enough!"

Uh-oh. Addy peeked through the crack in the doorway, and realized that there was indeed a line forming, and a big one! It was a pretty full department store, and only had so much room for changing rooms. As a result, lines tended to form quickly, and people would get impatient. Checking his cellphone, the dragon noticed that he had probably been in the changing room for about a half hour, dealing mostly with his gain and trying to figure out what to do next. He really had been taking his sweet time, it was no wonder people were annoyed! But he couldn't go out like this either; if people saw him practically bursting out of his clothes, there'd be hell and humiliation to pay!

Grimacing, he figured that he had to do something quickly. Looking around, Addy's eyes fell on his clothing. He had picked out some larger fits in case the first sizes were too small, to make sure that he had well-fitting clothing. Since his current outfit was in shambles, maybe he could try something larger, at least making him look a bit more modest. There was no way he was going to escape embarrassment to some extent, but at least he could mitigate it. Digging through the piles of clothing, he found the shirts labeled XL and even one labeled XXL (he must have grabbed it by mistake), much to his relief.

It would have been obvious to just shrug into the XXL first, but Addy still reached for the smaller size, probably hoping in vain that it would fit well enough. Even he didn't understand it, but he slipped a blue polo over his head, fitting through the neckhole with some difficulty but fairly comfortably once he got it settled. The shirt was a bit snug around his now-wider shoulders, and it didn't quite cover all of his big green gut, but at least he looked decent. His jeans were a problem, but the dragon hadn't grabbed any pants when he was going clothing shopping so he was going to have to deal with the fact that the button and zipper were in ruins.

As he adjusted the shirt, however, Addy began to feel that tingle again. This time, however, he knew what he meant, and his jaw dropped in horror as he felt his clothing starting to get tighter again. The seams along the shoulders and upper arms went almost immediately, tearing apart and leaving his shoulders bare. The dragon's moobs, already fairly thick and heavy, pushed forward atop a growing sphere of a gut that pushed out more by the moment. Slowly the shirt began to constrict around his neck as it grew thicker, becoming a doughy tire of fat that squished against his swelling chins and cheeks.

His pants tightened further too as his rump swelled outwards, tearing the seat clean in half around his tail, the destruction slowly spreading further. Seams popped at the legs, tearing clear off, and Addy's pants began to fall apart in shreds, leaving him in straining boxers that stretched around his bloating frame while his gut sagged further and further over it. And as they went, so did the shirt he was wearing. The first tear appeared around the neck, and from there the stress of his fattening body tore it in a curving line down the front of his shirt. Even worse, not only the new shirt tore, but the one he was wearing originally was in shreds as well! This couldn't get any worse!

Not thinking straight as his scales started to flush red with embarrassment, Addy tugged at the other shirt. It didn't occur to him that being pantsless made this a poor decision; right now, he was just trying to cover himself. A moment later, however, that familiar tingling began again. The dragon's eyes grew even wider as he felt himself swelling anew. This time was different though, as he swelled more rapidly than before. His shirt simply exploded apart, scaly gut swelling and sagging almost simultaneously as the weight bore him forward, pressing his middle against the corner of the changing room. As it swelled, it pushed him back easily, and due to the sudden surge in growth, Addy couldn't move himself from the position he was in.

As he continued to expand, the dragon realized that the shirt he had been wearing had long since burst off, yet he was still growing! The first two times, he had stopped upon bursting free, but now he was just continuing to swell out of control! Already he could feel his feet starting to press against the far wall of the changing booth, indicating how large he was getting, and he wasn't slowing down at all! In a moment, his sides pressed against opposing ends of the room as well, making him realize that he was starting to overfill it. At this rate, Addy was going to burst out of the changing booth with his growing mass!

Finally, after about ten minutes of continual growth, it simply stopped without warning. Addy's face was pressed up against the door, thankfully missing the hangars that could have jabbed him uncomfortably. His arms, now thick as his waist had been before this whole mess, were jammed up against the sides, squished between the sides of his thick gut and the wall, while his tail was pressed upwards against the back, his rump leaving no room for it to curl downwards. He was truly stuck at this point, unable to move more than a few inches in any directions. What was he going to do now, just sit and wait until someone found him? Well, at least with the line outside it wouldn't be long.

In fact, it seemed his rescue was coming now, as another voice outside announced a clerk. "Sir, I'm coming in, you've exceeded a reasonable amount of time for changing and there are other customers waiting." A click followed as the door was unlocked, and soon it swung open. "I'm going to have to ask you to... leave..."

Everyone stared in shock at the dragon filling the entire changing booth, his head and widened neck barely emerging from the doorway. Addy let out a sigh of relief as he was freed from being mashed against the door, though his face was starting to go red at the surprised stares all around him. Wishing he could just get away from everything, he cast his eyes around the crowd, and saw a familiar black wolf standing in the line. Once their eyes met, Zee lowered his sunglasses enough to give a wink before reaching down to scoop something off of the ground. He tossed in the air and caught it, and Addy caught a brief metallic flash before the wolf was gone. What had that been about?

Zee, on the other hand, was grinning from ear to ear as he flipped a coin in his hand, the same one that had been given to him previously to "enhance" his inflation powers. All he had to do was plant it in Addy's pocket as he passed by, and presto! This time, he had much better control of it, and boy had he enjoyed the results. "I'm sure Addy didn't though... looks like he's suffered a true fashion disaster, eh? Heh heh heh..."

---

Victim #13 - Anthony

[Your file is... 78% complete.]

"Oh come oooon, dangit, that's what you said ten minutes ago!" Anthony growled angrily at his laptop, ignoring the dirty looks that people shot at him as they passed by the bench he sat on. Thankfully, everyone was in way too much of a hurry to pay much notice to him otherwise. That was one of the good things about being in an airport; people were always far too busy with their own business or rushing to get to a gate before their flight left, so it was rare for anyone to stop or look twice at you (aside from airport security, of course). This meant he could yell at his computer all he wanted, and as long as he didn't make too much of a scene, he wouldn't get any more unwanted attention than usual. But no matter how much he complained or cursed or pleaded with his computer, the latest Bad Badger Metallica album still wouldn't download any faster. He sighed softly and closed his laptop while he waited, looking around at the constant ongoing chaos that was the central terminal.

Anthony was an unusual fur in appearance, being half dragon from his father's side and half fox from his mother's side. He bore the traditional orange fur of a fox for the better part of his torso and face, but his legs were instead covered with the sky-blue scales of a great dragon. A pair of gray horns crowned him behind his vulpine ears and a set of lengthy draconic teeth extended from his muzzle, giving him the impression of a demon fox that he had been teased about as a kid. Behind him, his tail started out with the bushy orange fur of a fox but then gradually faded into a hardened lizard tail, and a pair of grand wings sat folded on his back resting. If he wasn't peculiar enough as it was, he also had a strange green mark in the shape of a radioactive symbol etched across the width of his pudgy belly underneath his shirt; he had often been accused of tattooing the mark on or painting it up to try to impress people at metal concerts, but in truth it was a natural birthmark that he had had for as long as he could remember.

The foxdragon was used to people staring at him wherever he went, but it was a nice evasion tactic and a nice change of pace to just hang out at one of the busiest airports in the country without having people gawk at him. When he had first gotten word of Zee's contest, he had figured that he would have stuck out like a sore thumb and been one of the first ones to be caught. But the grand prize of a super inflation was just too much to pass up, so he had signed up and quickly hid himself away in the first busy place that came to mind: the McHaagan International Airport. It had taken him ages to get through security, especially since he didn't actually have any plane tickets and wasn't flying anywhere. Somehow, however, he had not only managed to make his way into the airport mall, but had been sitting around for several hours now without any sign or scent of Zee in the area. He had even managed to hack into the airport's security cameras, so that he could keep a better eye on any suspicious characters. While he was camping out in the corner of one of the airport's sports bars, he had heard several reports on the TV of some of the other contestants having been caught in the most unlikely of places, but never once did he hear of any commotion or "Zee-Sighting" even remotely near the airport.

Smiling softly to himself, Anthony sat back in the corner of the flight gate he had randomly settled down in, and idly daydreamed about how far his lucky break might have gotten him so far in the contest. How awesome would it be if he had managed to make it to the end, to be the last person found or maybe even never get caught? Heck, if he managed to somehow outdo even Zee, the prankster might even reward him with an even larger prize at the end. The foxdragon didn't know exactly how many had been caught so far, but he could guess that he had easily outlasted at least half of the other competitors, and that alone was probably enough to get him nice and large when it came down to it. And if he managed to keep going at the rate he was...

His paw had just started to unconsciously rub at his chubby belly as he imagined it getting filled to the brim, when he suddenly saw a woman coming his way out of the corner of his eye. He quickly recomposed himself and sat up straight, opening his laptop back up to appear to be busy while his eyes secretly looked over the figure approaching his hiding spot. It was a white wolf dressed in long blue jeans and a rather thick pink sweatshirt with the sleeves pulled up as far as they could go, looking as though she was used to living in colder climates and had done her best to dress lightly given the warm weather that the city had been having. In her paw she carried an old, battered brown suitcase that was covered in various bumper stickers from its past voyages, but her muzzle held a confused expression that clearly showed that she wasn't as experienced in traveling as her obviously borrowed suitcase was. She must have been in her mid-twenties, because while she physically looked like a mature woman, Anthony felt like she carried an air of an almost childish nature. The girl looked around for a moment at the other people at the gate, hesitating as if unsure of whether she should be there or not, before slowly approaching Anthony's corner and softly clearing her throat.

"E-Excuse me?", she softly said with a faint accent that Anthony couldn't seem to place.

The foxdragon slowly looked up at her and closed his laptop halfway so that she couldn't see what he was doing. She probably would have gotten very suspicious if she saw the camera feedback on his screen, but Anthony was more worried about whether this was some chance meeting or if his safe haven had been somehow compromised and Zee was onto him. His heart was beating nervously in his chest, remembering how often he had heard that the inflator wolf was a pure genius when it came to disguises. But for some reason, no matter how he looked at her, he just couldn't imagine her being anything other than what she appeared to be: a lost foreign girl needing help to find her way around. The stickers on her bags were genuine as far as he could tell, and her fur seemed to be of a natural color instead of being bleached out.'Besides...', he mused to himself, 'I think putting on a pair of fake boobs would be going too far even for Zee.'

"Um, can I help you, ma'am?", he hesitantly asked.

"Oh, I-I am sorry, I do not mean to disturb your work...", she stammered as she glanced at the partially closed laptop, seemingly flustered with embarrassment. Anthony inwardly chuckled at her nervousness as he slowly relaxed from his initial panic, amused at how unusually hard it was for a woman to ask for directions. "I think it is that I am very lost, you see. I have been visiting with family in this country and must now go home. My ticket reads that this here is my gate, but the sign behind you reads that it is not my destination?"

Anthony tilted his head in his confusion and glanced up at the electronic board behind him. The next flight out from this particular gate wasn't due for another two hours and was only a commercial flight flying to a city barely 200 miles away rather than another country. The woman clearly had the wrong gate.

"You sure this is the right place? What gate does it say on your boarding pass?"

The wolf took a moment to comprehend Anthony's words before pulling out her ticket and scanning for the gate number with the tip of her claw. When she finally laid her finger on it, she gave it a light tap and said, "It reads that I am to be at gate B-8. This here is gate B-8, is it not?"

"Oh, well, that explains everything. Sorry, but this is gate C-8, not B-8. I think you took a wrong turn a little ways back."

The woman seemed to understand her error the second that Anthony said C-8, and she immediately flushed with embarrassment again. "O-Oh, I am very sorry. This place is very large and very confusing. Thank you for your helping me."

The foxdragon smiled at her and nodded. "You're quite welcome, ma'am."

She looked at her ticket for a moment longer, before sheepishly folding her arms behind her back and hesitantly asking, "I, um, I wonder if you could please show me the way to gate B-8? I am to board in ten minutes, but I fear I will get lost again and not arrive on time."

Anthony's smile faded for a moment. Logically, he didn't really have a reason not to do so, since escorting her to her gate wouldn't take more than five minutes or so, and the odds of something happening in five minutes was slim at best. But for some reason, he felt that it would be a lot safer for him to just decline and stay where he is, so that he could keep an eye out in case there was any sign of Zee. His mind seemed to press the pause button in time as the two sides of his internal argument debated over whether to take her to her gate or not. In the end though, there really was no contest; he was just too much of a nice guy to say no to a damsel in distress. If nothing else, it would give his file more time to download.

"Sure thing. Just give me a second here to finish up."

The wolf's expression lit up with a mixture of happiness and relief. "Oh, thank you very much. I was getting worried that I would miss my plane because of how lost I was getting."

Chuckling to himself, the foxdragon opened his laptop back up and took a quick look at the security camera, just to double check that there was still no sign of the inflator wolf. He had been making sure to look for anyone that might even resemble Zee, in case the black wolf managed to sneak past security (or just purchase a plane ticket altogether) while wearing some sort of disguise. From what he could see though, almost everyone seemed either too tall, too short, too large, or too skinny to even possibly be Zee incognito. It wasn't an exact science or anything, but he could just somehow tell that none of them were Zee. The only person who even came close enough to be considered a "potential threat" of being a fake was the wolf standing in front of him, and he had long since dismissed the idea of her being his pursuer. Zee may have been good, but he wasn't that good. Satisfied that he should be safe for at least the next five minutes, he closed his laptop again and got up off the bench with a smile.

"Alright, I believe the gate is this way."

The girl wagged her tail in gratitude and followed behind Anthony as he led the way back towards the central hub of the airport. He really couldn't see how she had gotten herself so badly lost in here. It wasn't unheard of for people to get a little confused on where to go, especially in an airport as large as the McHaagan International, but to need a guide to show her the right way when there were so many maps and signs everywhere designating where the different terminals were seemed like a bit of overkill. Then again, he figured that she just might have been having problems with reading the English signs, or was unaccustomed to the way airports worked in a different country. Regardless of the reasons for her getting so turned about, he had agreed to help her out, and he obviously wasn't going to go back on that at this point.

"Your fur is... very unusual, is it not?", he heard her say behind him, vaguely aware of her eyes on his draconic wings and tail. "You are a fox and dragon hybrid?"

Anthony chuckled softly to himself and replied, "Yeah. It's... a bit of a long story though."

He had gotten used to strangers asking him strange questions about his appearance. People usually had either one of two reactions when they first meet him; they were either unnerved by his odd heredity, or they treated it as though it was one of the most awesome things they'd seen, even if it really wasn't. The ones who did the latter usually had a bad habit of making it sound like his species mixture was some sort of medical condition he was going through. At least at a metal concert, people were having too good of a time to care about species or appearance.

The wolf nodded in understanding after a moment and beamed at him as they turned a corner down the hallway for the B gates, faintly spying a sign with the number eight past all of the breakfast and coffee shops that lined the sides. "I think your fur fits you, Anthony. It makes you... what is word? Individual?"

"I think the word you're looking for is 'unique' or 'special', except that being unique or special isn't always a good thing. No disrespect intended or anything, but mentally retarded people are called special too, you know..."

A few seconds later, the foxdragon slowed to a stop in the corridor just outside of gate B-3 as he began to feel that something was seriously wrong with this situation. He could see the sign for gate B-8 up ahead about another 25 yards, but something was starting to nag at him that he shouldn't have come this way after all. The girl's English may have needed some serious grammatical corrections, but she was more than fluent enough to be able to read the map that they had passed not even a minute ago. Why would she have needed him to show her the way? It took him a moment before he realized what was nagging at him, what he really felt was wrong with the situation.

"Hey, um, how did you know my name? We never actually introduced ourselves."

The woman's wide smile suddenly vanished as he asked her, and was immediately replaced with an almost childlike expression of guilt that seriously reminded him of someone who got caught with their paw in the cookie jar. "Um, I... well, I was offered a free plane ticket back home if I were to ask you to escort me to, um, either gate B-3 or B-4 and... oh, I am very sorry..."

'It's official, I'm an idiot...', Anthony inwardly groaned. Of course, it had to be Zee, there was no one else it could be. There was no way he could have been lucky enough to have gone the whole way without the inflator wolf being able to sniff him out eventually, especially a fur of his unusual appearance. It took him a moment longer though before he registered another odd thing she had said.

"Wait, gate B-3? But that's this gate here, the one we're standing outsid... oh crap."

Suddenly, Anthony heard a door open up behind him, and before he even had a chance to react and spin around toward the noise, a black paw came down hard on his shoulder and pulled him backwards through the doorway. The foxdragon yelped out of startled surprise as he was pulled off his feet, a momentary bout of panic setting in after hearing the door slam again in front of him and feeling himself maneuvered backwards down a set of rarely used backstairs. It all happened so quickly that he didn't even think to resist his captor's grip; his body was too instinctively focused on making sure he didn't trip on the stairs as he was dragged along, and his mind went blank in a strange state of confusion from how sudden everything had transpired. What had just happened? Did absolutely no one just see him get kidnapped in broad daylight? When his paws finally landed on hard concrete instead of the metal stairs and he could feel an open breeze rustle through his fur, he realized the obviousness of exactly what had happened: he had been caught in Zee's trap.

"Naughty fox...", he heard the familiar voice of Zee say behind him, the hint of mischievousness ringing clear in his tone, "I don't think the government would be too happy with you if they found out that you hacked into their security system. Unfortunately for you, they don't actually have cameras set up everywhere, so they didn't do you as much good as you had hoped they might."

Anthony looked up at his captor and immediately recognized Zee's smug grin as he was pulled along toward an open doorway leading outside. The black wolf was wearing a slightly tattered gray uniform of an airplane mechanic, stained with small splotches of oil. He figured they must have gone through a staff only maintenance entrance or something, since he could see the open runways looming not too far ahead of them beyond the doorway. It made sense, since there probably weren't as many cameras watching the empty airplane hangars and loading bays. He wanted to pull away from Zee's grip and make a run for it, but he already knew that it would be useless to resist. The inflator wolf had already marked him, and he would get maybe three feet away before Zee pumped his legs up with so much air that he couldn't even move. There was no way for him to fight it anymore; he was out of the contest. The foxdragon sighed softly in defeat, until he remembered that he had been able to last for a fairly long time without being caught and might have a much larger prize waiting for him. He turned to face Zee as the wolf led him outside to an empty loading bay, stumbling a bit as he switched from being forced to follow along to walking of his own accord.

"So... how many others are still left?", he softly asked as he looked around, trying his best to hide his excitement at what he knew to be coming next while trying to forget his disappointment at being caught after having lasted so long. The outside of the building was noisier than the inside with all the planes coming and leaving, but this particular section seemed a lot more peaceful than the busy goings of the airport insides. He could see some hoses lying around the ground, one for air for the tires and one for the gas that the airlines charged so much for, and a large pump machine for refueling everything. It was toward the latter that Zee was pulling Anthony along to, and he had a feeling that he already knew why.

Zee stopped as soon as he reached the machine and brought his fingers up to his chin, stroking his muzzle fur as he thought. "Let's see... not counting you, I believe there are only two contestants left, though I think I already know where at least one of them is."

It took Anthony a second to take in Zee's words. He had been expecting to hear something like there being five or six left, but... "Only two? Then that means... aw, heck yeah! This means I came in third place!"

Grinning even wider, Zee suddenly picked up one of the hoses from the ground and said, "Yup, and do you know what this means? It means you've won yourself a free flight!"

"Now wait a sec- mmph!"

Anthony's words were cut off as the hose was shoved in his muzzle. The foxdragon's eyes widened in surprise, but before he could reach up to grab the offending hose, Zee wrapped something around his muzzle. It was a large band that literally tied his mouth shut, tightened to the point where he could barely move his lips, let alone pull the hose out. While he struggled with the band, unable to find a pawhold so that he could peel it off and then dislodge himself before he was blimped up like some kind of hot air balloon, Zee simply wandered over to a nearby electronic pump that was hooked up to the hose. With the flip of a switch he grinned and let the air do the rest of the talking for him.

A soft whirr filled the air, and Anthony's eyes widened as it grew to a more audible hiss, and then finally to a loud roar as air started rushing down the length of the tube. Anthony recognized the type of hose now, too; it looked like one of the larger ones that were used to keep the airplane tires pressurized so that they could support the plane when it landed rather than letting it spin out. But with the size of airplane tires, they required a significant amount of air in order to be fully inflated, and with the amount of pressure one of those hoses could put out... Anthony could see that he was going to be showing his third place position quite nicely!

"Hm..." Zee looked thoughtful about something. "Well, it's not the helium I thought it was, so maybe you won't be flying, despite being a blimp!"

The foxdragon's muzzle suddenly puffed out as air blasted into it, thickening his cheeks like a pair of basketballs and forcing him to gulp it down quickly. His throat bulged with the blast of pressure rushing down it, giving his head a more comical appearance as the air was quickly being forced into him. Slowly it managed to press its way into his torso, though not before leaving his neck as thick around as a car tire already! His eyes widened even more as he felt the rapid surge of it reaching his belly, and his paws immediately dropped to the jet-black surface to feel the changes firsthand.

And what a change it was! His belly was already fairly round due to his weight, but in seconds it went from soft and slightly pudgy to a spherical shape. He didn't look fat anymore; in fact, he looked more like a living balloon, which was an apt description of his predicament! Slowly the black belly stretched out between his paws as he pressed down on it to feel his growth, stretching the fur and skin stretching between his fingers. By now, it looked like he had a fair-sized beach ball protruding from his torso, an almost comical look to go with his bloated muzzle and neck, while the rest of his body was yet to be affected. At this point, people were starting to take note of him, both from the windows at the airplane terminals as well as from the ground, where the crew paused in their work to watch the spectacle.

Finally the rest of his body started catching up to him, giving him a more normal look (normal for an inflated form, anyway!) once more. Slowly the foxdragon's already hefty chest was becoming more round, melding with the sphere of his gut as his torso became more and more ball-like with the air filling it up by the moment. His arms thickened around the shoulders, widening as air filled them. If it weren't for the generous padding that the air had given it, Anthony's neck would have been swallowed outright; instead, his wide torso and thick neck brushed against each other, struggling for space.

The rest of the hybrid's limbs weren't being left behind either; slowly his arms thickened, barely thinning at all as one looked from shoulder to wrist. Each digit on his paws swelled up like some kind of sausage, plump and round but somewhat stubby, swallowing the claws on the ends of them so that only the tips poked out. His hips were widening, going from softly plump and rounding to a thicker, more curved look, which gave him quite the rounded caboose, like a pair of overstuffed pillows, and thicker thighs as well that pushed against each other for space. His tail was starting to be swallowed by the former, the orange-furred section still visible, though quickly becoming hidden to the point where it looked like his tail was purely draconic.

As the air continued to rush into him, Anthony felt something pressing against his back. He tried to turn and look, but with his neck approaching a truck-tire in width at this point, he couldn't get anywhere near the angle he needed. After a few minutes though, he realized what it was; even his wings were expanding at this point! The thick scaled "ribs" of the wings were thickening, causing the webbing between them to squish against itself as they continued to thicken against his back, making them into parodies of themselves. At least flight was still an option after this; all he'd need would be a stiff breeze and he'd be sailing away in his inflated state!

More air continued to hiss down the hose, and the foxdragon tried to reach up to stop it; he was getting large enough! He wanted to be filled up, but he hadn't anticipated just how big third place was meant to get! At this point, his muzzle was starting to get buried between his ballooning cheeks and tire-like neck, and his arms were growing stiff due to their width; if he tried to bend them, inflated fur would meet after maybe an inch at that, and he'd make no more progress. His tail was even stiffening as it thickened by the moment, almost as wide as a normal fur's waist... at the base. It only grew thicker from there out to the tip, where it slowly narrowed into a draconic point again.

Slowly Anthony's body continued to blimp up larger and larger, his belly as wide around as a fair-sized truck right now. The nuclear-green symbol across his front was stretched out amazingly wide, standing out and making him look almost like some sort of cartoonish bomb as his body swelled rounder and the symbol grew bigger by the moment. It was an amusing thought as a few people panicked, but the whole mess calmed down as security informed them that it wasn't a threat, slowly getting things relaxed again.

As he swelled up larger, the foxdragon felt some sort of impact against his widening side. With some difficulty, he managed to roll away with it, turning his body in the process since he couldn't turn his neck. Eyes widened as he realized that he had bumped into a plane wing; from top to bottom, his rounded shape was almost as tall as the plane, and probably half as long from nose to tail! Not only was he large, but he was going to be the next Goodyear Blimp at this rate! Certainly he was going to resemble it within a few more minutes of this! Of course, he'd have to wait until he was deflated so he could check the news or until he was floating over a stadium somewhere to see what he looked like, but it was worth waiting for. For now, he'd simply enjoy it!

Suddenly the air stopped, to Anthony's disappointment. Maybe he had been a bit nervous about getting as large as he had, but at the same time he was still enjoying it! But apparently Zee had finished with him, leaving the hybrid inflated until his blimped body was larger than a nearby plane! Well, it was a good size anyway, though he wondered what that meant for the first place winner. If he was this big, roughly the size of last year's winner, then the first place fur for this year was going to be enormous! Anthony was almost jealous as he thought of it, but at the same time he was happy with what he had gotten.

Out of the corner of his eye, the foxdragon could see his laptop sitting open by the doorway that Zee had dragged him through only minutes prior. The wolf himself had vanished, probably leaving because Anthony wouldn't be able to hear his playful taunting short of having the wolf riding on his inflated shoulder. Perhaps the girl who had led him to the trap had brought it down for him as an apology or something. He squinted to see what was on the screen... then immediately bust out laughing, causing the mechanics around him to scatter out of the way of his giant rolling mass.

[Your file is... 100% complete. Enjoy your stay to the McHaagan International Airport!]

---

Semi-Finalist - Kael the Wolfcat

A summer day in the city was never a boring one, particularly when there were always a million and a half things going on all around you. The sidewalks were always filled with pedestrians going about their errands, businessmen walking to work to save on bus fare, and shoppers gleefully roaming throughout the network of stores that littered the area. It was hard to imagine that any one person could be picked out from amongst the hundreds along any given street. But what was even more impossible to imagine was that anyone could ever find you amongst the thousands of sporting fans swarming around the city's football stadium like a beehive if you didn't want to be found.

Kael Wolfcat just happened to be the sort of person who wanted to avoid notice.

The tan and tawny hybrid was one of the last remaining contestants in the inflator wolf's little competition. Kael had managed to survive throughout most of the day so far through a combination of pure luck, fast thinking, and of course his innate ability to manipulate his surroundings and magically change his appearance. He had prided himself in thinking that he was as skilled at quick disguises as Zee himself, and could have travelled straight through a solid wall if he needed to make a quick getaway, but he knew better than to let his guard down even for a little bit. The sun was just beginning to drop in the horizon and the afternoon was slowly starting to turn into evening, which meant that the black wolf would be even more determined to find anyone still remaining.

Not only that, but there had been reports of his earlier victims being inflated all across the city. A number of people were trying to stay indoors out of fear that they might be the next target, leaving the streets emptier than usual. It also wasn't easy being able to hold his disguised appearance for long periods of time either, since it always drained his energy whenever he had to resort to using a different form. It seemed there was a lot working against him, meaning that he had to be particularly careful.

Luckily for Kael, that particular evening happened to be football night with the local team playing at home. Even nuclear war itself would not have stopped the throng of rabid football fans from coming out and gathering at Heinz Stadium for the game, which meant that Kael had the perfect cover to hide in for the rest of the evening... at least until Zee found the other contestants. Not only would there be a large crowd to hide in, but the place itself was a labyrinth of corridors that would likely be heavily guarded by security to make sure people like Zee would stay clear. Even the game itself would be a nice source of entertainment to pass the time, rather than cowering in fear for several hours. There wasn't likely to be any better place to lay low in throughout the entire city!

Softly swaying his bushy lupine tail behind him, Kael walked along from vendor to vendor in one of the long, circular hallways reserved mostly for food and merchandizing, with his tan-furred paw idly playing with the dog-bone tag on his leather collar as his dark grayish green eyes scanned through the souvenirs. He had managed to somehow slip through security disguised as one of the ushers, but he had forgotten that he would need a ticket to be able to grab a seat, or else one of the real ushers or security guards would throw him out. However, he knew that come halftime, he'd likely be able to sneak in and find an empty seat in the confusion without being questioned or spotted; he just needed to hang around somewhere where he wouldn't be so obvious if Zee somehow came looking for him until then. So he was stuck meandering among the various booths of souvenirs, fingers unconsciously fiddling with his collar's tag as he tried to keep away from the delicious smells coming from the food stands in the other half of the hallway.

All around him there were booths set up with every number of football-related merchandise thinkable. Some were ones exclusively for T-shirts for the home team, usually while a T-shirt booth for the opposite team would stand right next to it. Some booths were filled completely with books about football, with an unusually large stack of auto-biographies from several of the star players from each team playing that night, while other booths still were for various arts and crafts that seemed to have little bearing at all on football. There were the occasional newspaper stands setup between booths, presumably due to some sort of sponsorship deal they had provided, and of course there was the usual random Dippin' Dots cart parked right by the gate to the seats inside the stadium, far away from the rest of the concession stands at the opposite end of the hall.

The wolfcat couldn't help but smile as he looked at the people around him, his eyes glowing a gentle shade of green in his happiness. Even though he wasn't even in the seats with the rest of the crowds yet, he was still surrounded by a variety of furs of all species, genders, and ages. There was a mother horse trying to talk a young colt out of wanting an expensive football signed by one of the star players, while the bemused badger clerk behind the counter stood hopeful that the mother would give in and make perhaps his biggest sale of the day so far. A pair of golden retrievers stood bickering about a maneuver that the guest team had played earlier in the evening, before a big beefy dragon came up and frightened the two with his boisterous and overly enthusiastic support of the home team's progress thus far that night. Behind the Dippin' Dots cart, a bored-looking white wolf served up a multi-colored dish for a flirtatious sounding beaver girl, clearly wishing he was out watching the game with everyone else and barely paying any attention to the poor girl's attempt to get him to ask her out. Kael could even swear that he had seen a purple wolftaur walking along by the bookstand earlier. With so many faces around him, he felt practically guaranteed to never be found out by Zee, even without a proper disguise on.

However, if Kael knew the inflator wolf at all, things were never just that simple, especially when it came a competition of any sort. After all, Zee had held a contest like this before, and despite the best effort of all of the competitors, he had managed to track each one down and blow them up to impossible sizes in the most impossible of locations even before supper time. From the reports that the wolfcat had heard on the radio throughout the day, most of his rival competition from this year's contest had already been caught. He may have lasted a lot longer than most of the others, but he was fairly certain that luck had played more a part in his own survival thus far rather than skill. With time growing shorter for the inflator wolf, Kael knew he had to keep his guard up.

After looking around for a moment to make sure no one was paying attention to him, the pale wolfcat quietly started walking toward the large handicap restroom sign hanging in the middle of the hallway. His eyes slowly dulled down from the bright green to a dark grayish yellow as his demeanor swung from calm and content to more serious and alert, and although he knew he was exhausted from almost a full day of using his powers to change forms, he could feel his adrenaline starting to build up to ready himself for another change. He checked behind him briefly before pushing the bathroom door open and slipping inside. Most handicap-specific bathrooms that he knew of were usually single occupant rooms with a lock on the door, making it the perfect place for him to change without risking someone catching him; he had already had a few close calls as is today by almost letting people watch him shift to another form whenever he panicked or felt as though he was being spied on.

Kael looked at himself in the mirror, momentarily admiring his natural form. He had a soft tawny brown patch over his left eye and cheek, and his blonde hair was pulled back into a simply braided ponytail, albeit looking a tad bit disheveled from the long day so far. His waist had a fair bit of pudge to it from how chubby he had gotten over the years, but he always felt as though there could be room for more, which was why he joined the contest in the first place. But for now, he needed to assume something less conspicuous, a form that would blend in with the crowd and would even fool Zee if his luck should go sour and he should happen to come across the inflator wolf. Something plain, simple, believable enough of a contrast to himself to not arouse any suspicion but without being too difficult of a form to hold for a long period while in the middle of a crowd. Something like...

The wolfcat suddenly smiled to himself and his green eyes lit up again as an amusing thought hit him. Slowly closing his eyes, he formed the picture in his head and willed his body to take that form, every fur on his body tingling as though a surge of static electricity was passing through him. He then felt his body slowly start to shift, his muscles tightening and fur lengthening from the bottom of his feet to the very tips of his pointed ears. His pudgy belly pulled itself inward as though he were trying to hold his breath and body started to stretch a bit taller toward the ceiling, making him feel as though he were on his tiptoes. It was never exactly an easy change no matter how often he did it, because he had to push the thought forcefully through him with the same strength and conviction as one trying to move a heavy couch, or else his appearance wouldn't fully change. But even though he could feel his strength start to ebb from how draining the day had been, he pushed himself to continue the magic until at last everything felt still.

When he finally opened his eyes up again, Kael saw a jet black wolf with practically glowing green eyes in the mirror. For a split second he jumped in fear as an automatic reaction, since he had been looking over his shoulder the entire day so far trying to avoid ever getting this close to anyone who even resembled Zee, before realizing that the wolf in the reflection had jumped as well and had grown deep yellow eyes in his fright. Slowly, the eyes then lit back up again and his thick lupine tail began to wag behind him as he looked over his disguise. His fur was darker even than Zee's, his body slim and decent looking while still being unremarkable enough to the casual eye. He could easily slip into a crowd and not stand out for anyone scanning through it for a certain wolfcat, not to mention that it would be even more difficult to spot him if he were to find a slightly shaded section like one of the empty VIP boxes or below the upper balconies. It was the perfect disguise and was simple enough for him to be able to hold for at least another hour or two before needing to rest for a bit.

With his tail wagging in delight at the ironic but well-laid plan, Kael then turned around and made his way back out into a crowded hallway of vendors and merchants. Halftime must have just begun while he was in the bathroom, because the floor was packed with three times as many furs now and with more still coming in. A major rush of football fans made their way to the concession stands as if it were a race, while the souvenir clerks looked even perkier than he had seen them the whole time he had been there, clearly excited by the waves of potential customers. The hundreds of conversations floating through the air seemed impossibly loud, and he could see that a line was already building up for people waiting to use the restrooms. He himself was nearly knocked over when a poor soul bumped into him in his hurry to grab the handicap bathroom behind him before someone else did. With all the crowds of people up and moving about, there was no better time than the present to find himself a seat!

His green eyes lit up brightly as he started to head toward the gate, politely maneuvering around a few excited vixens and souvenir hunters, before he suddenly heard someone call out from behind him.

"Hey Kael! I didn't realize you were the sporting fan type."

Without thinking, Kael turned his head and looked for who was calling his name. But the second that he did, his eyes immediately changed from his happy green to an alarmed bright yellow as he stared in horror: standing barely ten yards away was the inflator wolf himself, with his paws on his waist and eyes peering searchingly over his familiar black shades, and when the disguised wolfcat responded to his name, Zee grew a wide grin across his muzzle. "Gotcha bud."

I-Impossible! How did he find me? How did he manage to single me out? I'm in full disguise!, Kael thought wildly as he stood plastered to the ground, his heart racing and mind buzzing in his confusion. Everything seemed to suddenly become quiet, and despite the hustle and bustle around them, the world seemed to move in slow motion

"You weren't an easy one to track down, I'll give you that much. I don't think I've ever seen anyone able to disguise themselves as quickly or as perfectly as you've been doing today... except for me, of course. But I think you should have realized just how much your tail stands out in a crowd by now...", the grinning wolf said as he motioned with a twirling finger for Kael to look behind him. Blinking in a state of shock, Kael turned and looked down at his bushy tail, realizing only too late that his tail was still the tan yellow that it had been before rather than the coal black shade that covered the rest of him. In his exhaustion he must have somehow forgotten to change it. "Add that to those mood-ring eyes of yours, and I think it equals game over for you, bud."

Looking back up at Zee again, his eyes slowly started to darken into a deep, sad blue as he started to come down from his shock and realize that he had somehow fallen straight into the inflator wolf's paws despite everything he had done throughout the day. Had he gone through all the effort of coming out here, using his powers to disguise himself again despite feeling so drained, only to have an almost too easy chance encounter with Zee before he could even get out onto the field? But then he remembered something: he hadn't actually been caught just yet. Zee may have spotted him, but he had yet to tag him, and that's where Kael's one last saving grace may have been. A twinge of red began to creep into Kael's dark eyes as he felt a rush of fierce determination start to fill him, and he slowly tried to refocus the last of his energy in him for a desperate maneuver...

"It's not game over yet, Zee. It's only halftime!"

Without even waiting to see Zee's reaction, Kael knelt down to the floor and touched his paw to the cement, forcing his power onto the cold surface and feeling it shift and ripple like water for a second before Kael suddenly fell right through it to the level beneath them. He could hear the shouts of confusion at the sudden vanishing act that he had just pulled, knowing full well that he had just broken one of his own biggest rules to never use his magic in public, but if it had put any amount of distance between him and Zee then he had had no choice but to have done it.

The hallway was a very dark one, slanted upwards toward the field rather than circling around the circumference of the stadium like the floor above him. It was likely some sort of maintenance hall where they stored things like the lawn mowers and line sprayers or whatever other equipment they used. As tired as he was though from for exerting his powers, he knew full well he couldn't stay in one place; No doubt Zee was already on the move, trying to figure out how to get down to the floor beneath him and probably annoyed that things didn't quite go as he had planned. Kael would need to move fast if he wanted to get away from there before Zee caught back up to him again.

The wolfcat quickly ran as fast as his legs would carry him up the sloped hallway, vaguely aware that he had lost his disguise again when he used his energy up for his getaway. His mind was rushing with panicked thoughts as he moved on instinct, and his dark yellow eyes darted to and fro in the darkness out of sheer paranoia that the inflator wolf would suddenly pop out from around a corner. He nearly crashed into a set of double-doors at the end of the hallway when he heard a sound behind him, and without waiting another moment to see what the sound had been, he threw open the doors and ran out onto the field.

It was the middle of halftime in the game still, meaning that the teams were tucked away in their locker rooms getting their pep-talks and chew-outs while marching bands and cheerleaders were scattered about the field in their place. At the center of the field, a circular stage was just finished being set up for the half-time show, with amplifiers and speakers set all around at the base of the stage but nothing yet on top for the show itself, save for a single stool placed right in the middle. There must have been thousands of spectators still hanging around in the seats, a great many of whom were up and moving about to take care of their halftime needs or just stretch out their stiff backs from sitting for so long, while a giant display monitor showed off the scores and several highlights from the first half of the game. He was just starting to get a feeling that he shouldn't have come out here, when he suddenly heard the door close behind him and a felt a hefty paw clap down on his shoulder.

"Where've you been hiding?! Was beginning to worry that you'd never show up!"

Kael froze in pure fear for a moment, before realizing that the paw wasn't Zee's; it belonged to large, burly polar bear standing behind him, a gentle smile on his muzzle belying his muscular frame. His deep voice sounded gruff but entirely friendly. "Expected you much earlier, you know. Well, better late than never. Come on, don't have all that much time left, and we certainly don't want to have to postpone the game's resumption just because of some halftime show."

He gave a hearty shove to the wolfcat's back, making him stumble forward nearly off-balance as he led him along further out onto the field. It took Kael a few moments before it sunk in what the bear was implying and why they're were suddenly heading out into the field: the bear had somehow mistaken him for the halftime show star! He seemed to have hopped out of the frying pan and landed right into stewpot instead. "T-T-The halftime show? N-No, I... I think you must have me confused for someone else, I'm not the..."

But Kael's protest was cutoff by the bear's amused chuckle. "Nope, you're the right one. Aside from the girls' usual routine and the friggin' marching band lousy music, you're the only entertainment reserved for tonight. Now come on, we gotta get the show going so we can get everything cleared as soon as possible afterward. Game's more important than any show, no matter how much money's involved."

A flush began to fill Kael's cheeks as embarrassment set in when he saw how many people in the stands were beginning to watch him while the bear pushed him along towards the stage. His eyes shone a bright purple in humiliation as he continued to try to convince the Terminator of a polar bear that he wasn't the right person for whatever the show was, but it was no use. The guy wouldn't even listen, instead simply chuckling the whole while as if it was merely a joke or a bad case of nerves, and the closer that they got to the stage, the more frantic Kael began to get. He couldn't do any sort of show even in his best of moments; he'd just look like a total idiot in front of thousands of people, not to mention he knew he would be a sitting duck for Zee if he was stuck in the spotlight for even a few seconds. He had to get out of there somehow!

When he was finally pushed all the way to the edge of the stage stairs, the bear pulled out a walkie-talkie and pressed it into Kael's paw. "Look, just relax. Everything has already been set up just as per request, and that radio is the only other thing you'll need. Just get up on stage, don't pass out, wait for the cue on radio while the field clears out, and everything else will be handled, awright?"

"But...!"

"No buts. The show will practically play out for you. Just trust me, kid, and if you get stage fright, focus on one of the advertisements behind the goal posts. Now get going!"

With one last shove, the bear forced the poor wolfcat to start climbing the stairs before turning and starting the procedure to get everyone else off the field. Kael didn't know what to do; he wouldn't be able to run even five yards before the bear was after him again, so he almost mindlessly climbed the steps up to the top of the stage, clutching the walkie-talkie in his paw as if it were his only lifeline. The color absolutely drained from his eyes in pure fear when he set finally set foot on top and looked out at the crowds around him, watching in horror as many returned to their seats for the start of the halftime show. He could feel the eyes of the entire audience looking down at him, making him feel so incredibly small and even more helpless with his inability to run away in his fright. If he had had any energy left in him, he would have given anything to be able to use it to drop through the bottom of the stage to hide for as long as he could.

Suddenly, the radio in his paw chirped. "Smile, Kael, you're on candid camera. Look up at the screen."

Kael spun around quickly and looked up the monitor behind him, seeing himself on the big screen with almost lobster red cheeks from his embarrassment. The screen then switched to a group of four shirtless fans, each sporting a letter of his name on their chests but in the wrong order, so that the name read out as "KALE" instead. And there, sitting one row behind them and looking up at the camera with a huge grin on his face, was Zee, the jerk responsible for all of this mess.

"I'll give you credit for your daring escape," Zee chuckled over the radio, "...but I probably should have warned you that I actually had already tagged you earlier as you were leaving the restroom. Remember, the guy who bumped into you while running toward the bathroom? But hey, it all worked out anyway."

For a moment, Kael forgot all about his embarrassment and even at being at the very center of the field with all the eyes on him, and just muttered quiet curses under his breath as he looked up at the digital Zee, his eyes slowly darkening to a deep red in his anger. But the enlarged inflator wolf on the monitor simply grinned at the camera.

"Now now, before you get all upset with me for putting you on the spot, remember that you're still in a competition. In fact, you actually came in second place in of all of this, since you were one of the only two remaining who managed to avoid getting caught up to now. So I figured I'd make a special occasion out of it and make you nice plumped up in front of a live audience. They're all gonna think it's just another magic trick from tonight's entertainer, Kael the Sorcerer, just like you did earlier upstairs."

Suddenly, the speakers crackled to life and loud fanfare music started sounding through the atmosphere, reminding Kael once again of the thousands of eyes on him as people began taking their seats again. Looking around, he saw that the rest of the field had been cleared off already, leaving him as the sole center of attention for everyone in the stadium. The wolfcat's eyes grew bright purple as he stood there, wishing to high heaven that he was anywhere else at that very moment, and he began to feel something shifting in the pit of his stomach.

Zee chuckled again over the radio even as the screen switched back to showing him up on the stage. "Just relax and enjoy the show, Kael. After all, if you've got it, show it!"

Kael had just finally found his voice to say something in retaliation when he suddenly felt his stomach bulge up a bit the way it would when he had to burp. Looking down, he noticed his waist seemed even pudgier than usual, despite haven't having had anything to eat since his quick lunch at 7-11 earlier that day. No doubt Zee was finally beginning his real fun, and if he hadn't been surrounded by perhaps a quarter of the whole city watching him, he probably would be super excited to get the second place inflation prize. But now...

Well... I guess there's nothing more I can do than try to sit back and try to just enjoy my prize despite my audience...

Walking very slowly in his stage fright, he moved to the single stool at the center and sat down on it, only just realizing how wide his rump had suddenly grown and how tightly his shirt seemed to cling to his chest in the few moments it took to reach the chair. He could feel the gaze of all the spectators bearing down on the flab of belly that stuck out from under his once baggy shirt, and instead did his best to try to focus on one of the large billboard signs advertising for a snazzy pair of shoes from Abros' Shoe Company, just as the polar bear had told him to. He idly wondered for a second how much Zee must have paid to get him selected as the "entertainer" for the game, but he suddenly had the thought purged from his mind when he felt his frame get even wider and heard the creaking of the chair beneath him as though he were devouring an invisible thanksgiving meal.

His waist slowly widened through Zee's powers in the distance, with his tan cheeks puffing out and growing chubbier while his once fairly lean chest began to sag and grow a pair of plump mobs. The music, as whimsical and almost carnival-like as it was, helped to calm him a bit and drown out the imaginary whispers of the hundreds of people he believed were now talking about him and how fat he suddenly seemed to have gotten, how tiny the chair seemed now in comparison to his huge rear and how far forward his belly seemed to extend away from him.

The plump wolfcat began to feel his jeans slowly get tighter around his wide waist as it swelled larger and larger.

He tried his hardest to focus all of his attention on the fancy design of the Abros' sneakers, like trying to study the way the laces curved rather than the growing curve of his flabby sides, or trying to idly figure out what size shoe it was instead of letting his mind wander to the size of his growing belly. But no matter what he did, he couldn't help but think of how fat he was getting and how many people were watching him fatten up inch by inch like a balloon of blubber, already about a half foot wider on each side. It didn't help either that he could already feel his shirt struggling to fit around his beanbag of a gut, the hem being lifted up and stretched further with every second that passed, and when the button on his poor pants made a loud pinging sound from flying off into the field, he could swear that everyone in the stadium could hear it. It wasn't much longer after that that he felt the stool suddenly crack and he jumped up from the broken chair, his fat blob jiggling like jelly from the movement.

Ugh, you'd think a place filled with giant-sized football players would at least buy reinforced chairs for people..., he thought in humiliation, waiting to hear the crude cat cries and taunts from the crowd,I bet Zee gave me this flimsy stool on purpose just so he could embarrass me even worse.

But surprisingly, instead of taunts and jeers from the crowd, he heard something he didn't expect: applause and friendly laughter. It wasn't the teasing, rude kind of laugh, but rather the good natured kind you'd hear from a stuntman performing a comical yet impressive feat. Surely they didn't think it was all just a part of the show? It was the strangest thing how the people were reacting to everything, though at the same time, Kael could partially see why; it was said that people could get used to anything if exposed to it long enough, like someone moving to a busy city and eventually learning to simply tune out the noises, and to anyone's knowledge, Zee had been up to his mischief in the city for a few years now. Some people had grown to fear it, while others remained neutral overall and preferred to simply avoid the situations if they could help it. But maybe, just maybe, a number of people had gotten so accustomed to it that they could sit back and laugh about it in good nature, just like watching a talent show or comical play in a theater... or maybe they all really did just think that everything was an elaborate magic trick, and that the earlier incidents in the day were leading up to the game's "special performance" by Kael the Sorcerer.

No matter the reason behind the applause, his growth was apparently now a spectacle for the crowds, but thankfully not one of horror or disgust. The wolfcat was able to relax a bit more easily once he realized that his "show" wasn't going as horribly wrong as he first thought, though at the same time the reason for his embarrassment changed. It wasn't that people would mock or jeer at him for being a victim of Zee's abilities, but more so that afterward people would be amused or playfully tease at him for the same reason. It was a friendlier undertone than just picking on him, but at the same time it was still embarrassing even if it wasn't painfully humiliating. Kael's eyes bright purple eyes darted around as he looked out across the vast ocean of seats, trying to crack a soft smile despite the deepening blush on his plump cheeks. Of course, that blush only grew worse as he heard a seam pop on the side of his pants, the leg starting to give way under his widening thighs.

Kael stood helplessly in the center of the stage as his fat body grew bigger and bigger, his huge waist already at least a foot and a half wider on each side and overhanging his immensely tight jeans, hearing the tearing seams start to slowly unravel and his shirt hem starting to rip. It wasn't long before he felt his stretched shirt rip straight down his back, hanging loosely over his plump chest for a brief moment before falling to tatters upon the stage. A single, loud wolf whistle pierced the air from the stands to his left, causing the wolfcat's blush to get almost painfully hot but giving him a playful idea.

If they are this enthusiastic about everything, why don't I give them a show after all?

It took him a moment to make up his mind, but then he decided to give it a try and test his luck; he slowly reached his beefy paws up and placed them behind his tree-stump thick neck, before giving a playful air belly-bump and causing his gut to wobble, realizing a second later that his belly actually grew even larger from the movement. The crowds cheered and applauded in their laughter, chanting undecipherable ditties as they waited for more. Smiling and momentarily forgetting his humiliation, he closed his eyes and merrily swayed his fat hips around as though playing with an invisible hula-hoop, his huge blubber jostling from side to with each motion and growing another foot wider after only two circles. His tail wagged as he started to get used to the praises and did another playful belly-bump... before his pants suddenly ripped straight down the sides completely and fell off in two pieces on the floor, causing the crowd to roar even louder in their enthusiastic applause. Kael immediately dived his paws down in pure reflex to hide himself, his only consolation in the fact that his behemoth of a tan gut sagged more than enough to cover himself; he didn't know if his face could possibly get any redder as he stood big and bare before the thousands of surprisingly excited fans, but he certainly didn't want to find out.

The walkie-talkie on the stage floor suddenly crackled back to life, with Zee's amused laughter sounding loud enough for him to hear even from the ground. "Well, it looks like the worst of it is over," he said merrily. "See, that wasn't so bad, now was it? Well, maybe just a tad bit bad, but anyway! We're running out of halftime here, so it's time for your "big" finale while I go get ready for the close of our competition and an even more "grande" of a finale. Knock 'em dead, fatty, and try not to obstruct the sun on your way out."

If it weren't for his absolute fear of moving either of his paws, Kael would have wanted to reach down and grab the radio so he could tell the prankster where he could go shove it, but soon enough the thought was jolted out of his mind by the music suddenly getting louder and faster as the swelling feeling in his enormous gut suddenly got a lot more intense. In mere seconds, the fat blob of his stomach started puffing up even faster and growing nearly three feet wider, with his thick puffy limbs looking short in comparison and dangling out helpless to the sudden growth spurt.

He could feel the creaking of the stage beneath him, hoping that it would hold despite all the weight that was suddenly being placed upon it, because there was little else he even could do about the fat flab that took up already half of the stage. It didn't take long for his huge mountain of a belly to grow from being the size of a small bed to being even bigger than a moon bounce castle, with his once jiggly gut so full that he couldn't stand up on his thick legs anymore, falling backwards onto his fat rear and causing what sounded like a mini-earthquake on the poor stage top. He felt flustered with quickly everything was suddenly happening, though at least he had a twinge of relief knowing that the audience was no longer staring at his exposed rump and that his immensely sagging gut covered his front decently.

Kael began to hear a loud revving sound coming from somewhere over him, but the sun was at just the wrong angle for him to see much anything, and with his monster-tire thick neck it was to look up very far. The sound started out faint, like a trickling noise that you couldn't quite figure out place, but then slowly got louder as he heard it descend down from above him. The audience was looking up in the sky and roaring with cheerful laughter, and it wasn't long before Kael found out why; above him were four heavy-duty military helicopters, each with enormously thick steel cords extending down like fishing lines and a banner extended between the first two with the words "GOODYEAR KAEL" on it.

Oh god, I'm gonna be a literal blimp...

Ladders were suddenly erected against his mountainous sides as a group of men around the stage struggled to climb up the house-sized wolfcat, before beginning to wrap the heavy steel cords around his still swelling limbs. He meeped in embarrassment as he felt a few pass dangerously close to his sensitive underside as the ropes were loosely strung around his enormously thick thighs and around his rapidly growing girth as best as they could manage. Closing his eyes, he tried to ignore the feel of their paws pressing again his bloating frame, knowing that his waist was starting to sag off of the edge of the stage and worrying that he might accidentally knock over one of the ladders.

When the music came to a triumphant end and he felt his gut finally start to settle, the crowds around him roared in the loudest applause he could ever remember hearing from an audience in his life, though perhaps most not really understanding exactly what had just happened despite the fourteen other victims that had caught earlier that day. But despite all of his embarrassment, Kael wore perhaps the biggest smile literally in all of the city. He felt the helicopters above him start to lift off again, struggling to pull him up off the stage and into the air. He could imagine that at that moment, the big screen behind him probably was trying its best to fit all of him in its frame, but frankly he was so huge already that if anyone needed to look at the monitor to see him, they would've had to been blind or something. The whole ordeal had made him really hesitant at first, especially with the crowds around him, but in the end it was exactly this feeling that he had been wanting to relish the entire day, the whole reason he had gone to such lengths to avoid being caught until the end.

As he was lifted above the rim of the stadium and could finally stare out at the warm blue skies, he suddenly remembered that he had only come in second place, wondered just what was in store for the last remaining contestant...

---

Grand Winner of Manhunt 2011 - John Lobo

It was starting to get later in the afternoon; after a long day at work, people would be ready to go home, shops would expect the rush-hour clientele, and one mint-green wolf began to feel a bit more confident as the time slowly passed. John Lobo peered out from among the crates he had been hiding behind for the last few minutes, checking a watch that had been custom-made to fit around his thick wrists. It was nearly five in the afternoon; by this time, most of the contestants had to have been caught, unless they were on a particularly good run of luck against Zee. Of course, when the prankster wolf was around, there was little luck to be found; no matter what anyone did, he always seemed to be a step ahead of them.

Lobo had been pretty lucky himself, to have made it this late in the day. He remembered the last Manhunt competition, where he had been knocked out in the first round. His appetite for ice cream had led him to a shop that was closed for the day, only to find that Zee had booby-trapped the place for just an occasion. The hefty wolf had found himself with a hose glued to his muzzle that had led to a large soft-serve machine, filling him up until he was so fat he couldn't move. This wasn't an uncommon occurrence with him, mind you; Lobo was very familiar with being heavier than the average wolf, or rather, heavier than the average heavy wolf, no exaggeration to it. But being knocked out in the first round of the last game had chafed, and as a result the large lupine had entered as soon as Zee had announced the new competition. He wasn't going to get out early this time; he was going to enjoy the prize of being big, bigger, huge.

And so far Lobo's tactic was working; the wolf had done something unusual for one of the Manhunt contestants by hiding in plain sight. Most of the others tried to blend in crowds or hide somewhere out of the way, but he had instead signed on to help work with a company that was moving crates between warehouses. Many of the workers were fairly large, though Lobo easily outweighed them all by at least fifty pounds if not more, and as a result he didn't look too out of place. The uniform covered most of his fur, meaning that the bright green color that would normally draw eyes was concealed to some extent. Sure, the shirt didn't quite close all the way over his belly, and the sleeves ran a little short due to being snug around the shoulders and upper arms, but for the most part it was a decent disguise.

As part of his "job", the wolf had been helping carry crates to different parts of the city, and as a result had constantly been on the move, making it hard to pin him in any one spot. Lobo resented the hard work at times (after all, a wolf of his weight was already lifting enough without adding crates to it!), but it was the best way to keep ahead of Zee. And so far it had worked, considering there had been no sign of the inflator anywhere. Lobo was fairly sure that he had avoided being caught in at_least_ the first two rounds, maybe even the third, which would place him in the semifinals or, if he dared to hope, the finals themselves. And considering how large he had gotten after losing in the first round last competition, the potential gains were already mind-blowing... and with luck, would become even better if he managed to win.

Lobo grinned as he lowered the brim of his hat again, covering part of his face. He had tucked his ears in beneath it as well; lupine ears, while not overly distinctive compared to other canines, did stand out when you were being followed by someone of your own species. The wolf had been assigned to go and take a bunch of crates that had already been loaded into the back of a truck down to a warehouse near the edge of the city, where he would meet someone to help him unload them and get the merchandise into place. It was a decent ways away, so the drive alone would eat up a good thirty minutes or so. In that time, Zee could easily catch another contestant, right?

Waddling over to the truck he had been assigned (regular walking was out of the question with his weight!), he tried to climb up to the door. It took three tries to find the step with his foot, since seeing past his belly was an impossibility, but eventually he got on it and pulled himself into the cabin of the vehicle with some difficulty. Fortunately the cabin was made for larger-sized furs, hence why he had been assigned to this particular truck. Lobo still had to suck in his gut somewhat to squeeze the seatbelt over it, and it pinched a bit when he relaxed, but at least he could reach the steering wheel and the pedals. And hey, at least he had his own personal airbag if anything happened.

The drive itself didn't take as long as expected, a good twenty minutes going in a straight path through the city even with rush hour traffic. Actually the traffic was unusually tame; usually folks were held up an extra hour by bumper-to-bumper lines at this time, but there were plenty of clear paths through it all. Lobo couldn't find it in his heart to complain; that meant he was spending so much less time sitting around and staring at cars in boredom. Humming to himself, he turned on the radio and sat back to enjoy the music while he continued his drive. It seemed today couldn't be anything_but_ good.

Finally he arrived at the loading dock of the warehouse where he was supposed to be delivering the boxes, and slowly backed his truck into the indicated parking place. Once it was in place, Lobo turned off the car and squeezed out the door again, getting stuck for a moment awkwardly, his foot not quite on the step below it. He managed to pull himself free with a very quiet pop, letting out an oof as he missed the step and stumbled briefly upon hitting the ground. Fortunately he had gotten pretty good with his balance since it took a lot of work to keep upright when your belly wanted to drag you forward, and the wolf easily managed to get flat on his feet again before heading back towards the loading dock.

Oddly, the other worker who was supposed to meet him there was absent. Lobo found himself somewhere between annoyance and confusion at the other employee's absence; he couldn't lift all of these crates himself! Wondering where the guy could be, the big wolf shook his head and went to the large metal door that lead into the warehouse and pressed the intercom button on the side of it, hoping that someone was present so that he could inquire what was going on. Unfortunately, there was only silence.

Shaking his head, Lobo went to the door itself, bending and trying to catch the handle at the bottom of the metal door, though it was difficult with his gut in the way. After a moment he got on his knees so he could reach it; bending at the waist wasn't working at all! Finally he managed to hook his paws under the handle for the door, and with a grunt Lobo slowly pushed himself back onto his feet. The door slid open; well at least that much was in his favor, though it also suggested that the employee who was supposed to be helping him had left the place unlocked. Grumbling softly, the wolf shook his head and slid the door the rest of the way open, then headed inside and looked around for some sort of office where he could see a supervisor and find out what was going on.

Suddenly, everything went black as something was pressed against his muzzle, and Lobo collapsed in a faint.

---

"Urrrgh. Where am I?"

Lobo opened his eyes and found a bright light immediately jabbing into them. Groaning, he closed them again and put a paw in front of him, trying to block the brightness. Unfortunately, it kept shining regardless of his feeble attempts to cut it off, and the wolf sat up to at least get it directly out of his eyes. His large feet thudded against a smooth floor, large rump pressing into the bed beneath him as he sat and tried to stop his head from spinning. For some reason, his mind was feeling all hazy.

Then it all came back to him suddenly. The warehouse, getting knocked out... where was he? The big wolf rubbed at his head as he slowly pushed himself to his feet, groaning softly. His worker's uniform was gone, replaced by a large, bright-red t-shirt, buttons straining around his large belly and bits of green fur visible in the gaps, as well as a pair of shorts that miraculously fit with some comfort; most clothing was particularly tight around his waistline. Lobo frowned as he tugged at the waistline of his shirt, which rode up to reveal a good six inches of his belly, trying to figure out what was going on.

The room itself wasn't very large, almost like a hotel room, complete with a king-sized bed that he took up most of. There were no windows, though there was a door on the far side of the room. Decorations were sparse, mainly a carpeted floor with a large dresser pressed against one wall, as well as a smaller nightstand that was pressed next to the bed. There was a small closet along one wall as well, and a smaller door that he Lobo suspected led to a bathroom.

Had he been dreaming or something? It seemed odd that someone would kidnap him and dress him up like some kind of tourist... maybe the whole work thing had been a dream. It wouldn't be a surprise; Lobo slept so heavily (and often, given the opportunity; food had to digest!) that it was a wonder that he could tell the difference sometime. Well maybe it was; either way, it would be best to figure out where he was now; his memory was still fuzzy. The wolf stood from his bed, planting his feet to support his weight as he stood... and promptly tipped forward as the room seemed to rock slightly, his center of gravity thrown off.

Landing on his large belly, Lobo let out an oof of surprise, wondering what the heck was going on. Rooms didn't just tip over, even with someone of his weight. Pressing his paws to the ground, he pushed himself to his knees and then got back up, feeling the floor still swaying beneath him. This time, however, he was ready for it, rocking slightly with the movement so that he could start moving comfortably again. It was weird though, making his heavy body wobble and shake slightly with each leaning step, but slowly Lobo got used to the pace and managed to move along towards the door of his room with some ease.

Opening the door, Lobo felt a warm breeze wash over him, and the smell of salt tickled at his nose. Raising an eyebrow, he squeezed through the door (the room was his size, but the door was still a tight fit) and stepped outside into the sunlight. Immediately the sound of waves came to him, and the wolf's eyes widened as he found himself standing near the railing at the edge of a ship's deck! Oh it was a nice ship, of course; it almost looked like one of those all-you-can-eat-and-sleep luxury cruises he had dreamed about going on. There were several furs wandering around the decks either solo or in small groups, everyone with a grin on their face. There were games laid out on the deck, like the classic shuffleboard or a round of limbo that wasn't going well judging by how often the pole fell, and there was a large pool in the center.

How in the world did I end up here?

Lobo frowned as he looked over the cruise ship, rubbing a paw through his black hair. Again, the only memories he had was working as a cargo transporter from warehouse to warehouse, though that in itself seemed strange; when would he commit to such hard work, and for what? Yeah, that definitely had to be a dream. Something clicked in his mind, as if it should be important, but for the life of him he couldn't imagine what. Shrugging it off, Lobo wandered over to the main deck, still a little off-balance from the light swaying of the ship, but managing to keep his waddling gait fairly steady.

As he was walking towards the main deck, a paw clapped on his shoulder. Lobo jumped reflexively, turning to see who it was. Another lupine, a much smaller (and lighter!) gray wolf, stood at his shoulder. The smaller male was dressed in uniform, suggesting that he was part of the ship's crew, and judging by the way he held himself and how formal his uniform was, he was probably the ship's captain. The captain's golden eyes seemed to be full of amusement as the heavyweight wolf jumped, and he waited politely for Lobo to regain himself before speaking up.

"Oh, terribly sorry, didn't mean to startle you, Mr. Lobo. I merely wanted to check in on you; you've been asleep for a while. Don't want you to waste the whole cruise dozing!"

Apparently the captain knew him. What was going on? "Erm... thanks?"

Thankfully the captain managed to answer several of the questions that were bouncing around inside Lobo's head while offhandedly chattering. The two of them walked along the decks, with the heavier of the two wolves mentally noting everything. Apparently he was the guest of honor on this cruise for winning some sort of contest (the captain paid little attention to what sort, only knowing that he was being compensated for the free passenger), and as a result had one of the nicest rooms on the cruise to himself, as well as access to all of the ship's facilities. They had only left port earlier this morning, and Lobo had gone to take a nap after setting off.

The summary of recent events didn't ring a bell in Lobo's mind, but he kept it to himself, instead grinning and chatting amicably with the captain for a short while longer. As they passed the bridge, however, the smaller lupine excused himself, suggesting to Lobo that he visit the banquet hall on the second floor. The fat wolf simply quirked an eyebrow, wondering if that was a playful jab at his weight or an open invitation, but eventually he shrugged and started off towards the stairs that would lead him down from the bridge to the second floor. He was feeling a bit hungry after resting for so long, and a big wolf like Lobo had to eat fairly often, if he wanted to keep his weight up!

It took a good fifteen minutes to find the banquet hall, simply because Lobo got lost on the first floor, unable to find the stairs to lead to the next level. After stopping a passenger, a smaller but still fairly hefty lion who nearly bumped into him as they tried to pass each other in the hallway, he got directions. Of course, then he had to get past the rotund feline, which was difficult with how narrow the hallway was, but eventually the two of them managed to squeeze past each other and head their separate ways. Lobo amusedly wondered if he had just gotten back from the banquet hall himself, grinning as the lion got stuck for a brief moment while squeezing through a doorway.

Heading down the hallway, Lobo finally came to the room he had been looking for. The banquet hall was huge, with double doors that opened wide enough for the wide wolf to walk through without even brushing either side of the entrance. That alone was amazing, but the room beyond was even better. Long tables covered in white cloth stretched from one end of the room to the other, about as wide as a football field's width but square. There were dozens of such tables, most of which were groaning with different foods, though there were a few that were empty with seats at them, for the patrons to enjoy. Plates were stacked up at the side of each long table, along with trays for those who wanted to get more than one plate.

Lobo immediately licked his lips, feeling his stomach rumble as he looked upon the rows of food before them. Either no one else had started on the banquet or else it was constantly restocked; either way, it was still as full as if it had just been set up, and the fat wolf couldn't resist the allure of that much food. Immediately grabbing a tray and three plates to balance precariously atop it, he started down the first line. A large chicken leg was added to one plate, and then Lobo paused and grabbed two thighs and a breast as well, and finally just ended up grabbing a few more miscellaneous pieces. He started nibbling at the leg as he slid his tray down the table, loading his plates with meats, potatoes, some breads, avoiding the vegetables as he arrived at them. By the time he was at the end of the table, half of his plates were cleared and his shirt was a lot tighter, the buttons giving an audible groan as his large belly strained them further.

As he reached the end, the wolf paused, groaning softly; his appetite was starting to kick in, and he felt like he was getting hungrier by the moment. It felt as if he hadn't eaten a thing, as if the straining belly in front of him was empty. Frowning at how hungry he was despite clearing a fair chunk of one table, Lobo shrugged and went back along the row, slowly grabbing more and more food, piling it on his plate. As he grabbed it though, more than half of the food ended up in his muzzle and not on the plate before him. Slowly his belly began to fill with the feast, but no matter how much he ate, the big wolf's appetite only grew. It felt as if he hadn't even begun to eat!

However, despite the empty feeling in his gut, his belly was showing quite the swell. As he went back down for a third sweep at the table, Lobo felt his gut knock over one of the food trays, sending it off the table to scatter on the ground. Blinking in surprise, distracted from his gluttony, the wolf looked down long enough to let his jaw drop. He was absolutely massive! Well, his belly was, anyway. It was a wonder that any of the buttons were intact as his gut stretched out a good two feet further than it had before, the far end further beyond his reach than he remembered. It was also a good three feet wider, stretching out to either side. The shirt he was wearing had a button or two missing, folds of green-furred fat sticking out through the holes, and it had slid up to reveal an extra eight inches of pure flab separating his belt from the bottom of his shirt.

Sitting back, Lobo pondered what was going on, looking over the rest of his body curiously. It seemed only his gut had swollen, probably from the volume of food in him. The rest of him was familiarly fat, not bulging out aside from his widened waist. He was hungrier than he thought, if he could enough to fill his middle this much and still have an appetite! Groaning, he shifting his weight back a bit so that his gut wouldn't bump the table as easily, but a growl still emitted from his belly as he took in the sight of all the food. More? He couldn't hold more and keep his shirt intact, and if he kept eating at this rate...!

But yet, he didn't want to stop. The mint-green wolf greedily dug in again, this time putting aside the plates and trays to just take the food from their serving platters directly, starting on a large plate of ribs and tearing the meat off with his teeth, whole ribs vanishing only to emerge again stripped of all but the bones. Once they were done, a large bowl of rice pilaf was next to be devour, the dish tilted back as Lobo used one of his large paws to literally scoop out large chunks into his waiting muzzle. Rice stained his lips and nose, but he licked the mess off while he quickly tossed the bowl aside and started after another large pan of porkchops, grabbing them by the bone and chomping off pieces of meat before tossing the remains aside.

Busy with his feast, Lobo didn't even notice another figure slip in behind him. About half of the table before him had been cleaned off, bare bones and empty dishes scattered across the tabletop. As he began on a thick turkey (and not just a leg, the whole turkey!), he heard a cough behind him, and turned around with a large chunk of meat hanging out from one side of his muzzle. The innocent expression on his face caused the captain to chuckle as Lobo finally noticed him, and the wolf dropped his food with shock, face going red beneath the green fur as he stammered an apology for his lack of control.

The captain merely waved it off, grinning. "I guess I wasn't wrong about your appetite. Don't worry; 'all you can eat' means all you can eat. Though I suppose you certainly took that to heart, eh?"

The smaller wolf patted Lobo's belly, which had almost doubled from its original proportions. If he had tried to, the larger lupine could have rested his belly on the table and had it nearly droop off the other side. Not only that, but it was round and taut-looking, a real beach ball of a gut that he could barely reach halfway around. Lobo, embarrassed, tried to wave off the captain's paw, but he couldn't reach far enough to do so, instead settling to letting him finish, face beet-red as he did so.

Thankfully it was just a brief moment of amusement for the strange wolf, and the captain was just as quick to leave as he was to enter, and just as quiet too. Lobo was surprised; one moment the lupine was there, and then he was gone without a sound, vanishing like a wisp of smoke. Shaking his head, face still hot at being caught red-pawed digging into the buffet, he quickly headed for the exit, deciding that perhaps he could ignore his hunger for a bit. He had really let himself go, judging by the weight of his gut, and it became even more evident as he tried to waddle down the hallway. Every step came with a stumble as his excess weight tried to drag him forward. Eventually Lobo had to resort to grabbing pawfuls of his enormous stomach and pulling back while trying to lean back as far as he could, the only way he could keep balanced as he made his way back towards his room.

It took nearly an hour of the grueling walking, but eventually Lobo made it back to his room. Of course, back to his room wasn't_in_ his room; the doorway was a lot smaller compared to him than it had been before! Frowning, the wolf tried to figure out how to fit through it, and eventually just set his belly against the doorframe and dug his feet in, seeing if he could simply pop through. It worked at first, his belly squeezing through, fat pressing against the sides of the door... and then he got stuck about halfway. Face heating again, Lobo pushed even harder, squishing against the doorframe, and then suddenly burst through with a loud "pop!"

Flopping forward on his engorged belly from the impact, the fattened wolf grunted in relief at the sudden release in pressure. Laying atop the mass of his gut, he realized that his toes were an inch or two off of the ground; had he really made that much of a glutton of himself? It wasn't the first time Lobo had eaten so much, but right now he still felt as if he had hardly taken a bite! That was unusual, certainly, and above all, he was_still_ hungry! What was he going to do now, eat until he burst free of the ship?

Something about eating rang a bell in the wolf's mind, but he couldn't quite place what. Lobo knew there was something he was supposed to be remembering, something important, but he couldn't recall. Unfortunately, laying atop his big, warm belly in the comfortable confines of his cabin weren't helping; the whole setting was enough to make him feel lethargic, almost sleepy. Rubbing at his ears, he leaned forward a bit to rest his entire weight upon that cushion of a belly beneath him. Yawning, he tried to keep his eyes open, but it seemed a futile effort as Lobo found himself sinking into a nap...

---

The sounds of water washing against the ship drew Lobo's ears as he finally stirred from his sleep, causing the wolf's eyes to open a sliver before bright sunlight flooded his vision. Twice in one day? The hefty lupine groaned and rolled over before he felt something wet on his paw, and he cracked his eyes open a bit further to see what was going on. His eyes shot open quickly as he discovered his paw was half-submerged in water... a lot of water! In fact, he was floating on a small raft (well, it was actually a fair-sized raft, he was just big!) out in the middle of the ocean! What was going on here!?

Sitting up somewhat, the best he could do as he was pinned beneath his own gut, Lobo quickly looked around. Thankfully the cruise ship wasn't too far off, and his raft was connected to the boat by a long, sturdy-looking chain to keep it from drifting off. What was this, some kind of over-elaborate prank? What kind of person set someone else on a raft and set it adrift behind a cruise ship? And how had they done it? At his weight, they'd need a forklift to get him off of the ground with any sort of ease, let alone out on this raft! Lobo was starting to get upset at this sudden change of events, feeling that someone was messing with him.

As he looked towards the cruise ship, the fat wolf noticed that there was a figure out on the railings looking at him. Squinting and looking closer, Lobo was able to make out the form of the captain, standing over the rail with one paw shielding his eyes from the sunlight, among other passengers standing and watching from the rails. When he realized that he had been spotted, the smaller lupine waved heartily before grabbing something from the deck beside him. Lobo couldn't see well enough to tell what it was, but when the captain raised it to his muzzle and the shriek of an elecrtic megaphone being turned on was heard, it was a bit obvious.

"Hey there, Lobo! Hope you enjoyed the cruise! Unfortunately, it seems that the fun and frivolity has to come to an end... for you, anyway! As my last and greatest masterpiece of the day, I know I'll enjoy watching you, and I'm sure the other contestants will too!"

Masterpiece? Contestants? Suddenly things clicked in Lobo's head, and he remembered what he had been doing all day. Zee's competition! Was it over? Did... did that mean he won? That he was the last contestant? The wolf wanted to cheer, but he was still too confused as to what was going on. If he was Zee's final "victim", the one who would be bigger than the others by a long shot... then why was he out here on a raft, away from everyone else? Shouldn't Zee be trying to feed him, or fatten him up with his powers? But with them so far away, it was almost as if the wolf had something else planned...

Another shrill whine from the megaphone drew the wolf's attention as the captain (who was obviously Zee by this point) addressed him again. "Bet you're wondering what I have in store for you, Lobo! Let me just fill you in. Get comfortable, I doubt you're going anywhere for a few days." Naturally the wolf couldn't go without his dramatic flair, and so there was a brief pause while everyone waited for him to continue.

"Now, I had some of my scientist buddies doing work for me, and they came up with a very special chemical, just for this occasion. A combination of a hunger supplement and good food made sure you got plenty of said chemical as well. Anyway, I bet you're curious as to what it does... well, let's put it like this. Upon meeting a certain compound, the chemical activates, breaking down food and multiplying the excess energy that would normally be converted to fat on an exponential level... at least that's what the scientists said. To me, that translates as 'It turns everything you ate into more fat than it should, by a lot.' Seems simple enough, right?"

Lobo's eyes widened as he listened, realizing what was about to happen. With how much he had eaten and how much of the chemical he might have in him... ideas of just how fat first place was likely to be started running through his head. His imagination had him as big as the cruise ship, or even bigger! Who knew how much the chemicals would multiply his weight by? The wolf's shock progressed to glee as he considered the possibilities, tail wagging as he waited. After all, Zee wouldn't keep them waiting long; it just wasn't his nature. But there was one question left to be answered...

"Oh, and that compound? It's seawater."

Suddenly the wolf tugged on the chain that was connected to the raft, causing it to tilt slightly... but no more. Lobo was just too heavy to dump into the ocean that easily! Zee, clearly irritated even from this distance at the failure of a perfectly-timed execution, started snapping orders to the other crewmen. Several of them lined up behind the chain and each of them grabbed on, getting ready for a group pull. Lobo merely found himself amused that he had unintentionally ruined Zee's fun; when the inflator wolf got mad, he tended to go overboard. It would be interesting to see what he decided to do to make up for his failure.

The blare of the megaphone could be heard again. "On three! One... Two... Three!"

On three, everyone tugged on the chain at once, and this time it moved! Lobo felt himself tipping back as the front side of the raft tilted upwards, dumping the wolf into the ocean. Immediately he found himself awash in salty seawater, the warm currents washing over his fur. Idly the fat lupine considered what a pain it would be to wash all of the salt out of his fur once this ordeal was over, though he doubted that anything short of a heavy thunderstorm floating overhead would be enough to clean off his hide with how big he was going to be! That was pushed aside though; he wanted to focus on his growth!

It didn't take long to begin, either; immediately Lobo felt a warm tingling in his overstuffed gut as the seawater soaked into his fur and flesh, a mouthful of it going down from the initial tipping and making him want to clean his tongue to remove the bitter taste. The chemicals went to work immediately, breaking down the food that filled his gut. For a second or two, his belly merely seemed to lose size as the volume within it vanished, but as the fat started piling on, it quickly turned around. In an instant, he was back up to size again, but it wasn't just in his belly this time. Instead, his whole body had a whole new layer of fat to it, ranging from softer moobs and a rounder muzzle to thicker limbs as well as his huge gut.

As he pulled himself to the surface, splashing large amounts of water everywhere, he felt the tingling again, but more powerfully. Thankfully, despite his distraction, he remained surfaced; his blubbery frame floated quite nicely, buoying him atop the water. His weight was climbing rapidly nonetheless, as he went from a little over a quarter ton to twice that in barely a minute, the rate not slowing down in the least. A belly that once was soft and round, jutting out so that he couldn't see his feet even when bending over, was now a mass of fat that could easily hold a car if it were hollowed out. A spare tire that could once fit on a truck now was so wide that one could get several pawfuls of wolf blubber before reaching from top to bottom.

Half a ton moved up to a full ton as the growth surged, and Lobo felt each and every pound packed on. The weight was getting prominent on his body, his belly as big as a truck now and weighing him down, the buoyancy of his blubber somehow holding him up despite that. His arms were getting heavy, difficult to lift, as his arms swelled up to tree-trunk girth, his paws becoming useless as digits became so thick with fat that they couldn't bend at the joint. His legs and footpaws were suffering a similar fate as well, and his neck had gone from a roll of blubber cushioning him around his shoulders to practically a scarf-like mass of jello that wobbled and rippled, preventing him from looking down. Looking straight ahead was becoming a difficulty as well as multiple chins mashed up against that neck, slowly pushing his field of vision upwards.

As Lobo continued to grow, starting to hit immobility, he felt... odd again. It was different from the tingling of the chemical inside of him that had signified his weight increasing, something more like... well, the best way to describe it was like that warm, slightly tight muscle soreness that you got from stretching for a while, but all over the wolf's body. Maybe it would be better to describe it as being stretched out in all directions, a soothing ache that washed over him. As it started to fade a bit, Lobo realized that things seemed smaller. Of course, with his size, the cruise ship was going to be at eye level soon enough, but that wasn't what he meant. The wolf saw it more like everything was reduced in scale rather than just in height; things were simply getting smaller, or he was getting bigger!

The whine of the microphone made Lobo wince again, his sensitive ears assaulted, and he heard Zee once more. "Oh yeah... I forgot to mention that I added a bit of a growth serum into the mix too... something about adding a little extra height and bone density stuff to make sure that you'd remain at least a teeny bit mobile no matter how much of a butterball you become. Saw something in your profile about liking a bit of macro to go with your weight, so I poured in about a hundred times the recommended dose. Fun, huh?"

Lobo would have quirked an eyebrow at the wolf if his head wasn't pushed into an odd angle, gaze sort of somewhere above the cruise ship. As it was, stuck on his back, he couldn't see Zee, only hear him. But a hundred times a normal dose of a growth serum seemed a little extreme... unless that was what was required for how much he was going to gain! Lobo almost anticipated it now, especially since he was starting to reach the size of the cruise ship. His belly towered over him despite the increase to his height, his body's proportional width still increasing significantly. It was hard to describe him as anything else but big right now, and his growth was still continuing at the same pace.

It was amazing, being so huge. Lobo had hit some titanic sizes before, but this certainly took this cake for a good while! Already his belly alone was past the deck level of the ship, giving a whole new meaning to the word "fat". Tires of fat, three or four of them, made up his neck, pushing six or seven chins against his muzzle and squishing out his rounded cheeks all the more as his head was forced back by blubber. Weight that would make a whale jealous weighed him down, yet he remained buoyant atop the water due to the same fat that was piling atop his frame! Arms were thickening into near uselessness as his increasing bone density couldn't keep up, the paws starting to get lost in the blubber, and his legs weren't faring much better, forcing each other apart as they mashed together.

Finally it seemed to slow down, though it was hard to tell; at his size, any growth was hard to notice. Lobo just didn't feel that strange tingling anymore, so he assumed that it was past. Taking a deep breath, he tried to look around, but he literally found himself unable to turn his head, or move for that matter. Mobile? Hah! The serum hadn't been made with a waterlogged wolf in mind. If he had been on land he might have had the support to sit up... maybe. Would probably have been a roll-over-and-push-up scenario, but either way he could have attempted to get up. As it was, Lobo found himself stuck on his back, staring up at the sky while he floated upon the ocean. So now what was he to do?

Again, that megaphone blared, this time right right beneath Lobo's head, and he winced at the sound. "Whale sighted off of the starboard bow!" He wanted to roll his eyes at Zee's bad jokes, but at the moment he was more concerned with the ringing that was still left in his ear. The inflator wolf needed to be a little more considerate of his sensitive eardrums! Still, the inaccuracy of Zee's statement was amusing; the mint-green wolf was probably a good deal bigger than a whale at this point, especially since he was mostly blubber!

And again the megaphone sounded. Lobo winced again; was Zee getting a kick out of this? The small wolf broke into a formal tone worthy of a master of ceremonies, however, and he found himself listening. "And now, with the fattening of the wolf, I declare this Manhunt competition... complete! Congratulations, John Lobo! And of course a good run to all the other contestants. I hope this competition is one we will all remember."

The fat wolf smiled as he listened, closing his eyes and feeling the sheer joy at being named as the winner. It was a small thing; Zee picked targets at random, wherever he suspected they may be. For all he knew, Lobo had won by sheer luck. But being declared as the winner, declared as the largest thing around in Zee's competition, was something that made him feel a surge of immutable pride. The wolf grinned from ear to ear, causing his round muzzle to squish outwards against thick cheeks, and he tried to hide the embarrassed blush that crossed his face with no visible success. He really had won.

He had won.

---

And so ended the second season of Manhunt. Sixteen contestants had been whittled down one by one, each feeling the inflator wolf's touch and his powers as he chased them down. Many had been brilliant in their hiding places, and a few had simply been unlucky in being chased down so quickly, but everyone had enjoyed their place in the competition. It had been a long day, and a difficult test of wits for those who made it to the last two rounds, but in the end, all were satisfied. With this, the second chapter of Manhunt came to a close.