Meal 15
Van and Morris stared up at the sky admiring at how clear blue it was and how bright the sun shone now that there were no clouds around to impede it. The two of them felt so light and wondered if they were in heaven thanks to the explosion. Whatever they were resting upon was soft and plush as one would imagine a cloud to be, but as strength returned to their bodies they became more aware of how full of life they still were. Returning to their feet, they were delighted to see that they were no longer in the sky or trapped in combat. This game them the opportunity to make sense of their current situation starting with what they were on. It was enormous and soft and oddly enough furry. They explored it further noticing paws in the distance and then a big fat face that Morris quickly recognized.
"This is that Killajor Tanuki we ran into earlier," he explained. "But it's enormous now."
"No kidding," replied Van simply astounded. "If this guy didn't show up we'd be pancakes on the ground now. He broke our fall and saved us. The question is how did he show up?"
"If it's anything like how I can summon Vic and Ivy then I suppose Tagmer could have summoned him," suggested Morris, his expression turning to worry as he remembered they weren't the only ones who were up there. "Where are Tagmer and that Cyrus guy?"
"They have to be around here somewhere," answered Van as he waded through the soft flab of Kill's belly with Morris in tow. They made it over the summit of his belly to spot them both. Tagmer was out cold on top of Kill's flab, half sunk into him. Cyrus looked almost as worn, but he was in a stance that looked like he was groping at some of Kill's flab. It would have been an amusing sight if they consider everything that had happened before guessed it was a killing blow to Tagmer that was only thwarted by unexpected interference.
"I had him," stated Cyrus staring at the unconscious Tagmer. "He should be dead, but once again he surprised me."
Remembering back to the fall, Cyrus and the others were freefalling, though he knew he could use his magic to fly. He merely elected to fall to keep up with Tagmer as he plummeted. Van and Morris were also falling and out cold from their attacks. Tagmer was barely conscious still, his body was barely able to move let alone guard, however Cyrus was perfectly mobile. It was all planned out before they even engaged in their final attack to reserve enough strength afterwards in case Tagmer managed to match his power and now it was about to pay off.
Flexing the muscles in his hand, Cyrus channeled the cosmic magic to enhance his physical strength to impale Tagmer through his chest. The charging was slower than normal showing the fatigue he did his best to hide. Despite his blurred vision, Tagmer could tell what was coming and tried to move in any defensive way to possible, but without his body armor his belly was a giant flabby bulls-eye and he knew his steel scales and layers upon layers of fat wouldn't keep his vitals safe.
Once the magic was surging through his arm, he lunged at Tagmer like a lion pouncing on his prey. Focusing all his strength, physical and magical, Tagmer tried with all his might to do something, but even with a bit of power left his body wouldn't do what his mind was shouting at it. All he could do was pray for a miracle and a strong gust of wind carrying his hat back towards him was a miracle indeed. The leaf that was still stuck in it exploded in a cloud of smoke as Cyrus was so close to Tagmer he could feel his scales on the tips of his fingers. Tagmer was already out cold when the smoke appeared and Cyrus was confused and confounded when he felt his hands on something fat, but be unable to penetrate it. As the smoke cleared he discovered he had been intercepted by the enormous tanuki that Tagmer unintentionally summoned by drawing his remaining strength at the last second. With the obese thing now below them, it cushioned their fall and the events proceeded to the present.
"I never imagined beings to be so strong," Cyrus stated as Tanuki Kill poofed back into a leaf as Tagmer's magic ran completely out and they all landed on the ground. "If there are others it could make things harder to get the remaining stones." Looking in his hand, Cyrus had claimed the stone for being triumphant in the battle. He munched it up, allowing its power to increase his own and help him recover the strength he lost in the fight.
"You've got to be kidding me," muttered Morris. "He looks all shiny and new again."
"You don't think he's going to come after us, do you?" asked Van.
"I have no need bother with the likes of you anymore," answered Cyrus able to hear every word they said. "You have nothing more of interest, but this dragotaur might be of some use to me." As he approached the passed out Tagmer, Morris and Van rushed to his aid, but they didn't even get close before they vanished.
"No!" shouted Morris as his running slowed to a halt and he fell to his knees. "I just rescued him not too long ago and now he's gone again."
"I'd hate to say it," replied Van. "But things can't get much worse."
"Are you sure about that?" asked one of two hooded figures appearing before them. The two removed their black cloaks revealing the one who talked to be Dragon Kill while the other was a Roo Kill.
"I think we can make things a lot worse for you," added Roo Kill.
"And this is why I hate saying that," grumbled Van and they all prepared to fight.
"Draggy!" cried Yure hugging into his fatty belly as tears streamed down his eyes. "It's been so long since we've seen one another and so much I wanted to tell you." The more he emoted the tighter he hugged Drag. "I was wondering around one day and the next thing I knew I was lost and couldn't find my way back home. I was scared, but I managed to take care of myself."
"I know you can," replied Drag with a smile. He gently stroked Yure's head letting his fingers run through his soft fur. "I got lost too. I was swimming in a river and the next thing I knew the water turned to chocolate. Long story short I think I put on at least thirty pounds since I got here."
"But you don't look any fatter," commented Yure stepping back to get a better look at Drag. Yure's eyes were able to see fine even in the stomach of a giant fish, but he was certain Drag didn't look any different than he normally did.
"That's because of the chocolate pressure," explained Drag. "But now that we're in this big fish the pressure is gone." Drag didn't have to say anymore as his belly surged forward into Yure's face, enticing him to grope at the new sort flab. He took a look at the lardy dragon and saw he was indeed much chubbier, though thirty pounds was a great underestimate. Unable to restrain his urges, Yure bite onto Drag's belly finding it comforting to chew on.
"So nice to see you now," purred Yure feeling so relaxed as Drag lifted him up by his padded rear and hugged him into his belly flab. "But how are we going to get out?"
"I've given it a bit of thought and think I have a plan," answered Drag. "There is no way we can escape this fish's body underwater and there's no way we'd be able to outswim it. However, a little out of the box thinking inside this fish can make all the difference."
Taking in a deep breath, Yure watched in awe as Drag's belly stretched and expanded bigger. It was almost hypnotic to the blue cat as he watched it swell bigger than he ever imagined. When it reached critical mass, Drag's face turned a deep purple as he began to blow a nose bubble that swelled larger and larger. Yure watched finding wonders never to cease as it grew bigger than Drag's head and showed no sign of stopping. Soon it was bigger than Yure and then Drag too. It kept expanding as Drag's face only turned dark purple as a grape. The bubble kept expanding around Drag, soon trapping him inside it and Yure soon after. Eventually, Yure figured out Drag's plan as the bubble pressed against the sides of the fish and still he blew it bigger and bigger.
Back on the boat atop the Dark Chocolake, Wolfcub waited nervously as she watched the machine pull Yure's air pump back up to the boat. Thomas was beside her, but appeared more confident that nothing was wrong.
"Are you sure Yure's alright," she asked as she bit against her thumbnail hoping and expecting Yure to pop out. "It's already been a half hour since we agreed to surface and I feel that something is very wrong. We came here to gain treasure, but we might lose Yure."
"I'm sure there's no need to concern," he explained. "I've never heard of a fish eat a cat before." His words lost all their comfort as soon as the suit popped out of the lake, but Yure was not inside. "But there's a first time for everything."
"Yure!" shouted Wolfcub over the side and was barely able to keep herself from jumping in to find him. "We have to go back in."
"We will," agreed Thomas slipping his suit on. "But let's put our diving suits back on first before we start doing anything reckless." Wolfcub agreed and joined him, but before they could slip into their suits they witnesses as the chocolate lake started to rise up before them.
"What in the world are we seeing?" asked Wolfcub in awe.
Thomas was at a loss for words as it continued to rise up, but an answer came to them as the chocolate slid off and revealed large fish scales underneath. When most of the chocolate was gone, they discovered it was an enormous fish blown up like a big balloon. Gently, it floated to the shore flopping and flailing in desperation. When it was over land, the air inside it finally leaked out its mouth and it crash landed into the ground with a mighty impact. Wolfcub and Thomas spotted a few things that flew out of its mouth.
"Quick!" cried Wolfcub. "We have to get to shore. A box of treasure came out of that fish."
"What about your friend Yure?" asked Thomas. "He came out of that fish as well as some other guy."
"Oh, uh right," replied Wolfcub. "I always knew he'd be fine."
"Time for some healing time," Obamon announced as she held her arms out for her other party members after a long difficult battle with some mountain ogres. "I need to make sure I take care of all of you for the fighting ahead."
"That's alright," replied Zane nervous and unable to even look her in the eye for fear of staring at her busty figure. "We should save your magic for battle. Besides, we have plenty of healing potions, right guys?"
"Sorry, all out," answered Logan as he was hastily chugging one down. Beside him Bruce was drinking one down just as fast.
"Looks like you'll have to get Obamon's treatment instead," Bruce told him. The two brave knights shuddered at the thought as Zane stared at Obamon's closing in cleavage as she came to hug him.
"Don't worry," she told him in a soothing voice. "I will make you feel all better." She hugged him tight giving him an odd mixture of relief and tension that was almost too much for anyone to bear. When the healing was over, a task that took longer than Zane would have liked he was out cold.
"Is he alright?" asked Bruce as he stared at the poor, traumatized Lucario.
"Just a side-effect of my wonderful curing powers," she explained. "Watch him for a bit. I want to go look around for a stream to refill our water pouches."
"Guess it wouldn't be so bad to take a break in the midst of this battlefield full of dead ogres for a little bit," stated Logan sarcastically.
"If you'd like," added Obamon as she strutted her fat, meaty legs away. "You could come with me and I could heal you on the way."
"No," answered Bruce quickly. "Too much resting we need to do. See you in a bit."
"Then I'll be back in a few sweeties," she said as she waved goodbye.
As she expected, she didn't have to travel far to find water. Cupping her hands together she filled her palms with water and drank it down, a small amount trickling down her chin and neck and soaking into her dress. She took a few handfuls of water then proceeded to fill the water pouches.
"It takes a lot of work to keep so many meals happy and distracted," she stated in a cold tone. "But I have to be patient until the main course arrives." She picked at her teeth a moment then patted her belly. "I'd like to eat one or two of them now, but I have to do so until I have those two back in my clutches."
Just as she finished filling the last water pouch and her mind was still lost in thought about all the meals she had left to eat drool cascaded down her maw, she received some company. It was a yellow bunny with an armadillo shell on its back and a cat with a horn on its head. She quickly recognized her two victims turned pets, Snow and Dillon. They eagerly communicated their current findings and a twinkle of excitement was seen in her eyes. She was so excited that she had to change them back to normal to make sure she heard them right.
"We found them," Snow cried still talking even as he returned to normal. "The two you have wanted to get back at for so long."
"You did so now," she asked in an amused tone hiding her excitement as best she could and doing what should could to keep from salivating further. "And where pray tell would I find them to bring them back to my home?"
"There is no need to take any measures to do that," answered Dillon as derpy as ever now that he was back to being a big, fat, plump Armadillomon with a toothy grin. "They are actually headed back to your cottage and will be there within a few days as a matter of fact."
"A few days," she repeated unable to contain the surprise, though there was some worry in her voice. "That is sooner than I expected. "I've been playing conservatively expecting it to take longer. Now I'll have to wrap things up with a bit more haste. Luckily, I did anticipate this scenario and even luckier, you two are here to help me." With a snap of her fingers, she poofed Snow into a new outfit. It was the garb of a black mage. With a snap of her other fingers she had Dillon dressed in a leopard skin loin cloth and with spikes added to his shell and a stone helmet on his head. He held a giant wooden club in his hand, but immediately it became evident he couldn't hold it up and it fell to the ground. "I'm in the middle of a little game and for the time being I want you two to join in. Snow, you will be our black mage and Dillon will be our barbarian."
"Da'gya!" squealed Dillon joyfully. "No strand of hair will be left uncut and head lice will cower before my awesome might."
"You're a barbarian, silly," giggled Snow. "Not a barber."
"Will I still be awesome?" asked Dillon hopingly.
"Of course you will my dearie," answered Obamon. "Now let's get back. We have so much to do and now so little time to get it done."
"I've lost count," commented Morris to the two Kills standing before him. "Just how many incarnations of you are there?"
"There are only two of us left after you and your friend took care of the other three," answered Dragon Kill. "It's just a shame that Tagmer isn't here anymore, but now your new friend will do nicely."
"Two? Then did you Kills have a falling out of something?" murmured Morris scratching his head. "Or maybe they don't know everything that's going on."
"What are you talking about?" asked Roo Kill. "Speak up. If you intend to beg for mercy then you have to say it loud enough for us to hear you."
"All I've got to say to you two is one of you gets on my nerves and seeing two at you together gives me a migraine."
"Then we'll cure that when we remove your head from your neck," answered Dragon Kill scratching his chin as he licked his lips.
"Are we going to be alright with these guys?" asked Van as he flexed his claws. "They look kind of strange, but pretty strong too. Even if it is an even fight we're still a bit drained from our last fight.
"Doesn't matter," explained Morris. "We have to fight, but seeing how strong you are we should be able to put them in their place."
"Fine," agreed Van. "Then I call the Roo, you can take the overgrown lizard."
"Lizard!" growled Dragon Kill so furious he opened his maw spewed burning, fiery flames from his maw. In response, Morris fired a barrage of ice charged arrows at his muzzle freezing it fast and stopping the fire, however Dragon Kill just let out a low growl as his jaws and teeth smashed the ice into pieces and he chewed and swallowed the remaining ice in his mouth. "Cheap little tricks like that might be able to have helped you out in the past, but you'll need to do better than that. In fact, such pathetic attempts like that only make my fire burn hotter." As the words escaped his lips, ash and embers sprayed out.
Before he got another chance to attack, Roo Kill attacked, bending his legs and launching off in a flash as Van barely giving him time to pull up his arms in defense. He managed to keep up his guard, but his footing was insufficient as he slid back, his feet getting scratched on the terrain below.
"You're pretty strong for a fat wolf," snickered Roo Kill.
"And you hope well for an obese roo," replied Van purposely making it sound more like an insult.
"It's all in the feet," explained Roo Kill as flipped and started a barrage of powerful kicks at Van. He did his best to block them, but it quickly became a losing fight as his guard broke more and more from the flurry of kicks. Finally, he felt a crushing blow against his stomach, sinking deep into his flab. That one attacked opened up his defense for Roo Kill to inflict a barrage of attacks pummeling him into the ground and only stopped when his feet needed a rest. "Had enough? Is this all you have. Pathetic."
Lying motionless in the crater Roo Kill left him it, it did seem like it was over, but slowly his arm moved and he gripped a rock. Squeezing it tightly it started to crack until it crumbled to pieces. "I'm far from done." He let his claws extend as his hand device surged with electricity. "Now to show you what I'm made of."
"I'm so glad you're safe," cried Wolfcub as the ship hit the shore and she jumped off the boat. She ran with all her might toward Yure.
"I'm sorry if you were worried," replied Yure, surprised he was so excited to see her as well. He could only assume she grew on him from their time together. Yure ran to her in a loving embrace, but she ran right past to hug the chest. "Why didn't I see that coming?"
"Treasure," cheered Wolfcub wanting to savor the moment before seeing treasure. "Think of all the stuff I'll be able to buy, all the Mountain Dew I'll be able to drink."
"I guess some things never change," laughed Drag as he approached her too.
"I didn't think I'd see you around a place like this, Drag," Wolfcub commented taking a momentary break from her treasure, but by the looks of those rolls you've dipped into the chocolate more than once."
"Guess I have, but I'll make sure to slim down," replied Drag before eyeing the giant fish on the shore. "But one more meal won't hurt my figure too much."
"Is the stone in there?" asked Thomas rushing over after making sure the boat was properly docked. He passed by Drag and took the moment to greet him before returning his focus to the treasure. "Hi, Drag. Man, you've let yourself go. Now where's that treasure?"
"Over here I think," answered Wolfcub as she tossed it over to him. She had little interest in a dull, ordinary-looking rock with so much shiny treasure to enjoy. "I guess this completes our partnership then."
"Well I suppose," he continued. "But there's always the option of coming along on my future exploits. After all, there are plenty more rocks and plenty more treasure likely stashed away."
"After everything we've been through," cried Yure. "I nearly died several times just getting this one. We aren't going for another. Right, Wolfcub?"
"Greed taking over," she groaned. "Need for treasure and things overpowering. We'll do it!"
"Then we're off on our next adventure!" Thomas exclaimed.
"Uh, who is that guy anyway?" asked Drag scratching his head. "He seems kind of familiar in a certain way."
"That's Thomas," answered Yure. "Why? Do you know him from somewhere?"
"I think so," replied Drag turning to the Smeargle. "Are you the same Thomas I know who was a nine-tailed kitsune?"
"I guess so, but I can be a bit frugal with what I want to be," he explained.
"Mind if I ask you how you change so much?" asked Drag curiously.
"The usual ways, magic, gamma rays, and a bit of toxic waste for a shiny, glowing coat," joked Thomas. "But now that you're here, do you want to join our quest?"
"I would, but I have some business to take care of at the moment here," stated Drag. "But if you need my help, just use this." Drag handed Yure a small, plush Drag doll and gave him a pat on the head. "If you're even in a pinch I'll be there to lend you my strength."
"Then I guess this is goodbye for now," sniffled Yure. "Just when we finally met again."
"We'll meet again before this is all over," said Drag cheerfully as he hugged the small kitten. "I guarantee that. Until then, be a tough fighter for me."
"Can do!" exclaimed Yure hugging his Drag doll and rushing on ahead with Thomas and Wolfcub following behind. Drag turned to the giant fish with hungry eyes.
"What's going on out there?" asked Vincent putting down his flask of drink upon hearing a loud commotion coming from outside.
"It appears that Obamon has arrived with her companions," answered Rhodes. "But if I recall weren't there only three before?"
"Don't tell me she got reinforcements," replied Vincent.
"Two by the looks of things," commented Donavin. "Probably some of her victims turned servants. This throws off the ratio of us to them now."
"If that's the case, we may be better off canceling the operation and going along with the script," concluded Vincent. "No. It would be better to surrender before Obamon can make some changes of her own."
"Well what about our secret weapon?" asked Rhodes. "Couldn't it still tip the scales in our favor as we had planned?"
"Potentially, but we'll need to take more extreme measures," explained Vincent. "We may need to ignore trying to merely take out Obamon and launch an attack that'll bring the whole mountain down. In that case there is little chance any of us will survive, but so long as it guarantees Obamon is destroyed it will be worth it."
"Then I'd better go and make the necessary preparations," said Donavin heading for the back entrance. "At the rate they're coming I may not be able to get things done before they arrive. Can you stall?"
"It should be a simple matter with Krystal here," explained Vincent. "We can stalemate them for as long as we can, but I'm starting to have a pretty bad feeling about all this."
"I think we all are," agreed Rhodes. "Things are going to get a lot worse before things start to get better."
"There are still nine stones I do not yet have," concluded Cyrus as he sat in a field sitting on an unconscious Tagmer's soft, fat belly. "I sense a few are in the possession of others, but many more are still waiting to be found. It would be tedious find them all on my own, but I know this dragotaur can be of some use to me. I can sense greater, darker, power within him. Power that can be of great use to me."
Forming a dark sphere in his palm he pressed it against Tagmer's chest, inserting the dark orb into his body. In response, Tagmer growled and flailed painfully about as his scales turned from crimson red to onyx black quickly while his orange scales turned a poison purple hue. His teeth became sharper and longer as did his nails and his body glowed with a dark evil aura. Muscles bulged beneath the fat quickly making him double in size. The ends of his hair, his nails, and horns turned a blood red. As he opened his eyes, they glowed a demonic red and a vicious roar. Remgat was back and the weather around them quickly became more turbulent in his evil presence. Rising to his feet, he found this thirst for darkness and destruction was only pushed aside by his curiosity for the life form standing before him. "Who are you now?" asked Remgat drooling tenaciously as such sinful thoughts ran across his mind.
"Your new lord and master, you dark, disgusting behemoth," he answered coldly and calmly. "Now bow before me."
