A Clouded Mirror “So you’re saying that you have no idea why I’m here?” the slender Altaria asked as she stood over the desk, her hands planted firmly on the edge of the wooden surface, one foot tapping intermittently to sound off her impatience. “No, ma’am,” the Houndour sitting on the other side said in a rather monotone voice, barely addressing her with her eyes remaining locked on the computer screen in front of her. She wore a very smart suit in bright red that conformed tightly to the figure of her body, and as such revealed the pudgy potbelly protruding from her abdomen and the shapeliness of her chest and hips. “I have told you everything that they told me; you are to meet with our head supervisor.” There was a brief pause before she added, “And that meeting is approximately in four minutes and thirty-seven seconds; I would suggest you make haste, the supervisor doesn’t take kindly to tardiness.” Ivory only sighed in response as she stood up straight again, her puffy, cloud-shaped bosom heaving within the confines of her dress, and she began to walk away, hard slippers clacking across the polished onyx surface of the floor. Even when moving in a casual setting, she felt a subconscious need to sashay her hips from side to side, causing the long draping folds of her dress to sway at the same time like a metronome; the silky purple garment was not the most conventional piece of clothing to choose, but she wanted to make a good impression in a professional setting, even if she didn’t know what the impression was going to be for. She could remember the instructions she had received in the email as she sauntered through the open hall, every surface bathed in deep crimson lights that shone from the ceiling, giving the impression that this might be a far more seedy organization than just a fashion agency. She remembered the instructions that had been given to her, the path that she would need to follow through the building to reach her intended destination. As she thought about the directions and began to walk down a hallway past the desk, she recalled the details of the situation that had brought her here in the first place. It had been a late, dark night, only the pale blue glow of a computer screen illuminating her bleary eyes as she was preparing to go to bed when she checked her email one last time, as she had become accustomed to do from her manager often sending announcements the day before a gig was about to start. All of a sudden, as she was staring at the page and idly rereading the titles of all the old spam messages from the past week, a new selection popped into being, highlighted in purple, but it wasn’t the familiar address associated with her own modeling company, but rather another one that she just faintly recognized. Voluptuous Fashions was an organization slowly rising in prominence on the fashion scene, though it was one that was known to cater to rather particular interests that Ivory didn’t feel would apply to her, but the message nonetheless read: [i]Dear Miss Stones, We are aware that you are currently under contract with the Viridian Modeling Agency, but we believe that we have an offer that would be of great interest to you. If you have the time, please meet with us tomorrow at our local office; we promise it will be worth your while.[/i] “I don’t see why they couldn’t have just said what they want me for…” she muttered to herself, her stout beak tightly clenched together. “It doesn’t exactly make them seem any less suspicious for being so secretive.” She approached the end of the hallway, recalling the instructions that said to turn right, but she stopped before she could round the corner when she heard the sounds of someone approaching – the heavy stomps of footsteps, accompanied by voices speaking in turn with each other. Two figures walked into view from the direction she was supposed to be going, one short and stocky with bright pink fur, thin ribbons attached to her chest and one of her ears waving in the air, trailing behind her, while the other was incredibly tall by comparison, her head stretching high above on a long neck lined with luminous frills. The Sylveon and Aurorus had rather differing proportions, but they were still quite similar, both having thick, fleshy forms that filled out the black and red uniforms they wore, with round, sagging bellies, bulbous buttocks and hips rocking from one side to the other, and absolutely immense breasts that made all the rest of their bodies seem insignificant by comparison. Ivory couldn’t help but feel that she was entering a very different world than what she was used to as they passed by, chatting pleasantly with each other – she could have tried to make out the words, but she wasn’t one for eavesdropping. Once the pair had passed on in the opposite direction, the Altaria continued on her way, finding quickly that this offshoot of the path led to what looked like a very important room indeed. The door at the end of the hallway was larger than life, appearing more like the gates to a castle than something that would be found in an office building, two huge panels carved from black stone that looked like they were twice as tall as she was and almost as wide, framed on either side by columns with golden serpentine shapes curling around their lengths up to the top, where two fierce draconic heads looked down upon her. There didn’t appear to be anything on the doors to indicate a handle that would allow her to open them, but as she stepped closer there was a loud crackling noise that filled the air, the sound of a microphone turning on, and then a deep voice spoke aloud, “Ah, I see you have arrived…excellent, please, step inside.” There was a groaning of machinery coming to life within the walls of the room and the heavy doors slowly began to part to the sides, allowing Ivory to pass through into the space beyond. The office was lit with the same omnipresent crimson glow, further accentuated with large torches placed around the room intermittently that burned in tall blazing columns, though surprisingly there was no smell of smoke in the room. The walls were adorned with long hanging scrolls upon which were painted numerous different figures in an impressionistic style with delicate strokes of black ink, though all of them were of a distinctly rotund size. The entire back wall was a huge window looking out onto the city skyline, but it was made of stained glass in red, orange, and yellow colors, forming swirls of flame that twisted and curled back and forth, and in front of it there was a sturdy desk made of rich mahogany wood, papers placed upon it alongside a sleek flat-screen computer monitor and keyboard. A chair was behind the desk, turned around to face the window and away from Ivory as she walked closer, the hard claps of her shoes echoing in the empty room, and even though its back rest was high and broad enough to hide the occupant’s body, it couldn’t quite cover the pointed tips of two yellow ears. “Welcome, Mademoiselle Stones,” the same deep, feminine voice said, every syllable carefully pronounced and positively dripping with haughtiness, and the chair turned around as its occupant stood, moving around the desk and beginning to approach her. The Altaria had seen some large people in her time before, what with fatness seeming to be growing in popularity in these parts against all reasonable odds; she had even had personal encounters with some rather obese Pokemon in the course of her modeling career. She had already had some expectations coming into this meeting, which had only been further reinforced after passing those two women on the way in here who had already been nearing the top percentages of corpulence known to her experience. The woman who stood before her now, however, blew that scale well out of the water. The Delphox was simply immense beyond definition, the width of her body easily enough to exceed her height, the massive slopes of her hips jutting out far to either side and leading down into swollen legs, black-furred columns that looked like they could dwarf tree trunks, shuffling laboriously back and forth as she waddled forward. Her movement was further impeded by a huge golden blob of a belly that spilled over her waist, drooping all the way down to her knees, though for as large as it was hardly any of it could be seen beneath the bulk of her bosom, a pair of gigantic globes that were each bigger than a weather balloon and stretched out in front of her well beyond the distance that her arms would be able to reach. She wore an oriental dress that clung tightly around her engorged form, dark crimson cloth with curling golden lines stretched over flab-laden sides and swollen curves, its skirt split open at the front into two folds draping to either side of her, leaving her legs visible as they waddled back and forth, and there was a circular opening placed directly over the center of her chest to reveal a small glimpse of her deep canyon of cleavage. “I trust you have found your visit pleasant thus far,” she said as she placed one hand delicately over her bosom, the bloated flesh of her arm sagging downward. “You might have heard of my company and my work before; I believe I’m earning a bit of a name for myself in the industry so far.” She then reached forward with her other hand, the pudgy digits having a shape reminiscent of overstuffed sausages, a golden ring with a brilliant amethyst gem embedded in it placed on one of them. “You may call me Kabiyou,” she said with a smile, though there didn’t seem to be much room on her face for one, her neck and chin so engorged that it was impossible to distinguish them and her puffy cheeks filled much of the remaining space. Even her lips appeared to be stuffed with fat, full and plump, their ruby-red surface glistening in the light. “I don’t particularly have any complaints to speak of,” Ivory said as she tried to keep up a polite smile of her own, only a faint curling at the corners of her beak that creased into the white spots on her cheeks, and she reached forward, past the slope of the red-clad bosom, with her own hand, broad feathers wrapping around the fleshy paw and shaking firmly, “though the secrecy of all of this has been just a tad disconcerting.” “Ah, my apologies for being so furtive,” she replied, yet despite sounding apologetic she maintained the same royal, snobbish air in her voice, “but I simply prefer to speak with my clients in person. I find it less cumbersome than having to use those pesky text messages.” “I see,” Ivory said plainly, hiding her skepticism, as she tried to separate herself from the handshake, but the vulpine blob was keeping a strong grip on her, so she added, “Well then, if you don’t mind, perhaps we can get to discussing why I came here?” “Yes, quite right, quite right!” Kabiyou said, at last letting go of the Altaria’s wing, and she began to move back to her desk, a laborious process that first involved shuffling in place until she had completely turned around and waddled away, bulbous buttocks jiggling as her legs rocked from side to side, a long, fluffy tail swaying back and forth above them. “I can certainly see you have an eye for business, Miss Stones,” she said as she approached the desk, brushing aside a lock of red-orange hair from her face while reaching around her protruding chest for one of the papers on the counter. “Please, just call me Ivory,” she said, following behind until she reached a chair fashioned from polished black wood, though it was noticeably far too large for someone of her size, looking more appropriate for a posterior capable of filling a whole couch, so she elected simply to remain standing. “Ah, so you would prefer a first-name basis then?” the Delphox said with a hint of amusement as she glanced up at her again, “I see we’re already on our way to a close relationship.” [i]‘Close’? You still haven’t even told me why I’m here, lady![/i] she thought to herself angrily, not wanting to express her frustration too abruptly, though she narrowed her eyes warily. “Now then,” she said as she turned around, holding a bundle of the papers together over her chest, “we here at Voluptuous Fashions pride ourselves on designing fashionable wear for formal and upper-class occasions; I’m sure that, in your line of work and with as much experience as you’ve had, you’ve encountered such situations before. Here’re just a few examples from our last spring catalogue, to give you a taste of what we offer.” She extended the papers toward the Altaria, but with her short reach it didn’t actually do much to move the offering away from her own body. Ivory took them nonetheless and began to quickly skim over the pictures, each depicting a woman wearing a different kind of garment – elegant gowns, smooth kimonos, plain dresses for simple gatherings, as well as some extremely extravagant pieces that were unlikely to be worn anywhere outside of fashion shows – and, as she had been expecting, all of the models were of an “obese” size at the very least – she even saw an overly buxom Sylveon that may have been the same one she passed in the hallway. “Let me guess then…” she said dully as she finished going over the list, only her eyes glancing up at Kabiyou while her avian head remained locked in place, “You want me to model one of these dresses for you.” The fox’s chest heaved up and down as she laughed, a deep, resounding quake of a noise that echoed in her throat before rolling out of her flabby jowls. “You have quite a sense of deduction, Miss Ivory,” she said, though she nearly sounded winded even from the mere effort of laughing, “that is indeed what I have called you here for.” “But…surely you realize how ridiculous that is,” Ivory said matter-of-factly as she held the papers to her chest, tilting her head to the side a few degrees. “I did my research on your company before coming here,” she explained, taking a few steps forward so that she stood directly in front of Kabiyou’s enormous shelf of a bosom, “and I found that you exclusively specialize in designing clothes for…plus-sized women, as it were.” [i]Though this woman[/i], she thought to herself, [i]would be more like quintuple-plus-sized, I’d say[/i]. “As you can see, quite plainly, this is a description that doesn’t fit me in the slightest.” She traced a hand over the supple curvature of her side in demonstration, from her round hip all the way up to her own prodigious (by more conventional standards) bust. “That is indeed true,” Kabiyou replied as she reached out and placed a hand on the Altaria’s shoulder and shook her head lamentably, “a shame though it is; I believe a little extra plush in just the right places would make you even more beautiful than you already are. Regardless-” She turned her head to the side, looking in the direction of her desk again, and she outstretched her hand, pudgy hand held open and gesturing at her computer monitor, which became enveloped in a pale magenta glow as it turned in place, showing a screen that played an ambient image of colors dancing across a dark void. “-you will find that we have also done extensive research on you before we decided to contact you.” “Then if you did, you would know that I’m under a strict contract with my current employers,” she interjected firmly, having to withhold the mental urge to step even closer to attempt to assert herself further – even though there was several feet between their faces, their bodies were actually very nearly in contact with each other. “It is explicitly forbidden that I ever gain a single pound of excess weight, a single extra inch to my waistline, otherwise I’ll be fired before even getting the chance to say ‘diet.’” “Also quite true,” she said as she glanced back up at her, her lips curled into a smile again, and for some reason Ivory couldn’t help but feel nervous. “However, while you may have avoided any kind of permanent form of gain, I think that you know of…other methods.” “…What?” Ivory asked flatly, but as much as she tried to hope that it wasn’t true she couldn’t stifle the thoughts welling up in her mind, nor ignore the tingle of terror that ran up her spine. “Well, why don’t you see for yourself and tell me?” Kabiyou extended her hand again, flexing her pudgy fingers, and upon sensing her psychic commands the computer whirred into activity again, the screensaver vanishing in an instant to be replaced by a photograph. It showed a rather familiar-looking house amid tall trees in the background, small but having a very neat and well-maintained appearance, painted deep indigo with two stories and blinds drawn over the windows from the inside. Far more interesting, especially to Ivory, was the object that could be seen in the corner of the image, a large, rounded shape that struck out from the surrounding greenery with its blue and white colors. It almost appeared to be a cloud drawn down far lower to earth than was normal, but there were stumpy blue projections jutting out from it – two on the bottom with wispy tail feathers between them, and two more near the top, with a single smaller, rounder shape jutting out at its summit, the short white hair and two thin blue plumes just barely distinguishable at this distance. Ivory didn’t say anything, perhaps because she found herself completely unable to form coherent words at the moment, but her eyes growing wide as she slowly backed away from the desk and dropped the whole collection of papers in her hands on the floor was reaction enough. She had felt for a long time that this secret of hers might eventually be uncovered, but she had desperately hoped that it would never come to pass, and now her worst fears were realized. She could only assume that this picture had been taken during one of her little “mishaps” when her personal time went a little too far – she had thought that with her house being so secluded out in Viridian Forest, no one of importance would ever notice. “I trust then that you do know exactly what I’m talking about,” Kabiyou said as her smile widened ever so slightly. “What do you want?” the avian asked, struggling to keep her voice steady and to keep herself from flying into a rage and attacking the huge smug blob of a woman. “Want? Why, whatever do you mean?” she replied, feigning a naïve innocence that was infuriatingly transparent, “All I wanted was to have a little business talk with you, nothing so sinister.” “Don’t play dumb with me!” Ivory shouted as her composure finally snapped, and this time she finally came forward far enough to push straight into the Delphox’s giant bosom and belly, pushing her backward so that her rear pressed against the desk behind her, though her superior expression didn’t change. “I know exactly what this is all about!” she continued, jabbing one of her fingers against Kabiyou’s sternum through the circular window in her dress, “You dug up some dirt on me, and now you’re going to try to use it to blackmail me! You already know that I can’t risk being seen as a huge balloon or my career would be over, you could have me doing whatever you wanted!” “Now, now, don’t be so quick to assume,” Kabiyou said calmly, and there was a brief flash of a glow in her eyes before suddenly Ivory was forced backward, stumbling momentarily before finding her balance again, and she tugged on the edges of her crimson garb to pull it into proper place again. “What could I possibly gain by blackmailing you? You aren’t in direct competition with my company; we hardly even know each other yet. I may not look like much to you, but I’ll have you know that I consider myself to be a fox of integrity.” She puffed out her chest with pride, though with how immense she already was it was hard to notice. “…Alright, fine,” Ivory said, fighting to bring her breathing down to normal levels, although she continued to stare crossly back at the Delphox, occasionally glancing back at the image on the computer screen, “what [i]do[/i] you want to talk about then?” “Nothing but a meager business proposition, my dear,” she replied as she stepped closer, wobbling and jiggling in ponderous waves until she stood at the Altaria’s side, placing a swollen finger upon her shoulder delicately, caressing the blue down with her silky fur, “there’s no need for such hostility.” Her eyes remained squinted in a scrutinizing glare as she glanced in her direction, but she didn’t say anything and let her continue speaking as she slowly waddled around her. “We’re always on the lookout for new talent to showcase our wares, and when I saw you, I could just tell that you exuded this…elegance that I’ve seen from few before.” Her hand traced along Ivory’s back as she moved, tickling her skin just at the edge of the purple cloth that wrapped around her, where her body was covered in thick white fluff. “I knew that I had to have you for my own company.” “And again, I don’t understand why you’d want that,” she said with mounting confusion and aggravation, turning her head to face in the opposite direction as Kabiyou moved to her other side. “You specialize in making dresses that would hang limply from my body if I tried to wear them.” She reached to her side and lightly prodded the Delphox’s side, pinching the crimson cloth of her own dress between her thumb and forefinger. “You’re not going to see me fill out something like this anytime soon with a body as skinny as mine.” “Not with a body like this, no,” Kabiyou replied as her hand moved downward and patted Ivory’s flat abdomen, “but as much as I would love to see you with a little more meat on your bones, I believe there are some alternative options. Imagine, if you will, filling out your clothing not with warm flesh and blood, but rather with…” She stretched her arms out in a circle around her as a dramatic motion. “…an abundance of light, buoyant air.” “Are you suggesting that I do my modeling…while inflated?” Ivory asked curiously, the gears in her brain turning as the mystery began to unravel. “But…but how would that work? Surely people would realize the difference, and once my bosses found out about it they’d fire me in a heartbeat!” “You would certainly be wise to think that, as would I, if you had asked me a few months ago,” Kabiyou said as she finally finished her inspection of Ivory’s body and waddled back to her desk, “but then I discovered something that I believe you will also find particularly interesting.” She gestured at the computer again and the image shown upon it changed to a different one. It showed an incredibly rotund figure, so large that his body almost appeared completely spherical with thick, engorged limbs jutting out from his torso, though their stocky shape didn’t stop him from striking a dynamic action pose. His body was entirely clad in a posh black tuxedo, however improbably it was able to cover a form so massive, a cape billowing out behind him, and there was a white opera mask and a top hat covering his head. “I don’t suppose you’ve seen this man before?” she asked, losing her previous lighthearted jest as she gained a truly serious demeanor, “He’s been making waves in the combat leagues under the title ‘The Masked Gentleman’.” “The name sounds vaguely familiar…” Ivory said, leaning in to get a closer look at the photograph to try to figure out whom or even what was beneath the costume, “but I don’t really follow the league that much; fighting’s too barbaric for my tastes. It’s strange though, with an outfit like that I’d expect him to be working for a fashion agency instead of getting it all scuffed up in combat. What’s so important about him though?” “Well, while you might not be able to tell at first glance from this particular image,” she explained, and with another gesture of her fingers the screen zoomed around the costumed man’s head, which had just enough visible to show its smooth, curved shape with sapphire scales, “he’s actually a Lanturn beneath all that. Lanturns are well known for their ability to absorb electricity, and in some recent matches he’s happened to have a few unfortunate accidents involving other electric opponents, which led to situations like this-” The screen shifted position again, and to Ivory’s shock the next one showed a shot of a stadium arena, at its center a huge blob of blue flesh lying face-down on its own mass with barely discernible limbs jutting out of it, shredded remains of clothes scattered around it with only a stretchy black top and shorts left to cover it. “So…electricity causes him to inflate?” she asked in perplexed amazement. Having spent almost all of her experience with inflation making use of air and other gases, she couldn’t help but wonder what it would feel like to be inflating with pure energy like that. “Precisely!” Kabiyou announced, not unlike a teacher proctoring a student. “That’s not all, however: we have reason to believe that this doesn’t only allow him to get bigger; we believe that this ability is what allowed him to become so large in the first place.” Yet another new image materialized on the computer, this time showing a scene covered in the darkness of night, an urban setting with a building on the other side of a street, the only illumination coming from a nearby streetlight. In front of the concrete façade there were two people walking; one of them was a female Luxray of tremendous size (though seemingly not quite as large as Kabiyou in proportion) wearing rather skimpy clothes, while the other was a much smaller and thinner male Lanturn, who happened to be wearing a rather familiar set of black shirt and shorts with wavy blue trimming. “This photograph was taken outside of the Finest Fatties training facility, the team that the Masked Gentleman is enlisted in,” the Delphox said, and she looked at Ivory with a knowing smirk, “Doesn’t it seem like an astounding coincidence that there would be such a svelte young Lanturn working in a group known to have one far larger running around in an elaborate disguise?” “It does seem rather convenient,” Ivory admitted, the situation finally starting to make sense as everything fell into place, “so with all of this, I’m gathering that you want me to do something like what this Masked Gentleman guy is doing?” Kabiyou nodded in affirmation, though the motion was barely noticeable with how much both her head and neck were enveloped in rolls of fat. “I want you to be my personal blimp model,” she said as she steadily shuffled forward, the computer screen fading to black as she moved away from it, “wearing some of my handpicked designs. Just imagine; you’re walking down the runway, filled to the brim with air, and no one will have the slightest idea who you really are. Doesn’t it sound exciting?” “I…I don’t know,” she replied with an exasperated sigh, crossing her arms beneath her bosom and looking down at herself, her thin body that very neatly filled out the purple dress she wore, “this is an awful lot to take in all at once…I don’t think I can make a decision about this just yet.” Kabiyou hummed to herself in thought, drumming her fingers against her belly. “How about this,” she said as she sidled up beside the Altaria, reaching with one of her engorged arms around her shoulder and pulling her gently into the enormous bulk of her body, “let me show you exactly what I have in mind for you, and then you can decide if it sounds appealing to you. Does that sound more agreeable?” Ivory turned to face her again, having to look upward somewhat to see her slightly higher head and she saw that surprisingly Kabiyou was flashing a smile at her that was not any kind of proud, facetious, or mocking grin; it was a genuine friendly smile that lit up the swollen features of her face. “Well…I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to at least look,” she said, still somewhat uncertain. “That’s the spirit!” she said heartily as she briefly squeezed the blue bird even more tightly against herself, nearly forcing the breath out of her lungs, before turning and starting to waddle away. “Come, follow me, we should be in a more private venue for this.” Ivory coughed a little as she smoothed out the wrinkles in her dress, but she nonetheless fell in line walking behind Kabiyou’s jiggling rear, while she wondered what could possibly be more private than an office as secluded and secure as this was. Together they walked to the wall on the left side of the room, beneath a scroll painted with what looked like a Rayquaza wearing a large, billowing gown that was not quite enough to conceal the generously curvaceous body beneath. The Delphox extended one hand and swept it to the side, and as she did so, the wall swung aside, revealing a dimly lit passage on the other side that led off into darkness. “In here, let’s move quickly,” she said, beckoning with another wave of her hand, “lest we be discovered.” She quickly shuffled through the opening with the thin Altaria in tow, and after they were inside the hidden entrance slid shut behind them with a resounding thud, leaving them surrounded by shadow, the hallway only lit every ten feet or so by a pale fluorescent bulb, although if nothing else it was less of a strain to look at than the omnipresent red glow in the rest of the building. Ivory couldn’t help but feel a little anxious as she was forced to walk at a slow pace so she wouldn’t bump into Kabiyou, who even at her briskest speed was still moving like a glacier of flab and fur, and even if she had wanted to move ahead of her that was an impossibility at this point with the fox’s tremendous mass filling the hallway in its entirety, her swaying breasts coming just barely close to bumping against the walls with each step as her body moved from side to side. Eventually they came out into an open space completely shrouded in black, but Kabiyou fumbled around on the wall close to the entrance and soon enough there was a bright flash of illumination as the lights in the room turned on. “Welcome to my personal work room,” she said proudly as Ivory looked around, turning in circles to survey the whole area bit by bit. The room was octagonal in shape, and even though the walls were painted red it was almost impossible to see any of them because every side was covered with racks upon racks of fabric in all different colors, patterns, and materials. Closer to the center of the room there were several featureless mannequins standing around on the floor at random intervals, each one having a slightly different size or shape – some had round, drooping bellies, others had broad hips and buttocks, and one had breasts that could only be described as blimp-sized – and wearing a different ornate dress. At the very center there was an octagonal table, with each side bearing a different set of tools, such as a drawing board, needles and thread, and a sewing machine, one side left open to give entrance to a large, cushy chair at the middle shaped like a hollowed-out black egg, which Kabiyou now approached. “This is where I work all of my magic,” she said as she sat down in the round chair, her butt and thighs neatly fitting into the opening designated for her and sinking down into the velvety cushions lining its interior, swiveling around so she could face Ivory. “I prefer to keep my designs private until they’re on the market. You should consider yourself lucky, my dear; less than a dozen people even know that this room exists.” While keeping her eyes upon the blue bird, she reached out with her arm to her side and extended her focus, identifying one of the voluptuous mannequins out of the group and lifting it into the air with her mind, placing it down in front of her work table. “Now,” she announced with aplomb, “behold the particular masterpiece of my collection that I have in mind for you to wear.” This statue was especially rotund, a practically spherical body dominated by a swollen belly with a chest and thighs that perfectly accentuated its figure, a kind of shape that Ivory would frequently find herself in after inhaling a canister or two of compressed air. It was girded with a dress stitched from deep purple fabric, not unlike the garment she currently wore, with white swirling patterns that somewhat resembled the outline of clouds, its upper half stretched wide over the broad surface of its belly and just over the top of the bust to leave a decent amount of cleavage visible. The skirt, however, wasn’t content with simply draping over the legs, instead flaring out in a broad fan in all directions, enough that one looking from behind might think the wearer’s hips were twice as big as they really were, but from the front the dress was open to reveal the thick legs beneath and the lacy black stockings reaching all the way up to the thighs, similar to the black elbow-length gloves over the arms. “Oh my…” Ivory said, holding a hand up to her beak as she gaped in awe at the outfit, not only the superb design that looked like it had been cater-made specifically to her liking, but also the perfect way it accentuated the body wearing it, all those curves filling out the cloth confines so well. And this was only on a stiff, lifeless dummy; she immediately began to wonder what it would look like on a living body, especially on her own. “It certainly does look impressive,” she said, trying her best to downplay her interest and remain professional about this exchange as she circled around it, inspecting every inch of carefully crafted detail, “but…how exactly am I going to try it on? I’m going to have to get pretty big to fill out something like this.” Kabiyou laughed from her personal throne, and she leaned to the side, using her arm to prop up her doughy chin above the broad shelf of her chest, as she said, “Really, after all this, did you think I’d neglect a detail like that? Here, I believe these will be of use to you-” With a gesture of her hand, three long, cylindrical, metal objects appeared from beneath her table and floated over to Ivory, the air canisters placing themselves obediently at her feet, the pressure meters on top of them reading full – one of them even already had a rubber hose attached to it. As the Altaria looked down at them with amazement and steadily growing excitement, there was another dull thump as a folding wooden screen landed on the floor, separating her from Kabiyou. “I suppose you would like to have some privacy while you change,” she said from the other side of the portable wall, “so please, take your time with getting ready.” Even though her privacy was assured, Ivory couldn’t help but feel a tad hesitant about disrobing when the request had been given to her so abruptly, let alone when she was still in a wide open room instead of a more personal space like her own bedroom back home. Nevertheless, she swallowed her doubts and began the process of stripping off her own dress, bending and stretching her arm so that she could reach behind her back and tug down a small, barely noticeable zipper starting beneath her shoulder blades, letting the top of the dress fall slack and leave her bouncing bosom bare, though with the cloudy down covering her torso her nipples were almost completely hidden from view. She then pulled the purple garment over her head, the world momentarily going dark before the long folds ceased contact with her completely and she felt her whole body touched by cool air, her tail feathers hanging limply behind her, and she hung the discarded dress over the top of the blind. When she turned to face the objects that had been given to her, she realized that she was faced with a dilemma – how should she go about wearing a dress for a woman over twice as big as she was currently? If she tried to wear it now it would just fall off of her, but at the same time she knew that if she inflated herself first there was the risk that she would overshoot the designated size and wind up too big to fit, which was a definite possibility with how easily she could become distracted by the sensations of growth in the midst of her ballooning sessions. It would be difficult, but she decided it would be best to try to put the clothes on first and then start puffing up, allowing herself to reach just the right size to fill it out completely. She first took off the gloves from the pale statue and slid them over her own arms, the silky fabric caressing her skin in such a way that it sent shivers through her spine, before doing the same with the stockings, slipping off her own purple shoes and replacing them with the glossy black high heels that came with the long socks. Getting the dress off of the mannequin, however, appeared far more difficult, its straightened arms positioned in such a way that it seemed lifting it past them would be impossible, but as she held one of them in her feathery hands it suddenly bent upward at the shoulder, seemingly made of some kind of flexible material. With those obstacles out of the way she was able to lift the outfit over the dummy’s head as she had done with her own, finding that, as it pulled over the round white belly, the waistband stretched out, evidently elastic enough that it would be able to withstand a little extra girth if necessary. As expected, when she held out the dress in front of her it was significantly wider than her current figure, the broad skirt even wider still, and when she turned it around and upside-down, peering into the opening for the wearer to push themselves through, the inside was like a gaping tunnel. Without further ado, she pulled the large mass of fabric over her head, arms popping out of the sides of the top once it was fully covering her, and she quickly found that she had to keep it forcefully pressed against her body in order to prevent it from falling straight down – the dress was surprisingly heavy, most likely a result of the material used to keep the skirt so rigid. The task would be difficult, but she was now approaching the part that would make it all worth it as she eyed the shiny cylindrical tanks beside her, the hose attached to one of them looking so enticing. She reached down to the long rubber tube and the corresponding canister, taking care to avoid knocking it over with the broad reaches of the dress’s lower half, feeling giddy with excitement as she brought the opening up to her mouth and pushed it inside, resting just over her tongue, the sharp edges of her beak keeping it clenched in place, and her hand was almost trembling as she eagerly twisted the valve open. There was a low hiss as the gases began to flow, and instantly she felt a wave of relaxation fall over her while the air rushed down her throat and began to fill her stomach and lungs, soothing her insides; she had to stifle the urge to let out a sigh of relief, lest she let go of the house and lose precious liters of air. As she continued to inhale, a round dome began to press out from her previously flat abdomen, filling out the limp cloth folds of the dress so that it no longer only hung from her body, and one of her hands reached down to lovingly stroke the growing mass of her belly, quickly approaching the size and shape of a pregnant woman’s gut. She could soon feel the expansion spreading throughout the rest of her figure, her waist widening to accommodate the growing mass of her hips and thighs, her buttocks rounding out further, and as her cloud-like bosom filled out even larger she guided the swelling globes so that they properly filled out the top of the dress. She closed her eyes and let the euphoria of the moment overwhelm her, continuing to stroke her ballooning body, kneading the puffy flesh through the cloth as it gradually grew more and more taut over her, becoming almost like a second skin. “Are you almost done in there?” Kabiyou called from the other side of the screen, her pleasant demeanor beginning to fade as her ability to occupy herself by looking at her painted nails and impressive cleavage diminished. There was no response from Ivory, only the continued, very faint hiss of leaking gases. She reached out and began to telekinetically lift up the folding barrier, only by a few inches to see if it would elicit any kind of reaction, but there was still nothing new to be heard. “I choose to take your silence as having no objections to being seen,” she announced, raising her voice to make sure she was being heard, and when she once again heard nothing back she flicked her wrist to the side and the screen abruptly jerked in that direction. The Altaria could now really only be said to resemble the woman she had once been in the form of her head as she turned to face Kabiyou, retaining her white hair and twinkling blue eyes, and even that had been somewhat altered by her cheeks puffing out into round pouches as she swallowed the last of the air. Her body which had once sported a slender hourglass shape now curved in exactly the opposite direction, her concave sides bulging outward just as her gut jutted forward, forming a huge, swollen midsection that truly appeared appropriate for a living balloon such as her. Her breasts had pumped up to over twice the size they had been before, globes of white down the size of basketballs that fit snugly in the confines of her top, and her legs appeared all the more shapely with the extra air filling her luscious blue thighs. The amethyst dress fit her perfectly, her body having swelled just enough to fill out its dimensions, neither appearing slack nor bulging over the edges, wispy white patterns stretched over the surface of her belly and bosom, and the flared frame of the skirt wobbled with her hips as she moved. Ivory let out a deep sigh of relief as she pulled the hose out of her beak and cranked the nozzle of the tank shut again, the meter reading that it was almost empty – as much as she would have liked to drain the rest of it, and all the rest of these canisters as well, she knew she would have to restrain herself for now. She rested her hands over her belly, the feeling of tautness and lightness that spread all throughout her instilling her with relaxed pleasure and it was further amplified by the sensation of the cloth wrapped all around her, tickling her sensitive skin. It was all enough that she was even able to forget about Kabiyou’s impatient badgering for the moment. “Oh…yes…oh, yes!” the Delphox exclaimed in marvel, turning around in her chair before waddling as fast as she could out from and around her ringed desk, coming up to Ivory with an excited grin that creased into the sides of her fleshy jowls. “You look simply wonderful, darling!” she said as she reached out and tenderly touched the surface of her body, tracing over the taut surface and occasionally pressing into it, feeling the tension beneath her skin, while she snickered slightly from the tickling sensations this contact produced. “The gown looks even better on a real body than when it’s entirely static! Oh, but far be it from me to put words in your mouth for you; tell me, how do you feel?” “I…I think I feel just as wonderful,” she said, looking back at her with a smile of her own, calm delight filling her just as much as the air was. “I’ve never been able to wear clothes while inflated before.” She placed her hands against the sides of her bust, lightly squeezing the white orbs together as she felt the gentle rim of the dress’s neckline, and she chuckled to herself. “Of course, that was because I didn’t have any clothes that would be able to fit me. I’m amazed you were able to make something that fits me so well before you even met me.” “Please, that was child’s play,” Kabiyou bragged as she now traced downward over the wide lower hem of the dress, “all I had to do was study your figure in that photograph; I’ll have you know that I have a keen eye for proportions. Still…” She backed away, crossing her arms over her chest with one hand placed against her doughy chin. “I feel like there’s something missing…” “What do you mean?” Ivory asked, enough confusion breaking through her state of bliss for her smile to flatten out somewhat. “You may look the part of a heavyweight model,” the Delphox said, turning around so she could look around the cluttered room, “but if you’re going to keep this a secret, you’re going to need a true disguise. Like the Masked Gentleman, you must create a new persona for yourself.” She eventually extended her arm and something flew from one of the mannequins to her grasp, and she turned around to present it to Ivory, a small white mask tipped with colorful feathers, which she put over her head and strapped it in place. As she fiddled with the mask’s position so she could properly see through the eyeholes, Kabiyou took her hand and turned her around, gently leading her over to a giant mirror on one side of the room, next to the door, its reflective surface wide enough to contain both of the rotund women in its frame. Upon seeing her image in the polished surface, she couldn’t help but grin again at the sight of her rounded curves and swollen figure, and she struck a pose with her hip pushed forward, her torso lowered just enough to give a good view of her cleavage; she really did look as good as she felt. “I don’t suppose I could call myself…the Blimp Beauty?” she asked with a chuckle, sticking her purple tongue out from her beak as she clutched her belly in her arms. “That’s far too simple,” Kabiyou scoffed in reply, “a lady like you needs something proper, something like…” She gently touched the silvery markings on Ivory’s dress, their rounded outlines mimicking the shape of the white fluff covering her chest and shoulders. “Cloud Mistress!” “Closer…” Ivory said as she scratched one of her white cheeks, “but I think it still sounds a little too plain.” Glancing to the side, she noticed next to the mirror a series of shelves upon which were placed mannequin heads, upon each of which was placed a different kind of headwear. A particular hat caught her eye, a small top hat with violet stripes running up its length, and right next to it there was another head bearing a brilliant tiara fashioned from pale silver and round opal gems. She took up both of them, placing the tiara neatly around the main body of the hat as she sauntered back to the mirror, and as she perched the combined crown on her head she asked Kabiyou with a sly smirk, “How about…Queen Cumulo?” The Delphox returned her own devious grin as she hooked her arm around the Altaria’s shoulder and pulled her close again, her inflated body now big enough that she was able to equally squish against the enormous fox’s flabby mass. “This,” she said with a fiery glimmer in her eyes, “is the beginning of a fantastic new life for you.”