Randy screamed for help as he was dragged from his guard post into the back of the large moving van. He knew about Hardhead. He'd been ready to pull his gun on the large boar as soon as he saw that red singlet illuminated underneath the streetlight. For his part, the small ram had made a valiant effort at protecting the warehouse. He'd managed to unload an entire pistol clip into Hardhead's arm, and even managed to fire off his tazer before he'd been grabbed. The bullets had plinked harmlessly off the boar's muscles, though, and the dart prongs had bent on his skin as if Randy had tried to electrocute a boulder. Really, if anything, the slight jolt he'd given Hardhead had only seemed to make the boar give that much more attention to how hard he was squeezing his shoulder.

The security guard was thrown so hard into the back of the vehicle's truck that he heard his nubby little horns clatter against the metal right before he passed out. When he came to again, the first thing he realized is that everything smelled like sweat and musk. The second was that he was face-down in a pile of jockstraps. The third was that something big was above him.

He twisted around and screamed as he saw that Hardhead loomed above him. The boar reached down and grabbed Randy again with one of his big hands, holding him up so that the ram's blonde hair brushed against the roof. "Rise and shine!"

"I-I swear, if you just let me go..." Randy stuttered out. "I'll... I know when a shipment's coming in..."

"Do you think I give a crap about some cheap TVs? Wh... oh, I see." Hardhead grins. "You must not have heard about what I've been up to lately. I'm goin' prime-time!"

"What does this have to do with me?" Randy asked as he looked to the side and saw that he was next to... a large golden set of scales held up by a black-rock jackal statue? What?

"Eyes over here, buddy." Hardhead yanked the ram's head back so that their eyes were locked again. "What that means for you is that you're more valuable than the time it would take to load a buncha electronics into the back of this truck. Now don't that make ya feel special or what?"

The boar turned and dropped Randy into one of the scale's plates. "If you don't want to eat your applesauce through a straw for the rest of your life, you're gonna hold still while I get this set up." The ram shuddered as he fell back onto the dish harder, which sent it down to the floor. At this point, he would do anything the boar wanted. If he could not shoot him down, after all, what hope did he have trying to match his scrawny little arms to that physique?

"Now, these scales are really something special!" Hardhead said as he grabbed the pile of jockstraps up between his arms and brought them over to the other plate. "Had ta break 'em out of a museum and then a rich guy's house to keep 'em, and then I had to track down the statue again... but man was it worth it!"

There was no way all that underwear matched his b- Randy froze in position on the scale. A nauseous feeling overwhelmed him as he realized that some invisible force was holding him in place. A blue pulse of energy suddenly rose up around him, which only made him feel even worse. His dish rose and bounced until he was at level with the other plate. Despite everything, all he could think about was... Did he seriously weigh as much as a pile of underwear?

"Don't feel too bad about your body. I mean, yeah, you look like a pole right now... you coulda done better there. What, are they hiring anyone as rent-a-cops these days?" Hardhead asked as something kicked Randy out of the scales and onto his face. "The Scales of Balance are gonna take care of that real quickly, though..."

If Randy'd learned anything from living in Empire City, it was to fear those kind of statements. Before he could start screaming at the boar for putting him into a body-altering experience, that experience hit him hard. The ram could feel it start around his middle. The tingling slowly rushed out from his abs, sculpting and redefining its look to give him a stronger core and wider frame as it spread to his arms and legs. His thighs were already pretty big as is... but now they were getting toned up, growing more powerful to hold the body he was going to have.

Despite the situation, Randy felt almost pleased. After all, when he looked to his arms and saw they were starting to press against his white work shirt's sleeves... when he saw how much more solid they were as they ripped the stitching apart to showcase themselves through growing oval gaps in the cloth... he couldn't help but tell himself that this is what he'd wanted for a while, ever since he'd stopped developing around a month after his nineteeth birthday.

"These things transfer essence to people. I always used ta think that was just a fancy word for jizz, but it sounds like it's really just what makes a person who they are. So, now ya got a little bit of me in you." Hardhead said.

For his part, Randy enjoyed having a bit of Hardhead in him. He didn't feel like he was getting the density-control he'd read about in that newsletter that the company made him read... but holy crap, his arms were becoming huge! He flexed one of them as he got up to his feet and saw the bicep rising with his movement before the arm pulsed and even more size was added onto it and the other one. His pecs, also, were surging forwards, and the buttons on his shirt were the casualties of their charge. They popped off quickly, torn between those growing pectorals and the increasingly prominent abs below and unable to take the growing pressure.

Speaking of growing pressure, something in his head was... urgh... Randy brought a larger hand to his head and rubbed it into his temples as things got all... tight... and stuff... His horns pushed forwards out of his head, thickening up as they began to curl around. They put on size and spiralled to the sides of his head before they dived down and turned out again. He felt virile and powerful, but his head felt so small... no, his mind... brain was shrinking. Something was getting slower in his head, and it was harder to remember why he was wearing a guard uniform, even though he was now bursting out of the pants too as his legs tore their coverings to shreds, and...

"Uhhh..." The ram, who had put on a good foot of height and about seventy pounds of new muscle in a matter of moments, looked to Hardhead, and tried to put thoughts together in his head. "I feel kinda... confused... why are we in a car right now?"

"Because I need new henchmen, and you fit the part now!" The boar grinned as he explained what Randy's new role in life was. "You're gonna join the rest of the guys I picked up over the last few weeks back at my place and then we're gonna stir some crap up, got it?"

That felt... right. Like it filled a sense of purpose the ram needed now. He wasn't good at making decisions for himself. Not when he wasn't so smart anymore. Randy gave a big, vacant smile back and nodded. "Sure."

"And don't worry!" Hardhead added as he tapped the side of the van and it began to drive away. "I figured out how to make this thing work for longer. More essence means more time as a musclehead for ya, big guy."

If there was anything he could remember, it was that Randy hated being small. If staying this size meant being dumber, then that was a fair trade.

---

Colored up my picture of Hardhead that I got from  furii a while back. I'm getting good at this!

Hey, remember when I said I would post these the day after Easter? What the fuck happened to that?! :D

Hardhead and the Empire City setting belongs to  blackjackaught.