This story for  ShinyTotodude has been long overdue, but I finally finished! It's a story of Shiny's adventures in the Balloon Area~ Enjoy, everyone!

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The Sky Zone, by Sai Ninetales

A light-blue Totodile skipped merrily off a Wailord’s back onto a large island, his new Vaporeon friend trailing behind him a few feet. A black leather jacket trailed behind the gator, flapping in the air like a cape as it tried to keep up with its owner’s bouncy, almost dancing gait. His big, red eyes flicked up to the massive bubbly letters arcing over the front gate, labelling the park the “Balloon Area”.

This Totodile, known to his friends as Shiny, felt a thrill of excitement. After passing through a magic poster portal advertising the park, Shiny had been more than excited to see what sort of squeaky, air-filled wonders awaited him within.

“Well, we’re here,” Marina said in a shaky voice. The Vaporeon that Shiny had met on the Wailord’s ferry to the island was anxious about being around so many unfamiliar Pokémon, having grown up in a relatively secluded forest. Her first visit to the Area didn’t last long, as she was too frightened to really enjoy herself. But she loved balloons and other inflatable toys, so Shiny, despite his own lack of familiarity with the Balloon Area, promised to show her around and help her feel comfortable.

“That we are!” Shiny said at about half his regular volume. Marina was also sensitive to loud voices, so he toned it down for her. “You ready for the best time of your life?”

“Oh, I don’t know about that…” Marina looked away, but she still smiled.

“Nah, this’ll be great! Come on, Marina!” Shiny yanked her forepaw forward, pulling her into the park behind him. No sooner did he pass through the gates then the gator felt enveloped by a strange energy. He cringed for a moment as it overtook him, and with a puff of smoke… he became a balloonie!

Marina yelped at his sudden transformation. “Woah! What happened?”

“You know, I’m not too sure!” Shiny admitted, squeaking lightly as he looked over his rubbery, translucent body. “All of a sudden I got hit with this magic energy thing and got turned into a balloonie again!”

“Again? I thought you said you’ve never been here before!” Marina tilted her head curiously.

“I haven’t, but transformation just seems to happen to me a lot,” Shiny waved it off casually. “I have quite the interesting job back in my hometown!”

“I can imagine,” Marina chuckled. She pawed closer to the balloonadile, looking him over from the jacket and bandana that were now painted on his rubbery skin to the little knot at the end of his tail. “From what everyone told me last time, the only way you could turn into a balloonie or inflatable here is if you get inflated first.”

“Huh!” Shiny thought to himself for a moment, one paw beneath his jaw. “Maybe my own transformation abilities got kickstarted by the magic that’s already here?” Marina could only shrug in response. “Well, no matter what caused it, I’m a fan! Now come on, let’s see what this park has to offer.” Shiny squeaked his way over to a nearby kiosk and snatched a brochure from it. He gingerly opened the paper to the park map, taking care not to cut his thin latex skin on its edge.

“So… it looks like there’s a whole bunch of things we can do!” Shiny exclaimed, quickly scanned the paper for potential attractions while his air-filled tail wagged behind him. “Ooh, there’s a big advertisement here for Rayquaza’s Sky Zone, a second park a thousand feet in the air that’s all upside-down!”

“How would we get up there?” Marina asked.

“Maybe we could blow up with helium and float up there?” Shiny offered.

“Maybe…” Marina nodded. “But I’d like to see if there’s anything else we can try, if you don’t mind.”

“Of course not! Okay, let’s see, what else is there... Oh, hey, look at this! Ditto’s Transformation Inflation Station!”

“Somebody had fun naming that,” Marina chuckled.

“‘Bigger AND Better!’” Shiny quoted from its rather brief description. “ Sound fun, Marina?”

“Yeah, we can try that,” Marina nodded. “Where is it?”

“Just up the path here!” Shiny pointed with a shiny paw to a street used by many a patron, big and small. The two wended their way through the crowd, passing by all sorts of species from kangaroos to Krookodile and everything in between. After squeaking between two balloonie Arcanine, Shiny and Marina found themselves at their destination.

The wide, open entrance led to a canvassed floor covered in every color of latex paint there was. Shiny saw rich reds juxtaposed by vivid blues, bright browns, and shiny yellows, deep greens, and every other color of the rainbow and beyond. The room itself was enormous, rivalling most homes and some airplane hangars in sheer size.

Against the left wall was an inflatable Servine in the standard employee’s blue vest taking stock of the rows and rows of paint cans lining the room. As he heard Shiny and Marina approach, he turned to face them, in the process transforming into a cheerful balloonie Braixen. “Welcome to Ditto’s Transformation Inflation Station! I’m the Ditto, in case you couldn’t tell,” he chuckled. “My friends call me Art, but you can call me Art! So. may I help you two?”

“Yes, please!” Shiny smiled. “What is it that we can do here?”

“I’m glad you asked,” the now-Feraligatr said. “But instead of tell you, why don’t I just show you?”

“Sure!” Shiny replied. “I love surprises!”

“Um…” Marina took a step back, shaking nervously.

“Come on, Marina, you can do it!” Shiny insisted, placing a paw on her shoulder for support. “It’ll be great, I just know it!”

“Well…” the Vaporeon thought to herself for a moment before stiffening with resolve. “Okay! I’ll do it!”

“Great to hear!” Art the inflatable Lucario replied, spinning back around to his paint cans. “Now, let’s see, what should I use for you two…? Oh! I nearly forgot.” He spun back around, snatching two helium tanks with surprisingly long coiled hoses from the bottom shelf and placing them before the two, simultaneously transforming into an Umbreon to match their heights. “Put this in your mouth,” he said, offering a nozzle to each of them. “You’ll need it in a little bit once I finish.” Shiny complied immediately, snapping up the hose into his balloonie jaws. Marina hesitated a moment, but she, too, bit down on her nozzle.

“Excellent! Let me get started, then!” the Ditto exclaimed, turning back into a Lucario. He examined many a paint can, reading its label before looking back at Shiny and his friend and muttering about how it wasn’t right. After many rejections, he finally smiled and loudly exclaimed, “I’ve got it! Oh, I’ve got BIG plans for you two!” Art popped open a can of red latex paint and splashed it all over Shiny. The gooey paint seemed to slide right off the hose, but stick to the Totodile, dripping down to his paws in globs of liquid latex. Shiny wiped away the paint from his balloonie eyes (thankfully not sensitive, being just splotches of ink) in time to see him do the same to Marina, this time with lavender-colored paint.

“H-hey! What was that for?” Marina demanded around the hose in her mouth.

“Trust me, dear!” the Lucario laughed, using a paw to splash a lighter purple around her sides. “This will be great!”

Whether Marina didn’t respond from accepting the paint or simply being covered in it, she seemed to stop resisting, at least. Art continued to pick out different shades, splashing either Shiny or Marina with globs of paint until Shiny was wholly consumed by the latex, unable to see or really move. Yet still Art piled more and more paint on until the little Totodile began to get weighed down by the amount of rubber covering him from head to toe, slowly dripping as liquid latex tends to do. Finally Art slowed down. Shiny could still feel a few more dabs of paint being applied here and there on his increasingly formless body, but the breaks between painting grew longer and longer until they stopped entirely.

Then a powerful gust of helium forced itself into the Totodile, quickly blowing him up to twice, three times, four times his normal size and beyond. All the latex paint that had stuck to his body started to stretch out into a new form, one with powerful hind legs but short arms. His face grew a thick, strong muzzle and he could feel a tail growing from his backside while a crest inflated right between his shoulders.

Finally Shiny managed to open his eyes, finding them far bigger and higher off the ground than he remembered. He stifled a gasp. He had become a Tyrantrum balloon, and a huge one at that! While his helium tank continued to inflate him larger and larger, fifteen feet tall and beyond, Shiny looked over his new form as best as he could.

His aquamarine skin had been replaced with red latex mottled with yellow and a white underbelly. His arms and legs ended in puffy, black claws that Shiny reckoned couldn’t poke a hole in a piece of paper, being hollow and squishy as balloons tend to be. His fierce yellow eyebrows were made a little less fierce by his delighted expression and overall ballooniness, and his thick, brutal jaw smiled with glee. The Tyrantrum was still a playful Totodude at heart, after all.

He looked over to Marina, an equally massive Goodra balloon. She looked over her new body with a bemused smile, from her big, round belly to her wide, curled tail. She rested against the far wall while helium continued to blow her up.

Shiny nearly opened his mouth to talk, but remembered that there was still some helium left. Actually, there was a stunning amount of helium left, given the small size of the tank.

“Like my magic helium tanks?” Art flew up level with Shiny, this time as a Flygon balloon. “They automatically refill themselves every night, and they hold a whole building’s worth of helium when full!”

Shiny simply nodded enthusiastically as he felt ever lighter. A few moments later he was lifted into the air, slowly rising up to rest with his back against the ceiling, Once he was nearly twenty-five feet long, Art the Lucario turned off the flow of helium, and Shiny finally opened his jaw to let the hose drop back down to the floor.

“This is so totodily awesome!” Shiny declared with a much deeper voice. He couldn’t help but chuckle to himself at how different he sounded, a low, rumbling sound that only made him laugh harder.

“Yeah, this is actually pretty nice,” Marina agreed, rubbing her squeaking, pudgy belly with her new Goodra paws. “So huge and puffy… I can’t believe I haven’t tried this before!”

“You like it?” Art smiled a Braixen’s smile far below. When both parade dragons nodded squeakily, he did a jump for joy. “That’s just what I wanted to here! You know, you two can probably get bigger than you are now, but I had to save some helium for the other patrons who might want to get a new “perspective” on things. But hey, that means you’ve got enough room in you to make it up to the Sky Zone without bursting!”

“They Sky Zone!” Shiny exclaimed with glee. “I read about that and it looks super fun.”

“Yeah, I think I’d like to go there myself,” Marina said, floating lazily against the ceiling. Her confidence stunned the new Tyrantrum.

“Just keep in mind that you simply have to deflate down to your original size to turn back to normal, but you can come back to me any time for another transformation!” Art mentioned, shapeshifting into a Noivern pooltoy and fluttering over to the wall opposite the entrance. “Now, parade balloons like you two tend take up a lot of space, so I taught my Noivern form Gust to blow them out and back into the park. So if you’re all set to go, I’ll send you off the Sky Zone!”

“Let’s go!” Marina said before Shiny had a chance to speak. Art proceeded to flap his wings wildly, creating huge gusts of wind that blew Shiny back towards the entrance, who collided into Marina with a series of squeaks. Marina simply laughed and angled herself to better fit through the entrance, and with a loud final squeak she pushed through to float up into the air. Forced out by Art’s powerful winds, Shiny soon found slowly himself drifting upward alongside Marina.

“Hey, dude, what happened to you in there?” Shiny asked in a booming voice. This would definitely take a few minutes to get used to. “You used to be all shy, but as soon as Art blew you up into a big balloonie Goodra you got so confident in yourself!”

Marina laughed. “I don’t know! There’s something about this new form, how it’s so big and strong and relaxingly tight. No one can hurt me now! Well, maybe a someone with a well-placed needle could, but I don’t think I’d mind popping either!”

“That’s totodily awesome to hear, Marina!” Shiny grinned, listening to the oddly comfortable creaking noises their bodies made as the drop in pressure inflated them even larger. “Being a big dragon balloonie is just the best!”

“You said it!” Marina agreed, twisting in mid-air to float belly-up. Suddenly her eyes widened. “Shiny, look!”

The massive Tyrantrum balloon turned around himself to see the sky above him rippling with some sort of energy. Suddenly it grew blindly bright, then faded to reveal another section of the park hovering in midair. They had reached the Sky Zone!

Everything in the zone was upside-down. Street lamps hang from the concrete like bats and buildings had their doors on the top floors and their roofs far below. Curiously, everything seemed as dark as twilight despite the bright world below. Shiny then realized that the sun was above the park, so of course it couldn’t light it up from the other side! Upside-down ledges and platforms also dotted the park on and around the buildings, and the dragons saw patrons in various stages of inflation use them to bounce around the zone. As they floated up closer, Shiny saw other balloonies and inflatables use air currents generated by the sidewalks to simply float through the zone to their destination.

Once they landed on the street above Shiny and Marina did their best to reorient to “up” becoming “down”. Curious, Shiny looked up to an awesome sight. The whole Balloon Area was laid out beneath them! The island was appropriately shaped like an Mew balloonie with a massive belly, with the entrance to the island guiding visitors into the Mew’s tail nozzle. Shiny shivered with excitement. He couldn’t wait to see the rest of it! But first thing’s first, of course. There was the Sky Zone to explore!

“Marina, I hope you don’t mind, but I’d like to turn back to normal,” Shiny said, opening his mouth to exhale an enormous gust of helium. “Being a Tyrantrum for a little bit was super-fun, but so is being a Totodude, you know?”

“I can understand that,” Marina smiled. “But if it’s all the same to you, I’d like to stay a big Goodra, I think.”

“Aww, Marina!” Shiny frowned, stepping a little closer to hug her while he still could. “But you’re such a sweet and lovely Vaporeon! It’s important to love who you are deep down, you know!”

“Oh, Shiny…” Marina blushed deeply and hugged him back. “That means a lot to me, really! Don’t worry; I really do love my regular Vaporeon self, but this Goodra form is just fun to have! I’ll turn back to normal later on, but for now I’d like to enjoy Art’s gift.”

Shiny thought to himself and nodded. “Sounds good to me! Now I’ve gotta get deflating!”

Shiny once more opened his maw to expel all the helium trapped within him. Brick-red latex gradually became blue, arms lengthened and legs shrank, and after a minute of deflation a small, giddy Totodile looked over his proper form, ensuring that every bit of him was exactly how it should be. He noticed he was still floating up against the street-- he guessed the helium he had left was more enough to keep him buoyant. Then again, watching as the leaves fell up towards the park, he deduced there was something magical in the air.

He waved goodbye to Marina for now and promised her they would meet up later, then he jumped on the sidewalk, a long metal grate covering a set of fans that gently pushed Shiny a couple feet into the air and along the path. Shiny giggled and laughed in the air stream that pushed him forward, flipping and twisting around and laughing in the weightless conditions. He gave many a high-five to passersby, sometimes striking up a chat with a fellow inflatable, wishing them well once their paths split.

After spending a while staring up at the planet above him, marvelling at his new perspective, Shiny found himself deposited off the “sidefloat” before a concrete building colorfully labeled “Bouncy House Apartments”. If that didn’t sound fun, Shiny didn’t know what did! He merrily skipped inside, his stride greatly lengthened by his balloonie form.

Inside, the concrete was shown to be hiding a building with walls, floor, and ceiling alike all inflated and lightly hissing as any bouncy house should. Standing beside the entrance, two Wigglytuff employees in blue vests waved at him. There was something off about them, but Shiny couldn’t put his finger on it. “Welcome to Bouncy House Apartments, the world’s first multi-storied bouncy house!” the first recited.

“Here you can bounce all over the many floors of our puffy building to your heart’s content!” The second smiled. “But before you go in, would you like an Inflation Band?”

“What’s that?” Shiny asked.

“An Inflation Band is a special wristband we can put on you while you play here. There’s a button on it that, when pressed, lets you inflate just a little every time you touch a wall! It’s great fun to see just how big you can get!”

“I’d love one!” Shiny exclaimed, his tail wagging as he skipped closer to them.

“Of course, sir,” The second Wigglytuff nodded, extracting a silvery strip from her vest pocket. As Shiny presented his right arm, the Wigglytuff curled it around his wrist, keeping it snug but not too tight.

She proceeded to point to the little red light on the bracelet. “Just touch that to activate the magic, so that for as long as you’re touching the walls, you’ll get a little bigger! Oh, and if you end up popping, the bracelet will just reappear on your wrist once you re-inflate yourself.” Shiny experimentally tapped the light, turning it green. His belly suddenly puffed out a couple inches, causing him to giggle and turn it off again (for now).

“Looks like you got the hang of it!” The first Wigglytuff laughed along.

“Yep! Thanks, dudes!” Shiny switched off the Inflation Band (for now) and sprang past the employees. Just before he entered the bounce house proper, he realized what was strange about them.

“Wait a second, you two aren’t balloonies or inflatables!” he exclaimed, turning back around. “How are you staying up here in the Sky Zone?”

“Oh, we Wigglytuff aren’t called the Balloon Pokémon for nothing, you know!” the first laughed. “We can fill ourselves with helium without needing to get all rubbery first; it’s just who we are!”

“Oh, of course!” Shiny nodded. “That’s totodily awesome, you know!”

“Oh, thank you!” she replied, a small blush forming on her cheeks. “Enjoy yourself, okay?”

“I will!” And with that, Shiny jumped right into the attraction!

The building seemed much bigger on the inside, what with how much room there was to jump and play. Visitors of all species bounced around and laughed, playing games ranging from tag to bouncy races to tossing their inflated friends around. Shiny soon found himself in a game of tag when a laughing, big-bellied balloonie kangaroo crashed into him from above, declaring that Shiny was “it”.

“Oh, you’re on, dude!” Shiny declared, bouncing after him. The kangaroo was surprisingly agile for his girth, dodging many other patrons that Shiny crashed into with many a squeak, but that was all part of the fun! Shiny soon learned how to navigate the bouncy conditions of the attraction, and in no time at all he managed to ambush his kangaroo playmate, who had tried to escape to the next floor and catch a breath.

“Gotcha!” Shiny declared, tackling the kangaroo in a balloony hug.

“Ahh, you got me!” the kangaroo laughed, falling over.

“You guys playing tag?” a Liepard pooltoy arrived, looking excited.

“Yep, and you’re it!” the kangaroo cried, lunging at the cat.

The Liepard was too fast for the kangaroo, though, and she merely jumped right over him, leaving him to bounce back further into the second floor. Suddenly a jet of air from a small hole in the wall sent him flying into the opposite side and causing him to bounce all over the room, eliciting a squeak and a soft thrumming sound with every hit. Shiny laughed with him as he struggled to reorient himself, but in a flash he had angled a bounce just right, flying straight into the toy Liepard before she could react.

She let out a little squeak as the rounded kangaroo collided with her, sending them both ricocheting off the corner near the hole between rooms. The vinyl cat got back to her paws, chasing after the balloonie ‘roo who had tried to escape deeper into the floor, trying to keep bouncing despite the air jets pushing him this way and that.

Shiny thought he was safe, so he sat down to watch the two chase one another. But suddenly, his Liepard friend turned on a dime, switching from chasing the kangaroo to Shiny! The Totodile quickly sprang up out of the way, and when she jumped up too, Shiny sprang off the wall just above a lazily floating and quite inflated Espeon balloon.

His plan worked--like the kangaroo had done with him just a few minutes before, he got his friend to crash right into the Espeon, sending her flying back as she landed in his trampoline of a belly. But Shiny knew she wouldn’t be far behind, and so he continued to bounce away.

Out of nowhere a jet of air blasted him from beneath, sending him up to the ceiling and bouncing back to the floor and off the walls. Shiny couldn’t help but laugh merrily as he was thrown about, thinking that he had recovered only to get pushed around again by another jet. Over time, though, he started to feel somewhat puffy; his belly had inflated like a beach ball at that! Straining to see straight as he whirled around the room like a bouncy ball, he noticed that his Inflation Band had somehow gotten turned on, and he had been inflating the whole time!

Each time Shiny hit a wall, he swelled up just a little more. He didn’t think those brief collisions would add up so quickly, but sure enough, they blew him up better than most bicycle pumps. Soon he was struggling to reach all the way around his belly, and just a couple bounces later he realized that there was no way he could reach his Inflation Band to turn it off.

But the unflappable Totodile didn’t mind; blowing up was part of the fun, too! In his enlarged state, it was easy for the Liepard to catch up to him and tackle him to the ground. With so much of him against the floor, he started to expand faster than ever.

“Blowing yourself up might make you bouncier, but it won’t help you catch up!” the inflatable Liepard winked, springing off his belly.

Shiny struggled to get back to his feet and give chase. But between the air jets and his puffy limbs, there was no way he would be able to reach either of his new friends. Furthermore, Shiny noticed that it was getting harder to stay in midair, like he was hitting the ground faster. With a sense of vertigo he realized that because he was, in fact, upside-down, the helium building up inside of him actually made him “heavier” in this reversed area!

Luckily his friends caught on pretty quickly and bounced back to him, halting their game for the moment. “You’re all blown up!” the kangaroo balloon declared.

“That’s right!” Shiny chuckled, now resting on his growing belly.

“In that case, I say we should pause our game of tag for the moment, and play some volleyball!” the kangaroo decided.

“Ooh, I like that,” the Liepard agreed.

“Go for it, dudes!” Shiny exclaimed!

Shiny felt himself being lifted off the ground and with a sound like a drum he was catapulted towards a wall. He caught just a glimpse of purple vinyl before another strike reverberated through his tight rubber body.

He bounced against the walls a few more times before being hit back by the kangaroo. Back and forth the two toys went, playing with Shiny as he swelled larger and larger. Finally, with one last squeak, Shiny realized something important.

He was stuck, sandwiched between the now too-small floor and ceiling.

And not only stuck, but still inflating. With a loudening hiss his overinflated body continued to blow up larger and larger. As his belly swelled up to push against his chin, all the Totodile could see was an ocean of thin blue latex. Shiny expanded outward without room to grow upward, until with a final creak he burst into shreds!

A moment passed, then with a puff of smoke the Totodile reappeared, fully intact, with a contented smile. Popping was always kinda fun, especially since he could just put himself back together like it was nothing. Quickly he turned off his Inflation Band before he blew up again.

“Hey, you’re back already!” Shiny’s kangaroo friend declared.

“That’s obvious,” the Liepard snickered. “But that was really fast, yeah.” Shiny only shrugged, feeling a little shy.

“Anyway, I think we should get back to our game!” the Liepard suggested.

“Well…” The truth was, Shiny had already gotten his fill of these Bouncy Apartments and was ready to move on. “You guys go on without me,” Shiny insisted. “I want to go explore the rest of the Sky Zone! Thanks for playing with me, guys!”

“See you, toto-guy!” the kangaroo waved.

Shiny let out a short laugh. “That’s totodude, my dude!”

“Oh? Well, then, see you, totodude!”

The Totodile waved goodbye to his friends, then exited the building. A short ride on the sidefloat later, Shiny looked ahead to find none other than Marina taking up most of a park, a short line of toy’d patrons before her. He watched curiously as the parade Goodra lifted a balloonie fox to her mouth and blew him up into a big round ball, as if he was just a party balloon. She gently set him down to be rolled away by his friend, then proceeded to do the same with the dragon balloon that was next in line.

“What are you doing, Marina?” Shiny chuckled, calling up to his friend.

She exhaled her helium into the dragon until even her wings were puffy and bloated, then returned the dragon to her friend. Marina looked down to Shiny and smiled. “I figured I was done being so big, but why waste all this helium? It seemed polite to help others get nice and big too, you know? Come on, you too!”

Shiny only had time to squeak in surprise before Marina lifted him up to her muzzle and blew into his mouth, causing the poor Totodude to rapidly expand from his snout to his tail. Marina refused to let up until he was nearly seven feet across. Shiny gave her a chagrined look, to which Marina could only giggle. She laughed until Shiny had no choice but to laugh along, and just like that Shiny didn’t mind being so huge again. Marina set him to her side as she finished puffing up a few more toys. At last she could barely reach the Grovyle pooltoy she was inflating, now just a regular-sized Vaporeon balloonie.

As her final patron bounced away, Marina pawed over to Shiny. “I’ve actually got some more news,” she beamed. “One of those balloonies I inflated gave me two tickets to a pool party being held tonight!”

“A pool party?” Shiny repeated, his ‘dile smile widening as well. “Can I come with you?”

“Of course!” Marina nodded squeakily. “I wouldn’t be here at all if it wasn’t for you; I have to make it up to you somehow, right?”

“Aww, Marina…” Shiny blushed. “It was nothing, really.”

“Not to me,” Marina winked. She glanced at a clock atop one of the attractions, which read 5:50 PM. She gasped. “It starts in ten minutes! We’ve got to get going! Want some help deflating, Shiny?”

“But you just blew me up!” Shiny complained playfully. Marina only scoffed and bounced up to his puffy tail, untying the balloon knot at its end, and Shiny opened his mouth wide and exhaled.

With the help of some of Marina’s biggest hugs, Shiny returned to a normal size… again. With only three minutes left on the clock, the balloonies bounced along the streets, following the map helpfully printed on their tickets. Luckily the pool wasn’t too far away…

But the two had never seen such a magnificent pool. Through the bars surrounding it Shiny saw water extended out nearly to the edge of his view, and off to the side was a table loaded with all sorts of refreshments. Huge speakers lined the pool’s edge, making Shiny giddy with the prospect of dancing on the water’s surface.

The line to get in was pretty long at that, extending back along the street for almost the length of the pool itself. Shiny and Marina excitedly bounced along to the back of the mind, greeting the many toys who seemed just as eager to play in the pool.

A thought nagged at Shiny’s mind, though. “Why is this party so exclusive?” he wondered aloud. “Wouldn’t it be more fun if everybody could party together?”

The inflatable Mightyena ahead of him chuckled. “What sorry toy can’t jump over these bars?”

“Huh?” Marina said.

“It’s not like they’ll pop you or kick you out for jumping in,” the squeaky hyena elaborated. “Anyone who wants to come can!”

“Then… what’s the point of these tickets?” Shiny scratched his head with a rubbery paw.

“Simple--they give you the date and time so you can party right when it starts, and it entitles you to a goodie bag when you come in!” Everyone ahead of them ambled forward, so they all did the same. “Hey, it looks like the party’s about to start!” the Mightyena smiled. “Get your ticket ready so you can exchange it right as you come in.”

Ever so slowly the line shortened, with many balloonies shouting with glee as they jumped into the pool. As Shiny passed by the gate leading in, a Floatzel balloon in a blue vest exchanged his ticket for a small waterproof backpack and wished him a good time at the party. Shiny bounced happily onto the water’s surface alongside Marina before reaching into his bag and grabbing the first item he could reach.

He extracted a rather innocuous white balloon first, and after eyeing it for a couple moments he did what any Totodude would do and blew it up. With each breath the balloon expanded and became shinier… but not just from inflation. The balloon was glowing brighter and brighter the bigger it got. Finally Shiny tied it off and tossed it into the air, only for the balloon to hover to just over his shoulder, illuminating the pool around him.

“That’s really cool!” Marina exclaimed. “Once it gets dark it’ll be really nice to have that following us.”

“I agree,” Shiny said, “but while it’s still light out I think I should just deflate it for now. A few moments later the balloon was safely tucked away in his backpack. He was going to reach for whatever else was inside, but then the music started. He was unfamiliar with the tune, but he couldn’t help but feel his paws bounce and his tail sway to the beat. He could find out what was in his goodie bag later; right now, it was time to dance!

Immediately the Totodile jumped up and started dancing, his twirling, bouncy movements were only accentuated by his light latex form. Marina giggled as she followed his jumpy movements with her eyes. “I didn’t know you were such a dancer!” she said.

Shiny laughed and grabbed her forepaws, getting her to move with him to the beat. “I love to dance! Come on, join the fun!” Marina began dancing her own little jig, and with Shiny’s guiding paws she grew only more confident until she was springing and whirling nearly as much as her Totodile friend.

“You’re right, this is fun!” Marina declared.

Shiny’s dancing proved to be quite infectious. Wherever the Totodude went, he managed to get dudes many times his own height dancing alongside him, transforming their awkward shuffling into confident movements that rivaled his own.

He eventually met up with Marina and the two danced the day away. Whenever the balloonadile looked up he saw all the inflatables near him energetically dancing, many of whom had taken an inspiration from Shiny’s own style, it seemed. The water also grew choppy--while Shiny and the other toys might have been very light, their enthusiastic movements still churned the water into a fine froth.

At the end of one particular track, Shiny took a moment to look around. Many patrons would return his gaze with a smile or wink, which gave Shiny a warm feeling in his air-filled chest. How could it get any better?

The next song started, and it took Shiny all of half a second to recognize the opening beat. This was his favorite dancing song, the one he nearly always had ready to play in his headphones! Shiny bounced into the center of the congregation. Look out, partygoers! Shiny thought with a grin. This Totodude’s about to show you what real dancing is!

Just as the song truly got started, Shiny busted out his finest moves, energetic but coordinated movements that caused the toys around him to simply fall still and watch. Shiny was oblivious to their gazes, however; he was so overtaken by the beat that all he could think was “Dance!” And dance he did. Eventually the crowd backed away, forming a circle around the agile little gator.

And then, all too soon, the song ended. Shiny returned to his senses just as the crowd started cheering, making Shiny blush. Marina came running across the water to hug him tightly, which made him blush even more! “H...Hey, Marina!” he said, thoroughly embarrassed now that the crowd was awwing. “Why’s everyone cheering?”

“That was so cool!” Marina exclaimed, letting go. “Where’d you learn to dance like that?”

“I, um, just dance a lot in my free time, I guess?” Shiny replied.

“No, you’ve got real talent; anyone can see that!” Another beat drummed through the air. “Oh, the next song is starting! Let’s see what you got, dude!”

And so Shiny danced. To his delight, his empty toy body didn’t get tired at all, so he was able to dance his best to each and every song. As the world above them darkened entirely, many toys blew up their light balloons to keep the pool bright, and Shiny delighting in dancing around the softly glowing orbs. Rayquaza himself even showed up for a little while, and was duly impressed with Shiny’s dancing. The hours passed by like moments, and before Shiny knew it the DJ had announced the end of the party. Shiny nearly complained until he saw light creeping across the world above--he had literally partied ‘til dawn!

The rubber gator made his way over to Marina, who in turn was walking towards him. “Some party, huh?” she asked, sounding as energetic as when the party started.

“You know it, dude!”

“It’s so weird how I’m not tired at all, right?” Marina said as they left the pool and sat on a nearby inflatable bench. “I got hungry partway through and ate some refreshments, but I guess this magical body doesn’t need sleep or anything like that. Kinda wish I could stay like this forever, don’t you?”

“Yeah, that’d be great,” Shiny replied. He knew that he could transform into an inflatable whenever he wanted, but no point in mentioning that now. “Say, what else is in our goodie bags?”

“Oh, I never checked!” Marina exclaimed. “Let’s see, so there’s that light balloon and… hey, what’s this?” The Vaporeon pulled out a white latex patch about one toto-paw wide. “‘Apply anywhere on the body to transform into a balloonie; the patch can be applied as many times as you want, effects last until the patch is removed, and can even be used outside the park’!” Marina read the attached note, eyes sparkling with delight.

“Ask and you shall receive, am I right?” Shiny laughed, finding his own transformation patch in his goodie bag.

“Oh, and another for pooltoy transformation, awesome!” Marina squealed. “Hey, do you think this pump does anything magical, too…?”

The world brightened above them as a new day began in the park below. Marina and Shiny talked and laughed with one another as they tried out all their new gifts, then they quickly resolved to explore the rest of the park’s wonders down below. Shiny’s first day at the Balloon Area had been full of fun and surprises, but his adventure there was just beginning!