Nala, branded with a mark on her flank which causes her to gain weight but also grants certain abilities, uses her power to "help" out another lioness who has a passion for being bigger.

Thanks to  sugarboy for another marvelous commission! I mean, really, look at the detail on that fur and the excellent anatomy. Bravo!

Now if you don't remember this scene from Nala's Venture, there is a good reason for that: I haven't written this far ahead yet. But this is a scene that I was intending to have happen from the start and Sugarboy was kind enough to bring it to life for me for a reasonable sum I hope that all of you who started reading Nala's Venture and wondered what the story had to do with weight gain now see what I've been trying to build up towards. And in honor of this commission, I went through the trouble today of cranking out a companion story for the images. Think of it as a chapter of Nala's story early, before I've written the intervening material

Part Two

If you enjoyed this, check out the start of the story at chapter one

Here it is:

***

Nala's Venture: Paka's Wish Pt 1
By Shalion

Nala trundled her way through the undergrowth of the copse, the shrine where the strange pride of lions lived who were venerated by the human village below. Moving over the rough terrain was harder than Nala had ever thought it could be, but then again, she was already fatter than she ever thought she could be as well. The weight of her body bore down hard on the joints of her knees as well as her back, which swayed in a heavy waddle, a ridiculous paunch bouncing below her knees as she walked, or at least tried to. For Nala, who considered herself a huntress despite what had happened to her, her recent change in physical conditioning was an attack on her very identity. What was she if she could not hunt after all? And she definitely could not hunt at her current size, her huge body could not even accelerate into a decent jog and Nala found herself getting winded just from spending too much time on her paws now. Nala was not sure she could even consider herself a proper lion as fat as she was, good for nothing more than being a spoiled pet like the “priests” down in the human village she had already encountered, like the portly Enu. Of course, Nala at her current size made Enu look like an athlete.

As the lioness lost from the Pridelands waddled towards the appointed meeting place, she could not help but dwell on the event that had prompted the recent madness in the first place. In fact, every twinge of pain in her overloaded joints and the effort of moving her heavy self reminded her. Back down in the village, in the sacred shrine to the foreign gods, Nala had desecrated their idols as an affront to the Ancestors, not realizing at the time that the gods were actually real. They had branded her flank with their mark, their curse and since then, Nala’s life had been one tumultuous upheaval after the next. The humans thought it was a sign and that Nala was blessed, some sort of ‘chosen one.’ Nala failed to see how the constant influx of useless flab onto her body was in any way a blessing and perhaps even worse than the curse itself, the matriarch of the pride, herself some sort of seer, another ‘chosen one,’ was not thrilled with the prospect of competition, especially from an outlander like Nala. It had been barely than two weeks since it had happened, but in that time, not only had Nala lost her ability to hunt entirely and to cover long distances, she had trouble telling who was friend and who was foe anymore, especially among her own kind.

Nala tumbled down a short slope as some soil gave out from under the weight of her body. She rolled gracelessly, her newfound blubber at least absorbing some of the impact, though it still hurt when she landed sprawling on her back onto the flat flagstones at the bottom of the small rise. Her swollen belly wobbled and heaved far above her head, Nala’s thick chest and neck filling her throat as she looked up at the rising mass of it and seeing it hurt her heart to see how low she had sunk already. The mark on the side of her belly had done this to her, transformed her into little more than a sack of feline lard, good for nothing more than pampering by the hands or paws of others.

Nala forced herself to roll over and she struggled to summon the will to force herself up onto paws that already ached for supporting the oppressive weight. Nala had no idea what she was going to do about this. It was not as if she had the power to fight gods, especially strange, foreign ones. At the same time, she did not know how much longer she could go on at this rate. This strange invasion of her body, forcing her to be something that she never wanted to be, was almost too much for the lioness to bear. Part of her just wanted to lie down and weep forever. But then, another part did not, as was evidenced by Nala getting slowly up to all fours again.

Nala had survived deserts, floods, near starvation and watching her pride, her family, subjugated by a vicious despot. She knew that if she had to, she would survive this as well. Nala, looking down, saw that the flagstones wandered off into the darkness under the boughs of the trees. It was an ill used part of the shrine and the scent of lion was desiccated, except for one recent trace which lingered on the air, a scent she recognized. Pacing, Nala made her slow way forward.

Nala heard Paka’s heavy breathing before she saw the large cat. Indisputably the fattest lion in the pride before Nala ever arrived at the shrine, Paka’s obesity was such that even Nala’s current figure could not match it. She had even managed to visibly put on extra pounds in the time since Nala had met her, gorging herself daily on the abundant meat from animals drowned in the recent flood. Paka was not the lioness Nala would have chosen as an ally to start with, but the more-than-tubby lioness had surprised her with her steadfastness and conviction, even if Nala could never approve of her life choices.

“You made it!” breathed Paka earnestly as she turned her large self around to face Nala. Paka’s adornments, consisting of silver piercings and a wide necklace of beads flashed even in the dim light. An aspiring priest, Paka was always concerned with her outward appearance, even as her sister Uzuri criticized her of not caring enough about her physique. After spending as much time with Paka as she had in recent days, Nala knew that in truth, the morbidly obese lioness did, in fact, care a lot about her physique, but had entirely different goals in mind than any other lion in the pride, or any other lion Nala had ever met in truth.

“Of course… I made it.” Nala said, breathing heavily herself for the short trek, but carrying around about three times her regular body weight had turned every walk into a real workout. Paka, in fact, seemed to carry her even more excessive weight with more grace and composure than Nala could manage for her part.

Paka sat down heavily on her wide rump, copious belly fat spilling over the mossy, ancient flagstones between her paws and looked up and around the two of them. “Is anyone around?”

Nala sat as well, but to rest her aching paws rather than to look around. “Not that I know of.” she took a few more breaths. Ancestors, but it took a long time to catch her breath now! “Look, Paka, are you going to tell me… why you asked to meet me out here?” Nala had not hesitated to accept Paka’s request earlier that morning. After all, if it was something important enough for Paka to be willing to make the trek all the way out to this little used section of the shrine, it had to be important.

The fatter lioness slowly lowered her head, looking slightly uncertain as she peered outward into the shadows between the trees enfolding them. But she turned back to Nala. Unlike the Pridelander, the obese, pampered lioness looked perfectly comfortable in her own skin, moving easily and expressively, even as so much of her oversized paunch spread across the ground and over her own paws. “Nala, I know things have been… rough since you were blessed…” the Pridelander shot her a look and Paka stuttered, “Since you got that mark. You don’t want this, and I get that.” Nala looked back Paka with a bleak expression, all she could do was heave a big sigh. “I don’t know what it means either, but I appreciate that you haven’t already run away from us, especially after what Mother has been saying about you…”

“She thinks I’m something I’m not.” said Nala, but she was too exhausted of trying to explain that she knew nothing about the mark and too fearful of it ever being connected to the desecrated shrine to ever tell anyone, even Paka or her first new friend, Mirembe. She heaved another sigh as she slouched over the distended mass of her midsection sitting across from Paka. “Anyways, I don’t think I’d get very far even if I tried to leave. I can’t run, I can’t hunt and even though I’m bigger than I’ve ever been in my life, I still need food…” Nala did not need to tell Paka that the 10-day long fast she had attempted soon after realizing she was piling on weight had resulted in only the familiar and incessant hunger pangs of the past, even as she continued to gain weight incongruently. She had finally broken down just two days ago, taking food from human hands down in the village.

Paka pursed her lips, the expression creating new crease lines where her neck bulged against the base of her jaw. “I don’t think that’s the right kind of attitude to have, Nala. I think you can do a lot of good here still, if you want. You have the power.” and Paka emphasized the last word in a way that the Pridelander could not help but notice.

Nala shifted her weight uncomfortably in an awkward motion. She could still not help the sensation that she was trapped in a heavy, padded suit of some kind. “Power?” she chuffed nervously, “The power to what? break benches? roll down hills? …No offense.” she added, seeing Paka raise a heavy eyebrow.

Paka smoothed her expression with an easy grin, however. Then she locked eyes with Nala. “No, I’m not talking about anything as silly as rolling down a hill.” Her eyes flashed with significance, “I was watching you the other day, as you accepted the offerings. I saw what happened with the rat.”

Nala swallowed and then averted her eyes. But she should not have been so surprised really, even if she had reflexively stuffed the creature into her mouth as soon as she had realized what had happened to it. At least a dozen humans had seen the “miracle.” Undoubtedly that kind of news would cross even the inter-species language gap before too much longer. The memory of the way the rat had looked, its tiny body bloated into a hemisphere of shapeless fat, and the way it’s soft bulk had slid down her gullet as she tried to hide the evidence was still fresh in her mind. “Paka, I’m not sure what you thought you saw, but…”

Paka interrupted as she pushed her huge body closer to Nala, shoving her flab across the grassy stones until she was close enough to touch with an outstretched paw, Paka was so obese, even the flesh of her forearm sagged. “Nala, you know you’re going to have to confront what you did sooner or later.”

Nala clenched her teeth. “What I did…” she repeated and shook her head, disgusted by the feel of the hanging wattle under her chin. “I don’t even know what I did.” But she did know, she was able to recall the chilling feel of the power flowing out of her, like water being dumped on her head when it had happened.

“But you did something!” Paka insisted, lowering her paw. Nala saw the way the heavier lioness’s body seemed to absorb the foreleg at the elbow, surrounding it with more fatty creases in the soft skin. “And I… I…” she turned her face away for the first time, lifting her paw again, this time to rub at her round, sagging cheek. Paka began to blush under her fur, Nala could tell by the way her scent around her body altered. “…I was wondering if you… if you could try to make it happen again.”

“Try to…” mumbled Nala. All she wanted was for none of this magic, none of this strangeness to even be in her life! “Paka, even if I wanted to try, there’s no rats around here, at least none that either of us could catch.” said Nala, oblivious as Paka squirmed, quivering the plump surface of her body in many places with her own anxiety and apprehension.

“No, Nala.” said the more obese lioness. She smoothed the fur on her muzzle, and took another breath, as if she were debating something herself. “I don’t mean I want you to try again on a rat.” She closed her eyes, seemed to arrive at a decision, then said, “I want you to try it on me.”

Nala gaped at her, her eyes taking in the wide, round frame of the lioness, already fattened to a point of uselessness, to the point where without the support of humans, she would almost instantly succumb to the rigors and demands of the wild. Even knowing Paka’s desires, she would never have imagined that this might be the purpose of today’s clandestine meeting. “Paka, no.” she said after she had recovered from the shock of the proposal. “Even if I could make it happen again, I wouldn’t I mean… you’re…” her eyes fell significantly to Paka’s round drum of a belly which she had protruding out to the side now to make more room for her legs.

But Paka was used to jibes about her weight, having to endure them daily from most of the other lions in the pride, from basically everyone aside from her half-brother Fauzi as Nala understood the matter. “…Already so fat?” Paka finished for Nala defiantly.

With Paka glaring at her, Nala felt the urge the back up. She would have as well, but her heavy body held her back. Instead, the Pridelander just lowered her head meekly. “No, Paka, I… I’ve already told you I have no desire to tell you how to live your life. I… I just…” she hesitated.

“What?” asked Paka, her expression softening a little, but still clearly demanding an answer.

“I… I don’t want to hurt you.” said Nala and that was true enough. It was hard to even imagine Paka being yet more obese than she already was with her current size being far beyond what Nala could have ever imagined a lion attaining before she had gotten here. The mark on Nala’s flank began to itch and she leaned to the side to try to get at it with her hind leg, but her belly was jutting out so widely, it got in the way, her leg just sort of wobbling uselessly in the air until she gave up; and the mark continued to itch as Paka spoke.

“This isn’t hurting me, Nala.” said Paka and she leaned further to the side she was already leaning to allow her expansive belly extra room. One foreleg took the weight of her upper body while she reached down to stroke the round, soft mass of her abdomen. “I love all of this, I love me and who I am.”

It was impossible not to see in Paka’s expression her very real passion, and the determination that had led her to doggedly pursue her ambition even in the face of opposition on all sides, even against nature itself; Nala knew the amount of time Paka spent and her guile used in securing enough food to not just maintain her incredible weight, but also to keep growing. Still though, Nala’s moral compass was telling her it was wrong to do what she was asking. The image of the rat turned into a flesh sack returned. It could not be right to do that to Paka, even if in her perverse desire she wanted it. It was one thing to let an adult lioness do that to herself, quite another to be complicit in it. The mark on Nala’s flank itched even worse, of course, Nala remembered how she had felt herself after fattening the rat as well… the small chill of something leaving her “I understand that Paka, but… but…” she fumbled for an excuse, “But you’re already doing so well on your own. Why do you need my help?”

Paka frowned and raised an eyebrow at her. Nala felt her own cheeks getting hot with embarrassment. Oh, would someone just please scratch the side of her belly! “Really, Nala? Do I need to explain why I want you to use that power of yours on me now, rather than trying to spend years trying to get there by myself?” she turned her head away and Nala noticed a few of the prematurely grey hairs on the muzzle of the morbidly obese lioness. “I’m not getting any younger, Nala.” she said, eyes flashing back for a moment and then she heaved a big sigh, “And it might not even be possible for me to get all the food I’d need. Floods like the one you came with don’t happen every season…”

It was getting harder to pay attention to Paka’s words for the itching outline of the sun-shaped scar on Nala’s flank. Somehow, Nala became absolutely sure that she could do what Paka was asking for as the mark on her seared her as if freshly branded. And more, she knew what that chilling sensation had been before and what it offered in terms of release, not just from the burning itch of the mark, but from her recent miseries as well. “Alright!” she cried at last, even as Paka was still talking, still trying to convince her that this was the only and best way to make her wish become reality.

“R-really?” Paka stumbled, actually rising to her feet with excitement. Behind her globular buttocks, Paka’s tail lashed back and forth like a dog’s. “You’ll try?”

Nala got slowly to her paws as well. “I’ll… try.” she said, but even as she said them, the words rang false. Nala knew what was about to happen, there was no other reason for her mark to be so agitated, except for anticipation. And Nala, despite her earlier misgivings, once the understanding had dawned on her of what this experiment could do for herself, could not resist “trying” for her own sake. ‘Paka wants this.’ Nala rationalized silently as she stepped closer to the expectant lioness. ‘And I don’t. We’re helping each other…’ Nala did not let herself think about it more than that.

Nala approached Paka’s flank, observing the way her abdomen bulged out towards her, how it mounted high over Paka’s spine and obliterated all of the actual shape of the underlying bones and muscle, her natural contours lost among a sea of soft flesh coating her deep from neck to tail head. Nala did not know what she was doing exactly when she reached up with her paw and placed it onto Paka’s soft flank, just below where she imagined that her ribs ended as there was no visible sign of them, but it felt correct.

Whatever this power Nala had that Paka had spoken of, it was not controlled deliberately. As far as Nala knew she did not think or do anything to trigger it, but she suddenly felt the… the power for lack of a better word flowing out of her body through her paw. Again, it felt chilling, as if some vital essence were being extracted from her, flowing out of her and into Paka and that, Nala realized, what not far off from what was happening.

“Oh! I can feel it!” Paka exclaimed, but Nala barely heard her.

The coolness washed rapidly through Nala’s body, much faster than it had with the rat and it frightened the Pridelander how little control she seemed to have on what was happening. She was afraid that if she let it, all of the energy might flow out of her and she might collapse, a drained husk, at Paka’s flank. Then she noticed the engorged flank of the other lioness, plumping rapidly under her paw, the flesh actually welling up around the sides as she watched. Paka was getting wider and her gut loomed down ever closer to the ground as it grew even more massive. Even Paka’s neck and chest expanded with loose, limp flesh, changing the shape of her face as the flesh welled around the base of her jaw. “Oh… oh… mmm…” Paka made little noises as he body became heavier, her knees and ankles bending just so under the increasing strain.

Nala could feel at the same time her own body contracting, the skin pulling back and the extra weight evaporating from her sides, shoulders, neck and belly. That part was nothing except relief, almost a rejuvenation, even as Nala felt her once plentiful reserves of energy - life force? - ebb. Nala wanted to get rid of it all, to get herself back to her former lean huntress self, but she was also aware, without even seeing it with her eyes of the mounting fattness of Paka’s body moment by moment. Nala could actually feel the other lioness straining to remain standing under the new enormous weight of her body, a ghost image of Paka’s bodily sensations impressed onto her own mind through the connection she had with her paw. Paka’s lower tummy was almost resting on the ground now, settling close to and nearly on top of the toes of her hind paws. The weight was almost more than Paka could take, even with the strong muscles used to carrying her massive frame. ‘Poor Paka…’ thought Nala even while simultaneously she was still far from her own goal of shedding all of the unwanted pounds.

But with that thought, the power flowing out of her ceased abruptly. Nala gasped with the shock of the sudden close of the circuit, and just like that, all sensation of the power was gone, as was the sensation of Paka’s body. Instead, Nala was met with the immediacy of her own lightness at least compared to a few moments ago. Somehow she already knew the exact dimensions of her greatly reduced figure, still overweight for a proper hunter, but perhaps even light enough to run for a short time. Paka, on the other hand, would clearly never do so much as jog for the rest of her life…